Just snapping some pictures around the backyard. Started with a few pictures of Barclay while he was feeling cooperative. Moved on to the Dahlias that have popped up in the flowerbed.
These Dahlias are really pretty, and have an amazing variety of shapes and colors. I feel like they have a dream-like quality when zoomed in on.
I liked this in particular because the stem is not visible, so it looks like it’s floating there like a puffer fish!
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Today we drove up to Tacoma, WA to pick up some car parts for the Miata, and decided to spend a little time adventuring around the Hylebos Waterway looking for the Kalakala. I have been fascinated by it since I first heard about it – after all, I love old things, especially stylistically cool old things, and this is a pretty cool looking ferry. I had hoped the efforts to restore it would work out, but they seemed to be cursed by bad luck from the beginning, and now the talk is that it will be hauled away and scrapped soon. So sad! Luckily it is visible in Google maps, and they are recent enough pictures that it is still in the same location (I wasn’t sure because I had seen some recent articles about it being moved).
But through the wonder of modern smartphone GPS navigation, we managed to wander our way right to it. Unfortunately the view was blocked as it was behind locked gates. It was still a thrill when we found our first peek at it.
It is in rough shape, to put it mildly.
Looking the other direction on the waterway, beautiful Mt Rainier was rising up out of the haze.
It was fun cruising around looking for it. Me driving while Dave navigated. The Stealth is such a nice driving car, I don’t give it nearly enough love. Looks damn good too.
At the west end of the waterway is the Hylebos Bridge, and as we drove over it we realized it actually had a great view. So we parked and walked up the bridge to take some pictures with Mt Rainier in the background.
So sad for it to have been rescued from Alaska and brought home to Seattle, only to get scrapped after all 
I’m glad we got a chance to see it before it was gone.
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I saw this ad right after I got out of college, and apparently it hit home perfectly, because not only did I make my first new car a Miata, but Miatas have continued to symbolize freedom and carefree fun for me ever since. Now that is what I call Effective Marketing!
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I’ve been looking for some summer fun. The Mustang is a long way from being finished, and it’s beautiful weather out there. I was thinking something fun to drive to work, like a Vespa. I’ve always wanted a Vespa! But they cost $2k+ around here. So I was cruising the classifieds when I spotted a Miata – a really cheap Miata.
At $1800 that was cheaper than the Vespas I was looking at, and it’s Black – I’ve always wanted a Black Miata. So we headed out to look at it in Oregon City. It has almost 200k miles on it, but looks well cared for, doesn’t have a branded title, and ran like a top when we took it for a drive through the countryside nearby. It’s black, but Miata’s weren’t offered in black that year. It was originally silver, but they painted the door jambs and everything, so you can only tell by the silver in the engine bay, which actually looks nice. I handed over the cash and drove it home without a hitch.
Then Dave and I spent a couple hours cleaning the garage and moving the Mustang over to make room for it. We put the Mustang on wheel dollies (roller skates for your car), so we could shove it over to one side. It’s tight, but it will do for now.
When I have to work on the mustang, the Miata will have to move outside so we can push the Mustang back over. There’s barely room to squeeze over to the bench right now.
So that is how I brought home my fourth Miata! It is a plain-jane, bare-bones little base model car. Manual steering, manual brakes. Fun to drive. I have always wanted a ‘Black and Red’ Miata – the 1993 LE which was on the lot when I bought my first Miata, but too expensive to buy at the time. So I plan to do this Miata up with red interior accents. Tinkering with Miatas is easy and cheap, and lots of fun. I’m so happy to have another one to play with.
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Everything in our backyard is a surprise. It’s fun watching to see what pops up as spring turns to summer.
While enjoying the backyard we accidently scared this little guy out of the grass, and he took refuge on the chain link fence.
I found that when I moved from one side of him to the other, he would stick out his tongue briefly, so I tried to capture that.
What amazing color on his tongue! Also I was surprised to see his eyes were brown.
What a treat to get a chance to photograph him up close!
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When we first moved here, Barclay and Navi loved digging up all the carrots the previous owner had planted in the garden. After the carrots were gone, I thought the entertainment was over. We ignored the rest of the garden, including the row of parsnips, and let them grow. They got quite tall – taller than me!
Then Barclay discovered that parsnips are fun to chew on – like carrots!
All he has to do is dig them out and haul them away.
These are sure big!
Nom nom nom…
Good stuff!
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When we bought our first house in ‘97, the first thing I did with my new garage and workbench, was build my telescope. I rebuilt the base shortly after we moved to the farm, around ‘04, and I tried to make it as light and compact as possible. Unfortunately that also made it wobbly as it lost some stability.
I tolerated it for a long time, but it was time to rebuild it again, and since I have my new workshop setup at the new house, and a few scraps of 3/4” plywood laying around…
I went for ‘sturdy’ this time. I purchased two 24” discs from Home Depot for the base, and built a solid box above it to hold the scope. Unfortunately I made it about a half inch too short on the first try! The scope couldn’t point straight up! But I worked around that and got everything swinging again.
Then all it needed was a bright yellow coat of paint. My scope has always been blue and yellow. The yellow is practical, because it makes it easier to spot in the dark.
So nice to have all this bench space, and everything neat and organized!
