This week I caught a glimpse of the tall ships in their small parade of sails on their way to Tacoma for the Festival of Sails.
The parade of sail in North Puget Sound and the festival are intended to commemorate the 225th anniversary of Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of Puget Sound.
Our apple harvest should be happening soon, that is if Daisy Bean doesn’t eat them all….
We’ve been trying to monitor the Lady Labs’ apple retrieval activity, but that’s easier said than done. Every time I turn around one of them has an apple….usually Daisy. It was cute at first, but things are getting out of hand. Two days ago my husband and I figured out Daisy had consumed three apples in an afternoon. While I’ve been trying to discourage their apple picking tendencies, it doesn’t seem to have any effect.
This morning, as I let the girls out, I walked around the tree finding no apples on the ground. When I let them back inside for breakfast, I noted two apples near the porch. As they ate breakfast, I grabbed the notably mouthed apples and placed them into compost. My hope is that reinforcing apple nabbing as inappropriate behavior will eventually curtail such activity, but in a way, who can blame them? In Dallas there were only squirrels and birds to chase. Here they have deer, bunnies, birds to chase, and now, apples to retrieve in October.
In August, our new veterinarian noted the Lady Labs had gained half their weight in a year. This called for a reduction in calories for these maidens of mischief. Daisy, who is always hungry, is obviously protesting by nabbing the low hanging fruit on, what seems to be, a regular basis. We aren’t ruling out Little Bee as an accomplice, as she has been seen with a less than ripe apple in her jaws, but our repeat offender is definitely Daisy.
Before our fence was complete, the resident deer loved sneaking into our yard, reaching for our fruit by standing on their hind legs.
While I haven’t witnessed this, according to my husband, Daisy took notes and has deployed the same tactic. She has great odds as the deer are now fenced out, thus less competition. So we do our best to make the rounds and pick up fallen apples. Out of sight out of mind right?
An hour into my workday this morning, I ended a call with a client and looked down at Daisy sleeping comfortably under my desk with her brow curled as if she’d had a tough morning.
And next to her was a green apple. I guess she’s saving it for later.
So here we are, October, which for Pac Northwesterners it means truly the first day of fall. And yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day for our final day of our PNW summer.
A couple of friends from Dallas were visiting, and with the sun shining I was hoping we’d get good views of the Olympic Mountains from the Bluff Trail at Ft. Ebey State Park. Upon arrival at the trail head, it was obvious no views were to be had as a crazy thick fog seemed to be covering most of the Sound.
As we climbed along the bluff and up to Ft. Ebey, the sun was beaming brightly and it appeared we were just above the clouds at one point. The last time I had seen something like this was when Josh and I drove into the Andes to the Chilean border.
Yes, it was a perfect final PNW summer day.
I didn’t get my ocean view, but I do get to find the ocean and that can mean heading with Moonpie and the Lady Labs to Double Bluff Dog Beach.
The ocean has always been special to me, but add our pups to the scene and it is pure joy. Watching the girls run up and down the beach at full blast makes us laugh every time.
The one member of the pack that surprises us the most on our trips to Double Bluff is Moonpie. 
When we left Texas, Moonpie had been suffering from arthritis and seemed to not be into life at all. She’s our oldest dog at 13, but she may be our favorite (sshhhh….don’t tell the Lady Labs).
Since moving here, Moonpie has seemed to come into her second wind. She’s spunky, demands treats and she heards the Lady Labs all around the back yard. She loves running the trails at the Greenbank dog park and here on the beach.
Life is good if you are a Moonpie. And why wouldn’t it, when you have beach, salty Sound waters of the Salish Sea and mountains beckoning you to run.
Six years ago, followed by friends and family, my husband and I came to the island to get married. Most Texans don’t choose Puget Sound for a destination wedding, but we did.
A few days before our guests arrived, we met Josh’s parents at The Oystercatcher for dinner in Coupeville. This weekend, we returned to celebrate our anniversary and pinch ourselves that we now live here.
I’m not going to compose prose to tell you about our meal. I’m just going to leave this nice little gallery of images for you to peruse. I just hope you aren’t hungry.
life in the sound 