Thanksgiving Snow and New Kittens

10-23-10 & 11-9-10 - Took these two pictures of the lace leaf maple changing to it's bright red fall colors.

Tuesday, 11-23-10 - The picture below was taken the morning after the BIG snow storm on Monday. It snowed all day and all night - very unusual for Sequim. Really pretty, but not a lot of fun if you have to drive in it.

11-11-10 - The new kittens were delivered to the house this afternoon. They are 6 weeks old today. It's taken a couple of weeks to name them, but I think we've settled on Izzi (Izzibell) for the little female (the runt of the litter) and TJ (Teej) for the little male. They are so much fun, and so funny.

Ted has never had kittens around the house before and is really enjoying watching their antics. Like all babies, they are into everything. The house is filled with the pitter patter of little feet and lots of laughter!

Landscaping Plants 9-25-10

Saturday, 9-25-10 - What an incredibly beautiful day! I took these pictures around 10:00 a.m. Our landscaper Debbie Reylolds has been working on the yard for two weeks and she will finish up on Wednesday 9-29.

These pictures will give you an idea of what things look like.

We are really pleased with the end results. It will be fun adding plants to the landscape in the months ahead to fill in the gaps. There are so many beautiful plants to choose from.

Mowing & Landscape Boulders, July 2010

July 7, 2010 - The annual mowing was done today. This equipment was really too small to do a good job on the very tall/thick grass. The tires just flatened it out before the blades could cut it, so the tall grass just stood back up after he was finished. Also he couldn't see the various drainage/sewer vent pipes and ran over them with the mower. I'll make sure they are clearly marked next year.

July 30, 2010 - Finally got the big landscaping rocks placed around the house today. Took 4 hours with the backhoe. They did a good job. Now all we need are the trees and plants. I thought I had a landscaper scheduled to start the last week in August, but I haven't heard back from her so I'll have to start looking for someone else next week.

July 27, 2010 - I found this unique area rug and thought it would look nice on the wall. The picture doesn't do it justice. The brown background with the orange, red and tan "sun bursts" complement the colors of the slate in the hallway and kitchen, and comes close to matching the bench cushions (which I'm getting recovered).

Wed. September 8, 2010 - I went for a hike down on the Dungeness Spit this morning with a couple of lady friends I met at line dancing class. (Ted was playing golf.) It was such a beautiful day-perfect for a 1+ hour walk on the beach.

Property Fence & Irrigation Trench 6-14-10

Monday, June 14, 2010 - Took these pictures of the fence marking the property corners today. Owl's Nest Road is just up the hill behind the trees in the picture above. In picture below I'm standing by the street looking down the property line. If you enlarge the picture you can see the other corner fence waaay down the hill.

I walked down the hill and snapped this shot of the fence.

It was completed Friday, May 21, 2010.

The trenching for the irrigation system was completed today. Steve Moak from Nature Scapes by Debra, Inc. is installing the drip irrigation system, which should be done by the end of this week. Next is getting the BIG landscaping rocks placed around the yard. Then we start the planting of the big trees and shrubs. I'm really looking forward to that.

RED SUNSET MAPLE

Hope to see one of these in the yard someday! :)

Concrete Stairs & Driveway Addition 4-28-10

Friday 4-23-10 - They built the forms on Thursday then brought in the pump truck and poured the concrete on Friday. It's amazing how much goes into the forms - the in-ground pilings with iron rods throughout for support. Rex and his crew did an excellent job. They were the ones who poured the foundation for the house.

Wednesday, 4-28-10 - Again, they built the forms on Tuesday and poured the driveway on Wednesday morning. (Ted is watching the activities.) The driveway was supposed to be this wide when it was originally poured, but the contractor forgot to notify the concrete man. No big deal - we just had to do it later.

Thursday, 4-29-10 - They came back to put the final coat of sealant on the stairs. It's wonderful to finally have stairs to the basement, and they turned out great! The driveway being wider is much better too.

Finally saw a portion of the infamous Sequim Elk Herd last week. Diane and Jerry Hayman called and told us they were in the field at the bottom of Bell Hill, so Ted and I jumped in the car and drove down to see them. We were told this was only about half of the herd - mostly females and youngsters in this group.

Landscaping Begins - March 2010

Happy to be Home!

