... Happy New Year!!!

Yes, this is Happy New Year wishes in two parts because it means that I'll have written exactly 100 posts on this blog in 2009. It doesn't make up for not seeing friends and family as much as we'd like, but at least you all get to see and read about Darcy's ever-changing world.

She is just now going to bed after watching the ball drop in Times Square. We set our one analog clock ahead three hours so she could see the hands reach midnight and blew noise makers.

May we all have a more peaceful new year in 2010.

Wishing You All...

A very...

Beach And Lighthouse

Christmas Day dawned sun-shiney! We walked on a pedestrian/bike path downtown and ended up on this stretch of beach at low tide. Darcy had to be carried part way on the trail, but once we got to the beach, she miraculously found more energy and ran around like a maniac.

We wrote and drew pictures in the sand with sticks and Darcy enjoyed playing with them.

While our stretch of beach was still sunny, there was a fog bank working its way toward us. It caught up with us before we got back to the car and it was chilly-brrrrrr.

Since we got here, we've been meaning to go out to the lighthouse. It is still operational and lives on an island that is accessible by causeway at low tide. The problem has been getting the perfect combination of a day with decent weather with a low tide that is not at five in the morning or during Darcy's nap, etc. But there it was! Low tide. We were within sight of the lighthouse. The weather was deteriorating, but manageable. So off we went.

It's a very nice island and a very nice lighthouse. During the summer, they give tours, but we just enjoyed the outside and all the decorations that the keepers had put up. All in all, a very nice way to spend Christmas morning.

In Search Of The Wonder Stump

When we drive north to Oregon, we cross over a road called Wonder Stump Road and ever since the first time we noticed it, we of course wondered just what the Wonder Stump(s) is (are).

Our local paper has a column once a week that consists of short reprinted articles from past papers. Shortly after we got here, it included a story about the origin of the Wonder Stumps. I told Michael about it, because we'd discussed this question already, but he had heard something different at work. We kept meaning to go in search of the Wonder Stump/s, but hadn't.

Christmas Eve day was sunny and pretty nice, so we decided to begin our search. Michael found an article from the Daily Triplicate's sister paper, the Curry Pilot, about a reporter, new to the area, who went searching for the Wonder Stump without success. It contained more information and seemed to clear up the question of whether there is more than one. It also included an old photo and vague location, so we thought we'd be able to find it.

As it turns out, we couldn't. It didn't matter, though, because we had a beautiful drive through second growth forest on Wonder Stump Road and saw gorgeous old-growth stumps left from logging a hundred or more years ago. In particular, we found this cluster of burned (very tall) stumps. I spied them from the road and they are unbelievably massive and beautiful.

Michael in front of the fire cave at the base of one stump, in the "front".

Michael and Darcy in another fire cave in the "back".

Michael and Darcy, again for scale, because it's hard to appreciate how massive these things are even when you're standing in front of them.

Looking up from the base of one of the stumps. It's hard to tell if these were logged or burned as living trees (as described in the first article), but redwoods don't burn easily. They just seem like very tall "stumps" for logging.

We're hoping to find the Wonder Stump one day. In the meantime, there are some historic and modern photographs of it here (you'll have to scroll down to the part about the "Del Norte Wonder Stump) and here.

Darcy's Version Of Christmas

This morning, we let Darcy open one present. In part, this is because we don't want sensory overload to set in any earlier than it needs to. We gave her the package that included her new stocking. Her previous stocking, made by her Auntie Best, was injured beyond my capability to repair. The new one is sort of elf-shoe shaped, with the curved-up toe and is mostly red and white. She pulled it out, assessed it, and announced, "A Tiny hat! I have a Tiny hat!"

Tiny is a pteranodon child from the PBS show Dinosaur Train. Tiny is also what Darcy has been calling Santa Claus for the past few days. Why? I don't know, but she's very insistent. She keeps talking about how we'll leave a fish treat for Tiny when we hang up our stockings. Her face fell when we said it was a stocking, so I quickly said, "It's probably both...try it on as a hat." So she did, and it fit. She very proudly wore it when she walked over to take care of our neighbor's cat. Or rather, their triceratops. Cats and dogs have been triceratops(es) for a few weeks now.

Before she left, however, she explained that the real Tiny is very busy this morning: "Tiny has to go to all the nests and ask the all the dinosaurs what they want for Christmas."



(And hey! Darcy just helped with her first crossword puzzle! Michael is half-heartedly doing today's Triplicate puzzle and one of the clues was "Elmo's street", so he asked Darcy and she said, "Sesame!")

Drinks, Fungus, And Actual News

The pictures don't have much to do with the post, but I know everyone likes pictures! So here's a series of Darcy trying to drink from an outside water fountain. She had seen some other kids playing at it earlier and I think that and the big puddle of water at its base (from the playing) made her view this differently than every other water fountain she's used in the past. Michael first had to demonstrate the technique.

Then there was a serious attempt.

And then there were just giggles.

And about twenty minutes later, there were teeny-tiny mushrooms growing in the debris on a downed redwood log. The range of fungus types up here (and mosses and lichens, too) is incredible.

In actual news, Darcy has moved on from her obsession (my mom says I should call them "enthusiasms", but I've already got an obsessions label for this blog) with the Wright Brothers! Other than a very occasional slip-up, I am no longer Will. And Michael is no longer Orv. We are infrequently mommy and daddy, much to Michael's delight. (His delight is that it happens at all, not that it happens infrequently.) More often, we are reflections of her new obsession.

After six months of living and breathing the Wright Brothers, we now live in a dinosaur nest. When we've been running errands (a lot) this week, Darcy has asked several times, "Is it time to go back to our nest?" In keeping with the new theme, Michael and I are Mr. and Mrs. Pteranodon. In case you're not up with your Cretaceous Era critters, here's a tutorial on pteranodons. Pteranodons were fish-eaters, so all treats (candy, Christmas presents, cakes) are fish now. Darcy is a T. rex. Buddy the T. rex, to be exact, the orange beastie seen in the birthday summary post.

My small T. rex is waking up now. I expect to hear, "Good morning, Mrs. Pteranodon!!!" at any moment, so I'd better wrap this up.

For those of you who haven't already heard, I got a job offer on Friday and will start working full-time in February. The hunt for day care prospects has begun in earnest and at some point when I don't have a dinosaur waking up from her nap, I'll even provide more details.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you all and for those of you who sent the packages under our tree, thanks for all the fish!

Bootcorn

We had another movie night last weekend. It was very successful and Darcy got a little slap-happy at the end. She loves to wear my rain boots, which look just great on her. After wearing them for a while, she took them off and tried to stack them in a tower. When one of them almost fell into the remnants in the popcorn bowl, she then made it her mission to stack them in just the right place so the top one would land in the bowl. She succeeded after a few tries and christened the resulting product "bootcorn" while giggling uncontrollably.

She didn't do much giggling when we went to meet Santa yesterday afternoon. She was perfectly willing to get on his lap, but completely unwilling to look in his direction. I had talked to her about meeting Santa Claus a week or so ago and said that he'd ask her what she wanted for Christmas. She told me she'd ask for candy. Sure enough, Santa asked her and she said, "I'd like candy." He pointed out that he was going to give her a candy cane right then and there, and wasn't there a toy she'd like? Nope. Candy. If we were willing to indulge such a wish, this would be the easiest Christmas ever.