Old Friends in New Places...

We are hosting our UK friends this week and it is great! I can't believe it's been a year since we were last together. They got to the house Thursday evening just before John arrived back from the Bay Area. So we had a late, light supper and caught up on "stuff". Friday was a local introduction and we visited Bainbridge Island, the Bloedel Reserve, and downtown Poulsbo where we had a nice dinner of halibut whilst sitting outside. The weather is being very cooperative; sunny and just comfortable temps. Yesterday Christine and I had a wander through Central Market which is an attraction in itself. We bought some food and looked at lots more because they have such a selection of good, healthy things not found in the more mundane grocery stores. Back to the house for some tea on the deck with the boys and then we went to Old Mill Days in Port Gamble (about 8 miles away) where we watched a little bit of the lumberjack show (and the Monty Python song begins here...), looked at various craft stalls, had a chair massage, an accupuncture consultation, and just enjoyed a leisurely afternoon. Last night we enjoyed salmon for dinner (and an apple/blackberry crumble) and then watched some video of some of M&C's recent travel (after finding a configuration that would allow us to view from the computer to the TV with the limited connectors that we had on hand.). We are still figuring out this new TV, I'm afraid. So it's Sunday and we will be going into Seattle on foot (crossing on the ferry). Should be an interesting day, once again...

Fun, fun, fun...

Here's my new home away from home (the office) in its bar bones state. I have been furnishing it with my "stuff" and books all week. I've been settling in, getting to know the culture a little more. The team is very supportive and warm, 9 of us in all. Seems like a good fit and I feel fortunate to have found it.

Today I will be in additional training with the electronic medical record and I will revisit a training for an IV pump that is new. Then I will hurry home because visitors are arriving today! John will arrive about 7:30. And then we will spend the next week being tourists with our friends. We will take the ferry into Seatle for a walkabout and a tour of the underground city (Seattle is built right on top of its former self). And we have booked a whale watching trip in the San Juans which will be fascinating. There are resident pods of Orca whales in teh Sound, so it's pretty certain that we will see them. In fact, 2 females and 3 young ones have been visiting in the south portion of the Sound (south of where we are) and people are warned to keep at least 100 feet away and not disturb them. And there are some more sights which I will report back after the week. Right now, I need to jump in a shower and begin my day. Later...

A little song, a little dance...

First week in the new job was completed on Friday. Most of it was spent in orientation which means my head is over-full with information, some of which I will remember and some...well, as I said...over-full. So, I'm off to the second round. This week will be different as I will be in my office for much of the time, getting settled and getting to know my role and my coworkers a bit. There are a few trainings which I will attend and on Thursday I will be in the computer lab all day as I learn more of the electronic medical record system. However, on Thursday, we have friends arriving for a week and there are some things that need doing in preparation.

It was a busy weekend as we put down the new rugs and installed a new TV (spent some time on the phone with various tech support persons), mowed the grass, and several more little projects that have been in the queue. On Sunday I had some time to spend with the computer, clearing off some "work" and some personal "things to do" of an electronic nature. I made reservations for a whale watching excursion next week which should be fun and fascinating. So, the new week is already gearing up and will be gone in a flash. John is off to the Bay Area this morning, so Zoe and I will see how this new work routine feels when we are on our own. Wish me luck...

Trivial Pursuits

Well, it’s the end of the week (again!). Where does time go? Another week and we will have been in this new place for 4 months (a third of a year). I was thinking about the way in which the last year has passed, seemingly at lightening speed. How I was “just over there” a moment ago. Or so it seems.

John will return tonight. He will arrive to find a simply beautiful weekend on tap. The weather has warmed, the sun is bright, and this morning I was enchanted by how clear the stars were shining (as I was outside with the brown dog at 5:15). It will be an “outside” kind of weekend; mowing grass, trimming back the jungle, and breathing deeply. We have plans for Saturday and Sunday evenings.

I’m finishing off some “inside” jobs today: washing windows (though part of that happens outside to be fair), washing floors, laundry, etc. I like to tear through it when I’m on my own. We ordered some rugs to go in the living and dining rooms and they should arrive this next week. That will make it a little more cozy as fall and winter approach.

