Boat Mulch

Sticking my toes in....

2010-01-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

Bowing to the urgings of friends and family (well, mostly family), I've started up my own little Etsy shop! I figure I should probably put all this free time to productive use.

Etsy is a website that provides a place to buy and sell handcrafted goods. My shop is here: www.treeandstone.etsy.com

Right now I just have a few bracelets...

...and a few necklaces.

More things to come, purses and tote bags and maybe even hippo stuffies! :)

Christmas Night Cruise

2009-12-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

Last night we took the boat out for a little cruise around Lake Union. For the first time in the 7 years we've owned the boat, we were the only boat out on the lake! It was amazing. It felt like we had the whole city to ourselves. The water was glass and the air was crisp. A cold, clear night.

We didn't send out a Christmas letter this year, so this will do it for 2009. Merry Christmas!

Admiral Ginger

Looking across Lake Union to Capitol Hill

This is as clear as I could do on a moving boat, you can sort of see the Space Needle...

Swietenia looks great with lights, Aurora Bridge above. Look at the wake...

Coming through the Fremont Cut. This was about a 2 second exposure. I need a tripod! Again, the wake is awesome.

Starboard side, heading towards the locks (not a single other boat out, love it!)

Lola was cold. Red lights in the boat allow you to see out when you're driving and add extreme ambience!

The Porch Progresses, slowly.

2009-10-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is, in fact, the project that never ends. There is a small bit of light at the end of the tunnel, however. This past weekend included setting the stone atop the stair walls and beginning the shingling of those walls. We had to remove the temporary steps to do that.

The floor has two coats of sealer and three coats of oil.

Getting there....still need some trim.

Walls, almost done!

Stone, mortared into place and everything!

The blue thing is our foul weather canopy, lowered for the night so it doesn't blow away.

So, looks good, right? Almost done? HAH! Now we just need to put in the real steps (tigerwood treads, painted risers), strip the old columns, replace missing trim pieces on them, varnish the ceiling, replace trim around the ceiling, find and install a porch swing, and figure out what colors we're going to use. And oh yeah, we still don't have a railing.......

Again with the quilting.

2009-10-28T14:44:00.000-07:00

Since this has been gifted, now I can show it to you!
For my brand new niece, Sophia, shown here giving her best impression of a grumpy gnome:

Her room is painted a lovely shade of green, so I knew I had to use that. Plus, of course, no quilt from me would be quite right without a bit of orange, so here it is.

Front

Back

Detail of the front

And, of course, the requisite Hippo, whose name is Henrietta. Every child needs a hippo of their very own! :)

Sophia, right before we left for the airport in the dark: yes, that snuggly fleece thing is very much too big - I think it just adds to the cuteness.

Things still blooming in October.

2009-10-27T14:08:00.001-07:00

All right, first things first - this Agastache is INSANE. It's been blooming non-stop, attracting hummingbirds and smelling wonderful since June. June, people. It's now mid-October. That's four months. That's cool.

A different agastache here, fronted by some bright red Salvia. These were both experimentals, but I have a feeling we'll be planting more.

Next up we have the Evening Primrose. The cooler nights seem to have killed off the aphids that LOVE this plant, and in response it has started blooming again. Nice.One lone Echinacea blossom. I have a hard time deadheading these during the summer, which would cause them to bloom longer, because all the little tiny birds love the seeds. So I sacrifice blooms for food. The whole garden is pretty much like that. Plus, seedheads are interesting during the winter.
This is a Solanum of some sort - from the same family as tomatoes and deadly nightshade. It's an annual - we planted one outside the fence last year, this year we had a bunch come up, including this one, which is inside the fence in the middle of the gravel patch. It's about 4 1/2 feet tall.

Verbena rigida, still going strong. This is another one that just goes and goes and goes. Planted in a tiny triangle of dirt surrounded on all sides by concrete, it's enthusiastic and cheerful.

Pineapple Sage, another Salvia. This one isn't too hardy, and it doesn't start blooming until October, but it's gorgeous, so we put up with it.

This picture is mostly to show you that we are still working on the porch, because the fuschia came with the house, and I'm not real crazy about it. It survives, though, so who am I to dig it up?

Zinnias! I put this in to annoy Mark - he's zinnaphobic, apparently. What a poo-head.

These are just beginning to bloom, and frankly, they're a little early. Mahonia 'Winter Sun' usually starts blooming in late November at the earliest. Last year the blooms got wiped out by our ridiculous cold snap in December, so this year perhaps is compensation. Hummingbirds like this, too!

And Rosemary, because the freaking Rosemary never stops blooming around here.

The Miscanthus is just beginning to send up its seed heads, they are lovely in the sun, but on the whole, we planted too many and they got too big. Lesson learned.

Cosmos - part of our sunflower wall, they were sort of shaded out, and are just now seeing the sun.

One thing to be said for Seattle, gardening can happen all year round!

South Sound Cruise

2009-09-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our recent trip down south. Six days of boat bliss (and some rain. Ok, lots of rain...).

West Point heading south on Friday

Ginger commands the helm

I really, really love our siren.

We weren't the only ones with dreams of fresh crab this weekend...

We were pulling them in like mad in Quartermaster Harbor. We were the show for the evening.

Two 7-inch Dungeness. I totally ate one of these. Mmm!

Lola sort of hates the dinghy.

She prefers the bench seat.

Completely passed out after checking the crab pot.

Shot out the porthole window, it rained hard all night. Yes, the boat leaks. Good thing the wood stove is such a great dehumidifier!

We left Dockton headed for Penrose State Park - in the rain cha cha cha.

The old, and the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Surreal motoring under these mammoth feats of engineering.

Arrived at Penrose State Park and they made a rainbow for us. End to end!

Boiling the last crab for tomorrow's scrambled eggs.

On the buoy.

Rafted to the Cinnamon Girl - a mini Chris Craft rendezvous.

That night we broke an all time record for fewest doubles drawn in chicken foot. Or someone cheated!

HOLY CRAP, are those Vacinnium ovatum pancakes? Others might call them Huckleberry pancakes, but not me...

Picked the day before, the sometimes 8-foot tall shrubs overhang the beach. Easiest picking ever, no bending down, you reach up and grab. They taste pretty much identical to Vacinnium membranaceum (that's mountain huckleberry, peeps).

Lola, extremely focused on seagulls.

And then there was glass.

Sadly, it was time to go. Cinnamon Girl headed further south for another week of cruising and we headed back home on a nice outgoing tide.

Thanks to the moon, we made it to the locks in record time, only to wait there for, who else, but Argosy's Goodtime III! Commercial traffic gets priority.

We ended the trip on this, a kite show at Gasworks!

Swietenia gets some press!

2009-08-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

Pretty psyched about this article on Swietenia in the August issue of Sea Magazine.

Click to enlarge and read. We were interviewed a couple of months ago. Fun!

Seattle 5 day forecast

2009-07-29T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today

Hot

Hi 101 °F

Tonight

Clear

Lo 69 °F

Thursday

Hot

Hi 100 °F

Thursday
Night

Mostly
Clear
Lo 66 °F

Friday

Sunny

Hi 92 °F

Friday
Night

Clear

Lo 63 °F

Saturday

Sunny

Hi 83 °F

Saturday
Night

Partly
Cloudy
Lo 63 °F

Sunday

Mostly
Sunny
Hi 84 °F

"We live here because of the cool summers."

The Garden in Summer

2009-07-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

This spring and the beginning of this summer in Seattle have been ridiculously warm and sunny. Almost too warm and sunny. Average rainfall in June is 1.55". We got .29" Average rainfall for July is .93". We're halfway through the month, with no rain in sight, and we've gotten, to date, .06". It's a good thing most of our plants are drought tolerant!

First up, the most exciting thing! Those tomatoes are turning a color other than green!

The pink monkeyflower (I believe this is Mimulus lewisii) that we brought from Montana has seeded itself into various other pots around the yard. So cool.

Two of my favorite things, Daisies and Rhubarb.

The Agapanthus is just starting to emerge. I don't think it appreciates quite so much dryness, there are fewer flowers than last year.

The East parking strip. The Agastache doesn't seem to mind the drought. And the bees LOVE it! Walking by, you can hear the buzzing.

See him there, all happy doing his bee thing?

Echinacea, Purple coneflower. This has seeded itself around, too. Although somehow we seem to have acquired three different kinds. Not quite sure what's going on there.

A bee's-eye view.

What's left of the Allium. They look great, even when they're done for the season. We've been leaving the seedheads out in the garden, and are being rewarded with lots of tiny seedlings. It'll be a few years before the bulbs mature enough to flower, though.

Evening Primrose - Oenethera 'lemon sunset'. The flowers each only last one night, although we managed to plant them in the right spot, where they are shaded most of the morning, so the flowers last a little longer.

Our newest addition (because you can't go to the Chris-Craft rendezvous without buying plants at the farmer's market). Coreopsis 'Red Shift'. As the flowers age, they go from pale yellow to burgundy.

What you've all been waiting for - the giant WALL OF DOOM! Oh wait, it's just sunflowers. Our neighbors love it. Especially the kids. I had a woman yesterday walk past with her daughter who told me, "My friend told us about your sunflowers, so we had to come and see them" We're an official Phinneywood tourist attraction! Plus, it camouflages the sad, unfinished porch quite nicely. You can see that the giant ones in the middle aren't even blooming yet - they're about eight feet tall.

Just one of about six varieties we planted.

Ceanothus americanus. It's pretty much done blooming, but there are still a few flowers to be seen. Lovely and delicate, and they smell wonderful.

Genetics at work - we planted five red sedums. They seeded around, and this year there were several mutants. Albinos?

Again with the genetics and volunteers. The hollyhock appeared two years ago. It was pale pink. This year we have two different shades of pink as well as a dark burgundy. Go figure. Also - that echinacea is a volunteer that appeared last year. Totally different variety than the two that are on the opposite corner of the yard.

Asclepias tuberosa. Butterfly weed. Sadly, of the three we planted two years ago, this is the only one left. Happily, it's doing great!

Verbena rigida. We planted this on a whim in the tiny triangle of dirt left at the very corner between the curb ramps. It's taken over, and it blooms like this for three months.

Even when it's not in bloom, the Choysia 'aztec pearl' is pretty.

Just the way we like it - so much vegetation you can hardly see the house!

Back to Back Boat Shows

2009-07-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

Just back from back to back boat show weekends! Sounds relaxing, right? Sort of... There's a lot of prep that happens before the boat motors into the marina all shiny and clean. It's even harder to keep the boat clean when you're living on it. But somehow we were able to pull through and survive it all. Good times!

The first show was the Center for Wooden Boats, Wooden Boat Festival on Lake Union. A short ride from the slip, but when you're on the boat you're miles away.

(More photos here)

All the way west on the I dock, the SWIETENIA. Check the reflection of the line in varnish. However, the line should not be in the water and should be coiled. Tsk tsk. We're slacking.

The bowsprit of the 130' schooner ZODIAC, shot through our hatch.

ZODIAC returning to berth.

30' SWIETENIA from the ZODIAC. Note the market umbrella. It was hot as hell.

ZODIAC mast & signal flags.

Feeding before 4th of July fireworks.

The park completely filled up for fireworks. But put that many people on this floating dock and it'll sink.

Note the bowsprit is nearly half the length of our little boat!

A homemade boat, varnished western red cedar.

Truly.

Four days of working and then back on the water, this time headed for Port Orchard and the 20th Anniversary Chris Craft Rendezvous! Once you're through the locks, it's about a 2 hour ride across the shipping lanes, and watch out for ferries.

Elliot Bay and Seattle. I love ya.

Lola gets into the groove instantly.

Our cruising buddies and great friends' boat, Andy and Genevieve's Cinnamon Girl. Second and third boat on the dock this year, it took us 7 years of attendance to finally get some top billing! Yes.

Not a Chris Craft, but a Shain. Called a turtleback.

Had to show you: This is what happens when you stop taking care of the boat and leave it out in the weather. Our boat was approaching this state when we bought it. Sad. This old 50's Chris Craft is probably not coming back. It's a blue tarp special.

Yikes.

77 Chris Crafts this year!

Bear claw vents.

Even the chain is chromed. It's in the details.

PEARL, and nice details.

SEASCAPE, nice details.

MARANEE. Oh, the details. Jim and Margie actually have the skeleton key that locks this door. Nice.

The ULTIMATE in details. The corner chock, mooring bit, deck drain, stanchions, mounted in teak on SEASCAPE. Mmm.

It was hot, but we made it!

(More photos here)

Orange Crush Part 4 of 4: Desert (and some mountain) Perennials

2009-07-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is it. The final installment. File under Plants of the Week #10: Perennials of the Desert Southwest (and San Juan mountains of CO).

Clematis, can you believe it? Have you ever seen nicer clematis? NO YOU HAVE NOT. At least I think that's what it is but I have to come clean. I don't remember. Rick and Lynne will tell us! San Juan National Forest, CO.

This one's easy. Mule's ears. Wyethia amplexicaulis Not to be confused with Balsamroot, the shorter, gray-leaved, more drought tolerant version of this. Ute Indian Reservation, San Juan Mountains, CO.

Lewisia nevadaensis. Nevada bitterroot. I'm actually excited typing this because it's such a rare find, and lewisia's in general are such interesting, delicate little plants. To be treasured. San Juan National Forest, CO.

Holy paintbrush, batman. This burst of color looks like a cartoon explosion. Castilleja chromosa. Chimney Rock, CO.

Prince's plume, Stanlea pinnata. The presence of this species indicates selenium-bearing soils. Fascinating. I actually do find it fascinating. Above Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, AZ.

Penstemon sp. I'm not sure which one, maybe Dusty penstemon? It was growing in a dusty place (Chaco Canyon, AZ) but I bet dusty refers to the dusty green leaves.

Penstemon eatonii, Eaton's penstemon. Near Indian Creek, Canyonlands, UT.

