Tree-hugger, Pedal-pusher, Optimist!

Florida Spring Break

2011-06-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Work has gotten busy again and posting has suffered. One of the things I like best about this blog is that it serves as a historical record for the family and some of the various happenings and events that make our live so fun, interesting, and at times challenging.

So here is a post about our Spring Break Trip to Florida in April. Yes, Spring Break in Florida is a quintessentially American cliche, but this year we really really needed some sun. Fortunately, Amy has cousins with a condo in St Petersburg, we happened to have some free tickets on Southwest, the boys were both out of school for the same week, so off we went. And it was more fun than I could have imagined!

The boys went to Florida with their Grandma last June, and they had a great time. However (and I'm embarrassed to admit how proud this makes me) they were less interested in the theme parks than in the incredible biodiversity they experienced. Liam, in particular, was far more interested in Armadillos than Mickey, so this year, we didn't mention the theme parks and the boys didn't ask.

We spent the majority of our time at the beach, in the water, or on the water. The Tampa Bay area has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen--powdery white sand, completely devoid of rocks, that extends for miles in all directions. The Gulf of Mexico is comfortably warm and has exactly the kind of luminescent aqua-marine color that I've daydreamed about during many a soaking wet winter bicycle commute. The marine animals and shore birds are completely different than what we're accustomed to on the west coast, which really helped to make us feel that we were in a new and (relatively speaking) exotic place. And the shells are abundant and beautiful! Lochlan really enjoyed shelling along the beach.

We did take one trip inland to look for Alligators, and boy did we find them! The airboat ride at Myakka River state park was top-notch--we saw dozens of alligators, some of them quite close, along with bald eagles, anhingas, and numerous species of reptile that I could not identify.

In addition to the airboat, we traveled on a pontoon to get to Caladesi Island, a large-ish power boat to get to Egmont Key, and we rented a Flying Scot to do a little sailing in Clearwater Bay. The flat water and steady breeze were a real treat.

Perhaps our best evening of wildlife viewing took place right across the street from the condo along the nature trail at Bay Pines. We saw Roseate Spoonbills, Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, a Little Blue Heron, Ospreys, dolphins, and--an Armadillo! Amy and I were starting to get worried that we'd never find one of these supposedly ubiquitous mammals, but thank goodness, there he was right near the trail. We got a really good luck, and Liam was ecstatic.

If the circumstances ever align so fortuitously again, I would definitely go back to southwest Florida. (Click on the thumbnails to embiggen the photos)

Beach boys! at Madeira Beach.

The treasures found during a productive afternoon of shelling on Caladesi Island.

Waiting for the boat after a fun day on Caladesi Island.

Liam with a hermit crab he found while snorkeling at Egmont Key.

Sailing on Clearwater Bay.

Liam walking the beach on Egmont Key.

Amy and the boys heading for the beach on Caladesi.

Lochlan playing in the sand, Clearwater Beach.

Amy and the boys enjoying a beautiful sunset at Bay Pines.

Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin surfing the boat's wake on the way to Egmont Key.

American Alligator, Myakka River State Park.

Arrmadillo!

Tree frog.

Green anole.

Paddle crab.

Stevenson Grandparents Visit

2011-04-11T22:35:00.001-07:00

My folks came out for a visit during my Mom's spring break (this is her last year of teaching). The weather was not awesome, but we still managed to have a fantastic time. We took in the Moisture Festival at Hale's Palladium (which was hilarious), watched some of Liam's baseball practice, belatedly celebrated my and Amy's birthdays, toured a retired Navy destroyer in Bremerton, and had several delicious meals out on the town. There was also a lot of game playing, wrestling, and catching up. All in all, a delightful visit.

Grandpa and Lochlan wrestling in the living room.

Getting acquainted with Liam's chameleon.

Group shot with the boys!

Checking out Bremerton (I had a project interview in Port Orchard earlier in the day, and the family met me afterward)

On board the USS Turner Joy

A rare shot of Amy and me, just the two of us!

Grandma and Liam, drilling into a geode

The grandparents were very popular at story time.

More Bike Parking

2011-03-09T23:05:00.001-08:00

PCC added on street bike parking recently, right near the front doors. Hopefully we will see more of this around the city.

Patiently Waiting for Sailing Weather

2011-03-09T23:00:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I rode out to Sail Sandpoint to check on the boat. It was a great ride and the boat is just as I left her--waiting patiently.

Liam's Chameleon!

2011-01-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here is Estrellas, Liam's newly acquired Jackson's chameleon:

Solstice, Christmas, New Years

2011-01-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

We had a great holiday season this year. Fantastic time tubing with the boys up at Snoqualmie Pass, fairly easy travels to Phoenix for Xmas on the Solstice, lots of time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and old friends. The weather in Phoenix was superb--lots of 70+ degree weather with full sun. Amy and I got in a couple of runs in the desert, Bro and I went for a long mountain bike ride, and we had a fantastic hike to some ancient petroglyphs in the Superstition Mountains.

Santa was good to the boys, but our gifts to the boys posed somewhat of a challenge. Liam had told us for months prior that the only thing he wanted for Christmas was a chameleon (he's been interested in them for about two years). We did loads of research, checked out books from the library, visited pet stores, etc., and explained that chameleons are hard to keep healthy and require a lot of attention and upkeep. He said he'd be OK with that, so we required that he care for all 7 of our chickens for a month and we would consider it.

Well, he took great care of the chickens, including mucking out the henhouse and nest box, so we got him a Jackson's chameleon. He was, to put it mildly, ecstatic.

Lochlan continues to be fascinated by Batman and superheroes in general, Santa gave him a Batman costume, Batarang, and grappling hook. He had also asked Santa for a Leatherman *without* a knife (I suspect because when he initially asked for one we explained that a four-year-old should not have a knife, therefore he should not have a Leatherman), and then told us later "Santa can make anything!" Mercifully, after some searching, we found a Leatherman without a knife. He sleeps with it under his pillow.

We returned to Seattle after 11 hours on airplanes and in airports (snow delays everywhere) and hosted a super enjoyable 'Brazilian New Years' party. Our kids cannot stay awake until midnight local time, so for years we've celebrated at 7:00 pm with the folks in Rio. Amy put Lochlan to bed and did not get out of bed...until Sunday afternoon, still sick as a dog.

As it turns out, both boys have strep throat and Impetigo, so I have been covering all domestic duties, nursing three sick family members, and trying to work. NOT FUN!! But I am thankful that I am still (knock wood) healthy and at least have the ability to care for my family. It would truly suck if I was sick too!

On balance, it was a great holiday, and once everyone is healthy again, it will be a great January. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Daily Card #4

2010-12-02T10:40:00.001-08:00

A rooster for Loki.

Daily Card #3

2010-11-09T14:34:00.001-08:00

A cartoonish approximation of our sailboat.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our various Halloween celebrations this year.

The brothers after the Halloween Parade at Liam's school.

Our boys with their buddies Colin and Darby before we set out for trick-or-treating.

Little Red and a rather scruffy looking Mad Scientist.

Ghost chain!

Lochlan's Jack o'lantern

Daily Card #2

2010-11-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

Horseshoe crab, from last school year.

Daily Cards #1

2010-10-28T11:44:00.001-07:00

Before we had kids I used to draw all the time, and I still really enjoy it, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time to do it as often as I would like. About three years ago, I drew a card to put in Liam's lunch so he'd know we loved him and were thinking about him even though he was at preschool. He really seemed to like it, so for the past three years, I've continued to draw little cards to include in both boys' lunches. At this point there are hundreds, and Liam has started to arrange them in a photo album, which he looks at frequently. The cards have provided a nice opportunity to get some enjoyment out of drawing--they are necessarily drawn quickly in the crazy getting-ready-for-school pandemonium each morning, and the boys are good at coming up with unique challenges. Here is the first of many I'll post to the blog.

An Australian fairy wren.

Boat Restoration Part III: Back on the water!

2010-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

The blog has been inactive for much of summer because--I finished the boat project! We sailed our little sloop as much as possible this summer, and managed to get on the water 14 times. Mostly we sailed with the boys, but we also organized a Pirate Sailing Adventure for the auction at Liam's school (more about that in a later post). I learned so much rebuilding the inside of the boat, and enjoyed being on the water so much more, knowing that it was structurally sound and safer. But enough words! Here's a little video compilation I made of some of our adventures on the water:

Amy and I also raced in the Take Your Time Fridays series out of Shilshole on our friend Jamie's 40' Centurion Lucidity, and man was that ever fun! I managed to crew for 5 races, and Jamie even put me on the foredeck for the last race. That was exciting, scary at times, and extremely educational.

Despite our crummy weather this sailing season, we managed to have a fantastic time on the water!

Boat Restoration Part II: During, AKA "It is Easier to Destroy than Create"

2010-07-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Once I fully understood the extent of the rot in the wood constituting my little boat's 'skeleton' there was no option other than to cut it all out, grind everything down to bare fiberglass, and start from scratch. Just the demolition required me to learn several things: 1) epoxy is the closest thing to an immovable object I have ever encountered; 2) fiberglass is *really* dusty when you grind it; 3) Sawzalls rule.

In retrospect, cutting/grinding/destroying/ all the rotten stuff was the easy part. Unfortunately, because the boat had no internal super-structure, it was sagging over the sides of the trailer, which is not the 'designed' shape of the hull. Before I could start replacing the stringers and bulkheads, I first had to return the hull to its true shape. My boat has what are called 'hard chines'--which means the sides go more or less straight down to the waterline, then the hull curves gently to the centerline, and curves gently at the same arc to the other side. In order to recreate this, I had to figure out some way of hoisting the entire boat off the trailer to return it to the true shape, then build a cradle to match that true shape. This would ensure that the hull would follow the proper arc, then I could cut out the stringers and bulkheads and epoxy them into place.

Of course, boats do not have any right angles, so in order to do this, I had to learn the subtle art of 'spiling' which is the term for tracing an arc from one object onto another using an offset. I had to build a separate rig for the cradle and each individual stringer and bulkhead, to keep the piece of plywood onto which I was tracing the arc from moving. There are three different directions in which the plywood can move (pitch, roll, and yaw, like an airplane) so the rig had to account for all three of these. Then to keep the marker itself at a constant offset height I cut an old broom handle to size, and to keep it from moving side to side, I drilled a Sharpie-sized hole at the top. This all seemed to work fairly well, but took a lot of trial and error.

