Raincharm’s Weblog

Some pictures, mostly from Saturday

Shoveling as exercise. Not too dense. There are a handful of shovels on the block. Ours has been borrowed several times, and others are shoveling multiple lots. It is pretty clear from one end to the other of the block.

Comparison from Friday night to Saturday morning

Friday night snowman

Saturday morning version

Good time for neighbors to play together. This is the sphinx, caterpillar, or mountain depending on the moment

3 of the 6 kids playing. Reminded me of when our kids were young and the daycare was 5 kids strong.

On the serious side, our DirecTV satellite does not work in heavy rain and snow.

But … soccer must be watched. So we hauled the ladder out and I cleaned everything, except some small icy bits.

A walk is in our near future. Maybe before the next flurries arrive.

A bit of a synopsis of our last few days

The year of the pig. Print from the Hatch Show Print. In business since 1879. One of the oldest Letterpress printers still in business.

Well, Let’s say Goodbye would be more accurate

The Ryman Auditorium, the mother church

The back end of this establishment was visible from our hotel room. Nudie was a tailor from the Ukraine who made costumes for many performers.

Bill Monroe and Carl

I like to drive on ice! Except not in the Seattle metro area

Rippys, where our friend Lyle played for many years

A Dolly Parton outfit

Interesting art. Can you find the guitar neck? How about the saw.

Outfit by Nudie Cohn

Cumberland River after the rain that had flash flood warnings the day before

The John Siegenthaler pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River. Saved from destruction as a historical structure. Named for John because he saved a man from jumping off the bridge when he was covering the story as a reporter.

Sunset over Tennessee

Backyard with remains of the early week snow that we missed.

Which brings us to today.

We both got up early. Carl to try to find food for our larder. We had reduced our food on hand for the week away. Only yesterday the hordes largely emptied the grocery stores getting ready for the end of the week storm. And he had to get a blood test.

I was going to go in to work with my carpooler.

The first big challenge was trying to get the car out of the driveway. There was some snow and ice by the wheels. Putting towels under the wheels finally did the trick. The car is now out of the steep driveway and onto the flat street.

I spent some time trying to chip ice off the sidewalk and front steps.

Going to work was not bad.

Work was a bit scattered, trying to go through emails, answering a few questions and putting out some actual work.

And then the snow started.

We were dismissed pretty quickly, and the office closed. We hit the road at 1:20.

Segment 1 on 228th Avenue SE

The trip started slowly. Apparently the schools let out and everyone was trying to get home before it got “bad.” Our trip has 4 segments.

Segment 1. We moved slowly along the main road, and then made the first decision to leave the main road for a secondary road, but still a main road. The main road was crowded, slow, but not too slippery.

The thing with working on top of the Sammamish Plateau is that it is a plateau. One must ascend or descend when coming or going. There are only a few choices, with varying degrees of slope and curvature. Most have at least one section greater than 10 percent slope or more.

Segment 2. Our choice took us to 212th Way SE, also known as Snake Hill Rd. The lighter traffic and leftover snow on the road made the steep curves challenging. We inched downward until a car four in front of ours just stopped in the road, without even really pulling over to the guardrail. I think the driver, a young woman, was just plain scared. This was the first place we slid while stopping. The cars went around by waiting for a break in the uphill traffic and going into their lane. It was difficult to stop and help as that would further block the two lane road.

There was another larger vehicle to pass a few curves later. Then it was our turn to slip toward a ditch, and then a guardrail. It would have been a slow speed collision with whatever eventually stopped the vehicle, but my carpooler managed to cajole the vehicle to miss everything. One more slowdown as a van headed up did a several point turn to head back down, and finally there was another car headed up, but stationary. Then we noticed the car next to the one in the road. Only it was upside down in the ditch. The people from the car were standing by the ditch, and nobody appeared frantic, so we slid on by. We finally made it down the hill and heaved a big sigh of relief.

Segment 3. East Lake Sammamish Pkwy. This is a very flat road. After a mile of light traffic we hit the backlog of cars.

