Our first guests came over the July 4th weekend. Maggie Roberts and Dave Siemens are a couple of friends I hadn't seen in more than 20 years. Back in 1978 Maggie and I were both part of an extraordinary group of seven bright-eyed, tough young women who went through a special training class the Seattle Fire Department had when they were trying to introduce women to their all-male ranks. Maggie was injured during the regular recruit training class and was not allowed to finish. She could have come back in the next year's recruit class, but instead she joined the Olympia, Washington fire department where Dave was already a firefighter and union official. They have lived in that area ever since. The last time I saw them they had a little boy named Ian who was a toddler. Now Ian is in his late twenties and has a toddler of his own. Dave is officially retired from the fire service and Maggie left it years ago and has recently retired from a career with Planned Parenthood. Together they have a business making pottery. Here is the website for their studio: http://kennedycreekpottery.com/ Maggie brought me one of her whimsical garden sculptures - a demon bunny (click on the photo to enlarge if you want to really appreciate his charm).
We went for a leisurely wildflower hike up to the top of the ridge. Maggie is the only person I've seen who spends as much time as I do taking multiple pictures of every new wildflower she sees while hiking. I was acting as hiking guide and left the flower photos to her.
We barbecued on the deck and hung around playing card games, reminiscing about the old days in the fire department(s), and discussing everything from politics to geology to sustainable food. Then we sat on the front deck and watched the fireworks from the Livingston Rodeo in the distance. It was lovely to spend time with them again. I feel absolutely blessed to have such interesting, good friends.The other thing that made Fourth of July weekend wonderful was a visit from Tom. He came a few days before Maggie and Dave and helped me finish up a couple of projects. It is always wonderful to have him here. I was in heaven with him beside me and such great friends around the house. Tom sheetrocked the guest room side of the bathroom walls I built last summer so that this summer's guests have a real wall instead of looking at plumbing and wall studs.
I probably won't get around to finishing and painting the walls until this winter, but it is a huge improvement nevertheless and I truly appreciate his making it possible for me to cross off one more thing on my endless to-do list. I don't know how restful his vacation was, but I sure enjoyed it. He also took the Beastie with him and left me the Little Car so I can haul guests up the hill more comfortably.The other project I completed in time for the opening of visiting season is the bathhouse. Last winter when I came back from Seattle and the pipes were frozen I used the kerosene space heater to try to thaw the last spot of ice that was blocking the water to the main house. I didn't notice that there was a vinyl garden hose lying on the floor too near the heater and it burned up and coated everything in the formerly light, pleasant bathhouse with black, sticky vinyl soot. Fortunately, I went out to check the heater before any of the structure caught on fire and managed to extinguish the burning hose and heater, but the bathhouse has been depressingly dark and dirty ever since. So this spring I remodeled the whole thing. I painted the walls a bright spring green with crisp white trim.
I put down a new floor over the concrete.
I plumbed in a new bathtub faucet and shower riser with hand-held shower attachment and shower curtain ring.
I boxed in the platform above the shower where the water tank for the shower used to sit (before we had a well). This made a little attic in one end of the room. You can see there is still some trim needed around the edges of the gable end.
The other end of the room has an open, high ceiling.
All this makes the room pleasant and light again. But the piece de resistance, in my humble opinion, is the washing machine.
I removed the composting toilet, now that there is a toilet in the house, and moved in a special, extremely low-energy washer that we brought with us when we moved here. It had been sitting out in the yard, still in its shipping box, covered with blue tarps through two winters. Fortunately, in spite of that abuse, it worked like a charm. I have to run the generator if I do more than one load and it only has cold water hooked up to it, but it is a huge improvement to be able to wash the sheets between guests without making a trip to town. 
For drying, I replaced the cotton clothesline that Nancy and Doug used that had broken after deteriorating out in the weather for many years. Unfortunately, the nylon clothesline I replaced it with stretches a little too much, and it is tricky keeping the laundry out of the tall grass. I guess I'll have to get another cotton one. I also have a wooden clothes drying rack for indoor use in winter time or for rainy days.Home laundry. Another big leap in convenience here at the cabin. Tom teases me that I'm taking all the adventure out of the place. One of our favorite quotes is from G.K. Chesterton: "An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly understood." Well, those are words to live by, but a few less adventures in day-to-day life will not be missed.
Tom and Maggie and Dave all left Monday morning. I am back to my splendid solitude for a few days until the next group of visitors arrives.
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