26 February: 3 jobs but 1 erasure

Friday, 26 February 2021

I wanted to stay home and read the rest of Fearless Gardening. The wind was so fierce that the power had gone off for five hours last night on the north end of the peninsula. Ours had flickered after midnight but stayed on.

However, we’ve skived off work for too long. If it weren’t for our appointments for the second Covid vaccine jab on Tuesday, I might have continued skiving. But just in case we have to take time off to recover, I thought we had better find a couple of jobs that might be a bit out of the wind. So we headed a few miles north.

The Depot Restaurant

When we got out of the van, we got right back in and almost went home because of a fierce blast of wind. I’m glad we didn’t wimp out. The wind settled down just a bit and, while mildly unpleasant, it was not unworkable.

The garden north of the dining deck is flat now but will be taller than me by summertime.

Our mission was to cut back ornamental grasses that border the deck on the east and south. The giant Miscanthus is thick like bamboo and I have to cut it with secateurs; the more delicate grasses can be trimmed with The Toy.

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The debris will go to our compost bins.

One more grass grows in front of the house next door that serves as the restaurant’s office.

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It has been over a year since we dined at The Depot, or favorite local restaurant. The pandemic has not been as emotionally hard for me as for friends who miss grandchildren and hugging, but I do miss restaurant meals.

We decided to try to do one more job.

Yett House

Omce or twice a year we attend to a tiny garden at a vacation rental just south of the Boreas Inn. Today we cut back the sword ferns and weeded. The wind was much worse than it had been at the Depot.

I went next door to get a couple of photo of the Boreas Inn entry courtyard, since we had forgotten that sort of overview yesterday.

On the way home, we drove along the port gardens. I hadn’t want to even look at them till I knew we were approved for the job. It was gusting even harder than before.

I remembered one more little job we could do.

Ilwaco Fire Department volunteer garden

We cut back some perennials and grasses. Now it looks like we care.

At home

By far the most miserable part of the day was unloading the trailer load of debris.

We were in a wind tunnel with a view of the gale warning flags at the port.

The compost bins are heaped high with lots more grasses to come from the port soon. I treasure every bit of compostable stuff. I’ll have less of it this year without Long Beach.

I only got to erase one item from the work board. I’d forgotten about Yett House till last night and neither it nor the fire station had made it onto the board. Too bad, because I do enjoy a three job erasure.