Ruby Beach is Creeping?

Garnet sand?

Patches of garnet sand on the Clallam Bay beach? These usually only show up at Ruby Beach, down the Pacific coast.

Building on the beach.

Here's a shot of a little pile of driftwood several people seem to have been working on as the days goes by. Sometimes it's a house, sometimes its collapsed into a decorative heap. Sometimes the sea takes it back.

Happy dog

And fun with dogs up on the Hobuck Beach, near Neah Bay: Shaun Allyn and two unidentified dog regulars at Hobuck Beach. It seems to be a local law that, if you go to the beach, you will be issued, like Allyn, with a large, friendly Beach Dog, who will return all those precious sticks you so carelessly throw into the surf. 

While the law requires all dogs to be on a leash, in a large rural area where people need to get along, animal control's unofficial view works: if the dogs don't cause problems, the officers "aren't going to shake any trees." Friday, May 24.

Steamed Bread

Steamed, upside-down.

When I bake in the summer, I just use the microwave. Or all year, if I'm doing whole wheat, which gets tough in our little woodstove-top oven.

Recipe:

Any bread recipe.

Oil microwavable container (glass is preferable, for all microwave cooking, but plastic lets you invert the loaf).

Cooled, flipped, showing lid design in top.

Microwave at 50% for 10 minutes. Check to see if finished crumb is complete across top, if not, microwave 70% for 2 minutes.

Invert, microwave at full power for 2-3 minutes.

Remove, pull up container, let cool.  

Invert onto cutting board.  Enjoy! 

Sliced. Nice crumb, huh?

(Microwaving produces fabulous steamed Chinese breads. It makes English Christmas pudding in a fraction of the traditional time).

I Hope It's Not Naughty

I hope it's not naughty....

Just some rocks found on the Clallam Bay beach. They sorta look like Chinese idiograms, to me, especially the one on the lower left.

Any Chinese friends can read these?

Have I got them all right-side-up? 

:D

Swiftsure Sailboat Race

Swiftsure boat race evening.

Just a pretty photo off the beach, as the sailboats drove in, on Memorial Day Saturday. I liked the lens flare.

A Coelacanth in Tar?

Slip Point Tar Pits?

A Coelacanth fossil on the Clallam River bridge at Slip Point? No, but a surprisingly evocative image in asphalt left by a road-patching crew. "Fossils" - or rather shells embedded in sandstone - are a popular tourism draw to the cliffs behind the beach. Wednesday, May 22.

Sekiu Running Dog

Kim and Petey (with Mom's help).

Will Kim actually breed a dog based on Lab, Cocker Spaniel and Chihuahua? 

Petey, who hangs out at Olson's resort, is black and sweet like a lab, small and big-footed like a Cocker, and has the silky coat of a Chihuahua. He fetches, has a soft mouth, swims like a duck, and is loving but loyal. He can jog for miles, will probably hunt, and can still come in and love on the sofa or a lap without causing pelvic failure. And his huge feet just say "puppy." Yes, that's a full-grown dog.

Kim was wondering what to call it - "Cockalabahua" or something like - but we decided it needed a REAL breed name. 

And now I want a Sekiu Running Dog.

Floor Repair Gets Out Of Hand

Front room, down hallway (still a bit to do).

All we meant to do was pull up the horrible, catted-up old rug and fix holes in the old floor. Then I found the Instructables link.

OOPS. 

But - not bad for an amateur? Okay, so it's not perfect, but we're kinda happy! I made lots of mistakes, and my denoting rooms and areas with different darkness values might not have been completely successful, but man, it feels great underfoot. Holes repaired with steel sheets (which causes a bit of music here and there), but so much warmer and nicer. And so much easier to clean. 

We're not quite done - still have to put in the edging (and thus hiding all my fun with not quite measuring right on the fancy cuts) and a few more pieces. But this is mostly it.

Front room from dooway. Dan at the book-case.

I put it down with nice brass screws. No glue for me. EVER. Or nails. Well, yes, in the quarter rounds and little metal strips, but nowhere it could split wood. I'll pay the extra bit for screws because - yes - I'm always experimenting, and it's always three steps forward, two steps back, until I get it. And we don't want to waste money on an expensive project.

And the cats think it's a skating rink for toy mousies and running up and down the hallway at night. Singing.

Back bedroom from the hall.

Back bedroom from the bath.

Admittedly, though, once again I've had demonstrated to me how the forest industry is tanking from ill-planned, badly-informed overuse and lack of stewardship. As Dan said about the boards and quarter rounds - of supposed good quality - "My grandfather wouldn't have used this for firewood." I got one other word in argument: chipboard. Don't even start with me on chipboard.


Added more photos on the 26th of May. Some of the wood was a bit too pale - mostly because we couldn't use the backs, which were badly patched and touched up. Can we say, "WTF?" Again, as the old Good Show used to say, "You can't get the wood, you know."

Anyway, got out a can of mahogany stain and quickly faked in the wood grain. Was able to line up real grains with fake grains, rather nicely.  Don't try this at home - unless you're an artist with years of practice and a perfectly-developed eye. 

Flowing "wood grain" down the hall.

Bringing false into real

No, wood grains do NOT go around corners like that.