Category Archives: State Parks

Life as a Vampire Sucks…

Posted on Thursday February 27th, 2014 by | Comments Off on Life as a Vampire Sucks…

At 1:15pm on Monday February 24, 2014 I was loading a pile of brush onto the flatbed truck to dispose of to a burn pit when I managed to get whacked in the right eyeball with a branch while, the irony, I was pushing it from hanging outside of the truck bed so I wouldn’t walk into it and get hurt.

*sigh

It hurt. BAD!

I called Pauline to bring me some water thinking I still had some material in my eye, once she arrived I flushed out my eye but it still hurt like hell. I finished the pile, dumped the load and went to the office to report it.

I hardly slept at all Monday night and Tuesday morning when I crawled out of bed I knew I needed to see a Dr but of course the closest Dr was on vacation so Pauline had to drive us to the Port Townsend urgent care center where we arrived around 10am.

The Nurse prepping me for the Dr, gave me two drops in the eye to ease the pain and THAT helped so much.  Those two drops brought me such huge relief. It felt like I had a stick in my eye. Both of my eyes was constantly tearing up, so it looked like I was crying, and that lasted for about 48 hours which also wrecked my sinus’s so I had sever watering eyes and nasal drip, it was a miserable way to spend 2 days/nights.

The Dr started to examine my eyes and he started off with a “WOW!”… That is NOT a good way to start an examination…

I had about 2-3 seconds of panic thinking I really screwed up my eye. He then said he was not even going to bother using the eye dye they use to help see scratches on the eye since mine were so easy to see.

I had abrasions at the 11:00, 5:30, and 6:00 positions, but would make a full recovery.

Whew! (I think Dr’s should start off with that instead of “wow”.) The eye cells regenerate every 9-12 hours, so as deep as my abrasions were, I would heal within a few days. He gave me a prescription for eyedrops, which I take every 3 hours and for another 24 hours after I no longer feel the pain.

The numbing eye drops the nurse gave me started to wear off around 2pm so from Monday to late Wednesday afternoon I would have a constant pain of 2/3 with a peak of 8 a few times every hour. Totally miserable. So pretty much for 2 days I laid in bed with all the shades down, lights out, while wearing sun glasses which I wore for 48+ hours inside and out, day and night.

Today is the first time I am not wearing sun glasses. I still have blurry eyesight in my right eye and since my left eye is doing most of the work now, I have had really tired eyes this week. I have my Mac screen display set at the lowest level of light and I have not been able to watch tv or anything else without pain, so we have been listening to music all week.

I can’t even read without pain or wearing my eyes out to the point, I just have to close them.

Monday was a rainy cloudy dark day, Tuesday and Wednesday were the kind of days you dream about having here in the Northwest. Just absolutely perfect. Sunny, clear, great lighting, not too harsh, not too soft, but perfect. With my eye issues I could just make out Mt Baker enough to know, I missed two epic days to take pictures.

Today, I am able to see better and it is once again cloudy.

*sigh.

The pain is almost all gone, I still have issues with bright light or when I try to focus on something far away or small text, but the Dr said I would make a full recovery, so I am just giving it more time.

I think I should be back to normal by this weekend, at least I am hoping I will be. My right eye is my photographic eye so I am worried about that…

On a much better note, this morning we received a email from the TNC Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve manager Matt Killeen, telling us that a Garter Snake I took a picture of at the TNC PSCP back on 09/10/2013 at 5:01pm was not just a Garter Snake, but a Mexican Garter Snake which is a very threatened species and my pictures are the first confirmed siting at the TNC PSCP since 1975!

He had it confirmed by the US Fish and Wildlife and was asking for more details I might have so I gave him all the facts and marked on the map where I took the pictures as well as offered him all 12 pictures I have of it.

The 2 pictures I posted can be found here:

Picture 1

Picture 2

He also said there was interest in my pictures of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo eating a lizard, so I offered him all 83 pictures I have of that.

We have also confirmed our entire Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring of 2015. While we will not be traveling as much as we would like, we will be in the areas we want to be in for so many reasons, so we consider this a big win for us.

We just need to think where we should head to in 2015. I think we should head to ID or WY or MT.

But we have time to think on that.

Laters…

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Posted in State Parks, what hell kind of animals are we seeing?, what the hell are we learning?, what the hell kind of pictures are these?, where the hell are we volunteering?

