Kingfisher Cove

Yuk. Sunday Night.

And we continue to cough and feel punk. Gah.

Man-oh-man what a wet weekend. Mojo spent the entire day on Saturday sleeping in the trailer. No way, no how was he venturing out there. During a period of time when it was coming down as a solid drizzle (instead of a blasting fire hose), John made use of the excavator and hauled out every one of those big ol’ stumps he’d pulled up.

He had a very dicey experience with one of them and I’m glad I didn’t see it transpire. The stump was uber-heavy and awkward and when he made his way onto that big stack of logs in the gully that serve as a pretty handy bridge to the other side of the gully, the excavator tracks rebelled on those rain-soaked logs and kept sliding the excavator out of control…toward the beach! He got himself in a pickle because he couldn’t back up as a stump that is still entrenched was directly behind him and the machine simply would not go forward without slipping sideways. He had to keep jockeying the excavator, and rearranging the stump he was carrying and the damned thing continued to slip and slide. I don’t know how long this took place, but a while. And I’m not even sure how he managed to finally get himself out of that pickle, but once he came inside the trailer afterward where I was (staying dry in between roof drips), he was shaken up. He had images of himself and the excavator crashing over on its side onto the beach. Jeebus.

If you click on this to embiggen, you can see how chewed up those logs are from that incident (but no more stumps!):

Today started out pleasant and dry and we even had a deck fire for a little while! But most of the day ended up being pretty much a bust for John because this happened AGAIN:

Damned tracks! And our neighbors weren’t home (who bring the equipment out for John from his equipment rental place) so John didn’t have access to the tools and grease gun necessary to put the damned thing back on again. Which is a bear to do. So he chopped firewood! A whole bunch of it!

Eventually he got it back on and hauled up a big rock and some logs, and then called it good. Poor guy’s beat (mostly from the wood chopping and wrestling the alligator of fixing that damned track). He laid down for nap and the rain started again, with vengeance. Immediately followed by Mojo hopping in through the window we keep open for him. (And oh yes, we had a “gift” awaiting us on the trailer floor this morning).

Can’t even believe it’s Sunday night already. It seems like it’s always time to leave Harstine. And it’s always time to go to work.

Drip, Drip, Drip

Both of us are still coughing, I’m still walking mucus, and by last night our butts were kicked after a long, godawful work-week (and so weary of feeling like crap). So, we opted to head to Harstine this morning instead of slogging through the sloppy darkness last night. At least it was daylight (sort of) when we slogged through this morning’s slop.

It was funny. When I carried Mojo out to the Durango, we could tell that he was confused! Yeah, it was raining but I don’t think that was the reason for his confusion (he’s been carried through the rain before) – he knew that this wasn’t the typical routine of going for that ride at NIGHT. Cats are something else – they pick up on the minutia of the slightest alteration to what they expect to be “normal.” I swear I could hear his thought process: “Wait a minute, we never do this in the morning!” 

Once we got here, he wasn’t all that jazzed about hopping out of the Durango. He is all cat when it comes to hating rain. And killing things. And tripping me up the stairs.

The trailer roof is leaking, too. Ugh! Poor John has applied TONS of that goop stuff to the trailer roof time and time again, and that damned rainwater still finds a route inside. We have bowls set around collecting it and that constant, non-stop drip sound is annoying as hell! He’s beyond frustrated in his attempts to solve that problem.

Here’s a brief demonstration of drippy-ness. Heh, every time I replayed this while I edited it, Bailey would blast outside barking her head off because, you know, she heard a dog barking its head off.

Yes, John’s mucking around in the muck with his Big Boy Toy again!

In other news…

Have you ever watched “Grey’s Anatomy?” If so, you know McSteamy (just read he’s leaving the show). I haven’t watched in a couple of years, but I certainly remember McSteamy (and, of course, McDreamy!) Anyway, Nate sent me a text the other day saying that a cable TV movie is being filmed on their ship (a pilot for a series) that’s called “The Last Ship.” Some kind of apocalyptic story. When I asked him if there were any familiar actors involved, he said it stars Adam Baldwin AND…..MCSTEAMY! And here is proof!

