Yesterday I saw my first hummingbird of the spring, so put out a couple of feeders. I think that I have two now, advance scouts for the hundreds that will soon arrive. The tiny birds are amazing to me, and I am thrilled that such a tremendous number choose each year to share my yard with me.
Today was a great start to spring. The sun was out, I watched four bald eagles soar through the sky, and all was beautiful in my little corner of the North Cascades.
Man-made things are good too, lots of maintenance on my road over the last week, so it's nice and smooth after the beating it took this winter.
I did have family visiting this weekend, so no adult fun, but they are leaving in the morning and I look forward to having my dungeon filled with moans again this coming week!
From my libertarian perspective, our elections in Washington State came to a very good result.
We took the United States House, which will act as a solid control upon the excesses of President Obama and his allies in the Senate.
We overwhelmingly rejected the Bill Gates Sr. state income tax plan.
We repealed the increased taxes passed by the legislature earlier this year.
We made it virtually impossible for the legislature to increase taxes in 2011/12.
Indeed our votes will starve the beast that is the government of Washington State.
It was far from an overwhelming victory, many good candidates and measures lost, but on the whole the voters of Washington State made a strong stand for freedom and against statism. We can be proud.
The past two days have been construction days around here.
Early this spring the toilet in the Airstream started leaking fresh water onto the floor, and right about the same time, the hot water tank stopped working.
I took it to the Airstream fixit guy, told him to put in a new toilet, and a new hot water tank, along with a number of other improvements. Well, he did the other improvements, but the two things that were broken, toilet and hot water tank, he fiddled around with instead.
I picked it up, noticed that these things weren't replaced, but when I questioned him about them, he said that he was able to fix them via this fiddling. OK I thought, but I would have liked to have them replaced.
Off we went to the Oregon Coast for a week. Day one, the toilet is leaking. Day two, the hot water tank stops working.
Damn Airstream fix it guy.
Giving up on him, we decided to replace them ourselves. Yesterday was the day, and it all was remarkably smooth. A brand spankin new toilet and hot water tank are now installed, and seem to be working great. A hot water tank is a hot water tank, but the toilet is quite a wonderful improvement. RV's generally have plastic toilets, hard to clean, funny shaped, with flimsy little seats. Our new one is china, properly shaped, with a real seat!
Today we are working in the house, a new dishwasher! Actually the first dishwasher, as this house has never had one. It'll be an amazing improvement. I went with a stainless steel Kitchen Aid and it's going into a knotty hickory cabinet to match the rest of the kitchen. Instead of a countertop though, a John Boos & Co. butcher block will rest on top of the cabinetry. It should be a most wonderful addition to the house.
I type this sitting on my deck, this most beautiful Saturday night.
The sun has been down for hours, and a huge, bright, full moon has risen over the mountains.
I see from my comfortable chair, the moonlight shining on the water, the gentle waves rippling, giving movement to the light.
To my right stands the mountain. Majestic, huge, dominating the landscape with its grandeur.
Bats flying in front of me, overhead, their nightly pursuit of good things to eat.
I look up the river. The beach in front of me is vacant, nature alone tonight. Lights in the distance, along the banks of the river. People, doing as I, sitting, awed by the moonlight.
I've always kept a hummingbird feeder, and was always pleased to have a hummingbird or two around the house in the summer.
Last year was different though in that a very large number of them decided to call this place home. I ended up having to get a half dozen or so feeders to keep up with demand, and it was very neat having so many of the little birds constantly fluttering about.
Well, I guess that over the winter my guests from last year must have invited their friends. I'm not sure how many have moved in the past couple of weeks, but they are everywhere! I'll have to add some more feeders as last evening they were able to empty all the nectar in an hour or two. They almost seemed a swarm as the sun was going down. If this keeps up, I'll have to look at buying some stock in a sugar company.
It should prove to be an interesting summer watching the hummer's antics, but I'll have to use some care to not turn into the crazy hummingbird lady.
It was beautiful here in the mountains today! I managed to enjoy nature a bit, and completed a new project, which always is a wonderful thing. Last summer we created a new water system for my house and my dungeon, today we were able to perfect it.
