skip to main |
skip to sidebar
We started our Holiday Window Painting Season last night. Yup, I've broken my tradition of not painting before Thanksgiving. I've sold out and I'm no better than WalMart. I suck!
I could console myself by saying that the customer wanted it done now while the venue is closed for annual repairs. I could make myself feel better by pointing out that images we painted are not really "Holiday" fare, but more of a winter theme. But the truth is I wanted the job (I wanted the money) and I would have lost the job (the money) if I had held off a week. And so...WalStan!
I am very dis-satisfied with my memories relating to this day fifty years ago. I was six, so I guess I can be forgiven for my lack of political awareness. I can only remember not being able to watch Sky King or Roy Rogers because a casket was rolling down the street for what seemed like three weeks.
I read through the paper this morning and they featured a reprint of the front page from fifty years ago. The main thing that struck me about it was the size. After shrinking the old front page to fit the width of the contemporary format, they still had about a third of a page to fill the bottom with a current article. It reminded me again of how much smaller newspapers are today and to me, that smallness translates to quality.
No wonder the industry is in trouble!
A quiet day here at the Club House as we start to begin to get ready to commence the kick off for embarking on a plan to prepare for the upcoming Holiday Window Painting Season. We have several jobs lined up but are still waiting to hear about the majority of sky walks downtown. It looks like we are going to do okay though.
So we went to church this morning and then goofed around after getting home...playing the piano, drinking beer and planning what we are going to do for Thanksgiving. It seems we are going to have a few friends over (about eight of us) and have a nice early Thanksgiving gathering.
I went back out to where I got all the firewood and dropped off our pumpkin remains for the deer out there. Then I grabbed a large stump that I will use as a chopping block for the turkey I plan to raise from a puppy (in the next two weeks) and the copious amounts of kindling I will be creating.
It's a rainy day and we should be doing some work around the house...but sometimes you have to give yourself some down time. Since we were parading around the state last week and had no time for down time, it occurred today. It is, in fact, occurring as I write.
They keep telling me that the snow is coming. They are often wrong but everyone feels some sort of fealty to the predictions that They make. So today was really my only day to get the rest of the leaves up off the ground.
As it turned out, I only got the leaves from one part of the ground to another part of the ground. It didn't feel like I accomplished a lot but the front yard looks largely leaf free and is ready to accept snow...whenever "They" deem it is coming.
My big accomplishment of the day was to reload my wood pile. You can see above that I was getting low.
I have been given access to a friends wood pile that has sat unused behind his house for a couple of whiles.
It took two loads in my car, stacked three rows deep and up to the roof, to get it all, but I should be good for a couple of months or so, depending on how much we burn. I'm burning right now!
So now I have this large pile by the back door and more in the Play House out back. I have a feeling I'm going to be chasing spiders out of my car for the next several days.
Susan's sister Margaret, along with Margaret's son, Neil have been visiting us from Iowa for the last week. They jet out early tomorrow morning. I'm not sure of the time exactly. All I know is that I have to get up at four to take them to the airport.
Susan worked half days last week. She took them on a tour of all the exciting Spokane landmarks as they ventured around town and went to things like the museum, a few local wineries, and the suction goat.
We also had the annual pumpkin toss which was great fun.
Last Thursday, we packed up the car and set out for Seattle for a couple of days. We toured all the exciting Seattle landmarks as we ventured around town and went to things like the Space Needle, Pike Street Public Market, the Seattle Aquarium and any establishment that sells alcohol.
On Saturday, our plan was to leave town by ferry and tour Bainbridge Island, return by ferry from Kingston to Edmonds where the antique stores are voluminous and then drive to Leavenworth for a day of walking from shop to shop full of crap.
A small monkey wrench was thrown into our plans as I went to retrieve the car from the Parking Garage only to discover I had a dead battery.
I'm usually pretty well prepared for such emergencies. However, while loading up the car prior to our departure from Spokaloo, I removed the box that contains my jumper cables and a bunch of tools in order to make more room for luggage.
That fatal mistake cost us about three hours on Saturday as I roamed the streets of Seattle on foot trying to find a place that would sell me a car battery.
If you want coffee in Seattle, you needn't walk any further than the guy sleeping on a bus bench. But if you want a car battery...in the immediate Seattle downtown area...good luck!
Fortunately, I found a Jiffy Lube that was not too far of a walk that was able to accommodate my battery needs.
One hundred and fifty dollars later, we were on the road again.
Sure! A new set of jumper cables would have cost much less, but then I would be required to search out someone willing to give me a jump...in a parking garage. The battery I had was old and probably due for replacement so it just made more sense to get the battery and move on.
So we boarded the Ferry Wenatchee for the 30 minutes crossing to Bainbridge. There was a charming little seaside hamlet where we found a little 50's styled diner for lunch. After the girls spent some more time shopping, we headed north towards Kingston.
