Category: A Daily Tree

This tree was down at the ice-covered beach.

The air was so cold that the freshwater running down from the river was freezing on the surface of the salty sea. Then, as the tide withdraws, it leaves the sheets of ice lying on the beach.

I’ve been struggling lately, feeling discouraged by my various projects and obligations. Not just discouraged… bored, too, I guess.

I spent a few hours today trying to start our generator. I thought it would be easy. A brief power failure this morning reminded me that it was something I wanted to make sure worked. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. It’s brand-new – I’m not sure what’s wrong with it. And it’s too cold outside for me to want to spend more time troubleshooting it (I’d rather not start a gasoline engine indoors!).

There’s a quote attributed to Vincent Van Gogh: “I take great care of myself by carefully shutting myself away.”

This is relatable, today.

[daily log: walking, 3km; dogwalking, 3km]

This tree stands along the road a little bit west of our driveway.

The neighbors’ dog and I took a walk. Here she is resting a moment at the top of the west driveway.

The continuous rain-snow-rain-snow thing seems to have ended. Now cold air has arrived from northeast, and things will get very cold, but clear.

[daily log: walking, 3km; dogwalking, 3km]

This tree is along the snowy road. I took it a few days ago. More recently, the snowy road is an icy road.

Art and I went to town today, to do our “Thursday shopping” one day late. We didn’t go yesterday because I thought the roads would be too icy to drive easily. I thought the same thing today, but we went anyway, because I saw forecasts of a snowstorm coming, and I thought: “Well, the roads aren’t going to get better, they’re going to get worse.”

Indeed, the road was very icy. I drove very slowly, only slid around a little bit a few times, and the scariest part – the 6-mile hill – was much better than the other parts. I think some good Samaritan must have spread some salt or sand or something on the steep parts of the hill. We survived. And shopped.

[daily log: walking, 2km;]

This tree has been hanging out near the beach for a very long time. That’s the blue-green sea, in the background there.

The road to town was so horrible yesterday (coated with ice) that I decided the smartest option would be to play hooky from work today. Fortunately I have an understanding boss.

[daily log: walking, 3km;]

This tree was witness to a very high-speed, excited dog was we walked along the snowy road. She was running quite fast, and I just got lucky with this picture as she ran past me.

I got some chores done today. I filled the cistern from the well – still a manual task, and with the input stream off the hillside frozen, we have to make sure we don’t run short of water. I wasted a lot of water playing with hoses and fixing the frozen pipe problem last Sunday. I also did some unplanned maintenance on one of the database for the map website I maintain. But I was pleased that I was able to troubleshoot and solve the problem, despite knowing next-to-nothing about the programming language involved.

[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 3km]

This tree saw steady snowfall blanket bustling downtown Rockpit, Alaska.

I got to resume my dogwalking habit today, as neighbors Mike and Penny returned from their own travels with their dog Maya. Art and I restocked our larders with a more substantial shopping trip to town than usual, and came home for our traditional Thursday pizza dinner.

[daily log: walking, 5km; dogwalking, 3km]

This tree is adjacent to a culvert half-full of ice.

By the end of the day, temperatures were warming, however. There is mixed rain and snow forecast for tomorrow. And I’m off to work tomorrow – after almost four weeks… will I remember how to do my job?

[daily log: walking, 3km;]

This tree will be our Christmas tree – it’s a small sitka spruce I planted in a bucket.

I spent most of the day messing with our water system. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is that we had a plug of ice (frozen pipe) somewhere in the outdoor section of buried pipe between the cistern shed and house. So turning on the water supply was far from trivial. The day was crisp and sunny, with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 20’s.

First, I set up a giant construction-site-style heater to blow heat onto the spot where the water pipe enters the house. Counter-intuitively, the water enters the house at the side of the boat-shed, which is on the north side and “bottom” of the house. But it makes sense, since that was the part of the house that was constructed first. Here is the heater, a-heating.

