Pack it out

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We took a garbage run with Dungeness Wildlife Refuge caretakers out to the lighthouse, which is 5 miles out on a spit of beach.  It was pristine. There’s an active Friends group and have restored the quarters and tower. The brass glistened. The original lens is gone.  They have a keeper program where people pay to stay for a week. I forgot to take photos. Here’s a link to a beautiful one on the internet. 

Our makeshift tiny house is just dandy. 

  
We’re poised and waiting for the right combination of tide and weather to head out to Protection Island.  In the meantime we shop for food and enjoy looking at the Olympic Mountains. 

  
  

Breakfast in bed

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Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and internet streaming.

We passed our practical and written boating course, the written with flying colors, and we both won prizes – boating knives. I can drive a trailer, turn a boat around in a tight circle, make turns at high speeds, and recover objects and dummies that fall over board. I couldn’t help a scream or two at the first high speed hairpin turns. Probably frowned upon while captaining. 

  
I floated in various cold water survival gear and learned this. When you fall in cold water, it takes about one minute to regulate your breathing, you have muscle control for about 10 minutes to do what you can, then you last for an hour before succombing to hypothermia. Happily I was trying the gear in warm water but cold air. 

We left Seattle behind and headed to Sequim to prepare for stage 2 of our trip, which was dependent upon us passing stage 1. Hence breakfast, et al, in bed. We are in a brand new tiny house, at the Dungeness wildlife refuge, that is not quite outfitted yet. Our first purchase was toilet paper. No table but there is a bed and 2 folding chairs. 

Now we are learning about our responsibilities on the island. Sounds like we’ll mostly be cleaning bird poop. We learned one caretaker fell off the dock and drowned because it wasn’t clear of guano!

We’ve received too much information to process and will have the usual island turnover, maybe Monday. Head out in a narrow tide window, get a quick briefing of the systems, weather is turning, tide’s going out, got to go, bye!

Everyone we meet is super friendly here. Could it be due to legalized cannibis? We were even able to use our volunteer patches as proof of identification in one government office. 

We know we’re on the west coast. The grocery store has a wall full of different chiles. 
  
The best news is Tim Tams seem to be available throughout the US now I saw them in NY and they’re also available here. Thank you Australia! Go get yours and try a Tim Tam slam!

  
Back to the caretaker manual. 

The work before vacating

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IMG_0848.JPGWe’re getting ready to head off for another adventure. Sounds exciting, right. Indeed it is, however, first I have to clean the refrigerator. And the house. We have a friend who will move in the day we vacate. He’ll take care of the house and our cat, Elli.  Things have to be tidy. Then it’s likely we’ll have to open and spruce up the house we move into on Protection Island, WA.

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I spent about five days organizing the fiber projects to pack.  I settled on a cable sweater I am knitting for myself, a fair isle sweater (for me too), card weaving, pin loom weaving and a lace shawl. Throw in a few baby gifts and you can understand why I am leaving my violin home. I vacuum sealed the yarn the other night.

IMG_0833IMG_0834Today I spent the total of about an hour choosing the clothes I will wear for the next three months. I’ve got my priorities straight, plus I should have 2 new sweaters while I am away. Must remember a hat to protect me from guano. Then I organized the medicines and medical supplies we might need. Finally I packed our electronics. We are all set.

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And away we go.

 

 

Spring contrasts

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We had a last visit from old man winter, with a wet heavy snowfall. Tim, is my intrepid snowman. I didn’t even have to manhandle the snow blower for this one.

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Instead I headed south to an acupuncture conference in Pittsburg, which is a much nicer city than I expected.  IMG_0754Food was great, but keep in mind I live in a town with only one restaurant. My hotel room overlooked the convergence of three rivers and there were lovely walks along their shores, even if the weather was a bit dreary.

Trees were flowering and daffodils were in full bloom.

I had to travel to Long Island for a sad gathering and we stayed in a motel where they had an unimaginative decorating scheme.  The room had two of the same pictures, but one was hung upside down for variety. Hmmm.

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I returned home to confused weather.  The temperature rose to 60 degrees but ice floes and snow piles remain for a little bit longer but

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there is hanky panky in the air.  Different birds show up every day, bluebirds have been sighted, peepers are peeping, phoebes are phoebeeing, and our local Toms are strutting their stuff. Love is in the air.

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March came and went as a lion

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Another spring snow storm.  Not a blizzard but lots of wet, heavy snow bending trees and fences, and obscuring views. It is in juxtaposition to spring blooms indoors.

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Looks like “we” will be manhandling the snow blower again. Especially since Tim has a small concert here tonight.  I need a break from my latest endeavors anyway.

I fell into a rabbit hole that held a pin loom.  These are small hand held looms that make small woven squares.  But they are addicting.  One website I found said they are just like potato chips, you can’t make just one.

