Kingfisher Cove

Misty, Muggy, Musical

Ahhhh! We’re here! Opted to drive down to Harstine Is. this morning instead of last night since the weather is pretty icky, and it made it more leisurely and much less stressful not having to deal with Friday night traffic. It has been cloudy, rainy, humid, and warmish all at the same time this past week and today was no exception. The air will almost drown you with all the moisture. It’s heavy with it. (My glasses keep steaming up!) We haven’t been here since Memorial Day weekend, and we couldn’t believe how the weeds and grasses and sage and grape plant have all exploded! Here you can pretty much see the mistiness:

So, I’ve been experimenting with my Olloclip camera lens I got a while ago for my iPhone. (I have the 4s iPhone and it fits it perfectly). It’s really a lot of fun and for a not too horrendous price (compared to the professional lenses for DSLR cameras), it does a bang-up job. It’s three lenses in one – fisheye (shown in the picture above), wide-angle, and macro. I’ve experimented before with the fisheye and wide-angle, but I’ve struggled with the macro. I finally figured out (duh) that you have to get up really really really close to your subject. I mean, that’s the point! It’s like a magnifying glass, and you certainly wouldn’t try to view the up-close particulars of a bug from several feet (or even inches) away. You gotta get right on top of that sucker to see all those magnified particulars.

Here’s a picture of the cute lil’ lens. [It’s very cool!] You just turn it around for the fisheye and screw off the wide-angle to get to the macro.

Anyway, so here are the best results (so far) of my macro experiments. First, here’s a pic of one of our exploding sage (that the hummingbirds LOVE):

And here’s a macro shot of one of the flowers:

And another:

(They were moving around in the breeze so it was difficult to get a totally sharp shot!)

Then, here’s a pic of a small portion of our (exploding) grape plant. See that little cluster of baby grapes?

Here they are through the macro lens:

They actually look like Brussels sprouts! Ha! In real life, they’re about a quarter of the size of a pea.

See how the grape has exploded?

 

Hookay, that was fun.

~~~~~

On the way here we stopped at the store and along with about $200 worth of groceries that should get us through Tuesday, we also picked up a couple bags of ice to store some of the overflow from the fridge in the cooler. There was no space in the back of the Durango so John stuck the ice bags on the seat near to where the dogs (and Mojo!) were. As he pulled out from the parking lot he said to the animals, “You guys chill out back there.”

Snort.

~~~~~

Musical? THIS is where we listen to our tunes. Love the iPod and the Bose!

Why I'm Happy (And Relieved) Today!

Vacay, Employeeship, Vacay

John’s on vacation this week, which could make it really difficult for me having to roll out of bed at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready for work while he’s all snuggled down with weenie dogs (and even sometimes the cat). But, he’s been getting up soon after I do to ready for his day of replacing our aging rotten deck. Even with the weather not fully cooperating, he’s been able to accomplish a lot. And it’s only Tuesday. (Tomorrow’s supposed to actually be quite nice.) (It’s been a lousy June!)

I have next week off! We’ll spend the whole time down at Harstine, and John plans to cut down some trees. (Which makes me a lil’ bit nervous). With all the rain we’ve had, there’s no need for a burn ban so he should be able to burn brush and limbs without a problem. PLUS relax. (He needs to do that, too!)

I was finally offered (my) full-time position this week as a full-fledged employee. Jeesh. Took long enough. I’ve been working there under contract without any benefits since December of 2010. My boss had to do a fair amount of finagling on my behalf because some upper management types were under the mistaken assumption that my position was comparable to an “administrative assistant.” (Which I’m surprised that they still don’t refer to as “secretary.”)

Uhm, no. 

(By which I mean, hell no).

I won’t have next week as paid vacation (since I guess I have to accrue it first), but I will have the 4th of July as a paid holiday. I’m pretty happy about that, to finally have holidays!

I’m also now exempt, so no paid overtime. (That’s kind of a bummer).

But hey. Things are definitely looking up!

Friday Night is…All Right? Zzzzzz…

Oh what a day (what a week!) Bi-polar weather, bi-polar commuter traffic, saying goodbye to Nate, and dealing with very busy and intense work. I’m actually doing something a little different (billable work! Temporarily not a “drag on overhead.”) And at first it was kind of fun (a huge engineering report for a certain airplane company I created in Adobe InDesign, my most favorite application in the whole world). But it’s also very similar to what I normally do, which involves relying on subconsultants—other engineering firms who contribute their part—and the same ol’ culprits who don’t listen, don’t read their emails, don’t return calls, don’t follow directions, and are sometimes as “enlightened” as a box of rocks. (I dealt with these exact same dudes when I prepared the proposal, which we won, er, obviously, and oh yes that was a nightmare!)

