Raincharm’s Weblog

I like to jump into the new year work stuff with both feet. Home stuff too. Yes, I have already started our taxes for 2019. This is due to wanting to put money aside for business retirement. I got that figure so we can.

Work has been chock full of meetings, which cuts into time for year-end activities. Plus I am training a co-worker on some of my annual activities. So I can become redundant.

He is a quick learner, and helped me discover the difference between Interger and Long Interger in Access. This had to do with account numbers surpassing a large, seemingly random number, unless you work with 16 bit digital stuff.

I just know that January is going to fly by.

Happy 3 Kings Day or Feast of the Epiphany. Oops, that was yesterday. See what I mean?

Our Christmas celebrations really started on the 22nd. I’ll call this dinner with friends. We ordered Chinese from Chiang’s Gourmet and had a grand time talking and eating.

One more day of work, and it was off to Nashville. They say you’re not supposed to take wrapped presents through security, so I wrapped after security. With paper I pre cut. No scissors through security either.

The flight was uneventful, after the hour delay to fix the air conditioning.

Once in Nashville it was all about meeting Corwin. He grunted hello, and occasionally gave us a smile.

Carl also finally got to meet Tony and Cheryl, the other grandparents.

It was dinner and time for bed for the travel weary.

The 25th was presents, family and food. Starbucks (we found an open one), fajitas and tamales for lunch, and chinese takeout for dinner.

The Starbucks was not too far from our airbnb, but not the closest to Rey and Becca’s apartment. Still, it was open. We realized after ordering that we had left an item at the Airbnb. I was tasked to get it while Carl and Ashlan waited for our order. I climbed into “our” car (Becca’s SUV), and noticed a handy phone holder I hadn’t seen before. And the piece of paper on the passenger floor was missing. Hmmmmmm! WRONG CAR!

I climbed out, hit the unlock button, and the next car over flashed welcoming lights. Same car, same color. As I was climbing into “my” car, the owner of the other car came out. I apologized for getting into his car, and he said he had noticed the same cars, taken a picture, and texted his wife. Apparently she drives a Mini, and parking next to other Minis and posting pictures is a thing. No harm, no foul, but by now our order had arrived and Carl was trying to figure out why I was still there.

Finally with the entire family, we set about having a quick bite, and opening stockings and presents.

Reynard the Fox, wearing Becca’s apron

And passing Corwin between grandparents.

We have an interesting set up here. Rey and Becca and Corwin have a small apartment with a small kitchen and a small table, with enough seating around, but not around the table. Tony and Cheryl have an Airbnb with a small kitchen, a larger table but not enough chairs. We have an Airbnb with a big table, only 4 chairs, and no kitchen. Chairs from Rey and Becca’s have made a few trips to our place, with takeout food and dishes from Tony and Cheryl’s place. A moving puzzle.

Boxing day included a big brunch. Our small immediate family departed for downtown Nashville.

We walked from music row, home to studios, to the Belmont Mansion. The tour was very interesting, a glimpse into being a woman before, through and after the civil war. Adelicia Acklen had 3 husband’s, 10 children, 3 plantations and Bel Monte. She was intelligent and driven, but not immune to any of the tribulations of the time.

We also took in the Country Music Hall of Fame. It had so much to see and hear. By the end I was overwhelmed.

A co-worker’s favorite

We reconvened with the rest, and Cheryl made a pork roast for dinner. Yum.

Friday’s primary adventure was the Nashville Zoo. We spent the afternoon there, and closed the place down.

Cheryl was very attractive to these guys

Lorakeets

A final meal, game and some family time.

Saturday morning dawned early at our place. Ashlan had an early flight back to the big city and Allen and Theo. I’m not sure of the order of importance there.

She texted us she had arrived, just as we were starting brunch.

That’s Chronic Bacon next to the biscuit. Tasty! But it’s bacon, so I should not have been surprised.

We spent the afternoon at Radnor Lake State Park. A very pleasant 3 mile or so walk around the park, plus some coming and going. We saw this owl

And lots of turtles. They listed at least 5 species in the park.

Then, as our first test as grandparents, Carl and I watched Corwin while Rey and Becca napped.

He did cry a bit, and we did change a diaper. I think they’ll ask us back.

If you’re still reading, that’s all for now.

My last post alluded to some damp Seattle winter days. It is no longer damp. We are wet, in a deep puddle.

The rain started in earnest Wednesday evening, and is has reached prolonged fire hose rates. Don’t ever ask if it could rain any harder, you are only tempting the fates.

