Virtually Going To A Happy Birthday Lunch With Betty Jo Bouvier, Honey Lulu, Carlotta Camano & Peggy Sue Today

Happy Birthday Girl Betty Jo Bouvier

That is Betty Jo Bouvier on the left and her daughter, Carey, on the right, in the picture, lost somewhere in the Sonoma Valley in California, on their Segways.

This morning Betty Jo invited me to the birthday lunch celebrating her, at least, 39th birthday. Also to be at Betty Jo's birthday lunch were Honey Lulu, Carlotta Camano and Peggy Sue.

I told Betty Jo if I was unable to make it to please say howdy for me to the girls.

Betty Jo's birthday lunch had me thinking about the Pacific Northwest today, well, more specifically, the Puget Sound zone of Washington.

It has been 3 years since I have been back to Washington. This is the longest I have gone without returning to Washington since I moved to Texas. I have pretty much recovered from the well documented trauma I suffered during my month long stay in Washington from July 20 til August 20 of 2008. The traumatizers were brought to justice, which is as it should be in a perfect world where scoundrels eventually pay a price for their scoundrelizing.

Speaking even more about the Pacific Northwest, today I realized it is over a quarter century since Vancouver's Expo '86 closed.

So, I blogged about this shocking reality this morning on my Washington blog in a blogging appropriately titled "It Is Over A Quarter Of A Century Since Vancouver's Expo '86 Closed".

If Betty Jo Bouvier turned 39 this week, that would mean she was only 14 when Expo "86 closed. I well remember when Betty Jo was 14. I do not remember going to Expo "86 with Betty Jo when she was 14.

Too HOT To Hike Today So I'm Maybe Moving Back To Washington

I was in North Richland Hills and Hurst during my usual noon daily hike timeframe. I got back here coming up on 2.

Had a big lunch. Having a big lunch and then going on a hike is not a good idea, I've learned from previous bad experiences with that combo.

Add to that bad combo the fact that it is HOT and HUMID and you've got me in the mood to stay undercover in air-conditioned comfort and get my daily Vitamin D from a pill instead of the sun.

Yesterday I mentioned to Carlotta Camano that I'd seriously consider moving back to Washington if I had a house waiting for me, like when I moved to Texas. The Washington house would not require a pool, unlike what was required to make the Texas move happen.

By late afternoon, yesterday, Carlotta had worked out all the details of my move back to Washington. Carlotta says if I trust her judgement, she'll find me a house. I am to shed as much of my stuff as I can get rid of. Then rent a U-Haul and drive to my new location where Carlotta, Betty Jo, Honey Lulu and Sue will help me unpack and set up the new house.

Sounds sort of like the move to Texas, in reverse. Only that move it was a Penske truck, not a U-Haul. None of the Texas un-packers were named Carlotta, Betty Jo, Honey Lulu or Sue.

Now, via the current weather info for Mount Vernon, which I got at the same time I got the Fort Worth weather info, you might spot the reason I might have a slight trepidation about moving back to the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest.

Note that the sun rises earlier and sets later in Washington than it does in Texas. The longer days this time of year is a good thing up north. But then in winter the opposite happens.

But, those extra hours of sunlight do not come close to heating up the outdoors to the HOT level the sun manages to heat Texas to with fewer daylight hours.

Currently pretty much every one I am hearing from in Washington is complaining about this being the coldest, wettest spring ever.

All the rivers on both sides of the mountains are running full. (both sides of the mountains is Washington-speak, meaning both sides of the Cascade Mountains, as in both Western and Eastern Washington) And now it's warming up enough that the snowpack is melting and adding to the already way too high rivers.

In Texas there are no problems with a mountain snowpack melting, adding water to any rivers.

Actually, being near mountains is something I do miss. That and being near saltwater. And rivers with fish in them, like salmon, that are safe to eat, because the river water is so clean.

I guess I should give Carlotta Camano the go ahead to look for a place for me to escape to.

A Rainy Saturday In Texas Feeling Homesick For Washington & The San Juan Islands

I was up late Friday night, which has caused me to be up late Saturday morning. I hate it when that happens.

Rain was in the forecast for today. Looking out my peephole on the world this morning I can see it has already been raining.

Raining and 40 degrees. Welcome to a stereotypical Pacific Northwest Western Washington type winter day.

In Texas.

Speaking of Washington, this morning's New York Times had a list of "The 41 Places to Go in 2011.". The San Juan Islands of Washington was #2 on the list, between Santiago, Chile at #1 and Koh Sumai, Thailand at #3. Washington's Olympic National Park was a little further down the list.

I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that no location in Texas was on the list of places you need to go in 2011.

