December 31
The last look at the Ledge of the year.
December 30
We had Great Grandma K visiting for Christmas, and we'd
gotten her a puzzle... on one of the days of her visit, we
broke it out and started it... and once we did, we HAD to
finish! Those things are ADDICTING! :-)
December 28
If you count the Daily Updates, I've added more
than 500 pages to my website this year.
December 22
Last year, the lights in the tree in Mercerdale Park looked
messy and off-hand... they did a MUCH better job this year,
I think.
December 20
Christmas is in the air! Literally! Its snowing here in North Bend…
December 18
I grew up in Maine, and loved it... I didn't like
the heat so much, and I remember many a dark morning walking
on my paper route (too much snow for a bike!), freezing in
the near-Zero temperatures...
December 16
How can you not like where you live when there's scenes like
this... at Mc Donald's?!?
December 15
On the way home from a Christmas Concert, we
stopped by DQ to visit for a bit with The Shadow Lady's
Family... and ran across something YUMMY!
December 14
I was in town, and near Safeco's new digs...
December 12
After the rains, the mountains were bare for a bit... but
now they're getting snow in earnest, as the snowline creeps
back down towards us...
December 11
So, how far can you get on the "Snowball Fight"
game? :-)
December 10
I needed to kill some time, so I went online and translated
some Christmas songs to foreign languages and back...
December 7
Now this is truly something to mark in the
calendar... The North Bend State Liquor Store has closed up
shop, and left town!
December 6
North Bend has its Christmas Lights up... I think they look
pretty nice!
December 4
The Snoqualmie River was at "Flood Stage 3" for a
while, but has since started to return to more normal
flows... The flow increases are pretty impressive on
the graphs, though...
December 3
Bush got it right on Stem Cells... I thought that
all along, but this editorial in the Seattle Times shows
that other people are recognizing that also...
December 2
It snowed yesterday -- check the currently pages...
but it also snowed all night -- and its still snowing!
November 29
We woke up this morning with a fresh round of snow on
Rattlesnake Ridge... the snowline is creeping down towards
us!
November 27
The Shadow Lady and I went for a walk in the
afternoon, before the Sun went down... And we saw something
pretty amazing on the lake we have in the park near our
house...
November 26
SNOW! Well, sort of. We had some sleet
and rain, with bits of snow mixed in here and there...
That's CLOSE ENOUGH for me!
November 25
When driving home the back way from Snoqualmie
Pass, I took a few photos of the bottom edge of the snow
line (about 1500 feet above our house still), and as I did,
we noticed an odd bird, and wondered how it got there...
November 25
A turkey strolling around just after
Thanksgiving... You can't make stuff up this good!
November 24
My Mom, now a 5-time grandma, visited for a week
during Thanksgiving... as will all things, it had to end,
and today, she headed for home, back to Maine.
November 23
Christmas is without a doubt my favorite holiday.
But, in difference to Thanksgiving, I try to hold off
getting "in the Spirit" until after Thanksgiving is over...
so the Friday after is "Tree Day" -- the day the decorations
start going up!
November 23
I dropped off the Shadow Lady to go shopping with
her Mom and Sisters -- its "Black Friday", don't you know --
and on the way back, I was treated to this AWESOME view of
Mt Si...
November 20
We awoke to sunshine this morning after a few days
of drizzle and rain... and were surprised to learn that
there's SNOW on Rattlesnake Ridge and Mt Si
November 19
We just found out today that our friend had her little boy!
Her announcement of his arrival, and her description of the
"symptoms" back in March prompted us to go and get a test
ourselves, which led us to finding out that we, too, were
going to have a little one...
November 18
I got an email from Amanda, pointing me to a snopes article
about an upcoming movie... we'd talked about it seeming to
be an interesting movie... She poked around a bit, and found
an article that is worth sharing.
November 15
This past Monday Morning, I woke up to my computer
beeping weirdly... I went to see what was up with it, and
noticed it was in an endless reboot cycle, which ended in a
BSOD. Since I had to redo my OS, I upgraded back to
Windows Vista... this time, things are better.
