How Green My Roof

I was reading Exit 133.com this morning and saw a story about this house on south 7th and Alder in Tacoma, WA. which was featured in People Magazine this week. Curiosity is going to kill me unless I see it with my own eyes. What really puzzles me is how the goat gets onto the roof to mow.

Still Digging

They're still hauling away contaminated dirt from the soon to be park. I wonder where they are taking it. The old bulkhead looks kinda shakey so I imagine it will be replaced with a sturdy cement wall and hopefully nice wide stairs to the beach It would be kinda cool if they dredged up some of the mud on the beach and put down pea gravel. In the "old days" they would just do it, but now I doubt they can touch a single barnacle without permits up the gazoo.

Fall Day

Hard to believe it's fall. It was an absolutely beautiful day yesterday and this is what it looked like for anyone entering the harbor by boat. My side of the harbor was crawling with dogs and their people because of some kind of goofy hound walking day. It was best not to venture downtown if you aren't a dog lover. Personally, I loved our collie named Lassie and both of our golden retrievers, both named Jenny, that's another story, but I doubt anyone else would have enjoyed having them block their path on the sidewalk. I guess I'm getting old and cranky :o)

Tinker Toy or Tinker Bell

My granddaughter is crazy about Tinker Bell. She had a Tinker Bell theme for her 4th birthday, sleeps under a cozy Tinker Bell comforter and I even noticed a tiny Tinker Bell figure on the elastic that holds her hair out of her face. As I was surfing the Amazon.com site, I noticed they sell TinkerToys with prices ranging from $15.00 to $150.00. Ouch!!! I remember the fun my sisters and I had when we were kids with TinkerToys. Anything that would spin or roll was to die for. I'm thinking that this might be the year that Santa brings her her first set. Not sure if I will succumb to the less expensive set or go whole hog and get the super duper one....I know her papa would love the one with the gazillion pieces.

Fall Fishing

It's almost time for the fall fishing season to begin for the commercial seiners and gilnetters. They fish for chum salmon right outside the harbor, and also do some fishing in Hoods Canal. Some of the skippers will take their boats out 2 days in advance and drop anchor to get the first set at their favorite spot each opening with the crew going out in the skiff the night before the opening. If I had to sit on anchor for more than a few hours, I'd have to be taken off to the funny farm.

Oh Hear Us Play

I've been messing with my digital recorder and finally figured out how to get a song onto the puter, combine it with a pix of our orchestra and off to Youtube . My house is a mess, so is the yard, and if it weren't for my friend enjoying cooking, I would probably starve. He just rolls his eyes when I start talking about wav's and mp3's and knows nothing about music. At least my 4 1/2 year old granddaughter loves music, adores Bolero and I am doing all I can to indoctrinate that child :o)

Class of 58

If you look closely, you'll see Lucy Goodman peeking our from behind the faces of the future class of 1958. Lucy taught kindergarten for many years and one of our local middle schools carries her name.

I remember seeing her drive by occasionally in her old model T.

I lived 8 miles away so didn't go to kindergarten. Maybe that is why I am a little dull :o) Those that you see in the picture, lived within walking distance.
More about Lucy

Parking Lot

I would be willing to bet all I own that there aren't many people who allow anyone to park a skiff on their front lawn. Occasionally my kids bring their equipment over to my place as it's fairly easy to maneuver close to the water faucet and do what it is that needs doing. The only time I was ever nervous about it was when one son had put in a new engine and needed to test it, which of course requires a steady stream of water to keep things cool. He must have followed all directions because it's still purring like a kitten. Remind me later to rake up the rest of the barnacles and seaweed.

Take me away

The last two mornings I have woken to darkness and then grey sky. Oh how I hate to see winter approaching because I am definately a summer person. If I could, I'd book a trip on one of those fancy cruise ships and sail through the Panama Canal. I have cruised the "mexican riviera", but that's it!

It was such fun getting up early in the morning when the only people up were the crew and staff, pulling on my grubbies, and standing on the bow with the few other crazies, watching as we quietly slipped through the darkness into port each morning.

We sailed on the Saphire Princess out of San Pedro. Docked at the same pier was the Queen Mary 2. We pulled out past her and as we sailed down the channel, we were thrilled to see so many people waving goodbye from the many small boats and along the shore. Soon we realized that it wasn't us they had come to see. The QM2 had made her first stop on the U.S. west coast and she was the one they were all in a dither about, including the fire department. As she left, the fireboat sprayed it's hoses and made a big fuss over her. Humph !!!

Squeaky Clean

Not quite squeaky clean yet, but this site along the harbor will eventually be a park for everyone to enjoy. Years ago it was a sand and gravel business where barges came in to unload, day and night, depending on the tide. It looks as if they have been skimming off any surface contamination to make it safer for all. I dont' know if they will be doing any dredging to the muddy beach. Years ago no one gave much thought to where the remnants of the lead and copper paint went from the yearly hull scrub and the old Eddon Boat building in the background did many a boat.