OMG!! Squeeee!

I also asked Nate (jokingly) if he would have a speaking part. He said, “I’m hoping because it would pay $800/day!”

Evil. Period.

This is evil. Pure evil. I LOATHE the GOP and everything it stands for.

How could ANY woman—or husband or brother or father of daughters—vote for these misogynist asshats?

Aha!

Here’s a (relative) idea of how our house will look (relatively). A couple of caveats! It will actually sit back a little further than this shows. (Those madrona trees and a few of the others behind them that appear to grow through the middle of the house will actually be in front of it). And, there will be some wood poles spanning the gully to help hold the thing up. But considering my limited Photoshop skills, it still gives you an idea…

And yes, that is actually the house design! It may or may not end up having a green roof, though. We hoped to have a metal roof, but they are prohibitively expensive. John is trying to figure out a way to make it happen. As in, installing it himself. As in, me having a hissy fit about that.

A Brisk Sunny Walk, and then BAM!

It’s actually remarkable how the weather has totally cooperated this weekend. Long stretches of dry, mostly sunny weather with light breezes to coax along the burn piles (but keep them easy to control). Then, just as everything was dying down to smoldering embers, it would cloud up and rain. Not that the rain entirely doused those embers, though! We woke up this morning to little swirls of smoke from yesterday’s FIRST fire. Today, after tending two more burn piles, John took a nap and afterward we walked down to check on them. Still puffing smoke. Since it was sunny (but brisk), we continued on down to the beach for a quick walk. (Found two agates!)

I shot these from the beach – you can see some smoke still wafting from the third burn pile. (As always, click to embiggen for an enhanced picture-viewing experience!)

We didn’t stay on the beach for very long because we looked up and saw nasty clouds rolling in. You can see them here from my shot as we were heading back up the path. A couple of neighbor guys were down there fishing:

AND THEN, it looked like THIS:

Then, THIS:

But by that time we were inside the trailer! Again, good timing. (Plus, this storm should definitely douse those smoldering embers for good).

Holy Smokes!

(Click to embiggen!) Wet brush make for smoky fires. This is pile #3. Progress!

Baby, Hit Me One More Time

Hells bells.

I’ve got a cold from hades and ended up staying home (and miserable) Thursday and Friday. The timing could hardly be worse with work deadlines looming. The thought of what next week holds has me in wide-eyed panic.

But then, there is no good time to be sick when you are the only one with the responsibility of handling deadlines that keep being slung at you.

~~~~~

We opted to head down to Harstine last night (I can be miserable either here or at home, after all). We’ve had a lot of rain this week and they finally lifted the burn ban. (In fact, in the course of one hour we had eight times the amount of rain that had fallen over that 82-day dry stretch!) John is taking advantage of the lifted burn ban between rain showers:

Beautiful out there, but breezy and cold! And more threatening clouds along the fringes.

~~~~~

After a visit from Contractor John, I decided to traipse on down among the excavator ruts to the burn site. What a difference since all the rain! The soil is firm (albeit rutty), so very unlike the DUST of the last couple of months. I went down mostly to take some pictures. I also felt the need to get some AIR after being locked up inside with this cold these past 2-1/2 days. It really was lovely out – rather brisk with the breeze, but I was bundled up well. Turns out, I couldn’t help but pile brush on the fire! There is just something about a fire…

It really was a perfect day for this!

Here’s looking up at the camping trailer through the smoke:

Remember our tent deck? Well. Goodbye, tent deck. *sniff*

And also, goodbye to the “Barracuda” floating device that we’ve stored under that tent deck the last several years. I was amazed it still had air in it:

(Uhm, yeah, there was some black smoke as a result, but thankfully short-lived…)

As you can see, we still have a lot of trees that will be in back of the house:

Like I say, it was pleasant and we got a good-sized pile burned!

