Nesting

We've been working on projects around the house again - in a great flurry of activity that has been very satisfying. It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of paint and a lot of hard work and some hand tools. Our bathroom project came out very well considering that all we really did was repair the walls and change the look with paint and new fabrics. We also added some 'siding' to the front of the house beneath the windows where there basically wasn't any (don't know why there wasn't, but it seemed to have been part of the 'design' of the house - causing it to look more 'squat' than it needs to) and we weeded and mulched the two 'wild' gardens on the side of the house where things keep popping up and blooming unannounced.

Very satisfying.

We like to work together. We like to make progress on things. We enjoy both the planning and the accomplishing. Our little 'fixer-upper' has been a lesson to me in patience and the joy of anticipation. It was a bit of a junker when we moved in and so we've been fearless in our 'improvement' projects. It's also smaller than other places we've lived, so tackling a job in this house isn't nearly so daunting as all the possible jobs in other houses that we never even had the nerve to start.

We're happy in it. I need to remind myself of that once in a while - like when the plumber is here cutting holes in the walls - so this 'diary-like' blog posting is a marker to me of that happiness. I may need to look back at it some time!

Sorry...

I seem to have run out of things to say again. It's not that there isn't interesting stuff going on. Just today, for example, the Fed chief declared that the economy is facing 'difficulties.' Imagine that. Everyone who is 'in charge' hasn't stopped for gas or groceries in years - how would they know? And a koala, who got hit by a speeding car and got his head stuck in the grill, went for a long ride, presumably bottom first, before someone flagged the driver down and he was rescued. (Good thing though, since it turned out he had a chlamydia infection, of all things, and needed treatment anyway. Now why did they have to tell us THAT much?) And a golfer (drunk) hit another golfer (also drunk) in the head with a 5 iron. (Actually, I would think that would happen all the time.) Yes, interesting stuff.

Summer is here and I'm just being lazy I guess. After a plumbing disaster at the end of the week (the disaster wasn't really in the leaking faucet, it was in the $1000 repair bill!) we decided that maybe we could just spruce up the other bathroom with paint instead of anything that would actually cost more - and got to work. We took off Sunday for a drive on Chuckanut Drive to Fairhaven - idyllic all the way around - but now it is just back to the usual stuff. Trying to stay cool. Trying not to eat too much. Trying to go to work with a smile.

Uninspired, all the way around. Sorry.

Proof

I realized, after looking at the pictures that I posted, that I didn't actually prove that we'd made it all the way, did I? Well...



We did!

Ruby Beach and more

We've been here before - and probably even taken this exact same picture before! (In my defense... well, I have no defense, I just can't help it.) Ruby Beach is on the far west side of the state, fully exposed to the wild ravages of the northern Pacific Ocean. The seastacks stand as testament to that force. This beach has everything - tide pools, sand, skipping rocks, sea critters, logs to sit on, windows in the rocks through which you can watch the sunset... I love this place. And yes, with a little bit of fog rolling around and a cloudy sky - this is just the way it should be seen!

Putting on my tour guide hat here, the beach is pretty far from civilization, but to get here you pass by the Hoh Rain Forest, Lake Crescent and Sol Duc Hot Springs and Falls, all not-to-be-missed sites on the Peninsula.

And that was all on Saturday. On Sunday we wanted to hike to the New Dungeness Lighthouse. Through a slight miscalculation on my part, the hike was a bit longer than we'd anticipated or prepared for - 11 miles total. The first half mile (and the last) was through another beautiful forest. Then it was on to the beach for a 5 mile trek to the lighthouse that is way on the end of the Dungeness Spit. Now why would they put a lighthouse way out there???

So, the picture doesn't really tell the tale unless you look really, really close. On the right side on the horizon, right up close by where the trees are in the 'close' range, there is a little dot of white that is the lighthouse, way out on the end of the to-the-right curve of sand which has, at that distance, become indistinguishable from the water. It's just under the branch of the tree that is right above the horizon:

Do we get points? We didn't even get sore or stiff! A little sunburned though. We were pretty proud - 11 miles of slogging along a beach is a lot for old fat people.

And there was just one more treat - we encountered this little thing on our way out of the forest - and almost had to nudge her to get by on the trail!

A WOW Weekend

We spent the weekend - our anniversary - on the Olympic Peninsula amid some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere. So of course I have to post pictures...

Our first destination was Cape Flattery, the northwestern-most point in the contiguous states. To get there, we took a little winding road through farm country and forest and a few little communities... and which would, once in a while, open up to views like this:

Cape Flattery is in the Makah Indian Reservation (and good luck finding the place to get the required recreation permit!) There is actually a lighthouse on a small island - Tatoosh Island - just off the coastline, which is what appealed to me about the place initially but which is actually, believe it or not, the least of its attractions. The trail takes you down through a true rain forest where once in a while you can peek through the trees to see where the ocean has carved caves and fantastic rock formations along the shoreline. The contrast of the lush green forest and the deep blue water is breathtaking:

More tomorrow...

Fireworks

I feel like we are under attack.

Fireworks - at least the big aerial ones - are illegal in most communities that we've lived in. But not here. Readily available, they appear to be purchased by the thousands by our neighbors - who have been shooting them off at at constant rate for the past 2 hours. Since it is early yet, and barely dark, I imagine they will continue on for a while yet. There is hardly a lull of over 2 seconds at any time between pops or bangs, so when I say 'by the thousands' you can take that quite literally. I can count 9 'launch points' from the houses within a block or so of our house, just from my perspective in the back yard alone. Judging by the booms, there are dozens more pyrotechnic lunatics within a 1/4 mile radius.

Our house is surrounded by huge cedars so all we get to see clearly is what goes up very high - and that is probably at least 20% of them - big flashing boomers that I would have thought to be only available to 'specialists' putting on a big municipal show of some sort. But no - apparently they let anyone have them. What we don't see high in the sky, we see in bright flashes of light. The air is heavy with smoke and sulfur. There is debris in the yard.

And poor Maddie is quivering under the bed.

Mark wants to go up on the roof, he says, "to return fire."

It's going to be a long night. Silly stuff.

Hope your 4th of July was 'fun' as well.

Growing things

We're trying to grow vegetables. We don't actually like to EAT vegetables much but the notion of growing our own is just irresistible. Remember all the excitement about pumpkins in Kentucky? Well, now we are on to tomatoes. And so proud we are:



I didn't actually say they were ready yet. But they might get there.

(Are tomatoes and pumpkins actually vegetables - or are they fruit?)