Goodbye 2012, Welcome 2013!

Well, it is the end of another year with 2012 coming to an end.  I cannot say that 2012 flew by, but it kind of did too.  This year has felt like it was a hundred years long to me, but I could not say what all happened either. What did happen is that I bought a new truck for myself, which is freaking awesome! She's not new as in model year, but new to me. I am very appreciative that I was able to buy a fairly new truck instead of something twenty or so years old.  Although I originally did not want to buy a truck on loan, however, if I am going to buy a house I will need to show consistent payments to something. I have missed my diesel truck, even more so with driving a gas truck that only gets 12 MPG on the freeway. Obviously there are a few things I can do to increase that mileage, however, I will get to that at another time.  On a bright side, since I buy all of my gas at Costco, I get a percentage back at the end of my membership year.  That roughly equates to a big rebate check thanks to $85 average tank fills. Win-Win!

I Need A Break....

Another one of our cats suddenly fell ill and died yesterday.  Getting really tired of that.  He was not terribly old,  but never really well either.  Too many strays in the neighborhood that are sick too.  And they always feel the need to die in the yard or underneath the house. Luck for me, the last one did not.

Oh, ya ... lets not mention my dog.  Grr!!!!!!

Overdue Update

I was afraid this would happen when I returned to full-time work.  I went from having plenty of time to do all of my hobbies to no time except for eating and a small bit of sleeping.  So now that Summer is officially over and Fall has set its cool, wet teeth in asses I thought I should get back to doing my blog. Actually, I am off of work again thanks a lull between my old jobsite and my next jobsite.

Let there be light!

It works! The master bedroom now has lights and outlets. Well, minus two outlets but I will put those in shortly.  I am by far no where near done yet since I still have to reconnect power to most of the living room still. (Another long, sorted story.)  Just wanted to post an update. :)

An Electrifying Project

My how times flies…. I have been so damn busy with various projects that I have not had much of a free moment or two to put anything down, besides now obviously.  My main project right now is the electrical system in my house. The warm weather has allowed me to work on the electrical system and finish it up before my permit runs out.

First harvest of strawberries

My mom holding up one of the beauties.

Just a small sampling  of strawberries from my garden. They are sweet and very juicy, which means I need to use them damn soon.  Damn good haul I am going to have this year.

It Is Time For Doggy Porn!

Connor's long, sexy & furry back.
(Just look @ that sexy spine! lol)

Yes, dog porn. Connor typically hates cameras and usually attempts to photo-bomb his own photos, so getting him to actually do this with a camera on him is a miracle in itself, but not unheard of. Every now& then, on a blue moon, in a very distant solar system far unknown to us, he will ... do doggy softcore porn.  Yes, yes. I know, "porn is the of the Devil."  But that is neither here nor there.... It's not bad for such an aging pet of 12 or 13 years old.  Well, now I can feel the strange, heated, disgusted looks I am getting from people all across the interwebz, so I will just let you all get to the dirty, dirty pictures and let the Devil work his magic over you. Enjoy!

(Very Bandwidth Heavy!)

To Spreadsheet, Or Not To Spreadsheet?

This is quite the dilemma for me. I need to come up with either special program -- which I still have the skills for, or build a spreadsheet for some calculations. If I were to build an application for myself, I would need to sit down and plan it out thoroughly. On the other hand, spreadsheets require much less to nearly zero planning. They are all finished much sooner, quicker than an application.  I guess it really comes down to what my specific needs are and if a spreadsheet can meet that criteria. Hmm.... I must geek on this. Geek, I must....

