We may be getting a new house here already. I put an offer on a house this morning and it was accepted this evening. I was actually kind of surprised the offer went through so smoothly since it was a bit of a low bid. It was a house I had walked through a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot and then Mary and I walked through it together on Monday.

Google map aerial link

Zillow link with photos

Really nice location in town, convenient to everything, at the end of a cul-de-sac. Fully-fenced 3/4 acre lot (fully fenced, front yard, driveway, everything). The backyard backs up to an irrigation canal and looks out (for now) over a huge open field toward some foothills to the north. A few cherry trees still lingering from a past orchard. Basically just a perfect property for us.

The house itself is old, but in good shape. It kind of reminds me of our place on Hoyt back in Michigan. Built about the same time, coved ceilings, arched doorways. We’ll definitely need to do some updating, but that should be kind of fun with quite a bit of character already built in.

I took little Park-man on his first mountain adventure yesterday. So get ready, here come a million dog pictures!

I initially planned to hoof it into McCall Basin and the Goat Rocks Wilderness via the Scatter Creek Trailhead off of North Fork Tieton Road 1207 (a hike I’d done before), but was stymied well-short of the trailhead by a “Road Closed” sign (due to bridge out) and concrete jersey barriers across the road. So with no map and only a hazy memory of a Pacific Crest Trail access point near White Pass, I spun the Corolla around and zipped the extra nine miles up Highway 12.

White Pass is a little less than an hour from our house and the trailhead lot was well-signed. My car was the second in the lot yesterday morning, though I didn’t run into anyone else on the PCT until the afternoon return trip. After napping in the car on the drive up Parko was bouncy and excited as we hopped onto the trail and we ran up the first half-dozen sets of switchbacks until startling several elk in the underbrush.

I kept Parko on leash while on trail in the woods, but eventually we pushed through the tree line and off trail, with good sight lines and and ample snow fields and I popped the latch and let him romp. Below right is Parko trying to stretch to reach a floating snow ball in a deep pool of snowmelt. So close.

Mt Rainier is the peak pictured prominently in the photos below.

Without a particular destination in mind, I just wanted to get to a high location with scenic 360 views. We followed the snowfields and then the ridge line to an unnamed peak (as far as I can tell) above Shoe Lake. Gorgeous views of several small lakes below, the Goat Rocks Wilderness and Mt Adams to the south, Rimrock Lake to the north, and or course Mt Rainier to the west.

We ate a well-earned lunch on the ridge: California rolls and granola bars for me and dog food in a frisbee for Parko. Peaceful and sun-soaked. I always love hiking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness because as soon as I leave the trail I always have the mountains to myself.

Top left below, Goat Rocks peaks with Mt Adams behind. Other, Parko romping on the snow fields. He was a little skittery at first on the steep slopes as we headed down and back toward the car, but eventually just launched himself at it, showering me in wet snow shrapnel as he sprinted by.

Lots of lupine and lily in bloom, along with some Indian paintbrush and other mystery flowers. Next time I’ll need to remember to bring my plant books.

It’s a a rare treat to see little Park-Mo so cashed out. I guess it just takes 6 hours of hiking and a few thousand feet of elevation. Here he is snoring on the ride home.

The great plumpocalypse (aplumcalypse?) seems to be finally winding down. Maybe the wet spring had something to do with it, but whatever the reason the plum tree went loco this summer. Cornucopia is probably the right word. Or maybe calamity. Every day I stop by the back corner of the yard and rake up hundreds and hundreds of half-sized plums. Every single day. I’m sure on windy days it’s closer to a thousand (thunk, thunk-thunk, thunk). Don’t get me wrong, they’re delicious, but after the first fifty plums or so, I’m pretty well sated for the season. Parko and Taylor help a little, stuffing their slobbery cheeks full of fruit, pits and all. I’ve been heaving the raked piles over the back fence, leaving a gooey mess and giving the backyard that sweet-acrid smell of fermentation when the wind is right. Lesson learned I guess: never water the fruit trees.

Oh, also I went on a great trip to Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon last month. And flew to Michigan and drove the dogs back out in another two-day cross-country marathon drive. And have been doing some pretty neat wildlife monitoring field work the past month. And we put the house up for sale in Michigan last week and had a full-price offer three days later (waiting now on inspection details and whatnot at the moment).

GRAR house link

This post took me about an hour to finagle and post via a ten-year-old MacBook, running Opera, on a Starbucks wifi connection, so it might be a while before I get some of those pictures up and running.

Photos of the new fence in-progress and complete. Also one photo of the new fence and new gate on the south side of the house. Slowly making progress toward Boxer-proofing the yard.

And some photos of the finished wall and new grass. It’s been wonderfully mild the past week, nice to have a break from trying to keep up with watering the sprouts. Not sure yet what I’m going to do in the backfilled area. Some plantings, probably fruit-related shrubs or vines, and then most likely wood chips or river rock as groundcover. Cherries are getting close! The birds have already started pecking the pink ones.