Raincharm’s Weblog

Today it was either spectacularly sunny, or pouring a drenching rain.

When it was sunny in the morning, I was meeting with our architect, filling in a finish table for the contractor.

When we were done it had poured, and I wasn’t sure I was going to trust the weather window to walk a mile to get my haircut.
So I jumped in the car and motored over.

Shorn, I jumped back in the car.
While waiting for the light to turn green a pedestrian waved for my attention, and then told me my rear tire was going flat.
Thanking him, and drove home.

We decided to change the tire, which was getting flatter by the minute.
Of course as soon as we had managed to get it to a flat spot (our driveway is rather inclined), it started to rain.
As we loosened each lug-nut (with a fair amount of grunting and muttering)(and remembering that one of the lug nuts needs a special unlocking socket) it rained harder.
I actually thought it was hailing by the time the spare was on the car.
I saw the offending nail as I was loading the flat into the back.

That unwanted task out of the way, it was time to meet a friend for dinner and a show.
The Seattle Men’s Chorus show Dancing Queen, the music of ABBA with Leslie Jordan.
Mr. Jordan was hilarious, and the chorus was in fine voice.

Leslie Jordan

Walking back to the car, it was only dripping, and the Seattle Center was shining.

Science Center Husky Colors

Space Needle

Carl has returned from the land of sunshine and cool weather.
He and his buddies saw the first two games of the Mariner season, in Oakland.
A few pics from the trip

(This will save me from trying to figure out if any interesting happened today, after the trafic nightmare that was this morning. 2 bridges, 1 completely blocked, 2 big accident, so we tried the northern route around the lake. It may have been faster. Maybe not.)

The folks that grace these pictures are Mark – bushy beard, Dennis – suit coat frequently, Dan – funny hat and always smiling, Kirk – Mark’s brother, Patty – Kirk’s wife, and the Roel’s family = Chris, Mika, Soichiro and Momoka,

Field where Babe Ruth once hit 

Dreaming of Willie Mays 

to put a bicycle into a trunk.

As it turns out, it takes 2, about 5 minutes and consulting the owner’s manual.

The Prius, with its easy flip down seats, was on vacation.
So the Corolla has been my chariot.

My carpooler has been trying to add a bike ride into the commute.
Spring weather, weight loss competition. It just all came together.

The idea was to put the bike into my car, I drive to work.
I drive home, and he bicycles home.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Until this week we had it down with the Prius.
This week he upped the ante by bicycling from home to the coffee shop where we meet when he does not bicycle.
I arrived and we quickly determined that a trunk has different dimensions than a hatchback. The body of the bike was just not slipping in easily.

So, lets flip down the seats.
That is after moving the car seat and its stuffed and plastic denizens.
The car seat had its own set of issues. Issues that Carl is completely familiar with, but that knowledge does not transfer by osmosis.
I think the issues are called tether and latches.
The upper tether was easy to deal with.
The lower latches were hidden and took a minute or two to figure.

So, let’s flip down the seats.
The only question is how.
No button on the back seat’s shoulder where I have found them before.
They don’t just pull forward.

So – while Jim explored the back seat, I explored the owner’s manual.

Who puts a back seat latch in the trunk?

Apparently Toyota does.

I am sure our dance around the car may have amused a few in the coffee shop.
We made it to work, even on time.
I made it home, about 13-1/2 hours later.
I hope Jim made it home.
I guess we will find out tomorrow when we expect to meet up again.
[The seats are still down, so it should be a faster bike load.]

Game 1 of 162 is in the books. (Regular season count that is.)

But the Mariner’s playing was only a small part of our evening.
[It was a large part of Carl’s evening, because he was in Oakland – where the game was being played.]

Up here in Seattle the Mariner’s opened up Safeco Field for anybody that wanted to show up.
Admission = $0
Parking cost = $0
T-Shirt = $0
And for Season Ticket holders – all the food you can eat = $0

Good crowd for the game

More than 15,000 showed up.
It helped that it was a beautiful night, and this was a chance to watch the game on the big screen. And I do mean BIG.

Biggest screen in a Sports Stadium in the USA

During the off-season, the Mariner’s played with the outfield dimensions. While they were at it they changed some other bits of the field – removing many left field seats and adding Edgar’s Cantina.

Reconfigured left field

One of the other fun things at the field was allowing 6 contestants to try and hit a home run.
This was a radio call in winner thing. Carl called and signed up our friend Kevin (since Carl would be in Oakland).

