Four Part Harmony

The sun’s been shining quite a bit as of late. Nice warm days and summery evenings made for sitting out on the back porch.
Haven’t put up any pictures in a while, so here’s a few from this past week.

Last Saturday, we had a great bike ride down along the Springwater Corridor. We headed out with no specific destination, and ended up stopping at the Oaks Bottom Amusement Park, mostly because it was a convenient turning around point. Turns out, there was a petting zoo setting up for the Memorial Day weekend, so we got out and walked around, checked out some goats and horses, pigs, a big old tortoise…a whole bunch of critters. Anna was pretty well entertained, as you can see…

My parents came into town Saturday night, and we’ve had a fun weekend and a good week so far. We gathered up at Rox and Matt’s house for the traditional Memorial Day get-together. Lots of familiar faces and kids running about, and a good time was had by all. Not much in the way of photos tho’ for some reason. (If anyone has a good one, email it to me and I’ll post it…)

We spent much of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday working out in the yard, doing some major clearing of brush/shrubbery, digging of dirt, preparing garden beds, and working a bit on the perennial coop project. We finally cleared the giant mound of dirt that was sitting along our back fence and spread the dirt in the garden plot. Dad and I trucked in 2.5 truck loads of 4-way soil mix from the compost place up on Foster, and by yesterday we had two big garden beds cleared, a raised bed all filled up with nice looking soil, and some potatoes planted. We also scored some nice heirloom tomato starts for $1 a piece at the feed store.

Anna did most of the heavy lifting and pitchforking, as you can see.

The chickens spent their first night outside in the coop Monday night. We were able to get their nest box all finished up that day, and it was a beautiful night. They seemed to at least tolerate it if not enjoy it. They seem to be getting more used to the idea each night.
The coop is mostly done, with the exception of finishing up the siding (I know, I know). We tested out a gallon of electric blue paint that we had left over from the house project, which we never used because it was just a little too ….blue. As you can see, it’s pretty blue, but what the heck, it’s a chicken coop right? Once we get it finished I think we’ll move in and have the chickens live in our house.
The chickens are getting pretty big and chicken-ey. Maybe some pictures of them coming soon…

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This weekend sure flew by.
We spent Friday night watching Kadin for Dawn and Doyle.
We enjoyed his company as always, Anna most of all.
Hopefully he liked hanging out with us as much as we liked hanging out with him.

Saturday we started the morning with a bike ride down to Kenilworth Park. A nice short ride for a cool, cloudy morning. Anna loves bike rides, and loves the park. But what she really loves is a bike ride to the park. The thing is, she likes to go to the park first thing in the morning, usually before the sun is really even up yet and the dew is still on the grass. It makes for some chilly morning rides, but I can’t really complain.
We spent quite a while playing in the park before making the climb back up the hill to home.

On the way back we stopped at our new favorite cafe the ‘Busy Corner’. It’s an old mom and pop type grocery store recently reconfigured into a European-style cafe. I can’t say I’ve really seen anything quite like it here in town. They’ve got a little toychest in the corner full of books and toys, a little rocking chair, and all kinds of interesting fun things for Anna to play with. Really good, simple food and a welcoming atmosphere. So come on over and we’ll take you there some time.

Saturday afternoon threatened rain, so we stuck around the house for a while. I managed a few hours of work on the coop (still under construction) while Anna napped.

We headed up to Alberta for the Art Hop in the early evening. It’s an annual street fair up on Alberta Street with people set up on the street displaying their art/craft/creations for sale and multiple stages with music/performance/etc. up at various locations up and down the street. Our band played and Anna and Nicki were able to stick around for quite a while before Anna started to get worn out from the big day.

Today it finally rained, and as such, we spent a rainy day mostly around the house. I did still manage to do some work on the coop while Anna napped despite the rain; we went grocery shopping, and Nicki and Anna took a trip to the library. The quintessential ‘lazy’ Sunday.