November 14
The wind is howling up here in the foothills of the
Cascades.
November 12
I'm going to put this in the Daily Update... but it warrants
being here, as well...
November 7
Today is the day they said the Tadpole's due date was...
Even though he's been here for a week and a half now, I left
the countdown running, so that we could see what would
happen when it got to the due date.
November 5
In a blur, the Tadpole is a week old. Its hard to
believe things have flown by that fast!
November 3
The suet container down on the tree was carried away by
something, container and all, so I got another one, this
time one that's a bit higher quality, and hung it up by the
back door, which opens to the deck.
October 31
We got back from the hospital just in time for
Halloween... Luckily, we were prepared. We only got
about 25 kids or so...
October 29
The Red Sox won the World Series yesterday... But that
isn't what I'll remember! I'll remember The Shadow
Lady complaining of "cramps"... which turned out to be
Labor! We didn't go in until it was nearly
over... the nurses were VERY impressed, especially since it
was our first. Apparently First time mom's are a bit
more skittery than that.
October 28
Seems when I posted the previous "Briefly" post, The Shadow
Lady was in labor! She thought she had cramps all day,
and even got up during church to walk around a bit, while I
did the slides.
October 28
The Shadow Lady and I were running late, and since I needed
to get to the church in time to practice for the slides in
the Morning Services, I took my Jeep down to Mercer Island
so she could drive the Mariner, which is more comfortable
for her than Slim.
October 27
The Shadow Lady and I, during our drive back to North Bend
from visiting with family, marveled at the moon. One
of the things I like about Fall is how big the moon looks
when its full!
October 23
Heading into Bellevue for a doctor's appointment today, I
noticed the Olympic Mountains on the horizon, with the
taller buildings of Seattle above the trees...
October 22
On the way down to the last of the Childbirth Classes, I
noticed that the peaks in the area are sporting a layer of
snow. In the last few days, the snowline has crept
down to around 3500 feet... it's getting closer!
October 21
Well, our bags are packed, and staged. We're one step
closer to the big day.
October 19
The Shadow Lady's Mom and sisters got us a very cool stroller/car-seat
"system" that's pretty incredible. A couple of days ago, I
got it together.
October 17
"Ding"... If The Shadow Lady's Stomach came with a bell, it
would have gone off... Week 37 -- BabyJ's development
prenatal is
done, he's just gaining weight now.
October 15
I had to head in to work this morning... on a Monday!
I must be getting a bit too used to this "Working at home"
thing, because heading in can be a downer... and this
morning, I was a bit bummed about heading in. That is,
until I saw the sunrise.
October 14
One of MANY, MANY things I look forward to during the
Holidays is the arrival of Egg Nog, which I like to refer to
as "Nature's Candy", Eggs, Milk, Vanilla, and Nutmeg...
YUMMY stuff!
October 13
I drove Slim, the Shadow Lady's Car, the other day... I
don't remember taking a picture, but when I pulled the
pictures out of the phone (to get another one I REMEMBERED
taking), I saw this one...
October 12
A few months ago, I mentioned that I had wanted to get to
"Stan's Fish and Chips"... well, the Shadow Lady and I
happened to be driving by the place around dinner time, and
it was open - they're not open for very long during the day,
which we both think it odd... so we decided to see what it
was like.
October 12
While Big Al lauds his winning a Nobel Prize for his "work
on Global Warming" (does that refer to his house, with it's
17,000 a month electric bill?), a Judge in England has said
that his movie can be shown in schools - as long as
guidelines are followed to balance the former
Vice-President's "one-sided" and spirit of "Alarmism and
exaggeration" made in order to support his theories on
"Global Warming"....
October 10
We're at less than 30 days! In less than a month, most
likely, the "Alien" we watch moving around from time to time
will be waking us up every few hours, wanting food...
We're in the home stretch!
