I apologize for such a long interval between updates - we have been pretty busy. Today we had our first serious snowfall of the year. 5 inches so far, with 4-8 more expected. It has been an unusually warm winter so far, with not much snow, so we are glad to see winter truly arrive. It is so beautiful here, and so quiet and peaceful. We spent all summer and fall outside, working on house and property projects, so are looking forward to some "inside" time. We have the rock around the fireplace to put up, flooring to lay in one more bedroom, a bench for taking off boots to build in the mud room/laundry room, and a few more light fixtures to change out. Then it is on to the shop, to work on stairs to the top of the "warm room" storage area, plus organizing and putting things on the new shelving.
So, let me bring you up to date. We left off with summer, and starting on the decking around the house. So, here we go.....
We had some amazing summer storms, complete with thunder, lightning, black skies, and rainbows!
We made our annual trip to Seaside to visit Dan and Rose Baker-Monaghan for the 4th of July. Mike took a break on work on our property, and after the 4th we made a quick trip to their cabin on the SolDuc for a little shingle application. They make a great pair!
Partners in crime.....
While at Seaside we took a little rest break, and Nikka got a tummy rub!
I was a frustrated gardener this summer, as I couldn't plant anything due to construction work. So I did the next best thing and gardened in buckets on the porch. We enjoyed fresh tomatoes all summer!
We have some wonderful orchards here, and we love blueberries. There was a bumper crop this year, and we picked almost 5 gallons in about 45 minutes. They are sure nice to have in the freezer for winter!
Mountain (low bush) huckleberries are a local delicacy here. We trekked up the mountain and crawled around the hillside picking them. We got 2 gallons in just a short while, and were thankful we didn't encounter any bears wanting to share our patch!
Summer wouldn't be complete without weed eradication, which we got to do lots of. We are making progress, though, but it takes constant vigilance. Mike's herbicide of choice is Round-up, but don't tell anyone!
We had to put a cage around the cherry tomatoes! The darn chipmunks thought we planted them for them to enjoy - they are a total nuisance, into everything, chewing up wiring in the vehicles, insulation in the house, etc. Sure alters your image of Chip and Dale once you get to live with the little rodents!
Bags of huckleberries, all ready for the freezer.
We enjoyed a visit from our good friends Jane and Jerry Madtson, and had a wonderful time. Also had visits from Mike's college buddy Jordan Aiken, and his wife Jodi, all the way from New York! Had a wonderful time, although it was too short.
The "dirt farm" which surrounds the house. What a hassle - dusty when it is hot, muddy when there is moisture, and an all-around pain in the neck. This will all be covered with landscape rock next summer, and raised beds. We have a limited amount of water from our well, so not enough to irrigate a lawn, and we don't want to have a bunch of grass to mow, anyway! Really looking forward to getting this covered, but deck construction and other work took a priority this year. We had to get everything back-filled around the house foundation/skirting, then put in our decks before we can do any landscaping. That is our job for next summer!
We got away the first part of August for our visit to the Queets/Clearwater Pioneer Reunion, held every year on the river bar at Clearwater. We park at Hurst Creek for the event. Met up with a newly discovered cousin and her husband (Lorraine and Wayne Taylor), which was really fun. We also had a nice visit with Mike's brother Jeff and his wife. Headed home via the ferry from Pt Townsend to Whidbey Island, then Mount Vernon for a visit with Kathy Feiro. Crossed the North Cascades to Winthrop, then on home.
Baxter and Nikka enjoyed drinking out of their own private water bowl - Hurst Creek. Neither one is very fond of going in the water, but they did it so they could follow us as we hiked up the creek.
Cherries were very plentiful this year. We picked 40 pounds in about 25 minutes! Our new kitchen sure makes canning/processing easy - lots of room to spread out. We put up cherries, blueberries, huckleberries, rhubarb, peaches, pears, applesauce, apple butter, beets, sauerkraut and deer meat this year.
Quaking aspen are a good indicator ground water is present. We have a nice stand of aspen just below the house, on a seasonal creek, so we had our contractor dig in well tiles for a 12-foot well we hope to use for irrigation water for plants around the house. We will see how it works out. He also pushed over a few standing dead aspen for us - much safer and easier for Mike than felling them, as they are pretty temperamental, like alder. We have a friend from church who is a woodworker, and he will come and take the logs to use for some of his projects.
Laying in a well tile
The well tiles are cement rings 4 feet high and 4 feet across, that are stacked to the desired depth and then the top is covered with a lid. This is a common practice here for getting water for livestock as well.
Laying in top soil. The soil around the house is glacial till, full of rocks and gravel. We had the contractor scalp some good top soil from the lower part of our ridge to use for gardening around the house. We will have a little bit of grass along both sides of the house, so we have something green to look at. Fire is a constant concern here, as our weather is hot and dry. We have no standing trees or field grass close to the house, so should be safe in the event of a grass fire in our valley. The shop is metal and the house has hardi-plank siding, so they are pretty fire proof.
It is amazing how much work can get done with the right equipment. And having a top-notch contractor like ours really helps - his ability to manipulate his equipment is fun to watch! Here he is cutting in the RV parking pad and guest parking area. The blue pipe sticking out of the ground is the dump for the motor home septic (and for visiting RV's as well!).
Starting the bases for the steps off the decks and front entry. We did "wedding cake" stairs, that are wide and shallow for easy entrance and exit. They are topped with Trex-type decking, and we will face them with hardi-plank to match the house siding next summer.
Decking base for the kitchen side of the house.
Kitchen/laundry room and master bedroom decks.
Laying the decking material. Our crew was great - working in unshaded areas during the heat of the summer. They did a wonderful job.
