A new year and a big tickling urge to go somewhere. Some friends had mentioned going to the Port Townsend Elks to dance and taking their coach to spend the night. It sounded like a great new adventure especially when there was going to be a west coast swing lesson involved. Off we went. One day early so we could spend a whole day taking in the sights and shopping at historic Port Townsend.
Our Site at the PT Elks Park
After we got settled in and did a little foray to Eden Saw, a must stop for any woodworker, Henery’s Hardware, a modern hardware with that old-fashioned feel that has almost everything, and a thrift store or two we went for the fish and chips dinner (very good) at the Elks Lodge. We enjoyed the next day of shopping and walking the town and had dinner in Bertha before going dancing. A pretty good time.
The next morning we were off to Ft Flagler and Marrowstone Island.
A Beautiful Site at Ft Flagler
The views from the back window were amazing!
Port Townsend
We spent the first 2 nights just across the water.
Sunset
Doesn’t get any better than this!
Of course a bit of beach combing was on the list.Whidbey Island Ferry
The next day we took the Ferry over and spent the day exploring / shopping the Island.
Looking at the Cascade Mountains
This is where we ate lunch in the middle of our sight-seeing. It was a great day and another great trip (well maybe a smidgen too short).
We plan to be out and about for the month of May and have big plans for next winter, but in the mean time it is work, work, work on the new homestead.
It was our 41st Anniversary so we decided it was time to get away for a few days, revisit some old haunts, reconnoiter a few places we had never explored, walk on some sand, pick a few mushrooms, but mainly just relax. The weather was neither all bad or all good it was September/October on the Washington coast.
Our site at Pacific Holiday — Long Beach, WA
The drive down to Long Beach was pleasant along well-known scenery and well-traveled roads. We got great cinnamon rolls at the Long Beach Bakery walked the beaches, took a drive through Cape Disappointment State Park where we camp hosted a number of years ago, did a little shopping in Oregon, and just relaxed.
On The Beach
We took some walks on the beach. (E takes more beach walks than G does) These pelicans and seagulls acted like they owned the place, imagine that.
What kind of mushrooms are these?
We did some shopping at Ocean Shores and Astoria on the really wet and rainy days. (The Astoria Sunday Market is definitely worth seeing for great produce, baked goods, and crafts.) But we also found time for mushroom hunting which was fun but not productive. I have not been able to ID these guys but they are certainly different.
Some Slippery Jacks
And found many Slippery Jacks, which are supposed to be good,but with all the very wet weather, I could not bring myself to trying the slimy things, yuck!
Elaine in the wind and rain
It was wet, cold, and windy but I got my sweetie and she is smiling because she is on the beach. Life is good.
Grayland Beach SP
Moved to our next stop, Grayland Beach State Park, just a few miles north of Long Beach but 70 or 80 miles drive because of the bay in between. We made a number of trips to Westport, WA, just north of the park.
Westport Lighthouse
Mr. Snail thinks this is his beach
What will we ever do with all these sand dollars?
In addition to the snail we found sand dollars. We also saw many mushrooms but they were not in good condition for eating.
Sunrise Resorts Copalis Beach
From Grayland we again headed north through Aberdeen and Hoquim to Copalis.
Gordon Finds Boletes!
One of the worlds great gourmet treats. I found a few pounds of these marvelous King Boletus in perfect condition, so of course had to collect, cook some, and dry the rest. Will enjoy these guys for a while.
Amanita
The very poisonous Amanitas were in abundance. Fun to look at but don’t mess with them! We enjoyed a few days here walking the beaches and shopping in Ocean Shores.
Bogacheil State Park
From Copalis north to our last stop a little way south of Forks.
More beaches to enjoy!This tree is barely hanging on
And a day hiking the Hoh Valley
A Natural ArchAwesome scenery everywhere we lookedLooking UpAnd Down
It was a crisply chilly but bright and beautiful day at the Hoh Rainforest.
