Raising High the Roof Beams!

We're spending two days here thanks to Greg and Gigi, our neighbors who graciously made their home available to us.

We came up to watch the raising of two  second story walls and the placement of the roof beams.

In complete comfort, we enjoyed a beautiful day, watched the work in progress, caught up with our friends, and had a productive outing for crab.

This is the Camano summer I dream about!

But where are the roof beams?

Tune in tomorrow for our next installment.

Musings from the tide flats

We planned this visit to Camano to replace the pulley line which had been chewed up by a large driftwood tree during a winter storm.

What is a pulley line, you ask. (you won't find the answer in Wikipedia!) Many of the people on the beach attach their little boats to pulley lines instead of moorings. One end of the line goes through a large pulley attached to the bulkhead, and the other end of the ~100 ft. line  runs through a pulley that is attached to a heavy object, sunk into the mud at very low tide. The ends are tied to  stainless clamps to close the loop.The mooring line of the boat can be clipped to the hardware. The advantage of this system is that the boat can float out in the water away from the churn of the surf. In early summer there are a couple extremely low tides for the purpose of  fixing  lines and checking the buoy chains for signs of wear.

In the picture above, you see what appears to be tracks running into the water. Back in the day, larger boats were launched on these tracks. Today few are still in use; others sit on the beach as a sign of days gone by.

The day's task was pretty straightforward. Jeff had made a cement block  with a stainless steel loop through which we ran the line. The muck at low tide was unforgiving; swallowing up my Crocs and almost getting Jeff's. But we dug our hole, placed the block standing almost knee-deep in the stuff, and slogged back to shore. I'm sure the sight of us gave a new meaning to "mucking around"!

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Meanwhile at the house, Mike was working away, adding the under layer for the future porch  and filling the large hole dug for the septic.

A friendly guy, Mike entertained us with stories of his own archeological finds, and gave us a quick lesson in the workings of our new septic. If you need to know more about septics, click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septic_system

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So much has changed, and yet so much lies ahead.

"Enduring Homes" the scaffold label reads. A sign of things to come...

Letters from Seattle July 2, 2010

....I just had to share with you the unsolicited compliments I have been receiving from my neighbors on the beach. They are so pleased with not only the work but the skill and efficiency of the carpenters on the job. In fact

one of them apparently helped rescue an elderly neighbor who had fallen out of his boat on Friday!

...The house looks great! We’re excited!

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.....We spent a delightful evening with the Coles, our friends and the folks who actually helped us start our 4th of July tradition at the beach!
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famous Hood Canal slug!- click on (any) picture to enlarge!

.....On  Sunday afternoon we went to the Donaldsons (Owen's folks) place on  Hood Canal.  Although Alan calls it "the Shack", the house is quickly outgrowing and out-styling that title!

It was a very relaxing day - and it didn't rain! Dinner was a feast , followed by games and fireworks under a calm clear sky.

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....Although we missed Camano, Jeff and I  thoroughly enjoyed sharing  our friends' celebrations. Crabbin season is underway! Thanks, Julie for making our first harvest so easy and fun!