My first weather based decision this morning was to take an alternate freeway due to reports of water over some lanes on my normal route. It was a relatively calm drive in the downpour until I reached the Plateau, where I work. At that point the rainfall came down double time, and I cranked the wipers up to 11.

Back in parking was hampered by the inability to see the parking lines through the puddles (no backup camera). But after 3 checks I stopped trying for perfection.

Once in the building I shook off the wet, and started about my day. After a bit, I reached for my coffee. Empty space….. It must still be in the car, a soaking distance away.

Plucked up my courage and went to get a cup from the kitchen pot.

I had a long weekend. It was grey almost the entire time, and raining for much of the time. To be clear, it only rained some of the time, the rest of the time it was a nice Seattle drizzle.

Friday I got to join Carl at his job. Dean and I joined Carl at the zoo. We saw the penguins, and a play area, and a food court area where we were the only non-workers in the place, and the workers were busy transforming it into a fundraising event. Not much zoo sights.

In more holiday news, we did lights. On the house and along walks. A wander through Candy Cane Lane, and the Green Lake Luminaria. Most of these walks were damp.

And a few new baby pictures.

Did anyone else notice that any pictures with Corwin crying also include Rey?

I had my yearly grapefruit for breakfast this morning.

We don’t buy them because Carl can’t eat them due to medication interactions. But a consultant from work normally has a box delivered and I take one of those home. I do enjoy the grapefruit, but feel like I should have a splashguard! Always have to clean my glasses afterwards. Maybe when I’m rich I will hire someone to prepare my fruit. Peel me a grapefruit, Charles.

And in other news, Corwin continues to be amazingly cute.

Happy first birthday as a mother.

Have a wonderful, happy day.

Carl is enough over his cold to take a bit of a walk. We had signed up for a holo-lens experience, so the 3 mile walk to Mohai fit the bill. Things were generally good, chilly but dry.

And full of detours. There is a major road renovation including a bridge, so changing the route was required. And the re-route was to a road with even more construction. So crossing back and forth the road occurred. We wonder if someone has a game going to figure how many detours will be followed before the people revolt.

Bonus of the detour was following some routes we hadn’t traveled before.

Art work on a Fred Hutchinson Center hill climb

I think the i-beams in the road are part of the bridge reconstruction.

And because I have them, some new pictures.

After a layoff of several weeks for a myriad of reasons, we are carpooling again, at least for a few days. The normal schedule differences will still be with us, but we’re all in the same city. The seasonal darkness also seems to play with traffic, so having an opportunity to use a carpool lane can pay benefits.

That said, I will be returning to Seattle from work on my own today. My big project of the last two years is hitting one of the final milestones, going through a committee at the county, that will recommend the County Council approve our Water Comprehensive Plan, my big project. I don’t expect anything major to come up this afternoon, although I did have to provide one last piece for them last week. I have managed about 7 other plans through this process over the last 30+ years. This committee meeting has not always been a fun experience. There were grilling sessions, and confrontational moments. This time nothing is expected. Better plans, a committee that is not trying to overstep their jurisdiction, and the person currently in charge does a great job.

On the home front, we are starting to think about Thanksgiving. We don’t know whether we are on our own, or having 2 to 5 house guests. And traditional or non-traditional main course. My only concern is the food shopping. I am considering the farmer’s market, so I need to know the lay of the land before Saturday morning.

Dream of the day night.

Carl goes into a coffee shop. He then realizes he has his CPAP mask on. And Max Scherzer and his family were also in the coffee shop. Carl then gets into the Scherzer’s huge van, with all of the Scherzer brood. And Rey is driving. They leave, and for some reason, have to keep avoiding accidents.

My anaylsis of the dream is sleep deprivation, baseball and family, larger families.

And from that analysis, I am going to share a few pictures from a newly larger, sleep deprived family, who occassionally attend baseball games.

A sort of amusing start to the day.

I am working today, and so is Carl (schools are off). As I approached the freeway I glanced at the speedometer and realized I was going over 70! Many thoughts simultaneously: Slow down, traffic is lighter than usual, everyone is driving fast, merge safely. This was followed quickly by the realization that the speedometer was in km/hr, not mph! At that moment brief panic. Very brief, because I know that 60 mph is about 100 km/hr, and I can work off of that fact (thank you driving a fair amount in Canada). And just drive with the rest of the traffic, follow their lead. And as the sky brightened, I was finally able to see where the button was to change back to mph.

A brief, and in the end, amusing interlude.