Once I had all of the wood bits cut to the proper shape, it was time to epoxy them into place. Epoxy is an amazing adhesive. It comes in two parts, neither of which are super-sticky on their own, but when you mix them they combine in an exothermic reaction that results in a virtually bomb-proof material. When fillers are added, such as sawdust or colloidal silica, the epoxy becomes goopy and almost peanut-buttery, and when this version of the epoxy dries it is so strong it can actually be considered a structural part of the boat. Fortunately, I did not blow anything up as I made my way up the epoxy learning curve.

My standard outfit for grinding fiberglass and epoxy.

After many, many hours of work I had a bare hull to work with.

Unfortunately, to repair the boat properly, I had to determine the proper hull shape. To maintain the proper hull shape, I had to build a cradle. To build a cradle, I had to trace the hull shape, which means I had to hoist the entire aft end of the boat off the trailer, by using a 3:1 block-and-tackle system attached to the rafters. This was a very educational process.

Here is the cradle I built, after spiling the transverse curve of the hull. The padding is composed of old cloth diapers.

Once the boat was safely lowered down onto the cradle, I could start spiling the stringers and bulkehads. This picture shows the rig I contrived for the port-side stringer.

Another view of the spiling rig. I moved a variation of this setup around the boat until I had traced all of the stringers and bulkheads.

The super-duper high-tech device I contrived to hold the marker steady as I traced the shape of the hull onto the plywood.

One of the bulkheads, before I cut out the opening for the deck.

All of the stingers and bulkheads, cut out, sanded and epoxied in place.

After the undercoater was applied.

Boat Restoration Part I: The Gut Wrenching Realization (aka "Before")

2010-06-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

For the past two months I have spent every spare minute restoring our little sailboat. This all came about when I decided to reinforce the centerboard trunk and replace the floorboards in anticipation of a 'pirate sailing adventure' we are hosting as part of an auction at my older boy's school. I pulled up the floorboards and side panels to discover--compost. Every stringer and bulkhead was completely rotten, as well as the aft centerboard cap (at least about 1/3 of the way up). Suddenly, what was *supposed* to be a 4 hour afternoon project turned into a multi-week odyssey into the world of carpentry, chemistry, and engineering. I learned how to do things I had never even heard of prior to realizing my boat was in a very dangerous state of decay.

Fortunately, my friend and neighbor Chris is a long-time sailor and boat builder, and his current project was at a stage where he could easily move everything over to the side of his boat shop. He very generously offered the use of his shop to me for two months, including the use of all of his tools. He lives right across the street, and given the helaciously wet and cold spring we experienced, I was extremely grateful to have access to his shop.

Rotten stringers and bulkheads near the aft end of the centerboard trunk.

Apparently our boat was filled with compost in places (hard to believe this mess used to be wood!)

The base of the cap at the aft end of the centerboard trunk was so rotten I could jam a screwdriver about 1" deep.

More rotten stringers.

After using the sawzall on some of the structural members, I had a much better (and far more horrifying view) of just how rotten the wooden insides were of this fiberglass boat.

Toy Schooner Project

2010-03-28T22:25:00.000-07:00

We saw some amazing model yachts at the Seattle Boat Show and Liam asked if we could make one. I asked him what kind of boat he would like, and he said "Schooner!" It sounded like a fun project, and I was (OK still am) jonesing to go sailing. So we made one, and I think it turned out pretty well (but there is still some work left to do--keel, rudder, etc).

Winter Part III

2010-03-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

We signed Liam up for cross-country ski lessons this winter, and he absolutely loved it. Amy and I took turns accompanying him to the lessons then went skiing ourselves. Fortunately our friends and neighbors the Moores had both of their kids enrolled in ski school too, so we car pooled.

The final weekend we brought Lochlan, and rented some of the tiniest skis I have ever seen. He had fun for awhile, but (perhaps predictably) was far more entertained by building snow mice and little caves.

The winter snows weren't great here in Washington this year, but there was certainly enough to get some skiing in, and I think we'll be back next year.

The Schooner ZODIAC

2010-03-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

Biking home from a meeting in Kirkland this afternoon, saw the unmistakable masts & rigging of a schooner in the Northlake boat yard. Hopped off the BG, talked to one of the crew, and they let me sneak in for a peak. She is the Zodiac, a beautiful ship, on the hard for some new bottom paint and a Coast Guard inspection.

Winter Part II

2010-01-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

In Part II of Winter we rode the Santa Train. After four years this has become a family tradition and we wouldn't miss it. The trip begins in North Bend and ends in Snoqualmie, where Santa, home-made cookies and hot chocolate await. Carols are sung en route, and this year there was a bluegrass band performing at the museum. It was great fun, and such a delight to watch the boys telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Winter Part I

2010-01-29T10:39:00.000-08:00

Much to catch up on. This has been a fun but exceedingly busy winter, primarily because 1) both boys are now in school 2) Liam is taking a day-long X-Country skiing class every Saturday 3) work did not deign to provide me with the customary holiday lull (for which I am grateful, but sheesh, it would have been nice) and 4) we drove to Phoenix and spent nearly two weeks there.

In Part 1 of winter, we took a trip downtown with the boys, went ice skating, took the Monorail from Seattle Center downtown to ride the carousel, then toured the amazing ginger bread houses on display at the Sheraton.

Sledding in the Cascades

2009-11-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

They day after Thanksgiving we went sledding with our friends the Mahoney-Schaefers. The boys took their Sno Sliders and I captured a grainy video (from out digital camera) of Lochlan ripping up the slopes. It was fairly warm for late November and there were mud pits at the bottom of the hill (as evidenced by Liam's dirty but happy face). We had a great time and it was nice to play in the snow with so many energetic and enthusiastic kiddos.

Mycology in the City

2009-11-23T11:16:00.000-08:00

Biking home along the Burke Gilman after dropping Lochlan off at school, I passed a woman who had just harvested a beautiful and shockingly large mushroom. I asked her about it, and she said "This is the most remarkable specimen I have ever collected." I followed up with "Do you know the name of the species?" Without missing a beat she said "Amanita muscaria." I love Seattle. :)

Lochlan's Weaning Weekend

2009-11-10T09:12:00.001-08:00

In late September Lochlan had his weaning party and the next day he and I traveled down to Portland for a long weekend. The trip was similar in many respects to the trip Liam and I took to Portland for the same purpose three years ago--we stayed at the same hotel, we rode the same trains, went to the zoo, even went for a hike with Jen. However, my boys have very different personalities, and it was fascinating to observe these differences in an identical setting. We had a lot of fun, and the weather was fantastic. If we'd had a bit more time it would have been great to get out on the river, but we'll save that for next summer.

Lochlan did really well, not too much crying and he was a joy to be with the entire time. I'm hoping to continue the tradition of having entire weekends with each boy as they get older.

The Bountiful Garden

2009-11-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

The garden really exploded this year--perhaps because this was the best summer any of us can remember? Plenty of sunny, warm days and the warmest nights I've ever experienced in Seattle. It really was remarkable. We also doubled the size and number of garden beds, and had fantastic crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, chard, kale, beans, potatoes, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, peas, and hops. We had our best pepper crop ever (but still only about 10 peppers) but the broccoli, corn, basil, and other herbs were just mediocre. We definitely have more to learn in that department!

Best of all, the garden produced heavily all the way into early October.

Lochlan's 1st Day of Preschool

2009-11-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Lochlan is attending Fremont Community School again this year and he seemed much more confident and happy on the first day this time around. It's a great place for him and he's made several new friends. Unfortunately, he had a pretty serious crash at school last week and knocked out one of his front teeth! We took him to the pediatric dentist immediately, but they were not able to save it. So the microman will have a little Alfred E. Neuman vibe going on for the next, oh, 3 years or so. Sigh.

Liam is Six

2009-09-28T22:16:00.001-07:00

Yes, Liam's birthday was about a month and a half ago--but it's been a busy time! Here are some shots from the party. He chose Woodland Park as the setting, invited a bunch of his buddies from school and the neighborhood (unfortunately a lot of them were out of town), and chose 'boggarts' as the theme for his party. A boggart is a mythical creature that can assume the form of any creature, object, vehicle--pretty much any noun. We weren't really sure how to work that theme, but Amy did some research and came up with some great ideas: masks for all the kids to impersonate various animals, and boggart charades--we worked together to come up with a list of fun nouns for the kids to impersonate. Since most of the kids can't read yet, we made photo cards for each object, each kid picked a card, pretended to be what he/she saw, and the other kids had to guess.

We also had a pinata (shaped like a parrot, of course), played duck-duck-goose, and the party favors were all magic tricks, in keeping with the mischievous nature of boggarts. The Wolverine cake and ice cream were delicious, and a good time was had by all.

Hard to believe Mr. Little Guy is growing up so fast!

Hops!

2009-09-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Last year I planted two Cascade hops plants in our backyard, and this spring I planted rhizomes for 3 more Cascades, 1 Chinook and 1 Centennial. The vines grew well, particularly the two oldest, but we also got substantial production from two of this season's Cascade vines. In total, I think I harvested about 6.5 pounds of hops (this total is approximate because although I was fairly meticulous about weighing towards the beginning of the harvest, other pressing matters prohibited me from weighing every bag that came through the door). We borrowed a food dehydrator from one of the Seattle Farm Co-op members, I dried the hops, and froze them. Last week I brewed my first batch of beer with the dried hops, the results should be testable within about 3 weeks.

On the Importance of Swimming

2009-09-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day how misrepresentative of our daily lives our photo collection is. We tend to photograph the unusual, infrequent, exotic, and celebratory, while neglecting the events, hobbies and pasttimes that consume most of our lives (how many people take pictures of themselves washing dishes, or folding laundry?) This got me thinking about swimming. Since Amy taught me how to swim properly--as opposed to the I'm-not-really-going-to-drown style of swimming I excelled at previously--it has been an absolutely critical part of my life. I swim 2-3 times a week, and it provides exercise, meditation, and a remarkable transformation of my state of mind. Above all, it is where I solve problems and puzzle through personal conundrums, but not by thinking about them overtly. The solutions tend to come in a state of consciousness I think of as "swim thoughts" a sort of thinking-without-thinking. It's hard to describe to non-swimmers; but I've heard runners refer to something called"the zone" which I think is quite similar.

