http://www.tallcloverfarm.com Homeward bound on Puget Sound. Putting in a good day on Vashon Island time. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:31:55 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5131/postcards-from-the-edge-of-autumn http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5131/postcards-from-the-edge-of-autumn#comments Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:34:52 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=5131 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Fall colors fade fast in the Pacific Northwest, but I can always count on my Glenora grape leaves to stick around. (The grapes are another story.) With Autumn storms come fallen branches, a sure sign that my madrona branch fence will grow in the weeks to come. (Boz caught in the act of eating baby [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/5131/postcards-from-the-edge-of-autumn/feed 22 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3708/vashon-island-one-day-i-drifted-ashore http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3708/vashon-island-one-day-i-drifted-ashore#comments Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:15:14 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3708 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } A Washington State ferry plying the protected waters of Puget Sound. Journeys rarely make sense and mine is no exception. Lucky for me, I drifted ashore on Vashon Island, a sweet spot moored in the middle of Puget Sound, home to the quirky, the kind, and the unabashedly laid back. A stunning ferry ride from West Seattle or Tacoma, [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3708/vashon-island-one-day-i-drifted-ashore/feed 33 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4003/cleaning-up-a-gift-bag-of-good-intentions http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4003/cleaning-up-a-gift-bag-of-good-intentions#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 23:00:07 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=4003 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Clearly, there’s a message in these bottles. Last week I received a less than subtle rebuke regarding my slovenly ways, make that alleged slovenly ways. Momentarily taken back by the frightful experience of retrieving a cold drink from my refrigerator, my friend Tyson felt compelled to share his thoughts on the condition of it. (Good [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/4003/cleaning-up-a-gift-bag-of-good-intentions/feed 29 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3497/mud-room-with-a-view http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3497/mud-room-with-a-view#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:46:15 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=3497 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } I love my old farmhouse. From her moss-covered shingles to her wavy glass windows to her sloping fir floors, I’m smitten and judge not her shortcomings. If there was one wart on her fine countenance, it would be the mud room, an enclosed porch where charm has been buried beneath drywall, clutter and indoor-outdoor carpeting. [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/3497/mud-room-with-a-view/feed 21 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2425/so-long-summer-a-photo-finish-and-farewell http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2425/so-long-summer-a-photo-finish-and-farewell#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 18:52:59 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=2425 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Summer has slipped through my fingers again. Warm days have given way to morning chill, dew lingers well past first light and every branch is a spider trapeze.  Yes, I tearing up. (Photo: Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound: view from West Seattle ferry dock.) Autumn is here and winter will insinuate itself shortly. I must face the the fact that summer is over. Since I have [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/2425/so-long-summer-a-photo-finish-and-farewell/feed 15 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/979/todays-proverb-he-who-has-28-fogged-up-windows http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/979/todays-proverb-he-who-has-28-fogged-up-windows#comments Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:48:35 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=979 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } Today’s Proverb: He who has fogged-up windows, should quickly check his basement. I woke up this morning on the coattails of a knock-down cold, and thought, “That’s odd, the windows are all steamed up.” Perhaps it was the Nyquil numbing me, but I thought no further of it.  I then noticed that the same was [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/979/todays-proverb-he-who-has-28-fogged-up-windows/feed 10 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/252/if-these-walls-could-talki-suspect-theyd-say-what-took-you-so-long http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/252/if-these-walls-could-talki-suspect-theyd-say-what-took-you-so-long#comments Sat, 02 May 2009 12:41:46 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=252 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; } They’d likely say “What took you so long?” My five-year anniversary of living in this fine old farmhouse is fast-approaching, a mere blink in its beautifully-framed 120-year-old life.  And as each homeowner makes his or her mark, some times enhancing, other times insinuating ‘improvements’ where none are needed, I try to spare this winsome Victorian a [...]

]]> http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/252/if-these-walls-could-talki-suspect-theyd-say-what-took-you-so-long/feed 2 http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/187/when-good-plumbing-goes-bad http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/187/when-good-plumbing-goes-bad#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:23:09 +0000 Tom http://www.tallcloverfarm.com/?p=187 #leftcontainerBox { float:left; position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 70px; } #leftcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; clear:both; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; padding-bottom:2px; } #bottomcontainerBox { height: 30px; width:50%; padding-top:1px; } #bottomcontainerBox .buttons { float:left; height: 30px; margin:4px 4px 4px 4px; }  Boz has the right idea: outdoor plumbing Last Saturday, I found myself wedged in a space better suited for the likes of the Lollipop Guild than for the frame of a man who could body-double for Fred Flintstone. With Teflon tape in hand, 26 useless tools pushed aside, two new wrenches at my knees, and [...]

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