Saturday, February 18, 2012

Been Away for Awhile


Fort Worden with Mount Baker in the background


My last post in the Rapid Transit Saga was way last year.  My excuse for not posting is “family comes first.”  So please forgive me.  I think the Mayans are behind it.

I missed almost every bowl game in January 2012.  The result is that I have no idea which college players are worth drafting.  Never thought the Seahawks would compare favorably with the Colts.

At about the same time I found out my three sisters were coming to visit in February.  This is good news as they live way off in the blue states.  Maybe I can improve their outlook.  We only get together once a year so this year is special. I’m going back there this summer (maybe) which will make it two times in one year.

Here at Lake Boren Rapid Transit Data Central we have hundreds of sophisticated state of the art computers.  Way last summer I had a miraculous breakthrough and the balky laptop finally decided to accept the inevitable.  It joined my home network.  Inexplicably right before the arrival of my sisters that laptop suddenly refused to accept any internet connection.  “Internet device not found” or some such “Windows” error message.  Great timing.  Why did it wait until 2012?  The Mayans.  That’s the only answer.

My sisters arrived as scheduled and we began a two week tour of the vast office complex here at Lake Boren Rapid Transit Headquarters.  That lasted a few minutes.  We went to the Doll Art Museum in Bellevue (sisters).

Road trip took us to the Yakima Canyon where we spotted a few wild birds and other varmints.  The trip eventually got as far as the Central Washington Ag Museum in Union Gap.  That’s where intrepid farm equipment enthusiasts have built a world class environment to display hundreds (probably thousands) of agriculture related items.  Then it was on to the back country.

The next venue was the Great Highway 410 slide which buried part of the road and caused the river to take a new channel.  Not a common site in Indiana.  So as expected one of my eastern sisters fell victim to the rugged west and twisted an ankle.  She’s OK now but the limp lasted the remainder of the visit.
Elk Feeding at Oak Creek
We stayed at the home of good friends and quilting was one of the main topics.  All of us had a terrific time and we were entertained royally during our visit to Yakima.
 We returned home only to find that the Tivo had rebelled.  After several years (this should be a hint) of flawless service the box has become inoperative.  There must be a trend among my electronic devices – first the laptop and now Tivo.  What’s next?  Anybody know a Mayan I can ask?  But I have a house full of guests so no time to deal with broken stuff.  Just compartmentalize the problems and move on.

The next road trip took us to Port Townsend.  The Victorian homes and forts made into parks are quite interesting.  There is also plenty of shopping.  Lots of shopping.  We had a great lunch.  Indiana doesn’t have State Ferries either so that was unique.  Did I mention the shopping?  Yet another nice Western Washington day in February.  Amazing.

Following the visit to Port Townsend we decided the next day would be a good time to visit the Glass Museum in Tacoma.  Lots of glass.  The gift shop had more than the museum and it was all for sale.

Next the crew loaded up the heap and headed toward Long Beach.  That’s in Washington, in case you don’t know.  Their two main attractions are cranberries, oysters, and kites.  OK, three.  Oh, and the world’s longest beach. Four!

So far the weather had been excellent.  We had lots of sun and unseasonably warm temperatures.  Terrible ad since we really don’t need more people out here.  But it was great for traveling around showing the sites.

While at the ocean the Mayans struck again and a second sister twisted an ankle.  Must run in the family.  At least no electronic devices quit during that trip.  Now I have two limping sisters.  The Wild West is just too dangerous for Indiana people.

At this point we went to visit the Schoonover Farm in Skagit County.  There were an amazing number of swans grazing in the fields.  The snow geese flock is enormous.  Numerous eagles greeted us as well as several hawks and smaller birds.  The farm is very interesting with various sheep, goats, chickens, and other hairy things.  They have a road side produce stand.  We said hi to the dogs and got a tour of the fiber room.  Donna has a complete operation in which she takes fibers (wool mostly) from animals and it eventually ends up as garments.  My quilting sisters were fastinated.

Boots were donned and we went to visit the barn yard.  Some of the sheep and goats are friendly and some are not.  The geese didn’t seem to like anyone but they didn’t bite.  It was feeding time which was also very entertaining.

We returned to the safety of our palatial home and the next day I planned to have a nice dinner at one of the world famous Seattle eating establishments.  The goal was to show these folks that Seattle (the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area) has some of the best food in the country.  What a surprise: a third sister got food poisoning.  Three out of three felled by the rugged conditions here in the Wild West.  She’s much better now, too.

What’s left but to load them on airplanes and send them back where they’re safe?  Maybe the Mayans don’t know where Indiana is.  Or Texas.  I’m not real sure myself; somewhere back east maybe.

Result: All three are safe in their homes recovering from their visit.
The Tivo actually had a disk failure which is the fault of the disk manufacturer, not the Tivo people.  I ordered a new Series 4 and it arrived yesterday.  It has more storage and faster processing (if you believe that… well you know).  Anyway, I got it set up and now I have TV again.
The problem with the laptop was the protection software.  It’s the very large program that keeps malicious viruses and spyware from clobbering the computer.  It decided to take matters into its own hands and clobber the computer itself.  Did I expect anything else?  Anyway, it’s fixed now.  The Mayans are losing.

OK, during the tour I showed the sisters Newcastle and Lake Boren.  Yes, they really exist.  We saw the library under construction and even caught a glimpse of Glen’s floating TV antenna.  Quilt shops were involved along the way.  We saw the farm in Sedro Woolley (yes, it really exists) and rode Ferry Boats.  We saw the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge before it’s replaced and we saw the Alaska Way Viaduct.  We saw the Space Needle and the Monorail.  We even spent a morning wandering and shopping in Pike Place Market.  We tried to see the Freemont Troll but all the streets to it were being worked on.  Or maybe it was the troll being worked on.  Or have the Mayans started there?  Anyway, no dice.  Except for the injuries these folks seemed to enjoy the visit.  I expect everyone in Washington to pitch in and make the place safer.

 Al

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