Tall Ships

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!

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

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

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.