Das Boot

With the beginning of crab season approaching, we took a day trip to get reacquainted with the Illahee fishing grounds (still located 1492 miles southeast of Dutch Harbor). Crabbing doesn’t open for several days, but fishing and shellfish seasons are underway. Unlike fish and crabs, oysters are pretty easy to catch. Each of us quickly caught a limit and carried them to a picnic table which had fresh water nearby to rinse off the muck. After shucking for about an hour, we were done. The oysters were packed in an ice chest and the shells returned to the beach to serve as a base for new oysters.

We fished for a few hours, but not much luck. Flounders are the main goal, but it seemed only sharks and sculpins wanted to play. Just before we packed up, I finally landed a good sized flounder. I know I promised no more dead fish pictures, but this one was a nice specimen (also a nice dinner along with fried oysters).


While heading back toward Seattle, the ferry suddenly cut its engines and began blasting its horn. A doofus in a small boat had decided to cut right in front of the ferry. In a gesture of kindness, the ferry captain opted not to crush the bozo and send him to the bottom. We paused for a moment until the little boat was out of the way.

As the ferry got underway and rounded a narrow passage into the main Puget Sound, our fellow passengers suddenly got very excited. They began pointing and moving toward the port side of the boat. There had to be something good to see, so we joined the crowd with blackberry cameras at the ready. Here’s the cause of the commotion:


Cool!

Baby Got Boot

Annette had a bit of bad luck during a recent fishing trip, and is now sporting this fashionable boot.


Things are healing up fine and she should be able to give the boot the boot in a few weeks.

In the “Where did the time go?” category, we recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. We originally met about 24 years ago at a wedding reception. My younger brother had married her older sister and they had their reception (pool party) at her parent’s house. I happened to walk out of the house as Annette was saying to her misbehaving son (aka Alan Jr.) in a loud voice, “Alan, get out of the house, now!” My brother and his friend were standing on the porch. They looked at me and said, “What the hell did you do?”

We celebrated with dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant and our favorite dish of seafood cannelloni. It’s primarily crab and shrimp, and the ratios appear to vary depending on what the chef has available at the time. On a good day it’s mostly crab. The latest offering was about 50-50.

We later saw Mr. Warmth himself, Don Rickles, at the Snoqualmie Casino located about 15 miles east on the 90. It would have been fun to get front row seats, but those were long gone and we ended up toward the back. Fortunately, the venue only holds about 900 people, so everyone gets a pretty good view.


At age 83, Rickles still puts on a good show. As one would expect, Political Correctness is not a concern. He swears a bit, but does insult everyone equally. Don was accompanied by an excellent 20 piece orchestra. Much of his routine involved picking on the band leader. Being an older gentlemen, he reminisced about his life and career, which was quite interesting. He can still carry a tune and performed a few song and dance numbers. The dancing tended to be more of a shuffle back and forth across the stage, but pretty good for a fellow his age. He does an excellent Jimmy Cagney impersonation of Yankee Doodle Dandy, and also a pretty good Dean Martin. Overall, a good show.

Waltzing Matilda

In preparation of an upcoming adventure, I’ve been researching various aspects of the locale; such as this rather well known folk song. I’ve got the chords and the melody line down and am currently working on merging them together.

Here’s a very lively and humorous version that explains some of the terms in the song.

Waltzing Matilda.

A relatively straight and normal rendition. You can watch Slim’s left hand and pick out the chords. Key of D apparently.

Waltzing Matilda.

For academic types, here's a scholarly translation of the song lyrics.

While researching the song, I learned that it is often performed at sporting events. As in the tradition of the singing of the Star Spangled Banner in the USA, most performers butcher the hell out of the song. However, I happened to come across this little gem. The audio and video are out of sync and I can’t explain the need for Spanish subtitles, but the girl’s voice is fantastic and strangely familiar.

Waltzing Matilda.

A little more Googling and now her voice is quite obvious. Stepping back to the groovy sixties… Take it Judith.

