SNIPPETS FROM THE WEEK

MONDAY

Monday evening we took a kayak jaunt around the breakwater.  This is Jodi's standard route.  Head north inside the breakwater, round the northern tip, then come south on the outside, round the southern tip, and up and down a few long docks to add to the mileage then back to the boat.  It's just about 2 nautical miles.

There was a race Monday so scores of sailboats were out.  A slight breeze was blowing and the temperature was exactly neutral.  Neither hot nor cold.  Probably 72 degrees or so.  Perfect weather.  Secret beach, on the outside of the breakwater was completely covered by the high tide.

TUESDAY

Jodi picked up at work at 4:50 and we fought the southbound 405 traffic then headed east on 90.  Traffic predictably thinned, especially after leaving Issaquah.  By 5:20 were on the trail headed for Tiger Mountain, west peak.  3 miles  up with 2,000 feet of vertical elevation gain.  Wonderful for an after work pant.

Jodi did better than I on the way up.  She established a pretty good pace and I struggled a bit to keep up.  Fortunately just shy of the summit, Ken called and had Jodi in stitches.  It's hard to hike fast when you are laughing.  Just the break I needed to get to the top first.

Jodi had made a great snack -- a sandwich with peanut butter, banana and one strip of bacon.  Surprisingly good.  The camp robbers were there, winged rats really, to snag any scraps. And just when I felt pretty good about getting to the top, a young very fit gal opened her pack and proceeded to empty 3 or 4 gallons of water she had carried up.  She was training for Rainier and was headed up to Garibaldi this weekend for a training climb.

WEDNESDAY

We had left my car at the club the previous evening so I walked to the bus in the morning.  Just past Rays, the sidewalk comes close to the water.  The beginnings of the canal are there on the saltwater approach side of the locks.  As I walked on that path at 5:30 in the morning I heard a commotion in the water.  There was a seal in very shallow water splashing around.  Just as I wondered what it was doing, a big bald eagle swooped down and grabbed a fair sized salmon from the water right in front of the seal.

The salmon was too big for the eagle to fly, so the eagle hopped and flapped and got the Salmon up on the bank where it proceeded to have a fine breakfast.  The seal's day hadn't begun so well, the salmon fared worse, but the eagle seemed pretty pleased with the situation.  As long as my day is better than the salmon's, it'll be a great day.

THURSDAY NIGHT

We had dinner aboard with friends.  Jodi made her amazing salmon toast then we bbq'd a pork tenderloin.  Man that was good.  As was the sunset.

It was also Porter's day to walk. He took his first steps earlier in the afternoon.  We didn't see it, but he seemed pretty proud of himself.

So proud he wouldn't go to sleep and proceeded to humidify himself (and the aft cabin) with the contents of the de-humidifier.

We hadn't seen Andy and Jill in a few weeks, so it was fun catching up.  Porter is becoming quite active -- so great to see him grow -- at an arms length distance!!