July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 by kritterspaw

Seattle, WA

Travel
color, fish, market, old, pike place market, pikes place, sea, seattle, veg, wa, washington, zoo
2 Comments

We were just in Washington state. We haven’t been in probably a decade. It made me start to realize that irritating trait older people have… ‘I remember when’, ‘You’re too young too remember’, etc. Yes, it’s true we are young to be retired, but here we are… we never won the lottery, we never ‘made it big’… but we saved hard, and lived a different lifestyle. We seldom wrote checks to have others do for us what we could do ourselves. And we are younger than most of our retired friends.. the rest just aren’t retired yet. Why we have to endure their…. ‘just wait you’ll get there’, is beyond me. I hope never to do that to others in the future.

But here we were in WA state, bemoaning how it has changed from the last time we were here. I suspect that as time has passed, and time goes forward, it will forever be true. You can’t take it back as you plow down nature, replacing it with buildings and high-rises holding the likes of Starbucks and Hard Rock Cafe’s. As each of us see something for the first time, it is forever not the same again.

The traffic alone in the Seattle area was enough to keep me from ever coming back. It was worse than the worse day in California traffic, and that’s notoriously bad. People from the area swear never to go to Seattle proper just because of the traffic.

We remember going through Pike Place Market ever so fondly in the past, so we made a special trip to walk it’s halls yet again. We felt like salmon swimming upstream in a sea of tourists. It was a complete zoo.

July 9, 2016 by kritterspaw

Retaining Wall

So if you have been following me and my blog, you are probably aware that this blog is one of three blogs I try to keep up with. I have my foodie blog, krittersmenu.com; and my photo blog, kritterspix.com. Maybe you follow just one or all three.

This blog, kritterspaw.com, is my general blog. It is more travel and project centric. Having said that, I haven’t posted a lot of projects lately. So if you’re following, you’re probably wondering what happened after that massive pizza oven project. Well, don’t despair, we haven’t hung up our hammer or power tools.

When we first built our cabin in the woods 5 years ago, we designed and built a bridge to literally ‘bridge the gap’ to our house. You can see that video here.

While the bridge incorporates several safeties to assure there are no ‘surprises’, we have found that the ledge of the moot is crumbling and eroding with the weather shifts. Thus, we have embarked on securing the wall. Admittedly there are many different ways to approach this problem statement, and we debated many of them. What we decided on was a rebar and wire mesh lined with landscaping cloth, anchored on the stable land, and filled with rock.

wire walli.JPG This re-bar wall winds around the solid land dirt crumbling wall. In all it’s over 60′ long. The re-bar is in; the wire mesh, and landscaping cloth all installed. It is drilled and anchored to solid ground, and now awaiting to be filled with 25 ton of crushed red granite. blk cloth2i.JPG

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Believe me… pictures don’t do it justice.

Next up, we will plasma cut metal animals to ornamentally grace the wall.

June 25, 2016June 26, 2016 by kritterspaw

Nova Scotia

Travel
boats, cabot trail, canada, eagle, fog, lighthouse, lobster, lobster boats, lobstermen, nova scotia, puffins, seal, trees
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We just got back from a week trip to Nova Scotia. Many people asked us before we left, Why Nova Scotia? I found that to be an odd question. I ask… Why Not?

Why does anyone go to a particular place for vacation? Perhaps it’s because they have been before and enjoyed it, or maybe they want to try someplace new. For us, we don’t generally go to the same place twice, and are always trying to find new places to experience grand new adventures. Every person has different things that make their ideal vacation. I think it was my sister-in-law, Kate, who originally raved about Cape Breton (the northern most island of Nova Scotia). For Kate, I think the allure has more to do with the quiet solitude, Celtic influence, and musical flavor. Frankly, things that have little bearing for me personally.

Vacation ‘buying factors’ for us include great food and great photographs. We love seafood… so Nova Scotia seemed to us like as good a place as any. We had gotten a couple recommendations from other friends that had been there. It has been on our GO TO list for some time. So it came up to the top of the list and we scheduled the trip.

We broke the trip into 2 parts: (1) Cape Breton, the northern most island of Nova Scotia, home to the scenic Cabot Trail, and (2) Peggy’s Cove / Lunenburg coastal area.

Cape Breton in known for it’s Celtic origins. Even the signs are in Gaelic. It’s also home to the windy scenic Cabot Trail that winds between the forest and over the hills. The views yield mountains of trees tapering off into the sea, the occasional lighthouse, and vast hiking areas.

For our trip we were gifted with overcast skies, gray clouds, and drizzly rain. It made for poor sunrise/ sunsets, but interesting fog pix.

Lobstering is a big industry in Nova Scotia, as is all things sea related (no big surprise as it’s an island surrounded by the ocean and bays). Since we were there during lobster season we witnessed the hard working lobstermen coming in from their early morning hauls, and enjoyed many fruits of their labors (i.e. – lots of lobster 🙂 ).

