Raincharm’s Weblog

Our evening tonight was spent with several other like minded folks at Seattle’s Experience Music Project.
The subject was Howard Kaylan.
His subject was his lifetime of music, with the Turtles, Flo & Eddie, & the Mothers of Invention.
Also, as it turns out, Strawberry Shortcake, the Care Bears, and some other 80’s kids fare.

Space Needle photo on Jackie Robinson Day (Mariners did not play yesterday)

The Space Needle (next to the EMP)

Many stories, hope they are as good as the ones he told during his talk

All for now.
But I am planning to read his book.

So I skipped the Mariners game today.
Carl went.

It was sunny and the Ms won.
Figures.

I did a bit of work, and when Carl got home we got to the real work.

Our goal was to figure out how to get the vinyl siding off of the back of the house, so we could get to the asbestos next. One step at a time.
After all, we have the boxes and we have the bags.

My idea was to get the top cut into the vinyl with a box cutter.
This meant climbing up the ladder, and trying to cut.
It did not go well. No cut, just a few scratches.
Carl suggested we try a lower section to figure it out.

What we figured out is that it works to just kind of rip it off the side of the house.
The first piece that is. Then it is un-nailing, unscrewing, and keeping the vinyl and styrofoam separate from the sharp pieces.

We lost one piece of the cedar siding underneath the vinyl.
It was not in the best shape.

At some point Carl noted that what we were not seeing was ……. ASBESTOS.

Apparently they must have removed the asbestos when adding the vinyl siding, except in the entry to the kitchen. So, one less thing to deal with. Except for the part from the kitchen entry.
Bags, Boxes, and hardly any asbestos to fill them with.
Boxes we will use anyway. And Carl only got half of the bags I intended. Apparently he had a premonition.

We are still going to try to finish this portion of the siding removal.
It will save paying the contractor for this much demo – that they would likely finish in a few hours.
And if it gets too dicey, we will just stop.

We always picture a double header as a day in the sun.
It did not start raining until the last 15 minutes of the Sounders game, so that was a plus (no roof).

Sounders tied 0-0.

Over to Safeco for the Mariners.
The temperature started dropping about halfway through batting practice.

I currently have on long underware, under armour, jeans, long-sleeved t-shirt, Sounders jersey, light winter jacket, Sounders rain jacket, gloves, scarf and hat.

The heavy winter coat will be added shortly. And the blanket.

I want a good game, and then some hot chocolate with a little something.

And now it’s raining at pi seats, even with the roof closed

So the first part of the 1st home stand of the Mariner’s 81-game home (regular) season is in the books.
We won’t go into all of the particulars, but except for Opening Day, they were all long and cold.
Long underwear, multiple jackets, gloves help, but it still just wears a body out. And there is less time for shopping, cleaning, and general picking up. We have not starved, and still have healthy eating going on, but Carl’s half day of work and no game tonight should help.

… Then again, tomorrow there is both a Sounders and Mariners game.

OK – some additional “progress” has been made on the never-ending asbestos removal project.

No asbestos has been harmed.
But we are getting closer to being able to do so.

Two items are necessary for this next step.
Bags, suitably labeled as holding hazardous waste, and
Boxes to hold the hazardous waste in a bag – because the hazardous waste is too heavy and sharp for a 6-mil plastic bag to hold by itself. (And then a second bag encloses the box enclosing the bag enclosing the asbestos.)

As with anything to do with asbestos, it is never as easy as it seems.
Some of this has been reported previously.

I found some boxes that were the right size. Of course they had to be ordered from afar, through Home Depot. At least we would be able to pick them up once they arrived. 1-1/2 weeks later. Which happened to be yesterday. We did attend the Mariner’s game yesterday, but after it was 13-0 after 3 innings, the perfect game lost in the 4th, we decided to take advantage of being close to said Home Depot which was open until 10 PM. The Service Desk was all over helping us, but took probably 20 minutes to retrieve the box of boxes from receiving. AND the box with the boxes inside was HUGE. Sure enough it did not fit in the trunk. (Recall the rearrangement required to fit a bicycle into the car a few days earlier.) We tried taking the car seat out to put the HUGE BOX in the back seat. Still no good. So we opened the HUGE box and found the boxes only filled about 1/2 of the space in the box, and the individual boxes easily fit into the back seat. [I returned the HUGE BOX to the store for them to recycle.]

Carl picked up the special bags today. Last week I found out that for $2/bag you could buy them individually from a local Safety Supply store. So a few days later I sent Carl on an errand. And of course, when he arrived at the store, they did not have any in stock. Of course it took two trips. It could not have gone any other way.

Carl returned for more Mariner baseball tonight.

The 3 Intrepid Amigos

I stayed home, and have not been able to achieve just about any of the goals I set for myself tonight.
One goal I did manage to complete was picking up toys. Carl had stopped by with Sagan for a short while. Just like old times.

Toys R Us (Note the handle to a sledge hammer on the left – new to the toy bin)

I think that means it is time for bed.

Opening day is rather like a holiday in our family.

Tools of the game

But we get to see friends. Some come from Oregon

The Dixon’s with Carl & Sagan at the Needle

Others have been in the city the entire time, but we generally see them at the ball park.

And it is especially nice to be sitting with our seat-mates once again.

And there were lots of new people to meet in our section as well.
Safeco Field went through some reconfiguration over the off-season, and they eliminated most of the lower level left field seats. So many of them are now in right field. Closer to the field, but the angle is quite a bit different. [I think our new neighbors really appreciated the closeness when Gutierrez snagged a fly ball with a dive right in front of the seats.]

Good, crisp game and the Mariners beat the Astros 3-2.
It was a reasonably nice night (no rain), but chilly.
And most people (a sell-out or close to it) went away happy.

Tomorrow it will probably be just a few of us hardy souls.
I am packing my big jacket and long underwear again.

Carl went out to play at baseball with another team today.
That is they were having a practice.
He pitched, played a little first, and quit when he started feeling that it was a good time to stop.
He did not push it too far.

I think he might be growing up.

Then we got a call from the boy.
Or rather from one of the boy’s friends, while driving him to the hospital.
They were playing some pick-up basketball, and his shoulder popped out while rebounding against another player. Since his shoulder has a history (twice) of dislocating, it was probably a bad confluence of position and impact, rather than a bad play. It sounded like the most difficult of the three to replace, but each of the other times have been approached really differently, so maybe part of that is how each ER does this type of work. He said he thought those with him were more upset than he was when he got up and announced somebody had to take him to the ER. And he only “screamed” a bit when moving the arm to a new position (like getting out of the car).

Luckily his friends made sure he got the ER care he needed, and even got his car back to his apartment.
And another friend will be taking him to the doctor tomorrow to discuss next steps.

And his team’s first home game is in 3 DAYS!
I am sure there are only a few million things to do with tickets between now and then.

I don’t know if he is more worried about his physical state or work items.
I think they start out with a pretty intense schedule the first week. Kids groups, etc.

We were able to Skype. Lean to the left for left-handed typing

Yes – he is right-handed

He has a fancy different kind of brace to hold his arm still. Not the normal sling.

Fancy arm holder – looking tired

This is before taking any additional drugs (since those from the ER), so we must be pretty funny.

Still able to laugh

We are hoping the healing is fast. But from past experience it takes more than a few weeks.
I wish I could jet off and help him out, but I am sure he will manage. He does seem to have many good friends to step in when needed.

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.]