and counting

So this morning while hobbitt was disassembling the coffee maker and grinder for their annual deep cleaning, I looked at him and said, "This has been a pretty wonderful year, hasn't it?" And he said, "They've all been pretty much that way since 1989." I had to agree.

Reading back in this blog doesn't make the case for our comments, but there you have it. Our View of Life.

May you all have a wonderful 2008. By hook or by crook, we will, too.

enlightenment

I had a vision tonight that Zach is writing a screenplay. The title?

"The Humans are no threat to any other species in the Universe."

What's your New Year's resolution?

ch-ch-ch-changes

So we finally got the chairs that match our table. That left us with an assortment of somewhat random chairs to get rid of. Tonight we loaded up both cars with a total of nine chairs, our old Christmas tree, and about 35 strings of holiday lights and took them to the Goodwill here in town. We tried to do it last night but there was nobody in the receiving bay, so we had to try again tonight.

Great store! I scored a set of soup crocks last night, for less than $4. hobbitt picked up a VCR for $6, since ours gave up the ghost and it's not easy to find VCRs these days with tuners. The one from the Goodwill isn't much use, however. It works, but has only one taping program. That just won't cut the mustard at the labs.

So the new chairs are pretty. Right now I have four each on a side, and none at the ends. I'm not sure which look I prefer. Hmmmmm.

sadness

I just found out today that one of our old neighbors in Illinois passed away in April. D. was a cantankerous alcoholic for many of the years we lived next door, but was always willing to lend a hand or a tool to us in our adventures in homeownership. We couldn't invite him to parties because he'd be hanging all over the young female guests by the end of the evening. Nevertheless, as a neighbor, he was almost solid gold. Our only complaint was his habit of opening the door to let his dogs out, until they decided to come back in. Their daily trip usually involved defecating in our yard. Sometimes their daily trip ended on the grille of a passing car. I think you're getting the idea.

His wife B. was the person I needed to know in the winter of 1994-5. She'd had breast cancer 30 years earlier. I didn't know any young patients who had survived back then. What a pleasure to know that my angel was right next door!

B. was always willing to waste inordinate amounts of time talking about gardening, rather than actually doing it, with me.

Good people. Good neighbors. I hope B. is well, and that I will be able to see her when I get to Chicagoland sometime next year.

wow

I woke just before the crack of noon today, in time to skip into the living room calling out "It's Christmas morning!" to hobbitt, who was happy to correct me by saying "Yes, for another nine minutes." Oh well. We're not children any longer, and sleeping trumps tearing into the gifts we have yet to open.

My love made me a wonderful breakfast and we got to enjoy it while watching a sweet little snow flurry fest outside. It's mixed with rain and is unlikely to stick, despite the forecast for snow in the lowlands. But who cares? It's a treat to see it. Maybe later we'll walk on the beach and get to see whether it's snowing in town or over on Whidbey.

I hope your holidays are sweet and peaceful.

it's filled with beauty

I wish I could adequately describe what I saw on my way to and from doggie playcare today.

Discovery Bay sparkling in the intense morning sunlight. Nothing but blue overhead. A thick blanket of white clouds sliding down the eastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains, flowing over the foothills, pooling in the lowlands, and cascading over the headlands into the bay.

Further proof that if we had a view here, I'd never get a single thing done. Ever.

it's been a while...

We've had company for the past week. Excellent, wonderful company. Some other friends joined us from Seattle and Vancouver, and we played games and drank and ate and laughed. Can't ask for much more than that.

In other news: we've finally taken the plunge and purchased a set of eight dining room chairs that match our table. I was a bit reluctant to spend, as usual, but hobbitt was wise. He said, "We've suffered with these old chairs long enough."

Six of the old ones are from the first home we purchased together in Illinois in 1992. They had been left behind by the previous owner. I never liked them particularly. They have ball feet and are generally hideous, even after hobbitt replaced all the seats with fabric we chose together. The other two chairs are random T-back oak chairs, nothing special. All of them have been repaired repeatedly over the years. All of them are uncomfortable.

We should have the new chairs by Christmas.

it was inevitable

Zach is a pretty good pup. He doesn't chew on stuff that's not his, for the most part. Unusual items that hit the floor are another story altogether.

We found something on the floor in two rooms yesterday, chewed up, that we were unable to identify. Looked like a tongue depressor but too thin. This morning I wondered if it might have been an emery board. I usually keep two of them near where I sit in the evenings.

Sure enough, the cat probably knocked one onto the floor. Zach made short work of it. While upstairs in the TV room I also noticed some woodwork near his pillow, gnawed. The only other place in the house that's damaged like that is right at the bottom of the stairs.

I suppose I should be angry, but it cracked me up. What's wrong with me?

a constant amazement

I know some pretty got-damned amazing people.

A bigger amazement is why they're friends with me, but who cares? They are. I love them, and I love what they do, and I love their passion for life.

