Kingfisher Cove

Chat Conversation With Nate

(I came home from work on the 23rd and saw a “Hello mother” but when I responded I didn’t hear anything back. But I did today! It’s sort of mundane, I suppose, but isn’t that what real life is all about? Especially when he’s on a ship in the Arabian Sea and I’m on my butt at the dining room table in lil’ ol’ Des Moines, WA).   Chat Conversation Start February 23 Hello mother. Oh! Hello! Are you still there? I just sat down to my computer. Today Whats up ma Hey, man! Well, I saw a "Hello mother" message when I got home from work yesterday, then I replied but you were gone elsewhere, and now here you are! How are you? I'm good. got my package!!!!! thank you thank you thank you!!! Really? You're happy about it? I sort of struggled about what you might want or need. Hullo? You on Watch? ya I had to clean for a minute With a toothbrush? (kidding) ya kinda.... lol No the box was really good. I've put some good thought into the next one tho (I just picture poor sailors on their hands and knees scrubbing the deck with a toothbrush. Hopefully that doesn't really happen). close... it is stupid how much we clean... I kinda hate it. Prob one of the reasons I wont reenlist OK... I have another one almost ready to go, but I did want to hear from you about some ideas So you're thinking you won't be reenlisting? What's scary right now in the other world is that employers are tending to discriminate against vets -- because they don't have the right skills. So (advice from Mama) think about schooling, etc. Whatever you take on, think about how it would translate into the civil world. Thinking that's pretty important. That s dictated by the command. I just want the GI bill so I can go back to school... the only way i would reenlist is if there is shore duty available in Wash and I can go to school while I'm doing it... then I would get out Hopefully things will change by then. The employment climate is improving on the outside, but it's weird. Trouble for the troops coming back from Iraq -- no jobs for them. Anyway! Your ideas about the next box? shoot... let me think... Bull dog sauce for sure. How did it fare? Was there a problem with anything exploding, lol? nope. all was good. Favorite item? sour patch kids salmon lol dried fruit. I thought the salmon was a fun idea. Something to share. Heh. Or not. ya for sure. I had so many ideas the other day a phone card so I can call you from the ship, LOL! Well, I have some more fun stuff packed up for you. (Hint: Swimsuit issue) nice! sunscreen! Really, a phone card? I thought of that, but figured they would be archaic. How would you use it -- would it work with your cell phone? Oh, yes, sunscreen! more like spf 15 tanning lotion by banana bout the tea was a good idea... I am still on the health kick so anything freeze dried, healthy, portable, and snacky. There was a pic of you I grabbed and reposted on FB of a gal's reenlistment and a friend of mine commented "Sure hope he's lathering on the sunscreen!" Heh! pics of everything Ya i saw it... I look super white!!!!! You like my note I stuck in with the silly pics? Ya its was def like bootcamp Yeah...you mentioned back then you thought it was weird. clothes would be good too.. like you said t shirts, work out shorts, socks, compression shorts whatever What size? Med or large for cotton t's... med shorts... like a 30-32 waist.... undies?? small or me med OK (had to write it down). So...John and I have decided we'll do the Seattle to SD Tiger Cruise. Talked about the Hawaii one for a while, but Navy for Moms said that one is a 5-7 day cruise and that would prolly be too long, even though it would be so cool to go to Hawaii. NFM also said no internet during sailing! Argh! But three days or so from Sea to SD would be fine -- do you need to send us some forms to fill out for that? As of yet there aren't any forms but I will mention that you two are interest in the seafair one for sure. When I know more, you'll know... OK. Have you had any more ports of call? Nope... we have one coming up soon... seychelles... kind of an island paradise. Oh! I know of it! Lots of rich movie stars go there. Another question -- would you want any DVDs? Have means to watch them? sure. Well I love you and I need to go so others can get on here and chat with their mamas. Sure!!! I have seen a lot of tv series... watched all of dexter up untill season 6 episode 8, watched all of spartacus, nip/tuck. whatever you can send, I'll watch for sure OK, good to know! Microwave? ya there is one in the galley I can use OK, I bow down to everyone else's mamas! Love you, kiddo! Love you too mama. say hi to John, the kitty and pups for me!!!! Just picked up Mojo. He's purring. Like he knows. Talk atcha later.

She Lives! (Really!)

Oh my. Yeah…it’s been a while. I’m realizing this: at least on week nights, my VERY limited “me time” priorities (that equate to barely two hours out of 24) have been distributed between catching up on Facebook, watching an episode of “Mad Men” on DVD (or possibly “Parenthood” on Hulu), a quick scan of Twitter, and some time perusing the new and incredibly awesome Pinterest. Just call me a social media whore why dontcha. Speaking of Pinterest, have you checked out that crack addiction yet? It’s so different from anything else, and I love that it’s soothing, calming, and beautiful. It's like your own personal bulletin boards of cool stuff you either encounter on the internet or else upload from your computer, all categorized by whatever you wish, and then you get to see everybody else’s cool stuff, too. This explains it pretty well, and this blog post does, too. What a great way to collect ideas for our eventual Harstine house. Ideas for fused glass projects. And recipes I would have never encountered otherwise. Or craft ideas, wedding ideas, pets, you-name-it. I know a gal who has a board with a collection of tattoo designs. So far it’s rather girly, but John has hopped on the bandwagon with his wood creations and I think he really enjoys it. Every time one of us runs across something that strikes us for the Harstine house, we pin it. Later on, we’ll have a nice collection of ideas when we’re ready to build, decorate, and design the interiors. OK, enough about Pinterest. (I believe you still need an “invite” to take part and if you’re interested, just let me know and I’ll send you one).