Another Turning Day, Continued

Okay, so my Aunt’s pile is freshly turned & aerated.  It looks to have about another 1 to 1 ½ weeks till it is technically finished, barring any more heavy rains since I cannot really cover it.  That will be just in time for a garden project that my Aunt and a Friend of hers will be doing together.  Not to mention the one project I was have talking about earlier this year which is also a raised garden bed.  This project which be growing a variety of squash for a fall harvest, so I actually need to get on that sooner than later. Never enough time and resources. LOL!  Speaking of this specific project, I am going to do a mini-hugelkulture bed with some cottonwood trees that are around my Aunt’s property.  In combination with the fresh compost, I think it will make for some really large squash.  Something that I think she will get quite a kick out of.  Currently, she has several cottonwood trees that are too close to her property line and are in a very wet area. Regardless, they need to come down.  I am going to cut the smaller ones down, cut them into rounds, and place them in the garden bed.  I know that fresh cut logs could become a nitrogen-sink, but I can mitigate that with some horse manure, and place the compost soil on top of that.  Also, the cottonwood should help the garden soil from becoming too wet/saturated by groundwater and allows for proper drainage from rain water.  I am not sure how tall it will be just yet, but probably safe to bet around the 18-inch marker.  I might have to dig down into the soil a bit to make sure it does not exceed that height.   I will post some pictures when I get to building that project, so keep an eye out for it.

Another Turning Day

My Aunt and Mother have both told me with much excitement that her pile is steaming big time. With all of the passing showers we have had in the last few  days, hopefully it is not too saturated with water since I do not have a cover to put over it. To be  continued....

*EDIT* Continued at Another Turning Day, Continue

Ah, What The Horse Sh*t!

Turning the piles on the outside into the center. Grass & straw on the
left, horse manure & alfalfa hay on the right.

I have just returned from my Aunt's property where I turned her two compost piles into one massive one, again.  No, you read that correctly and now you are thinking, "Did you not just make her a new pile the other day?"  Yes, I did.  But now I have made it better: I have combined the two massive piles into one even more massive pile.  What is better than two piles? One massive one. LOL!

Russian Comfrey Is Up!

They're all up! All seven slips that I received three weeks ago and are growing pretty rapidly.  I am so stoked!  Enjoy some pics.

Comfrey Harvest

The other day I had posted about finding some in-wild Russian Comfrey in a development plot nearby.  I just harvested some earlier tonight on a walk with my dog.  I got a good five pounds worth which oddly enough, I harvested less than a fifth of the plant.  There are two so I will be back to grab some more tomorrow or so.  I am going to make a comfrey compost tea for my mom as well as a biomass for my compost.  My Aunt will be receiving some too.   It is a good find!

I shredded up some of what I got tonight and mulched it around my growing comfrey plants. My mom took some and mulched in around some of her plants.  We used all five pounds and added the thick stalks to my compost pile.

What a Bitch!

You heard me.  That huge compost pile I was talking about the other day... well I just turned it.  Damn, it was tiresome. Took me a good hour to turn it all with my forks, although very worth it.  I pulled off the plastic covering on it to see steam race towards the overcast sky.  You did not have to dig to feel the heat of the pile. It is an easily 150-degrees.  So I began to turn the outside inside -- new pile next to it, of course -- and inside to the outside.  Only had to add a tiny bit of water the pile, but otherwise it was fine.  In the center, it is so dark you could not tell the straw from the grass and weeds.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love composting? lol.

Another Pile Started

I spent the day with my Aunt mucking horse manure from one of her neighbor's barns.  Boy, was there some manure to harvest.  We are using it to start another pile next to her already large pile that we started a week or so ago. Sadly, I am fresh out of straw for the time being so I will be using shredded  cardboard and paper for my carbon. With that said, that is going to be a bitch to do.  Last year, the ill-informed voters of my beloved State voted out the State run liquor stores in-favor for every Tom, Dick, and Harry establishment with 10,000+ square feet to be able to sell it in their stores.  (Corporate greed, anyone?)

Russian Comfrey Discovery

While walking my dog today, I discovered two Russian comfrey plants growing in a grassy area.  It is in an area that was being developed until the Housing Bubble stopped it.  It looks to be Bocking #14, but I'm not completely sure.

I want to try this!

It's called hugelkultur.  And I want to try this out badly!  Watch the video.




Here is another video, but part of a series.


PS -- if it sucks up so much nitrogen in the first year, just plant a nitrogen fixing plant.

Lasagna Garden, Maybe?

I am thinking about implementing a lasagna garden between now and July.  Not sure where I might put it, but I am thinking of putting it on the southern boarder of my property.  I have some seeds that I need to plant sooner than later.  Hmm... not sure which way I'll go just yet.

Ingenious Creek Irrigation

My mom watering the piles.

