Raincharm’s Weblog

It is 5:24 and I am going home.
I have not stayed really late at all this week.
Okay, I think it is about four days later than when I started the post.  And, I actually had 1 hour under the expected 80 for two weeks. Of course I did take two afternoons off to find people to help with our backyard.

The first result has been to add more smothering cardboard around the edges to try to limit weed seeds from polluting the neighborhood. As the landscape planner said, “A blank slate!” And identified our blue spruce as an ohmy spruce. ( I do know that name is incorrect, but it does start with the oh my sound. She said they teach the name that way because the end of the branches turn up as if reaching for the sky and exclaiming, “oh my!”

We also spent an evening with some members of the Rocket, Carl’s old softball team. Conversations included catching up with each other’s kids and retirements. The kids can be traced from their birth in team pictures.

Tonight is the first soccer game of the year. It is a Concacaf tournament game rather than an MLS league game. Against a team from Mexico. And I had to scrape the windshield this morning. Could be cold, but I don’t think rain is in the forecast. That and the new decree that they do not provide printed tickets. Instead you load the ticket on your phone and use their app at the gate. What could possibly go wrong?

I am expecting long lines. And pray you don’t have a dead battery. There is an option to print out a large piece of paper at home as an alternative. And if I got mad at my ticket partner I could use her ticket as well.(They all show up.)

Seattle in Winter

As I took the picture the rain increased.

February showers bring crocuses and flooding. And pitchers and catchers.

Fitting that the shadows above are from bats that gave their all in seasons past.

I returned from work on time today and it was still light, a little less than more, when I pulled into the driveway. Carl acquiesced to a walk. He wanted to run some short stretches. About 90 feet at a time. With that goal in mind we headed for the local high school, which has a track. It does not have lights however. When we arrived there were a few others on the field. The soccer players soon departed with the last light. They were replaced in even greater numbers by runners. Runners that ran more than 90 feet at a time.

With the tower crane for the light rail station twisting to and fro we departed. Almost stopped at Pies and Pints for dinner, but decided to head home as we had food in the refrigerator for at least three dinners.

Carl is in the kitchen cooking, and I will end this blog so I can watch the Real Madrid vs Roma game from earlier today.

Which brings up another point. The Sounders, the local team, is not only not providing paper tickets this year, they are not providing the cards that were used for the last few years. This year you have to use their app on your phone. The only alternative is to print out an entire sheet of paper for each ticket. God forbid your battery dies.

Yesterday afternoon I tried to call Carl on the calculator. Usually I try to calculate on the phone. And yes, I do have a calculator app.

This morning I walked out and closed the door. I had my coffee, but no keys. Monday I had the keys but no coffee. Since there was nothing to stop me leaving on Monday, Carl got to enjoy the coffee. This morning was not as easy as the car requires the key to start. (Not required to drive however. Story from another day.) Carl had gone back to bed and his phone was in the dining room. Wasn’t sure whether he would hear the doorbell, and the upstairs landline phone died about a year ago.

Luckily we have a spare key in a realtor type box on the back deck. Very handy with out of town guests. And when you lock yourself out. Of course you need to correctly remember the code to access the key. After four tries I realized which number was wrong and was able to get to the key that allowed me to get to my keys.

I have used the wrong code several times. I think I should change the code to match my memory.

Our public outreach person telecommutes every other Friday. It provides an opportunity for uninterrupted focus. But it is also fraught with potential downsides when you are not there in person to accept deliveries.

I did not telecommute on Wednesday afternoon, but I did skip out on work. The first part of my time off included meeting with a landscape professional. He had some good ideas to expand our starting sketch, but thought having a real plan would be helpful. He provided a recommendation for a designer as he did not have the time to both design and implement. One step forward though, and some ideas on things to do to prepare for future work. And it is right in my area of expertise. Smothering more weeds and digging out dying plants and a bit of pruning.

The second benefit of being home early was going to a behind the scenes event at the Burke Museum. Literally into the storage areas.

There were several docents and researchers around to share their knowledge of the collections from spiders and butterflies to an Egyptian mummy (in a wedding dress bag) to poop dissection to dinosaurs and textiles.
One item caught our eye in particular. A bit of a totem. A killer whale in storage.

The docent noted that he thought the fin had been taller originally.

Later in our wandering we came across this picture of the whale in situ.

Just a bit taller.
Another person in the area said the original had been outside of the Museum for a while and a replica was now in its place.

I think this height is still a bit shy of the original.

It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours.

I am hoping to come up with a vision of what our backyard should look like in a year from now. I don’t know what will come – I have never been much of a landscape planner. The vision may come from a landscaper that is hoping to help us move on from our current green tarp yard. Came home early for this meeting – hope it is worth the missed work.

