My evil car

So.....Kylee had a barrel Race at an indoor arena about 6 miles down the road from here. I thought I would go take some pictures. About noonish I am driving down the road about 30-35 MPH when the car pulls to the right and off into the ditch I went. I thought I was going to tip over but I kept driving, up and down, and as you can see in the pic I straightened the car and almost straddled the ditch and finally came to a driveway and out on to the road. I didn't want to stop the car and be stuck in the ditch. I could tell I had at least one flat tire but crept down the road to the arena and then said "OH Crap"!!! So I'm ok, the car is ok and all dirty and I do have a right front flat. I suppose what happened was I got a flat and lurched to the right and the rest is history. I missed Kylee's first ride and her second. I called my son in law about 25 miles away but he came right out and changed my tire. I had it out and all ready and I know I could have/should have changed it--but I didn't want to.. Wah!!
So Monday I will drive on the little doughnut tire to the tire shop and they will fix it. After all they sold me the tires just in August. Back the I had a post about my flat tire on the freeway at 70 MPH. this car is jinxed I am sure. 3 sets of tires in 3 years and now another flat. What tha........MB

How high's the water, Momma?

I took these pictures Friday as I drove around the Valley.

I think the water is a little high. It is a good thing they have a nice boat.

Derelict boats on the Samish. This is how I feel sometimes. LOL

The Samish River at Samish Bay.
The Samish River is approximately 25 miles long. The river drains an area of 139 square miles between the Skagit River basin on the south and the Nooksack River basin on the north. The Samish River originates on a low divide in Whatcom County, and its tributary, Friday Creek, originates in the hills south of Bellingham. The river continues its southwesterly flow through Skagit County and outlets into Samish Bay in Puget Sound.

The Samish River supports a large variety of fish and is home to one of Washington's larger fall King Salmon runs. The Samish River has runs of five Salmon and three trout species including: Spring/Winter Steelhead, Summer Sockeye, Fall Chinook/Chum/Coho, and year-round runs of Cutthroat, and Dolly Varden. Also documented are Pink Salmon which, while rare, do arrive in small numbers to spawn in the Samish.

Flooded cornfield


A whole raft of snoozing Sanderlings in a flooded field


Don't forget to click on any picture to enlarge it--specially the last one. See each one sleeping.

Ripples in the pond

Friday turned out to be fairly nice. No rain and even some sun showing through. I saw some nice reflections on the pond and decided pond pictures were due. The fish came up to greet me and they made ripples on the water. The waterfall was rushing and it was just plain nice out. MB

Crazy Clouds~~~~~~Sky Watch

More of the fantastic sky and clouds swirling around Mt. Rainier yesterday. Now today is nothing but gray and showers. No mountains in sight.

To view more fantastic skies or to participate go to www.skyley.blogspot.com

Morning with the mountain

The southern sky was beautiful this morning and for half the day. The sunrise on Mt. Rainier was stunning and the many different cloud formations all day long was awesome. The dark clouds came down around 2:30 and covered the Mountain and by three it was raining and hasn't stopped.
As you can see the shots were taken at the same spot from my deck.
Something I am thankful for. MB

1. 6:30am
2. 6:45
3. 7:00
4: 7:45
5. 8:00

Tremendous!!!
Click on each picture to enlarge

Mural~~~Wednesday Sepia Scenes

This is a mural painted on an old brick wall in Sedro-Woolley Wa. Sedro-Woolley is an old Logging/farming community on upper Skagit River. Very interesting town. MB

To see more scenes in sepia go to http://sepiascenes.blogspot.com/

We wazzunt doin' nuthin'

It seems everyone was wondering about the muddy girls in my previous post.
Here's their story and they're sticking to it.
The girls went down to the pasture to talk to the horses and decided to clean out the horse trough--water is involved--and one thing led to another--use imagination--these are the results. They even took a video. Too funny but I don't know how to post it to my blog.
The girls looked like this:




And my laundry room looked like this.

Cowgirl friends~~~~~Mosaic Monday

Kylee's Rodeo summer fun.

To see more mosaics or to participate go to http://www.dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

click on pic to enlarge

New train in town.

