Marymere Falls

Yesterday was going to be hot here (the weather app on my phone says it hit 93) so I accepted my sister's offer for the boys and I to join her and my niece on a hike a ways up the Kitsap Peninsula.  And I hauled the aircon unit out of the garage and Wonderful Husband and I got it set up in his office, to keep him not roasted for the day.

Marymere Falls ended up being a 2-hour 20-minute drive away, and when we got there it was a struggle to find parking.  But we did, and had a nice picnic lunch with all three kids in the shade, then did the walk to the falls.  It was like walking through Endor!  The trail was mostly pretty flat, except for the bit at the end where there were stairs up to the falls.

Going back down the stairs, everyone except my sister skidded and fell on their duff at least once.  Farther on on the way back Jazzy tripped and skinned his hand and a tiny bit of his knee.  But he refused to let me carry him back to the car.

Unfortunately there was a 35-minute-delay traffic snarl going through Bremerton, so we would have ended up twenty minutes late to Squiddle's eye appointment.  When I called Wonderful Husband, who was going to meet us there, he said the optician would have left by then, and he got the appointment rescheduled for next month.

And, the oddest thing... on the trail, heading in the opposite direction from us, was a woman who looked so strongly like my high school friend Rita that I almost asked if it was her.  But I didn't.  Maybe I should have?  Regardless, I poked around on the internet last night and found Rita's professional contact information and e-mailed her.  Here's to hoping she e-mails me back!

Wildlife Season

It was a good thing we star-gazed when we did, since the weather's turned overcast again, so we really didn't get another chance to try and see Neowise.

One of the chickens got out of the coop the other afternoon.  When Wonderful Husband and I had shifted it the night before, it ended up in a spot where there was a 3" gap between the frame and the ground in one of the corners.  Apparently that was enough space for a teenage chicken to make an escape attempt!  When I noticed, I went out and wedged some scrap wood underneath to block off future escapes, and attempted to herd Joanne back into the coop.  During this attempt, another of the chickens (Sassafras) got out through the open door.  Putting my thinking cap on, I encouraged Jazzy (who had followed me out and was wearing nothing save his diaper) to chase the chickens clockwise around the coop to where I opened the door.  It took a few attempts, but eventually their fear of the toddler overwhelmed all desire for freedom and exploration, and they went back inside.

In less amusing critters news, apparently the deer from the other day came back and munched on my fruit trees!  The apple trees are big enough and old enough not to mind the loss of some leaves, but I'm ticked off on behalf of my plum and cherry saplings!

And on a run up to Port Orchard this week, I saw either a fox or coyote cross the road (it was too far ahead of me for me to be sure which) and, a couple miles farther on, a doe.  Critters everywhere!

In non-critter news, our school district has finally decided to do remote learning this fall, and continue it until certain public health conditions are met.  Which is a decision I applaud.  We had a company come out this week to repair our sprinklers in the front, so now they all work again and are set on a timer.  And I've actually been stitching some quilt blocks together.  Let's see if the trend holds.

Stargazing

I went to bed on time last night!  And then got woken up at 11pm by a cat fight outside.  Urgh.  So I went downstairs just to double-check that Sushi was inside and not part of it (which, he was on the sofa, so all good).  Back upstairs I looked out the bedroom window to see if I could see the culprits.  Which I could not.

BUT.

Clear sky night.  Big Dipper was huge!  I couldn't find Comet Neowise, but as tonight's also a clear sky night (somewhat rare here in the Pacific Northwest), I'm planning to set an alarm for 11pm, haul Squiddle's telescope out, and see if I can find the comet.  And then wake Squiddle and Wonderful Husband up to see it, since it's going to be 6,800 years until it comes back around, and none of us will be here for that.

(I still remember going to see Halley's Comet with my dad when I was a kid.  My goal is to live to see it again.)

Saturday Stuff

Ugh.  I am wiped.  I'm fairly sure I know why: I get up with the cat, which means 7am or before.  Whenever he starts bumping at our bedroom door because he wants his breakfast.  Today being a weekend, I let Wonderful Husband sleep in - he got up 2.5 hours after me.  So I'm going to hit the sack early tonight to make up some of that sleep deficit.

That said, getting up earlier than anyone else in the house isn't all bad.  I worked some more on the third trellis I'm making for the garden  Seventeen lashings done this morning before I ran out of the first roll of twine and decided that made a good stopping point.  Only fourteen more to go; if I'm diligent, I can finish it tomorrow morning and get it in the garden and have one less thing on my to-do list.

