Kuboto Farm

2009-11-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

We got Lolli & the kids all moved this weekend. It went pretty smoothly - with the exception of having to wait an hour and a half for the landlord to show up with the keys, well that and the fact that the power had some how been shut off in the week between the girls seeing the unit and actually taking possession. Minor issues when you have a couple of kids to feed, bath & bed down. But Lolli's daughter and kids went to stay at grandpas (10 minutes from the new place) and Lolli came home with us. Luckily we had plenty of trucks and people to move the stuff. So once we got in it all went quickly.

We got home Saturday night and while I made Manicotti (sausage, leeks, spinach & four kinds of cheesey goodness) Lolli & Jay made this:

Unfortunately Pumpkin sat alone all evening on the front porch as we didn't get any trick or treaters. Never have. Seems no one wants to go up to the scary house on top of the hill.

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. My Mom and a friend stopped by to walk their dogs. So we walked up to the top of the hill. We were standing up by the goat pens talking and watching the goat antics. One of the does, Bess has gone into season. Mr. Deeds was very assertively trying to 'charm' her through the fence. All the other goats of course are right there watching. So were standing there and just as there's a lull in the conversation, Belle (Mr. Deeds 1st 'wife') says 'No'. I kid you not. As plain as day and enunciated clearly, without any hint of goat bleeting. (i.e. No-o-o-o) A perfect No. If I'd been alone I'd have thought I imagined it. Now, I don't think Mr Deeds has much in the way of charm and you certainly don't want to be downwind of him, but I guess Belle still has a soft spot for him.

OK, I guess you had to be there.

Monday was quiet and uneventful. Jay and our lead tech are in a class all this week so there's not much going on in the office. The low point of the day was getting in my jeep to go home at 5:00 in darkness. Bleh.

This morning I went down to permit office and took my camera thinking I could get pictures of the views. Unfortunately I hadn't accounted for building security frowning on me taking pictures at city hall, even if it was just out the windows. A more humorless chap I'd be hard pressed to find. Apparently he didn't think I was cute OR funny. Anyway, here's the outside of the building from a block away. It's the odd shaped one. The Department of Planning's on the 20th floor with 360* views of the city, bay and mountains. None of which you get to see here today.

Then turning around, here's a picture of my favorite church in Seattle, St. James Cathedral.

Ok, well just the bell towers then. Here's what it looked like long ago.

Then in 1916 it snowed 3 feet in one day and this happened:

It lost it's dome.

Still all and all it's the best place in town to go to Christmas Midnight Mass, and they don't even care if your not Catholic!

One of my favorite things about the building is the 'Great Oculus' The eye of God looking down from heaven. You can see the lighter area in the Transept in the picture above.

The eye of God, or the hole left over from the rotunda falling in? I guess it's a matter of faith. All I know is it's an awe inspiring place.

Gratuitous picture of my smiling dog, because it's my blog and I can if I want to.

Hope your all doing good!

B

Now, where was I...

2009-10-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

It seems that I've let a another month slip by without posting. I'm lazy, I admit it. No excuses.

Life is good, no complaints. Things at the farm carry on much as always. Except for the trees loosing their leaves and the eternal rain. I really wish we had more variety of types of trees around the house. Maples just aren't very interesting in the fall. The leaves turn yellow one day and drop the next. The cedars and doug firs are nice, but I'd love to have some oaks in the mix. I'll have to keep that in mind come spring, maybe do a little gorilla gardening on the city's green belt.

We re-homed the goatie twins about 3 weeks ago now. The original folks who said they wanted them didn't pan out. Jay posted an ad on Craigslist on a Sunday night at 8:00 pm. he got 4 serious replies the next day, picked one and the family was pulling out of our driveway with the goats by 7:00 pm the next evening. He had told me all along that there was a market for them and I was the 'Doubting Thomas'. He was quite proud of actually having cash in hand for Summer & La De Da. Unfortunately I couldn't stop myself before reminding him of how much money was spent to produce those two. I really need to work on my internal edit function. I really can be a bitch sometimes.

Anyway, he was quite pleased. Those were kids born to an un-registered doe, so having them go sell so quickly was even more of a surprise. We both thought there'd be less demand, but there ya go. The folks that bought them have a small farm just down the valley from us and 3 kids 8 to 14 years to look after them. Also the Mom is a Vet's asst. so we couldn't have found them better homes. The new-ish registered doe has been up in Mr. Deeds pen for the last few weeks so more babies should be coming soon.

Work is going well, we could have more money coming in but we can pay the bills and still stick a little aside each month so no complaints there either. We did loose our youngest team member this last Sunday when he broke his leg (badly) and will be out for weeks if not months. Fortunately with the unemployment rate what it is we shouldn't have too much trouble finding a new person. I'd really like to find a woman to fill the spot I'm just not sure how to go about it. I'm sure they must be out there but I've never had any apply. It's a detail oriented job which (not meaning to be sexist...) I think would be ideal for a woman. While it does take some strength it's not like you have to be a weight lifter or anything.

Jay had surgery on his foot two weeks ago to remove a small 'nodule' from the bottom of his foot. It hurt him a but when he walked. It was nothing, so much so that I can't even remember what the doc said it was. It was fun to have him somewhat immobilized on the couch and all drugged up. He was pretty entertaining. Not that it lasted very long, He's not one to sit around, unlike me.

We lost our dear friend Buster this last weekend. Bus was the ex of Jay's cousin, the same cousin who sold us the farm. They were still very close regardless of breaking up. A smart, funny man we'll both miss very much. We lost so many friends in the late 80's & 90's that it was almost a common occurrence. Now when it happens it's a bit of a shock. He had lived for many years with AIDS and like most people who live with it, went up and down health wise. The drug treatments can keep them living for years. I guess we just got complacent, it just didn't occur to me that Bus could die this time.

Bus's dog Gage, a fine yellow lab gentleman with a touch of hip displactia, had been staying with us and cousin while Bus was in the hospital. Jay & I wanted to keep Gage as he's one of the puppies Bear was raised with and we love him, but Jay's cousin wanted him too, so we let it go at that. Besides, do I really need a large dog with medical issues? We'll still be able to see him and he'll be good for cousins heart right now.

We're going to be helping Lolli move this weekend. Her oldest girl has separated from her husband and she and the kids have been staying with Mom for the last few weeks. While this has Lolli in grandma HEAVEN, they need more space. The bad part is the new place is about twice as far away from us as the current one. It will be closer to grandpa, who's also helping out so that's a good thing. I'm not too worried about it, Lolli will need a break on a regular basis so I know she'll still be coming to stay with us when she can.

Bear's in my lap and I csan't type oveer him o I'll -stop licking me! close for now.

XO-B&Bear

rambling brain mush, shaken not stirred.

2009-09-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

My blogging muscles have atrophied. I've been meaning, trying to post all week but just haven't found anything to post about. So I'll just post any way. Just to get the ball rolling here.

It's been a good summer - not great or fantastic, but good. The weathers been summer-y but not all out SUMMER, well except for that one week of 100*+ temps that did a number on the ferns and hostas I planted, but they survived and so did I.

Work has been busy, which is good. There was at a luncheon put on by one of the general contractors we work with about week ago, kind of a round table discussion on ways to bring in more business in this 'recession'. Many of the people/companies at the table are really having a tough time finding work. We've been fortunate, with the exception of a slow spring when no one was spending money were doing ok.

I love being in our new building. Little things like not having to move boxes to open a file cabinet to big things like having a big park and river side to walk during lunch or when I just want to get out of the office for a minute. The local mall is just down the road but I've been saving that for lunch hours when the weather turns on us. It's been fun getting to know the neighborhood feral cats. There's about 1/2 dozen of them. All skinny and skulking around. Their really not feral per say - as they will come up to you and let you pet them. Poor flee infested things that they are. There's also a group of five kittens (so tiny) in a bramble patch across the road. We called the Human Society but they aren't taking any more animals due to budget problems. Calling Animal Control is pretty much a death sentence (the county is pulling their budget as well) so we didn't try them. I know the right thing to do is to have them taken in, I just can't do it.

I took a walk over by the river after lunch today. Watch a train carrying Boeing fuselages from the Renton plant into Seattle to get their wings, tails and wheels put on before being flown up to Everett (Say hi Moohaa!) to get their paint jobs before being delivered to customers. While i was looking across the river at that I noticed a family of raccoons washing their faces in the river. Looked like parents and an adolescent. The big one spied me across the river and told the others o high tail it for the underbrush. They were fun to see.

I was driving back from having coffee with a blogger friend yesterday and drove by Boeing Field. There are like 20 planes sitting down there all painted and ready to go. Something I've never noticed before, they usually move those puppies right out. It made me wonder if customers are delaying taking ownership of the planes or something. Then about 1/2 a mile further down the road I went by the Union Pacific rail yard. There's about 50 idle engines sitting on the tracks. Again, something I've never seen. Makes me wonder if the recession is as 'over' as the nice folks in the administration would like us to think.

I've had a lot of fun gardening this year. Tomatoes came in awesome, Corn that wasn't suppose to be midget, but is, I haven't tried yet as he years arn't big enough and probably won't ever be. The peppers came out great and the peas, but I didn't plant enough of those - I'll know better next year. Strawberries were great but we didn't get many. Meaning Jay & I didn't get many. Bear can pick his own and does.

"Bear's Farm" now has 7 resident goats. Jay's been 'working' on me for weeks/months to get a registered doe so he can raise & sell registered kids. I finally caved. I was sitting outside on night and just got to thinking: Who am I to stop him? he does the majority of the work with them so what am I bitching about? - I won't bore you with my list of REALLY good reasons why we didn't need another goat. The two youngest babies are already promised by way of a craigslist connection Jay made. So we'll wait and see if that really works out. Anyway, Jay's got his new baby Cinnamon and he's happy. He (we) bought me a laptop and wireless router to keep me quite about it. Which might work for a short time.

I hope you all had nice summers - I intend to be a little more present around here after being a flake for the last 3 months. Just be happy I made that promise not to rant about politics a year ago, there's so much political crap going on out there it's hard sometimes to keep my yap shut!

Later!

Cuz you all love goats right?

2009-08-08T08:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry - I should write a real post but we've been up all night playing goat midwife. I'll be back soon to catch you up on the last month or so. We're all good here. Bess delivered two healthy little does this morning. Jay helped a bit with getting front legs lined up but Bess did the rest. Jay wanted a little buck for company for Mr. Deeds but two live does has him wagging his tail pretty good. (Right up until he crashed a few minutes ago) Ok. I'm rambling - Here's are Bess's girls, Summer and La De Da.

The little train the couldn't

2009-07-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

We're taking vacation days today and tomorrow for a four day weekend. Took the new light rail train into downtown, well almost. The train that doesn't quite go to the airport, (that link isn't quite finished yet) didn't quite go to downtown today either. It stopped short of the downtown tunnel where you had to transfer to a bus. We passed on that part. Both trains and buses are suppose to use the tunnel but apparently there are a few kinks.

Tukwila Station - about a mile north of the airport

Art ! (?)

Green River

Franklin High School

Downtown - just coming out of the Beacon Hill tunnel

Home of The Evil Coffee Empire

Jay at Stadium Station not waiting for me - The end of the line today

Miss Bess will be having her kids here in the next week or so. Our Vets 25th anniversary is on Sunday and Jay's been asked to bring the goats down for the party.

Oh boy.

We'll see how that works out.

Does this post reflect the complete mellowness that I'm feeling?

***YAWN***

-yep

nap time.

A short quail tale.

2009-07-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like writing about the Quail but I said I would. Well, I'll spare you the whole long story. It's enough to say 100 were ordered, 80 made it to us alive. The numbers dropped precipitously since then and this morning there were 3. I know the post office called the morning they got the package, unlike the last order of chickens, they can't be blamed. Why we lost them all we can't figure out.

What were we going to do with them? I have no idea. I don't why Jay & his buddy ordered them. It's a shame though, poor birds - maybe if the 3 live well try and keep them around as pets.

A job I want:
Kitty corner from our building is the warehouse that stores the Miss Budweiser hydroplane. Two people (seem to) work there. The only thing I've seen happen there so far is these two guys playing their remote control cars in their parking lot. It's not like I'm some over-worked wage slave chained to my desk or anything but jeez guys, wax the boat or something, at least try to look like your working.

From "The list of projects & dreams"
Ok, so now that the office is finished we get to move on to new projects. It's really a pity that Jay can't stand to have nothing to do. We're going our tonight to source material for the new "raised beds" or new garden in what is now part of our driveway. Don't worry there's plenty of driveway to go around. My idea was to build to 'C' shaped raised beds that face each other. Their not going to be "raised beds" really as much as they are really tall, large planters. They'll come up about 28"-32" - tall enough to easily sit on the wall while rooting around in the dirt. Here's a crappy little drawing I sweated over for about 2 minutes to show you.

So the roundy things are the existing trees and shrubs - the two red things in the middle are the planters - they should end up about 4 feet across - leaving a little "room" in the middle will probably have a fountain and a chair/table in it. It's about 10x10 in there - the whole thing is about 24' x 24'. The weird rectangle at the bottom is the side of the house. Hey, I'm NOT a graphic artist, ok? I originally wanted them built out of railroad ties but my contractor (Jay) says that would look too much like a fort ( I shrugs me shoulders & shakes me head) I already ruled out the fakey home depot retaining wall bricks. (I'm sure I posted about this before) So even though timbers would be SO much easier to work with, and I think would look just fine...were going rock shopping tonight - WAA-HOO!!

The best part is Jay is "on the job" so this project isn't destined to end up half done, like one of my projects. (refer to the half painted yellow patio table & chairs or the 1/2 done oil painting for starters...)

Anyway....

It's Friday afternoon, the sun is shining and it looks to be a great weekend. Hope your having fun!

Life in the big city (well, Seattle at least)

2009-07-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

I got home last night to a neighborhood swarming with the police. When I turned on to the main road at the bottom of the hill I could see two state patrol cruisers blocking off two streets to the south of us and could hear sirens all around us. About 15 minutes after I got home and was out back with the goats a cop in SWAT tactical gear came around from the front of the house, didn't even hear him pull up. Anyway, he told us they were searching for an escaped rapist that was attempting to hide in the woods around us. I have no idea where he might have escaped from or when or where they rape occurred. He left us with the advice to bring the dog in the house as they were bring in the police dogs. We never heard anything after that - I watched the news and looked in the paper this morning but I can't find any report of the whole thing. It's not the first time I've seen a big police response to something and then never saw a news report - makes you wonder.