Rialto Beach
On our last day we went to Rialto Beach west of Forks, WA for one more dose of sunshine and surf.
I have been remiss, I did not realize that I never published this post from September / October 2016 and it is already mid February 2017!
Busy keeping the shiny side up, your Random Rover,
I must admit that I have not posted much lately. Seems that this moving stuff is not as exciting as I remember it to be and it seems to eat all of our time and energy but we are making progress.
Lots to do, lots to do. Never have I had a to-do list like I have now. This move, since we are doing all ourselves, involves more than any of our myriad of previous moves. 65 + years and I still take on mammoth projects. Well growing older still beats any of the alternatives and it does not mean that we necessarily grow wiser or even grow up as we age. If I had started out as a fine red wine I would be awesome by now or maybe vinegar. 🙂 So the long and short of it is that in the midst of emptying boxes, hanging pictures, sorting out the feeds for the television and internet, putting up shelves, towel bars, pot-racks, utensil holders, etc. I built a 13′ X 34′ deck with continuous steps.
Ordered materials from our local Home Depot, concrete supports, treated lumber, thousands of screws, brackets and composite decking. When the materials came I ran out of excuses and had to quit procrastinating.
Materials
Of course it all starts with lots of planning but when the materials arrive on site you know it is time to get to work.
The beginnings of the framing.A Large Part of the Framing
It is coming along, not as fast as I would like. but it is getting there.
Deck and Steps Done!!And Another View
Time to move on to building the front porch which should be a much smaller and faster project. After that it will be time to do the final grading and then mount the facing on the bottom risers. Elaine and I are pleased with the results. The continuous stairs were time-consuming but they allowed us not to have a railing.
Of course there is still lots to organize and do in the house so we will be busy for a while. (Not as fast as we once were.)
Our pole building contractor has begun, so soon we should have a shop and garage. We can hardly wait.
I have been busier than a one-armed paper hanger and it feels great!!
Some of the Spoons I have carved in the last year.
I enjoy carving wooden spoons for people to use everyday. Each spoon is unique as the natural patterns in the wood itself dictate much of the final form. When I want a particular style of spoon I have to find a piece that will allow me to make the shape and then I must work with the intrinsic grain patterns to expose it. Most of the time I simply let the wood tell me what to do. It is all very hard to explain. For me there is a distinct pleasure that only comes from using a hand crafted tool. It is similar to, but somehow different from the pleasure of its creation.
Most of the people who know that I carve wooden spoons have seen me carving them in one campground or another. Then there are others that have seen them and can’t believe that I really carve them myself with hand tools. Well the simple truth is that I am a woodworker and I have an internal need to be doing something with my hands much of the time. That can be a problem when you spend a lot of your time traveling in an RV. Not much room for tools. Sporadic opportunities to purchase supplies. Well you get the picture.
A few years ago Elaine and I chanced upon a bird carving museum and school somewhere near Bar Harbor, Maine and I saw this wood carving kit of knives that looked to be of good quality at a reasonable price. I purchased the kit and a block of basswood with directions for carving a loon. I carved the loon, and then from another piece of wood an armadillo, an old sea-captain, an owl and some other critters and they were “OK” and the carving part filled the time. Then one day I decided to carve a spoon and I was hooked. 50 or a 100(?) spoons later I am still carving them. Nothing fancy just utilitarian spoons.
A Vine Maple Limb
I typically start with a piece of firewood, a material that I can find in almost any campground. Some of my spoons start as scrap from my wood shop, some from driftwood, some donated, and occasionally I will buy it either because I really like the piece or scrounging isn’t keeping up with demand. First, I use a hatchet to split the limb through the center. The very center must be removed or the wood will crack as it dries.
Some Simple Tools
Depending on my whim, the piece of wood, and the spoon that I am making I may proceed to rough out the spoon with the hatchet. Next I will pare off waste with the saw and chisel and finally with roughing and bent knives.
Left Overs – Kindling
In about an hour I have very nice pile of stuff.