October 10
I wiggled my mouse this morning to discover that I had to
log in... which meant that my computer had to reboot over
the night. Not a big deal, only something weird
happened.
October 9
We went down to IKEA the other day to get a changing
station for BabyJ that would double as a bureau once he got
older. We figured that if ANYPLACE would have it at a
reasonable price, IKEA would. Sure enough, they did...
October 8
Folks poke fun at me at how many pictures I take... I
don't mind, of course - I DO take a lot of pictures... not
all of them make it to the "keeper" folders, but quite a few
do... ever wonder how many?
October 7
About a week ago, Republican Presidential Candidate John
McCain caused a stir when he as asked about a recent poll
that showed that 55% of the public believed that the US
Constitution created a Christian Nation. (I'm one of those
55% - I think we've SERIOUSLY lost the way the Founding
Fathers intended for us!)... He said he agreed, and that has
kicked up a SERIOUS controversy!
October 6
So, that fix I did on the suet container seems to have done
the trick... The thief seems to be foiled, and now the birds are coming out of the
bushes to get
at it, which was my goal...
October 5
Its been a while since I've had a good blood blister - that
is, until today.
October 5
So, I took flame out for a spin today. It was
nice. I drove on a back road for a while, to try and
get more used to the shift pattern, and I figured it out.
October 5
This morning, Iwas driving to a client site on Highway
18, and I took my camera out and turned it on - it was
foggy, and I've been known to do that on occasion...
October 3
Week 35!!! Here's
what our Babycenter email said today...
October 3
Well, since it couldn't be knocked down, the thieving
critter figured out how to open it. Seems I have to
devise a new plan...
October 2
Starting with this month, the "Briefly" posts are now in
chronological order.... the newer posts will now be at the
bottom of the monthly page, rather than the top.
October 2
The importance of values in ACTIONS as well. Is
the trend of Tech Companies supporting Democrats rather than
their traditional fondness for the GOP backlash for lacking
values? I sort of think so.
October 1
I put a suet rack in a tree in the back yard not long
after we moved here. It seems that nearly every time I
put it up, a day or so later, some bird or squirrel has
taken it down, opened up, and made off with the block of
suet. I tied it up pretty good this time, so we'll see
how this one goes.
October 1
We have a grapevine in the yard, and it had quite a few
grape bunches growing on it. We moved in at the end of
June, so I'm not sure how old the vine is, or what kind of
grapes they are... but I've eaten a couple, and even the
larger, seemingly more "done", grapes are quite tangy, so I
don't think they're "eating" grapes, or we don't live in a
place where those grapes can get ripe enough to be sweet.
October 1
I know I say this nearly every month... but MAN!
Where does the time go???
September 29
The last two Saturdays, we've been going to a "Bringing
Baby Home" class... it wasn't what we expected, but we did
get some good information out of it.
September 25
Ask most people, and they'll tell you that Spring is
their favorite season... and I'd agree, it IS nice, but I
have to answer with "Fall" to that question.
September 23
The Shadow Lady and I went out to find "Babies R Us",
which is a pretty good distance away. While on our
quest, we ran across something that we didn't expect, and
that I think is a tad ridiculous.
September 22
Mark, the guy I bought my Jeep from, dropped it off at Les
Schwab, so they could fix the brakes, and give the drive
train a once-over... one step closer to driving it!
September 22
The Shadow Lady and I were heading to a class, and had
to run an errand. We printed off instructions between
one spot and the other, and got an interesting route...
September 20
I got back from Canada, and after I got done working, I put
together the crib I'd picked up last weekend. The lady
we got it from did a GREAT job of taking it apart... but
once I got it in the room, it took a bit to figure out what
went where...
September 18
Small and old by the standards most use, this hotel is
the sort of place I prefer... a bit more 'atmosphere'... :-)
September 17
Everyone pokes fun at Seattle for its weather, but the
truth of the matter is that the farther north you go, the
more the rain becomes the norm... But not today!
September 16
I got sent to Canada for some meetings with a client... so
I'm up in Vancouver for a few days...