All done! It’s beautiful, and works well again. The base turns smoothly and provides just the right amount of friction so things stay where you point them. I had also had a problem with the front baffle – it was held on by screws, and they poked your fingers when you grabbed it by the front baffle to aim it – which it turned out I did all the time. So I replaced the screws with little bolts. I put up with it like that for years, and it only took 15 minutes to fix, with bolts I already had laying around! Sometimes I amaze myself with my own laziness!
I don’t know how much use this scope will get now that I have the new computerized scope, but I plan to keep it around. At least it will be nice to take to star parties and share it with other people. I went to a star party at a middle school last month and took the computerized scope, and it was a lot of trouble to move, to setup, and then having people bumping it and pulling on it made me nervous, and carrying it from the car to the setup made me really nervous – it’s so heavy, and I didn’t want to drop it! I know they can’t do anything to hurt this one, so it’s a better choice for public outreach!
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We spent last weekend with our Airstream friends in John Day Oregon at Clyde Holliday State Recreation Area. There was a super nice campground there, right on the John Day River. I picked it because I heard it was nice, and I’d never been out there before, but it turned out to be a 6 hour drive! Pretty long for just a weekend. But the scenery along the way was incredible, so that made it tolerable.
We started out heading down 84 to The Dalles, and cut over at Biggs, and for the first time got to see the wind power generators. There hadn’t been any of these the last time we headed up to Yakima, which was probably ten years ago. Some people hate them because they are a blight on the landscape, but I thought they were pretty amazing.
Dave found a mountain!
The farther we got into central Oregon, the crazier the scenery got. If you think of evergreens and rain when you think of Oregon, this would change your mind.
We got to the park and got setup. Some early arrivals had saved spots for us, which annoyed the ranger, but they wouldn’t have had to do that if they allowed reservations. Luckily all but one of our group arrived before the Ranger noticed! Then another camper went and paid for the late arrival’s spot and parked their truck in it so it would be saved.
The spots were HUGE – the biggest camping spots I’ve ever seen! Here you can see the distance between our trailer and our neighbor – tons of room!
We set up the ‘dog yard’ so the pooches could relax in the grass.
After a late night of music around the bonfire, the next morning we headed out to visit the Fossil Beds National Monument.
They had a fabulous museum showing many of the amazing fossils they had unearthed in the area. Not dinosaurs, but early mammals – camels and hippos, and tiny horses – it was really interesting! Also plants and seeds and bugs. After the museum we drove up the road to a ‘Blue’ canyon where many fossils were found. It’s hard to see the color in the photos, but it was indeed a light blue color. The rock was very soft and heavily eroded, and that is how the fossilized animals get revealed.
It was an interesting walk, but the dogs didn’t like walking over these bridges, which had bumpy metal grating, and there were a lot of them, so we eventually turned back.
Dogs refused to face the camera!
We drove around a bit more to enjoy the scenery.
Then headed back to the park for an afternoon nap, potluck, and music around the campfire late into the night.
I love these gatherings, but the next morning it was time to go home. We didn’t even wait for breakfast, knowing we had a long day of driving ahead of us. We took a different route to get some new scenery. It was amazing with gentle rolling hills that stretched to the horizon. We also saw many abandoned hoses and barns.
Back into Windmill country
Navi doesn’t enjoy the ride much, but Barclay is a real traveller. He just relaxes and enjoys the ride.
Before long we were back to familiar territory, seeing barges on the Columbia River, and headed home. It was a great weekend, and I loved seeing some scenery I had never seen before.
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Ten years ago (I actually missed it by a couple days, it was April 20th, 2003) I brought home a camping trailer. After months of researching online, and hunting through ads, and never getting to actually see an Airstream in person, I placed a wanted ad in the paper, and got a call from a gentleman in Oregon who had one to sell. It wasn’t the Argosy with the big front windows I was looking for, but it did the trick just fine. It was beautiful and everything in it (sort of) worked.
We took it camping regularly, replaced the axle, replaced part of the floor, replaced most of the appliances over the years, and never missed a single camping trip. It’s been the catalyst for making many friendships all over the country and especially here in the NW with friends we regularly camp with. We’ve been through many ups and downs, and it is still our favorite toy, and the best money we ever spent on anything that rolls. It’s not just a vehicle, it’s like family.
Happy 10th Anniversary to our 1968 Caravel, which also turns 45 years old this year! I hope we’ll be traveling in it for many years to come! I guess I could also say happy Anniversary to the mighty van, which was purchased immediately after the Airstream to tow it, and has set a record for us as the longest we’ve ever owned a vehicle.
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We have a big empty wall in the living room, and not much to put on it, except this cool vintage clock Dave’s Dad Gave us. I decided to build a shelf around it, so we could have a place to put a few knick-knacks. I sketched up a design.
Then, I hung the clock, and laid out the design using painter’s tape
I went out and took advantage of my newly organized garage and built the shelves (and simplified them by leaving off a couple short shelves I felt weren’t necessary), then laid on a couple coats of stain, but it came out ugly and drippy. So I sanded it clean and got a gel stain, applied that, and it again came out looking terrible. Finally Dave suggested I paint it, and knowing that it would look terrible if just painted brown, I suggested green, to match the carpet.
Dave helped me put in some screws to hang it from the studs so it would be secure.
Tah dah – just as I envisioned it!
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Steff Does Stuff! 