Raincharm’s Weblog

I have. I am leaving shortly to walk over to the walk.
Since I am walking 1 month before most people out here the “training schedules” are different.
The training schedules are not the only way to prepare, but they give a good idea of where you might want to be to be ready for the big walk. This is the big back-to-back weekend for Michigan. 18-15. I did a 17 yesterday, so pretty close. Today there are a bunch of 13 miles walks planned. I plan to walk to and from one of these to get my 15. 

Ashlan got to see the Chelsea v Seattle Sounders game yesterday with 60,000 plus other fans. It sounded like a great game. Sounders lost 0-2, but they were playing Chelsea, after all and they apparently put on a good show. It was also the openning day of Seattle’s light-rail line, which has a station by the stadiums. So the front page of today’s paper can feature both events without discrimination. I would like to have checked out the train yesterday, but it is only from downtown to the south so far, and we are north, and I was otherwise occupied anyway. In a few years it should be finished closer to our neck of the woods, and in a few more years – into our neighborhood. Patience, patience. I envision the day I can walk a few blocks and take the train all the way to the airport.

I just can’t seem to get my head straight and focused.

This morning started early (for me). About the same time it does every work day.
I had to be 30 minutes away at 6:45. Except I didn’t.
It was really 7:45. So instead of being 5 minutes late I was 55 minutes early.
But that provided the opportunity to call home and wake up everybody to confirm my mistake.

17 miles. Probably in the 80’s. Beautiful sights and some good hills. Everett was the venue, which was fun for me because I really don’t know Everett – so it was all new.

After I got home it is a bit fuzzy. There was food eaten, and then I flopped on the couch. And then there was some more food. And I really need a shower, but I haven’t managed to drag myself upstairs yet.

And tomorrow is going to be a repeat of today – except I hope to get my times straight, and not be such a basket case after the walk (planning on 15 miles).

If I reasonably survive this weekend I will think I am on the right path to getting the 60 miles done.

I have way more work to do than I can.
Today I am having a harder time focusing on the way more.
My mind keeps wanting to step outside the window.
I bring it back in and say – do this thing! And I do that thing.
But the things have been short in scope and generally focusing on cleaning the way for the bigger thing.

Perhaps a walk outside will satisfy the need. And let the thinking turn inside for the afternoon.

Oh – and I am wearing Pooh socks. Maybe they are infected with an outside virus.

Carl’s in the back yard, making room for his trip to Portland by working the morning shift removing turf* from the back yard.
Ashlan is still in bed, making room for more Z’s before getting up at the last possible moment to get to work**
Jay is biding time, waiting for a ride to get to work at the last possible moment before the never ending series of meetings and way behind projects begin for the day***

* Calling the stuff in our backyard turf is stretching the imagination. There were more moss layers and weeds than blades of grass. That is the reason for ripping it up.
** Ashlan is resting up for the drive to work in the OLD car, since Carl wants the NEW car for the drive to Portland. If she were to try and help Carl she would have had to have been up hours ago – due to the need to shower after spending any time at all working in the back yard (dust-dirt-sweat) [OLD & NEW are of course relative terms. The oldest family owned car (not included in this discussion) is actually the newest owned family car.]
*** Jay is not out helping Carl due to the same reasons noted above for Ashlan, although some at work might like the visual verification that Jay actually knows how to do “real” work.

Well St. Louis seems to have done a fine job as host of the All-Star game.
The PRESIDENT throwing out the first pitch! Seattle didn’t get that done.

What St. Louis couldn’t do was bring home field advantage to the National League.
And, great as he is, Albert lost focus ever so briefly and it cost them.
[Our family holds a special spot for Pujhols in our baseball heart. Carl and the kids saw him in the minor leagues and recognized then that he was a man amoung boys.]

So here’s to the minor leagues. Fun parks, players going places, as Rey’s team says, “A nine inning vacation.”

OK – who has tickets already to the new Harry Potter movie? (Not the All-Star game I know, but some are making the choice to see Harry Potter instead of the All-Star game.)

We do not. I am kind of hoping it will have made it to the UP when we will be there so we can have a night out on the town. On the other hand, I don’t see Ashlan waiting that long.

We went out to a bar/restaurant to watch the Home Run derby tonight. It was on ESPN, a cable station. Since we do not have cable or DirectTV or Satellite or anything other than antenna
Tomorrow is the All-Star game. Since Pooh & Mark didn’t call us to say they had tickets the best we can do is try to watch it on TV.
I hear it is on FOX, a “regular” station.
Our FOX station was never all that great reception, but we could get it. But, with the new digital TV it is all or nothing. In our case FOX is nothing.

I plan to work on a better antenna than we currently have, but not before tomorrow.
We haven’t really missed Channel 13 yet, but it has more sports than most of our other stations.

In which Ashlan gets to meet Ichiro face to face.

Carl & I got around 10 miles today. I say around because I have not measured the actual distance yet. I had planned a route that was about 10 miles, and we actually took our first steps along that route.

But then bacon came in to play. That is Bacon-man, on the side of the new Archie McPhee’s store. Said store was not along my originally planned route, so we modified. This was fairly near the start and could lead us to Fremont, just following a different path. So off we modified.

