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!  

Overdue

So a blog about our adventures of moving towards self sufficiency through food production is rather dull when it is rainy and freezing out, we've both been working, and we've been taking turns being sick for so many weeks it's hard to remember. At long last, Tim's hand is better and for the moment we all are healthy and happy.

More excuses on my absence of blogging: I have those seedlings started and some rather low hopes for them as this snowflake-shaped rain continues. The proximity to 32 degrees is particularly noticeable as I am biking with a stroller full of nearly 100lbs of children and possibly a dog in tow... up a hill - and I use my creative imagination to remember someplace warm, to dream of the summer that seems so far away. Moving in the fall really gives a wet and cold impression of your new home... But, the chicks come next week! And hopefully that means we will soon be motivated again to get things moving and growing here at Honeymoon Bay.

 This is my current job. Hanging out with these two awesome kids. This must have been the one brief moment that wasn't in the low 40s or high 30s in the last couple weeks and pouring rain. I know, I moved from Alaska, I should never complain about weather, but really - after biking a half hour each way through it, or walking with a kid on each hand and standing around at bus stops... so cold! So wet! So ready for real spring which leads to summer! I want to get my plants outside! I want to get my garden going! I want to put the hammocks up!

It's so stunning to wake up to this view at the foot of my bed every morning. My eyes flutter open a tiny bit to judge if I can roll over and go back to sleep or if it's time to get up and I catch a glimpse of this and feel like I'm still dreaming.

So maybe it was sunny and warmish pretty recently because I think this was last Thursday. Tilly came to work with me. I practiced biking with her and the stroller, than we picked up Oliver and biked home, then biked all the way to the daycare to pick up Abby and back. Oh, and on the way to work we stopped at the dog park. Tim had awesome timing picking up Tilly just as we got back to the house and taking her home for a long nap. This Saturday, Tim pitched in again and helped me take the kids to Port Townsend which turned out pretty well. Not quite all I dreamed of, but not Tim's greatest fears either.

Tim is once again between jobs as Joe just left and the Kachink Kachink is now looking and running excellent in preparation to be sold. Tim did a lot to get the boat running better than ever and we all pitched in on the advertising front. Check out the boat here and spread the word to anyone you know looking for a great deal on a luxury yacht or roomy live-aboard. We might even be up for a second honeymoon sailing it to it's new home for the right person! kachinkkachink.squarespace.com

Yesterday I had the day off and Tim had not yet returned from his adventure down to Tacoma to see his friends Zac and Drake, so I took off on the mo-ped with Tilly (very slow speeds in the shoulder). She seemed totally un-phased by the puttering exhaust coming out next to her and managed to maintain a good trot most of the way to Freeland and back. Once again, it was rainy and cold, so as soon as we got to the farm supply store, we deployed the kickstand, turned off the engine, and spent some serious time warming up and walking around. I bought Tilly a bag of dog food to pick up later with the car and the awesome women working there were good enough to give us a couple cups in a tupperwear dish for immediate consumption. They also said we could spread the dog beds on the floor for sampling, play fetch in the isles, and generally cozy up and get warm. Though there was no way I was putting a 50lb bag of dog food on the mo-ped with me, I did decide to implement my awesome Alaskan Girl Scout skills and tightly rolled up Tilly's new bed, put bags over each end, and strapped it into my backpack for a makeshift ride home. She seems to be appreciating the effort and it's even big enough that she's not always rolling and sliding off.

Well, tonight I unpacked my journals and lined them up in order on a bookshelf. That makes this home. Like unpacking a collection of porcelain pig figurines or something, I feel like all my friends are settled in after being smuggled here in their box. One of these days I'll sit down and read through them all - write a long letter to my future daughter reflecting on my experience as a tween, teen, and young adult. I can point to where Tim and I started dating, each grade of school, trips, tipping points; my life in pages. Yet for whatever reason, after over 10 years of filling a journal every six months, I've been working my way through the first half of the same volume for the last three years or so. My journaling seems to have come to an abrupt halt around the time Tim and I started cohabiting full time. I guess having a person to confide in beats a blank book. Speaking of - tomorrow will be 6 years since he insisted I hold his hand and I gave in to falling in love.

And there's that handsome man now! He whittled up a foam nosecone for his rocket. He's very proud of it and did quite a nice job on his lathe.

You can see it's a great fit in the rocket body, nice and snug. All he needs to do now is add some fins, find a way to attach and deploy the parachute, and he'll be ready for blastoff. But first a quick paint job.

...which unfortunately melted the foam horribly. The red looks nice though! Tim is now rather sad. Back to the lathe... and the paint store...

Tilling

I've been terribly sick for a week or so with a particularly nasty bug that's been making the rounds. The only update I could give you for the last week would have been how much sleep I got and how many times Oliver pulled Abby's hair. Now I have a day off, it's beautiful out, and I want to do some tilling! Research first.

