Rainy Day Project

Its raining, its pouring.  No really its pouring rain so hard its already pulled apart my rain gutters.  I'm going to have to call that repair in this week.

So because its raining I've opted not to start decorating the outside of the house for Halloween today but to work on an inside project.  It was either dye my hair or reupholster my desk chair.

My computer chair is badly in need of reupholstering.  I like to put my right foot under my left thigh and well as you can see I've worn out the seat cover in that area.  The back of the chair is in perfect condition still so I'm not going to bother ripping that up until it has to be done.

This is the fabric that I've chosen to reupholster my chair with on the seat bottom.  If I so need to I'll have enough left over to reupholster the top of the seat as well.

Really I don't care if the top and the bottom cushion fabric match as long as its no longer in tatters. I just want it to be comfortable.

Maybe next week I'll get around to dying my hair.  For now it can wait as the chair is a higher priority.

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier afforded us the chance to enjoy snow in July.  The weather was cold, wet, and overcast but still an enjoyable drive up the mountain side.  J, in the photo here, is standing in a large section of snow with the frozen water and mountain in the backdrop.  We formed snowballs and tried to throw them into the open areas of water.  I alas am not a good aim with a snowball.

I have to say I didn't enjoy Mt. Rainier as much as I did the Mt. St. Helen's trip but that was because I had been up Mt. Rainier just three years ago.  It hasn't changed all that much except for having a heavier snowfall this year and colder temperatures making the glaciers grow.

Don't drink the water on Mount Rainier.  Well maybe if you have water purification tablets it might be safe.  I can't see as how all that rust and iron content in the water can be healthy for the body.  Personally I wouldn't even walk in that water from this particular stream.

This is the retired tour bus, a Kenworth, that would pick up visitors from Seattle and bring them to the mountain for hiking and day tours.  It is a new exhibit and wasn't there three years ago when I was a first time visitor to the mountain.  I believe that the plaque said it was a 1934 Kenworth, thus the Kenworth name on the secondary license plate.  Two license plates were on the back of the bus, one with the official Washington state plate the other just with the name Kenworth.

Mount Rainier has several spectacular view points, though the forestry service could do a better job in maintaining them.  This is just one set of falls at which we stopped to get a better photo.  While on Mt. St. Helen's we spoke with an older gentleman who said he used to work for the US Forestry service.  Having worked for them he told us how they use the money from the US government and produce no revenues.  They don't maintain the parks or vistas like they should and they like to build new buildings when the old ones are still perfectly good.  I didn't know all this before speaking with him.  Rather interesting and with our deficit we could probably cut some spending from that particular program.

Black and white photo I made of a color photo J took of the raging waters on Mount Rainier.  Mt. Rainier is much taller than Mt. St. Helen's due to Mt. St. Helen's exploding.  The Benchmark for the Mt.Rainier area we went to was 6,800 feet.  While the topmost point on Mt. St. Helen's we drove to was 4,200 feet.  Mt. Rainier is over 14,000 feet at it's peak.

Our next journey and last of the overnight trips starts today.  We are headed up to the town of Sequim (pronounced like swim but with a "q" ) for the Lavender Festival.  I'm going to be without wifi for three days.  Not sure how I'm going to cope.  We'll see what photos I have for my blog when I get back.  The weather is supposed to be over cast and raining which, though usual for most of Washington, is unusual for Sequim since its the driest town in Washington.  Where ever I go the precipitation seems to follow.

Still On Holiday, I Hope

Photo by me.  It rained Tuesday, Wednesday and again today which is Thursday here still on the West Coast.  The vacation we had planned for hiking and picture taking still happened though not as planned.

The cloud cover and fog at the higher elevations of 3,000+ feet was so much at times that it was difficult to even see the road.  Still we managed to have a good time the first day.

The photo is of a plant on Mount St. Helen's that intrigued me.  Why?  Well the rain had fallen and just stayed in droplets looking as if they were diamonds.

I plan on making more of a thorough blog post later this week or probably when the vacation is finally over.  Maybe I'll post a better blog entry at the next destination.

Yes, we are planning on hitting the road again.  Quite possibly taking off tomorrow morning early if we can book a vacation area tonight.

Maybe this time I'll get to go browsing for antiques in this journey.

More photos to follow at a later date.

Let There Be Snow

We are heading out on our next adventure.  We need it bad too.  After a week spent mostly at home watching the lawn turn brown from the trucks rolling over it we need to get away.

Why the photo of Winter?  Well where we are headed there will be snow.  I'm hoping for lots of snow.  From the forecast and from what the innkeeper said yesterday there is about 13 feet of snow covering one highway that should actually be open this time of year.  I'm excited.

I've called the housesitter up and she's agreed to be here at the appointed time.  We are bugging out tomorrow morning early.  I've got my hiking boots ready and warm weather gear along with some heavier clothing items.  I'm set.  J's set because I packed for him.  I'll just have to remind him to grab a coat tomorrow.

Playing in the snow in the Northern Hemisphere in July is awesome.  I just wonder how close we'll actually get to the snow.  I have to admit finding out that one highway that we had planned to travel is closed does put a bit of a damper on our sight seeing but I'm still excited.  Two volcanos and snow.  The thrill of the unknown.  Could this be the day that they decide to shake awake and puff out some plumes of smoke?  Or will I just see snow filled craters?  Either way I'm going to get some good photos or so I hope.

I'm excited.  Did I say that already?  Yes, I did.

Vacationing At Home

Vacationing at home is for the birds.  I've decided that I don't like this at all.  We are again plotting a way to cheaply and efficiently get out of town.

Staying home means that we are finding more problems with the lawn and the structure.  Oh, its not me.  J is complaining to the highest levels now about his lawn.  He is restless and this means I too am not going to get the chance to rest.

A soldier on vacation and stuck at home is not a pretty picture.  He loves his routine.  He still exercises in the morning, has his big morning breakfast or tries to at least, then heads directly to the computer like he does at work.  Then my question is: "why is he complaining?". 

Recently we had sod put down where the construction workers had dug up the lawn.  The paperwork we received on the sod and lawn treatment states clearly that the company that put it down would remain responsible for the lawn until it was able to be mowed.

We get back from our three day weekend adventure to find that the sod has died in the back area.  The hydro seed has turned brown too.  J is not a happy camper.  J calls up the office in charge of the situation after telling the water tank driver that he has to water the lawn properly.  Well the reason why he ended up calling the office in charge is because the water tank driver decided to do exactly what he thought J wanted and get closer to the dying grass, he drove up over the lawn.  J is fuming at this point.  There are hoses on the water truck for a reason.  He thought for sure that the driver wasn't as stupid as he looked and would understand that he must get out of his truck and hook up the hoses to water the lawn.  UGH!

So now we are having a tech from Equity come out here today to take a closer look at the lawn and how it is deteriorating.  Not to forget the tree that is now dying because the water truck is taking out its branches and running over its roots.

No J is not a happy person right now.  Vacationing with him at home is not ideal.  He has way too much time on his hands.  So we just might take that Mount St. Helen's and Mount Rainier trip early next week after all.
If it gets bad enough we might take a day trip this weekend just so he doesn't try to find more fault with his surroundings.

I too like to get away from my prison, err...house.  I'm here all day most every day.  But I've gotten used to this place.  I now have a routine.  J is on vacation and has too much energy, too much time on his hands and not enough to do to keep him occupied for long.