Smoke on the Water

SMOKED OUT:  Friday we found ourselves taking a last minute/hasty trip to the Olympic Peninsula to pick up some building materials (specifically about 60 used glass blocks at a cut rate price). 

After getting some VERY bad advice from navigational software Waze, and getting a bit lost, we eventually found our mark and picked up the blocks.

As soon as we were back on our way, I told the kids that the blocks 'smelled like the '60s.' In other words, they reeked of cigarette smoke. I did NOT want to spend an hour plus in a car with that, and we had to have the windows up because of the forest fire smoke.

We quickly went to Plan B. I had the kids use their phones to find out when the next ferry was leaving Southworth. Fortunately, it looked like we had time to get to the dock and catch that ferry, so that's what we did.

So, instead of commuting with nicotine, we got to enjoy a nice ride on the ferry. We'd never taken the Southworth to Seattle run before. It makes a brief stop on Vashon Island.

The kids and I couldn't help but notice how tiny the ferry we were on was, relatively speaking. Named after a Suquamish tribal Chief in the 1800's, the Issaquah class ferry is 328' long, and can hold a max of 1,200 passengers and 124 vehicles. 

Compare that to a ferry like the Puyallup. The Jumbo Mark II class has more than three times the horsepower of the Kitsap. It's over 460 feet long, and can hold 202 vehicles and 2499 passengers. 

It was a downright serene ride. I'm kind of happy the glass blocks stunk so much.

The only drag was the smoke was still so thick that the normally stunning views were hazy landscapes (see the photo at the top of the post). 

HOME WORK: We continue to work away at the long, Long, LONG "to do" list around our new (to us) old house. This weekend CJ helped with wiring in the basement bathroom, where a couple of new recessed lights were installed.

Upstairs, today's work involved installing a new (to us) dishwasher. We bought it at a building materials salvage store. We were there looking for something else, but I spied the nearly-new looking dishwasher (complete with fancy stainless interior), and so it came home with us.

Installing it meant making a few modifications. Fortunately, Christian is super handy, and, once again, CJ gave him a hand. 

PETAL PUSHERS: Over the weekend, Annabelle and I worked on some cute little centerpieces for a back-to-school breakfast.

We made some cardstock flowers with colored pencil stems. Annabelle cut the flowers out with our awesome Cricut machine. Love that thing!

 We were really happy with how they turned out. We made six pots in all.