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.

Spokane Pow Wow!

An audio clip of the drummers' roll call: 

Sarah and I walked down to the pow wow yesterday. We walked by the new portable brick fencing at Deaconess.

Then, on to the pow wow!

 

First Nations People from all over were there.  And it was really cool!

A couple of really quick videos:

A question about the pending Riverfront Park bond. If it passes, will they buy decorations for the barricades around the fountain? Maybe concertina wire?  Hard to think of something classier than portable barricades that are used every time an attraction is up and running. Maybe a brick fence tarp is in order, if the bond passes.

That's entertainment!

A month ago, I looked at my Comcast bill. There were some surprises. I was being charged $8 a month for a router. I also was being charged for two digital adapters at two bucks each per month. These were for TV sets that I don't even have. I rummaged around and found these contraptions. One of them was still in the box. The other looked like something that I had taken out of the box and not knowing what it was, shoved in a drawer.

So I cancelled our cable television. This will save us about $130 a month. I just bought a cable modem and must wade into the world of Comcast technical support to get that hooked up. I don't think there is anyway around it. Have to say that, to Comcast's credit, cancelling cable TV was easy. The service rep seemed giddy to do it.

We have Netflix and Amazon Prime and I have added Hulu Plus for $8 a month. So far, Hulu has been really good. Basically providing us with the same shows we would have DVR'd anyway. The only missing piece is local programming. I purchased an HDTV antenna from Radio Shack which only brought in one channel. I returned it. Now, I have an outdoor antenna being shipped, and we will see how that goes.

I have been really enjoying movies from the silent film era on YouTube. Spokane was a major hub of movie making during this time. In fact, Minnehaha Park was the home of Playter Studios. One of the main buildings of the studio was used by the Parks Department to store picnic tables until it burned down, I think, about eight years ago. Nell Shipman was a silent film star who helped put Spokane's Playter Studios on the map. She is more famously remembered as establishing her own studio on Priest Lake. A great read is Lionhead Lodge by Lloyd Peters. I picked this book up back in the early 80s. Mr. Peters owned Lloyds Hobbies and was a silent screen actor who worked with Shipman in Spokane and Priest Lake.

One reason I have an affinity for old movies is that a second cousin of my dad's was Chester Conklin. He was one of the Keystone Cops. Here he is seen with his pal Charlie Chaplin:

When I was seven or so, my dad made the call to Chester that we were going to visit him at his Hollywood actors old folks home. Chester was excited to have some visitors. Dad, mom and six kids (packed in a station wagon) drove around southern California for hours and never found the place. Sorry Chester.

Probably one of the most famous movies filmed at Playter Studios was Nell Shipman's The Grub-Stake.  And while most of her movies have been lost, you can watch The Grub-Stake here. I did. If you give it a half hour or so, you may really like it.

Lincoln Street is, most certainly, closed.

On 16th and Wall, there has been an effort to let motorists know this. Sadly, many have blown past this sign. They reverse their course after they see, with their own eyes, that, indeed the street is closed. Their mood is befouled and they accelerate their vehicles with acrimonious aplomb - hither and yon.


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Priest Lake Good Times!

Spent most of last week in a cabin at Priest Lake. We get a pretty good deal on a nice place with an access to the beach at Steamboat Bay. The water was about 72 degrees by the time we left and the sand at the beach is the best.

I like Priest Lake. I think everyone does. It still amazes me though how expensive property is in the area. It's nice, but really, is it that nice? And it's going to get even more expensive - really fast. The cabin we stayed at is on deeded land. Most aren't.

To be a realtor at Priest Lake these days must be like winning the lottery. So many cabins are on land that was formerly rented out to the cabin owners by the state. These cabins have been passed down from one middle class generation to the next. Now, the state is selling the land. And many ancestral homes are being auctioned off to people from very far away, people who probably already have two or three similar cabins across the world, not to mention yachts and million dollar motor homes. Their private jets will probably have to land in Sandpoint because the landing strips around Priest Lake are not long enough. Kinda sad. Hopefully they have a pontoon boat that they can taxi up to their docks with. More than likely, they probably won't be making it out there too often. Too many choices!

If you want to see how the middle class used to live in the USA, Priest Lake is a good place to go. Nice sand too.

 The stage is set - Skipbo, Star Trek Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic await!

This usual early morning kayak fishing expedition finally netted me a fish. I looked at him. He looked at me. I think we recognized each other from last year. Swim on!

An invitation

As many of you might know, I make my living as a firefighter. Until recently, I was part of the Spokane firefighters union's leadership. My friend Don Waller is now president of the union and he is going to give a presentation on "The Status of Fire and Life Safety Services in Spokane" at The Woman's Club this Wednesday. You are invited. Don is a numbers guy, but he is also a very good public speaker. If you are interested in Spokane and its future (you probably wouldn't read this blog if you weren't) please come to this meeting.

