Kingfisher Cove

Oh Dear Oh Dear

Calgon, take me away. You know, back to the days of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Band-Aids and kissing knees all better. Back to when I’d drop the kiddo off at daycare and kiss him goodbye and he’d rub that kiss off.

“You’re rubbing off my kiss?”

“No, Mom, I’m rubbing it in.”

Yeah, those days.

It’s so much more complicated now that he’s 24. And in the Navy. And in love for the very first time.

He has a big choice coming up on the horizon: the chance to select his homeport in Everett, Washington—his home state, in close proximity to his mom, his dad, his uncles, his cousins, his friends, and his grandparents? Or to remain in San Diego as his homeport where the keeper of his heart will likely be stationed, too. Maybe.

Lots of maybes.

Lots of doubts.

Does she love him, too?

Maybe.

And not being certain of that is a pain well beyond the help of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Band-Aid. Or a mommy.

 

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: Navy Nate,love,homeport,complications,heavy-hearted

Ready to be Grossed Out?

Here ya go!

Fruit flies, people! Goddamned frickin’ fruit flies! They have infested this house and we are going insane. We dealt with this last year, too, and we were befuddled then, as we are now! We don’t leave fruit sitting out. Dishes are washed and put away every day. Don’t have a potato pantry. The garbage disposal is flushed several times daily, and garbage is emptied regularly. It appears to be a seasonal thing, just like the itty bitty black sugar ants we contend with every spring. I don’t get it! (And bug spray does NOTHING). So, I set up this trap (via the internets) and it’s working pretty well, until I pour myself a glass of wine. It’s a glass with some aging grapes in the bottom and some cider vinegar poured over them, then secured with plastic wrap rubber-banded into place and holes poked in the top. The fruit flies enter through the holes, but they can’t (don’t) exit. Every couple of days I will blast it with bug spray (which actually only drowns them, if they haven’t already in the cider vinegar) and flush flush flush them, then start over again. But even capturing this many of them, we’re still inundated. I can hear John in the computer room clapping his hands together trying to smush ‘em. (They are dastardly quick). I HATE THEM WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING.

It’s always something.

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: fruit flies,infestation,fruit fly trap,insanity

Finally!

It’s a beeeeeautyful day here at Harstine Island! An overall rarity these past several months, and certainly a rarity for September. We’re on pace for the wettest September on record, but today is a stellar break from all that (although due to change back tomorrow…)

Case in point:

Won’t be long and the snow will be back on those Olympic mountains! It was warm on the beach — in the mid-70s!

I have had intermittent internet access with tethering my iPhone, although I really can’t count on it. And I realize I can’t really blame the tethering function — it’s simply a matter of not having a strong enough cell signal here. There are times (like right this minute, although who knows when I’m ready to upload my post) that it works quite well. And then, without warning, it just dies. Slips away. Which brings up the question: Why is it that using a cell signal for internet connection really only works in highly populated areas — where people have access to much higher-speed Wifi anyway? What the hell good does that do?

And another question: Why is my Kindle’s “Whispernet” connection (which is also 3G) so robust regardless where I am? Wish I could use my Kindle to tether to my laptop!

In preparation to being internet-less, I loaded up my computer with a couple of adventure games. One of them requires use of the internet, though. (Crap). The other one I’ve been playing and it’s rather meh. I can only take so much of those “Hidden Object” games that make you feel punished for trying to progress in the storyline (because you have to constantly stop and find a gazillion hidden objects before you can move on). I want another Syberia! MAN that was a fun game! I think the game makers make too much money on the violent shoot-em-ups instead, which don’t appeal to me in the least.

Took a nice beach walk today (Mojo has been off gallivanting in the wilds, apparently), and the house designer who is working on our plans came by and he and John hashed things over (the goal right now is revising the plans to address cost cutting measures because, uhm, our economic profile requires it).

And now…dinner is done, the sun has set, and even though my internet connection CONTINUES TO ROCK, it’s time for a deck fire.

Taking Some Chances (but not quite going rogue)

I bought this sectional mold to make a nice glass serving piece:

It’s just 9-1/2 inches square, but the diagonal(s) come out to 12 inches — which I discovered is too large for my kiln. Well, too large for the kiln shelf, which is 12 inches diameter inside a hexagonal kiln, and so the corners of my glass to be fused together were way too close to the elements inside the kiln (a big no-no). Since I really had no choice, I committed another no-no — I removed the kiln shelf and fused my glass pieces on the kiln floor. Everything I’ve read or heard, including my kiln manual, says DO NOT DO THIS.

I was careful — I vacuumed out the kiln floor and set down two layers of protective fiber paper, then placed my glass on top of them. Closed the lid. Turned it on. Let ‘r rip. And refused to peek inside throughout the duration because I was so frickin’ nervous about it. I don’t really know why I was so nervous because I doubted that it would damage the kiln in any way — the worst scenario would be broken glass due to the air flow inside not flowing (which is the purpose of the kiln shelf).

