Ok! The end of July - let the really seriously HOT month begin. I'm almost afraid to see...

The grass has been dormant in the front and back for months now. We need only occasionally trim back the weeds. It's amazing, though, what a little water can do - the green patch is newly seeded and has been regularly watered the last few weeks. This was the low spot, where the dirt/wee stones from the doggie doolie hole was spread.

Not really sure how this collection started - except I had a bunch off my old cars...

July 30, 2009 Thu

The heat wave continues - but the peak heat may have been yesterday, when it set records all over. 102 in Seattle, beating the old record by three degrees. 110 on our patio - and not in the direct sun, either. In the high 80's again today, here, and hotter close by.

Yesterday we beat the heat by once again heading to the water, after Ann got home. Bowman's Bay, this time, where it was twenty degrees cooler than at the house. Judicious use of the fan and keeping the heat out of the house kept it to 85 indoors - still pretty warm. Fortunately, after dark there was some relief, and we drew that cooler air through the bedroom.

Here is what was on our three thermometers yesterday, at the peak ~ none of which were in the direct sun, but on different sides of the house. The coolest reading was this one - the northwest side:

next hottest, east side ~

boiling hot - in the backyard - southwest

Here is proof that there are sandy beaches in WA, without driving south to the coast - this was at Bowman's Bay, which is part of the Rosario Straights, we think... It's near Deception Pass, at any rate.

The Civilian Conservation Corp from WWII is represented in a display at the Bowman's Bay Museum.
And what do you suppose was in one of the display cases? A May Bell guitar, the only one we've ever seen. The only reason the May Bell name is even known to us, is the fact that it's also on the head of my ukulele, which I found back in the 70's in the unfinished attic of a HUD house we'd bought back in Wyandotte MI. I happened to stick my head up through the access hole in the ceiling of a closet and just did glimpse part of the uke sticking up above the rafters. There was a mouse nest inside it, along with the felt pick - which still bears the imprint of wee mice teeth.
May Bell instruments were popular in the 1920's, which is the approximate age of my uke.

my uke, about 90 years old. Still in daily service.

Signage, thanks to Caroline

Harbor Seal face - thanks to Linda, sent from somewhere north, in Canada~~

July 28, 2009 Tue

Here are a few pix from this day - a record setter, heatwise. What better place to spend a hot day than on the water, where it was noticeably cooler - thank goodness. It went over a hundred in many places locally today.
The island group now down to two families -

July 27, 2009 Mon

What a fine day in the islands...
Holly, Bailey, Barb, Lewis, Ann, Gary, Kim, Paul, David

Sharing photos - Ann made a collection of all past getogethers of this group - going back many years.

Yesterday, watching the rain move in over the water~

No rain in sight today!

Sifting the fine WA beach sand through my fingers...

We looked out the window and it was Deja Vu - The City was back tearing up the street in front of the house - again.
Turns out that the patch they had applied back in January was temporary - probably until they deduced that the leak was indeed fixed - and the one they applied today is the permanent one.

July 26, 2009 Sun

It has been a 'tradition' for Ann and her highschool chums to gather twice a year, when possible. Kim (and husband Gary) and Holly (with children Bailey and Lewis) were able to make the trip this year. The chosen location was Guemes Island, an island ferry ride away, as it has been on several previous occasions. (type, Guemes, into the site search engine)

This means that Carolyn, Barb and Melanie couldn't make it, this time. You guys were missed, of that I can assure.

Of course, after not raining for months, and with a heat wave coming on - it rained while we barbecued last evening. Not hard, so we pressed on. Today was hot and sunny~~
Lewis and Gary persevere~ and the meal was a great success.

Guarding the dinner from the beach pups, of which there were several...

Bailey and Lewis

Barb and Paul stopped by today to visit with the gang - and sample Ann's raspberry delight~~

We had to laugh when Ann's sister gave her the same birthday card two years in a row!

July 25, 2009 Sat

Look out! Here it comes - 90's - starting Monday, is what they are now predicting. Ann is about ready to first choice rejected by wife enjoy some HOT weather.

Thanks to Remit for an enjoyable evening and a swell meal. That fellow is a man of many talents.

Food porn warning

"David, did I just see you sneak a raspberry?"

Enjoying the view from Richard's recently painted deck -

Last minute clean up

Photos below thanks to Remit, and his very cool next generation IPhone~ note the color, the sharpness, the clarity~

Ribbon cutting ceremony

July 24, 2009 Fri

Thanks to Barb for inviting us over to play some music, yesterday. Remit and I traveled to her place on Guemes for a practice with that island group. We both took cameras and neither remembered to take any pictures. Well, dang. It made for a pleasant afternoon.

