Motley Monday - October 5, 2026

Has your weather been strange lately?  September here was cooler than average, yet these first few days of October are 15° and more above average.  Today's supposed to reach 93­°! A few weeks ago I took the portable air conditioner hose out of the window, and yesterday I put it back in!  The tomatoes had stopped ripening, but now they're getting nice and red again.  Here's what's been going on around here.

Morning Glories

A kind of Parasol mushroom in the backyard. Probably a Conifer Parasol, as they are the PNW Parasols.  It's toxic, but not poisonous.  In other words, you may get a terrible stomach ache with vomiting, but you won't die.  Mickey doesn't nose around mushrooms, but I disposed of it just in case.

Autumn Crocus is so pretty.  It's not a kind of crocus, it's a lily relative that blooms in the autumn, it's foliage is in spring.  It's also toxic, and not to be confused with saffron crocus.

Planted in 2012 from a tiny pot, the prostrate rosemary had seen better days.  It was mostly dead underneath, so I took it out.  I still have to dig out root parts.  The bottom photo, where the soil shows, is where it covered half the herb bed. 

I'm going to plant Blue Boy, a dwarf rosemary in its place.  This one is quite a few years old.  I got it from Mountain Valley Growers along with a few other herbs still doing fine.

The main library had their annual Friends of the Library clearance on Friday and Saturday.  I went on Friday, and while it was only an hour after they opened, it wasn't very busy.  There were far fewer books than last year.  Mostly I found vintage mysteries.  That just means Agatha Christie rather than James Patterson (I just can't get into his books at all).  One thing I got was a book about shells on stamps.  It doesn't matter it's an old book, all my stamps with shells are old!  I actually have one shown in the top left photo!  The display case in the library hall was about October being National Stamp Collecting Month. They made the sign with stamps!  I would have liked a couple of the stamps for my collection. 

The books were free, but they did take donations. 

The library has cute bookmarks available.  This one is illustrated with stamps, travel themed! 

Back in January there was a raccoon in the yard when Mickey first went out in the morning.  We haven't seen it since, but now we are dealing with an opossum.  One morning (a bit early for the commotion Mickey made!) it was on the back fence, and instead of escaping along the fence, or climbing to the other side, it did that opossum thing of just freezing.  I was afraid it would fall on Mickey, who was frantically barking and jumping.  Then, a few evenings ago, around 8:15, the time Mickey goes out one last time for the night, it was on a side fence, and not freezing.  Mickey could almost reach it and it was hissing and bearing it's very sharp teeth!  Mickey is reactive, so it was very difficult to get him in, but between a large branch of cedar I pulled off to block him, and swat around (not hitting him with it), and the bribe of cat food, he came back in.  I think it might be after the wild grapes.  Or a neighbor leaves cat food out all night for their cats.

  

A disgruntled Mickey, not related to the opossum incident.  Do you call them "o" possums, or possums?  I've always called the possums, and everyone I know does. We spell it with the o, but the o is silent!