Raincharm’s Weblog

It is about the time I usually get up. Well, about the time the alarm usually goes off.
I am at work. Well – in the office, I am not quite working yet.

This was all because Ashlan had to return to New York today. On one of those really early flights that don’t seem so bad when you make the reservation, but when you set your alarm the night before, and it tells you that it will go off in 3 hours and 25 minutes, you reconsider the wisdom …

I dropped her off at the airport. At the Arrivals pick-up. Because the Departure drop-off road was backed up almost to the point of decision between Arrivals and Departures. This is a fine bookend to the trip because we picked her up in the Departures area, because Arrivals was backed up. Hopefully the time we saved will give her the edge to get to her plane on time. (She was not worried, but I was fretting a bit. And the long line at Departures may translate to long lines at security.)

The other great bookends to her trip were Mariner games.

Not that she did not do anything other than go to Mariner games, but they seemed to be a significant part of the schedule. Dozens of innings, but not quite up to St. Louis standards for innings at a time.  There was also a Sounder’s game, several meals out, friends, some movies, and the Great Seattle Wheel.

The first Mariner game she attended was Felix Hernandez’s PERFECT GAME.
The last Mariner game she attended was also a Mariner win, and Carl caught (<– vide0) the game winning home run by Michael Saunders. Saunders actually hit two during the game.

And I think every game she went to, the Mariner’s won.
Carl pointed out that my record for the year is fairly dismal.
Apparently Ashlan’s good luck overpowers my bad luck.

And tonight is Felix’s game, his first since the Perfecto.

People are all doing the “Felix” and posting pictures.
At the soccer game Fredy Montero did the Felix when he scored, although Ashlan disagrees on this point.
But enough people accept the Fredy Felix, so he is throwing out the first pitch at the game tonight.

My personal favorite

Somehow, I don’t think the Cleveland Indians are all that excited about the Felix hoopla, and will try to dampen the building mood for the game.

Safe flight to Ashlan!
And now it is time for real work.

I blame Ashlan.
Not that she has physically kept me away from the computer, but the schedule has been impacted. She has been extremely busy, friends and all. We did get to see her here and there. And she and Carl were both at the Felix Hernandez perfect game. Not together, but both there. Ashlan was in the “K” section that hais been part of all of the news reports. Dinners here and there, and a few movies (at home). She has a much better Mariner record than I do, so Carl is hoping she will accompany him to the game tonight.

I will try to do better this coming week.

Just a week or so ago I found a workmate that was not aware of the Mackinaw Bridge!
I was a bit taken aback. I know it is a location that not many get to, but the bridge is impressive and important.

We google-earthed the bridge, and she made suitable noises of being impressed. (Note: she used to live in San Fran)

But today is about a different bridge – impressive in its own right. It floats.
I don’t know if I had been on any floating bridge until I lived in Washington.
There are 3 that I know of, and I witnessed (on local TV) one sinking to the bottom of the lake.

The 520 Bridge is old and in need of replacement. They are building the pontoons elsewhere, and floating them in to place. The first pontoon came through yesterday. The route takes the pontoons through the Ballard locks, the Ship Canal and Montlake Cut.

As with many things, moving big objects must take into account what they need to move through. In this case the limiting factor appears to be the Ballard locks. A few feet on either side – through the large lock.

This is a video of the pontoon going through the locks (sped up)

Carl had a baseball game, and it ended after the beginning of the predicted time the pontoon was going to reach the locks. I had discovered a marine tracking web-site. It is world wide, but was able to narrow it down to tugboats in the Puget Sound area. The pontoon appeared to have reached the locks, so we headed for the Montlake Cut.

First view (well – first picture) with the Ship Canal Bridge in the background.

There is a tugboat sideways on the front.

The Mud Cat

Two other tugs

Under the Montlake Bridge

A view of the top side

Out into Lake Washington

Parting Shot

This was my idea to see the pontoon – essentially a large piece of floating concrete. Carl played along nicely. Then we went home for dinner and Olympics.

Did it take me all week?
In some ways, yes. In others, no.
I do finally feel like I have energy again.
I rarely get tired at work, but this past week was a struggle.
Perhaps it was coming down from vacation, perhaps pushing the heat index, perhaps that I have not been working out as much as I should. And there have been the Olympic late nights.

This week was primarily work. Carl has been continuing to make real progress on cleaning up his hobby area.
I have not counted the boxes he has filled, but it is epic.

And this week we get to see our little one for a week.
At least I am hoping we get some time with her. Her friends are massing.

Before I completely let go of the vacation, I will post some pictures – fond memories.

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Thanks for listening.

OK – it was mine.

My idea was to walk down to Lake Washington at I-90, watch the Blue Angels air show, and then walk back downtown to see the Sounders take on the LA Galaxy (with Beckham). Total distance of around 10 miles. 7+ to I-90, and 2.5 to the Stadium.

Carl’s foot is improving, but it is not perfect. But he was game to give it a try.
Oh – and the temperatures were to be in the 90’s.

The Seafair Air show takes place over Lake Washington. The focus is just south of the I-90 bridge (which is closed during the shows). This is also the location of the Hydros races.

We got off to a pretty good start. At three miles we were feeling good.

my turn

The lake was packed with boats.

