Coconut Fence

While on Maui we drove down Makena Road out to the Lava Fields when we saw three women by the roadside selling fresh fruit. We stopped and bought a pineapple that was so delicious and sweet - you never get it like this here on the mainland. One of the women prepared it for us right there.

It does look good, doesn't it?

While we were resting there eating our chunks of pineapple and almost getting delirious over it, I looked around a bit and noticed this fence with the coconuts on the posts. I don't like the taste of coconuts, but I like how they look, and I thought they made darn good fence posts.

They do remind a little bit of skulls, don't you think?

Certainly they are good fences - and so I link up to Theresa's blog! Thank you for visiting.

A Fence at - Guess Where?

Today I'm joining Theresa's Good Fences again, but... I am not telling you yet where this fence is that you can see in the lower part of the image. Guess where it is and tell me in the comments!

To make it a little bit more difficult, this photo was taken almost 20 years ago. However, it still looks almost the same. Almost...

I'll come back later and add the location to this post.


Update: This picture is taken from the Statue of Liberty in New York. People are lining up to get into the statue and climb up to enjoy the view.

Only one person recognized it - Christine from Northern Ireland! You rock, girl!

Squirrel Fence

During our trip along the Oregon Coast last summer, we saw this cute squirrel close to the Oregon Dunes. It seemed completely confident around people (I'm afraid some visitors feed it), but still kept a safe distance to us.

It sat on this fence for quite a while - maybe it even enjoyed the attention by the photographers, who knows?

It groomed and stared into space, having all the time in the world. Until finally it got bored and hopped away, up into a tree from where it looked down on us.

Since there is a fence involved, I'm linking this post to Theresa's "Good Fences".

The Poppy Fence

In May the fence that surrounds our front garden turns into "the poppy fence". Usually poppies are growing on both sides of the fence or pushing their heads through the pickets - both "regular" poppies and California poppies.

I had an abundance of re-seeded poppies coming up this spring, so many, indeed, that I had to pull quite a lot of them because I was afraid that they would smother the other flowers. I had to repeatedly do that until I had "islands" of poppies and I thought it would look lovely.

Then the deer came.

Usually, deer don't eat poppies. Every spring they would come into my garden and nibble on the poppies only to never do it again. This year, however, was different. They came back over and over again and filled their bellies with my poppies. The lovely islands were reduced to headless green stumps and some of them were trampled down.

Instead of an abundance of colorful poppies I was afraid not to have any at all. I shouldn't have worried. Poppies are tough little guys. As you can see from my pictures, quite a lot made it - but I certainly didn't have the "Monet painting" I had last year (one of my neighbors called it that way).

I also noticed that the deer didn't eat the breadseed poppies - they are the most beautiful and stunning ones:

These are the ones that I will definitely let reseed again. I'm always happy when I find a plant that the deer don't like. They also don't like scented plants like lavender and salvia of which I have quite a few in the front.

Right next to the gate I had a wonderful bunch of red poppies that made me happy whenever they caught my eye.

This year is the first year that I have matilija poppies - some people call them "fried egg poppies". Their white petals lend a certain glow to the garden.

And no, the deer don't like them either.

I'm linking up to Theresa's "Good Fences" again.

Where Will Donkey Go?

This street is in my neighborhood very close to our home. I go along it almost every day - at the end of it, before the meadow, I have to make a right turn. Every time I drive or walk here I enjoy the view of the meadow, seeing the green grass and the trees. It's a little oasis and right here it turns up to the hill and the forested area. It's beautiful.

You might have seen it in the top photo - there is a big sign on the fence. It was installed a few weeks ago - and it's very disturbing.

The meadow is for sale. Almost 4 acres are offered up for development. A kind of development we don't know what it will look like. Will it be an apartment complex? Single family homes? Probably not for businesses as this is zoned for residential buildings.

The meadow across the street is for sale as well. Here goats used to hang out, very sweet and curious black goats. They have been gone for quite a while. Sometimes they shared the meadow with a donkey.

However, the donkey lived on the other meadow most of the time, often sharing it with the deer. He is still there, but I wonder for how long? And where will he go once the meadow is sold?

This donkey is a beloved part of the neighborhood. Young mothers with their small children visit him. I heard some elementary school girls lovingly call him Don Quixote. Kaefer and I simply call him Donkers.

He is the sweetest guy, very mellow and always comes galloping down the hill when you call him. Of course he expects some treats like apples or carrots. He also loves grapes. When he realizes that the visitors haven't brought anything but a few cuddles he lets his frustration know, loud and clear. I always know when he's angry because I can hear it in my house.

