The Spaces Between & Bark Shanty

It’s been well over two months since our big winter getaway and over a month since I was cast in the local theatre production, which leaves a lot of activity from the spaces between unaccounted for in a blog sense. Let’s remedy that, shall we?

Waaaayyyyy back in July of last year, we traded in Hond for a new car, a 2023 Subaru Outback. It’s our fourth Subaru, our third Outback, and since TBG bought a used Ford F-150 in February, she’s mine all mine! We took our time getting the second vehicle for a variety of reasons, which I’ll maybe talk about in a subsequent post, and I cannot express how thrilled I am to have “my own” car again. TBG is also very happy with “his” truck, and it will definitely feature prominently in future blog posts.

We spent time with friends, Tim & Emily, hiking the perimeter of Fort Worden S.P. and chowing down on delicious grub from Mo Chilli BBQ.

I designed, and TBG built, a platform bird feeder. My draft design involved a pulley system, but he adapted it for a more simple all-wood operation. We made it so that the platform sits high enough that the deer can’t get to the food, and they were quick to put it to the test and were successfully thwarted! A healthy-looking Cooper’s Hawk was also quick to find the platform, and it has made a few evening visits since. We’ve not seen Alice (Cooper) enjoying a dinner from the feeder yet, but as more feathery visitors come, it’s only a matter of time. If Alice becomes a too-hungry problem, I will, of course, discourage the visits, but unless and until then, all the birds are welcome to feed on all the foods at Bird Island.

The Violet-green Swallows have returned to the peninsula and also to the same nest box they chose last year. I can’t be positive it’s the same pair, but chances are pretty good that it is, or perhaps one of last year’s babies with its new mate. I’ve already had fun tossing feathers to them and trying to encourage the rest to take advantage of the other boxes we have up.

We finally put our boots down in nearby Miller Peninsula State Park, a park that is not yet official, but has all the trails, signs, and facilities in place. It is close to home and has miles of easy trail that we can enjoy year-round. As this article explains, this massive tract of land was almost not a park twice over.

With the arrival of Spring and the saving of daylight, the amphibians have been making their appearance, and I have longer hours of light to fit in some crafting. My Zion gourd is the first to be double-sided to reflect the two distinct years we visited. For reference, the tiles behind it are 2×3″.

TBG went with his friend, Norm, on a photo outing near the Elwha.

As well as picking up some cardio-dance classes at the Y to help me regain speed and confidence and better prepare for the upcoming musical, I renewed my WA state certifications for bartending and food handling so that I could help out at the theatre more.

Yes, even to volunteer, you now need to be certified/licensed. I did my first bartending stint for the last evening performance of Steel Magnolias. One of the perks of volunteering is that you get to see the show, and not only did I thoroughly enjoy serving up beverages, the show was fabulous. The next evening, I dragged TBG in to help strike (tear down) their set. Even that was fun and another chance to meet more of the crew, plus they feed you pizza and cookies and your choice of bar beverage.

Easter Sunday was a brilliant, bluebird day. The special ham and cheese sliders and pineapple upside-down cake look burnt but weren’t (that’s brown mustard and date sugar, respectively.) With a spate of such days, we planted all the trees we had left in tubs — three English oaks and three Japanese maples — in strategic locations in the field. We had a big load of lawn mix soil dumped off, and I used some to help naturalize all the poppy seeds given to my by friends as well as top off the dirt from last year to plant a mix of no-to-low-mow grass that will mingle with the mini clover I put in last year. The neighbor across the street, who is the benefactor of the daffodil bulbs you see on Bird Island, also invited me to come over and take bucket after bucket of crocosmia corms. I had a little patch of it at Old Home, and I adore it, so I was more than happy to scoop up as much as he wanted to be rid of. We’ve planted them all along the edge of the soon-to-be-grass and lava rock on the south side of the house, and while they are unlikely to produce even leaves this year, eventually there should be a long row of plants like this

which will make a fiery, tropical-looking, defined border between “yard” and field. Crocosmia are also natural hummingbird feeders.

We made a second trip out to Miller Peninsula State Park just last week.

As you can see, we took a trail out to the water and a view of Protection Island. Keen-eyed readers will recognize the island as the same one from my PIGU observation days, which occurred on this same shoreline to the west.

And now, the best for last, our hike to Bark Shanty.

I like to say Bark Shanty. You try. See? It’s fun! But what is it? A shanty, by definition, is a small, crudely made shack. Bark is the stuff that grows on tree trunks, it’s what dogs say, and also the act of ramming your shin into something. We thought it would be pretty great if there was a shack filled with dogs when we got there, but not lots of things to bang our shins. In reality, there is no longer a shack at all, but there used to be one, its outer walls made from the bark of Douglas firs. Where that once stood is now a large campground area, with plenty of wooden stuff you could bash into, but it’s mostly beautifully cleared. It was our destination for this trip.

This trail is accessible year-round, wide, smooth, and relatively level, at least to the campground, earning it the nickname of The Champagne Trail.

The campsites are right along a very picturesque section of the Big Quil.

If there were pooches, would they bark up this tree? Is it the right one?

We paused on the bridge during the return so TBG could take the above shot. As he used the railing to steady his camera and peer through the lens, he was unaware that others had stepped onto the span, and he said, only to me he thought, “Stop shaking the bridge!” The passing hikers paused like deer in headlights until they realized they didn’t have to obey the bossy-now-sheepish photographer.

There are many more routes and distances to be continued on from the camp, so stay tuned because we will be back, even though there’s no shanty packed with pups.