As I have stated before, my Aunt has a large piece of property that includes a creek pretty much cutting it in half.  Yesterday, we started two compost piles in her pasture area on the other side of the creek.  At the time, I did not have a solid idea on how to add water to the compost piles.  My mom who was helping me was grabbing a few buckets full of water to help throw on the piles.  After we have finished doing that, we were around the creek when she came up with the seed of a brilliant idea.  Before I get to that, I wanted to say that this creek is "running" about ten months out of a year with July and August being the driest. So naturally, if this idea panned out it could help my Aunt out a bit with her water bill. The Utilities bill is a bit different in the county compared to Tacoma.  The water bill is separate from power and gas.

Adventure In Raking

I spent today across from my Aunt's place raking up grass clippings from her neighbor.  The resident of the property said that we could have it since we intend to use it to start a pile or two for my Aunt.  In fact, he was a bit surprised that we wanted it.  He has about two solid acres of nothing but tall, tall grass that he usually just cuts down and leaves it as mulch.  So my mom and I got up today and head out there to start harvesting the green gold. (We are always working together it seems.)  I was not expecting it to be as hard as it was, but all that raking make me sweat.  It was worse than my Aunt's.  Most of the grass that was cut only hid the long, uncut grass below it that the lawn mower just knocked down.  You had to rake with the direction of cutting otherwise you could not rake the clippings at all. Some times you could not even do that without tangling up your rake.  We only cleared about an acre of the all the cut grass by the time four o'clock rolled around, nevermind that we already had enough to form up a good two piles worth of compost.  We ended up taking  a rather heaping truckload of grass home to add to my already three working piles.  (More is always better, right? lol)

We dumped the truckload of grass clippings at home and split it somewhat evenly between the two compost piles here.  I tell you, this is going to be real fun to turn this Wednesday. LOL!  Anyway, we grabbed our last bale of straw to take back to my Aunt's to use in her piles.  In less than three weeks, we have used all four bales that we bought.  I guess we really did have a need for the stuff.  Once back at my Aunt's, we formed up the piles.  Each pile is 4-foot wide by 7-foot long and at least 3-foot deep.  We placed them next to each other and one on top of a beehive that nested itself in a tree stump.  All in all though, I had a ton of fun doing it even if I might hurt tomorrow.  Honestly though, I do not mind being sore and I really got to work on the removal of my farmer tan.  It is just ugly on me, seriously.  Ugly!  Now, I have an idea about using her creek as an irrigation source for her pasture area where these piles are located.  I will report back later if it works out or not.

New Compost Pile

Here is my fourth compost pile for the spring and should be ready by the middle of July. Quite excited, to tell the truth. The other piles will be done in the next thirty days at the latest. I still needed more grass and soon more straw. lol never ending need.

No to Demo! Keep the 104 year old building.

Why do we have to demolition another old building in Tacoma? Is there not another solution to be had instead of removing another long-standing and well remembered building in Tacoma?  I am talking about the First Congregational Church (click for article).  I realize 40 people cannot pay for the upkeep of such a large structure, however, it should not be demolition, regardless. It is already is a prime spot and in very short walking distances to Wright Park that is not even a block north of it.  A prime spot for it to stay and be converted into anything other than demotion. I am sure MultiCare will try to snap it up in its ever growing medical complex sprawl just like the last church they demo'd a few years ago.   Need I remind anyone of the last historic removal that to this day still stink to high noon? No? Here, let me refresh your minds: UW Tacoma work erases historic iconic image from building (News Tribune). Nuff said.


First Congregational Church on Google Maps:

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A Good Move For Thea Foss Waterway

I just read the article from the News Tribune "New welcome for Thea Foss Waterway" about a compass motif being painted on one of the tanks in Thea Foss waterway, and I must say that I am very pleased to see someone finally give the waterway a due recognition.  Many folks in and around Tacoma do not know accurately where the waterway is located, so it is not hard to see why boaters would not either. Although not exactly easy to describe when telling folks, most just lump it into Commencement Bay, which it is not.  Yes, technically it is linked directly to Commencement Bay, however, Thea Foss waterway is as standalone and important to Tacoma as the Narrows Bridges (past & present), Alber's Mill and Union Station is.  Thea Foss Waterway has its own strong, defined history. Many thanks to the Thea Foss, the Foss Family, and Foss Maritime.