In Baddeck we went on a puffin tour trip and I was thrilled to see many very small Atlantic puffins. My practice of panning photographs paid off as I swept my inadequate telephoto lens across the water to capture the fleeing small awkward birds. What fun! I wanted to turn around and go again. Worth the trip alone!

Not only does Baddeck have puffins (actually on Bird Islands off of Englishtown), Baddeck is also home to the Alexander Graham Bell museum and Baddeck Lobster Suppers, which in addition to great lobsters had fantastic mussels fresh from Cape Breton.

We had a fabulous time in Cape Breton, and were off to Peggy’s Cove. See post here.

June 9, 2016 by kritterspaw

Wagon Wheel Park

Travel, Uncategorized
cascade, creek, dog, payson, stream, wagon wheel park, water
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We are always on the lookout for a nice place to relax and have lunch. It makes for a great little outing in a tranquil, peaceful environment. It keeps us sane and stress free from life’s stress inhibitors. So when a Firefighter friend mentioned this cascading stream just outside of Payson, only an hour or so from the house.. we were all in.

Wagon Wheel park is unmarked, and uncrowded, yet right in the city. The turn off is actually directly across the street from the Home Depot. As you wind through a residential looking road you wind up with parking areas on either side allowing one the opportunity to walk the creek and settle in for a picnic.

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Even the dog had fun playing in the water as she chased a stick and wore herself out.

It was great fun, relaxing, and a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

May 23, 2016 by kritterspaw

I’ll take Flagstaff over Sedona

Uncategorized
az, breweries, coffee roasters, flagstaff, forests, northern arizona, sedona, woods
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Blasphemy, I know! Sedona has stunning views, no doubt. But there is something real and genuine about Flagstaff. What’s not to like in city that is littered with start up breweries and coffee roasteries. Flagstaff has more boutique breweries (NOT affiliated with any big beer company) than anyplace I know. Let’s see there is Beaver Street Brewery, Flagstaff Brewing Company, Mother Road Brewing Company, Lumberjack Brewing Company, , Darksky Brewing, and Wanderlust Brewing Company. That’s SIX small breweries. You don’t have to like beer to understand that there is a mentality and state of mind that comes with small breweries. The people are free birds, a little hippi-ish, and proud of their passion and want to share.

It doesn’t stop with breweries… Flagstaff is home to not 1, but 2 Farmer’s Markets weekly PLUS a Farmer’s Market store PLUS an Urban Market every 2nd Saturday. It has SEVEN coffee Roasters spread across it’s charming but condensed small city. Now maybe that’s common in big cities… but it’s unheard of in such a small town. This entrepreneurial mindset demonstrates the passion that Flagstaff residents exude and want to share with their community. It’s not out of sense of making big bucks or charging high prices, but moreover sharing the products they care about and are proud of, with their community.

While Flagstaff may not be have the stunning landscape that Sedona has, it makes up for it in character and the great outdoors. It’s filled with walking paths, trails, hiking areas and National Forest. It’s a great place to camp, hike, forage and enjoy the abundant wildlife and unburdened (no fee) forests.

It also DOESN’T have the high prices, ticky tack souvenir stores, floods of tourists, or hoity toity-ness that define Sedona. You don’t have to pay to park on the side of the road (like in Sedona) or fight the insane traffic to get from one end to the other (though Flagstaff has it’s fair share of traffic – unfortunately).

Did you know that Sedona has the only McDonald’s in the world with a turquoise arch (rather than the standard yellow)? The Sedona city council deemed the yellow McDonald’s arch ‘too garish’, despite the fact that many business (including Hertz) have yellow logos along the same street. That’s Sedona. Flagstaff’s McDonald’s arch is yellow. Need I say more?

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April 28, 2016 by kritterspaw

April Showers bring Snow

What’s with this weather? Just when you think it’s time to plant tulips… or at least a garden; take off the long underwear and bring the shorts and t-shirts out of storage… NOT.

We got SNOW!

Ok, it’s true. It didn’t come down for very long… or very much. But come down it did. In a downpour of fine snow mist it raced across the sky, as if in a hurry to get somewhere else. It didn’t stick, or stay long. It was here and then it was gone. Glad I stuck my camera outside to capture it’s fleeting coldness.

This little buck got caught in a wave of it, and the cross hairs of my camera lens.

While Phoenix is getting 90F days, we are getting snow storms. Go figure. You never know what the day will bring here on the mountain.

April 5, 2016April 5, 2016 by kritterspaw

The Road Less Travelled

Uncategorized
buttes, canyon, canyonlands, dirt road, mountain sheep, national park, picturesque, ram, road, road less travelled, scenic drive, White rim road, windy
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Each National Park has it’s highlight. For Yosemite it’s El Capitain; for Yellowstone it’s Old Faithful. Some may argue their favorite sites for each park… or favorite of the Parks. One of my favorites is Mesa Arch. I always think Mesa Arch is in Arches National Park… but it’s actually in the Park across the street Canyonlands.

But it’s not Canyonlands or Arches National Park I want to share. It’s actually ‘The Road Less Travelled’, the White Rim road. We saw this road from an overlook, and thought… now that’s where I want to go. I wonder if we can camp there?

