So here is Post
Number Two in my “quick and dirty, get it done, finally try to get
caught up again, quick captions only” blog posts. The post covers
roughly the start of July to the start of August; the peak of summer,
a lot of work and a lot of fun. Enjoy!
By this point in the
growing season, the garden is looking pretty great. Here is Brendan
surrounded in cabbage, carrots, chard, beats and onions.
July 8th
is my birthday and Nick and Ellen were kind enough to make me some
delicious food. Boomer decided to join for desert.
The new flock of
chickens keeps on growing. Here Nick is scraping manure out of their
coop.
Our first ever crop
of watermelons is looking great!
A shot of the
growing tomatoes. Nearly 100 plants!
At this time we also
began an entire new section of the garden for later succession crops.
It wouldn't be a
blog post without a picture of me in a tree, right? This was a full
prune of an awesome oak, something I wish I had the opportunity to do
more often.
At this time of
year, the swallows congregate over the meadow outside my window, and
for a short time every evening the sky is full of probably 100+ of
them. Very cool.
A visit to Moran
State Park, this is the view looking south from Mt Constitution.
A waterfall inside
the park.
My place on the
meadow. Can't wait to actually mill the siding...
The Shaw Landing on
a beautiful day.
Farming with tigers.
Planting a new round
of veggies in one of the upper beds.
Processing garlic to
sell.
A friend came for a
visit and brought along one of her birds.
The squash and other
crops are looking awesome!
Another garden view.
My boss using a lift
to take down some sketchy dead alders.
The view from the
boat I take to work. Sure beats sitting in traffic in the city.
Another day at work,
a crane removal of a dying fir right next to a house.
As I do brush
cleanup on the property, I'm always finding bones to add to my
collection.
So for a while now
I've been posting about the outdoor shower I've been building, here
is the final product! It is a wonderful shower and a wonderful
experience to use it.
The
shower at night time. The inside is sealed, so it becomes like a
golden glowing steam room while in use.
My
parents Chris and Don, and
grandmothers Maybritt and
Rosemarie came up for a
visit. After telling them so much about my life on the island, it
was great to get to finally show them in person.
Watching
a movie outdoors, projected on the side of a barn. Now this is what
I call summer living.
The
best part of building your own cabin, is you can make your crazy
ideas come to life. I've installed a tie-in point on my vaulted
ceiling so I can attach a climbing rope to get to the loft!
Training
with dump-tanks at fire drill.
Yah,
I've got a pretty sweet job. I took this photo from a tree of my
boss in another tree, with the town of Eastsound below and Canada in
the distance.
Crabbing.
The
annual Swiss Day celebration at one of our neighbors houses, a great
event and probably one of the largest gatherings on the island.
Boomer
is not very helpful when it comes to farming, but always keeps us
smiling.
My
favorite view of the farm on a perfect summer day.
Curing
onions in the greenhouse.
Nick,
Brendan and I trying out the first ever watermelon grown on the farm!
In
the mornings I work on Orcas, I have a little time to hang out and
watch the world go by until my boss arrives to pick me up.
Found
this little guy in the meadow.
Picking
up my 1x6” pine tongue
and groove paneling
for my cabin. Love that roof-rack! And I can't wait to
start installing it, it's going to look fantastic.
Another
great family visit, this time my aunt Katharine, uncle Steve and
great aunt Wilma.
Getting
ice cream cones at the Shaw General Store.
I
found this snake climbing up plants in the flower bed, I guess it was
hunting?
Another
great family visit, my aunt Karen and Uncle John came up to see a
little island life.
After
dinner my friend Brendan tipped us off that the resident orcas were
passing lighthouse point, so we quickly drove across San Jaun and
caught them right in time, watching the entire pod heading south in
the sunset. The photo doesn't do it justice, at times there were
three or four orcas visible at a time, playing with each other as they swam, with dozens going past us.
Honestly it was probably the most beautiful and moving thing I've
seen living up here.
Grabbing
a beer back in town with Brendan before catching the late boat back
home to Shaw.
Ok,
I've got one more quick post like this coming up, then I'll resume
normal posts. Check back soon and thanks for reading!