If you ever wanted to walk to Asgard, I know the way…

Posted on Tuesday February 18th, 2014 by | 1 comment

Let’s see how many of you get that.

Today was a wild one. It started off very windy and rainy, then it got very, very windy and rainy and then it just turned epic in a blink of the eye.

We was picking up branches around 11am while there was a strong gale force wind hitting from the South, it was the strongest winds we have felt from the South, and we was only about 50 yards from the Southern cliffs so we had very few tree’s between us and the sheer force of the wind.

We had a 1 ton flatbed truck full of yard debris such as tree branches, vines, brush etc. We we filled the truck bed. (Which is measured by how high Pauline has to jump to get more debris into the truck.)  And while on the way to the dumping area, we decided to drive down to the boat launch area to turn around and to see the water.

That turned out not to be such a good idea, as in the wide open the wind was hammering the truck and blowing some branches off.  The winds had to be 50+ mph. We had to return after we dumped the load to pick up what we had lost site seeing. I love picking up the same branches twice.

When we returned about 20 minutes later the winds had dropped to about 25mph. While it was still windy, it was not as windy. That is a win!

We came back home and ate lunch around noon and worked to about 2:30 while it rained, and rained more, oh it rained so much more, we could not see Whidbey Island. It was just nasty out. But also incredibly beautiful. I love being here in the Northwest! I am not sure I will leave anytime soon, but back on what I was saying…

Suddenly, it just stopped raining and boom. Bright Sun! That is when we noticed one of the must vibrant rainbows we have ever seen. It looked like it was in 3D. I took some pictures of it, but honestly, without seeing it for yourself, nothing could do it justice.

Still, the pics are pretty cool! I so love being in the Northwest!

Yesterday I got on a tractor to move some timber that was blocking a boat ramp. I was planning to wrap a chain around it and drag it out of the way, like I have in the past, and ever grabbed some chains to do this. When I got to the boat ramp I reassessed the situation and thought maybe if the gravel beach was solid, I could just push the timber out of the way and be done faster and maybe in a more time saving way?

So I walked on the gravel, jumped up and down, kicked it around some and was convinced it would hold the tractor and then I started to push the timber off the ramp and onto the rocks on the side of the ramp. I had it almost completely off the ramp when the left front tire sunk, which caused the left rear tire to sink, which brought the right rear tire in the air…

*sigh…

Once again I over thought what I was going to do. I played around trying to get myself out of the gravel, both using the bucket as a push off and turning the tractor in different directions, using larger rocks to put under the wheels and anything I could think of…

Nope. I can’t fix this on my own. I had to get help. I had to have a Ranger come pull me out.

If I did what I planned to do originally, I would have been done in 10 minutes tops. This took 45 minutes. Fun.

I have been running once more. For the most part it has been November 2012 when we stopped going to the gym Monday to Friday of running at least 3 miles a day.

Last Monday was just my second run while here, I had run around the roads of the parade ground on Super Bowl Sunday, but I really struggled on the long incline and about died just trying to get a 1.5 mile before the game.

So on last Monday I ran on some trails taking my chances on those hills and got just under 2 miles only walking for 300 yards or so. It was a struggle, but not as harsh of a one.

I took my GPS so I could get the distance and figure what I am trying to do route wise and effort wise. The next day I adjusted to a different route on another trial and walked about 50 yards and ran 1.82 miles.

The next day I hit gold! I once again changed my route and find a route exactly 2 miles and ran that 2 days in a row and both were non stop and I finished only my second 5 day running week in the last 14 months.

I have been breathing really well and I’ve learned how to control my own pace which is not easy to do when you are use to a tread mill setting the pace. A tread mill that has no hills. I have been paying more attention to my running style and realized I was blowing myself up running up hills since I changed my stride into a faster pace.

Once I realized that, I started running up hills in what I consider “stutter stepping” and I am no where near as winded as I had been. Once I figured out the ups and downs of the hills I also learned where I could “rest” and where I had to really work it.

Yesterday, I got to the second left where I had been turning and realized I was feeling really good, so I ran to the third left which got me exactly 2.5 miles.

Today, I once again changed my route and I got exactly 3 miles and had a controlled breathing rate and recovered as fast as I use to recover on my cool down walk on the treadmill. It felt good.