In any event, today I actaully brought the camera and took a picture of the pool I swim in so frequently. One of these days I will get someone to take a picture of me swimming in the pool, but today I felt like it would be kind of weird and imposing to ask my fellow swimmers. In any event, here is where I spend a lot of quality time--my lane is the farthest on the right.

Liam's 1st Day at Kindergarten

2009-09-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Liam had his first day of kindergarten today! Here are some photos from the momentous occasion. Each 'K Kid' was assigned one or two 2nd or 1st graders to be their buddies for the day. The K Kids were met at the gate by their buddies, holding signs with the K Kids' names on them. The photo of Liam and Lochlan together (which is a bit blurry) was taken right after Loki spontaneously gave his bro a huge hug--unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to capture that--and you can see Liam nervously clasping his hands. In the 'Liam heading in' photo, the woman in white is his teacher, and the girl to Liam's left in the stripey shirt is one of his buddies. Liam actually had two buddies, both girls, and he entered the school with one on each arm. It was very cute. He had a fantastic day, and really seems to love the school.

Dinner from the Garden

2009-08-07T20:29:00.001-07:00

Dinner from the garden tonight. Chard, kale, spuds, green beans, & tomatoes--Yum!

Sailing

2009-08-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've been fascinated with sailing for years, and we even signed up for a keelboat sailing class last year--which was unfortunately canceled. So this year, Amy bought me a sailboat for Father's Day. Since then I've been fortunate enough to get out on the water on the Stars & Stripes on San Diego Bay, Neptune's Car on Elliott Bay for our 10th anniversary, and our little day sailor Serendipity at Shilshole (unfortunately we both forgot to bring a camera when we took our boat out, so we had to use the low-res camera on my phone).

Here are some photos from those outings.

Michigan

2009-07-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I traveled to Michigan with my family to meet up with my parents, my brother, and his fiance. The purpose of the trip was threefold: my cousin Beth's marriage, my uncle Tom and Aunt Esther's 50th wedding anniversary, and my Uncle James' 70th birthday.

We stayed at a cottage on Williams Lake, about a mile from the house where I spent the first 5 years of my life. It was really wonderful to stay together and have so much time at the lake--we played in the sand with the boys, chased after fish, went swimming, and cruised around on my aunt Jane and uncle Jim's pontoon boat (they live on the other side of the lake).

The wedding was huge--about 340 people! The anniversary party was the following day at my Aunt Sally and Uncle Tony's place on Maceday Lake, and it was a blast. All twelve of the siblings from my Dad's family were there with their spouses, and there were dozens and dozens of cousins for our boys to play with. There's a lot of musical talent in my family, and as usual a stage with numerous instruments was set up and everyone took turns performing (I've played bass for over 20 years and would have jammed a bit, but didn't think there was any overlap between repertoires--the more conservative members of my family probably wouldn't appreicate hearing "The Goatriders' Horde" or "Toxic Garbage Island.")

This part of Michigan is absolutely covered with lakes, so we took the boys out one morning to one of the undeveloped lakes in a nearby protected areas and caught a bunch of frogs. We only caught spring peepers but saw many northern leopard frogs, who were far too quick for us.

We had a great time and would have enjoyed staying longer. Hopefully we'll make it back to Michigan soon.

Garden Update

2009-06-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Our garden is really starting to take off! I had my first salad from the garden last week, strawberries are really coming on, and we'll have chard and peas in a couple of weeks. The beans, cukes, and squash are all off to a good start, and all but one of my new hop hills are thriving. For some reason, one of my vines is just getting hammered by aphids. I grabbed a handful of ladybugs from throughout the garden and placed them on the vine, but it may be too late. Hopefully the rhizome will be healthy enough to grow again next year.

Our potatoes are also doing phenomenally well (so far) and I cannot wait for fresh tomatoes, peppers and basil. Yum!

Midnight Visitor

2009-06-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard a hollow thumping noise coming from the general vicinity of our chicken coop. I stuck my head out the back door and saw a dark form scurrying off the roof. I grabbed a flashlight and a camera and found this fellow staring back at me from the neighbor's oak tree. Thankfully, it would appear that our coop is in fact coon-proof. No chicken dinner for you, buddy!

South Whidbey State Park

2009-06-12T20:15:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago we had a fantastic camping experience on Whidbey Island. Ordinarily, Seattle experiences the "June Gloom" all month, which (as the name suggests) is an entire month of pretty cloudy days with the occasional rain shower thrown in for good measure. It reminds of an old joke: "How can you tell when it's summer in Seattle? The rain feels warmer!" Har har. In any case, the June Gloom has been remarkably absent this year, and we benefitted greatly during our three day trip to the island.

South Whidbey is a great park--surrounded by magnificent second growth forest, with the last patch of true old growth, and easy access to a beautiful stretch of beach. I took the boys for a long hike through the big trees our first morning so Amy could sleep in, then we all spent the rest of the day at the beach, flying kites, tide pooling, reading, and doing beach stuff.

On our way back to Seattle we stopped at Fort Ebey State Park, about 15 minutes north, and the boys got to check out the WW II era gun emplacement that guarded Admiralty Inlet and the entrance to Puget Sound. It's remarkable; this fortification clearly suggest that we were very worried about a full-blown naval invasion from Japan. Now, the building is fun for young boys to explore and let their imaginations run wild.

Gojira @ El Corazon

2009-05-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

This year Amy bought me 2 tickets to see one of my favorite bands, Gojira (BEST. PRESENT. EVER.) They are a death metal band from France, but instead of lyrics fixated on gore, suffering, dismemberment, and other creepy stuff, they tend to write about environmental, spiritual, and social issues. I admit this sounds like a strange combination, but the energy, intricacy and intensity of metal actually makes the messages come through far more forcefully than if they were accompanied by a softly strummed acoustic guitar.

Their most recent album, The Way of All Flesh, is an exploration of life and death, but takes a surprisingly sophisticated perspective on mortality. The songs explore our connection to each other and to the planet where we evolved, the fear each of us feels when we contemplate the end of our existence, and what (if anything) awaits us when we die. The album came out just before my grandfather passed away, and I listened to it over and over during that time. Here is a passage from the title track that was particularly meaningful to me:

I find it hard to believe that this picture on the wall is everything
I do understand all the prayers, life is so sharp and hurts so bad
What does it mean to be dying, what if you take the guts and brain away
Is it this blood and heartbeat that you call life?

Every effort to ignore it is unavailing; we all have to die
Is it too late to dull the edges of the pain, I have to try
This is another dimension
You can scatter ashes to the winds and even buried in the ground I'm still here

Do not be afraid you are dying
and the four great elements of your body are collapsing one into the other
It feels as if you are being crushed by mountains
The light of this world has faded completely
But the light of the next world has not yet appeared

Your breath is now still, no warmth to your skin
Do not be afraid, there's no way that you can stay here
You are leaving this world
All lights are fading away now
Leave behind the loved ones and all you know
Do not be afraid and let yourself go

And another passage, this time from the song A Sight to Behold:

The way we all behave is not understandable
It is so sad to see the wealth of our planet fade away
We all behave like children, taking off the head of our teddy bear
to see what's inside, taking, not giving back
We drain the oceans and suck all the blood out of the soil
We spend the time we have left fighting and killing each other
Lust for comfort, entertainment becomes an obsession
And there is so much time to kill

The show was at El Corazon, a small venue across the street from the downtown REI. We were at the very front of the stage for the whole set, and it was an incredible performance. Excellent musicianship, fantastic stage presence (they actually smiled throughout the set!), and they thanked the Sea Shepherd Society for coming to the show to distribute information and spread the word about conserving marine life.

Best of all, Amy actually came to the show with me and I think she had a good time too!

Kids, Gardens, Chickens, and Co-ops

2009-05-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

Life has been extraordinarily busy in our household these past several weeks. The boys are doing well and growing like, ah, hop vines! (see below) Lochlan is three today and we had an exhilarating (but exhausting!) superhero training camp birthday party for him Saturday. Amy sewed a bunch of capes, and I drew templates for various superhero symbols--hammer, lightning bolt, cat, fire, etc so the kids could augment their own costumes. Some of the training activities included "speed" where I ran around the outside of the house until a swarm of caped anklebiters pulled me to the ground, flying on the swingset, fighting (punching bag), and agility (pinata).

Liam is finishing up at North Seattle 5s and will be attending KapKa next year--he attended his first 'orientation' day at the school on Friday and was so excited to meet the other kids and get his first KapKa t-shirt. Lochlan will continue attending Liam's 'alma mater' next year, Fremont Community School. We're a little nervous about paying tuition at two private schools, but we're getting some financial help from KapKa and we'll just find a way to make it all work.

We have spent just about every weekend this Spring working on expanding our garden--we rebuilt and/or expanded all of our raised beds and built three new beds, and installed a new flagstone path that runs about 180 linear feet from the entrance to our basement apartment to the front walk. That was a challenging project, but we are pleased with the end result. I also planted five new hop hills (three more Cascade, one each of Centennial and Chinook) and installed three new 16' poles with guy wires and twine to support the vines. The two hills I put in last year are growing exceptionally vigorously; in fact, one of them has already reached the top of the railing on our second story deck, about 15-16'. We should have enough cones for brewing a few batches this summer and fall, and next year I'm hoping for a bumper crop!

Elsewhere in the garden and yard, we've planted or sown broccoli, spinach, potatoes, kale, rainbow chard, lettuce, chives, carrots, peas, beans, thyme, cilantro, strawberries and 3 kinds of squash. We have enormous tomato and pepper starts, as well as a bunch of cukes and basil. Most of the tomatoes went in yesterday but it's been a cold cold May so I'm saving a handful as backups. We've also planted ten salmon berry bushes, a black currant, four raspberry canes, two kiwi vines, and one each of peach, apple and cherry trees. We bought some mason bees to help with pollination and it's been very gratifying to see those little critters working the cherry blossoms.