Ahh, my favorite - and I mean favorite - desert wildflower. Sphaeralcea coccinia, Common globemallow. It's common out there, not common up here; it will grow in my desert garden some day. Right next to the 3-tip sagebrush we liberated from the cabin in Montana and under the 10 madrones we have in pots on our patio - just waiting to be planted. They'll need to wait a little longer, they have about 20 projects ahead of them, including rebuilding the wall that will prop them up and keep them warm. Desert plants in Seattle? In my yard, hell yes.

Growing among the ruins of Penasco Blanco, Chaco Canyon

Asclepias sp, milkweed. I don't know the species. Pretty fantabulously interesting flower though. Chaco Canyon, AZ.

Delphinium sp. Larkspur. San Juan National Forest, CO.

Gilia aggregata, Scarlet Gilia. This stuff is just a brilliant flash of color in the desert. Canyon de Chelly, AZ.

Calochortus nuttallii, Sego Lily. The state flower of Utah. DO NOT PICK, you will be arrested. That's what my dad used to tell me, anyway. Canyonlands, UT.

Physaria newberryi, Newberry's twinpod. I sat down in the dirt and keyed this baby out. Look at those pods! Yellow 4-petal flowers in spring, but we missed that part. Canyonlands.

Platyschkuhria integrifolia, Nakedstem bahia. I'm not making up any of those names. Another plant I was determined to figure out with the books. Canyonlands.

Not too shabby this little flower. Reminds me of Coreopsis.

A delicate little mountain gem whose name I forget. Ginger's parents will need to rescue me again. San Juan National Forest.

I know like WTH is this? I couldn't figure it out. Anybody know?

And finally, a bunch of grass? This is a desert wetland! No kidding. It's got the three characteristics: The right color soil (gotta dig, it's mottled) , wetland indicating plant species, and hydrology. It's protected by a little outcropping of rocks, just enough to allow the soil to remain moist via a seep. This grass grows literally no where else but right here. I almost walked right past it, but luckily I had my plant nerd radar on full blast.

Well, that's it for this trip. We'll see the desert again in 2011! I already can't wait.

Since I met Ginger in 1998, we've been to the desert southwest 6 times:

1999: Zion, Red Canyon, Bryce, Escalante and we got engaged on this trip!

2001: Escalante area & Lake Powell w/ Ginger's parents. We rented Jeep Grand Cherokee and violated the rental agreement by taking it WAY off road and out of state.

2003: Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon

2005: Capitol Reef, Escalante, Zion, St. George

2007: Pagosa Springs, Hovenweep, Comb Wash, Lake Powell, Natural Bridges, San Rafael Swell

2009: Pagosa, Chaco Canyon, Canyon de Chelly, Chimney Rock, Canyonlands

Orange Crush Part 3 of 4, Plants that freakin’ rock, desert southwest

2009-06-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

Before we begin with the plants, a gratuitous collared lizard shot (Chaco Canyon, AZ)

Now then, on to the desert plants!

(file under: Plants of the Week #9: Trees and Shrubs of the Desert Southwest)

I won’t list everything that we saw, just the cool stuff or plants for which we got great photos. And, sorry this took so long to roll out. Seeing all of these plants again takes us right back though!

The Cactus:

Cane Cholla, Cylindrapuntia spinosior (Chaco)

Brown spined prickly pear, Opuntia phaeacantha (Everywhere)

Claret cup, Echinocerus triglochidiatus (Everywhere, this specimen Chaco)

And cactus-like Narrowleaf Yucca, Yucca angstissima (mostly AZ)

The Trees: Everyone has seen the first two, but they have special significance since I spent a good chunk of my childhood exploring beneath their scarce shade. Just the smell of a pygmy forest brings back a flood of memories. Oh, and you make Gin from Juniper berries, yo.

Utah Juniper, Juniperus osteosperma (Everywhere, this specimen Canyon de Chelly)

Pinon Pine, Pinus edulis (Everywhere)

And very occasionally, usually on north facing canyon slopes, good ol’ Douglas Fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (with a juvenile pinon pine in the background) (Canyonlands)

Fremont Cottonwood, Populus fremontii (We forded this stream in the 2WD Element. Ginger was like "WHA?" and I was like "Chillax". Canyonlands)

Other trees we enjoyed: Single leaved ash, Fraxinus anomala; Box elder, Acer negundo

The shrubs: There are about ten shrubs that all look like sagebrush from the road, but get to know them and you’ll see they are each specially adapted to certain ecological conditions and have their own merit. And only sagebrush smells like sagebrush, so this is an easy way to tell what something isn’t. Just to keep us all confused, there are many varieties of sagebrush out there, but only Three Tip gets over 4’ tall.

Three tip sagebrush, Artemesia tridentata (either side of Ginger; everywhere, but this is in Canyon de Chelly)

Fendlerbush, Fenderla rupicola (pretty amazing in bloom actually, Chimney Rock, CO)

Utah serviceberry, Amelanchier utahensis (San Juan National Forest, CO)

Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana (San Juan National Forest, CO)

Cliff rose, Purshia tridentata (Canyon de Chelly)

Fremont’s Mahonia, Berberis fremontii (Canyon de Chelly)

Mormon tea (caffeine free!), Ephedra viridis (Grows everywhere)

There were more but I'll spare you. I took note of these, but didn't get good pictures:

Greasewood, Sarcobatus vermiculatus
Shadescale, Atriplex confertifolia
Four winged saltbrush, Atriplex canescens
Mountain mahogany, Cerocarpus intricatus
Desert sumac, Rhus aromatica
Golden Currant, Ribes aureum (also grows in eastern WA, but looks completely different)
Longflowered snowberry, Symphorocarpus longiflorus (coolest of the snowberry clan)

Next week:
Perennials. Try to stay in your seats.

I love summer.

2009-06-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Point Forecast:
47.62°N 122.36°W (Elev. 105 ft) Seattle WA

Mon

72° | 50°

Tue

72° | 49°

Wed

77° | 54°

Thu

79° | 54°

Fri

78° | 55°

Orange Crush: 2 of 4

2009-06-06T18:38:00.001-07:00

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is a long way from Chaco on narrow, barely paved back roads through the Navajo reservation near Chinle, Arizona. We headed out w/ perfect weather and arrived once again at the ONLY place to camp for 100 miles in a blisteringly cold thunderstorm. The Canyon, a National Monument, is Navajo land surrounded by Navajo reservation. It’s their canyon and that much is clear from the start. The amazingly scenic canyon is surrounded by junk and trash and broken glass and 5 generations of cars and washing machines. When you’re in a National Park, you expect a certain cleanliness. Not so de Chelly. It’s a natural wonder surrounded by a dump with everything from the occasional McMansion to the rusty single-wide, sometimes right on the canyon rim and in the canyon itself. There is one trail into the canyon that visitors are allowed to take, otherwise if you want to get down there you have to hire a Navajo guide or go on a Shake and Bake Jeep tour for lots of $. We stayed on top and took pictures from the rim. I’ve photoshopped out the broken glass.

Yup, it was quite cold this day.

Juniperis osteosperma, Utah Juniper. Tasty.

The rain passed and then we passed out in the free campground and left early the next day for Pagosa to pick up the dog and take a shower - and watch the Nuggets lose again.

After cleaning up, repacking and restocking we headed out again, this time for more familiar territory, Canyonlands NP and Dead Horse Point. We camped in the BLM land on the east side of Canyonlands and encountered bugs for the first time all vacation. Hardly a stitch of vegetation and gnats, mosquitos, biting flies, no-see-ums, the whole deal. We figured it was the presence of grazing cattle, because there was very little water. Bugs aside, we found our own, personal box canyon complete with spring fed stream and lush (for the desert) vegetation, so thick we had to turn back on our trek to the pour-off. After the thunderstorm that mostly missed us, we relaxed, and then relaxed. I geeked out with my Canyon Country plant book and ID’d some cool (to me) plants, Lola ate various scat, and Ginger read a half-dozen books.

Hiking into our box canyon.

It was a pretty sweet camp spot.

The next day was going to be a long drive so we got up relatively early for camping, ate pancakes and hit the road again. We made a record short stop at Dead Horse Point (after the fee was paid to the state of Utah it was about a dollar a minute). Tangent: I reminisced about childhood visits here and have decided it’s about time to rent a Jeep and do the White Rim Trail again. That trip, 4x4 only down the Colorado and up the Green River, was one of the last camping trips I took with my dad. We packed too much gear, my sister Lisa, and barely enough gas, and took the 3 day drive across the vast valleys of the two great Utah rivers.

Minute 8 of 10 at Dead Horse Point.

So back at Dead Horse Point we took in Amazing View #20 of our trip, and headed north: destination Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho. It proved to be too ambitious as we hit a massive construction slowdown during rush hour south of Provo. We surprised the Christopherson’s with a call and they took us in, fed us and provided a TV to watch the final Nuggets loss of this season. Glad that’s over, maybe next year Carmelo. Thanks Mike and Kristina, we’ll make it up to you. Good luck with the Quercus gambelii.

Our next destination was supposed to be one last night of camping in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, but the pull to Seattle was too great. We’ll take the extra day to wash a million dead bugs off the grill and plan the next trip. Sandy, UT to Seattle is 875 miles. We did it in 13 blurry hours.

Stay tuned for all of the plant photos in the final vacation post! Plant geeks unite!

See more trip photos here on Flickr.

Orange Crush: Part 1 of 4

2009-05-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

We love the southwest. Love it. Want to eat it. OK, consume it visually and tactically. Every two years like clockwork we must return to the desert for a camping and sight seeing trip. We’ve been doing this since 1999 when we went to Zion and got engaged. We covered 7 states in 10 days, and put an amazing 3,534 miles on the clock as we burned across mountain ranges to get to the promised land of red and white sandstone down south.

There were slight detours.

On the long trip down to Pagosa Springs, Colorado we stopped for the night and were the second to last table seated at the famous (infamous) Maddox Ranch House in non-scenic Brigham City, UT. Maddox is actually noted on the map. My grandpa and dad used to stop here on the way back from the cabin in Montana for big steak dinners. It’s hasn’t changed since my last visit 20 years ago, only expanded to serve more people. The food is still great, it still closes at 9:00(!) and still only serves Coke. Mormons drink their caffeine cold.

The sign lets you know they are serious. Ginger got fried chicken (half of one) and I had spicy top sirloin. I think it’s still with me, it was that good.

The next day we blew into Pagosa Springs where it rained for three straight days. We took shelter at Lynne and Rick’s house at 7,000’ elevation. Ginger’s sister Holly joined the fray. The mornings (before the daily afternoon monsoon) were spent exploring for mountain wildflowers and playing pool, and capping off the night by watching the Nuggets lose to the Lakers.

Chimney Rock, elevation 6,800

During a sun break, we got a little prequel, a taste of what was to come at Chimney Rock State Park halfway between Mesa Verde and Pagosa. This was one of the far northeast outposts of the Ancestral Puebloans (don’t say Anasazi). They used it to tell time because every 18 years during the lunar standstill, the moon comes up between the two chimneys of chimney rock and aligns with ruins on the ground. C.O.O.L. The next day we left Lola behind for three days of dog-spa vacation with the grandparents and headed South to New Mexico.

I always love crossing political borders and having the expectation that everything will be different, but it always looks the same on the other side. Except in this case the road worsens and the No Passing, OK To Pass, No Passing, OK To Pass signs proliferate and never, ever, ever stop.

Chaco Culture National Historical Monument is a World Heritage Site in the middle of nowhere, accessible by bad dirt roads (which thankfully keeps the RV count way down) and amazingly, wonderfully isolated. No WiFi, no cell service. Bye bye world! Charge your camera battery at the one outlet in the campground restroom and otherwise detach.

The campground is in a little sandstone box canyon with resident canyon wrens and bats. They put the tent sites in the patches of green protected in the canyon and leave the RV’s to roast out on the greasewood plain. HA! Our little alcove was blissfully quiet with no RV generators pumping out diesel fumes and noise all night to keep the retirees cool while they watch Satellite. We watched the bats and the stars. I usually hate campgrounds, but this one worked.

We immediately strapped on the day packs and headed out, wearing Chaco’s I might add. Chaco Canyon is a vast collection of Ancestral Puebloan ruins, ancient roads, and rock art. There are several hikes around the canyon and we recommend getting off the loop road and up onto the mesas that overlook the canyon. We found on these hikes that it was just us, the ruins, the petroglyphs, and the cactus. Our first hike burned out our feet for the rest of the trip. Don’t wear Chaco’s on 6 mile hikes at Chaco. Bad bad bad. It was so warm and after three days of rain in CO, and 8 months of rain at home, sandals needed to be worn. We could have waited I guess. Halfway thru our hike we had a thunderstorm, which would happen every single day for the rest of the trip. No kidding, every single day. Even on drive days. This while Seattle had 70 degree weather the entire time we were gone. It ain’t right, but nothing is. We bring the rain no matter where we go.

We scarfed dinner and went to a lecture in the visitor center to escape the rain and wind. So did the rest of the campground. They’ve discovered Chocolate at Chaco. I thought it was a joke at first, but they analyzed pottery and found that chocolate from 1000 miles south was brought to the canyon. Another piece of the vast puzzle of this vast place.

The plan was to leave the next day but it was too great and there were more hikes. So we stayed and trekked out on the longest hike in the canyon to Penasco Blanco, up on the west mesa. A truly amazing place, sherds of pottery everywhere, just strewn about. This site has never been excavated, so who knows what is down there. It was magical. When I’m stuck at work my mind will probably wander here, to this desolate place inhabited 700 years ago. We were the only people out there.

We headed back as our daily rain descended in huge black thunderheads and gusts of wind knocking sand in our eyes. By the time we made it back to the trailhead we were bundled up like an afternoon in December. Then it blew off and we spent another night in our canyon oasis with the singing wren, sitting on a rock high above the tents and watched the Campground Show. Humans make good comedy without really trying.

Eventually, we visited every site in the canyon and walked all but two of the long hikes. We will be back and honestly, we should have stayed an extra day, because our next destination was a big disappointment.

Stay tuned, next post in a couple of days!

On the trail...

Incredibly detailed masonry

Pueblo Bonito

Centuries old pottery just lying in the sand.

What is she looking at?

