Kingfisher Cove

Wouldn’t it be fun….

….to find this diamond on the Harstine beach while agate-hunting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just saying. (Photoshop is so fun!)

Up And Coming

There are a few things on the horizon worth mentioning, in the smaller scheme of things. (“Smaller scheme of things” because I recently saw a job post that struck my fancy for an “experienced blogger.” Woohoo, I thought, since I have nearly six years under my belt. But then it went on to explain that experienced blogger meant you had to have a top-100 blog. I’m probably 3,467,328th. And that’s if I’m lucky). (When I think about it, that’s kind of stupid. I mean, a top-100 blogger would likely be making Big Bucks with advertising and personal appearances, etc. Why would a top-100 blogger want to risk going to work for a corporation?)

I digress!

So, first thing coming up is that JDub and I celebrate our 10th anniversary on October 1st! How about that? (And it’s a milestone for both of us; neither of us have ever been married that long before…) We really don’t have any special plans. There was a time when we thought about maybe a Hawaii trip or something, but since I’m unemployed that’s out of the question. We’ll probably just go out for a nice dinner and call it good.

However, a few months ago JDub bought tickets for the Snow Patrol concert in Seattle in mid-October, so that’s a pretty good occasion to celebrate our anniversary. It’ll be at the Paramount Theater, which I just love! Great acoustics and a much more intimate setting than the coliseum where it was held nearly 3 years ago. From the outside, it doesn’t appear to be anything special:

                          But inside is a whole ‘nother story!

       

Oh! And then, dontcha know, Sarah Palin’s memoir is coming out in November! It’ll be called “Going Mavericky Rogue.” You can betcha I won’t be reading that!

I’m cautiously looking forward to Christmas this year because there is a good chance that Nate will be home! I really didn’t expect that would be the case, but since he’ll still be at Great Lakes Naval Base (in Illinois) attending school, they pretty much close up shop for two weeks in December so the sailors can take leave for the holidays. He won’t be heading to San Diego until after the 1st of the year. Until I know for certain, I’ll be holding my breath. But it looks good! Woohoo!