Lots of head--->desk happening all week. (Just like when I worked on that proposal).

Also, lots of computer screen laser-focus on words, numbers, layout, logic, charts, graphics, images, flow, consistency, editing — times nearly 100 pages.

My eyes are toast. (And yet, here I am on the computer!)

~~~~~

Nate sent a text that he’d arrived back in San Diego. He wasn’t happy about leaving. He filled every minute of his 2-week leave spending (a whole lot of) time with his huge array of friends, golfing, clubbing, dating, attending the “Bring Back the Sonics” rally, rooting for the Heat for the NBA championship with his friends and also his dad, celebrating Father’s Day (and all of our June birthdays) at Camano with my dad, attending a college graduation, and more clubbing, more golfing, and you-name-it (except for spending very much time with his dear ol’ mama…).  The time we did have was sure enjoyable, though. He’s fun to be around. Which makes me miss him and which makes me feel blue when he’s around but not around.

John has to work this weekend.   The way I feel right now with the godawful weather (it was Washington’s coldest June 22nd ever — while North Pole, AK was 81° today!), I’m thinking sleeping all weekend long sounds absolutely fine. Heh.

I Has A Sad

Nate’s on his way back to San Diego. *Sniff*

The good news is that his ship will be in Seattle for SeaFair! Only a little over a month away.

June-uary

What a craptastic month, at least in terms of weather. Day after day of gray and wet and wind and gray and more wet. Today is the last full day of spring and summer begins tomorrow. And at the moment? There are threatening clouds along the fringes, but the sun is actually shining! There is hope on the horizon!

And…Nate leaves to head back to San Diego in two nights! Didn’t see him at all for a full week. Bits and pieces since then. It was nice to have him with us for Father’s Day when we drove up to Camano Is. to see Dad and my aunt and uncle. My brother and his family came, too, and it was a great day (even though the weather sucked). Dad seemed pretty good, especially after being in the hospital last weekend. He turned 77 on June 16th.

You can’t really tell (maybe if you click on the picture to embiggen), but Nate gave him that hat – it’s a USS Halsey (DDG 97) hat from Nate’s ship. (I think Dad was quite tickled about that!) We all went to The Islander restaurant on Camano and had a really nice dinner. I didn’t get very many pics, but here are a couple:

Nate and his Papa

 

My brother, Dave, and my niece, Michelle

Otherwise…well, it’s all about work. Sooooo tiring. But another good thing on the horizon: John will actually have two full weeks of vacation the week before and the week of the 4th of July. And I have the week of the 4th of July off! (Without pay. Which is starting to really piss me off). But hey. I’m sure looking forward to a break. The plan is to spend the whole 4th of July week at Harstine.

Also, things are looking good for us for securing financing to have our Harstine house built! We’re a bit of an anomaly because we need a 3-year construction loan (because our variance will expire before we retire and we’ve got to get things underway before then, but s-l-o-w-l-y so that we won’t have to deal with double mortgages). The bank we are working with has been very encouraging, at least so far. I really wasn’t expecting that in this economic climate. And who knows, they still may “lose” our paperwork, which is what I keep hearing is the norm for so many people around the country trying to secure loans/refinancing/etc. I can’t believe how horribly people are being treated. I have an acquaintance who was diagnosed with Lupus a couple of years ago and she is at the point now where she cannot work — she has a form of chemotherapy at least three days every week, has had multiple surgeries to remove inflamed organs, including 13 inches of her colon and her uterus and other organs; takes probably 25-30 different prescriptions daily; is in constant horrible pain; and she’s been denied disability and is over $75,000 in debt from medical bills. And the bank will not work with them to ease their mortgage payments on their upside-down house (compounded by the loss of her good income). It’s absolutely devastating. And they keep having to re-submit all their paperwork because the bank keeps “conveniently” losing it. Time after time after time. It is absolutely disgusting how regular people who have worked so damned hard and have done the right thing are suffering at the expense of banks and insurance companies because Wall Street was so greedy and unregulated. (And Romney wants to continue that train wreck…but I digress).

At this point, so far, I feel very fortunate. But nervous! I keep waiting for a shoe to drop. Because that’s how I roll. (I know from experience that shoes are known to drop).

A couple more fun pictures. Last Friday was actually a relatively clear day with sunbreaks (which mattered hardly a whit since I was at Day Jail aka work), and there happened to be a lot of activity out our office window. I really only notice the goings-on when somebody mentions it because I have to stand up to peer over my cubicle wall.

Not sure why, but suddenly a fire boat exploded in streaming water:

Then, a cruise ship glided on by, I think towards Alaska:

And finally, on my way home from work that evening, the new Seattle Ferris Wheel (it opens the end of this month) with Mt. Rainier!

It really is a beautiful city, but with the work grindstone and the traffic gridlock, it’s not often that I have a chance to truly appreciate it.

Leave

(I wrote this entire post, which took some time, and it disappeared into the abyss. Couldn’t retrieve it. I’m rewriting a version of it with a ‘tude. I want to kick something…) 