Supernova

See more trip photos here on Flickr.

Opening Day 2009

2009-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well, Opening Day 2009 was a pretty huge success. Rain schmain. Every year since the 20's, the first weekend in May has hosted the Opening Day parade through the Montlake cut from Lake Union to Lake Washington. Thousands turn out, even in the rain. There are several classes of boats that parade; we parade in the Classic Power under 40' class. This year there were about 30 boats in our class including some real beauties - some might say even more spectacular than the SWIETENIA! However, with a little luck and some secret weapons at our disposal, we took 3rd Place for the second year in a row! We were quite surprised actually, not expecting to place again. But we're honored just the same.

How do we take it up a notch next year and claim second? We might need another baby or two (judges love babies) or perhaps we'll invest in a string of signal flags. A little more bling can't hurt. Thank you Clancy, Kara, Bea, Laurie, Jake, Corrie, Kristin, Ginger, and Lola. And thank you SWIETENIA for powering through the whole day with your timing horribly out of adjustment. My bad.

Pied Piper, Ann Hay's 1940 39' Matthews.

Andy and Genevieve's 1951 34' Cinnamon Girl. She's headed straight for us Captain!

Ginger enjoying the Friday evening before the parade, when the weather was perfectly sunny and balmy. It wouldn't last. We're on the deck of the Cinnamon Girl moored at the Seattle Yacht Club. They let the riff raff tie up for Opening Day weekend. Otherwise the privilege is about $15,000 just to join.

Boat bling. Freshly re-chromed siren from the 40's. It's loud as hell! I use it gratuitously of course. At every opportunity, really. Or during non-opportunities as well.

More bling: Mooring bit, chocks, light, and anchor chain roller. The flag is the burgee of the Classic Yacht Association.

The Deadliest Conference: Celebrity Fisherman

2009-04-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

Captain Johnathon Hillstrand and the Garff's
Photo Deborah Bach, Three Sheets Northwest

Yesterday Ginger and I were one of 500 people to get on the list and get a most coveted spot at the CatchCon 2009, the Deadliest Catch conference at Pier 66. We've been watching this TV show for years, getting to know the Captains and crew, seeing them work themselves to death in the icy waters of the Bering Sea, fishing for crab. It's impossible work, in ridiculous weather. Maybe that's the appeal: I'll never captain a 120' crab boat or work 30 hours on an icy deck hauling 800 lb pots in 40' seas. It's something I'll never experience!

So we shook hands and took pictures with our "heros" from the show, and got an autograph from each of the 5 captains the show currently follows. Wait, what am I talking about? The Deadliest Catch. Tuesdays, 9:00, Discovery Channel.

Mark and Captain Phil, he's doing just fine. I was really excited to meet big Phil, he almost died last season!

Ginger and Captain Sig. As Norwegian as Norwegian gets!

Captains Monte and Keith of the Wizard

Captain Andy of the Time Bandit.

Got to tour two of the boats! Now that was way cool.

The Garffs and the crew of the Northwestern. Next time you're in a bar fight, you want Matt (right) on your side.

Great signature from Captain Johnathon, of the Time Bandit

800 lb crab pot. Tried to lift it. Couldn't.

more photos on Flickr here!
Three Sheets Northwest article, Mark and Ginger quoted!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T08:04:00.001-07:00

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Embothrium coccineum, originally uploaded by gingershana.

This is one of our Chilean Fire Trees (Embothrium coccineum) happily putting out new leaves. We repotted a couple of them this year, and they are growing like crazy.

For Earth Day this year, we are having a seed/seedling exchange at work. Yesterday evening I potted up (in yogurt cups) seven divisions of chives and six batches of daisy seedlings. I'm sure the people on the bus next to me were wondering why I smelled like onions at 6:15 in the morning!

Take a little time today to thank Mother Earth for all she gives you, and if you are so inclined, maybe do a little something to help her out.

Today in Seattle

2009-04-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today we played with the new camera - Enjoy!

Deer Fern (Blechnum spicant) in one of our salvage pots.

New leaves on the Fern Leaved Buckthorn.

The Olympics from Carkeek Park this morning.

Girl butts.

Vine Maple leaves beginning to unfold

Trillium, happy under our deck.

Lola, with the stick she carried for a mile down the beach. At that point, Mark had to let her take it home.....

The red flowering currant in our parking strip - total volunteer, and the hummingbirds love it!

Frittilaria - Checkered Lily

Salmonberry flower.

The Gingko, thinking about leafing out.

Umbrella Pine buds.

Acer Henryi, new leaves.

The Winter Formal

2009-02-05T18:21:00.001-08:00

Every year we host a BIG party in the middle of winter where you only gain entry if you're dressed up. This January 24th was the 7th Annual Winter Formal. Here are some photos (for those of you who aren't on Facebook!)

Turns out, he might actually be a horse!

2009-02-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

So all the joking around we've been doing about Nelson; "He's a horse!" "It's like living with livestock!" "Is that a dog or a big pony?" appears to have some basis in fact. I wish I had a picture, but it was dark and happened pretty fast. Imagine looking out our back door and seeing Lola standing at the top of the stairs looking out into the yard, specifically towards the vegetable garden, with her tail tucked between her legs and a very concerned expression on her face. Usually, Nelson would be standing right at the back door, nose to the window, waiting to come in. I immediately thought that we'd neglected to latch the gate and I'd have to go on a late night dog hunt. Then I spotted him over in the corner, head down (good thing he's not a brindle, or I never would have seen him!). What the heck? I called him, and he looked up, then came lumbering across the yard and up the steps, happy as a clam, with a big ol' carrot sticking out of his mouth, greens and all. Yes, my friends, he really is a horse.

We still have the English mastiff. Help!

2009-01-29T19:37:00.000-08:00

Nelson's adoption page

You all know me. I'm a big dog kind of guy. Love the big, sweet working dog types. Big heads = bigger brains = more thinking (usually). Small heads = smaller brains = less cerebral cortex (where complex processing goes on). Actually, I don't know anything about dog brains, but from my experience, bigger dogs do more thinking.

So, I love these big dogs. I'm having a tough time not loving this dog - so I've got to get rid of him now! How terrible is that? I know I know, that just sounds heartless. There is a family out there for big Nelson. A family with more time to spend with the big dog during the day working on obedience. He doesn't need two overworked humans that spend 4 hours a day at home. He needs more than we've got right now. That, and we are most decidedly a one-dog family now (except for the occasional dog-sitting assignment).

Nelson is a rescued mastiff. We think he's under two years old. He's very comfortable living with us now which means he's pretty much in our face all the time. A dog this big with no formal training (other than sit) can be difficult at times! Here's the deal though, the longer he's here, the more our dear, patient Lola loves him. So let's get on it people. Adopt this dog!

The bigger problem might be that Nelson loves us. He's missing me right now, I can hear it. He'll adjust to a new set of humans, but the sooner the better. Good dog. Now I must change out of my nice clothes so I can interact with Big N on the couch.

A Poem by Brent Barry

2009-01-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/points_after/posts/20181-a-poem-by-brent-barry

It's hard to admit, but this made me choke up a little bit... at my desk, at work...

Man, I miss those Sonics. For those that don't know, Barry used to play for the Sonics and was/is just a good guy.

Let the adventure begin!

2009-01-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

Meet Nelson:

He arrived last night from Oregon. We're his foster parents until he gets adopted. We're working with a group called F.O.R.M., Friends of Rescued Mastiffs. So far it's working out all right. He's a bit pushy with Lola, so we're watching them carefully, but they seem to be reaching an equilibrium. He doesn't love his crate, but he'll go in, and once he's in, he's good about it. He's probably about four years old, and was brought in to the Multnomah County shelter as a stray. Currently he weighs about 118, the rescue coordinator says he probably should weigh about 150, so we've got some work to do. He's small for an English Mastiff, but still really big... He can look out the window in the back door!

He took to the couch like a natural:

And he knows one good trick:

We'll give him a week or so to settle in, then he needs a trip to the vet, and then he'll be ready for adoption! Man, that's a big head:

Sonics. ARGUH!

2008-12-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched a very exciting Blazers/Nuggets game on some non-HD Cable station called CSNNW. We figured out eventually that it was the Comcast Sports Network Northwest. Say that ten times.

So now I can watch some Portland Trailblazers games.

Neat.

Carmelo Anthony was out so Denver's defense was better than usual. They were double-teaming Brandon Roy so guys like LaMarcus Aldridge and Joel Przybilla were stepping up. Przybilla had a double-double, and when he reached that mini-milestone I was psyched. Late in the fourth when LaMarcus Aldridge made a beautiful LaDunk I bolted off the couch with a big "YES!" Ginger gave me a classic "I don't miss these moments" look.

Portland is a great team. How much upside does Rudy Fernandez have? How smooth is Brandon Roy? I even like Steve Blake. Is he the new Steve Kerr, or the new Brent Barry? The only depressing part is Greg Oden not meeting sports pundit expectations, but being the #1 draft pick is a curse that's hard to shake. I wish him the best; I hope he gets better and can find an effective way to deal with the harsh spotlight that's constantly on him.

It's a proven scientific fact that fans watching their sports team win have improved self-esteem for days afterward, while the opposite happens for the losers. So how's my self-esteem today?

Same. You see, PORTLAND IS NOT MY TEAM! Blazers are 3 hours south in the state of Oregon. Not my boys. I can get excited about any sports team by watching a good game. I'll watch the TNT games in beautiful, beautiful HD and bolt off the couch when Chris Bosh slams it home or D-Wade creates some magic - in Florida even. Exciting things get me excited, but the moment fades.

Where am I going with this? What else can be written about the Sonics being stolen out from under us by a band of redneck thieves from a flyover city who's most interesting attribute is its complete lack of interest? I have no great epiphany about their departure, just the loss I feel when I realize they're not on TV and I can't go to the game. I want to sit in KeyArena even if the only sound effect is "Everybody clap your hands!" Clap clap clap clap...

Sorry Portland. You've got a great team, they're young and fun to watch. But I want the Sonics. Even if it's the Memphis Grizzlies repatriated to the Northwest and rechristened the Sonics. Even if it's an expansion team with guys like Robert Swift, Stephon Marbury and that criminal Chris Anderson and it takes 10 years to have a winning season. It's the NBA, I get how this works. As flawed as the NBA is, I want them back in my City. Even if Commissioner David "I can't quit you, Clay" Stern cuts the ribbon. (I can punch him in the face later, after the ceremony and the lease is signed...)

Bring me some Sonics Basketball. Because "I'm going crazy up here at the lake!"

Update: OKC is known for something: It's the Fast Food Capital of the nation. Perfect.

Seattle: Snowed in until further notice

2008-12-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Putting it lightly: This is somewhat out of the ordinary! It's fun though. Normally right now we're going back and forth between drizzle and rain with the occasional non precipitating overcast day. So this ain't bad.

When it snows around here the town usually shuts down. For the entire city of Seattle, we have 27 snowplows. That's just enough snowplows to get to all streets in about 5 days. Not exactly great service, but then it usually only snows once per year and only an inch or so. It'll melt before they get to our street, which is just fine for the sledding hill/street in front of our house.

It's difficult to describe just how bad Seattle drivers are in the snow. It's pathetic. I grew up in a land where schools didn't close unless there was 24". Last night we threw the chains on the PT Cruiser and went out to dinner with some friends. I did a perfect handbrake rear wheel slide into a parking spot, it was beautiful. Our friends from Florida were impressed!

Lola will jump 4' to eat a snowball.

Remember the Mahonia? Looks like a space alien with dreads.

The new Markie's hill (the hill in front of my childhood home was known as Marky's hill).

I shouldn't be able to take a picture like this in Seattle! This is across the street.

Here's the warning, hope we get another 6+ so I can skip work tomorrow!

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
240 PM PST SUN DEC 21 2008

EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-EVERETT AND VICINITY-
SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA-TACOMA AREA-LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY AREA-
240 PM PST SUN DEC 21 2008

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST MONDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 AM PST MONDAY. THE WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

AN ADDITIONAL 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT IN
THE PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS AND THE LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY. A FEW
ISOLATED LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE AS MUCH AS 8 INCHES. SNOWFALL
AMOUNTS WILL BE VARIABLE FROM LOCATION TO LOCATION.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL
IS OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. SNOWFALL INTENSITIES WILL BE HEAVY
ENOUGH TO REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES.

Salvia elegans, Pineapple Sage

2008-12-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Plant of the Week #8
Salvia elegans, Pineapple Sage

Here's another winter bloomer - as of December 7th it was blooming and had been for about 3 weeks. This is a pretty tender plant in this climate, and with the first hard frost the leaves will brown and that will be that until late spring. It seems to lag most perennials by 3 months. When others are blooming profusely in June, this salvia is just starting to bud. I made the mistake of cutting it back too much last winter and that probably slowed the growth even more, but it fully recovered and doubled in size from the previous year by August.

Like other plants in our drought tolerant parking strips (the only part of our yard we've planted so far because of the endless exterior renovations...), the sage received no water over the summer. Crush the leaves and you do get a pineapple scent, it's pretty cool. The books say 3-5' tall, and "Pineapple sage is a semiwoody subshrub in USDA zones 9-11, and an herbaceous perennial, dying to the ground in winter but resprouting in spring, in zones 8-9. Gardeners in colder areas grow pineapple sage as an annual, or bring it indoors in the winter. Pineapple sage grows naturally in oak and pine scrub forests at elevations from 8,000-10,000 feet elevation in Mexico and Guatemala." It's growing under an oak now, one of our six baby Quercus phellos, the willow oak.

There are 700 species of salvia. Like most mints, Salvia elegans has square stems, opposite leaves and is edible. We have yet to try it, but apparently it is tasty in a salad and makes a great garnish in a cocktail. Actually, that's not a bad idea - gotta go...

Next week: Quercus phellos? Revisit the Black Lace Elderberry? Arbutus menziesii?

Mahonia X media 'Winter Sun'

2008-12-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

Plant of the Week is back! (POTW #7)
Mahonia X media 'Winter Sun'

(Sorry POTW's have been on hiatus since June, I'll try and get this going again on a more regular basis. I got distracted with a little project I like to call The Porch Nightmare.)

