The temperature is dropping

Una keeps warm under my desk lamp.

Ladies who lunch

On Wednesday I had a break from the norm - as if there is a norm around here. Kathy, her mom, Vi and I drove down to Washougal and picked up my aunt Lani. We then continued on up the Columbia River Gorge to Stevenson where we met Grandma Nellie at the Skamania Lodge for lunch. Lots of laughs and good food. Grandma had dessert waiting for us at home so we went a little further along the road to Carson and had a delicious apple cake and a good visit with Grandpa. It was a long day but great fun.

ELK HERD!!!

This picture was taken Sunday morning looking north from our shed door. The elk were originally headed toward are property (that is our fence if you can make it out) but were cautious and jumpy. They turned around and went back in the trees. We got on our bikes to see if we could see them through the trees from the road.

This shot is taken from the road. All the other elk headed into the property but this little guy ran the wrong way - straight toward us! Figured out his mistake pretty quick and joined the rest of the herd. One of the elk was as big as a moose - tall and all leg.

The herd headed onto our property but I couldn't get a clear shot. This one is taken from the road at the entrance to our drive. Gravel driveways are too noisy for sneaking up on wildlife. When we headed up the drive the herd spooked and ran west across the llama and horse field and into the forest on the opposite side. Next time we will just let them be and not scare them as we try to get a better view. It was so thrilling to have them so close. The city girl in me couldn't help trying to get a better look - though I can't imagine something like this ever becoming common place no matter how many times they come to visit.

Still More Bees and Demolition

When we went back to the Sister House on Saturday to finish off the porch and chimney demo we thought we would only be contending with one last bit of bees. The only portion of this hive we could see is the lightly colored bit up at the top. Once we started pulling the wall off we found the rest of the hive. That makes 4 full (small) walls full of bees and honeycomb that we have removed. We were able to save the first few we found but have learned from beekeepers in the area that it is too late in the season to relocate the rest of them. These last hangers on were pissed. All 3 of us got stung at some point in the day. Matt got his first, then Tom, then me.

We weren't sure what to do with the comb. It was dripping with honey and covered in angry bees. We never saw the queen. We broke the comb off the wall and put most of it in a box and the rest of it in a plastic bag. Tom took the box home and is draining those combs into tubs. We took the bag home and put the comb we had into a mixing bowl - the largest thing I have right now. We are waiting for the bees to settle down and hopefully find a new home. I feel bad. We took their home and all their food.

Here is Tom on top of the roof beginning the chimney demo. It went pretty fast. The mortar was quite crumbly.Here is Matt finishing the chimney demo inside. MUCH messier when the job is enclosed within walls. The demolition drew blood from Matt this time. He got a nasty scratch on his neck from a falling board and a pretty bloody wrist from an unknown assailant.

Here is the Sister House in all her naked glory. I can't wait to get her moved and fixed up properly. I have more pictures of the demo and lots more of the bees posted on Flickr.

Una & Russell

This picture will only mean something to those of you who know Una. She has never been known to allow another cat to settle in so closely. Matt said Una let Russell sit butt to butt for quite a while. We can't figure it out. We know here eyesight and hearing are failing. Perhaps she thought he was a heating pad to keep her warm since the blankets were in the laundry.

Again with the Spiders

I should rename this blog. Arachnids: Fear and Fascination.

Yesterday we found a hobo spider hanging out on the floor near our shower. FYI, hobo spider = BAD. I don't have a picture of it because I stepped on it before I thought to grab the camera. Tough little bugger to kill. Hobo spiders don't like to live where there are a bunch of other types of spiders - don't like the competition for food. Anyhoo, the following is an open letter to all the other spiders in the neighborhood.

Dear all non-hobo spiders,

Welcome to our home/homestead. Please make yourselves comfortable. Dangle over my mouth while I sleep, leave your eggsacks in my shoes, hang out in the shower with me. I may cringe or scream but I won't kill you. I appreciate the work you do keeping the hosts of hobo spiders at bay. Please be aware that I cannot be responsible for the actions of my cats. I hope you will take care to steer clear of them.

Kindest Regards,

Michelle

Matt and cats

To Clarify

Sarah was asking where we are living now - in the Sister House or in the shed. We are in the Shed. The Sister House is still full of bugs, bees and all manner of icks. Plus, it is still sitting in the front yard of the Frye family. Speaking of the Sister House, Matt and Tom will be continuing the demo this week. The plan is to get the back lean-to completely removed and begin work on the chimney demo. Once that is done and the loan docs go through we will be ready to move it to our property. We will be living in the shed for quite some time yet. It will be our base while we do all the renovations to the house.
Here are some before and after pics.

