Gas Works Park

About a year and a half ago, my family and I went to have our pictures taken at Gas Works Park. I'm not much for being on the other side of the camera, but that's another story. To kill time while we waited for the photographer to show up, I took photos, of the machinary and other rusting pieces of the Park's past. Looking at stacks and pipes it reminded me of Charles Sheeler's photographys of the River Rouge Ford Plant. Here are a few photos from that morning.

Enjoy

Dan

It's in Print

I was able to get a photo printed in the Snoqualmie Valley Record, as part of their photo contest. I didn't win but that's another story. Thanks to those who helped convince me to actually submit this particular photo.

The Whalebone Tree

What is the Whalebone Tree, well it is an Elm tree in Ellensburg with a jawbone of a whale coming out of one side. How the whalebone got there is a bit of a mystery, a 1976 Ellensburg Daily Record article, states that some residents can remember the whalebone in the tree as far back as 1909, although it is evident that the bones were in place sometime before that. Apparently there were two whale bones, one on each side, but in 1929 one was cut out and given to the owner of the Ellensburg Lumber Company to hang in his office. Even then it took quite a bit of cutting to get the bone out of the tree. The town legend goes that an old retired sea captain moved into the house and brought the whale bones with him. It is thought that when whalers moved inland they would place whale bones in their yards to let other former whalers know that they could stop in. The house itself was built as a parsonage for the Church that had burnt during the 1889 fire. It seems that few believe that any of the pastors that stayed there brought the bones. As late as 1999, I can recall articles in the Daily Record about the tree and the mystery sea captain that left the bones. I haven't been able to get much information that is more recent, save for a photo taken sometime prior to Summer 2002. In fact I am not certain the tree and the bone are still entact, last spring I drove past was I thought was the right house and I don't remember seeing the tree. I would be interested to know if the tree is still there.

Dan

Don't Write Important Stuff on Your Hand

Now I have been known to write things on my hands, especially in middle school. So we'll give Sarah a pass on that one, it is not like she is really doing anything all that important. I mean rilling up a bunch of angry Conservatives isn't really that tough, its like making a hornet angry. It just comes natural, and I suppose so does Sarah's ability to get liberals all tied up in knots, with her folksy speak and that naive small town persona, they dislike her. But there is something that Sarah, angry Conservatives and angry liberals all have in common, they are really useless. All their combined anger just creates more waste and a bunch of dialog about what is wrong with liberals in America or what is wrong with the Tea Party people or what is wrong with Sarah. Complaining does not create leaders or solutions, just hot air and we have enough of that.

Out and About in Winter Time

El Nino is the best, especially in the Northwest. Now if you really like skiing or winter sports you will disagree, but sorry, El Nino is still the best, mid-fifties and sun in February you can't beat it. Oh, so what California is slipping away, and the rest of the nation is suffering one of those worst winters even type winters, in the Northwest the winter has been lovely. Instead of being cooped up inside because of wind and rain, we can get out and do stuff in the outdoors. This is especially nice when you have a 3 year old son. Al Gore told me climate change is bad and we are all going to suffer because of it, but warm and dry February days really are sort of nice. In celebration of the latest coal power plant in China (I believe 3 have opened, during the time it took to write this blog entry), pictures of us enjoying dry and or warm winter days.

Dan

Its Glove Time Again, but It's Late and I'm Sorry For That

It is glove time again, Quin just had another birthday, well in January. Anyhow, the astute readers of this blog will remember the wonderful entries entitled, Quincy and the Glove and Quincy and the Glove Redux. So there is really no need to go into great detail about the glove or Quincy or why we do this. What I can say is that for the first time in about two and half years the boy was as easy to work with as the glove. This go around, the pictures were taken at the Interbay Playfield, next to the old Great Northern Train Yard (Balmer Yard), thus incorporating two of the boy's main passions, baseball and trains.