Ready to go onto the field

Getting into the zone

Kevin and Richard, and the unsuspecting ball on a tee

So it turns out that each contestant got 5 swings, and the ball was on a tee, set in the outfield just past 2nd base.
This was just like the setup we used to use for the RUG Home Run Derby, except we had a pitching machine.
The first contestant, Richard, hit two rollers, a bouncer to the wall, one to the top of the wall ……. and finally hit one out.
Kevin strode up to the plate tee and gave the ball a mighty wallop. It sailed out of the field.
(If he had held back he would have been able to get a few more swings in.)

Spoils of winning are two front row tickets to a future game (not in right field), and getting to meet a Mariner alumnus.
Of course since the Mariner alumni were just wandering about the 2nd deck were the Season Ticket holders were hanging out, we could have seen them anyway. None-the-less, it was pretty cool. The chosen Mariner was Dave Henderson.

Jay, Kevin (the HR hitter) and Dave Henderson (a real HR hitter, sporting a World Series ring)

(This was a little different from the time he came and sat with our little group in the outfield.
Ashlan had gone up to get something and when she arrived back at the seats – there was Hendu.)

Just to note, none of the other four contestants got a ball over the wall.

Oh yeah, there was a game going on at the same time as all of these other shenanigans.
Felix was Felix, the game got tight in the 8th and 9th inning, but the Mariner’s prevailed over the A’s.
And Wilhelmsen was finally able to close out the game.

Wilhelmsen closes

It was a great, really fun evening.
Spring is here, and baseball is back.

Today I continued working down my list from yesterday>
What I did not realize was that some of my chores could ONLY be done yesterday.
Simple chores like signing up for another storage facility and getting a hair cut.

I even thought to check the web-sites before leaving on my driving errands.
Open Sunday’s at 9 AM. Both of them.
Until I actually arrived at both places, where they had colorful computer generated signs taped to their doors saying, “Closed for Easter”. I don’t disagree with their decisions to be closed on Easter, I just wish I hadn’t spent the time driving around our fair city. It would have been OK if even one of them had been open. I need to accomplish both of these goals, and neither place is open well into the evening, and my schedule this coming week is fairly packed with early evening (right after work) activities.

On to the next item on the list. [Technically this goes with cleaning out the house.]
Shoes. To be more precise, cleats.

This is going through all of the shoes at the entrance to our house. We do not require, or even ask, that people remove their shoes when entering the house, but we still have a shelving unit full of shoes in that location. They tend to be shoes that may be used, but not daily. Rey & Ashlan & I all have approximately the same size feet. Rey’s are now slightly larger and Ashlan’s slightly smaller than mine. [There was one game when Rey ended up with one of his and one of Ashlan’s cleats. Slightly uncomfortable.] Theoretically, Ashlan could wear any of the shoes. And the cleats she left home with are wearing a bit thin. So we are looking for any that might give her a few more months use. (I was going to take a picture before the shoe review, but I forgot while I was Skyping with Ashlan.)

And finally, March Madness is nearing an end.
We started our family bracket a few weeks ago.

Now we are down to the Final Four.
Ashlan was the first out, when all three of her remaining teams during the Not-So-Sweet round of Sixteen.
Jay had a banner day on the first day of the Elite Eight, moving both Saturday game teams into the Final Four.
Sunday required Jay to share, and she did. With Rey, who unceremoniously booted Carl from the tournament.

The Final Four line-up is

• Wichita State – 9 seed – Jay
• Syracuse – 4 seed – Jay
• Michigan – 4 seed – Rey
• Louisville – 1 seed – Rey

Anybody but Louisville will be my mantra.
If Wichita State or Syracuse wins, I win.
If Michigan wins, I win (Ann Arbor years remain a strong tie)

Our colorful version.

Blue = Jay, Purple = Rey

Some days you just don’t get to check everything off of your list. And maybe it doesn’t matter.

I did get one of the tasks done, OK a few. But none that required me to leave a 25 foot radius of the house (except electronically). And I did add a few other items to the list as the day progressed. [Isn’t it always that way.]

The big job I was going to tackle today was for the house project.
I did start on a work project first, which did not help the limited progress on the house today.

We declared the asbestos gone a few days ago.
The celebration was short lived.

It turns out that to do the kitchen project, the back wall of the kitchen, and the old back door will be essentially taken apart completely and then reassembled. And of course, there is pesky asbestos shingle siding on the exterior wall. (Under the ugly vinyl and over the cedar siding.)

Carl started on this removal project earlier this week, working in the back door/porch area.
He called me at work to let me know he had pulled it all off.

