Will Al Gore Ever Get It?

March 29th! Snow again this morning. It will melt off before noon, but what the heck? Our daffodils didn't appreciate it much. They stayed in bed, huddled together to keep warm.
Arnold was even more upset. He walked around the yard marking his territory again. I hate it when he does that. You know how much spoor an elephant leaves behind, don't you? At least we can use it in the garden.

He did get a chance to take a bath though. He loves the water.

Even though it has been colder this past week than normal, the Flowering Plum is waking up to Spring. We haven't seen any honey bees yet, but the blossoms aren't quite in full bloom. Give it a week and the yard will be covered with the petals of the flower. Now, that is a snow I can enjoy this time of year.This guy only looks delicate for a few days, then has to be cut back to the ground. It's nice to see flowers this early since it helps dispell the gloom after a long winter. It's a nice way to begin a Sunday morning before going to church.

Arnold, step away from the bunny!

Into the Pit of the Vampires

It's been a few weeks since my last blog. That's because not much goes on here anymore. Seems our lives have settled into very simple routines with no spectacular highs nor lows. As a result, Melanie and I have to push ourselves out of the house every now and then in order to create a new conversation

Last Saturday after my jog, I was trying to come back to life when Melanie rolled out of bed. She had no plans for the day nor did I. The sun was going to burn off the fog in a few hours and we didn't want to waste the day doing yard work. We decided to drive to the coast for a little adventure. At first we thought just a drive to Kalalock Lodge would be perfect, but as we drove, we kept getting deeper and deeper into Olympic National Park.
One of these days we will have to spend a weekend here at Lake Quinalt Lodge. Teddy can be proud of what he started. Although I am not much of an Obama fan and his trillion dollar debt machine which my children will be fortunate enough to pay for since they voted him into office. His boondoggle will fund some badly needed improvements at the country's National Park system.
At the Hoh River Rain forest we walked among the giants. These trees are as tall as a football field, if you stood a football field on its end, that is. Other wise that wouldn't make much sense 'cuz a football field isn't very tall otherwise. Not only are these trees massive, but they host some very funky moss.
Late in the day we made it to Rialto Beach near La Push. It was high tide and a little rough, but pretty in its own way. We sure live in a beautiful country. Now that we are mature adults, we need to get out and see more of it. This Summer will give us a good chance to see some of the southwest desert. We are looking forward to that.
Here I'm standing next to one of those large trees, washed off the mountain by a previous storm where is has been battered by the surf and ocean debris.
Melanie had ulterior motives for wanting to visit the coast. She pretended not to know anything about the vampires we would run into. Having never seen the movie nor read the 3,258 pages of fine literature about the topic, I was not expecting to be caught up in the Twilight hysteria. This bus was transporting an entire gaggle of hopeless vampire groupies around this small timber town. Forks was single-handedly saved from economic ruin by pale-skinned blood suckers. It seems a whole industry has sprung up around these sub-human vermin.

We went down this road anyway.

Yes, Melanie made me stop at the vegetable market where Bella shops. We bought blood turnips, deer neck and wolf spiders. Melanie ate the spiders, crunchy. I had the deer neck burger, seared with garlic to keep the vampiresses away until we got off the reservation. Lucky for us the sun was out that day, as you can tell from the previous photos. Melanie was disappointed she didn't get her photo taken with Edward, but when we got home, she let me nibble on her neck a little anyway. I think she went out and bought the movie on DVD this week. I'll try not to watch it.

It's a New Day

February is usually a dreary month in Western Washington. When I woke up the last day of the month and saw a red glow in the eastern sky, I knew it would be worth getting out of bed and racing to find a view of the sunrise. First, I ran out to Lake Tapps hoping to get a picture across the water, but found nothing. Turning east I rounded a corner in the road with a barn on a hill to the left.

Even though I miss the sunsets in the Mountain States, these moments before sun-up are equally as thrilling. There will be time enough for yard work, for selling Brandon's old truck and recaulking the showers and tubs. This morning was spent watching the rainbow rise over the hills.
When the sun had come up and the horizon was fully bled out, I walked around the barnyard. Knowing the farmer would probably be upset if he caught me hanging around on his place, I tried to shoot a couple interesting pictures before scampering.

Seeing this electric fence insulator hanging on the wire made me think how much our world has changes in my lifetime. My children wouldn't even know what this was for or that it wasn't doing much good that way it is suspended, unattached from a wooden post. In former days these were an important part of getting meat on the table and milk in the fridge. Reading my sister Melissa's blog about her daughter being confused how ground beef was going to become part of their hamburger dinner - made me laugh. It really is a new day. Our kids don't hardley know from where they've come.
It was a treasure chest of images at the barn. With three out-buildings, implements from the 1940's, wood rotting into the ground, there has to be a magazine photo in that place somewhere. This boot, part of a pair slung over a horse stall a number of decades ago. Look how it quietly lost its soul. It must have filled with rain a thousand times before the welt gave way and the sole fell off. You'll have to go to my Flickr page to see it in color. It shows better in color. The link is to the right, at the bottom. Visit McKenzie's Flickr page as well, it shows better than mine.
It occurred to me that change is probably good. These old buildings haven't changed much and look what's happening to them. Nobody cared for them these many years and now they have lost their usefulness. Changing the roof, siding, doors and windows would have made them hold up better to the forces around them. One can learn a lot from an old barnyard. It's a new day, and that's not so bad. Maybe I'll run home and get out the caulk after all.