The March Of Time

I find myself lacking time, most the time.  At work, I get by without too much grief or deadline stress.  Home is different.  It seems everything uses more time than in the past.  It is discouraging really.  It seemed like just a year ago I could find plenty of time to blog.  Now, it isn't so easy.  A few months ago it was easy to touch up some photos from the weekend or a vacation and get them out to the world quickly and timely.  Now it seems impossible to get the time to do anything at all.  I suppose if this is a sign of my age, that I will adapt and overcome.  Until then, I will find a minute or two here or there.

Another Year

So I celebrated another birthday over the weekend, this year I spent it with the family on the road.  I took the opportunity to take the boy to see the big Coluee Dam.  It was a bunch of fun, watching him take it all in.  It was all in all a great birthday weekend, thanks to Cicely and the boy.

Summer

Summer arrived and promptly departed the greater Seattle area yesterday.  It was glorious while it lasted, even the most ardent rain worships would need to admit.  The wet and the wet and then the wet have clipped away at our sanity.  So today's return to clouds and the forcast for a return to rain, isn't really surprising.  Grass and moss seem to be the only winners in this year of the shower.  I mean even these cows look bored by the weather.

Rust In Peace

About ten years ago I bought a 1984 VW Vanwagon Campmobile or better known as a Westphalia.  It was my second Westphalia, the first was a 1974.  The 1984 was a big upgrade, it had nearly three times more horse power than the 1974, it was water cooled and everything worked.  I bought it so, I could go on a road trip with my girlfriend at the time Cicely.  That trip was a lot of fun.  Vans are a blast to drive, it's motoring to be more exact, you can't get anywhere fast.  You just putt along bent over the wheel, with your resting at 7 and 4 and your hands up around 12 o'clock.  After awhile I sold my van to a good friend and he drove it for another 6 years.  Every time I saw it, I secretly wished it was still mine, he loved the thing, even though it was getting a bit long in the tooth.  Today he was driving back from Olympia from his brother's wedding and he snapped a belt.  That led to series of events that resulted in the van catching fire just outside North Bend.  Thanks to a couple truckers, the damage isn't as bad as it could be, but the old thing is likely done.  A sad day indeed. 

A Return

After a week, in which I was very ill and didn't get anything done, it was nice to wake up this morning to better heath and Father's Day.  This year as in the previous five, I was reminded to just how great a father I had and what a great kid I have.  I've been out of the loop it seems for a month with my family, or at least it feels like, but once I make it through Thursday, my summer begins with lots of 3 day weekends and a ten day vacation as well.  I cannot wait to reconnect with Quin and Cicely.  It is something I am looking forward too, quite a bit.

Happy Father's Day

Dan 

They Say a Picture is Worth 1,000 Words

Indeed, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words.  I am sure the railroading meaning for this phrase isn't funny.  But I don't know it, so there you have it.

A Time for Wenatchee

Tomorrow will be until another trip to Wenatchee and yet again I will wonder how many more times will I make the trip.  Wenatchee does have some great signs though, I'll miss those.

Strange Flowers

In honor of the corpse flower that is about to bloom at the U of W tonight a picture entitled, "Freak of Nature."  Now why exactly this a freak of nature, I do not know.  In fact I am not sure even what kind of flower it is, sorry I am no botanists. 

Ol' Chief Seattle

I know I should say Chief Sealth or better yet Chief Si'ahl, because I am an enlightened historian.  Whatever...  On this date the most important native in the Puget Sound died back in 1866.  Funny thing was, prior to meeting Doc Maynard in Olympia, he had lost most of his relevance within tribes in the Puget Sound to Kanim a Snoqualmie Chief living near Carnation, in those days not called Carnation.  Maynard and Sealth needed each other, their friendship gave them relevance and strength within the other person's world, as well as, their own.  The city of Seattle has much to owe to Sealth, because it is hard to image a world where tech and aerospace calls Duwamps home.  Sadly no pictures exist of Sealth making his famous speech, with his hand placed upon the head of the diminutive Issac Stevens.  The speech is interesting as it was spoken a language not understood by many, even at the time, and in fact the speech had to be translated from Sealth's Lushootseed language into Chinook Jargon, which then was translated into English.  There is a great deal of question to whether or not he actually spoke any of the words within speech.  I would like to think he spoke all of them.  Who knows if that is true or not, there quite well could have been some myth building taking place with regards to the speech, it can't hurt to put some intellectual muscle behind your town's namesake.  Dismissing the speech however, as fabricated because Sealth was an ignorant Indian, smacks of racism and probably shouldn't be entertained.

Cows Are For The Cows

Cows are something we here at America's Finest Blog enjoy, after all they bring us cheeseburgers and leather goods.  Photographing cows and photographs of cows are also something we enjoy here at America's Finest Blog.  My grandmother took many photos of cows, mostly her own cows, or I should say, my grandfathers cows.  My dad took a couple amusing photos of cows and I have be known to snap a photo or two.  Why you say, well why not take photos of wonderful creatures.  Besides like radio, television, the Internet and dogs we just assume cows to be around to serve us.  We have not be good stewards in this friendship, taking the animal out of the environment to create an assembly line life cycle.  Its not fair, not fair to the cow and ultimately not fair to the humans that are sicken by cow meat that came from these assembly lines.  One day I would like to stop purchasing meat from the assembly lines and instead purchase only meat from cows that lived their lives as cows in fields of grass, cows named Buttercup, Daisy or Missy Missy Cow Cow.  Until then pictures of cows.

The Violin

It has been pointed out to me that I have not mentioned violin playing with regards to the post on the musical family.  My apologies, the violin has been attempted by two Williams', myself when in the 4th and 5th grade, or something like that and most recently my sister.  Truly the finest people in the land are those people that allow you practice the violin.  It is an instrument that when played correctly is stirring and beautiful, but played by a beginner, it tends to be squeaky and shrill.  So good luck Jerrie, may your playing become the former sooner than later.

The Washington State Ferries

On this date sixty years ago, Captain Peabody's Black Ball Line ceased operations and turned over its fleet and personal to Washington State.  Thus giving birth to the Washington State Ferry System.  The Black Ball Line was purchased by the state for $5 million.  Since the Black Ball Line had made riders accustomed to shutdowns, poor service and rate hikes, riders noticed little when the state took over.  A popular swell of support had washed over the Puget Sound area, in the late 1950's and into 1960 to have the state take over operations.  The people demanded accountability and it was generally assumed that the ferries were going the way of the dinosaur any how.  Jetson like floating cars would make ferries obsolete, or people believed that tunnels beneath and bridges above the Puget Sound would connect all the islands and peninsulas or the rapture was to occur on June 21, 1961.  You pick the most plausible. No matter how expensive they have become, or how poor the service, the Washington State Ferries are uniquely Washington and in the end how many killer whales are you going to see from your floating car or an under sea tunnel.