Now in its 12th year, this section has basically morphed into a "Year in Pictures" section of my website.  If you want to know what's happening on my end, then check here periodically.  Whenever something "interesting"  happens, I'll put a new entry up... and you can be assured they'll be pictures!  :-)

I'm sticking with the "Teaser" format I started in the summer of 2003... but the pages themselves were simplified during the summer... I was more than a month behind, and with the kinderschnitzel, I've found that time isn't as 'available' as it once was!

Click on the link that comes after the blurb for more details.

Jump to  2012 |  2011 |  2010 |  2009 |  2008 |  2007 |  2006 |  2005 | 
2004 |  2003 |  2002 |  2001 |  2000 |  1999 |  1998 |  1997

We'd gotten a foot of snow on Christmas Day, and late that night it started snowing again...  I went out for a drive to check out the roads, and the scenery!

MORE Snow

A few days before Christmas, we KNEW it was going to be a White Christmas... the question wasn't about whether it would snow, but how much!  We'd gotten quite a bit of snow leading up to Christmas Day, and a strong new storm was rolling in, starting on Christmas Eve, and the thought was that the snowfall could be considerable... especially for this area!

A VERY White Christmas

I went down to the church, and noticed the wind blowing off the roof... It was the beginning to a "Blizzard warning" from the NWS that had all of the news channels in "Disaster of 2008" mode... I didn't know about the whole blizzard thing, but it seems that this place is trying REAL hard to be a winter wonderland!

The 'Great Blizzard of 2008'

The Shadow Lady had an appointment in Bellevue, so we dug out the Mariner, and headed in to town.  Listening to the radio, you'd have thought that we were in the ice age or something... they were going on and on about the snow.

Out in the snow

It had snowed over night, and after a brief respite, it picked back up... It was very nice... we were told that we were going to get pounded with 10-14 inches of snow.  We only got about 6, but that was enough to make the area look clean and fresh!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We've had fresh snow several mornings since it first snowed, on the 11th.  Its stayed cold, so the snow is piling up... its REALLY winter now!  =]  Its been nice - it reminds me of being back in Maine.  It'll pass eventually, but I'm hoping it sticks around for a while.

More Snow

Mt Si is a very prominent feature around town... you can see it from nearly everywhere.  On a sunny day, especially when it has snow, it makes for a very pleasing back-drop!  What a great place to be from!

An interesting view of Mt Si

One event that really rings in the Christmas Cheer is Montesano's Festival of Lights Parade. It's THE event of Grays Harbor County, and this year's seemed to be trying to make up for last year's parade -- it got "winded out" by the storm last year that knocked out power in the Big storm of last winter, causing them to cancel the storm.

Festival of Lights Parade

One thing that struck me when I first moved to the Pacific Northwest was just how different the weather could be in just a short distance... its all about the altitude of a place.

When driving down to Grays Harbor County, I decided to take some pictures of the route, to see just how different things could be.

Weather quick Change

Well, 11 days after it happened last year, we got our first real snow of the season... it was touted as a "Terrible Storm", but it wasn't all that bad in the end.

It did look real nice, though!  Its beginning to look like Christmas!

 

The first snow of the season

A friend of mine has season tickets to the Seahawks, and he gave me tickets to a football game that he couldn't go to... yes, GAVE.  It just happened that the week he couldn't go to was the week that the Patriots were in town -- its a God thing, I'm sure of it!  =]

Seahawks vs Patriots

We went a company party put on by the Shadow Lady's department.  She works at Microsoft, and when they do something, they do it BIG.

We had a good time, and we found out that the little guy likes the Sax, and Elvis, of all things... =]

Company Christmas Party

I got to a meeting a bit early, so I killed off some time at a park alongside of Lake Sammamish.  It was a surprisingly nice day, and since its winter, there wasn't much going on in the park, so it was one of those rare times when you get an unexpected moment of peace and enough of a break to put that extra zip in your step... it was nice!

