A whiter shade of pale

You'd think it would be easy to pick out white-ish paint for a room.  We put a shade called "salt water taffy" in the bathroom downstairs which looked just right, so we bought extra for upstairs.  Painted one wall up there though and it looked totally different way more buttery yellow than we were going for, especially when the fluorescent bulbs were on.  So, back to Rossi to pick out a whiter shade - but not too glaringly blue-ish white.  It's surprisingly challenging.  Finally settled on the aptly named shade "new canvas."  

Done with painting except for touching up the black on the beams (which we have since done, just didn't get a photo yet)...

 PS: Here's a preview of the new floor...

It's going to look great!

Firewood moving day

Here are some photos of the firewood that resulted from 2/3 of the Grand Fir trees we had taken down early in the summer, as well as some of the redwood, hemlock and tanoak.  My folks helped with the splitting on a weekend visit (thank goodness for gas powered splitters!), and I finally moved the pile from where the trees fell to the area where we're stacking the wood.  A lot of energy goes into producing heat energy, eh?

Fall

Some autumnal shots...

Last of the marigolds

Fig tree turning yellow

Spider with its recently shed exoskeleton - woodpile resident

First storm of the season

First rains brought out banana slugs

...and giant salamanders eating banana slugs.

Lichen catching the first rains of the season

Waning daisy

Japanese maple leaves from the tree in back

Primed

Just needs paint.  And trim.  And lights.  And a floor.  Just those things :)

Husky-proofing the fence

Dig-proofing the fence to keep Leia in the yard was a lot of work.  We poured cement pads at each gate, put chicken wire at the base of the fence, laid rocks at the base of the fence in places.  The crates are full of rocks from the pond.  They're extra digging deterrents.

More photos from the dog's yard...

 Dog's deck out back.

Old abandoned nest in a rhododendron.

The former pond.  We might turn it into a little patio.

Some late late-summer photos

Just some photos from around the house this summer.

Dahlias and gladiolus...

Some local produce...

When deer season opened up, we got these adorable vests for the dogs.

More dogs...