Shy Sheep

Lamb shelter complete with salvaged roofing tin. The lambs have checked it out and have seemed to approve.

They are still shy sheep. They think they are hiding.

Father's Day

Marshal's Father's Day gift to himself and his dad was "hangtown fry" at Seeds in LaConner. The unbeatable breakfast plate for the men in my family is cornmeal crusted pan-fried, fresh Puget Sound oysters atop a delicious medley of farm fresh eggs, bacon, spinach, red onion, and garlic scramble. These are accompanied by fried red potatoes, flax seed toast, and homemade raspberry jam. They love it so much, it makes us all "almost" drool over oysters!

DADS

Grandpa and Grandma (Dad and Mom) coming this weekend to visit made this day extra special.

New Additions

We brought home Shetland lambs last night. They are wilder than anything and home in the dog kennel for a couple nights. Thought we might be able to tame them a bit in close quarters. No such thing, yet.

Building a portable sheep shelter, a little A frame, since the lambs love the dog house so much!

Grooming Tirza this past week, she lost at least half her hair to my scissors and brush.

Another garden pic in evening light with rainbow.

A sunset with a jet passing overhead from last week.

Flag Day

"On June 14, 1877, the flag had a birthday - a big one. It was 100 years old." Red, White, and Blue, The Story of the American Flag, by John Herman
That makes Old Glory 234 years old today!
"God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her, through the night with the light from above." I wrote these words as Lydia sang them out beside me. I echo the prayer.

Sunday Sunrise

Psalm 50:1, A Psalm of Asaph, "The Mighty One, God the LORD, has spoken and called the earth
From the rising of the sun to its going down."

Tirza woke me up this morning around 5:30 am, and I was greeted by the sunrise. The sight superseded the sleep disruption on a Sunday morning. It was almost too bright to get a photo with the sun reflecting in the bay and sun dots on my lens. The sun showed itself a liquid fire ball in the heavens and in its reflection. Oh, will the sight of YAWEH, so much more so, consume and overwhelm us one day.

Sundown

Capturing Marshal filling the birdfeeder and the late light of the day.
Here are our garden plots! "Three Sisters," bantam sweet corn, pole beans, and squashes in the far garden bed with mounds. Fish heads from our Kettle Falls trip are under four of the mounds.
We also planted a bed of ever-bearing strawberries on Sunday afternoon to Marshal's great satisfaction! Radishes, lettuces, spinach, turnips, beets, carrots, onions, cilantro, and sunflowers are up!
Deck pots! And look at those amber waves of grass.

Last Game of the Season - Almost!

This would have been the last game of the season, but for a rained out make-up game next week. This was a the first day of warm sunshine in the stands, and the Diamond Backs played a long undefeated team. The game was pure excitement and suspense from beginning to end. Every team member played their best, and D-Backs beat the Dodgers 11-10 in the final stretch. My lens is focused on player number 6.

And he's off to take a base!

Still frames of a fast pitch make me think, "Baseball Ballet".
Or Karate Kid stance... Standing Crane.
Concentration and power.

Back to ballet, you see.

Anniversary and Miscellaneous

Marshal and I woke up on Friday to our eleventh anniversary. Marshal finished off his week of leave at home. It has been a sweet time, beautiful days at the end of the week. I took a photo of our anniversary morning scene. I joined Marshal and his cup of coffee at the corner table with tea of my own and gathered binoculars and bird books as we identified a large Osprey fly into the pasture below.
We had a relaxed morning together and signed our sellers' closing papers on our Port Orchard house with a trip to the Notary and UPS! Marshal took us as a family to lunch in a little spot in Anacortes that we always wanted to try. We drove in the sunshine and shopped a bit while out and about. In the afternoon, Marshal changed the oil filter of his boat with utmost satisfaction, and I potted some tomatoes and worked with pots and herbs around the door step. It was a day of many notes, a sweet and steady melody, that sums up the song of our life right now together.
Saturday morning, I thought how sweet for Marshal to put chairs for the two of us in the morning sun on the porch. He confessed that they'd been there for him and Tigey, the cat, who refused to sit anywhere but his lap while he was grillin' and chillin' the night before. The cat won the lap over the chair, with the compromise to stay off Marshal's head and shoulders. Makes me laugh that Marshal thought he could pull up a chair for the cat. Laps are so much nicer. Marshal enjoyed bonding with the cat too. We almost lost the cat on our trip, as he got locked in the tool shed at the last moment before our departure. Our friends that came to check on the chickens and Tigey found him by day two and cut a hole in the door to get him out. It saved his life. Marshal said just yesterday, "I'm so glad Tigey didn't die." That means a lot, even when the cat pooped on his boots and saturated the tool shed with urine. Marshal realized that he thinks like a cat, because while we were still away from home and found out about Tigey, Marshal said that Tigey surely pooped on his boots and slept in the baseball mitt. Tigey did both indeed!
My lilacs are fading fast, but still giving off deep perfume. We were gone during their peak, but I had to bring the last almost spent blooms into the house.

Around Kettle Falls

Exploring around Kettle Falls, we pulled into the upper section of Meyer's Falls, behind Kettle Falls town. There seems to be a long history of hydro-electric power on the area's rivers and falls. We were impressed by the size of this fall.

Where Grandma grew up. This is a place of personal history too.
Headed towards the cabin along the turns of Lake Roosevelt.

Marcus Flats and Kettle Falls

We were looking for the original Kettle Falls, quite the mystery to us. The waters so receded, we walked and threw a ball for Sheba through this swimming hole. As we walked towards the banks of the old Columbia River, we walked on old concrete sidewalks! We found First St down by the water. The kids climbed on old foundations and basements of town businesses long buried under the lake waters. This must have been the town of Marcus.

Here solves the mystery of Kettle Falls. It has been hidden below the lake since 1940 as well. From the bridge we could pick out the tops of the old islands and see the ripples of where the falls must crest before their descent.

Lake Fishing

Craigslist shopping success again. Marshal has a new/used boat, titled and licensed in his name just in time for fishing on noted fishing haven, Twin Lakes.
Happy man with his whole family, including the two furry ones, on the lake. Just enough room for the six of us.
Tirza didn't have this lap of a serious fisherman for long. He reeled in a 16" and 13" trout over the weekend.
Lydia caught the first catch of this day, a beautiful 14" Rainbow Trout. Gabe has a photo on his camera of his and her fish grilled for dinner. They had good pink meat.

This Peregrine Falcon? flapped with grace and speed beside and over us many times, showing off his catch.

Cabin Bound

Marshal took leave over the Memorial Weekend, and we headed with boat, dogs, and kids, and a packed truck over the mountain passes of Hwy 20, across the north of the state. The road opened less than 48 hours before our trip!
Lake Roosevelt has been drained in the generating of power, and the Columbia River has receded closer to its old paths. It was a shock to see the changed river basin.
Little Cabin in the woods was a welcome sight, intact, uninhabited by bears or other troublesome critters. The mice were quite respectful of the place. The pack racks were a different story in Marshal's shed. They consumed everything that wasn't steel and made the entire shed one gigantic nest. Marshal spent our last day reclaiming it.

Grouse on Parade