Backyard remodel

On July 7, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, dave, garden, navi, TheRancho, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Last year we did the front yard, taking out the overgrown bushes that the previous owner had put up to create a buffer between our house and the crack-house across the street, and putting in a nice lawn. That went very well, and it is still looking beautiful. This year the project is the back yard.

When we moved in the backyard was a formal garden, with pathways and sitting areas, a big dahlia garden, a vegetable garden, and a flower garden. The previous owner had been retired, and he obviously spent a LOT of time working on it. It was a maintenance nightmare for a couple working folks like us. So we had slowly cut back on the formal stuff anyway, but this year the lawnmower wouldn’t start in the spring, and by the time I got a new carb for it and got it running again, things were extra out of control.

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So we rented a walk-behind string trimmer, and I worked my butt off mowing it all down. I was kind of sad to see it go, because it reminded me of our pasture in spring, and I loved watching the grasses wave in the breeze.

With everything back under control, I figured it was time to begin the backyard remodel I had been planning. There were a few problems. As previously mentioned, Navi is a digger, so any gardening needed to be fenced away from her. Also, there is a plum tree in the corner of the yard, and the dogs enjoy eating the plums and chewing up the pits, which are toxic, so I had it temporarily fenced off with a dog x-pen, but it was not a permanent solution. I have this plan:

backyard plan

Which I have deviated from slightly as my desire to have a garden got stronger. When we lived on the farm, I had a huge garden, and I worked really hard to get better and better at it every year, and I hated to give it up when we left. This year I finally got my act together enough to put in a tiny container garden with a few tomatoes and peppers and herbs. But I would like to grow our own lettuce and greens as well. So I took the corner marked Bushes on my plan, and fenced it off to make a garden, and keep the dogs away from the plums.

We had a lovely mild day, not too hot, not too sunny. Mowing and weed-wacking commences…

Then we went to Lowes and found a no-dig fence style we liked. They have stakes that you pound into the ground, and then slide the fence panels onto them. Tall enough to keep out the dogs, and they look nice.

The corner already has a brick outline, but it was curved, and the fence could not curve as much as the bricks, so we made the fence line fairly straight and left the curved areas outside it for planting some bushes to soften the area up. We also got a nice no-dig gate that fit perfectly in the little entrance-way.

Completed. Now the dogs are unable to get to the plum tree, or any planting beds I want to put in there.

We continued mowing and trimming around the rest of the yard.

Much better! Still needs clean up, but it will get there. This is where I want a stone patio eventually.

Dave gets a well-deserved rest and smooches from Barclay ❤

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Day 2

The garden area has these two brick circles, one on either end. This one had a greek statue on it, and it shifted and she fell over a couple winters ago, so now she is up on the patio. I am not fond of these brick circles, they look sloppy, and appear to be full of debris – broken bricks, old tile, etc. I want to take one down and reuse the bricks to outline a garden bed.

So I started tearing the other one apart, and discovered 1) it gave shelter to the biggest spiders I’ve ever seen and 2) it was hiding a stump! I picked through the bricks one by one, brushing off spiders and tossing them into the fenced area, then arranged them into a curvy garden bed.

Leaving behind the stump, which is much less obtrusive than the brick circle had been.

Meanwhile Navi dug holes big enough to stick her whole head in! That’s the next area to work on.

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But that’s enough work for one afternoon. I stickballed Barclay until he was worn out and jumped in the tub to cool off, and called it a day.

Bonus – tomatoes growing in my container garden – yay!

Trout Lake 2018

On June 17, 2018June 19, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn airstream, barclay, dave, navi, outdoors, pets, photography, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Over Memorial Weekend we took our annual trip with our Airstream friends to Trout Lake, to our usual campground snuggled under shade trees with a gorgeous view of Mt Adams. This year the weather was windy, but otherwise fine. I was a little worried about reports of ticks being bad this year, but we tried to stay out of the grass.

We set up the X pens in front of the trailer door to make a little yard for the dogs, and the door was pretty much open all weekend, so they could hang out inside or out, and watch all the goings-on around the site. Of course there were also lots of walks, including walking into town to get lunch at the hamburger/milkshake/gas station/coffeeshop (it’s a small town!)

