Vintage Home and Farm

Living next to a creek, we expect to see various wild animals coming and going, as this land is their home, too. We've got deer, chipmunks, raccoons, and a wide variety of birds, including birds of prey like barn owls and bald eagles. Once, a black bear was spotted behind our milk shed down by the creek, and our neighbor has seen cougar tracks on the trail that runs behind our house. Occasionally, we get word that someone has seen a cougar along Morse Creek. Even so, we were rather surprised when we spotted five coyote pups hanging out around here. They are not hiding from anyone and are present during the day. If they spot you, they don't run away too quickly, so they aren't all that afraid of people.  The coyote pups look like small dogs, and they spend much of their time hunting for field mice and other rodents in the fields on and around our property. All five pups were hunting together for rodents in the newly hayed field across the road at Elton's farm. We noticed...

We've been taking our dog for a walk around the barn regularly, so she gets some exercise (and we do too!). The spring flowers are so gorgeous this time of year! Daffodils were in full bloom the other day, so we decided to capture some pictures of them. The cherry and apple trees are also blooming. There's a sweet fragrance in the air from all of the flowers. It smells like spring! I love looking up into the branches of the flowering trees at the blue sky beyond. Here's a close-up of some of the daffodils. Our homeowner's association planted them years ago and maintains them every year. They do a great job, and the whole community enjoys the beauty. Can you believe how long a line of daffodils there is? It wraps around two whole sides of the barn and horse field!  

We went for a nature walk the other day, one that we've taken many times. It takes us past our neighbor's cow field, up over the old railroad bridge, along Morse Creek, and out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. While it was a cold, cloudy day, it had finally stopped raining and the crisp air felt wonderful after being cooped up in the house. We stopped to admire a small waterfall that tumbles down the saturated hillside and follows our path. I loved the bubbling sound of the water trickling downhill. If you look closely, you can see signs that spring isn't too far away. We stopped to take note that the osoberry trees (also known as Indian plum) were forming leaf buds along their stems. The vibrant green ferns stood out in an otherwise drab winter landscape.  I found myself admiring the forms of the barren alder, maple, cottonwood, and oaks that grow in this area. Some grow closely together, while others lean over, stretching their limbs at odd angles, perhaps reaching toward t...

Last weekend, we bought a practically new hammock at a local auction. First, my husband had to order straps to attach the hammock to the trees. Then the straps arrived today. My husband wasted no time getting the hammock up and testing it out. In fact, each of us took turns climbing inside it.     It's amazingly cozy. I was surprised at how relaxing it actually was stretched out there. All of us agreed this is the perfect summer spot. The trees we put the hammock between seem to be growing at precisely the correct distance from each other so that a hammock could hang there. Was it planned that way? Sure does seem like it. Look at the beautiful tree canopy above. Family and friends, come and stay with us and enjoy the hammock this summer!

The deer are here! Now that the weather is warmer, the deer have returned in groups. Today, a herd of five large deer came through our pasture and walked across the front yard. They were enormous! I'm sure I recognize this group; the two bucks with the antlers in velvet are the twin babies we first saw a couple of years ago. They were not shy at all. I was able to walk up reasonably close. They wandered over to the blueberry bushes and started tugging on the netting. I had to shoo them away. Yesterday, a young buck was trying to figure out how to nudge open the garden gate. I ran out with the broom and waved it at him.   Otherwise, we enjoy seeing them around the property when they aren't trying to eat our garden and blueberries. There are plenty of other things for them to eat around here. They nibble on the lower branches of the trees and eat our roses. There's a whole trail full of native bushes and plants. They also eat dandelions (we are never in short supply of those ...

What a wet and rainy fall we've had here thanks to the Pineapple Express, which has caused "Atmospheric Rivers" to pass through multiple times. It sounds frightening, this latest weather buzzword. Whoever heard of rivers in the atmosphere before 2021? But here we are, with rivers running above us, dropping huge amounts of rain on this whole corner of the Pacific Northwest.  So far Morse Creek, which runs behind our house on its way to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, has swelled and is rushing hard.  Since it has a big enough place to dump its water in the Strait, so far we seem to be okay.  But just in case, let's say a prayer, think positive thoughts, and knock on wood.  We still worry of course, as we are in what's known as a 300 year flood plain.  We are super thankful for our flood insurance policy, which gives us peace of mind at night when we can hear the rain pounding on the roof as we try to sleep.   I thought I'd put a few photos here to update yo...

Could this be 10 years worth of paper wasp nests built up in our attic vent? Every shelf in this vent had wasp nests like the one you see above. We had sprayed the nests two nights ago with Hot Shot Wasp and Hornet Killer, and then yesterday evening, thinking they were all dead, we went up together in the boom lift ready to begin scraping and sanding this side of the house.  My husband used his scraper to start removing the nests from the vent. Yikes!!!!! An angry swarm of bees came charging out of there, circling us and stinging him.  I don't know how I escaped their wrath, but luckily I did as we quickly maneuvered the lift back down.   After tending to the wound, we went back up in the lift with another big can of Hot Shot. We sprayed a whole bunch more in there, and then waited until the next morning to make another attempt to clean the vent out. That next morning, we also brought a can of Hot Shot up in the lift with us, just in case.  I held the Hot Shot s...

The sun is back out and all the snow has melted.  It feels like spring is on its way.  We are relieved to report that everything in the garden survived the cold spell we had last week.  While many areas across the U.S. experienced extreme cold, temperatures here only dipped down to about 27 degrees F during the evenings, which is a lot warmer than had originally been predicted.  I'm pretty sure we might have lost some of the garden if temperatures had gone as low as the teens. Mother Nature was kind to us this time around. We're grateful to still have the winter garden going strong. It's much warmer this week, getting up near 50 degrees. With our home facing the south, the sunshine streams into our windows, allowing us to turn off the pellet stove to take advantage of the natural light warming the house.  Even though it's cold in the morning, I wait to build a fire until later in the afternoon, when the sun has dipped behind the trees and a cold shadow falls on ...

On Sunday we were feeling restless and needed to get out of town, and so we decided to do a little exploring outdoors and take a drive out to see the Sol Duc waterfall. Forty five minutes into the drive, we reached the Sol Duc turnoff from highway 101 and discovered that the road was closed.  Well, that was unfortunate for us, but we were determined to continued on to explore somewhere, and we ended up in Forks where we enjoyed seeing Bella's truck and exploring the Twilight information in the Visitors Center.  At the suggestion of the friendly host in the Visitors Center, we continued on to Rialto Beach.  What a beautiful place!  I thought I'd share a few of our photos.  Rialto Beach, and Forks for that matter, are definitely worth the drive.   As soon as we parked in the beach parking lot, we were amazed at the huge piles of logs that had washed in from high tides.  We were also curious to find that this is a black-sand beach made from volcanic ...