Another week rolls by…. October 26, 2008

It never ceases to amaze me how fast the weeks go by. I could swear it has only been a couple of days since last weekend. Then I start to question what I have accomplished. This week was not one of high activity, but I did get some things done.

Unfortunately I did not get started on the whole picture project, I do have some time to get it done, but I am going to try not to fall into my typical pattern of procrastination. Its always easy once I get started, its just that whole getting started thing.

Bernie got a beautiful shot of a pileated woodpecker today; he has it on his blog already. It has the most beautiful fall colors in the background. They are such majestic birds. I think it will be a good seller at the upcoming shows. I am starting to get excited about the shows. I am starting to think about what cards we need to print up, and we have a new card rack that will be a nice addition to our booth set up. In certain ways I wish I was doing another show or two, but these two shows will keep me plenty busy. The first one is just for one weekend, but the next one is a four weekend event, Fri. Sat. and Sun. each weekend. Its my version of a winter job.

Today I dropped my parents off at the airport, they flew into Las Vegas. They are going for a shipping container convention. I know, sounds pretty exciting right? Mom just started a new job at a place that sells and rents those big shipping containers that cargo is shipped across the oceans with. There are some interesting things going on with them. Some people are building houses out of them. Since my dad is a carpenter he is going with to see if it would be a feasible income earning endeavor to do housing and such with these containers. It will be interesting to hear what they learn at this convention. They get back on Wednesday, so they get a nice little vacation.

We spent the weekend getting the bark/scrap pile from the sawmill burned up, there is a little bit smoldering still, but its pretty much all gone. It’s a nice feeling to get things cleaned up. And that means the next step is using some of that fresh lumber to do the siding on a pole building that my dad built not too long ago. That will be good to get that finished off also, and it will be fun to use some of that lumber. So maybe we will get to start on that project later this week.

Tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful, so the plan is to go on a walk. It will be nice to get out and enjoy the outdoors, and perhaps get some good pictures also. I really haven’t been out walking much, and I can sure feel it in my body. It will be really nice to get out there and walk/hike a little bit. Clear out the system a little bit.

Alright, its movie night. I am off to watch something, not sure what the selection is yet. But I do know that we just got Sweeney Todd from Netflix today….. that should be a good selection to watch this close to Halloween.

The Weekend October 20, 2008

This weekend was both a relaxing and productive one. We recently just got finished with milling a pile of logs into lumber. We hired a neighbor to come in with his portable sawmill and break down a pretty big pile of logs. We have been in the process of stacking the lumber, and cutting up the scraps for firewood. There is enough firewood to last a few years now (the house is completely heated with a woodstove, no other means of heat through the winter).  So we are getting close to being done with that whole project, it will be nice to have all that put away. I will have to post some pictures of the lumber piles before they get covered with tarps for the winter.

We also harvested the rest of the apples, well actually we have one more tree I believe, but we are pretty close. We have plenty of apples to last us through the winter, and then all the scabby and icky apples are to feed the rabbits through the winter. They LOVE the apples, and we do too. Homegrown apples are so great, no nasty chemicals sprayed on them, and they taste so sweet and fresh.

I am amazed at how fast fall has come upon us here in the northwest. We had a beautiful, warm, late summer, and then fall just decided to drop in. It is a beautiful season, just a little hard to put away those summer clothes and pull out all the layers. I am looking forward to Halloween, it is Bernie’s birthday, and I have been dreaming up little treats to make.

Yesterday I was browsing online for fall dessert recipes, and found some fun ones! Last night I ended up making pumpkin whoopie pies. They are soooo good! It is a Martha Stewart recipe, and my family loved them! A very fun Halloween treat. Baking is one of my many passions, I have a horrible sweet tooth, so I make all kinds of sweet gooey things.

 

We went to the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturday. It was a more eventful trip than we thought it would be. First I got to custom order my new purse from a very sweet lady there, Heather Fitzstrawn. It is my belated birthday present from Bernie (on my birthday we were in the middle of nowhere, on Adak island in the Aleutian island chain, not much out there for birthday presents). My parents came also, and mom had brought her standard poodle Angel with us, she walked her around for a little bit and then put her back in her canopy covered truck, and came back to the market. Mom and dad were talking to a friend and dad pointed to a lady walking a white standard poodle and said “she looks just like Angel”, and they went on talking. When we all made it back to the truck we discovered an empty truck bed, Angel had pried open the window and jumped out. We went running back to the market and looked all over for the lady with Angel….. funny huh? Well it turns out they had already taken her with them. So we had to drive all the way home to get the message from them (about a 25min drive). Well when we checked the message there were two, one from the nice lady that picked her up, and then one from a close family friend that said he was hanging out with our dog….. Well it turns out the lady works at the restaurant that he used to manage, he had stopped and talked to her for a minute, and she asked if he happened to know where this address was. And as a matter of fact, he did. So he took Angel and we met him to pick her up. It was a very very strange coincidence. It can still be a small world.

She looks so innocent here……

 

Well, now we are off, the rain stopped and the sun has come out. We are going to go find some place to walk around and maybe find some animals to take pictures of. If we get some good pictures I will share them.