Our hens survived the amazingly cold winter in fine shape and didn't stop laying. I suspect this is due to the heat lamp we installed in their nest box; hens generally stop laying when daylight hours dip below ~12 hours. They are really enjoying the (relatively) warmer weather and we are getting 2-3 eggs every day.

The other big project we've been working on is the Seattle Urban Farms Cooperative. Actually, the vast majority has been Amy, my main contributiona thus far have been to design the logo and set up a skeletal website. It's been a huge effort, essentially starting a new business, and the response has been overwhelming. Since the first meeting on February 11, the co-op has grown to over 150 members and we'll receive our second shipment of bulk feed on Wednesday. We distributed the first one from our house, but that was pretty overwhelming so we've found another location that should work much better logistically. Ultimately we'll have a permanent site, or 'storefront.' Amy and I are both really energized by this project, because we feel it is so important to increase the amount of food grown within our city. To paraphrase James Howard Kunstler, there are numerous "converging catastrophes" swirling around us right now and it's easy to feel powerless. We feel that by making it much easier for Seattleites to obtain inexpensive feed, seeds, supplies, and know-how, we can help our neighbors and fellow citizens take some measure of control. They can increase their food security, cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, save money, get some exercise, and have a great time doing it.

Now that our 'crops' are in and the boys are winding down with school, I'm hoping to start posting here more regularly.

Arizona

2009-04-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

Light blogging lately, mostly due to our trip to Arizona and the bazillion trips to the doctor to deal with Liam's tonsils (he had them out on Thursday, along with his adenoids--he is recovering well). We had a great time, and the trip came right at the moment of winter when we feel we cannot take another day of 40 degree rain. It was sunny and warm, almost hot by Seattle standards, and we all had a great time. We spent lots of time in the pool, jumped on the trampoline, hiked in the desert, went fishing, found geodes, looked at dinosaur skeletons, even took a trip to a gold mine! We stayed a bit longer than usual, which gave us more time to catch up with everyone. It was a great visit, and we're already looking forward to our next visit in October: when Andy and Rhea get married! WOO HOO!!

Stevensons in Stevenson

2009-03-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

Last week the family and I went to the Wildlife Society/Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology conference at the Skamania Lodge in STEVENSON Washington. It was so cool to see our family name all over the place--in fact, the conference room where I presented is called 'Stevenson A'. To top it all off, I recently spoke with my folks and it turns out they stayed in the exact same hotel room at the lodge when they came through the NW several years ago. Amazing!

I had trouble learning very much about the eponymous founder of Stevenson, WA except that the townsite was purchased by a native Missourian named George Stevenson in 1893. Probably not related to us, but interesting nonetheless.

We all had a great time--Amy and I learned a lot about recent scientific developments in the field of wildlife conservation and management, the boys went swimming and hiking (and even saw a pileated woodpecker!), and we sampled the fine beverages on offer at the Walking Man brewpub. Fortunately, my presentation also went well. (For those of you who are really curious, it was about a GIS-based vegetation change analysis I did for the Nature Conservancy and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, looking at the habitat of the streaked horned lark on islands in the Columbia River. The analysis is being used to guide the US Army Corps of Engineers' timing and location of dredge spoil deposition resulting from their efforts to keep the channel navigable. Larks really like sandy nesting sites, but it turns out they don't like it so much when the sand is dumped directly on them and their nests).

On the way back we stopped in Portland to visit our friends Jen and Karl and their new baby girl Clare. She is such a cutie! Lochlan really wanted to hold her, and as I took the picture, I couldn't help thinking that he is almost exactly the same age as Liam when he (Lochlan) was born. I love our boys but the thought of having a newborn again is pretty daunting!

Bummer

2009-01-29T21:36:00.000-08:00

I met with a client on Monday night, and when our meeting was over I walked to the bike rack where my bike was locked, put my key in the lock--and it broke off. INSIDE THE LOCK. Well, this is pretty awesome, I thought to myself. I tried to get the broken bit off, but it was lower than the surface of the lock so I couldn't get any purchase on it. Fortunately I was not that far from my house, so I walked home.

The next day I called Kryptonite (the manufacturer of the lock) and they said they'd cover the locksmith's bill to get the lock off my bike. So I called a local locksmith and he met me at the bike. After trying all manner of lockpicks, pliers, etc., he said "it's time to get medieval" and he cut the sucker off. After profusely thanking the man (and paying $65) I rode straight to Recycled Cycles to get a new lock. The guy I talked to at the shop told me they don't even make the same model, and I was lucky to get 4 years of use out of it--apparently these locks are typically good for two years max, in our climate!

Two Boys in a Box

2009-01-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

They do cute stuff like this all the time. The box--any box--is one of their all-time favorite toys.

Inaugural Ale

2009-01-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

In honor of our new President (ok, actually the timing was strictly coincidental) I brewed up a batch of Extra Pale Ale. Six pounds of golden malt extract, one pound of Crystal malt, 3 oz Cascade hops, Northwest style yeast and the finest Seattle tap water = home brew. One month til happy hour.

Super Powerful Inversion = Awesome Snowboarding

2009-01-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

Seattle has been in the grip of an amazing inversion for nearly two weeks now. This results in Seattle being mired in a murky soup of fog, with temps in the 30s. Last Friday I caught a ride with our neighbor Nancy and helped out a group of kids from Salmon Bay (a local public school) as they learned to snowboard. When my duties were complete, I got to take a few runs. It was great! Almost completely clear and mid-40s at Snoqualmie Pass. This was my first day snowboarding in 2+ years and I had a ton of fun, but I am definitely not 21 anymore.

First Ever Polar Bear Swim

2009-01-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

This was the 3rd Annual New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim at Jen's house, but our first time participating. Jen is fortunate to have both an in-ground swimming pool (very rare in Seattle) AND a sauna in the basement. We sat in the sauna until it was 160 degrees, then jumped in the 30something degree water. Best of all, my 5 year old jumped in too! I've never felt a sensation quite like this before. It wasn't entirely pleasant, but at the same time, it felt really great to get out of the water and back into the sauna.

Lochlan Explains What's Outside

2008-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

For a 2.5 year old, the kid has a pretty good sense of humor.

The Pencil Missile Attacks

2008-12-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Description from Liam: "The pencil missile from the bad base attacks the good ferry boat from the good base."

It is so Snowy in Seattle...

2008-12-21T21:31:00.000-08:00

...that we went snowboarding down our street. Really. Here's a clip:

A couple of hours after this I wanted to do a few more "runs", so I headed up one block and rode down NW 48th from Market (the very top of the hill), across 3rd Ave NW, then all the way down to 6th Ave NW. I don't think I would have shot straight across 3rd Ave were it not for some benevolent neighbors who were sledding at the time and spotted me as I zipped across what is ordinarily a very busy arterial street.

I love snow!!

Wintry Weather, Santa, and Ye Olde Yule Tree

2008-12-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

We have had exceptionally cold and snowy weather all week in Seattle. The boys have really enjoyed the snow, but school has been canceled every day this week (including yesterday when not a single flake of snow fell in the city) and everyone is going a bit crazy from being penned up in the house. This past weekend we played in the snow with the boys and helped our friend Jen (aka Antigen) decorate her first ever Xmas tree. That was great fun--lots of laughing, yummy treats, and a vigorous snowball fight in the backyard.

The previous weekend we took our annual pilgrimage on the Santa train to visit the jolly old elf. The Northwest Railway Museum puts this event on every year and they do a great job--they decorate the vintage passenger cars, lead carols on the train on the way to the depot, and upon arrival they serve hot chocolate and cookies on a WW I era kitchen car. The kitchen is amazing--it's got the most overbuilt stove I've ever seen, it is solid iron and coal-fired. I'd never seen actual coal being burned in a stove before, and it's pretty surreal. It literally looks like burning rocks! After the refreshments the boys had their turn with Santa. I think Lochlan was either a bit overwhelmed or freaked out because that is not a normal expression for him.

The day after the Santa train we drove up to Everett to dig out Xmas tree out of some lady's yard. This is actually not as random as it sounds; Amy found an ad on Craigslist.org for "you-dig" live Xmas trees. You see, another of our holiday traditions is to get a live tree, decorate it and use it for the duration of the season (doing our best to keep it alive) and then planting it in one of several ecological restoration sites around the city. However, live trees are expensive and this was a considerably better deal.

Just a few days left until the big day! The level of excitement in our house is approaching fever pitch.

Grandpa's Memorial

2008-11-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Grandpa's memorial was this past Saturday. It was held at St James, the church he (and Grandma) attended for decades. The ceremony was organized primarily by my Uncle Tom, and I feel very fortunate and honored that I was asked to do a reading from the Book of Wisdom, particularly since I am not religious. Aunt Joanne also did a reading, and the eulogy Uncle Tom wrote and delivered was extremely well done--I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire church by the time he was done.

Grandpa's condo is literally right around the corner from the Church, so we walked back to the clubhouse in his complex for the reception. My cousin Jesse put together a very cool slideshow featuring Grandpa, all of his kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. My uncle Denny put together a DVD of footage from the 40s and 50s (in color!) which was really mind-blowing, it felt like time traveling to see Grandpa and Grandma, my own mother, and all of my aunts and uncles as infants and toddlers.

The biggest surprise of the evening was the arrival of nearly all of Great Uncle Roland and Aunt Monnie's grandchildren. A little history first--my grandfather Ray Reiss and his brother Roland Reiss married two sisters, my grandmother Margaret Lenahan and her sister Monnie Lenahan. The four of them lived in the same house in Solana Beach for years, and although my family visited them many many times over the years we rarely saw any of Monnie & Roland's grandkids. So, I met four of these cousins for the first time on Saturday! We managed to get everyone in a group shot, probably the first and last time so many Reiss cousins will be together in one place. They were planning on attending both the memorial and the reception, but unfortunately San Diego's airport was completely fogged in so their flight was delayed 4 hours. I'm really glad they were able to make it to the reception, it was nice visiting with all of them.

I also enjoyed catching up with all of my 1st cousins, Aunts and Uncles. This was the first time I had seen my cousin Danny Fitzpatrick in something like 12 years, and the first time he and his sisters were all together in nine years! Many stories were exchanged and there was a lot of laughter as we remembered Grandpa.

