Raincharm’s Weblog

When we got home yesterday evening, I planned to write a blog post, if you can call my posts writing.

Instead I think I had some yogurt and fruit, and then went to sleep on the couch.
Oh – there was a brief Skype session with the boy, and a mild attempt to look at the crossword puzzle.

But at 11:30 I changed sleeping venues until this morning.

We also rented Storage Unit #3 – hopefully this will do it for us.

The next big event was a, “Meet the Author,” followed by the Mariners game.

The author was Lucas Mann. His book Class A, Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere.
While attending University of Iowa, studying writing, following the Clinton LumberKings.

He indicated that he was not really more than an average baseball fan, and doesn’t consider this wholly a baseball book, but rather about the people and situations that exist with Class A baseball, and particularly in Clinton, Iowa. Clinton is a depressed small town, and the team is community owned. The players are transient, but the fans are steady. It looks to be a good read.

And, it took 13 innings, but the Mariners finally won a game.
We sat in the 2nd deck with others that had attended to book chat.
It was a nice change to watch from a different vantage. Particularly because the folks that we were with were welcoming, and generally like-minded. It was also a little league day, so there was a good energetic crowd to cheer for whatever was going on at the moment. On the field, and between innings.

Well – time to repeat yesterday’s exercise.

I am so glad I played hookey (sp?) from work today.
It was one of those decisions that happened because of other’s influences, and in the end you don’t know how you would have managed without the decision.

An evening meeting schedule earlier in the week meant that I had to reschedule a contractor/architect meeting from Wednesday until Friday. Because I was asking a favor on the day, I did not try to push the meeting to a late afternoon time so I could work most of the day. It was instead scheduled for 10 AM.

At the last minute (Thursday evening) we decided to try to move some large items to storage today.
Rented a truck.

We wanted a 12-foot truck.
Penske gave us a 16-foot truck for a 12-foot price.

When we arrived, just after their 7 AM opening, they asked who was going to drive.
I volunteered, and tried to give him my driver’s license.
Instead I gave him my ORCA card (One Ride Card for All), which allows you onto all sorts of transit systems around the area.
I pleaded no coffee, and we moved forward.

Driving a truck is just a bit different from driving our small cars.
Let’s just say I only drove over one curb. It took me several back and forths to get around the traffic circle at the end of our block (not a big traffic circle). I also trimmed a few trees in the neighborhood. (10′-6″ clearance required)

We managed to get a load of twin beds (4 of them), a table and some other items over in the morning.
The big part was rearranging what was already in the storage unit to make best use of the space.
It looks like the princess and the pea stack of bedding, with a dis-articulated universal gym on top.

Where a twin bed was.

Following the meeting we made a second run with a crib, desk, shelving, tall bookcase, papasan, exercise mat and who knows what else.

The stack now has the crib and papasan added. The desk has some items underneath.
A previously moved shelving unit now is loaded with baseballs and teetering on top is a … I am not sure how to describe this item. It is a shelving unit, but long and not too high. No legs of its own. It is now on-end on top of the shelving unit.

Let’s just say that taking apart this unit will require a ladder, and a critical eye for figuring out which piece to move first.
And you would not want to be in the unit in an earthquake.

But when the earthquake hits at our house, you will want to be near the new wall at the new south end of the kitchen. It is a skookum wall. All else may fall, but the wall will stand.

3 yds of concrete (part is now hidden underground)

Carl is now off to the Mariner’s game. Our good friend, Mark, is season-ticket holder of the day and gets to hang out (with friends) on the field during batting practice, and then maybe throw out a pitch (not sure about this). He and his family get an upgraded seat as well.

I stayed home to check work e-mails and maybe do some work.
I think I need a break before attempting anything that means anything to somebody.
I wouldn’t want to try using my ORCA card improperly again.

I think I work hard.
I know Carl has been working harder.

We have a house meeting with the contractor and architect tomorrow.
The time to move things around is winding down.

Carl has staged all of the twin beds to move out of the house tomorrow.
That is 4 twin beds.
One of which was upstairs and required a door removal and frame deconstruction.