September 15
I went to go pick up a crib from a friend of the Shadow
Lady. As I was leaving, the Shadow Lady kindly reminded
me... "Don't forget gas." I did, anyway.
September 12
Jim McDermott accepted a title from a king... according
to the US Constitution, that's a No-No... but since he's not
a Republican, we wont' hear anything about that, I'm
sure.... they can ignore laws and get away with it - and if
you say anything, then, well, you're just being mean.
September 12
A neighbor's dog was digging at his fence or something,
and with the warmth of the day, my window was open, and it
woke me up. I was having difficulty sleeping, anyway,
so I got up and went outside to make sure that's what I'd
heard - and it wasn't something digging at the back door.
September 11
Its hard to believe that its been 6 years already.
September 10
I was standing out on the deck off the dining area,
sipping on a cup of coffee, checking out my yard with the
grass that's been needing a cut for almost a week now,
listening to the assorted birds (I need to put in a new
block of suet - its empty again), and the random barking
dog, and watching the sunrise. Yep, it was a nice
morning.
September 10
So this guy wants to go bow hunting with his friend.
Not too curious or interesting, eh? But read on... it
gets better!
September 5
Here's another picture I took driving in today... I just
didn't want it to go by unnoticed.
September 5
Sparked by the scenery at the start of my commute in
this morning, I had my camera out, and snapped away during
my trip in... I noticed the stark differences between where
I live and where I work:
September 5
Its September, and the weather is sure showing us that
the Summer is almost over... the rain yesterday, and over
the weekend was a hint of things to come, and this morning,
we were treated to a nice round of fog... what a great
morning!
September 4
I was driving in to work this morning, and saw a car
rear-end another one. I had my camera out anyway,
because we were just about to enter a serious downpour...
so, moments after I saw it happen, I snapped a pic.
August 31
30 weeks! 10 more to go... its AMAZING that its gone
by so quickly! "Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2
inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds...."
August 31
Some time in the 40 years or so around 4 A.D., comet
Kiess (C/1911 N1) passed by the Sun, ejecting a cloud of
dust particles. The comet returned in 1911, after completing
one orbit. The dust particles were pushed by the Sun's light
into slightly wider orbits and have been returning ever
since, forming a thin ongoing stream of dust that usually
passes just outside Earth's orbit. We're passing
through that cloud early in the morning peaking around
5:00AM
August 31
I know I put this in today's Update, but I think its
important enough to put here too... POPCORN MIGHT BE
DANGEROUS!
August 30
As I was getting on the highway this morning, the view
struck me as interesting, so I pulled out my trusty phone,
and snapped a picture of it. The timing is just right
with the season we're in, and I'm normally heading in to
work about the same time the sun is rising over the
Cascades... Which makes for a nice start to the drive in to
town, on most days.
August 29
The other day, during the Lunar Eclipse, the Moon set
behind the Ridge just as it was nearing its darkest
period... Today, though, it was still up as the sun was
coming up... It really set the scene on the way in.
August 28
For lunch today, I stopped by the store I'd talked about
a few days ago (where I saw the Michael W Smith book, and
heard the hymns)... I had chicken curry, which was the
special of the day.
August 27
My website has passed 3,000 pages, and is about 2.4 GB
in size. That's probably "big" for a personal website,
but we have to remember, I've been adding pages since 1995
or so... 12 years is a pretty long time.
August 27
This morning, as I was perusing the
news, I noticed the weather for where I live and my family
lives... and thought it was pretty interesting...
August 23
The Shadow Lady and I stopped by Fatburgers on the way back
from a sale at Home Depot... they had patio furniture on a
stupid discount. There were slim pickings, but we
found a couple of tables that would work for the short term,
and we picked them up. Anyway, while making the order,
I noticed the tip jar, and snapped a quick picture.
August 23
I switched to a "blog" type of Briefly entry in 2006.