And then finally, in March there is something coming up that sure does intrigue the geeky side of me! I really really want to see the 3D Hubble IMAX film! In the first place, I’ve never seen anything on IMAX before, and it just seems to me that this would be right up there with the geeky event of a lifetime. 

~~~~~~

And so we now have happy weenie dogs because the new deck steps are finished!

Stuff I Like

A little product placement here. And no, I’m not getting any kickbacks! These are just items that I have and really like and highly recommend!

First, this is the Bissell Steam Mop and it’s just great for hardwood floors! (I imagine it’s great for linoleum and tile, too). It just uses hot water (no chemicals). They recommend using distilled water, but I just use tap water (we don’t have a high mineral content here). It does have a “green tea” (?) filter that needs to be replaced now and then — how often, I’m not sure since I haven’t had to replace it yet. It comes with two pads and they are  machine washable/dryable. This thing works really well! So much easier than lugging a bucket and wringing out a mop. And the floors end up very clean and streak-free. They also dry quickly because the hot water evaporates quickly.

We’ve had this LG Tromm washer and dryer for almost two years now, and I just love them! I still get a kick out of how they “sing” to you when the cycle is done! They are solid, heavy-duty, intuitive, and they clean and dry clothes better than anything I’ve ever experienced before. The washer does require the HE detergent. (And what’s the story about how expensive laundry detergent is these days? WTF?) I have discovered that the Arm & Hammer HE detergent works great, smells great, and is about half the price of Tide. Anyway, these washers and dryers are not cheap, but wow are they excellent quality. I just wish they were located UPSTAIRS, you know, where OUR BEDROOM IS, instead of having to haul laundry up and down three flights! Someday…

These have become difficult to find! I think they’re only available anymore in specialty kitchen shops, but I haven’t had any luck and I need a new one. (After many years, the pepper “door” won’t stay shut so I keep leaking pepper corns). But I love this because with one hand you can shake out the salt, turn it over and grind fresh pepper with that black squeeze bar on the side. Yes, with one hand! It’s not beautiful, I know, but it sure is handy and I’d sure like to find me another one. (I found this picture on Google images, but no site to follow up!)

 

 

THESE ARE AMAZING! And for only 3 Weight Watchers points, it makes for a wonderful and flavorful (and satisfying) snack, especially on a warm day. There are several other frozen snacks, many with only 2 points, and they are excellent, too. They have many high quality products, but I do have to say that they’re pricey.

And finally, one of my favorite products of all time — and it’s FREE! I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for a couple of years now in lieu of the Typepad composer to post to my blog. It is so user-friendly, and I love that it’s WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get). It uses the exact colors and formatting as my blog; it makes photo placement, sizing, and enhancement a total piece of cake; it works with all of the major blog hosting platforms; AND IT NEVER CRASHES! It’s awesome. Microsoft has a lot of faults, as we know, but this little gem is a true winner.

Glorious!

And I’m not even talking about Harstine Island. It’s a little unfortunate because it’s so pretty out (plus, we won’t be able to go down next weekend either, because JDub has to work). It’s a nice view from here at home, too! (Just no beach access):

JDub started the deck replacement project a couple of months ago and it’s been slow-going, mostly because there’s just not enough time or energy during the work-week, and then we’d head to Harstine for the weekends. So today he’s put in a whole bunch of hours, ripping out the old and sawing/placing the new.

We’ve been laughing our lips off because the entry to the deck from the glass sliding door, as well as the pet door, are two steps down that stretch across and he had to remove them in order to pull up the old boards. (Plus the steps have to be replaced). So for our short-legged weenie dogs, the drop from the pet door to the deck is too far! And they have been going apeshit! They are so accustomed to their freedom to go in and out as they wish (which doesn’t translate to rainy days or the middle-of-the-night….) But they have been beside themselves in angst! They’ll stick their heads out the pet door and WHINE like stuck pigs! JDub’s been manually hoisting them up and down as he was working out there, but the dogs have NOT BEEN HAPPY. I’ve never seen them so worried and upset! There’s currently a temporary weighted bin for them to use as a step, but the expressions on their faces about that crack us up, too. “This is wrong, this isn’t right, I hate change!”  And in Peanut’s case: “I might die.”

Now, Mojo? It’s all a hoot for him. See the dark shadowy hole on the right in that picture above? It drops all the way to the ground — 10 feet or more — and he just loves leaping UP through it, like a BASEMENT CAT.

Finally!

Quite frankly, it’s been a bad week what with the tummy-ailment-from-hell that afflicted both JDub and me (and has taken days to recover from). Ca-ca! (And I mean it!)

Last night was the indication of the tides turning. I actually had a hankering to fix dinner! I made this again, but I added Portobello mushroom slices this time and boy was that nummy! However, the pork chops soaked in buttermilk and coated with Panko (then baked) were overcooked and pretty much a dried out disappointment. (No, I’m really not much of a cook…)

I also burned my hand on the oven rack:

Surprisingly, it doesn’t hurt at all! Looks pretty bad, though.