Next we had to locate a vehicle to transport these items out of the house.
The Prius and Corolla just won’t cut the mustard. Or fit a mattress.

One of our storage facilities has a truck that it rents in 6 hour blocks.
We are working around a 10 AM meeting and a 4 PM commitment.
The morning 6 hour block was probably workable, but by the time we made up our mind, somebody else had made our mind up for us. No truckee.

Off to Penske.
Actually Home Depot – which sent me to Penske with a AAA discount thread.
I think we are going to try for the 7 AM Penske store opening, try and move a load before the 10 AM meeting, and see where we are between meeting and 4 PM.
One bonus is that Penske is a 24 hour rental, so there is a bit more breathing room.

The downside of this moving adventure is that the storage room is filling up.
The next question, after we see what we can fit into the remaining space, is how much more room do we need, and whether another storage space, pod, or tent in the backyard is our best option.

We did a little exercise to figure out what furniture could move into our apartment.
Not much.

On the house itself side, the stem wall pour is done, and most of the forms removed.

This is how much longer the kitchen will be. All in the name of structural soundness. (Can you see the hold down bolt ends? For the earthquake resistance I believe.) 

Needless to say, tomorrow will be a home work day, rather than a work-work day.
We need to fit that in somewhere too.
Maybe on Memorial Day.

Carl did some more big packing today.
Kitchen shelves are being cleared and sorted.
Some sheets folded and boxed (my contribution).

Work by others formed and poured concrete into the stem wall.

New Concrete behind the boards

Getting close to going full bore.

Came home absolutely exhausted from the other work.
I am not even trying to do much tonight.

I think going to bed early, and up in the morning to do some more may be the best decision.

We took a walk today.
Unplanned, and we were sort of unprepared.

We had our feet, and a compass (smart phone), and were within range of  home.

The folks we had spent much of the last 24 hours with were getting ready to head south to Eugene, and our home was north, so we decided to let them leave and opt for the bus or walk. It was not raining, as had been predicted, so we set off on foot.

5.75 miles and 937 feet of vertical gain later we arrived home.

5.75 miles – vertical route

There was also 881 feet of vertical descent, although I would have guessed we were higher than home at the start of the walk.
Much of the vertical gain happened very quickly, near the beginning.
The program we were using also had us at 37 feet below sea level at the lowest point.
This would be the Fremont Bridge crossing, but we did manage to stay dry.

The reason for the Eugene contingent’s visit was the Sounder’s game on Saturday.
They got to see a great game. Both of the kids are great soccer players. One is driven – practicing on his own.

Carl and the kids had a great time goofing off.

This morning we finally got to do some serious Seattle touristing, going to the base of the Space Needle, and generally hanging around at the Seattle Center for a bit.

James’ jacket isn’t really light blue. It is green. Apparently green clothes make for poor choices when using green screen technology. Some of the other backgrounds offered with the Space Needle Tourist shots have buildings in the background. On those he has buildings in his mid-section.

On the walk home we started seeing faces in all sorts of inanimate objects.
Our favorite.

Salvador Dali?

We also ran into 3 Little Free Libraries. (Libraries set up in front yards. Neighborhood lending)

And a squirrel enjoying some delicacy.

The troll was inviting small children in for a snack too.

Now our goal is to get energy going again to get a bit more packing done.
This morning I was working on tents, sleeping bags and winter accessories.

Today should have been a very productive day.

It actually started out somewhat productively.
While waiting for my carpooler to call I was able to condense some of Ashlan’s school history into a smaller box.
I did not have time to get to Rey’s – that had to wait for the evening.

Finally left to pick up my carpooler, who had biked to the coffee stand.
His bike safely in the back of the car, we started for work.

This is bike to work day, so he was sort of doing his part.
Bike to coffee, and bike HOME from work.
We are about 25 miles away, with some significant hills, so I will cut him some slack.

Crossing the 520 bridge I saw something I had never seen before.

A bicycle in the middle of the bridge.
Actually on the approximately 1-foot wide “shoulder” outside of the travelled lane.

520 is not made for bicycles to use.
I-90 does have a pedestrian/bike path on one side.
And  most of the buses crossing the bridge include bike racks.
And the new 520 bridge, currently under construction, will have bike paths.