Speaking of the brown dog, she is doing very well on the new containment system. She is off-lead full-time now and that allows her to run and stretch which makes her a happier dog. Until next Thursday, one of us humans must be present outside when she is there. I think that’s more to offer her praise and reassurance should she venture close enough to get “a correction” (as they call it in the business). We were cautioned that when the training posts were replaced with the down-to-business posts on the collar, she would react more strongly. As the trainer explained, “It’s like seeing a scary movie. Somebody’s going to scream, but it doesn’t mean you’re hurt”. The static charge startles her. It doesn’t harm her. And it has caused a couple “screams”. But she recovers right away and is off again after a reassuring pat and praise. Next Thursday we are to allow her to be outside sometimes without us present (but watching from a window, to be sure). I’m feeling much more confident that this invisible system will actually keep her contained and safe. At least until she sees the rabbit…

Just Jammin'

My week is shaping up. John is off to the Bay Area this morning and will return Friday evening. I'll go to my morning classes with the exception of tomorrow when I have a pre-employment physical scheduled. Today I returned to yoga as I had been grounded for the past two weeks. I paid a little for that but it is steadily helping me become more flexible. I recall when I saw hula and thought "I can do that!". Well, I tried to do it and was heartily impressed by how difficult it really is. Yoga is deceptive as well. Much to discover here and not at all "easy". I hope I can find a way to continue the classes as I start back to work. Maybe in the evening.

I have someone coming to day to re-do a part on the shower door that was causing some water to escape. And I am making (the last) jam. At least I will start them today. I have several berries and some rhubarb and am going to try various combinations of the fruit.

Tomorrow, I will be down to Bremerton for the aforementioned physical and a visit with Human Resources. Orientation begins next week. And we will move into the second phase of Zoe's training with the new containment situation. Thursday and Friday are yet to be determined and, in between it all, I have some "work" (the paid kind) to do.

The weather is improving steadily. It should be lovely and warmer by Thursday; a little bit of summer hanging on while autumn starts to establish herself in the air. Meanwhile, I have jam...

Breakfast on the Farm

The first Saturday of the month is the Farmhouse Breakfast day. It was raining and we went early to avoid standing outside for long, but they have obviously done this many times and had the outside portions sheltered. We didn't wait long. And the rain stopped. We had the good sense to order children's portions this time which was "just right" (in the words of Goldilocks).

As for rain, we've actually had some this weekend. From light showers to heavy downpours, it's been off and on these past two days. Lovely. There has even been some thunder. It will take some more to soak into the ground much. The unusually hot weather this past summer has really stressed the Red Cedar trees. Most are turning red with drying foliage. Hopefully they will survive with more moisture arriving over the winter as they are beautiful big trees.

We had an invisible fence installed on Friday and began training with our brown dog. Right now she is training on-lead and only approaching the boundary twice daily for which she gets much praise and reinforcement for turning away from the line. Of course, being the dog that she is, on Saturday during her first training (in the pouring rain), she saw a frog jump into the bushes and she went right after it, apparently oblivious to any noxious form of stimulation as she crossed the "line". I corrected her by making her come right back (and through the noxious form of stimulation again) and she has performed with flying colors since. She gets an audible signal first when she approaches the line, followed by a small "buzz" if she doesn't correct herself quickly. We will keep working in this way until Wednesday when the trainer returns and we start working off-lead.

This is my last week of staying at home. I begin my new job next Monday. Some new routines will replace the current flow. The hospital seems keen to have me and I am looking forward to applying my skills in a new place; to be useful. But in the meantime, I will enjoy this final week of quiet self-selected activity...