In an earlier post (Sept 18, 2009) I wrote about Stanwood becoming a new stop for Amtrak and a boarding station being built. Well it is finally done.
Today November 21, 2009 was the grand opening and ribbon cutting.
I was there with my camera--oh I got it back last night and these are the first pictures. Anyway--there I was camera at ready--people shouting-"here she comes" and I am in the front --READY--when just as I was ready to snap my first shot 87 very tall people jumped in front of me and I couldn't see a thing. Did I mention that I am sorta short--most people are taller than me. Such is life.

Dressed to the nines---the old meeting the new.

Looking down a shiny car.
The Bistro car
The Engine



Here is Stanwood and Camano's own Senator Mary Margaret Haugen cutting the ribbon welcoming passenger rail to Stanwood after 38 years.


Remember click on any picture to enlarge it.

The little darlins'.......

These pictures were taken by my Mother at here home on Whidbey Island. In September I believe. I borrowed her camera while I was having mine fixed and found these pics on her camera. Lunch time for the deer. LOL MB

What a difference a year makes--Sky Watch

Wednesday mornings view from my front window. Can you see Mt. rainier trying to peek through the cloud cover. . soon the black cloud cover came down and the rains haven't stopped. We are WET out here.
enlarge the pic and find the mt.


.

to see more great sky views from around the world or to participate go to www.skyley.blogspot.com
ENJOY

Same view, same time, same place, last year.

Who's turn is it?

so who's up for the last mow of the season? No takers? Me neither. MB

Good sign

The view from the ferry on my way home from my visit with my Mother. It was huge and right in front of the boat.
Today turned out rather nice after 2 days of rain and wind.

Birds of a feather...........................

.........flock together. These eagles are down by the Samish River. Every year they are back. I counted 45 Eagles in this tree one day. In such awe I didn't even take a picture.

We have been having extreme stormy weather and our power has been out since yesterday evening. It came back on around 4 this morning. Yay, everybody can go to work. Trees down and rivers are high---bad flooding closer to the coast. Very, very windy.

I am going to visit my Mother on Whidbey Island today. They had severe winds yesterday but she said she was ok and no power outages----yet.





visitors in the valley. Eagles, Snow Geese and Trumpeter Swan. Lots of Eagles are year around residents too.
Herons are here year round but are such a neat bird and very flighty. So I like to take pictures of them---and then I laugh. MB

Totally, Dude......................Mosiac Monday

..........Valley Birds-----
Click on image to enlarge

To see more mosaics or to participate go to:http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Boat Builders

Nichols Brothers Boat Builders
Experts in Construction of Steel and Aluminum Vessels Since 1964
they are the 3rd largest Civilian employer on Whidbey Island.
Currently they are building a 116ft catamaran Passenger Ferry and a 273ft. car Ferry for washington state.
They are in Freeland, at Holmes Harbor.

Alice in Wonderland was here........

Found along the roadside.

Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric Mushrooms, Amanitas), the highly visible and strikingly beautiful mushroom, also known as the Fly Agaric, is yellow to red in color and speckeled with white. Amanita muscaria is probably humanity's oldest entheogen. Amanita muscaria's history has it associated with both Shamanic and magical practices. It was identified as the "Soma" of the ancient (4000 BC) Rig Veda by Gordon Wasson. So, Amanita muscaria has historical use as far back as we have history, and it shouldnt be hard to suppose that prehistoric humans, in their activities as hunter/gatherer, recognized that there were mushrooms and other plants that had benefits not related to hunger. Our ancestors must surely have been intrigued by the Amanita muscaria--they appeared magically from nowhere, in strange and beautiful shapes and colors and gave magical visions of the beyond when eaten.

Don't try this

Sky Watch at Double Bluff

I took this yesterday afternoon at Double Bluff Whidbey Island, with my Mothers small point and shoot. Aren't the clouds great.


