St. Mary's Falls hike with Meetup group

So it's been a couple of years since I've posted here! Two years and one month, exactly. Time to pick it up again:

It seems that I'm more inclined to write after having gone out on a hike. Definitely a pattern to it. Even though I've been hiking quite a bit and not writing, I feel like writing after a good hike. Walking in the woods tends to settle the brain and make coherent thoughts more likely to come about.

Today's hike was led by a longtime local, and the pace was quite brisk for an all-uphill trail in icy/slushy snow. I lagged behind, partly due to being out of shape, partly due to fighting a cold, partly due to still getting adjusted to the altitude, but mostly because I insist on looking around as I go while also watching my step. When almost to the destination (but at the steepest part of the trail), I decided to turn around and let the others continue, letting them know I'd meet them back at the cars. That's when the hike started to be really fun.

I started to sing the old New Hampshire song I learned as a kid in 4-H, "I want to wake up/in the morning/where the purple lilacs grow/where the sun comes a-peeping/into where I'm a-sleeping/and the songbirds say "hello"... since lilacs grow naturally around here, I changed the words a bit to suit the locale. Then I saw a black squirrel and while watching it, a big clump of wet snow landed between my front pack and my shirt, a very wet cold spot! Shook it off and kept going... went alongside a steep slope, and was inspired, by having seen pacific northwest snow donuts, to make my own. Rolled a sticky snowball down the slope, and it gathered more snow as it went, becoming a tall rolling donut as it went. Another one got very large, hit a shrub, broke apart and kept rolling, becoming a dozen or so more donuts! Lots of fun! Then I saw a family further down the trail doing the same thing! Some went all the way down, 100' or so, to a little creek at the bottom.



I thought about how I've been meeting new people here, and wishing to meet someone who'd like to go hiking regularly without having to go with a large group... and thought I'd better narrow down that wish. I want someone who likes to hike but also likes to go slow enough to enjoy the scenery, have a little fun, notice new things, critters, odors, sounds, birds... while also being prepared for the weather and destination. And someone who doesn't dislike meeting dogs on the trail since they seem to be everywhere, and who doesn't grouse about politics along the way... There, that's my wish!

I later learned that where I turned around on the trail was not far from the goal, a waterfall. But it was reportedly a very disappointing falls, almost all covered in snow, barely a trickle. So I didn't miss much!

Morning rain

Seems the forecast for the next few days shows the first half of each day with a much higher chance of precip than the latter halves. Kinda interesting. Maybe plan my daily walk (which I've been missing lately) for watching the sunset...

Flying Time

Not just 2012, but February already! Zoom!

We had a solid week of a hard freeze a couple weeks ago, and fortunately it came after a nice thick blanket of snow (6") covered everything in the garden. Fluffy insulation topped by a thin layer of crust. Perfect protection from the frozen winds out of the Fraser valley in Canada. So after it all melted away and temps went up to the 40's again, the brussels sprouts have been plumping up and the kale looks fine.

Seed Catalog Time! I ordered some Tepary beans out of the southwest, from Native Seeds/Search in Tucson. I chose two kinds: one from a high elevation in Mexico, the other from near the coast. I figured either one might translate into coping with high latitude near a coast like here? An experiment. The garden is south facing and gets quite dry in July/August, so they might do well. Looking forward to the black garbanzos again, they are a fun little plant, very pretty and productive with little tending.

Off to have some apple/blackberry pie for breakfast! Sunny day ahead...

End of February already?

Having another week of "wintery" weather. Nothing like New England, sure, but for here, it's been a cold one. Kale got hit hard and won't be edible this spring. Glad I'm converting the garden to perennial fruits, much less work. I think. I planted a fig tree a couple of weeks ago, defying the odds, and may have lost. Oh well, I'll try again when it really is spring, and once established it'll be able to withstand this kind of chill. Many neighbors have full size trees that produce very well. Love fresh figs!

Work: may have a full time framing position coming up later this spring. Have been invited to apply/interview by the store manager. Okay, benefits, doing what I know, sounds good to me. Only drawback would be driving out of town. I'm spoiled by being able to walk to work at both of my part time jobs I have now. But I'd better grow up sooner or later, and get real with this employment thing!