Room with a view

The "shed" for the Shenandoah is coming along. In fact the whole museum is well on it's way to completion. I like the way we will be able to see the boat from the street. That should really attract visitors.

Here we go again!

Here is what the building looked like at noon today. Workers are busy shoring up things. The SUV went through the rockery, iron posts in the middle of it, plus an iron fence. They figured the young man was going at least 75 miles per hour and made no attempt to turn.

I woke up to the sound of circling helicopters this morning. Soon the phone rang and a friend reported that the once Harbor Inn Restaurant and home, but now a work in progress, had been crashed into again. The first time...when this picture was taken..... by a dump truck filled with logs, that came down the hill out of control. That was about 19 years ago and there was one loss of life, a young waitress who worked at the restaurant, plus the driver of the truck. This time by a car driven by a young man in his 20's, going between 70 and 90 miles per hour. The driver died as his car went into the building and stopped short of injuring the patrons in the fitness club at the front of the building. The basement is used as a beauty shop and spa, and the top floor is being remodeled into a home for the owners of the building. My prayers go out to all.

Ask and you shall recieve

My boatnerd friend sent me this pix of the Saginaw...another canadian lake boat with my favorite paint job. It is at the dock in Marquette, Michigan loading taconite. What is taconite you ask? Taconite is greatly diluted iron ore concentrated into pellets of 64% iron with clay binding. These small round taconite pellets can then be shipped economically from the Michigan ports of Marquette and Escanaba to steelmakers around the Great Lakes.

Maybe one day I will get the chance to join my friend, armed with our trusty cameras and take my own pix of these hard working ships.

Psychodelic Sperm

I have always thought this piece of glass work by Dale Chihuly in the old Union Station in Tacoma resembled some kind of wild, crazy psychodelic sperm. What do you think?

Jeremiah O'Brien

The Jeremiah O'Brien, homeport San Francisco, is one of only two Liberty ships remaining. The other is the John W. Brown, which is also a museum and located in Baltimore. There has always been a special spot in my heart for the Liberty Ships because dad was captain on one during the war, the George Gershwin. There were 2751 Liberty ships built during the war and the Jeremiah O'brien is a rare survivor of the 6,939-ship armada that stormed Normandy Beach on D-Day, 1944.

Last summer I flew down to San Francisco to visit a friend and the highlight of my trip was having the opportunity to sail out under the Golden Gate Bridge and around San Francisco Bay on her. We were assisted by tugs as we left the dock, they were waiting for us out in open water just past the bridge in case they were needed and they helped us in and out of Richmond, plus back to the dock at the end of the day. In those days they didn't have the luxury of bow or stern thrusters. It was such a thrill to feel the hot, steamy heat of the engine room, the motion of the ship as she steamed along, and to stand at the wheel just as dad did. Something tells me he was sailing right along with me that day.

Heavenly View

This is what the harbor looked like in probably, the late 1920's or early 30's. The old ferry landing is there and there is also a ferrry tied up at Skansie Shipyard where the Skansonia, which runs between Point Defiance and Vashon Island, was built.
There is no Roxy Theater yet where we kids looked forward each Saturday to the matinee in black and white, and when older, watched Rhett Butler finally tell Scarlet "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn", nor was the house of my inlaws built yet.
Peacock Hill Ave., then just a bumpy dirt road, disappears into the woods, with nary a Canterwood in sight.

Michipicoten

I challenge anyone to pronounce the name of that beautiful laker. The picture was taken by a friend of mine who lives near Marquette, Michigan, is hopelessly addicted to the old lakers and hightails it to Marquette at the least excuse to see which boats are in loading and a chance for a picture. To top it off, the hubby of another friend of mine, who lives in Ontario, Canada used to crew on the Michipicoten/formerly Eldon Hoyt II , which belongs to a canadian company. It is especially fun to catch those giant ships as they pass through the Soo Locks.
The closest I ever came to seeing one with my own eyes was a couple years ago when I went to Chicago with a friend to see his family. The bunch of us drove down to Gary, Indiana to check out the sand dunes and could see in the distance, a laker leaving the old steel mill. Maybe someday I will get a closer look.

September 11, 2001

It was 7 years ago today that things changed so dramatically in our country for so many people. I would equate it with the death of John Kennedy, internationally and for those of us who live in the Puget Sound area, the Nisqually Quake or the Columbus Day storm of "62". Events like that are embedded in our brains, never to be forgotten. I remember hearing on the radio when I got up that one of the towers had been hit by a plane, so rushed over to turn on the TV just in time to witness the second tower being hit. After following it for what seemed like hours, I decided to get out of the house and go for a walk, which took me down to the dock. It was a beautiful morning as you can see from the picture I took and even though all the planes were to get out of the sky, there were still vapor trails above from some still heading to their destinations or some airforce planes no doubt doing their job of keeping us safe.

Even after all that we've been through, it's still a Wonderful World.

