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Driveway Gate Installation

Hey!? Who has been lurking on my site?  Dave!  Yes, we did start to install our gate this past weekend.  It is one of the final tasks in this very long project of getting this fence replaced.  We also set a few more posts in concrete.  We are just about ready to stretch the rest of the fence.

We looked at gates and boy are they expensive. Some are in the thousands of dollars. After looking around at gates we chose the Adjust-a-gate and it's a kit where you buy and put the metal frame together and add the wood and facing yourself.  My Dad got us an automatic gate opener too so we are just about set.

The hinges are really hefty and screwed into our 6" x 6" pressure treated posts.

We got the largest gate they make and that has three rails of 2" x 4" pressure treated boards.

It took a couple of hours to put together and get level.  We really needed a line level but couldn't find it of course.  So I made one using zip ties.  I love zip ties.

Here is the finished frame.

I think we are going to use the same green lattice that we are using for our arbors for the face of the gate for now.  It will match our arbors, be affordable and then later we can take it off and do something more fancy if we want.

For  now, we need to dig a trench for the power to the gate opener, install the gate opener, attach the lattice and level and pour concrete under the gate-so not this weekend but soon, soon we should have a gate and an enclosed yard.

Gates R US

I R the new gat.  I prety much put mysef up lst weakened.  Dave didn't hep at al.  Not really mich to sey abut it.  Not rely worth pixtures.  dah dah dha.

OK maybe you figured out this is just post bait.  In less than 15 minutes the angry she bear will come by, see that someone has messed with her den and then ... watch out.  But being a compulsive editor she will not be able to leave those mis-speiled words alone.

I gotta run while I still can.

One Exciting Birthday

Thursday was my birthday.  My husband always manages to pull off some sort of surprise and he out did himself this year.  My day started at 7:30 am with the first of 6 numbered envelopes with addresses for the GPS inside and a clue on the outside.

My first destination was breakfast with my folks at the Maltby Cafe.  A destination here, and impossible to get in to on the weekend.  They are famous for their huge cinnamon rolls.

After breakfast, I got my second envelope with an unknown address and my Dad and husband headed for home while my Mom and I followed the voice on the GPS, or Molly as we call her. 

She directed us to the Oasis Spa where I was in for a real treat.  He got my friends to chip in and "sponsor" a treatment there.  I got a much needed hair cut and color from my friend Linda, my nails were courtesy of my Father in law and my friend Amy.

   

I had an unfortunate coppery red hair color problem when I colored my hair myself a week or so before. In my attempt to fix it, it got worse so I had to leave it before it all fell out. 

The stylist at Oasis put a lovely shade of reddish brown with subtle highlights and the cut took all the dry crispy hair off so it feels and looks great.

After

Our next destination was home where Dave had made a nice lunch for me and my Mom.

   

My next envelope took us to our outlet mall where I got to purchase a new wardrobe at my very favorite store, Coldwater Creek.  It was a whirl wind of excitement.  I just don't buy nice things for myself.  I can hardly remember when I had "new" clothes to wear so it was a real treat.  There are a few more pictues here  of our adventure.

Shopping for shoes with Dave.

I got so many new outfits and some really cool boots but the adventure was not over yet.

One the way home we stooped at the drug store so I could get new makeup and perfume.

It was nice to get some "girly" stuff this year and while I love my pressure washer and the mower and the shelving I have gotten in the past, (and I asked for and really wanted them) those were really for the house........nice to get a gift for me.

My last envelope brought us to a local Mexican Restaurant where all my friends were waiting.........I was TOTALLY surprised.  It's a birthday I will not soon forget.

   

Oh, and all those clues on the envelopes?  It took a while but I figured it out.

Landscaping Progress

We worked in the yard this past weekend and got some landscaping done and set some more fence posts in concrete.  I put up wire lattice on each of the three sections between the garage doors.

Planted honeysuckle here.  It's a pink and yellow variety.  Should be pretty and have a nice fragrance. 

In the middle I put a climbing rose that I bought at the farmers market.  It smells just wonderful, exactly like what you would expect a rose to smell like.

Last year I got Clematis planted on the far left and it has grown nicely.

We also started work on our entry arbor.  We set pressure treated posts in concrete and sized them so a sheet of lattice will fit, I have to do some cutting but it will arch over the top and the Golden Chain trees will be trained over the arch.

This will be the first of three arbors like that along the path to the house.  I will plant different climbing, flowering vines on each one.

Nothing happened today as it was raining cats and dogs all day so we hiked the Narbeck wetlands area and I got some great photos.

I cannot believe how many frogs are in the ponds around there.

I got a picture of these baby mallards, they were about 4 or 5 days old.

We also saw Hooded Merganser babies but they were too fast for the camera.

Green-winged Teal

On the way home I stopped traffic to let two Canada goose families cross a busy street.

They all scooted under the fence to a pond.

Recent Photos and Project intentions

Are you tired of coming here and finding I have not posted?  Me too.  I'm not sure why, guess I needed a break.  I have completely torn my kitchen apart so I can finally tile my back splash.  I have cardboard down and tile saws set up so next week I should get some tiling done.  There has been a tiling workbench sitting on my landing for well over a year now...........I am tired of it being there so the only way to get rid of it and the stacks of slate tile is to finish the project so I am highly motivated.

Our gate arrived Thursday for the driveway and we have two more rolls of fence to get up so this weekend will be fence weekend.

Here are a few of my latest photos in the meantime.

Common Merganser in breeding plumage.

Black-headed Grosbeak Male.  This is one of the feeders that has to go.

I'm afraid rats have discovered the feeders and are competing with the chickens for the seed that gets dropped.  I am taking down all but one feeder and I'll be building a large catch tray for the one that I'll leave up.