Up early today and rent a trimmer to tackle the Green Monster. I haven't attempted this chore myself in several years, paying someone to do it, instead. However, wrist surgery awhile back seems to have paid off.
It went ok, and didn't take as long as I thought it might. Of course - I had excellent help.
We hit on a faster method to trim the top - I just stayed on the roof of the truck while Ann moved it along the length of the drive. No pictures of that part - since she never got out of the vehicle.
In the past, I'd climb up and down, moving the truck along. That was in 2005 - been a long hiatus...

the proud look

Check out Adam's new workplace~~ Agency 17

As we frequently like to mention, it would be a good idea to get used to new and different foodstuffs, in order to manage during the up and coming shortages. Since insects and other various crawly things outnumber us about 80 pentillion to one and are a good source of protein, you may as well get used to them, first. Especially since folks in other parts of the world already have...

Signage that may not be in the best of taste...

though possibly useful

I swear I think I worked with this fellow - thanks to Jack.

What were we doing five years ago? Spending some time with my youngest - Jacob was out here visiting.

July 22, 2009 Wed

PM edit -

A new boat is in the floating drydock at Dakota - haven't seen one quite like this before -

OK, it's not so new - we've seen this type of vessel before, in the main yard - didn't recognize it from this view~

This Candies boat will soon get wet. Notice the 'nose' of the next one, on the left in the foreground?
You might also notice that a telephone pole was hurriedly photoshopped out of the shot...

How's your week progressing?

We continue with much warmth and sunshine - what a summer.

Rode over to Ann's office and got this picture of her, in front of the pictures of her successfully graduated students. (sorry, forgot to wipe camera lens - gets dusty in my pocket)

The other purpose of the visit was to add some additional support to the base of her fish stand.
We were pleased to find that the stand was quite steady, with the 90 gallon tank full of water. Safeguarding earthquakes and small children was the goal, so in went some support pieces. These effectively gave the base of the stand a larger footprint, since it is high and narrow.
The pieces are the ones you saw on the picnic table a couple days ago - stained to match the stand. A pair of two by fours fit nicely under the base, and cedar shims wedged them in tightly.

Thanks to Ni for this signage from her travels~

July 20, 2009 Mon

The urge to toil is still upon us. Still working around the rear of the house.
Ann was washing the gutter in preparation for paint when the Hornets appeared from their nest in the downspout. Knowing that the first good rain would wash out the nest anyway, we didn't feel too awful bad about spraying the living bejeesus out of them and watching them DIE all over the patio. Ugh.

In honor of Richard's birthday, which was yesterday, we celebrated.

What were we doing five years ago on this date? Well, as usual, we were in the backyard.
You may wonder, what the heck I was doing to elicit such looks?
Pointing my finger, of course!

For comparison purposes -- here is the last Candies vessel nearing completion. You may note that it only had two bow thrusters, and the heli-pad was below the pilot house.

July 18, 2009 Sat

A double whammy! The Saturday market AND Shipwreck Days, otherwise known as; The World's Largest Flea Market - which it was - bigger than ever this year. A bit more Tony, too - with more actual Vendors in tents selling 'art', etc - and fewer guys selling stuff that'd been sitting in their garages for the last five years.

We got a few relevant and some not so relevant pix...
Walking from the Sat Mkt over a couple blocks to shop Shipwreck Days - Richard is pointing to something meaningful on the new Candies vessel~

July 16, 2009 Thu

Now that the shed work is in the final touch up this and that beyond what is absolutely necessary stage, and the weather remains very hot and summery - we are looking forward to continued loafing. There is one not so small problem~~ The Green Monster!

The aforementioned finishing touches included a toe kick for the door sill - now we're really done!

We've been trying to exercise - but this is as close to Thrive (local fitness center) as we get. We were out making long shadows yesterday, when this was taken with Thrive in the background. Aaron, of Heidi and Aaron, owns all or part (or none?) of Thrive. And STILL we don't avail ourselves... the shame.

We noticed Chico sleeping by, but not in, his bed.

Hmmmm~~

July 14, 2009 Tue

Here's the paperwork - the job isn't finished until you do the paperwork, I've been told~~

All you guys emailing from your various smartphones - and have those messages at the bottom:
Sent from my Iphone, Blackberry, etc.
I sent my sister an email from my clunky computer that sits on the floor, and signed it: Sent from my Clunky Computer that sits on the Floor.

We fear more of this, in places you'd never expect - and sooner, too...

But, we did not expect this...

