August 7 in Seattle

I had me a day. Short version. Seattle has drastically changed since I left 9 years ago. For the better? Or worse? I'll wait on that. Til I see the video I took today.

In the meantime, suffice to say, I walked miles today. I was all over downtown Seattle.

I was in Seattle, at Pioneer Square's Occidental Park for Art in the Park. Art in the Park turned out to be the best of this type thing I've been to.

And once more Lulu and I got recognized for our blogs. Apparently we are developing a fan base of rabid loyal readers. Well, Lulu is. I'm just every once in awhile her guest blogger.

That's Art in the Park in the photo, with the Smith Tower hovering above it.

I'm too tired to type more right now. That and my memory will be better by morning. I hope.

Mom & Dad Left Tacoma For Phoenix

We loaded up my Mom and Dad's van with enough raspberry jam to supply the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area, among other things, and said goodbye to them about 8pm.

It was a bittersweet departure. It'd been 2.5 years since I'd seen them. And that time it was for less than 3 hours. This time was longer than 3 hours. More like 2 weeks.

I get the idea they were disappointed I didn't spend more time with them. But then again I spent more time with them in the past 2 weeks than the past 10 years combined. I should have gone to yesterday's 57th Anniversary lunch at Dukes in West Seattle.

But, that was yesterday. Today is today. This afternoon a fresh parental unit arrives, this time solo, mother of Kristin.

The roof is being torn off this house this morning. So, the poodles are going nuts. I let them out in the backyard. I'd not seen them be so funny. Max was jumping up and down like a crazy dog, like he thought he might be able to jump onto the roof and chase off all those guys making so much noise. I had to pick up Max to get him back in the house. Well-mannered Blue followed.

I sit here awaiting the arrival of Lulu. We are going to Pioneer Square, to Occidental Park, for Art in the Park. I only learned this morning that this lasts until 10pm. That's past my bedtime.

It should be an interesting day. Or not.

P.S. I forgot to mention, my little sister took pics of me and Mom and Dad and the poodles this morning before they departed. I didn't have access to that one. But I like the photo above from Saturday, with my Mom and Dad and Spencer Jack and his mommy, Jenny, all laughing.

McDonald's With Mom & Dad

I think I mentioned earlier that today was my Mom and Dad's Anniversary. 57th.

I also mentioned earlier today that I walked back here from Lulu's, passing a McDonald's on the way.

Somehow this led to Mom and Dad wanting to take me to McDonald's tonight. My Dad drove. Kristin came along. I had a Filet-o-Fish Meal Deal. Or something like that. Kristin told me to get this Meal Deal thing so she could have the fries.

The fries were good.

That's Mom and Dad in the photo. Heading into McDonald's. But that's not the McDonald's we went to tonight. The McDonald's in the photo is the one we went to in Dallas in 2001.

When we left McDonald's Kristin directed Dad to the Tacoma waterfront so we could see a Tall Ship from Columbia. That morphed into a tour of part of the Tacoma waterfront I'd not seen before.

Eventually we got back here. A baby and his parents arrived and we all sat outside on the backyard deck and had bubblegum ice cream.

I'm quickly losing my mind here. Each day seems to bring one more, or two, things to feel bad about. Tomorrow I'm at Pioneer Square in Seattle. I'm sure there will be some fresh hell to torment me.

Paris Hilton Presidential Campaign Ad & Lulu

This morning I drove Lulu's Volvo lumber wagon towards Olympia to go to this place called Shipwreck Beads. They had a lot of beads there.

On the way back to Lulu's we had to go to another bead-like store for something else. Pulling into that store's parking lot we almost ran into Frank & Virginia's Volvo lumber wagon. Near as I can tell, all arts and craftsters drive Volvos.

After the near wreck Lulu and I went back to her place where I made 100s of bubble magnets. Some time after noon I became hungry. There was nothing edible in the Lulu pantry. Lulu told me to go McDonald's, but I couldn't take her car because it would cost 3 bucks of gas to get my 2 Dollar Menu burgers. I sort of understood the logic.