Being Away and Coming Home

I dashed down to the Bay Area on Tuesday and returned yesterday. It gave me enough time for too-short visits with people-who-matter while taking care of some personal business. It was an easy enough trip; good flights, no delays, everything flowed along as it should have. I enjoyed seeing and spending time with said people. Those are the connections you take with you when you move a life. The telling part of the trip was returning to Poulsbo, "coming home". That's what I did. I realized that I truly live up here now and that "coming home" was immensely satisfying. I have been asked by folks how we could be sure it was the right thing to do when we decided to take our lives and move them to a place we had only visited for a weekend, to a house we had only seen for 20 minutes. It's something we have never really questioned. It was right from the moment we saw it and we would both agree that it has been right ever since. Those few folks who have visited have expressed confirmation of the decision. They get it. You don't have to be here very long to feel it.

It rained a little overnight and more might occur this weekend. This morning about 8:30 we lost power. The report said a tree had fallen across a line. They repaired it by 9:30 but it gave us a reason to figure out how to manually open the gate at the end of the driveway and to take a trip into the post office and then to a local coffee house we've been wanting to try. John was out gathering blackberries in my absence Tuesday and Wednesday. There is once again a large colander of the yummy gems. If the rain holds off, we will go to the Blackberry Festival in Bremerton on Saturday where they might have more ideas for ways to use this bounty. Otherwise, more jam will be made and distributed to friends, old and new. A blackberry and apple crumble has been requested by our much anticipated visitors later this month. That can surely be provided. (Only one?) If our vegetable garden grows as well as these wild brambles, we shall need to set up a booth at the Farmers' Market next year!

It's nice to be "home"...

The week ends...

So, it's a peaceful weekend here following on from a quiet week. The weather is lovely, predicted to get to 76 today (not there yet) and there are new bird songs from recent arrivals. Zoe is having a "spa day" (teeth cleaning, nail trimming, and a bath). She isn't really fond of any of it. I have had a problem with one of my eyes this week and have been pretty well grounded as a result. No driving unless it's necessary. And it hasn't turned out to be very necessary. Tuesday I will go down to the Bay Area to see my ophthalmologist about the situation. Since we are still under COBRA for health insurance (until my benefits kick in with the new job), our doctors are still in California. It will give me an excuse to visit with folks :-)

We continue to pick blackberries and to eat them with most every meal one way or another. With September upon us, they won't be around much longer. I don't know if I feel blessed that we have them in abundance or blessed that they will soon stop!

I have made chili for dinner later. Maybe I'll throw a loaf of bread in the bread maker to accompany the chili. Now, what to have for dessert.....oh, yeah, we have blackberries! To weekends...

Hi Ho Hi Ho....

it's off to work I go...
It was a "thumbs up" on the job interview. I start back to work on September 14. It's been a great three months of "vacation". Two weeks of orientation and then a week of vacation again (which was already on the books). Not bad, I say. I'll be doing largely the same kind of work I was doing in my role in California but with a broader scope.

It's being a quiet week here what with John away. But I figured out a way to run the DVD and so watched a movie last night. The DVD issue is one of space since the TV sits above the fireplace. We haven't yet gone to a flat screen model, so our Sony is not as user friendly for hooking things up (it's a heavy bugger and you have to get to the back of it) and the space around it is minimal. But I have a system in place now. And an account with Netflix :-)

I also put the stereo system together. Lots of cables and cords and a new stereo cabinet. Had to move some components around to get in better reach of each other. It's working in tight quarters and takes patience which is why I took on this task. We play to our strengths. Anyway, we had pondered for months how to get the speakers hooked up as the acoustically ideal spots for them are in the corners on either side of the wall with the fireplace. We considered running the speaker cable under the floor, up and out a wall. Then I measured the distance and we need 12 more feet of cable to accomplish this. That doesn't seem like much, eh? Well, these cables aren't manufactured anymore. They cost about $500 apiece when they were originally purchased (and they produce beautiful sound). But replacing them would be very expensive. So, on to Plan B. I moved one of the speakers to a "less-than-ideal" wall and, voila, we have lovely sound coming from them. Another box checked on the "things to do when we get around to it" list.

I have a bit of work to do today (my remote job) and then I hope to get time to watercolor. There will be less time for that soon and I should take time for it more than I do. And I pulled out some quilt patterns that I purchased in the Southwest last year. I'd like to complete some of those and get them on the walls. Painting and sewing are both "winter" activities for me. Snowbound? Not a problem...