Now just before the new McPhees is the Blue Star Cafe. Since neither of us had found coffee yet this morning, we decided to stop for coffee and breakfast. Carl had an omelet, I had a scone and fruit and Bacon. Then on to the pictures with Bacon Man. And off down the hill to Fremont.

Along the way we tried to give directions to a kind man who said his GPS had died. Now we knew where it was, but not the names of all of the streets in between. So we gave him a reasonable start and then said – just stay on this side of the water (ship canal) and go west.

In Fremont we paused to take some more pictures with the Waiting for the Interurban sculpture, and to use the friendly corner coffee shop for a potty stop. (Coffee at the Blue Star and all.)

Across the Fremont bridge and Queen Anne beckoned. Queen Anne is a hill and your choices are 1) Follow Westlake (along the lake) for quite a ways, and then find a hill to climb, 2) Follow Dexter up an incline for quite a ways and then find about 178 steps to climb, 3) Go straight up 4th Avenue (I do mean straight UP), 4) go west and then eventually south and up a big hill.

We chose 3) Go straight up 4th Avenue. Except, just as we were starting up the hill there appeared some steps to our right – so we took them instead – about 86 I believe. Then we continued going up residential streets until we were back at 4th Avenue, about 1/2 of the way up the straight UP hill, and went up the rest of the way. We continued to wind our way around Queen Anne – always UP, until we turned at Galer and went down – about 68 steps.

Followed a few more streets down to Kerry Park, which looks out over the Puget Sound and downtown Seattle. So we took a few more pictures. Then walked down about 50 steps to the lower park, which had a different name like Kinnear, across the street and down a hill next to Franklin Park, and continuing down hill.

And then – Rain. Big drops at first, and then harder. So since I was the only one with a real rain coat, we found a bar and stepped in for more coffee and breakfast. French toast (shared) this time, and the rain slowed and then essentially stopped.

Back out and continued mostly down into downtown Seattle, eventually making the waterfront and south to Safeco Field.

Ashlan drove.
Ashlan also sat at our regular seats. Carl and I were sitting in the 3rd deck in line with first base. Not too bad, and they had been purchased for $1 each  – so not complaining at all.
Our regular seats are front row in Right-Center field. Ashlan was sitting with a friend – Mark.

Game on …. (you can look up the box score if you want real details here).
Roof had been closed when we arrived, but they opened it as the game started.
In the 6th inning Mariners are up 3-2 and they bring in a new pitcher (Batista).
Nelson Cruz is the hitter – BOOM – home run – right over Ashlan and Mark – I mean right over.
So close that Mark was trying to catch it, Ashlan (eating fries, mitt on the ground) stood up (and ducked at the same time – try it). She said she looked back and the ball had hit a child (child was OK – got the ball and a bunch of things from the Mariners to go with her ice-pack).
When Ashlan turned back around she was face to face with Ichiro, who had climbed the wall.
Check out this link and watch it until the end (for the close-up). It might take a moment to load. Ashlan has on a brown tank top – she’s in the front row – behind Ichiro.

The Mariners did come back and win the game. Ashlan did give Carl & I (and Mark) a ride home.
And the rain has returned, now with thunder.

South side – 6 foot privacy fence – no vision – don’t even know who lives there.

East side – 10 foot some sort of thick vegetation – sold that house to him (with a 3.5′ small fence) so we do know him

West side – BRAND NEW 6 foot fence – not full board, but boards to 5 foot.

I HATE FENCES.

Instead of getting to know our neighbors and feeling like our postage stamp yard was just a little bit bigger we are now totally hemmed in.

Nothing to do about it, I guess I will become anti-social.

Start with NOT sleeping in, generally a good thing
Add a 15 mile walk, starting and ending at Green Lake
Mooove on to the Milk Carton Derby on Green Lake
Relax
Maybe a ball game (maybe this is a Carl & Ashlan affair, it’s not at Green Lake)

That is the plan. We’ll report later on how the day progresses.

(Milky White is the cow in Jack and the Beanstalk, at least in the Into the Woods version.)

Went to the Mariners game last night.
Left work on time.
Caught the bus.
Got to read while on the bus, which was much better than watching the slooooow traffic around me.

They are replacing expansion joints in the westbound I-90 lanes, which means they are closed. All westbound traffic is now on the two lane express lanes  bridge section. So – 3 lanes plus a carpool lane down to 2 lanes. Traffic has been affected.

Anyway, walked the 1/2 mile from bus to stadium, and sat down in the sun. (2 hours from portal to portal) The sun lasted at least for an inning or two, at which point the sun dipped below the stadium wall. (Until it came through the bank of windows, and then through the concourse hole – which is always a bit like being lit up individually – think The Natural)

Got to talk with a few friends and watch Felix Hernandez (All Star) duel it out with a Ranger. Close game. But they finally scored (boo). 1-0. 8th inning heroics. Ichiro on. Branyon out. Lopez out. Griffey walks. Gutierrez hits a mighty wallop! Yeah 3-1. The top of the 9th was two long flys to Ichiro and a slightly shorter one to left field (name escapes me). So that was the game.

Nice. Didn’t know there was a ticket for me for tonights game until this morning. After the chance of trying to drum up a carpool, and too late to catch the bus. So – either skip or get there late. Driving at prime drive time across I-90 will not be good. Decisions, decisions.