Bellinham, Washington

It’s been all about the goats. Time to get back to the rest of the vacation.

We arrived in Bellingham, Washington on Sunday afternoon. I directed Mom to Hong Kong Gardens, my favorite Chinese restaurant, only to find them closed. I was elated to find that they would be open on Monday. (My memories of the place kept telling me they were closed on Sunday and Monday) . After having lunch with Joy, Cathie, and Cathie’s boys, Cathie and Joy took Dean to go shop for a router.

Dean had brought forty dollars for the router. He wanted to hook up the Wii to the internet. Joy says to me, it may not be enough. I give her forty dollars of my money, and knowing bargain Cathie, I felt safe at getting most of my money back. Cathie is slipping. She allowed him to buy a game for the Wii and a router, with my money.


Spent two nights in Bellingham, at The Village Inn in Fairhaven. I was right across from my street favorite bookstore Village Books. (Went shopping in Village Books, and my nephew told my Mom, “Some women go shopping for lots of shoes,. Aunt Mickey buys books.) The view was great. I watched the freight trains, Amtrak and tugs pulling a ship into port. Every morning I would wake up to the sound of seagulls.

It was nice to see Fairhaven looking so good. We had breakfast on morning at the Skylark. Joy walked us through an alley to get to it. I don’t remember alley ways leading to shops. Fairhaven reminds me of the Gas Light district of Vancouver, B.C. At least the Vancouver, I remember 25 years ago.

On a cold and blustery day, we headed for LaConner to check out the Tulips. The Skagit Valley is enjoying an early Tulip season. The winter was mild, and they may not have any tulips for the up coming Tulip Festival. Those fields were so cold and muddy.

No pictures of the hawks, bald eagles, or snow geese. They were all too far away in some farmer’s field, and Joy wouldn’t have stopped anyway. She thinks I’m a bird brain, and wants nothing to do with my odd behavior.

Monday evening, I finally get to eat at Hong Kong Garden. On the way there, I noticed a historical marker by the post office. It said something about a bridge being Pickett’s bridge. I had to look up on the internet to find out that George E. Pickett lived in Bellingham. I knew he had been to San Juan Island during the Pig War. According the all, I’ve read, his house still stands. I still can’t believe it. All those years I bicycled or walked over that bridge, I didn’t have a clue.

I didn’t wear my glasses and had to rely on Joy to tell me what the menu said. As she gets up to buy rice candy in the store, she say’s order a side of prawns. I tell the waitress, “I’d like 2B, with a side of prawns.”

“It comes with prawns!”.

“Sorry, I was relying on my sister. I didn’t wear my glasses.”

She sasses back, “your sister didn’t wear her glasses either.”

Mom is driving back to The Village Inn, and I’m navigating. I tell her follow that bicyclist. Then I tell her turn right. She asks, “follow the bike?”

Dean replies, “yea, follow the bike.”

I say, “turn right.” She doesn’t hear. She follows the bicyclist through a parking lot!

Wild Bill and Drinkin' Nancy

I was going crazy trying to upload video. What in the world is going on? Turns out my Mom's computer doesn't have a flash player. I thought I was being nuts.

Now the next video should show Bill hopping around the stall.

Bill and Nancy

Joan's kids Harvey named Bill and Nancy. These two are very shy compared to the little ones that were just born. Bill is the shyest of them all. I still have to edit video of the two little rascals. As soon as I get that edited, I will post it
Nancy chews on everything. She's only a week old today, but she tries to eat Alfalfa, my jeans, and my thumb. Her little teeth don't hurt like that of a puppy.

Bill took a little while longer to come check me out. I can't tell you how long I stood in the cold stall waiting for the bugger to come up to me. When he did, he'd ram my leg with this head, or paw at my boot.

As you can see in the picture below. Nancy has to see what momma is doing.

When we first entered the barn, I cought this picture of momma Joan.

New Kids on the Block

Lady finally had her little ones on Sunday 3-28, weighing in at approximately 8 pounds. Harvey was home alone when they showed up. He and Mom haven't named them yet.

The little girl is the one with the brown face, and is a little on the shy side.

The little boy is a lot more spunky, and not a bit shy.

First Leg

I get to the airport 2 hours early, and Southwest Airlines doesn’t have info about my flight info. I find one of the desk, that isn’t helping customers, and ask what gate my flight is to be. She gave me my gate, but it was like I was interrupting her.
I watched episodes Daria for 90 minutes, and then got up to use the bathroom. Knowing it wouldn’t be long before we were boarded, I made the mistake of people watching. A man with 3 kids comes over and sits next tome. He yells out to a woman walking in a crowd. She hands the eldest child a package of Q-Tips. All three kids proceed to use them to clean out their ears! Have these people heard of a bathroom?
Shortly after that, some woman walks by dragging her possessions in a big plastic bag. I felt like I was in a Greyhound Bus station.
I was first in line for the first time in my life. I wish I hadn’t. A little boy flying to Denver alone, was leaving his father behind. It was heart breaking to watch the little guy say good-bye to his father.
We took off 20 minutes late. Thank goodness the I paid the extra $25 to fly business class. I was able to get an isles seat in row 4. As I got exiting the gate, I looked to my right, and in big red letters, I read, “Seattle”. I also heard the woman call for boarding A15-A30. Talk about a close one.
Spent most of the flight reading Tim Dorsey’s Gator A-Go-Go, a book about spring break in Florida.
I always get turned around once I get off a plane. This time I took the elevator to the 2nd floor. I asked the lady from Alamo how I get to the shuttles. She replied, “go to the 3rd floor.“ I told her I was being a bit spacey. She replied with a smile, “that happens all the time.”
It’s odd. This time I noticed that the people associated with the Tampa to Denver flight weren’t very friendly. The Denver to Seattle all the way around, was a much more pleasant group. Even the person at the gate would smile.

Sorry no pictures. The windows are filthy. My view is of Seattle’s new rail system, and the control tower at Sea-Tac.

Lady is a Grandma

Mom knew not to leave home yesterday. She said all the goats were acting like something was about to happen. Something did happen. Joan decided to give birth. First came the little girl. Mom came out of the house to find this little one born, and Joan cleaning her up.

Then came the little guy. He had to be a brute. He came into this world butt and back legs first. Mom only snapped one picture of his birth, but didn't send it to me. She thought it might offend one of the recipients on the email.

Hard to believe Joan is a mother. It was just last year I published photos of her and her brother George.

One doe and set of kids down and four more to go. Lady is supposed to be next, and then the other three does will be ready to give birth in April.

Three Little Goat Go to Market

All the female goats are pregnant, and to make room for the kids in the spring, Mom and Harvey took Gorgeous George, Sylvester and Chester to the auction.