Raincharm’s Weblog

AGAIN
This ornament brought to you by the XXXII Super Bowl champs

Yes, we were rooting for the Broncos.

We lived there during the Elway years, and have a handful of relatives that are still die hard fans.

I will admit I spent part of the first half pruning the raspberries. It is important to take advantage of the non-rainy weekends when they happen.

We watched a show about the 1985 Bears last week. We were both stunned at how violent some of the hits seemed. During the 50th anniversary hoopla they asked what the game would be like for Super Bowl 100. Carl proposed that the game as we know it would be gone due to the violence and subsequent injuries.

After ditching me at least three times Rey found time to Skype for taxes. That is I buy TurboTax and he doesn’t need to. Filling out his information is usually short and sweet, although he did have three W2s this year. (He will be getting a refund.)

Working through Rey’s information gave me the impetus to continue with ours as well. I think I am missing two forms and we need to finish adding to some retirement accounts still.

It was afternoon and no rain in sight so we set out to retrieve a wayward bear that had stayed behind at the Museum of History and Industry when Carl and Audrey left a few days ago.

Carl’s alter ego for the walk was the Babe, as in Ruth, who would have been 121 years old today. ( He has been in the Gate of Heaven cemetery in Hawthorne, New York for longer than I have been alive. He even wore a Yankee hat.

The walk was pleasant, partly because our destination was not tied to any particular time, so we could wander at will. In the end it was probably about 9 miles.
Some sights from the wander.

Starting in our front yard, daffodils are on their way already.

Street end mosaic with house boats

It turns out this is the boat show weekend

I don’t think this particular yacht was for sale.

We saw a boat that had one letter in its name obscured. _oot.

Maybe Coot, but certainly not Bufflehead.

A true old coot owns this place. Notice the ladder on the hillside. It looks too dangerous to use, but I’ll bet it is not just there as a storage location.

Two clowns, and another block of Fremont in transition.

Our great blue heron sighting for the day.

Brooks greeter.

Lots and lots of murals.

Street art with muscles mussels.

Settling in for a beer and maybe even a foot rub.

I was treated to a homemade pasty for lunch today. My boss spent some years in northern Wisconsin and picked up the recipe along the way. About once a year he makes a batch. I think this year’s timing is associated with one of his son’s birthday. As the resident honorary Yooper I usually get to sample his wares.

Yesterday Carl served me a can of Vernors with dinner. I thought Vernors would be a perfect pairing with the pasty. But when I tried to locate 2 cans of the assumed 6-pack I had no luck. (Carl was back asleep by that time) I think perhaps he bought a single can.

In other news I, about 10 am I realized I had my shirt on backwards. I don’t think anyone noticed, and I only realized when I felt the tags in front.

Today’s nice morning has devolved into a deluge, with wind. At least we are almost home.

Here we are. Waiting for the show to start. Carl is looking through the program, but I am going in without a clue.

We fought through the rain soaked traffic and got downtown in time to have dinner first.  The restaurant we usually visit for our Wednesday night shows is the Rockbottom, directly across from the theater.

The 5th is on 5th Avenue ( imagine that) in the middle of downtown. Pretty easy for us to get to, if only there were not so many others on the roads as well.

Maybe a review later.

Today is supposed to be a rainy day. Not yet. We have been alternating every day or two between partly sunny and mostly rainy. We took advantage of the dry Sunday morning to go for a walk. A bit more than five miles, but it tuckered us out much more than was expected. I blame that on the fan fest walk the prior day which is more of a mall trudge

(We just came to a sudden halt and Mt Rainier is almost in focus. I am guessing there is a disabled vehicle ahead.)

The first two work days this week have been busy, trying to catch up with last week’s questions and get the property sales moving forward. I hope to work on other projects today. And to leave on time.

Going out to a play tonight. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Over the weekend we watched two fairly recent movies as well. Inside Out and the Intern. We enjoyed them both. DeNiro can really convey quite a bit without words.

Pretty sky this morning, and we are moving again.

Carl went out hitting last night. I think that part was good, but his ability to pitch is still lacking. PT appointment tomorrow. This is my interpretation of our brief conversation this morning when neither was fully awake.

Yesterday Carl and Sagan went on an adventure. They took the bus downtown and caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island. A short walk took them to the Kids Museum on the island. It may have been aimed at a slightly younger set, but I think they had a good time exploring new places.

He and Audrey should have a shorter day today. (Me too)

It’s a lovely morning and we are on our way to fan fest. The transition from football season to baseball season, although technically the soccer season will start first.

And it is sunny! Though I don’t think it will last the day.

After the festivities the afternoon is open. Taxes?? A walk? Or those pesky chores.

Yesterday was not focused enough. I want to check more off of my lists or make progress on a big progress.

Today has two events that will happen, take time, and could even be fun. First up will be opening bids for two properties we are surplusing at work. My project (other duties as assigned). It has been a fair amount of work, mostly because I don’t do this very often, like never. The worry is that nobody bids, or there is a problem with the bids. I already have one bid for one property, so we are halfway home there. (Just had another worry thought. What if I have two top bids that are equal?)

The second event is an open house that the City of Sammamish is putting on for a road improvement project. We are installing sewer and a larger water main so we will be there in support. I think the real topic of discussion will be roundabouts. Either way it will be a late evening.

On the fun side at home

New chewies. Just because.

The Seahawks have been out for a week or so. The super bowl is still more than a week away. And yet the sports radio is all football. And more Seahawks than Broncos or Carolina. And the Sounders have a tournament (Concacaf) in a week. Spring training is in the offing.

This is more noting the facts than a complaint.

And the driver just changed the station to music. That seems more like a complaint.

Every morning is a little lighter. Rather exciting.

And in the vacation/sports continuum, we will be traveling through New York city on our way to Cooperstown this summer. I would like to see a Broadway show while in town, without breaking the bank. I have not researched what is going to be about, and have heard about getting day of show tickets. But I don’t know about spending our brief time standing in line for a chance. Sounds like a project.

A day or so ago we watched a movie, Blue Skies. Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones. Quite good. Carl noted that Lange won the Academy award for her role.  I don’t even remember the movie being in theaters. Better late than never I suppose.

This post has been all over the place. About five miles to go to the office. Is it time to start focusing?

As in I am sitting at the park and ride waiting for my carpooler to show up. I am driving, so this could be really short.

Got home relatively early yesterday. Not due to lack of work. Due to the lack of will to keep working. Yesterday was a mash of requests. I am hoping for a better plan of attack today, with less jumping between tasks.

And we’re off.

It was sunny! No way could we stay inside.

We figure the walk was about 7 miles, give or take. With long drawn out hills in both directions. (Both up and down in both directions.) We managed to pay a bill and buy some socks, and lunch. We had a pie. A pizza pie that is.

Our second pie in 24 hours. Although the first was a British style meat pie. We met friends at Pies and Pints, a local eatery. We have walked past several times, but never entered until yesterday. We will be back.

The group gathering included 3 former soccer teammates. Their first team together was the University of Illinois men’s team circa 1977. Their later team was in Seattle, where they each came to the team independent of each other. What a coincidence.

And all these years later, back together for an evening of food, wine, pints and memories.

It’s only January, and much of the country is spending the day digging out.   But it looked rather like spring today.