June, 2022
In my last blog post, I drove down to the shore of Birch Bay and explored a little bit of the beach there. I noticed a bunch of homes on top of a bluff, an outcrop of land off to the south. This afternoon (in this blog post), I took a drive to look at those homes up on that bluff, on that outcrop of land just a few minutes south of the state park … the outcrop of land that is the southern point of Birch Bay.
Nice homes! Not so awfully fancy and high-priced, but very nicely maintained and comfy and cozy. Most weren’t too wide, side to side, but they were built longer/deeper from front to back than they appear in my photos so they had plenty of room inside and they were positioned close enough (though not too close) on the top of the bluff/bank, above the beach down below them, so they had a spectacular view of the western sunset over the salt water of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea and the hundreds of islands of the USA and Canada.
Not only were all of the homes deeper from front to back than they appear, but also a few of them had a daylight basement on the bluff/bank side of the house so a few of the homes were two-story homes with both stories having a full view out over the water.
Here are some photos …
And then, an empty lot (below). Design and build your own home! This lot wasn’t actively for sale — there was no for sale sign on it — but I might think the owner could be persuaded.
The home above looks tiny, as maybe some of the others above do too. But this home is longer going back towards the bluff. It was a nice size home, as were all of them here. The width of each house from the front view is deceiving.
And this thing (below) needed a photo taken of it. It’s a mail box! Indeed, it’s right next to the road/street and it’s used as a real mailbox. A blue kayak … bringing your mail to you. 🙂
This was a handsome house, one of the few here with a garage. And it had a huge wrap-around deck with bird feeders and hanging plants. Because it was a two-story house, with stairs, this wasn’t my favorite, but it was a close second!
During my drive through this community, several owners were out and about and waved to me, just saying hi. That doesn’t happen much in communities in the USA. This place felt so comfortable. Of course, I waved back. 🙂
What I thought would be a simple, regular, ho-hum average drive through a community of homes turned out to be pretty special.
It was now late afternoon, so I headed back to my campsite in the Birch Bay State Park. But it wasn’t quite time for dinner yet, so I walked through the campground, just looking at other people’s rigs (homes on wheels) and listening to the birds. I came upon a campsite that had an older, smaller Escape trailer in it. Cool!
I slowed my pace to see if I could ascertain whether the owners of this Escape trailer were onsite and were amenable to a chat. The single woman owner was outside, apparently setting up for her dinner. She looked at me and waved. So I said “hi” … and she did too … and I walked partway over and she came out of her campsite and we enjoyed a very nice chat especially when she found out that I, too, owned an Escape trailer (she had noticed my trailer on her walk earlier in the day) … and she also knew she could trust me when she saw that her dogs liked me, that matters!
She gave me a quick tour of her Escape trailer … it was an older 15-footer in excellent condition. She had it tricked out in a number of ways that I wished I’d taken photos of. But what was the best of all was that, as we stood outside by the wood camp table, she said “Oh! do you like birds? I found a Hummingbird’s nest!”
That got my attention! I’ve never seen a Hummingbird’s nest. So she showed me. Look at the photo below, just the first photo below, don’t look further below yet, just the first photo … do you see the nest? Don’t worry if you don’t. I know where it is in the photo below and even I still have to hunt for it. But take a look at the overall perspective … and then I’ll zoom in for you.
Wow! How amazing is that? Even if the nest is empty now.
She noticed it a few days ago when she first arrived at the campsite. Hummingbirds were flying in and out of the nest and there were still youngsters in it that were just starting to fly. So it seems the youngsters flew the coop, they left their first home, just a day or two ago.
So here’s that same photo above but with a RED ARROW pointing to the Hummingbird nest.
This is but one reason why the understory around Pacific Northwest trees is so critical … vine maples, all manner of berry bushes (huckleberry, salmon berry, blackberry, thimble berry), salal, oregon grape, bleeding heart, all manner of ferns, and so many other native plants. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, please don’t clear out the understory bushes and plants around trees. Hummingbirds and all manner of other folks need those plants. This Hummingbird nest was 2 or 3 feet above the ground. I’m told that when we humans clean out the understory, then the Hummingbirds will do what they need to in order to find a safe nest and often end up with a nest high in the trees, such that eggs fall out in a wind, the babies fall out in a wind, etc. I’m told that Hummingbirds prefer a safe home near the ground in amongst this dense understory. I think I would too.
This whole day was just super! The walk on the beach this morning with my bird friend Little Towhee, that started the day nicely … and then I had a very interesting drive through a warm, friendly community of people and their homes … then the friendship of another RVer as she showed me her home on wheels (and her dogs) … and then to have the home of a Hummingbird shared with me.
Homes. Homes are special, everyone’s home is special. And really good, perfect homes come in all sizes.