Opening Day 2009

Spring arrived a month ago. The opening day of fishing season was last Saturday. So it was time to finally get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors. We arose early, got on the 90 and made a quick run over the pass to one of our favorite fishing spots. When we arrived the temperature was around 30 degrees with a cold biting wind and a few snow flakes in the air. (Will we ever get away from snow?) Only small fingerlings were active and as we weren’t dressed for the weather, we bagged it after a few minutes.

On the way back we stopped on the top of the pass at the Summit Inn for breakfast. It was snowing lightly, but no accumulation. Although, there was plenty of snow stacked up around the buildings.


Here’s the road sign showing a nice crisp -1 (in degrees Canadian).


When we arrived back in the lowlands we went to a local lake that had been recently stocked in anticipation of opening day. The place was jam-packed as expected, but we managed to ease our way into the crowd on the dock. The original long straight dock had been torn down and rebuilt during the off season. The new dock’s designer had gotten all artsy-fartsy and created a dock with all sorts of angles. So instead of casting in the same direction, everyone is now throwing on top of each other. This made for lots of tangled lines, but no flared tempers. People accepted the fact it was going to be a madhouse and took it all in stride. Everyone got along fine; from the weekend dads with kids to the members of the Bandito motorcycle gang.

Over the weekend our little group of four managed to catch 24 trout. Two of the gang won’t eat fish so Annette and I get to enjoy the entire bounty. Fish fries and sandwiches all week! We’re going back tonight for more.

Daylight Savings Time!

Yay! Daylight Savings Time has arrived. Now we have more time to enjoy outdoor activites in the evening. For example, we can take a walk and admire the tulips.


The increased daylight in the afternoon makes for a more pleasant commute.


So when's this global warming thing suppose to start?

Cutes and Ladders

While painting the new home office, I stepped out for a minute and returned to find the following.


Annette and the Princess said that I must post this "cute" picture of Bob. So, there you have it.

Valentine's Day

Not much activity in Blogworld this weekend. Hopefully everyone was out enjoying the Valentine's/President's Day weekend.

We jumped in the Caravan on Saturday, made the long three mile journey to beautiful downtown Bellevue and checked into the Westin Hotel across from the Bell-Square mall. We had a nice quiet corner room on the sixth floor. Not a real high view, but low enough for us to run the stairs on occasion.


The hotel package included a gift certificate for the mall which essentially knocked the price in half. After checking in we wandered around the area and stopped in at Joey’s Bar and Grill for a pint. (You knew that was coming).


After fueling up, we walked some more and eventually ended up in the mall. Annette picked up a little bit of "sportswear" and pocketed the remaining cash to cover the evening events. Of course while passing by a card store we did our usual bit of "Here's the card I would have bought you, if I was buying one."

Dinner was at McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant. We had reservations, but decided to eat there anyway (ha ha, old joke). Actually it’s a very nice place and we were fortunate enough to get a “snug” or “cozy”. These are private booths with six foot walls and a curtain to provide privacy from the tired, poor and huddled masses. Dinner consisted of curried mussels, a dozen raw oysters on the half shell and salmon stuffed with crab and shrimp. As always, we declared we’d get healthy once again on Monday. But as they say, “Kal Ho Naa Ho”.

After dinner was more walking, coffee at Tully’s and on to The Parlor for the evening’s entertainment. The Parlor is an up-scale billiards joint on the third floor of Lincoln Place. They have dress codes and bouncers, but somehow we always manage to get in. (I think it’s the cute blonde wife.) Recently The Parlor closed off about a third of their space and created a small comedy venue. Not huge headliners, but you don’t have to be famous to be funny. They had a pretty good line up of Justin Rupple (local boy), Michelle Buteau (Last Comic Standing) and Scott Henry (One episode of King of Queens).

Sunday morning we eventually got up and strolled about town. The following picture was taken at Downtown Park. We were a little bit tired (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) but still managed a couple laps around the park.


The Westin hotel is behind the tree in this picture. We tried to enjoy the city as if being here for the first time. We decided we live in a very nice place.