THEN! this after noon Jay came into my office and mentioned that he noticed what looked like blood and a hand print in the hen house this morning. I started to give him a hard time about being clueless but then I realized that he really hadn't put two and two together. Anyway - I'm going to check it out when I get home and see if it really looks like a bloody hand print. I'll call the cops if it does. I guess I should be more freaked out about it but I'm not. Well unless it really is a hand print - I'll post an update on what I find -

ANYWAY----

On to something better - Pictures! ok - here's my new office

And the view out my much loved window to the parking lot...

And the other two side of my fish bowl (I kid, it's not bad at all)

Out in the shop...Big Red there needs to go to the dump then he can go back to storage - we only us him once in a while

Down the long hall way - we have 4 office across the back of the building and to big ones above, upstairs

And finally, Jay's office. We'll be working on getting him some big boy furniture soon - Right now it looks pretty funny - the "admins" have office suites, the owners have crap!

Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you about the 100 baby Quail chicks that were delivered yesterday - tiny TINY little peepers.

I'm Back.

2009-07-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hello there - did ya miss me? I'm alone in the office for the first time since we moved in. The 'owners' have been in the office a lot ever since we moved in. Much more so than the ever were before we moved. Hopefully the new-ness will wear off soon and they'll be back in the field more soon. You can translate that to mean out from under foot too. Or in my office, or just generally in the way. Remember, respect is earned.

Anyway, I'm really liking the new place. It's a great commute for Jay & I. We drop down the hill from home - get on the freeway and go south 1 exit and we're here. The fastest I've clocked it so far is 7 minutes. Now if there was just a grocery store, gas station and post office in between here and there commuting life would be perfect.

I brought Bear into work with me the first few days but the general commotion around here was a little hard for him to deal with. Too many people moving around (to be followed around) and too much activity for him. It was a chore just to get him to settle down and stay put and as soon as I did have him settled someone would come in and start it all over again. On the third morning I was going to bring him in he balked. I was ready to go, picked up my keys and turned to him and said "Ready to go to work?!" He gave me a look, grumble and turned around and went upstairs to crawl back in bed. Well, OK then! We'll try it again sometime son - maybe 1/2 days would be more to his liking. Another issue is he knows the park is just down the road so he associates the shop with going to the park. He's pretty clear with the body language when he's wants to go play. Actually I think he'd rather stay home and see if Nana or an auntie will come play with him. The dog has a better social life than I do.

I brought my camera today to take pics of my office and 'the window' (s), of course the battery is dead - so that will have to wait. My window looks out on our parking lot and the abandon house across the road. It's a strange little neighborhood. Residential and commercial/light industry all throw together. I've walked around mentally trying to date the structures and my best guess is it was a residential area first the came the businesses that crowded them out. There are still some inhabited homes in the mix though. Two of them across the street from our bay doors. Next to us is a family run business that sells ice making machines for restaurants and bars. Very nice people. They had us over for an ice cream social/meet and greet, which was fun, and very nice of them to do.

The abandoned house across from the parking lot is completely over grown with plants, so much so you can barely see the house. It's also home to a large population of cats. There not exactly feral but not exactly tame either. They will come close to me but not close enough to pet. They're all very skinny, or more likely the look how cats are supposed to when not over fed by humans.

The nearby park is Ft. Dent, it's also has the Starfire Sports Center in it. A large soccer/sports complex. The Seattle Sounders practise and play some games there. We can go out our back door and down half a block to the trail by the river that goes into the back side of the park.

Across from the road from ice machine company is one of Odwalla's distribution centers. If you've never tried their juices I highly recommend their plain old straight up orange juice - the best I've ever had - anyway, they have cute drivers and a great product so we'll be cozying up to them given the first opportunity.

Well I'll end this by teling you that we're all fine - just been busy - It was nice to take a little blogging hiatus but I'm back now so I'll blog more soon. It's funny how you can feel torn about blogging. First I didn't write because I didn't have time. Then it seems funny to read blogs will not posting(I know, weird) Then I felt bad for not keeping up with everyone - thank god it all just in my own head!
Sorry for dropping off the planet there for a while.

Goats!

2009-06-09T21:57:00.000-07:00

Two good folks asked for goat pics so here they are. Tonight we got to rassle 'em and apply flea stuff. They weren't all that into it. Little Moon can bleat at twice the decibels of her elders. Fun.

Bess, the one with the horns, is pregnant. She's due later this summer.

o.k...the chicks are chickens now, it's time to post :-)

2009-06-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Say's Leann and she's right. Thanks for the kick in the pants friend.

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Well, there not quite chickens yet, more like pullets but I won't quibble.

Hi! Miss me? I have no good excuses, well I do but that would be boring. I've been off enjoying summer and just haven't made the time to blog. We did hire a new guy after trying Craigslist to find help a few weeks ago. Things worked out great in the end but it was kinda funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) getting there. I got a good group of resumes to my surprise. I guess I can't be dissing Craigslist so much, well on the other hand...like I said we got a good bunch of resumes and I sorted through them and picked four of the best for the guys to interview. I wasn't surprised who they picked after the interviews as it was the best candidate on paper. (have I told you this already? too lazy to go look so carrying on...) After the interviews I decided to do a little checking online about the candidates and low and behold the guy we picked had a record for sexual misconduct with a minor. He'd been a school teacher right up till the time of his conviction - Eek! - Needless to say we didn;t hire him. BUT! we did hire everyones #2 pick who happens to be a guy about my age, has worked in the industry quite a bit of time, took time away to work in film production as a grip (the handymen of sets and stages) but he and his wife had to gave up the vagabond lifestyle with the arrival of their new twins. Anyhow, the new guy is working out great so far (knock wood) it's only been a couple weeks and he's out on the road on his own and doing a great job.

So...Craigslist? who knew?

I feel somewhat bad for not being around and/or coming by and visiting your blogs, but only somewhat. I'm really enjoying summer and playing in the garden and just generally outside playing until bedtime. I do need to get cracking and get around to see what every ones up to so I'll do that shortly. I'm sure my google reader is at some astronomical # of posts to read.

Having fun in the garden. Jay's run drip irrigation out to the beds I planted earlier. I've got corn, tomatoes, peas, peppers and strawberries all jumbled in with the verbena, daisies, columbine, snap-dragons and roses - I like the jumble. It's kind of wild looking, my idea of an english garden. There an old saying on corn, that it should be "Knee high by the 4th of July" well mine was knee high on June 1st but I guess that won't hurt it any.

Well that's all for now - I'll make my best efforts to not let WEEKS go by with out a post or a visit, but after tending my Facebook 'farm' and the odd email or two I can't resist the CALL OF THE SUNSHINE!

Hope your all doing good.

XOXOBC

This is the sunset last Thursday as a wind storm moved in. It went from 90* to about 80* in less then an hour.

Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep

2009-05-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

These little guys showed up in the mail on Monday. This time the shipment didn't go so well. They spent the weekend at the post office and I'm afraid got too cold. We've lost about 1/2 of the order of 25 so far. It's never happened before so I'm blaming the post office for not following the instructions on the side of the box: "Call Recipient" with phone number - idiots. They are currently in the basement in the kindercoop. You have to dance with Miss Lilly to get downstairs now. I swear someone removed the insulation in the basement ceiling. From the living room it's just peep, peep,peep, peep, peep. But it's not really annoying. They are fun to watch.

Had a nice lunch with Fiwa and Mo on Tuesday. We went to the Olive Garden. I'd never been before. The food was good but he restaurant was really noisy - kinda hard to catch up with all the noise. We're planning a crafty-day at my house in the next couple weeks. (the emails coming Mo) anyone else wanna join ? (Anonymous Boxer? I'm looking at you!)

We're needing to hire a service mechanic for the company. I've been using the states unemployment website, Worksource looking for resumes but oddly haven't really found anything yet. You'd think more people would be looking but it's always been hard to find qualified HVAC people. I'd really like to hire a woman but you just don't see resumes just aren't out there. I'd like to hire a woman because I'm tired of dealing with 20-something guys who have never heard of a work ethic. Is that some sort of reverse sex discrimination? Well fine, sue me.

It's bad enough that I broke down and placed an ad on Craigslist, We already have a recruiter who scours the job websites like Monster but we'd rather not pay the premium of going though an agency. I've heard a lot of wild stories from people posting adds on Craigslist and all the crazies it brings out. I posted the ad about 1/2 an our ago so well see if my inbox gets any crazy mail. Maybe I'll post them here if it does.

Rain has been keeping me out of the garden this week. Even though I'm well ahead of my game plan so far this year I still have tons to do. We're suppose to get good weather this weekend so that's where I'll be. Jay's headed to his folks to 'do something' with their fish pond. The 10 to 15 fish we gave them years ago have multiplied to over a hundred and need thinning out. Some will come back to our place and some going to friends with new ponds.

Be good & play well with others.

B

P.S. Hope4grace, if you don't comment I'm going to hold my breath until I turn blue!

My God

2009-05-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

I do not find God in the temples of man,

but in the sea, field, forest and sky.

The power of the sun,

the heat of the earth's core,

the energy of the tree and rock

are the same as the spark of life in me.

To Anti-Gay Bigots Everywhere...

2009-05-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm over the top on this video. I've probably watched it a hundred times. If I have your email address I've already sent it to you. I've gone viral on it. It's just such a pure fun, silly, childish reaction. But it sums up my feelings perfecly.

Cheers To A Great Lady

2009-05-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Jay's paternal grandmother passed away today. Grandma Ibsen was 85, as best I can figure. She was a woman full of life and gossip and fun. She hitched hiked to Seattle at the age of 16 to follow the man she loved. He turned out to be no good, but that didn't stop Grandma. She kicked him to the curb and found a better one. She loved and cared for more grandchildren and adopted strays like me, then I can count. She made wine, loved a good joke and might even flash her tits at ya. She was that kind of 'Lady'.

Not a sad day at all. Grandma was ready to go a long time ago. I think of her today being completely over the moon at all the people she's getting to see again after so very long. She leaves us all with a treasure of good memories of fun times.

Gods speed Grandma. Save me a spot next to you.

Cat Tales

2009-04-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Miss Lilly,

I would say all this to your furry little face but your no where to be found. Not surprising after the apparent full day you had. Thanks for the 'gifts' I found when I got home.

Thank you for leaving your friend, Mouse right by the kitchen table, and on the hard wood too! Made clean up a breeze. Bless. And by the way, nice job on the decapitation. Did you go to trade school for butchering? I don't think you could have made a cleaner cut with a cleaver.

The feathers were a bit confusing. I mean it did still look like a headless mouse and all, and the feathers were the same color. Following fashion this year? It's nice your trying to expand your possibilities. It did take a while to find birdy. Your a clever one, you. The coat closet literally was the last place I thought to look, and so near the vacuum cleaner! Your an angel, love.

Thing is, you know how I feel about you on the counters. This ain't Smocha's place and you know it. Being up there is bad enough, but your absolutely forbidden to bring half dead birdy on your trips to the sink. But then, the counters really did need to be disinfected. I hadn't done them since Sunday so I see your point.

And what is the deal with bring all your little past-due friends home? Do you think Bear gets bored since he's stuck inside while you can come and go as you please? Well worry no more, soon he'll be going to work with me in the mornings.

While were at it, what have you been doing in the organ at night? I mean come on - the thing doesn't play itself. I hear you. Friends in there too?

What I'm really curious about, because you failed to actually consume any of your little friends...What exactly was in the little pile of your stomach contents on the entry way floor anyway?

Keep this up and I'll close the cat door until November.

Well? Go on...read the next one...Shoo!

A Big Hairy Deal

2009-04-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

I picked up a new hair product the other day. I wanted something different then the crispy wet looking hair you get with your typical gel. I wanted something that would give me more 'touchable' hair. I went to Supercuts because I remembered a product one of the girls there had used on me. I remembered it smelled good and wasn't overly stiff. So now I no longer wear gel, instead it's a 'pomade'. I went there because I knew what it smelled like, kinda new what the jar looked liked and thought it would be the easiest thing to do.

I'm somewhat regretting it. Not for the product itself. It is, and does everything it says it will, and it does smell nice. (Nice = Jay actually noticed it and commented on it) What gets me are the fascist fashion pin heads (I can say that cuz I was one once) who came up with the product marketing. As I stood there looking at it this morning I saw the product line is called 'D:tails', the product itself is 'H:def'. The pompous little marketing gnats must think it cool and edgy to misspell. It's not like they even saved a keystroke with the colon and all. But really I'm just mad at myself for paying 12 bucks for this goop.

While considering male grooming, I think I struck on an idea that could be a real money maker in these days of economic decline. If you've hung out with guys much at all, or if you've tried to raise one your self at home, surely you've noticed that we tend to grow hair in places where no human body really needs, or should have hair. If you've flipped your guy over, or looked at his under carriage you know exactly what I mean. Now realise, this is coming from a man who's nearest and dearest could be mistaken for wearing a sweater in summer when he has his shirt off. We shear him bi-annually.

So I was thinking about all the people, primarily woman, who have to put up with this hairy-ness. If we made hair removal both quick and easy, we could turn this idea into gold! Something like a cross between a Supercuts and a Speedylube. In fact the layout of a Speedylube store might make a great floor plan for this shop. The guy just rolls into the shop, hoist him up on a rack, depilitate him, and roll him on out the back door. In fact if we could include an oil change for his car in the mix, even better. Higher points on the manliness scale. It couldn't be named anything vaguely Metro-sexual either, it would scare them away too. We'll borrow 'Details' from the marketing gnats, you know, like you detail a car.

And of course it would have to be quick, easy and COMPLETELY painless or you'd never have a return customer. I'm thinking like that 'Nads' stuff that nice Iranian lady and her daughters sell on TV.

So there you go, all I ask is a small cut of the profits. Your welcome.

I posted this on my Facebook 'wall' yesterday: Some say good things come to those that wait. Some just call it procrastinate.

The hidden message was that Jay finally found the receipt for the camera he gave me for Christmas that he broke. I've been putting off buying a new one hoping this might happen. Then I got to thinking. There was nothing wrong with the camera until he broke it. Why would they give us another one for free? I'm certainly willing to let him return it and do the 'shuck and jive' to get a new one, but I'm worried. Can one accrue karmic debt by association?

