Growth Management Act

I read this letter to our state attorney general, Rob McKenna, from a frustrated property owner in Thurston county and had to share because it says so well what most of us are thinking. Letter

Oh, and here is another interesting read about Canada's way of dealing with folks who can't pay.

And this one...should we just eliminate our borders??? No wonder people have no respect for any laws. Those running things are a laughing stock.

Paradise

One of my favorite viewcams is at Paradise, on Mount Rainier.

We made the trek back in August last year and visited the new Jackson visitor center, along with the Inn. It's hard to believe it's been 51 years since we last skied on those slopes. There were only rope tows and limited area to ski, but fairly steep slopes, quaranteeing lots of thrills and spills.

Flamingo

The Flamingo used to belong to a local fisherman, but now calls Anacortes home.


Abandoned boat towed into harbor
Written by Kelley Atherton, The Triplicate February 16, 2010

Crew jumped off in 30-foot waves, leading to one death

The Flamingo from Anacortes, Wash., is moored in Crescent City after it was towed into the harbor on Monday morning by the tugboat Koos King. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson
A dozen onlookers watched as the Koos King tugboat from Eureka pulled the fishing vessel Flamingo into Crescent City Harbor on Monday morning.
Last Thursday, two men from Washington state abandoned the Flamingo off Crescent City’s shores when the boat began taking on water in 30-foot waves.
One of the men died and the other was injured after they jumped from the boat into the ocean.
The Flamingo was found about 26 miles southwest of Crescent City on Sunday. The Koos King was contracted by the boat’s insurance company to locate the boat and bring it in.
When the Flamingo arrived in the harbor Monday morning, windows above deck had been blown out and the boat was filled with about two feet of water, said Paul McAndrews, the facilities manager for the harbor district.
As the boat took on water, the electrical system was destroyed, knocking out power to the pumps, he said.
“If the generating system don’t work, the pumps don’t work,” McAndrews said.
Upon arrival, the Flamingo’s engine was still running, and the boat was on autopilot, he said, which most likely kept it from floating out to sea.
“It stayed right where it was,” McAndrews said, explaining how the abandoned Flamingo was probably battling against the wind and current.
A maintenance crew for the harbor pumped water out of the boat and the U.S. Coast Guard was on hand to make sure it wasn’t leaking oil or sinking.
“We had to make sure everything was safe,” McAndrews said.
Michael Nosbaum, a petty officer for the Coast Guard Marine Safety Detachment in Humboldt Bay, said that the fuel tanks were secure and that the Flamingo would be “pretty safe in the harbor.”
The Flamingo will likely stay in the harbor until its owners get it running again, McAndrews said.
Click to see video. If it doesn't start automatically, click on "download" at the top right side of where the video is supposed to be. It was definately a wild ride.

You Can't Go Home Again

This is so true....You Can't Go Home Again. It's an article about people returning to the home they either grew up in or lived in in the past and finding it altogether different from what they remembered.

When my sisters and I went east to a family reunion a few years ago, we were finally able to go into the house our dad grew up in in Bucksport, Maine. The last time I set foot inside was when I was age 3 1/2 and for over 60 years, the stairway went up the opposite side of what I remembered, a very large entryway. Was I ever surprised to find out that my brain had been playing tricks on me all those years. I doubt I will ever get the chance to go into the house again, but if I do, and if my memory is correct, I think that's a bathroom inside the door at the top of the stairs.

Gearhart in February

Hard to believe it's the middle of February. This is the ocean beach at Gearhart, Oregon and it's proof that the sun does shine in the northwest, even in the winter. I keep thinkin we're gonna pay !!!

The Chair Affair

If you're into crazy chairs and would like to help raise funds for Northwest Furniture Bank, the organization that stocks used furniture in order to help those who need to start a home anew, The Chair Affair, on March 4th, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, at the Tacoma Art Museum will be the place to be. Admission is $50.00 a person and there will be wine and nibblies to help loosen yer purse strings.