Waiting by the Lake

It worked out that I was able to help set up the Christmas Trees at our church.  A local Christmas Tree Farm donated the trees to the church this year.  Several guys in the church showed up to cut and set up the tree.  A meeting I was in went long, and I got there just as the trucks were pulling out, but I helped carry the trees into the sanctuary.

Setting up the Christmas Trees

We took a walk out to Brewster Lake, and I remembered to bring my camera... good thing, because there was a light fog forming on the water, making for some decent pictures!

Fog on the water

For thanksgiving, we had The Shadow Lady's family over, which made things fun!  It mostly meant that I got to cook a lot of stuff again, which I really like doing. =]

Thanksgiving Day

It rains a lot here... its something we just get used to.  I enjoy it when it rains -- its what I moved here for!  But, sometimes it rains a bit too much, and today was one of those days... with all the rain we'd been getting in the last week, the ground is saturated, so all the rain we got today ran off, and into the rivers, which quickly filled up, and went into flood stage.

Western Washington Floods - along with the Snoqualmie Valley

I was invited to be a part of the Veteran's Day Assembly at Mt Si High School.

I don't normally go to those sorts of things, but the lady at the school said that she was having trouble getting vets to agree to go, so I when ahead and volunteered.

A Veteran's Day Assembly

Rural folks "Cling to God and Guns", or so I've been told... after church, we headed out to the Monroe Gun Show -- maybe there's something to it!  =]

The Monroe Gun Show

It was almost as scary as Halloween!

We had an impromptu election party with friends of ours... we got invited over almost at the last minute... not wanting to pass up the opportunity to visit, and watch the talking heads talk, we took them up on their offer.

Halloween 2008

We went to the Shadow Lady’s Office for halloween... the little guy had a great time! We didn’t get very many kids to show up for candy, but it was a fun day, anyway!

Halloween 2008

 went to an MSDN Spotlight, which was set up to coincide with the Professional Developer's Conference that took place earlier in the week... its a great way to keep up to date with things, recognize trends, and see where MS is heading, and keep me more up to date with the latest rumors and 'in the pipe' activities in the tech world.

MSDN Spotlight

Our church's annual Men's Conference took place at the Cascades Camp and Convention Center.  It was a weekend of worship, fellowship, and building friendships.

CCC Men's Conference

I'm the coordinator for the A/V at our church, so I met with our team, and picked a place that was fairly central, and large enough to afford a bit of "space" to have the meeting... since I like the place anyway, I picked Twedes.

A quick bite to eat at Twede's

The Shadow Lady went to a baby shower for a friend of ours.  She had a great time, and she enjoyed seeing folks that we used to work with,  but haven't seen in way too long.

Baby Shower

The Shadow Lady went to a baby shower for a friend of ours.  She had a great time, and she enjoyed seeing folks that we used to work with,  but haven't seen in way too long.

Double Deck Hearts

We've been having some issues with power... when its raining hard, or the wind blows, the power in half the house is unstable, mostly when its windy or rainy.  Thinking it might be one of the two lines coming into the house, I called PGE to come out to take a look.

A visit from the Power Company

I went to an appointment in town, and I took Flame.  That thing is old, loud, and is a gas hog, but I love driving that thing!  Its the little things, I guess that make you grin the widest!  =]

Out on the road with Flame

After church, we decided to take advantage of the nice day - and the tired kid - so we took a ride up to the Pass, to get brunch at the Family Pancake House.

A drive up to the Pass

Well, the game finally came.  The last game in our ticket pack, which happened to be the second to the last game of the season.  This year, the season was grueling, and long  - 101 losses, and not very many wins.  We were the second worst team in baseball -- The Nationals got swept their last 3 games, and pulled 1 game ahead in the race for the First Round Draft Pick.... We didn't even win that.

The Last game of the season

Normally, I work at home, which I've REALLY come to enjoy!  But, every so often I have to head in, and this week was one of those weeks were I had to slog it out with the other commuters. 

Why my job is so fun sometimes!

I was heading in to work, and noticed an interesting load on a trailer... a church Steeple.

