Blake Island Weekend

We spent a good part of Saturday last weekend walking around Blake Island, we being; Michelle, Trenton and myself. The weather was nearly perfect for a walk on the beach. It was not too sunny, not too cold, not too windy; it was just right. Growing up on fresh water I am not used to dealing with tides. We tried to do Blake a few weekends ago but the tide was a negative three footer when we went launch. With a tide that low the boat launch is not in the water so we were not able to get the boat in. We spent that weekend on dirt bikes instead.

This last weekend I was smarter to the water level issues and checked the tide charts before heading down to launch. I had to launch a few hours before getting Trenton, tie the boat up to a dock and leave it there to make the tides. Trenton showed up around 9 and we promptly loaded into the Escape, stopped at subway to get lunch, then went to the dock to board the boat. The boat started right up, Michelle was surprised. It was still warm when we got there because I had taken a quick spin around Blake island before tying the boat to the dock. The boat does 50 it is primed for the Quick spin!

We drove strait for the sandy point on the northern tip of the island where we beached the boat. After beaching to the boat we tied it up to the some well anchored drift wood so it would not drift away. While I was tying up the boat Trenton wrote me a happy birthday message in the sand. “Happy Birthday dad, heart u, P.S. you like Men” That’s my boy; always letting me know he loves me = ]. For some reason Trenton was not up for me digging a hole and burring him in the sand like we’ve done so many times in the past when we are around sand.  Last time I was on this sandy point I think I was about a year younger then Trenton is now. Dad brought us over in the old red bay liner board we had to dig things out of the sand. I remember another time being over here with a small aluminum boat that I tried to launch into the waves and flipped over. Had to drag the motor back in the sand and push the boat to the other side of the point. Lucky we did not have any waves to deal with today the water was like glass.

After we set the boat we walked to the south anti-clockwise about half way around the island. We did not want to go all the way around because we wanted to come back and check on the boat to see how the tides were treating it. Trenton and I beat on each other with sticks, climbed on logs, Trenton chased some raccoons, we tossed some rocks, poked live things living on the beach, talked and had a brilliant walk around the beach. We managed to not injure Michelle at all with all of our rough housing. It’s she senses danger when we get going and she backs far away. It must be a defensive baby power or something.

When we got back to the boat it was completely out of the water so we had plenty of time to do more exploring. After checking on the boat and getting some food we went the other way around the island headed towards the Indian village and old house ruins. We explored the village / camp ground area and bought ice cream cones before we took one of the inner island trails back to the boat. The boat was still out of the water when we got back so Trenton and I pushed it back into the water before we loaded up and took a spin around the sound. I let Trenton drive this time. We drove down to the ferry dock and cruised the water front for a bit. After looking for it for a bit, I managed to snap a shot of the house my dad grew up in.

We had a great time on our island adventure. Next week we’re headed out to the cabin to blow stuff up on the third. Check out the rest of the pictures at the link. Learn more about the history of the Island at this link.

Date Night In Everett

The last few months have been even busier and more hectic then our normal months. Michelle comes with me on some of my adventures, we share a house, we sleep together every night we in the same house and I’ve  still been feeling like we hardly see each other. Between working three jobs, trying to work out, sleep, commitments in Port Orchard, building a baby, visiting our families, and all of the driving to do these things there is not much left over time in our lives. I mean it took me almost 2 weeks to post this post, and my backlog keeps building. A few weeks ago I told Michelle I wanted to spend a night with only her and go out on a date. The catch was she had to plan it. I think Michelle enjoys the planning almost as much as she enjoys the adventure, so this was not a huge burden on her.

Michelle planed an awesome evening for us. I reworked my commitments to allow me to skip the second and third jobs, and we took off from the house around 1:45 or so on a Thursday. First stop on our date night adventure was a beach in Everett. I have no clue what it was called, but Michelle picked a perfect beach walk. We had to walk a mile through the woods along a creek to get to the beach. We both love a good walk, so it made going to the beach even better.  At the trail head there was some sign about water in the tunnel or something? I only glanced at it, but I remember thinking it was odd. When we got to the bottom of the trail it all made sense.

At the bottom of the trail before we could get to the beach we had to cross a train track. There were fences and signs indicating a 1,000 dollar fine for crossing the track. To help discourage the track crossing there was a nice tunnel under the track. The tunnel doubled as a path for the creek we’d been walking around on the way down, and as a way to get to the other side of the train track. Now it made sense why the signs said the tunnel might be full of water. The Tunnel builders put a nice narrow path to the side of the water for people to walk on, but it was only good if the water level was low enough. For our date the water level was very close. At the end of the tunnel we had to walk across a few logs to keep our feet dry.