I miss my grandboy! Had a wonderful visit with him and the family in January. Wish they didn't live on the other side of the continent. I considered the possibility of moving back to the east coast, but with the higher cost of living and my income record, I doubt if I could qualify for another mortgage back there, so I'd be going back to renting, which is pricey too... Gonna just do what I can here and make more trips. Hoping for another one maybe this fall, see the trees turn color (they do here too, but not as intense or with such variety.) By then, the new grandboy-to-come Ahvi will be a few months old, and Efren will be that much older and more amazing.

New Years Eve almost 2011

Been a long time since I've written here. Thought I'd start it up again, see how long it lasts this time. See if anyone reads/responds...

New Year's Eve, almost 2011. In spite of the crappy economy, I feel like personally things will be steady and improving this coming year. I intend (=new year resolution) to do more income producing projects, independent of my two part time jobs. I want to fix up old frames, for people who own them, or else buy and resell them. I want to do French Matting as a custom service. Special things like that. Maybe even do some of my own art and sell that. Little things that I can do on the side, at home, in my spare time, that will bring in a little extra.

I also will continue to transform my front veggie garden (used to be lawn) into a more perennial food producing spot. It's a heckova lot of work doing annuals, especially when summers are so iffy. I will keep a small spot for garlic, and maybe for squash or peppers as those seem to have done well even in crappy summers. Otherwise, more berries and other fruits. Maybe try a fig again but put it out away from the house so it can get more sun.

Cat repellent?

I've been reading up on ways to keep all those stray cats from making gross toxic dump piles in my new garden. Lots of websites list smelly things they might not like.
Mothballs, which are actually as toxic as the poo, so no, I won't use that.
Cayenne pepper, okay, I have some left over from a yellow jacket nest project of about 4 yrs ago.
Lemon juice/peel, they don't grow on the trees up here, this would get kinda pricey, and have to be replaced on a regular basis, and I'm not sure it would work.
Ammonia. ??
Half filled water bottles; this sounds like a fly repellent from the southwest. I doubt if it would work on cats.

Okay so I was in a store, and found lemon scented ammonia, a huge bottle for a buck nineteen. I'm not sure what gives it the lemony scent, but ammonia is organic, breaks down readily into nitrogen which is actually like fertilizer, so how bad can it be? I squirted it around the perimeter of the garden yesterday, and it's been about 24 hrs., and no new piles! Yay! To me it's already a success, compared to two or three piles a day I've had to scoop out recently. I realize that after it rains again (tomorrow?) I'll have to repeat the application, but it's cheap, and only takes a couple minutes to go squirt around the edges out there, so it's definitely something that would be easy to maintain.

Knock on wood!

Traveling Minds

I just read an article in the Bellingham Herald, which quotes Shelley Muzzy: “Every minute feels like it’s really full and long. I’m really present; I’m not waiting to go somewhere or wishing I’m somewhere else. Every second I’m there I’m thinking I’m really lucky.”

This makes me think of how I feel living here, with my nice little house, garden, neighborhood, short walk to the bay, fresh air (except for the penta but that's another story), friendly people, good food... living alone and being able to learn to play guitar, cook up a nice dish, go hiking with friends, etc.

Her quote, though, starts with this: “I feel alive every minute when I’m traveling,” which changes the meaning quite a lot! I wonder how many other 'travel addicts' out there only feel that special way when they're away from home? It's all a mind shift, that feeling. If you live your life like you're on vacation, you can enjoy your life more, instead of spending most of your time waiting for the next trip outta town. Even on vacation you have to deal with clean clothes, or mending a lost button. How about appreciating what you already have, and being nice and friendly to other people on a regular basis, instead of only doing it when you're a guest in a foreign country? It might change the way others treat you too.

I'm all for traveling, and have done a lot of it myself. I think people really miss a lot if they never go somewhere far away. There's a lot to learn by it.

You can also learn how to catch the mindset of being there, when you're at home. It's a good way to truly appreciate your own home. To some people visiting here, this is a foreign country!