It took a l-o-n-g time to fuse. Many, many hours. (Uhm, like about 16 altogether before it was cool enough to open the lid).  And hey! It ended up fusing OK!

Lots of little bubbles, but they likely would have happened anyway. This was a piece of glass I’d bought at the local glass shop that has a lavender tint with soft blue swirlies (I thought it was very pretty), then I topped it with a same-size piece of clear to give it some depth (hard to tell here since it’s so transparent). Fusing the two pieces together gives it heft, too (as well as softens/rounds the edges and corners).

Now, the mold itself is tall enough to keep the glass safely away from the kiln’s elements, so I returned the shelf to the kiln and slumped the glass as usual. It turned out nice! It’s also kind of difficult to get a good picture of it.

Yeah, you do see the bubbles, but they really aren’t quite so prominent in real life. Here I am holding it for size perspective.

So, that turned out pretty nice (if not overly dramatic). Then I’d also gotten a plate mold:

It’s 8” diameter, and note the thick rim? I’m experimenting with some Christmas designs and thought a Christmas plate (or two or four) might be fun. I sprinkled some red and green frit (ground glass) onto a round clear base:

And fused it all together:

It looks like this all close up:

And I think I’ll add these snowflakes on the rim:

Here it is (above) sitting on the mold that it will slump into. And while it’s slumping, those snowflakes will tack-fuse to the rim. I think I’ll do another one with some holly around the rim. (Well…if this one turns out OK. Otherwise, might need to rethink some design elements).

UPDATE: Aha! turned out pretty good, I thought!

Alrighty, then! I’ve bored you enough! Yup, pretty much keeping my head to the glass grindstone because if I focus on much of anything else right now (insane politics, end of the line for unemployment insurance coming up, not being called back for a 2nd job interview, etc. etc.) I may just lose it.

del.icio.us Tags: warm glass,escaping reality,the blues

Not Much Ado About Nuthin’ Much

Fall is has sprung — oh, wait. Fall doesn’t do that, it…falls. And while the leaves haven’t begun to do that quite yet, they are just starting to turn some color. And it’s raining. It’s Pacific Northwesting out there.

And boy is it starting to get dark early. 7:20 sunset tonight, although the whole day was gloomy enough that I hardly noticed. Entering into the tough seasons for me — soon it’ll be time to turn on my S.A.D. lamp.

So, I haven’t heard anything from the company that I interviewed with, and it’s coming up on 3 weeks now (they said they’d let me know in 2-3 weeks if I was to be called in for a second interview). I submitted my resume to another Seattle firm yesterday, and what a nightmare that was. I swear that companies do this on purpose to make it as difficult as possible to submit your resume. Had to complete an online application, and of course they wouldn’t allow me to upload my own resume — had to fill out their form which hosed everything up that I copied and pasted. It took me an hour and a half to complete it and then meticulously go over it and reformat it (likely on their end it won’t be anyway).  When I finally hit the “submit” button, an error message popped up: “An error has occurred, please resubmit.” Which meant I had to completely START OVER FROM SCRATCH. I wanted to punch something.

Meh.

On the good news front, John received a prestigious commendation at work for his diligence on an extra project he’d been assigned, and it includes a nice cash bonus! So proud of him! It’s so great to be appreciated for hard work — especially in this climate when many companies expect so much for nothing much.

I’ve been dabbling in glass again this week. In fact, today I received an order I’d placed for some supplies, including a few new molds. In one case, they sent me the WRONG MOLD — and I was shocked to discover what they sent in its place: a mold for a SINK. It is frickin’ HUGE. There is no possible way it would fit in my kiln (and I have a pretty good sized kiln). I wasn’t charged for it (my gosh, these cost over $100, and the mold I had ordered but didn’t receive was only $5.00!) How bizarre.

I’ve been experimenting with “tack-fuse” which means that items that you fuse onto a piece of glass still retain their character in 3D, instead of completely melting into the glass. I made this Christmas dish. (I can picture cookies on it. Sort of.)

I full-fused the green stringer, and then tack-fused the holly.

I have another candle holder cooking right now, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a disappointment. There was a crucial step I forgot to do and I suspect it’s going to bite me in the butt. (Yeah…that happens. Pretty frequently, in fact).

I’m excited about my new (usable) molds, though! Lots of possibilities! And hopefully a success or two!

