October

I feel that my blogging comes in fits and spurts. Our life comes in fits and spurts, and when it's busy and full, there is no time for posting! And when it is slow, there's no point in posting! I don't know that it has really been slow since we moved, or before we moved really. We have a pretty great and full life. Since last I posted, there is no way I can catch up, but I will summarize the important points so blogging in the future will not become increasingly intimidating with so many things left out. 

With Petunia gone for such a long time, Tilly and Esther made good progress bonding. As long as Tilly is entertained with  other things, like climbing rocks and trees on the beach, she can be muzzle-free with Ester! and with or without the muzzle, Esther seems determined to find a way to creep up and snuggle the puppy. On the goat-note, Petunia is finally home! After a month of being off on a date with her boyfriend on the farm we got the girls from, we've decided she is most likely pregnant even if no one witnessed the deed. We are glad to have her home, Esther is glad to have her home, and we are particularly looking forward to those baby goats around Valentines day, and fresh milk to match! Petunia seems perplexed by Esther and Tilly's relationship, like she's the only one who remembers dogs are predators.

We have elected to discontinue milking Tadd's goats as we prepare for our goats to begin to produce, but with the last of his goat's milk I've made a hard cheese which is now hardened and dried by being left in the butter cubbord of the fridge for a while and is now dipped in lovely red wax to help the aging process. I should remember to continue flipping it from time to time to help with even moisture distribution. In a few more weeks, I will grate it up on some pesto pasta and we will have a splendid dinner.

I can't resist posting a picture of this cuteness. Nearly every day Tilly and I walk to our neighbor, the K-9 Search and Rescue leader's house and check on the newest addition to the team. This adorable little golden retriever puppy, so much calmer than Tilly was at that age, gets let out to play with the other four goldenss and Tilly. I think Tilly's nose is sticking into the corner of that picture, as well as my feet attempting the pose the puppy. Today Tilly had to stay home while I went over because she hasn't been feeling well, but hopefully tomorrow will bring back our bouncy puppy - she is already beginning to perk up again.

In chicken news: we are up to 8 chickens regularly flying the coop. One of them knows how to go under the gait to get back into the yard with proper motivation, though despite my roosts as aids, the rest are a bit oblivious about getting trapped out. There are maybe 4 chickens laying eggs most mornings, though one of our good layers has taken up residency on a clutch and is attempting to be a winter mother. I am happy to let nature take it's course and see how she does with her dozen eggs. It would be exciting to have chicks again and see them following their mother about in the yard. I really ought to think about chicken proofing the fence a bit better. I think I just need to add a floppy bit everywhere there is a horizontal top bar on the fence. We'll see.

Our friends Nathan and Zac, from Juneau, came to stay for a few days before heading off on a cross-country road trip for the next month or so. We had a great time visiting with them and they were of much help, planting some lettuce in the greenhouse, helping me move my finished 4x4x8 compost structure into position and filling it with the compost. Hopefully they are staying safe and having the good kind of adventures wherever they are now.

As Zac and Nathan headed out, our family of three also headed to the mainland. Tilly, Tim and I went back to our special spot east of Everette to do some more exploring. Yet again, we left right after work on a Friday and made it to the trailhead right around sunset. Trailhead might be the wrong word. We made it to the washed out place in the road where driving ended. From there, we started hiking with our packs and made it about 50 feet before encountering a wide, shallow, quickly moving stream. We hopped from rock to rock fairly easily, carrying Tilly, and only getting our feet a little damp. On the other side we did not find the continuation of the road, but instead thick brush and piled rotting logs. After strambling through, over, under, and on that for a while, we hit another stream, and another. Each getting a little faster and deeper it seemed. Finally we came to a stream that seemed to have no good crossing point and decided it was time to head back the way we came to the far side of that first river and continue through the woods on the hillside - anything had to be better than this! As the water went over our knees, and Tilly squirmed in my arms, we managed to get safely back across for a final time - and there we finally hit the road we had been looking for! After about a mile of washed out chunks of underwater asphalt, we were walking down a dry road.

We expected an old abandoned forest service road or mining/logging road from long ago. Instead we fount blacktop, brightly painted lines, and street signs; the road must have washed out more recently than we thought. What a glorious reward after all that struggle! But it was a bit eerie - to be walking down a great road in the middle of the woods, all alone in the dark. We imagined buying a chunk of land and having this private wilderness racetrack. Then we saw a light off in the distance. What kind of crazy meth-heads would be out here in the woods like that? Maybe it's other campers? No - loud opera music blasting from a shack. Clearly we had come across some sort of secret drug operation in the woods in the middle of the night. We leashed Tilly and pointed our headlights down as we crept past quickly and quietly. We took a deep breath when we were out of site. Then we saw another light in the distance - were these small mining operations? We had heard people still lived out here to mine,  Again we scuttled on by. Then there were moving lights ahead. As we crossed a bridge, two cars passed by. Strangely, the cars were new sedans and not beaten 4x4 jeeps. There must be a road in, though we thought we checked the map carefully. Or maybe these people have been stuck here since the road washed out! But the increasing cars and houses brought on a new problem - this was where we planned to camp, only to find a road with cars and private property instead of secluded National Forest wilderness or old mining ruins. We were supposed to be in the woods and somehow we ended up in a town! Where are we? A map had loaded on Tim's phone before we headed out and the very edge happened to include our GPS marker and a camping area depicted nearby. Unsure what we'd find, we decided to continue on and hope for the best.

We found the National Forest campground with no signs remaining, no pay box, but newly painted composting bathrooms unlocked and empty bear proof trash cans, and pristine camping spots without so much as a cigarette butt on the ground. We pitched our mini-tent in the first camping sandbox area, flat and soft, and built a fire for our dinner. We tried not to think of the Twilight Zone, of horror movies, of waking up and being in a land of forever dark, or waking up and being surrounded by a suddenly bustling town still stuck in the 60's with black-and-white people instead of color. I fell asleep with the bright moon shining on the tent and dreams of people coming by with flashlights. In the morning I woke up early and resumed drying our boots over the fire until a man came walking down the trail to us. Suspicious he was one of the people trapped in this forgotten community for the last 20 years, I asked him what he was doing and how he got here and such.

It turns out the road washed out about 6 years ago and the government plans to eventually rebuild it. By going a ways down the highway, then turning through some other small town and taking back roads to Forest Service roads to logging roads and driving for many miles, it's possible to drive to this abandoned forest road. All the home owners we saw chopping wood in their yards gave us friendly waves as we found the bridge to the actual decrepit road to "Mineral City" up Silver Creek past old mines. We also found a nice trail which avoids the river crossings and follows the washed out sections of road far above in the woods. Next time we will drive to where we left off.

Back at home, we've been enjoying evening fires and now have the company of Mom Joy and Uncle Joel and Cousin Min Min and Alex for the next few days.