The Difference a Brown Dog Makes

Life has come back to a more even keel. I’ll admit that we were devastated by the thought of losing our beloved brown dog. Those of you who have enjoyed a close connection with an animal won’t be surprised. And those who don’t understand what all the fuss was about, well, I probably don’t understand that either. In any event, we picked up our Zoe from the Humane Shelter some 17 miles south where she had been dropped off by a kind person on Saturday. She was found on the road nearby and probably very soon after starting her unauthorized journey. We are thankful for that because she has no sense when it comes to roads and cars, usually just running to and fro across traffic. She did the one thing we couldn’t imagine she had done because she slipped out of sight so quickly and not near the road (or so we thought). I received an email on Sunday night (which wasn’t discovered until Monday morning) from a shelter volunteer who saw my posting on craigslist. And a Humane Society Officer phoned us Monday morning to say that they had our dog which was just confirmed by our vet since Zoe was wearing her rabies tag. She now wears a licensing tag as well! She looked pretty forlorn laying there in her “cell”. But she is a dog who lives in the moment (aren’t they all?) and those sad times were quickly forgotten. She had a couple vaccinations and a deworming treatment when she arrived at the shelter (standard procedure we were told) and her “mug shot” was telling as she looked quite “worried”. Sure, a car ride was fun, but how and why had she ended up in this place, she was probably asking herself. How could my humans let me get lost?? But we all slept well and soundly last night. I’m especially relieved because John has gone to the Bay Area today and the house would have felt very empty without Zoe’s company.

But there is more to report. I had an interview for a position at a hospital in Bremerton last week. They have been working through my background check and references and I am waiting for a thumbs up or down. In the meantime, I have been canning jam from our blackberries and also some strawberries which we bought. We’re also making some blackberry liqueur which will be a first. It should be ready just in time for our fall visitors. I have resorted now to freezing the blackberries that John brings in daily. I’ll use them over the winter.

In the midst of our dog crisis, John walked down to our nearest neighbors and asked them to let us know if they saw any signs of Zoe. We learned that they are a young couple with 2 small boys and they moved here from San Jose! They told him that the people across the road (we can only see their mailbox; the driveway goes up and into trees) are from Santa Cruz! It’s a veritable haven for California ex-pats! We’re planning to have some kind of neighborhood get together/get to know each other in the future. John was also told to forget whatever we have heard about snow up here because last year these folks were snowbound for a week! I’m planning to increase the shelves in the pantry with that news and lay in “provisions” before the winter. We could certainly survive on jam!

We have been here officially three months now. The days have grown shorter quickly. Today, when I took John to the airport transporter, it was pitch black at 5:30am. By the time I got home just before 6:30 it was quite light. Still, that’s a big difference from our last trip 3 weeks ago, and an even bigger difference from May when it was light at 4:15. Sunset is just after 8pm now. In June it was nearly 10:30. But the weather is holding out and it is predicted to be 80 by the weekend. I don’t know how long that will last. Leaves are already falling. But even in October, it will be mid to upper 60s. Good Autumn temperatures.

Well, I have someone coming today for an estimate on an “invisible” fence. On Friday, I will have one from the “visible” type. It’s always something…

Zoe is found!

Our Craiglist posting got a response from a volunteer at the Humane Society (we also sent them a "lost animal" report) and she is at the shelter. They even sent a photo! We will be at their doorstep this morning to retrieve our much loved brown dog. She will have some explaining to do. And we will have a fence to install. Hard-headed dog plus trusting humans equals bad results. A definite systems error here. Thanks to all of you who sent your good thoughts our way.