Doing some finish grading around the back side of the shop, to slope the edges of the cut-bank a little more.
We had a 4 foot well tile installed as a catch basin for the water softener system when it purges.
Working towards the front deck, under the kitchen windows. Hot, dusty work!
Mike moving landscaping rocks and topsoil. Sure beats a shovel and bucket or wheelbarrow!
Installing stairs to the ground off the front deck. We had the house set so the decking is less than 18 inches off the ground. Per the building code, this allows us to not have deck railings in our way when we relax on the porch and enjoy the view! Baxter is supervising and keeping the crew in line.
Diana and Aliyah moved over in August, which made us all very happy! Aliyah and I had a bake day and made popovers for breakfast. Yum!
Flowers on the front deck. The frustrated gardener, needing some color to tone down all the dirt! Having two large dogs with very hairy feet has been a real challenge, as dirt and mud are tracked in onto the hardwood floors. My steam mop and I have become very good friends!
This is one of the "small" rocks buried in the front yard. We choose to look at them as "free landscaping", as they would cost a fortune if you had to buy them! We are getting pretty good at excavating them.....
The secret is to dig around the rock, fill the hole with water and let it rest overnight, then dig some more and jerk it out with the tractor!
I planted glads along the living room/front door side of the house to have a little color, and promptly got in trouble because they were in the way of back-filling that side of the foundation! Mike stepped up and we back-filled with the tractor after they died back!
A really important "upgrade" was the dog door! We had the house builder frame in the opening, and then Mike installed it for the "kids". They love it. It can be secured on the inside with a metal plate when we aren't home.
I did a few jars of beets - will do more next summer.
Moving dirt for the yard! Hooray!
So exciting to see something covering the dirt. Of course, it is more dirt, but it will have grass on it next spring!
Watering in the grass seed.
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Laying in landscape rock between the lawn and the driveway. Gives a nice finished look.
Grass is in, dirt is covered with straw to insulate the new grass, and to keep the dogs from tracking the really nice black dirt all over the house!
Apples from our ancient apple tree, and squash from the Gallanger's garden. Getting ready to process applesauce. We cleaned the tree off as we had a bear getting into the tree, and we didn't want it to break the tree up. The apples are small, as the tree hasn't been cared for for years, but really good. We think they might be a Northern Spy variety. We are carefully pruning to rehab the tree and make the apples easier to pick.
Yard is all covered and put to bed. This is the kitchen side of the house, with my wonderful kitchen windows that look out over the quaking aspen.
Applesauce! We made sauce from our apples, and also apples we got through one of the neighbors. We did 30+ quarts, and I shared some with our bachelor neighbors.
Baxter and Nikka, holding down the new deck and showing off their new haircuts.
More rock moving. This is a huge rock that was embedded in one of the neighbor's hillside. He wanted it gone, so offered it to us. Another neighbor with a bigger tractor hauled it to the entrance to our driveway, and then we dug a hole and tipped it up on edge. We have a metal art sign made for it, and will
also put our address numbers on it. We will do some type of rail fence behind it next summer, to dress up our driveway entrance and make it pretty!
Tipping the rock into place. It is VERY heavy!
Sunset and moonrise at the same time.
The same fall sunset - so beautiful!
The sky is amazing how it changes...
The crew, getting ready to pour the aprons for the shop. Being guys, they had to stand around and kibbitz for a while!
Playing in the mud!!!
Good work, men!
I think this is how it goes.........
All covered up, because of course it rained. And we had a freak windstorm that was tearing up the tarp, so we used whatever was at hand to anchor it down, including, you guessed it, buckets of rocks. The Jeep also came in handy....
All smooth and pretty. Just need to get the other side poured in a few days, and we can mark another item off the list!
Mike got a nice 4-point white tail this year, so I canned some of the meat for soups, stews, etc. Yum!
We made our trek to the "wet side" for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. On the way home we got to stop by and see Elissa and her family - the boys are getting so big. Ryan turns 14 in January, and Matthew turned 7 in October.
Nikka with her snow nose. She is quite the hunter and loves chasing mice in their snow tunnels. We haven't seen her catch anything, but not for lack of trying!
We like to do "walk-abouts" on the property with the dogs. We are walking down the hill to get the mail, just as the sun sets.
Nikka helping Mike put ice shoes on Buck....
Mike and Buck, playing in the snow.
We got to go to the Santa Cruise in Coeur D'Alene the first part of December, with Diana and Aliyah as a surprise for her. We met up with friends Rory and Connie Barreith, who live there now, and had a wonderful time. There are hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights , in all kinds of wonderful shapes, and the boat cruises across the lake to the North Pole. Definitely something worth doing.
This dragon would roar and spit fire - how fun!
The group. It was a wonderful night, cold but clear, and perfect for a cruise and walk around the boat basin to enjoy the lights.
We had "bake day" for Christmas cookies the day before the Santa Cruise. We baked all kinds of cookies, decorated them, and delivered them to neighbors. We had a wonderful time!
Mike was "quality control"....
The master chefs (or should I say head bakers?)....
We had a wonderful Christmas with Diana and Aliyah. We spent Christmas eve at their house, had a simple dinner, went to church, and snuggled into our beds to wait for Santa. We had a wonderful Christmas morning, and then made a non-traditional Christmas dinner of razor clams, seafood salad, and other goodies. We invited the Gallangers and two bachelor neighbors, and had a very enjoyable time. What a perfect way to spend our Lord's birthday!
Our first Christmas tree in our new home...
House lights are up and luminarios are all lit
Winter truly arrived today to our little valley. We have had a good snowfall of about 5 inches, with more expected. We are all snuggled in for winter, ready for whatever comes our way.