End of the Road

A stargazer friend of mine bought herself a new vacation cottage and planted it on the land she purchased in eastern Washington. Because there are no lights for miles around, she is able to see all that goes on in the night sky.

She has no water so brings what she needs and the toilet is one of those that does it's magic without any plumbing.

The windows never need washing and the 2 doors lock nicely preventing anyone from helping themselves to things that aren't theirs.

Beautiful September

We have had a beautiful September so far and I think we deserve all these gorgeous days as our summer was a little on the cool, damp side. Rather than plant tomatoes in my garden, I planted just one in a pot on my front porch where it gets the afternoon sun. The porch floor is cement and the house is sided halfway up with brick so it holds the heat through much of the night. I stuck one old ski pole and one broken golf club into the pot to support the plant and tied it all together with lots of old string that I gathered up after the kids stripped their nets. Waste not, want not!!!

Pillow Top, Not

Sometimes ya just get too tired to be choosy about where ya sleep and this was one of those times. While mama helped decorate for the party, Lindsey crawled into the cart with her donut and promptly fell asleep. Talk about miniature bunk beds !!

A Perfect Model

While traveling south along the Oregon coast, we made sure we got a picture of this sign because we knew the artist had used the Genius as the model. In the shot above, she is sitting on the ways at what is now Skansie Park, then it was the Skansie home and net shed. The city was wise enough to buy the property, which is now used for so many wonderful activities such as concerts, farmers markets and plain old family picnics.

The Genius was built in the harbor and in the beginning, belonged to our family. Last I heard, she was in Roche Harbor, looking a little tired. When she left the harbor, the intention of the new owners from Friday Harbor was to convert her into a B&B. I don't know if that ever worked out.

Old Days, Old Ways

A few days ago I posted a picture of the front half of the house being lifted off the Sonia. Here she is in all her glory before that fateful day. It is fun looking along the shoreline then and how different it looks now.

In case you wonder where the Sonia is today, I will fill you in. She was sold to a fisherman in Blaine, WA. He fished with her for quite a few years, then one fateful night in 2003, a storm hit while she was tied to the dock in Bellingham. Another boat broke loose, punched a hole in her and she sank on the spot. She was refloated, taken out to deep water and scuttled. Such a sad ending.

Home Again

The last of the seiners returns home after a successful Alaska salmon season. She is one of about 20 commercial fishing boats, purse seiners and gilnetters, that call Gig Harbor home.

The "lowly" pink salmon was worth .11 cent a pound a few years ago and this year the price began at .25 cents and halfway through the season, Trident Seafoods Corporation raised the price to .35 cents, retroactive for the entire season. Maybe people are finally realizing how much healthier wild salmon is than the farmed salmon from Chili, where the fish are suffering from epidemic diseases and overuse of antibiotics.

Word has it that the weather in southeast Alaska was the worst in years. Rain, rain and more rain!

Umbrella and raincoat sales must have been fantastic for the little shops near the cruiseship docks.

Tall Ship

The Lady Washington and the Hawaiin Chieftain spent the last two days in the harbor. They were open for tour and if you had $65.00 to spare, you could even go for an afternoon cruise.

Once out of the harbor, they lowered their sails, manned their guns and had an old fashioned cannon fight, without the cannon balls and I hope with earplugs. It was a beautiful day for sailing and I am sure everyone got their money's worth.

I kept thinking as I watched them under sail, those people who made that trip across the
Atlantic in the 1600's, on one of those tiny ships, were mighty brave and we owe them so much for perservering.

http://www.ladywashington.org/

http://www.hawaiianchieftain.com/hc.html

Today they will head for Port Townsend

Class of "58"

Well here we are, in all our glory. Not bad for a bunch of 68 year olds/youngs. There were 71 graduates, and I think 31 were at the reunion.

Through the years, 8 classmates have passed away. I was in charge of the bio-booklet and forbid anyone to die before the reunion as it would have messed up that page :o)

The home where we held our reunion belongs to one of our classmates and his wife, and we so appreciated their sharing it with us for the day.

Top Heavy

The Sonia was built right here in Gig Harbor in 1928, at Skansie Shipyard, for my father in law. She was a 68 foot seiner and he fished with her in Alaska and on Puget Sound. He died when my hubby was 7 1/2 and his mother chartered her out in order to make enough money to live on. Finally, when my hubby was old enough, he took over as captain. By then, laws had changed and he couldn't fish with her in Alaska, because only a boat with a 58 foot keel length or less could seine there. He ran her as a tender in Kodiak and fished with her in the San Juans. In the 70's he had a local shipwright help him remove the old house in one piece and another friend with a boom truck help haul it up to our yard where the kids sailed many a sea from their ship of dreams.

Boat Launch

This is the boat launch that has been here for as long as I can remember, but the float was added 3 years ago thanks to two men who were determined to make it easier for people to get their boats in and out of the water without losing them. Thanks Paul and Joe!