Once we made it through the tunnel we had a nice walk and talk on the beach while we chased crabs. We watch deadliest catch, so we know everything about crabs now; right? On the walk back to the tunnel I felt compelled to dam up the river with rocks and logs. Some where in the process I started to take my cloths off. It’s something I do. The damming of water, not the taking my cloths off in public. I see water and I need to dam it up. I’ve been doing it since I was able to hold a shovel.

After the walk on the beach Michelle picked a Pho restaurant in the area called 5 star Pho. They had some brilliant broth, filled the bowl with plenty of meat, and they ended the meal with cream puffs; amazing dinner. 5 star Pho was an excellent choice by my baby. After dinner Michelle had the address’s for a Goodwill or two near by for us to shop at. We picked one and went for some books. We spent 30$ and walked away with another pile of fun books for us and kids books for the parasite.

My baby did a spectacular job planning us a wonderful evening. Between food, books, and gas it only cost about 50$ for the night. Not too bad for a pile of books, a full tummy, exploring somewhere new, and a heap of time of my baby. Thanks Baby for the great date night. – For the rest of the pictures see the Link

Rainbow Bacon

The latest in Bacon technology, Rainbow bacon!! – I know what we are going to cook for Trenton’s B-day next year; Rainbow bacon weaves served up on swirly coloured bread of some kind.

Some website dedicated to bacon, called Bacon today Has come up with coloured bacon. Mr. Bacon sells the idea with the statement “have you ever had trouble getting your kids to eat bacon” – My answer to that statement is hell no, my kid will fight for bacon.

Miguel – The Yard Boy

Miguel and I spent Sunday at the project house getting some stuff done. We went on a few supply runs; we got everything we needed to rewire and plumb the property. We did some yard work and planning, cleaned up a few more things, and we rewired the entire house minus the panel work. I need to go back down this week to hook everything up in the panel. It’s been a year or two since I did a big cable pull job. My knees hurt today from kneeling on the ceiling trusses running wire.

I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I enjoy jobs where you can immediately see the results of the hard work. You can see new outlets, new heaters, new switches, wire all laid on nice lines, new stuff feed into the panel. The results of the work are all there to be seen, and used. The worst part of the work for me was working in a sauna. Attic space can get really hot when it is not insulated. I could only spent 10 minutes up there at a time before I would start to over heat. Then I would need to come back down, wipe the sweat off, and drink half a water bottle.

Michael cut down piles of branches from the trees out in front of the place. It really opened it up. You can actually see the house from the street now. This place is coming along. Most of the heavy lifting on our part is nearly done. It’s going to be time to start looking for the next project here soon. Next time I hope we get a place that needs a bit less work, this house really is a project.

While I was out working the roommates did yard work. Michelle mowed the lawn, Marty did some weed eating, Kevin did some weeding. I came home to brilliant looking yard. It was pretty awesome!!

Marty’s New Toy- KLR 650

On the list of things we’ll need for the 2014 plan to ride around Centro and South America is motorcycles. It is hard to ride on a motorcycle for a year without a motorcycle right? Currently we don’t have any Motorcycles in the house. I sold two of mine and traded the third for a boat over the last few months. I was planning on consolidating into one bike, but life took over and sucked up most of the proceeds; Funny how that works.  Marty on the other hand had some funds and he’s been looking for a while for a new bike. After buying himself an awesome hat on Saturday he bought himself a new bike on Sunday.

Marty got a brilliant deal on a very low mileage (4,000) KLR 650. The downside is that we had to drive 4 hours east into Spokane to get it. We were planning on doing it next weekend, but the deal was so good we figured we better jump on the deal and get the bike before someone else snatched it up. Good thing we did. When we got there the guy said he had a few more calls and someone from Montana wanted to drive out and get it that day; 500 miles from Montana to Spokane. Woodinville to Spokane was only about 300 miles or so.

It took us 10 hours round trip to drive over, purchase the bike, and drive back home. Well worth it for the great bike Marty came home with. The drive was not very exciting, we saw a few wrecks, some odd trees, a company that sells tarps made in a tarp building, a bunch of new wind mills around vantage, and I got to watch some totally drunk women return all of her groceries so she could afford beer at a Safeway; good times.

Below are a few shots of Marty and I with the bike in front of the previous owners house.