That worked OK, until about two weeks ago, when something
went wrong. An XML document that drive Dot Net Nuke
got corrupted somehow when I was on my Alaska trip - I lost
connection at a bad time, I guess... anyway, it cascaded,
and now its non-functional.... I needed a new plan, so I
went back to the old one.
August 21
I was in a little shop that I
get my morning coffee from in Seattle... its owned and
operated by a nice couple, and I enjoy going there and
making friendly conversation.... although I haven't gotten
their names yet. Its not the place you'd expect to see
a book about Michael W. Smith, but there it was...
August 20
The Shadow Lady's younger sister celebrated her recent
successful trip around the sun, and we went to Anthony's to
do it...
August 18
The Shadow Lady took me out to celebrate the fact that
I'd recently had another successful trek around the sun...
my 42'nd. They're getting faster... at least it seems
that way!
August 14
Its good to be back! Driving in to work, I got a
nice treat this morning... Mt Si, shrouded in clouds.
August 13
We're back from our trip... we had a GREAT time! When I parked this morning, I went to check on the
Seagull... she was still there, almost daring me to come
closer... :-)
August 5
So, we're on day 2 of our trip to "Way up North"... we've had a good time so far... and we haven't even landed anywhere yet...
August 2
Its been a year already. Time really DOES fly when you're having fun! A big indicator of the passing time is that the Blue Angels are back in town, and they're getting ready to fly in this weekend's airshow for SeaFair, Seattle's annual summer bash.
August 1
Week 26! According to the averages, BabyJ weighs a bit less than 2 pounds, and measures about 14 inches. He'll more than triple his weight in the next 3 months or so. Less than 100 days, now... it'll be here before we know it! Exciting times!
August 1
Welcome to August... Wow.
THAT was a quick year... A year ago, I was getting ready for my wedding... its pretty amazing how fast the year went by!
July 30
I got an email from The Shadow Lady showing me a link that let me be "Simpsonized"... so I went to it, uploaded my picture, answered a couple of questions, and wa-la... I'm 2D!
July 28
On Saturday, I went outside, and saw something that really made me sad... I have a mole in my yard. I stomped down the mound, but this morning, another one was pushed up... Not a biggie in most states; you get a mole trap, and in a day or so, its done... but in this state, riddled with Greeners and "Environmentalists", mole traps are against the law.
July 28
Microsoft has done a round of incremental updates to its Live Maps website, and I REALLY like the new and improved graphics! This view of North Bend goes a long way to show off what you can see using their site... But even the 2D maps are better, in my humbe opinion, than anything that Yahoo or Google have.
July 25
Every so often you come across a news story where you roll your eyes in amazement that someone could display such a lack of brain cell usage... and this guy is supposedly a doctor!
July 24
I finally figured out what they're building at the exit to North Bend... a traffic circle.
July 23
I parked in a new place near a client site in Seattle... across from the parking garage, they're working on the oustide
of a building. A couple of guys were putting up scaffolding,
and it caught my attention
July 22
Last night, I was trying get my Treo to syncronize
with my PC. It was having troubles, and I did
something I haven't done since Windows 3.00
July 22
I Really like living in North Bend.
I REALLY do. This little city really suits me.
July 22
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Twede's has a "Peanut Butter and Jelly" hamburger... I also mentioned that I'd try it sometime... well, "Sometime" was today... :-)
July 20
We're heading to Mt St Helens today... I checked the webcam, and was treated to a nice view!
July 19
I got an email today from a good friend of mine. I forwarded it to some folks, and then figured I'd add it to my blog... BabyJ is in week 24, while the baby in the story was in Week 21. Check it out... its just simply Incredible...
July 19
I read in the paper some time ago that these cracks were "Superficial"... but to me, they seem to wrap around the column... which happens to be holding up the highway near the I-90 to I-5 Interchange...
July 17
I was walking in Seattle, heading to our client location, and while waiting for the light to change, I looked around, and noticed the artistry on an older building... you don't see detail like this anymore.