You Gotta Wonder...

2009-04-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm used to people thinking I'm weird. I give them plenty of reasons.

I bought a floor lamp last Sunday for the living room. It's a Japanese lantern style with the white paper shades. The thing is 10" x 10" square and 56" tall, comes up to about my shoulder. It's sat in the living room all week. Jay has sat next to it and never noticed it. Do you think my living room might be over crowded with 'stuff'? I love stuff like this. I'm not saying a word until he spots it.

Here's a map of the old home town. The new office is located just to the left of the red dot. It's next to a place called Fort Dent. It was a was a blockhouse built on the orders of Territorial Governor in 1860 during the "Indian Troubles" It's located at the confluences of what used to be the Black River and the Green River (yes, the infamous Green River of the killer) It's at this spot that the two rivers merged and became the Duwamish River that flows into downtown Seattle. Here's what bugs me (refer to map when needed) At the turn of the last century Lake Washington (the body of water with Mercer Island in the middle) was lowered to sea level by opening the Montlake Cut. (just above the two 'T's in the word Seattle on the map) This dried up the Black River that used to flow out of the south end of the lake so it no longer joins the Green River.

What I want to know is who is the one that comes up with river naming conventions? If the Black River no longer meets the Green River, how does it then become the Duwamish? Isn't it just the Green River all the way into town?

These are the things that keep me up at night.

By the way, locals...A piece or two of the Black River still exist as some sort of orphaned ponds. The Black River Riparian Forest is a GREAT place to spot Herons and Hawks, the occasional Eagle and their dinner, bunnies. Good trails to hike.

I did a good job of getting all my plants planted this week. Well, that is except for 20 hostas and 10 ferns, and the new load I just bought this morning. I know I'm out of control but it will keep me out of the pool halls.

Have a great weekend!

B

Absolutely Nothing Fabulous

2009-04-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

This person sent me a "Friends" request today on Facebook. My first thought was: Oh great, ladies of the evening, just like MySpace. The reason I deleted the account a dear freind set up for me.

Then I looked closer and saw we have 17 friends in common. Apparently I know her. Oops.

I'm told by the resident goat herder that the little one, Bess is pregnant again. These things are baby breeding machines! Bess spent the past few weeks up in the upper goat paddock with Mr. Deeds. We wanted to give the baby Silver Moon time to get a bit bigger before she was around Bess. Bess moved back into the goat barn with Belle & Baby last week. Leaving Mr. Deeds forlorn at the top of the hill. Hopefully this time we'll have a baby billy who can keep him company. Baby Moon goes right up to see Dad when ever we let her out in the yard - very cute.

Another perfect spring day. It's 72* and not a cloud in the sky. I met the data cabling contractor down at the new office this morning and then stopped by McClendon's the local non-big box (yeah!) hardware store in town and bought yet more plants. Strawberries and tomato's, salvia and lobelia. It's all going in the perennial border mixed in with the flowering plants. I'm forsaking vegetable gardens with nice neat rows and going for the overgrown look. I really need to get busy with what I've already got at home instead of buying more. I'm really feeling the old "make hay in the sunshine" thing. I suppose I should set some goals on what I want to get done by the end of the week. Get the beds done this week and then have time for the containers on the porch this weekend.

On the way back to the office I was listening to a very interesting interview on NPR. The guest, Joel Berg was making the point that we have a multitude of state and federal agencies overseeing food programs in the schools. One of his points was that if we eliminated these redundant functions we could feed all of the children in public schools regardless of their economic status. Another point was that if we reduced or eliminated the bureaucracy that's in place to prevent food stamp abuse it would more than pay for that program as well. I don't know where he got all his data or how valid his numbers were but it was pretty thought provoking stuff.

It's too nice to be inside. I think I'll forward the office phones out to my cell and go get lost for a little while. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this:

Don't kiss your hunny,
When your nose is runny,
You make think it's funny,
But it's s-not.

XOXOBC

I'd Like A Pony Please...

2009-04-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

Random picture of my best friend, because you all haven't seen him in a while.

What a wonderful weekend. While Saturday didn't turn out exactly sunny it was nice and warm but with a thin cloud cover that just never really burned itself off. Sunday was warm and sunny and perfect. I didn't get a lot of my own planting done but was able to go over to my Mom's and help her get her deck containers sorted and planted so that's one annual task out of the way. Before tackling that, Mom and I had brunch at the Lake Route Cafe. I had the low-cal (not) eggs benedict because clearly I'm trying for a life time personal best in weight gain this year.

Mom and I were talking at brunch about my sister and her family. Sis & BIL both got laid off from their jobs in the resort industry last winter. They worked for the same company. This same company that relocated them to Florida about 2 years ago. Poor guys are now sitting in a very large home down there they is starting to look next to impossible to sell. They're both looking for jobs back here in Seattle (sounds like BIL has found one) with an eye to moving back home. My niece has been up here for the last year because she didn't like FL and it was her senior year in high school and she wanted to be with her friends.

The conversation made me regret opening my big fat mouth a few posts back about not really feeling the effects of the economic slow down. They're having a tough time all the way around. My poor sister is sick of living in a house that she needs to keep in realtor showing cleanliness for realtors and potential buyers that never come around. The easy solution for them is to leave the house there basically furnished and move back home and get on with life. What really surprised me was that they're planing to move in with my Mom for a while. I know there's nothing new about "boomerang kids". Well, ok we're all a bit old to really fall under that category, but you know what I mean. What really threw me was that my BIL, the lone republican standout in a family awash with die-hard liberals is actually willing to live with his mother-in-law! Don't get me wrong, we all love my BIL, but if that poor guy is willing to do that, even for a short time, clearly things are worse than I thought.

I'm being somewhat silly about this but later I got to thinking about my niece. I really feel sorry for her. She's a great kid. Never been in any kind of trouble. She's very athletic, a jock really. She's been on the top soccer teams in the local leagues all through school. Just an all around great kid. What I worry about is they lifestyle she was raised in. I know for myself that my mother spoiled us quite a bit. I never realised it growing up but when it came time to live on my own it hit me between the eyes. The day's of salon haircuts and designer clothes were over for a while. My standard of living took a giant step down when I moved out of home.

I wonder if this post is ever going to make a point? Well, carrying on....

Anyway...
As I pulled away from Mom's my niece and her boyfriend pulled up in his new BMW. (high-school kid, driving a BMW...) What kind of shock are those kids in for? How are they going to be able to adjust to a new way of living. I don't think for a second their situation is unique. I know it isn't, we've got another young lad 'working' for us who was raised in a life style far above what his means will be as a lone adult. I wasn't at all shocked when the kids was 'sick' for a week after his Mommy bought him a brand new truck!

Maybe this is just the way life is. Maybe all kids and parents go through this to some degree. Is it the same as adults always thinking the music their kids listen to is garbage? generation after generation? Is it just one of those universal things or has something changed in the last couple of generations?

This is one of those posts that I should really go back and edit or possibly re-write/re-think but that's how I end up not posting for a week. I think I'll just hit publish and then go outside and play in the sun!

Life and Death

2009-04-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

I had one of those mornings where you wake up and try to sort out which day it is. I convinced myself it was Thursday and got up and got on with the day. A pleasant surprise when I got to work and realised it was Friday! I've been stock piling perennials for the last week, hoping for sunshine this weekend to get in the garden and get busy. Weather forecast is iffy, well see.

I had lunch with a girlfriend last weekend and we were talking about a 3rd mutual friend who has had a tragedy in their families life. A younger brother (an adult) is being charged with attempted murder for an incident late last year that happened outside of a dance club downtown. The victim was his girlfriend and mother of his child. Other parties were involved and lots of finger pointing everywhere. 'Kids' with guns. This guy isn't a thug or hoodlum. We know this young man and his GF. They've been to party's at our house. People I believe to be 'good kids' Good kids who thought it was necessary to carry a gun when going to a club.

During the course of our conversation my friend told me that her three sons (all in their 20's) also carry guns and concealed weapons permits. I've known these boys their entire lives. Again they're not thugs or hoodlums either. Their rational is everyone is carrying them and they need to as well to be safe. My friend is as anti-guns as I am but beyond ensuring they have permits there's nothing she can do as they're adults.

I've never liked guns. I don't talk about it much here but when I was a very young man my first lover was a private investigator. He ran a company that provided security and investigative services for a variety of clients. He carried a gun. I never liked it but I got used to it. He was a very safety conscious person and took gun ownership responsibilities very seriously. Unfortunately that didn't help him when he was jumped on the street by three guys. His gun fell out of his holster in the struggle and one of them picked it up and shot him. He died then and there. Had there not been a gun involved in that situation...

I'd like to say I don't understand it but I kinda do. To these kids we're the older generation and we just don't "get it". They're used to it. There were guns in the high schools they went to. It so common to them they think it foolish to not carry one. I was discussing this with another friend and her comment was "Why would you want to go some place (dance clubs) where people carried guns" Why indeed. I guess that's how out of control the whole thing is. To them it's just an accepted part of life. I guess dying young is too.

Seattle is for all it's posturing, still a small city. To call it 'urban' would be laughable to people from real big cities. What I mean is it's not like these kids were raised on "The Mean Streets Of..." They're just normal kids. With guns.

I've been mulling this over in my mind trying to figure out what I feel about it. What can any one person do to fight against this? So far I've got scratch. It makes my blood run cold. Thoughts?

OK, sorry for being so heavy, it's just what's been on my mind. It's nice to be at an age where working in the garden is all the excitement you need.

Here's a bit of random-ness for you. I got this pic in an email from the Ex last night. It's our first apartment. Either the building hasn't fared well over the 20+ years, or my memories of it are filtered through the golden light of time. We had the top left unit. I planted the ivy hoping to have the effect of an old ivy covered building. Who knew it took ivy that long to grow. Seriously it's been like 25 years. I swear I can watch the stuff grow up the trees at my place now. Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was a cool old 1920's building with insulated iceboxes opening to the hall and your apt. for your grocery deliveries. I always thought that was pretty cool. Could that tree have grown in the past 25 years? I have no memory of it.

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. So many folks are taking breaks or just not blogging much these days. Well, I am going to take myself in hand and re-commit to blogging here. I get so much out of it, I need to just get back in the habit and stop PROCRASTINATING. A word I hate, probably because I'm SO good at it!

None Of My Business

2009-04-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

The phones at worked kind of picked up some this morning. It actually started ringing right after 8:00 am! One call from a developer sounds especially promising.

It has been a little slow. I have to remind myself that it's always slow for us between the "heating" and "cooling" season. If folks aren't running their furnaces or A/C units all the time they don't break down as often. I've been listening to the talking heads on the nightly news too much. If you just went by them you'd think the sky was falling. I know the "economic crisis" is real, but I think it's way overblown by the media. Sure I know a couple of folks who have been laid off but in reality (at least my day to day reality) things haven't changed that much.

The effects of the talking heads however are hard to avoid. I know it's keeping me from spending money I normally would. New furniture for example. I've been looking for months, have seen a few things I like that would work just fine but when it comes to giving up that money I just can't do it. The talking heads got into my brain and it keeps me thinking, what if? Multiple that by a few million Americans and we really do have trouble. Not that I have any answers here, just me spouting off. Lately I've been changing the channel to The Simpson's or The Family Guy at 6:00 o'clock. I think I'll just keep doing that.

I had lunch at our house with a friend from my old Evil Coffee Empire days. She left about the same time I did. She's a full time Mommy now, living over on the peninsula. She brought her boys over for an overnight stay in town. I'd met her oldest when he was a baby and hadn't met the youngest. I wasn't surprised when they both turned out to be very articulate (for their age) young men. It really blew me away how the 7 year old would look me directly in the eyes and talk with such passion about comic books. Not surprising given how smart and wonderful his parents are. What did surprise me was that about 2 minutes after that he and his brother turned into whirling dervishes and careened all over the house, knocking over furniture and scaring the hell out of the dog and cat. I think Miss Lilly spent the night in the goat barn. I sure didn't see her. Don't get me wrong, they're great kids but...I'm sorry NONE of my niece's or nephew's would ever act that way in some one's home. Mom didn't seem to notice anything so I turned the TV on which had the expected result of instant child zombifcation.

My own sister has un-friended me on Facebook.

Sheesh, it's not like I was following her around asking "Can I play too" like the old days. Get over yourself Sis! - Not Really, I know she's only on there to keep tabs on my neice who's there as well. But it will make for great fun at the Christmas dinner table this year, if I can keep my mouth shut until then. "Mom!...."

I ploted out the raised beds on our CAD program at work. Then had major sticker shock at the price of materials. I may still do it, but..well, see above...I've thought about scaling it back but if I have Mr. Jay locked and loaded to perform, er..build it I should probally get it all done at once, we'll see.

As I'm told each Thursday morning:

"We can see the light of Friday, make hay in the sunshine!"

Make Hay In The Sunshine

2009-03-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful weekend! It was sunny and clear most of the time, all day on Sunday. I even considered putting on sunblock at one point. We had lots of company. It seemed like there was hardly anytime at all that somebody wasn't at the house. I still haven't picked up a new camera but fortunately my Mom's friend Jane came by and took some pics. Unfortunately it was her back up camera and the snaps aren't the best.

Momma, baby and goatboy.

Our friends Lorrie & JP came and spent Saturday night with us. We didn't do anything but sit around the kitchen table and laugh so that was perfect. At some point during the evening we had been talking about the chickens, then poultry in general. JP and Jay got it into their heads they wanted to raise quail. How they came up with quail is any ones guess. Long story short 100 quail chicks will be shipped to us the week of July 6th. My only request was they build a cote to house them in. It's a scary thing when I end up being the voice of reason. They plan to let them go free. I guess they think the birds will stick around, well see. JP & Lorrie have a place bigger then ours with more woods so they'll take most of the birds. Should be interesting.

I spent a few hours in the front yard with a measuring tape and a bunch of rocks planning where the new raised beds are going. Jay's on board with the concept, now were just quibbling about materials. Jay wants to use those textured cider block things that you get a the Home Depot/Lowes. Their fine but not what I'm going for. Those bricks are great for retaining walls and things but I don't want the first impression of the area to be "Oh, you went to Home Depot". Those bricks are to ubiquitous for me. I want something a little different. The timbers I found also at Home Depot are 8" x 8" buy 8 feet - they've been used before and show it. Their labeled as "retaining wall quality timbers" There nice and chunky and roughed up. They look like they were creosoted (new word?) sometime in the past but it's quite weathered now so I think I should be ok with them not contaminating the soil. I thought it was funny Jay was set on the bricks since it's going to be him lifting most of them. Hah! (not really, I will help...point...supervise...what ever...)