And just as the fire was fizzling out, wafting smoke from some coals, the clouds rolled in and with it, more rain!

Good timing!

Rotten Day (After an Uplifting Evening)

Work sucks, and it’s all about the people. The proposal wouldn’t be that bad if it wasn’t for dudes unable to make decisions that greatly affect the time it takes me to do what I have to do; then finally making those decisions, changing them midstream, which means an absolute time-waste for me; and worst of all? Being treated disrespectfully. This is rather unusual here. Oh, I’ve dealt with a few brutes who initially assumed I was just a lackey and I had to set them straight (and since then we’re A-OK). But I’m dealing with a “dude” I haven’t worked with before, and it is a total nightmare. Never before have I felt so unheard, so talked over, so ignored about important matters, and so micro-managed in the most bizarre, left-field, ridiculous way. No, mister, you have NO SAY over the font style. Your job is to focus on technical content. And those bulleted items in the proposal outline? Did you even read them? (Likely no, since you never read your emails or listen to anything I say). They are the requirements of the RFP to keep you focused on what the client expects. Not “irrelevant junk.” If you’d actually taken it upon yourself to read the RFP, you’d know that. OK? OK. Next time? I may just have to slap your impudent, arrogant face.

(Man, I do fantasize…)

Sigh. I just felt beat up today. Truly down in the dumps. It’s the season I hate the most (never have done well throughout these months that end in “brrrr”). It’s dark and gloomy, and even stormy tonight. It occurred to me today that corporations (big or small) seem to do whatever they can to make doing your job as difficult as possible while increasing the expectations of your job. Having to change your passwords every time you turn around. Impossible to search and find anything on the servers because “you don’t have permission to go there!” Idiot meetings that have no benefit, suck your time away from what you should be doing, and result in nothing (with impudent, arrogant people not listening and talking over you).

Burned out. I’ve been doing this too long, and it’s just the worst job in the whole damned world, no matter where. But it’s the only skill I have that can pay the bills.

~~~~~

But! There was interesting, intriguing, and uplifting news last night! I finally text-chatted with Nate and that pretty young lady in the balloon picture? Could be going somewhere serious!

When his ship was here in town for Fleet Week in August, they left with a number of friends and family members on board to head back down to San Diego, known as a “Tiger Cruise.” John and I had seriously considered partaking when we learned about it last spring. But it turned out that work was absolutely over-the-top beyond batshit nuts for both of us at that time, and we just opted for the ship tour to suffice (and that alone was difficult to manage with work!) One of Nate’s good sailor buddies (female) had her sister and best friend on board for that Tiger Cruise and that pretty young lady in the balloon picture is his buddy’s best friend. She and Nate totally hit it off. They have been in constant communication ever since and then that bonsai run to New Mexico to see her! 700 miles each way from San Diego! He’ll be doing another bonsai run to spend a short Thanksgiving holiday with her and her (very large) family. He is so smitten, that he is down-to-earth. Do you know what I mean? No drama, no angst, finally. It’s sort of breathtaking for me – I sense this as something special. As I have always done since Nate was, like, 5 years old and would talk about a girl he liked, I asked, “Is she smart?” It’s interesting the answers I’ve gotten over the years, with eyes cutting to the right or left. But he knows I will always ask that question. He said, “She’s attending the University of New Mexico in civil engineering. Has about a year and half to go. Also, she likes to read.”

Aha! Mama likes this!

Fall has Fallen

Because it now (finally) looks like this out the dining window:

I’m cooking up this for dinner:

It’s a beef, mushroom, and zucchini soup. Or stew, whichever the case may end up being. The thing is, I do not like cooked carrots (and I loathe peas), so I wanted veggies in there that I actually like! I’m hoping it’s good! It has some decent ingredients – lots of garlic and onion and red wine and those garlic/herb flavored diced tomatoes. Beef stock. Oh, and a tablespoon of steak sauce! (I did actually go by a recipe, but just modified the veggies). I have a choice at the end to leave it liquidy or add some cornstarch to thicken it up. Hmm.

So. We’ll see…

Update: It was very yummy! Opted to leave it soupy, and I think that was a good thing.

