It rained all last week, every single day. Oh, there would be a brief sun break now and then, enough to ratchet up the hope levels, which were dashed in moments. So Friday night’s arrival at Harstine was (you guessed it) wet. No fire on the deck. We huddled in the trailer and I played my computer game and JDub read his book.
Saturday, it again rained most of the day – if it wasn’t, it was cloudy and windy and cold with rain constantly threatening. I did venture out to refill the empty birdfeeder and take a look at the flower beds (the sage is all a’bloom in red blossoms and we’ve seen humming birds checking them out!) But the rest of the day we continued to hunker down in the trailer and JDub read his book and I started one and finished it because my computer game is giving me fits. (I’m in this huge dark labyrinth dungeon area with beasties that keep killing me so I have to start over from my last save. Over and over and over again. I’m getting absolutely nowhere).
It’s Sunday as I’m writing this and guess what? It’s raining! At this point it’s just drizzling, but the clouds look threatening and there’s still a chilly breeze out there.
What a depressing holiday weekend! So much for the unofficial kickoff for summer. I know, they tend to say around here that summer doesn’t actually begin until July 5th. (Get it? The day AFTER the 4th of July). However, we are thanking our lucky stars that we aren’t tenting it like we did exactly two years ago. At least we have the basic creature-comforts in the trailer, including a bathroom and shower and electricity and windows to peer out of (into the dreariness…) Sigh.
Well, I had my first “day from hell” at my new job – Friday. It was a 90+-mile-per-hour day. It was one of those days when the spinning clock was a bad thing. Too much to do in too little time, and frustrating in such a horribly familiar way. First thing in the morning I hopped on the proposal that had been dumped in my lap and continued with the multitude of directions that had been left for me the afternoon before. Then, on Friday mid-afternoon, I received a call from the PM (project manager) in the Denver office who had made some major changes and I had to UNDO much of what I’d spent most of the morning DOING. Plus, he wanted it done by end of the day Denver time! Well, that didn’t happen. There was no way. It was pretty much wrapped up by the end of the day MY time, but there were things I couldn’t do because people I needed to talk with had already left for the long weekend. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears all day – it was so not fun. I definitely earned the paycheck I received that day, as well as this three-day weekend. (Just wish the weather was cooperating…)
We have cabin fever and so after my shower (which I desperately need) we’re driving into town to get a bird book! I have one at home somewhere, but who knows where? We’ve been seeing such interesting birds at the feeder and we want to know what they are! (If I had internet connection here I could climb online and check them out, but we don’t, so we need a book). We may also look for a squirrel feeder. We had one that JDub stuck up in a tree, but it doesn’t keep the rain out well enough (and so the feed rots), plus it’s difficult to get to for refilling. We may get a wooden post or something to mount it on – the trees are just not easily accessible. We’ve been seeing a cute little chipmunk eating kicked-out sunflower seeds beneath the birdfeeder. I’m so delighted to see a chipmunk! We used to have them in our back woods when I was a kid, but then development happened and the neighborhood was overrun with cats and the chipmunks basically disappeared. I hadn’t seen one for years! Just need to keep Bailey The Hunter Dog away from it.
Later – Returned from Wally World. (God I hate that store! It was a frickin’ zoo). Their book selection is pathetic, unless you like romance novels and Christian books. (Neither are my cup of tea. Go figure: Walmart has a Christian book section PLUS a gun department). We did find big bags of doggy treats, though, and JDub picked up the KT Tunstall CD for only $9.50. (Wow. That's the price at Amazon, too! All CDs should be $9.50! The whole album is excellent, by the way). We also bought another birdfeeder! (Not a squirrel feeder, though – we couldn’t find what we wanted). The other birdfeeder is pretty small and the seed disappears very quickly and this one is bigger and the seed will last longer among two feeders. Plus, it’ll double the fun of watching the birdies! We had to go to a hardware store to find another shepherd’s hook for the feeder (Wally World had none and the guy I asked about them acted like I was asking for something you’d normally find on Neptune). And we stopped at a bookstore to pick up the bird book. It should be great – it’s “Birds of the Puget Sound Region” which should cover it! I’ll also need to have the binoculars handy so I can get a good view of these birds I’m trying to identify. The weather’s so crappy, though, that the birds are pretty much in hiding. I swear there are gale-force winds out there. Well. A strong constant breeze at least.
For the third or fourth time now, we picked up a little squeaky toy for Bailey (she adores her toys – Peanut not so much) – and while we were at the bookstore, she apparently nosed through the Wally World bags and dug it out. When I brought the bags into the trailer, I couldn’t find it, and we checked the Durango and sho’nuff! She knows it’s worthwhile to snoop out the bags. It’s the only thing she removes from them, because she knows the toy is for her. Cracks me up. She is always so tickled to get a new fluffy squeaky toy. Almost four years old and she’s still a puppy in many ways.
I see patches of blue sky and sunshine poking through (but still very windy). Hope levels are ratcheting again.
It’s Monday afternoon now. Today, the weather has tried to be decent. Sort of. At least we’ve had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time outside. We spent hours on the deck this morning with a fire in the fire thingy while we were absolutely totally entertained by the wildlife! Oh. My. God. It was truly amazing. We saw hummingbirds. We saw all kinds of birds at the feeders (no gold finches this time, though). We heard the owl. We saw Chipper. 
AND… we watched three chipmunks enjoying the birdfeeder, sometimes all three at once. For the most part, they’d eat the kicked-out seeds below. But now and then one would actually climb up the shepherd’s hook and leap onto the feeder and eat from it! The birds didn’t seem to mind. It was like watching a three-ring circus! To your right (quick!) – there runs Chipper to the wood pile. Behind you! The Star Wars light saber buzz of a hummingbird zipping past to feast at the red sage blossoms! Straight ahead! Black-headed grosbeaks at the feeder. Chipmunks having a grand ol’ time climbing the shepherd’s hook! Junkos, sparrows, house finches! More chipmunks! And then….a PIGEON! Yes, a pigeon at the birdfeeder. That was kind of weird.
It was delightful watching all this from the deck, sipping coffee, and keeping warm by the fire (and sometimes being sprinkled on, but we chose to ignore that). And the dogs were totally oblivious, which was a good thing. We really didn’t want them scaring the critters away.
We also (finally) took a walk on the beach. First time down there all weekend. There wasn’t much (if any) sun, but we managed to find a few agates anyway.
And now I’ll have to tell you about the agate that JDub found last weekend when we were here….