Enjoy

Dan

Another Long Week

I could use a vacation, a raise and an ice cold beer. Sadly none of that is coming my way soon. But what there will be, is more work and hopefully time with the family. So here are some February family adventures. But first, as a kid I really don't remember doing a whole lot family-wise between Christmas and Easter, its as if we gave up leaving Mountlake Terrace for lent. Of course we must have done something at some point, but it is strange I cannot recall anything. Lucky for me, we do stuff occasionally in February and here are the pictures to prove it.

Tags

So, I add tags to just about every post, why I'm not sure, but I do. Anyway I have found that the two most common tags are, "Eastern Washington," and "Kodachrome." So tonight I'll be showing off a Kodachrome photo from Eastern Washington.

Enjoy

Dan

My Early Sunday Morning

Tonight's photo was taken in back in 1997 or 1998. It's an early morning shot of Main Street in Ellensburg, probably a Sunday morning, probably taken on my way to work. I remember taking the photo because I had seen a picture of Edward Hooper's painting Early Sunday Morning, and thought I can do that.

Dan

The State of the Union

Tonight's blog will not be about the State of the Union, because I forgot it was tonight. What is worse, I'm not sure I care I missed it. Actually what I miss is being excited about events such as this, heck I'd settle for being plan interested. So enough on the state of the union, lets talk on the state of the state.

Our beloved governor and her friends in Olympia have decided to close 20 or so trails in the State most in Western Washington, including Mount Si and Little Si, which bring 500,000 visitors a year, the rest of the effected sites bring in about 225,000 visitors a year. Now our beloved state is $2.6 billion dollars short this year, because we have sent idiot children to Olympia to do grown up work. It's not a Republican problem, it is not a Democratic problem and it's not George Bush's fault, it is our fault and we are paying for it by having our public land shuttered. You might ask how much is shutting down these 20 or so sites going to save, a couple million dollars maybe. No, $278,000.00, so now the state is short only $2,599,722,000.00. Of course a per use fee of lets say $1 would more than cover the cost to keep these trail and sites open. A $5 per use fee would produce revenue and might help the state and the forests in the long run. But that would be user specific taxation, and we only target that sort of thing for smokers. Besides the Governor wants to raise taxes across the board for all of us, so user targeted revenue streams aren't going to be necessary. Please do yourself a favor and in November, don't vote for the same idiots that have run the state into ground. Vote for new idiots.

Happy 50th Bubble Wrap

In honor the big Five-O for bubble wrap, pictures of Quin, stomping on bubble wrap. Now go pop some of your own in celebration.

Return to Routine

We have our routines, some we like, some we don't, and some we'd rather not have at all. Routines are like mileposts, then help you wade through the mundane parts of life, so you can get to and enjoy the good parts. Then you get the stomach flu, and a bad case of it, routine ceases and it ceases suddenly. That is what happened to me, earlier in the week, hence no Wednesday blog. But once you are relatively certain that you can eat food again, or get so sick of soda crackers you pick up your routine again. It is not unlike getting back on a bike after a fall. Tonight's photo really has nothing to do with any of this.

Dan

The Airport

Oh, if it wasn't for the blasted terrorists, going to the airport might still be fun. But nowadays, the airport is just about as much fun as the downtown Greyhound station. The real difference between the two, being that the questionable people are employed by the NSA, not hoping to somehow get together enough cash for a ticket to Twin Falls.

Sad thing is, that the airport, unlike the Greyhound station, was actually a fun place, once upon a time. I can remember going to the airport on a family outing as a kid. Watching the planes take off and land, taking the train, eating at a coffee shop and window shopping at the really expensive shops, think of an expensive version of the Made in Washington store. When I was older in the days before the first gulf war, we would go to the airport and play tag and raise hell in general, throughout the terminals. Never drawing the ire of the hired help. Nowadays, if you are flying it is a bunch poking and patting down, and don't forget taking off shoes. I suppose that is the price of freedom, but I hate it, I haven't even started on how miserable the flights are anymore, but I'll save that for another time.

In honor of a time when Airports were fun and flying was exciting, pictures of a bygone era.