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: Pacific Northwest,fall,S.A.D.,warm glass,glass molds,slumped glass

Write Now, Upload Later

ARGH!! I had such hopes that tethering my iPhone to my laptop here at Harstine would somewhat improve my godawful internet connection, but alas, it’s even worse than the air card. The tethering function itself seems to be seriously flawed: even though I’d set it up directly with AT&T last week and I’m being charged for the “privilege,” it often behaves like I never set it up at all. "SET UP INTERNET TETHERING — CALL AT&T OR ACCESS THEIR WEBSITE.” (I’d already done all that, thank you very much). Or else, access to turning on the tethering is nothing but that spinning circle of hell. I called customer service and even they were befuddled. (Lovely).

I have had a few teeny teeny tiny tiny windows of connection, a couple of them even allowing me to upload some pictures. I think that’s the worst thing of all — these little opportunities give me HOPE! And then….it disconnects. And won’t reconnect.

And THEN, it even jugs up my iPhone so that I can’t access Twitter or Facebook on it, even though that’s rarely been a problem here! (Which is why I was hopeful that tethering to it would work OK, because the iPhone has generally indicated an adequate cell signal). I’ve had to do a hard reset numerous times to clear out its “confusion.”

Beyond frustrated.

Technology sucks when it doesn’t work.

~~~~~

A Potluck!

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon was surprisingly warmish and sunny-ish and we attended our annual Harstine neighborhood potluck. It’s also the annual “road maintenance committee meeting,” of which John serves as president — and he was elected to it again for this upcoming year. The private road down to our lots is our responsibility, and it’s amazing the expense (and effort) it takes to maintain it! It’s an eye-opener to me, and makes me shudder at how much money it requires to maintain all of our city, county, and state roadways. As an example, we had 650 feet of asphalt placed at the top part of our road (there’s a gate there and delivery/garbage trucks were creating holes in the existing chip seal from stopping and starting), and the asphalt cost more than $11,000!

But mostly it’s a fun opportunity for all of us neighbors to get together — some of them I only see at these potlucks because they don’t come out too often, and even those who we do see pretty regularly, many of them are snowbirds and head to Arizona or Southern California for the fall/winter months. Such a nice group of people! I haven’t felt as close to my neighbors since I was a kid growing up in a typical 1960s/1970s neighborhood when the moms didn’t work and were all best friends and us kids were all around the same age (something you don’t see anymore).

The people who hosted it this year have SUCH an amazing landscape. Isn’t it gorgeous?

 

The combination of all the different kinds of heather and lavender is just breathtaking (and so fragrant!)

It’s a beautiful home, too. In fact, it’s a stunning home.

And HERE is the “other” beach cat of the neighborhood! His name is Skipper and he walked the beach with his owners down to the potluck and hung out with us. I’ve never known such a social cat. I swear he came up to each and every one of us for a good pat. I’m surprised that he and Mojo haven’t encountered each other — I really don’t think they have, and I have to wonder how Mojo would react if they did:

The food was wonderful, as it always is. Rather “upscale” for what I’ve always considered a potluck. And…it’s definitely a wine crowd:

I would also venture to say…that the majority are staunch republicans. (Case in point: when it came up in conversation that I was laid off from my job last year, one ol’ guy said to me rather snidely, “And I suppose you’ve been collecting…unemployment.”) Yeah, that evil unemployment. That has allowed us to hang onto our lives throughout this mess that his party created. But I digress.

(OK, so they aren’t perfect neighbors, but as long as politics don’t come up, they’re really all right).

And then, I’ve experimented a little with my iPhone “Pano” photography app where you can create a panoramic photo. It’s a little dicey to do in sunny conditions because the screen is glary to line up the photos accurately, but I came up with these. (I wish they would enlarge more when you click on them):

(This one didn’t actually line up so well, but you can sort of get the idea).

And then this one shows where our someday house will be located:

So, my tethering functionality is currently on the spinning circle from hell so I can’t even TRY to upload my post. And with all these photos, I doubt it would go even if I could connect. I’ll just have to wait until we get home.

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: iPhone tethering sucks,technology sucks,neighborhood potlucks rock,Harstine Island

A Test

After dire fits and starts, a sinking heart, a fair amount of panic, and lots of WTFs, my laptop is now tethered to my iPhone here at Harstine Island and I (sort of) have internet connection.

 

Update: It sucks donkey dicks. That is all.

Crab and Baubles

John and I were bereft (bereft, I tell you!) when we couldn’t find any fresh Dungeness crab stands on the way to Harstine Island last Friday. I knew that crab season ended with the close of Labor Day weekend, and it appeared that for the first summer ever, I’d be crab-less. That reality may well have contributed to my overall “crabbiness” over the weekend (in addition to annoying wind and NO internet connection).

