Going Shooting

Ahh... a whole future of updates are on the way. I've been busy this past month or so.

My half brother came out to visit again this summer. He was here last year about this time as well. The first weekend he was here we drove to Montana for Shawn's Great Grandma's 95th birthday party. What did Adam bring for entertaining reading in the car? A gun buyer magazine. A little surprised, as his parents don't have any guns and probably don't' discuss them with him, but he is an avid video game player. Knowing that he had only shot video game guns, I spoke with a friend and arranged for Adam to go shoot some real guns. Brian was gracious enough to take him up, let him shoot his guns and really teach him about safely handling guns.

Overall he went up 3 or 4 times and had a blast every time. He has now returned to his parents and discussed going shooting at gun ranges. I hope he will get involved with 4-H or see if his school has an FFA shooting club.

The Evolution

The evolution of the front of our house is one step closer to completion. It took a bit of digging but I found a nice array of photos that show how things have progressed. Granted there was a bit of a hiccup on the way with the fire last year, but I think things are looking up now.

4-1-2004 Appraisal Photo

July 5, 2009 What a neighbor's firework can do.

8-13-2009 Landscaping on its way, siding done and painting started.

12-4-2009 - Landscaping, siding and painting all done, time to rest.

April 11, 2010 - Deck added on and pretty darn awesome.

So quite a change since 2004, or actually even since this time last year. After today's work we are done with the deck. We added on the fascia that matches the railing so it looks a bit like below.

We did get to enjoy dinner last night out on our deck. The weather has finally gotten nice and we finished up the deck in shorts and a tank top today. Looking forward to a whole summer of living on the deck.

90% Done

With the new deck that is. We finished up the railing this weekend and have just a couple more steps. We've ordered the fascia for all the outer edges and the steps. It will be the same color as the railing to give a nice accent. It should be here Thursday so that will be next weekend's project.

After a two hour learning curve with the first section of railing everything else went pretty smooth.

After the fascia we just need to figure out what we are going to close the bottom in with. Currently the quail are enjoying it quite a bit and I don't mind them as much. I will mind if the neighborhood skunk decides to make it a home.

New Deck

The deck is almost completed. At least all we are doing over spring break has been done. It sure changes the front of the house. I'll do an ultimate road shot once we get the railing complete, but this should sure give you an idea of the changes. Now I can't wait for some patio furniture, but it might have to wait until fall when the clearance season hits. Oh well I can enjoy sitting on my deck not in a chair just as well :)

After the stairs have been removed. I looked all over for a picture of the 'real' before, but couldn't find one. There was a flower bed in between the two doors and some stairs down the stoop where the rubble is. Not to mention the pine that was in front of the stoop, but that was ripped out with the burned bushes last fall.

The stoop ended up being way to wavy and weird shaped so it had to go. Shawn and his dad tried breaking the concrete first, but after learning how inexpensive it was to rent a jack hammer they got busy playing with the big toy.

At the end of Sunday (as a huge windstorm was rolling in) the top portion was all framed in and you can see the end result of the jack hammer. Quite some progress.

Then the bottom level was framed in during the windy times of Monday.

The bottom portion with planks almost all the way across.

Top and bottom done, posts sort of on and moving on to the steps.

The steps off the lower portion.

All that is left is to secure the railing and pic the height of the posts that we want. I'm thrilled with how it looks and like I said earlier check back and I'll get a photo from the road with it how it really affects the curb appeal of the house.

I also can't wait to drink my cup of tea out on my porch. If only winter would seriously go away.

The Camera Lives

The camera finally came out of the house this last weekend. I say it every time, and I will continue to say it, but I've been so darn busy. Between riding four times a week, working extra hours at another pharmacy and volunteering to prepare taxes once a week I've had no time for me.

This last weekend though I headed out on a horse adventure and took the camera with. A little over a year ago I started riding a friend's back up endurance horse. I mentioned a bit about riding Annie through the last year and this weekend was Annie's first endurance ride. Kathleen (her actual owner tee hee) rode Annie on a 25 mile race. I went down to help crew and take care of the horses. Also riding were Kathy & Kira and Kim & Smooth. It was an eye-opening experience to help out.

Heading out for Annie's first ride.

Into the first vet check.

Kim & Smooth into their first check.

Although I doubt I will race this year I hope to crew a few more races and absorb as much as I can. Hopefully that means the camera will get a work out at least once a month, but we'll see if I stick to that.

There actually should be some more posts to come as we are building a new deck over spring break on the front of the house. I'll get some before and after photos up soon.

