Friday, October 30, 2015

Island Primetime

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!