Our late check out time arrived and soon it was back home to do laundry and recover boat trailer bunks.

Scientific Discovery

While walking to the grocery store we found the missing link.

Lazy Hazy Days of Seattle

Hey Everyone. I have been slow to update the blog lately and folks are starting to wonder. Well, one person cares (Thanks Connie!). Anyway, I’m still around and I do check the blog roll on a daily basis.

The main purpose of the blog is to document life as it happens, recall interesting moments of the past and hopefully amuse a few folks along the way.

Unfortunately, not much happens this time of year from January through March. The holidays are over and Seattle has entered a seemingly endless haze of 40 degrees and light rain. No more snow blogs for this season.

Fishing and crabbing seasons are still a few months away. However, I did promise some female readers that I would ease up on the dead fish pictures. I thought everyone liked fresh food.

Home fix-up projects are the tasks at hand, but they don't provide interesting blog fodder unless I once again attempt to remove my thumb with a handsaw. Ouch!

The refrigerator conked out but was easily fixed with a new relay module.

The plastic dip tube in the hot water tank is disintegrating and leaving particles in the faucet screens. Fortunately it's just an annoyance at the moment and the tank's not likely to blow up in the near future, but we’ll pop in a new one shortly.

The Maytag dishwasher (basically crap since day one) is on its last legs. Once the new hot water tank is in we’ll replace it. No sense letting a new washer plug up with plastic bits.

We finished cleaning out the Princess's room. We packed up all of her remaining stuff and left a van load in her condo while she was out of town. She knew about it, but it would have been a lot funnier if she hadn't. (Oh Dad, you're so mean!) We’ve started refinishing the room in order to move the home office upstairs.

The employment picture looks fairly safe for now (knock on wood) and so we're still planning a vacation trip later this year. This should provide plenty of exciting stories. I know how much everyone loved the UK trip. :)

Snow Is For The Birds

The morning after the big snow dump, this little guy showed up on the back deck. Unfortunately, the feeder was frozen solid, and so the poor bird had none. Being an early riser, I now bring the feeder inside every morning before dawn and nuke it in the microwave. The hummingbird visits throughout the day and seems happy with the available refreshments.


I cleaned off the patio table and placed a bowl of peanuts out for the various critters. Squirrels and crows showed up yesterday. Today, blue jays are the predominate denizens. Birds are always on edge, so it’s hard to get them to pose for a picture. At one point, three blue jays were dining together, but flew off before I could get the shot.


Since the last post on Saturday we have had five more inches of snow, followed by a half inch of freezing rain, and then topped off with another five inches of show. Annette measured twelve inches of accumulation in an undisturbed area of the side yard (snow compacts a bit due to the weight). The next snow storm is due tomorrow afternoon. This is getting to be one of the heaviest Seattle winters in recent memory.

Dashing Through The Snow

This post is dedicated to Michelle, who is apparently sweltering in the heat and humidity down under.

Our little neck of the woods had been spared the recent snow event and the weather forecast called for the end of snow by noon. I woke up in the morning and peeked outside. The street was still black with just a few little wisps of snow. Looks good! When I arrived at work, it was snowing a little bit with about an inch on the ground.

Around ten o’clock I looked outside and saw the snow was coming down hard with a five inch accumulation on the ground. Most of the workforce hadn’t shown up and so things were very slow. The snow soon stopped and I noticed a few patches of blue sky. Since I couldn’t get much work done without the crew, it sounded like a good time to head back home.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, driving in the snow is not a big deal. The only concern is the blockers (e.g. native Seattleites and California transplants). My company is located in a valley and the main roads out were closed due to snow, ice and the aforementioned blockers.

I drove through the side streets and eventually found my way out of the valley. A quick loop through town and I was back on the main road. One lane was filled with stuck buses, spinouts, blockers and assorted cops; but I made it through the gauntlet. From this main road, I have a choice of three north-south streets on which to travel home. I took the first one, but after a few hundred yards, traffic came to a halt. Cars were stopped in the middle of the street and people walking around. Fortunately there was a break in the median. I flipped a uey and went to the next north-south street.