Of course right now I have sore feet, sore ankles and and a sore lower back and for some odd reason, I also have sore neck and shoulders. Maybe Im holding my arms too tense as I run? I’ll figure this out over the next few runs.

It was so nice during my run, I had so much Sun on me, I almost had to take off my hoodie. It was still sprinkling, I saw another rainbow, and I heard tree frogs croaking behind me and I heard another tree frog respond in front of me.

Tree frogs. Once they start talking, there is no shutting them up.

Here is another iPhone photo dump. I still can not seem to remember I take pictures with this thing.

Night.

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Posted in State Parks, what hell kind of animals are we seeing?, what hell kind of changes are we making now?, what the hell are we seeing?, what the hell are we thinking?, what the hell kind of pictures are these?

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Better days? What better days???

Posted on Sunday February 16th, 2014 by | 2 comments

I think I spoke way too soon. This is February in the Pacific Northwest. There might be a better day or two, but this is still February in the Pacific Northwest which mean high winds and rain. We have had gust up to 46 mph with sustained wind of 30 mph. It is suppose to calm down in the next few hours to the typical 10-15 mph but until then….

UGH!

Since we are the only RV in the retreat center camp host spot, which has 2 full hook up sites, we did not want to park the typical East/West direction with a view of a building but facing North/South so we could have a perfect view of the water and Whidbey Island and the Cascade Mountains, Mt Baker and at times Mt Rainier.

Worth it!

 

The only issue we have had with this setup, is when the wind comes from the Southeast, it hits our main slide out and shakes the whole rig and when the wind is over 35 mph + the canvas cover over the main slide out flaps in the wind since it is getting hit on the edge so the wind is traveling between the canvas and the top of the slide out like a sail.

There is really nothing we can do to stop this short of pulling the slide out in and living in a even more confined space, and from experience that is just plain miserable to live in.

Now, I kind of wish we pulled in the slide out when the winds are over 35 mph. But reality is, it just isn’t practical.

I went out today to take a better look at the canvas cover and it’s destroyed. There is a 14″+ rip where the canvas meets the RV  on the left side and one of the three straps was so chewed from flapping against the edge of the slide out, I just pulled it off to save time from having to do it later.

We think anything over 50 mph we will bring in our slide out. But until then, we will weather the storm.

I tried to figure out what the best thing to do is, and at this time, I can’t think of anything.  The damage has been done to the existing cover. It will need to be replaced. I don’t want to start putting straps on or weight or whatever on top, since I don’t want the extra weight on the slide out roof, and if the winds did get over 50 mph, I would rather be able to pull it in without having to get a ladder to “free it”.

We estimate this will cost $350-$400 to replace. I have been thinking on this all day and short of pulling the slide out in every time, I can think of no other option we had. The canvas is 12 years old and weak. The wind is strong and constant with the wind coming from the Southeast the angle it’s hitting it is “the perfect storm”.

Since we have been here the wind has hit us from every direction, so short of pulling the slide out in every time or parking in different directions every time the wind shifts, I have not yet figured out what we could have done to prevent this.

We had the canvas replaced with a “vinyl” cover over the bedroom a few months ago due to the same reason, the canvas just gave away. That cost $175. And so far it appears to be holding up, but we have a pretty good wind break protecting us from the West winds. We have been hit by winds from the West, and they rock the RV more then the winds from the East, but they don’t hit the cover on the edge like is happening with the main slide out.

Ok, enough about this subject.

We also have been dealing with internet issues. We had 3 MiFi hotspot’s. 2 used the Verizon network, and the 3rd on the AT&T network. Recently our unlimited MiFi has been cut off with zero chance of coming back so we are now down to 2 and both of those are iffy in the best of times. We do plan to get a 3rd one again, also on the Verizon network, but until then, we have been fighting to get and stay online enough to get our work done.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the last few weeks. It is not all “doom and gloom” here, I just can not think of too many happy thoughts at the moment due to the constant winds getting on my nerves and the internet of tubes is too unreliable so I want to get this posted before the tube burst.

Enjoy the night.

 

 

 

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Better days…

Posted on Wednesday February 12th, 2014 by | 1 comment

We had another spell of cold crap weather. Not as bad as the first one, but when its not the typical mid 40’s it is just too cold to go outside and enjoy yourself. Well at least for me, I am not a fan of cold.