THEN, out of the blue, my kiddo called! I didn’t even have to beg this time! Had a nice talk, and it’s always a relief to hear that he’s doing well. He gave me his new(est) address so I can send him letters again. (He’s still not hooked up to the internet, which is a drag. But he doesn’t want to have to pay for it!)

Today, the long-awaited iPhone feature is now a reality — being able to send/receive photos or videos via text messaging. (AT&T just now made it available, and there’s been a lot of moaning and groaning all summer having to wait for it). It works! I sent a test photo to Nate and he got it!

 

Pretty sure there was a bit of eye-rolling on his end…

It’s Friday, it’s sunny, and it feels good to feel better! No Harstine this weekend, though, because there are chores to do around the house. Haven’t had the energy to tend to them during the week.

In Which a Mack Truck Mows Us Over

Yeah, and we’re still trying to peel the tire tread off our bodies. My God, what a rotten few days!

Without the nitty-gritty disgusting graphic details, both JDub and I have been reeling from Monday morning’s sudden onslaught of the worst digestive-tract anomaly to hit either of us in any recent (or even distant!) memory. We don’t know if it was a virus or food poisoning, but MAN ALIVE WE WISHED WE WERE DEAD.

After the violence of Monday, we’ve spent the past two days trying to recover. Fifty-something-year-old bodies apparently aren’t as resilient as they once were (duh!) We didn’t know that so many body parts could all hurt at the same time! Every nerve ending (even my teeth were ringing); every joint, muscle, ligament, and tendon; every BONE, including the entire skull; every internal organ (even my ovaries, I swear!) And the places in between felt like they were being pummeled by the business end of a ball-peen hammer. Sleep was the only escape, and we did quite a lot of that, but it was fitful (and difficult to get to sleep with all that hurting happening). Oh, and THEN — bad dreams!

Yukarama!

Once again, the couch beckons….

Back to da Beach

Wow, it was so gorgeous when we arrived yesterday afternoon (kitty-less; yes, Mojo missed the bus) — in fact, it was downright HOT! And the tide was HIGH! (It was a 15-footer!)

UPDATE: This shows the (same view) super high tide compared with the tide out:

But then the wind kicked up, the clouds moved in, and it rained good throughout the night. (A night that I could not sleep! I was the definition of tossing and turning — Wikipedia should have my name in that entry).

So in this morning’s sunshine (and strong wind), JDub is assisting in a neighborhood work party to patch areas of our road. Poor guy is hurting; his shoulder is about to kill him and he can hardly move his neck. (He’s always had muscular/skeletal issues, but sometimes are worse than others and this is one of those times. He’s hoping that the physical labor will loosen things up). Then later today we’ll have our annual neighborhood potluck. The dogs will NOT be happy because we’ll have to stick them in their doggie cage.

And in other news, I still haven’t heard anything from Nate. No responses to my text messages, nothing. I sure hope he’s not in the brig!

This Should Go Viral

He’s a fellow who grew up in fundamentalist Christianity. He lived it, he breathed it, and he followed it. I don’t think that all Christians are part of the fundamentalist fringe, but many are, and they have loud voices. It scares me. They are the Taliban of our society, and they have infiltrated the Republican party. There was a time when I honestly said that I would vote for the PERSON, not the PARTY. I can’t say that now, because of this insidious infiltration. It’s based on racism and lunacy (ignorance, too, but it’s gotten beyond ignorance. It’s truly lunacy).

This 7-minutes won’t waste your time. Listen. It’s rational. And this from someone who grew up with the vitriol of Christian fundamentalism.

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!

I’m back! My laptop is no longer a brick, thanks to JDub! After we returned home last night from our long Harstine weekend, he climbed online and learned about a rather obscure utility to repair protected Windows operating system files called SFC/Scannow. Certainly when you have a “problem” Windows doesn’t point you to this solution! And it’s obscure because you have to access it through the command prompt (basically, DOS!) And you have to know to run it as a “system administrator.” I swear that Microsoft makes troubleshooting and problem-solving next to impossible for us lay-people-users, likely so they can charge Big Bucks to provide ‘support’. Grrrrr.

But, I’m fixed! And I’m very relieved. (Thank you, sweetie!)

Because I couldn’t engage in my laptop addiction over the weekend, I read like a fiend! Finished one book on my Kindle and I’m now about 90% through Pat Conroy’s “South of Broad.” (It’s very good!)

It was a beautiful and relaxing weekend, marred only by JDub’s cold (and a stiff wind that kicked up Sunday afternoon). We took a gorgeous beach walk Saturday and were invited up for a drink with one of our neighbors. (We have the best neighbors!)

These neighbors have the coolest covered ramp that goes from their deck up to the top of their property. I can totally picture something very much like this for our Harstine house someday!

  

So much better than a ton of stairs on a sloping property!

I’m sure missing my kid. I’d sent him a text message last Thursday telling him I was missing him, and he responded right away with “I love you and miss you, too, Mom. I’ll call you in a bit.” Well. He hasn’t called yet and here it is Tuesday. *Sniff* (Yes, I know, he’s busy and has a new and demanding life…)

My Laptop is a Brick

My laptop is "broke" and I blame Microsoft! I downloaded a Windows upgrade yesterday (a regular occurrence) and now my computer is missing a ton of vital .dll files and most of my applications no longer work. I'm pissed! This likely means having to reinstall Windows which means wiping EVERYTHING off my hard drive. (Then reinstalling ALL of my software).

I am not a happy camper.