There were also a LOT of photos taken, and in an effort to make it easier to share them, I set up a photo sharing group on Flickr. There are currently 7 members but so far it looks like I am the only one that has added photos to the pool. I invited all of the relatives for whom I have an address, so if you would like to add photos to the group but have not yet received an invitation please let me know and I'll send one to you. I can be reached at mattstevenson.geo ( at ) yahoo.

Farewell, Grandpa Reiss

2008-11-02T19:50:00.001-08:00

Last Monday my grandfather Ray Reiss died. He was 96 years old, and although his health had been failing for the past several months, he was a remarkably healthy guy. He moved to Solana Beach with my grandmother, Margaret, about 33 years ago. My grandma passed away about 16 years ago and Grandpa continued to live independently in a condo just down the street from their old house.

He and Margaret had six children--Tom, Cathy, Joann, Nancy (my mom), Margie, and John; 17 grandkids; and 7 (I think) great grandchildren.

I have so many great memories of Grandpa. He was sharp as a tack, regulalry cleaning my clock at Scrabble, and was always learning new things. For example, in his late seventies he decided to learn how to use a computer and never looked back, designing custom birthday and holiday cards for all the grandkids, using email to stay in touch with everyone, and in his 90s making videos and slide shows with voice-over commentary that he would send to the family to keep everyone updated on his activities. He was a piano player (I remember asking him once if he knew Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, and he of course just started playing it), an artist, and an excellent conversationalist. In fact, one of the things I liked best about talking with Grandpa is that he was far more interested in ideas--philosophy, politics, religion--than he was in gossip, celebrity, or any of the fleeting trends that seem to dominate our national discourse.

Grandpa Reiss was my last surviving grandparent. I grew up in Phoenix and my family would take several trips a year to San Diego, and consequently I spent more time with my G & G Reiss than any other relatives. I feel fortunate to have known all 4 of my grandparents; but I feel particularly fortunate to have known Grandpa as an adult, and to have spent so much time with him. A few years ago I was attending the ESRI conference in San Diego and I took the train up to Solana Beach to make dinner for Grandpa and hang out for a few hours. While dinner was in the oven, we sat on his patio, watched the sunset, and split a six pack of Moosehead (his favorite beer). It was great talking with him and just hanging out. I remember thinking at the time "Wow, how many guys get to drink a beer with their grandpa and have a conversation about foreign policy?"

He was a great guy and an awesome Grandpa. I will miss him.

(This picture was taken in early September, the last time we were in San Diego, and the last time I saw him)

Summery Summary Part III--First Triathlon and Spencer Spit

2008-10-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

As I wrote about earlier my friend Chris talked me into doing the Heart of the Sound triathlon with him. I trained throughout the summer, and when the big day arrived in late August, I kinda sorta felt like I was ready. The event started with the swim, and the water was 62 degrees. I am very glad I rented a wetsuit from Speedy Reedy! The 'old folks' (40+) started their swim first, and two minutes later we 'youngsters' started our swim. The water was shockingly cold but I warmed up pretty quickly. Visibility was close to zero; I had an excellent view of the plankton and kelp and the swimmers in front of me right before I crashed into them. Every fifty meters or so I would pop my head up to look for the next buoy, adjust course accordingly, and soldier on. Eventually I stopped passing people, and was worried that maybe I missed a turn or something. It turns out that I actually did pretty well on the swim, finishing 11th over all and first in my age group (!).

However, after stripping off the wet suit, changing into my cycling/running gear and hopping on the bike, I discovered to my shock and dismay that my rear tire was completely flat. I have no idea how this happened, as I triple-checked everything before the race started. Fortunately there was an attentive race organizer there who helped me set the bike on a stand, and I sprinted to my gear, grabbed a spare tube and changed the tire. I'm not sure how long it all took; maybe 10-15 minutes? Anyway, after I changed the tire and got moving the ride was awesome--Vashon Island is really beautiful. I was riding pretty well, and passed maybe 15-20 people. My time was not great because of the flat, but I finished 61st overall on the bike and second to last in my age group. On the bright side, if I do this again next year--and all my equipment works--I am almost certain to improve my time!

The third and final stage, the run, was the most challenging for me. I don't particularly like running and I'm not very good at it, and I was really tired. But I was so psyched to finish that I just kept plodding on, and came in 39th overall, 6th in my age group.

My combined time for all three stages was 1:52:59, putting me 42 out of 81 finishers. I had a great time, and I consider my performance to be pretty decent.

In retrospect, the most challenging aspects of the whole event were the mechanics and logistics--what to bring, what to wear and when, how to arrange everything in the staging area, how to change quickly, and how to change a tube with hands still shaking from the swim. I'm glad I did it, and might even do it again next year.

Spencer Spit is a State Park on Lopez Island in San Juan County. We went camping there with our friends the Moores and the Mahoney-Schafers--the multi-family camping trip has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this was a great place for it. The islands are always beautiful, and although we experienced a fair bit of rain during our stay, there were enough dry spells that we were still able to enjoy the park, the beach, and some kayaking. We brought our double, and took each of the kids out to see the crabs, anemones, and sea stars through the amazingly clear water of the Sound. And of course we enjoyed all the usual camping stuff--roasting marshmallows over the fire, singing songs, ghost stories, etc.

On the way home while we were waiting for the ferry our boys met two awesome little girls named Kelsey and Aubrietta. They are a bit older than Liam and Lochlan, but the four of them had great fun playing together and became fast friends in the way that young children often do (you know, catching garter snakes, coaxing free sodas out of the vending machine, stuff like that). Liam actually invited the girls to his birthday party the next day! Unfortunately they were not able to make it, but their dad got in touch and it turns out their mom has an excellent blog detailing all of their adventures together. Hopefully they will all have a chance to hang out together again someday soon.

Summery Summary Part II--Liam is Five, and the Block Party

2008-10-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

It is hard for me to believe, but Liam turned five this August. For the past several months he's become increasingly interested in insects (and invertebrates in general) so he chose 'bugs' as the theme for his birthday. After a quick survey of his friends, we decided to have the party on a Monday because the majority of them were available. Fortunately I was also able to attend--one of the best parts of being self-employed is the flexibility in my schedule.

So we had lots of kids, an awesome caterpillar cake that Amy made, a bug scavenger hunt, butterfly nets, and of course the wading pool. It was great fun.

The Block Party also happened in August, as part of the National Night Out. For the second year we (OK, actually Amy) organized and hosted the event, got the permit from the City to close our street to cars, etc. My contribution this year was to suggest we have some games and friendly competitions, and the favorite by far was the Push Lawnmower Uphill Sprint. The pictures pretty much say it all. We already have a pretty tight-knit community on our street, but it's always nice to catch up with neighbors we see less frequently and meet some of the recent arrivals.

Summery Summary Part I--The Garden

2008-10-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

So it's been two months since my last post. That's hard to believe. There are many reasons for this; primary among them is the two week vacation we took at the very end of August/beginning of September and the subsequent never-quite-catching-up onslaught of delayed work. Oh, and there's this little election coming up, which has taken much of my time (I've been the appointed PCO for my precinct for the past two years, but after the primary election, I am now the officially elected PCO. It was exciting but kind of weird seeing my name on the ballot for the first time ever). The financial-world-going-to-hell phenomenon is also fairly concerning, but for the time being I'm going to ignore that suite of issues.

Anyway, I will now attempt to catch up a bit on all of the exciting things the Seattle Stevensons have gotten up to these past couple of months.

This summer we planted our most ambitious garden yet: we grew spinach, lettuce, carrots, peas, beans, corn, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, chives, pumpkins, tomatoes, basil, eggplant, blueberries, cherries, apples, and hops. We didn't grow a whole lot of anything--except tomatoes and zucchini--but it was pretty gratifying to have a bit of everything. Between the garden and the 1/2 CSA from Oxbow Farms we share with the Moores, we had plenty of fresh veggies this summer.

Here are a few shots of the produce.

Barclay Lake

2008-08-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we hiked to Barclay Lake in the Cascades. The lake lies in the middle of a U-shaped glacial valley and Mount Baring looms above--the summit is 3,400 feet straight up from the surface of the lake. So we're sitting there, enjoying our picnic on the sunny sandy shore, when we hear this bizarre flapping noise. We look up and there's a guy parachuting down from the top of the mountain! He landed in the lake adjacent to the shore not too far from us, pulled his chute in, then craned his neck up to the summit. Couple minutes later, another guy jumps off the summit, chucks his chute open, and lands in the exact same spot. It was amazing. We chatted them up a bit and one of the guys said he has done the jump a couple dozen times, and that Mt Baring is probably the premier base jumping peak in N America. Who knew? Afterwards we prowled the wetlands along the lake and caught and released three red-legged frogs, that was good, muddy, slippery fun.

Tomatoes!

2008-08-11T23:30:00.000-07:00

This is the best time of year for fresh tomatoes and our cherry tomatoes and a few of the full-size varieties we planted are just now starting to ripen. Mmmm!

Tall Ships

2008-07-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

We went down to Tacoma to see the Tall Ships on Independence Day. It was awesome. I find it hard to describe how exciting it was being on these ships--some of them exact replicas of real ships like the Nina and the Lynx--and imagining what it must have been like for the people who sailed, fought, and immigrated on them. The ships were so beautiful as they headed up the Foss waterway for their cruises, and it redoubled my determination to learn how to sail. Just need to wait for the boys to get a bit older.

Chickens!

2008-07-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

In May we bought three day-old chicks--two Buff Orpingtons and one Barred Plymouth Rock (named Sunshine, Nectar, and Starla by the boys). They lived inside our house for about a month and a half. During the Kaplans visit in June, Dan helped us build a coop for the 'girls'. This structure is super-duper strong and will undoubtedly outlive many generations of hens. We're looking forward to getting eggs from our chickens within a few months. The boys really like having the birds in our yard, and I think it will be beneficial for them to see where their eggs are coming from.

Seattle Streetcar Expansion

2008-07-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

The City of Seattle recently completed construction on a streetcar that runs between Downtown and South Lake Union. I just learned that they are planning on dramatically scaling up the network, which is an excellent idea. I think we need to move to electrified mass transit ASAP if we are to have a decent chance of dealing with Peak Oil. I was especially psyched to learn that one of the new lines will pass just a few blocks from our house.