The living space before we moved in (the sellers cleaned out the furniture but left the lab rat white walls and softly buzzing flourescent lights.

A bit messy but here is the living space "after" photo. Matt literally rolls out of bed and lands in his work space. We painted the walls but have yet to make any changes to those damnable flourescent lights. We don't have them on much. We use lamps.

Here is the bay full of our stuff just as the movers left it.

Here is the bay with a little living space carved out. I am happy to report that the TV made the trip OK. That was the big worry. We are not hooked up to any sort of cable/dish service. We just have our DVD player hooked up. The one and only movie we have had time to watch so far was Ravenous! Great first movie to watch living off the beaten path in the country.

The Beach

We took some time off over Labor Day and headed to Tom and Kathy's beach house in Long Beach. I didn't manage to take many pics but here are some from a bike ride we took.

Matt and Walker in the beach grass.

Matt is SO over having is picture taken for blog posts!

Kathy looking lovely as she looks to the water.

Fawns

Here are some cute, fuzzy-wuzzy fawns to take cleanse your palette of the spiders in the last post. We saw these two with their mother on the side of the road near to our place.

If you can't beat 'em . . .

To my mind Matt's lost his mind. He has developed quite a fascination with all the spiders here. And the spiders here are legion! Crimeny! They are everywhere! I give you warning - the first to pictures in this photo "essay" shot by Matt are lovely, dew covered webs but things get worse in down the line.

Check out the fangs in the shadow! This spider lives on the side of our shed. And since home is where one hangs one's hat then understand that the shed is our home. The other day we saw spiders doing a mating dance. We don't have a picture to post but I am sure you have plenty of spider pics here to more than satisfy.

Poo slugs

Do slugs look like poo as some sort of deterrent to creatures that might otherwise eat them? Here I have a picture of slugs in the morning w/ Lily's foot to emphasize the poo-iness.

Pre Sunset

Looking west through the trees just before sunset. Precious lives on the other side of the trees but declined to pose.

Bones

Don't know the story behind these bones. I found a few of them on my walk yesterday. They seem pretty big to me, 8"-12" long. Whatever left these behind would eat my cats like cheese and crackers and probably just swallow their bones.

Come for a visit

Everyone is welcome. You will know you are almost to our drive when you see this beautiful avenue of trees. We are surmising that we have maybe 20 years before they get logged (*SOB*) so I make sure to appreciate them every day. If you come to visit before the house is built you will be roughing it in a pretty posh trailer. If you wait until the house is built we can put you up in high (if small) style.

American Dream

Look! It's our first "traditional" roadside mailbox. (would you like an order of 2.5 children and a side of dog w/ that?). The Postmaster came out personally to make sure we placed the box in the correct location.

Yesterday Matt got older

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday greetings. Much as he would prefer to ignore the day, it is still nice to feel the love.

Moon over St. Helens - sort of

Ok - so I had to help my photo out a little bit. Mt. St. Helens is really back there - I swear. I just haven't figured out all the ho-has on my camera yet to take a proper evening photo.

YEESH!

Matt found this in the yard yesterday. We googled it and found that even though it looks like the most fearsome spider in the world it is a harmless garden spider. Of course the spider itself may be harmless but that doesn't mean I won't knock myself out running into a tree if one lands on me. This grand dame is approx 2.5" from leg end to leg end.

Her web is in a tuft of grass out in the yard. Matt found her while mowing and left her habitat intact. While he was mowing he also came across a settlement of praying mantises and relocated them to a new home before mowing down theirs. Isn't he sweet?

More Bees and Demolition

The bees just keep on coming. We thought we had all the bees taken care of but every time we open a wall or ceiling we find more. We can't find any beekeepers who will take bees now. They say it is too late in the season to move the bees. The bee keeper would have to feed them honey to try and keep them alive and even so they probably wouldn't survive the winter. So, our brilliant plan was to not-so-gently encourage them to move elsewhere by pulling the wall in which they live down. Seems to have worked. When Tom went back the day after he and Matt pulled the bee wall down, the bees were gone and all that remained were some really angry yellow jackets. Seems the yellow jackets were freeloading off the bees and they lost their meal ticket.