Welcome 2010

Yes, I do still exist. Where has the time gone? It's been two months since I did much of anything with my photography. We had quite a shake up at work which took time and it's been cold, and well I'm a chicken. I really dislike taking the camera out when it is below 20. It just doesn't seem overly safe.

All that aside we did venture out for a hike the day after Christmas. We had high hopes for using our snowshoes, but this has been a relatively snow free winter. It will snow a few inches and then promptly warm up, rain and melt. Kind of a bummer, but it will happen.

We headed over Loup Loup to the Methow Valley Wildlife Rec Area. Hopper really enjoyed the outing as we had been babysitting a miniature poodle who had been getting way too much attention. A bummer there wasn't more snow, but the sun was out and the skies bright blue.

It almost feels as if spring is around the corner here, so maybe some more outings to come?

Daytime Moon

Daytime Moon
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Mountain Top Run

Mountain Top Run
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Fall Photos

I got to have a photo adventure today with a fellow photographer. Usually I'm stuck exploring with Shawn and although he tolerates my photos he is not overly eager for me to take my time or slam on the brakes to take a photo of a bird.

I'm mentoring one of the seniors at OKHS for her project to create a book, essentially marketing Okanogan county and highlighting some of the areas and events. We headed up Hwy 20 to the south summit of the Loup. Since I have been riding horses up there this summer there has been a spectacular view of the Methow Valley and I've been wanting to return with my camera. It was a perfect day for it and the photos turned out pretty nice. I might want to try and go back once it snows in the valley too. While driving up there I even saw my first piliated woodpecker, but it did not have enough patience for me to get the camera out.

As we headed back to town we stopped at Leader Lake for a few photos and then back on the highway, in a field, there was a flock of turkeys. There must have been fifty of them. I pulled a u-turn and pulled off the road so we could snap away. These birds could have cared less about us as it seemed they were much more interested in finding grub.

It was a fun day to go out with someone who shares my interest. We hope to make it out again on another nice weekend. Next time we will head north towards Tonasket to see what we can find.

Aspen above Apples

Aspen above Apples
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Wild Turkeys

Wild Turkeys
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Methow Valley View

Methow Valley View
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Fall Squash

Fall Squash
Originally uploaded by Kendal Jean Photos

Landscaping Renewed

Well the house is finally put back together. I dropped the check of at Shady Creek yesterday and the melted siding has all been replaced. We even have almost all the trim painted. Just in time for winter. We had quite a bit more happen this summer then we had originally planned, but at least everything has turned out okay.

Here's a quick recap. On the 4th of July our neighbor shot a firework into the juniper bushes in front of the house and along the driveway. This resulted in 30' flames that destroyed the bushes, almost killed the beautiful flowering cherry tree and melted our brand new vinyl siding that we were still in the process of having put up. The positive note on the siding, if we had still had the cedar shake, we would have most likely lost the house.

After much hemming and hawing and waiting for paperwork we finally got the check at the beginning of August from the neighbor's homeowners insurance. Mid-august we had the bushes ripped out. It was dramatic, but done so quickly :) We went ahead and had all the potentially flammable bushes removed that were right next to the house. What are the chances this could happen again, probably zero, but what were the chances it was going to happen in the first place?

All clean and ready for landscaping. This step alone was a huge step. It put a lot behind us and it was finally nice to drive home at the end of the day.

Now the final step! As my friend, Kathy, has put it, the landscaping is very fireproof :) It has taken some getting used it, but in the end I think I really like it. The front section has a water system hooked up, so watering is pretty easy. Now we are just eagerly awaiting the plants to grow. Right now the rocks are a bit overpowering, but as the plants grow, Donna from Shady Creek, has assured us it will look great. In the second photo you can see where we replaced the tree at the top of the driveway. It will eventually grow to give some nice shade to the house.

All in all quite an adventure. I would have preferred not to have had to do the landscaping yet. I really did like the bushes there, but knowing now the hazard they posed, I think I will keep that in mind for future landscapes.

I've been Published!

Check out the latest issue of Arabian Horse World and you'll see a photo by Kendal Jean Photography. That's right, they picked one of the photos of Kathy's mare and filly I took photos of this last spring. I can't wait to find a copy myself and hope to when I head to 'civilization' next weekend.

New Website!

I'm excited to announce that I've launched a new website. I'm still ironing out the kinks, but much thanks to my friend Anne for helping me get the bones up and hosting the site for me. I'm slowly adding to it and hope to keep it updated via the news section.

Go check out www.kendaljeanphotos.com and I promise updated photos soon!