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Today was a pretty action-packed Mother’s day.
I made breakfast-in-bed for Nicki (and Anna). Anna decided it would be a good time to feed herself with the fork all by herself (she did a pretty good job). I don’t even think she got too many crumbs in the bed.
Doyle and Dawn and Kadin had us over for mimosas this morning, which was a welcome treat. The bike ride over was surprisingly chilly. Anna didn’t mind though, she is always up for a bike ride these days.
Brunch at the Heathman was quite the event. Steve and Keri and the girls, Jason and Angela and Niko, Doyle and Dawn and Kadin, and us all met up down there.
It was quite the spread, and everyone seemed to have their fill.
There were many photos taken, including this cute one with all the moms and kids.
It’s nice to have a growing community of kids around.

On the walk back to the car, we took some pictures in the downtown Park Blocks.

Nicki and the girls went out for the afternoon/evening, so Anna and I brought the chickens out into the backyard to enjoy a couple hours of sunshine.
I told Anna that the chickens were looking for bugs to eat in the grass, which she thought was pretty hilarious.
I played some fiddle (slowly making progress on that front).
Corrie and Shawn stopped by to say hello.
All in all a nice evening, and a nice end to a nice day

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Here are a few new pictures from the past couple of days.
The weather’s been all nice and summery, so we’ve been out enjoying it.
We had our first dinner on the back patio Monday night, and we let the chicks scratch and peck and flap around in the garden while we ate.
Thankfully they still stick together and don’t go too far.
A big old crow came down and landed on the fence and checked them out while we ate.
I’d never have thought of a crow as a potential predator of a baby chick, but it was clear what he had on his mind.

We shooed him off.

It’s hard to see in the photo, but they’re really growing pretty quickly. They’ve all three got about half of their true feathers in now, so they’re still a little scruffy in patches. The chicks are still without concrete names…or rather, they’ve each got too many names.

Buff Orpington is no longer called banjo (not too often anyway). I call him yellow, mostly, but we like the name ‘Sol’ (proper spelling still under debate).
Rhode Island Red is just ‘Red’ most of the time, also ‘Big Red’.
The Wyandotte has been ‘Anna’s chicken’…also ‘Silver’, also ‘Blackie’. But our latest name has been ‘Kimchee’, a name that Nicki came up with which I think is great.
We’ll see if these stick, or if they continue to change as the chicks grow up.

And now for something completely different. A couple of photos of Anna enjoying the sun…and her ever-growing collection of hats.

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We were out at Camp Westwind this weekend.
Its become somewhat of an annual tradition for us, and this was our 4th year. It’s a music/dance gathering that our good friend Beth has been doing the catering at for the past 20 years or so. We come along to help out the kitchen crew, but also just to hang out. It’s essentially a nice bunch of folks (140 or so), getting together to play fiddle tunes, dance, and sing for about 36 straight hours. For us, its become a chance to get to the beach in the late spring, see some friends, and usually meet some new ones. Four years ago, Nicki and I got engaged on this stretch of beach.
Anna was in heaven most of the trip. She loves the ocean, and sleeping in the tent. We spent a bit of time on the beach, and a lot of time just playing in the sand, running around, climbing up and down the stairs and doing all of that stuff that Anna really enjoys. Anna also did quite a bit of her patented Anna-style dancing, and asking for “more” when the song would end.

Saturday was Nicki’s 35th birthday. We had a nice Westwind style morning of coffee, music and helping out in the kitchen. We went on a nice hike in the afternoon, up the trail behind the main lodge to a high meadow, from which we could see Cascade head to the north, the Salmon River estuary, and Lincoln City laid out to the south.

Later in the afternoon, Nicki proved she’s still a spring chicken at 35, by capturing this action self-portrait.

We had some cake and mimosas later that evening. Anna stayed up admirably until about 9:00, thoroughly enjoyed a glass of fresh squeezed O.J., and then she and I went off to the tent. Nicki and the rest of the kitchen crew spent the evening playing music and taking a moonlight stroll on the beach.

Sunday was a fairly relaxing day in comparison with past years. We helped out in the kitchen some, packed up the tent, and eventually got on the road. Anna fell asleep instantly, and didn’t wake up until we were pulling onto Holgate. A great trip as always, and we’re already looking forward to next year.

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