~~~~~

So. A week ago tomorrow night, Nate arrived home on leave. Yeah, it was great meeting him in the airport baggage claim, although I sure miss the days when we could meet people at the gate. But it was still great! He arrived late that night, and we ended up having “table time” into the wee hours. I covet “table time.” We have each other’s undivided attention and I get my questions answered and we go off on rabbit trails and I often have to peel myself off the floor from laughing so hard at Nate’s descriptions, his spot-on imitations, and his take on life. He truly is a funny guy. Adult. 26 years old now.

And so, since I haven’t seen him since last Friday night (or possibly 10 minutes on Saturday after his shower just before heading out again), I have to remind myself of that “adult thing.”

• I do “get it” that friends are the foundation of your life at that age. I remember. It’s true. I get it. And Nate has many many friends.
• But after nearly five days of absolutely no contact, it seems to me it’s common courtesy to at least let me know he’s OK, and that the Durango (which he is borrowing) is also OK.
• Suspect his birthday money (meant to help offset his plane ticket) has been used for buying lots of “rounds” for his buddies. Again, he’s an adult, the money was a gift, yada yada yada.
• I should be accustomed to this. He does this every time he’s home on leave.
• Would a daughter be the same way? Hell, I don’t even want to think about that. Plus, it’s moot.
• About that common courtesy. I worry that I’ve raised a self-centered kid. Who is now an adult. (And “adult” would be the excuse reason…)
• Thinking that, as a rule, males have no built-in “guilt buttons.”
• I’d play with my glass, but there is no floor space in Nate’s room [aka glass studio] with all his crap stuff. No Navy inspections, after all.
• I’m not a naggy Mom. Or even very critical (I probably should be more so). And so I wonder what I’ve done to cause him to not want to at least spend a leeeetle time with me during his very limited time at home. #PityParty
• Bottom line: He doesn’t have to be thousands of miles away for me to miss him. In this situation, he’s likely less than two miles away. Might as well be thousands.
• #PityParty

Table time. It was great! (And seems like a long time ago).

Oh! You’ve gotta read this (click to embiggen). He poo-pooed much of it, but it made his mama proud:

I love this kid.

(I mean, adult).

(Kid!)

(Brat!)

Ugh.

It has been a godawful week — gray, saturated days; sucking traffic (how is it possible that people in this state don’t know how to drive in the rain?); horrific violence in Seattle and surrounding areas (including my home town, as well as the town near Harstine Island where two people were murdered in the meth capital of the state for a drug money debt). The Seattle shootings really got to me. They were relatively near to where I work. And it all came down very close to where my boss lives and her children’s school was locked down while the perp eventually turned his gun on himself after killing 5 people. He was mentally ill, and his family said: “We saw this coming but couldn’t do anything about it.” He legally owned at least five guns, and had two with him. He’d refused any mental health treatment so there was no record of him being a red flag for background checks. And, if he bought his guns through private parties (AKA the “gun show loophole”), no background check would even have been required.

When I think about all these damaged men and women coming home from their multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, I have to wonder what we’re in for in the coming years?

I hate guns. I have never owned one, and I never will. I hate them. Hate, hate, hate, hate. Loathe guns.

And I simply do not understand, relate to, or come close to comprehending the gun culture in this country. It’s completely alien to me.

I have felt a whole lot of rage this week towards those who support guns regardless what. If I hear one more person say, “Guns don’t kill people, people do” I may have to punch said person in the face. PEOPLE with GUNS kill people. Ever heard of a hemlock tea massacre? Yeah, no.

And so. Today culminated in a whole helluva lot of irritability and downright heavy-duty blues. The day-after-day-after-day dreary weather. The shitty traffic. The violence. And work. Yeah, it was also my birthday. I was pretty much on the brink of tears all day, having myself some sort of a pity party. I guess it was just a culmination of the week, and also feeling very frumpy and very middle-aged.

It was good to get home. I came home to a grinning husband, happy dogs, a happy cat, and the UPS guy bringing me presents! AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO COOK DINNER TONIGHT!!

Yay.