Warning: Rant below!


Seattle often feels the need to downgrade & cheapen what Tacoma does and lately many folks here are doing the same.  Tacoma throughout its history has always gone off and done its own thing and from time to time, bailing out Seattle when Seattle got in over its head.  I am quite proud about Tacoma and love this city.  I digress, I am very happy that NuStar is funding Stan Selden's dream. One last thing about Seattle: Mt Rainier is NOT THAT LARGE BEHIND THE SPACE NEEDLE! Never Has Been. Never Will Be.  I live approximately 50 miles from Mt. Rainier and Seattle is at least 75 miles from it. You can SEE the difference when in Seattle.   Seattle is in King County. Tacoma & Mt. Rainier are in Pierce County. Shame on you, Seattle! Always pilfering shit that was never yours to begin with.

By the way, compasses rock! I have a tattoo of one planned for this year.  Maybe I will incorporate "253" or Tacoma into it. We will see.

Thea Foss Waterway on Google Maps:


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A Normal Day in Pacific Northwest

A lovely rainy morning
(Heading South from Federal Way) 

Man, what a lovely morning it is!  No, I am not being sarcastic.  It truly is a lovely morning with the rain falling and warm, albeit humid temperature.  Of course, you could say I am extra grateful and cheery because I am not working in it.  That is true, very true.  If I were working in the rain today, it would be a bitch.  It is just wet enough outside for the power tools to trip the GFCIs on the Spider Boxes. And if you are hold your cards just right, the power tool will even share some of its electricity with you.  Those are the best days! Sharing is caring, especially with electrified devices.

Anyway, driving south towards home was rather nice.  Traffic Northbound was completely fubar'd, but not so bad you could not get to work on time.  Idiots -- cough, out-of-staters -- panicking and freaking out that it is raining after all of those blissful warm and sunny days.  It happens just about every time it rains here after sunny weather.

Checked on my compost piles this morning.  One is cooking just ever so happily, but the other is not.  Not only is it not heating up very much, it has shrunk.  Now, the shrinking is not a bad thing, but in combination with no heat, it means I am going to have to add more nitrogen to the mix.  I was pretty sure my ratio was spot on, but maybe I carried the 1 when I should not have. Go figure.   I have six trash bins full of grass at my Aunt's place ready for pick-up. I will add them shortly, since this rain is only going to make the grass around her house and in her field grow even faster once it passes.

Bonfire Pics

Bonfire, a set on Flickr.

Here are some pictures from my bonfire last night. I tried out some time-lapsed as well as aperture priority stills.

Hello Rain, Goodbye Sun!

It was awesome to finally have the warmth of the sun for the last few weeks, but I am definitely happy to see, hear, and feel the rain again.  The last week has just killed me allergy-wise, so this rain has already helped me immensely. I can at least breath halfway normal again, especially when I first wake up.  Although I knew it was going to rain today, I did not think it was going to rain this morning.  I had thought it would be more throughout the latter part of the day.  I am glad I got my bonfire in last night at my Aunt's house. I paid for it with my allergies, but who can resist a bonfire?  Well, it was not really a bonfire in our typical sense, but it was a fire where we typically have bonfires.  It was  nice and I really enjoyed myself.

Does "253" spell "Handgun"? Damn straight it does!

Pictures of the shirt that spells "253".
(From NewsTribune)

This is so awesome! I would buy it in a heartbeat. In fact, that is probably not a might but a will buy.  I love the creativity of the guy who designed it.  Just like a Tacoman to come up with something like that.  I love this city!

Is this the right symbol for Tacoma? (Tacoma News Tribune)

Russian Comfrey Pictures

 Here are three of the slips that I received from Horizon Herbs the other day.  I did not post a picture of them in the last entry so I am doing so now.  Instead of receiving six, they sent me eight slips.  How awesome is that!!  They are all planted now and I will know if they'll take within two weeks time. Hopefully within the next seven to ten days.

The Comfrey Slips Have Arrived!

