Wednesday, December 24, 2008

White Christmas



It's Christmas Eve, and for the first time in a long time, we'll be having a white Christmas. Record snows have been falling in the Greater Seattle area for the last two weeks and show no signs of letting up. The picture was taken last week out the family room window. I need to take another one to show the dramatic difference between what we had then and what we have now.

I should have asked Santa for Cross Country Skis for Christmas. These conditions are perfect for getting out and enjoying that wonderful sport. As it is, I am going to try to get to REI on Friday to rent some equipement. We have a wonderful urban trail nearby that would be a perfect place for skiing.

And speaking of skiing..........the family is going up skiing tomorrow morning for a few hours at our local ski area. We'll be joined by our oldest son and his girlfriend. She has never skied before, so we bought her a private lesson as a gift for Christmas. She's nervous, and we're excited about getting out for the first time this year.

We'll head down the mountain around noon for a reunion with the other half of our children. We'll meet them at our home and begin our family celebration of Christmas.

We wish all of our family and friends a very Merry Christmas, and leave you with this classic Christmas song:

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Winter Hummingbirds

Two weeks ago I was in the master bedroom doing some chores when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I turned around, and there at the window was a hummingbird. I immediately thought of getting the feeder out of the garage, so I brought it in and cleaned it up while I got some water boiling on the stove.

When the water came to a boil, I added the proper amount of sugar then stuck this mixture in the refrigerator to cool. As soon as it cooled, I put some in the feeder and set it out.

During the next week a winter storm hit us hard with cold temperatures and lots of snow. Since the humming bird continued to feed and seemed grateful, I knew I needed to keep the feeder full of life saving food, and so found myself checking the feeder frequently during the following cold and snowy days.

I also found out that keeping the water thawed during these 20 degree days was a full time job.

I only had one feeder, so I'd bring it in and put it on a heater vent. It would only take 20 or so minutes to thaw and back out it would go. ( I'm going to buy another feeder when I can)

I brought the feeder in every night to keep the nectar thawed, returning it to its hook with fresh food every morning.

Yesterday morning I put it out early, and when I checked on it a half hour later there were two hummingbirds on the feeder.

This morning......as usual...........I put the feeder out, and had barely taken my hand away when one of the hummers landed on the feeder and started to eat voraciously. (we have not seen the second hummer all day)

This little bird occasionally sits in our plum tree. so I finally got a good look at him through binoculars. I've identified him as an Anna's Hummingbird:

Description top
* Size: 10 cm (4 in) * Wingspan: 12 cm (5 in) * Weight: 3-6 g (0.11-0.21 ounces)
* Medium-sized stocky hummingbird. * Tiny compared with other kinds of birds. * Back iridescent bronzy green, grayish below. * Male has rose red throat and forehead.
* Tail broad. * Bill straight and of medium length.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Annas_Hummingbird_dtl.html

We're really enjoying helping these little creatures out, and love having them as visitors through the Christmas Holiday.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Arlington Christmas Wreath Project

In the true spirit of giving and the honoring of our fallen hero's.

Never before seen footage of WW2

I doubt many of you know that I am an avid history buff. I read as much as I can about the period between the 17th and 20th century in particular. Every once in awhile I go through my bookmarks, and tonight while I was doing just that came upon this link, so I thought I'd share.

WW2

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Yay.......Winter is here!





One of our biggest pleasures in life is our family. Three years ago February our little grandson was born. Last year I remember it snowing this time of year. He didn't know much then, and hardly paid attention to the cold, white stuff just outside our door.

Today was different!

He arrived yesterday around 4 pm, and so it was getting too dark to go outside. Didn't matter to him as we had plenty to keep him occupied right here in the house. The tree is decked out, the mantle full of green holly and Nana's Santa candle collection. The whole living room and family room look like Santa's home with needlepoint collages, porcelain figurines, candles, candy canes, choo choo trains full of candy coal and family pictures.

The northern reaches of the nation are experiencing a cold front that is moving down from the Arctic, and we are no exception.

We woke up to sunny skies, temperatures in the 20s and 2" of snow on the ground.

After a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, and donning our coats, and boots and gloves and hats it was time to go outside and play in the snow.

We love having our little grandson around.

;)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Our Index World


I wanted to post a picture of our Index World today. Many of you know we own a little piece of paradise on the North Fork of the Skykomish River, but really don't have any concept of what it looks like. This is the view looking east from our property. It is a wondrous site year round, and when we do get a chance to go, our hearts are filled with peace and joy.

There is nowhere Bob and I would rather be than up in the mountains......hiking, fishing, exploring, skiing or just sitting on a sunny deck listening to the rushing river and taking in the view.

I particularly love sitting on our cabin deck (will post a picture of the cabin soon) in my favorite little sunny corner reading a book with the sound of the river in the background.

Bob loves hitting the pools and straightaways with his fly rod.........and is always on the hunt for the big one.

We love this place because it takes us away from the daily grind of work and city living. There is no phone............cell service is very spotty...........no Internet, and although we do have a TV we use it only occasionally to watch a movie now and again.

One of the best parts of owning this property is that on a good day, it is a 45 minute drive from our house in Woodinville. When we get there we feel like we are on the edge of the wilderness, and in fact we are. Our property butts up to the eastern boundary of the United States of America's newest Wilderness Area...........Wild Sky.