Sunday morning I woke up at 5am and realized the trailer was lit up pink, so I pulled on clothes and grabbed my camera and went out to see what was going on.

Just a beautiful mountain sunrise. I was enjoying photographing it when I thought, what this picture needs is an elk.

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Why, thank you very much! I was so excited to see the elk, I was almost shaking! How cool is that?!

The river behind our campsite was high, and I would have loved to fish it, but it was not open until a week later.

Everyday there was gorgeous. I just can’t believe we get to hang out someplace with this amazing mountain right there on the horizon, it is in the background of everything we do.

We had a tinfoil hat contest (Dave and I just watched):

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Everyone was so creative!

And every night it was music and sing-along beside the fire.

Full-moon night-shot.

I brought a book to read on my kindle. Dave played a game of cornhole and got into a card game. Navi snapped at our friend Gary when he wouldn’t quit petting her. Barclay was chill as usual.

The trailer functioned perfectly – not bad for a 50 year old trailer. Basically a good time was had by all. In no time another fun long weekend was over, and we all went our separate ways, until next year.

Possum!

On February 21, 2018May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, mighty, navi, sake, sitka, wildlifeLeave a comment

Sake and Sitka were visiting a couple weeks ago when I heard the dogs going absolutely nuts in the backyard. I ran out to see what the big deal was, and there was a giant Possum crossing the waterpark!

He was HUGE!

And in true possum fashion, he decided the best thing to do was freeze. Which allowed the dogs to go nuts even longer than if he had just continued across the field.

I finally called the dogs inside, and then he continued his slow meander to go hide in the clump of trees at the North end of the field.

Mighty was just glad the dogs were harassing someone other than her for a change.

Snow Day

On February 21, 2018May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi, snowLeave a comment

I don’t post as often when I’m working. I’m just not getting out and taking pictures so much. But yesterday was a snow day, so I snapped a few pics of the dogs out hanging around in the backyard.

Barclay was chillin out on the patio couch.

Our greek statue ladies are under the patio now so they don’t get the blanket of snow like they used to, but they might last longer. The concrete fountain one of them sat on has pretty much crumbled from the weather.

Navi was out exploring, eating grass and digging for grubs. Lately they have both been very distracted by whatever the heck it is they are eating out of the grass. Sherry sais Sake and Sitka are the same.

Beautiful spring day

On April 23, 2016May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, daveLeave a comment

Dave wanted a new headshot to show off his clean shaven look. He just finished acting in Becky’s New Car in Hillsboro, and shaved and got a haircut. So I snapped a quick pic of him.

It was such a nice day, he went out and played stickball with Barclay for a few minutes. Barclay is completely obsessed with the stickball, that’s all he wants to play. Got some great shots of Barclay suspended in mid-air. So cute!!

Just hanging with the dogs

On March 23, 2016May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi, petsLeave a comment

Playing stickball a couple days ago. There was a standoff, Navi had the ball, Barclay just calmly hung onto the rope until she gave up and dropped it – just as I snapped the pic, of course.

Anyone for some stickball?

Today I gave the dogs chewies, and they both took them outside and sat in the grass to eat them, in a drenching downpour! They did not care a bit about the rain! They could have chewed them inside, or at least under the patio cover, but they both sat out in the grass and got soaked!

Barclay & Navi

On March 2, 2016May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi, petsLeave a comment

Mr B gave me a terrible scare a few weeks ago when he had a seizure or something. It was pretty terrifying. I called Barclay in after dinner and he was walking weird, then he started staggering and taking big exaggerated steps, and then laid down and flopped over and looked really out of it. So I called Dave (who was on his way to the theater) and bundled B into the car and drove straight to the emergency vet. He was feeling better by the time we got there, and was pretty much his normal self by the time we left. Vet couldn’t find anything abnormal. She said it could have been a seizure or a heart arrhythmia. She said to watch him closely the next 48 hours. Nothing happened, so I guess it’s all good.

Navi is doing well. Nothing going on with her lately, which is good. She’s just such a sweetie.

She contorts into the funniest positions while sleeping.

The other night Barclay had the nylabone, and Navi wanted it, so he set it in the middle of the living room and waited for her to try and take it. But she knew it was a trap, so she just sat back and waited. And he waited. And eventually they both fell asleep.

