Portal into the primeval.

Was riding my bike home this morning when I saw what looked like an ordinary pothole, 2'x2.5', in the middle of the street, just north of Manito pond at the 18th and Division curve.

Upon further inspection it looks like it is about 2 to 2.5 feet deep, extending into a little cave, maybe 6 feet long heading toward the pond. The roof of the cave is pretty much the two inches of asphalt. Yesterday, the hole might have swallowed Turkey Trotters on their way to the run. 

I called Dispatch and asked for the Street Department to block off the road and then stopped in to let Station 9 know what the dealio was. When those guys got there to cone it off, the Street Department already had it blocked off.

No sign of buried treasure or even any dinosaur eggs in the cave.  Still pretty cool to see. Usually I only see cavitation like this around broken water mains. There you go.

Update. Looks like the street will be shut down for a while:

Nice little play!

If you are looking for something different to do, check out Stage Left's production of  The Thread Men. I have been wanting to go to this theater for quite a while, and finally Sarah and I got the chance last night. The Thread Men is a one-act play that has a neat plot and some fine acting. It costs $10 to see. I liked this production and the theater itself - a lot.

I have really been getting back into live theater lately. We saw The Glass Menagerie at The Modern Theater (formerly known as Interplayers) last week. I find it very engrossing to be that close to the actors and am always very moved by their courage and their work.

The Thread Men will be Stage Left's entry for Washington State Kaleidoscope Theatre Festival.

If you want to see the transformation from a small storefront to a very cool theater, click here. 

Stage Left, in their mission statement, lets us know that the reason they are doing what they are doing is to make theater a transformative experience for all. I think this is a very noble goal and Spokane needs them to keep hammering away. Please support them and go see a play!

Hello my name is...

 The United Federation of Planets has opened the door for many to serve in Star Fleet.

Juli, here, from the Gamma Quadrant, may seem alien to us Terrans, but back on her home planet, she's a beauty. Juli, thanks for your service. Welcome to Spokane!

Award winning...

Bought this can of steel cut oatmeal. We have a new pressure cooker, and the machine cuts the cooking time down to about 7 minutes. It usually takes significantly longer to make the steel cut stuff on the stove. 

McCann's won a "Uniformity of Granulation" certificate in 1893 at the Chicago Exhibition. And nothing tastes better than uniform granulation.  I know that "they," not "me," won the award, but I feel like this uniformity of granulation is now inside of me, and today I felt proud to be a part of something bigger, something more uniform and granulated. It fueled a 12.5 mile run quite nicely, to boot.

My nephew Joey's love of Halloween

My nephew, Joey, and his girlfriend made an amazing Halloween Haunted House. He says that over 1000 people visited it last night. He was also collecting food for the food bank and there were tons of donated canned goods for Second Harvest. Joey is leaning on the auctioneer's podium. In a few hours there will be a man in a top hat standing there, auctioning off zombies. The zombie holding pen is to the right of Joey.

 You can click this picture. Make it bigger. Cross your eyes, and be 3Demented. "Ooooh Scary!" - Count Floyd.

Joey's efforts made the local news last week too. You can watch the video or read the story here.

Now that it's the day after Halloween, I will give you a little daylight tour without the actors, without the lights and special effects. I am really impressed by the work Joey and April did. They really are artists and worked hard to give something to their community.

 Really big spider meal.

 You don't want to pick any of these apples.

 Really cool fence that they made around the compound.

 Repurposed Santa finds gnome duty delicious.

 Lots of inanimate stuff with real actors mixed in when you least expect it.

 Vampire chickens!

They even have a daycare available.

 

Through the swamp.

 Hanford Swamp.

 Witches enjoying their dinner.

 Must be Chinese food because those look like chopsticks.

Until next year.

The pictures don't really do justice to the project. There are also a lot of tunnels, sound effects, lighting effects and it sounds like about 20 live actors too. Joey was going to zombie flash mob the place later in the night. Very cool!

Hey, there's a camel!

At Cannon Hill Park!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

3 brews

Here's what I have going right now:

From left to right: An imperial ipa, an apricot mead and a just-brewed cream ale. In the secondary, I will be adding cranberries and cayenne pepper to the cream ale for a little holiday goodness.

This is what the backyard looked like on Friday, making the cream ale:

Always a rainbow!

Sometimes you have to make your own or maybe even two.  Took this picture while we are out training the other day. A very warm October afternoon. What a great summer and fall it's been.

Terrain in 3D

Click on the picture to make it big. Cross your eyes to make a third image in between the two preexisting images. Enjoy the 3Dness.

Terrain tonight!

Had to miss last year because I was working. This year, Sarah and I sponsored a day - May 9th.


Get down to 304 W Pacific tonight because tomorrow it's gone. Will post 3D pictures soon.