We had a couple of deer in the yard today, luckily while my mother was here and while we were Skype'ing with my inlaws, so they all got to see them.  A couple of young bucks, investigating my vegetable beds.  They fled over the back fence and into the wooded area even though we never left the patio.  They were gone before I thought to take pictures, alas.

We're starting Jazzy on toilet training, with mixed success.  Sadly, wetting his big boy undies does not seem to cause him distress.  But we shall persevere!

And, in other also less-fantastic news, Wonderful Husband managed to stab himself in the thumb while cutting up chicken for the boys' plates at dinner.  It's stopped bleeding, but we're both thinking he's rapidly going to find out just how often he uses that digit for typing.

But now, bed for the boys and then for me....

Various Things

I actually set my sewing machine up and did some sewing on it!  Mending, to be sure (two pairs of trousers and one pair of shorts, a garment apiece for the malefolk of the house, the totality of the mending pile ATM), but stitching nonetheless!  I haven't sewn anything in months, which is probably a symptom or cause (perhaps both) of the general depression that Covid-19 has caused for me.

I am terrified of Covid-19.   We're fortunately in an area with not many cases, but I'm even second-guessing Squiddle's playdate with his school friend tomorrow.  He hasn't seen K in months, and K's grandmother says they've been mostly isolating too, but still.  What if.  Both my mother and husband have medical histories that mean they're more likely to have complications.  Is his socialization worth the risk?  Impossible to know what the risk is against an invisible enemy.

I keep trying to step back and remind myself that I can only control so much.  At some point the school district is going to ask us to commit to either online or in-person learning for fall.  For Squiddle, it's still a coin toss.  But for Jazzy, he needs the in-person learning to help with his speech delays....

I need to stop circling.  The chickens have figured out how to get in and out of their coop.  I'm amused that when I peek in while shutting them in at night, all six of them keep squeezing into one nest box.  They are outgrowing the chick-sized feeder and waterer, though, so in the last Lowe's run Wonderful Husband picked up a couple mud pans and some S-hooks for me.  I'm going to drill holes in the pans and use the hooks to secure them to the mesh of the tractor run.  One for food (positioned beneath the coop, for when it rains), and one for water.  Hopefully they'll work.

And I finally hauled straw over and got garden beds #2 and #3 mulched.  I don't know if the beets or leeks are ever going to come up, but we're now hitting hot and dry summer days, so the mulch will help keep the soil moist.

I managed to snag the last basket of salal berries from the co-op this week (pickup on Wednesdays), then researched them and realized that we have a fair amount of salal around the edges of the yard!  (Not ripe yet.)  So here's to hoping that we like the berries, and to knowing another plant that should be spared as we trim things back.

I've also been thinning out the cedar strand by our barn.  It was so densely packed that even Jazzy wouldn't be able to get between the trunks, and half of the trees are thin, spindly, and dead.  I'm taking out the dead stuff first, then planning to thin the plants some more so there's a bit more light, moisture, and nutrients to share around.

Coop Coop Galoop!

Ugh, I've been quiet here for nearly three weeks.  Sorry!  In my (paltry) defense, I've been working on and stressing on a few things.

First, I've written an posted a couple fanfics in the Check, Please! fandom: Cornucopia and Running From the Moon.  And I'm almost done with a second chapter of Cornucopia.

Second, I finally planted the third garden bed.  I could have sworn that I had parsnip seeds!  But apparently I do not.  So I transplanted in four oregano plants, two Italian parsley, two habenero plants, four various summer squashes, and seeded two rows each of carrots-and-radishes and leeks.  I need to make another trellis for the squash, but that can wait a few days.

And, third!  We (mostly) finished the chicken tractor!

The windows on either side still need their shutters and latches installed, and we still need to figure out wheels.  But it is structurally sound and the girls are out of their box and living on grass and sunshine.  (And water and chicken feed.)  Yesterday I had to physically put them through the door to shut them in the coop for the night, and this morning I went back out a couple hours after I'd opened it and they were still inside the coop so I had to shoo them out the door.  But tonight, five of the six of them were already inside when it was time to shut them in, so here's to hoping they can be taught!

In other news, Squiddle has lost his fourth tooth!  No more upper incisors for him.