The first group is basically there for the air show. They are on the wrong side of the bridge to see the hydros.

The log boom is the place to be to see both planes and fast boats.

We did see the planes, although my phone is not the best for photographing things that move really fast.
I had several blue sky shots, and a few with the planes nosing into the tree near the edge of the frame. Here are a few of my better attempts.

4 planes

5 planes

6 planes

Big Bertha (overheard from a 6 year old, “That plane carries the parts for the Blue Angels”)

All I can say is if you are in a place where the planes are being used for more than just show – by the time you hear them, it would be too late to do anything about it.

There are no pictures of us at the end of our 10 miles.
The last mile took a long time, because I had to sit and cool down first.
We went out to dinner – which seemed to help.

And then stood for 2 more hours at the soccer game.

Carl managed fine, and I have recovered. And the Sounders won 4-0.

Our return to reality has not been as smooth as some.
I put the cause, at least in part, to sleep pattern disruption.

Today, finally, I was allowed to sleep until I woke up. And it was only 8 AM, so not too bad.

Today has and is the day to catch up on mail, bills, and potentially most important – voting.
There is an election on Tuesday.
(Who knew? Well, I know my sisty-ugler was aware as it marked the end to her northern vacation.)
And in King County they urge you to vote early and often. At least early. And all by mail (or drop site). The voters’ pamphlet states

“Return your completed ballot as early as possible.

Not only will more results be available to report on election night, but we’ll have more time to connect with you if we have difficulty verifying your signature. Returning ballots as early as possible also helps us save tax dollars by keeping election costs down.”

I am not sure how I feel about this push to vote. It could reduce the time you take to make a decision, and you would not be able to consider late breaking information on a candidate or issue. And, most importantly, the candidates do not stop their incessant advertisements and robo-calls early.

We are voting near the end this time, but only because we were out of town when the ballots arrived. (I still read most of the pamphlet. The primary is always more interesting for those one-issue candidates that take their opportunity to put it out there for all to read.
I miss the polling places. It was an event that made you know you were part of the picture, especially for the big elections.

Now on to more mundane activities, like balancing the checkbook.

All of this done to the roar of the Blue Angels.
Tomorrow I am going to make an effort to be outside during the show.

We got home yesterday. Or was it today.
It was supposed to be yesterday when we landed, but it was this morning technically.
Sleep at around 3, up at around 6:30. I do not have my A-game today.

Carl also got up, and had not really napped, but put on his game face, and is putting his best foot forward.

He is pitching. They are currently up 2-0 over the cardinals. One of the cardinals gave us a ride home from the airport last night, er this morning.

Last inning was 8 pitches for 3 outs. The previous inning only took 3 pitches.
Hopefully this will continue for the rest.

Not much happening today. Except traveling a few thousand miles.

We did get to start with a brief Olympics interlude, thanks to jane. But decided to leave before they put us to work installing her washer and drier.

Sitting in Newark, watching the terminal wildlife. (Since we did not get to see any bunnies at Jane’s place.)

There should be a picture here, but who knows.

Hey – I’m on vacation.
You can’t expect me to find the time to sit down at a computer every day!

I think last time we had at least one child in attendance.
We drove downstate for a really early morning departure.

This was followed by a side trip to Cleveland.
Home of the Cleveland Cliffs.

What? You didn’t expect more boat photos?
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was our first main attraction of the day.

There were decorated guitars all along the approximately 1 mile walk between Jacob’s Progressive Field and the museum.

Which (Progressive Field) was our second destination for a game between the Indians and Tigers.

Even at a ballgame at a distant park I am never far from thinking of work.

During batting practice Carl managed to snag 3 baseballs, including one that was worth $10 in BP gasoline.

We finally retired to our seats.

And then immediately went to the shelter of the entrance.

The rain delay was about 1/2 hour – before the game started.

Once we returned to the cabin, the routine was predictable.

Beach walk to the west.

Beach walk to the east.

Just another Gnome-com-poop.

A lone Canada Goose trying to decide if we were worth avoiding.

Sun rising over the top of the tree.

Checking out a recent nose job (courtesy of Carl and a frisbee).

Today’s adventures included a kayak trip to Cedar Point (on the beach, not in Ohio).

We saw mergansers.

Potential invasive mussels??!? (This is a complete supposition, and we did not collect any samples)

One of our main objectives was to look at the eagle nest and the eagles.
We were assuming bald eagles. We have seen the adults.

But there are some on the beach that had earlier taken pictures in the same vicinity, and were pretty sure they saw golden eagles (banded by naturalists in the area).

The controversy continues as juvenile bald eagles and golden eagles are similar looking. Especially from a distance.

As the afternoon lingers on, Carl is taking care of a few chores.

The Mariners are playing the Royals and Carl is rooting for the sweep.

please note that some of the preceding pictures have been taken by the Grand Pooh-bah

Time to get back down to the beach.

Yet another day of lounging around, although we did enjoy lunch in town at Penny’s Kitchen.

After lunch we stopped by the old family home for a quick look.

This is a typical beach day activity.

A typical view when you look up from the typical activity.

Also found out that sleeping with your eyes not fully closed is apparently hereditary.

Kind of a lazy post, after a fairly lazy day.