These dogs are nuts, but I sure do love them.

Trout Lake 2015

On June 5, 2015 By stefrobrtsIn airstream, barclay, dave, Me, navi, outdoors, photography, scenic1 Comment

Time again for the annual trip to Trout Lake to hang out with my Airstream friends. We packed up the trailer, the dogs, and it seemed like more miscellaneous ‘stuff’ than ever before. Maybe it just felt that way because the Flex is so small and the Van was so big! We headed off after work on Thursday so we could get in an extra day.

We rolled into town to find a thunderstorm hiding the mountain top and obscuring the sunset.

We got settled in, said hello to everyone, and soon after crashed for the night. As I lay in bed in the complete darkness, I thought my eyes were playing tricks as I saw flashes, but the thunder told us it was the lightening storm. Kind of cool.

The next day the Airstreams kept rolling in. All our usual friends, and a few we had missed last year. A sad trip for our friends Carolyn and Loren, as they had just lost their beautiful German Shepherd Cosmo. Cosmo had been a fixture at the rally for 7 years, where he would hang out by the campfire with them, but if Mom and Dad weren’t together, he would patrol the camp going back and forth between them, checking on them. Such a good boy. It was so sad to hear of his passing.

Soon there were enough people to stir up a card game, which Dave got in on.

Puzzles came out too …

and guitars. Camping is the life!

The dogs hung out in their dog-yard. I had started prepping the trailer a couple weeks before we left, and was happy to find everything worked. We used the fridge all weekend, and only needed to run the furnace a couple nights because the weather was so mild. With the LED lights, we didn’t even come close to running out of power.

Our friend Chris showed up with his Caravel, and his new/old Bronco.

Cory, Carolyn, Jerry, Patsy, Karen, Dave and Loren entertain themselves. I think this was shortly before they decided to ‘make it interesting’ and start playing for pennies!

Barclay can watch the activities from bed!

When we have the dogs we usually fold the dinette down into a bed all day.

Both dogs like laying in the ‘doghouse’ under the bed. Navi decided it was hers and growled furiously if Barclay tried to invade it. Which he occasionally did, just to annoy her.

Airstreams of all shapes and sizes – vintage, Interstate, and Argosy!

Greg got the fire all stirred up

Sunset over the creek behind the campground

So many friends, good food, jamming around the campfire at night (I even brought my guitar this time) – wears you out. I’ve never slept so well in my life!

The next morning we headed over to the county park to partake of their showers. You can shower in the Caravel, but why make a mess in there, when you can make a mess in someone else’s shower instead? Seemed like a good deal to me! Then we went to the Ranger Station and got a map and directions for the local attractions.

We wandered off into the woods to find the Big Lava Bed. Turns out it is indeed big, but hard to access, and I didn’t even really get any pictures of it!

Back to camp, this is the view at the porta-john – one of the prettiest in camp!

Flags were flying in the wind. All that wind blowing through the trees around camp made for a fabulous afternoon nap while Dave went and played cards.

Peanut butter kongs keep the dogs occupied.

In the evening I play guitar until my fingers were too sore to play anymore, so I packed it in, and grabbed my camera. The wind had blown away the clouds. I finally had a chance (and the equipment and know-how, to do this:

Cozy little trailer.

The next morning we headed up to see Langfield Falls. Along the way we stopped for views of Mt Adams and Beargrass.

Thanks to the dry winter, the falls was only running down one side, instead of covering the whole rock.

We saw a sign to Mosquito Lake, and decided we HAD to check that out. A whole lake of mosquitoes, how fun! (sarcasm) But alas, there were no mosquitoes. It was actually very nice. Must have hit it at just the right time of year. It made us wish we had a kayak!

On the way up there we had to stop to let a small group of Elk stroll across the road. Of course I didn’t get a picture of THAT!

On the way back, we stopped by the Big Tire. Seriously, it’s on the MAP.

Yup, that’s big alright.

Coming back we had a peek at Sleeping Beauty from a different angle. Not quite as face-like from over here.

We went back through town and headed out past the campground in the other direction looking for the biggest Ponderosa Pine in WA – known as The Big Tree.

I suppose it’s kinda big.

