An Old Fashioned Trade

 

Lots of rainbows up to the north

I've mentioned before, that my former Port Angeles house mate  does the mowing at my place. Recently while mowing near one of the sheds, he was wasp stung. I promised I would remove active wasp nest.

The old shed

I once removed a small one in California. Uh... sure I would. I meant to remove the nest. While I'm not afraid of bees or wasps, having experienced multiple stings over the years, I do respect the striped warriors. 

I watched loads of YouTube videos on wasp nest removal, but finally  to call in the troops. I called a local pest control company.

THE wasp nest

When the pest control guy came out, I showed him the nest. Unlike the last time I viewed the nest there were now zero wasps flying in and out. It seemed the wasps had flown away. The pest control guy rapped his knuckles on the eave over the nest, but nothing flew out. We stood there 'talking wasps' for a bit, but then a little wasp showed up in its doorway, as if to see who had knocked at the door.

Someone was home! You can see arrow pointing at the tiny face peeking out from the shed's nest, in the photo on the left here. 

Bald-faced Hornet

The wasp nest was identified as that of the 'Bald-faced Hornet', the largest native wasp in Washington state. As long as someone was home, the guy set about removing the nest, and I took off home, to avoid being around for that bit of action. 

So when he'd taken down the nest, the man came to my front door, telling me the nest was down. Then, when I brought up his payment, he offered a trade instead. He said his fruit tree failed to produce much this year, and he asked if in place of payment if his wife and father in law could come pick some pears. I was totally tickled with the idea and agreed to the trade. 

A few days later, the wife, her dad and one kiddo, came by and picked pears. I was beyond tickled.

And trust me... that pear tree had enough pears on it for that family and then some. Here's a photo of it taken a week or so ago.  That tree is chock full o' pears.  

If you're thinking I haven't thought to donate pears or apples to a local food bank, remember in Washington, fruit trees, particularly apples, abound. You can drive around Sequim and literally see tons of apples on trees, and piled up on the ground under trees. There is no scarcity of fruit trees in Washington you practically have to get on a waiting list to donate fruit.    

The photo on the right here is friend and former house mate Ingrid, whom I encouraged to pick pears. The load of fruit on the tree is AFTER  about a couple of weeks of fruit picking. 

I've baked pear cake, pear cream cheese pie, pear tart and pear cream pie. I'm not running out of recipes either, and still have pear upside down cake and other recipes to try my hand at.

No doubt, I have plenty of fruit for  baking into my experimental pies, tarts and cakes. 

One of my experimental pies: half left over store bought blueberries,
 and half of orchard pears. I know!

The Orchard of Flown Piggies Farm

View, west from dining Room Window

Just to the west of my farmhouse, just across the driveway stands my (can't believe it's actually 'mine')  orchard. 

North (Canadian) Facing View of Orchard

That's a total bonus as I've always wished I'd had fruit trees, but sadly, I was always too discombobulated to plant any. Shortly after I moved into the house at the end of April, I noticed the trees were in bloom.

I knew there were both apples and pear trees, as the previous tenant of the cottage told me the deer love to come by and eat the fallen pears. I also could have guessed as apple trees are as common as sparrows in Washington. A week or two later, there were ensy little fruits forming where the flowers had been. 

Mini-fruit in Mid May

Additional mini-pears

There are about a dozen apple and pear trees on the 1.9 acres here. I get excited because as the fruit began to grow I could see there are more than one variety here, although I do not know what varieties are present. But I can guess!

The fat pears by the driveway look like Anjou type pears... 

Pears on a neighboring tree at least superficially resemble Bosc type pears

And this tree, also in the circular driveway area, are perhaps my favorite 'red' pear variety

But wait, there's more! Aside from several pear trees (my favorite hand fruit) there are the ever present Washington Apple trees. 

Mystery Apples with red freckled & green skin

Apples, Red as Cherries

The red apples have me a tiny bit over-excited. My housemate Curt, from when I was staying at Ingrid's house, brought us a few deeply ruby apples, and the thrill was that fruit had red flesh! I was so intrigued, never having seen apples with anything other than yellow or white interior flesh. 

Then a couple of days ago, Curt was on Flown Piggies mowing and weed wacking, and he brought with him, a gift of tiny red apples with red interiors. Unlike the previous red-fleshed apples, these apples were quite tiny, no bigger than ping pong balls. 

Teeny Tiny Red fleshed Apples

Ruby Red interiors

I was so happy to get a second sampling of these unique fruits. In flavor, they were tart and mildly sweet. Because of their tart flavor and small size, my friend/neighbor Barbara - who got her share of the tiny treasures - think the red fruit might not be totally ripe as yet. 

So all that need be done now is to wait for the apples and pears in the orchard to finish ripening. They seem so huge to look at them, but when you sniff them, they haven't any odor at all and are rock hard. They might be HUMONGOUS when they are done with the ripening process. 

While we humans wait for the ripening fruit, the local deer seem unperturbed by such details as ripeness, and they are enjoying the windfall fruit now. Video below shows one of the more polite piggies... erm, does, 'nibbling' at a windfall pear. Come for the nibbles, keep watching to see the doe in the background, standing on her hind legs to get at better bits in an apple tree.

UPDATE: My red orchard apples have regular yellow/white flesh, not red. Rats.

At Last - Elk

Since the day I arrived with intent to live here in Clallam County, I've been on the lookout for wild Roosevelt Elk. I have spotted them on previous, vacationing visits. The last time had been on the drive over to Neah Bay, which is as far northwest as you can get in the lower 48. So I know they are here - somewhere. Forward to a sightseeing drive with my friend Barbara on our way from downtown Sequim, to our homes. 

Full grown rackadoodle with  coloring 

of the  youngster we spotted

I took the 'scenic route' driving from Washington Street and curled around Washington Harbor road. I didn't drive to the end of Washington Harbor, which about a week ago got us a view of a raccoon mom and her kits, racing across the road. Shortly after that, with classic Disney timing, the tiniest baby popped out of the shrubbery, not only adorable, but a rare lutino - partial - albino After staring at the car in abject horror, the tiny thing ran back into the shrubbery, there it continued staring. I was so befuddled & charmed I didn't even grab a camera for a shot. I know. I'm an idjit. 

So no raccoons today, but we drove on past the dairy farm, with it's bjillions of black & white Holstein cows. Then we took the winding Schmuck Road (yes, Schmuck Road). I was, natch, driving, and it was Barbara who spotted the herd of 22 elk off in the distance. The photo below gives you an idea how far off the herd was. 

So excited. We now live where one can spot magnificent Roosevelt Elk on a drive back from the grocery store! The herd consisted entirely of cow elk and their half grown calves-of-the-year. While some peacefully grazed on the grass, others were down, lolling on the ground, enjoying a nap or working on their vitamin D levels. 

I recently broke down, retiring my iPhone 6S plus, buying a Galaxy A20 Ultra. One of the main draws for me was the android includes quite the array of cameras. All the photos here (save for the raccoon) were taken with it. Not bad, not bad at all. 

I was driving, so uncharacteristically had my eyes actually on the road (can you imagine?). The entire herd would have one unseen without someone, with open eyes, riding shotgun. So I congratulate Barb on her wildlife spotting skills. Rest assured in future, gliding along Schmuck Road I will be scanning the distance for elk.