A Pretty Cool Bathtub

Say you have a blog, and say you are at a loss as to what to blog, what do you do? Some may wax on about Pat Robertson, or Fox News, some may get all wordy about the great job Senator Reid is doing, others might tell you about their new key lime colander. Here at America's Finest Blog, well it's a bathtub, or at least tonight it is a bathtub.

The bathtub at Hotel 1000, in Seattle, WA, is pretty darn cool, if for no other reason the water falls from the ceiling.

Dan

Time it Marches On

Sometimes change occurs in a rapid, sometimes violent, sudden sort of way. Those at the epicenter and those who look on, stare in wonderment at what has occurred. Subtle change can be just as violent, but since it is usually much slower much quieter, subtle change goes often goes unnoticed, especially to those within the epicenter. A town may grow from a couple homes and mill, into vibrant community, only realize its zenith and begin the slow march toward the bitter end. For those in the epicenter these events are not realized until it is far too late and fate is sealed. However sometimes change albeit rapid or subtle, brings about a Phoenix, a new creation, stronger and better adapted for longevity. History is littered with examples of better and stronger cities and societies arising from the ashes of the old. We undoubtedly hope for this anytime we see the effects of change with our eyes in person or upon our televisions.

Tonight a photo from Preston, on the 107th birthday of its' post office, once a Swedish mill town, now an increasingly affluent bedroom community.

Now That's Cold

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the great cold snap of 1950. It was real cold for three weeks, Snoqualmie Falls ceased to fall, there was lots of snow, it was it living in Moose Jaw or Medicine Hat probably, but warmer. Anyway, my mom every winter would wax on about just how cold 1950 had been. As a kid 1950, sounded like what winter should be like, man verses cold in a battle that must be won, or at least endured until the rain returns.

This is a photo from the night of the first blizzard of the cold spell.

Dan

The Monster and the Guy Who Shot Him

Tonight's title, courtesy of my 3 year old, who told me that was the name of the Star Wars comic he has, the comic features Chewbacca and Han Solo. Now that I have a title, what to blog about. Maybe Obama's willingness to get tough with the forces of evil, or the Woodland Park's Nocturnal House closing leaving the 61 animals unemployed. Nah, lets face it Chewbacca and Han Solo got tough with forces of evil without the need to speak so much about it. As for the animals in the Nocturnal House, they should have gotten day jobs anyway.

So tonight we will celebrate the light. Electric light that is and Seattle got it 105 years ago today. Previously Seattle had been much like the Nocturnal House, at least at night it was. On this date back in 1905, the powerhouse and Cedar Falls began lighting Seattle's street lights, in fact Cedar Falls generated nearly all of Seattle's power.

Tonight celebrating the creation of electric light for the Seattlites, I give you pictures of Seattle by electric light.

75 years of Elvis

Elvis lives in an East Texas retirement home with black John F. Kennedy, no its the truth. Of course nobody is suppose to know it's Elvis, he's just an old Elvis impersonator, and JFK well that's complicated. How do I know about all of this, well I can't tell you, but I can tell this: When I think Elvis, I think of the Elvis clock I bought in San Jon, New Mexico, Elvis' hips waved back and forth as the king kept nearly perfect time. A real classy clock, and when I think of that clock, I think of three things; one the massive truck stop that the clock was purchased in, two just how cold it was and three Feeding the Children

Happy Birthday David Bowie!

No. 3

Today is my son's 3rd Birthday, so tonight pictures of people celebrating birthdays.

Enjoy

Happy Birthday Quin!
Dan

A New Year, Now What?

First before I get to now what, here's a link to all of last year's favorites. All 53 of them: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048328&id=1312809085&l=8c27dd0c4e

Now on to the new year...

I'm currently without an official project, although there are a couple projects I could pick up. Being without an ongoing project, I wonder if I will continue on the 3 times a week blog schedule. We shall see. What I do know is that 2010 is a new start with a fresh set of challenges, so I looking forward to seeing what they might be. Tonight's photo is a classic favorite photo taken about 5 years ago, at the Puyallup Fair, why this photo on this night? Why not.

Better blogging to come...

Dan