life with bailey

Bailey has been a fun addition to 307 Spyglass Dr. She rescues me from talking to myself, is a good reminder to take a break from yard work to throw a ball or two, and enjoys running erands with me.

Her glances and doggy gestures speak volumes, I'm just not sure what she is saying. Sometimes when she wants to come inside she won't drop her tennis ball on the step. I won't let that slimy toy cross the threshold so it becomes a battle between her and I. She is stubborn, but surprise Bailey, I'm stubborn too. So far it plays out the same every time and it goes like this:

"Bailey, drop the ball!"

She looks at me quickly with her playful doggy eyes and immediately looks away. The ball remains in her mouth.

"Bailey, drop the ball!!"

She doesn't look at me this time, just stands there with her head down, stubbornly holding the ball.

"I'm not letting you in until you drop the ball."

Not a movement from her, ball tightly grasped in between her canines.

I proceed to shut the door in her face. Leaving her outside until she drops the ball. I glance out every few minutes to see if she is ready to come in. Ball firmly between her jaws. Quick glance my way, then head down.

It usually takes 5 - 10 minutes of waiting before I hear the ball hit the ground. I open the door, she prances in as if it was her idea to drop the ball.

I'm pretty sure it is a good thing that I am not a mother. My children would hate me, I can be a stubborn cuss.

the stuff bunnies' dreams are made of

That's right folks, everything green and leafy in this picture came from my garden!

Check this out. I harvested some purple mustard greens from the garden, sauteed in olive oil, garlic, pepper and salt. A tasty compliment to my chicken breast in cranberry sauce. Also picked some baby red lettuce leaves and some Japanese mizuna greens for a fresh salad. A little homemade blackberry vinagrette dressing to top it off and life seems that much better.

Gardening...ahhh...this is the good part! Makes the weeding, watering, soil preparation worth it!

have you ever driven a scootcar?

I would consider myself a person with a high degree of self-constraint when it comes to spending money on entertainment. Maybe self-constraint is the sugar coated way to hide the ugliness of the more accurate description of the fact that I am more or less "cheap". Nonetheless if you spend enough time with me, it will become quite clear that it is a rarity that I will self-indulge in forms of entertainment that I would deem "unnecessary" or "costly".

With that preface; I found myself on Orcas Island in the beautiful San Juan Islands, north of Whidbey and south of Canada, staring at a contraption known to the general public as a scootcar. I had never seen a scootcar before, but there it was parked outside a little shop, surrounded by mopeds, and sticking out like a dandelion in a green lawn. It took ten minutes or so for Amber and I to be talked into renting this little vehicle, while Dan rented a moped for a quick tour of the island. Wedged in there shoulder to shoulder, Amber and I navigated the scootcar along the roadside, barreling along at 30mph and sometimes 40mph on the downhill.

The scootcar is a glorified moped, it has three wheels and two training wheels to steady the vehicle as it turns. The windshield is kept dry by one wiper, but the driver and passenger are expected to wear rain gear (I'm guessing) if it is wet, due to the lack of a roof. Two seat belts and a roll bar are the safety checks in this little matchbox car. And that is pretty much the whole of the description. Well, besides the mini-trunk which worked well to hold a few handbags and nothing more.

It was hilarious, ridiculous, and worth the expense.

Bailey, the farm dog

Amber and Dan have made their way across the country to Whidbey Island. They sold their house a few months ago back in Wisconsin and have been slowly progressing this direction in order to shove off from Seattle for a whirlwind tour of the globe that will begin with a flight to Lima, Peru on Tuesday. I've been grateful for their company this week and part of last and will miss them while they travel for the next few months. They are doing me a wonderful favor by allowing me to dog-sit their Golden Retriever, Bailey, while they are experiencing life abroad. I'm pretty stoked about having a companion for the summer, and have even got the okay from my boss, Sarah, for Bailey to be the new Lavender Wind Farm dog. How great is that?

good-bye April

April has passed me by in a whirlwind. I've had company, I've been company, I've made bread, I've broken bread, I've been taught lessons, I've applied lessons, I've stayed put, and I've been on the move. I'm not counting the days, I'm making the days count. This is my life.

