Climbing at Beacon Rock

Anna Climbing, photo by Hanmi.

Last weekend we took our neighbor climbing at our favorite local crag. She's been climbing indoors for a while at school, but has only climbed outside once or twice. You'd never know it based on how she attacked every route we put her on, though. She's definitely a natural, and I'm sure we'll be seeing her out on the rock a lot more in years to come. Nice work Anna!

Jayzus it's hot!

Wow... as I type it's 100°F and climbing and the forecast is even hotter tomorrow... My home office feels more like a place to bake cookies than make photos. The chickens are miserable, standing around under the deck panting. I gave them some ice water and some frozen blueberries, but they still look very unhappy. And poor Delilah is molting... although, losing some feathers in this weather doesn't sound so bad. Chickens are notoriously grumpy when they are molting, and she's gone from the friendliest to down right mean. I tell her it will be over soon, but she looks at me incredulously, then tries to take a piece out of my hand. Poor girl.
I'm sure the tomatoes and peppers are enjoying this, though. The rest of us will just have to lay low [like in the basement...] and wait it out. And probably watch a lot of movies.

LA Beach Trip

We were out of town this past week, enjoying the wonderful company of some old friends, and a few new ones, in Newport Beach, just south of Los Angeles, California. We attended the wedding Jeff and Nicole at a local boat "clubhouse" - really a very cool hotel and convention center along a marina. Their ceremony reminded us very much of our own, and their live singer and DJ were very cool indeed.



For the rest of the weekend, we visited some friends from up here in Oregon also traveling, another friend who recently re-located to LA [again] and hung out around the beach where we were staying. The beach was crowded but beautiful, clear and warm. We met a sea lion swimming by the pier, watched the surfing and ate some fish. Very fun!

Garden Box revisited

Well, its time to visit the newest garden box in the front yard. If you look back earlier, you'll see that this box was just built and filled this year. Through the miracle of photosynthesis and time, we're now on the cusp of a nice crop of Poblano Peppers.



As well as peppers, we've have Swiss Chard, Blue Lake Bush Beans and Snow Peas growing in the box, all planted in various phases so that we can harvest them in succession. This means that when the peppers are done, the peas will have more sun. As you can see, the bean plants are getting quite large. As we eat the chard the beans will get more sun to make more beans. Also, the shade the chard receives right now keeps it cooler in the sun, keeping it from bolting and extending the harvest.


It's been a fun little mini-garden to watch. Hanmi has been diligently removing the nasty bugs and giving a good watering every other morning or so. I think we'll create 1 new garden box each year and try different things. Today we saw someone growing corn in theirs! Last year's box is overflowing with pumpkins and soy beans. Yummy fun arrives in October.

More Squamish Photos

Here are a few of my faves from our recent trip to Squamish BC. If you squint and cross your eyes a little you can almost see the cougar as it strolled past our tent. I have no idea why I was so shaky trying to take the shot...