And so. Work has been kicking my butt since the first of the year and I truly feel like I’m on some sort of log rolling gig and I don’t dare take a breath because I’ll fall into the drink. And it’s been kicking John’s butt, too. We are both just absolutely exhausted from work-work-nothing-but-work.

But in other news…I’ve had some contact with Nate as he’s on deployment in the Arabian Sea. Not much (any) detail as to what they are DOING there, but I suspect monitoring the situation with Iran behaving like butts, and also keeping an eye out on the Somalia pirate situation. We’ve had a few Facebook text “chats” and that’s been fun. John and I have the opportunity to partake in a “Tiger Cruise.” When a deployed Navy ship is at their final port-of-call, family members can sometimes ride along from that port-of-call to their homeport. We have two choices: one is from HAWAII to San Diego at the end of their deployment in May/June. The other is when Nate’s ship comes to Seattle for SeaFair in August and we could ride down to San Diego from there. John and I have been tossing around both scenarios — and the Hawaii option sounds so appealing! Except that we learned that we would be at sea (on a no-frills Navy ship) for 5 – 7 days and neither of us think we could cope with that all that well! (And get this: no internet access during the whole time!) We’ll probably wait for the SeaFair opportunity as it would only be about 3 days, which we both feel is very doable. Much less time off from work, too. I would love to go to Hawaii, but maybe some other time. But isn’t that cool? Spend a few days riding a NAVY DESTROYER? How many people get to do THAT? It’s just a must-do!

I also sent Nate a “care package” and I have another one just about ready to go. They take a long time to get to them, but I have it on good authority that they are REVERED. I picked up some free USPS boxes that are specifically for sending to APO addresses and they have a flat shipping rate, regardless what they weigh. I’m always got an eye out for fun stuff to stick in the box.

Here are some recent pictures:

First, the class Navy clown:

And here he is in a group shot (yellow arrow). Click to embiggen:

My friend on Facebook, when she saw this picture, said, “Sure hope he’s lathering on the sunscreen!”

Today is a rainy/windy Saturday and I’m going to play with glass.

He’s Not Just a “Tool” — He’s the Whole “Toolshed”

At first I couldn’t believe this was a true story, but Mitt Romney actually admitted to strapping his dog to the roof of his car on a family trip from Boston to Ontario, Canada back in the 1980s. He wasn’t a youngster with poor judgment; he was an adult with a wife and children with poor judgment. During the 12-hour trip, Seamus (the Romneys’ Irish Setter) lost control of his bowels in fear, to which Romney's response was to stop at a gas station to give the poor dog a hosing-down before returning to the highway for hours more driving with Seamus still frightened, lonely, wind-buffeted, uncomfortable, and now dripping wet.

He says “Seamus enjoyed it.” Right. Speaks volumes about this man’s character.

In the spirit of DogsAgainstRomney.com, I created Peanut and Bailey’s response to this travesty:

Harstine Springtime in FEBRUARY!

John and I took today off from work and headed down to Harstine in the brilliant sunshine. My word, what a stellar day. It actually pushed 60 deg., which honestly feels balmy after all we’ve been through. I can’t get over how perky my mood was all day — even after discovering that the trailer’s refrigerator blew a fuse at some point and I was greeted with a warm fridge and freezer with MOLD inside the thing. I had to throw out a number of items – mostly just mayonnaise and salad dressings and John’s spray whipping cream for his Baileys and coffee (we don’t leave much behind that’s perishable, but those had to go, along with a few packages of vegetables in the freezer). Cleaning out that mold was pretty unpleasant, but it’s also nice to now have a clean refrigerator.

Mojo is a happy cat. It’s been a while since we’ve been here and he was one content traveler (as usual) and bolted out of the Durango the instant we arrived to go ‘sploring. After the fridge ordeal and also John chain-sawing branches from the ice storm and piling them up for a future bonfire, we headed to the beach with the weenies. We kept calling for Mojo, but he didn’t appear to follow/trip us down the path (as he typically does). After we’d been on the beach for a few minutes and taken in the breathtaking Olympics and the BLUE water and the BLUE sky, Mojo suddenly materialized! We think he’d already been on the beach – beat us to it! (What a cat). Side note: he has already graced us tonight with a mouse. I wonder how many more critters we’re in for?

What an awesome day! Those Olympics looked much closer than the picture shows. Heh. More like this:

Or even this:

(Not bad for an iPhone camera, eh?)

I’d gotten John us a new fire thingy for Christmas and some assembly was required, so John put it all together. I really figured (wrongly) that we’d be able to initiate it this evening, but once the sun dropped, it was immediately BUTT COLD. (Oh, yeah…it’s February).

Maybe in the morning? This amazing weather is supposed to last throughout the weekend.

We had steamers for dinner tonight. OH YUM. You like steamers? This is how I cook ‘em, and they turn out so good every time.

Steamer Clams

2-3 lbs. small steamers
4 Tbs. butter, divided
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 C. white wine
Basil (fresh if possible, but dry works just fine)

Soak the clams in cold water sprinkled with coarse sea salt for 15 minutes; rinse and repeat for another 15 minutes. This cleans the clams.

In a large pot, melt 2 Tbs. butter (you can use extra virgin olive oil instead), add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the wine and cook to reduce to about half the original volume. Add the clams and cover. Steam until they start to open. Add 2 Tbs. melted butter, gently stir the clams around a little, cover and continue to steam until all the clams are wide open. Discard any that don’t open (we call them “mudders” because there is probably no clam inside, just mud). Sprinkle some basil over the clams (parsley works, too, but the basil has more flavor). Serve with melted butter for dipping and some crusty bread. (The hot clam juice is very yummy to pour over your clams and also to soak your crusty bread!)

I leave you with a sunset.