We leave here at the end of March and it really seems like we just got here. We are still looking for June to August, we think we have July and August, but still nothing set, which is something we need to work on and get finalized. We want to stay in the Puget Sound area for the entire year plus if we can.

We are always open to a new adventure in a different area of course, if the situation is good enough to go do it, but until then we want to stay in the area. Too many friends we have not had the chance to spend any of the incredible Northwest Summer days with in too long of a time.

It is a lot easier to have a night involving a spontaneous cookout when you are 1-2 hours away vs 4 hours while we was in Oregon.

I’ve started running again. I still have a long way to go to get back to the physical condition I was in 2012. I pretty much took the entire year of 2013 off from running due to living in Patagonia for 6 months. And being lazy. But if you never ran at 4100′ + elevation you have no idea how hard it is vs to running at 150′.  Add in the humidity and heat of Arizona, and it just made it too grueling to halfway enjoy a run.

I was running 3-4 miles with ease in Oregon and I was struggling to run 2 miles in Arizona and with the hard road and trails, I kept getting shin splints which is something I hardly ever had to deal with in Oregon and never with the severity I was having in AZ.

I do enjoy running on the trails here. I struggle with the hills, well at least going up, but its nice to be outside with the natural air and sounds and smells and seeing the birds, deer and even some seals every so often.

Enjoy the night.

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Long time no see!

Posted on Thursday January 30th, 2014 by | Comments Off on Long time no see!

It feel’s like we have been on the go since we arrived here. Some of it feels routine but too much still feels like we have had no time to take a breath which is why we have not been updating like we once was. It feels like it was just a week since it was New Year’s Day and now it is almost February.

Time flies…

We saw a coyote once again, but no camera. We see multiple Bald Eagles daily and it never gets old. I love watching them just soar over the cliffs. I also had a great view of some seals playing just under the surface of the water.

The past 2 weeks we have been on a long, time consuming mission of taking “inventory” of sorts, of the entire park, as well as Mystery Bay SP and Anderson Lake SP.

The state of Washington has decided to copy some of the things the State of Oregon is doing with their State Parks and that means counting every trash can and sign and a million other things.

The State also wants more details regarding the size of the area’s that is considered “litter pickup” or what is considered to be “mowed” areas which means I have been walking the parameter of large areas with the GPS as well as driving a 4 Wheel Drive Gator over the larger open areas.

Not too hard of a job, but we had less then 9 days to do it all.

Pauline and I finished our task yesterday in the rain. It took a few days just to figure out what the State was asking, and how to best accomplish this. The Ranger’s have been more then helpful as always, but this was all new to them as well, so we have had a few hours worth of meetings on and off going over what the State is asking for, and talking how we can accomplish it in the time the State has given us to accomplish this.

This week alone Pauline and I have worked 41 hours (combined) so we only did a hour today and tomorrow with the weekend off.

Wednesday I was asked to help with traffic as we had some tree’s to cut down near the roads. Then I got involved with the cleanup part which ended up lasting all day long. I got home around 4:30pm. It was a very long and hard day and I am still feeling it in my arms. The chipper had a tow line for the larger pieces, but I still had to muscle the pieces into the chipper in a way for it to be grabbed, that was hard enough.

We went to Vancouver 2 weeks ago to visit the boys. They are getting so big. Jon is 14 and  Dylan is soon to be 10. It seems like yesterday they was learning to walk and now both are very good basketball players.

Dylan had a game so we went to watch that, they was playing a much inferior team so the coach asked them to not play as hard and it showed. Dylan was doing his best to be a good sportsman but at the cost of not playing anywhere near his own ability.

Jon is getting offer’s to play on more advanced teams and has the potential of going much farther so we have been talking about doing things the right way and how to be ready both for playing the game as well of what to expect as a player of the game.

Sunday is the Super Bowl… I love Peyton Manning, but he is no longer a Colt and while both teams have a starting D player from Purdue…

Go SeaHawks!

But I won’t be sad either way.

I will try and keep up with updating more in the future.

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Posted in State Parks, what hell kind of animals are we seeing?, what the hell are we seeing?, what the hell are we thinking?, what the hell kind of pictures are these?, where the hell are we volunteering?