Not something you see every day

Driving in to Seattle isn't really something I'd normally put in a "currently", but when the drive was so nice, it sort of became something else!

A late afternoon drive

I got a call a few days ago, asking for help with "Doorbelling".  The Re-elect Dino Rossi for Governor local campaign coordinator was asking for more bodies to do a walking poll, so I volunteered.

Doorbelling for Dino

The Shadow Lady's youngest sister completed another orbit of the Sun recently, so we went out to celebrate.

Celebrating another orbit

The Yankees came to town, and we had tickets, so we piled in the car and went to Safeco Field, one of the better ball parks I've been lucky enough to visit over the years.

An evening with the Mariners

On the night of Sarah Palin's acceptance speech, we went down to the GOP Headquarters to help make some calls, and watch the speech with fellow volunteers in a show of support for the ticket.

In support of Sarah

This year for Memorial Day, like the others before it, we went down to Kalaloch... its a GREAT place to go, and one of those traditions you just don't want to mess with!

Kalaloch for Memorial Day

After reading a story about how its becoming more common to see elk in the area, One blocks my path on the way home from dropping a friend off.

A local says howdy

He would ski down a slope after being dropped off by a helicopter.  He knew Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, and English.  He kept a personal memoir, but would alternate between Russian and Greek, so no one could read it.  He taught his sister to shoot a gun, and bought her one.  He would help anyone, anytime, with anything.

The Passing of an Uncle

Seems that me and spiders don't get along.  I got bit on the shin, and it didn't heal the way it was supposed to.

Another go-around with a spider

I recently made yet ANOTHER orbit around the Sun, and the Shadow Lady's family took me to Sunday brunch to celebrate the momentous occasion.

Another Successful Orbit

After the wedding, we headed home, again on the Coast Starlight, only this time, obviously, we were heading North.

Heading Home

One of the Shadow Lady's Cousins got married, and we went down to LA to share in the important event.  It was a nice service, and we were very glad to be able to be a part of it.

A cousin gets married

We were heading to LA to go to a wedding for one of the Shadow Lady's Cousin's.  We decided on a train because we didn't want to be the target of the stares to the parents of the infamous little kid who's sick of sitting, and wants to play.  You don't have to stay in your seat on a train...

Down to LA on the Train

Yeah, the Mariners aren't doing that well this year, but its still baseball, and the opportunity to head in to a game is still as fun as ever!  It was a great evening for a game, and I had, as usual, a great time!

An Evening at the park

After his 10 day visit, it was time for my cousin to head back to his home in Florida.  So, we headed down out of the foothills, and since we had some time because traffic wasn't all that bad, we swung through West Seattle for a last look at the Emerald City.

2008.07.28 - Heading Home

When we heard that the one of the sons of a cousin of the Shadow Lady was in town playing a baseball game, we packed up, and headed to the ball park!

2008.07.26 - A late morning game

We took a drive down to Gray's Harbor County to visit with my "grandmother in law" for her birthday.  We took a jaunt down to the coast to check out the Pacific Ocean while we were there.

2008.07.25 - A drive to the Coast

We had some 'unscheduled' time, so I decided to take a jaunt out to a local state park... the venerated Flaming Geyser State Park.

2008.07.25 - Flaming Geyser State Park

My cousin and I took a trip out to Mt Rainier, the "other" famous volcano in the Seattle area.

2008.07.24 - A visit to Mt Rainier

One thing I've been meaning to do is take a walk through the Snoqualmie Tunnel, so my cousin and I picked up some flashlights, and went on a walk through a mountain so see what there was to see.

2008.07.23 - A Walk in the Dark

We didn't tell my cousin that the Sox were playing the Mariners while he was here... we'd gone to a game the first day he was here, so this one was a surprise.

2008.07.22 - A Surprise

For my Cousin's third full day, we went down to The Mountain.  It'd been over a year since I was there last - quite a while, for me, anyway.

2008.07.22 - Dry Falls

For my Cousin's third full day, we went down to The Mountain.  It'd been over a year since I was there last - quite a while, for me, anyway.