Here's another plant in our drought-tolerant parking strips. I actually ordered Mahonia lomarifolia, Burmese mahonia. The Burmese Mahonia is even more rare, stays very narrow and can get 15' tall. Burmese is so striking in the garden, it's almost gothic with its narrow stalks shooting skyward and spiky foliage. But the nursery dropped off these 'Winter Sun' instead and it took me a year before I realized I had the wrong ones. Oh well.

The 'Winter Sun' are working out great though. Because I didn't know what I had, they're planted too close together, but for now the massing looks pretty good. They'll get much taller however, possibly 10', and at that point they'll be much wider than the Burmese I planned for, so we'll have to move some plants around.

These photos were shot December 7, 2008. The shrubs have been blooming for two weeks and I've got at least 3 more to go. We've got hummingbirds that visit our house just to drink the nectar out of our ten specimens. Other than the Salvia elegans (next week's POTW) these are the only flowers in the garden right now.

Mahonia X media 'Winter Sun' will grow in USDA zones 7-9. It's a blast of color on the shortest days of the year. New growth in the spring is bronze or coppery, by summer the fruits have turned purple and other birds are feasting on those. The books say these need afternoon shade, but mine get full, hot sun (reflected heat from the street and sidewalk too) all day. They've been in the ground for 2 years. The first summer I watered them, last summer they got nothing and I think we can agree that they're thriving.

These brighten up the typical December day in Seattle. It's cold and gray, with a slight drizzle, so the 'Winter Sun' seem aptly named.

Next week Salvia elegans, Pineapple Sage.

Finally, a reprieve!

2008-12-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, the porch project is officially on hold until we:

Have enough money to pay cash for the next round of construction materials (decking and siding - very spendy)
Winter is wrapping up and it's not raining every day
Feel like working on it again.

I'm very happy to have this behind me for awhile. This weekend, for example, instead of getting up with a sense of dread and impending crankiness, I got up and put Christmas lights on the boat for the Queen City Yacht Club lighted ships parade. Much more fun.

We got the stairs and walls in. Oh, and when I say we, I mean me. Concrete foundation, framing, everything me. Ginger helped with stair stringers. The stairs are temporary until we decide on what decking material we're using. Also, still haven't moved the big rock into place as the first "step", though the neighbors are impressed with its sheer size. It weighs 2,607 lbs. Waiting on a friend and a track hoe. Neat!

A quilt for Baby Clark

2008-12-09T08:18:00.001-08:00

Baby quilt, originally uploaded by gingershana.

I can show you this now that it has been gifted! Just a simple baby blanket - pieced front with cottons and linen, and a back of chocolate brown chenille. The boy-ness/girl-ness of the baby is not being revealed, so I just went with bright and cheerful. Orange is always good...

I miss the big dog.

2008-12-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

This is a story about Henry.

How do you start a post about the coolest dog you've ever known? You just start writing. B.D.E. - Best Dog Ever arrived in November of 2000. We drove to the suburbs of Vancouver, BC to pick up the little man. At eight weeks Mr. Henry was sporting giant paws and an fearless attitude. We avoided US customs by putting him out in the open, he charmed his way across the border with a wag and a yip to the border agent.

Our first morning we spent exploring his new world at our Queen Anne rental house. Little dog grew fast. At one point he was gaining 10 pounds a month. 6 months? Must weigh 60 lbs. He topped out at 120 two years later.

Little Henry showed no fear.

Ahh, melty puppy eyes.

He would do unspeakable things to this plush beach ball...

We moved to Wedgwood and Henry adjusted immediately to his new surroundings. What was ours was his. Couch, bed, whatever. We were weak and he knew it!

Teenager Henry.

Then we did the unspeakable. The neutering. After this, there was less humping and growling, but he remained largely the same dog. Largely, pun intended.

H-dog in his natural habitat, on top of the humans.

Not much of a swimmer, but he didn't need to impress anyone either. They were impressed anyway and he seemed to know it.

Henry made himself at home literally wherever we went. And we took him everywhere.

Why sit on the ground when I can sit in this chair?

We never had to leash Henry when we were out camping or on the beach. He stayed close, stayed out of trouble.

Henry liked to sleep. After about age two, he really mellowed out and took it easy most of the time.
Then we really upset the balance with this little orange thing. Ginger wanted an orange dog. Seriously, so after endless hounding and pleading we brought one home from the shelter. Henry was mildly amused and put up with his new little sister for the most part. Lola was to be the auxillary dog, a back up. A back up I felt we didn't need at the time.

Henry liked to play rough, really rough. You'd get him going and he'd knock you over. He knocked me off my feet many times, the momentum was unstoppable - his head a steel battering ram.

Lola got bigger and started taking up more space. Henry tolerated this.

We moved again, to a bigger house - sort of ready made for two dogs. But Henry would only live here for a year.

Big old Henry probably grew too fast and like all large breeds, had a short life expectancy to begin with. It's a good thing he didn't know that. He lived life to the fullest. Yeah, he slept a lot, but most Bullmastiffs are like that. Henry's personality really came alive around people. He knew he was the center of attention and played it up. We'd take him everywhere we could and he'd make a big entrance, people would ooo and ahhh, and Henry would stand up just a little taller and make a bee-line for the person with food. There are really two kinds of people: Those who loved Henry and those who didn't. He could tell which was which and then gravitated to the people he could manipulate for food or fun.

There was a little bit more to the big dog than sleep, food and slobbering. He seemed to possess emotion more than other dogs. Lola, for instance, is 99% instinct. She reacts to things the way you expect dogs to react. Lola barks when the doorbell rings because that's what dogs do. Lola does dog stuff like get crazy anxious when you pull out the tennis ball. She's completely and totally a dog; she doesn't think, she just reacts to stimuli.

Maybe Henry was slightly more evolved? I like to think so. It's hard to describe, but I think Henry had more soul. Our interaction with Henry was different. We spoke to Henry like he was another person in the room. He was the sort of dog that did what you asked him to do not because he was particularly good at obedience school, but because he wanted to make you happy. When we said "Speak" he'd bark so loud you'd fall backwards. That made us laugh, and I think that made Henry happy. He would sit and listen to you talk, trying to process the information, trying to understand the words. He wanted to be in on whatever was going on around him.

He was always in a good mood. One summer we think he ate a yellow jacket or something and got stung on the inside of his mouth. Half of his face swelled up to the size of a softball. We were freaked out but Henry didn't really care much about the swelling; he was just totally pumped to go to the vet! Oh, how he loved those female vet techs that fawned over him and gave him treats. He loved our vet, Dr. Canfield, who commented on several occasions that Henry was one of the happiest dogs he'd ever seen.

Even in times of what must have been sheer agony he seemed happy. When he ran down the stairs to the boat, slipped on the dock and crashed down hard enough to break a piece of bone off the back of his elbow, he got up and jumped in the boat like nothing happend. Why so excited? Possibly anticipating a boat full of people that he could impress with this Henry-ness is my guess. It was only later when he was limping badly that we knew something was wrong. When we took him to the special, expensive, orthopedic vet (ka-ching!) he noticed the same thing. "Your dog is probably in a lot of pain right now, I'm surprised he's so happy." That was Henry.

It's been almost two years since we had to take Henry to the vet for the last time. It's impossible for most non-dog people to understand just how attached we were to this smelly creature. When we'd go somewhere without him it would take about 24 hours and we'd be talking about how much we missed Henry. He was a massive part of our lives for only six years. I still think about him every day and I miss him just as much.

He was like my best pal. He knew me. For awhile I had a boss I didn't like and he knew it. When boss man would try to talk or pet Henry he'd turn away, blow him off. It was awesome! He did what I couldn't do! I guess what I'm saying is Henry possessed some very human-like qualities that I just don't see in other dogs.

Below is a picture from Henry's last day. You can see that his rear legs are failing him. He has been having terrible heart trouble for a couple of months and none of the drugs in his cocktail seem effective. They're making it worse, actually, and Henry's rapid decline is now visually obvious. We're taking 1/4 length walks at 1/3rd the speed because that's all he can do. He's falling down the stairs, essentially fainting as his heart can't keep up, can't send enough blood to both his brain and his legs. He hasn't been able to wag his tail for a couple of months, but still says hi with his eyes. He can't lift his leg, or squat. He's having accidents - but he is still trying to stand proud and tall and at times he pulls it off. It's just heartbreaking to see this happen.

His decline was so rapid we weren't really prepared. The last day we spent walking slowly around a couple of parks, letting Henry go slow and sniff whatever for as long as he wanted. We bought him a steaming plate of fish and chips and let him have at it, the whole thing. (In the past this would have lead to unbearable flatulence, one of Henry's less glamorous traits. He didn't act much like a dog, but you can't escape your biology all the time...).

The trip to the vet was so unbearably awful I don't want to describe it or re-live it ever again. And in cruel irony, Henry was happy to be there because he still loved the vet! The vet is a place full of attention and treats. He pranced in like a young dog and flashed a Henry smile at the cute, young vet tech - and he received a treat. Just like old times.

Small Craft Advisory

2008-12-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

After a great Thanksgiving with friends at our house, we packed up the next day for our now traditional day-after trip to Kingston to go crabbing with the Carlson's. Like all great boat adventures, this one started with a Small Craft Advisory! We knew we shouldn't have left the barn Friday, but we were so ready to get out of town for some R&R and with a promise of great weather for the rest of the weekend, we were willing to risk it.

Once we got through the backup at the locks, we headed north northwest for Kingston and the going was rough, but not bad. 3 foot swells and some heavy wind from the south. That didn't last. Once we were in the shipping lanes the swells were building to 4 feet with some periodically larger waves that slowly rolled past us. We were going about 8 knots, the swells about 9 or 10. A tug boat pulling a cargo barge south sent us off course a bit. After he passed, trying to get diagonally across to Kingston was getting tough. Due north was the easiest course but if we missed Kingston we'd be crashing back against the waves and did NOT want to miss our cove.

The video above was taken when it was still kind of fun, before we were really out in it. Then it got scary as the waves were building. One big roller pushed us sideways to the west. I tried to fight it with the rudder, tried to turn to get us back on course and felt a pop in the steering gear. That was that, we just lost steering in 4 and 5 foot swells in the southbound shipping lane off President Point. Immediately we were beam-to in the swells getting rocked ferociously side to side. Ginger threw life vests on me and Lola as I radioed the Coast Guard. Pan Pan! Things were flying all over the boat as we rocked. After getting a position and stats radioed in, a Coast Guard cutter was dispatched, but still 20 minutes out! No one else was on the water. The Carlson's were an hour behind us.

We were alone, but within view of the shore and drifting towards it quickly. I got my wits about me and realized that I could move the rudder post with my foot, so Ginger took the throttle and I stood in the lazerette and moved the rudder manually. We were able to get the boat out of the trough and headed north again, zigzagging into Appletree Cove. Once I got the hang of it and we were closer to shore the waves subsided a bit. Finally we were in the cove. I called off the Coast Guard. Our next hurdle was avoiding the minefield of crab bouys in the cove without being able to see them. Ginger pointed left and right and we managed to miss them and the debris in the water.

Once deep in the cove and close to our destination, I was feeling pretty good about the new steering system! I decided we could make it to the dock (the dock never looked so safe!). So we slowed to idle and headed for the easiest spot on the end. The wind was blowing us off the dock so I came in steep and wasn't able to recover the turn with my foot steering system in time, and srape! But we were on the dock - sort of. "NEUTRAL! NEUTRAL!." Ginger almost left me shouting from the dock as she headed off solo towards million dollar yachts with no steering, but she fought it into reverse and we got her shut down finally. Adventure over. Whew.

I said, "Now that you've docked the boat without steering, how 'bout you try it with steering sometime?" Maybe.

After that, it was a pretty typical trip to Kingston. Crab city (mmm!), cool temperatures and some good relax-time with the wood stove. Lola played stick on the beach and ate too much sand. Mark and Ginger slept in.

We repaired the steering with a piece of exhaust hose. Should be fine until we can replace the entire rod from console to rudder post. A fun winter project.

So our good weather never materialized. Sunday we awoke to fog that never lifted. Finally at 1:00 with only 3 hours of daylight left, we decided we had to leave no matter what. We followed the Carlson's south and then radioed Seattle Traffic to see what cargo vessel might be screaming towards us at 30 kts. All clear, so we made due east and crossed the shipping lanes as quickly as possible. Completely blind really, but blowing the horn as we went. We made it to Shilshole without incident and then again waited impatiently for the locks. After losing steering in a storm, the fog just seems like a minor inconvenience! I asked Ginger if she still liked boating. She said yes. Whew!

The last thing this crab ever saw.

Cook 'em on the dock so they don't stink up the boat.

I ate this guy for real about two hours later. 7.5"!

A big starfish will spoil the whole pot. Once they're in, the crab steer clear. This beast had 20 legs!

Happy and Optimistic

2008-11-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Relief. Ecstatic. Happy. Motivated. Proud.

Just a few of the things I'm feeling this morning.

Our Ballots Arrived!

2008-10-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the Naked Loon.

Ok Joe, that's enough.

2008-10-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Joe Joe Joe, that is about enough. The fact that you've taken up this much air time is a testament to how stupid American politics is right now. I've never bought into that "average American" crap. Especially when that's what it turns out to be: mostly made up crap.

We're now pretty sick of you. And who are you to make yourself more available to the press than Sarah Palin? By now you've been outed as a possible Republican plant, a probable racist, a non-plumber, a tax cheat and an complete freakin' idiot who couldn't do the simple math that shows you will pay less taxes under an Obama administration. Oh, and your name is Sam. Your name is SAM!

Now, John McCain has done to his Plumber what he can't do to his vice president- found a replacement.

Bye bye Joe!

Tomatoes, at last.

2008-10-12T15:00:00.001-07:00

The haul, originally uploaded by gingershana.