The First Day

of the rest of our lives….without our best mate Zoe. Yesterday morning, she went into the woods per usual, but she didn’t return. The woods are largely wetland, thick with undergrowth, and there is a deep creek that runs through it, which, if she could go that far (in the few minutes that she was in there before being called), would keep even a hard-headed water-averse dog from going further. But it wasn’t her habit to go in very far or for very long as she simply would not let John out of her sight for much beyond a few minutes. And nothing would keep her away past dinner. She kept (us to) a very strict schedule. But she hasn’t returned. And we have looked up a down the roadway (just in case) and John has gone into the woods as far as is possible several times and we have called and called and called some more. She did not come out of the woods. So, our best understanding of this is that she has truly gone. Perhaps she knew and that is why she went into “her” woods. She was 11 years old and that’s a pretty respectful lifespan for a dog, as I understand it. But I don’t really agree to understand it. We are numb and sad with loss. She was such an integral part of all the bits of our lives.

We left the lights on outside last night, ever hopeful. And slept poorly while we listened to the woods sing their respects. We heard owl and deer. Today we will both go into the bramble to see if we can find her and bring her back. And if we can’t do that, we’ll carry on trying to accept that “life is what happens while you make other plans”. Suddenly, silently, sadly…

Just Sunday

The blackberry jam is great! And more will be coming this week. The weather has turned warmer again (though not too warm) and there are berries galore just waiting to ripen.

We went to the Poulsbo Arts Festival yesterday. I was pleased to get a Norwegian tane (pronounced something like tinny). It's a handmade wooden "box" in an oval shape that was used for utilitarian purposes (like packing a lunch) but is also very pretty. No nails or glue and it has these ingenious little clasps on either side to hold the lid in place. The one I got is made of cherry wood. I'll try to get a photo of it.

Today we gave a remote video tour of the house to some friends in the UK. We used Skype and I carried the camera while John followed with the laptop and narrated through his headset. With the wireless network, we were able to get nearly to the turn in the driveway outside. If we had a longer cable on the camera, it could be done.

Well, on with the day...

Day Off

Today is a "day off" from all things usual. No "work", no housekeeping, no lists. I will go to yoga class and then I have a date with blackberries. Blackberries don't wait for anything else to be "done". I will be canning blackberry jam today. It's not a big job and it's really very satisfying to see those jars of yummy goodness resting on the counter when I finish. Even more satisfying to open and taste one! We are blessed with lots and lots of blackberries growing all over the place and John is very good about picking them daily. This won't be the last batch that I put up. We're just getting started.

Our wildlife sightings now include mink. John watched as two of them meandered straight through the yard, walking along the stone fence by the garage and across the lawn/meadow/jungle clearing into the woods. They looked to be about 2 feet in length and had shiny black coats. Now I wonder if my garage intruder may have been a mink kit as what I saw of it as it hurried to and fro was definitely black and larger than a shrew ought to be. I didn't have another category for it at the time. Still, it's better off outside than in, at least for me.

As for "wildlife" I really should mention the slugs. I thought there were slugs in California but out here they apparently ingest some kind of steroid. They are big. By my standards that means they are about 4 inches, some a little larger. They range from black to brown to tan with a few yellow fellows. Apparently they have no predators as they are everywhere in the yard/meadow/jungle clearing. Once we get a vegetable garden established in the spring, I'm sure we will see more visitors hoping for a drive through window open 24 hours a day. We plan to surround it with a fence and see how long that lasts. I want to have a few chickens as well and we will have to secure their area too.

We actually got a bit of rain this week. It was sort of Autumn in August. A very nice break. The weekend is predicted to be sunny and 70s to low 80s. Perfect for visiting the Poulsbo Arts Festival. But enough for now. I've got blackberries...

Sweeping revelations...

Reader be warned: This entry contains boring content and you may wish to save yourself right now and click away from this blog :-)

Still here? Well, on with it then...

I like to sweep floors. That's a good thing because the entire first floor is hardwood. It's the persistent rhythm of going forward as the broom moves to and fro. And it's the feel of the broom stroking the soft wood surface. It's a meditation in itself. A clearing out. Now, doesn't that make you want to find a broom and get at it? Get a life, you say? But that is the life and I'm glad for it. Besides, when I finish I've discovered what amounts to a small dog hiding all over the floor. Why isn't Zoe bald?