2008.07.21 - Mt St Helens

For my cousin's second full day visiting the PNW, we went to the Olympic Peninsula to check out a bit of history, and enjoy a nice drive on a Sunday afternoon.

2008.7.20 - A nice Sunday Drive

My cousin is visiting, so of course I had to show him Seattle!  =]

We swung through the older section of the city - Like me, he's interested in the history of a place.

2008.7.19 - A Day in Seattle

On the edge of the old town area of Snoqualmie, there is a train museum, which is basically a bunch of old trains on a spur.  My cousin and I are both borderline "foamers", as my friend Rob (who is an engineer for UP) refers to folks who are "interested" in trains, so on the way home, we stopped for a bit to check them out.

2008.7.18 - Snoqualmie Falls

My Cousin is visiting from Florida, and I took him to Snoqualmie Falls on the way home.  Snoqualmie Falls is quite impressive.  They're not the highest falls, but they sure are picturesque!

2008.7.18 - Snoqualmie Falls

Our Neighborhood Association held its annual business meeting to discuss the changes in the fee structure for our water (we own our water supply and deliver system), and the association fees - which handle costs associated with a dedicated police patrol, and care and maintenance of the park.

2008.7.12 - Neighborhood Meeting

I snagged a friend of mine from church again, and we did another 'guys night at the game', to give the Shadow Lady a break.

2008.7.05 - An evening with the Mariners

We went down to Grays Harbor County to be with family for the Fourth of July.  Its my 4th one, and it will likely remain a great tradition!

2008.7.04 - A Family Fourth

I'm not sure if its the marine layer, the cooler temperatures, or the Mountains, but we don't get thunder and lightening very much here in the PNW... but occasionally, a storm will flare up, and we'll have a nice show!

2008.06.28 - A rare thunderstorm

It was a nice day, and the little guy was getting a bit fussy, so I decided to change the scenery a bit, and headed out to Rattlesnake Lake for a quick walk around lunch time.  The Lake is only a few miles from our house, so its a relatively easy thing to do.

2008.06.27 - Rattlesnake Lake

Not far from our house, a power station was put in by the state to generate electricity for the region.  Not a lot, but it was largely an experiment to see if a new engineering principle would be feasible... generating power without a large dam.

2008.06.24 - Olalie State Park

Interleague play came to Safeco Field, and with it came the Nationals -- the first time they've visited Seattle.

We the ticket pack we have set us up with tickets to back to back games, so I went with the Shadow Lady the first game, and a friend from church for the second.

2008.06.13 & 14 - Mariners vs Nationals

After a blustery day, it got downright windy as the sun went down, and the power was knocked out... it'd been raining most of the night before, and off and on during the day, so a tree must have gotten blown over and took down some lines when it did.

2008.06.09 - Power Outage

Our ticket packet has most of the games on Friday and Saturday, which makes it nice... they're not doing all that well this year, but that's OK... its Baseball, so its still fun!

An afternoon with the Mariners

We went down to Grays Harbor County to spend Memorial Day with the family... For us, its one of those family traditions that everyone looks forward to every year, and that makes family... well, family!

 Memorial Day with the Family

The second part of our two-day "Mother's Day" mini vacation was a one overnight cruise from Vancouver to Seattle, on Holland America's Amsterdam.

We had perfect weather, and an awesome time!

 One Day Cruise

For Mother's Day, I landed a one day cruise, from Vancouver to Seattle... it took place a few days after Mother's Day, actually, but that's OK... it was close enough!  =]

To get up to Vancouver, we took the train... a trip in itself!

On the Train to Vancouver

One of the Shadow Lady's cousins is getting married in the summer, so they threw her a Bridal shower party...

 

Bridal Shower

A friend of mine from church went with me to a baseball game.  It was a nice Spring Saturday, warm, no breeze... a GREAT day for baseball!

It was the second game of the season for us, and the second game the little guy has been to.