So this was my haul two weeks ago, now sitting in the freezer as eight pints of spaghetti sauce. I was slightly scientific about it, buying four plants each of two different varieties of heirloom sauce tomatoes. Those are Black Russian on the upper left and Principe Borghese on the upper right. I kept them separate and made two batches of sauce. I think the Black Russians were denser, and I know they produced more fruit. Five pints of sauce, compared to three for the Principe B. Of course, it may just be that they handled our ridiculously cold spring better. In which case, I'll definitely plant them again.
The cherry tomatoes, which got taken to work to share, were an unknown yellow pear and Matt's Sweet Million teeny tiny red ones. They were VERY sweet.
I picked the last of all the tomatoes yesterday and made another three pints of sauce. There's absolutely nothing like the smell of a day-long-simmered tomato sauce full of herbs and garlic. Mmmm.

Now that's what I call progress.

2008-10-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

Now that's what I call progress., originally uploaded by gingershana.

Check it out! We spent this morning being really productive. Visible progress, that's what I like. Progress the neighbors can see. Progress that makes it look as if we're working. Fun. Also, notice the lights in the ceiling. That happened last weekend. Woohoo! All sorts of progress.
Do you like our front stairs? We find that it has really cut down on solicitors and political activists. At night, we just pull up the ladder and we're safe in our own personal castle. Also awesome because Lola can come out and lay in the sun, but she won't jump off. She hates the nail gun, though, so that limits her a bit.

As usual, click through to Flickr and see more pictures.

Sarah Palin

2008-10-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

For those who watched the VP debate on Thursday, I think you know what I'm about to say here. Sarah Palin is a complete moron. She's not merely anti-intellectual, she's dangerously ignorant. She's an expert on one topic: Talkin' to the 'mericun people. Oh, and appointing high school friends to powerful positions in government.

I don't get this "They speak my language" therefore I trust them. Total BS. You want the smartest guy in the world in that chair, not the guy who sounds like your beer buddy. Give me a break. I want my President to be 10 times smarter than me. 100 times. Even if they're hard to relate to. I want the Cognac drinking president, not the keg stand & beer bong president. I've had enough of dumb/evil. I want smart/good.

So imagine this: John McCain is already really old. John McCain, if elected will die in office. (Longshot now, thanks partly to Palin but mostly due to: John McCain). Every day as president of the world equals about 2.5 days for everyone else. It prematurly ages you. So start old, end dead. If Sarah were to take over? How about the most close-minded world view ever - in charge of the world? Didn't we just have one dumbass, g-droppin', anti-science, history hating, evangelical train-wreck of a president for 8 years? And we very nearly didn't survive it. We won't even know all of the effects for years - maybe we won't survive it. But if we get one more of these dangerously dumb presidents? Palin = the end of America.

So fun then is the latest SNL parody of Palin. Tina Fey nails it again. And in making fun of Palin, points out how ridiculous it is that someone like this might actually be in a position of great power. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin is funny. Sarah Palin as Sarah Palin is America's next national disaster.

Clinging to September, but curling up for winter

2008-10-05T17:27:00.001-07:00

Sad as it is, I guess we have to admit that summer is over and we have to say goodbye to photos like this. We must batten down and prepare for 7 months of gloom and rain. But I'm ready for the worst: I just got my flu shot.

We just had this fantastic September with non-stop sunny days, balmy temperatures and cool nights for almost four straight weeks. It was what Seattle weather in September is hyped up to be, but this time instead of saying to people "It's usually pretty nice in September, sorry about the weather" instead it was "This is awesome, better take in every minute."

So we did. Part of September was spent in the Gulf Islands soaking up the sun and getting in an actual, full blown relaxing vacation. Vacations end though and we returned to daily grind of getting up at 5:15 to beat traffic, working, and then coming home to... THE DREADED PORCH PROJECT. I complained all summer about this, and it really did ruin every weekend we were in town, including this one.

Some progress was made, but it's not done - not even close. One of my more nosy neighbors said "You're just going to leave it like that, with no shingles all winter? I could never do that!" How do you respond to this stuff? Do you say, hey lady, this stuff costs money and in case you haven't noticed, we're in a recession. Or "Guess what, my wife and I work 50 hours a week so forgive me if I'm too tired to work on this every night. I have a life and sometimes it includes not restoring something."

We finally got the front door in last weekend and the exterior door trim, got the beadboard ceiling in, got all of the bare wood covered with tar paper for winter, put the electrical in, insulated most everything. Now we just need to rebuild the column bases, the stairs and walls, put on a new deck, and shingle everything. Piece of cake right? Wrong: cedar siding is $1.31/lineal foot. I need a raise like fire needs oxygen.

Sorry, this post was supposed to be about fall but I digressed into the porch. Typical.

We managed one more boat show in September, the Poulsbo Rendezvous. This is always the least well-attended boat show by the public, and therefore it's the best show of the year. It's very relaxing - hanging out with your boating friends swapping stories about where you took your boat this summer and what happened, who ran aground, who went the farthest, and generally ignoring the tourists.

So now we begin to curl up for winter. We've both already caught and mostly gotten over our first cold, although this one hung on me for two weeks. Everything in the garden is starting to mildew and yellow, pretty soon we'll be planting bulbs and spreading compost. Before you know it we'll be carving a pumpkin and planning Thanksgiving. Life goes by fast, I wish I could slow it down just a little bit.

Nice Hat.

2008-10-03T13:28:00.001-07:00

Nice Hat., originally uploaded by gingershana.

OK, one more time, hopefully it's the right size now!

I hope I just added a photo to this post!

beacon

2008-10-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

P1040311
Originally uploaded by gingershana

Don't run into the end of the spit!

Coupeville

2008-10-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

Coupeville, originally uploaded by gingershana.

This is a test of Flickr's nifty 'blog this' feature. Hope it works!

Catching Up - Our July Vacation Part 2

2008-09-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

So, off we went, leaving the scenery of the Gallatin National Forest for some new scenery: The Kootenai National Forest. First we had to get there; of course we decided that it was wise and more fun to completely avoid I-90, so we took the back roads. We dropped about 5000 feet in elevation over the course of the day, but you would hardly know it because you're still very much in the mountains. Our destination was Troy, MT.

This little corner of the very northernmost and westernmost part of Montana is the road less traveled. You wouldn't pass through here because it's on the way to nowhere else, except maybe Glacier National Park, but even so there are faster ways to find that NP. We stayed at our good, very good, friends' father's cabin, right on the Kootenai river, which flows down into Montana from Canada, takes note of America for a few hundred river miles and then retreats back to Canada. And what aboot that?

ANYWAY, it was a super nice cabin with fabulous views. We took a great hike into the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness to a alpine lake. On the far end of the lake, in the shade of the shear cliffs, was a small seasonal glacier that was cleaving off right as we were eating lunch! You'd see a big piece fall off, then hear it 3 seconds later rattling and booming through the valley. Then 5 minutes later the mini-Tsunami waves would bump the far shore. Pretty cool.

But I was far more interested in the - plant geek alert - thirteen species of conifer growing in a relatively short elevation range! I counted nine of these on our hike alone, of which my old Botany professor Roger del Moral might say is totally freaking bio-diverse-tastic. Plant nerd paradise indeed. Here's the conifer list off the forest service web site:

Northwest Montana Evergreens

Douglas-fir (Red Fir)

Englemann Spruce

Grand fir (White Fir)

Lodgepole Pine

Mountain Hemlock

Pacific Yew

Ponderosa Pine (Yellow Pine)

Subalpine fir

Western Hemlock

Western Larch (Tamarack)

Western Red Cedar

Western White Pine

Whitebark Pine

"I went to the Cabinet Mountains and all I did was look at plants." There was one point on the hike where we stopped to look at an avalanche track on the hill across the valley: we realized that we were also standing in another avalanche track. In this area about 50 feet along the trail there were about 12 species of shrubs. Down in the Puget lowlands where I live and work you'd never get that many. Interesting (to just me I guess) was the fact that around Seattle some of these species would never grow together. Wet-loving species right next to species that don't need any water.

So the Cabinet Mountains are a pretty unique place. It's pretty much undiscovered and the locals are no doubt divided about this: Tourist money vs. the old way of life. Again, do not order the fish. Stick with cow meat.

Other highlights? The rock quarry between Kalispell and Libby, MT. This Landscape Architect almost drove off the road after seeing 30' long slabs of Montana ledgestone sitting out in the stone yard - ready for me to buy, truck down and integrate into the Garff Residence Masterplan. Should have pulled over but they were closed...

After 3 days we had to pack up and drive home.

The avalanche tracks

Shrub biodiversity at it's finest. I assure you Ginger does not care. Hey - I do too care!"

Mini-glacier creating mini-tsunamis

Thought this looked straight out of a How To Design Japanese Gardens for Dummies. The bonzai-ish tree, carefully placed stone, shrub background and beargrass foreground. All naturale.

Hurry up, my dogs are barkin'

Even more photos...

2008-09-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Ginger's Flickr account hosts even more photos of the Gulf Islands trip and other vacations. Check it out!

And because you wanted to know, here's what we ate last night. Tomatoes from our garden. MMM!

World's Longest Post Ever (Gulf Islands!)

2008-09-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Any boat trip that starts with a Small Craft Advisory in effect is going to be good, right?

We left the dock Friday afternoon with the intent of getting a head start and making Kingston, so that our trip up to the San Juans the next day wouldn't be quite so long. Once through the locks, though, it immediately became apparent that that wouldn't be the smartest thing we'd ever done, so we ducked into Shilshole marina for the night. On the plus side, we had a very nice dinner at Ray's to start our trip. On the minus side, we didn't get very far.

So; up bright and early the next morning to set off on our great adventure. Slack tide at Deception Pass was at 4:26pm, so we had most of the day to make our way up the east side of Whidbey Island. Andy, Genevieve, and Jeremy on Cinnamon Girl would catch up to us at some point, their boat being much faster than Swietenia. Under the bridge we went, timing it perfectly. That's Cinnamon Girl there in front of us.

We headed for Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island for the night. Unbeknownst to us, Fisherman's Bay is served by the world's craziest seaplane pilots ever. Looking maybe twenty feet up to pontoons as it (barely) cleared the VHF antenna was, um, interesting?

The next day we cleared customs in Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island; this involved Mark going up to the little customs hut, calling on the phone, telling them we had less than $10,000 cash, no fruits or vegetables, and very little alcohol (ha!), and receiving a number in return. Not too stressful. We spent the night there, anchored in the bay. It's directly adjacent to a provincial park, so we spent some time onshore walking the trails, and Mark bravely captured the wild Madrona branch and persuaded it to stay on the top of our boat (this would later be the occasion for a locks-watcher-tourist to shout down to us "Nice branch!" - gotta keep the tourists amused...)

So by Monday, if you're keeping track, we felt the need for a shower. It was decided to visit hippytown, a.k.a. Ganges, on Saltspring Island. Andy radioed ahead and secured slips for both boats, and after a short cruise (a couple of hours - as all cruising should be, so as to facilitate onshore exploring) we arrived. Showers were taken advantage of, Genevieve and I met a lovely eccentric artist, and the grocery store was raided for fresh fruit and veggies. Over dinner we began the arduous task of deciding where to go next. Charts came out, discussions were had, Jeremy ate a lot of ketchup and very few french fries. The consensus reached was Wallace Island; Conover Cove to be exact. Wallace Island sits in the middle of Trincomali Channel, and is long and narrow. The entire island is a provincial park, and Conover Cove is a very protected tiny little anchorage with a small park dock and lots of trails. We totally lucked out and got space on the dock for both boats, therefore inaugurating the first annual Wallace Island wooden boat festival. Because if more than one old boat arrives at the same place, it must be a boat show! Or we must be going to a boat show, or coming from a boat show....plastic boaters have a hard time with the fact that we cruise for pleasure just like they do (well, maybe with a bit more class).

We had great time spectating as other boats came in and anchored, or tried to. The bottom, while pretty good holding, was apparently somewhat difficult to grab.

Wallace Island was so nice we spent three nights! Several crab were caught and eaten,

shells and rocks were gathered, starfish were observed and occasionally molested,

and Mark started his own sealife zoo (are you seeing a pattern here yet?).

Wallace Island was home to some of the most spectacular Madrones we've seen in a long while. This one was all the way out at the southernmost tip of the island, and you can tell I liked it.

About this time our dry ice evaporated completely and the 'regular' ice was going fast, so Genevieve and I sent the men on an ice-hunting expedition. The intrepid explorers returned from Thetis Island with copious amounts of the cold stuff.

For our next destination, we decided to head vaguely south, since Mark and I had to start to think about making our way back home. Cinnamon Girl had the full two weeks, lucky dogs. Again, after three days without, we felt like a shower, so a commercial marina was the plan. Andy and Genevieve had been to Genoa Bay, on Vancouver Island, in the past, so we headed that direction. A tiny little town with a cafe and an abundance of art, not to mention brand new washroom facilities, it was well worth the stop. This was our last night with the Carlsons, as they were headed back north, and we were sadly headed for home. We didn't need to be back to work until Wednesday, but it's always nice to have a day at home to clean/wash the boat, unpack, do laundry, and bond with your poor dog who hasn't missed you at all. So Saturday we cruised down to Sidney Spit, a provincial park just off Vancouver Island, across from the town of, you guessed it, Sidney. The spit in question is a mile long, and is mirrored by one almost as long, forming a wonderful sheltered harbor (as long as the wind isn't from the northwest) with many mooring buoys and wonderful beach. We took a walk through the woods, sadly denuded by the island's deer population. They close the park for several months in the fall to allow the First Nations to come in and cull the herd - I think they need to step it up a bit. Then we walked the length of the spit - the first barefoot-worthy sand beach of the trip. Mark collected lots of big shells, which we later put to use as a performance art project:

The weather report wasn't too promising for Sunday, so we looked up the tides at Deception Pass and 'went on the inside' of Whidbey Island. Slack at 3:45. OK, we can get there by then. Up at 7 (ack! so early!) and over to Roche Harbor to check in with US Customs. On this side there was a real person, but the actual check-in was just as easy. I guess slow old wood boats just don't make customs officials think of smuggling. We fueled up - just $4.75/gal - and started wending our way through the San Juans, crossing Rosario Strait a bit early for slack tide. So we grabbed a buoy in Bowman Bay, had lunch, and then made our way through a tiny bit early. Mark insisted we could do this. Argh. We made it, but at one point we were making VERY little headway against the current. Was the 15 minutes really worth it? No comment.