I'd better get my camera back SOON!!

to view great skies from all over the world or to participate go to www.skyley.blogspot.com

Stanwood---my town

Stanwood is located in northwest Snohomish County at the mouth of the old channel of the Stillaguamish River. Most of the town is on the river delta and in recent years it has begun to grow to the east above the river's flood plain. It is the commercial center for residents of Camano Island in Island County to the west and those of the river valley east of Interstate 5 and north of the Tulalip Reservation. The town was platted in 1888 and incorporated in 1903. A second community, "East Stanwood," located one mile east of the of the waterfront business district, was platted in 1906 and incorporated in 1922. Two large lumber mills operated on the waterfront with several small shingle mills in surrounding areas. Hay and oats from valley farms were shipped out on steamboats as cash crops. As lumber mills closed in the 1930s, the agricultural economy grew. After World War II, Twin City Foods changed from a cannery to a freezing plant and expanded along the waterfront. Stanwood and East Standwood consolidated in 1960. Today, 2008, the town is still surrounded by farm fields, wildlife-rich shorelines, and views of the Olympics and Cascades -- attractive as a small community with many natural and economic assets and with many people who are involved in helping it grow and change sensibly






Looking west from Pioneer Highway


Looking East from Camano

Flipped for you

Which end is up. Kinda neat, huh. MB

My Koi

Now that the rains have arrived with a vengeance and the mountains are full of snow (two ski areas opening next week) the creek is flowing again and the pond is filling up. So....the Koi have come back. The pond gets so low in the summer I worry about the Koi but the middle must be awful deep because there is no other place to go. These guys are very large---at least 14 to 18 inches long and very fat. I seldom feed them because the pond being a natural area provides them with plenty of food. Well at least they come when I whistle for them and then swim around and splash and show off. There are 14 fish that I have counted. Who knows what else is lurking. Check out the big mouth on that orange one.
It is hard to take pictures through the water and I am not getting underwater to take their pictures.
Do you like the last pic. My stylized Koi. MB

Please visit Lady Di and veiw her 1/2 price sale:http://kittyjustice.blogspot.com/

My pond*********Mosaic Monday

This is a natural pond on my property. It starts with a creek that runs into it and a small waterfall that runs out. Then it goes underground under one pasture and comes above ground in the woods--and off it goes. It is full of Koi that are getting huge and have been in there for years. I don't have to feed the fish because of the viability of the pond. It is a favorite place to sit and relax.

To meander through mosaic worlds please go to http://www.dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Horse power vs horsepower

It looks like Brett is wondering what the heck Bucky has in mind.

Who wants to go .....................................

.....Cruisin' with Cameron? No takers? Awww Geee.
Took this picture last year and he hasn't moved yet.

Camera should be ready Monday or Tuesday.---The operative word is 'should'.

MB

Sky Watch Collage

Just playing around trying to make a better mosaic---not mousetrap.

If you would like to see more skies from all over the world or would like to participate go to--www.skyley.blogspot.com--amd enjoy. MB

Look what's in my driveway.....

As a lot of you know, last week wasn't an especially good week for me---actually the last 2 weeks. My water Pump and belt went out on my car but fortunately that was quickly fixed. The car steamed over and smelled funny. Like something burning on the maniford. whell the radiator had a big ol' hole in it.. This wasn't going to be fixed so promptly so after a couple of days I decided I would rent a car. And look at this really CUTE car I got. I loved it--for the moment anyway. I got my car back Monday, said goodbye to 'Mellow Yellow' and everything is back to normal---well except for the camera!! But I am a patient person. And guess what!! Tomorrow I get to go to the dentist--it must be from gnashing my teeth. hahaha!!!

Moon set---Sun rise

Another beautiful early morning. The last pictures I squeezed out of my camera before I took it to the SHOP. A week!!!!! I am having the nervous jitters without a camera.

MB

Monday morning coming down. Nov.2nd

The beautiful early early sunrise from my deck--looking south to the mountain and then east through the trees. and then my camera jammed and of course the sky was great and my camera never worked again until I was at Whidbey and now it is jammed again and I am TORQUED!!! But at least I got these pics.


After watching the beautiful sky unfold I went to visit my Mother on whidbey Island. The first shot is from the ferry boat on the way home and the other two shots are boats in Holmes Harbor.

What's going on???

I spotted these fish swimming up pasture off the Freeway near the town of Arlington. And this is just a small portion of the fish.
I pulled over on the freeway to take these shots. Very scary thing to do and it is murder to try to return to traffic when it is speeding by at 70 plus miles per and you are at a stand still. I don't recomment it.
So now I have to go to Arlington to see what is 'fishy'. MB