The only concern I have about the streetcar is the potential hazard it poses to cyclists--getting a wheel stuck in the tracks while pedaling through traffic is extremely dangerous. Seems like Portland has done a pretty good job dealing with this, but I'm looking forward to the public meeting on Tuesday night to hear how Seattle is going to address it.

The really ironic part about this whole proposal is that Seattle used to have a rockin' street car network, which (naturally) was completely ripped up after the advent of cheap cars and cheap gas. Now that gas is really expensive, we get to rebuild it!

Triathlon Training

2008-07-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

My neighbor and friend Chris talked me into doing the Heart Of the Sound Triathlon with him this summer. I've never done a tri before, but I do a fair bit of biking and swimming so I thought "what the heck!"

Last week I started training in earnest. Here's what I've done so far:

Mon: Bike 10 miles
Tues: off
Wed: Run 3.6 miles (with 8:15 miles, not awesome, but not bad for me)
Thurs: Swim 1,600 yards
Fri: Kayak w/Amy (OK, maybe that doesn't technically count, but it's cross-training in my book!)
Sat: Bike 9.5 miles (towing Liam on the trail gator)
Sun: Bike 9.5 miles (towing Liam)
Mon: Swim 1,400 yards
Tues: Bike 19 miles

IMHO, pretty good so far. Liam is an excellent training buddy for biking, he is so incredibly excited and enthusiastic about being on the trail that his attitude is contagious. I'll probably be able to keep this up until the 4th, at which point I plan on doing no exercise whatsoever and drinking a bunch of beer. Mmm.

Simple Solutions to Traffic Congestion

2008-06-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is a very powerful, short video produced by the Sightline Institute showing how easy it would be to address traffic congestion. I have done some mapping work for Sightline in the past, and they are a fun, smart organization with lots of good ideas.

Dosewallips

2008-06-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

We sneaked out of Seattle mid-week for some camping at Dosewallips state park. The park is on the Olympic peninsula, right on Hood Canal and the Dosewallips river runs along the northern boundary, so there is water everywhere. It wasn't quite warm and sunny enough for swimming, but we did a fair bit of hiking and beach combing. The boys really enjoyed looking for crabs, oysters, and clams, but Liam's favorite find by far was the partial skeleton of a harbor seal. At least, we think it's a harbor seal, given its size and the fact that we found it wedged under a piece of driftwood out in the estuary (if there are any taxonomists out there who want to provide a more accurate ID I'd be happy to send additional photos of the bones).

Lochlan Dancing with Grandpa Stevenson, Xmas 2007

2008-06-17T09:04:00.001-07:00

I finally took the time to put some video clips on YouTube. Here is one of Lochlan dancing with his grandpa Stevenson in Phoenix last Christmas. Thankfully, Loki has his mother's sense of rhythm!

Liam's Last Day at FCS

2008-06-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Liam is finished with preschool! After two years at Fremont Community School, he 'jumped the log' and is moving on to North Seattle Fives. His birthday is three weeks before the cutoff for kindergarten, and after talking with a bunch of teachers (including my mom), doing a bunch of reading, and talking with other parents in a similar situation, we decided to wait a year before sending him to kindergarten. On an intellectual/academic level, I think he would do great; but Amy and I were more concerned about the emotional/physical aspect of being one of the youngest and smallest kids in his class. I think North Seattle Fives will be a great place for him to spend the next school year--it is strictly for kids in his situation and provides a much more structured and stimulating environment than preschool, but it is not as demanding as kindergarten and is only 4 days a week (sounds ridiculous to say that, but in Seattle Public Schools they are starting to teach kids to read in kindergarten now!).

Here are some shots from the log jumping ceremony. At the end he received a golden key and a handwritten book with the lyrics to the most frequently sung songs at FCS. Liam was quite pleased.

Lochlan is Two!

2008-05-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe but MicroMan is now two years old. How the hell did that happen?!? We had a super fun backyard party for the birthday boy. He requested "trains" when we asked him what he would like to have at his birthday, so Amy made a fantastic train cake, I picked up some used refrigerator and washing machine boxes from the warehouse down the street to make into a kid-sized train/fort, and Amy found a train pinata and bought engineer's caps and red bandannas for all the partygoers. Add in some amazing May weather, a ton of kids, lots of sugar, and bam--an awesome party.

Camp Orkila!

2008-05-16T23:19:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we made the trek (car-->ferry-->bus-->foot) to Camp Orkila on Orcas Island. It was awesome! The camp was organized by KapKa, a private K-2 school with close ties to Liam's preschool. The preschool families were invited to attend as well, and about a third of us went. It was really fun--there is a bunch of stuff to do at the camp, which is apparently one of the YMCA's largest in the nation. We rowed boats to the Y's teeny private island (that Liam named Goose Island because of the nesting geese we saw there) where we explored the tide pools and found crabs, limpets, sea stars, and various other creatures. We shot arrows, roasted marshmallows, sang songs, and even had a raccoon in our cabin. The whole experience makes me want to be 10 again so I can go to camp for a whole week.

North Cascades

2008-05-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

We just returned from an excellent Land Trust Alliance Northwest Regional conference in Winthrop, in the Methow Valley of eastern Washington. We were very fortunate to be able to travel the North Cascades Highway, saving about two hours travel time each way. The highway crosses Washington Pass (5,477') and receives quite a lot of snow every winter, so the State DOT closes it every year. It opened on May 1, which is the day we traveled to Winthrop. We had fantastic weather, particularly on the way back to Seattle, and stopped a couple of times to take photos. We also happened upon a full-blown Civil War re-enactment (!) taking place smack in the middle of Highway 20 in Marblemount. The cannon was deafening, but the boys thought it was pretty exciting, so we ate lunch while we watched the Union and the Confederacy take pot shots at each other, ride their horses around, and in general act as if it was the 19th century again.

In any event, we are very much looking forward to more trips into the mountains over the summer months.

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Once again it is Earth Day. For me, pretty much every day really is Earth Day--I work primarily with environmental organizations and land conservation groups--but this day still holds particular meaning for me. Lately I've been thinking a lot about carbon, peak oil, transportation, and food. The NY Times featured a great article by Michael Pollan a few days ago, with a misleadingly pessimistic title: Why Bother? He makes a lot of observations about why it is easy to fall into the trap of hopelessness:

Let’s say I do bother, big time. I turn my life upside-down, start biking to work, plant a big garden, turn down the thermostat so low I need the Jimmy Carter signature cardigan, forsake the clothes dryer for a laundry line across the yard, trade in the station wagon for a hybrid, get off the beef, go completely local. I could theoretically do all that, but what would be the point when I know full well that halfway around the world there lives my evil twin, some carbon-footprint doppelgänger in Shanghai or Chongqing who has just bought his first car (Chinese car ownership is where ours was back in 1918), is eager to swallow every bite of meat I forswear and who’s positively itching to replace every last pound of CO2 I’m struggling no longer to emit. So what exactly would I have to show for all my trouble?

But, as you might have guessed, Mr. Pollan eventually does strongly encourage all of us to bother:

Whatever we can do as individuals to change the way we live at this suddenly very late date does seem utterly inadequate to the challenge. It’s hard to argue with Michael Specter, in a recent New Yorker piece on carbon footprints, when he says: “Personal choices, no matter how virtuous [N.B.!], cannot do enough. It will also take laws and money.” So it will. Yet it is no less accurate or hardheaded to say that laws and money cannot do enough, either; that it will also take profound changes in the way we live. Why? Because the climate-change crisis is at its very bottom a crisis of lifestyle — of character, even. The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us (consumer spending represents 70 percent of our economy), and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences.

And:

But the act I want to talk about is growing some — even just a little — of your own food. Rip out your lawn, if you have one, and if you don’t — if you live in a high-rise, or have a yard shrouded in shade — look into getting a plot in a community garden. Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do — to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind.

A great many things happen when you plant a vegetable garden, some of them directly related to climate change, others indirect but related nevertheless. Growing food, we forget, comprises the original solar technology: calories produced by means of photosynthesis. Years ago the cheap-energy mind discovered that more food could be produced with less effort by replacing sunlight with fossil-fuel fertilizers and pesticides, with a result that the typical calorie of food energy in your diet now requires about 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce. It’s estimated that the way we feed ourselves (or rather, allow ourselves to be fed) accounts for about a fifth of the greenhouse gas for which each of us is responsible.

There is much more, and it is well worth reading.

Liam's First Shiner

2008-04-22T12:10:00.002-07:00

Liam has been taking Aikido for several months now, and last Tuesday he got his first shiner. Ironically, this did not occur during the actual lesson, but during the open play session afterwards. I should have taken this picture a day earlier (when there was a lot more swelling and color!) but you can still see it pretty clearly.

Late April Snow

2008-04-22T12:10:00.001-07:00

It snowed this weekend. Twice. Very unusual weather for this time of year.

Foolish Ale

2008-04-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

After a nearly five year hiatus, I'm back to brewing. I found what seems to be a pretty decent homebrew supplier called Northern Brewer, and on April 1 I brewed up a nice British-style ESB (with NW USA hops, of course). The fermentation is nearly complete, and bottling is probably 3-5 days away. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, when there was a nice bit of kreusen in the carboy. Mmm, can't wait for this batch to be done. Cheers!

Seattle Starts Taxing Bags

2008-04-03T09:25:00.001-07:00

Yet another reason to love Seattle: Mayor Nickels announced yesterday that the City of Seattle will start charging 20 cents for every plastic or paper bag given out at grocery and drug stores. The program is closely modeled on Ireland's effort, which ultimately resulted in a 94% reduction in bag use. To their credit, the City will be giving out at least one reusable bag to every household in Seattle. There is an interesting discussion of the policy on KUOW's Weekday this morning.

Spring...

2008-03-31T09:47:00.001-07:00

...is trying really, really hard to be here.