It seems that every year some major improvement takes place here, while it would be fun to get to relax some summer, the changes this property has undergone these past seven or eight years are amazing. Someday I imagine that I'll have it all done.
As I type this the sun is down behind the mountain and I'm looking at my tulip tree, it's in full bloom. The beauty we get to experience every day in this part of the country is truly awe inspiring. I hope that you got find as much pleasure in this Sunday as I did.
Mountains in the distance, high, jagged, their peaks covered with snow.
Sky above, cloudless, clear, the emptiness of infinity, black and cold.
Stars overhead, millions of bright specks, shining like diamonds.
The moon, nocturnal, yet tonight a true midnight sun perfectly illuminating all below.
White.
Tonight all is white.
Cold, crystal clear, white as ice yet not ice.
Standing in the white, nude, pure, primal.
Cold, not realized, not felt, in awe of the white.
The world, all white, a trick of light.
It's going to be another beautiful day here in the Puget Sound region. Clear skies surround my little home. Fall is certainly here though, it was quite cold when I woke up this morning, and I built a fire even before I had my morning coffee!
Luckily, last Thursday the truck delivered my fire-logs, so I'm all set for winter.
The fire-logs are interesting things, they allow me to heat with wood, yet avoid the hassle, work, and mess associated with firewood. I also believe them to be economical because they create so much heat that I'm able to use about half the volume of them, as I would have to use firewood.
If you ever decide to give them a try, a bit of research would pay off as there are both high quality logs, and low quality logs, and the difference between the two is striking. I use High Energy Fire Logs from Western Oregon Wood Products, and have been using them for three years now.
Western Wood Fire Logs
My new shower was completed this past week. It's got two showerheads, one standard in style, the other a handheld.
When my great and perverted plumber TammyGag finished hanging the heads, I noticed that the handheld head had an odd piece where it came from the wall, and drained the water from the hose through that piece whenever the faucet was turned off. As I'd not seen a handheld showerhead do that before, I asked him about it.
Apparently the odd piece is a back flow prevention device to keep the water in the hose from mingling with the water in the pipes. Apparently these are now required by the plumbing codes.
I've known about back flow prevention devices for a long time, and they are certainly a good idea. One does not want used and contaminated water to mingle with ones drinking water.
How though could the showerhead possibly get contaminated water inside of it? An interesting question to ponder.
The only answer I've come up with is masturbation with the head. I suppose that it could be possible to be enjoying the massage functions upon ones clit, the position of the head in such use theoretically allowing the head to become a we bit dirty, which I suppose could then move into the head's connecting hose.
In any event, it is indeed the only possible way I can think of that the hose could contain anything from ones body, but it's an awful stretch of the imagination.
Perhaps the guys who write the plumbing codes have too many fantasies of wet and masturbating women on their minds!
Living conditions are improving here in the Cascade Mountains, and indeed as I travel around Washington this summer.
Here at the house the change is going to be quite dramatic indeed. I'm adding on to my little cedar house in the woods. A beautiful new bathroom, green marble, knotty hickory & pine, bronze. It will be spectacular when it's done I think. Along with the new bath comes a new entryway for bad weather, and more closet space something always at a premium in an A-Frame house. A new laundry room and a deck around the new spaces will round everything out.
Change is coming to the Airstream as well with a good deal of work having just been completed on the electrical, gas, and mechanical systems. It will still look exactly the same, but the components of today should work much easier than the components of 35 years ago.
Lastly, my poor long-suffering hot tub seems to be having some issues with its controls. Hopefully it will be repairable, but if not I must say that it has lasted more years than could ever be expected. Truly amazing quality.
It's been a busy spring watching the projects take shape, but improvement of ourselves and our surroundings is always wonderful.
Each year I put out a hummingbird feeder or two, and I always get a small number of the birds in residence as a result.
This year is radically different. This year I have huge numbers of them. Enough that they will drink the feeder dry within hours. They hover around it, they argue over it, and they take advantage of any opportunity to drink from it.
Yesterday I filled it, and then just stood with it in my hand and they were actually drinking from it as I held it. Simply amazing.
Equally amazing is the fact that I have another feeder twenty feet or less from the popular one. It gets virtually no use at all.
Funny, yet amazing little creatures.