A few hundred yards down this street, a blocker in a van suddenly pulled out in front of me. The van was averaging about three miles an hour. The driver kept opening his door and looking backward to see if his chains were working. Hey! Watch the road, dude! With a break in the traffic, I was finally able to pass this clown.

Soon the weather had turned to white-out conditions with silver dollar sized snow flakes. Fortunately I knew the road very well. After another five miles, I was home. Yay!


Walking up the steps to the porch


Looking back at the driveway.


A view up our street. Needless to say, the garbage men did not pick this day.


A rather picturesque shot of the old homestead.


Christmas down under is starting to sound really good. Just need to find a Strine phrase book.

That Four Letter Word Again

On Friday the local newscasters uttered that four letter word that drives the Seattleites insane.

SNOW!

As the first potential snow event of the season approaches, Let the hype begin!

Suspend the airing of all state, national and world news!

Expand the local newscast time slots!

Send reporters to the highest hills in search of the first snowflake!


In the meantime, while waiting for the first snowflake to arrive, broadcast those time honored stories:

Provide driving tips from State Trooper Bob. (Always steer into the skid, dammit!)

Interview shoppers at Costco as the panicked mobs stock up on supplies.

Show the lines at Les Schwab as people wait to receive their magic tire chains.

Marvel at the line of dump trucks filled with sand and fitted with plows.


Well, the snow did finally arrive and as usual did not live up to the hype. It was not picture worthy, and looked the same as this shot taken earlier in the spring, minus the flowers. This morning’s news showed the usual yokels in a ditch and the reporters were up on the high hills showing us the snow in the streets that is making driving treacherous. (Treacherous is the only description allowed to be used.)

The crosswalks and lines in the road could still be seen under what snow there was as the reporter warned us about the serious conditions. As I watched the local reporter ramble on about the Seattle snow, I noticed the crawl along the bottom of the television screen: The North Dakota Department of Transportation has advised NO TRAVEL in North Dakota today due to blizzard conditions.

Guess it's all relative.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow.

Christmas Spirit

Now that the holidays are upon us, I am in a Christmas mood. To help everyone get in the spirit as well, I'd like to share my favorite Christmas carol. Enjoy...





WHAT? You were expecting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?

The wall of "mini" Marshall stacks is very cool.

The Princess Has Left the Building

Anyone that still reads this blog may have noticed that the profile has been slightly updated. The Princess has left the building. She recently closed on a nice three bedroom condo about 20 minutes away from our house.

We’ve been helping her move the past few weekends. So far it’s taken about six van loads. It’s amazing how much stuff one bedroom can hold. There is still some debris to sort through in her room; plus boxes of Books, Barbies and Beanie Babies in the garage.

Naturally we have plans, now that we are acquiring another room. Annette is thrilled about having another closet. Me too, since I am down to about two feet of rack space in ours.

After the room is stripped, painted and floored, it will become the home office. All of the downstairs office type items will be moved upstairs. Once the downstairs room is cleared out, it will become a more or less dedicated music room. The guitar stuff is already there and I can leave the Fender Rhodes and Moog (remember those from the groovy 60’s?) set up all the time. With the extra room available, Annette will finally acquire her long awaited drum set. I’ve been wanting one for a long time as well.

Having the last child move out has been a rather emotional time; especially for the girls. The Princess actually stayed most nights at our house for the first two weeks after she got her own place. We assumed it was hard for her to leave home for the first time and she would miss us. Interestingly, now that she has cable and free HBO, it hasn’t been a problem.

We love her and are very proud of her.

A Slow Walk

On the way home from the grocery store, we met a man walking his pet.


Needless to say, he wasn't in a hurry.

Wasilla

While cleaning up a stack of papers on my desk I came across an old copy of the Alaska Moose Federation newspaper. Originally I hadn’t taken notice of this particular item, but considering the events of past few weeks, I find it rather amusing.