Older

2008-03-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

Amy and I both had major birthdays this month, so we decided to celebrate pretty much in the middle, right around St Patrick's Day. We were very fortunate to have so many folks show up for the "Triple Birthday Party" and I really enjoyed catching up with everyone. We were doubly fortunate to have BOTH Jens in town (including Portland Jen!). I only wish I'd had more time with everyone. Now that we are on the cusp of warmer weather, everyone will be getting more sociable so this should start happening soon. Also, the weather was kind of crappy on the day of the party, and consequently, this is by far the most people we've ever had in our kitchen at one time!

Visitors in March!

2008-03-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

This month we were very lucky to have visits from both sets of Grandparents. The Kaplans (and Julie and Madison) came at the beginning of the month, and the Stevensons came towards the end of the month. We had a great time during both visits, although the weather was kind of tough. Loki really gravitated towards his grandpas, and Liam had a bunch of fun with Madison and was pretty much attached at the hip to Grandma Stevenson during her time here. We're looking forward to seeing all of them again in Arizona.

Do The Test

2008-03-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is a really well done piece--DO THE TEST.

Turns Out Seattle Housing Really Is Super-Duper Expensive

2008-03-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

As reported in this very interesting article that is chock-o-block with stats that capture how truly different our wonderful city is. It just reinforces the advice that I frequently hear when I'm speaking in an overly optimistic fashion to people who don't live here: "Matt, you need to get out of Fremont more often!"

Victory for Cycling Activists in Seattle

2008-03-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

The City of Seattle has finally relented and agreed to put in the bike lanes on Stone Way that were included in the adopted Bicycle Master Plan. Just over three years ago I participated in the Seattle Bicycle Facilities Collaborative, and this connection between Green Lake and the Burke Gilman Trail was one of our highest priorities. The City agreed, it was written into the plan and adopted, but then the commercial/industrial interests along and adjacent to Stone Way pitched a fit. The Transportation Department reversed themselves, and put in "sharrows" instead. Much protesting and letter writing ensued, and finally, the City has reversed itself again and is going to stripe the full route, take out two lanes of traffic, and replace them with one central turn lane. The official press release is here.

Photo courtesy Adrinna.

Allergy Season is Officially Here

2008-02-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

It seems early every year, but allergy season is well and truly upon us. I started experiencing symptoms a couple of nights ago but this morning it felt someone pepper sprayed my eyes. On the upside, it won't be long now before all of the deciduous trees break bud and the forests come back to life.

The Conference Bike!

2008-02-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Last night Neighbor Dave and his boy Porter helped me move the rest of CORE GIS back home from the Activspace last night. While we were loading things up, he told me about an unusual experience he'd had earlier in the day. While passing through lower Ballard on his motorcycle, he saw a SEVEN PERSON BICYCLE making its way down the street. He stopped, gob-smacked, and stared at them in awe. The guy steering the contraption smiled and said "you look like you need to go for a ride!" So Dave jumped right on and started pedaling with the rest of the folks. It turns out this unusual machine is called a Conference Bike and is being imported by the Dutch Bike Company, located just down the street from our house. I cannot wait to check this thing out, mostly because it looks really fun, but also to see how the power train is constructed.

Just Caucused

2008-02-09T20:02:00.001-08:00

We caucused in Washington today, and as the PCO for my precinct I served as the caucus chair. The turnout was unbelievable, some of the preliminary reports I've heard say that we doubled 2004's record turnout of 100,000. If my caucus location was representative, I can believe it.

Over 74 people turned out from my tiny little precinct (about 3 or 4 more showed up after sign-ups had officially closed) and the breakdown for the first tally was 51 Obama, 14 Clinton, and 9 undecided. We spent about 1/2 hour giving speeches and debating the merits of each candidate. I was really moved by how passionate many of the Obama supporters were, in particular one older gentleman (literally a 'graybeard') who explained that when he hears Obama speak, he feels the same way he did as a ninth grader listening to JFK.

After the speeches, we allowed participants to change their stated preference, and re-tallied the vote: 58 Obama, 15 Clinton, and 1 undecided. Our precinct has 6 delegates, and they were apportioned 5 to Obama, 1 to Clinton.

It was a really fantastic experience--crowded, stuffy, somewhat chaotic, but at the same time, intensely moving, as neighbors and friends talked face-to-face about their beliefs and preferences.

Photo of our caucus courtesy of Didi Anstett.

UDPATE: Obama crushed Clinton, not just in WA, but everywhere else.

Xmas in Phoenix

2008-01-23T00:11:00.001-08:00

We spent the holidays in Phoenix this year, after spending last year in Seattle. It was really fun to see both of our families (my parents and Amy's parents live about 3 miles apart) and catch up with some old friends from high school and college. We stayed quite a bit longer than usual this time around, which helped reduce the whirlwind sensation somewhat. It also gave us enough time to travel up to Flagstaff to spend the night with my bro Andy and get in some sledding! For the first time in years Flag has been getting appreciable amounts of snow.

Liam had an especially good time playing with his cousins, Madison in particular. Julie bought an enormous (15' diameter, I think) trampoline and all of the kids went crazy on that. As usual, we did everything twice--Xmas eve, Xmas morning, and Xmas dinner. But that just made everything twice as fun!!

Man, I'm going to have to talk to my parents about being so serious when they take photos with the grandkids. Sheesh!

Shiny New Cruiser

2008-01-07T10:21:00.001-08:00

I decided to replace my dead Kona Jake with two bikes--a Trek Cruiser Classic and a brand new Kona Jake. I bought the cruiser first--actually, CORE GIS bought the cruiser, so it is my "company bike." Mostly I use it to putter from house to office to gym to post office, etc., and I anticipate using the Jake when I need to go further afield, say more than a couple of miles.

So far the cruiser has been an absolute blast to ride! I have no idea why I waited so long to get one. I'll be picking up the Jake later this week from Second Ascent.

Urban Nature

2008-01-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

As I was riding my shiny new cruiser to work today along the Burke-Gilman, I heard several gulls calling in a most unusual fashion--far more staccato and urgent. I figured there must be something getting them excited, so I looked around and sure enough, percehd on a leafless maple tree about 10-12 feet directly above the trail was a sharp-shinned hawk! I stopped my bike about 20 feet away and watched him a bit. He seemed completely unperturbed by me, and seemed to be more interested in monitoring the dumpsters behind Fred Meyer, where there is typically a fairly large aggregation of European starlings picking through the food scraps. I wish him (her?) well, and am thankful for the opportunity to observe such a beautiful animal right in the middle of the city.

(This is not the actual hawk I saw, but a photo I borrowed from Philosophical Karen)

Jousting With a Nissan (aka The Bike Accident)

2008-01-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

On December 11, I was in my worst bike wreck ever. First of all I AM OK NOW. Now that I've reassured you--I T-boned a car that turned left in front of me and spent the afternoon in the emergency room. Here is what happened, as best I can remember:

I was heading south on my bicycle on 14th Ave NW, approaching Market Street. A white car was turning left onto Market and had stopped for a pedestrian. I made eye contact with the driver to make sure he could see me too, then I stepped on the gas to make it through the intersection so the white car could complete his turn. As soon as I entered the intersection, a red Nissan came from BEHIND the stopped white car to turn left and I plowed into him at full speed, I would estimate about 20 mph. I think I turned away from the car slightly and hit it mostly with my right shoulder and rib cage, and bounced off the right rear passenger door. I think I must have briefly lost consciousness because I remember looking at car tires from street level and thinking "I have to get up and get out of the intersection before the other cars start moving." Somehow I managed to pick up my bike and get to the curb, but I couldn't breathe--I had no wind at all, it felt like my right hand was missing some fingers, and my left thigh was on fire. I crumbled down on the sidewalk and people walked up to me to see if I was OK, I think one of them was the driver of the red Nissan. Someone must have called 911, because I could hear sirens and one of the people helping said "here they come buddy, don't worry." Then it was just a blur of firefighters, EMTs, and police officers. By this point I was hyperventilating, and the paramedics put an oxygen mask over my mouth and a C-collar around my neck. They loaded me up into the ambulance and took me to Swedish hospital in Ballard.

As it turns out, nothing was broken--they took chest X-rays because they thought I might have some broken ribs, but there was nothing obvious. Two of the fingers on my right hand were (and still are) pretty swollen and a good chunk of skin is missing from the top of my index finger, but again, nothing broken. My left thigh just had some major bruising, but nothing serious. Basically, I felt like I did the morning after my first day snowboarding, only worse.

The whole thing was scary as hell, but I feel very lucky my injuries weren't more serious and have renewed my resolve to ride even more defensively in the future. Alas, my bike was not so lukcy--tacoed rear wheel, handle bars bent completely out of shape, carnage on the rear deraileur, front brake pads just simply missing (?!), and according to the guys at Second Ascent, likely hairline cracks throughout the Jake's aluminum frame. Sigh. It was a great bike for four years.

Fortunately, the police completed a detailed report and cited the driver. Safeco Insurance (the driver's insurance) accepted liability and are going to compensate me for everything.

More on the new bike(s) soon.

Dormer--Deck Rail, Floors, Paint, Closets!

2007-12-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

I've been busy at work and consequently slacking on the blog. Lots has happened on the house--the deck is finished, the exterior plumbing/drain connections are complete, the floors have been sanded and refinished, drywall is taped and mudded, most of the paint is up, and we have closet doors in both the bedroom and bathroom. The project is nearly complete! We should be able to move our stuff upstairs after Christmas.

Snow in Seattle

2007-12-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

A few times a year, it actually snows enough here to make it feel downright wintry. This is from the snowstorm we had on December 1st, right before the torrential downpours started.

Record-Breaking Rain

2007-12-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Sure, everybody knows it rains a lot in Seattle, but this is precipitation at an unprecedented level of intensity. From the Seattle Times:

The heavy rainfall that continues to pound the region today could break the one-day rainfall record, last set four years ago.

"We're going to come close; it looks good to break it," said Jay Albrecht, a forecaster for the National Weather Service. "It's raining one-quarter inch an hour."

The last record was 5.02 inches, set Oct. 20, 2003. But as of this morning, about 2 ¾ inches has fallen in the past 24 hours in the Seattle area, and the Weather Service says 2 or 3 more inches could fall through tonight.

In addition to all of the havoc the weather is causing for cars, it has made certain intersections pretty difficult to navigate on a bicycle as well. This morning's commute to work was probably the wettest ride I have had in several years.

