5:30 to 4

One turkey sandwich pushed me over the edge, and I ended up napping until this morning at 4.  So what to do?  Most people do not enjoy talking on the phone that early and I wondered if Merritt was up!  I prepped for tuning up Sand's car, all of 5 minutes, its not like that takes a garage full of tools. Knitted some, and watched the news with my coffee...almost bought a set of knives.  It was a fifteen piece pocket knife set that was obviously of the highest-quality and thriftiest price.  Would have been a real score.

We had a nice and thankfully small thanksgiving at Mom's, and brought home the leftovers that sent me into the aforementioned food coma. It was mainly nuclear family and spouses but Freddie is one of Fred and Aloma's better (if not best) friends he was there.  He is a transplanted buckeye and retired veterinarian.   

Kid day today = movie, slurpies, and grandpa :)  Dad gave me this business card holder a few weeks ago.  Very nice!

Speaking of business cards, I saw one the other day that said, "Practicing psychology by just walking around." I thought that was cool.

Well, it's 7:04, and light is breaking...46 degrees and not currently raining...I'm making a break for it.  

And the good news is...

it's official, I got a new job. Super stoked!  Not that being a freelancer was a bad experience at all, quite the opposite, I learned a lot and accomplished a lot and freelance gave me a flexibility that was hard to beat.  Self-employment taxes are a killer, and I won't miss those.    

In other news, its sunny out and the blue angels are flying over today making a racket!  I love it when they fire their afterburners and roar (if in fact that is what they are doing, but I am going to go with a little poetic license)!   I would like to post a picture, but this whole getting old thing sucks.  I can't make it out onto the balcony in time.  Anyway, by the time you hear them they are gone for the most part.  I did see a formation of four over the space needle quite luckily.

Sandy is all fired up about the Olympics and watches them until way past my bedtime! Last night she hollered loud when somebody won, I think it was the kid from Bremerton, oh she was hooting and  I woke up ready for the zombie apocalypse!  After that I was like Eeyore what with my bum knee and all hurting. You would be surprised at how much you move your leg when you sleep; I am talking rotational movement on a vertical axis and damn that hurts so you stay half-awake all night...uh oh, here comes Eeyore!   'nuff said.  My plants are dying and I must do something about it.  Today.  One I even have to call Mike for a consultation.  Lord, I used to be so good to my plants and nowadays I neglect them as a hobby. 

A special shout out to Kelly 'cause she's my sister!  Kelly and I had the nerve one time to jump onto the back bumper of Dad's work truck so that we could surprise him at his next stop.  Wholly in God's hand we did not fall off before someone flagged him down in a panic as two children excitedly clung to that one little door handle going down a main road.  When he stopped, we were so proud of each other.  Our plan worked!  We surprised him and he was never so glad to see us!  Hugs all around!  Mom hugged us when we got home!  Even after they explained to us the necessity of NEVER doing that again, and some 45 years of experience that can only imagine how horrifying that would have been as a parent, we know...it worked!   That's the good news.

Things I forgot to mention...

a bee hive on the foot bridge...the proposed letter to Strombo about trail conditions...the sound of the rocks polishing each other as the waves drew back...the guy from Switzerland that asked me about Hornbein "The Younger" (medieval artist depicting plague scenes that are the basis for the tattoo on my right lower leg)...did I mention the whales we saw?...people setting up their tents so close to mine I could hear them fart? (a honyock move if ever there was one)...hole in the wall...oh, and the sun went down behind us (Rob was right)...

This was taken near the end of a long day...

Trip Report - West Coast Trail Suffer-Fest

The Executive Summary of the trip would read something like this:  A long, expensive, and horrific bus ride from Pt. Renfrew to Bamfield on logging roads brought a car sick and somewhat irritable group to the orientation station by 1:00 PM. The Check-In process was expensive and slow for the most part, and I found that some Canadians get snooty when you say something about systems efficacy.  With great pains though, they were pleasant and so was I and we got on the trail at something like 3 o'clock, ahead of others.  Non-existent beach access signs cost us another hour in doubling back to find the trail.  We did spook a bear though, and that was kind of fun.   

West to East a linear measure of the distance is given as 75 km by the Canadian Agency for Miss-communication and Confusion, so who knows how many trail miles of poorly maintained mud bogs, boardwalk, roots and root wads, ladders, and slippery madness interspersed with some well maintained boardwalks,  cable-cars, ladders, bridges (best maintained structures).  Those of us that did arrive at the end definitely felt as though it had been a huge self-rescue exercise.  The author himself is slated to lose two toenails soon and is hoping for at least a partial use of his right leg by this weekend.  

Further report: At this writing, it is 1:38 AM and I am unable to sleep for the pain of it.  My friend Christopher, who you met in an earlier post, and I completed the trail in 4.5 walking days arriving at some camps as late as 9:15 PM.  

You could not go fast, you could only go long if that makes any sense.  In places, I was surprised as I have never seen a trail in such disrepair.  On the other hand, there were parts of it very well maintained.  After speaking to a number of those we shared the trail with, we found out that the proceeds of the park are returned to the provincial general fund and not necessarily returned to the park proper.  Go figure.  The day of our orientation the number of evacuations by the park was 53 since it opened in May.