Susan and I spent an evening in Kingston a while back with our friends, Mike and Steven. We cruised over on their ChrisCraft floating home and spent the night.
Another 20 minute ferry ride got us to Edmonds where I went to a bar while everyone cruised the town in search of booty.
The drive to Leavenworth was a bit hairy as the rain was coming down which of course turned to snow on Stevens Pass. I'm coming to find that I don't enjoy driving at night as much as I used to. Not being able to see has something to do with that, I think.
All in all, it has been a nice visit with Neil and Margaret but I am sure I have gained ten pounds over the last few days. Also, I am sure I spent about $70.00 in two days just on parking in Seattle.
Here is a small selection of the many pictures I took over the last four days.
Space Needle from below.
Space Needle from Inside
Shadow of Space Needle
No Space Needle in this Picture
Can you tell they are sisters?
The whole city of Levenworth was Christmassy and out of focus.
Hooray for JeigerSchnitzel!
After getting dressed this morning, I walked downstairs and let the cat out. It was a normal chilly Autumn morning, like every other morning in recent memory. Susan came down about three minutes later and said, "It's snowing!".
I looked out and it was really coming down. It had only just started and the ground was already turning white.
By the time I got out to the car to drive to work, it had a nice coat of heavy white on it.
Since this was going to be my first snow drive of the season, I was cognizant of the fact that it was possibly going to be a hairy commute. I never really worry about myself. I worry about the other drivers. All you other people! So I give everyone lots of room.
At the same time, I do not drive like a slow moving snow covered turtle. I'm deliberate and aggressive while giving everyone else lots o' room.
The conditions were damp and there was snow piling up between the lanes but it wasn't slick.
So I'm driving along on Interstate 90 in the fast lane and approaching the overpass at Evergreen Road. There was an SUV about 100 yards in front of me with one car between us.
I suddenly saw the rear end of this SUV swerve to the left and then to the other left, commonly referred to as right. It fishtailed dramatically a couple of times and then it rammed into the center divider. I was already slowing and I could feel the anti-lock brakes working. The SUV bounced off the divider and spun around a couple of times and stopped facing the wrong way straddling the center and outside lanes.
No other collisions occurred and the SUV didn't really look that bad. I drove past and could see the woman at the helm. I'm sure she was shaken up but it didn't appear that the air bag had gone off. It looked as though she could have turned around and driven off. I ended up driving on past the SUV and continued my journey.
As I rolled on, I thought I should have stopped to offer help or something...but I'm not sure what I could have done other than block traffic.
I talked to a co-worker who drove through the scene after the event and she said the SUV was off on the shoulder of the freeway, still facing the wrong way but traffic wasn't backed up.
So that was my first snow drive of Winter 2013-14.
On Halloween at Corbin Park, one does not sit idly behind the front door waiting for a Trick or Treater to come ambling up and ring the bell. One stands on the front porch and drops candy bar after candy bar into the little satchel of the constant throng of little darlings.
Our neighbors sit on the front porch as well and they have a clicker to count the throngs of little darlings and their number is the number I use for the official count of little darlings.
And so, according to the Horobiowski Meter, the official count for Halloween 2013 is 1,437. Not all of them were little darlings. In fact, I handed out many a candy bar to big fat 35 year old groty-monsters.
What's the deal with being a full grown adult and out collecting candy. Obviously, I don't know the back stories and I frankly don't have time to grill every Trick or Treater. But I know that some of those guys and gals, dressed up in full costume (to their credit) were not getting candy for some kid.
It was a GREAT night! The weather was just right. We had a sunny, warm afternoon for the set up which makes everything much more enjoyable. The work goes faster and the beer tastes better.
I need a synonym for "Trick or Treaters". I can't keep saying "the Trick or Treaters arrived at 5". "The Trick or Treaters were like the multitude upon the desert". "The Trick or Treaters were really old".
Anyway, things got underway with the really little kids at 5ish and we went until about 8:30. By then, the crowd is dying down and we are all getting very tired. So tired that the last groups that come up to the house get hands full of Twizzlers so we can run out of candy.
Many thanks to Ron, Kelly, Randy, Karen, Mark, Ellen, Rob, Olga and Natalie, our friends that came by to help out and enjoy the party. We could never pull this off and enjoy it like we do without their help.
We got a chance to break away and walk around the neighborhood and see what the other neighbors are doing. There are still a lot of houses that are dark. In fact, of the 80 plus houses around the park, I would say no more than 25 were participating in Halloween.
I've always thought that is such a weird dichotomy where we have 20-ish houses giving out candy and a thousand people show up.
I will say that the houses that participate really make it worth the price of admission. Down the street from us was "The Walk of Doom" and of course, the Walter Clan across the park from us put together a virtual amusement park across three houses.
The Full Size Candy bars don't hurt either!