My Russian Comfrey bocking  #14 slips arrived this afternoon after waiting for nearly 2 weeks. I ordered a bundle of six from Horizon Herbs  down in Oregon earlier this month.  It took a bit longer than I had expected, however, I am definitely happy that that all six roots cuttings have arrived in very good condition. I am very pleased with HH’s packing techniques in not only the outer package, but how they pack the roots in a soil-like product.  It is supposedly a coconut composted product and that holds in moisture. (I do not recall what it is ATM.)

This particular bocking is in sterile, removing any worry about it spreading out of control on its own.  The only way to propagate this Bocking of Comfrey is to cut the roots and planted elsewhere. I went with this version for its ability to attract pollinators which is a good thing for my gardens, but also going to use it as a biomass for my compost and a nitrogen fixer for the grass near the planting. I can also use it as a mulch for other spots in the gardens. There is also is purported medical abilities not just in this Bocking but also with all version of Comfrey, however that is just a bonus for me.  Since I got six slips, I have planted two  next to the compost pile, to on the north side of the property, and to yet be planted. Tomorrow I'll decide where they will be planted. I'm trying to spread them around the yard so that I have plenty of bee activity all over the gardens.

In addition to putting this Comfrey, I am thinking of planting a clover species in my backyard. The ground in the backyard is near concrete and Clover will help break up the soil.  In addition to what Clover can do for the ground, I can also use it as a biomass for my compost pile. It also fixes nitrogen into the soil which will improve my grass quality. (Starting to see a pattern here?) I haven't decided which Clover varietyI will go with yet, however Medium Red Clover interests me currently, although I am not sure if it is a perennial or biannual plant.  With a bit of research, Clover seems to have some medical properties as well. Most articles I have read have dried the flowers for use in teas.

Harvesting Compost Material

My Aunt agreed to give me her grass clippings for my compostin gneeds, however, my Aunt has a large piece of property.  She has tackled mowing and clearing it every years by herself, however, she really does need help with it. Since I was benefitting from getting free compost material and I rather be outdoors than in, I decided that I would help her cut and maintain the "Back Fourty".  Besides, I look damn sexy with a farmer tan.  I mean, who doesn't!

Tacoma's New Fireboat Saying What We All Know Too Well

As a country, our product quality sucks!  You read that correctly.   Once upon a time, we use to make some quality stuff. Stuff that you can still find kicking around, doing a job as well as the newer equipment can do.  The only difference is that the newer, faster, quicker, better, more expensive equipment is fail-tastic.  In Seattle PI's, "Tacoma welcomes new $675,000 fireboat from Canada" article, Port of Tacoma quite clearly and cleaverly points out how they came to choose a Canadian company to build the new fireboat. 

If this country wants to see the next hundred or so years, we need to refocus our industries into making high-quality, durable goods. And with that, Americans need to take pride in their work.  Every building I have worked on, no matter how big or how small the task was, I tried to take as much pride and apply as much skill as I could to it.  I know that when a certain marina in Kirkland is bulldozed sometime in the future, there is a a wall or two that will no go so quietly. Why? I built the shit out of it, stronger than the prints said to and without expending any extra money to do it.  With that said, that entire building is quality built not just from my efforts, because the entire crew's efforts were focused on quality, durability, and pride.  Our focus should not be on how much money we can save, what the turn-over rate will be, and how fast we can get another person into the product to keep us afloat. That never works, except in scams. (Enron, anyone?)

There is nothing wrong with doing crap jobs as long as you know that the job might be crap, but the work is quality.  I have worked with too many people with bad attitudes and even worse work ethics, only in it for the money.  Nothing in life comes easy and especially not free. Everything requires sweat, ink, blood, or breath in payment.  Hell, even Death requires you pay for it with your Life.

Camera Megapixels: Myths & Facts

CNet did a great job of talking about why the number of megapixels on a smartphone and consequently a tablet are not an indicator of quality.  I have a lovely Olympus EPL-1 camera with 12.-something pixels, it can and has knocked the effing socks off of my mom's point-and-shoot camera which has more megapixels.

Anyways, read the article because it is truly informative.

LINK:
Camera megapixels: Why more isn't always better (Smartphones Unlocked)

Foreigners, Go Home!