My favorite is the chair in the picture...The Caw Caw Chair, done by artist, Patti McQuillan.

I think my sis in Azerbaijan could use that chair as it would save her having to run through the snow to the "hole" in the middle of the night.

Also, if you have usable used furniture and want to rid yourself of it, the NWFurniture Bank is a great place to take it.

Jacob's View

Finally.......Jacob is coming home!!!! He was whisked away by his mommy and daddy over a month ago, trading our soggy wet northwest for California sun. They rented a house on Hollywood Beach and said there was room for me if I wanted to visit, course that meant getting myself there. Ugh...I really don't like dealing with airports or driving long distances any more.

Mama took this picture of him yesterday as he sat in the warm sun, gazing out to sea where his daddy fishes in the winter.

Cannibalism

This is my lucky day. My wheelbarrow wheel died a couple years ago and I was forced to use the ancient wheelbarrow, but it too died so I was in a real dilemna. As luck would have it, I noticed one at my son's place with a broken handle. You got it...I took it home and apart and back together again with a wheel that holds air....now the work begins....if only I can find the rake that I know is around here somewhere...........

Happy Valentine's Day

The pictures I take

The stories I share

Would not mean a thing

If you weren't there.

Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Ready Wrench

I'm thinkin I know what I'm getting my kids for their birthday !!!!

The Ready Wrench :o)

Together Again

What a fun day we had yesterday. We gals have been friends since high school and some, long before. We did the lunch thing in Silverdale at Applebees because of its central location and of course had to check out the stores after, to do our part for the economy. We shopped til we dropped with the dark haired beauty having to drag our lifeless bodies back to the car. Where she gets her energy is beyond me, and she did it all in heels !!!

The gal in red grew up in the harbor, but married a fellow from the Netherlands so lives a little here and a little there.

We will all be celebrating our 70th birthday this year which of course, called for a serious toast to our health.

Oh, and yes we did :o)

WHO?????

Thanks to Google, I now know who the entertainers were at this years Superbowl half time. I guess my age is showing cause I didn't have a clue and, thought they were really, really awful. I kinda think Janet Jackson's boob would have been a lot more entertaining and that not so much.
I did enjoy the game yesterday, first time in years, and it's probably cause I had a dollar bet with a friend and won.
For me, the highlight of the whole event was at the very end when the quarterback for the Saints held his young son in his arms and occasionally planted a kiss on his adorable face.
For all you football fans, hang in there now that the season is officially over, maybe it's not too early to get outdoors and start turning the soil over for your vegetable garden :o)

Cabins

Washington DC is being buried in a record snow and our Washington is on the verge of spring. We are so blessed living here on the left coast.

My walk yesterday took me down to the entrance of the harbor where we lived for a short while when our oldest was our one and only. Our cabin was near the spot I stood while taking this picture and our cabin was almost the same as the one in the picture and, our cabin is the only one that was loaded onto a barge and floated away to become a home for someone else.

Two of my most vivid memories from living there are the sound the engine of the Avalon made as she headed out early in the morning to fish in the fall and the other was the morning after the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska. We had heard a strange noise coming from the water late in the evening and didn't give it any thought. The next morning, about 3 feet of the beach had been washed away and there, near the bulkhead, stood pilings that had been covered for years, probably used to support a stairway.

Valdez was destroyed by the tsunami that resulted from the quake and we were amazed that we would be affected too.

This video of Seward is well worth watching !!

First Day Of Spring

We had orchestra rehearsal last night and this is my favorite piece. Probably because it's so relaxing to listen to and to play. At least for the flutes. Leroy Anderson wrote it and there hasn't been one thing we've played of his that I haven't loved playing.

We worked on a Beethoven piece, but have a very very long way to go before it ever sounds the way Beethoven intended!! Then there's Dvorjak...mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm.

Nolan Cheese Commercial

Probably I'm the only person in the world who hasn't seen the Nolan Cheese commercial on youtube. I don't even know if there is a Nolan Cheese. You've gotta watch it, but only if you have nerves of steel :o)