Well, we are settling in to our "summer home" in Bay Center, Washington, and loving it. The house is owned by our friends from Alaska, Gary and Dale Bader, and fortunately for us, Dale is here to help settle us in. This means we know how to get to every grocery store within 50 miles of the house. Bay Center, for those of us who didn't know until we arrived, is due west of Chehalis on the coast, overlooking Willapa Bay, west of Raymond, south of Aberdeen, and north of Astoria, Oregon.
The house is an old farmhouse located on an acre of land (which Eva looks forward to mowing using the riding lawn mower) overlooking a tidal bay, home of many an oyster. We look out a large picture window from the living room and watch boats go by on the channel, watch tides go in and out, watch eagles soaring hoping for a meal below, and watch the sun peek in and out from a low-lying cloud cover. So far, mostly rain and overcast days, but it can be raining pretty hard here and you hardly hear it, just softly soaks into the sodden ground.
EVERY THING is so green here. Huge evergreen trees of every variety, wonderful flowering rhododendrons and azaelas, bright yellow scotch broom wild on the hillsides, yellow iris in natural ponds by the side of the road, acres of cattle grazing nearby, and many oyster shells. This is the home of oysters, and we are learning about how they are seeded using old shells to make more oysters. Crab pots are stacked up waiting to be put out to catch the Dungeness crab for which this area is famous.
We landed in Seattle and waited for Dale to pick us up, which she ultimately did, and then drove back to Bay Center, stopping on the way at one of the grocery stores in the area called Everybody's. We shopped and stocked up and went out to the car to find we could not get it unlocked. No clicker and no key, only an ignition key. So we cursed our Cadillac and called the police who came and worked it open. Next day we headed south to the dealer to get a new clicker and some more door keys, and investigated the area around Astoria and Seaside, however, not the beaches since it was too cold. Came back home to find a friend of theirs, Glenn, with whom they'd left the car keys, who had found the clicker at his home! Meanwhile Sandy
had fallen off a bicycle at Costco (don't ask but she thought it was so cute that she might buy it if it fit and managed to fall off the bike onto the cement floor where she sprained an ankle and got bruises from the bike falling on her) so we laid low for a day, letting Eva nurse her bad knee as well. When we went out to start the car a day later to head out to shop for something, it would not start, so we had to charge it. Broke one battery charger and that friend who'd hidden the clicker came over with his and saved us. We will go Monday for a day of leaving the car to be checked out. Thankfully Dale is still with us, so we can blame it all on her!!
Meanwhile, Eva has terrorized the people at the only bakery for 50 miles. They close on Tuesday and Wednesday so finally when she went there yesterday around 3, they had already sold out of cookies. We have no idea if they are any good or not, but she gave them a hard time, so at this moment, she has gone once more hoping they will have some freshly baked cookies today. Stay tuned.
The house is an old farmhouse located on an acre of land (which Eva looks forward to mowing using the riding lawn mower) overlooking a tidal bay, home of many an oyster. We look out a large picture window from the living room and watch boats go by on the channel, watch tides go in and out, watch eagles soaring hoping for a meal below, and watch the sun peek in and out from a low-lying cloud cover. So far, mostly rain and overcast days, but it can be raining pretty hard here and you hardly hear it, just softly soaks into the sodden ground.
EVERY THING is so green here. Huge evergreen trees of every variety, wonderful flowering rhododendrons and azaelas, bright yellow scotch broom wild on the hillsides, yellow iris in natural ponds by the side of the road, acres of cattle grazing nearby, and many oyster shells. This is the home of oysters, and we are learning about how they are seeded using old shells to make more oysters. Crab pots are stacked up waiting to be put out to catch the Dungeness crab for which this area is famous.We landed in Seattle and waited for Dale to pick us up, which she ultimately did, and then drove back to Bay Center, stopping on the way at one of the grocery stores in the area called Everybody's. We shopped and stocked up and went out to the car to find we could not get it unlocked. No clicker and no key, only an ignition key. So we cursed our Cadillac and called the police who came and worked it open. Next day we headed south to the dealer to get a new clicker and some more door keys, and investigated the area around Astoria and Seaside, however, not the beaches since it was too cold. Came back home to find a friend of theirs, Glenn, with whom they'd left the car keys, who had found the clicker at his home! Meanwhile Sandy
had fallen off a bicycle at Costco (don't ask but she thought it was so cute that she might buy it if it fit and managed to fall off the bike onto the cement floor where she sprained an ankle and got bruises from the bike falling on her) so we laid low for a day, letting Eva nurse her bad knee as well. When we went out to start the car a day later to head out to shop for something, it would not start, so we had to charge it. Broke one battery charger and that friend who'd hidden the clicker came over with his and saved us. We will go Monday for a day of leaving the car to be checked out. Thankfully Dale is still with us, so we can blame it all on her!!Meanwhile, Eva has terrorized the people at the only bakery for 50 miles. They close on Tuesday and Wednesday so finally when she went there yesterday around 3, they had already sold out of cookies. We have no idea if they are any good or not, but she gave them a hard time, so at this moment, she has gone once more hoping they will have some freshly baked cookies today. Stay tuned.
