It's been a little while...

My last post, I was pretty hard on litterbugs. I would apologize to them, but it's pretty obvious they don't care anyway. I have to say that things are looking cleaner downtown. I don't know if that's because of all the rain we've been having or there was a major clean up after St Patrick's Day.  I will revisit this issue soon.

One thing on the radar is the next BrewRunRun.  It's scheduled for April 23rd. There will be a big shakeup in the lineup, as Iron Goat will be relocating. The old location will be shut down and I'm not sure if the new one will be open or not by the 23rd. So, that just leaves Benniditos and Budge Brothers to the east.  We have some new breweries to consider, as well. So...

In the meantime, if you don't follow Haiku Friday, you can at haikufriday.com. Which reminds me, I need to revamp this website and then get some content on brewrunrun.com. Here's last week's HaikuFriday if you are interested.

Dirty Old Town - Part Une

If this Native American gentleman (played by someone who may have been Italian)  were to paddle his canoe up under the railroad tracks toward the intersection of Pacific and Browne, downstream from the House of Charity, he would weep so hard he might have a stroke. Unfortunately buckets of tears would only dampen the mounds of trash there. Indeed, most of downtown has become amazingly littered.

I've been thinking a lot about all the litter downtown. I think we need to figure out a multi-pronged approach to fixing this problem.  When I was a kid, one of the worst things you could be called was a litterbug - basically an angry, dirty cockroach who only cared about himself. If you littered (even accidentally) you felt ashamed. So powerful was the effect of public service announcements at the time. I mean look at him, a boozing, smoker with an eyepatch. Actually, he seems kind of cool now.

Things softened with dorky Woodsy Owl (according to the song, he was a friend of Smoky the Bear - sure) appealing to our give-a-hootedness, and now it seems there's no whimsical character asking us to do anything in any PSA. Maybe there are no longer PSAs.

In the next few installments, I would like to address the embarrassment of our garbage-strewn Spokane, a city I take a lot of pride in.

In closing, I invite you to try a little experiment. Wherever you live, go for a little walk. How many paces can you count before you encounter garbage (not in garbage cans). For those of us who walk a lot downtown, let's do the same. If you want, you can leave your findings in the comment section. Tell us all where you walked and the minimum and maximum paces you strolled before encountering litter. Why not sing this song while you are walking, over and over and over and out loud:

The starts are starting

Today was the first day of thinning for my summer crop of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, onions, etc.

Here's the before:

Here's the after:



















What a mess. It always is. I used to feel kind of guilty about killing off so many beautiful little plants. Worse yet, the aftermath of thinning is such a sparse dismal sight.

To baby those seeds into sprouting, enjoy how the greenery filled the soil, take in the morning smells of a garden in the basement, get excited about the growth every day, only to rip out and destroy so much seems cruel and counterproductive - especially when the survivors look so shell shocked. Their future doesn't look very good. Except...

I've seen the same thing happen every year. Within a day or two, they are back, stems plumping in the dirt. The growlight is raised a little every day to accommodate their healthiness. All the purged plants are not even a memory as I transplant the lucky ones into bigger pots. Sometimes gardening is as heartless as it gets.

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Spokane Summer - make summer return by reading poetry.

My 50 page book of poetry Spokane Summer is now available. It retails for $10. For only $10, you can tell your friends that you have recently read a book of poetry, and it shouldn't take more than an hour to read it - unless you do a lot of dramatic pausing in your brain, or nod off.

Perhaps some regional oddball poetry may appeal to your valentine. Perhaps? There really isn't much that I would call "romantic" about the poetry, unless there are some read-between-the-lines, or hidden subtext stuff swirling around in there that I am totally blind to. Wouldn't be the first time. Nudge, nudge. Know what I mean?

For the price of two greeting cards, you can have a book of poetry. That's a pretty hard sell. Probably my hardest sell.

The book is on the shelves at Atticus (arguably one of Spokane's favorite stores to those whose favorite store is not Walmart). There are also some copies at Aunties. You can order online here.

Thanks to my friends and family for putting up with me this summer while I spent time writing this. Thanks especially to my brother and sister firefighters who tolerated, somewhat, my impromptu reading of selected poems at the breakfast table.