If you want to know more about Wild Sky Wilderness Area, here is a Wiki link:

WILDSKY

Winter is upon us, and soon we'll be spending nights in our cabin, and days skiing at the local ski area Stevens Pass.

What more could two people want?

And so, I leave you today with a poem from one of my favorite poetic icons:

The Mountain


The mountain held the town as in a shadow
I saw so much before I slept there once:
I noticed that I missed stars in the west,
Where its black body cut into the sky.
Near me it seemed: I felt it like a wall
Behind which I was sheltered from a wind.
And yet between the town and it I found,
When I walked forth at dawn to see new things,
Were fields, a river, and beyond, more fields.
The river at the time was fallen away,
And made a widespread brawl on cobble-stones;
But the signs showed what it had done in spring;
Good grass-land gullied out, and in the grass
Ridges of sand, and driftwood stripped of bark.
I crossed the river and swung round the mountain.
And there I met a man who moved so slow
With white-faced oxen in a heavy cart,
It seemed no hand to stop him altogether.
"What town is this?" I asked.
"This? Lunenburg."
Then I was wrong: the town of my sojourn,
Beyond the bridge, was not that of the mountain,
But only felt at night its shadowy presence.
"Where is your village? Very far from here?"
"There is no village--only scattered farms.
We were but sixty voters last election.
We can't in nature grow to many more:
That thing takes all the room!" He moved his goad.
The mountain stood there to be pointed at.
Pasture ran up the side a little way,
And then there was a wall of trees with trunks:
After that only tops of trees, and cliffs
Imperfectly concealed among the leaves.
A dry ravine emerged from under boughs
Into the pasture.
"That looks like a path.
Is that the way to reach the top from here?--
Not for this morning, but some other time:
I must be getting back to breakfast now."
"I don't advise your trying from this side.
There is no proper path, but those that have

Been up, I understand, have climbed from Ladd's.
That's five miles back. You can't mistake the place:
They logged it there last winter some way up.
I'd take you, but I'm bound the other way."
"You've never climbed it?"
"I've been on the sides
Deer-hunting and trout-fishing. There's a brook
That starts up on it somewhere--I've heard say
Right on the top, tip-top--a curious thing.
But what would interest you about the brook,
It's always cold in summer, warm in winter.
One of the great sights going is to see
It steam in winter like an ox's breath,
Until the bushes all along its banks
Are inch-deep with the frosty spines and bristles--
You know the kind. Then let the sun shine on it!"
"There ought to be a view around the world
From such a mountain--if it isn't wooded
Clear to the top." I saw through leafy screens
Great granite terraces in sun and shadow,
Shelves one could rest a knee on getting up--
With depths behind him sheer a hundred feet;
Or turn and sit on and look out and down,
With little ferns in crevices at his elbow.
"As to that I can't say. But there's the spring,
Right on the summit, almost like a fountain.
That ought to be worth seeing."
"If it's there.
You never saw it?"
"I guess there's no doubt
About its being there. I never saw it.
It may not be right on the very top:
It wouldn't have to be a long way down
To have some head of water from above,
And a good distance down might not be noticed
By anyone who'd come a long way up.
One time I asked a fellow climbing it
To look and tell me later how it was."
"What did he say?"
"He said there was a lake
Somewhere in Ireland on a mountain top."
"But a lake's different. What about the spring?"
"He never got up high enough to see.
That's why I don't advise your trying this side.
He tried this side. I've always meant to go
And look myself, but you know how it is:
It doesn't seem so much to climb a mountain
You've worked around the foot of all your life.
What would I do? Go in my overalls,
With a big stick, the same as when the cows
Haven't come down to the bars at milking time?
Or with a shotgun for a stray black bear?
'Twouldn't seem real to climb for climbing it."
"I shouldn't climb it if I didn't want to--
Not for the sake of climbing. What's its name?"
"We call it Hor: I don't know if that's right."
"Can one walk around it? Would it be too far?"
"You can drive round and keep in Lunenburg,
But it's as much as ever you can do,
The boundary lines keep in so close to it.
Hor is the township, and the township's Hor--
And a few houses sprinkled round the foot,
Like boulders broken off the upper cliff,
Rolled out a little farther than the rest."
"Warm in December, cold in June, you say?"
"I don't suppose the water's changed at all.
You and I know enough to know it's warm
Compared with cold, and cold compared with warm.
But all the fun's in how you say a thing."
"You've lived here all your life?"
"Ever since Hor
Was no bigger than a----" What, I did not hear.
He drew the oxen toward him with light touches
Of his slim goad on nose and offside flank,
Gave them their marching orders and was moving.

- Robert Frost

Monday, December 8, 2008

Just a word about us through my first post.

I've been wanting to start a blog for quit awhile now, and finally found some time to set one up. Yes........even during the hectic days during the busy holiday season, I'm finding time for this hobby. I hope to post some pictures of our family in the coming weeks, and also post some updates about what we are all doing.

As you are aware, the boys are leading busy lives of their own. Even so, we all manage to get together often because we enjoy the company of one another and so maintain a very close relationship.

I'll be writing about our times together as a family, and share our cabin experiences with you too.

Bob and I are looking forward to hearing from all of you, so please don't hesitate to write a little note to us when you visit our site.