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Now I’m puzzling over piecing them into a baby garment.  I found my 1930’s edition of 2″ and 4″ looms on ebay and they even came with some finished blocks.  The pattern books from that era are a hoot.  I could make a coat for myself, blankets, rugs… The mind boggles.

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After I made a couple of hats on my Passap knitting machine, it needed something else to do.  Here’s a cotton blanket for a new baby.

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These sweet blocks were a fun knit for a charity knitting project.  I finally found and joined a fiber guild.  Who cares if it meets an hour away – at night.  A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.  So many talented fiber artists there.

Here’s another obsessive project.  I knit 6 strips on, ahem, my other knitting machine, 3 at a time, then wove them into this cute little ball.  OK, maybe I have a bit of cabin fever.

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And we can never have enough rugs.  Really, I am trying to reduce my stash.  I had these sock loops and even had some unused warp.  They go together nicely.  The classes I took at Red Stone Fiber Glen have paid off.  I can dress a loom with finesse these days.

The stash I am not using has been squished so at least the volume, if not the quantity, has been reduced.  Tim picked up 5 gallon, lidded spackle buckets for me and I stored my 3 clean fleeces in them.  For another day.  Maybe next March?

A bunch of turkeys

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And they’re not even politicians.  They were spotted around the bird feeder when I headed to work today.  There they were when I got home from work too but I didn’t have a camera to catch them flying over my car and the house. Going for the easy meal and taking it out of the mouths of the chickadees, goldfinch and cardinals.

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Who doesn’t like to play in the snow

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I found myself in a staycation with 2 feet of snow at home and more than 4 feet of powder in the mountains.  And I had a free pass to Whiteface!  So off I went to ski.  The day was perfect, 27 degrees, sunny, light breeze.  There may have been a few too many yahoos for my liking, due to a Canadian school holiday, but I found plenty of places to be on my own on the mountain.  Basically I am a princess and conditions have to be just right.  This was my first day downhill skiing of the season!  Before it was too cold, too crowded, too windy, too icy.

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I had progressed far enough on the baby blanket I am weaving to take a break.

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The cardinals look like they have been having fun at our feeders and in the snow.  The male’s vibrant red against the fresh snow is stunning. Red squirrels tunnel and burrow under the snow and jump from tree to tree.

Today I am too sore to play in the snow, the blanket is more than half way done and we are off to the opera! sort of.  We’re actually going to see a live simulcast of La Traviata. It’s the best we can do here in the mountains.

Like the good old days

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A late winter Nor’easter dumped about 2 feet of snow on us during what the National Weather Service is referring to as the Pi day blizzard.  What fun.  I was supposed to attend a 4 day weaving workshop but had to cancel and found myself at home with no obligations.  Yay.

I pieced and quilted the king sized quilt.  More about that another day. I’m currently sewing the binding on by hand.  I started a baby sweater and dressed the loom for two baby blankets.  Just like the good old days when I was really retired.  Now I’m just so busy!

We took turns using the snow blower to clear our driveway and walks.  It took 4 complete sweeps.  I woke up to this.

Pretty impressive even if it is from the basement window.

Today I got to do one of my favorite things.  I cut a cross country ski trail in the woods next to my house.  It took 35 minutes to do the first loop, which was pretty hard, but then I could ski it.

I found a new way to take selfies.  I was never much of a fan but this is the way to go.  I even found a buddy out in the woods.

After an hour of skiing, I made my way home.

I’ll hop in the hot tub a little later.  That and the cabin are two of the most important things we dig out.

A quilt fit for a king

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Sized bed.  I must be nuts. And I plan to machine quilt it with my little featherweight sewing machine. I’ll be wrestling it for a few days. 

  
I found the pattern online from Man Sewing. It’s rather bold but pieced together easily. It was hard to find enough floor space to layer it, while my kitten/cat thought it was great fun to dive under it. This will complete my goal of making at least  one quilt for each of our kids. 

Now it’s on to the grandkids and we just learned a granddaughter is expected to arrive in July. I like to be gender neutral but…

I’m back to running and have been musing about running during all seasons in the north country. I’m a bit lazy in the winter and can’t run from home but our town keeps a nice route of sidewalk cleared of snow. But it is always dark when I want to run. 

A couple of weeks ago, temperatures rose, snow and ice melted and the rivers were glowing strong. My town run crosses river and streams 3-4 times. 

In the summer, I take to a dirt road that leads to seasonal camps. Too icy and muddy to run in the Winter or Spring.  Fall is the easiest, all options are available. And of course when there’s lots of snow, we cross country ski. 

Here are some scenes from recent runs. 

  
  
Hat band is done and shipped. Now I’m off to quilt and knit baby things.