Then and now

 

That's the confluence of the Methow and Twisp Rivers at the City Park yesterday. The Methow River is running at about 2,000 CFS now, which is about 60% of normal for April.

This is the same spot last spring, when the river crested at 18,000 CFS. May 2023 was unseasonably warm, causing a rapid melt off in the mountains. A number of factors must converge for damaging floods in the valley: an exceptionally warm spring, high snow pack, slow moving rain storms. It's happened before and will again, but not this year. (Famous last words.)

Another then and now view in front of the house. It's so peaceful here, especially compared to the constant background din in West Seattle.

I was on my own yesterday, but the rest of the week is busier. I'm having lunch with my friend Karen and there's a track meet at the school tonight. Tomorrow, fingers crossed, a new washer and dryer delivered from the Home Depot store way over in Omak. I ordered it a month ago. No more hauling towels and sheets back and forth from Seattle? Wow.

The finest hour

"The finest hour that I have seen
Is the one that comes between
The edge of night and the break of day
It's when the darkness rolls away."

 

 Kate Wolf, Across the Great Divide

 

 

I had a good drive yesterday. It rained and snowed some on Snoqualmie Pass which always seems slightly offensive this late in April.  Just give it up, will you?

 

Sunday morning is my favorite time to travel east. There are few trucks on the road and most of the traffic is headed back toward the big cites on the west side. 

 

This is when the huge RV's suddenly appear on the roads, and everyone seems in a frantic rush to get from point A to point B. The North Cascade Highway reopened, so tourist season truly begins. I have to hand it to those senior citizens, towing an RV as big as tractor trailer truck. And going 80 miles a hour, at that.

 

The only negative was our favorite pit stop, Lone Pine, is closed on Sundays. I stopped at a convenience store to buy a soda and eat my sandwich at a picnic table in back, where someone decided to half-bury a giant tire in the field. Not the same as sitting by koi pond and fountain at the Lone Pine picnic area. Not to mention, the fruit smoothies.

A busy week is shaping up here, which I'll fill you in on as it progresses. For now I'm going to watch the sun come up from behind Mill Hill. 

Hot chicken lite

 

Chicken thighs aren't exactly health food, so baking them on a rack is a good hack. And you can make an easy Nashville hot chicken with Frank's sauce. Almost as good as fried.

The authentic spice paste they use in restaurants has two ingredients: lard and cayenne pepper, mixed together, three parts pepper to one part lard and heated until they form a thick sauce. That gets slathered on the freshly fried chicken and melts right in. Oh, my goodness.

We had it once down in the Georgetown neighborhood. Just an early lunch for us, but it looked like a powerful hair-of-the-dog brunch for most of the customers. Even our waitress looked like she had just rolled out of bed. What a hoot.

Today will be beautiful in Seattle, not a cloud in the sky close to 70. I have one more rough project (digging out a clump of dying Mondo grass.) I'll take a rest until the tulip leaves die back--then a final clean-up of the spring mess before we tick over to weeding and watering season.

I'm heading over to Twisp this weekend, and I'll see you next from the other side.

 

So innocent looking

 

Bluebells...such a sweet flower, so evocative of England where they carpet the countryside in an enchanting sea of blue. The bluebell there is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and digging up the plant or bulb is prohibited. 

Keep in mind, that flower is not to be confused with their rough cousin, the Spanish bluebell (above) which is very similar in appearance to the British bluebell.

As they say, a weed is just a flower in the wrong place. 

Spanish bluebells invade lawns and take over flower beds, the heavy leaves choking out everything else coming up. 

A Google search shows all the creative (and violent) ways people have tried to kill them: poison, flamethrower, boiling water, stomping the leaves to mush, cutting the tops off until they "starve" and so on. Oh, the rage.

Persistent as bamboo, none of these methods really work. All you can do is dig up the tiny deep bulbs--backbreaking work and impossible if there are "nice" plants growing in the vicinity.

It looks like a wild hog rooted through this bed. Yesterday I sliced off the bluebell leaves so the lilies and dahlias have some breathing space. But I'm just kicking the can down the road. Soon the flower beds will fill in and bluebells forgotten until next spring. 

When you've lived for 3/4 of a century, you have to pick your battles.

Aw, look at the dear things. All four chicks are thriving. Maya named the Easter Eggers (above) Bonnie and Clyde.

Geranium time

 

I bought 12 geraniums at Costco yesterday and look forward to getting them potted up today. Sparkling frost on the cars this morning, but we're headed into a beautiful stretch of warm weather. Seattle is spectacular on these sunny spring days. All the big trees around us are greening up and blooming, and they help block the sight of houses and development. 

Other than the fact they're common, what bad thing can you say about plain red geraniums?  These will bloom right up until November. We once grew amazing fuchsias and other fussy things, but summers have become so hot and dry hanging baskets are impossible to keep watered. 

I still need to plant the tomato and pepper pots we grow on the baking south side of the house. I'll stop at Lone Pine the next time I go to Twisp. They often have a selection of vegetable starts with better quality and price than Home Depot. 

Here's a funny quote!

 “Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them. Sooner or later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats. Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums.”
― Beverley Nichols

Chick time

 

 

The first batch of chicks, 2020

Look at those little girls. What happened?

The Twisp hens are a real success story, and provide the family with fresh eggs almost year round. With simple care, chickens are surprisingly hardy and can acclimate to the harsh winters and hot summers. 

They are basically backyard pets and come running, begging for vegetable scraps, when someone goes out the back door. Their constant "talking" is soothing to the ear, and they have individual personalities.

Chickens live an average of 3-7 years so there's been attrition from natural causes. Only one of the original pandemic flock is still around, plain little black "Leah," who even survived a dog attack. She went weird and broody last year, and hardly left her nest box for months. Maybe a rest cure is the secret to long life?

Anyway, each spring the girls order a few new baby chicks from the feed store in town. It's an exciting day when they arrive and the kids walk down to pick them up.

This year they bought "Easter Eggers" and "Black Sex Link." These are special cross-breeds, valued for their prolific laying, personality and hardiness. The "Easter Eggers" lay a variety of colors: light blue, green to pink. How cute is that?