Pretty, delicate little flowers in this area.

Back to Trout Lake, to stop for lunch at the Café/Gas Station/Espresso/Ice Cream Shop

As you might guess, the only place in town. But actually kind of awesome.

Back to the trailer for lunch..

And Siesta. I cleaned out a drawer in the trailer and found a bunch of paperbacks. Dave started reading a Star Wars book he had tried to read on previous trips, and I found an old X Files novel. What a great way to geek out during afternoon downtime!

I take this picture every year!

I never get tired of looking at the mountain!

At sunset I took the dogs for a walk, looked up, and saw the setting sun had somehow created a rainbow in the clouds, right over Sleeping Beauty’s face! I ran the dogs all the way back to the trailer to get my camera and get a shot before the phenomenon disappeared!

I love it! And I love Sleeping Beauty.

One more night of singing around the fire, followed by a peaceful night’s sleep, and in the morning, it was time to go.

Trout Lake is always over too soon! We love visiting with our friends, catching up, singing songs, watching the campfire, sharing potlucks, playing games, taking naps, and playing music. We will get together again before summer is over, but Trout Lake is an awesome start to the season. Many thanks to our friends Janet and Gary for pulling us all together for another year.

New comforter on the bed = most interesting place in the house

On December 26, 2014May 29, 2018 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, mouse, naviLeave a comment

Only one cat short of a full load.

Speaking of cats, Mouse is recovering from some injury to her face. She came home with a bloody nose a few nights ago, and looked up at me and a fang dropped out and ‘tinked’ on the floor – to my shock! She seemed of, so Dave took her to the vet the next day, and the vet said two teeth were broken and scheduled surgery for this week. After surgery the vet said her teeth were quite healthy, and that the two broken teeth had been broken through some sort of trauma. Either kicked in the face or maybe got some glancing blow from a car. She also had lost part of her tongue! Either way, she is recovering well, and enjoying all the soft food and extra attention.

Navi the great white hunter

On July 16, 2014 By stefrobrtsIn barclay, navi1 Comment

//player.vimeo.com/video/99698228
Navi hunting moles from Stephanie on Vimeo.

Navi doesn’t have as much acreage to cover at the new house, but she still does her best to catch any rodents that wander through it. She has caught a rat, a squirrel (which she ate in it’s entirety), moles, and a number of field mice. In the clip above she is listening to the molehill for sign of a mole. I have seen her sitting perfectly still for many minutes at a time waiting for something to make a noise, or pop out of a hole! when she hears something she pounces, digging to catch it. When she doesn’t, she moves over to check the next hole. She’s quite methodical. Within a week she caught it!

Last week she caught a field mouse, and I offered to trade her a piece of lunchmeat for it, and she came in the house for the lunchmeat, while I went outside and disposed of the mouse carcass. She went back out to find it gone. So later that day we took her for a walk at the watertower park, and as we were walking through the grass suddenly a baby bunny jumped up and zigged and zagged and ran right into Navi – who dispatched it with a snap! Of course, she only mortally wounded it, so we decided it would be best to let her finish it off so it wouldn’t suffer, and once she got her teeth back on it, she not only didn’t want to let it go, but crunch crunch crunch – she ATE THE WHOLE THING. We were appalled! We were going to go home and cook a nice dinner, but nobody felt like eating after that.

Today while on a walk at the watertower park Navi was looking for bunnies again, but didn’t see any. I maneuvered her and Barclay around a dead opossum that had been hit by a car and shoved off the side of the road, but while concentrated on the opossum I didn’t notice Navi quickly peeling a flattened squirrel up off the road! Oh my goodness, that is the most disgusting thing she’s ever picked up! It was like a stiff piece of really stinky leather! There was no way she was giving that up, and I wasn’t going to touch it! I finally pushed her head down enough to step on the other end of the squirrel and she dropped it, and I steered them away from it. Maybe we’ll stay away from the watertower park for a while. Ugh!

Here is a longer clip of her hunting mice in the grass around the base of the fence. I love how she stands so still, then her tail starts wagging when she hears something. Hunting is her favorite thing!

//player.vimeo.com/video/101019508
Navi Hunting Mice from Stephanie on Vimeo.

Steff Does Stuff!

Category: barclay