Turkey trapping

 The turkeys are apparently beginning to draw in more predators into the city - coyotes and even a cougar. We've been in contact with WA Department of Fish and Wildlife and they asked if they could set up a trap in our backyard.

They built it in December.

 It took a while for the turkeys to get used to it.

 From the basement window:

 They were caught.

 And returned in the same boxes their ancestors were released in. They were relocated to the Kettle Falls area.

Once trapped, they are still hard to get in the boxes.



Here's the trap door coming down:
 

So far we've trapped a total of 12. Not even a dent in the hundreds of turkeys roaming the South Hill.

These are the days of miracle and wonder

Been running an extended route to and from work these days. When leaving the station the other morning, I saw this on a bench by the front door. I confess, I've never noticed this bench before. What was the miracle story? The recipient must have been not of tall stature.

The time to run is fleeting. Do it while you can. Miracles are not guaranteed.

On another note, this bench is a cool idea.  On the run home I noticed how many benches there are downtown and in Riverfront Park. Some sit absurdly high. Some look pretty rickety. Others are in hidden spots like this beauty. Some have been removed to keep people from camping on them.

Another Haiku Friday

Here's the latest Haiku Friday! Seven poems - mostly fowl.



Please visit HaikuFriday.com  for all your Haiku Friday needs.

New Year's De-evolutions

So begins another year. I am not a big New Year's resolutions guy. I have never had too much luck with them. Instead, I have, for the last 20 years, been big on to-do lists. I write down everything I would like to do that day. Usually, I skip workdays because I have another to-do source there. I know there are some things I won't get to, so I push them to the next day. Eventually, if I keep pushing a task, it drops off. I used to write the activities down on scraps of paper, but about 10 years ago I started using small notebooks.  I have kept them, and in a way, they serve as mini diaries. I've sometimes referred back to them to remember a date on a specific action. Here's a page from July 2015 in a very nice notebook that Sarah gave me:

Having a to-do list makes things happen for me in the wintertime especially. Because in the winter, I would rather be doing this, without the skiing part:

 

Much of my winter involves a lot of preparation for spring. For example, I will be starting the vegetables indoors pretty soon. I try to have a reason for running through the winter. This year, it's another springtime 50K. I like this distance - 31 miles. I can train for it without having every day dominated by a running schedule. I will be up to about 80 miles per week when I am ready to do it.  Last week, the runs were crazy cold and slippery. I had to protect my nose, which had some cancer surgery lacerations still healing. I know I am a visual spectacle when running. I think it's what people expect and I enjoy it. Even if someone is laughing at you, you still made their day a little better. 

I have had to stop and take pictures a lot. It slows me down, but really I'm not going that fast anyway.

What else is on my list besides running this winter? I need to get the poetry book to the publisher. My friend Eve, the editor, went through it, and now I need to get moving on putting the book out there (a little fear maybe?).  For my job, I have been studying more and learning more (sometimes the two don't correspond). I want to branch out from watercolors to oils and acrylics in painting. I've been playing the ukulele for 12 or so years but have not done much lately.  I want to change that. I'm going to eat better and drink more water. I am going to get rid of "stuff" - declutter. Sarah and I are going to see more movies. We're off to a good start on this. Watched Star Wars - the force awakens and The Danish Girl last week. I am working on more short stories and poems. I recently joined the hazmat team, and there are some things I've been working on to make things easier for all of us hazmateers. Sauna more. Stretch more. I am going to be able to do a hundred yards in tall grass walking on my hands with my feet strapped to the powerwheel.  Yesiree.

And it all starts with a to-do list!

It's a trap!

I will have more to follow on the Department of Fish and Wildlife's attempt to catch turkeys in our backyard. Just wanted to share this Star Wars tie-in, now.

Christmas

A really great Christmas this year. I had squamous skin cancer on my nose which had to be cut out on the 22nd. I know this is an unlikely transitional sentence. The surgery was cool because I was supposed to work on the 23rd. But, it was actually a pretty big incision on my face with lots o stitches. Not wanting to get the fresh stitches ripped out in a fire, or worse yet, HIV or Hep C or some other virulent agent, vomited upon and into said wound, I took a day of sick leave on the 23rd. Wonderful (but unsightly) setup for Christmas. Aidan took the Greyhound in from Seattle and arrived on the 22nd. Sure was great seeing him. After Christmas, Aidan's girlfriend arrived by Greyhound too. Our house has been rocking!