Still, it seemed a tad rude after I'd driven her all over hell and back and had made 100s of bubble magnets.

Lulu told me to walk to McDonald's if I was so damn hungry. And that is what I did. Only I somehow walked by the McDonald's and ended up back here. About a 6 mile walk in blistering heat.

Yes, we are having a heat wave here in the Puget Sound zone.

So, I got back here and tried to find something to eat. But leftovers have a very short shelf life here before they get thrown away. I found a potato chip and had that for lunch. I'm stuffed.

Speaking of the heat wave. While making the bubble magnets Lulu had the TV on. We were subjected to a half hour of stupid local news. Including the heat wave. With warnings to not over exert, to drink plenty of water and to seek shade. I neglected to mention that right now, at a bit past 2pm, this blistering heat wave is 76 degrees. In Fort Worth it is 93 right now.

The only interesting thing I saw on Lulu's TV came sometime after The View (what annoying women) and either during the local news or during All My Children. Erica Kane is still on that show. She must be nearing 80 but looks 30.

Anyway, there was a Paris Hilton Presidential Campaign ad that she made after John McCain, or as she calls him, "that old wrinkled dude." I thought the Paris Hilton ad was amusing. You can watch it below.

Happy Mom & Dad & Hiroshima Anniversary

If my math is correct, and it often isn't, today is the 63rd Anniversary of the dropping of an A-Bomb on Hiroshima, hastening the end of WW II.

Six years after the dropping of the first A-Bomb my mom and dad got married. Which makes today, again if my math is correct, mom and dad's 57th Anniversary.

The last time I experienced Hiroshima Day, in person, with mom and dad was in 2001 for their 50th. That event was not actually held on August 6, due to that date being in the middle of the week.

Instead mom and dad's 50th was held on August 11. Which happens to be my birthday. No one, but 2 of my nephews, knew I was going to be up here for mom and dad's 50th. I drove myself north and arrived late for the party.

Precisely one month after mom and dad's 50th Anniversary party the events of 9/11 unfolded. One month after that they were in Texas for their one and only visit.

Today all of my sisters are taking mom and dad out for lunch in West Seattle at a place called Dukes. I don't remember if I was invited or not. I'll be heading towards Olympia today while they are all having fun without me.

I'll try and remember to wish the parental units a Happy Hiroshima Day.

The Pacific Northwest's Severed Feet

Down in Texas I'd been reading about the washing ashore of severed feet in tennis shoes up in British Columbia's Straits of Georgia.

A few days ago a severed foot washed ashore near Port Angeles on the Washington side of the Straits of Juan de Fuca. That's what the body of water between Washington and Vancouver Island is called. Sort of the entry to Puget Sound.

So far, no one has been found who is missing a foot. The police don't know what they are dealing with. The feet are real. But where are they coming from? Some twisted hoax where someone with access to corpses is hacking off a foot prior to burial?

Is there some fresh variant of a Pacific Northwest serial killer out there? Doing the murder of someone who no one notices is missing and then hacking of his or her foot?

Each of the feet have been found inside running type shoes. An expert in ocean currents has said that the feet could have been dumped in one location with the currents delivering them, over time, to far ranging places, as in all the way to Northern California.

All I know for certain is when I'm up here and walking along a Puget Sound beach, if I see a tennis shoe I will not be looking inside to see if there is a foot.

Miles Upon Miles in the Lulu Volvo

I had me a day with Lulu today.

Lulu needed some bracelet forms. She thought she'd get them in Bremerton. That's about a 45 mile drive from Tacoma.

But then she looked on the jewelry supplier's website and saw they'd moved to Fremont in Seattle. Or so she thought. And that they were open on Sunday. Meaning, if Lulu had known she could have gotten what she needed when we were in Fremont on Sunday. It's about 40 miles from Lulu's in Tacoma to where we needed to be in Seattle.