Every now and then - rather seldom - Kaefer and I feed him carrots or apples which he chews slowly and thoughtfully. Nothing can distract him from eating. I do think his teeth need a thorough cleaning.

What will happen to him? What will happen to the meadow?

We do have a huge housing crisis here. Affordable housing is more than difficult to get - but I doubt that this meadow would be a spot for affordable housing. I'm afraid it will be the location for some high end housing projects that we really don't need anymore. It will do nothing to lighten the housing problem to low income people. And I don't believe that it is zoned for apartment complexes.

We can only wait - and hope that they will build new housing, whatever it is, in a sustainable way. I hope that a good part of the trees will survive. I can't stand thinking of all the little critters who call this meadow a home right now. They, too, will need to go somewhere else. And once more, their habitat gets a little bit smaller.

This is the view of the upper part of the meadow from our bedroom window. What will we see from there in a year from now?

Since these photos show quite some fences I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences. I haven't done so for a long time.

It's a Dog's Gate

This gate in my neighborhood always brings a smile to my face. It's wacky, creative and definitely different. The top with the girl pushing the wheelbarrow is fun, but I really like the dog.

It's a guard dog, I assume, one of the really sweet kind.

Quite a lot of parts of this gate are made of recycled material - what a creative way to upcycle items! It might not necessarily be pretty in a conventional sense, but it's certainly unique. I rather have that in my neighborhood than uniformity.

It's definitely a "good fence" and therefore deserves to be linked up to Theresa's blog.

Lighthouse Fence

For this week's Good Fences I'm going back to Oregon - to Cape Blanco. When we visited the lighthouse on a brilliant summer day I noticed the fence made of thick strong rope.

Let's have a closer look.

I do like this special kind of fence - it fits into the landscape and is a good companion to this beautiful lighthouse. With all the lichen on the rope it must have been here for some time - and it still looks sturdy and strong. But as you can see, there is also a "regular" fence that was quite pretty as well.

Along the coast you find lots of cow parsnip - no wonder it made its way into this photo!

Protecting Wilderness

For this week's Good Fences I have "outside the box" fences again. I noticed them while hiking in my favorite state park that is practically at my doorstep.

We have a great network of beautiful trails through the wilderness of the park. These trails are used by hikers, runners, horse riders and mountain bikers. It shouldn't be too difficult to stay on these trails.

At least one would think so.

Unfortunately there are people who feel some kind of weird entitlement that allows them to go in the park wherever they want - actually, it's mostly "bike wherever they want" - and thus creating new trails where they shouldn't be, disrupting the wilderness and disturbing wildlife.

In the following picture you can see one of those illegal trails leading from the center to the right side of the image.

You can see the deep mark it has left in the park. There's a clear sign that you shouldn't use this trail.

But obviously the park is visited by many illiterate people, so the rangers tried a different method - natural "fences".

A huge branch blocks this trail, and from the look of it, it seems to work.

Here's another one - the branch was laid out quite some time ago. You almost can't see the trail anymore, the branch has deteriorated - this has been successful, it seems.

Here mountain bikers have taken a questionable short cut beside the trail, probably because it's less rocky. By the way the branches and big rocks are laid across the trail I got the impression that the rangers were pretty mad when they blocked this part. I honestly cannot blame them.

I've been here so often, but only recently did I notice this rock wall. I have no idea what the purpose of it is except that it's probably home to a few rattlesnakes.

This is such a beautiful place, and it truly makes me mad that some people don't respect the wilderness and create new trails. I don't understand why they aren't able to stay on the trails that are already there.

I'm linking up to Theresa's Good Fences.

The Cows

There's something about cows that draws me to them over and over again. Not only are they such sweet creatures, they also remind me of my childhood when I was visiting all those farms with my Dad where he was vaccinating the cows against foot-and-mouth disease (this was during the 60's when this kind of vaccination was still done) or clipping on the earmarks. So when I saw this fence with these lovely cows behind it, I had to stop, get out of the car and take pictures of them.

Aren't they cute?

This one was particularly nosy.

Anybody who knows me is aware that I just don't simply take pictures of cows. Oh no! I talk to them as well - and as a result they come closer and closer to the fence, pushing each other out of the way. All of them want to see that crazy woman.

Some are more daring than others and put their nose through the barbed wire to sniff and lick the hand of that person. Cows are just like people - some are shy, some are brave, all are curious.

Have you ever noticed the beautiful and kind eyes of cows?

This is where they live - on juicy green meadows close to Tillamook in Oregon where they give their milk to be turned into lovely cheese and yogurt - and yummy ice cream! Thank you, cows!

Linking up with Theresa's Good Fences. Please come and visit some other fences as well!