On the 24th, I cooked a rib roast, vegetarian roast, coconut shrimp, mashed potatoes, vegetarian stuffing, green beans. We put 11 people around the table (well we cheated a little by adding a card table annex to it).

Tried to see the new Star Wars movie on Christmas. It was sold out. So, we came home and watched episodes 4,5,6 instead. Nice.

Lots of reading, a little writing, napping, eating and drinking. Valhalla!

Finally, today, was able to get down to Garageland on Riverside. Very cool space. The music they play is about the best. Looking forward to eating there. There is also some vinyl which I think may be a late Christmas present to me.

On most of the days, I've been able to get some good runs in. Training begins for another springtime ultra and I have lots of Christmas fat to burn off. The snow is unbelievably beautiful and the depth and slipperiness makes for an awesome workout!

Sorry about the gratuitous nose shot. I've never really had surgery before. I hope I'm not turning into one of those old guys. Also, brother and sister firefighters, we are at 1.3 times the risk for skin cancer. If you have an oddball skin thing that has you puzzled, get it looked at ASAP.

 

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Sayonara Kato

It probably isn't good form to air one's failures on a blog, but that's what I'm going to do.

If you've been over to my house, you know this colorful guy:

We've had Kato for over 10 years. About five years ago, he started screeching... a lot. I know it was his way of saying hello, or just participating in the goings on. But, it really sounded like someone angrily screaming at someone else. And when that someone else is continually you, it starts to wear on you. We tried every remedy we could find. Invested a lot of money and time. Things would work for a while and then we would be back in the same spot. There would be times when Sarah and I would scream back and be angry at the bird. He might have interpreted this as a good thing. I know we didn't feel any better for yelling at him.  For the last few years, the only source of stress in our home was this bird.

People would come over to visit, and they would cringe when Kato started screaming at them. We would apologize a lot, but in the end, what can you do?  You could tell what they wanted to do - to Kato.

So, yesterday, we did the only thing that was left to do. We loaded up Kato, his cage, all his toys (which he really didn't seem to care about one way or the other) and put him up for adoption at Sparky's.  We aren't selling him or his stuff. We just want him to go to a good home, maybe a deaf family or a family that yells at each other a lot.

Kato never seemed stressed out. He never plucked feathers. He was sociable and was good about being handled by anyone. People who know sun conures say he was the nicest one they ever met. Which doesn't make me feel any better, and also makes me wonder how bad they can get.

So, I failed Kato. Our home couldn't take it any more and we gave up. I don't think I ever failed a pet, and it sucks. But, I can't help but think that everyone in our family, including Kato, is now happier. At least that's what I'll tell myself.

Whirlwind trip to Seattle...

We just have one kid still on the coast. Ike's moved back home after graduating from WWU. Aidan still remains at UW.

When we used to include Bellingham in our offspring visitation slog, it took forever to get up there to see Ike. Now, that we only have to go to Seattle to see Aidan, it takes forever to get there.

We used to have a Buick when I was a kid. My mom called it "Ol Betsy," just like Davy Crockett did his rifle on the TV show. Seems hard to believe Fess Parker has been dead for five years. We lost Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett that fateful day.

Our Betsy was the same model, I believe, but looked like a worn-out hooker compared to this Buick seen in Ellensburg:

They were doing work on the I-90 tunnels just outside the city, so it was about an hour to get from the most easterly tunnel to the U District.

When creeping through the tunnels, you learn a lot. There are plenty of fire extinguishers, hydrants and phones in the side of the tunnels. If you want to escape from the east tunnel - the exit appears to be between the numbers 9 and 10. It looks like you will take stairs up (maybe down, that would be cool). In the west tunnel, your escape is around the letter P. Looks like that door just opens up to the outside - BOOOORING.

When we finally got the crew together, we went to our friend Jeff's place on Capitol Hill. He made us a very nice lunch. Thank you Jeff! Here are the boys and their lovely mother.

Aidan suggested we visit the Seattle Central Library. Holy Cow! The architecture was incredible.  It reminded me of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, but was really much cooler. I wish I had taken more pictures. Being inside this building really got me excited about the next Star Trek TV series. You could shoot some great footage in here. I would think if one were so inclined, this would be a grand place to partake in psychedelic substances. Just walking through the door you are halfway there.

