Goodbye April

April was a cold and long month, I hear the 2nd worse April ever, not bad.  I'd like to think it's a sign of a coming ice age, or better yet just weather.  Well, the sun did come out on at least two occasions during the month, I have photographic proof.  Anyway here are a couple photos from the sunny days of April.

Squak->Gillman->Issaquah and a Flying Goldfish

Back about 1892, Gillman was incorporated in on the site of Squak.  Squak was white man's interpretation of native word isquah, or snake, or possibly small stream.  Gillman, named for a local coal magnate and railroad financier Daniel Gillman.  However there were certain problems with the name Gillman, as it sounded too much like a town in Klickitat County.  And the town's folk didn't much like the name, so 1899 they renamed the town Issaquah.   

Twice Issaquah has celebrated its' incorporated with earthquakes.  The first in 1945 was located near North Bend and second and larger quake was located in Des Moines and caused a great deal more damage than the 1945 quake.  It also caused Howard Peddle's goldfish to go for a wild ride.  On the morning of April 29, 1965, Mr. Peddle's goldfish sat upon a bookshelf in an apartment that it shared with Mr. and Mrs. Peddle.  While the Peddle's were at work, the 1965 earthquake struck.  The force of the quake knocked the goldfish and it's bowl to the floor, four and half feet below.  Lucky for the goldfish, the bowl turned upside down somewhere on the trip and when it landed the mouth of the bowl created a perfect seal with the floor, thus saving Mr. Peddle's goldfish from certain death.  Upon returning home, Mr. Peddle returned the goldfish bowl to its normal perch and life went on as normal.
Fast forward to 2011, Howard Peddle's goldfish is swimming in the great fish bowl in the sky and now Issaquah is a vast network of strip malls, big box retailers and fast food restaurants.  

3 Years

Well it's been three years and 549 posts, so happy birthday to my blog, happy birthday to my blog, happy...you get the picture.  Three years ago this blog started as a way to show some of the old photos I had to my friends and family as I scanned them.  Over time it has developed into whatever this is now.  It's mostly outlived it's stated purpose, but that's okay.  I mostly enjoy doing this, so here's to another year.

Thanks for reading, I'd like to think I left a mark.

Dan 

A Cruel Trick

As we await low land snow fall, I think back to last Saturday.  What a beautiful day, over 70 degrees in North Bend, the warmest since a freak heatwave in first week of November.  We spent a good deal of the day out of doors enjoying the heat and sun.  But as the evening turned to night and the sun slipped below the horizon, a bit of melancholy slipped in, as I knew it was not to last.  The forecast was for rain and indeed snow.  It seems a bit harder to enjoy or be ambivalent about the cold and rain as you get older.  Still last Saturday was beautiful and a day to remember at least until the rain stops and the warm summer sun arrives.

Easter No. 5

It is really somewhat hard to believe it is my son's 5th Easter, it really doesn't seem possible.  Easter always seems to be different for us, the boy has yet to have a carbon copy Easter Day, I hope that can continue.  Tonight a look back at the last 5 Easter Sundays.

To Plant a Tree or Picket Your Neighbor for Clubbing Baby Seals, That is the Question

Its Earth Day and I couldn't happier, well not because it's Earth Day but, just because I am generally happy today.  Today we celebrate two great environmentalist-type people, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Julius Sterling Morton.  The former enjoyed children and cats, and lead the October Revolution and was the informal leader of the Russian Communist Party.  The latter was a Newspaper Editor and the 3rd Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, and  founded Arbor Day.  You remember Arbor Day, there was a Peanuts Special and you were encouraged to plant trees.  So that begs the question, what are the differences between Earth Day and Arbor Day?  Well they are stark and evident, Earth Day is for talkateering and activism, Arbor Day is about conversation. 

They reflect the times from which they were born, Arbor was first celebrated on the treeless plains of Nebraska in 1872, at that time Americans believed that could adapt the Earth to their needs, and progress was celebrated.  Planting trees became associated with progress, as you were beautifying the Earth.  Naive, yeah probably, but there are a lot more trees in America because if it, especially in urban areas.  Earth Day was born from the turmoil of the 1960's, it offers to raise awareness and create activism, but like many politically charged things, there is a lot of noise created but little tangible results are seen. 

