Category Archives: Home

A Handy-Looking Snow Plow

Posted on January 20, 2012 | 1 comment

Do I need one of these?


The big thaw started this morning. Aided by a steady rain, warmer temperatures are slowly converting the snow on my steep driveway into a river of slush. I will probably be able to drive up it tomorrow, the third day after Wednesday’s storm. But if I had a wheeled snow shovel like the one shown in the photo, I would be out sooner.
Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Home, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

Mud Bay Lighthouse

Posted on September 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

A tiny beacon


Just catching up on posts I missed this summer when I was away from my computer. While Mud Bay, or Dyes Inlet for that matter, doesn’t need a lighthouse, it has one now (see photo). I got it at the Allyn Days festival in July. I had some birthday money to spend and bought it on a whim. The lighthouse was made by a woodworker named Mike who runs a small business called Laughing Dolphin Keepsakes. The little light at the top is solar powered. The lighthouse doesn’t emit enough light to warn any kayakers who might get too close, but it does lend a nautical look to my deck.

Leave a comment

Posted in Home, Mud Bay & Rocky Point

The Little Pour

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 2 comments

Where did the dirt go?


Last September I posted an entry about patching my driveway called The Big Pour. By the amount of cement used, yesterday’s pour was nowhere near as big a job. But the patch covers a far more serious problem (see photo)—one that I hope went away as mysteriously as it appeared.
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Home

Tagged

Share Your Victories

Posted on May 18, 2011 | 2 comments

Snake at home plate


Like many outdoor cats the Mud Cat catches an assortment of birds and rodents. But his specialty is snakes (see photo). On a warm May afternoon this one—a small garter snake—was probably catching a few rays on the blacktop driveway when the Mud Cat spotted it. He carried it proudly to the concrete sidewalk at the corner of the garage, where he waited for me to share in his accomplishment. When the photo session was over, he soon lost interest. The snake toughed it out and got away a few minutes later.

2 Comments

Posted in Home, Pi

Buoy Collection Envy

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 4 comments

Which collection do you prefer?


If you live near the water, I trust your answer to the question posed in the photo caption isn’t “none of the above.” Of course that assumes you, at some point, have seen and admired someone’s collection of weathered fishing buoys and possibly considered starting one. Sadly the group of floats and buoys I have salvaged from Puget Sound beaches, drab and lacking variety, is the one at the bottom. It’s a long way from matching the color and character of the upper collection, displayed on the shed of an unidentified Cape Cod beachcomber (and featured in Araks Sharing Beauty blog).

4 Comments

Posted in Home

No Wonder Mine Taste Different

Posted on January 28, 2011 | 2 comments

Every so often I make tacos at home. No matter what preparation techniques I try, I cannot duplicate the taste of the ground beef used by Taco Belle in its crunchy tacos and taco salads. (Whether that’s a worthy goal is not the issue here.) A lawsuit filed recently against the fast food chain may explain why.
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Business Beat, Home

How Strong Were the Winds?

Posted on November 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

What's wrong with this picture?


Coverage of yesterday’s arctic blast on the Kitsap Sun web site has attracted hundreds of reader comments. Most describe problems encountered while commuting over the county’s icy roads or how people coped when the power went out last night. No one mentioned the hardship I will remember longest about the storm: more than 12 hours of frigid almost-continuous gale-force winds from the north. The photo shows one casualty of the gale.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Home, Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Weather

Snowed In Again

Posted on November 22, 2010 | 2 comments

The steepest part isn't shown


Winter is apparently here, roughly a month early if you go by the calendar. It has been snowing lightly off and on all day, and the forecast calls for below-freezing temperatures tonight and tomorrow. Plus high winds. I’m already snowed in (see photo). The conditions aren’t as bad as they were two years ago, but are notable enough for a blog entry.
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Home, Weather

The Big Pour

Posted on September 24, 2010 | 2 comments

A dozen bags doesn't go far


A low spot near the edge of the steepest part of the driveway has steadily gotten worse in the three years I have owned my home. Although I don’t drive over it, chunks of concrete from a previous patch keep breaking off. Runoff from rain now flows freely under the patch leading to further erosion and settling. Today my neighbor and I filled the low spot with a dozen 60-pound bags of ready-mix QuikRete (see photo).

Our big pour took place right after one of nature’s big pours—last night it rained heavily. When my neighbor called this morning, the sky was overcast with more rain forecast. We decided to ignore the weatherman. After a quick trip to Lowe’s for materials, we got right to it. A couple of hours of sweaty work later (I mixed while he poured and troweled the concrete), the patch was in place. By late afternoon it was ready for the next rainy day.

2 Comments

Posted in Home

Deck Scrub

Posted on September 12, 2010 | 1 comment

One section at a time


It’s been a while since I last cleaned the mildew, algae, and bird droppings off the deck. I thought about trying one of the deck-wash products available at the home improvement stores. According to their directions you just spray on the cleaning solution, wait 10 minutes, and rinse with a hose. In the end out of concern for the environment and a suspicion that no job could be that easy unless the cleaner is mostly bleach, I decided to clean the deck the old-fashioned way—with a scrub brush (see photo).
Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Home