The dock to board the ferry to the San Juan Islands, in Anacortes, is about 20 miles from my abode in Washington. When I lived there I took the San Juan Islands for granted, but had a great time anytime I took the ferry out to the islands. I did this twice in the months leading to my move to Texas. If I remember right the last time included going to the San Juan County Fair at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, eventually sitting at an outdoor bar watching the harbor and catching the last ferry of the night to the mainland.

The San Juan Islands are in the rain shadow of the Olympics, hence getting way less rain than where I lived. What those who have never lived in the Northwest, who think it rains all the time, don't understand, is the geography is so diverse you can easily escape the rain, if you want to, unlike in my current location, where there is no escape, no ferry to anywhere.

So, I'm starting Saturday just slightly homesick for Washington. And all there is to do there on a rainy day.

Foggy, Drizzling North Texas Saturday

That's a look at how foggy it is here this morning. Yesterday we had a typical Pacific Northwest winter rainy day and now this morning it's a typical Pacific Northwest foggy fall day.

And drizzling like being at the ocean.

Living in that type naturally moisturizing climate is one of the reasons people in the Pacific Northwest have such youthful healthy skin, compared to some of the weather/sun ravaged examples of epidermis I see in these parts.

Unfortunately, I have now lived in this skin ravaging climate long enough that I am starting to lose my Pacific Northwest naturally moisturized healthy youthful skin. I figure another ten years and my nickname will be Leatherface.

It being a Pacific Northwest type fall day today, I decided to have a Pacific Northwest type breakfast, that being French Toast with blackberry preserves, hash browns and sausage. I guess the only Pacific Northwest thing about that breakfast is the blackberry part.

I don't know if it'll dry out enough to be able to go on a salubrious hike today. My physical therapist, Dr. L.C., was concerned yesterday that being housebound might have a deleterious effect on my well-being. Well, I did manage to go swimming in the rain, yesterday, and in the drizzle this morning. I prefer swimming in the rain to the drizzle.

The Pacific Northwest Drives People Crazy

I go through phases of what type book I read. Like I came home from a road trip where I'd been to many battle sites of the Indian Wars and started reading books like Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. If you've not read that one, you should. It tells you what really happened during the settlement of the west, not the propaganda version we learned in grade school.

And then there was my WWII phase, mostly books about the Nazis, like Inside The Third Reich.

A constant genre for me is the true crime book. My favorite true crime writer is Ann Rule. With Jack Olsen a close second. He's dead now, and was never as prolific as Ms. Rule, but his way of telling the story varied from book to book, like last month I read Jack Olsen's Rat Dog Dick. It seemed more like a novel than a non-fiction true story.

Currently I'm in the middle of Jack Olsen's "I" The Creation Of A Serial Killer. It's the story of yet one more Pacific Northwest serial killer, a Canadian named Keith Hunter Jepperson. Apparently the Jepperson serial killing took place while I was still living in the Northwest, but I've no memory of this particular story. Jack Olsen was allowed to interview the killer at length. Much of the book is written in the first person in the voice of the killer. I've not seen this in a true crime book before. It's kind of creepy.

If one were to extrapolate from my personal experiences it would seem if you live in the Pacific Northwest you likely have had personal connections to serial killers.

I was going to school at Central Washington State College when Ted Bundy took Susan Rancourt from the school library and killed her. That was near the start of Ted Bundy's serial killer career.

Spokane had a serial killer, that I also don't remember, that took place while I lived in the Northwest. This killer operated during the same time frame, sort of, as the Green River Killer. With so much killing going on it's easy to see why one can't remember them all. Anyway, the Spokane Serial Killer's name is Robert Lee Yates. I have a personal connection to him too. He grew up in Oak Harbor, Washington. That is a short distance from where I lived. He went to SVC at the same time I did. But I don't recognize either his face or name. And one of his earliest murders took place in the Skagit Valley. I lived in Mount Vernon in the Skagit Valley.

And then there is the Green River Killer, the worst serial killer in United States history, with at least 71 victims. The Green River Killer is a sicko named Gary Leon Ridgway. He worked at a truck parts manufacturer called Kenworth. My oldest sister worked there with him. Kenworth had a company party for workers and their families at this theme park called Enchanted Village. I was at that company party. So was Gary Ridgway. This was well before he began his killing spree.

Geez, I'm being as absurd as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram with these "personal" connections to serial killers. Well, at least I'm aware that I'm being absurd, so I guess that makes me less absurd than the Star-Telegram.

Speaking of absurd. I had no idea that the world is suffering from an epidemic of serial killers. Wikipedia has an article listing serial killers by country. I was surprised by how many Canadian serial killers there have been. I was not too surprised to see that the United States had the longest list of serial killers. With, I am assuming, the majority coming from the Pacific Northwest.