American Thanksgiving

2007-11-29T23:51:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to do something completely different. Since our friends the Moores and the Mahoney-Schaefers were all staying in town and also up for a little holiday variety, we decided to rent a cabin up at Hyak and have Thanksgiving there. Amy found us a sweet place big enough for all three families on VRBO about 45 minutes from Seattle. It was great! There was just enough snow on the ground for sledding, but not enough for the nearby ski resorts to open, so there not too many people up there for the holiday. We had a great time cooking, playing, chatting, and playing Scrabble after all of the kiddos were zonked out. The game got really interesting when the two scientists (Chris and Amy) started talking about, ah, unorthodox methods of reproduction used by marine invertebrates. We haven't had that many belly laughs in a long time. I bet we'll do this again next year.

ENSLAVED

2007-11-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

I went to a rock show the night before Thanksgiving, and it was the first on in a LONG time. Enslaved played at El Corazon, and they played an amazing set. The band is from Bergen, Norway, and they started out back in the early 90s as a death metal band distinguished only by the fact that they dressed like Vikings and sang their songs in old Norwegian. However, starting at around their fourth full-length, they started to sing in English and introduce elements of progressive metal to their songwriting. By the time Below the Lights came out, they were using a goddamn mellotron! And flutes! And every album just keeps getting better; their last two, Isa and Ruun, both won Norwegian Spellemannprisens (roughly equivalent to the Grammys) for Best Metal Album. If you like heavy music, and you have not listened to this band yet, I strongly urge you to check them out. For those of you subscribing to Rhapsody, most of their catalog has been added over the past couple of months.

Anyway, the club was not that crowded (probably because it was the night before Thanksgiving!), and I was able to get right to the front of the stage for most of the set. Highlights for me were Violet Dawning, As Fire Swept Clean the Earth, Return to Yggdrasil, Fusion of Sense and Earth, and Ruun. Nice to feel the ol' chest cavity rattling from the double-kick drums once again! ALL HAIL TRUE METAL!!

How to Build a Time Machine

2007-11-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Liam was talking about a time machine he was planning to build. Curious, I asked him what parts he would need for this device. Without hesitating, he rattled them off. He was so certain and matter-of-fact that I had to write it all down:

Old video screen
Binoculars
Camera
Some vegetables
Leaves
Meat (like turkey, chicken, or a pig)
Sugar
Pictures of dinosaurs
Soda cans
Cardboard
Straws
A windmill

I inquired a bit about some of these ingredients, and Liam explained that the meat and sugar will attract the carnivores, and the vegetables and leaves will attract the vegetarians. The pictures of dinosaurs will serve as a field guide. The straws will be used in self defense against any dinosaurs that might try to attack Liam and his fellow intrepid adventurers (the trick is to stab them in the eye). When I asked about the windmill he said, "that will be the power supply, because there might not be electricity where the dinosaurs are."

The time machine will be located in the secret hideout of the upstairs after the construction project is finished. I'll send an update after he returns from his first trip.

Dormer--Backyard Excavation

2007-11-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

The week before last Dave excavated a huge pit to connect the wastewater pipe to the sewer. He had to rent an excavator for the job, and to Liam's extreme delight, Dave let him help! Here are a couple of shots Amy took during the digging. Of course, now we'll need to think twice before Liam asks us if he can "dig in the backyard!"

Dormer--Drywall

2007-11-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

Last week, the drywall guys worked their magic and completely transformed the upstairs. It's starting to look like habitable space! The mudders and tapers have made one visit so far, apparently they'll have to make a few more before we're ready for paint, trim, etc. This was definitely a very satisfying step in the process.

Dormer--Insulation and Skylights

2007-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

The pace has quickened once again on our little construction project. Last week the insulation went in, and we tried to get the highest R values possible given the constraints of the construction method--R-19 in between the 2x4 framed exterior walls, and R-38 in the ceiling and everywhere else. We also had three locally produced opening skylights installed on the north side of the house, and already the effect has been tremendous.

Good News for Cycling in Seattle

2007-11-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well, they finally did it. Several months ago, Mayor Nickels pledged to make Seattle "the best city for cycling in America" and on Monday the City Council adopted the Bicycle Master Plan. I was somewhat involved with this effort, at least to the extent that the Seattle Bicycle Facilities Collaborative's findings were incorporated into the plan itself. In any case, it sounds really ambitious:

The 10-year Bicycle Master Plan calls for 118 miles of new bike lanes and 19 miles of trails, as well as lane markings and signs to create awareness of cycling across the city.

And, unusually for a plan of this nature, there is actually some money for implementation:

The city has budgeted $27 million for cycling projects out of a $365 million transportation levy voters approved last fall. The money, and a timeline, set Seattle apart from other cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley and Baltimore that also have cycling plans, Hiller said.

I think this is absolutely fantastic news, and I think momentum for cycling will continue to build as the ramifications of Peak Oil and climate change continue to unfold. The full article can be read here.

Halloween!

2007-11-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

The week of Halloween culminated last Wednesday with the actual holiday--Liam dressed as Speed Racer (Amy did a fantastic job improvising a costume out of some clothes from Goodwill and a helmet borrowed from Antigen), and Loki was a frog, same costume he wore for the Pumpkin Prowl. Amy dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, in yet another improvised costume that looked really great. We walked our block with the Moores, and the kids got quite a haul. I think this is largely because grownups tend to overestimate how many kids will be coming by (at least here in Seattle) so they compensate by giving LOTS of candy to the kids that do trick-or-treat. Consequently, we had a boatload of candy at the end of the evening. Last year, we decided to let Liam self-regulate his candy consumption, which did not work quite as we had hoped; at about 1:00 in the morning, he woke up and puked all over his bed. Fortunately, he very clearly remembers that incident, so this year he was far more restrained. All in all, a great Halloween.

Update on the SoCal Fires from Grandpa

2007-11-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Here is my Grandpa's experience of the San Diego county fires, in his own words:

I've received so many out-of-state emails asking about my personal reaction and health as the result of the devastating So. Calif. fires. I thought I should cover this subject here in one email, and send it to all my extended family. You probably read a lot about the fire in the newspapers, and saw many pictures on TV of the damage, so I'll stick to my reaction from Solana Beach.
I was having breakfast on Sunday morning, looking out the window, and noticed that the Santa Ana winds were blowing hard toward the ocean, even strong enough to bend the tall palm trees. That was not too unusual because that's expected when the SA winds blow, but along with the winds came a hazey overcast. As the day wore on, the haze turned into what I thought was smoke, so I turned on the TV to learn that there was a large area of fire around Ramona which is about 50 miles inland, and it was spreading fast toward the ocean on a line through Rancho Penasquitos, Lake Hodges, and Rancho Santa Fe (which is only 5-10 miles from here). I wasn't worried too much during the rest of Sunday, but on Monday when I woke up, I turned on the TV and found that the fire had spread fast through Ramona to Rancho Penasauitos wiping out hundreds of homes on the way. Firefighters were arriving from all over Western U. S. , and those who were in the path of the fire were told to move out of our homes,-- some areas completely, other areas optionally. It was optionally for Del Mar and Solana Beach. So I spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday watching the fire spread closer and closer,-- saw several homes in RP go up in flames, and wondering if I should leave Solana Beach. By this time the air was very smokey and leaving a layer of light ash over everything, On Tuesday, I regularlly get a visit from our Sheriff Volunteer, who, when he came brought me a mask to wear.
I got a visit from my good neighbor, Hugo, who said he had driven his wife and son to Oceanside to get out of the fire path, but he wanted to stay here in Solana Beach until he was forced to leave. And Hugo said he would be glad to take me with him, if he had to leave. He would be my life saver, so to speak. That was reassuring. So I prepared an emergency going away bag to carry my important papers, bank books, wallet, small radio, batteries, medicines, toiletries, nightgown, sweater, etc., and put it where I could grab it fast if I had to leave in a hurry. The fire continued to come closer, across Lake Hodges, and into the North side of Rancho Santa Fe (10 miles from here). burning several houses on the way. By this time, however, the firefighter crew had grown larger, the wind a little lighter, and the fire progress slowing down. The many fire areas around the county are now being contained and out of danger. But what an experience! I hope you never have one like this. I'm in pretty good shape, for an old geek, and things are returning to normal here in Solana Beach. Love, -- Dad, Gramps, Uncle, Ray

I'd say that was a close one!

Stevenson Grandparents Visit

2007-10-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

My parents were in town last weekend for a quick visit. It seems to have become a tradition for them to visit in October, (which is fine with us!) and we all enjoy the Pumpkin Prowl at the Woodland Park Zoo. This was our fourth year, and I think it's fair to say a fun time was had by all.

My folks also pointed out that even though they've visited Seattle dozens of times, they'd never ridden one of the numerous ferries that criss-cross the Sound. Since we were fortunate to have glorious weather for the duration of their stay, we decided to head over to Bainbridge Island. The fall colors were in full swing, we walked the beach at Fay Bainbridge State Park, then headed to the other end of the island to walk in the woods at Fort Ward State Park. We had lunch at a great little spot called the Treehouse Cafe, and made it back to Seattle in time for the Prowl. It was a great visit!

The Ones that Did Not Make It

2007-10-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Being a tomato in Seattle is hard, even in the best weather. Unfortunately, this summer was particularly and unusually cold and wet, and although we had a fairly decent crop of tomatoes, there were a LOT that didn't get quite enough sunshine and warmth to ripen. We'll try the brown-paper bag trick with these guys but I think it might be better to find a recipe for fried green tomatoes. Suggestions, anyone?

Dave the Builder

2007-10-24T22:19:00.001-07:00

So this is the guy who's been making all of the amazing progress on our house--Dave Fasoldt, of Fasoldt Construction. In addition to being an amazing builder and an all-around nice guy, he is also our neighbor.

Dormer--siding

2007-10-24T22:18:00.001-07:00

Earlier this week the siding went up. Starting to look like the rest of the house!

Dormer--Windows

2007-10-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago, our builder put the windows in--just before the rains began in earnest. They are all fiberglass casement windows, and the two in the reading room have interior wood trim. Hopefully they will last a long time!