Next, I wanted to apply “reverse pressure” to the buried pipe. So I used the same trick we’d used last summer when I had to repair the main house water filter: I stretched a garden hose down the hill from the cistern shed to a spigot on the house directly. This pressurizes the water in the house while bypassing the buried line. Unfortunately, I had been unwise when we departed – I hadn’t put the hoses away inside the house. Instead, they where lying around outside, full of frozen water. I had to bring them in and let them relax in the bathtub for a few hours, to help them thaw out.

Note to self: next time, put the hoses in the house before traveling!

Once we had pressure inside the house, and with the heater warming the inlet area (a lot! I got the plastic rim of the sunken spot with the intake valve almost too hot to touch), I guess that was what was needed to thaw the ice in the buried pipe.

It was all exhausting – especially since I’d imagined finally getting home and having a lazy day, after all my adventuring in the wild lands of the south. About 3 pm I took a long shower with our restored water pressure, and almost fell asleep before Arthur and I had dinner.

[daily log: walking, 4km; hose-wrangling, 2hr]

This tree is near the ferry’s parking spot in Ketchikan. It was preternaturally sunny but the temperature was about 25 F.

We flew from Seattle to Ketchikan, and then took the ferry across to Hollis, and a guy named Paul (who I know from his coming in the gift shop) helped jump start the car, because it wouldn’t start having been sitting in below freezing temperatures in the ferry parking lot while we traveled. So then we drove home. We are home.

[daily log: walking, 5km;]

This tree is lurking in a forest down below Juli’s house.

Today Art and I drove up from Portland to just south of Seattle. We are staying at my stepson Jeffrey’s house, with his family – his wife and my grandkids. That’s an awkward sentence.

I’ll try to post at least one picture – maybe with tomorrow’s tree. We fly back home to Alaska tomorrow.

[UPDATE:] Here is a nice picture of the whole family: Yvonne, Aurora, Parker, and me in back, Bella and Jeff in front.

[daily log: walking, 2km;]

This tree is in Oregon.

I drove down to Eugene on a day trip, to have a very short visit with my Aunt Janet and uncle Bob. We talked a bunch and had lunch. It was important to fit this in to the itinerary, despite the longish drive. Here is a picture of me with Janet.

The drive was rather intense. In moments it was raining, other moments, snowing, even “almost blizzard” conditions. Other moments the sun was in my eyes and there were rainbows. “Highly changeable weather.”

[daily log: walking, 4.5km;]

This tree was there as Walter-the-dog practiced his “stump” trick.

I taught Walter this trick where he jumps up on a tree stump, during a past visit to Juli and Keith’s house – some years ago. He clearly remembers it.

[daily log: walking, 6.5km;]

This tree was lightly frosted by some morning snow.

Art and I drove to the VA hospital in downtown Portland, this morning, for an annual follow-up with the “poly trauma” team that has been monitoring his progress since the stroke/concussion/broken neck in 2018. The doctor was humorous and pleasant and had excellent communication skills, but I was disappointed with the degree to which the VA was rather unorganized with respect to Arthur’s current needs for some specialized follow-up appointments on various dimensions. Basically, they wanted to make follow-up appointments but were somehow not aware of, or not taking into account, the fact that we were only briefly here in Oregon and live in remote Southeast Alaska… as if we would travel down once a month for doctor visits. That’s not going to work out. So now we are just going to have to wait for a consolidated set of appointments, and travel again later.

The doctor said something funny, though, as we were small-talking about navigating the labyrinthine VA hospital campus: “Actually, this place is mainly just doors.”

[daily log: walking, 5km;]

This tree is in front of the house I grew up in, in Arcata. I took this picture a few days ago.

I went and had dinner at my cousin Jori’s house with her husband. My second cousin (her daughter) and daughter’s family were there visiting from Anchorage. We spent some time looking through some old photographs Jori had found. For example, this is a picture of my grandmother Alice, her mother-in-law (my great grandmother) Isabel, my uncle Allen, my father Phil, my Aunt Janet (in front), and my great grandfather John Way Sr. (sitting). They are in front of the San Marino house.