I have been on my own for most of the week while John has gone to the Bay Area. So, I have done a bit of this and a bit of that and the week has flown by. I have "worked" in the traditional (though nontraditional telecommute) sense and completed some boxes that needed to be checked. What I like about this mode of working is that I can do it in spurts, doing an hour or several hours at one time as my time, energy, and focus wax and wane. Getting the technology to make it happen seamlessly can be a bugger though. But the IT Dept. in Sacramento and Palo Alto are just at the other end of my phone (and sometimes on my computer by the wonders of remote access). And my co-workers are here in email and phone as well. So, I can't (and don't) complain.

The deck and the porch are finished and ready for the wet weather to come. Maybe a little of that will appear this coming week. The rain slickers and the wellies are waiting in the garage. I will have to get comfortable with Zoe being off-lead when I am on my own and she needs to go outside as the days are starting and ending a little darker and following her around (wait....is that why it's called a lead? Because she "leads" me around?...hmmm) gets more treacherous when I can't see where I'm stepping. This was my realization at 5:15 this morning, tramping after her bleary-eyed and half-asleep around trees and through the long grass by the woods where she insists on going every trip out. Following her around in my robe and clogs can only last a short while yet. And I need a great big flashlight.

No sign of that pesky shrew that was in the garage. I had thought perhaps I would allow Zoe off the lead (let me off?) this time while John was away as I am less concerned than I was about her running off through the woods confronting bears or finding the road. That thought lasted until the end of the first day when she went into hunting mode and found a furry creature small enough to fit inside her mouth (a shrew??!!) and blatantly disregarded every whistle and word from me in order to "play" with it. Thankfully when she did finally decide to come in the house, she didn't carry it with her. But that ended her reign of unadulterated freedom for these few days. The dog whisperer will be back tonight.

In between work, house duties, and family I'm alternating mornings with Jazzercise and yoga. Slip in a little sweeping and I've got the full body/mind/spirit experience! Namaste....

Not Death Valley

We've done a lot of whining about the heat up here lately. So, to get some perspective, here's a picture of Death Valley where we visited last year. We stayed in a little place called Stovepipe Wells right in the middle of the valley, passing up the cushier digs at Furnace Creek Inn nearer to the entry. It was well over a hundred degrees and barely cooled at night (96 when we left in the morning at 9am).

So, that little 90+ degree spell we had up here seems pretty moderate by comparison...

Taming of the Shrew

There's a shrew in our garage. At least there was one there yesterday. If it took the easy way out, it will have made a swift exit through the garage door that stayed open for just that purpose much of the afternoon. A shrew is small, furry, and has a pointy nose. Cats don't eat them because they (according to my hasty research) taste yucky. But they still qualify on the startle and scream list of things I don't like to encounter (right up there with snakes). But Zoe likes to find them, so she got on the case just as soon as I could get her away from the cat food and pointed in the direction of the initial scurrying/shuffling sound. She followed its trail around the garage as it went here and there, but never actually rounded it up, so my hope is that it left.

Other wildlife "encounters" yesterday included a robin's egg (lovely blue) and a possible osprey flying over the woods, both spotted by John. Have to get a better look at the presumed osprey, but it fit the description in the Audubon book. This morning he also heard a new sound while outside with the Z-dog at 5am (bless his heart). While I couldn't get him to vocalize an imitation, he said it could be something like deer calling. I love discovering all the new wildlife (as long as they stay out of the garage!).

We got a number of nagging little projects completed yesterday. John fired up the generator which was purchased in 1989 just after the Loma Prieta earthquake and has never been used. Thankfully, I might add. However, given the earlier talk of winds in this area during the winter, we thought it might be prudent to have a working generator. And we do! It fired right up after 20 years of dormancy and motored away. So, our cabin in the woods will be able to keep a refrigerator and other life enhancing equipment going should our electricity go off.

I have all but a small bit of the deck and front porch stained. I hadn't factored in the wasps which came out at midday around the deck. So, I'll finish that off today in between Jazzercise, lunch, and work. It's Monday....

Weekending

This is a Poulsbo sunset.