Rather than spend the night at the state park just through the pass, we decided to head for Coupeville, about halfway down the east side of Whidbey Island. Coupeville is cool! They have an historic old wharf with a public dock and several mooring buoys, a history museum, and some great old victorians. We spent an exceedingly peaceful night knowing that one more day would see us home. A boat that had followed us all the way from Deception Pass took the buoy next to us, and took some great shots of Swietenia, as well.

Headed home.......

Catching Up - Our July Vacation Part 1

2008-09-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

As Ginger soaks her feet (seriously) as part of our Gulf Island recovery plan, I thought I'd catch up on our Montana vacation from way back in July. The first half was the inaugural Garff family reunion at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin, built in 1947 near Hebgen Lake.

(The lake most recently made headlines for a "malfunctioning headgate" which forced the evacuation of the Madison River below the dam. The dam is older than dirt. And filled with dirt. Grandpa Garff used to say he "went to the dam to get some dam water. But the dam man said I couldn't have any dam water. So I told the dam man to keep his dam water. And I didn't swear once" to wide eyed nephews. How could Grandpa say that? WOW!)

We've attended many reunions here with extended family, always a blast, but this time it was just the FOURTEEN of us + Lola the sole attending species of Canis familiaris. Grandma Judy, the Hawkins, Fosters and Garff's (Me and Ginger). It was seriously fun.

The cabin played a huge role in my formative years and there is not a corner of the house, garage, the surrounding landscape and even the outhouse(!) that doesn't have a vivid memory attached to it. We went to the cabin every summer no matter what and played in the boats and on the beach with the cousins, 2nd cousins, great aunts and uncles, regular aunts and uncles, cousins once removed, Grandma and Grandpa. Sometimes we'd go early in the spring before you should really be recreating at 7000 feet in the Gallatin National Forest. A few times my Dad and I would sneak away after the cabin was closed in the fall and launch the fishing boat into the cold water for one last fishing trip. And we'd launch that little boat with the black velvet upolstered '77 Pontiac Catalina - a car I would later crash at age 14 with my cousin Ben at where else, but the cabin.

The cabin makes you sick (dry heaves twice), the cabin burns your skin (no ozone in Montana), the cabin gives you rashes, splinters, a billion insect bites and the occasional close call with a bear. But the cabin pays you back with the clear sunsets, amazing scenery, unrivaled wildflowers, amazing hikes and incredible memories that fade far slower than anything else.

We spent 4 days eating too much, playing crazy games (Pit is still my favorite) and beating up the neices and nephews behind the boat. The mosquitos were horrible this year but who cares, you're at the cabin.

Kate on the player piano (Sorry Kate, but I am still the best at making the old instrument sing!)

That's Ellen and her prized Vaccinium membranaceum cobbler. Some call it Mountain Huckleberry. Some say it's the state fruit of Idaho. Others call it the best part about the cabin.

Leah did a lot of this. And Sam sort of did the opposite. Who was more enjoyable to be around?

Costco gave us the HO GT3! Are you sure you want more speed, because I can (and did) flip this thing over! Sammie, Adrie and Nick.

Nathan conquers kneeboard.

Kate is screaming for me to slow down. I can't hear you over the roar of the V8 sucking gas!

Sammie pulls a deep water start.

And Uncle Mark loves to drive the boat. Really loves it. As long as Grandma Judy buys the gas. Which she did, at only $4.75/gallon.

After 4 days of fun, cobbler, food, boat, noise, hikes, family, food, little sleep, noise, food, games, water, sun, food, sand, tennis ball w/ Lola, food, noise and fun we bid farewell and headed off on the Montana backroads to Troy, MT. Population: more ungulates than people. This would be a far calmer 2nd half of the vaca. Coming up in July Vacation part II.

Gulf Islands Pix

2008-09-14T20:43:00.000-07:00

Recently we took a week and a half long trip on Swietenia. We hadn't been out on the boat for more than a weekend in a couple of years and this would be our furthest trip ever on the boat. Here are some pix from the voyage to keep you tied over. Ginger is currently working on a post describing the trip in detail...

"Oh Canada (sing it with me)." You put up a courtesy flag when you cross into Canada. It is not required to sing the Canadian national anthem with your own made up words, but I did anyway.

Our first killer sunset (of many, Bedwell Harbor).

Scenic anchorages were the rule, not the exception. (Bedwell Harbor)

Crazy abandoned cabin on Wallace Island where everyone writes their name on a piece of driftwood. Except us. We were only there 3 nights, so we couldn't find the time!

Ginger is off the hook. The Wallace Island hook, that is. I kill myself, really.

This Pseudotsuga menziesii never looked better. That's Galiano Channel and Island in the background.

More soon, I promise

2008-09-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

We're trying to get back to the blog. Just too much going on to sit down at the computer! More soon...

We're Not Dead, We Just Feel Dead (tired)

2008-08-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

Yup, we're still here - barely. July has never been quite like this one. Summer has never been quite like this one. Every weekend we are busy, and the previous week is hectic preparing for the weekend.

The first two weeks were spent preparing for and then being in two different boat shows. A show is never quite as relaxing as just going somewhere in the boat for fun. You need to be 'on' for the people who come to see your classic boat - and prepared for the same old questions.

Then the next weekend Ginger's parents were in town. Slightly less hectic, and Rick helped me get the porch posts in. But don't remind me about that project. I don't need reminding that it's progressing slower than the "Race" for the White House. We'll have a new president before I have enough finished to stop worrying about it and to end the gaping open-mouthed stares from passersby. This crappy porch hangs over my head, taunting me, and sucking, ever sucking more money and time. Ever sucking. The porch sucks. Sucktastic.

Then the next two weekends: blessed vacation! But getting out of town and wrapping everything up for a week away from life sort of ruins your life. By the time we hit the road we were so pathetically tired that the only thing keeping us awake was the excitement of leaving town for a week. 13 hours later we arrived to a screaming mass of excited family. Four days at THE CABIN (Hebgen Lake, MT) with the whole crew, all 14 of us for the first ever Garff family reunion. I'll post separately about this with pictures, I just need the time. But it was fun, and exhausting (not at all relaxing) but vacations where you actually relax usually last more than a week and don't include the worst mosquito hatch in my memory.

Then for the rest of the trip, and spanning into the first weekend in August, we saw a place we didn't know existed, the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in isolated northwest Montana, near Troy, MT. Awesome. Plant geek paradise. Coastally influenced weather creates a mix of lush mountain plants at relatively low elevations. It was awesome. And isolated. Do not get the fish and chips.

More on this in later posts because we saw cool stuff like one of Montana's biggest Grand Fir trees at almost 5'-0" across - and at one point I actually said, "Wow, the biodiversity is so high we should do a species-area curve!" to the groans of my wife and friends. Nine conifer species over a very small elevation range. Totally awesome. Is tamarack the bomb? Yes.

We stayed at a "cabin" that was pretty much a lodge right on the Kootenai River (in the floodplain in fact, but don't call FEMA, it's dam controlled. Just waiting for the right disaster, I think). Very nice, more relaxing, good food, no mosquitoes, closer to the vacation ideal. And Lola made a boyfriend, a buff boxer named Ike who smelled like skunk. Cologne for dogs.

So we're home now, sucktastic porch and all, and everything is HECTIC again. One of Ginger's friends will be here this weekend. If you're counting at home that's 6 consecutive weekends of activity. I am very much longing for a Saturday that isn't spoken for. I am especially tired and grumpy right now, just ask anyone who has spoken to me since since I got home from my "vacation!"

Area Boaters Cement '2nd Place' Status in Port Orchard

2008-07-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

For the second consecutive week, two Seattle-area boat owners almost won 'Best Chris Craft.' "I'm stunned. Not stunned-happy, more like stunned 'I can't fricking believe this is happening - again!'" lamented two-time loser Mark Garff.

Returning from a one-point loss the prior weekend, the Garffs polished up the boat anyway in anticipation of a better return at Port Orchard's 19th Annual Chris Craft Rendezvous. The event was well attended this year even though gas prices are so bone-crushingly high that locals have given up wake boarding in favor of floating around completely drunk on their very expensive motorized "rafts." Despite being held on the socially awkward and economically isolated Kitsap Peninsula, over 65 classic and some new fiberglass Chris Crafts drew good crowds to the marina.

The one-time 3rd place winning, two-time 2nd place winning 30' Sedan Cruiser SWIETENIA arrived in Port Orchard late Thursday night, dropping a crab pot on the way in spite of extremely high levels of heavy metals in the local sediment. "Crab's good eatin' if you don't mind the lead," noted long-time show attendee Gary the Viet Nam veteran wheel chair guy.

Garff during happier times, before the "loss"

After 3 days in the sweltering 78 degree sun, most boaters were tired and cranky and just wanted to go home, as did the losing Garffs. "When they announced we were the runner-up again I tried to put on a good show by hooting and clapping, but actually I felt dead inside" a tearful Mark said as he maneuvered the boat smoothly through the cacaphony of Bayliner plastic waiting to get into the large lock. But Ginger, trying to console her husband in his mourning, noted cheerfully that "At least it was a different boat this weekend and he beat us by a pretty decent margin."

Indeed, five votes was the spread and to the victor went the marble plaque. "There's always next year. And we're thinking about changing the name of the boat to SECOND PLACE. It's easier to spell - which might be worth the 5 votes!"

Area Family Almost Wins 'Best Chris Craft'

2008-07-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

Area boaters Mark and Ginger Garff have been instructed by the Lock Attendant to "take it easy out there" for the 5th straight year. Often seen on the water, their boat usually gets a thumbs up from other boaters and tourists alike as they travel through the locks from the Puget Sound back to the lakes. Like clockwork every summer they shine up their restored antique Chris Craft and head out to multiple boat shows in anticipation of possibly winning a "best in show." And every summer their dreams are dashed.

Owner Mark Garff ruefully recalls their "near win" at this year's 32nd Annual Wooden Boat Festival on Seattle's Lake Union: "We were right there. We were really in the game, giving 110 percent. Our offense was dead on, we were shooting daggers." Ginger Garff, interrupts, "You didn't even know this was a judged event until the guys with the clipboards showed up. We just came down here for the fireworks."

Mr. Garff lowered his head and glanced disapprovingly at their dog Lola as she put her paw on a varnished surface, "Yeah, it was mostly so we could dock here and have a front row seat for fireworks, which were awesome. I didn't know they could explode smiley faces. The heart shaped ones were sort of gay though." After removing a smudge from the glass he went on, "But then they make you stay for the rest of the show. The homemade boat race was cool, except no one sunk so it was pretty anti-climatic. " He turned his head to wipe some fingerprints off the perfectly flat varnish.

But not perfect enough. Chris Craft judge Wayne Potter spotted some imperfections in SWIETENIA's restoration. "From the dock, the boat just looks stellar, I gave it a 10 straight away for 'General Appearance.' She scored 10's in all of the other catagories too, except originality, which in this case means 'original' as delivered from the factory." Potter explained that in todays world you have to have modern systems on a boat, particularly navigation, and the judges allow for that such modifications. "But the iPod," Potter seethed, "so prominently displayed at the helm... there's no other word. I was appalled. And they were playing Death Cab for Cutie. I mean really."

The boat the Garff's slaved over for 6 months this winter officially received a 59 out of 60. One point shy of the now 3-in-a-row show winner, SENECA. "They don't lift a finger on their boat. It's all professionally handled," noted Mrs. Garff. Mark added "There should be some rule against the same boat winning over an over. And if we had unlimited funds, we'd sure as hell hide that iPod."

Maybe they'll have better luck this weekend, at Port Orchard's Chris Craft Rendezvous. Unless SENECA is in town...

I think perhaps Summer is here.

2008-07-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well, if the garden is any indication, anyway. The vegetable garden, that is. I let Mark deal with the fancy plants posts, me, I'm just into the veggies.

This year we expanded the garden! WOOHOO! Now it's maybe a whole 200 square feet (maybe). We're growing more things, too. Radishes, lettuce, carrots, peas, kolhrabi, tomatoes, various squash, lemon cucumbers, and scarlet runner beans. Whether half of these will ever come to fruition is another question entirely. We ate more radishes than was strictly necessary, didn't eat as much lettuce as we should have, and are currently gorging ourselves on snap peas. Mmm.
The carrots aren't quite ready, but I couldn't resist seeing how they were doing. Let's just say that we might, maybe, possibly have a few little rocks in our dirt, and our carrots may all end up being PG13.

Here are some other random garden photos:
Squash leaf - way cool and silvery. I think it's a Delicata of some kind.

Peas:

Kohlrabi: All evidence aside, I was perfectly sober when I took this photo, I swear!

A bean, beginning to bloom:

Tomato!!!See it??

No???
Here you go:

And last but definitely not least, a lone basil plant.
Or folk art, whichever you think it is.

(more pictures on our Flickr page if you click through any one of these)

That's the update for now! A post about our best ever 4th of July coming soon.

This just in: Lies and money always win.

2008-07-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

The last Sonics game. That's me in the white hat above the R in GREGOIRE. That game was the last Sonics win I'll ever see. The saddest victory.

Seattle Times columnist Steve Kelly summed it up well:

The Liars won.

Owner Clay Bennett, that man possessed, now possesses a very bad basketball team in a very different city.

The Oklahoma City Bums.

The only consolation for Seattle's hoops cognoscenti is that these OKC Bums are doomed for a long time. The Ford Center could be considered obsolete just about the time that team starts competing for the playoffs. And young superstar Kevin Durant will be playing for, I don't know, the Knicks, maybe?

The pulse is weak in Oklahoma City.

Read the full article here.