I'm gonna mention them more often here.

you can sleep when you're dead

My friend Beanie likes to say that, to me, at least. I woke thinking about that today.

Really. If death is going to be as sweet and comfortable as sleep, with Zach snuggled up next to me and with his big old bowling ball head on my hip, I might be interested in signing up for this soon.

Of course, I seem to sleep best when it's broad daylight, so either I'm already dead or I'm undead, and a vampire.

This is very confusing. I shouldn't try to think before my first sip of coffee.

so I fell last night

I did. Really.

We've been having some wonderfully hellacious weather. I might have mentioned it. Late last night, or early this morning, I took the dogs out for their last break. And carefully, as I always do, since there's no railing on the steps. Zach has to sit and wait for me to get down before he's allowed to move. So far, so good.

And what a glorious night! The stars were big and loud and the sky was inky black. I gazed up for a moment and turned my head to see the stars over my shoulder.

Zach took that opportunity to pull me off-balance. My Birks skidded across the saturated lawn and I went down hard. I don't remember the fall at all.

So I lay there for a few moments, making sure it was safe to get up. Nothing hurting, nothing snapping. The entire time I was on the ground, Zach was snuggled up behind me, pressing against me. It was sweet. He's the dog I want with me in a blizzard.

Eventually I got up, completely covered in mud, and limped inside. hobbitt was a bit surprised to see me in that state, I suppose. But it seemed that nothing much was bruised, and not even my pride because I have to say, giving in to getting that filthy was somewhat liberating.

Of course, everything is hurting today.

pineapple express

Yep. We had another one yesterday. It came all the way from Hawaii to wreak havoc in the PNW, and the biggest problem is flooding, with the accompanying slides and sinkholes.

We got off easy up here. Lost our power for 4 hours or so, and nary a limb on our roof. We're far from the creeks that are likely swollen to three times their normal size. But I could see the power of this storm as I walked the beach today.

First, it was necessary to walk the beach, rather than the trails, because the trails were flooded. Where they weren't flooded, it was easy to see that they had been, given the wind-blown lines of detritus that must have floated in off the lagoon.

I got around the corner and was headed for the lagoon inlet but the winds screaming out of the east literally stopped me in my tracks. I'd have kept going but the salt spray was fouling my glasses. And I was about 75 feet away from the bay.

People died here on the Olympic Peninsula. Neighborhoods have been devastated on the other side of Puget Sound. There are some roads that won't reopen until spring. And in the Cascades, several mountain passes have been closed because of the heavy snow. The governor has declared a state of emergency.

I'll say it again: we got off easy up here. I don't celebrate anyone's losses, or the destruction. But dammit, I love the power of the storms up here.

dizzy

We woke just before noon to high winds and crazy snow. Not much was sticking, but it was quite beautiful. Within minutes we lost power for the entire afternoon, and considering that it was mid-day, no big deal. On with the propane fireplace! We kept pretty warm with that. And I lit a burner on the stove to keep working on the turkey broth, and sat down to read some and plan some and just rest some.

Over time the snow turned to rain but the winds showed no sign of abating. Finally we horsed the garage door open and drove the mutts down to the beach for a walk. (Note: with the winds, it's safer walking down there than up here among all the brittle alders.) If we thought it was windy up here, we had another thing coming, and although the rain wasn't heavy, it was driven by the wind and it stung. It hurt like hell, actually. We only did one lap around the copse of trees out at the point.

When we arrived home it was time to start herding candles and filling oil lamps. And of course as soon as I'd unloaded the music cabinet of every last candle, the power came back on. Typical. About the only thing I had missed was the music.

The kicker is that we're currently under serious and possible record flood watches (the Olympics are forecast to receive another 5-10 inches of rain tomorrow, on top of the 3-8 from today, and this would normally be snow and of no consequence until spring) and high-wind warnings tonight through tomorrow. We'll probably lose power again. Which is fine with me. The gin stayed cold all afternoon. What more can I ask for?

I love it here. Have I mentioned that lately?

our exciting life

Today hobbitt and I are going to drive to Sequim for a few necessaries: paper to print our calendar, batteries for the flashlights on our nightly walk, and Appel Farms sweet pepper Gouda, if we can find it. I haven't been to Sequim in a while, and it is not an unpleasant drive. Of course we're on the big highway up here, US 101. Yeah, it's big! One lane each way through the tall trees! Bonus: gorgeous views of the Olympics and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

I should mention that Sequim is the next town to the west of us. It's only 20 miles away. But that's where some of the big box stores are (Staples, Costco, Wal*Mart) and one of the last places I found that delicious cheese.

The fly in the ointment is that we're in for a winter storm. It'll start snowing here soon, and that will make for some slushy roads. 101 is pretty straightforward, but WA 20, well, that bugger twists and weaves its way high on the bluffs around Discovery Bay and can be kinda tricky. Should be fun. We'll take the red car - both our buggies are all-wheel-drive but the red one has bigger, newer tires. Wheeeeeee!

Happy December, people. Yikes.