July 13, 2009 Mon

Happy Birthday to Ms. Evelyn M. Osborn. LO, these many miles away - but close in heart.
When will that girl ever come home? :)))

July 12, 2009 Sun

From Ann's phone cam yesterday at the Highland Games~

Today we drove to Point Defiance and Fort Nisqually, near the Zoo of the same name. This was for the Mayflower Society summer picnic, where Ann's membership in that fine organization was acknowledged.
She has joined. I may somewhere down the road.
After getting a late start and having a bit of trouble actually finding the picnic, we arrived just in time to eat! Now, THAT is good timing. Then Ann got her credentials.

paddling is exhausting work~

Mardi has got her Blackberry sending pictures! Here's Jim on their deck, and I believe that is a kitty wirehouse to the right...
Michigan gets about three nice days during the summer, and this must have been one of them, from the looks...

July 11, 2009 Sat

Yet another HOT and beautiful day. Ann and Barb off to the Highland Games, after we all visited the Saturday Market. They saw bagpipers, sheep herding dogs, folks having contests at throwing this or that heavy thing - logs, etc. I was anxious to finish up the recently installed door on the 'new' or motorcycle shed.

You may recall that at days close yesterday the new 'free though used' door was hung in its opening. However, none of the three boards that make up the door jamb were nailed into place, yet. It was all sorta' just wedged in the doorway opening - which is exactly the fit we strive for when cutting to length - tight enough to not need nails right away.

On the way home from the Saturday Market we stopped and picked up three boards to trim the outside, and three more to use as door stop. This marked the end of cash expenditures, and added to the hinges and doorknob was still under a hundred bucks total out of pocket. First thing was to apply some paint to the trim pieces, and the door itself - cover that Taxi yellow..

Ann arrives and appears happy with things... me, too - the major work is done.

Thanks to Kurt - a couple more 'opps!' Auto variety, this time~

July 10, 2009 Fri

We are favored with another fine summer day - temps near 80. Spent it all outdoors, never straying far from the backyard, actually.

The need for a door was mounting. Any other time, you see doors on the street waiting for someone to take them away. When I spoke with my youngest son, Jacob, he mentioned having several laying around. Laying around in Florida.

After exhausting all the avenues we could think of to find a free door - papers, online, etc. - we decided to call around and see if anyone locally had used ones. One of the places said, come on down - might have something for you. I did, and they did.

The local lumber company had just replaced their rear entrance door and GAVE me the old one!

We framed it in with the last of the two by sixes that Ann had cut out of the living room/dining room ceiling, a couple years ago. The door hanging project went like this:

The first thing was to remove all the stickers from the door in question -- a job in itself. Paint will come later - taxicab yellow? No...

July 09, 2009 Thu

Amazing what you can get done in one day, with an early start...

First, let's compare something - the photoshopped window transfer with the actual finished real thing.
It came out higher on the wall than I'd imagined - but otherwise, pretty close... Real is on the left. Still looking for a door for the new shed - HELP!
Window placement was determined by how it looked from the inside, you see...

Here's how it went - measure the window itself, and poke a hole on the inside of the wall. This required several saws, knives, a drill and a certain amount of luck. There was also the question of 'level' - as this part of the old shed isn't. We went with 'mostly' level, splitting the difference a bit. Once the desired opening existed on the inside, we drilled to find the four corners, and cut the outside hole.

Using a jigsaw and the sawsall, the outside section came out in one piece.

First fit of the window in the hole - there is less than a quarter inch leeway.

view from the inside

Since the window is now going in a finished wall, something must be done about the space between walls.

In effect, a box is constructed to fit in the opening, against the window and flush with the inside wall.
We used cedar fence pickets, since they were handy - and in keeping with the adage: spend no money.

The outside trim boards are reinstalled~

This is the room in question, lest you forget - Ann's workshop, which lacked much natural light.
Though it is definitely heavy on the fluorescent variety...

Trim boards complete the inside framing and give a finished look.

Oddly washed out picture~~

Wonder where the money goes? This is a pretty good breakdown, for poor folks like us~ minus the tobacco, of course.

July 08, 2009 Wed

Ok - it (moving the window) has begun. Started by tearing off the window trim. Since these pieces are pseudo wood, a certain amount of care must be exercised if one expects to reuse them, and we do. We were frankly amazed at the number of nails in these four pieces, and the fact that they were also fastened with adhesive. TuffShed didn't fool around. Of course, you give a guy a nail gun, and look out...

At any rate, after much careful prying and pulling, the window is out, and the hole is covered with plastic. We haven't actually run across a door to put in there, yet. Got one?
At this point, the rains came, and we gladly called it a day. Tomorrow the real fun begins - cutting a hole in the wall of the old shed.