How does Spokane's emergency responses stack up next to our neighbors' and other cities'? What is the funding like in comparison? What ever happened to the fire bond vote? What effect does an adequately-staffed/funded department have on your insurance premiums? What gives the biggest bang for the buck for taxpayers? I am just guessing that this will be some of the subjects covered. Knowing Don, there will be a lot of graphs and charts - all vetted with sources.

If you think you can know what is going on in the city by just reading the paper, you might want to think again. For example, recently, there was a lot of press about funding being restored to reopen Engine 9 on the South Hill. What wasn't mentioned is that when Engine 9 was shut down last year, two-person Rescue 1 moved up from Downtown and became Rescue 9. Now by having one person added to Station 9's roster each shift, Engine 9 is now reopened by jumping these three people off the rescue truck when needed. In other words, there used to be five firefighters - three on the engine and two on the rescue - fully staffing both. Now, there are three that move between the two vehicles for a loss of two firefighters. Perhaps this is a small point, or perhaps not, but it was not one that was even mentioned in the press coverage.

Maybe you've heard about the new Alternative Response Units - the one-person units that now operate on most weekdays and keep the big trucks in the station most of the time on non-life-threatening calls. This was an idea that came from the firefighters' union. Likewise, this was not mentioned in the press coverage.

Please, if you are able to attend this meeting, you will get to hear an unfiltered, unadulterated account of what's really happening and what the future may hold, perhaps making your voice louder in the process. I know Don would be happy to answer any questions you might have or hear your ideas and listen to your experiences.

We who do the work of caring for people on one of the worst days of their lives don't quit caring about them when we hang up our helmets at the end of the shift. I think that will come through loud and clear when you hear Don.

Thanks!

Sunset

Due to all the smoke, we've had some real interesting skies lately. Two days ago, the sun coming up looked like a red traffic light. That evening I suggested to Sarah that we have some ice cream at The Scoop and then watch the sunset from High Drive. So we did. Things were looking good. Then as the sun approached the horizon, it slide behind a high wall of smoke and that was it. Gone. No color. No nothing. Total bust except for the ice cream and the company.

Here's a picture before the anticlimactic sunset.

Obligatory Garden Post

Well, you are probably not wondering how grows my garden, but that has never stopped me before.

Everything was grown from seed here at headquarters, except 5 of the 20 something eggplant. I was worried that my eggplant had too late of a start. I panicked and bought the 5 starts. The little ones that I started from seed now have just as many blossoms on them as the purchased ones.

We also have the usual tomatoes, raspberries, lettuce, zucchini, kale, collards, beets, cucumbers, peas, beans, peppers, basil and winter squash.


The vertical hydroponic tomato garden (VHTG) is in a new sunnier spot this year and is doing pretty well too. Still no ripe tomatoes from hydroponic or traditional methods yet.


Working in the garden is always great. People stop to say that things are looking good (thank you) and also want to tell me about how their garden is faring. It's a nice way to get to know people in the neighborhood. Sarah has been a neighborhood supplier of raspberries, thanks to her finely honed skills as a child laborer.

The bees have been really going to town, burrowing deep into the poppies, sometimes 5 or 6 to a flower to imbibe in poppy nectar. Someone must have some hives close by, there are so many of them. Poppy honey sounds addictive. I think the bees' activity is a little compressed too, in that once it gets above 80 degrees, they have headed off to a cooler place, or maybe to cool the hive down. Pretty smart them bees.

Bellingham Bells

Sarah asks me last week if I want to do an overnighter in Bellingham and get back before I work on Sunday. Great idea! So we headed out on Friday to visit our son who is not coming home for the summer from WWU.

Bellingham is a good six hour drive from Spokane, and when there are two of you making the trip and sharing the driving duties, it's not bad. I have done the solo Bellingham and back trip. Not as much fun.

We got into town a little before noon and then headed over to visit Ike and his girlfriend Kalli where they were working at a Bellingham Bells baseball game. I am probably not the biggest fan of baseball. Yet, I had one of the best times at this game.

Bellingham was playing the Cowlitz Black Bears. Entering the gate, we encountered a ticket taker who wanted to get the attention of some media people there, so we arranged for this photobomb.


Who/what is the Bell's mascot? Why "Dinger" the Belling Hamster, of course. The fellow handing out the programs was a retired Bellingham firefighter, and it's always great to make that connection and talk fire stuff.

We bought our bratwursts from Ike (actually you buy the buns and then take the buns over to the grilling dude and he completes the transaction).