However, given the nature of the event, I am extremely disappointed with the menu.

Ants

Earlier this summer, while sitting on the back deck, I noticed a couple of large ants taking a stroll along the railing. Thinking they might be carpenter ants; a swift squishing was called for. As time went on, occasional ants were seen and generally met the same fate as their brethren.

I did a bit of Googling and soon acquired enough knowledge of carpenter ants in order to be a threat to them. The primary tactic is not to kill them immediately, but to watch them closely. Carpenter ants have defined trails. The first line of defense is to follow them around, and with a bit of luck they will lead you to the colony.

Soon they led me to a rotted area on the outer edge of the deck. The rot was very subtle as the paint and caulking on top looked fine. I poked around a bit and pulled back a small piece of wood. I immediately observed a few ants moving eggs around. This was likely a small satellite nest and not the main colony. I collected a few ants and had a look at them under one of the high powered microscopes at work used for circuit board inspection. No doubt they were carpenter ants!

I had observed a few ants on the outside of the house and followed them over the course of a couple weeks. They would start near the deck, go under a window, make a diagonal line to the top of the next window and then go around the side of the house about three boards down from the eaves. My main fear was that they were in the attic, but it turned out not to be the case. As they rounded the corner near the top of the house, they ran downward across the entire side, along the top of an attached fence, and then down the other side of the fence into the neighbor’s yard, where I always lost sight of them. (The neighbor’s moss-covered roof is in really bad shape. The water damage to the soffits is obvious, so I suspect they are hosting the primary colony).

Now it was time to call in the offensive line. I searched for and read on-line reviews for local exterminators. I called the first “highly rated” and “friendly” place. A woman with an attitude answered. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I think I have a carpenter ant problem.

Her: OK, treatment is $350 and involves drilling holes in the house to apply chemicals. When would you like to schedule?

Me: Do you give free estimates?

Her: We don’t do estimates. It’s a straight $350 treatment.

Me: Don’t you want to come out and assess the situation to make sure it really is a carpenter ant problem?

Her: No. We just provide treatments. If you want to, you can capture a few ants and bring them down to the office for identification.

Me: OK, I’ll get back to you. Bye.

That was the goofiest thing I had ever heard of. Bring the pests to the exterminator rather than the exterminator to the pests!!!

The second place I called was totally reasonable. Free estimates and they could apply treatment immediately if I chose to go with them. The fellow from Willard’s (cute name if you remember the rat movies from decades ago) came out the next day and sprayed down the nest and all the trails I had identified. He also applied a “barrier” spray around the entire house.

I repaired the deck and now three months later, still no sign of ants!

Crab Season Ends

The Puget Sound summer crab season is coming to a close, so we made one last trip to the Illahee fishing grounds. Our crew of four was successful as all hands limited out in about six hours. The final tally for the season was 149 crabs (144 Red Rocks and 5 Dungeness). We’ve been eating a lot of crab lately as well as sharing with family and friends. There are about thirty crabs remaining in the freezer, which should last us a couple months.

Below is Bob, our killer bobcat. He loves to hunt and eat the large aggressive house spiders that we have around here. These two-inch spiders will rear up in a crab-like stance if you poke at them. Bob appears to be thinking, “Man, this is one large-ass spider!”


We generally carry an assortment of equipment for whatever seafood acquiring opportunities may arise. A school of squids happened to swim by the dock while we were crabbing. Having squid jigs at hand, we managed to pick up a few. Squids are very entertaining to catch. Each time one clears the water, the resulting ink blast creates a two foot diameter black cloud.


Calamari is a pretty common restaurant item, but these fresh caught fellows were way above comparison. Thick, tender, juicy and very tasty! Seattle has plenty of seafood outlets, but nothing is better than seafood obtained directly from the source.

August 31, 2008 Update: We had planned to stay home all weekend, but were a bit restless by Sunday and so decided to go squiding for a while (caught four plus an unexpected flounder). We took a couple crab pots along just for fun and picked up three more for a "final" tally of 152 crabs.