Turn on the Frickin' Light

 
Uh, sooo..... Nothing happened to me on Friday the 13th, November 2020 - just making that clear.  Anyway, at 2 AM Saturday the 14th, I woke in my bed, as it was time for a pee. My fists were balled up, pressing against my eyes - a bad sleeping habit. My poor iris muscles were therefore tight shut, temporarily incapacitated, and not opening to let light into my pupils, so I was blind as a bat until my pupils opened up. Now if I were either cautious or brilliant I would have sat at the edge of my bed until my poor irises had a chance to reopen, or I would have turned on a light so my pupils would open up and let in light. Alas, I did neither. getting up, I stubbornly proceeding to stumble blindly to the foot of my bed. With arms outstretched like a Helen Keller, I headed toward the door to my bedroom and the hallway.  

One step out of my bedroom an immediate left is the staircase down. A few additional steps and I'd have safely trudged to the left, along the hallway. But not being able to see at all, 2 steps too soon, I turned left, took one fateful step and... down the rabbit hole, head first, I plunged.

I broke my fall with my hands, more precisely with my thumbs. I landed belly down on the lower stairs. Somehow I got myself turned around and sitting up and I took note: my thumbs burned like they were dipped in lava. Without thinking about it, my brain had registered that my left my left forearm was broken. I sat on the bottom step, rocking in pain, and when I worked up the courage, felt my forehead, expecting blood. No blood. I did find a massive dent, that made me think I might have a concussion brewing. So... that meant my post-fall plan to 'stand up, use the first floor bathroom, then crawl into the guest room bed to snooze until morning' was shot all to hell. 

Two hours later I finally managed to stand without without the use of my aching hands. Mind... I can stand up from a prone position on the floor but I need my arms to do so. Note to self: must master standing up using only my lower appendages. 

Grabbing my hoodie and keys, I went next door to the cottage. Barbara lives in the cottage and hearing her doorbell ring at 4AM she was certain a lost axe murder had come to murder her. So it took a bit for her to answer the door and let me in. Long story short & one ambulance ride later, I was in the Port Angeles Hospital, feeling astounding stupid and wildly embarrassed, and screaming like a Banshee if a doctor, nurse or aide accidently as much as looked at my thumbs, much less touched them. 

In the wee morning hours I had 2 MRIs, an x-ray, & an EKG to boot. Spent 2 days in the hospital, getting treatment for my broken left ulna, a broken rib, some cracked neck vertebrate and a massive hematoma on my forehead - which was had earlier fooled me into thinking I had a concussion, which I did not. Two days of IVs and pain meds and I was released. My friend Ingrid (who already had let me stay at her house for 8 months while I house hunted last year) came to stay at my house for a couple of weeks until I could shift for myself. My hands were so bummed up I couldn't even operate my cell phone (THE AGONY!) and needed assistance manipulating small items and the like. Poor Ingrid! The lady has the patience of a saint and she stayed with me right through Thanksgiving.

Me, late Saturday afternoon, in neck brace and my initial arm cast, before my face decided to dress up a little late for Halloween.

'Racoon eyes', in development

 

Then on waking Sunday morning I discovered my I had what the doctors called 'Raccoon Eyes'. But wait! The fun transformation didn't stop there. I went on to develop a v. fat (uh... fatter) face, and lovely Aubergine (eggplant) blackish purple cheeks. My face was so discolored that the camera didn't pick up on how black the sides of my forehead were, in the photo below. As you can see, I actually had a blaze down the center of my face. I thought I looked like a Spaniel, complete with ears.  Hum...wish I was as cute as the pup though.

[UPDATE: I am now returned back to normal, more or less. For several months, I had dark circles under my eyes, but that went away and I no longer resemble a cousin of  Beelzebub. My poor left hand and fore-arm are puffier than their mates to the right. Full healing for my left forearm and hands will take a  year. Both of my thumbs are sensitive. When touched they feel like they incurred slight paper cuts or burns. This too shall pass.]

Talk about STUPID accidents. All of the above could have been avoided had I simply, as Dumbledore might elegantly state....

'Next time turn on the damned lights you ignorant Muggle.'

UPDATE: A couple of months later I looked on line at My Chart. I discovered when I was admitted to the hospital, not only did they run an EKG, MRIs and x-rays, but they also ran an blood alcohol test!  Because, people who plummet downstairs in the wee hours of night are suspected of being drunk. Nope. My blood alcohol level was <10(standard range is <=10 mg/dL, whatever that means). Not drunk, just too damned stubborn to turn on the frickin' lights.

And another UPDATE: this reminder now hoovers over my bed. 

Look up! Fixing up the Farmhouse, Part III

After the interior painting project was completed at the Flown Piggies Farmhouse, next on the 'get that stuff fixed' agenda was lighting.  Honestly, I don't blame the previous owners for installing the cheapest possible lighting. Why sink $$ into a house they weren't planning on living in? But where is the joy of living in a pretty house where you look up, only to see a boob light glaring down on you. The Boob Lights are throughout the house, ten in total, a few are closet dwellers

AKA 'Boob Lights'

There were other not-to-Madame's liking sort of lights as well. 

Tri-Light Unit

There were several of these fixtures referred to as 'tri-lights', not because they conjure up images of glowing sexy teen vampires, but because they have 3 lamp units. Only 2 of the lamps worked for each tri-light. The is only enough wiring in their base power boxes to allow only 2 of the 3 lamps to light. Geez, talk about setting off one's OCD tendencies. 