July 16
We get the Seattle P-I... or at least we're supposed to - the paper carrier keeps dropping off the Times, instead. Anyway, on the way in to work today, this picture, which I've walked by many times, caught my attention...
July 15
A good friend of mine is moving away to follow the Lord's call for he and his wife. Over the last few years, I've really gotten to talk with him about issues and questions I had - he's also a former 'church of Christ' attendee, and his insight helped me make sense of some things... he'll be missed!
July 13
We saw this sign at McDonalds... is it because its too difficult for the employees to count change?
July 12
"Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs
just over a pound. " TOO Cool!
July 12
I saw an email today that was supposedly about a poem some Marine sent to his dad. I don't know if its true or not - I'm not the "poem" sort of person, anyway, so I wasn't overly interested in that part of it... until I saw this picture...
July 10
Lady Bird Johnson passed away today. Some of the "Regal-ness" of the Whitehouse is lost.
July 8
I noticed that "Sicko" has only made $11 million.. lets hope that ol' Mike will be loosing money on this one!
July 7
Heading out to The Mountain in a couple of hours, so I checked the webcam... NICE!
July 4
A satellite image of China's new nuclear ballistic missile submarine is available on the Google Earth Internet site.
July 4
We celebrated with family and friends down in Grays Harbor County... good times!
July 2
Albert and Einstein, Star and Spirit's eaglets, are learning how to eat on their own... they still don't have it down, though... so the parents still have to feed them...
July 1
Is it just me, or is
this year flying by?
June 30
LOVE those greesy Spoons!
June 26
What an AWESOME place to play!
June 24
Visitors from the East
June 22
The Shuttle Atlantis is down safely
June 22
Hmmm.... CAN you be any more biased than this?
June 22
A Happy Birthday
June 21
FINALLY!
June 19
A Big Wind... this is why you should ALWAYS have your
camera with you...
June 17
This Father's Day, I got to play too!
June 16
"BabyJ just flipped over or something"
June 15
I'm getting old
June 14
Not an umbrella in site
June 13
A Nice day in North Bend
June 13
Did YOU Know?
June 11
Ugh
June 11
Apparently, there's a boycott on for Ford. I
didn't get the memo
June 9
Week 18!!!!
June 7
He's electable, but I have my limits
June 5
Attaboy Safeco!!!
June 3
The little ones are growing fast!
June 1
THAT was quick! We're in the half-way month!
May 31
The Emerald City
May 30
Snow... in MAY???
May 28
Happy Memorial Day!!!
May 27
We're at WEEK 16... its getting closer!
May 25
Its funny what people search for...
May 21
Weather outlook for our Summer... warmer, maybe...
May 21
Now... THIS is SAD
May 18
NASA Passed an important step in the pathway for humans
to the Moon... who knows -- we might actually make it this
time! :-)
May 17
Here's a cool poem written by the senior pastor of our
church
May 16
How important IS the stuff we eat, you ask??? This chart
should help give you an idea
May 14
Gotta love political humor... especially when its well
done!
May 11
A view of Seattle that just says... "SEATTLE"
May 10
Heading into the 2nd Trimester... everything seems to be
rolling along as it should.
May 7
One look at this chart, and you'll think that tornadoes
are on the rise... but you'd be wrong.
May 5
We're up in Vancouver, rooting for a couple of family
members participating in the Vancouver Marathon
May 4
Here are some pictures from the Eagle Cam
May 3
Home Inspection brings us one step closer in the "Buying
a home" process.
May 1
Wow... MAY! This year is really FLYING by!
April 29
We checked out our soon-to-be town, and ate at an
interesting little eatery
April 27
"Your baby has hit the 2 inch mark"... exciting!!!
April 22
While heading down out of the mountains, we were treated
to a nice susnset!
April 19
Heading to work, I was treated to a very nice scene whil
heading over the floating bridge...
April 16
If you haven't seen it yet, this video is worth a look.
April 13
Rainier seems to be going a bit crazy this month...
April 1
BASEBALL starts on TUESDAY!!!