Well, the temps have cooled somewhat. It's only getting into the 80s during the day now. Still above normal for the area (should be in the 70s)but much more bearable. I had multiple errands to run Friday. Saturday we went to the Farmhouse Breakfast that is only served on the first Saturday each month. I'm enclosing the link to the place because it really is quite something. The breakfast was very yummy. All organic and most of it grown on the farm. (I didn't see any chickens for the eggs). And the grounds are really nice to stroll around, looking at all their various gardens, even some horses. It's not far from our house, just about 2 miles. We met some nice folks who told us about several more places we ought to discover which we look forward to doing.

We then went to a "Rock the Bulb" event and exchanged 10 of our recessed floods for CFL ones. For free! The electric company is sponsoring these events all over the Sound. There were fairly long lines but they moved quickly and for a savings of about $350 it was definitely worth it! We only have about 20 more to change out, but they are in rooms where we don't use the overhead lighting often. One of the attractive features of this house is the amount of natural light that it has. That will be a plus in the "gray skies" season.

Along with our efforts to be "greener" and conserve kilowatts, we installed some motion-sensing power strips in the office to manage all the peripherals, modem, router, etc. that stay "on" even when they are off. Unfortunately, as we are apparently motionless while working (human energy-saving) at the computer, things kept shutting down and then we'd have to wave our arms or do a little jig to get noticed by the sensor. So, we're back to one regular strip which we will just shut down manually in the evening. But we're trying.

Today I plan to get the rest of the deck stained before it gets too warm and then do the front porch which I can work on into the day as it doesn't get direct sun until much later. John will work down his "list" (it's actually my list, but titled "John's to-do". It's a system that works). There's a hint of rain coming next week and there are a few things outside that would be best done before that happens. We're still looking at sheds to find "the one".

John is off the California next week and I will keep busy with my own work, classes, animals, and more. We're getting the window coverings installed upstairs this week. I know I said I wouldn't put anything over them, but I hadn't considered the insulating factor they provide. So, there will be some inconspicuous shades available on each of the upstairs windows. I'm still holding out on the downstairs...

It's a little too hot

for my liking. In the high 90s. Maybe it's even hit 100 today. We're blessed with air conditioning. A feature I sort of laughed about when we looked at the house, thinking this was the Seattle area for heaven's sake and when does it ever even get warm up here? What about all those gray skies and drizzle that everyone prophesied to me? It's an anomaly. And I will be glad to see it go. It has been warm when eating outside in the evening, so we have enjoyed that. A nice glass of wine (or is that a glass of nice wine?), something interesting on the BBQ, and just time. Maybe the upside of really warm weather is that it slows you down and you can't help but feel relaxed as you melt!

Inside the house, we make interesting cubbie-mates, both of us working from home, usually in the same room, neither of us speaking a word. We save the chit chat for non-work time or during the commute down the stairs ;-)

We went to the Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend. It was fun to walk around and look at the interesting booths. And we got a little more familiar with the community of Kingston. I found a handy parking lot for going to the Farmers Market there and a couple restaurants that seem worth investigating in the future. Before it got too hot, I managed to get some of the deck stained and the front porch cleaned and prepped for staining. More will have to wait till the heat breaks. The good news for John is that with such heat, the grass is not growing much (it might be dead!) and he hasn't had to spend evenings mowing. Instead he's managing to collect a few berries which have been very nice indeed. That's about it for now. Take care...

The real Miller Bay

Here's the real Miller Bay with the Cascades in the background. There 's a lovely place to view the bay down the road about 2 miles in Suquamish. There's a long pier which you can walk out on and a long beach front for walking along the water. There's also a little cafe that serves up pizza and sandwiches that people say is quite good. You can sit on the deck outside and look over the bay. On our list of "things to discover". The location is named for the Suquamish tribe that is local to this area. They are hosting the tribal canoe festival this year and 100 or so canoes from various tribes in the Northwest are expected to arrive in early August for the weeklong event.

I smell a little smoke in the air this morning. There's a burn on the Olympic Penninsula to our west caused by a lightening strike.

I notice our "to do" list never seems to get shorter but the items on it are less urgent as we make progress toward becoming established residents here (we're local folk now). The immediate work of setting up basecamp is over and the view looks farther out now. That's a good thing...