The Rope Weaver of Ioka

Bruce & mini-me

We went out to dinner last night with our friends, Bruce and Chris. Bruce's youngest son is one of the manager's at the newly opened Anthony's Homeport at the downtown Bremerton waterfront.

The noisy neighbors

We have a noisy crew of Sea Lions, Sea Otters and Seals that congregate nightly on the raft in front of the house. They can make quite a racket that sound very strange in the dark of night (perhaps they are jockeying for position? or, is there some active romance occuring? or, are they just plotting the next day's territorial domination). Eventually, a couple of hours after dawn, they’ll disperse to look for food and nicer daylight accommodations. I was working up in the loft office VERY early on Friday and decided I’d try to snap a pic. I got the camera, crept my way down to the bulkhead and snapped away. They were quite curious of me, raising their heads (and flippers) and wiggling around for a better look. By my best count, I think there were 7 of the boys on the raft. It’s a bit amazing that old “Joe, Ken & Mickey built” raft is still floating, given the load.

The first photo gives a perspective of the raft; the second, a close-up of the gang; and, the third is moments after they had all dropped off.

And the Submarine headed home at the end of the day

note the guys standing up on the top of the sub.....what a view!

Work, work, work, work....

We had 13 yards of mulch delivered and spread around the gardens today. Yogi was in heaven supervising everyone. Then, because it was such exhausting work, he needed to go down and swim a bit AND then come back up and roll around in it.

Needless to say, he is one wet, dirty and happy dog.

Protecting Hood Canal from....?

If you look closely at the photo you will see a "surfaced" submarine crusing by in front of the house (okay, it's not right in front, but it's pretty darn close!). It's on it's way into Dabob Bay where they will spend the day performing various training exercises. It's a pretty awesome sight to see this go by and I have to think these Navy folks are LOVING their job on a beautiful Spring day like today.

An evening stroll & lessons in oyster gathering

Ken and Steph have started to play in a soccor league so Hailey spent a couple of hours with us this evening. We took a stroll up to the mailbox and then she kept going up, up, up the hill. She was NOT happy when we tried to control her run DOWN the hill.

She is rather fearless it seems....and a bit stubborn when her plans are thwarted!




The soccer players had a hunger for oysters, so before they headed home we went oyster gathering. There is a tremendous amount of training required for this task, but Hailey appeared to be up to the task. She needs to get a head start on her training so she can show her cousins how it's done.

A tough day in the garden

And it continues taking shape.......

And on the third day....

...there were some walls and stairs and mud.






and a wet and dirty general foreman ...
and an exhausted sub-contractor.

And on the second day....

Day Two of the boat shed building project.

Ioka compound continues to expand

We are having a small boat shed built down at the water's edge to house all of the water related and boat "stuff" (i.e. water-ski's, wakeboards, shrimp pots, crab pots, boat engine, oars, bouy's, life jackets, rope, etc, etc, etc).
How the heck did we accumulate all this stuff?

It will allow us to clean out a huge portion of the garage and then fill THAT empty space with MORE stuff ... ! ...


I'm also adding a photo snapped at the water's edge this evening. It's an often neglected but lovely view!

Easter on the Farm

Hailey spent Easter with her cousin, Annalise, and her Uncle Mike. Uncle Mike has about 20 miniature horses. The baby in the photo is about two weeks old. You can see the outline of Annalise (in pink) with her arm around the baby. Mike set up a 'hunt' downstairs. There was plenty of candy to be found. Hailey was up until 10:45 Easter evening. (the perils of sugar...)
By the way, Annalise's hair is definitely turning strawberry blonde.....

This is your brain on TV!

Hooked in less than a month. She started watching the Baby Einstein series about a month ago.

"There's no place like home"

After a 13 hour door-to-door trip home yesterday, it was nice to wake up to this view.

The best baby hairdo in Hanover

It was a great party!

Here are a couple of pics from the party -- pre and post. The house looked wonderful and festive and happy; lots of interesting guests and friends (so interesting, we forgot to snap any photos); and, the birthday girls held up remarkably under the pressure of too much fun and noise and lack of sleep.

Party girls in special party dresses

What beautiful outfits the girls wore for their first birthday celebrations -- traditional Korean dresses.

Play time while Mom and Dad are busy

Lauren & Sarah Hall turned one year old this weekend, and what a party weekend it was!! We arrived in Hanover last Wednesday, arriving well after the girls had gone to bed. Did that stop their parents from getting them up for some kisses and hugs and snuggles? -- Nooooooo!

Next morning, we spent the day hanging with the girls while Joe was at work and Diana ran a ton of pre-party errands. It gave us a chance to roll around on the floor and play and see how much they have grown since December. What a delight they are!

A few fluffy and furry critters brought us some Easter candy!

Car for Sale; Clean Dog, Cheap.

We are selling the car I drive so Mickey washed it yesterday afternoon to get it ready for the photos (isn't that how it's suppose it go?) ... Yogi assisted by drinking (more like, eating) all the soapy water.
The car looks beautiful; We've posted the ad on Auto Trader and want to sell it soon, soon, soon.
The new car arrives in 30 days or so.......! :)

"Taking us out to the ballgame" (and more)

Ken and Mickey went to the Mariners game on Sunday afternoon and I decided to head to Seattle with them to run a few errands (read:Retail Therapy). I dropped them off near the stadium, then hit a couple of stores; they watched some of the game and then we all headed back on the Bremerton ferry (treating ourselves to some ferry food delicacies), destined for Home(s) Sweet Home(s)!

Mariners lost.

Our Helper

Yogi will generally be found near one of us as we work outside in the garden. He's not doing anything, but he's helping nonetheless -- lying on the plants, chewing up the plastic plant containers, digging around looking for a errant tennis ball, or simply sitting and watching. Here he sits near a very tired and leggy lavendar plant. Later in the day I noticed a nice, subtle scent about him.

Getting the car ready for a quick sale!

We are getting ready to sell my car so I spent several hours today detailing the inside. WOW.... from all the grim and yuck I cleaned out, I wonder if someone is living in it when it's parked. (That's what I tell Mickey when he asks why it's so dirty inside).
I had a little trouble operating the carpet cleaner foam!

One of the first rites of Spring

This is the start of one of my favorite Spring time tasks -- preparing the many (and I mean MANY) flower pots and baskets that have wintered and weathered (with varying degrees of success) and been neglected since last Fall. There is such anticipation -- pulling out the dead stuff, pruning the scraggly messes, cleaning the moldy outsides, and seeing where there is a hope for either another year of color, dividing or re-planting somewhere else in the garden.

This is also the start of countless trips to the nursery!!! Perhaps shoe shopping should be put on hold for a while? ... (nah!)

WHAT?!? ... Don't bug me.

The little red-headed terrorist spent the day with us...

The little red-headed terrorist spent the day with us … eating, drinking, reading, singing, dancing, NOT-napping, feeding Stubbs and Yogi, watching baby Einstein videos, sitting on Stubbs, etc, etc, etc. It was GREAT fun!