Have had a very nice day here in Morton Washington with my sister, Barb and her husband Martin. I had my usual slow morning, but around 10:00 Barb and I headed out for the town of Centralia down along the I-5 corridor. An old farming and logging community originally, they have now turned most of the old town section into a mecca for antique hunters.
   Barb and I spent several hours going from one 'bad' store to the next before lunch. (A 'bad' store being one with too many neat things that you want to buy in it). I did actually end up making a couple purchases, even though I try very hard not to buy stuff too often, mostly because you can't fit a lot of extraneous stuff into the trailer anyway. But I am always on the look out for old tools that are still in good enough shape to use, and which aren't ridiculously priced beyond what even a new one would cost. Today I found two different wood plans that I have been looking for these past couple of years. One was a #8 Baileys jack plane with a solid flat base of about 10" in length. Good for planing across the grain on wood panels to help flatten them out. And the other was a 16"-18" long Baileys jointer plane that is used to straighten out long boards so they can be glued together, as well as flattening large flat surfaces also. New they both would be between $200 and $400 each, today though I got both for under a hundred. Now they will take some work to recondition them both, but all of the parts are still there and aside from some rust on the bodies and a split handle on the jointer plane, they are both in good shape.
   We ate lunch at the McMinnamins there in town. This is a chain that started in Oregon, I believe in Portland, and has been spreading ever since. Even though it is a chain, this one looks nothing like any of the other ones I have eaten at, mainly because none of them were built new. Instead the owners go out and find an old building and gut most of it and then install what ever they need to, in order for them to make it a restaurant. So each is unique and a little quirky, and all of them have wonderful food and great beer. 
   After filling up with lunch we wandered through a few more antique stores looking at all the cool toys, furniture and other brick-a-bract that you can find in them. I managed to keep from buying anything else, so I did pretty good, all in all.
   A pleasant drive home and then a quiet evening sitting around talking and watching a little TV. They are both early birds so they are already in bed while I still have a few more hours to be up at least. So I finished up another set of pictures from the other day and they are located below. Enjoy!

Point Wilson Lighthouse near Port Townsend, Washington  Oct. 3, 2014

Situated just a little north and west of Port Townsend Washington, this lighthouse is directly across the straights running between Whidbey Island on the north and the Olympic Peninsula on the south. Admiralty Head Lighthouse is located opposite to this one on Whidbey Island, and between the two they help direct ship traffic from the Pacific Ocean and the Straights of Jaun de Fuca into the inner sanctuary of Puget Sound

The original lighthouse was first lit on December 15, 1879 and consisted of a 46 foot tower and a keepers dwelling. The fixed white light could be seen for up to 13 miles away on a clear night.          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1894, a new lens was installed in that lantern room, changing the light's characteristic from fixed white to fixed white varied by a red flash every twenty seconds. 

The original lighthouse was eventually undermined by beach erosion and a new one was built further inland to take it's place. The current lighthouse was built in 1914, and the original lighthouse, minus its tower, continued to serve as the keepers' dwelling. The new lighthouse featured a forty-nine-foot concrete tower, built in an octagonal shape to reduce wind pressure, which projects upward from a fog signal building. The light still shines from the fourth-order Fresnel lens, sending forth alternate red and white flashes every five seconds.

Like other lighthouse's along the east and west coast's the light at Point Wilson was extinguished during World War II as a defense measure to protect nearby Fort Worden and the entrance to Puget Sound.

Note: much of the information that I write concerning lighthouse history and construction is gleaned from information kiosks or placards at the site of the lighthouse or from a really good web site I use dealing with Lighthouse's.     http://www.lighthousefriends.com/maps.html


brk*