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Well the answer is .. yes, you can camp there… with a permit and reservations made a year in advance. Apparently it’s a much coveted trip… 100 miles in total of decent, sometimes rough dirt road that runs ‘beneath’ the park that ordinary folk see. I wasn’t even aware that such a back dirt road inside the park existed. So we got a day pass and embarked on a grand adventure.

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We felt like explorers seeing the park for the first time. We were ants amidst there giant canyons. It was like a John Ford film with stagecoaches baring the elements. The landscape was vast and humbling. It really made you realize how small we are in this great big magnificent world.

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Photos can’t do the grand majestic landscape justice.

Along the way we saw few cars, but a number of bicycles making the trek. Then we saw this little ram munching away on the side of the road, which was a real treat for me.

Next time we’ll have to make reservations and take the entire road. Since it’s a slow road, they say it takes 3 – 4 days to complete the 100 miles. This seemed like the best kept secret around to us… now that we know it’s here, and have tasted it’s beauty, we’ll be back for the whole experience.

March 6, 2016March 7, 2016 by kritterspaw

Visiting Tucson

I was born in Phoenix. Granted, I moved around a lot.. but when I came back to go to college… I went to ASU in Phoenix- Tempe to be exact (not U of A in Tucson). As such, I’m pretty familiar with Phoenix and it’s surrounds… but somehow I just seldom ventured south to Tucson. I have friends that are U of A’ers, lived and loved Tucson. I simple just don’t know it well. For me, it’s super congested (as if you couldn’t say that about Phx). But Tucson has no freeways to get you around. They wanted that old-town feel… and they got it. But meanwhile, Tucson grew up, and now it’s just hard to get around. Admittedly, I don’t know my way around.

I don’t want my friends thinking I am nay-saying their town… much the opposite. I was AMAZED at how charming Tucson was… and how artful. We went primarily to visit the Titan Missile Museum for John’s birthday. We took the Top to Bottom, 5 hour tour, that took us through the silo, the control room, and the inner guts of the only Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) museum. It was fascinating. I strongly recommend it.

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During our visit we had the great opportunity to meet up with friends (which we LOVED)… and wander around Tucson a bit, albeit briefly. I was delighted to find how the downtown revival had brought great restaurants, art, and museums. It was colorful and historic just walking around.

Even driving the single highway, I-10, or I-19 toward Nogales, Mexico (and the Titan Missile Museum) is a display of artful mosaics and cement walls lined with interesting imbedded designs.

Downtown Tucson had murals galore (over 300 of them scattered around). I was fascinated by the Day of the Dead-esque artist Martin Moreno which adorned the walls outside the Tucson Museum of Art.. and our own hotel, the Downtown Clifton.

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The Downtown Clifton was a great place to stay. It was affordable, convenient, clean, and friendly.

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Just down the street was a very pleasant art gallery, WomanKraft, which was full of talented, affordable, interesting art. It made me wish I lived closer to get involved in this great consortium. Around the corner was a wonderful cocktail bar, Penca, making thoughtful original cocktails and snacks, which really made me want to come back.

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All in all it was a fabulous visit. The only thing that I would change would be to stay longer.

We’ll just have to come back!

February 11, 2016 by kritterspaw

Dual Use Wine

Uncategorized
beverage, cutting, glass, glasses, project, water, wine, wine bottles
3 Comments

So what do you do with the wine bottle after you drink it? I know, I know… make glasses! Not what you were thinking? Well, that’s what we do with them. It’s an insane project I must admit.

First, you have to drink the wine.

Then, you have to wash the bottle and score the wine bottle with a hand glass cutter. We like using wine bottles that have some fun painted-on labels these days… rather than having to take off the paper labels.

Next (we have to figure out a better process someday), we use a candle and heat around the glass score mark the circumference of the bottle for several minutes… then run to the closest cold water spigot and chill it down…. keeping your fingers crossed and your breath held hoping it breaks perfectly when you gently tap it on the corner of the sink.

Finally, you sand sand sand to get the edge nice and clean. Being careful to not overdue it, as if the glass gets too hot it will break in your hands.

It’s a long tedious process for every single glass. We often wonder why we continue to do them… but them make great gifts that our friends seem to enjoy. I wonder if they realize how much work goes into every glass?

In the end, you have a cool wine bottle glass that tells it’s own story with individuality and uniqueness…. and you got to enjoy the wine.

February 6, 2016 by kritterspaw

Ice Whiskers

I’ve said it before, but for someone who always professed to hate the cold, I sure do enjoy the new snow. Not only the pristine beauty of the fresh snow hanging on the trees and trunks of large pines and scraggly limbs… but the animals the fresh snow tends to bring in. Somehow the animals seem to move around more when it snows… and we get more glimpses of them… and if I’m lucky, good photographs.

The snow makes a gorgeous backdrop with it’s white contrast to the brown coloring of the animals fur. The animals seem to enjoy the sunshine after the fresh snow as they relish in it’s beauty just as I do.