Today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I am appalled that Peggy has not killed me yet. She has shown remarkable restraint because she certainly has had ample reason and opportunity.
We’re pretty old and have done this before, so we resorted to type and decided to take a spin in our mostly-dependable pickup. Deming was our destination. It is a small community partway up to the Cascades east of us. Our trip started at Birch Bay TT in Blaine and, after exiting the park, we turned toward the mountains. We crossed I-5 and kept going on Birch Bay Lynden Road which, naturally, runs from Birch Bay on the coast over to Lynden, not on the coast. Turning south in Lynden, we crossed the Nooksack River but then started zigzagging down rural roads until we got to almost-town of Everson. Near there, we spotted a produce stand on the right and pulled into a gravel driveway. There, comfortably seated in his garage door opening, was Ken Thompson and his gorgeous German Shepherd, Kaiser.
We chatted with Ken for some time while Kaiser was busy showing us how happy he was that we were there. His primary source of entertainment was doghandling a huge rubber boat bumper that was bigger than him. Despite having the size advantage, the bumper got its ass kicked. Once he had vanquished the bumper, he became interested in a large piece of rope dangling from a block running on a dog run line across the yard. Kaiser played so vigorously with this assembly that he had both pulled out the yard deadman and yanked the anchor out of the house in the past. Ken quickly fixed him up and Kaiser was again enjoying his trapeze work and bumper mauling.
Ken also had gorgeous produce for sale so we bought more than we can reasonably devour before it rots, but we’ll try anyway. We left Ken and Kaiser behind and continued south and east on skinny rural roads until we finally arrived in Deming, which is hardly there at all. We did spot some county paramedics huddled around a guy laying down in a pickup truck parked in front of a convenience store / gas station combo but by the time we did the ambulance chaser’s loop in the truck, the paramedics were on the way out of town and no prone bodies were seen.
Our wanderings were pretty random on the way to Deming so we followed the same strict, aimless policy on the way home, turning at right angles around massive property holdings. Eventually we ended up in Ferndale after crossing back over the Nooksack River. It is a cute little town even though the main intersection in Historic Downtown Ferndale is anchored by the famous Baker Septic Tank Pumping. There are some gorgeous wood residences here, anyway.
From Ferndale we continued our zigzagging but now north and west back toward our current digs at Birch Bay TT. It’s gorgeous country around here.
Click the link to see some of the pictures we snapped today. Kaiser’s in there. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6TcZo2BRvSiv4XkB8