Raincharm’s Weblog

More paperwork for us. Banking, social security, orders, prescriptions, it never seems to end. So we took a break to look at some other paperwork.

I thought we were going to see the Freedom Plane National Tour: Documents that Forged a Nation. That’s not until the end of the month. What we did see is For Which it Stands: The Many Threads of the American Flag.

It was about the American and other flags. This was at MOHAI, the Museum of History and Industry.

A few of the artifacts/stories that stood out for me.

1936 Flag from the Olympics

The pledge of allegiance: I didn’t get a picture of the flag from the classroom, but here’s a local story.

The pledge of allegiance was written after the Civil War. It being said in elementary schools each day was started a long, long time ago. A Seattle school teacher, Marietta Iwasyk, from 1963 to 2024,had her students recite the pledge, as was required. However, when she found out the male teachers were being paid more than she was, she added 2 words to the end, “We wish!”

I also learned that Memorial Day was started by Civil War veterans who didn’t want others to forget what they fought for. I wonder if all of the folks who like to make the flag their symbol alone and patriotism right white might remember the history.

My big activity today was giving blood. It took two finger pokes to get the required iron level, but we made it. I felt especially inspired this time as my father needed a unit of blood this week.  We’re a few thousand miles apart, but still, somebody nearer to him is doing the same thing.

I had watered before I gave, and took a moderate walk later, but mostly just hung out for the day. Almost decadent.

And when I peeled off the bandages this evening, one of the finger pokes decided it wasn’t quite done giving.

Money transfers: we opened two new accounts with the goal of transferring from existing to 2 new. Easy-peasy right? Same bank, same type of account. Bank email and online account both directing me to transfer money to the new accounts. Online all is easy, all in one place. Done. Until it wasn’t. First the accounts were locked by a fraud alert. It was unusual, we don’t transfer to new accounts every day … Call the fraud line. Spend time verifying who I am, and what we’re doing. Okay, proceed. But, one of the transfers is now rejected! We happened to be in proximity to a bank branch (see Doctor’s appointment below) so we walked in. They got on the phone, just like we had. They had our ID. The banker was satisfied with who we were, but the other end required more, say a debit card. Note that I  don’t have a debit card. Luckily Carl was there. And why their obsession with debit cards for ID checks. The banker finally got them to agree to let the transfer go through when we tried. I don’t have a banking app on my phone, so that waits until I get home. Done, again, we’ll see.

Doctor appointments: Made this appointment, regular clinic, sometimes doctor. On time, check in. No room assigned yet, please have a seat in the waiting area. Waiting. FIRE ALARM! Everyone evacuates, patients to the next door parking lot (where the bank is located). Fire trucks arrive, false alarm. Eventually get back into the clinic and continue to wait. After a while Carl inquired about our status. Of course the room assignment was lost in the evacuation. They told him a room, which was locked. Again part of the evacuation protocol. Finally saw the doctor, got a blood test, x-ray, and referral.

US Men’s Soccer: I hate that a certain person has seen fit to insert themselves into the festivities. This is why we can’t have anything nice. That aside, we were very excited to have the US Men’s team playing in the round of 16.

We had excellent food and convivial conversations. Unfortunately, the US team was fairly flat, and Belgium came to play.

In the end we had to drown our sorrows with Belgium Waffles. They were good, including home whipped whipped cream. If Belgium makes the finals we’ll need to repeat this part.

The US may be out, Seattle’s games to host may be over, but the tournament continues. And we will continue to enjoy the play.

We had a good day. A little shopping, a local soccer game, and dinner out.

And a shout out to Pooh and Mark for their 46 years, and for stepping up to help out.

We generally avoid the games when the Blue Jays come to town, because they bring  a lot of Canadians with them. Not literally, but Seattle is a few thousand miles closer to British Columbia than Toronto, where the only Canadian MLB team is located. It can be irritating at times when it becomes a drunken weekend. And it always seems to be a weekend series in early July. The over-the-top crowd seems to have tempered a bit since Covid.

Our tickets were listed for sale, but nobody had taken them by mid-morning. It was a nice day (low 70s), so we headed down to the park. We spoke with a very nice Canadian family we chatted with in line. The father was originally from the west side of Australia and didn’t know too much about baseball. Carl gave a ball to the kid, ~12 years old, and did. They live on Vancouver Island and are familiar with Mt. Finlayson, same as our family name. (We climbed it many years ago.)

We also watched the World Cup game with Canada vs. Morocco, first half on my phone in line. The second half on the big screen in the stadium. Canada lost by 2.

Pre-game they had several 4th of July celebrations, based on a state fair. Marching band, parade with celebrities (salmon) in cars, pie eating contest, etc. This seemed more on point then the political debacle in the other Washington.

And then the Mariners beat the Blue Jays 11 to 0.

A good time out for the fourth. I don’t know if we’ll head out to try to watch the fireworks from an elevated vantage point, or just stay in. We’re close enough to hear the concussion from the big shells. The top of the higher fireworks are visible from a second floor window, but it’s in a closet.

Yesterday we did get the Birthday present unwrapped and into use. It is a large step up from our old reel mower. The lawns needed mowing and Carl was trying to get some walking in, two birds – one stone.

But most of our energy was spent dealing with a suspected kidney stone. Carl has a history, and the pain was similar. Instead of waiting the few days to see how bad it might get, we launched into getting to know the UW Urgent Care system. It has positives and negatives, and next time I will move more quickly through the website to get in line. I didn’t realize there was an online line option at first. And upon arrival there was waiting, a lab request that was delayed, and finally a doctor. Prescription for a drug and a CT scan.

The CT scan was scheduled this morning for the afternoon. That was a positive. The prescription was still being processed. Results from the Scan. No stone! YEA. Now to try and cancel the prescription, which we certainly won’t pick up.

The pain is still there, but lessened, and not what we thought it was.

And figure when we can really celebrate his birthday.

And Happy Canada Day 🇨🇦

You know when you find out yet another friend has cancer. Bad, but good treatment potential. It just puts things in perspective, but yet not.

What to do to help. Not sure, but we must try to do something.

For now it’s off to the game.

Mariners game was good. They won, but almost more importantly people who we know kept stopping by. And Carl gave two baseballs to the kids sitting to our right.

We had a few friends over for dinner last night. And no game on TV was included. I would call it a success for a few reasons.

• The house got cleaned, a hair more than tidied.
• Conversation was good, getting to know each other better.
• They left some banana bars that are quite good
• I tried a new side salad that turned out.

The side salad had cucumbers, radishes, honeydew melon, and mint. With lemon juice and a little sugar for the dressing. I rarely (never) use radishes, so was a bit concerned. But it was quite good. All of the bits were sliced thin.

Today was a bit of a slow start, but with more help from far flung relatives I am continuing to gather paperwork needed for my Canadian adventure. Next step will be to actual send said paperwork to the team for review, and eventual processing.

And because I missed posting on the Pride Parade day, here is one of our home entries.

After some early morning errands the day was spent at home.

A little laundry, cooking, bill paying, and the continuing journey of paperwork. Today this included much appreciated efforts of far flung cousins.

And for the afternoon, soccer provided a backdrop. As did the rain.