Is Earth Day worse than Arbor Day?  No, since awareness and activism are important, millions of Americans have been positively affected by Earth Day over the years.  So then, is Arbor Day better than Earth Day?  No, whereas Arbor Day is a day of conservation, it doesn't necessarily draw attention to the greater environment issues we face.  This is due to the fact that Arbor Day has a very narrow scope, it's about planting trees period. 

Arbor Day vs. Earth Day, is sort of a microcosm of ideologies in America, red states enjoy Arbor Day, blue states Earth Day, at a base level.  Both days really need one another, Arbor Day is losing out to the louder and sexier Earth Day.  But Arbor Day products tangible results, more trees.  Positive tangible results are hard for Earth Day to come by, so embracing message of Arbor Day, would go a long way, to dismiss the noise without benefits stigma. 

I remember going to Marymoor Park for Earth Day 20, and getting a Douglas fir sapling in a plastic sack.  The organizers wanted all of us to go forth and plant these trees at our homes, or near our homes.  Funny thing, a lone standing Doug fir will easily topple in a wind storm, whereas a grove will stand strong.  I wonder just how many of those trees are still around and I wonder how many of those trees would still be around if we had just planted them there in that field in Marymoor Park.

Dan

21st Century World's Fair

The 21st Century World's Fair started 49 years ago on this date, with a Chubby Checker concert at the Orpheum Theatre.  The aging Orpheum and the Twist, don't really seem all that 21st century at first glance.  Look again, how appropriate that this kicked off the World's Fair, as it epitomizes the 21st century.  Aging infrastructure and substance less fads.  The World's Fair celebrated the super awesomeness of America in the 21st century, with its bubblelators and jet packs and so on.  I have written before, wondering if the the threat that came with the cold war didn't push us harder to create a better world, at least on paper.  Something that wasn't at the World's Fair, the 5 MP Camera in your smart phone.  Jet packs and your own robot butler aside, the 21st century is quite amazing when it comes to communication and connections.  I have a hard time understanding how I lived without a cell phone and now without a smart phone.  Tonight to celebrate the opening twist of the World's Fair, pictures from around the Center grounds taken with a smart phone.

Enjoy
Dan

The Space Needle

So today the Weedle's home turns 50 years old, construction on the Space Needle began on April 17, 1961.  Giving the workers 369 days to complete the structure prior to opening the 21th Century Exposition.  The World's Fair if you were wondering what I was talking about.  Not only has the Needle been a star in children's books, but also in the movie, "It Happened at the World's Fair," and the television movie classic, "10.5," oh and those classic glasses from the world's fair.  

10.5 maybe the best though, as not only is it the Spinal Tap of geologist movies, as the Richter scale only goes to 10, the concrete Space Needle collapses like a doug fir on to a smug bicycle messenger.  Whereas smug bicycle messengers are not fictional, a concrete Space Needle is, as it is made of steel, like Superman.

Space Needle is a funny thing, I've lived here my entire life and have only be in the thing twice, once about 1977 and again in March of this year.  It isn't worth going to the top, but I cannot image the skyline without it.  So here is to another 50 years.  Tonight's photos from the most recent trip to the Needle.   