I'm chomping at the bit to get planting in the garden. I bought a couple of those cans of wild flower mix to plant in some of the larger, rougher areas of the yard which are to big to make into proper flower beds. I was all ready to get going on that this weekend until I read on the label to wait for the ground temperature to be 60 degrees. How in the hec do you tell what the ground temp is? Stick a thermometer in it? Guess I'll just wait a month and go for it.

Lolli was busy this weekend too. Please take a listen to my beautiful girls, beautiful voice. She's being backed up by her band Atlantis. She rocks my world!

Hope your all doing good!

Poor neglected blog...

2009-03-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Life had been busy at the farm. Baby is finally now feeding on her own. It's been a long slow process from having to hold Belle immobile while baby nursed to slowly getting her used to the baby nursing on her own. But thankfully it's working. She gaining weight and growing just as she should be. And life can get back to something other then goats 24/7.

It's finally looking and feeling like spring. It so nice to have longer days and not feel like it's almost bedtime as soon as I get home. It's just not quite warm enough to get outside and play yet. I've finally figure out where I want to put my raised beds and now I'm just waiting for Jay to 'buy off' on it. I want to use a part of the driveway/parking area that's directly in front of the house. I want to place the beds in a square with an open place in the middle for benches. Eventually adding trellis to go around it all. It's also close to the water tap and I can get Jay to run irrigation out to it. I think I'll just go and buy the timbers and get things going. Jay hasn't agreed yet but he also hasn't said no either. This is a trick I learned from him. It's hard to stop something already in progress.

Work has been slow and quiet. Not too worrisome as it's normally quiet this time of year. We've had the guys working on the new office so it's almost ready to move into. They'll texture and paint this weekend and the carpet will be layed next week. It's good we had something for the guys to do during the slow time but paying salaries with out money coming in can only last a SHORT while. Two big commercial jobs start next week and that should carry us into summer - thank goodness.

We got our taxes back from the accountant on Monday and were pleasantly surprised that we had in fact saved more than enough to cover them. I was a bit nervous. We need to get better about projecting what they'll be. I don't like that feeling of not knowing. Thinking about that, I just now realised the whole first quarter has gone and we don't even have a plan yet for next year! Eeek!

I really haven't got anything newsie to tell. Things have just been humming along. I wanted to get something posted as I don't normally go for ten days with out a post. I haven't even looked at my google reader for days - I'm sure it's completely out of control. I'll get to that after I get today's paper work done.

Still haven't replaced the camera yet. I just know as soon as I do we'll find the receipt for the broken one. I'll do something about it this week. I don't want to miss any more goatie baby picture moments. I'll post something soon.

Hope your doing good!

B

Nothin Much

2009-03-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

We woke up to snow again yesterday morning. Luckily the monster sizes flakes were falling to a ground temperature of about 40* so nothing stuck. Typical weird spring weather here. The afternoon brought lots of wind and gusts. I spent part of the afternoon watching the two Doug Firs that were planted about 15 feet from either side of the house 90+ years ago. They've been trimmed over the years to protect them from high winds but they still really get to moving in a storm. Every time we have a windstorm I think that maybe they should come down. I'd hate to do it but it's better then getting crushed in the house.

A pretty quiet weekend all and all. My Sister is up visiting from Florida and she and my mother stopped by for a while. Aside from that, there weren't too many goat visitors this weekend. The baby is doing good. I think we've settled on the name Silver Moon for the marking on her nose that at first looked like a moon but not so much anymore. She'll probably end up with a weird nick-name like Moonie. She's a feisty little baby and very human socialized. Too much so if you ask me. She's growing and changing quickly just like any baby I suppose. She jumps and spins and tries to head butt. She's also a cuddler, always wants to climb up into your lap. Good, cheap, farmy entertainment I tell you.

I found my new desk on Friday. I'd been looking for weeks. I wanted a plain old wood desk with a center 'pencil' drawer. As easy as it sounds it was tough to find. Most of the used office furniture places now sell pieces of cubicles and apparently the modern worker no longer needs a pencil drawer. The one I found is pretty cool. All wood with a fine grain that I can't identify yet. It's large (huge!) and from the 1940's I'm guessing. At least that's what the drawer pulls and styling look like. I took the big company truck back out to Greenlake today to pick it up. Luckily the store owner was nice and helped me get it loaded up. I would have seriously hurt myself trying to move it on my own. Once I got it back to the new office I took a better look at it. There's something about old furniture that intrigues me. I was hoping this piece would have something lost inside or something unique about it. When I took out the center drawer I found the remnants of tape and a torn corner of an envelope that had been stuck to the bottom of it. I love this kind of stuff. I wonder what was hidden there and what kind of stories my desk could tell?

Hello

2009-03-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been having a hard time posting lately. Not that I don't feel like it, I'm just tired of hearing myself talk. Talk, type whatever. You ever get like that? I've been thinking about it a bit lately and I find myself just wanting to be quiet and listen. I guess it's part of getting older and maybe more mature. I sure wish I knew this or thought these things say about 20 years ago. Better late then never I suppose. I don't mind getting older. I seem (to me at least) to be happier as I get older. I have more patience with people. It's easier to see others opinions and opposing views. I'm appreciating things more then I did when I was younger. Nothing deep or moving here, just thoughts. I guess the best part for me in learning and having these 'skills' (?) is that it's balanced by still feeling like a kid. Still loving to play and be silly. I've said it before (and I'll say it again) I don't think you really ever grow up when your not a parent.

ANYWAY...

It's all goat, all the time here lately. I feel sorry for the little thing and seem to be the only one who thinks they should be left alone as much as possible and not handled. Hard to do when everyone and their brother wants to come by and hold the cute baby. I say my piece and just stand back and keep out of the way.

Feedings are nearly every hour when were at home, every two when were not. Jay stops by the house during the day while were at work. Momma really seems to have all the mothering instincts down except for the nursing. Nursing now consists of Jay hold Belle immobile while Lolli or I keep the little one on her teet, getting as much milk as quickly as she can. The Vet says to keep at it and eventually Momma will relent and let baby feed on her own. Hard to believe it's only day 3.

Today baby started to show some real activity. Chasing after Momma in the paddock yard and trying to do an unassisted launches off the ground. She jumps straight up in the air, testing her legs I suppose. It's hysterical to watch. No real name yet but Lolli & Jay have taken to calling her Moon-xxx - Moon-whatever strikes them at the moment. This comes from the light marking on her nose which at first resembled a star but has grown into a half moon - We'll see, I think we should get to know her personality a little better before we name her.

I'd post more pics but Mr. Man dropped my (new) camera in the goat barn and it no longer works. He say he bought the insurance for it when he bought it a Christmas but where the receipt might be is any ones guess.

Hope your all doing good -

B

Ma Belle

2009-03-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a week - Lots to tell but right now we're busy with this little girl.

Belle went into labor yesterday. Jay delivered her first this morning, unfortunately breech and still born. He got her to the Vet. who was able to save one of the two remaining kids. Belle's a bit traumatised, as you would think. Now it's just a matter of getting baby to nurse or we'll be bottle feeding. Come on kid!

A Slacker's Friday

2009-02-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

The morning was looking pretty grim. Not for the weather outside because it is an awesome spring-like day here today. You would never know we had 4" of snow yesterday morning. It was looking grim because I had finished most of my work yesterday and it was looking like a whole lot of hours stretching out in front of me till the end of the day.

Luckily Jay solved that with a un-planned road trip for me to go down to Tacoma to pick up parts. I'd been chatting (IM'ing) with Kathy about mountains this morning so my goal was to get some pictures on the way down. After deciding to live rather then attempt to photograph Mt. Rainer from I-5, I came up with a different plan.

So after I drove 45 south to pick up the parts, only to find out I that I then had to drive north for an hour to deliver them I decided to stop here: (click on the pictures to make bigger)

This Stair-Master wannabe is the old water tower that sits in Volunteer Park in downtown Seattle.

Local history: Volunteer Park was so name for the men who volunteered to fight in the Spanish American war. They gathered at this site to sign up to fight. The land that the park sits on, and the adjacent cemetery was once set aside in a bid for the state capitol. A fight that Seattle lost to the current state capital Olympia.

Here's why it's worth the climb.

Holy Names & St. Joe's

South Bellevue & Lake Washington

Mt. Rainer

Kirkland & The 520 floating bridge

Downtown Bellevue & The Cascade foothills

Downtown Seattle

I still need to work on my camera skills. I'm sure it must take better color shots then this. It's a 360* view from up there at one of the highest points in the city. I miss living downtown sometimes - like today.

My birthday is tomorrow, thank you for the birthday greetings. I'll be 46. My mother and her husband are taking us out for dinner and to a jazz club tonight. Their friend owns the club and step-papa's paying so I'm sure we'll have a great time. I'm not sure what Jay has up his sleeve but I'll let you know.

I took the video below last night while Jay was out in the goat barn. Yes, we now have a baby monitor in the barn. I didn't post it last night because I was laughing so hard while taking the shot it almost seems mean, like I'm laughing AT him - not the case. I'm laughing because he's just so dang sweet. I might lose my nerve and pull it. Jay does look at this blog every once in a while and he'd skin me alive if he knew I posted this.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I can't wait to get back out into the SUN!

Meanwhile...Out in the barn

2009-02-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

Speaker on?

He turns into a big kid around the animals.

My Day (or) Why I Hate The Department Of Planning

2009-02-24T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yup - time for Mr. Crankypants again.

I heard on the news last week that the city is reducing staff at Ye Old Permit Office. Well, this makes sense - no money floating around means no new buildings being built and equals no need for permits. I did not however think of the downstream impact. I went downtown last week to get a simple permit to install an exhaust fan. No big deal. There are different kinds of permits. 'Over The Counter' for simple stuff, and Full Plan Review for more complex jobs. (i.e. leave your first born) One type of the OTC permits is called a 'Subject To Field Inspection' or STFI - yes, they call it a 'Stiffy', it's supposed to be the simplified permit to save us all money.

There are a myriad of rules applicable to each type of permit. The Department of Planing posts these rules on what the call 'Customer Assistance Memos' or CAM's. Now these rules are all suppose to be followed for each permit but once you've been getting permits for a while you learn which pieces of information you really need as opposed to what's in the CAM. And by 'learn' I mean you get tired of watching the counter staff tear apart your permit application packet, tossing what they don't feel they need. It's completely arbitrary how they enforce the rules and totally depends on who you get at the counter. Oh, and just to make it interesting they can, and do change the rules at their whim and do not update the CAM or notify their customers.

Woe to those who might be tempted to point out to the ridiculous-ness of it all to the counter staff, your going to have to deal with these folks again. Believe it or not these people know me, and pretend to like me. Lovely.

So I go in last week with my dinky little permit application for a job that has a total cost under a $1000. The first new twist is that they now require a schematic drawing of the work. The dude hands me a blank sheet of paper. (?) He thinks I can scratch this out on the counter. Like I have all the measurements in my head. (???) Not knowing any of the details of the job, I tuck tail and head back to the office. Jay will have to draw them up. So we get that together and I go back in today with my little drawing and application packet and I'm told that I also need the legal description of the property. Ok, I can handle that. It's on the application form, always has been, no matter that they've never required it before. The gal gives me the phone number of the city agency that has that information. So after dialing the number and wading through the 7 part telephone dialing tree. I get to the right department and I'm told the description is too long to give out over the phone. I'll need to look it up online and print it out. The funny part you ask? They are asking me for information that they already have in their own computer system!

So! Fine. I head back to my house as it's closer than the office and print out my legal descriptions and go back to the permit office. Now bear in mind the cost of the permit and the labor to get them is charged to the customer. So the city has just cost the customer double my labor on top of the permit cost that is already about 1/5 of the total project. What it really comes down to is they're positions are under scrutiny so they are going to go by the book the whole way. If it takes twice as long to get a permit, fine it's no matter to them. It's job security.

I finally leave victorious with my permit in hand and start the climb back up the 8, long, up hill blocks, in the rain, to my car. I'm with in sight of it. I've almost made it and...

a pigeon poops on me.

I'm certain it's in the employ of The City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

The End.

Weekend stew with just a dash of goat

2009-02-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

In the end Bess delivered 3 kids still born. We took her back into the vet on Saturday morning as she wasn't standing. She'd developed toxemia that was making her joints sore. The Doc gave her a shot of antihistamine which seemed to do the trick. She's doing much better now. She looks impossibly skinny. It's hard to believe that's how she normally looks. Belle is doing just fine. She looks all sturdy and motherly. Bess was just too small.

After that fun Bear and I took a walk down to Kuboto Garden. We walked down through the woods rather then driving around. Walking through our/the woods give you a healthy respect for forestry management. It's just a jungle. It was hard to keep to the path. It was pretty easy to navigate just a couple of years ago. Now it's so over grown and has so many downed trees. It's not exactly a safe place to walk. A few years ago when we were down the a sudden wind storm came up and started blowing the trees hard enough to send a limb crashing down on poor Bear. At least we know now to get the hec out of there when it's windy. The walk was good exercise but that was about it. The garden does have a lot of exotic and unique plants but it's still way too early.

I got back to the house, showered and called my friend Lorrie to go meet me for lunch. We didn't have a plan but ended up at 13 Coins since it was close to where we met up. It's a old local chain of about 4 or 5 restaurants. It was one of 'the' upscale places our parents used to take us for 'grown up' meals and special occasions. Going there typically meant we kids would get wine with dinner. The one we went to is near the Seattle Times building. It's got that old hack reporter kind of feel to it. I'm sure if you go to the bar at 5:00 on any weekday you can find the newsroom crew all there drinking scotch. Some things never change. We had a nice lunch talking about our families. I'd been carrying around one of their gift cards for over a year and only remembered it as we were eating. I gave it to the waiter when we paid the bill thinking it would have had most of the 'gift' whittled away over time. We were pleasantly surprised when the waiter came back and told us it covered our lunch with 1 penny left over. I kept the card for good luck and tipped the waiter like 45%. After that we wandered around a couple of my favorite antique stores. Nothing insisted on coming home with me. It's always that way we I actually have money to spend. Which I don't. Cuz it should stay in the bank. I just have to keep telling myself that.

Got back to the house and helped Jay build a new shelter for Mr. Deeds. He's now got his own paddock now near the top of the hill with his new house smack dab in the middle of it. The house was Jay's design, scratched out on a piece of plywood as he built it. It's about 4' wide and 8' long with 5' side walls and a very steeply peaked roof. It's big enough to get inside comfortably enough to clean it. With the peaked roof it looks like a small clapboard church. I teased Jay that I was going to put a cross on the top with a sign out front reading: 'The Right Reverend Mr. Deeds'. He didn't think I was too funny. But, a couple of hours later when he asked me what color he should paint it he didn't even pick up on it when I said white. Some times it's just too easy, like taking candy from a baby. I'll have to make the cross and the sign here at work on the QT while he's out in the field. - pictures soon.

I never did hear from Bruce this weekend. I assume he got caught in up having fun. I'll bug him later for details on who he saw (at least the people I know) and how everyone is. He was here to see old theater friends, either those that are still here in Seattle or those who went to NY or LA and are back licking their wounds. Which is a common thing for actors here in Seattle, I mean it's a good home base to come back to for them when times get tough. For me they're people who it's nice to see once in a while but not people I want in my everyday life. It's simple enough: Theater people = drama.

Now it's Monday, post lunch and I'd better scratch up some busy work to do or it's going to be a long afternoon.

Be good, and play well with others.

Goatie Update

2009-02-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sad news this morning. Bess, the smaller brown goat miscarried overnight. We were concerned last night because she was panting quite a bit. We weren't sure it meant problems not having gone through this before, but we had separated Mr. Deeds, the billy away from the does. Anyway, Jay is quite sad. We're not full-fledged farmers yet so a few tears were shed. He was really looking forward to the babies. Belle, the larger gray doe is doing fine. She's bigger in size and appears to be only carrying one. I suspect Bess just wasn't big enough to carry two but I don't really know. Jay's headed back home now to take her to the vets office.

On to other things...

I called Bruce this morning and left him a message that I would indeed pick him up, all joking aside. I haven't heard back from him. Not to worry. The man's never had to work a day in his life. He can figure it out. Jay and he get along just fine. Even though they somewhat overlapped in my life if you follow my drift. Bruce was and is a great man. One of the smartest people I've ever known. He's nine years older then me and we were just at different places in our lives when we broke up. At the end he was moving to Hollywood and I knew LA wasn't my kind of town. Bruce was a playwright when we were together and I saw enough of the Seattle THEATAH scene to know I never wanted to live in Hollywood. Bruce has gone on to become an independent film producer, meaning he's (so far) produced one independent film. He has over the years sold a few treatments to the networks but nothing that produced any credits for him. More like story pieces and parts that were developed into other scripts.

Anyway - I knew at the time that I wanted something like what Jay and I have and that's were I went. At the end of our relationship, as well as through most of it, Bruce was out of the country more than he was in it. I met Jay when he was working on a play in Edinburgh for six months. When he got back, it just made sense to end it. He left for LA a few month later but has always been part of my family. My Mom & Sis still think of him as a son and brother. I'm the one in the hot seat when ever Jay and Bruce are together as they end up picking on me. But then I do make myself an easy target.

On the work front were muddling through. We've shuffled the deck on roles and responsibilities and the guys are pitching in to get the work done with our new open position. Unfortunately we're finding the quality of work the ex-employee had been doing wasn't good. We're finding more and more issues out in the field. The kind of stuff that wouldn't happen if the man had his mind on his job. I knew in my gut things weren't going right in the field and I should have acted sooner - dang it - We cycle through the commercial customers every 90 days so I'm sure well find more. Not exactly the time I want to be issuing a bunch of credits but there you have it. We're a small company and pride ourselves on doing quality work so this kind of thing hurts. Luckily it didn't get to the point where customers are complaining and hopefully we can put everything right quickly.

I just got a call from Jay and I need to run some parts out to the field. So no time to edit this so sorry for any mistakes.

Yay! ROADTRIP! and it's a sunny day! - Hope your day's going good.

XOXOBC

The Ex

2009-02-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: "XXXXX BRAD"
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2009 11:14:36 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Visit

Hey Bradley -- I'll be in Seattle Thursday night this week through
Monday afternoon next week.. Not that you care. XXXOOO Bruce.

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

----

On Feb 17, 2009, at 8:16 AM, bxxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

Oh, but I do care. - Oddly enough I kind of already knew you were coming. I was driving around at lunch yesterday and was thinking of you and just knew. Make some time to see me would ya ?

I deserve an iphone more then you do, but I do love you.

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: bxxxxxx@comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 12:18:08 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Visit

Well, sure of course I'll make time to see you. As a matter of fact, here's our first date: SEATAC 1020PM thrusday evening. You, me, my luggage and your car. It'll be fun!

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

----

On Feb 17, 2009, at 1:19 PM, bxxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

I hear the Orange cabs are nice and comfy. I can come get you if you need me - but it is a school night.

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: "XXXXX BRAD"
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:05:18 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Visit

You're back in school? Good for you! What are you studying? Are you going for your BA or AA? You see? It's never too late.

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

----

On Feb 17, 2009, at 3:19 PM, bxxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

Of course it's not too late. I'm still YOUNG.

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: "XXXXX BRAD"
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:32:52 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Visit

Exactly. 1020 isn't too late. See you then. Or did you mean something else like 46 is the new 25? I can just see you stamping your little foot now.

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

----

On Feb 17, 2009, at 3:40 PM, bxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

Make sure you have cab fare this time.

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: "XXXXX BRAD"
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:43:11 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Visit

You know, if you don't start being nice I'm not going to let you come pick me up.

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

----

On Feb 17, 2009, at 3:46 PM, bxxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

Bullshit, you'd let any man pick you up.

----- Original Message -----
From: "BRUCE XXXXX"
To: "XXXXX BRAD"
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 4:11:04 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Re: Visit

All right that's it. Now I demand ypunpick me up.

Sent from my iPhone, me, mine, Bruce Xxxxx.

On Feb 17, 2009, at 4:14 PM, bxxxxxx@comcast.net wrote:

Now who's stomping their little foot?

I (Heart) You

2009-02-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

And if it's not your cup of tea as far as holidays go, at least have fun laughing at the moon-struck lovers.

It's been a rough week, full of drama. Count yourself lucky that it's work crap and I really shouldn't blog it here. Past lessons learned and all. Enough to say that one more employee has volunteered them self to the unemployment line.

Fudgesicles! (my favorite new swear word)

Help Wanted...

Have a great weekend.

XOXO-BC

"Let's Do The Time Warp Again..."

2009-02-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

We had our staff meeting down at the new office this morning. I guess it was the first morning I'd been in there when the sun was shining. The space fills up with sunlight. My office is on the side of the warehouse that gets the morning sun. I'll have to get some African Violet's for my window sill.

I'm really going to like the new space. Closer to home and so much more room. We passed inspections on the mechanical (HVAC) systems and electrical last week. We dang well had better pass the mechanical since that's our business. Next up is the structural inspection and we can start closing up the walls, sheet rock, paint and move!

We were suppose to have moved in Dec. I should know by now these things always take longer then planned. Jay and I have remodeled two house together and there are always delays. We lived in the upstairs of our old house for over a year while we stripped 80 years of paint off the wood work. I'll have to look for some old pics of that and post them. That was our place downtown, built in 1908 it was a wreck when we bought it. Six years later, and a hec of a lot of elbow grease and we sold it for more than twice what we paid. Of course that was back in the glory days of real estate. I must be missing that house, I've changed the subject and got totally lost in what I was saying....anyway...

Lolli found some old pictures of us from high school and posted them on Facebook. That's me in the brown. Lolli is my date, seated in front of me. Homecoming 1980.

Oddly, I still have the dance photographers version of this pic. Look at that hair!
This is most of our old highschool group. I still see all of them with the exception of Dennis and Denise to my right. Lolli's Dad took the picture in two snaps as you can see. Hello 1970's decor!

Here I look about 5 years younger than the first pic but it's from the same time. My friend Lorrie's standing next to me. Lorrie and I went shopping last Saturday. She still looks the same. Bitch. Kerry is seated with the blonde hair and bangs. I had the biggest crush on her at the time. She was the ultimate of cool in my book back then.
Again, look at my hair! Lordy.

It's noon now, and I've got nothing done so far today so I best get cracking. But hey! at least I got something posted.

Because you just can't get enough of him

2009-02-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

It's been a rough week work-wise. Nothing major, just the little stuff that gets under your skin. I've been trying to write a post but everything seems to come out negative and gets scratched. So as normally happens when I'm staring at the blank blogger template, I get distracted and wander off clicking buttons. I clicked on Picasa and found all the old photos from my old blog. Eureka! I thought they were gone forever. I'd gone rooting around the old archives for something the other day and noticed many of the pictures were missing. I wondered about it for a while. I eventually chalked it up to the hatchet job I did on my hard drive awhile back. It was a lame attempt to get better performance out of this box. Two perfect examples of how limited my understanding is of all things computer. Have I mentioned lately I worked in IT for 20 years?

We've been trying to spend more time with the ladies. There getting to the point where they're communicating their discomfort. They're needy emotionally. (I'm laughing at myself) Above is Belle & Bess last year before we got the billy. Poor Mr. Deeds just tries to stay out of their way now. I just went outside and took the pictures below. They weren't really cooperating. I can't imagine why, poor things. They're due March 3rd.

OK, off to find something more productive to do before I get sucked into the computer for hours.

Lolli Google

2009-02-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at the computer blogging and Lolli sent this Google Earth shot. That's our driveway with the house unseen to the right. I like the surreal, fuzzy look. Too bad it doesn't look this way down here on the ground.

Now go on, read the next post.

I Need To Be Sent To My Room

2009-02-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post yesterday but I've had a bad case of the snarkies so I thought it best to keep my thoughts to myself. I'm snarky because of minor work crap so it's no biggee. It's just that I've been bleating like a pregnant goat at dinner time for over a year now that our service department is broken. Well, the proverbial fecal matter is hitting the air handling device. But I'm not one for I-told-you-so's.

That's a bald face lie. I'm SO not above saying that.

A-n-y-w-a-y.....

Since I have nothing NICE to say I will post a meme today. I rarely do these anymore but this one comes via my lovely friend Smocha

Have you ever...?

Gone on a blind date?

* He said he was blind but he excused himself during the salad course and never came back.

Skipped school?

* Welcome to the 'Brad Cxxxx Commemorative Detention Hall'

Watched someone die?

* Yes, the Ex, many times while trying to do stand up comedy

Been to Canada ?

* The drinking age is 18 (2+2= )

Been to Mexico ?

* Si senor. Met a scuba diver on a coral reef. Lost my swimming trunks.

Been on a plane?

* Honestly? Not since 9-11 - I've always hated to fly commercial aircraft. My Dad had a Cessna when I was little - I'm oddly just fine in small planes.

Been lost?

* Where am I ?

Been on the opposite side of the country?

* Opposite of what?

Gone to Washington, DC?

* Yes, it was the first time I was ever a minority. VERY interesting.

Swam in the ocean?

* I'm a Pisces. I'd shrivel up to a dry husk with out the ocean.

Cried yourself to sleep?

* Of course, I'm human. But the bastard wasn't worth it.

Played cops and robbers?

* Yes, I like taking prisoners.

Recently colored with crayons? .

* yes, but now I have to paint the wall.

Sang Karaoke?

* Never gonna happen...

Paid for a meal with coins only?

* I don't think so, But I know I can live for a week on a dozen eggs and a bag of potatoes.

Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t many times?

* I got over that once I realized I wasn't growing hair on my palms.

Made prank phone calls?

* Do I have your phone number ?

Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose?

* Define 'beverage'

Caught a snowflake on your tongue?

* There is nothing fun about this question. Moving on.

Danced in the rain?

* Not sure about dancing, but mud puddle wars are the best! - the muddier the better.

Written a letter to Santa Claus?

* I sent him to collections.

Been kissed under the mistletoe?

* I don't kiss and tell, Jay reads this thing.

Watched the sunrise with someone you care about?

*Yes, Jay, many many times.

Blown bubbles?

* yes, but not up and down the I-405 corridor like SOME people.

Gone ice-skating?

* I'll be in the lodge by the fire with a toddy.

Been skinny dipping outdoors?

* Where else to you get the nickname 'Nubbin'?

Gone to the movies?

* Been in two! (extra)

Saved someone’s life?

* Nope, but Jay's saved mine more than once.

1. Any nickname? - (Numbers? Now we have numbers? Isn't this like question #17?)

* Grandma called me Bradberry, Stepfather called me Hamburger (I lost mine in a drive-in once, got quite upset, and was discovered to be sitting on/in it.)

2. Mother’s name?

* Palmer, same as my middle name

3. Favorite drink?

* Iced Tea, I gave up the Long Island variety.

4. Any Tattoos?

* Ooohh I wish!

5. Body piercing?

* I'm going out with the same number of holes the good lord sent me in with.

6. How much do you love your job?

* Ahem, Don't make me go snarky on your ass.

7. Favorite vacation spot?

* Fav. that I've actually been to? Cozumel - Dream vacation? Carpathos.

8. Ever been to Africa?

* Still waiting for C.C. @ 'Six Months of Settled'. to send me passage to come be her house boy!

9. Ever eaten cookies for dinner?

* Is there a Nanny cam in my kitchen?

10. Been on TV?

* Let's just not go into that, shall we?

11. Ever steal any traffic signs?

* Hell no, those signs were there when I bought the place. Really.

12. Ever been in a car accident?

* Never while I was driving, but I once had to walk through a windshield.

13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle?

* Bear's jeep is a 4-door

14. Favorite Salad Dressing?

* Blue Cheese please!

15. Favorite Pie?

* My momma's apple pie.

16. Favorite Number?

* 7

17. Favorite Movie?

* 'Giant'

19. Favorite Dessert?

* Jay's Rhubarb Crisp

20. Favorite food?

* Lasagna

21. Favorite day of the week?

* Friday

22. Favorite brand of body wash?

* Ivory soap, as in bar of -

23. Favorite toothpaste?

* People have a favorite toothpastes?

24. Favorite smell?

* Eucalyptus trees - I grew up with one - need to plant one in my yard.

25. What do you do to relax?

* Reading

26. How do you see yourself in 10 years?

* Retired or at least working part-time. Jay & I can go live off the Ex in Hollywood for a while. (Bruce? You reading this?)

27. How many siblings do you have?

* One full sister, three stepsisters - one 1/2 brother

28. Furthest place you will send this message?

* So all the sudden I'm sending this somewhere? Blasted nerve-y meme...

29. Who will respond to this the fastest?

* Mailer daemon@abccompany.com

30. Who is your favorite dog of all time?

Really?

Have you EVER read this blog?

Favorite Dog? - You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

Facebook

2009-01-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

So I got set up on Facebook last week and have been playing around with it. My first impression was meh. Big deal. But as I've been playing with it this week I am starting to understand what a cool tool it is.

When I first got on it I was dinking around pressing buttons and just seeing what was what. I hit the button to go find 'friends' from your email contacts. I hadn't really read what the button was so I was somewhat surprised when it went into my email and pulled all the contacts from there. It's kind of spooky with one application looking into another when your not prepared for it. But that got me set up with all my day to day contacts and bloggers. So now I have a new way to while away the long afternoon hours in the office when it's slow.

I've also been able to track down a few buds that I haven't been able to communicate with in years. It's great to find old friends. But I found one connection that so far is my best example of what this tool can do.

My beloved Lolli (also known as my personal tech support dept.) originally set up my profile on Facebook. I believe she got tired of my procrastination. Well I've known for a while that Lolli has a friend named Kate (Kate's my friend now too, Hi Katy!!) who was good friends with a gal named Julie. Julie just happened to be the granddaughter of a lady who took care of me growing up, Nanny. Nanny lived with her daughter and son-in-law in the house behind ours.

So through Facebook I found Kate & Julie and while looking at Julie's 'friends' I noticed she had a 'friend' who was also her uncle, Nanny's son-in-law. So I 'friended' him, sending a message saying hello and that I remembered he and his wife fondly. It took him a bit to remember/figure out who I was but when he did he sent me a message back saying hello, with a reference to his profile pic with his (then) baby daughter. The profile pic was taken in his old back yard. I looked at the picture closer and realized that behind him stood our old house and my bedroom window framed just above his head.

I have no idea how to end this 'story'(?) Anyway there you have it, Facebook took me back 40 years to my first bedroom window.

Small world indeed.

Get Me Dirty

2009-01-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

I thought this was an interesting article. It kind of reinforces something I've suspected for a while. I think we do too much to sanitize our selves and additionally we expose our selves to a lot of toxic chemicals in our homes by way of the multitude of products we're brain-washed into buying.

You read stories about the troubling increase in the number of kids who are reported to have Autism for example. Recently there were news stories about how many kids have peanut allergies, and that statistically it just doesn't make sense that all of the sudden the percentage of the population that is allergic is off the charts from what was considered normal.

Now I'm not saying chemicals are causing those two conditions but I have a strong suspicion that dosing our selves daily with deodorant, hair product, cleaning supplies and what not, can not be healthy for us or the planet. Don't get me wrong. I see the beauty of the Swiffer, but really is there anything wrong with soap in a bucket of water? And think about it, it may be handy but it really is just marketing hype.

I try (and often fail) to avoid this stuff. Give me my good old Ivory soap and I'm good to go. It's really the only thing I want to smell like. Hec, I even use it on my hair. I understand the need for Purell and wanting things germ free, but I've always suspected that we need some of those nasty germs in us to keep our immunity systems up and running.

I'm kind of the same way about doctors and medicine. Sure, I go if something is really wrong and for check ups. But I don't go if I have a cold or flu. I hardly even take the over the counter stuff unless I'm really symptomatic and suffering. Otherwise I think it's best to just let your body do what it wants to do.

Overly processed food are also 'on my list' The less handling and adding stuff in the better.

Of course this all goes out the window if were talking about cookies, ice cream or candy. I'm not crazy.

Well Roll Me Up And Call Me Curly

2009-01-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had nocturnal visitors last night. Raccoons got into the mudroom again and molested Bear's food 'safe'. Luckily they don't come into the house proper. We had them last year for a single visit, hopefully they'll stick to that plan. They made quite a racket out at the hen house too. The old girls were really squawking this morning and all huddled in a corner. No loss of life thank goodness. I feel sorry for the hungry guys and wish there was a way to help them, but I know better.

I have a lunch date on Friday with some buds from my old days at "The Evil Coffee Empire". The company announced more lay offs at the Seattle corp. offices. The news said about 1000 people at that office. I'm sure to know many who will be leaving. It makes me count my lucky stars that I got out of that soul sucking place when I did. If I was still there I'd be in budgeting hell, not to mention letting staff go. Laying people off has got to be the worst. Firing someone is bad enough but letting good people go hurts. I think people thought I was nuts when I left, giving up a 'great' job and all. But for all their words, 'work/life balance' is just a phrase they use to appear like they care. There was never any work/life balance for me when I was there. - Hmmm... "Bitter, table for one"

All in all it's been a good day. I've been busy in the office all day and almost ran out of time to blog! Heavens!

Hope you all had a good day!

B

Haircut

2009-01-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

Alright already...

Nothin much

2009-01-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Miss Lilly & I took the Bearchild for a walk down around his dog run this morning. I took pics of the path covered in all the downed tree limbs but the picture came out looking like piles of sticks. Not too interesting. It's going to take several weekends with the wood chipper to get that in shape. We 'carved' the run out of the woods across the drive way when we moved in. It's not our land but no one ever comes up here so what the hec. The trees looked nice in the fog.

Post walk the kids took a nap. Bear's up and atta 'em now knowing it's Saturday and he doesn't get left behind on Saturdays. We're headed out shortly to meet up with Auntie Fiwa and Auntie Mo. Mo and I are getting our hair 'done', then lunch.

Time to load up the spring loaded puppy and go -

Boredom is just a lack of imagination, I know, I know...

2009-01-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Lunch today was General Tao's chicken with a side of Gyoza.

The Mr. Crankypants in me would like to point out to the owners of Asian take out restaurants everywhere, that 1/16th of a head of iceberg lettuce covered in a sauce resembling vegetable oil that once lived in a near empty jar of mayonnaise...

is not a salad.

This would have been a real post however Jay just called and he's broken the roll up door to the new office.

Thank God. I've had nothing to do since 11:00 and have been pushing the same three papers around my desk all afternoon. My Google reader has ZERO blog posts to read.

Somebody post something while I go play hero.

Seek and ye shall find

2009-01-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Hi Kid's!

I'm guest blogging over at Mo's today.

Come on over and give me a read!

Monday Odds & Ends

2009-01-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

It was a nice quiet weekend. So quiet I had time to look around and think some. I really need to get better at finishing what I start. There are so many started but not completed projects around the house it ain't even funny. There's the half painted patio furniture. It was a great start that got stymied by the two chairs that need a bit of welding before I can finish them. It's been sitting outside since Sept. There's the painting I started before that I think, sitting on the sideboard taunting me. Need to get back to that. There's the coffee mugs I promised a dear patient friend. The last try on those bad boys exploded in the kiln when I fired them. Back to square one on that project. The list could go on and on.

I just don't seem to get things done with out some sort of external motivation. I need a kick in the butt. Trying to kick my own ass could be funny to watch but probably not very effective, so what I've decided to do is get a calendar and start giving myself deadlines or at least target dates to keep this all moving forward.

I also REALLY want to get raised flower beds in before spring. If I break it down into it's component parts and put a date to them It will make it easier to stay on task rather then putting it off until 'later'.

I did finally find a date on the samovar. 1897 which would mean it was made in czarist russia, pre-soviet. That's all fine and good but you would expect to find the imperial double eagle on it too if it were made in czarist times. The Cyrillic lettering on it isn't helping as when I try and translate, it doesn't have any vowels. So there's another 'project' half baked. Anyone speak russian?

I met up with Mo and Fiwa for lunch today at Southcenter Mall. Today's lesson was yes, the Chanel perfume counter is near ladies shoes, but it helps if your looking for each other in the same department store. We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory it was that or the Olive Garden neither of which I'd ever been to before. Mo's got all the photographic evidence on what was eaten. Yummy & filling. As always the time flew by and it was a 1/4 till 2:00 when we left. Lucky for me that I have a pretty long work leash and nobody even knows I was gone that long. We even made time to stop at Borders so I could pick up two books my other Jay blogged about. Straight men love it when gay guys claim them. Really.

Another delayed 'project' for me has been finding a real stylist to cut my hair. As opposed to getting the 7 minute cut at Supercuts. Mo, being Mo had that one sorted out in about 3 minutes and we'll now be getting our hair "done" on Saturday. I'm gonna let Mo & Fiwa pic the haircut. Well see how just how much they really do love me. It was great seeing them, as always!

Well I suppose this is enough rambling about nothing. The days all most over. (amazing how fast the day goes when lunch is from 11:00 till 2:00) Time to start thinking about dinner!

Hope you Monday was quick and painless!

B

Mouse

2009-01-15T18:00:00.001-08:00

There's a mouse in the living room. I was just sitting there, reading my paper, minding my own business when he scampered past my side table. My reaction to this was to jump out of my chair and state in a loud voice to Miss Lilly: "Mouse!". She decided she was finished napping and sauntered out of the room.

I did, however get Jay's attention. He came in the room and we cornered mouse behind the organ. With us on both ends of the thing Jay looked at me, sizing up my level of fear and said "Can you kill it?" and handed me a folded up newspaper. I shot him a look and came over and got a ream of paper from the computer desk. Took up my position and Jay yanked the organ away from the wall. Sending candles, glass ornaments and Great Grandpa Weinhart crashing to the floor.

One more yank on the organ and mouse ran out between my feet. I threw the ream of paper and was in the kitchen in two steps. Mouse is in a cluttered corner by the book cases where he can just stay for all I care.

It's just a mouse right ?

'Dicker' is not a dirty word

2009-01-14T12:15:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm - Phad Thai drowning in peanuts sauce for lunch today. Lo cal? No. Yummy? Yes.

Sorry had to share.

So, if you've been reading along here you may have read that I've been looking for new living room furniture for oh, forever it seems. My main problem is that the furniture they make today doesn't really fit very well in a 1918 house. The furniture has to fit the room but also the people. I have to be able to stretch out on the couch.

Anyway, there are plenty of good deals out there. It seems everyone is in a panic to move merchandise. Let me tell you there are plenty of very hungry sales people in those show rooms too.

My problem is I don't know how to bargain with sales people. I never have. I don't normally do the big purchases. Jay's always the one who gets to go meet with the car salesmen when it's time to buy a car. What I need to know is, do people negotiate for furniture purchases? It's clear the sales people are on commission, so do they have leeway to deal? I don't know if it was just my family or the area I grew up in. We don't seem to haggle much here, or at least I haven't seen it.

I'm a simple guy. I understand companies are in business to make money. I just expect people to take the cost of providing the item, mark it up with a reasonable percentage and that's that. But I'm pretty sure I'm being naive. It just feels like to ask a person to drop their price is assuming they're trying to overcharge you to begin with and it seems insulting. (I know, I know...I shouldn't care)

I know that some companies do price that way. We do. But then again we're a co-operative. We do work for anyone just like any other company, but if you join the co-op your a member and it says right on your contract what our mark up rates are. Your also entitled to see the invoice from our supplier. I realise that most business run differently.

So how do you know when you can dicker or not. Is it just a matter of having the nerve to ask? No harm, no foul? Is it that easy? Or to really do it successfully do you have to have some kind of justification on why you think you should pay less? I just don't get it. I know many companies are hurting and that's the reason for the deep discounts. I just don't want to be a chump and leave money sitting on the table when it can stay in my pocket. How do you do this?

Anyone wanna go shopping with me?

Support Your Local Newspaper

2009-01-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

I've been a newspaper reader since I was a kid. I've been lucky to live in a city with two local daily papers. I grew up in a liberal household and 'our' paper was always The Seattle Times. The other paper in town, which once was considered the conservative paper is The Seattle-Post Intellegencer.

This worked great for me when I was a young adult. The Times was the "afternoon" paper while the PI published in the morning. I would read the PI on the bus on my way to work in the morning and the Times would be waiting for me when I got home in the evening.

It was the best of both worlds. While I new each paper had it's political bent, I knew what it was and could base my opinions on the stories with that in mind. Strangely over the years the line between the two papers blurred. The Times became more conservative while the PI became more liberal. I don't know why this happened as the owners of the papers never changed. The times was started and is still owned by the Blethen family. Col. Alden Blethen bought The Times in 1896 and managed it to be a rival to the PI. It's still run by his heirs. The PI first published in 1863 as the Seattle Gazette is the oldest paper in town. It had a variety of owners in the past and was purchased by W.R. Hearst in 1921. It's been a Hearst paper ever since.

It may sound a bit much to read two daily papers but with those two paper available it was a great way to get a story from two differing perspectives. There was also a good percentage of stories that would be carried by one paper but not the other, for whatever reason.

For me, newspapers were where you went if you really wanted to understand a story. To get more then the details of what happened, but also the causes that might have made it happen. You could always get a more in depth story than what you saw in two minutes on the nightly TV news. Newspaper also once had a tradition of doing investigative journalism (remember that phrase?) where they would be the ones to break the story and bring it to the public.

Well, it seems that those day are almost gone. It started over a decade ago. At least that's when I started noticing it. The stories in the paper became more info-tainment. The same non-news stories as you saw on TV or heard on the radio. The people who decide what you hear on the TV news also became the same people who decided what you would read in the paper. Investigating reporting became a thing of the past. We gave them good cover for this lapse. The publishers could just point to their falling subscription numbers and tell us there wasn't enough money to keep all those reporters around. It's happened in our local paper all the way up to the Old Grey Lady herself, The New York Times. Hell, the Wall Street Journal is now owned by Rupert Murdoch. They slashed and burned their newsrooms and squawked the whole time about how they couldn't make money and compete with the web.

Well, I think they have it coming. The only way they could make themselves into something relevant was to give us something we couldn't get else where. The missed a big opportunity. They used to educate us, to make us think. They would lay out the facts and also give some background story and allow the reader to draw their own conclusions. What they print now is just the same nonsense as you can get from any other media outlet. How about a news story that tells us how the goverment came up with $700 billion for a banking bailout, but when we ask for education and health care there's just no money? That would be a story I would read.

The art of distraction. "Don't look over here at this dirty little war...which is sponsored by our parent company GE (for example) but look over here!!! Britney's a train wreck and Lohan's dating chicks!

Last week Hearst announced that the Seattle Post Intelligencer was being put up for sale. Putting it up for sale is almost a euphemism, really it's just a nice way to say: "We give up". If Hearst can't make money on it it's doubtful anyone else could.

The papers themselves keep getting smaller and smaller and thinner and thinner. My nightly Seattle Times is now down to three sections. The business section is now one page. The reporting in the 'A' section is all wire service. It takes me 10 minutes to read. Part of my daily ritual, reading the paper after work to unwind is going by the wayside.

I wish I were more eloquent. I wish I could say this better. But I think with out this type of reporting and coverage we as a nation just become a mass of blind sheep just accepting what drivel the 'powers that be' decide we can know. Most people don't have the time or resources to dig for the news. To do the research and look beyond what the main stream media bleets at us as news.

I love the newspaper. I like to be able to walk around with my newspaper. I want to be able to take it anywhere I go. Stuff it into my satchel for later or to show someone a story I read, take it to the bathroom with me, make a silly hat. I like the tactile feel of it. If the newspaper goes the way of white wall tires and transitor radios, what are you going to wash your windows with? What will you put on the kitchen table when the kids want to paint? What will you wrap your fish in! - I was a bit teed off when the local recycling pick-up company decided we could no longer toss our loose paper in a plastic bag to be picked up. I had to resort to buying paper leaf bags for our paper recycling. Ironic huh, buying paper to recycle paper? I'm going to be really pissed off if I have to start buying blank newsprint.

Holly Cats! Your still here? Well aren't you the brave little reader!

I did have one other thing. It's time to annouce the three lucky bloggers who were selected for my next part of the "Pay it Forward" game. Over the weekend I tried to get Bear to pick the lucky recipeints. Unfortnatly, unlike Real Live Lesbian's wonderful dog Trace seen HERE picking my name, amongst others, Bear just doesnt have that talent. I tried to take videos but all I got was his butt leaving the room. I ended up picking them myself. So, in the next few days I'm going to be putting together packages of things to brighten the day for:

Ace at Helpdesk Ace

Leann at From My World to Yours

And last but by no means least...

Tina at Big Cute Beach Girl

I'll need to get your snail mail addresses so I can send the packages. I'm going to have a blast deciding what to send you!

Carry on.

More Moose & Squirell

2009-01-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

I know I post these two all the time but I couldn't help myself. Here they are just now while I'm at the computer. That cat follows the dog everywhere. If he gets too far afield for her she'll climb a tree to watch for him. I've never seen a cat love a dog so much.

More Weather

2009-01-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

It's been raining. A lot.

This is the Cedar River where Bear and I occasionally walk. I copied this pic off of the city's website. The river is channeled as it goes through downtown Renton. I shot the video below at about the same spot this afternoon. If you were the dude on the bike you'd have about 3 feet of water over your head.

Makes me thankful to be warm and dry in a house on a hill.

Miss Lilly if your nasty...

2009-01-07T13:03:00.000-08:00

Not much going on here. I stayed home Monday and Tuesday. I've been fighting the cold one of the rugrats gave me over Christmas. Not really feeling too sick but enough to take it easy. It's been stormy and rainy for days now, the time of year I like the least. It will be this way until March at least.

I do have one rather disgusting story to share with you. I've written before about my cat Miss Lilly and her ever lasting war on terrorist mice. Well the battles seemed to slack off over the past two months as no new victims were found. I got my first surprise on Sunday. The cat and dog share a bed that sits in the walkway between the living room and kitchen. This is the preferred spot as they can keep tabs on what the humans are up to with out having to get up from their napping spots. The bed gets dragged around the room a bit and I'm always kicking it back into it's position. Sunday when I went to nudge it back into place it did slip across the floor like normal, so I picked it up to find a very dead and very flat mouse. Now, not only are her little conquests brought into the house, now SHE'S HIDING THEM.

Disgusting? Yes, but wait, it gets better.

I was vacuuming (Yes, I do keep a moderately clean house regardless of what this story will make you think) the living room and saw a odd scrape of material just barely sticking out from the area rug. I thought at the time, 'Oh great, the backings coming undone' but not actually bending over to investigate it to much.

Hey, if you don't get sucked up in the vacuum after a couple of swipes maybe you've earned your spot.

As I was vacuuming again on Monday I saw the thing again and decided to find out what was up. I bent over and peeled back the corner of the rug and found very dead and very flat mouse #2. I went and got some paper towels and lifted the poor thing up --- I'm editing myself here - you don't want to read what I was going to type - let's just say the little mousey was about the size and texture of a communion wafer. That sucker had been there long enough to dry out completely. You'd think we'd have noticed a smell? Nope.

I guess I'm going to have to work on my house keeping skills.

Wanna come over for dinner ?

Happy New Year! - Pay It Forward

2009-01-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I went to bed at about a quarter to midnight last night. I figured hearing the fireworks would let me know when the new year started. I was thinking as I went to sleep that at 45 I really don't relate to the number of years going by anymore. It just seems a silly and arbitrary way to measure a life. I'd rather focus on the number of days. It seems to me that focusing on the number of days we're here would keep you more in the moment and enjoying what you have right now. Today I'm 16,744 days old.

Or, it's just a crock and I don't want to have to say "I'm 46".

We spent the day de-christmasfying the house. The place looks so bare now. Our friend Kathy came over to help and hang out and get her Bear fix. A perfect way to spend a grey soggy northwest day.

I'm feeling pretty special today because the lovely Trace was good enough to choose my name to be one of the recipient of Real Live Lesbians 'Pay It Forward' . RLL was a paid forward by Scarlet and now it's come to me.

I went back to Scarlet's benefactor to find a bit of it's origin. “the exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward in their own way.” The idea is to "send something fun, inspiring or uplifting" to three bloggers. "The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found. No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile. Maybe something unique from where you live? There are no cost restraints, but don't go crazy!" I think it's a great idea. Coming up with the next packages will be almost as much fun as getting fun mail from RLL. Go check out the video of Trace doing the picking. She kinda snuck me in there in the end.

RLL's package came yesterday. Here, look-see what she was sweet enough to send on to me.

I love it. Planting an Amaryllis bulb on New Years seems like a great way to mark the day. After that I'll be running around the house with my bubble blowing scrubber brush. Maybe, if Jay's lucky I'll take my clothes off.

This next part is almost more fun then getting stuff. So leave a comment (even if you never do) and Bear will pick three names for me to pay it forward to. Come on you know you wanna.

Slo-mo holiday week

2008-12-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

I like this week in between the holidays. Te roads are quieter during the commute. The phones aren't ringing to much. It's nice and quiet here at the office. I was able to recreate the prior week from all the notes I took while working from home. It was a big old hair ball to get all those scribbled notes in to the systems at work and make sure all the invoicing was done and other details where captured. It made for a crazy Monday but now I can sit back and relax pretty much.

We had a great Christmas. Janta brought me a new camera amongst other tresure. God love 'em. It's the same make I had before but one model up from it. I'm liking the bigger display screen. I'll bore you with pictures soon. We spent a quiet Christmas Eve dinner with my Mom and Christmas day with Jay's family. Somewhere in there one of the vertically challenged (and sticky) relatives passed on their germs and I'm incubating a cold right now. We did have a moment of worry Christmas day as a 25' limb off the doug fir on the corner of the house gave way under the snow and crashed down on the rockery. If it had been on the other side of the tree it would have taken out the power, phone and cable. - Whew! close one.

The week wasn't all joy and light, Lolli's nephew committed suicide a few days before Christmas and it certainly affected her holiday. There's more than a little strained family dynamics going on there and having to pull the whole family together for this is a challenge. The funeral is today, a few hours from now. Hopefully differences can be set aside for the poor grieving mother. Jay & I will check in on Lolli at the end of the day. Send her a prayer if you would.

One of my favorite gifts this year was a Russian samovar. It's kind of a long story. When Jay's Sister & BIL got posted to Russia years ago I told them I'd always wanted one and asked them to find one for me. I'd expected to pay for it myself. About 5 years ago the samovar was found and purchased but need export licenses as it's considered a piece of heritage. Long story short, it finally made it's way out of Russia this year. It's an interesting piece. I'm still trying to decide if it is indeed a 'heritage' piece or not. It doesn't matter if it is or it isn't I love it all the same. However it's got some interesting clues. There's no double eagle mark on it so it must have been made after the revolution. There are what appear to be tax stamps that have been pounded on to the sides but since I can't read Cyrillic I'm not quite sure yet. The fixture is brass, but it looks like it's brass plated over copper with some copper showing thru in places where you'd expect it had a lot of handling. I'll need to do a little research of production methods. Again I love it as it is but I can't resist trying to figure out if it's from the early Soviet period or a very well done fake. I love this kind of stuff.

Hope your having a great day!

B

Find Me

2008-12-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

A friend sent this picture to me this morning. I'd never seen it before. My sister and I, with the Houghton children. They'd just emigrated from England. Their family had come to live near their aunt, uncle and grandparents. Their grandmother "Nanny" took care of my sister and I growing up.

Can you find me?

UPDATE: I'm behind my sister with the long brown hair.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

2008-12-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's day 8 of the big snow and more is coming down this morning with more to come. I was able to get out twice in the past two days to finish up shopping and stocking stuffers so were all ready.

The plan is to go to my Mom's tonight for dinner. It's only about 3 miles but unfortunately it's all hills, but with the jeeps 4 wheel drive it shouldn't be a problem. Tomorrow we plan on driving down to Lacey to Jay's folks about an hour south of here where the snow is deeper and they're house is in a rural area that most likely won't be plowed. We'll have to see how that goes and if we can get there.

Lolli's with us. Jay was able to get down to her house and get her last week. So our little family is complete.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, doing exactly what you want to do. Thank you for sharing the gift of your time and thoughts with me over this last year. I treasure your friendship.

Brad

"Saturday, In the park, I think it was the fourth of July"

2008-12-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Or, Saturday in Seattle with 19*

We woke up cold this morning. The temp dropped down below 15* over night and exceeded the heat pumps limit. Luckily we've had the new furnace on the back of Jay's truck all week so it's ready to go. We never got it installed since everyone was busy. The weather guys are predicting a record storm coming in so we only have until about sundown to get this baby in. Jay got the old unit cut loose and we both got the new one in place. One natural gas to propane conversion and about 100 other connections and we should be golden. warm. heated.

Weather here is hard to predict so we cut our weather folks a bit of slack. We live weather wise in what's called the Puget Sound convergence zone.

You can see the weather comes in off the Pacific and splits going around the Olympics and converge right over us. If that weren't enough we have the Cascade Mtn's to the east which acts as a wall for the clouds to 'stack up' on dumping the precipitation on Western Wash. That's why the state is basically a rain forest on one side of the mountains and near-desert on the other. Normally this would mean wet and soggy but with the cold air (Thanks Canada) today it means snow. Downtown Seattle, for what ever reason is always the last to get snow. The prediction is 3 - 8" tonight. When 'they' said trace to 3" earlier this week we got 8" up here on the hill. Nothing to do but wait and see. If it happens it will be like a 20 year record.

We did make it out for a while yesterday. We headed out to the mall thinking we'd be one of the few foolish enough to try. Um, yeah wrong on that one. It was crowded. But we had a great lunch and got some presents. I was able to find Jay some toys. Can't say what as he does poke around here on occasion. I always try and find him some big boy toys because part of Christmas for me is getting back to being a kid and all kids should get toys for Christmas.

Well, Wonderboy has the heat pump back online and the furnace unit in place ready to be hooked up. Finally the house is warming up. I'd better go help.

Snow Day!

2008-12-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

I bet we get more snow days here then the rest of the country. Not that we get more snow, we just give up and the first sign of it and take the day off. Maybe it's just me, there are plenty of people sitting on the freeway trying to get somewhere.

Bear's a bundle of puppy energy wanting to get back out and dance in the snow. He's discovered he can eat it and has been hoovering the driveway. Well it's too cold for me little dog. We're both home and warm. Luckily we were able to sort out the worst 'no heat' cases yesterday. The phones are forwarded to me but their quiet so far. Knock wood.

Mo was kind enough to take pics of our Christmas tree for us. I'm still with out a camera. Looks like Miss Lilly's been playing around the bottom there. She's typically ensconced on the tree skirt surveying her domain.

The weather is suppose to stay with us through the weekend which kind of mucks up my shopping plans. My family has decided to for go gift giving to the adults which takes a lot of pressure off. The downside of that is I haven't been too worried about getting the shopping done because I thought/am thinking it will be a breeze. Now it looks like I may have to fight the weather or not have as much time I thought i did. Typical of me to procrastinate.

I've been thinking about my posts lately. I used to get ideas about a post and they'd kind of percolate for a day or two before I'd right them out. I think the used to have something to say. Lately I just seem to ramble. I want to get back to more thoughtful posts. I don't normal look at my archived posts. I'm too self critical and it makes me cringe. But maybe re-reading some will get me motivated. Thinking outloud here. outtype? Well, you know...

It's nice being hold up in the house here with Jay. That man is so full of joy normally, a snow day about puts him over the top. I'm so lucky.

B

You want that when ?

2008-12-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Northwest rarely gets below freezing and when it does we all go bonkers. This week so far has been pretty nuts trying to keep up with all the customers and non-customers who are with out heat. The trick is to balance it all so you keep techs in the same general geographic area while trying to balance who called first, who is a regular customer, residential takes priority over commercial to some degree, families with kids come first. You may or may not be surprised at how angry someone can get because your choosing to send the tech to a home with children over their business. Monday morning I had the patients to reason with them. That's wearing thin very quickly. My favorite call so far was a lady yesterday who called and said they'd been remodeling their house and they needed ducts and registers added for the party their having on Friday night. She 'HAD' to have a bid on the job that day and she wanted the work done by Thursday. HA! ha ha ha ha

and Ha!

Our new furnace will be installed as soon as we can free the guys up to do the work. We still have the heat pump so we're not with out. It's still a bit chilly in the house. Bear and Miss Lilly are coming up with new and creative ways to spoon each other. Very cute.

Well that was my 15 minutes of fun - back to the phones - Hope your all doing well!

Sunday

2008-12-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

The snow held off long enough for Fiwa and Mo to come to brunch yesterday. It was great to spend time with those two and just hang out. Our buddy Ace put in a guest appearance via cell phone and chatted for a few minutes. I made fruit salad and omelette's. Omelette's were not a very good 'brunchy' choice as you end up making them instead of sitting down to talk. After we ate we painted ceramics. It's like our new hazing ritual around here.

It started snowing at about 8:00 last night and made it a perfect night to hold up and watch old movies. Bear & I stayed up till after midnight watching it snow.

I woke up around 3:00 to what I thought was Jay's alarm clock going off. I remember thinking it wasn't that loud and I could blow it off and go back to sleep. Which I did. I think that happened twice. The next thing I knew Jay was waking me up and telling me the CO2 detector was going off and I needed to go downstairs. Turns out that the secondary heat exchanger in the furnace fried and was sending CO2 into the house. Great. Really not good. The alarm on the fire detector is about 5 times as loud. You'd think the CO2 thing would be as loud. If I'd have been alone I could have slept through it and... well not slept through it. So please check your detectors so you at least know what they sound like!

So there you have it. The HVAC guys furnace doesn't work on the coldest day of the year so far. We do have the heat pump but it has to be manually over-ridden every couple of hours. We raided the goats heater and have the house up to 64* right now. It's about 25* outside. Jay's trundled off to get another space heater for the goats.

We're suppose to be going down to Jay's folks house for a family early Christmas with their extended family but I'll be staying behind to 'tend the home fires'. For Jay it's a command performance regardless of ice & more snow coming. I'm not happy about him driving an hour each way but at least his brother will be with him.

I happened to pass the closet in the dining room this morning and noticed two boxes of those little Christmas village ceramic building thingies. I asked Jay about them and he said that he had either got them for us 'If I wanted to have them out' or their for his mother. Mother already has a small Christmas city and I'm sure that unless he went to a specialty shop, which I know he did not, these would be duplicates to ones Mother already has and he knows it. He knows their not my thing but this is his coy way of testing the waters. I'll set them up while he's seeing his folks.

Happy Sunday!

B

13 shopping days left!

2008-12-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

Jay and I both took last Friday and Monday off work and made it a 4 day weekend. We were able to get all of the Christmas decorations up and the house is ready. We had originally intended to head for Cannon Beach for a few days but I just couldn't justify spending the money. Watching the nightly news gives me a bad case of the "what if's"

The lack of daylight is taking it’s toll on me yet again this year. Not in a big way. I just kinda feel like a reptile, you know how their whole bodies slow down in the cold? That’s about me right now. I’m not depressed or anything just about two steps away from hibernation.

Nothing much new to report. Work is going along just fine. The new approximate move in date for the new office is mid-January. My anticipation for that date is really just all about having room in my office for Bear to come hang out during the day.

I’ve been dealing with bad skin on my face for like the last year or so. I read about Shea butter about a year ago and have been using that for a while and it’s helped a great deal. However I have still had these damned red spots on my face that just won’t seem to go away. They don’t really develop like pimples per say but just red spots that seem to move around. I’ve been noticing people who used a product called Pro-Active had really good skin so even though I’m pretty sure I don’t have acne I thought I’d give it a try. My niece uses it and has great skin so I thought what the hec. Well I used it twice following the directions (I think) and by the second application I’d done quite the burn number on my skin. Luckily I had the 4 days off to let it heal. I looked like hell there for a while. But once off the dead skin peeled off, guess what? No more spots. I guess I’ll just have to find the right amount to use as to not burn myself again.

At least I’m looking good for my hot date with two ladies on Saturday. Barring any extreme weather, Mo & Fiwa are coming over on Saturday to see us. I’m really looking forward to it. Snow is in the forecast but I doubt it will amount to anything. But a little of the white stuff would be nice!

Fine Tuning (Ode To A Dead Camera)

2008-12-04T17:55:00.001-08:00

I did a stupid thing. I was using my camera on Sunday and the lens got stuck in the out position. So I did what any man worth his salt would do. I smacked it. Well the lens went back in. You can probably guess the rest.

Every time Cheryl mentions buying electronics she nearly always advises to get the warranty. A little voice in my head always say 'that's a really good idea'. Now if I can just find that little card.

Here's the last of the picture out of that little cam, at least for a while.

This is the lamp Jay's been making. Just off the form and on the light box. He's got another row acrossed the bottom on, kind of rounding it under. He's putting on the hardware now and picked up a cool bronze base for it. My favorite part is when he puts the patina on the solder and it ages.

Here's Bess (with the horns) and Belle. Both pregnant but not yet showing. Those would be their normal figures. Such ladies. Bless.

Painting ceramics with the kids.

The Christmas Carousel downtown

Seattle Center

I'd walked out the back door, acrossed the feild and down around the front of the house. I was trying not to set off the motion sensor for the light in the drive way. Bear followed me and then walked right into it.

Obligatory

Pet

Photos

Goodnight.

Right Now

2008-12-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Right now I’m sitting in my office overhearing Jay in his office talking to one of his guys. The guy is kinda hanging by a thread and Jay’s been coaching him for sometime now, with only marginal progress. It gives me mixed emotions. I’m proud of Jay for how he handles his guys and what good of a leader he is. I’m glad that it’s not me that has to have these tough conversations with the employees. I feel sorry for the dude he’s talking to. He’s another one of our 20+ year olds that wasn’t really well equipped for the job market when he came out of school. He has the typical bravado of a man his age. I think the ladies might call him a ‘player’. He’s a good kid at heart but just seems to be under the impression that he can get a head in life while only putting out minimal effort.

We had our bi-weekly office meeting yesterday and while we’re not feeling the pinch of the economy yet, were positioning ourselves for what may come. This guy is making himself low man on the totem pole.

I hope he’s able to grasp what he’s being told and can turn it around. I remember being that age and the feeling that nothing bad could really happen to you. Like nothing could really hurt you, that only happens to 'other' people. I guess it’s with age that you get more concerned about things like, what if ?

Then I have one of my guys who’s been working his butt off for the last two years to get his life back together after a mistakes he made and had to pay for. He’s done a remarkable job of paying off his debt to society and pulling himself up by the boot straps. I only worry because he’s living hand to mouth and we can’t guarantee 40 hours of work a week. I hope their all smarter then I’m giving then credit for. I hope they see how uncertain things are right now and are planning accordingly. But I kind of know what the answer to that question is.

Lord, I’m glad I’m not their age anymore and have some security.

Forgive the crappy post of unclear thoughts sewn together in an illogical sequence.

Pass the Clairol

2008-12-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

We had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving. It was a smaller crowd then we normally have with my sister & BIL in Florida. My niece was there as she’s living with my Mom to complete her final year in high school in Washington. Really pretty simple all around.

Lolli & Jay made a second turkey dinner on Friday so we have tons of leftovers to eat this week. Friday for me, was a perfect lazy day watching old movies on TV and puttering around the house. Jay managed to fit in getting the lights up on the outside while helping with dinner. I was a slug. TMC had a marathon of Betty Davis & Joan Crawford films. What holiday would be complete with out watching Mildred Pierce?

On Sunday my friend Lorrie and I took her son out to lunch and a walk to look at the holiday Christmas decorations. We ate at a sports bar near the Seattle Center. Son had never been shopping downtown for Christmas so this was supposed to be a treat. Unfortunately it seems the retailers have really scaled back on the amount of decorations. There was also a noticeable lack of customers with out any lines at the registers. We walked around Seattle Center’s Center house and looked at the model train Christmas Village (cool) and watched the Japanese dancers (huh?) Next was the gingerbread houses annually displayed at the Sheraton Hotel, this years theme was ‘Superhero’s’, Superman, Batman and the like, which didn’t make for very Christmas-y ginger bread houses. Maybe they were trying to be multi-cultural – I’m not sure but it was strange.

I spent Sunday evening in the bathroom doing some manscaping. Now don’t get me wrong, if you’ve read me for a while you know I’m not a Metrosexual. Hell, most of my clothes are in drab shades of blue, gray or black. If I want to get wild with color there’s always green. I’m considered dressed up if I have nice gray wooly socks on with my sandals. I sat down to read the Sunday paper and noticed the hair on my chest was tickling my chin when I looked down. Now I’m not what you would normally call a hairy man but I do tend to grow quite a bit on my chest. It has at times been referred to as a pelt. So I took myself into the bathroom and whipped out the old beard trimmer and started to trim up my neck. Once I started there it just made sense to thin out the pelt a bit. After trimming off a good inch and a half I stopped and took a look. It seems that the hair on the top of my chest has gone gray. And by gray I mean snow white. So now I look like I have dark hair in a semi circular pattern from nipple to nipple looking like a large smile. The hair above it is white and doesn’t really show up.

The indignities of age.

I think I’ll dye it punk-rocker neon blue and see how long it takes Jay to notice.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T09:44:00.000-08:00

When I think of what I have to be thankful for the first thing that comes to mind is my partner Jay. He's big and strong and loving and faithful. He's always sensitive to my moods, good or bad. I never doubt that I come first in his heart and even though he doesn't need to, he tells me he loves me everyday. He's taught me a lot about loving someone unconditionally. He makes me feel special.

He's the Swiss Army knife of partners. Carpenter, Boo-Boo kisser, Electrician, Remover of dead things, Plumber, Glass artist, Baker, Automotive mechanic, Goat herder, Chicken wrangler.

He's warm, caring, noble and true. He's a loving Son, Brother, Uncle, Cousin and Friend.

He makes me a better man.

He is my hero.

I'm thankful for all the friends who populate my life and make my world a better place.

I'm thankful for you.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Love,

Brad

When Babies Shoot Bullets

2008-11-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

There was a shooting at the local mall on Saturday afternoon. A group of kids got into a confrontation and somebody pulled out a gun and shot one kid to death. On Sunday they moved the fight a little closer to us and another young man died in a parking lot behind a restaurant in the business district just up the road. Farther north in Rainer Valley they shot up a gas station and hit a 15 year old in the thigh and a 18 year old in the arm. No one died in the last one. The police say both incidents on Sunday were in retaliation for the first shooting at the mall.

What a waste. I'm guessing here, but I'd be willing to wager that it all started with words. Someone said something to someone who couldn't manage their anger. What a waste.

I remember being that age. I remember how my feelings were so intense I thought I might go crazy. How passion ruled my mind before logic. How everything seemed so big and so important.
But I didn't carry a gun.

The cops say it's gang related and I'm sure it is, but I'll bet you when the parents are interviewed they won't recognize their own child as a gang member. They'll say that they were good kids and they'll be telling the truth.

These kids are the same age as a lot of my friends children. Just a few years older then the kids who live down the street, the sweet kids who like to come up and see the goats and chickens. Kids that should be graduating in June. Kids that might have applied for a job with us in a few years.

Now their dead kids.

They're dead because it's as easy for a kid to get a gun in this country as it is to get a pack of cigarettes.

Holiday Ramp Up

2008-11-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to tomorrow. We're having a ceramics painting party and many friends and assorted kids will be over to spend the day. We'll cover the kitchen in old newspaper and let them all go at it. Jay will have the kiln firing all next week and we can watch the wheel on the electric meter spin.

My buddy Norm and his wife are coming. I think Norm and I'll watch them play for a while then sneak off to go check out Second Use Building Materials. It's a store near us that recycles old building parts and pieces for resale. Many a good treasure I've found there. They have lots of weird, odd ball stuff to, this is where I found my 1890's pump organ sitting on a pallet covered with tarps and just to cheap to let it get away.

I figure by the time we get done with that and lunch we can safely head back to the house and all the Jr. painters will have exhausted themselves. It does start to make me feel a bit Christmas-y and ready to go get tree's after thanksgiving. It's an annual event for Jay and I to take Mom to pick out trees, take hers back to her house, get the lights on, then get ours home and lit on the same day. Jay does all the stringing of lights as he made the mistake of developing that skill years ago. My part comes after, decorating the thing. We normally get a big noble so it can take a couple of days.

My sister was up from Florida this week and we had about an hour to sit and chat and catch up. She brought up gift giving this year and I was happy to hear that she's 'over it' too. It's silly for a bunch of adults who have everything they need to be buying gifts for each other. So we agreed with Mom that from now on gifts will be for the kids only. Of course we all know we're going to cheat, at least I am, but the gifts will be small and just fun silly stuff.

Jay on the other hand is not off the hook. I've already worked out commitments on new furniture so that doesn't count as a Christmas present. He is in the process of making me a new Tiffany style lamp shade (I'll post pics as soon as it's off the form and tacked together) but that still doesn't get him off the hook. I'm thinking electronics.

So what do you want for Christmas ?

Welcome to Kuboto Farm

2008-11-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well this has all been a pain in the butt. I'd forgot how much tweeking it took to set up a new blog. I'll be playing around with it for a bit I'm sure. This whole things seems so silly and juvenile I just want to make the break and move on. So I'll just say this and let it drop. Someone from my real life and work started reading the old blog. Not that big of a deal in itself but it was making it harder and harder to write with out constantly editing myself.

Kuboto Garden is a park down at the bottom of our hill. I've written about it before and posted some pics. It was a Japanese nursery before world war 2 and was made as a display garden originally to showcase their products. The garden was abandoned when the Japanese were moved to concentration camps for the duration of the war. It later became a city park.

I just went to look up a fact on the park and now realize I've misspelled it. Well that's kind of kind of fitting for this whole debacle. Maybe the misspelling well help keep this blog a bit lower under the radar.

Anyway...
A few weeks ago we added Mr. Deeds to the goatie corral and he soon got busy impregnating Bess & Belle. When Jay registered the new herd with the state he had to come up with a name. We have always called this place Bear's farm but Jay didn't like that name so we co-opted the part of the parks name and added farm. And now I've misspelled it so none of it makes any sense.

See the kind of day I've had?

Whatever, it's done. I like the name even if it isn't exactly right.

I've been struggling with posts lately so hopefully this will be the start of something new and better. Thank you so much for wanting to follow along.

Me Again...

2008-11-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

Happy One just pointed out to me that you could find the new blog from the old by veiwing my profile there. I've removed it but if anyone knows any ways that people might find the new blog from the old please let me know. I'm trying to cover my tracks here - Grrr - This sucks.

Hello

2008-11-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

Hello! - Sorry for the quick move here. I'll post later when I have more time. This was put together in a hurry late last night so it's not quite ready and/or finished. Thanks for coming along. I'll try to explain more later.

Brad