I'm so angry today I can't even type. Black Thursday. 41 and done. Well I'm done with the NBA and its ego maniacal commish and I'm done with each and every politician from the Governor on down to the lowliest City Councilman. I'm especially done with our hapless Mayor who had the stones to call yesterday's settlement a "partial victory" for the City. What?! I, and every other jaded Sonics fan, will vote against every politician who played a role in this mess regardless of the stripe of their opponent until they are out of office. I will never again buy Starbucks coffee, though I don't do that anyway. I am done with NBA Basketball.

Ultimately this is Schultz's fault, who when given the opportunity to sell the team to a local buyer, took the money and sold us out to a bunch of redneck liars. And my dear Howard Schultz, we all know where you live. I'm having a nasty banner made for the boat so that when we float by your house, at least I'll spoil your dinner. A small price for you to pay, as fans pay the ultimate price: a sports legacy that is now just sports history.

Fun little activity

2008-06-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

I did this thing, which has been floating around the internets for a while, mostly as an excuse to search for random images on Flickr and see what happened. Fun and mostly harmless. (it did distract me from eating my lunch, and I might have dropped some pasta salad in my lap - oops.)

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Ginger
2. What is your favorite food? pretzels
3. What high school did you go to? Dike HS
4. What is your favorite color? Orange
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Richard Dean Anderson
6. Favorite drink? Rhubarb Martini (this week)
7. Dream vacation? Walking tour of Ireland
8. Favorite dessert? fruit crisp (with any fruit, really)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? a jewelry designer
10. What do you love most in life?
(besides my husband and family?) Gardening.
11. One Word to describe you. optimistic
12. Your Flickr name. gingershana (there weren't any images with a match, so I chose my avatar image instead.)

Click here for photo credits.

If you'd like to do it too here's what you do:

Open three windows. One with the list of questions, another open to Flickr and ready to do an image search, and a third to Big Huge Labs' Mosaic Maker (create a mosaic with 4 columns and 3 rows). Answer the first question, put your answer in the search field on Flickr and choose one of the images from the first page to represent your answer. Click on the photo then copy and paste the url into the #1 spot on the Mosaic Maker. Do that for all 12 questions, then click create and post the results to your blog or Flickr page, or just save it to your computer.

The most interesting thing to me is to see what sorts of photos pop up that are seemingly unrelated to the search term I typed in. (I swear, for #10, I typed in 'gardening') It's also interesting that I seem drawn to the same colors within images, even if they are of completely different things. Green and orange, black and white...

Leave a comment with a link if you decide to do it!

Gee, that looks like quite the project.

2008-06-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, currently the only things holding up the front of our house are six (6) two-by-fours. Fun! Mark and our friend Jon have gotten a heck of a lot done today. Thanks, Jon!

Jacked,

braced,

disassembled.....

They managed to figure out a way to do it so that we don't have to take the column trim apart. We can slide the new column up into it instead. We'll see how that works in reality later. But at least instead of three separate column segments, it will be one continuous 4x4.

The biggest question remains, however: why does this work always seem to happen on the hottest days? (See yesterday's post - yeah, it's that hot) Also, today is the Greenwood Classic Car Show, which means that all day people have been parking in our neighborhood and walking past our house. And doing double-takes, most of them. It's pretty funny to watch.

Special Weather Statement! OMG.

2008-06-26T14:01:00.001-07:00

I love these "Special Weather Statements" from NOAA. They're great because they attempt to be professional, but ultimately, they always break down and reveal what "weather wimps" we are up here in the Emerald City. "It's going to be hot, so don't leave your pet in a parked car and check up on grandma" is essentially what this one is telling us. And it's not even going to be that hot, we may hit, gasp, 90 degrees!

And they're always in all CAPS like the sky is falling.

For your enjoyment, ( ) are my comments:

...HOT WEATHER ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS WEEKEND...

A STRONG RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY WILL BE NOTICEABLY WARMER ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON UNDER SUNNY SKIES. (They have to say this because it never happens.) OFFSHORE FLOW WILL STRENGTHEN OVER THE WEEKEND WITH MUCH HOTTER TEMPERATURES EXPECTED. SOME SPOTS MAY FLIRT WITH RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES...ESPECIALLY LOCATIONS AWAY FROM THE WATER.

TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM THE 70S ALONG THE COAST TO THE UPPER 70S AND 80S INLAND. ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MOST AREAS SHOULD REACH INTO THE 80S...WITH SOME LOW TO MID 90S POSSIBLE. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A FEW SPOTS COULD APPROACH OR BREAK THE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE DAY.

MARINE AIR WILL ARRIVE AT THE COAST MONDAY (Collective, community wide sigh of relief) BRINGING COOLER TEMPERATURES. HOWEVER...IT MAY TAKE A COUPLE DAYS FOR TEMPERATURES TO MODERATE OVER INTERIOR WESTERN WASHINGTON.

EXCEPT FOR THE SHORT HOT SPELL IN MID MAY...IT HAS BEEN COOLER THAN NORMAL THE LAST COUPLE MONTHS. (Double tru dat, homie). THIS WILL BE A RATHER ABRUPT TRANSITION TO HOT WEATHER. BE CAREFUL OF THE HEAT IN THE COMING DAYS AND CHECK UP ON THE ELDERLY. STAY HYDRATED AND AVOID VIGOROUS ACTIVITY DURING THE HEAT OF THE DAY. NEVER LEAVE PETS IN A PARKED CAR.

OMG, I was totally thinking of doing vigorous activity on my front porch, but thanks to NOAA, I can blow that off for another week!

Overheard somewhere in Seattle...
"Didn't you read the Special Weather Statement? I'm supposed to stay hydrated. Beer me."

Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'

2008-06-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Plant Of The Week #6
Black Lace Elderberry

This oh-so-trendy shrub is currently blocking the sight-line triangle in one of my parking strips. We "forgot" to get a permit for planting in the City's Right-of-Way and surely this large shrub that can be trained into a small tree would not have been allowed. Oh well! It's grown fast since we planted it in October 2006, the same year it was named "Best New Plant" at the ANLA garden show, (yup, plants get awards, too). I love this: "BLACK LACE^™ is a stunning development in Elderberry breeding." Indeed!

Here it's quite nicely set off by the yellow Sedum, red Uncinia, green Chasmanthus, greenish pink Ceanothus and grayish Oleria. Don't worry, all of these plants are future POTWs.

The reason everybody is so excited about this new variety of elderberry is likely that the finely dissected dark purple leaf is always interesting for one, but then it blooms with huge pink panicles that provide a big contrast against the foliage for a month. And they smell great too. It's pretty cool. It will provide a great accent surrounded by smaller plants, or as a backdrop for plants with brighter foliage. It's hardy, too. USDA zones 4-9. It grows VERY fast, but like all elderberries you can cut it back to the ground in late winter and it will happily come back quickly. Ours is already 6' tall and getting taller fast after only 1.75 years in the ground.

Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace' should be fairly drought tolerant although it will wilt in the afternoon as ours does when it is really hot and dry. So far it's been pest free.

"I couldn't see you behind that stunning development in Elderberry breeding! Here's my insurance card. Sorry about your Prius."

Euphorbia griffithii

2008-06-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Plant Of The Week #5, Griffith's Spurge

Martha Stewart and I have only one thing in common, we both like this Euphorbia. Generally called spurge or milkweed spurge, Euphorbia is a widely variable genus of of plants from tiny annuals to tropical trees. Your Christmas poinsettia is actually Euphorbia pulcherrima. (Which instead of being thrown out with the expired eggnog in February could grow into a 10' tall tree if you lived in say, Mexico or Hawaii...). Many euphorbias resemble cacti or succulents. Others release their seeds explosively. And they don't actually have flowers, but tiny fused bracts called cyathium. Cyathia may appear singly or in clusters and often it's the bracts below the cyathia that provide the color, as in the poinsettia. See, this is one cool genus of plants.

There are so many different Euphorbias commercially available in different colors and sizes that I'm still getting the hang of what's out there. So far, Griffith's Spurge tops the cool list.

Photos from Red Butte Gardens, Salt Lake City, UT.

Euphorbia griffithii tends to like sun, but will tolerate partial shade. Like all euphorbias it has milky white sap that can irritate sensitive skin or could possibly be toxic if ingested. Just don't plant it around your daycare center playground and you'll be just fine. I think it's just one of those things people feel they need to warn you about, like "Hey, it's dangerous to climb a ladder." Yeah, we know.

Griffith's Spurge is native to the Himalayas, gets about 36" tall and slowly spreads by creeping roots, but is not particularly aggressive. Long and narrow leaves are reddish orange when new, with green-orange stems. The "flowers" are reddish-orange, but variable. Cultivars include 'Fireglow' with even brighter orange leaves, cyathia, and stems; and 'Dixter', which grows to 24" ht. and has a darker green to pinkish leaf with less brightly colored cyathia. It's a perennial, dies back, and will grow in USDA Zones 5-9.

See, cool as ice.

Embothrium coccineum

2008-06-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Plant Of The Week #4, Chilean Fire Tree

Fits in perfectly with my neighbor's Spanish style house

Embothrium coccineum. I love this tree. Ginger loves this tree. Probably not as much as I do though, because I'm the plant nerd. I first discovered this plant as a college Junior while taking Landscape Plant ID by the famous Professor Matsuo Tsukada. The great professor was an 80 year old Japanese man who at the time was more spry and energetic than most of the slacker UW students taking his classes. This 4 hour long, 3 day a week class consisted of 30 students following Tsukada as he ran from plant to plant in the Washington Park Arboretum or all over campus. He was a living botanical encyclopedia and well-respected by the students, I think mostly because of his enthusiam for teaching us about the idiosyncrasies of plants. He was tough to understand sometimes, you know, in all of the excitement of running up a 45 degree slope and shouting down the hill pointing to some tree while trying to spit out "Youuuuu should knooooow that dis plant veeeerrryyy important. It has three [indecipherable botanical word], surrounded by five [indecipherable botanical word] and uuuuused for [indecipherable word] by maaaaaannnny people." He was a great man.

But the fire tree was not on his list, it was not a plant we had to memorize. Probably due to its rarity in the landscape generally although I see more and more around Seattle as its popularity grows. Back in the Arboretum I saw the fire-orange blooms covering the 30' tree from tip to toe and just had to investigate. Years later I would return to the same tree every spring just to see the blooms. Then years later still, Ginger and I returned again to collect seeds and now we have 5 of our own Chilean fire trees growing out on the back patio in clay pots. They're too young to bloom yet but one of my neighbors has one, so I get to enjoy his every night that we walk past when we "G-o on Lola's w-a-l-k."

Sometimes a large tree to 50', sometimes a multi-trunked shrub to 20'; leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen (ours seem to be evergreen) oblong, somewhat shiny, and sort of a dusty yellow-green. The showy bright orange to red flowers emerge in late May and last a month. Hummingbirds love them. This tree needs good drainage, is drought tolerant, likes acid soil and needs to be protected from freezing wind. USDA Zones 8-11. They seem to like to be left alone, so plant one and don't fuss with it. I'm not sure how old they need to be to bloom. Probably 5 years in the ground would be my guess.

Our "baby" Fire Trees

Classic Weekend

2008-06-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Every Father's Day weekend is "Classic Weekend" on Pier 66. 50 vintage wood yachts (or more) fill up the whole marina, which is right in front of downtown. First we all parade in, this year led by the Seattle Fireboat LESCHI shooting 22,000 gallons per minute of water into the air, then we dock and spend 2 days and nights eating and hanging around with other wooden boat owners. It's always fun, but this year for the first time ever the weather was perfect. Sunny and warm both days.

Highlights:

Mark ate too much and sunburned the crap out of his ears
SWIETENIA got lots of attention because she does look really good if I do say so myself
Returning through the locks we tied off to a sistership, one of only 4 we know about

The parade in

Andy keeps the props safe from rope-mimicking seaweed.

The show-winning boat and owner. This "too cute" perfectly restored, over-the-top boat is a show stealer.

Ginger and The Carlson's

Great colors think alike.

Save our Sonics Rally. PG-13

2008-06-18T11:24:00.001-07:00

Here are the pix from Monday's rally in front of the Federal Courthouse in downtown Seattle. Some good stuff!

Clay Bennett, get it?

There were a lot of people there

GP: "As long as you're here, I'm here."

People have tried and failed to steal our teams before...

But the winner is...

Referring of course to the email in which Bennett said he'd just re-sell the team if they couldn't move the team. Nice.

Seattle on trial, not the Sonics

2008-06-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

Arguh this stupid Sonics trial. Where do you even start? Perhaps, dear 8 or 9 readers of BoatMulch, you're not aware of the predicament we Sonics fans find ourselves in these days. A short course.

Here's the way I see it. A bunch of evil, but wealthy rednecks from Oklahoma bought the Sonics from the equally evil and wealthy CEO of Starbucks. Schultz sold out fans by failing to find a local ownership group to buy the team and, in my mind, knowingly sold the team to men who would move the team from the 13th largest media market in the nation to the 73rd or something. It's a money loser for the NBA, but "Not My" Commissioner David Stern is in in the good ol' boy club with the rednecks so he's OK with losing cash if it benefits his buddies in OK. C.

Now Schultz is trying to save face, but that's another trial for later in this summer. Stay tuned.

So I'm mad. Mad enough to leave work early and head out to the Save Our Sonics rally in front of the Federal Courthouse yesterday to see X-man and the Glove speak and to help yell a few off color chants at the TV cameras. And I took some pictures hilarious signs, too, look for that in another post.

I've been following the Sonics since 1992 when my then-girlfriend's father had season tickets. This was the beginning of the Payton/Kemp glory days and I was seeing history in the making, live, in the Key, before it was called the Key. I was of course still officially a Jazz fan until 1998 when the no-call on Jordan against Russell made me lose interest in the NBA for awhile... But I paid attention to the Sonics and kept going to games on and off. Then a few years ago the man-on-couch-with-beer gene kicked in and I began to more religiously watch the Sonics even as their fortunes waned. You see, I pretty much hate all other sports. Hate is a strong word, maybe "don't care" is better. So the one home team I enjoy and completely understand from the "3 second rule" on down is leaving town?