I texted Carl at about 2 PM, noting I could slowly walk faster than we were moving. Then one of the cars in front of us decided to do a u-turn and head back in the direction of less traffic. Either he did not check the oncoming traffic or the oncoming driver was going way too fast, or both. Whichever it was, the oncoming driver had to swerve to avoid and ended up hitting a rockery.

About 3 PM we were still on E Lake Sammamish Pkwy in Issaquah. That was about the time Jim threw a snowball at me, in the car. Finally, about 3:40, we reached the entrance to I-90. 2 hours and 20 minutes to go about 6 miles.

Segment 4: Freeway driving. It felt like freedom, reaching speeds of 40 mph. There was some traffic, but it seemed the biggest traffic glut had already passed while we were stuck in Issaquah.

It was still snowing when I was dropped off. Carl had been busy with several of the young kids from the block.

Carl had shoveled the walk, although it was being covered behind him with fresh snow.

So we are snug and warm tonight. Our TV satellite dish is not working due to a snow and ice cover, so we are watching the Ken Burns Lewis and Clark documentary.

I heard from my carpooler that some co-workers were still trying to reach their homes, six hours after we were dismissed.

One step too far

Still in Nashville.

I feel like the guest who stayed too long. The weather turned about noon today to a steady rain, followed by pouring rain. This was completed by a phone alert for a flash flood warning and tornado warning sirens.

For the feet part of the title Carl has continued to log steps. Yesterday he was over 20,000. Food has been consistently good. Yesterday we celebrated the Chinese lunar new year of the pig. Becca and Rey prepared the repast including Chinese cabbage, gluten, roasted tofu, enokitake mushrooms, rice noodles and more. Kyle, my work mate, joined us and supplied a traditional gift of money in a fancy red package.

Tonight’s meal was at a mostly vegan restaurant followed by some lovely ice cream.

We have also been introduced to some local delicacies.

Goo stands Grand Ole Opry

And of course, friends. Carl was able to catch up with his friend Lyle. They met in Seattle years ago. Lyle moved to Nashville to make a living playing music. He was with Allen Jackson (until he hit the big time), and most recently spent about 10 years as a regular at Rippys on Broadway in Nashville.

Tomorrow we plan to sleep in, have breakfast at the Sun Diner, maybe take in a museum and finally head back to Seattle and likely snow (in the next day or two).

Carl walked while I went to conference. He got probably 16,000 steps to my 6,000.

I did manage a lunch walk with him. It was blustery on the pedestrian bridge over the river.

Meanwhile in Seattle …

And we got to spend dinner with Rey and Becca at a Thai restaurant. Very good food, and a chance to chat.

We finally got into Nashville proper yesterday.

Where we went, and a pick. I think they may play music just about anywhere.

Here is a sign for a current industry?

Back to the museum.

There were several exhibits. Again I took very few pictures, but it wasn’t for lack of intrigue. The marriage boxes, the horses,

A series of “comic” riding paintings, commissioned by the rider. He died young of a brain injury.

One painting that spoke to me was of an immature gull, looking over his shoulder as the mature gulls fly away. Much like life and predicted death on our beach.

Library lions? No Fortitude or Patience. Just an impatient, impertinent imp.

And for those that followed the muppets, Sam the Eagle has made the Frist his home.

The day wound down with pizza from Slim and Huskies, veggies with spinach artichoke dip, and the Sleeper Bowl.

Finally it was time to head to our conference headquarters. I think our “room” is almost as big as Rey and Becca’s apartment.

Beautiful hotel, but I could hear/feel a bass beat well into the night.

We are enjoying a nice quiet day in Nashville. We might have done more, but I left my phone in Seattle. 😐

Luckily we have good friends who are adept at getting into our house and then locating the wayward device. And fast tracking it to our location.

Of course, this was after the alarm went off at its early morning appointed hour. And then again, and again, …😳.

For some exercise we set off for the Mill Creek Greenway.