I dislike Foreigners with near fervor unseen today.  Not the ones that come from other countries, but the ones that come from within my own.  They come up here and  bitch, moan, and whine about how the weather, the culture, traffic, you name it.  How they like another state so much better, so on and so forth for reason X, Y, and Z.  I am of the school of thought that you “love the one you are with”, “enjoy the journey, not the destination”,”when in Rome do as the Romans do”, and most importantly in my book: “better to look a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.”  If you are living some place that you dislike, you move. Key word here: move.

The other day, I was at Portland Ave Nursery looking for a particular Comfrey plant for my garden. While heading back to the car, a passing hail storm caught several people wanting to get to their cars.  A woman bitched about the hail. Bitch, she did. it’s spring! Weather is unpredictable in early spring.  Everyone knows this, and if you do not then there is always the option of OSLI. (Observe, Study, Look Intelligent.)  In short, she “liked Arizona better”.  Fine. Like all you want.  In fact, move back there... quickly.  This woman is not an isolated incident and not by far.  These same people are changing my state! We are not the socially class-constricted East Coast or the loser confederate South.  Could not care less what happens back east or down south, honestly.  However, those same peoples somehow end up here for whatever reasons and attempt to recreate their culture here.  Fuck your culture and leave my alone.  PNW is PNW! If I do not say “Hi” walking down the street, I’m not being rude. I do not know you and I have nothing to say to you.  If I wear a hoodie everywhere, I am not going to rob, stab, rape, and dissect you for some twisted. fun.  Here in Washington State, we have layers of personalization that works for us.  Some people get farther into our circles than others.  We are fairly private people here.   I have co-workers that know very little about me and I them, however, we are great work friends.  Just how shit goes up here.

So I say again, I hate Foreigners and not the ones from other countries. Their sins can be forgiven and they often learn quickly, changing their ways.  It is the Foreigners inside the USA that are the problem.  I do not like you, I will not share my salmon with you, and most importantly I will not be very nice to you.  And never will Atlantic Farmed Salmon crap ever be anywhere near as good as real Salmon!

Russian Pagan Metal Band: Arkona -- Good Shit!

Just stumbled across this video and band.  The videos is a bit strange for my tastes, but pretty good compared to what we normally see in this genre. Anyhow, the music is rock solid AWESOME! :-) I thought I would post a supportive link to it. (No, I do not get a kick-back from this. :-( )  ANyways, a few videos for ya'll.  BTW, gotta love Russians!

Finally, The End!

My long ass day it now concluded. No more suicidal cats and crazy, crashing drivers for at least a few glorious hours.

More Crazy Drivers!

WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE CRAZY DRIVING TODAY!!?!

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why people are in a hurry to get places.  It is not especially warm, sunny, rainy, or cold out which is the usual cause of "OMG! Imma die if I don't get where I need to go to!" syndrome.

This morning while driving by a church that was ramping up for mass, a little girl no older than nine or ten ran into the street in front of me.  I was not doing more than 30 so stopping was not a big issue, however, the father of the child told me to slow down.  Yes, that's me. Mister Fast & Furious here in my little while 225,000 mile car.

While I was in Puyallup earlier today, there was another set of drivers how just had to get in front of me even though I was technically speed at 45 MPH in a 35 zone. No, 45 was not enough; 55 is more like it. Coming back from Puyallup, same thing.

No, I am no Sunday driver and definitely distracted & inattentive while driving.  I am in a minority of people who knows how to drive defensively as well as offensively (look at me bragging :-P ). However, I hate, hate, hate accidents because I HATE having the inconvenience of my car all bummed up.  Okay, </rant>!

Good Morning Me!

I had a bit of a bad start this morning: I hit a cat. I really, really hate hitting animals.  I really do try to avoid hitting animals even if they are already dead and in the road. Three or four years ago, I had a raccoon and a rather large raccoon at that, on my way to work heading towards Bremerton. It completely devastated my morning and my front end. Not because I actually hit it, rather the raccoon was still alive and  having been spun into the left-hand lane where I saw another truck and several other cars run over. If I'm going to hit something, I would like it to be dead on the first go-around.  I would have to say that if I was a raccoon and I bolted into on-coming traffic, I would pray that the vehicle that hit me would be enough to provide a finishing blow. I guess I'm funny that way.