Roughed Out Spoon Top
Oh! And the beginnings of a spoon or sometimes, a smaller piece of firewood.
Roughed Out Spoon Bottom
This one looks just fine. It should clean up nicely.
Completely Roughed Out
So I scooped out the bowl and then hand scraped it smooth which took the better part of an hour.
2 Views of a Finished Spoon
Then a little more careful knife-work, a little of hand scraping on the exterior, and last a bit of sanding. Another hour gone, but I have a new spoon!
The only thing left is a protective finish. I generally use food grade walnut oil as it soaks in well and “dries” as opposed to mineral oil which both evaporates and is washed out with normal dish washing. There is no perfect solution to the problem. If you use the spoon its finish will have to be renewed from time to time.
Hope you enjoyed your short course in spoon carving,
Hard to believe but this is our 3rd Christmas out camping. The two previous ones both were on the gulf coast of Texas. One a couple of years ago and the other 16?? years ago.
We are posting at this time to express our wish for everyone to have a great Christmas season with family and friends near and hope that the new year brings wonderful things.
It is extremely unlikely that we will be in our new home before mid January and maybe not then but some progress is being made and Bertha continues to keep us warm and dry.
Unfortunately, as we did not expect to be “homeless” this long, many of our friend’s addresses are locked away in storage and unavailable making it impossible to send many of the cards we would liked to have sent. If you did not get your usual seasonal missive it was not because you were forgotten.
If you would like our new address, send a comment (with your email address in case we don’t have it) and we will reply.
This year has been all about moving on and mostly about setting up a new home base, but a few breaks need to be taken. When a chance to participate in a mushroom foray with the local mycological society here on the Olympic Peninsula came up, we packed up went to a very wet place during a very wet season to look at fungus. Hmmmm?
Our Site at Three Rivers
We met at the Three Rivers Resort about 8 miles west of Forks, WA. It turned out to be a very enjoyable and educational outing. I learned enough about a couple of mushroom species to try collecting them.
A mushroom log
Amanita Muscaria (Do Not Eat These!!)
A rather nice coral mushroom
To say we saw lots of mushrooms would be an understatement as we saw literally thousands of them and many varieties. Among the good to eat varieties we found Chanterelles, Winter Chanterelles, and Boletus (some edible and some not) I should have taken pictures of the edibles and some of the people we hunted with but I didn’t. I was too busy having a good time.
We actually went a day ahead so that we would have some time to ourselves which worked out well as we were able to do a little non-fungus related exploring which will pay off as it is a different world on the Pacific side and only 80 or so miles away from where we will be living.
Rialto Beach
The rugged beauty of Rialto Beach captured our imagination. We also saw a very nice gallery of local art, and did a little shopping.
Intrepid must mean: Not smart enough to stay out of the wind and rain.
It was cold and windy and raining but we just had to take a look at Rialto beach during a storm. We are glad we took a break it might have been good for our sanity.
Our previous post “Carousel Museum” concerned a short side trip from an overnight motel excursion. This post is about a little R&R trip that we started the day after we got back from that 2 day 600 mile round trip. We headed out with Bertha in tow this time on a shorter and more relaxed excursion of about 155 miles each way and to celebrate our anniversary.
Our Site At The Copalis Beach Sunrise Resort
We left Sequim while it was still grey with light fog and drove south on Hwy 101 with wonderful views of Hoods Canal while the day proceeded to get bright and cheerful. We stayed on the back roads as much as was practical and enjoyed the small towns and farms through the windshield. When we arrived the roar of the ocean and beautiful blue sky greeted us so that we looked forward to quiet walks on the sand. There were very few people at this time of year so we had very little “busy-people” noise.
A Seagull Strutting His StuffA Beach WalkSeagulls and SurfDucks in the LagoonPelicans At Tokeland, WAWe Are Sand Dollar Rich
We did lazy day tourist things for a week and thoroughly enjoyed it. On our very last beach walk we found sand dollars. I have left out my usual incessant commentary to preserve the mood of our little respite.