Sat. 3-6-10 - It was like spring here in Sequim when we returned from Hawaii on Feb. 22nd, which put us in the mood to start our landscaping projects. So we took a few pictures outside. The 2 above are "before" pictures.

The picture above was taken on 3-6, and the one below today, 3-13. Our landscaper Debra planted the trees around the propane tank and put in the gravel path that goes from the front sidewalk down to the basement door. She's not finished yet, but it already looks good. Certainly makes walking up and down the hill much easier (and cleaner)! No more tracking mud into the house.

In the picture below you can see we brought the gravel all the way up to the road, where I am standing. We did that so Ted could get his Power-Wagon down to the basement to haul the heavy things (books, collectibles, etc.) up to the garage for packing and mailing when he sells them on e-bay.

Kaua'i - Hawaii 2010

Sunday 1-31-10 - We checked into the Marriott on Kaua'i around 4:00 p.m. April took the picture below from our 12th floor rooms. Beautiful view of our beach. Toured the entire island over the next week, before our unforgettable helicopter tour on Saturday!

Saturday, 2-6-10 - The picture below is of the Na'Pali Coast. No roads. Only way to see it is via helicopter or boat. "Jurassic Park" mountains and jungle. This is where we were when the engine blew up on our helicopter! It was a pretty intense few minutes before our wonderful helicopter pilot Doug landed us safely, on the ONLY piece of level ground anywhere around.

You can see how small the patch of grass is where Doug set the helicopter down. What a thrill ride! We were met by some hippies who heard the engine fail and came to see if everyone was okay. Doug radioed in for help and one of the hippies, "AJ", led us down the beach to their camp about a half mile away.

"Uncle T", the leader of the camp, brought out chairs for all of us so we could wait for the rescue helicopter to arrive, then entertained us with stories about his 11 years of living there in the camp. He was a great host, and we all had the best time! Of course there is a lot more to this story, but not enough room or space on the blog to tell it all. You'll just have to call me. :)

Sharon (me), Ted, April & Kenny

It took over a week for them to replace the engine on the downed helicopter, so they flew in and out of the Emergency Landing Pad that is right next to the hippie camp many times with parts, mechanics, etc. etc. April had given the helicopter company $20.00 and asked them to make sure Uncle T and his group got some ice cream, peanut butter and a few other requested items. The picture below is Uncle T's girlfriend retrieving some of the groceries that were delivered. There were several bags of groceries that were flown in to them during that week - way more than $20.00 worth. Meeting them and the time spent with them was one of the best parts of the entire trip!

Hawaii - February 2010

Saturday, February 6, 2010 - Below is a picture of our hosts, Uncle T, his lady friend, and AJ (and me beside Uncle T). Uncle T offered us wine, wanted to fix us lunch, insisted we have some of their homemade bread with cheese. They were wonderful hosts during our 3 hour wait for the rescue helicopter to arrive.

The rescue helicopter picked us up at the hippie camp, and we continued on with our island tour. We landed safely about 40 minutes later. It was the most exciting (and a little scary) trip....one we could never have imagined! We got way more than our money's worth!

Friday, 2-5-10 - We met up with Tasha and Tory (Ted's niece and her fiance) when we toured the "Grand Canyon" of Kaua'i. They got engaged on this trip.

Friday, 2-12-10 - The four of us, Kenny, April, Me and Ted, went out for our big Zip Line Adventure. Our helmets named us Romeo, Shorty, Honey & Wiggles. All of us really had a blast! It was so much fun!

On the way back to our condo from the zip line adventure we stopped at a little restaurant for dinner. The hostess had a collection of sunglasses, so we all grabbed a pair and had our picture taken. You don't think we look like tourists or anything do you? :)

Christmas-New Years 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Time got away from me. Didn't realize it was

November when I last updated the blog. I'll bring things

up to date over the next couple of days.

January 1, 2010 - Ted and I spent the evening at home and toasted the New Year in with a glass of sparkling cider in above picture. We had Christmas eve dinner with Ted's family in Tacoma.

Dec. 25, 2009 - We stayed over at Karn's (Ted's sister) home, got up early and drove over to Cort and Liz's house for Christmas morning with the family. We spent most of the day there then returned to Karn's and spent the evening visiting. Returned to Sequim the following day.

I love the picture of Karn and Signe below.