So Lulu came by to get me, I got behind the wheel and we drove to Seattle. That was fun. We found the supply place easily. But we were to quickly learn that the supply place in Bremerton was still open. And the bracelet forms were there. A call was made to Bremerton to make sure they had forms in stock. They did.

So, we headed back to Tacoma and on to Bremerton. But first we had to get gas. I continued my newfound Klutz Tendency when I somehow broke off the cover to Lulu's gas cap. And then when I opened her back door out rolled, yet again, some piece of glassware, shattering it to pieces.

The drive to Bremerton went quickly. We had some confusions concerning which bridge had our location on its other side. But Lulu found it fairly easily. The transaction took awhile due to tax I.D. #s and other boring stuff.

Lulu is now in a bracelet making frenzy in order to make a lot for the Art in the Park event in Seattle's Pioneer Square's Occidental Park on Thursday. I get to drive myself to Olympia tomorrow and find something called Shipwreck Beads to get something that I can't remember right now. I probably should write it down before I go there.

Dallas Cowboy Stadium Scandal Feedback

I got fresh feedback this morning from a Dallas Cowboy/Jerry Jones Stadium victim. I thought I'd share....

I own a small restaurant in Arlington. I can't imagine what the restaurants and other small businesses near the new stadium are going through. It is simple to figure out!! It DOES NOT BENEFIT anyone WITHIN MILES of this stadium because the locals won't go when there are games, it will be too crowded...the visitors on the other hand, are not going to patronize these businesses, all they want to do is go to the game and leave.... We have to pay for this, us taxpayers, and Jerry (Jones) and his gang are so wealthy... I don't get it...What idiots voted for this? There is no benefit to anyone, but maybe some motels and hotels (only at major play off games). The streets will wear out faster, the locals stay away, so tell me....Somebody got something at our expense...Also, if people (fans) were not so crazy, paying so much to see the games and maybe boycotting them....they could reduce those crazy salaries of those players...Also, all the money the players make, is spent mostly out of our state because most of them are not from here...duh....

Suzanne Kucera
Arlington

NPR All Things Considered on Barnett Shale

From FW Can Do-----

Be prepared to endure "a Fair and Balanced" report that will, at times, disgust and annoy you. (Energy company reps and their water carriers will have their say.) Remember, at this point in the game, money is the thing that tends that attract news media.

They'll be back later to report on the environmental catastrophes and deadly pipeline explosions.

Nevertheless, this report by John Burnett brings us some national exposure and highlights a growing problem that is spreading like cancer around the USA. Tune in your local station.

... from NPR reporter John Burnett:

All,
Many thanks for your help with the story. NPR’s report on the Barnett Shale will air today on All Things Considered in the first half-hour of the program. If news breaks, it always can get pushed to a later date. On KERA 90.1 FM, it should air between 5 and 5:30 local time. If you miss it, you can go to www.npr.org after the show is over, type “Barnett Shale” into the search window, and listen to it online.

Best regards,
John

Mount Rainier Was Out Today In Tacoma

I've had me a few dreary days here in Tacoma. In more ways than one. But today was one of those Pacific Northwest days that make me remember why it is a good thing to live in this zone.

The sky was clear. The temperature was the level of air-conditioned comfort. All, everywhere, was good.

The Mountain was out. Totally out. No slight cloud cover that renders it invisible in photos. It was out and totally Lording it over this zone of Washington.

I like how the Tacoma Dome, that's what you see in the first photo, mimics the colors of Mount Rainier. How can you not like that?

When you drive around Washington, the Mountain, Mount Rainier, can seem to move. It can be on your right, your left, straight ahead. It can be confusing.

As you can see, Mount Rainier is rather close to Tacoma. Mount Rainier is a volcano. It can erupt. If Mount Rainier erupted it would cause way more havoc than the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. There are evacuation route signs to help deal with a potential Mount Rainier eruption. On the coast you see Tsunami evacuation signs. In Tacoma you get "Volcano Eruption Route" signs.