Since my last blog post I've (in no particular order):

• eaten or shared all of the radishes in my garden
• planted beans, more peas, strawberries and asparagus
• picked up a part-time yard work job ($20/hour)
• been to Bozeman and back
• buried a rabbit
• been defeated at Settlers of Catan four consecutive times
• shared my homemade granola with a Chinese-Canadian couple (they didn't like it...too sweet)

Below are a hodge podge photo gallery of what I've seen lately.

These azalea blossoms were being pelted by hail in late April.

Last night of April treated me with a stunning display of light and shadow.Stacy and Mare discovered a rabbit nest under a lavender plant at the farm.Not a bad view at work, eh?
Tugboat passes by Bush Point.

first harvest

In between the hail and the snow of yesterday and today, a small moment of sunshine broke the monotony of the weekend. I was outside piddling around the garden when I realized that my radishes were ready to be harvested. This was ultimately exciting.

I've never really had a garden before. My parents always had a garden as we were growing up, but I didn't really pay much attention to it besides the Saturday's that included a chore list to "pick beans" or "strawberries", or "weed between the rows". And sometimes at the end of the summer we would have a war with the green tomatoes that didn't have a chance to ripen before the first frost. And by "we", of course, I mean the neighborhood kids, not mom and dad.

Anyway, I've been enjoying the experience of observing seeds germinate, sprout, and shoot up toward the world of today. And though I don't really like radishes, I ate one. And I ate the greens off the top too. I would eat one again, too, just because it was in my garden.

the mechanic's apprentice

Friday, Sarah traveled to Portland for a conference and left Rick with the instructions to "show Leslie how to change the oil in the tractor". I had been anticipating this for a few days, since Sarah and I had started the process a few days earlier, and by "started", I mean we collected a ground cloth and receptacles to catch the dirty oil before Sarah realized the tractor manual was no where to be found. Not wanting to pull the wrong plug, the oil change was delayed until further enlightenment. That, of course, came with Rick's fine tutelage, on Friday.

Rick is a very thorough kind of guy. His attention to detail could be referred to as obsessive compulsive by some. But I prefer to think of it is thorough. So change the oil we did, and the oil filter, and to top it all off, he got out the ole grease gun and showed me how to lube all of the movable parts. So by the end of the work day on Friday, my grease covered hands and clothing were a testament to my newly learned skill. Another day on the farm!

Weeds

Tenacious little buggers.

the farm

Due to popular demand, I have finally taken a moment to snap a few pictures of Lavender Wind Farm. The lavender won't be blooming until June and July, but most varieties that we have on the farm are just beginning to leaf out. We've all been spending time with hoe in hand or plodding behind the tiller, trying to combat the ever present weeds.

The first picture is looking out over the field toward the house, garage and gift shop. The second picture is trying to capture the lavender labyrinth. I couldn't get all of it due to its size. More pictures later, I'm sure. Tractor training soon to come. And for all of my Midwestern blog readers, the tractors here are tiny compared to the John Deeres of the American heartland.

Fact:

• lavender wind farm has approximately 7,000 lavender plants
  

roadsigns of life

One of the first things I observed about my new home on Whidbey Island was a blatant sign along Spyglass Dr. giving helpful tips to the passerby as to what to do in case of tsunamis. Tsunamis! I have spent little time in my life thinking about tsunamis. Of course this is due to the fact that I've lived in landlocked states most of my life, far from any volcanically active areas, and just as far from any coast.

I quickly realized that my new island locale sits directly in line of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. The ever moving Pacific plate grinds and slides against the adjacent tectonic plates. The result of this slow but continual process? A ring of active volcanoes that encompass the Pacific plate. The Japanese Islands, the Philippines, Mt Baker (of which I can see on clear days on my way to work), Mt St Helens, the Andes Mountains, and a whole list of other mountains and islands directly related to this amazing force.

Earthquakes, inevitably, precede volcanoes. In fact, seismic activity generally triggers the escape of poisonous gasses and magma from deep within the earth. So here I sit on 307 Spyglass, right on the water, on the edge of the "Ring of Fire", in the probable path of one of the most amazing and devastating natural disasters - the tsunami. Cool! Way cooler than the Midwest tornadoes!