We did meet some really cool folks on trail.  Honorable mentions to Francois, Caroline, the crew at Chez Monique, Al and Dane, and Lanny from Vancouver.  It was good meeting you!  And to the bunch of others we chatted with, wished well and will never see again, take care too.

Poor Mike, he had to throw in the towel at about half way through due to his knee.  He made the right decision, I wouldn't have wanted to hit that with anything but full confidence either and I already told you part of the toll I am paying.  It was worth it though, if for nothing else bull-shitting rights.  I had happily decided a couple of days before the end that I would never have to walk this path again, but I'll be damned if Mike isn't already talking about going back for just the half he missed.  Good Lord pray for me, because I have agreed in theory that yeah, we should go back for it.  

  

 "if it looks waist deep, it probably is" 

 can't remember which one this is, but it's one of the longer ones of five

 the trail, really, for miles

 very narrow suspension bridge, with ladders up at the end

 funky angle, eh?  no worries though cause it went nearly 

straight up for about 150 feet after that

 random ladder not associated with the previous picture,

I would estimate that there are about 1.5 vertical km of ladders on the trail

boardwalk to nowhere, roots and mud aplenty.

seriously, for most of the trip

Back on a sunny Saturday

Early to an empty house.  Nice visit with the kids, just not enough time.  July is shaping up to be pretty nice after all, its like we paid out purgatory in rain and are looking at the gates of summer.  Of course, we had the fireworks last week.  That was chill.  There were more people in the streets this year, compared to last, but Officer Friendly kept the kids in line.

This was early in the day.  We went to a local place and I had the muffuletta for early lunch

and it was grubbin'.  Sandy had the trad breakfast.  It was ok this time.  Last time 

I got zonked on their biscuits and gravy.

Getting ready for the WCT.  We are going West to East 45 miles which seems counter-intuitive when hiking an island that is oriented North South.  Got lots to do between now and then.

I can finally talk about it...The Stanley Cup Report

Thank you all for your condolences for still having to wear this NJ Devils cap.  Know that I am upbeat and went through the 7 steps rather quickly.  Some of you may not have been aware that I had this condition.  We don't have to bring it up.

Thanks Angie, for hanging out when no one else would; to cheer for a team she "felt funny about." (Angie being a Red Wings fan)  To my family who would let me completely ditch them on the phone if the game was on, I thank you for understanding.  To Merritt, who traded me labor (rigging his beams to fly) for a chance to see the game on the big screen and eat some grubbin' food. Maybe he'll submit photo's.  To the grocer at Eastlake Market who chose the Kings early in the tournament, ok I get it.  Bigger skaters + better puck handling = Stanley Cup win for the LA Kings.  

Special thanks to Sandy for giving me the remote during the struggle, and for her constant reassurance that I was out of my mind for rooting for the Devils.

I will try to put on my Canucks hat when I go out in public, but you gotta admit it would have been cool had NJ pulled it off.

And yet more waterfalls!

Yesterday Sandy, Christopher, and I went to Otter Falls and Big Creek Falls, up the Snoqualmie Lake Trail.  It was an easy 10 mile round trip that took us about 4 hours, including the lunch break and such. 

 The trail is an old logging road that is being reclaimed by the forest.  It had a nice gentle grade and was wide enough to walk three across for god portions of it.

The first falls we came to were small, but you got to cross in front of them on this really cool foot bridge.  The logs that are supporting this bridge are HUGE!  

 The next falls we got to, at the 5-mile mark, are the Big Creek Falls and were bigger and had a lot more water coming down them.  The rocks were mostly smooth, and the water had a really cool sheeting effect over the rocks.  The bridge is a lot more modern too.

 We sat on the curb and looked at our feet.  

The we got up, turned around and walked about a 1/4-mile back down to the "non-trail" that is the trail up to a tiny lake and Otter Falls.  This was the coolest of the three falls for sure.

 It's at least a couple of hundred feet to the top of Otter Falls.

By the time we got out, we were all hungry and kind of tired.  We ended up stopping at a bar and grill in North Bend for dinner.  We tried to find a pizza place, but the only one we saw was closed...oh well.  We were back in plenty of time to chill around the house before Monday snuck up on us.  Happy Monday! Yeah, right...

In to Waterfalls this year it seems

So I have been planning trips to waterfalls this year, and am really excited to see which one I pick this weekend.  Not sure which one, but with all this rain, we can be sure that the flow will be high.  Last weekend, we went to:

aka Kamikaze Falls.  

This sign-post is two or so miles back on a logging road that is being taken over by forest again, so an easy round trip.

Sandy, always out front

and here taking us across a scree field, led us up to this

My friend Christopher came with us as well.  He is from Oregon originally, not too far from where my Grandpa Earls' dad settled when the family immigrated from Canada a way long time ago. 

An all-around good-natured kid.  

