Raincharm’s Weblog

When I was a bit younger, OK a lot younger, TV stations did not broadcast all night long. Occasionally I would stay up late at night. Sometimes I would even fall asleep on the couch, in front of the TV.

Eventually, the witching hour would arrive and the signal entertaining us, or accompanying our snoring, would start the end of their day routine.

I seem to recall the National anthem, the flag, and maybe a song. Then – the test pattern would take over the small black and white screen.

Last night I was up working, with the TV as a chattering chum nearby. Leno ended, and Kimmel was on deck. An announcement – it barely registered. “We need to maintain our transmitter, and will be going off the air.”

And then they did.

Perhaps the cable, dish or direct folks still had service, but us over the air dinosaurs were out of luck.

It was time for bed anyway, but it did take me back.

Here we are in the middle of the baseball playoffs, and we are still talking about soccer.

The Seattle Sounders played the Chicago Fire for the US Open Cup Final tonight.
This is one of the three “seasons” they are playing in right now.

The Concacaf Cup – with teams from the Americas (north, south, centra)
The MLS Season – of course.
And the US Open Cup. A long storied cup. You can be ANY team from the US to join this tournament.

This is the third season in a row that the Sounders have won the US Open Cup.
They have only been in the MLS for three seasons. Not a bad record.

It was a rough, wide open, and sometimes frantic game.
In the end, the Sounders WON! 2-0.
Both goals were scored in the second half – right in front of our seats. Exciting.

A phone picture of the trophy presentation (with all three of the trophies they have won).

One of the best parts of this weekend has been seeing the reunions. It has been more than 30 years for many, and they seemed genuinely excited and pleased to be with each other. The younger alumni were generous with playing time, and the current U of I players were licking their chops as they realized they were playing a team of 50+ year olds to start the game. The alumni did fairly well. The current players were fast, but their elders were wiser. Here are a good number of Carl’s contemporaries.

It has been a long 2 days. And that has been a good thing. Lots of familiar names that now have faces. And many of Carl’s stories of youthful exploits have been corroborated.

It is the end of the baseball season. At least for the Mariners. I am likely to watch this by myself. I can see the three amigos at the bullpen. I don’t know if they will want to leave their players. Too final.

At least we will be warm inside watching the playoffs.

Too much trying to make vinegar sweet?

The calendar said summer ended a few days ago. But here in Seattle, it ended today. Or rather it continued through today.

So, instead of doing any work around the house – we took a walk.
11.5 miles in the end.
We started with a general route in mind, but changed it up as we went along.
We headed west toward the Puget Sound.
We only got as far as the Ballard Locks – which is almost to the Sound.
There were a lot of salmon in the locks, as well as a lot of people. [The people were not “in” the locks. Except those on the boats in the locks.] And there were fish in the locks, taking the easy route up to Lake Union. Most of the fish were dutifully going through the fish ladder, where they had to use a bit more muscle.

We stopped for lunch/brunch at a cafe near the locks, and made the decision to head back to Fremont rather than out to Shilshole Marina (on the Sound). The idea was to perhaps go to Oktoberfest. We did, only not inside. We sat outside along the trail, and watched boats ply the canal. Very nice, warm and sunny.

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Eventually we had to leave the waterway, and start the trudge up the hill toward home.
A stop at the coffee shop, bakery and video store along the way helped pass the rest of the afternoon.

And as we reached home, there were a few drops of rain signalling the gathering of clouds that will now last until spring.

That is what it feels like.
I guess there is a bit of a hangover when you take a short vacation.

So this week has been filled with others taking vacation around me, which means I am trying to cover a bit for them – but not much. It is more of a mental thing. If I could get my desk to show a bit of empty space I think my brain would like it better too. But – the budget must come first, so that is my task for today. Then there are the demands. And finishing up the annexations ……..

Carl – his work has finally hit a “regular” rhythm. At least from what I can tell. Next week he starts taking classes a few days a week, so that will give it even more structure.

Of course we will have to contend with the last three Mariner games next week. And the weather. It is supposed to have a last gasp of summer on Saturday, and then proceed directly to 20 degrees cooler. Maybe I will have to break out my start of the season clothes for the end of the season.

Budget calls … ta-ta.

