Happy anniversary/birthday, Tiny!

Those Sunday nights in September, while R stayed on Lummi the whole time, I was grudgingly dropped off at the ferry, to begin the work week Monday morning. Thursday nights couldn't come soon enough, and before I knew it, I was back for the weekend of Sept. 17th. R realized that that very day was the six-year anniversary of Annabelle coming into her life. And since she'd thought Annabelle was about a year old when she got her, we decided to combine the anniversary and her 7th birthday. We got in some good work during the day, and then got down to celebrating, and most importantly, Tiny's birthday dinner treat.

She knows something's up!

Big ones for us, and a wee one for her!

Wait...

Wait...

Good girl, Tiny!

Ferry Dry Dock 2009

Sept. 10th marked the first day of R's three-week vacation. It also marked the first day of the Lummi Island car ferry's annual dry dock period, which lasts, you guessed it, three weeks. We giggled a good long time about it, and then decided a little dry dock wasn't going to stop us, no sirree! This is what it looked like that first weekend on the passenger-only ferry:

The first day, D and J were anchored nearby off Clark Island, and came over for a visit on their runabout. With the sun out, the water shimmering, and four bikes for four girls, the island begged for a little exploration, and after a sweet, seven-mile loop and a toast to the magic of Lummi, D and J said goodbye and tooddled off.

After a day of play, though, Big Papa arrived and it was time to replace some serious powder-post-beetle-damaged porch support posts. The porch supports the roof. Enough said! Have I mentioned how incredibly knowledgeable Big Papa (or, more recently, Big Papi!) is, and what an unstoppable team he and R make? They can, in all seriousness, do anything!!! Look:

Oh, sure, we can jack up the porch, no problem!

Voila, just like that, crappy wood and shoddy cement out, good wood and pier post in! Repeat six times. Thank you, thank you, Big Papa and R!

One more thing had to go.

Ta-da! Isn't it lovely, all shiny and new?

M and F also visited, and in between relaxing, they managed to bust out painting the front door. It is just beautiful, ladies!

In the meantime, and after much sanding and vacuuming, sanding and vacuuming, R and I were ready to start staining the floors. Why, yes, those are knee pads peeking out from the left! Hot, right? Seriously, though, I can't quite articulate what it's like for a city girl like me to learn all these amazing new skills and be surrounded by so much love and help. It's truly mind-blowing!