WEEKEND UPDATE

Saturday morning we had a couple of storage related tasks to do, but by 11:30 we were at the Tiger mountain trailhead ready for our familiar 6 mile 2,000 foot elevation gain grunt. Woof.

The app only gave us credit for 5.4 miles, but the book, map and signage point to 6.1. Oh well.

The Camp Robbers abound at the top. If I’m reading the bird book right, they are also known as a Gray Jay, Canada Jay or Whiskey Jack.

 We ran into a bunch of cub scouts at the top who were having a great time with the birds. We also saw many kids in back packs, so when one gal hiking up a little one in her pack we didn’t think much of it until what was the world’s ugliest baby was more correctly identified as a rather cute bull dog. The dog looked rather content in the pack, but when you expect to see a kid and instead see a bulldog, it’s a little shocking.

 From the hike we wound up at what is now one of our favorite places. Stoup brewery. Great food truck outside and as always a vibrant feeling inside.

 Sunday’s breakfast included pumpkin pancakes with fresh apple compote and sausage. Yum.

 The rest of day included watching the Seahawks win and tackling some misc projects including: Permanent winter mooring lines which should make docking easier as they stay on the dock. For that project needed to brush up on making an eye splice and proper lashing the end of the lines. The newly built steps work wonderfully. LED lights are now complete on the starboard side. Misc other small things done during lulls in the game.

 The Heater 

 Before we moved aboard, I obsessed with a way to heat the boat. Forced air or hydronic heat? Each has pros and cons. Both are expensive and would require quite an installation. I had assumed the old Dickerson Antarctic would be insufficient. Nearly an antique, and as simple as they come, the old diesel seemed fine for an occasional winter cruise, but wouldn’t work for a full time liveaboard.

 Oh boy was I wrong. It works great. But I needed to get to know its nuances, as well as I needed to learn how to manage and distribute the heat on the boat.

 Last winter was trial and error, but the lessons were learned and last night we cranked it up for the first time this season. 

One of the enhancements added last year was an ‘eco fan’. It has a little motor and it generates its own power once it heats up. You simply set it on a hot surface and in a few minutes it’s silently spinning away distributing heat throughout the cabin. It’s perfect and it really works.

WARS, ARMISTICE, VETERANS, and COMMITTEES

On November 11, we’ll observe ‘Veterans day’.

As a holiday, it started out as ‘Armistice Day’ and was put in place by Woodrow Wilson in 1919 to commemorate the cessation of hostilities a year earlier in what was then called the “Great War”, or the “War to End All Wars”. Roughly 10 million people were killed in that war and at the time it was thought to be the most terrible human caused event of all time (which, after reading 1491, may not be fully true).

The Great War ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.


Of course the war to end all wars did not end all wars.

We renamed it World War I after World War II . Roughly 60 million died in World War II. Then, after Korea, we stopped calling them wars.

In 1954, in recognition of both the 2nd world war and Korea, the word ‘Armistice’ was replaced by the word ‘Veterans’ and ‘Veterans Day’ was created. Still celebrated on November 11th.

Then a committee got involved, and in 1968 the ‘Uniform Holiday Bill’ was passed to ensure Federal workers got as many 3 day weekends as possible. Washington’s Birthday (now presidents day), Memorial Day, Columbus Day, as well as Veterans day were linked to Mondays. That change was to start in 1971.

And, on Monday, October 25th of 1971, there was great confusion. As it turns out, there was a great number of the population that thought November 11th had great significance.

President Ford, in 1975, reverted ‘Veterans Day’ back to November 11th, regardless of what day of the week it occurred, and that started in 1978, which is where it continues today. And in 2013, it turns out that November 11 is a Monday.

Without at all trying to say that one war was worse than another, the popular press will likely focus on the most recent conflicts. It’s highly likely that the world could have looked very much different had WWI and WWII turned out different. The last veteran from WWI passed away a few years ago. The ranks of WWII vets are being thinned daily.

WEEKEND UPDATE

Saturday morning.

A strong wind warning had been issued for Saturday and the barometer had been dropping like a rock all night. We awoke to a breezy morning, and as it turned out, we got off the boat just in time.

Barometer and wind graph at west point.  The wind (red and blue lines) spiked.

During the summer, Jodi and Ken found a nice trail system on the beach near the ferry landing. There’s a nice, raised, wooden trail system that is a very pleasant walk waiting for the ferry. The ferry ride over was a little lumpy, but nothing compared with what was happening in Ballard. Winds in excess of 50 miles per hour swept north Seattle and in just an hour over 200,000 people were without power.

Saturday on the island was a dismal, rainy day. I started the steps for the boat (one of many projects for the weekend). Saturday night we had ribs, which were excellent.

Sunday dawned peacefully with partially clear skies. The storm had passed and it was a remarkable transformation. 

Jodi started the ‘big fall burn’ and I continued with the steps. Somewhere in there I restrung the blinds, changed the computer print settings, helped clean out the return air vent and a couple of other minor fixes. Sunday night a neighbor came over and Jodi made chili.

It was another great meal.

The stars and planets were out Sunday night as well and we found Uranus and Neptune.

Monday morning’s sunrise was beautiful.


 Monday morning’s chore was closing the cabins.

This will be the 50th time this annual procedure has been done. Past year’s fiascos have included pop left over the winter (picture shredded aluminum cans and a dried sugary mess) and one year Dad changed the procedure and when we turned on the main water valve we had water shooting out the top of the hot water tank in the spare bedroom. It’s a bit depressing closing the cabins up.

One of the final signals that summer is truly over and winter is nearly here.

And about that sea hawks game....

FINALLY A WEEK WITHOUT THE CAR (ALMOST)

I’ve just concluded my third week back from Columbus. During the first two working weeks, I used the truck 6 times. 

For a guy who is trying to give up the car Monday through Friday, success on 4 out of 10 days constitutes a failing grade. 

Plus, I wasn’t exercising on those days. There were reasons behind this (commuting from North Bend on one day, errands on other days) but there will always be reasons why occasionally I’ll have to drive – but it shouldn’t be the norm.

This, the 3rd week, near 100% success. I didn’t drive the truck at all, but I did catch a lift with Jodi after jogging into Fremont on one day and Ballard last night. Good news I didn’t drive, good news I biked and jogged, but there is bad news.

The ending point for my jogs.

On was a restaraunt, the whale wins

The other was stoup brewery.

Not bad places to end up!!!