Full house

On my way home from work tonight, I picked up a young couple hitch hiking between the Greenbank store and Classic Road and ended up bringing them back to our house to join us and our fire on the beach with Scott and Zac and Drake and Tim and I. The are staying at the Cottage B&B up the road which they showed me around and it is quite lovely! Our fire on the beach turned out a little too windy, but I did come home today with some super Russian Kale seeds which are supposed to be indestructible once established and particularly delicious according to my employer.

Amazing!

It's so hard to resist having every single post say "have I mentioned how cool my husband is? Tim is so the best!" but, today, it can't be helped. I came home not only to a splendid meal of salmon and quinoa just going on to the table, but also a tired out dog and a garden! Evidently Tim fixed the rototiller today and did the whole yard. Finally!!! The fenced bit of lawn is starting to look like a garden! I am so ready to be planting seeds and starting the beds!

Job Interview!

Tim had a great phone-interview with an interesting company in Mukilteo this morning and they've asked him to come in for an in-person interview early next week!  Lets all keep our fingers crossed and send well wishes that way for a successful final interview and a rewarding new career! The company makes batteries the size of shipping containers for things like wind/solar/tidal power plants where supply may fluctuate but demand is constant. We can all pester Tim for more details after Monday if all goes well.

More visiting!

I've had a lovely day off today, and we even had a little sunshine! After Zac and Connor and Evan came up Sunday, Tim drove back down to Seattle with them Monday afternoon and stayed the night to beat the traffic before picking our friend Scott up from the train station Tuesday night and heading home. Today, I got some work done in the "garden" meaning I raked up sod and other bio-mass from the fenced area on the edge of our neighbors upper yard while imagining with rose glasses what my garden will be and watching my personal Tiller sacrificed her own cleanliness for the sake of turning the soil in a hole-digging manner. I am now about two-sevenths through the initial process, though even after my scraping and raking efforts and all of Tilly's help, I'll still likely need to till the area properly before planting my poor little seedlings. Also, the giant pile of bio-stuff Alice helped me collect has been moved to it's proper place piled high in an empty garden bed with tree branches and other mater. It started raining and I decided I'm still recovering from that terrible illness and there is no shame in laying around watching movies and taking it easy with Tim and Scott for the rest of the day.

Recovery!

I'm not sick any more! And the truck runs! And I've been coming home from work to delicious hot meals by my outstanding husband like salmon and veggies and tortillas in various combinations. The sun is out, it's warm, I'm not sick, and the truck is better than ever with it's new clutch, freshly machined fly wheel, clean transmission, and all the pieces back together.

On Saturday, I brought my young charges, Oliver and Abby, over to the house for some time on the beach. Tilly and Tim came down with us and all three 40-50lb creatures ran free happily together - not even a stolen peanut butter sandwich to complain of. Tim and I rebuilt our fire circle to be excellent and Abby found many balls, shells, and other treasures on the beach. It was one of those perfectly wonderful days where children and puppies are so fun to share time with and not stressful. I love our beach and think we have the most wonderful spot here with everything we could want. 

It's a great property for visiting children and also a great property for visiting young men! Last night, Zac and Connor and Evan from Juneau came up to stay the night and we put our new fire circle to use while Tilly ran free, digging holes in the sand and chewing (hopefully) sticks. 

In bed

Still... Still in bed. As my amazing husband of many hidden talents takes apart the truck clutch and transmission and feeds me and takes our little puppy for romps on the beach. The deal was as long as I listen to him and stay in bed, he will take care of me and hopefully I will stop being so sick soon.

Despite my never ending bed rest, I was allowed to bring my blankets and coats and hats and puppy and water bottle with me and ride along in the car up to Anacortes and back yesterday as Tim went to get his flywheel machined and I went to score some gates for my fence from Home Depot. I dream of digging post holes for my fence. At least I got one good day of working in our little garden with Alice before  being bundled up and sent to bed on Friday night.

Between naps, I've been as productive as getting a bit farther on finishing my Masters in Teaching papers and I corresponded with the lovely people who have my baby chickens. It looks like April 15 is the new date as the winter seems to have dragged on a little too long and froze the early spring eggs of those outdoor hens. You can buy asparagus in December, but if you want to grow it, it only comes up in spring and you'll only find it at the farmers markets then. I am trying to remember I believe in this and want to support the awesome Sand Hill Preservation Center as I hear that they don't have 20 hatch-able eggs yet. I must remember this as I walk past the isles of chicks at the Farm Supply store. I must be patient! But it would be so nice to have baby chicks in bed with me while I'm ill. Give me little cheeps to brighten my day.

Bwa ha ha! Warm, sunny, gardening!

Aaand I've been blogging again! See? It really is directly related to what's going on in our lives, the weather, and our health (I am still rather sick but Alice says it doesn't sound like pneumonia, so Tim has given up on restraining me for the time being). We had an awesome day today with Alice. After waffle breakfast, Tim, Alice, Tilly and I loaded into the car to drop it off at Les Shuab, then spent about three hours or so exploring the shops with excellent thrift store scores and kind, dog-loving folks at the hardware store. We took a long walk around the block, down wooded lanes, back around to the shop, had popcorn and tea, then stopped by the Goose community grocery store to stock up on fruits.

This afternoon, Alice floated between Tim's rocket fuel project and my gardening project. Despite the extra set of eyes, Tim managed to burn his new fingers on the molten sugar mixture, but my gardening went much better as I mastered the weedwacker and Tilly ran in joyous bounds up and down the now fully enclosed garden space and Alice scooped up the giant armloads of cut stuff and piled it high. It was a lovely afternoon of working along side my mother-in-law building a garden with intermittent visits from an injured Tim and frequent visits from a delighted puppy.

