The weeks news. Thunderstorms, berries, and the stray cat.
It’s been a quiet week up here on the mountain, my little slice of heaven in the great northwest.
Today is foggy and damp. Yesterday, we had rain during the day and again last evening. The lovely wife and I spent a few hours at dusk watching the lightning moving to the north of us. The storm put on quite a show for about an hour, until it was too far north to see any longer. Thunderstorms have rolled through the past few days, bringing much needed rain, but also lightning. So far, we haven’t had any issues with fire, and I hope it stays that way.
With my son’s help, we got the wheel bearings and front brakes changed on my pickup, and we also changed the brake shoes on his. I am mostly supervising the work, letting him learn the tricks I have learned over the years so he can pass them down to his son when he’s old enough. I still have a few things to repair, but they can wait a while longer, though I do hope to have them done before the snow flies.
Huckleberry picking is almost over. The berries are going past their prime now, and won’t be worth the effort much longer, or they are too small to be worth the effort to pick. Either way, it’s nice not having berry pickers crowding up the road and ignoring private property signs, which many of them do. Their attitude is they have picked up here for years, before the land was sold, and they believe it’s their right to continue to go where they please. I wouldn’t have a problem with them, except they have no regard for other people’s property, parking their vehicles in inconvenient locations (or expecting us to move out of their way) and leaving behind trash. I have run a few off of land owned by people that don’t want them picking there and have heard all manner of excuses. Some even go so far as to take down cable that is blocking where they want to pick, disregarding the no trespassing signs they can’t miss seeing.
There’s a cousin of the huckleberry up here, the serviceberry, and they are ripe now, almost past their prime as well. The lovely wife and I spent a couple of hours this morning picking a gallon over near Allen’s cabin. Nobody picks them up here which I don’t understand. They are quite edible and taste a lot like a blueberry, of which they are also related. The lovely wife will use what we picked in something sweet later this week, and we might go after more when it’s a bit dryer. There are many edible berries up here which people ignore in favor of the huckleberry. They are just as tasty and easier to pick; serviceberries being on a high bush instead of right on the ground so you don’t have to bend as much to pick them.
Our stray cat seems to have moved on. The food dish we put out for it hasn’t been touched for a couple of days now (though, it has been stormy of late). We were going to try to catch it, but found out the shelter won’t take feral cats. We were hoping it would get used to us, and maybe, we would be able to tame it and find it a home. But now, I think it has gone, moving on or a wild animal may have gotten it.
Between small projects here, the pickup, and the weather, I haven’t been in town lately, though when the lovely wife and I do go, we stop at a new coffee shop near the local market. The owner is building a bigger shop that will be a drive through, as well as a few tables inside for people to come in and sit. The owner says she will have internet eventually, and when she does, I will spend my days there this winter when the lovely wife is at work and I need to be in town. It’s not Always Grounded, or our favorite barista, Sam, but it will have to do. We miss Sam very much and wish she was still here.
Well, that’s all the news for the week. Bye for now.
