It’s Groundhog Day! The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck (along with a bunch of other monikers), is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. Despite the popular tongue-twister, the etymology of the name woodchuck is unrelated to wood or chucking. It stems from an Algonquian (possibly Narragansett) name for the animal, wuchak.
This week in the perpetual journal. Milkmaids are one of the earliest wildflowers to appear on the shady banks and slopes of our local oak and riparian woodlands. They are in the Brassicaceae family.
These are going in the ground today.
Leucadendron is a genus of about 80 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, endemic to South Africa. We have the Wilson’s Wonder cultivar growing in a pot on our patio, where it looks good all year around, but especially when it’s displaying its yellow cone flowers.
Spent 10 minutes in the garden before heading off to work at Malibu Creek State Park. Just time to quickly record some of the sights and sounds.
My friend always picks “One Little Word” for the year (as do I). But she tends to forget what word she picked. So this year I made her a reminder to hang on her wall.
I’ve been hiking in these boots for at least 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever conditioned them. But this winter, my socks have been getting soaked, so it was time to apply some waterproofing. I found an ancient can of Nikwax under the bathroom sink; it had separated into a sticky thick orange wax, and a light creamy grease. Hopefully the grease will do the trick, because that’s what I rubbed into the leather. 🥾
My daughter Rhea’s birthday card—she’s learning German, and always uses two tea bags. The tags say “GO AWAY” and ”LET ME READ”. I have no idea what the background text says. Something to do with the rise of Uber? 😉
I haven’t used commercial fertiliser in the veggie garden so far, instead relying on our home made compost. But some of the beds aren’t performing as well as I would like, so I’ve decided to try this booster, on the recommendation of San Diego Seed Company.
Easy section this time, in one of my favourite parts of Malibu Creek State Park. It was fun to see thousands of acorns sprouting on the forest floor, even knowing that only the slimmest fraction of them will grow into trees.
hashiworks 