Vicky scores!

Vicky's 40th anniversary today

Of being in the first graduating class of police officers that included women.

There were four other women in this class, out of 2200 applicants for the academy.

She has told me that at first when she was on the streets and went to a call that people's response typically was:  "It's a woman!"  Now we don't think much about that.

This photo of her shows her running from the squad car before a drug bust to prevent anyone from swallowing the drugs.

 

 although her son, Owen, says he thinks there was just a wasp in the car.

One of the cool things she did was obtain permission to dress up as a prostitute and catch men who were offering to pay girls and women.  She didn't think it was fair to just prosecute the women.  As she describes a typical night doing this what came to mind for me was that this was like shooting fish in a barrel.  She would arrange for the guy to meet her on a side street where other officers would arrest him, and she'd go back to her spot and wait for the next sucker.

She's justifiably very proud of her service as an officer, and with her subsequent work in law enforcement (her entire career when she wasn't doing what was even more meaningful to her, and that was raising her children).

I'm sorta, kinda, in a little way, maybe, aw shucks, proud of her too. 

Happy Anniversary, Vicky! 

When you are getting old......you hire it out

I no longer climb onto roofs.  I did this regularly as a younger man.  I felt confident, and was careful.

But now I feel age creeping up on me.  I'm 68, and although we do something active every day to keep in shape, my balance and coordination isn't what it used to be.  In addition, I have a lot of steel in my right foot from three foot surgeries.  That foot isn't as limber as it once was, and doesn't give me the same feedback it once did.  Too many nerves were cut to get it back into shape.

Last year we also decided that cleaning the gutters was no longer something we could do.  It meant, for me, carrying around a heavy ladder.  I have a healthy respect for ladders.  In fact, when I climb one for some purpose I put on my bicycle helmet.  I would wager that more people sustain damage to their brains from ladder falls than from biking accidents, so it seems a smart thing to do.

Because we live in the woods our gutters are ripe for being filled.  For several years I would tote the ladder around three or four times a season and do this. I hated it.

No longer.  For a reasonable price we can hire two young men who can do this.  They scamper around on the roof like I once could do.  It is safe for them.

The main threat to our health and life-style isn't an illness.  Instead, it is an accident--a fall.  So we take all kinds of precautions.  Hiring this work out is an example.  Never hiking in a place where a fall could injure anything except an ankle is another.  Driving under the speed limit.  Cycling only on carefully chosen roads, and with enough red lights on each of our bikes to mimic a police car.

Here is how bad the roof looked with all of the fallen limbs on it:

Well, guess what?  The guys cleaning the roof and gutters found that one of the large branches that fell on the roof did so in such a way that the sharp edge went right through the roof.  So now we have a hole in our roof.  We are so happy!

So, today called a roofing company to come look at it.  Will require a temporary patch and then two new panels.  All of this from wind.

And we are STILL picking up branches.

So far we have made four pickup loads, several wheelbarrow loads, and many armfuls of branches to cart away.  And we still aren't done.

Wind and rain....Whidbey Island.

(we love it!)  

Lost power again......

This makes the third time in 2 1/2 weeks.  Wind blew and blew.  Before the storm we had picked up several wheel barrow loads of branches in the yard, and two full pickup loads.

 

And after the latest storm we were back to square 1, except we had trees that fell.

One of them fell across our power lines.  We could have cut it off of them ourselves, but that violates our first rule of life:  Minimize your own work by maximizing the work of others.

It also violates another rule which is power lines are for professionals, and we aren't.

Here is the culprit after cutting it away.  We still have to clean up this mess someday.

 

Having the power go out is kind of fun, actually.  We still have heat (wood stoves), and can cook (camp stove and use of the camper stove and oven).  We have a generator, but of course I had become lazy and hadn't started it for two years.  It paid me back by exercising my shoulder a lot and then refusing to kick on.  I've learned my lesson.  When the weather gets better I'll clean the plug, etc. and then be nicer to it.

We had taken out about 15 trees last year (not us, of course, but we did write the checks for it).  We will never know what kind of disaster we might have prevented by doing this.  The pine tree right outside our front door split in several places when it fell, so chances are it would have fallen on our house with the high winds.  Because of all of the rain the ground is also insecure for holding the bigger trees.

I think that's what happened in our front yard, in a place we hadn't focused on in terms of cutting down trees.  Probably smart decision, as they didn't fall where they could hurt anyone.  An Alder and a Fir tree.

But that requires a lot of clean up, and then we'll have to cut them into rounds and find a place to stack them until we get the wood-splitter we are part owners of and split them.

Here are the trees that fell into the yard:

Here I go to make them pay for their misdeed:

The first step is to cut off all of the branches.

 Haul them into the woods or into the back of the pickup:

 And unload them into the woods along Zig Zag Lane that goes through our property:

 We still have a lot of work to do, but we can tell we had been here:

Road Trip 5 Camp sites

Speaking of 5, today is our fifth anniversary of when we met at a dance.  We are taking the day off to celebrate (whatever "taking the day off" means when you are both retired).

Five is a good number.  

Vicky dressed in the same outfit she wore the first time I saw her:  I called her pink sweater lady:

 

(Blogger restricts the size of videos, so it is kind of small.  For some of the sites it may be difficult to see our camper, but it is there.)

Power is out on Whidbey Island

Like this is news.

We are scrambling to find flashlights and water.  I have a backup battery for the router, but it is fading fast.  Maybe it will last until I post this.

We are amused.  We just went 4 months without electricity and did fine.  Now that we are in civilization, we are trying to cope with not having it.  We have turned on the refrigerator in the camper, and in a couple of hours it will be cold enough to keep our food safe.  We can also cook in the camper, and charge any needed electronics.  We heat with wood, so will stay warm enough.  Our only long term problem is water, but we have some and I will drink diet Coke until this is over so Vicky can have what water we do have.  Toilets don't flush, but neither have the toilets we have used for four months.

We have spent time in the two days we have been home picking up fallen branches.  And now, nature, with its wicked sense of humor, is taunting us with a replenished supply.  

This is our welcome home.  Kinda fun......for now.