Martha S

Today is the 64th anniversary of the Martha S's first run at the Keller Ferry.  She is one of three ferries that still cross the Columbia River in the United States.  The others are, upstream at Gifford and downstream at Wahkiakum County.  The Martha S is the only Columbia River ferry run by the State of Washington, the Gifford ferry is run by the Colville Indian Reservation and the Wahkiakum ferry is run by Wahkiakum County, albeit with some financial help from the State of Washington. 
The Martha S, is also commonly known as the Keller Ferry, she was built in Coulee Dam after World War Two, so I could not find why it lists Seattle as her port of origin.  She's not named for Martha Washington, but for Martha Shain the wife of then Highway Director Clarence Shain.  I suppose that is a honor, I can hear the conversation now, "honey we'll named a twelve car ferry after you, it will take over at Keller Ferry, Happy Anniversary!"  Or something like that.  Martha will be forced into retirement next May, when her replacement the Sanpoil will take over the nearly 125 year old ferry crossing.  The Sanpoil is named for a local group of first peoples.  Whereas it is great that we name our ferries after the tribes and have for 50 years, there is something to be said for naming a state motor vessel for the Highway Director's wife, it reminds us of a time when, naming a twelve car ferry for the Keller run really wasn't that important or at least the name didn't need to have some sort of significance. 

Ride On

Well, here we go, both parties have spoken and now the fun begins.  Now is the time when Americans get to see and hear countless political ads about how terrible somebody is or how a particular party wants to save the earth by taking your job away or another party wants everyone to work in factories building bombs and tanks while raising your taxes to further cut their own.  Then in November we'll all get to vote for party or candidate that has the type of corporate backing we are comfortable with and a year from now it will appear that nothing has changed.
This time around the whole process seems disingenuous, one party is railing on about corporations being people, when the idea is nearly as old as the nation,  1819, to be exact, Dartmouth College vs Woodward.  Point is the Supreme Court in 2010, simply affirmed the rights of corporations and unions to exercise their 1st Amendment rights.  Furthermore it is disingenuous for either party to point a finger at the other over this idea, as both parties greatly benefit from the recognition of corporate person hood,especially in the realm of campaign spending.  Then one party believes that another party has chosen to save the earth, not American jobs.  Right, so its earth vs. the middle class.  The statement is repulsive in the sense that it is simplified to an idiotic level and it also that it shows no actual understanding of cause and effect, poison the planet and humans will evidently suffer, I'd like my kid to see things much as they are today and not be telling his kids and grandchildren about snow or trees or whatever.  Finally, it shows a lack of ingenuity why not embrace capitalistic greed and the environment, it's not easy, but either is most the good stuff in this world. 
Still this is finest nation around, after all we let Lyndon LaRouche out of jail. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Besides the Other Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas is called the most wonderful time of the year, but in Washington State, that's not true.  Sure Christmas has presents and the baby Jesus, but it is usually gray, wet and cold.  September in Washington State, does celebrate with presents, but there aren't under trees, they are warm days, cool nights and sunshine.  September is usually the best month of the year and if it is not, then we are grumpy.  Five days in we are doing well, it is a wonderful time.
Dan

First Day

Today my son started school, to honor that we took the first day of school photos.  Then it was off to school.  Things have changed since 1975, I walked to kindergarten by myself.  The boy takes a bus. A bus that either my wife or I need to be present at the bus stop at time of pickup or drop off.  Also today there were a lot of parents taking a lot of photos with nice to better DSLRs.  I don't remember parents really hanging around the first day of school to take photos and if they did they used Instamatics.  Anyway to honor the first day of school a picture of my son. 

So it begins

My son starts school in the morning, I say this with mixed feelings.  It is a wonderful and joyous moment, my boy is growing up and that is a special feeling.  The outside influences are troublesome, but we hope we have raised him right.  It's living by the school year that is most annoying.   For so long we have been able to do as we pleased, now we must consult the official school calendar before doing anything and worse yet we will be doing this for at least 13 years.

