TGIM

Yes, really.  Thank goodness it's Monday.  This was a crazy weekend.  Saturday we went to the Edmonds Art Fair.  Monica wanted to go to the Fremont Fair -- I don't really like the Fremont Fair but it's one of those things you do for love and I'm willing to go every 4 years or so.  But I thought it would be fun to try something different.  The Edmonds Art fair was actually pretty good.  It's a lot like Salmon Days with a lot of arts, crafts, and food vendors (honey, spice rubs), along with a couple of concessions areas, though not as big.  Monica was really happy we went.  However we walked around for a couple hours, then decided to walk into downtown Edmonds and walk around for another hour, then walked up hill to the car.  Add in a long drive there, a longer drive home to get around the traffic on I-5 and it's a long day.  But it didn't end there as I went to the Mariners game that night. 

Sunday we got up all took all three dogs to the Furry 5K.  They start the walk at 10 AM because they want to be done and get the dogs away before it gets hot. Hah!  It was mid 50s and rainy.  Monica and I were wet, a bit cold, and a bit unhappy.  The dogs were all filthy messes but they had a great time.  Unfortunately at the end of the walk, we just wanted to get home rather than spend much time at the vendor booths.  Got back to the car and headed home just as the rain got a lot worse.  The walk wasn't as exhausting physically as it was mentally.

Got home just in time to get a call from the JCC Softball League Coordinator about whether we should cancel softball games.  This is the un-fun part of being league chair.  People want to play, and you have to play in rain in Seattle, but no one wants to get hurt on wet outfield grass.  They installed turf fields so the infields can take a lot of water.  We'd already had one injury so we decided to cancel the rest of the day.  Of course, 30 minutes later the rain stopped.  Still I think the fields were really, really wet and the outfields weren't safe.

Had some lunch then took a nice hot shower.  Then I went to the Storm game Sunday night.  Great game, though Sue Bird got hurt.

Now it's Monday and I can relax and get some stuff done around the house.  Though all I'm actually doing is email and blogging.

Day 11 and 12, Sports

Met a friend for breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Kirkland.  On weekends this place is packed crazy, hard to find parking, and basically you give your name and walk around for 45 minutes.  I was surprised that at 8:30 during the week I could park right in front and the place was empty.

Spent a bunch of time Wednesday trying to get my softball team in order.  Everyone seems to be out of town this weekend and I'm trying to find subs to show up at 10 AM.  Fun, fun, NOT.  Also the floor guy came back to check on the hardwoods and how they're "settling".  Can see the cherry wood getting darker already.  We set the official date for him to finish and talked about doing the stairs as well.  Will all wait until I'm back from Vegas.

Wednesday night went to the second Storm game of the season.  I've been to two of two games so far and will likely make about two games the rest of the year.  As I expected they were sloppy at times and looked great at times.  They trailed most of the game but put in together in the last three minutes and won by 3.  In the end it's a W not an L and that's all that counts.

Started some research on electric toothbrushes for Monica (why aren't these called teethbrushes?) and continued today.  Down to a handful of choices.  Basically got up today, had breakfast, did some misc stuff, tried to walk Hunny Bear until the drizzle turned to pouring rain and got ready to go to the Mariners game.  When Aaron and I split up tickets before the season, I figured this would be a beautiful day to be outside and the Mariners would be fun to watch.  Instead it was 50 and cold.  The sun was out for a couple of innings, but then they closed the roof because storms were approaching. Then it was 50 in the shade and COLD.  And the Mariners were terrible, down 3-1 going to the 9th.  In the ninth they showed more life than they have in weeks and put together a great rally to win!!  This was the first time I've seen them win in person this year (1-6).  Aaron, who I share seats with, says they've won every game he's attended. 

Got home, made dinner, and met with a photographer who's doing a family photo for us.

Day 3

Went to Hideaway to play their 10:30 poker tournament. This is the best structured daily tournament in town.  You start with 100BB which gives you some time to play before you're short stacked and generally the field is small so it's not a luck fest until you're at the final table.  One of the guys who seemed to be a regular said they get 40 or 50 people which I found surprising.  They actually had 22 people at the start and just had two tables with two alternates. I lasted about an hour in the tournament.  On the only good hand I had early I managed to steal the blinds.  Lost a bunch of chips where I got unlucky and then bluffed off much of my stack against a guy who couldn't figure out he should fold, or had an amazing read on me.