Dan

Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern

Back before Tacoma smelled, the Northern Pacific chose it to be terminus of its trans-continental railway.  Of course, the joke was on Tacoma, as the Northern Pacific decided to first build the terminus on land that they owned, not the actual Tacoma of that time and second, when they realized the error of their ways and moved north to Seattle.  After being shunned for Tacoma, Seattle was faced with a serious problem, Tacoma would have a trans-continental railroad and they would not.  So what to do, accept fate as a second rate town and let Tacoma become the crown jewel of the Northwest, or build your own railroad and hook up with a trans-continental further east.  Lucky for all of us, they chose the later.  Thus the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway was born, it was to connect Seattle to Spokane and maybe even North Dakota.  How exactly it was to get from Seattle to Spokane a bit of a mystery, as maps show the planned line going north from Seattle to Everett and then east over Stevens Pass through Tumwater Canyon.  Then crossing the Columbia at Wenatchee and heading east to Waterville via Pine Canyon and from Waterville on to Davenport and later Spokane.  In the east, the line was started in Spokane and made it as far west as Davenport.  In the west it started from downtown Seattle and went north to Ballard and the east to Lake Washington and then north again to Kenmore.  Then it headed east to Woodenville and from there south along Lake Sammamish to Issaquah.  From Issaquah east to the Sallah Prairie where the line ended somewhere around the site of Ken's Truck stop.  Maybe realizing the unlikelihood of completing the route over the Cascades, the route was built north from Bothell to Sumas and the Canadian Pacific.  Around 1892, the line was purchased by the Northern Pacific, mostly because they didn't want to regret not buying it.  Even though it never actually was completed, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern did leave its mark, the stations in Snoqualmie and Issaquah were built by the line.  The line was a vital link to open the eastern portion of King County to development and more recently, once the rails were pulled, made from some great biking and jogging trails.

Putting Down Roots

On the anniversary of the last Sonic home game, I thought I would speak of the 3rd street house in Ellensburg, which was on 3rd avenue.  I moved into the house in April of 1996, prior to that I had become a bit of a nomad.  This was the 9th place I had lived in previous two and half years and in most of those places, I was moving into a place that somebody else already lived in, so I was always the new roommate.  It was pretty lame most the time.  Not to mention that some of the places I lived we down right miserable, there was the double wide trailer that leaked down the middle stem to stern and didn't have a functioning stove and one of the light sockets wasn't ground so if you plugged something in it sparked and the wall would glow.  That was super awesome and then there was the room that wasn't actually completely attached to the rest of the house.  And the roommate that wouldn't clean, what a fond memory.  This place on 3rd was like a bit of heaven, comparatively, sure it was really run down and suffered massive dry rot and the back yard was taken over by a weed that could not be tamed or removed.  I never said it was perfect, but it was a home.  I lived there for three and half years, there was a lot of joy and a lot of hard times.  It was after I moved into the place, that I got Matilda, so that was another plus.  Looking back it amazes me to think that I would struggle to come up with my third of the $400 a month rent.  It also amazes me to think it has been 15 years and that I really don't have any good pictures of the place.  So tonights photo is of my bedroom window.

Mom's Birthday

Once again, it would be Mom's Birthday,  in the old days celebrated with pralines and cream ice cream and a cake.  My Mom enjoyed pralines and cream, but milk did her wrong, so she'd only eat it on special occasions.  These days, Mom's Birthday is celebrated with trips to the cemetery and blog posts.  I'd much prefer pralines and cream to the modern version. 

I don't think today seems at all weird any more, for first few years I would make a point of going to cemetery on this date and leave flowers.  The day itself was one of those oh well type days.  Now it is another day to celebrate living, but also to celebrate a remarkable woman and a loving mother.

Dan

Fair Thee Well Pat and Larry

It is time we close our little look at Pat and Larry and Goldendale circa 1970, however I don't think this is the last visit to this trip, these people and this time period.  I wonder what ever happened to Pat and Larry and if they are still in Goldendale and if so, are they troubled by all the progress that they have seen in that place.  Is Goldendale not the city they remember?  I would suppose they do feel that way, either about Goldendale or wherever they live, because we all feel that way about they places we live.  Change isn't always comfortable, even when it is welcome, but nostalgia is comfortable, even when the memories are not welcome.  At least some of the time.  So for the last time for now, Pat and Larry and a daughter? 

Pardon the Dust

So this diversion has a new look, as it heads toward its third birthday.  I really don't know if I like it, but the old look was old.  I hopefully, I'll it all figured out by month end.  So think of it as under construction, something like that.  Regardless, change is good.

Because the Biggest Problems Are...