My research suggests either using the tiller to scrape the grass and remove it, or skip tilling all together and instead rent that chipper and get our branches turned into wood chips to cover the garden, as well as throwing all that cardboard on there, compost, and whatever else we have around to add to the garden. Use the simplest answer, right?

For some Sunday-morning gardening, here is a full length film about the wonders of wood-chip gardening following nature's example: http://www.backtoedenfilm.com/

Changes

Thursday, I spent my first day with The Kids, who are great, and saw 9 deer in one spot by their house!

Friday, I had my last day with Island Home Nursing and Tim called in to the kennel cleaning job to let them know I was feeling ill and he thought I should get some sleep, only to find out I wasn't scheduled anyways!

Saturday (after sleeping in) I headed over for a late night with The Kids so The Parents could go out on a date before The Mom leaves for two months. Let this be a PSA that the best thing you can do for your kids when they are very small is continue to date your co-parent so your mental health and your relationship is strong for your family. Set a weekly date and have a regular sitter and two backups!

Tilly really likes the snow. It's fun to eat and chase and everything else.

Sunday there was snow! We woke up to over an inch and I was reminded what a gift snow is, reimbursing the light that is missing by reflecting what there is double and brightening up the world. Due to the weather, our friends stayed home from Congregation and Tim and I made a quick departure afterwards to head for Oak Harbor and the Kachink Kachink for some long and tedious work. I left Tim to do his thing and took Tilly on an exploration of Oak Harbor (fairly disappointing dog park), then I spent some time at an aspiring weaver and alpaca farmer's house helping her dress her loom. She's in the business of bartering with acupuncture and I'm in the business of making friends on the island.

Raccoon?

We've also been watching the Olympics which have been great and a lot of fun. With Joe visiting, we've been having a lot of great dinners together upstairs. Oh, and this morning I made us a giant flower pot, or goat climbing structure, or perhaps auxiliary chicken house. As I started towards town for some errands, the car made a little noise and either turned off or I immediately turned it off. Either way, I coasted to the side of the road and was barely in cell service to call Tim who had just started towards Oak Harbor to work. In a minute, he was back to the car and pulling a long piece of rubber that used to be the timing belt out of our engine. A minute after that, Tim was watching for traffic as I coasted the car back down the street and down our driveway. What perfect timing and location for the car to quit! So glad I didn't have two car seats and a dead phone, miles from home when the car quit. It is now really time to pull the engine on the OMC and see if theirs any hope of changing the belt and bringing her back to life, or if we should start looking for cheap parts to convert her to electric. Tim's a little heartbroken at the loss we were hoping to put off or avoid.

Bunneh bunneh bunneh!

Ariel: Work - completed
Tim: Work - lots of driving including two trips to Bellingham with boat parts
Ariel: Errands - two packages sent to Alaska
Tim: Errands - awesome amounts of frozen foods brought home to fill the now-plugged-in chest freezer
Ariel: Social outing - took Tilly to the beach, then went over to see our lovely new friends, Cassidy and Travis and helped mate the meat rabbits.
Grandpa: Social outing - attended a senior lunch where faces are starting to get familiar, or at least his face is getting recognized.

February = spring?

 Well, Tilly and her very brave new friends at Greenbank Farm seem to think it's looking a lot like spring! Even though my hands are freezing after every walk if I forget my hand muffs.

The little plants in our extra-special-farm-room are getting bigger every day! When the baby chickens come in ONE MONTH I will move the plants out and the birds in.

Speaking of animals I'm going to eat, the question of hunting rabbits has finally concluded. We made some new friends OUR AGE today and they are so cool! We are very excited. The young man at UU Congregation said he had a wife, but before today we had yet to see the proof. After being sick for a few weeks, she made it! And we finally got to meet her. Tim invited our new friends over to hang out and watch The Big Game with us. Oh, right, on the meat note, they just got a pair of meat rabbits to breed and I look forward to helping out with the fur and meat production and processing. The young man is working on making a bow and arrows and a spear for alternative deer hunting too. They came over with their baby and dog and spent some time on the beach with me and Tim and Tilly, with Joe and Grandpa watching from the landing on the stairs. We had a lovely time, played deceptively tricky board games, and then I had to whisk myself away. I've been meaning to help an acupuncturist and alpaca farmer up by Penn Cove learn to use her loom for months now and the stars finally aligned. We had a good time working together and made it about a quarter of the way through the dressing process, to be continued next week. I left her to the tedious threading after she got the idea and buzzed back home to see if my guests were still around. I made it just in time to see the one touch down by the Broncos of the entire game (sad, sad game for any fans they may have had in the house) and was delighted to see my new friend finished all but the last piece of that terribly tricky lion puzzle! Hooray! And Grandpa is relieved as well. He says the next person to bring a puzzle into the house is getting their drivers licence revoked by him until it's done and gone.