Shoreline

So it is the birthday of Shoreline, its all of 17 years old.  As readers of this fine blog my know, I like to say something about the significant towns in my life.  Shoreline was a significant town, it is where I lived both before and after Ellensburg.  Actually, that is not correct.  Before I moved to Ellensburg, I lived one house north of where I would live upon my return.  However that house had a Seattle address, since Shoreline didn't exist.  Shoreline was created during time in the mid nineties when nobody wanted to be a part of unincorporated King County.  Shoreline is a large mass of land that didn't really have a center or coherent feel, its just a bunch of older neighborhoods, some nice, some not so nice with a central government.
 

Sky Rockets in Flight

So last Christmas I purchased a model rocketry kit for the boy.  I thought we could have some fun launching them.  Our busy summer of leisure finally allowed for time build and launch the rockets.  And good fun they are, I remember building a rocket in the 5th grade and launching it and watching it float into a tree, sad day.  But the rocket went exceptionally high so that was fun.  In fact I remember building the rocket was good fun for the whole family, well my mom and dad and myself.  Rocket day at school, was one of the great days of the school year, all the kids got to out and watch the 5th graders launch their rockets in alphabetical order.  Anyway, we have three rockets now and all are slightly flawed, but seem to be air worthy and fly well, it's the landing that seems to be at issue.  Hopefully there will be a few more launches before the soggy weather returns.
Tonight's post is dedicated to the Lego dude.  Sadly, his capsule could not hold him and he fell to earth and was lost to the vast fields of the Meadowbrook Farm.

 

A Missing Link

Back on this day in 1966, the Astoria-Melger Bridge opened finalizing the ribbon of concrete from Olympia to the Mexican Border.  This replaced the ferry that ran from Astoria to Melger and also basically doomed Melger.  This is a long and big bridge, in Astoria it dwarfs the town and is visable everywhere in town.  As a kid I remember seeing it in the Guiness Book of World records and thought that it was really cool.  I remember going accross the bridge for the first time with my Grandparents and thinking it wasn't so cool.   Even today, I am not the biggest fan of accrossing the bridge, especially if the wind is blowing.

To Continue a Theme

With summer winding down, I have decided to pull out an old photo of summer past.  These days we have 12 volt adapters for our cars and outlets throughout the car to do this sort of work.  That said, the pictures of blowing up intertubes aren't as captivating in the modern world.

Endless Summer

August is always a difficult month, with few exceptions summer peaks right about the first week of August and then slides ever so quickly toward fall.  The days are noticeably shorter each week and the signs of autumn start to arrive, spider webs, morning dew and that evening chill in the air.  As I have mentioned before these signs of which I wish was blind too, but I am not.  I can remember though, summers in which the signs of autumn were masked by unusual warmth right through until the start of school.  Those years, I remember well, the joy mostly, believing that summer was endless.  Of course it was not and by November the rain would set in for an indeterminate cycle.  Tonight's photo endless summer days.

A New Schedule

So my summer long vacation and new schedule in general has been brutual on the old blogging schedule that is why I am going to start a new blogging schedule as of today.  No longer will I be blogging on a Sunday, Wednesday and Friday schedule, instead it will be a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Fear not loyal readers, I have the drive to continue bringing you a top shelf product.

So Maybe I've Talked About This Before

It's mid August and it is delightfully hot outside, but in the back of my mind I hear my mother's voice, announcing that fall is just around the corner, she can feel it in the morning and evening air.  Talk about a buzz kill, that is exactly what every school aged kid doesn't need to hear, for two reasons, fall equals school and the end of summer means cold air and rain.  Truth be told, my mom was right, about mid August the nights start getting cooler and the days shorter.  I wish though, I had never heard her say it, I could have blissfully continued with my endless summer thoughts until the school bells rang and the grey skies and rain returned.  Tonight, pictures of summer, enjoy it while it lasts.

Perfection

Today was one of those days, a special and unique day.  Especially if you enjoy baseball.  Today Felix Hernandez of the Mariners threw a perfect game, 27 batters retired without reaching base.  A magnificent performance.  I was lucky enough to be at today's game with Cicely and the boy.  We now can say what only about 575,000 can ever have said, "I saw a perfect game."  There have been only 23 such games in the 150+ years of professional baseball.  Since the founding of the National League in 1876, there have been approximately 400,000 games played.  So this is a very rare thing to see.  I remember going to a game with Cicely some years back and saying, you know you just never know what you will see at the old ball yard.  That night we saw the Mariner's finest pitcher, Freddy Garcia lit up for eight runs in less that three innings  Not quite what I was hoping for, when I made the statement.  Today's game wasn't exactly the way we would have liked it, it was hot and the boy was hot and a bit bored and wanted to play more than watch.  So what if we didn't sit in our seats for the whole thing.  We saw the important bits and years from now, the pitches and at bats we did not see will not matter, what will matter is that we were there.