Funding Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS, the world is a nearly perfect place to live. The only thing that anyone could possibly complain about is gas prices, but that's because we all drive vehicles that get 8 miles to the gallon. It is okay to be chauffeured around in limos and that get 8 miles to the gallon, if the American tax payers foot that fuel bill. So the lesson is to shut up and get a better job. Our President's comment about gas prices and people driving around in 8 miles to the gallon guzzlers seems rather cavalier for somebody so doesn't pay for his own gas. It also seems naive to think that we all ride around 70's era land yachts. This reminds me of the senior Bush being mesmerized by the bar code scanners at the grocery store. Out of touch. Again though, no problems in the world. So with that in mind, more Goldendale. Two aspects of tonight's photo strike me, the tricycle and the slacks. They strike me as they illustrate, the lack of nearly perfectness of the 1960's and 1970's. Is there really a need for an adult sized tricycle and slacks look to be inspired by a corningware pattern (which is another problem all together).

Relentless March of Time

It was on this day in 1917, Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany. It seems rather odd that it was 94 years ago and that just about anyone who could remember the event has past on. It is amazing to think in my lifetime it has gone from a distant to nearly obscure event. It is even more difficult to consider the "modern world," of 1917, how utterly foreign it would be, to me or my son. But then you think of James Gillespie who serviced in a Maine regiment during the Civil War, just how different the world was for him when he walked into the Seattle Armory and volunteered on this date in 1917. America could not have look anything like the America that he decided to help preserve in the spring of 1861. Or did it to him? I look at the photos of my family's great road trip in June of 1970, and see threads and familiar things that makes me think that things aren't so different. Twenty years from now, I wonder if I'll think the same thing. And twenty years from now, will my son be able to recognize anything familiar in America 1970, verses America 2031. Tonight, Mount Adams as see from outside Goldendale, in June 1970 and the twenty-first century touched up version.

Another One of Those Posts

Tonight is a classic what to blog post. I haven't had one of these in awhile I suppose, as I have had more not enough time to blog properly posts lately. So what to do when you can't think of anything, usually I lament not having anything to talk about and then add a photograph, as this is photo blog. Well tonight, I decided to just to look at a few pictures and see if anything clicked. I started in with my family's slides and found a set featuring Pat and Larry. Pat and Larry lived down toward Goldendale. I remember visiting them once, I must have been about 3 years old, they had just had a barn fire, or that's how I remember it, that could be absolutely wrong, in fact my memory of the place could be absolutely wrong. It was a real long time ago. But that aside, these pictures are just about the closest to taking photographs as my Dad ever got. I never thought my Dad to being anything more than a good picture guy. These pictures show something a bit more, it is evident from the record that Larry enjoyed taking pictures too, so that maybe why these pictures tend toward that next step. These photos were taken back in the early part of June 1970. I've decided to show photo as is and then the photo with a little 21st century touch up. So another one of those what to blog posts has turned into an exploration of a couple days with Pat and Larry, not bad. Relevant? Well I think not, but that's why this is America's finest blog.

Enjoy

Days of Fools

So, as we turn the page on March and leap into April Fool's, Dow and the Governor are trying to play the citizens of Seattle as chumps. While at the same time the city government, already short of money, as turned it's back on reality and decided to eat itself. What is the source of this amusement, a deep bore tunnel through glacial till under the city. It would allow for the removal of the viaduct and lead to more waterfront condos. It is also crazy expensive and probably will end in folly, much like the boring machines stuck some under Shoreline. Seattle's Mayor doesn't like the tunnel and has decided it's too expensive and all the cost overruns will fall upon the residents of Seattle to pay for. So the Mayor has granted time off to employees to help fight the tunnel. Meanwhile the City of Seattle has decided to sue those who don't like the tunnel, to ensure the tunnel is built regardless of cost, common sense or our federal building. The U.S. government doesn't much like the tunnel idea either as it runs under the federal building and there is concern the building's foundation will sink and the building will be rendered useless.

Enter the Governor and her lackey Dow, the governor vows to veto any bill that would force the good citizens of Seattle to foot the bill for all cost overruns. Problem is that cost overruns usually occur at the end of a project, no the beginning, It is really unlikely the Governor will still be in office when the overruns will occur. Furthermore, she attempted to reassure the good citizens of Seattle that there already has been a ton of money wasted on the project, and then gleefully waxed on about open public process of wastefulness. 61 public meetings, a 29 member advisory board, that considered 90 proposals and did environment impact studies for eight of them, hell the state has spent more money considering replacing the viaduct than the damned thing cost to build. This situation makes it easier to understand why the state is 4 billion dollars short.