But apparently this person decided to make some sort of a point.
I think the point he made was that the expansion joints on 520 were not made safe for bicycles.
Since he was just after one of these joints, I think he blew a tire. Or a wheel.

We had just seen the “Incident Response” truck heading the other direction.
I think he was heading for a quick turnaround to rescue this bicyclist.

Back to work – which we did reach at about the right time.

There is an issue going on at work, and I am trying to sort of stay out of the main fray.
With limited success.

There was a particular issue that I just knew was going to rear its ugly head today, and despite my boss’s assurances that I would not have to deal with it this morning – I did. My boss was at offsite meetings all morning, so it landed in my lap.

We got through it fine, but it disrupted my time, and my brain.

Couple that with some a couple asking us to move a water main.
They claim that the location of our main is adding $200,000 to the cost of their house.
I think the 24 foot tall wall with a temporary pile wall is not required because of our little water main. I think it is because they are digging 24 feet into a hillside.

Oh well. I spent the last half hour of the day leafing through a clothing catalogue.
Even the fun things have deadlines. (This is for logo attire.)

On the house front the forms were removed from the base of our 3-4 foot foundation wall.
I don’t know exactly home much this foundation is going to cost, but certainly less than $200,000.

I don’t have much to share, but thought I would try for two days posting in a row.

More work went forward on the house.
Contractor work – pouring the base of the new foundation.

foundation pour #1

Carl work – focused on our upstairs kitchen cleaned out.

Almost empty kitchen

Now – we never used this as a kitchen, but it had been set up like a mother-in-law apartment.
I think it was really a daughter apartment.

The stove and refrigerator were gone when we moved in.
We removed the kitchen sink.
This project will remove the 220 plug for the stove, and the cabinet that held the kitchen sink.
We are retaining the 1950’s (I think) white upper cabinets.

I am now going to go through some things for retaining/repacking or removing from our life.

Rey arrived on Sunday – see the last post.
Ashlan’s flowers arrived on Monday.
Again they were unexpected, showing up in my office when I returned from an afternoon of meetings.

Ashlan’s Flowers

Since I was working, Carl & Rey did a little sightseeing.

We joined Ashlan in watching King Felix pitch for the Mariners on Tuesday night.
Of course she was closer to him, but we probably had a better view.

Some of us are more regal than others

Kevin was there too, but would not sign the waiver so I could post his picture.

Wednesday morning we had one last chance to hang out for a bit.
A final breakfast before he headed back to the eastern time zone.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, work has continued.

The framing/rebar passed inspection today and the concrete pour is tomorrow.

And tonight Dennis has joined us from Portland. In a few more days we will be joined by four from Eugene. The Oregon connection remains strong.

Actually did not sleep in this Mother’s Day.
I got up and called home.
Spent some time chatting with my parents – a nice conversation.

Did a little work, and then it was off to the ball park for the Mother’s day game.

The Mariner’s provided a bracelet.

Carl provided a ball.

And then I got the best present ever. A surprise visit.

All the way from Tennessee, and I really had no idea.
I actually had been mentioning that Ashlan had called but not Rey.
I thought he might be working at a game, so I checked their schedule.
They were in town yesterday, but gone today.

Carl kept this secret. Apparently for many months.
This is no small feat, especially for Carl.

It has indeed been a happy Mother’s day.

Love you too, Ashlan.
Thanks for keeping the secret.

That stands for our dinner tonight.

• Bacon (of course)
• Egg – scrambled (acts like bread)
• Lettuce (green is good)
• Tomato

Yummy. I tried, and somewhat succeeded in eating it like a sandwich.
Carl made little bite size stacks for each bite.

The last few days have seen some real work on the house project.

West end of old side sewer (gutter connection going up)

New side sewer (looking west)

Hole turned inside out

Of course, there are the downsides.
Still no place to live.
Too much packing to do, and we will need to go beyond our current 2 storage units.

On the good news side, Rey came out of surgery pretty well.

Hopefully the last sling

We spotted a sunfish at Green Lake the other day.

Sunfish

The mask has been packed into the mask box.

The Mask