BUT. My brother spent the weekend at Camano Island (where the Dungeness thrive; they just don’t at Harstine), and he texted me yesterday: “Want some crab?”

OH HELL YES.

He’d spent the weekend working his butt off keeping the pots baited, checking them regularly, manhandling his new boat that is uber-heavy for one man to manhandle, cooking the crab, cleaning the crab, and accumulating the crab. We headed over to their place last night and sat down and pigged out ON FRESH CRACKED CRAB. There are a few ways you can eat it — steamed and hot (like they serve at nice Seattle restaurants, like “The Crab Pot” or “Chandlers”), or warmed and the meat dipped in butter, and our favorite: chilled and simply cracked and eaten so that your hands eventually turn into prunes. Aaaaaaah. (Except for the prune part).

Then, he sent us home with “some.”

(Just had to include the artsy version…) (Taken with my Histomatic iPhone app)

I can honestly say that I’m not nearly so crabby anymore!

Then, I’ve been playing around with some little stuff in my kiln, working up to incorporating some of these little things into bigger things. Maybe. I learned that if you take two or three small square pieces of glass and stack them all askew, like this:

They turn out like this after fusing them in the kiln:

Ain’t that the damnedest thing?

 

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: Dungeness crab,warm glass

Ups and Downs

Last evening at Harstine after I’d woken from a nap (mostly because I couldn’t access internet nor could I even download a book to read on my Kindle so there wasn’t much to do after company left), John said, “Ya wanna head home?” I was game. The entire weekend had been fraught with non-stop wind. Not damaging wind, but strong, cold, annoying wind that blew smoke in our eyes if we attempted a deck fire and made our eyes tear up and our ears ache. We’d had a nice reprieve mid-afternoon Sunday and I was all hopeful that the rest of the holiday weekend might be pleasant, but then it all went to blowin’ hell again. (Hence, the nap). So, we packed up, tidied up, grabbed that cat, and headed home.

The big “up” side to the weekend was that Helen came from Oregon and stayed the night. And it didn’t rain. That was a big plus. It looked like it could at any moment, but it remained dry. (But cold!)

(This pic above was taken with my new Pano app for my iPhone, and I’m hoping that if you click on it, the image will embiggen).

And we did have a handful of sunbreak moments. But just a handful. Took full advantage of them!

Helen and I had a great time, drank Crantinis, talked our ears off, and ate a nummy steak dinner. And yesterday, during that window of reprieve from the wind, John’s folks dropped by with their wee baby weenie dog!

And OHMYGOSH, here is wee lil’ Chibi playing with a BLUEBERRY!

That puppy is hell on wheels. Even when her “wheels” aren’t touching the ground:

 

The biggest headache I’ve been having at Harstine is internet connection. I WANT it . I NEED it. It’s always been lame, but lately it has been downright terrible and often non-existent. I’m on my second air card (because the old T-Mobile one was awful), but the AT&T one is actually worse. John installed a cell booster and antenna on the trailer — to no avail. I know that the cell signal on Harstine is pretty bad, and yet my iPhone works OK. (Not great, but OK). So, to make a long story a little shorter, today I arranged for iPhone tethering* and canceled my air card! I’ve tested it here at home and it was easy as pie and works great — but my air card worked great at home, too. The true test will be next weekend when we’re back at Harstine…

The good news is that it’ll save me quite a lot of money each month! If it works, that is.

*Tethering the iPhone makes the phone into a modem for 3G internet access when WiFi isn’t available.

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: Harstine Island,Labor Day Weekend,internet,tethering,iPhone,weenie dogs

Here We Come, Labor Day Weekend

Wasn’t it just the 4th of July? (I’ll be asking that same question on Halloween. And again on Thanksgiving. Plus Christmas. I do every year. Because I swear it was just the 4th of July).

OK, speaking of Christmas, I made a festive little bowl.

(I need to remember that white “frit” on clear glass does not quite pull off the effect of snow.) [Frit = powdered or crushed glass].

So, the groceries are shopped (most of them, anyway), and the laundry is done in preparation for heading to Harstine TOMORROW for a 4-day weekend. (wOOt!) However, the weather is not supposed to cooperate. I’m holding out hope that it won’t be a total washout. AND my friend, Helen, is coming up from Oregon Saturday and spending the night in her tent. Regardless, we will have a grand time. I’m so glad she’s coming! We had considered heading up to Camano Island tomorrow and catching some Dungeness crab, but we ultimately decided it would be cheaper to find some along the way to Harstine and buy it. (The drive, the boat gas, the shellfish license, etc. would add up to a lot more than a few purchased crab). However, we are very spoiled rotten and really must find FRESH crab — previously frozen is just unacceptable! Sure hope that’s possible.

Have a great holiday weekend! I’m trying not to be sad that it’s the unofficial end to summer. (For us, summer didn’t even begin until July 5th…)

 

~~~~~

del.icio.us Tags: Harstine Island,warm glass,Christmas,Labor Day,Dungeness crab