I decided all lighting needed updating. At first I intended to have them all installed by Handyman Jim II. But I thought, how hard could it be? I've known some fairly dim 'bulbs' that replaced their own lighting fixtures and such so decided I must be up to the task. So armed with knowledge gleaned from YouTube, I ordered a bathroom vanity light unit.  

The realtor photo on left, doesn't quite show the rust, grime and state of 'Ugh!' that was the vanity lighting on the first floor bathroom.   

At right are the genuine, Claire-installed 'lily lights'. Damn, but I think they look great. The whole bathroom has a theme of garden greenery. So freakn' cute.

With one whole project under my belt, I went on to order additional light fixtures. Below is the light fixture style decided on. 

The light below hangs by its grounding wire, during installation. It surprised me how the fixture is held up by its own wiring while one diddles around clamping like wires to other like wires and such.

A bit crooked...

All of the lighting bases were round, and all the new base light units were square, so it was a pain-in-the-bum getting the square pegs into the round fittings. The first couple of fixture bases had to be unscrewed and re-connected which was easy-ish but nevertheless annoying to do.

TADA!  All straighted out... sort of.

With 5 first floor light units replaced, next up was the stairwell lighting. I was sure I could install a new light there myself - that being IF I could reach the stupid thing! As there didn't seem much hope I would grow a foot or two any time soon or ever, so I had to hire an electrician.                                                                                      

Two bulb tri-light stairwell light fixture

I couldn't wait to see what kind of fancy ladder or what-not the electrician would use to reach the old light fixture. Turns out, as he exceeded 6 ft in height, he used a fancy set of tools, called his 'arms' to reach up and get the work done.  

Spiffy new replacement light fixture 

1/2 painted with old light fixtures

While we're up here on the second floor there were yet another pair of  'need replacement' boob lights, one of which can  be seen there on the right. This photo was taken when the corridor was about half done with its paint job.

I got 2 additional fixtures, this time with two bulbs each and I put them in.  As with the other fixtures, these hold those new fangled, old fangled retro 'Edison' bulbs. Yep. Everything old is new again.

Last up for replacement lighting was the dining room and central kitchen lighting. The lighting had been installed haphazardly by someone with no sense of either design or balance. Dead center in the kitchen there was a weird white fan with a light & weirdly short, ten inch fan blades. There are also two boob lights, as well as two tri-light fixture thingies.  

Kitchen lighting... rather unorganized

Deciding the units I'd purchased were too heavy for me to deal with on my own, enter Handyman Jim II. He did lovely job removing 4 light fixtures, replacing them with the 2 new spiffy, fixtures. 

Final kitchen lights.... Aren't they d' lovely?

And that is how the old dairy farmhouse got new lighting, upstairs and down. There are still 3 bedrooms worth of boob lights to be replaced - eventually  - with overhead ceiling fans, but that is a future story for another time. 

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. 

Grand Day for a First Flight

Newly fledged Baldie in its adorable baby-downy-speckled plumage swooping by the  front porch

My dining room window faces north towards the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. This morning my attention was glued to the 1 acre field across the road. The field has 'grass as high as an elephant's eye' and today the grass is being mowing & harvested for livestock feed. 

View from my porch (adult eagle is the polka dot, on the grass, to right of the truck)

I was working on line, watching the progress of the field mower, when a HUGE raptor floated in front my startled eyes - Juvie Bald Eagle! I stared as it swooped and got so close to my window I thought it might crash into it. Then an adult baldie (mom or dad?) was swooping around after its wayward baby, in a game of 'catch me if you can'. 

Panting baby Baldie out for a spin

Talk about your photo opts! After several minutes I knew I HAD to retrieve the camera so I ran out to the garage, grabbed the camera out of the car, bolting back to the kitchen, then out onto the front porch. Turned on my camera and aimed.... NO BATTERY POWER, DAMN IT! Raced back to the garage, got another battery, then back on the porch for shots of the baldies swooping about.
Yeah. That would drive any birder buggy all right...

The baby Baldie landed in the power pole on the road by my front porch. Got photos of the baby messing with a nice wad of grass it had picked up out of the mowed field. I think that makes the grass a Baldie Tinker Toy.

Baby Baldie playing with a wad of grass

The adult sitting in field across the way, while its oversized baby comes in for a landing

The following hour was full of Bald Eagle antics, lots of eagle screams and chasing. Handyman Jim II came out of where he's working in the cottage, to see some of the action. The adult eagle landed in one of... wait for it, wait for it... MY TREES! Yes loads of photos of that.

Oh yeah, an eagle all up in my tree

Then as Jim II and I watched, and we were too excited to do anything but gape... a second adult eagle smacked right into the perched eagle, knocking it right out of the tree! I swear I heard it yelling 'TAG, YOU'RE IT!' That was followed by me screaming explicatives (poor Jim II) and the eagles bulleting around the fields again.

One or the other of the two adults has periodically sat on a snag at the Dungeness bay for about a month.  My guess now is they have a rookery nest over by the bay somewhere. I think their single chick is now out and about, playful and causing its Mom & Dad all sorts of aggravation.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

While baby watches, Adult eagle is about to land on the snag over the Dungeness inlet

Adult panting in tree up the road, after a came of catch with baby