Excuse me?  The squirrel feeder has to go too. 

Pip.  I had to move the thistle feeder away from the fence too.

Unfinished Projects

As my house building and remodeling friends know, sometimes you can get overwhelmed with the details of projects.  Especially when you are working hard to get an occupancy permit, you always mean to get back to it and finish up but other projects get in the way and you forget.

This is how we left the hose connection on our deck.

As you can see, it needs a collar there to stabilize it and block off the opening.

Why is this a bad thing?  It is an open door to all sorts of critters.

Here is the other side under my kitchen sink.

There is a nice little opening there as well that gets them right into the cabinets and since the baseboard is not under the cabinets yet, into the kitchen.

This is my silverware drawer, busy little buggers.

They moved all that in one night. 

So, now this project gets moved to the top of the list whether there is time for it or not.  It's time for a trip to the hardware store for some supplies. 

The cabinets will have to all be cleaned as it seems they have been in every one.  I have taken all the stuff out of them and left the doors open so the cat can let everyone know it's time to find other living quarters.  I have a few live traps too so I can help them in their relocation. 

Bird ID Toolbar

As you know by the pictures I post I am into bird watching just about as much as I am into house building. 

Here is a little Spotted Towhee (formerly know as Rufous sided).  The great thing about the zoom on this camera is you can capture the bird without them even knowing you are looking at them.  They are more relaxed and doing ordinary bird things rather than being concerened about you. 

Since I am at my computer most of the time I can't tell you how excited I am about a new tool-bar that ID's birds.  You can find the link here .  It is based on the whatbird website and is just awesome to have right on the tool-bar for easy reference when I see a new bird out my window.

Back to my camera. I love the way my camera makes the water look when I take pics of ducks and geese. Here is a pair of Gadwall that I spotted on Greenlake.

American Wigeon

This camera also has an awesome macro lens.

This little mushroom is only about 1/4" tall. 

This is frost on some seaweed at Ruby Beach.  The best part is that it is all automatic.

The lens was about 2" from this bird nest.

Camera Review Part I

I love the Panasonice Lumix line of cameras.  My newest one is the Lumix DMC-FZ18 and has many of the features of the last one but with an 18x zoom rather than the 12x zoom of the last one.  And this one is smaller and easier to carry around.  While there are a lot of things I like about this camera the two best feaures are the zoom and the burst mode.

It is an 8.1-megapixel camera with a 28mm wide-angle lens, and has the Intelligent Auto Mode, which includes Face Detection, Intelligent Scene Selector, and Continuous Autofocus functions.  If you set the picture quality from 8 mp to lower like 5 or 3 you can zoom in even closer, up to 28 times, they call that an extended zoom, not digital.

All the pictures that I take of my feeders and the river mostly are taking through my livingroom windows.

Here is a normal distance picture of the thistle feeder.

Here is the same photo zoomed in 28 times.

Here is the same bird cropped in.

Here are some deer that Dave took.  They were about 75' to 100' away.  They are zoomed in 18 times.

Here is the same image cropped.

Zoomed 18x

Cropped

The burst mode is really great for wild life photography.  Since wild life is always moving it's hard to focus on them but with the burst mode you can keep shooting and that will get you some nice clear shots.

Here is a burst of the deer hightailing it to the island.

Burst 2

Burst 3

Here is a crop of the second burst.

I'll work on some more examples of picture quality and different zooms and crops.

Spring Projects

It's already May and not much has been done.  We are about 75% done with the fence.  We sill need to run two more 100' lengths of fence and put up a gate but rest of the fence will be put on T stakes.  We put the first 200' on pressure treated posts that are between our neighbors and the front of the house.  The rest faces the wilderness and is on a slope so we didn't want to sink 4" x 4" posts in concrete for those length.

This is the gate we are planning to install. It's just the frame and hardware that will allow us to be creative on the face of it. 

The chickens are nearly moved, I still have to move some cross fencing before that can happen but maybe this weekend.  I love T-stake fencing.  It's so easy to move around when you need to.  They will be happy to get to some new space as I see them with their head through the fence all the time eating on the other side, which is apparently always greener.

We got some major cleaning done in the garage and you can even park one car in there.  This is a big day for us as we have never been able to park in any garage we have had.  The dream is to be able to park two cars in there one day.

Meanwhile, the landscape and wild life continue to delight me.

This is the first time we have had Evening Grosbeaks here.  There were about 50 of them in the trees, taking turns at the sunflower seeds.

The Goldfinches returned the same day.

They were about two weeks later than last year, guess they got the snow report and postponed their trip.

This Bald Eagle was hanging around Saturday morning.  His (or her, hard to tell) head is not 100% white so I am thinking he is about three.

The hummers are enjoying the feeders and the new fuchsia that I got from my friend Denise, she has a new website about to launch called Garden Girl

 

It's a nice addition to the deck.  As soon as we have a few dry days in a row we will pressure wash the deck and deck roof and get a coat of sealer on it.  It's raning again today though so I guess it's a good day for inside projects.

Wait a Minute!

It's April right?  It is not supposed to be snowing.

It is snowing big time.  We have about 2" so far.  They say another inch tonight and freezing temps.

You saw last post that Spring is a little behind this year.  I sure hope the buds survive this.

All the buds have a nice coating of ice.  This is the big leaf maple in front of the house.

This is my neighbors Magnolia tree, just about to bloom.

Here is my new Japanese Maple, it is still in the pot.

The Salmon-berries are all weighted down with snow and ice. 

While completely out of place it is so beautiful, so silent and crisp. 

We had to put the heat back in the chicken house and I'm glad we don't have tomatoes in already, there are a lot of folks scurrying around getting their gardens covered up.

I'm also glad it's Saturday tomorrow as the roads are going to be a mess.