The brats are huge and locally made. Another Western student was there to show us to our seats in the stands. The stadium is probably half the size of the Spokane Indians Ballpark. They had a little problem with three seagulls that had made their way in through a hole in the netting that covered the grandstand. The seagulls were unable to make their way out. Our usher and others were looking for a way to set them free. Sarah suggested putting one of the aforementioned buns by the hole in the net and they might figure it out. This attracted one more seagull.


Before the game started I went to the beer stand. $5 pints of locally-brewed Boundary Bay beer. On Tuesdays beer is $2. Wow. Great beer.

A young man, who was in the process of learning how to play the electric guitar, did his version of Jimi's Star-Spangled Banner. Then the owner came out to the field. He let everyone know that today was the guitar player's birthday and that the kid was named after Lou Gehrig, and coincidentally (or not) today was the anniversary of the day that Lou Gehrig retired from baseball because of the ravages of the disease ALS. He then introduced a man sitting on a stool between home and the mound. This was a friend of his, a man who he had gone to Stanford with and who was also a very successful businessman. This friend had ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease. When this man spoke he told a story of how he came to the USA as a young boy and was grateful for his education and the success that America provided him. He also said that what he wanted more than anything was to eradicate ALS so Lou Gehrig would be remembered only for being a fantastic baseball player, not for a disease. He threw out the opening pitch, but the pitch was not to his liking, so he threw it again - this time right over the plate.

Maybe it was because he looked like a friend of mine who died from ALS, maybe it was seeing my son whom I hadn't seen in months, maybe it was the beer. For whatever reason, I really got choked up. Very moving.

In the meantime, the seagulls were bouncing off the nets behind home plate. Each time one was hustled out, the fans erupted in cheers. This cheering often occurred at a bad time for the Bellingham team, which made them all swivel their heads to the stands at each outburst - "Has the entire home stadium turned against us?" Kalli got the last one out, right at the hole with the hotdog bun stuck in the netting. And the fans went crazy!



The best baseball game ever. Bellingham won and has continued to win. I think a baseball game needs a moving story from the diamond and drama in the stands to make it great. Cheap local beer and big brats doesn't hurt either.

Great deal on lump charcoal!

OK. Really, I just want to brag that I rode 40 pounds of charcoal up the hill from the hardware store (which is probably not even a half mile away). But, it was hooooootttt (said whiningly).

When Ace has lump charcoal on sale, it is time to buy, Usually, it's $15. On sale - $10. And it's been years since I have found any dimensional lumber charcoal in the bag. Although the t and g charcoal always made for a very neat fire.

I will not admit that I am getting old, but I have started dipping into the smallest sprocket up front when carrying loads up hills. Can an electric assist motor be far behind?

A new approach

For anyone who has read my blog, you already know about my pet peeve. Namely, when I am at a stop sign on my bicycle, I hate when cars stop, when they don't have a stop sign, and try to wave me across. I always point to my stop sign and say "You have the right away."

Usually, I will smile and wave them on. I get it. They are trying to be nice and most don't know the law that says bicycles are vehicles too, when it comes to right-of-way laws. It's frustratingly comical as I wave on that first stopped driver and then the one behind him now breaks for me, and on and on. Or the old "I have a break in traffic soon as this car passes. Oh, he's slowing down. He's stopping. F@$k, there goes my break." For some reason bikes really confuse people. But, there's a new approach. This idea was Sarah's. And it simplifies everything while upping the ante.

Next time, when traffic keeps stopping, wanting you to ride across on your bike, there is a way to make their actions legal. Namely get off your bicycle. Doff your helmet. Now you are a pedestrian. Carefully walk across the street. Don your helmet. Climb aboard your metallurgic steed and become a bicyclist again! If there is a crosswalk nearby, do the same thing after carefully walking to the crosswalk. Very satisfying, very legal, very educational. Bicycles are vehicles. If they have a stop sign and you don't, you don't stop. Pedestrians are not vehicles. Every street corner is a de facto crosswalk. You must stop for pedestrians. Which is funny because when I am not on my bicycle and am a pedestrian, cars rarely stop. This is what makes this new approach so great.

Migration

Over the years, I've documented the shopping cart as a symbol of Spokane pride and gumption. Most of my best sightings were in the west central neighborhood and downtown. Yesterday morning I spotted this at The Park Bench in Manito Park. Maybe a product of global climate change or maybe an omen. Regardless, welcome to the neighborhood old friend, welcome.

Goldfinch pests!

A blurry iphone picture. But, make no mistake - goldfinch are nibbling on the beets! Our fault for not having their feeder out yet.






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Iron Goat anniversary party

Rode down to the party on Saturday. Folkinception moved me to swaying and what not. Iron Goat beer was great. Stopped by Ramblin' Road on the way home for beer and food. Kind of a tough bike ride up the hill. I have the beginnings of a cold, I think. Hoping for healing after receiving the vision of the three alien kings.

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