My kids may recognize this operation - melting butter and unsweetened chocolate for brownies~

Ann makes printed, or hard copies of our pictures - not relying entirely on the digital format. These are organized into albums by year and subject.

Here's a gadget that was a 'one day' sale on the Geeks - it plugs into your car lighter, and then any device that you might charge with a USB port can be plugged in and charged. Intended mainly for an Ipod, it will also charge a camera, phone, etc. Might come in handy when traveling...

Signage, thanks to The Mayor~~

July 07, 2009 Tue

It's time to take the flashy arrow thingy off the Flickr link, at the top of the page - so, if you need reminding to view the latest additions therein/of, this is it.

Cooled off a tad, to a more moderate 60's/70's - my kind of temps. The heat seekers are not pleased...

A bit on the grey side, as well - but after over two solid months of unrelenting sunshine, we could use some precipitation. Ann spread the pile of fresh dirt in the back yard and added grass seed - so, it's either rain, or water the new seeds.

What's next? I've avoided tackling anything new for so long, it's hard to get motivated - but - here's the idea: Move the wee window from the new shed to the old shed, and put a door where it was. It would look something like this, when finished~ The way it is now, is the view on the right.

I know this says African, but it could certainly apply to much of the current crop of Rap artists of any color or persuasion...
I realize that this view makes me officially 'old'. yup.

Although this isn't the greatest picture to prove it, Skype has sure come a long way. Video calling across the country, in real time - at no charge. The picture updates amazingly well, compared to the herky jerky motion of a few years ago. Seen here, Ken, the Green Lake Snake - with yours truly in the bottom corner.

Dick and John (and Laura and Linda) prepare to do some motor sailing, in this case by upgrading the boat radar.

Boy, do I know how to (color coordinate my) relax~~

Various 'oops' seen today in webland:
Thanks to Jack~
the Truck variety-

the Boat oops-

Here's another way to travel with your pooch~

July 05, 2009 Sun

Hope y'all survived another Fourth of July - if you're here, I guess you did! The big fear around here was that some idiot would set the island on fire, everything is so tinder dry.

Although we intended to get up early enough to visit the Saturday Market before getting in the official Town Picture, and then going to the parade - that didn't happen. We did make the parade...
Of course, one sees everyone else at the parade - it is a small town~~
It didn't take long to spot Richard! Thanks to Janet for the photo help!

Note: Mardi - check the shirt!

A hot beautiful July day, temps well into the 80's~

Want to be in the parade? Walk your dog! This is Jeanne and Midnight...

We sat with Laura and Dick, John and Linda, Barb and Paul, and Mary, Paul's sister, to enjoy the floats and nonsense that is the fourth of July Parade in Anacortes. How sad that so many businesses have closed in the last year - several of them eating establishments - including the place Ann used to work (La Vie en Rose) that served great coffee on the street during the parade. As a result, I had to walk blocks to get a cup to go...

Parade watching accomplished, there was nothing left for but to eat! We grilled in the traditional way - burgers and dogs in the backyard. Toss in Ann's yummy potato salad (Laura's recipe), peas from the garden and fresh raspberry shortcake - no one left hungry.

Good to have Barb's company~~

Proud Tizzy in her Fourth finery~

In years past, we were able to watch the fireworks display right from our backyard patio - but, alas, they've been moved farther up the Bay. That, coupled with the fact that they were not shooting them as high in the sky (to reduce the risk of drifting ash fires), meant we had to move to an upstairs window to see. Hopefully, Evelyn won't mind...

While we waited for it to get dark - yes! A few tunes~~
This was taken earlier in the day - we actually played music in the backyard by candle light.

Here's something we almost forgot - while walking only a few blocks from the house, we happened upon this pastoral scene - cows, grazing away right in the city.

July 03, 2009 Fri

Edit - July first - Motorcycle trip pix on Flickr

When I loaded the motorcycle pictures to Flickr (in high resolution), I didn't add the ones already posted here (end of last month) - So, if you'd like a full resolution copy of any picture, as for printing - just let me know...

Thanks to Kurt~~ A game to try!

This answers the question, What is David's favorite jam? Yup - red raspberry. Talk about timing - we're on the last jar of jam that Ann canned last July - and she's canning already for this year!

I am one lucky fellow!

The helipad is in place - it would seem they are on schedule to get this boat in the water later this summer.

Thanks to Toni - Ann and I watching the Blues Brothers Too

Anna Lynn takes some great photos - see them HERE

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