Grandpa joined us for some roasted veggies, corned beef, and experimental tofu. Oh! and sometime in the day Fritz dropped by with a map of trails through the Trillium forest and a little local history! What a delightful day off. Now I will go see if Alice is up for a little Downton Abby.

Noise complaints.

Last night after work, Tim and I made the long drive to Sea-Tac to pick up his mom, Alice. On our way home, we stopped by the shell station down the street from our house and were met with a deafening noise - frogs! We got out of the car and walked to the soggy spot between the parking lot and road and I covered my ears at a noise like an industrial fire alarm. Tim and I each easily caught one of the thousands of culprits that seem to think noise is a better defense than diving under the water. The buggers were surprisingly small for how intensely loud they were! I was imagining what a terror it would be to have a plague of frogs if your doors and windows didn't seal too well and everything was a bit damp. I think I would quickly go insane if I couldn't escape from the intensity of the noise. I can't remember if I mentioned, but the other night we heard very loud seals on our beach. During the day the birds have been filling the trees and doing their part to call in the spring. This morning, it was warm and sunny so I kicked my seeding out of the house. Hopefully I can get some good work on my garden done tomorrow with Alice if Tim decides I'm not too sick and lets me out of bed. It's supposed to be even hotter and sunnier! I don't know how I'll survive the summer; lemonade and a hammock I suppose.

Acting on Dreams

We got up early this morning and delivered my car to our excellent detailer in Oak Harbor for a little salvation then spent some time walking around Fort Casey for a while with Tilly. All that concrete and those giant cannon guns have been sitting there for the last 100 years! Tim and I were inspired and both agreed we wished we could be in charge of the National Historical Society or something to be able to unlock all the closed doors and do something with the space. It would be great to mock up some areas to look how it would have at the time, maybe even wax figures, and more information about what the rooms were used for and such. By the time we got home, we were ready for lunch and a nap, then Tim worked on the truck a little while I got busy outside. After dreaming for years and drawing up so many sets of plans, I finally put some of my sketches into the real world. I stole all the rebar from my collapsing compost bins (I think pallets are a better way to go) and used them to steak out my future gates and corners around the yard. I ran a string around the whole perimeter with markings every 4 and 8 feet to guide where my t-posts will be. I also planted the succulents I was given and took a look at my greenhouse. It's finally starting to feel warm in the greenhouse, but somehow the door was broken and no longer lines up well for opening and closing. Hopefully we will get it fixed up and working again quickly so my plants can move outside and I can get the next batch of seedlings started.

For those of you who are now all caught up

Well, my phone is currently waiting patiently in a bag of rice, so there will be no pictures for now - not even of the awesome signs lining the high school hallways today at the workshops that said something like "deposit plant mater here" with a big arrow and a tarp piled with dirt and plant mater. So, it looks like we left off with trying to sell Joe's boat. Oh yeah, tell your friends; yachts, live-aboards, and sport fishing are in! http://www.kachinkkachink.squarespace.com

Picture off the internet of a car like my new one

So... what happened first? The Escort got a tire patched, the Lexus got back from the shop, looking good and leaking minimally, the Escort had that very important belt break just up the street from the house and rolled it's way back down the driveway, then the truck had something funny happen where the clutch won't release so it is thus stuck either in or out of gear. Very scary when you go to start your car with a foot firmly on the clutch and it starts driving forward towards the greenhouse and cliff full speed ahead. Grandpa, Tim, and I loaded into the Lexus and headed for Bellingham in search of a new car. Grandpa reminded us we are desperate and not to return to Whidbey without a second working vehicle. After a bit of confusion, more driving than we cared for, some excellent Thai food, and some deliberation, we had the keys to our new car! The next morning, I promptly delivered the car to the competent people of Les Shuab for all new tires and some diagnostics on what else needs to be done in short order. Tomorrow we have an appointment to have the thing cleaned so I don't get a headache from the excessive amounts of spilled coffee accumulated on every upholstered surface for the last 10 years of heavy commuting. While I've been very excited about my new 2003 Toyota Matrix, Tim has somehow magiced the truck under onto the patio/under the porch without it being able to drive, without going on the grass, without destroying the trellis or vines and has removed the transmission and clutch. All this amounts to further proof that he is an alien - like Superman, but with more superpowers that include transdimensional telekinesis for moving broken cars and parts about, x-ray vision and super human strength for fixing things and MAD AWESOME spelling powers. I regret that I can't take a picture of his newly materialized outdoor covered auto shop complete with truck to better communicate how remarkable his feat is.

Tim is always my hero and I am so amazed by what he does

In other news, I have begun my Master Gardeners training with my good neighbor, Faye. So far, we had our initial meet and greet to learn more about the program, I've been working on the readings and quizzes, and today we all volunteered at this annual gardening workshop in various classrooms where I got to sit in on a lesson about pruning, a class on succulents which included free samples for our planting pleasure, and a lecture on soil. Oy, aside from the Master Gardeners class and working with little Oliver and Abby and buying a car and hanging out with Tilly, and fighting this never-ending cold of many phases, I have also been renewing my efforts to get my Masters of Teaching done. I was writing a paragraph a day for a couple days there before we set out to get the car and I fell ill again. Also, Tilly has been taking up a little more time as she has decided she is afraid of the stove which would be fine if it wasn't right next to the front door and utterly ridiculous. We can set off fireworks feet from her, she will run along on the exhaust side of the moped, but the side of the stove is scary. When it started, she wouldn't be in the same room with it or even half way down the hall, which was pretty limiting in our small house. Now she will lick peanut butter off it as long as my hand is also there and we do a little working up to it. Hopefully this won't last too much longer - and she was just starting to reliably go to the door to be let out!