 

An Evening with the Mariners

Well, we intended to hike up to the ledge above our house on Rattlesnake Ridge... the last time The Shadow Lady was on the trail, it was wide and flat, so we decided to push the little guy up there in the stroller, and make a leisurely walk of it.  What we didn't know is that they changed the trail.

Out for a walk near Rattlesnake Lake

I had an interesting day this morning, to put it mildly... certainly one of the more interesting trips in to work that I've had in a while, to be sure!

  Just a typical Spring day!

We'd hiked to Twin Falls before... but we went from the trailhead from Twin Falls State Park.  This time, we hiked from Olalie State Park, and along a part of the Iron Horse Trail, then down to the falls.  It wasn't the funnest thing coming back - it was a pretty steep mile off the Iron Horse Trail down to the falls - but it was a lot of fun, anyway.  :-)

  Twin Falls Hike

More snow.  Not much to write home about... but it's supposed to be Spring, so its sort of out of place...

  More Snow!

We went to our first game of the 2008 Season... it was REALLY good to be back in the familiar hallowed halls of Safeco Field!  It also was the little guy's first game, which made it even more fun than it would have been.  On top of that, the Mariners won the game... it was a GREAT evening!

  The first game of the Season

After I got home from work - I actually had to head in to the office - I decided to take advantage of the intermittent sun, and take flame up to Olalie State park, to see what the snow situation was like there...

  Out for a quick drive with Flame

I guess March wasn't done with us... on the 30th, we got a good 6 inches of snow... then, on the morning of the 31st, we got another 5-6!  They're saying the snow ends with the month of March... we'll see, eh?  :-)

  March goes out with a bang.

With all the snow, we wanted to see what the pass looked like... it'd been a while, and we figured that SOME of it was gone - the pass only got a dusting from the snow earlier today (which gave us 6 inches), but we went up there to see it anyway.

  A trip up to the Pass

The Tadpole is about to have a new cousin (First cousin, once removed? Second cousin?  one of those), and we went to Grays Harbor so The Shadow Lady could go to it.

  A shower for BabyK

So much for Spring!!!

We'd gotten a bit of snow yesterday, but when it slowed down, most of it melted away... this morning, though, the snow was back... it'd snowed over the night, and we were left with 2-3 inches of fresh white stuff.

  Morning Snow

I went down to visit with friends for lunch in Bellevue... It'd been a while since I'd done that, so I figured today was as good as any other day... while I was there, it snowed!

  Snow in the Lowlands

Wednesday, not long after the sun had set, I happened to notice that it had started to snow... this time, it had all night to accumulate before the warmth of the sun came back...

  More Snow

About 1,975 years ago, Jesus rose from the dead, and provided a way for us to get to heaven.  We celebrated that glorious event today, on the earliest Easter morning service in more than 100 years... it'll be another 200 years before its as early as it was this year.

  Is THIS the last blast of Winter???

About 1,975 years ago, Jesus rose from the dead, and provided a way for us to get to heaven.  We celebrated that glorious event today, on the earliest Easter morning service in more than 100 years... it'll be another 200 years before its as early as it was this year.

  Testing out the new Stroller

The other day, I took a walk around the lake with the Little Guy in his stroller... as I did, I noticed that the stroller was woefully inadequate on rough terrain.  So, I picked up a new one, and we tested it out.

  Testing out the new Stroller

We went to our church for a Good Friday Service... it was a very powerful reminder of just what this weekend is all about.

  Good Friday

We had some time, so we stopped by Microsoft's Welcome Center to check out their museum... It was pretty COOL!  Why the TRS-80?  It was the first computer I ever used.. it brought back memories to see one again...

 

  Microsoft's Welcome Center

Spring officially arrives on March 20th... 4 days from now... Winter made itself known, with about a half-inch of snow... with a hint of a promise of more by Morning.

  One more shot of Winter

We were both elected as delegates at our precinct caucus, so we went to our District Caucus.  The majority of the effort at that caucus was electing people to the state caucus, in Spokane.

  District Caucus

The Shadow Lady had a birthday recently, and we celebrated it with her family on Friday night...