Poor Timing

On this day back in 1994, I arrived in New York City.  I had a great time in the city and have longed to return.  One thing I could not do in New York was to watch a game in Yankee Stadium, not because the Yankees were on the road, but instead because major league baseball had gone out on strike.  Poor timing, but not the first time, back when I was in 4th grade or so, I couldn't go to ball game on my birthday because of a strike.  

10 years

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary and it seems rather hard to believe that it has been 10 years.  We are different people than we were ten years ago, but we are still in love.  Cicely continues to amaze me everyday and I hope that I can give her all that she so richly deserves.  On my desk in my office is a photo that was taken on the night of our first date, I look at that guy and think he is pretty lucky.  I look at tonight's photo and know that I am still pretty lucky.

Fort Simcoe

On this date in 1856, Fort Simcoe was established on the Yakima Indian Reservation.  The purpose of the fort was to keep the peace between whites and Indians by keeping the whites off Indian land.  The soldiers at Simcoe would also participate in the ongoing Indian wars of the time.  The soldiers from Simcoe assisted in the killing of Indians believed involved in attacks on white prospectors.  In October 1858 to Yakama Indians were hung at the Fort for the killing of Indian Agent Andrew Bolon in 1855.
Just about the time the fort was completed in April of 1859, the army abandoned it sending the troops to Fort Colville and to Fort Walla Walla.  In May of 1859 the BIA took over and sent of the Yakama Indian Agency.  In 1974 it became a state park.

  

Roosevelt at the Dam

On this date in 1934, President Roosevelt stopped by the Grand Coulee Dam to check on the progress.  At the time it was to be a low dam of hydroelectric purposes only.  He toured the land and stopped and gave a brief speech to the estimated 20,000 in attendance.  He would return three years later and marvel at all that had been done, by that time the project was to build the high dam.  Tonight a recent photo of the Grand Coulee Dam.

Yet Again

Another year and another round of bad news for those that like open space and public land.  The Washington State Parks are facing being cut out of the budget for 2013, since the Discover Pass system should foot the bill.  Problem is the Discover Pass system in only bringing in half the revenue it was suppose to.  This is leaving the Park system in a bad spot, it either has too cut back on the parks, hope for the legislature to do something or find other revenue streams from public lands.  Once again it is the people that enjoy the land that will lose out the most.  Lets hope for the best and in the meantime go enjoy a park or DNR site while you can, oh and purchase the Discover Pass if you do.

The Forgotten Lands

Recently the family and I took trip through the easternmost portions of the state of Washington.  It is a bit surprising to realize that this is area is has experienced the white man longer than virtually any place else in the state of Washington.  Kettle Falls, was first visited by David Thompson in 1811 and and Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Colville opened in 1825.  In 1838 the Jesuits arrived and built St. Paul's Mission.  Not to mention that first peoples had been gathering around Kettle Falls for probably 9,000 years.  It is easy to overlook this sort of thing, as the history of Western Washington seems so much more important.  Tonight St. Paul's Mission, as it sits on a bluff above the Columbia River.  Note the pine trees were not there in the heyday of the mission, it would have been agricultural land, the Jesuits wanted to make the Indians into good farmers.

Hang On!

"Hang On!"  Were the fateful words of Monorail driver Willis Kirk (no relation to Capt. Kirk) just as his red train crashes into a steel girder at the Seattle Center.  Apparently the breaks failed and the fail safe break system also failed. This incident occurred on this date back in 1971.  It wasn't the first Monorail accident, there we a couple similar accidents in 1962 and 1963, however this did lead to 26 injures.  It wasn't to be the last accident either, a fire on the blue train basically ended the monorail as means of mass transportation in Seattle.  After the fire calls were made to have fire escapes built into the trains and the system.  Things only got worse from there and the project was scrapped.  Tonight views from the Monorail.