2 of 3 Birds

Visit today went well. Megan and Elizabeth, Dad and I, had fun at the train park.  William, if you ever read this, know I am missing you.  And know that I will wait.  I love you. The girls were asking for ice cream on the way back.  I told them that if they would sing me a song, I would buy them ice cream.  I started them off with, "woke up this morning, smiled with the rising sun," and they answered back, "three little birds, outside my doorstep, singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true," to which I answered, "singing, this is my message to you-ou-ou," and they said...wait for it..."baby don't worry, about a thing," Why? "cause every little thing is gonna be alright!"  Yeah, they got strawberry cheesquake blizzards at Dairy Queen!

In other news, its kind of a weird day outside.  Sandy went to a rubber stamp convention and just got back.  I didn't think I would get to see much of her today, so that's nice, its still pretty early.

I miss my birds

"woke up this morning, smile with the risin' sun, three little birds, outside my doorstep, singin' sweet songs, a melody pure and true, singin, this is my message to you

baby don't worry, about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be alright"

more or less, those are the lyrics. man, I am achin'

A good joke!

Good morning, thinking of the kids this morning and came across this video of Elizabeth telling me a joke in the park a couple of months ago (complete with an explanation of the joke at the end).

I am Thor!  Thilly!

Hope

This past weekend, after a particularly rough couple of weeks, Sandy, Matt, and I went out to Shi-Shi beach just south of the Makah Indian Reservation and spent a couple of nights out there.   We arrived late evening in time to set up camp and watch the stars Friday, which I have to say was one of the more spectacular night sky visions that I have ever seen.  Two planets had aligned (Jupiter and Venus?) and were shining bright over the horizon, enough to light the water below, and the milky way was in full view.

On Saturday morning, of course I got up earlier than anyone else and walked around the beach and found a glass float.

Now, I have been going to the beach for many years and have never found one before so this was quite an event for me!  It was like God was telling me that if this fragile ball could survive the tossing and turning, so could I.  A message sorely needed.  

After that, it was pretty easy to sit around in the sunshine and do mostly nothing!

This video brought to you by those that chill

3 days of sunshine

This past weekend we pretty much had a chill weekend around home.  On Saturday, we went to the library in the morning and then headed to Alki to check out the beach there.    

 Megan in the sand

 Will, having fun throwing sticks out into the water

Elizabeth, chasing her shadow :)

Left there (with a back seat full of sand) and headed home for tuna melts and an afternoon movie...I was able to catch a short nap while they watched some cartoon about dragon hunters (I know its a sneaky way to catch a nap, and beg your forgiveness!)  After the show, we left for Golden Gardens to burn off some energy...

On Sunday, the kids cashed in their Christmas present from Sandy, which was a trip to Bullwinkle's for rides, pizza, and games!  More on that after I get pics from Sandy :)


Today the kids are out of school and we are doing laundry and such, and are getting ready to head South.  Its nice to have the opportunity to stay home with them when they don't have school.

skating, sledding, popcorn, wii, and other things

on 12/11 I wrote:
 I am making my way through the chore list today.  So far, its been a day of stirring beef stew, loading and unloading the dishwasher, Christmas cards, but none of that before getting my truck jump started and driving around charging it up.  I stopped by an auto parts store to have the battery tested.  I asked the guy if any of the batteries he tested ever passed the test.  Surprisingly, mine did.  It had 360 CCA's, in case you were wondering.  I should clean out the thing too...it's pretty bad.  I am afraid of what I might find though.


Never did post that one.


I tried again to post on 12/28, but apparently got off track then too!  


So I thought, well, its been over a month why not take a break from work and distract myself with this.  A lot has been going on.  I started a new contract position, where the work is definitely very cool.  Has to do with expanding community capacity with regards to adverse childhood experiences.  I am still doing my other gigs, too, so I am well over 40 hours a week.  I have been collecting some good tunes, too.  Listening now to The Black Keys and eating chocolate chip cookies post lunch.  Out the window it is a pretty day...I may go for a walk here shortly.  hey, federal prisoners get 15 minutes of natural sunlight a day, I should too.  


Went sledding last weekend.  Beware!  They are charging money to park at the sledding hill now.  I lucked out and someone leaving gave me their pass (all that clean living) but it can cost up to $30 to park there.  The bastards!  


Skyler stayed over with the kids last weekend.  He is a good kid, I guess they all are :)  Here is a video of the kids Will, Elizabeth, Megan, and Skyler.

We all had a really good time.  We went to the skate park on Saturday, too.  Watched a movie and played video games the rest of the time for the most part.  


Christmas went well, and so did New Years.  I think all total we had four Christmas' what with sets of grandparents, and such.  Sandy and I had NYE just ourselves.  Very nice.  We watched the space needle fireworks from the balcony.  Not as impressive as the 4th of July on the balcony, but it was still a pretty good display.   It was my first time trying to use the video camera, and it showed so no video of that.  I think it would be cool to get a tripod for such occassions.  


Gonna try to get a hike in this week.  Will be nice to get out.  Well, back to work for me.  More later, I'm sure.