So it is Tuesday night, but we are still blogging about the 3-Day.
That is because it is the first time I have had the energy and time, at the same time.
As Pooh would say – this is proof of life.

The Start

In-between

And the hungry walkers arrive en masse (Iron Man is in there – look for the tall blue hat)

The End

So the last day is the day that is currently in my mind.

The evening prior (Saturday evening that is) it started raining. Relatively hard.
Not a thunderstorm hard, but an, “I’m going to rain for a while, and you will get wet if you walk in it,” hard.
So we retired to our tent about 8:30 PM, hoping it would be dry in the morning.
I slept pretty well, but woke up around 2:15 – not knowing what time it was.
It was not time to get up (3:45), so back to sleep.

The next time I woke up it was to heavy rain and loud words.
The first voices were from inside the medical tent, next to ours.
I couldn’t figure out why they were talking so loudly.
Next was the man yelling for somebody to call SOMEBODY.
And then there was the hard rain and loud truck like noise that alternated.

Finally we heard enough to realize the irrigation system in the field on which 2000 plus people were camped, had started to water the grass at 3 AM!

Our tent was at the end of the field where the first irrigation zone was located.
The medical folks were speaking loudly because there were spigots inside their tent, and the medical supplies and paperwork were being drenched.
The man was yelling because he  was directly adjacent to a spigot, and it was irrigating the interior of his and a few other tents. (We were one tent away from interior irrigation.)
He was also standing on top of the offending spigot, so it would not continue to get the rest of his stuff and others wet.

Tables turned upside down on the sprinklers eventually sort of controlled the flow.
Medical moved into a corner of the dining tent.
Crew members were mobilized to warn other walkers still sleeping, before the irrigation zones in their areas kicked on.

And breakfast was served earlier than expected.

And it started to rain, hard, again.
Most of the walkers waited to board buses to Seattle, in a line that wound all the way around the dining tent, out of the rain. As they left they could see tents scattered all over the place (any place that was not near an irrigation point).

The use of buses allows the route to go through interesting areas, and still end after 60 miles, where they want it to end.

Carl served breakfast from 4:30 to 8 AM.
I served for a while, and then moved luggage, took down the tent, loaded everything on to the appropriate truck, and then reported back to closing camp duties.

Closing camp duties for most of us crew folks includes picking up trash and detritus. The goal is to leave the site cleaner than when we arrived. That means feathers, string, bits and pieces, sequins, tarps, t-shirts, and discarded anything is picked up and placed in a trash bag. I don’t know how many bits I picked up, but it went on for hours. It is a big camp, and the cleanup was for the entire camp that housed about 2500 people. And in reality, I think the campers were pretty good about policing their area.

Carl had a massage yesterday, and I have one scheduled for tomorrow.
So – that is it for the time being.
Maybe tomorrow I will be able to post about my work and traffic. Much more interesting.

And be warned – we may just BOTH try to walk the walk next year.
Anybody want to join us?

Sung to the tune of Iron Man, by Ozzy Osborn
Typed on a smart phone, and the first run was pretty rough.

I am Ironman (or maybe I’m the Iron Chef – either way this food is delicious and iron rich)

Now the time is here
for Iron man to spread cheer
go on in and have some food
and most of it is pretty good

He once served some meals
to energize the walkers on their way
helping them to finish
the breast cancer 3- day

Everyone loves him
he just stands at the table
helping the walkers make it
60 miles if they’re able

Many spoonfuls of chow
Fills the walkers up with eats
Then they get some sleep
Up at dawn and on their feets

We work to find the cure
By pushing our footsies all those miles
And when the cure is found
Just imagine all the smiles.

We went to our meeting this afternoon.
A mix of inspirational, tear jerker, and just figuring out some details.

We report at 4:30 AM, so should already be in bed.
But instead of just packing today I worked 1/2 day.

So only have time for a short note.

If you see a group of folks – mostly pink – walking, staggering or limping along, be sure to give them a cheer and a wave. It all helps. 60 miles. Even the strong need an occassional boost.

Our job is primarly to feed these folks at the beginning and end of each of their 3 days.

Carl has been handed the task of greeter, as Iron Man. (Our theme is superheros – hence the capes.) Should be fun. I will try to get a picture of him to post sometime this weekend.