Me: “What did you put the asbestos shingles into”
Carl: “Asbestos?!?”

I guess he wasn’t hanging out with the contractor and I when we were discussing the owner vs. contractor abatement costs.

Back porch siding – on the floor of the porch

The siding being removed consists of lightweight vinyl siding, light styrofoam boards, heavy asbestos shingles, and lots of nails. This removal will cost us the $25 asbestos permit, and now I need to get more asbestos bags and some boxes that are big enough to easily hold the 1 ft by 2 ft shingles. (We have loads of boxes, but none that are 2 feet long.)

My goal today was to start the removal of the siding on the back wall.
I managed to:

Get the ladder out of the garage to the back of the house (before Carl left)
Apply for the asbestos abatement permit
Get the removed vinyl siding into a big trash can
Get the removed styrofoam into a big trash can
Get the asbestos shingles into 3 boxes in the basement (but they are sticking out).
Clean out the back porch.

Back porch – for a few more months

The boxes that will eventually carry the shingles to the dump will need to be relatively small as the shingles are HEAVY.

The back wall is going to have to wait a few more days.

Which is too bad, because tomorrow is supposed to have more of this.

So inviting in the warm sun

I always appreciate starting my day with a laugh.

A bit of family lore.

In 1964 our family visited our relatives in New York City.
I was about 8, my older sister about 10 and younger sister 3-4 years old.
(I don’t know what month it was, so ages are approximate.)

I remember that trip really well.
The Statue of Liberty, going up the staircase in the arm.
Being in an apartment. This was where my grandparents lived, and I had never been in an apartment before.
Playing with a ball on the sidewalk with my cousin, and the ball getting stuck on a fire escape.
No lawn, but a park a block or so away.
Riding the subway (and falling asleep).

And the World’s Fair.
Again, many memories.
I think it was the Kodak pavilion where we were surrounded by screens.
There was one vignette that was all about deciding where to sit people at a dinner party. The host had name tags. She would put one down, while commenting about the person, and a chair would appear. This would continue, but then she would have to change a tag (so and so can’t sit next to this other so and so), and the chair would disappear.
And the Wild Mouse ride, with my cousin Herbie.

And of course, the It’s A Small World ride.
I really do remember going through the ride, and the music.

The joint family memory has more sides than mine.
Jane the younger insists that she was abandoned outside the ride, by herself, for a LONG TIME, listening to that song, over and over and over and over.

I think that maybe she went on the ride with the rest of us, or maybe not.
But if she did not, she was probably with Aunt Anita or a grandparent.
And we all stood around or in line to get tickets or to get on the ride.
(I do remember standing in lines.)

So, imagine my thoughts when I saw the headline, “Man wins $8K after ‘Small World’ ‘torture'”.

Read for yourself . Better yet – click here. This is from the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

I am starting to think of almost everything I do at home in terms of cleaning and packing.

Can I throw this out?

Can I lift it?
If yes, I can probably throw it out.
Except if it is noxious waste.
The asbestos is gone, but there are two mercury thermometers sitting next to my computer.
There is the growing pile in the garage/basement waiting for me to make the call.

Will anybody miss it?

If I am really concerned I ask all potential missers.

Should I try to give it away to somebody?

I have made several give-away runs.
Goodwill, the Big Blue Truck, the Men’s & Women’s Chorus Rummage Sale,
And my favorite – the books and games extravaganza for some of our young friends (followed by the Big Blue Truck).
But I am getting down to the dribs and drabs.
I guess I could just put together a box of whatever I find, and set them out on the curb – or at Goodwill, etc.

Really I am just trying to get areas down to what we should keep.
And I am still probably keeping too much.

Perhaps my decision should be based on how much dust is on the object…

Rey and Mom (mine, not his)

I was going to post a picture of Mom on the beach, but the Marquis beat me to the punch. So I found this one with two of my favorite people. (Don’t worry I have way more than two favorite people.)

Love to you, Mom.
And if you have not seen the “Makers” show on PBS, ask Jane to help you find it on-line. It made me think of you, and your support of women’s rights. [I still remember the advice you gave me as I left for Colorado and my first “real” job. “Don’t let them know you can type!”]

The asbestos is now owned by somebody else!
Yes, I know they have our name and address as a generator, but I am sure of our double, and sometimes quadruple wrapping. Yellow bags, stickers. We are according to Hitler.

Now for a full on garbage patrol assault before the men with a truck show up. (Do you think they wear white coats?)
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