It was a pleasant walk through the woods on a paved path.

Our leaders

Winter season meant it was easy to see the shapes of the foliage.

Thorny shadows

This tree split, then closely aligned again, and finally split for good

The close alignment. Hard to find the gap

And this group of birds caught our eye.

Black Vultures we believe

Finally there were several trees with twisted trunks.

After examining several we formed the opinion that a vine climbing around the tree might be somehow responsible.

There appears to be something still wrapped around this one

The road less traveled.

The turnaround point of our walk.

Tomorrow we have plans to spend some time in the big city. Before the big game.

I spent several hours this weekend looking at a computer screen. Saturday focused on cleaning up my personal email, getting financial transactions noted, and a bit of filing. Sunday switched to work, again trying to get back to several inches of emails that had piled up while I whiled away the hours in meetings or on other projects. I even did some actual work to try and check a few things off the list. Sometimb its half-mile loop and then back down, with a stop at Whole Foods for a rotisserie chicken. This had been a frequent meal in the past, but it had been long enough that our frequent buyer card was no longer in use.

This afternoon we started on the bus to a far flung store, where we met the flu bug.

The Flu Bug

After making a purchase we set out on foot through new neighborhoods, to the Metropolitan Market, and free bacon. Then it was back on the bus for the ride home.

Transit is helpful for getting us to new sidewalks. The walk between stores was about 2 miles, and we did it quickly enough that the bus took the second ride as a transfer instead of a new fare.

I was looking at this grouping a few days ago. There are similarities and differences. We have many different pictures of the kids. Why were these two chosen out of the many? I find them very similar, but wonder how the choices that make them different came about.

Differences include, ages of the participants, season, words versus symbols on the frame.

Similarities include me, although based on hair length, at significantly different times, smiles, closeness.

If you zoom in you can see the braid on Rey’s back.

Thinking about how nice it is when we’re all together.

At least part of our summer vacation is shaping up.

Part of the Mariner’s Kingdome dugout, in CB Nuts store, Kingston Washington. Edgar sat here.

The mobile Edgar shrine

CB, Kevin, Carl and Mark. Celebrating the announcement as it happened.

Space Needle tribute. (Flag raised by Dan Wilson)

The home shrine. Yes, that’s Sigi Schmidt, the late coach of the Sounders. Both Edgar and Sigi have a post season award named after them.

Light rail announces Edgar’s election

Fun times ahead.

Long story short. Dortmund played one game today. We wore an extra layer each, and that made for a more comfortable experience. Parker didn’t score, but neither did the other team. Nil-nil tie means that Dortmund continues to the 8 am semifinals tomorrow.

Today’s game was at Renton Stadium, sandwiched amongst Boeing sites. Also along the Cedar River. We arrived early to walk along the river trail. Different than most we travel.

On the way home we got a bit turned around. As it turns out we were still heading in the right direction, just through very unfamiliar territory with no indications of the whether we were heading north, south, east or west. Changed drivers so I could work the Google maps and Carl, who actually had his driver’s license with him, could drive. (I left mine at home.)

And then …

The important number is not 60 mph. Look at the slightly smaller number to the left. 14 plus years to reach 200,000.

Earlier in the day I was doing mundane chores like taking out the recycling. And I almost tripped over a gutter drain pipe that was lying across the walk. I am guessing it came down in the wind in the last two weeks. So the chore list got longer. After several trips to the basement, charging the drill battery, hauling the ladder out of the basement, three of us realigned the pipe and attached it to the house, much more firmly than before.

The drain pipe, fully vertical

Connection close up

I think the contractor had done a good job of getting it all lined up, and there was one sort of connection to the house on the lowest of the three pipe parts. The lowest part is now the only piece not physically attached to the house with screws. If it slips, I will do more at that point. This was one of our quicker fixes from identification to action to completion.

Made spaghetti and garlic bread so the boys could carbo-load for tomorrow’s game(s). Good day, and I am ready for bed.