~~~~~

Work continues to be…an alternate universe. I suppose I should just leave it at that. (So very glad to be on the other side of that portal for a couple of days).

For the past year and a half, construction has been c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge alongside our office building. It has caused complete upheaval for that year and a half with road and sidewalk closures, making access to and from the building a royal pain in the ass. Constant, godawful noise. It seemed that it was going to last forever.

And then…yesterday the bridge finally opened.

It crosses over busy Elliott Avenue and a bunch of railroad tracks, then curves down into Myrtle Edwards Park. I took a walk!

Hi there, Space Needle!

That’s our office on the left (we’re on the top floor):

Of course it had to wait until the weather turned icky to open! All those 82 lovely days in a row and it opens the first day we have cold, sprinkly weather. Gah! Typical for this project – it was plagued with all kinds of supplier issues. It was supposed to have opened last spring! So it’s a huge relief to be able to access the building and the parking lot now without construction equipment and workers and chaos.

It was also a very pleasant walk!

~~~~~

Oh hey. I got me a new sweatshirt! (See Mojo’s tail?)

So, I Have A Question

We’ve heard over the past couple of days that in Pakistan, a 14-year-old girl with strong aspirations for education, was shot in the face and the neck by the Taliban – for the “simple reason” of having strong aspirations to be educated (and to eventually become a doctor). She is in critical condition.

Are there women in Pakistan who agree that females fundamentally should not have the opportunity to pursue education? Aside from feeling terror from Taliban repercussions, do many of the female population of that country and culture truly agree that an educated Pakistani woman has no place in society?

I think most of us would recoil at that possibility. What a backward, godawful, misogynistic culture, right? With Neanderthal brutes running the show, shooting to kill female CHILDREN because they dared to learn. Dared to rebel against a patriarchal, medieval way of thinking according to patriarchal, medieval religious beliefs. But women? Would they wish this upon their daughters, granddaughters, sisters?

Thank God our western ways are so much more evolved. Right?

My question is this: Why would any woman vote republican in our country?

• Every GOP Senator voted AGAINST Equal Pay for Women Act.
• Every GOP Senator voted AGAINST Al Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment.
• Every GOP member voted FOR Anti-Safe Abortion Legislation.
• Every GOP member voted FOR Blunt/Rubio Anti-Women's Equal Health Coverage Amendment. While Blunt/Rubio Amendment does not allow employer to deny men employee health coverage for Vasectomy, the Blunt/Rubio Amendment allows employers to deny female employees and female dependents: contraception, tubes tied, and hysterectomies.
• GOP redefined rape.
• GOP wrote legislation to probe metal prongs up a woman's vagina.
• GOP changed legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser."
• GOP wrote legislation that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (South Dakota GOP).
• GOP wrote legislation to cut nearly a billion dollars of aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.
• GOP wrote legislation that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.
• GOP wrote law cutting ALL funding for low-income kids saying "Women should really be home with the kids, not out working (Maryland).
• GOP cut funding for Head Start, by $1 billion.
• Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women: GOP write bill to CUT funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.
• GOP candidates for President vow and pledged to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.
• GOP voted for a Amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers.
• GOP write bill to eliminate all funds for Federal Family Planning Program.
• GOP wrote bill to provide contraception for wild horses but ENDS all federal funding for Family Planning, including contraception coverage. (Dan Burton(R)).

Again, why the hell would any woman in the United States go along with this? Are they the equivalent of the Pakistani women who agree that this 14-year-old girl “had it coming?”

I also am quite aware of the love affair republicans have with their guns. I sense a real itch to use them against those who oppose their way of thinking.

You know, in the name of God.

Or the American Taliban.