Had lunch with my friend Meier and talked at length about ideas for an upcoming Vegas trip.  Seems like it actually might not make sense to drive down, even for a long stay.  Then came home to work on the yard.  I fixed the light in the backyard; actually if just fixed itself but I programmed the timer.  Filled in half a dozen holes in backyard and pretty the ground for reseeding.  We love our dogs, but wow do they do a number on the lawn; number 1 that is.

Then to the Mariners game for the second night in a row. Who knew filling dirt would be more fun than the Mariners game.  Wow is it cold for May baseball.  The reported crowd was 17,000 but this is one of the two smallest crowds I've seen. Can't believe it was much more than 10K, if that.

The weather outside

was crazy today.

Light rain, torrential downpour, rain, overcast, sun breaks, repeat. A couple of times I could see the lake across the street.

Driving to the gym (second day in a row) I passed two joggers running down the street. I know these people are dedicated but I have to think there's something not quite right up there when you run in pouring rain. That can't be good for your health, can it.

Woo hoo, softball

Our softball team finally won a game this weekend to move up to 1-7. Funny thing is unlike all of my brother's teams, this team isn't bad at all. We've played even with the top teams in the league. Seems like our good games are against good teams and our bad games -- missing people or didn't play well -- are against the teams we should beat. Good news is every team makes the playoffs as we'll be ready.

Our house is coming along. We're replacing the carpet downstairs with a tile floor. Should increase cleanliness and reduce allergens. Time to think about painting/staining outside now that it's warm.

Boise to Salt Lake City

A pretty unevenful day. Easy drive. It rained most of the AM, but the sun came out in the afternoon. We're staying South of Salt Lake City but drove back into town to eat at a Brazilian restaurant. Very tasty food; even the rattlesnake sausage.

On a side note, XM radio is pretty cool. I really didn't think I'd like it -- it came with our new car -- but I was able to listen to the baseball games (Cubs) as we drove yesterday and today as well as always having the same stations even though we're 800 miles away from home.

Happy Birthday Emily

If Emily were still with us, she'd be 11 today. Or maybe she'd be 10; she never did talk about her age.

We miss you lots sweetie. Thanks for sending the snow.

It's Been One Week

... since the big snow and there's still plenty left on the ground. Despite forecasts that "tomorrow" would be high 30s and sunny, it hasn't happened. We even got a little more snow on Saturday and about half an inch yesterday. I think Seattle got hit harder than we did this time.

Monday was the first day since the snow that the temperature got above freezing but it was overcast, and once the sun set the temperatures dropped below again. Yesterday the high was only 32. Today is really the first good melting day. It was 33 when I woke up and got as high as 39 (!) and is still 34 as I write. I found out that one of our friends nearby has a weather station in his yard so I'm able to get very accurate historical data for our house.

Our driveway which gets sun is down to a thin layer and the trees are all snowfree. Where I shoveled the deck, it's actually dry. But the shady parts of the deck still have a couple inches of snow and our "grass" is all white. The forecast is more snow tomorrow though Friday is supposed to be rainy and should wash away what's left. In 14 years here I've never seen snow stick around this long.

Thankfully, the roads are all fine though it's a bit dicey between our cul-de-sac and the main road.

Let it stop, let it stop, let it stop

There's a reason the famous lyric is since we've no place to go, let it snow...

If you have places to go, snow isn't any fun. And it's an order of magnitude worse here where we simply aren't used to it and don't know how to deal with it. It snowed in Seattle Wednesday night starting about 4:30. On the plateau, we got seven inches. Monica left work in Everett at 4:20 and by 7:20 she had only made it to Redmond -- 30 miles, all highway and usually an hour in traffic. And that was the fast part. Of course, this incident didn't help. She never made it home and wound up turning around and heading back to Bellevue (8 miles, 15 minutes) and spending the night at a friend's house.

Right now everything is still covered in snow, though it's melted down to a couple of inches in the sunny area and three or four in the shade. It was supposed to be mid 30s and sunny today but was overcast and never got above freezing and we actually got some more flurries. Tommorow is supposed to be 35; we can only hope, though I'll be inside watching football either way.