Fish Disrespecting

In this morning's news, in tomorrow's paper, a local story of murder and a ghastly tale of body disposal. What started all of this? According to the Spokesman-Review:

"Hart has been in custody since authorities discovered the body of Regan Jolley, 33, in the detached garage of a Nine Mile Falls home. The couple had been dating a few weeks, according to friends, and the relationship was fraught with tension. A woman who lived at the home with the couple said Hart yelled at Jolley for disrespecting fish during a group fishing trip a few weeks before the murder."

This reminds me of:

If you have a youth who is disrespectin', get him fishrespectin'! so the advertisement went. There were shirts for sale like this:

Simpler times back then. I wonder what ever happened to the founder of this organization, Dr. Harriman Nelson.

Best cider yet

I've been making hard cider for quite a few years. Ever since they started pasteurizing cider at Greenbluff, I figured why not just use store-bought apple cider. So for the last three years or so I've been making apple cider using Costco apple juice. In the recipe, I use sulfites, brown sugar, yeast nutrient, ascorbic acid and other goodies.

This year I decided to be a little more primitive. I just took the apple juice, pitched a little Belgian beer yeast that I had laying around in the refrigerator, put an airlock on it, and let her sit.







After fermenting for a couple of weeks, I took the airlock off and put the cap back on. It became very carbonated, so much so that I burped the bottle throughout the days for fear of it exploding. It is some of the best cider I think I've ever glugged.

Dirtbag on the prowl

A neighbor had a bike stolen from their garage. The thief looks like this:




Apparently he comes every morning after midnight to see if their garage is still locked. Here's the full picture and description from the neighbor:



Happy hunting!

This van has the sweetest camping spot around - the duck pond parking lot at Manito Park. I think it's been parked there for about a month. Every once in a while it will take off for a day or two, then it's back.

I saw the driver sitting in it this morning for the first time.

It looks like a nice vehicle and there's never a mess around it. I wonder how long he will stay and what the next stop is.

Brewday!

Give your son a brew and he drinks for a moment. Teach your son to brew and he drinks for a lifetime.

A day together brewing a commemoratory brown ale. For, indeed, this blog - Spokanarama - celebrates its ten-year anniversary this very day. Huzzah!

Magazine covers.

Saw these magazines while in the checkout line at Rosauers. I am not really sure why they caught me eye, just that they did. Life and Time. It's what we gots.

A camping menace

Went down the internet hole the other day. An Outside Magazine link had me looking at rooftop tents for cars. This just another chapter in my never-ending quest to turn the unfortunate HHR into the ultimate outdoor recreation vessel.

I want very badly to make this happen, but from the beginning it's been a fool's errand. Did you know that unless you already have factory roof racks installed that there are no Yakima or Thule racks that will work on the HHR? Roof rack capacity is 150 pounds. Want to go over a mountain pass in the winter? Well, you better not need chains because the owner's manual forbids this. How about a little trailer to pull behind? Cool, as long as it is less than 1000 pounds.

I was suckered into this car by the good gas mileage and that the seats all fold flat for potential car sleeping. Which I did in Montana two weeks ago. If I was a lot shorter, it would have been pretty comfortable. Still, the HHR with all it's gonna-kill-you-when-the-key-falls-out-at-70-mph consumer safety recalls is one of the nicest cars I've ever owned. Comfortable. Quiet. Reliable. Decent stereo. 30 mpg on the freeway.

So down the rabbit hole I went. Should I put a tent camper upon the Yakima racks which sit upon the factory racks I had installed in my quest? No. Every rooftop camper I found weighs more than the roof capacity allows. In fact, I weigh more than the roof capacity allows.



Further down the rabbit hole. Hey, I wonder if they make a cot that has a tent attached to it? Well, sure they do! Even in a size that both Sarah and I could fit in. You just open up the cot and out pops up the tent over your head. That seems really nifty.


Much of my curiosity and research was driven by my desire to stall over other things I should be doing. It's when I do my best work.

I started thinking about all the tents we have had over the years. All those opulent tents. I needed to set the survivors up. I needed to grasp the scope. Here they are:

The orange blob in the foreground is a pup tent from 1983. It has seen a lot of duty, but one of the tent poles is MIA. Also not set up was my half-ass hammock. From left to right:

The Coleman 9 x 9 ft with two 4.5 vestibules. We could fit all five of us in it back in the day when the kids were kids.

The Kelty. Easiest one to set up. 9 x 9 feet. Four persons. Four very close persons.

Sierra Designs. Two Persons. 5x9ish. The coolest looking of the bunch.

By the time all were set up, I was really sweating and in need of a beer. By the time I took them all down, I wanted not for cartop tents nor tents which rest upon cots which fold.

I think there is some consumer aversion therapy in this exercise. I can honestly say each tent has served, and will continue to serve a select purpose. Two people backpacking. Two adults and two small children backpacking. The entire family car camping. Right now, I am sure I could carve out a niche into which I could cram a tentcot or cottent. But, instead I find my self content while still remaining pro-tent.