Anyhow, while striving my sister to work I saw the shadow out of the corner of my right eye and my sister gasped, saying that I had just hit a cat. For some reason it had bolted into to the street and under my tires. I do not know if I hurt it too much because it ran off even twice as fast as it ran into the street. On my way back taking the same route, there was no sign of the it. A little bit later this morning I noticed that there were quite a few cats hit around town and the county. Who knows, maybe Mt. Rainier is getting ready to blow (over due), or we are finally going to have our Cascadia fault rupture that is so long over-due as well (15+ years).

Anyhow, this is just a little blurb about my crappy morning. I have since then had my coffee, and coffee usually does make me feel better.

I'm up, I'm up... Although I Wish I Was Not.

Good morning, all.  It is about 4:30am here and I have been up for a just over an hour and a half, however, I wish to be sleeping soundly in my bed again.  Although that is not going to happen, much to my consternation.  The early bird catches the worm, as they would say ... back in time and memorial. 

Beautiful Sunset

Catch theses earlier tonight while walking my dog.  Absolutely beautiful!

Tis the Season For Composting!

I have began building one of my compost piles the other day from my lawn clippings. Of course, I have a proper ratio of nitrogen to carbon for quick composting, however, I did want to try this new compost starter that my mother showed to me at one of our favorite gardening stores. It is called

Dr. Earth Compost Starter and costs around $12 dollars. The gardening store I visit will sell only organically safe products and they often try out what they sell.  Another reason why I decided to give this a try is the simple fact that it is supposed to be human & pet safe instead of the chemical starters that are more than readily available.  From what I can tell, it is microbe-saturated sawdust. And so far, just after four days, it is already steaming a plenty which pleases me to no end.  Now for me, it has only sped up my compost by a matter of a week or two depending on the weather here.  Although probably not a big bump for some folks, it is a big bump for me since I use a lot of compost around my rather large yard.  I will report back good news or bad news about the product as I work with it a bit more.

Crazy drivers

I cannot stand how crazy drivers are around here lately. I seemingly cannot drive to Safeway,  Starbucks, or just down my own blog without someone pulling a move from The Fast and The Furious. This is Washington  State and  not the damn movie! Sadly, much of this behavior is from people not even from this state and/or are freaking out from either a more than a drop or two of rain, or another day too gray for their primitive minds to work around.  We do not wait for the weather to clear up here. That are what hoodies were made for and on certainly more inclement weather, rain jackets.  REI is just right up the road from my house and just about one in every major town and city that I know here.  Oh, God! Even JC Penny, Sears, and Old Navy carry them regularly.  Regardless of what the reason is, I rather wish they would stop being juvenile vehicular asshats and drive a bit more responsible. You can still speed safely…. Somewhat.

Wide Ass Turns

I captured this lovely photo the other morning while   returning home. It is from a dump truck leaving a massive public works project for Sound Transit off of Pacific & 25th street.  It was too good not to snap a pic of. I love it when people do things like that.

Spring is here!

Minion -- yes, that is her name -- at the backdoor grateful
 for the a warm day to pounce upon one of her brothers.

Well, spring has arrived and I am very grateful!  Nothing beats the prospects of spring, summer, and fall.  My favorite three seasons of the four, however, that is not to say I do not enjoy Winter either.  I found this last winter particularly hard on me, but I could just be showing my age. :-P  With the warming spring sun and somewhat warm showers that comes with it, I have started my vegetable garden and already have my compost pile working.  However, that is just the being of my work for the season or two.


One of my projects is to take down my incomplete shed that I built several years ago and replace it with a bigger one. And actually complete it this time. I stopped working on it when I decided on taking a road trip with my uncle and just never returned back to it. I also have a kitchen remodel that needs to be finished up, however, I need to expand the permit for the bathroom as well since it has developed some serious issues in the last nine months. I really did not want to break into the bathroom remodel while I have a kitchen remaining unfinished, however, it cannot be avoided right now. Speaking of remodel, I also need to repair the shoddy electrical in this house. The previous remodel-er and owners really screwed up this house, but the house is over a hundred years old.