After...............

Here are a couple of "after" pictures of the deck. freshly stained, new steps, built in benches, a new privacy wall and we built in the BBQ and used some extra granite we had. I thought it would be a lot harder to cut the granite, but is was really easy to do!

First whales of the year!

Leaving the island last Sunday we saw the first gray whales of the year! two were travelling together just off the SE point of the island. It was such a beautiful weekend that we decided to sand and stain the deck--yes it is February, but it was 58 degrees! Now its almost done and we can enjoy it. The previous owner had put some sort of diesel/linseed oil concoction on the deck that turned it a really dark brown color. We sanded and stained it with a transparent Mountain gray stain. Next time over we'll do the trim work and install corner benches and a privacy wall. Pretty soon we won't have anything else to do to the house.

It's February float time! Usually when we tell people we are going to float the Yakima at this time of year, we receive some odd looks. The annual Peace and Gourmet float is in its 40th (and unfortunately final) year. This year it was a very mild day and the warmer temperatures made it even more fun. We made our usual sushi--and Mike also made some miso soup to go along
with it this time.



Everything was wonderful. Mike by the espresso maker--and I don't know what Jodi, Luc and Shirley are looking at in the other picture! A little backgournd on the float can be read a this link http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19910109&id=RU8QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=II8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4392,774151..
Needless to say, it was fantastic. I think the lime scallops were my favorite.

Last weekend we took advantage of the snow to head out to Blewett Pass and snowshoe. Hildy and Chloes' first experience with fairly deep snow. We had to stick to a track made by another snowshoer because the dogs kept falling in up to their necks!



Our picnic rock and the dogs hoping for treats

Squirrel!

Afterwards, we went up to Leavenworth for my favorite beer--Blind Pig and to the Cheesemonger's shop.



And our project from last week's island visit. We had old oak glass topped tables, so we stained them dark, made boxes under the galss and are in the process of filling them up with shells.

Happy New Year

Make a Smilebox greeting

Christmas at the island

Waited all day for a break in the rain. The dogs didn't even want to go outside!


A much better evening--Chloe even went for a swim! Hard to believe how rough this can get!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. We're off to Olympia next weekend!

Christmas Shopping 2009

Randy and I went to Bellevue and stayed the night in order to finish up our Christmas shopping. Think we are all done! Here are a couple of cool things we found though:


Juice pack to extend my Iphone battery and a golf cart heater for those chilly Hat Island golf games and....



The coolest infrared heater for the island - safe to use indoors, in the garage, shop, cabin, or just about anywhere that you want effective, comfortable heat. The heat is not whisked away on a breeze because the light rays are unaffected by the wind.

Anyway--we had a great time Went to Earl's and Ruth Chris for Happy Hour and Joey's for dinner. And the $100 certificate from the Westin was a nice bonus for shopping!

Everglades and Key West

What a great vacation we just returned from. Nothing like leaving 80+ degrees and returning to 1 degree. Oh well, that's why we travel in the winter.

It's really hard to see, but there are two manatees in the picture above. The larger white blob in the Mom and there is a smaller blob to the left of her that is her baby. They were really fun to watch. I think we saw a total of about 8 manatees.

Randy is sneaking up on two Wood Storks in this picture. We saw all kinds of wading birds--Great Egrets, Snowy Egret, Tri-colored Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Roseate Spoonbills. Most just from the window of the car! Its was amazing.

In this picture there are two alligators, a couple of Herons, an Anahinga, and an egret. We noticed a cottonmouth snake in the bushes in front of us as we took the picture.

Our favorite beach (Fort Zachary Taylor State Park), our favorite pastime, and a final sunset. Wish I was still there!

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's Day I decided to look at some of my military pictures. It seems I didn't take a lot of them, but here are a few that document some of my time! In honor of the season, here's one flying Santa into the base for Christmas in Germany. In actuality it was a pretty crappy weather day--so I kinda hovered him in!

Next is a picture when I was Platoon Leader in Ft Rucker Alabama. This is most of the flight company.

FLY ARMY!

Here is one from my Company Change of Command. I was Company Commander of Charlie Company. We taught both Basic and Advanced Combat Skills to future aviators.

And, not to forget Korea, I spent some time with the Neutral Nations Committe (comprised of Swiss, Swedish and Polish Officers). Here I am near the DMZ.

Drag races in Vegas

We had the chance to spend Halloween weekend in Vegas. Randy won a trip through Napa that included dinner, accomodations and hospitality tickets to the Drag Races. travis was even racing the Bullring Saturday night before the other races. Rachel and Travis ended up staying at the Orleans where we were so it was really nice.

Gale and Rachel enjoying their breakfast at the hotel.

Here's a video Ron racing the Napa car--wish it had sound. It's amazing how you can feel 8000 hp right in the middle of your chest!

Fishin!

The Taylors came over this weekend to go fishing.  Randy and Jim went out Friday afternoon to check the gear and came back with two.  Saturday morning they limited at 4 salmon each. They also manged to catch a few crab  Luc and I finished some tiling in the Kitchen.  Sunday we decided to fish on the way home.  Now this is what I call fishing! Even the dogs enjoyed their first fishing trip.

And we put up the beautiful sign that

Becca gave Randy for his birthday--very nice!

Last weekend

Last weekend-- what a weekend it was! Randy and I went over to our friends Mike and Jodi's house to go to a couple of concerts. Friday it was Jackson Browne--I love going to Chateau Ste. Michelle for concerts--everything is so laid back. (pardon the Iphone video!)





The concert was great and the next day we set off for a 15 mile bike ride through North Bend. It was Railroad days and we actually wound up pedaling through town right before the parade. How funny was that. (Faz in the right hand picture, Alex and Jodi in the pic below)

Anyway, after the ride we went back to the house to get ready for a "blind IPA tasting" at the Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle. I liked most of them, but my top three did not win any prizes. After the tasting we went to Mashiko Sushi restaurant. What a great place. We picked the Chef's choice option and 16 courses later....... Who knew that a roll with catfish, sweet potatoes, avocado wrapped in a soy bean wrap would be good! I would definitely go again.


Sunday we got up to go on a hike near North Bend--Called Rattlesnake something. Faz joined us again along with Mike and Jodi's niece Alex. What a pretty hike--and we gained some elevation!
(Randy, Mike, Ursa and Darby in the pic)







Finally we ended the jam packed weekend with the Elvis Costello concert--picnicked at the wineryWent to our horrible seats--(yes, that's me right next to the stage!)

Made it back to Ellensburg by 12:30 am--Luckily I wasn't expected to work until 10 the next morning!

Update Time

I started this a few years ago! Time to update!

Precautionary Landing

Read my new story to be published this spring by Travelers' Tales in Jennifer Bove's new book

A Mile in Her Boots,

True Tales by Women Who Work in the Wild

Planes, Trains and Hovercrafts

A hovercraft was the main source transportation during a field expedition at Roebuck Bay, Australia.
Read about my thesis in ArcNews

Don't touch

I was told not to touch the orangutans, but what do you do when they attach themselves to you?