2018 is the year of Moving

This meant lots of packing, making 2 trips to Whidbey Island, and most importantly going to my daughter Julie's wedding! Unfortunately no pictures can be posted as the ones I need are saved under my personal email and not the Popeye Express account - bummer. So, on to 2019!

Land Clearing Forever - or so it seems!

Another tub of White Day Lilies come into bloom - heaven!

The front of our property where we've planted 18 or so Rhododendrons

Eventually we hope to have Rhododies planted throughout our acreage!

The never-ending pile continues to grow.

More work & a little heavenly order!

Here is what it looks like to unload Ocean Spray & take it to the "to be chipped pile":

The order of Heaven - I can smell these blossoms from 100 feet or more away - heavenly!

June & Land clearing

It's time for Bob to get serious about clearing the land. We want to make a park like setting out of it, so all the underbrush has to go. 5 acres is a lot of land to clear, but Bob and his tractor (AKA the Orange Beast) are up to the job!

Site of our future home beyond the Fox glove and between the trees!

Site of where our future home will be.

Site of septic system installed last year.

Partial view of our driveway leading towards the street.

City boy trying to figure out how a log splitter works!

The ever growing pile to be chipped.

Logs to be split

Our volunteer Fox Glove!

The Grapple attached for action!

The Orange Beast ready for more!

Our as- yet-un-planted gardens!

One of hundreds of cherry trees blossoming in Coupeville with Penn Cove in the background.

My azaleas & hydrangeas waiting to be put into the ground placed on front of Popeye.

April Tractor Arrival

Today is the long awaited day when Bob's tractor arrives. Our hearts are pounding with excitment!

April Tulip Festival in La Conner, WA

Finally, the event I have been waiting for all year long - the blooming of tulips in La Conner. Although I was unaware of how deer loved crocus, I am aware that deer are also fond of tulips, and therefore didn't plant any. They are plentiful along the island, along with the many cherry trees planted in front of almost every business on the island. It is thrilling to see the spectacle of flowering trees along the highway. It's impractible to show all the pictures I took, but this should give you an idea of what we see:

March on Whidbey Island

After our brief snowstorm, things quickly return to normal and before long the first Crocus of the season poke their head above ground. Here are the only shots I got before the deer got to them. Little did I know that Crocos is one of their favorite foods. I planted perhaps 550 plants, but only these 2 survived for a couple of weeks!

We're here!

Finally, on January 3, we make the crossing over the Deception Pass bridge from Fidalgo Island onto Whidbey Island!Although our crossing is in daylight, I cannot help but to post this picture of a spectacular sunset as seen from Whidbey Island at the bridge - enjoy!

We get settled without mishap, and life is pretty mundane, until February when a 50 year snow storm blows in. Here is the only picture I can find of us in our RV pad living on our property:

and since we're jumping to February, I might as well show you some of the other pictures of our snow: