Local Quake

We had a magnitude 3.1 earthquake yesterday right off of Trouts Ranch Rd, north of the airport. It was 3.58 miles from our house as the Raven flies, and 3.1 miles deep.

The USGS has just released their new Earthquake Map and if you note the area I circled below, that’s us. (Click the map below for a larger view.)

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Categorized as The Valley

Meet The Star

A guy walked into Steph’s Suburban Propane office yesterday to sign a service agreement for some propane. Steph blurted out “Are you Deeks from NCIS Los Angeles?” and he replied “Yes I am“.

It turns out a star from a favorite TV show was in our Valley! I really enjoy the show and I like the character he plays. Very cool…

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Categorized as Steph

NW Videos

Last Saturday I climbed into Riley and Jess’s KIA back seat and we went off exploring. From Kent Cornucopia to Alki Beach and then down to the Pike Place Market and the Waterfront, we had a great time. I pressed the video button on my camera a few times and this little composite video is the result.

At 1:52 in the video we passed a Water Taxi loading up for a trip around Alki. I used to manage that operation as a Metro supervisor and occasionally I got to drive it. :-)

Ooops, I forgot to include this one…

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Categorized as Vacation 3

NW Leftovers

My latest adventure was a marvelous mix of family, sunshine, and love. Here’s my girl Tori and my son Riley, hanging out with me…

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And to finish off the parade, a group of Mexican cowboys pranced their horses around and stole the show!

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Categorized as Vacation 3

Bonney House

Stephs sister Sandy and her husband Jim (Tori‘s mom and dad) provided us a guest bedroom during our recent visit to the Bonney Lake, WA area, along with some smashing good times on the front porch. Steph suggested I take a few pictures of their new home, so I did. It’s five bedrooms of brand new house hugeness with some cool red lanterns in the kitchen and a tree killing cat.

Click on the photo below to view the set…

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Categorized as Family

Mount Rainier

Highway 410 between Sumner and Yakima Washington wraps around the east side of this great volcano and presents a stunning view as the sun rises. We rolled by here at 0600 this morning and I took advantage of the photo opportunity.

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Categorized as Vacation 3

C Day

Yesterday was the final day of Kent Cornicopia and we decided to watch the parade this year. So Steph, Riley, Sandy and Tori and I hung out. Steph’s sister Sandy and her daughter Victoria had never attended and it’s been many years for the rest of us.

It was fun but as someone who has faithfully attended and photo-documented the Victor Idaho 4th of July parade, well, it was obvious I was not in Idaho… :-)

Click on the photo below to view the set…

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Categorized as Vacation 3

NW Visit 2

Riley and Jess and I went on an event marathon today. I’ve trained my son well but his natural abilities shined through today as he navigated their new state of the art KIA from Kent Cornucopia, to Alki Beach and onto Pike place Market.

Click on the photo below to view the set…

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Categorized as Vacation 3

Kents Hoppin

Cornucopia Days has always been my favorite time of the year here in Kent, WA. I was stunned by the crowds today, I could barely move through them.

Meanwhile, thousands of kids were fighting and screaming trying to make close contact with the water ball.

I needed a break so I went up the hill to grab some coffee at Top Foods. This was my main grocery outlet and Riley’s first job. The old place looks great!

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Categorized as Vacation 3

NW Visit 1

We pulled away from our driveway yesterday at 0100 hours and arrived at Steph’s family house in Washington state 14 hours later. Jim and Sandy have an amazing new house with 5 bedrooms and a ton of space.

After dinner everyone was hanging out on the front porch watching the neighbor across the street start up a couple of old vehicles. They hadn’t met the folks yet and when I walked across the street to photograph Gary’s 1927 flatbed truck he said “jump in“.

We drove around the neighborhood a bit and then I turned the passenger seat over to Jimmy. The neighbors have bonded, and that 1952 Lincoln that Gary’s restoring is sweet.

This morning I drove up to Kent to hang out with my son Riley and his wife Jess for a few days. While waiting for him to get off work I drove to the Des Moines waterfront to smell the ocean and shoot video from the end of the pier. Unfortunately a gust of wind blew my GoPro into the Pacific Ocean. Yes, I was devastated, but tomorrow’s another day…

Click on the photo below to view the set…

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Categorized as Vacation 3

Seattle Sun

I lived in the Seattle area for years prior to moving here and despite the traffic and the big city issues I always said that when the weather’s nice, it’s a great place to be.

I’ll be there tomorrow, and this forecast has me smiling. Stay tuned for some sunny photos from the great NorthWest.

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Categorized as Vacation 3

Our Babies

Steph took a shot at our little deck dwelling chiseler this evening with the pellet gun, and missed. I was glad.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the killing of our fellow creatures. If it has two eyes and a nose and mouth it deserves to live as much as we do. I’m really beginning to believe it is not our right as superior beings to take a life for any reason other than to protect ourselves from attack.

As much as I enjoy free-range organic chicken and grass-fed beef, I am becoming strongly at odds with it due to this gradual realization. I don’t know yet if it’s going to force me to become vegetarian. Steph ain’t going to be happy…

I feel my karma weaken when I accidently hit a bird with my vehicle or flatten a rodent with my tire. My heart truly aches for a bit. I just killed a fly here in my office and thought, what the hell did I just do?

This is one of our baby robins who managed to survive nest raids by hungry magpies and ravens and the occasional furtive dash of our overweight cat. She is beautiful and deserving of every bit of life she can realize. Without some human taking her life…

Update: Steph said she aimed high on the chiseler, just to scare him off :-)

Here’s a closeup of that little cutie with the reflection of a nearby house in her eye.

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Categorized as Nature

Wandering

My grand-daddy used to say “Don’t die wondering, die wandering“.

Supervisor Jeff called me today and asked what my plans were for the summer and I said “just wandering around” and he asked when I was coming back to work and I told him that school starts up Sept 2 so I figured that was a good time. He said “that’s fine”.

I guess it’s official, Summer Vacation starts today! Have I mentioned sometimes I’m really fond of my employer! I’ve been driving for them eight years now and this is my third summer off :-)

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Categorized as The Bus

Dance

Here’s some artsy stuff I created from our busy 4th of July.

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Categorized as The Valley

Back Forty Weeds

Our back forty gets taken over every summer by giant dandelion type weeds that bloom into large seed pods. I don’t know what they’re called and I can’t find them on the local weed list, I just know they’re voracious.

Steph has been making an heroic effort to clear the field with the weed wacker, starting from the road and moving inward, but this morning we focused on the lawn.

She had a choice today to do a movie with my sister in Idaho Falls or spend the evening whacking those weeds. She made the right choice and the weeds can wait.

Click on the photo below to view the set…

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Categorized as House