What bothers me most about the trial is that current owner Bennett and his gang of Swift Boat Liars are trying to put the fans on trial for not supporting the team. This drives me crazy because Bennett has consistently gutted the team with every player move since he took over, in an attempt to 1) clear the payroll so his financial losses are reduced in the interim and 2) disinterest the fans in the team as they struggle to win games so he can claim that nobody cares if the team leaves town. It's worked pretty well, attendance is way down. It's a catch 22 for fans because we want to support the team by going to games and buying fan stuff, but that, in turn just lines the pockets (or reduces the losses) of the very man who is stealing the team. Like the 2007-08 SuperSonics, we can't possibly win. How can I love the Sonics when they're on Bennett's payroll from Durrant on down to the mascot, Squatch?

Dumb things Mark does

2008-06-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

DTMD #1. Leaving the soaker hose on all night.

Let's start a new category of what could be a weekly post. Dumb things Mark does, DTMD. Here's a classic bonehead move that I've been doing for years but this particular instance of boneheadedness had ridiculous ramifications: Accidentally leaving the water on.

We bought some new plants at Costco, you know, the ones that come in those bags. I don't recommend doing this. Number one, because Costco is a scam, #2 because Costco is not a nursery and they treat plants the same way they treat tires (Water? What is water?) and #3, because no matter what is in the bag, it never seems to recover from the cruelty of being bagged, palletized, and shipped across the nation in hot trucks. Who knows how long they've been in those bags. Probably since gas was $3.00. Remember that?

Anyway, there were some Mexican Shell Flowers (future POTW when it blooms) and some other frilly things that Ginger wanted so we planted them. Then it warmed up for about a week (this was two weeks ago, before the June winter). So they started to dry out a bit and being without roots yet and still recovering from Costco-itis, I put the soaker hose out. I then forgot I had a soaker hose or Costco plants and left it on for several hours. This helped us confirm that our 1919 house does not have foundation drains. The basement flooded.

Good times good times.

"What's that noise? Is the water still on?"

Fraxinus anomala

2008-06-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

Plant of the Week #3: Single Leaf Ash

Fraxinus anomala or Single Leaf Ash is a much-loved desert southwest shrub or small tree. Much loved by me alone I thought. But a Google search revealed that I wasn't the only person on earth so enamored with this gift of bright green happiness. These photos were taken on our last camping trip to southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado in May 2007. I took about a thousand photos of plants. Many will appear here in later posts. Plant Geek indeed.

As the Latin name states, it's an anomaly. The only plant of it's genus without compound leaves. It's also an anomaly in the landscape. Struggling out of dry cracks and crevices that other plants could never call home, the ash is a welcome burst of bright green on a hike in the desert or buried in a canyon where most other plants are clothed in a dusty blue or gray.

This shot was taken above our campsite on a 60 degree incline in the San Rafael Swell's Buckhorn Draw. Lola our dog attempted to dutifully join us and ended up sliding backwards down the slickrock taking off her nails in the process. She's a bruiser. The blood and the pain did not deter her.

Back to the Ash. A multi-trunked shrub to 14 feet under ideal conditions. Much less in harsher locations. The bark becomes dark, ribbed and flaky with age, like it's larger compound-leaved cousins. Also like other ashes, it's a prolific seeder with winged seeds visible in the photo. Zone 5-7. I doubt you can buy this at the local nursery, but it would make an excellent addition to a desert or mountain naturescape. You bet your ass it's drought tolerant!

Special thanks to some guy on the web for the above photo. Shows the form a bit better than I could muster leaning back onto the slickrock and holding on to a piñon pine. (Ohhh, piñon pine, now there's a good one!)

"Why is that man taking pictures of weeds?"

Curse you La Niña!

2008-06-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Tonight

Showers

Lo 47°F

Tuesday

Showers
Likely
Hi 58°F

Tuesday
Night

Chance
Showers
Lo 48°F

This just might be a 'complain-about-the-weather" post. We're supposed to be tough up here, with all this rain and the endless gloomy winters. It makes us hardy. We're not that tough though. Gloom, fine. Drizzle, fine. But rain, wind, cold OR "excessive" heat? Freak out time. If it gets below 50 we complain. If it gets above 80 it's a heat wave and local newscasts tell people to to stay inside and drink water. Seriously.

But right now, it's June for hell sakes! Last summer was like this too. It was cold all summer, we rarely had a day above 70. Never above 80. It rained for every boat show, it was cold for every trip outside. Our tomatoes occasionally grew but not really.

According to NOAA:
La Niña is defined as cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific ocean that impact global weather patterns. La Niña conditions may persist for as long as two years.

I guess we're in year two. The wind is blowing so hard right now that some plywood in our exposed attic rafters just blew onto the lawn. (Why exposed rafters? See the "Porch" posts.)

This shot of our back deck was taken April 18, 2008. I think officially this was the latest ever recorded snowfall in Seattle. What's funny is the BBQ and deck chairs are out. Nice. We just got snow in the mountain passes again last night. Apparently we broke another record: Latest ski season closing ever! But who cares, nobody wants to ski past March. Some summer.

Right this second, we're having a weather phenomenon known only to Pacific Northwesterners called a "sunbreak." The sun shines for a brief period of time, usually before the drizzle starts again. In today's case, a 100% chance of overnight showers. I hope the tourists are having fun in the sun! It's going to last about another 10 minutes.

An open letter to Hillary Clinton

2008-06-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Hillary,

It's over.

Love, America

Choisya ternata 'Aztec Pearl'

2008-06-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Plant Of The Week, #2

Choisya ternata 'Aztec Pearl' or Mexican Orange, is a great medium-sized evergreen shrub that grows down to USDA Zone 8. I think this shrub is a little tougher than that, maybe to 7b. As requested, I'll try to post some plants that don't just grow in Seattle in the future, but this might not be one of them... It's in bloom right now so you'll have to forgive me. These are fairly fast growing. Ours started at 2 gallon size and has doubled in 20 months. Ultimately you're looking at about a 4'-0" high and wide shrub. What's so great about it? It's the foliage I think. The flowers are ok, last about a month, attract bees and possibly birds, and are extremely fragrant; but it's the foliage that really smells good. Mexican Orange is the common name because of the spicy scented leaves that, when broken, smell vaguely of orange. Whenever I pass it on a walk I grab a leaf and break it.

I used to not like this plant much, but when the mad botanists that hybridize plants came out with 'Aztec Pearl', I was sold. The more slender and brighter green leaf is much more interesting than the straight species, which has broader, less delicate looking foliage that is frankly pretty boring when not in bloom. And regular Choisya ternata can get really big, so Aztec works better in tighter spaces. Both are drought tolerant once established. The leaves may droop a bit when they're really dry.

"It's like smelling the roses without getting aphids in your nose and a thorn in your cheek. "

ps. That red grass in the foreground is Uncinia uncinata, Hook Sedge. Native of Hawaii. Haven't you seen it on LOST? Sun was planting it in her garden when Charlie kidnapped her. Just kidding.

Opening Day 2008

2008-05-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

We won something. It took a long time to get here. If you know anything about SWIETENIA, then you know that she arrived on the scene in less than stellar shape. We bought a POS, about two seasons short of the chainsaw, but being young and foolish we plunked down the big $5,000. That was down from $8,900 after having the boat surveyed and hearing these phrases over and over: "Little soft here." "Could use some refastening here." "You'll want to replace this." "This won't pass your Coast Guard inspection..." The "salty" old guy we bought her from was happy to get rid of her after hearing from the surveyor the full scope of the damage he helped inflict but we were awestruck by the possibilities of owning a Chris Craft! And a really classic looking one at that. Older than dirt: 1941. One of the last Chris's delivered before they switched over to building landing craft for the Navy. There's a little more history to how we found SWIETENIA (Formerly EPIPHANY, BLUE INTERLUDE, NO LONGER BLUE) and how many boats we looked at that were EVEN WORSE, but that's a story for another post.

There are things we thought we'd fix right away that we still haven't fixed... Other things that we didn't know existed and still don't really know what they're called but we've fixed them multiple times. Just think: Five years in and we've gone through 5 batteries, two carburetor rebuilds (and counting), a hundred spark plugs, a thousand gallons of gas, countless quarts of varnish, paint and other hazardous chemicals, probably a thousand sheets of sand paper, two sanders, two vacuums!, 10 boxes of band-aids, a hundred gloves, thousands and thousands of fasteners, accounts at Fisheries Supply and Dunn Lumber, visits to very strange and sometimes shady places of business on the south side like Alaska Copper and Brass, Blanchard Electric, SmartGlass, and three haul-outs. Sheesh. Oh, and always ask if they'll do a cash deal. They usually will.

But it's all worth it. Opening Day was a nice ending to a very long winter. We hauled the boat out of the water on December 21st and began a grueling two months on-the-hard at Jensen Motorboat and then 3 more months trying to put it all back together. When it was finally over last month I sat down with the log book and started writing down all of the work we had accomplished. Four pages later I was still writing but the funniest part was that right at that moment, the boat wasn't running! All that work, the boat looked better than she ever had, and we couldn't take her out of the boathouse. Carburetor. Jerry my mechanic Jerry-rigged it and we were able to parade later that week and parade we did, right into a 3rd place win. 3rd place you say? To place at all is a big achievement considering my competition. Much more flashy, larger, even older and more "classic" looking boats are in my parade class. To even place - I'm still happy about it. Ginger is too, but might roll her eyes when I talk about it...

Special thanks to our Opening Day crew who all showed up in the proper attire and saluted the judges in perfect unison. Ginger, Tracy, Laurie, Diane, Noel, Jon and Matt you guys looked perfect - our Commodore in the Classic Yacht Association even mentioned our "presentation." Boom.

Also special thanks to Andy Carlson for, once again, having the specialized tools and the expertise to save my bacon as the expensive boatyard clock was ticking.

"That thing still floating?" "Looks better than the last time we saw her." "Boy that's come a long way." "Must truly be a labor of love." "You missed a spot..."

Porch redux.

2008-05-28T20:29:00.001-07:00

How do I start this conversation? You see, I had NO INTENTION of starting the porch project this season. This year really. We're fresh off 6 months (yes, six months) of solid non-stop work on SWIETENIA. More on the old boat - a lot more - in later posts.

I was looking forward to a tranquil weekend of boat rides and BBQ's, maybe some weeding in our aforementioned 100% drought tolerant parking strips. But Ginger wanted to open up what I knew to be an ENORMOUS can of worms. I knew the posts were rotten, that the sill plates were shot and I knew it would be a long, expensive, and difficult project. Much like what we just went through with the boat. Which won 3rd place in the Opening Day parade, BTW. See I'll get everything in this post...

Let's look at a before picture:

Acceptable-looking sort of. but enough for another year. Yeah I know there are problems but the layman doesn't and probably wouldn't even notice the death-lean of the step walls. The insurance company doesn't know there aren't any railings. But, alas, Ginger wanted to get rolling on it, so on the hottest May 17th on record, we get going on a project that I predict will last the next six months.

Upside: Chainsawing down that craptastic old lilac was highly satisfying. Thank you STIHL.

What I didn't know was this: That it would take five dump loads - so far - and that good ceiling boards are $0.71/LF right now. We only need, oh, 900 lineal feet or so of those. And a new front door. And a new deck. And a new railing. And new steps. And new step walls. And we have to completely start over on the columns save for a little bit of trim. And the column foundations need a skim coat. And the step walls need a new concrete foundation. And we need new CDX sheathing on everything. And the price of gas was $4.15 today. And this is why I might be grumpy sometimes.

Why are house projects so much less satisfying than anything else? I can sand the boat all day. As tiring as that can be, I guess that IS better than raking petrified raccoon poop out from under my front porch in 90 degree heat with a respirator sliding off my wet, dirty, sunburnt face... Yeah, I'll take the sanding.

"Is this the path to self-actualization?"

Parahebe perfoliata

2008-05-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a big plant nerd. Huge plant nerd. Love the plants. Chlorophyll, baby. Gimme some Resonance Energy Transfer w/ a side of tasty Thylakoid membrane. Mmmm, photosynthesis.

I once uttered this phrase to no one in particular while thumbing through a native plant guide as my friends were chatting around the campfire about other topics: "I love plants. And remembering plants." Yup, conversation stopped and my official plant geek status went from moderate to high.

So, here begins the Plant Of The Week: Parahebe perfoliata. This baby is off the hook.

I think it looks particularly good against the backdrop of our orange car.

Also known as Digger's speedwell, this drought tolerant semi-woody perennial blooms from May until September in Seattle. This will look particularly good once the yellow Coreopsis verticillata comes in next to it and the orange Agastache rupestris gets rolling next month. PAPE (all the real plant nerds abbreviate the Latin names) will get about 2 feet wide and high, maybe a little wider. The only drawbacks are early season aphids on the flowers and some interior stem die back during the season. We plan to never water this plant again, or anything else in our drought tolerant parking strips - more on these later.

I can't wait until I can geek out again next week in the another installment of POTW. I probably can't wait a week. Pretty sure I won't.

The First Post.

2008-05-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

So I figure our first blog post should probably be about posts. Porch posts, to be more precise, or perhaps the lack thereof. We've begun our summer project by lugging approximately 3,220 lbs of detritus to the transfer station over two weekends.

That's five full-sized pick-up loads, if you're keeping track. So what do we have to show for this?

Well, we've got some very rotten posts, some rotten ship lap, some really nice original cedar siding painted a really rotten green, and a little less nasty yellow vinyl siding that will sit in the landfill and never rot.

Also, we met a lot of neighbors while Andy's truck sat on the sidewalk. One of whom then asked us to dogsit for her.

The very best part of the whole thing was this: the largest, heaviest load? The one that consisted only of stuff that we found UNDER the porch. 1,160lbs of stuff, to be exact. I'm sure that saving all that stuff seemed like a good idea to whoever put it under there, but I'm not sure that short ends of 2x4's, the previous set of steps (rotten, what a surprise!), and old, damp, nasty bags of joint compound are my idea of useful. Although the raccoons sure seemed to appreciate it at some point in the past.

I'll let Mark tell you how much fun he had with the chainsaw.