As I was leaving work our unpaid worker was busy mowing the lawn at work.

Unpaid Labor

I don’t know how they keep such a straight line. That is the one thing about mowing a lawn – you can always see where you have been.

Last night we both were home when there was still a hint of lightness in the sky. So we took a walk around the freeway. Over the weekend we walked around Lake Union and we frequently walk around Green Lake. But we did not have the time or energy for those, 9 and 3 miles respectively (Carl had a hitting engagement later in the evening). So we took a shorter route and went around the freeway. Crossing under at Ravenna to the west side, and back over NE 50th to the east. Probably 1-1/2 to 2 miles. Just enough to stretch our legs.

Rey called looking for some information from his time at Montana. In the end I was not able to find what he was looking for, but I did find a story about pandas. I have included the cover shot and closing notes for your entertainment.

I am curious how Ashlan feels about her place in the order of things.

I tried to get into work just a bit early this morning, to make up for my early entrance, and was treated to this vision. A bit blurry, but you get the picture.

Some of us might consider listening to a radio at work.
Others get to listen to live music. Follow the Frozen. (Turn your sound up)

We are getting ready to meet with a landscaping professional mid-week.
Other than pruning the raspberries we have not done much of anything.
Well we did tarp the yard before winter set in to try and limit time spent weeding.

When we moved out a few Junes ago we moved a lot of stuff into storage, more into the garbage and quite a bit to Goodwill. (And a little into our apartment.) One of the things that did not move very far was a bit of a rock collection. I put several pounds in a pile at the back of the backyard. It would seem that now is a good time to at least move them towards the house. I don’t really know what to do with them, yet.

Carl had an idea or two.

AGAIN
This ornament brought to you by the XXXII Super Bowl champs

Yes, we were rooting for the Broncos.

We lived there during the Elway years, and have a handful of relatives that are still die hard fans.

I will admit I spent part of the first half pruning the raspberries. It is important to take advantage of the non-rainy weekends when they happen.

We watched a show about the 1985 Bears last week. We were both stunned at how violent some of the hits seemed. During the 50th anniversary hoopla they asked what the game would be like for Super Bowl 100. Carl proposed that the game as we know it would be gone due to the violence and subsequent injuries.

After ditching me at least three times Rey found time to Skype for taxes. That is I buy TurboTax and he doesn’t need to. Filling out his information is usually short and sweet, although he did have three W2s this year. (He will be getting a refund.)

Working through Rey’s information gave me the impetus to continue with ours as well. I think I am missing two forms and we need to finish adding to some retirement accounts still.

It was afternoon and no rain in sight so we set out to retrieve a wayward bear that had stayed behind at the Museum of History and Industry when Carl and Audrey left a few days ago.

Carl’s alter ego for the walk was the Babe, as in Ruth, who would have been 121 years old today. ( He has been in the Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, New York for longer than I have been alive. He even wore a Yankee hat.

The walk was pleasant, partly because our destination was not tied to any particular time, so we could wander at will. In the end it was probably about 9 miles.
Some sights from the wander.

Starting in our front yard, daffodils are on their way already.

Street end mosaic with house boats

It turns out this is the boat show weekend

I don’t think this particular yacht was for sale.

We saw a boat that had one letter in its name obscured. _oot.

Maybe Coot, but certainly not Bufflehead.

A true old coot owns this place. Notice the ladder on the hillside. It looks too dangerous to use, but I’ll bet it is not just there as a storage location.

Two clowns, and another block of Fremont in transition.

Our great blue heron sighting for the day.

Brooks greeter.

Lots and lots of murals.

Street art with muscles mussels.

Settling in for a beer and maybe even a foot rub.

I was treated to a homemade pasty for lunch today. My boss spent some years in northern Wisconsin and picked up the recipe along the way. About once a year he makes a batch. I think this year’s timing is associated with one of his son’s birthday. As the resident honorary Yooper I usually get to sample his wares.

Yesterday Carl served me a can of Vernors with dinner. I thought Vernors would be a perfect pairing with the pasty. But when I tried to locate 2 cans of the assumed 6-pack I had no luck. (Carl was back asleep by that time) I think perhaps he bought a single can.

In other news I, about 10 am I realized I had my shirt on backwards. I don’t think anyone noticed, and I only realized when I felt the tags in front.

Today’s nice morning has devolved into a deluge, with wind. At least we are almost home.

Here we are. Waiting for the show to start. Carl is looking through the program, but I am going in without a clue.

We fought through the rain soaked traffic and got downtown in time to have dinner first.  The restaurant we usually visit for our Wednesday night shows is the Rockbottom, directly across from the theater.

The 5th is on 5th Avenue ( imagine that) in the middle of downtown. Pretty easy for us to get to, if only there were not so many others on the roads as well.

Maybe a review later.