How does he love me???

Well, actually, I am not certain if it is me, the bike, or fresh muscles… but let me explain… 

It all begins by Phillip wanting to have some trees downed on the property.  Of course I agreed, so hence the following saga begins…

We come home to see that the 27 trees are down.  Yes, mostly fir, some cedar, very tall and very big.  All down.  Oh, they were down here and there, but mostly in the driveway.  Yes, the driveway that is from the road to the car port…   Yes, the very same carport that the Goldwing is safely parked in… yes, my friends, THAT carport. 

“No worries,” Phillip said… “they said they will be gone by Tuesday.”  “Ok,” I said.  Of course, no one actually knows which Tuesday they were talking about because here we are, 4 weeks later and the trees are STILL in the driveway… 

But I digress….

My parents call and inform us that some very good friends of the family will be up on Whidbey Island on Sunday, and, do we want to come up and enjoy some fresh Penn Cove Muscles at Toby’s?  “Why YES!!!” I say….” Of course!” Phillip responds.  What could be better than a beautiful sunny day, going up to the island, no kids….

But wait…  We still have gigantic trees trapping the motorcycle in the carport…  Hmmmm

I go to assess the situation.  I think, “Surely Phillip, with his incredible riding skills can negotiate the bike around these trees and down the steep embankment to the second driveway and out to the road…”  

Phillip is not so certain. 

“Ok then, how about taking down the garden fence and 4 wheeling it through the garden area and upper field, around the shop and then out to the road?” I ask. 

Phillip is absolutely certain that is not an option. 

I pout.

I want to ride.  I want to ride on this glorious sunny day to the island, on the ferry, to visit my parents and friends and then to eat muscles on the cove with my love.  This is what I really want. 

So, after about 30 minutes of pushing, prying and wedging the largest fir tree you can imagine, we are able to push one of the logs off of the top driveway.  We are SO excited as it begins to roll down the embankment to the lower driveway… then we stand and watch, with jaws dropped, as it keeps on rolling… rolling across the lower driveway down an even steeper embankment, through the bank of blackberry bushes, down an even steeper embankment into the gully on the property line. 

“Hmm… good thing I moved my car,” I think.   Yeah, good thing.

Phillip then negotiated the cycle down a semi steep, loosely packed, hill between the driveways and up to the road.  Big smiles all around.  He then washed the bike and we rode to the island via the Port Townsend/Keystone ferry.  And yes, I call it this because the ferry actually does dock at Keystone (those of us that are divers know this) and Coupeville is several miles away.  I don’t care what the state of Washington wants to call it or how much money they wasted changing the name on all the signs and paper work they have. 

But I digress…   

So, the love of my life delivers. 

I like to think that he loves me that much, but I am pretty certain that he loves to ride or loves fresh muscles just as much or perhaps more than he loves me… 

None the less, we ended up having a fabulous time on the island with family, friends, and Penn Cove Muscles!

It's official!!

I am now a true country girl. 

How do I know this?

Because, I, my friends, have been to a

TRACTOR PULL!!!

 Apparantly, when you lean back, those few extra hundred pounds help keep those huge tractor tires on the ground....   or it makes you go faster... less wind resistance I guess.

Either way, it was a fun time.

Rats, Cats, Dogs and Chickens...

So, we have rats.  No, not as pets, but as unwanted pests. 

This is what I actually believe the truth to be...  They used to live in the chicken coop.  No, we don't have chickens.  Phillip used to have chickens, that is until his rotti played with them.  He came home to carnage and no more chickens. 

But I digress. 

So, the rats lived in the chicken coop, which is actually attached to the tool shed, which actually began as a potting shed, but no one actually potted anything in it so it became a tool shed... well, actually, more of a "catch-all" shed- that would have chickens in it- weather permitting of course.

But again, I digress.

So, Phillip decided to have some of the really tall trees felled recently.  You local folks remember the storm last November.... the one where towns and cities in the South Puget Sound area were stopped dead in our frozen tracks, some with no power for many days... right about Thanksgiving time?  Well, the folks out here in this neck of the woods experienced many tree and limb casualties.  (including the roof of the above mentioned potting/tool/chicken-out of the weather/catch-all shed)

But we will cover that at another time. 

Well, when the 27... "oops, sorry Mr Kirbow," 28 trees came crashing down (smashing part of the chicken coop wall), the rats were scared (understandably so) and migrated to under the house.

How do I know?? 

Coco, the chocolate lab, informed me one early morning that we had "friends" in the wall.  When I opened the back door to let her investigate further, she ran from the newly chewed hole in the house siding to the chicken coop and back.  My two boys, Max and Pawncho, could have cared less, they just wanted to go outside and say good morning to Honey, the remaining goat, who at that time, enjoyed their company.  Not so much any more. 

But, again, digression..........

So, long story short, after frantic texting to Phillip, we decided on poison.  Soon after we had killed a few, I realized that I did not want to poison the little buggers anymore, well, actually, large buggers. I did not want them to die in the walls of the house.  I also did not want the dogs to eat a poisoned, dead rat.  When I saw one dead as a door nail on the back deck one early morning, the dogs, all 3 of them, wanted to investigate.  While I was screaming at the top of my lungs in a very frantic voice "LEAVE IT!!" the puppy, Pawncho, actually tried to pick it up.  EWWW....not only a dead rat, but a poisoned dead rat.  Poisoned with blood thinner... that way the bleed to death... a rather slow and painful death I would imagine.  But, non the less, bad for dogs, very bad for dogs. 

So, I decided, after much thought, and questioning my patients (something I do quiet often, it is something like my own personal Gallup poll or Rasmussen report...) I decided to adopt feral cats.  I realized that this could be a life long battle living out here in the woods, I thought, how nice to have some vicious felines around to take care of business. 

After some searching and researching, we now have 3 "feral" cats in Max's big kennels in the tool shed.  They need to be kenneled for 4 weeks so that they will come to identify this as their home.  They are safe here and have daily food and water and they will realize this after 4 weeks.  (so they say)  Then they will be set free to seek and destroy any roaming rats around. 

"Wait a minute", you say... "What about the damage to the above mentioned tool shed from the storm??"  "Are the cats safe from the elements?" you wonder.   Well, rest your mind, folks.  As of yesterday, while Phillip was at work, my dad and I fixed the damage.  Thanks to him and my mom for letting him come over and help.  The cats are now well protected from the elements.  Good thing too, because I think we had our 4 weeks of summer and now it is fall... there is no frost on the pumpkins yet, but soon, I tell you, soon , it will be upon us. 

Digression, digression, digression....

Needless to say, soon after the cats arrived home, the rats are no longer making the ruckus they were originally.  Maybe they could smell or sense that doom was on the horizon.  None the less, we are momentarily rat free... or they are very, very quiet...

Canine trading

Nothing like getting out of the shower and walking out into the dining room to find a dead bird on the floor.....  then looking out the back door and seeing Phillip's underwear on the deck..... 

Hmmm.... appearantly there was some secret canine trading going on while I was cleansing myself....