Visiting the Olympic Peninsula

First Brodie - I bought a battery operated food delivery system and have it set for 2:30p every day. It will drop 1/2 cup (can drop 1 1/2) of food with his pill wrapped up in something yummy.  He has gotten the hang of it and now about 20 after will take his place near the machine and wait for the drop. I love this as it frees me up from having to rush home to give him his pill (he HAS to have them on time).

My friend of almost 50 years, Cathie, visited from GA. I really enjoy her company as we are so much alike, and yet so different. She is calmer, much more 'together' than I am, and she can cook!!! I did cook quite a lot while she was here, so that gave me confidence to keep it up.

Above is Lake Crescent on state highway 101 in the Olympic National Forest.  We were on our way to Forks, WA. Once we reached the lake the smoke cleared up. It was SO BAD IT HURT TO BREATHE!

We were on our way to Forks, the town written about in the first book of the Twilight series. Stephenie Meyer chose Forks for the setting for her books as it is a small town and is one of the rainiest places in the United States. It wasn't used in the movies because, according to a local, the governor would not give them a tax break, so they filmed in Oregon instead.

He said that when the book came out using Forks as the setting, the tourism picked up 200 fold and it saved the town which was on the brink of disaster.  It is a tiny town for sure, and I for one am glad they are safe for now! I bought a Twilight T-shirt just to help out their economy.

They now have a Stephenie Meyer Day and I guess she has visited a couple of times. They love her!

This is a resident peacock at the Olympic Game Farm in town, not too far from my home. One of MANY.  The Game Farm was basically supported by Disney, who used their animals in films, and retired their animals there, too. Now they don't from what I understand.

I don't know the history behind this bear, but he was very congenial and almost waved. I think he actually does wave at people who feed him. There were lots of bears, tigers, lions, zebras, etc.

I believe this is a Yak…and it looks like he had an accident with his horn! All the other Yak had horns that went up like the one on the right.  They were very friendly and would stick their faces on your windows hoping you had food to drop them.  We passed up driving through the Bison area as were told it is mating season and they can get mean or amorous with your vehicle!

These are the prettiest deer! Remind me of Bambi! I have never seen any so white with such beautiful sable, freckled saddles.  

They also had tons of rabbits all over. They were so so so cute! Clean and pretty and colorful!  Running loose all over near the Bobcat enclosure and where they have wolves and coyotes. 

All in all is was a pretty nifty experience.

Early on Cathie and I went over to Sequim Bay.  We parked at the John Wayne Marina and walked out near the shoreline to check out rocks. As I understand it his family donated the land. It isn't 18 miles east of Port Angeles, but more like 22 miles or more. Why they leave out Sequim from the directional info I don't know, but it is in the Sequim city limits and in Sequim Bay.  Maybe because it is part of the Port Authority.

This is part of Port Townsend and you can see the cliffs of Whidbey Island.

This is Cathie…we traveled over to Port Townsend to see if we could pick up some "sea glass" which was, of course, pretty picked over.  We did find some tiny round pieces and looked long enough to fill up a small baby jar (almost) of the glass so she would have a conversation piece on her shelf.

Since we started with Brodie we will end with Brodie. Sometimes he can be so breathtakingly handsome!

Sometimes he is just an ornery boy!

Black Cat scratched!

Unfortunately the yarn was too too stiff.  After getting it almost finished I just didn't like the feel or the stretch, so frogged it.

This is the 'real' Thin Red Line hat I finished for my sister-in-law.  I wish more of my family wore hats so I could make a bunch.  I really do have to start using up yarn and large projects are a stumbling block for me.

My friend from GA visited so we took a few quick day trips around the are. This is Lake Crescent in the Olympic National Forest area. Thankful to get out of the smoke!

And this is the smoke, except I did darken the photo some so the sun would show up the right color. It was either a light sky and a yellow sun or the orange sun (which is what the naked eye sees) and a dark sky. Since it was the sun I wanted to show, just think of the sky as light hazy blue!

Before the smoke was intolerable, we did some rock hunting on the shore of the Sequim Bay at the John Wayne Marina. Yes, THAT John Wayne. He donated his property from what I understand. Its a really lovely marina, with a nice restaurant and park type area.

Mr. Brodie climbed up on the stack of beds I piled up as I vacuumed around the living room. Did not have the heart to make him jump off. He was pretty tired from guarding the house while we ladies were gone. Such a good boy - still more puppy than adult at three years old, but calming down slightly each passing month or two. Next year I hope he will keep his charm, but lose his propensity for exuberance at the expense of my arm!  Or my guest arm!

Pink Cat Hat!

This is the beginning of the hat for my DSD.  The pattern is Black Cat mentioned in the previous post.

It's pretty easy so far.  I would say the only thing that I noticed which I find not so great is the space between the left facing and right facing front post trebles.  I think when the whole thing is finished I will go back in on the back side and fill those in with some sort of hdc or dc in back.

I have been cleaning and getting prepared for my girlfriend from GA to arrive next week.  Even went out and bought a case of Wasp Spray as well as a bunch of flea/bug bombs!  I'm doing one room per bomb just to make sure no spiders are lurking and no other little crawling thing!

The wasps are still active and I noticed on Friday they have even set up shop in the metal piping that holds up the large gate. Can't imagine how they can even see each other in there, let alone how they would have a nest. It's not even an inch wide on each side. Just a long skinny square piping.

I had to kill off a hornets nest about a week ago.  Looked like the one above, but not quite as big yet.  It was hanging above the entrance to my carport and they didn't like it when I went to my car.  I feared being attacked. That happened to me once when I was a kid and is just isn't fun.  It took several tries with spray over a few days, since I didn't have the wasp spray yet.  I hated to do it as they are a beneficial by removing insects the are not so beneficial, but my health demanded it.  

Also, my dog has a habit of chasing after anything that flies close to the ground. Have had to warn him off the bumble bees!

Rest after a long day!

Busy Hands are Happy Hands!

A funny thing happened on the way to the end of July. My cardigan turned into a vest!

I ran out of time because I had to remake almost 1/2 of the pattern as I misread the instructions on where to place the center of the shoulder. Ugh. One of the lovely ladies in the Loopy group suggested I finish it as a vest, take photos, get credit, and then go back and change it into a cardigan when I'm ready, which will be this winter.  I did as she suggested and posted photos in the nick of time on the Loopy Ewe web site to get camp credit.

This is one of two hats I made as a test for a friend, RubraC on Ravelry. It's a favorite pattern of mine, now.  The hat has a lovely stretch to it so fits snugly on the head.  I will post the other one I made in the same pattern when she has released it. It is super lovely.  Hopefully the link works. I don't know if she has it open to the public. If not, join Ravelry!

This is another one of her patterns.  It is called Black Cat.  I'm making it in pink for my DSD for her trek to the gathering the next time the ladies wear these in protest.  I hope she likes it and can get some use out of it.

I plan on making more hats like the one below this winter.  I made a bunch of these a couple of years ago.  Right off hand don't remember the pattern name. OH, Backcountry Beanie by Liz McQueen. They run big.

I do remember that the pattern was hard on my right wrist but I really love them! So warm and thick.  I made three for my niece and one or two for others in Seattle Seahawk colors and a few others.

Hope your new week is a lovely one!