  The Shadow Lady becomes a 30-something

I went out for a walk around the lake, and took the little guy with me.  He was a bit fussy, and I was hoping it'd put him out.  It didn't work, but I had a good time, anyway.

  Out for a walk

I had a ticket I was sitting on, after cancelling a trip to Guatemala last year from an eye infection. Since I had to use it before it ran out, I took the opportunity to head down to Florida to visit with my cousins.  It was more of a Family Meeting type of trip than a "lets have fun", but we managed to have some fun, anyway.

  Down to Florida to visit with the Cousins

The Shadow Lady and I met while we worked for Safeco Life... so the "Olympic" building, and the campus it was on, has some cool memories for us...

Back at the old Life Building

We had a reunion for our Childbirth Class... we'd all seen each other as "Soon to be Parents", and we were looking forward to the reunion to see all the little tykes...  

Childbirth Class Reunion

With all the snow we've been having in the Mountains, the Pass has been closed more often than not these last couple of weeks. Since we had some time, we took a short drive (one exit past ours) to go check out the mess.  

Closed Road

The Shadow Lady got me tickets to a hockey game for Christmas... and today was the day!  T-Birds against the Portland Winter Hawks... NICE!  

Thunderbirds Hockey

The Shadow Lady and I went to our Precinct Caucus to help select our candidate for the 2008 Nomination... Its our first opportunity to participate in one since we moved to the district we live in now... the first of many, I'm sure!  

Republican Caucus

It snowed early this morning... and then the sun came out.  What a beautiful thing to enjoy!  

Snowy Scenery

I woke up early on a Saturday (a Saturday thats going to be part of a working weekend), and checked outside... Seems February is starting out like January ended...  

All to Familiar

When I got up this morning, I noticed that there wasn't any new snow!  :-)  I went out to see if there was ice instead, and was very happy to find that there wasn't any of that either. 

Reprieve

I shoveled the driveway 4 times the day before... the last one just before I knocked off, cleaning off a couple of inches... when morning came, I once again was greeted with a fresh layer of white. 

Déjà Vu

We'd gotten about 6 inches of snow over the course of Monday, and I'd shoveled the driveway a couple of times throughout the day.  Right before I went to bed, I did one last cleanup, cleaning off about 2 more inches of snow... its a good thing I did, because when morning came, the 3-5 estimate ended up being about 8... and that's after I already picked up 2 of the estimated inches the night before!

Even More Snow

Late Sunday, we got about an inch of snow... The NWS said we'd see a "Trace amount, with little to no accumulation".  They were also saying that we were due for 1-2 inches overnight, so I went out and cleaned up the driveway, just in case they were off by the same percentage... 

More Snow

There's a saying, I think from a poem or a song, that has a line in it that says "The bluest skies are in Seattle".  I think that's because it doesn't happen very often, and when it does... they look BLUE!

A nice day in Seattle

The Shadow Lady went down to Grays Harbor County to go to a shower thrown for her cousin, who recently had a little girl...

Baby Shower

We woke up this morning to a layer of snow!  The sky was bright and blue, and it was quite sunny... with the fresh snow, it was a GREAT contrast to the gray days we'd been having!

Another layer of snow

On the way home from Church, we decided to take advantage of the sunny day, and check out the scenery on the way up to the Pass... which is about 20 miles or so passed our exit along the Interstate.  I used my camera phone to take some pictures along the way, and it did a GREAT job!

A drive up to the pass

When I got up in the morning and made coffee to start out the day... I noticed that it was snowing... :)  It was quite the surprise... it was supposed to be warmer than that. 

Snow!

Part of our trip to Wenatchee included a stop at a Birthday Party for the daughter of a friend of the Shadow Lady's... which just happened to fall on the weekend we decided to go show shoeing, and visit with them.

Birthday Party

 There'd been a long run of Grey Days, so to help prevent SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), we took a trip to the other side of the Mountains, where the sun actually shines.  :-)

The first outing of 2008

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