our new tenants

I built the tiny town for birds in our backyard simply because it was fun and it looked nice.  To our surprise, this weekend some new tenants actually moved in - looks like apartment C is now taken.  We watched two birds go in and check out the living quarters - one stayed inside while the other would bring sticks and fluff back for nesting arrangement.  Totally cool.

Below are a series of photos - kind of hard to see - of the nuthatch couple that live on the premises.

"Is this twig appropriate for the feng-shui?"

"The view is AWESOME from our roof-top deck!"

"Where is he with my next piece of fluff?"

springtime in the pacnorwest

AJ and I were treated to temperatures approaching 60 this weekend, with sun all day Friday, most of the day Saturday, and even some of it today.  This tricked us into thinking it was summer - I wore shorts, flip flops, t-shirts, and shades all weekend - and it kickstarted our backyard productivity to once again be the garden of eatin.  Above are the salmonberries that grow along our fence - below are some images from the yard this weekend.

Icelandic poppy and a bunch of bulbs blooming in the grass strip out front

AJ checks out all the little radishes coming up in our new greenhouses

Not quite sure what I am watering, but I'm enjoying it

New succulent plantings - can't shake the SoCal outta me

The many many paper pots with seedlings sprouting in our basement - implications of the bounty ahead

The fields lay a-fallow for the time being - but not for long...

old growth gets new life

There is this awesome second-hand store in town that sells everything under the sun for your home - its kind of like a Home Depot for hipsters and fans of Portlandia.  Its called the Re-Store, and when, say, Seattle demolishes a 100 year old school, many of the school's items - like old bookshelves and genuine slate chalkboards - end up at the Re-Store.

My favorite place is the store's back lot, where there is scads of old lumber lying around.  Lots have nails in them, some have lead paint, many are misshapen and good only for firewood.  But in a timber-rich area like the Pacific Northwest, much of it is old growth fir and cedar just begging for another life.  I love using this stuff for projects - the grain is much tighter than the fast-growing trees of today, the smell of old timber when you cut into it is like none other, and its cheap cheap cheap!

You've seen many of these things before in previous blogposts, but I aggregated my reincarnated timber projects below for easy viewing.  Stay tuned - a new coffee table is next.  So fun!

the drill-bit I've been using to make holes for birdhouses fits a tea-light perfectly - so I found interesting old pieces of wood and made a bevy of candle holders

this is the first of another one or two deck seats I'll make, something easy to drag around and sit where you want to

ah, the birdhouses.  love them.  no one is living in them yet, tho...

our old/new cedar fence cost about $4 to build

these old boards required cutting, glueing, and screwing - and behold, a new stovetop backslash is born!

inspired by the backsplash and leftover wood pieces, I built this side table for our room

AJ needed a new yoga center, so the Re-Store obliged and supplied the materials

meet beepers

This is the stray cat that visits our yard sometimes to see Wiesty - he swung by this morning.  His name is Beepers and our neighbor feeds him lots of kibble.  He's a super nice cat - especially for a tough street-cat - and looked particularly fluffy today, so I snapped this pic.

put a bird on it!

The tiny town of Edison lies about 80 miles north of Seattle and has long been a favorite hangout for my uncle Mark.  Its a great little spot on the Skagit flats right on the edge of the Samish Bay, looking west out over the San Juan Islands.  This weekend, the town held their first ever Bird Festival to celebrate the abundance of feathered friends that visit the area this time of year.  AJ had lots to do around the house, so I ventured north with some friends and met up with Mark for a tour of the town and tides.

Andy waiting patiently outside The Luck Dumpster

Gallery on the main drag through Edison

The entrance to Tweets, a cool little coffee shop and cafe

Andy and Rebecca on Tweet's porch

Inside Tweets

A cozy sweater for the telephone pole, downtown Edison

"Put a bird on it!" says Mav.

Tide flats in Edison

White geese in the farmland nearby

Rebecca and Mark learning about birds

Young bald eagle

"Bacock!"

Samish Bay

wise tree

Another young eagle

Our chariot and an eagle

on a sunny day...

....there's no better place to be than the Pacific Northwest.  I was lucky enough to take a sunset cruise around Lake Union yesterday on a colleague's boat.  The mountains were snowy, the waters calm, the skies crystal clear, and a full moon was rising in the east.  Unreal.

Moon rising one my building on UW campus

superbowl sunday, seattle style

What do you do when the Superbowl happens to fall on a 60 degree sunny February day in Seattle?  You move the living room outside, of course!