My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures. Here's a non-rainy picture of the exterior from the Wikipediawebs:

A few (somewhat) recent pictures...

A pickup truck parked at 15th and almost into Lincoln. I guess once the driver noticed the stop sign, he really took it seriously. And while you are ordered to stop, why not enjoy some Benniditos pizza and a beer or two, handily co-located. Did not see a go sign, but apparently he left anyway.

How do you feel about self-driving cars? I am hoping to see them soon. I was almost ran over a week ago, while riding my bike. A non-robotic driver made a left turn as I was approaching from her left (in my right lane). I stopped, even though I had the right-of-way, because I could see she wasn't going to stop. That wasn't good enough. She continued her left turn into the oncoming lane where I was waiting on my bike braced for impact.

"Stop!"

She stopped within 4 inches of me.

"I'm sorry. Are you OK?"

"You almost killed me."

"I said I was sorry."

Well, what can you say to that?

Between existing phone/texting distractions and our speedy deevolution into idiocracy,  autonomous motor vehicles are going to save a lot of lives. And if I do get run over by a self-driving car that would justify all my lingering childhood Killdozer! fears.

In 1974, they saw it coming:



This was on the light pole in front of Benniditos for a month or so back in October:

It's a message for Willy - the pharmasutical rep.  I think there may be some remnants of the sign still taped up. Hopefully, Willy got the message. Pfizer is a good company I hear. Somewhat unorthodox in their distribution methods. Probably Obama's fault.

 Lastly, this on a bag of ice purchased by me to save a bottle of ketchup, some tofu, milk, shrimp aspic in a cornucopia jello mold and a tuna noodle casserole:

I just made up all those refrigerator contents. We did lose some popsicles in the eight-day power outage, I'm sorry to say.

ICE IS FOOD!

News to me. Water must be food now.

STEAM IS FOOD!

That is all.

Windstorm Equipment Reviews

Well, its no surprise that, as I write this, we are still without power. Seeing the citywide destruction while working on Tuesday night, I'm surprosed that the majority of the city got its power back as soon as it did, When I got off work Wednesday morning, I ordered a couple of items from Amazon. I figured there was probably a run on most survival-themed merchandise in Spokane. Walking around a couple of days later, and seeing the overwhelming destruction, I figured we would be without power for at least a week (probably longer) and was glad for my purchases:

Mr. Beams MB480 UltraBright LED Camping Lantern. Found here.




This thing really puts out the light and the glow reminds me of my old Coleman lantern. It runs on four D cells. It has a USB port and does power up the phone - slowly. It went through the batteries faster than I expected, but it was used quite frequently to power up our three phones.

I really liked the Luci inflatable outdoor lamp. Found here.








It packs flat, and when ready to use, you blow it up like a little beachball. On the bottom is a solar panel and flat lithium ion battery. This thing will go pretty much all night. In the morning, flip it over and stick it in a window until you need it the next night.

I like to shop local, but when there is a run on emergency equipment, Amazon works great.

I considered a couple of other purchases - a four stroke quiet generator and an indoor safe propane heater. But, didn't pull the trigger on those.

The wood stove insert has been keeping the house warm. We have hot water and are able to cook because of gas appliances. After the ice storm 19 years ago, we converted our home to natural gas appliances wherever possible. It took 19 years, but it's finally paid off.

The only other thing that I have also been considering is a solar panel, battery and inverter set up. If we had those we could have saved the detritus that was in the refrigerator and powered our gas furnace. This set up would be silent and nonpolluting.

Other things that came in handy- our multitude of LED headlamps, a radio with a crank (the crank is stupid), a bike on a trainer to circulate some warm air, a cold garage, ice chests, a tiny usb power supply, LED candles, a thermos, games - especially Zombie Dice, the BGE, Netflix Kolchak the Night Stalker episodes on the Ipad, a couple of books - Spooky Spokane and So Anyway, the John Cleese bio, my ukulele and going to work.

When all is done, I will dedicate a shelf in the basement for all this stuff. It will be deployed for the Great Seattle Earthquake or the Yellowstone Super Caldera - whichever comes first.

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3 days after the Mighty Wind

A few snapshots while I was out on a little walk.















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