A beautiful sunny day makes the snow more bearable

We may be getting tired of having snow on the ground for 72 days and counting. But when we get a beautiful sunny day it helps to remind us of the pleasant side of living in snow country. These pictures were taken Feb. 8th




Here is a picture of one of the many 'deer freeways' that criss-cross our property. They have really trampled this path into a well traveled route.

Washington coastal beach at Ocean Park

It is alway refreshing to visit the ocean and it is really spectacular when you get a sunny day in February! While visiting Bobbie and Mike in Ocean Park we took this lovely walk to the beach. The pathway over the dunes was just a perfect mix of light and color and it was like a hidden surprise to get to the top of the dune and see the surf....

MId winter trip to escape the snow

We made a long-weekend trip to the wet side of Washington to visit friends and family. It was nice to see "open" ground-- no snow! We posed for a group shot of us with the Howats- Su, Jeff and Kelsey- during our stop over in Sequim.

Stopped up to a dump site near Sequim that is a annual hang out at this time of year for Eagles. I had to really crop this photo- so it is pretty grainy- but you can still make out the white heads of a number of eagles. We counted a over 30 eagles on the ground and in the nearby trees.

Also make a stop on the Long Beach penninsula to visit good friends Bobbie and Mike. Here are Bobbie and Kurt taking a walk

And here is Mike in his favorite chair.....

Icebergs on the lake!

Maybe this is a sign that spring break up is on it's way. We caught this picture of three little ice floes heading towards Grand Coulee. Look for the white specks in the middle of the water area.

The days are getting warmer and we have had a night or two that didn't go below freezing- so the melt is on! It will still take a while for the 15 inches of snow in the yard and the still 3foot high berms in the driveway to go away.

Woodworking shop update

Kurt's new woodworking shop has come a long way. Here is the freshly poured concrete floor on September 11, 2008

Here is the completed exterior shell in early December. The building was ready for the inside work...

Here is Joanie putting the final screws into the last piece of drywall in the ceiling - the first weekend in Feb. 2009......

February 20th, electricity is working, the walls have been whitewashed and the new workbench is in place below the windows. The woodstove works like a champ to warm up the space thanks to the tightness of the walls and the insulation.

Kurt is moving in! here is his table saw station....

And over on this wall is the station for the compound miter saw....

The turkeys discover the crab apples

Ok It HAS been a slow month. Not much happening when your high temp is 30 degrees and your low temp is 20 degrees for days on end. (Well except for the week when the high was 10 degrees and the low was zero- we sure went throught the firewood that week!)

The turkeys come by every day to see what they can find to nibble on. Last week they finally found the crab apples on the tree by our back door. Although it is hard to see, there are actually 4 turkeys in the tree in this picture