Raincharm’s Weblog

Last week’s workweek was odd.

Monday was not, Tuesday was almost normal. Wednesday I stayed until 8 PM, and then drove myself and a coworker to Olympia. Almost 80 miles. This was so we didn’t have a long drive in the morning, before our 8 AM class. Which lasted until 5 PM, followed by a drive back to Seattle. Friday seemed like it could be more normal, but again lasted until 8 PM.

Don’t worry, I only worked 4 hours on Saturday.

I am trying desperately to get financial information to our consultant, so he can prepare a chapter for me, before he becomes a new father.

It’s all good. Carl is taking good care of me.

And while we were in Olympia there were some sights worth seeing.

Pulp logs in the background

The state Capitol

Boats

There was also a small great blue heron fishing.

We saw two successful catches.

Friends visited over the weekend. Talk, and a little baseball. We ended with chicken tikka and a little naan. Satisfying.

Only worked until 6 tonight. So that’s an improvement. And carpooling as a rider. Hopefully I will manage some posts without carpooling. My partner in traffic is taking a 2 week vacation.

For Jane (see comments), lower section.

I was going to water the vegetables this morning, but when I started out the back door, I saw the railings were already wet. So the tomatoes are on their own.

Carl has been trying to do some straightening around the house. Two of his efforts.

I think this is the haul of baseballs from 2018. He’s planning to give them away to kids during the last game of the season.

You probably can’t tell from the picture, but those are heart-shaped rocks.

Close up view. Yes, Purell has been an important part of our life this year.

All for now. Time for work.

I swear I can smell it, in addition to trying to peer through the haze. I have been told the particulant count is down, but the smoke is thicker.

Health advisories are out. We are approaching red levels = “unhealthy.” We can still go purple=”very unhealthy”, or even maroon =”hazardous”.

Approaching first pitch. It’s even less than clear looking across to home plate. It is raining ash.

I did walk at lunch, but sat most of the day at work, picking away at animations for a PowerPoint presentation. It is part of the big project. I had put together outline notes before Carl’s surgery. Slowly trying to catch up, still.

We went to the Dodgers, I mean the Mariners, game last night. There were an impressive number of Dodger blue attired people in attendance. I almost think they may have accounted for more than 50 percent, and it was a packed house. Perhaps it was just that they persisted with the uninspired and unimaginative chant, “let’s go Dodgers.” This was answered by the equally bland, “let’s go Mariners,” to the point where it was hard to discern who I should be cheering for.

The Mariners put up a bit of a fight, but were tied at the end of the 9th inning. In the 10th, after not having scored since the 1st inning, with the bases loaded, they managed to pull off a walk-off. Balk. Not a walk, not a hit, but a shuffle of the feet balk. It was over in an instant.

Today’s game started slowly. The bottom of the first inning took 30 minutes, and the Dodgers scored 5 runs. We were not in our usual seats, so I checked out the different views.

Seattle Skyline

Space Needle

These next few shots were later in the game. It was quite breezy, and I noticed an interesting phenomenon.

Sounders flag blowing west, American flag blowing east.

Notice the difference in air quality from the first picture in the blog

The air quality got really bad last week. I am hoping this is not a repeat.

Our upstairs bathroom faucet started dripping about Easter. It was still possible to apply a bit of extra twist to stop the drops. Recently, however, the drops would continue to drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip … well you get the drip, er drift.

I finally had the moment of time, inclination and confidence to take on this repair. Really the first time, although I know we have had other drips and I assume they did not just stop on their own.

So I consulted our DIY book. This book was given to Carl, specifically not to me, several years ago when we had a local contractor redo some of the downstairs bathroom.

Carl ended up taking care of his daughter for a time, and then two kids of a family that lived across the street from the contractor. This has generally been how Carl’s business has been. Word of mouth from friends to their friends. All of these kids have graduated high school and are into their next endeavor.

The book is basic. Perfect for these types of projects. I ignored the book ownership issue and forged ahead.

I started with the cold water tap. It came out easily. I spent a short amount of time looking at the bits and pieces. It was clear that one was in need of replacement, and possibly two.

One trip to the hardware store. $1.74 later and home.

The kind Ace Hardware man agreed that the seat washer needed to be replaced, but said he thought the packing gland should continue, even if it looked a bit worse for wear.

Old vs New

The hot water tap didn’t come out quite as easily, so I am glad I chose the cold first. In the end they both were repaired and seem to be holding the water back. Just to be sure, the tools are not put away, yet.

All this, watering, one load of laundry and still time before leaving for a 3-year old’s birthday party at noon.

As Carl often says, “Three at last, three at last, three at last. Thank God almighty I’m three at last!”

The change of seasons presents an interesting morning decision. It is dawn and the sun will be rising as I drive east to work.

Should I put on my (prescription) sunglasses or not? If I do, the first bit of the drive is dim due to the shades. If I don’t, I may have moments of near blindness due to the sun, or trying to change my glasses while driving in rush hour traffic.

This morning I did not put on the sunglasses. And the sun rose.

But all of the distant fires (eastern Washington and British Columbia) have added an extremely thick haze. I could see the full shape of the sun, and it was red. The haze was thick enough that the lack of sunglasses was tolerable.

The sun as I arrived at work

The air is actually considered unhealthy at this point. Exercising outdoors is not encouraged.

Neither Carl or I have noticed any breathing difficulties, but my eyes feel scratchy.

I hope the fires die down and the wind picks up. Even rain would be acceptable.

But not the Mariners!

Although we did check their progress online. Instead we went to a Silver Fox game to see friends, both on and off the field. Carl’s team, for all of 1 game this year, prevailed.

Next up was a single-a Everett Aquasox game with a group of Mariner fans who Carl hangs around with, usually at a stadium. The Frogs! And they lost. Even the mascots lost to a little boy ( seen leading the pack on the left.)

It was a reasonably nice day, but I was ready to go home when the game finally ended.

Oh, and there was a wedding. Friday evening. A lovely affair, on the water (like Rey and Becca’s), but no beach. And the boats were a bit larger than kayaks.

Speaking of wedding pictures. Here’s one of the Root and Arrow photos from the wedding a bit earlier this summer. Just a taste for now.

Jay, Rey, Becca, Cheryl and Tony.

There were kayaks. Trust me.

And just for grins, here are 2 of the 3 Harms boys. Bruce could not make it.

Steve and Carl

91. Simply amazing.

Photo courtesy of Bill

He often tells me, now, how he is slowing down. And then that he has to go finish putting the hardware cloth on the outhouse vents to keep the squirrels from turning it into a giant 2 hole storage bin. And he was going to trim some branches off of a pine tree to get to one of the vents.

I hope to catch up to his speed sometime soon.

There are a few chores that have fallen by the wayside over the summer. I am constantly reminded of one in particular. WEEDING

I decided that I would attack just one stretch this morning, before it got too hot. I didn’t take a before picture, but a partial one. It’s like raking leaves, you can see your progress.

The large bare area being cleared is supposed to get strawberries, eventually.

Checked out the vegetables as well, picking two tomatoes and one zucchini.

Find the zucchini

After a lunch break we set out on a walk. These have not happened since the 2nd knee episode, but we decided to go. A bit more than 2 miles, and it included some hills. (That’s what happens when you follow the shade into a ravine. You eventually have to climb out.)

It’s been a while, so the rest of the afternoon may have a bit slower pace.

Morning greeting. Recognizable form before coffee.

More Picassoesque after the stress of the day.