[daily log: walking, 4km;]

This tree was above a horse.

I saw the horse while walking Walter-the-dog up along the road above Juli and Keith’s house. Later I a saw this deer in their yard.

[daily log: walking, 6km;]

This tree is in front of a high school, which I attended from 1979 to 1983. .

It’s not that much changed, actually. The prison-like facade I remember so fondly is almost entirely unmodified. I took the picture yesterday as I took a walk around Arcata, my hometown, which is something I always do when I visit, given my visits are always short and infrequent. It’s been four years since I was last here, and that visit, too, was only a few hours long: just “passing through.” I also had a long visit with Peggy and Latif, who live in the house that I grew up in.

Apparently the old Trinity Hospital – the building in which I was born, and which closed in the mid 70’s – which languished for years as a physical plant annex for the nearby university, is now undergoing renovation, and will become the new early learning center for the university’s education department.

I am pleased, anyway, that the original building is being preserved and restored rather than simply torn town. The university has been expanding rapidly in recent years. The campus has been promoted by the state system to a “polytechnic” – a kind of “elite” level of state campus intended to be on par with San Luis Obispo and Pomona. This has brought in a huge amount of money, and will, of course, radically change the character of the town, but I don’t believe change is bad. Nevertheless, the “feel” of my hometown is much transformed from the memories of my childhood and adolescence.

That was all yesterday. Today, I had another thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat. Here is a picture of the gathered diners.

That’s the tradition, at Juli and Keith’s house – thanksgiving on Saturday. That’s why I was able to enjoy thanksgiving twice. Double-thanks. The picture above shows Robin and Juli on the left, working on a puzzle (a gift that my mother sent, indirectly). Also seen are Mindy, Kai, Taylor, Keith, Arthur, Hope, and Grace.

Interestingly, Taylor became very engaged in the puzzle, which was apparently uncharacteristic of him. So everyone was drafted to finish the puzzle before any guests could depart. So I guess this completed jaguar puzzle is courtesy Ann and Taylor.

After the great meal was over, and the puzzle was done, and the other guests had left, Juli and Keith and Arthur and I sat in the living room in complete silence for maybe five or ten minutes. It was a strange, but calming feeling. Then Keith spoke up. “I could go to bed now.” That was a perfect end to the day.

[daily log: walking, 3km;]

This tree is in Humboldt County – barely. This sign at the lower right is the Humboldt County boundary – sorry that it’s a bit blurry.

Humboldt County, California, is one of my favorite third-order administrative divisions. It is, after all, where I was born and spent my childhood. But only a geography nerd like me would conceptualize it as a “favorite third-order administrative division.”

There’s an anecdote about this boundary sign, and Arthur’s role in my childhood. Arthur and I were traveling somewhere. I was around 12 or 13 years old I think. We were driving somewhere, a long road-trip in his 64 Ford Falcon that was his main car for several decades. I don’t remember exactly where we were going. It was late at night, and I needed to pee, so as one does when traveling rural highways, we just pulled over and I peed beside the road. It just happened that we’d stopped by the sign at the Humboldt County line. Later, I realized that I’d lost a shoe. It was obvious to both of us that my shoe, which I’d not been wearing, had fallen out when we’d stopped, somehow. So several days or weeks later (I don’t recall exactly), we were headed back home. I’d completely forgotten about the lost shoe. Arthur stopped abruptly and circled around, so we were pointed the same direction as we’d been traveling before. He stopped the car on the gravel by the roadside. “Open your door,” he said. I was puzzled – I really had forgotten about the shoe. I opened the door. “Get your shoe,” he said. Sure enough, sitting on the ground below the door was my shoe. He’d managed to park the car in exactly the same position he had done last time. He truly had a phenomenal spatial memory, “back in the day.”

I drove up from Eureka back to Forest Grove, today. I stopped in Arcata and took a walk around the town, and talked to Peggy and Latif, who are close friends of the family and who live in the house that I grew up in. Many things changed… many things the same. It’s good to revisit old places.

[daily log: walking, 5km; driving, alot more]