The Old Ballgame

BACK TO BASEBALL: Thursday afternoon we made our pilgrimage to the Sodo (south of downtown) district of Seattle to the Mariners' ballpark. Finally, the long winter was over and baseball was back!

In the off-season, the park was renamed. Safeco Field is no more. Now, it's T-Mobile Park.

It's worth noting that T-Mobile's corporate color is magenta. And from first-day impressions, it wasn't just a matter of renaming the stadium. It's a whole corporate make over, in magenda in this case. ...

We bought the cheapest seats possible for opening day. That put us under the Blue Jays' flag in left field. We quickly abandoned that spot, as we were penned into the end of a 20-seat long row.

 Before we got too crowded and abandoned that place, we watched the field crew get their acts together. 

Earlier, when we were standing in the bullpen area, we checked out the turf farm and the future garden.

Pre-game festivities included Seattle's own Macklemore performing. 

He performed two songs. Up first was "My Oh My," his tribute to Mariners' broadcaster Dave Niehaus.  

It was nice to see Dave's widow Marilyn on hand for the ceremony. 

We watched the Mariners' team introduced. They ran out on the 'red' carpet. When they rolled it out, I thought, "Geez, the Mariners' need to spring for a new carpet. That one is faded." 

Turned out the new carpet is T-Mobile magenta. Ugh. 

After the intros, it was time for the national anthem. It was performed on guitar by Mike McCready, of Seattle and of Pearl Jam. 

 He shredded it, as always. 

Right after the anthem was a fly over. 

A pair of EA-18G Growler from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island buzzed the stadium.

There was a ceremonial first pitch, of course. This one was super special. My photo is awful because of the smoke from the fireworks that proceeded it, but it was Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martinez.

 You know, the Mariners' hero, the guy the American League batting championship is named after. That guy.:)

The Mariners unveiled a Countdown to Cooperstown banner. 

We're looking forward to late July when Edgar is inducted!

As day edged toward night, the stadium edged even more toward magenta. I'm not down with that so much, but we do love the fact that the Mariners are 3-0 and in first place. 

And that makes us tickled pink. :)

ROCKET MAN: Part of CJ's homework for his Washington Aerospace Scholars program involved watching an hour-long documentary about Wernher von Braun. Naturally, Annabelle and I watched as well, because who doesn't want to know more about the Rocket Father?

The program we watched was called "Missile to Moon," made by Alabama Public Television. It covered more than the Rocket Man, though. The program also showed how Huntsville, Alabama evolved from the "Watercress Capital of the World" to "Rocket City, USA."

Annabelle can tell you a bit more about it.

"Missile to Moon" is a documentary about Wernher von Braun and his part in the Apollo missions that helped the United States begin the space race. Though it shares its name with a 50's Science Fiction film, it's much more grounded in the fabric of reality. The documentary goes as far as to show film feeds from the launches without narration, really bringing the viewer in and making them feel as though they're watching live coverage of something that happened years ago. It also does a great job of informing the viewer on exactly how von Braun was instrumental to the programs and his journey to joining NASA. It's definitely worth a watch even for those who already know the story, as it may be able to provide a fresh take.

You can watch the documentary for yourself on YouTube:

Cake Wars

SUGAR STRUGGLES: So, we had a cake due today for Birthday Dreams, a great nonprofit that provides birthday parties for kids in homeless shelters.

Our birthday girl wanted a galaxy cake. We had watched a number of videos on YouTube and felt confident we could decorate a cake accordingly with the nifty airbrush food coloring sprayer tool we have.

Until ... we fired it up today (for like the second time ever), and it didn't work. There was no control with the on/off trigger, it was just on On ON. Spraying everything, everywhere.

We really didn't have a Plan B. This had to work. So Annabelle and I devised a work around where I would control the 'trigger' by turning the whole unit on or off while she sprayed. Not ideal by any means, but we had no choice. 

We started with a plain ol' white covered cake. (The cake underneath is chocolate brownie with whipped chocolate filling and some mini chocolate chips in the mix for fun and texture.)

The rule for air brushing a galaxy cake is layering colors and starting with your lightest color first. We went pink then blue then purple then black.

 How do you like our super low-rent paint booth? It's two paper grocery sacks on the sides and the bottom of a case of  Top Ramen on the back. Very professional! ;)

From the air brushing to the 'stars' Annabelle did all of the decorating. 

The cake in and of itself was super pretty, but we wanted to make a cake topper for the birthday girl. So, yesterday, we made a shooting star out of gum paste.  This morning, we got up and found it had dried with numerous cracks. TOTALLY not acceptable. Time to reboot.

And so, that's how I found myself suddenly making a batch of cookies and fondant. 

So cake topper 2.0 was a whole lot bigger and more delicious than the first version, so I guess it's OK. Tragedy averted. (Oh, and, yes, the name is blurred.)

Mixed Bag

DAFFY-DILS: We went and visited Kennedy at his new classroom space today. He teaches fourth grade at a school in Seattle's Fremont/Greenwood area. 

It was great to see his classroom was big and bright and organized and inspiring. He had some neat-o math graphics up on the white board that I should have taken a photo of. Instead, I took a(n out of focus) photo of these crazy flowers on the way into the building. They most certainly have to be a daffodil varietal. Pretty cool! They look like yellow fireworks!

Speaking of out-of-focus plant photos, we have lift off! I mean life! Here's the first greenery from the seeds we planted a few days back. Can you picture the future tomato plant?

DESIGNER BAG: Last week we stopped at a thrift store to drop off a bag of clothing. Naturally, we also left with a (smaller, at least) bag. One of our scores was a silver vinyl bag I snatched for $3. "You can do something with this," I told Annabelle.

The something she did was (at my exhortation) convert it into a custom Queen (the band) bag.

One side now sports a silhouette of Freddie Mercury. ... 

 The other has silhouettes of the band members' faces from the cover of their album "Hot Space."

Annabelle used her Cricut (a cool, programmable design cutting machine), and some heavy duty 'outdoor' vinyl to create the images. 

They look so great!

SENSORY: We continue to learn about bees before we take possession of thousands of them in our hive in the not-too-distant future. 

Using the PerfectBee curriculum, we learned that bees possess a delicate sense of touch throughout their body, and that their antennae are especially receptive. This is important, because in the darkness of the inside of their hives, senses other than sight are important, and touch is essential.

This cool video below shows how bees keep their sensory antennae clean, so that they're ready to be receptors. 


We also learned about the bees' waggle 'dance.' By their movement, they communicate important information quickly and efficiently, be it about their next meal or next home. Amazing.

Secret Garden

DIG IT: We're totally enjoying a warm welcome to Spring 2019. 

Yesterday, we visited a "Pea Patch" (community garden) in West Seattle. It's a small spot, easy to miss. But what a treasure! We had a picnic dinner and enjoyed it at a park table and benches. There were ornamental cherries in bloom. So pretty!

And there were lots of beds in baby steps, ready to start producing produce. Cool that part of the garden bolsters an area food bank.

AWESOME OPPORTUNITY: Thursday morning, we tuned into a live STEM in 30 webcast. It featured National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution curator Tom Lassman, who was ready to answer questions and talk about the future of commercial spaceflight. We watched via the STEM in 30 Facebook page, and viewers were encouraged to submit questions as a comment under the video feed post.

We were about 5 minutes late to the broadcast, but late was better than never. I was kind of mortified to see (per the Facebook graphic) that only TEN people were watching. :(

Fortunately, one of the 'ten' was an entire classroom somewhere. But still, seemed like under 50 people for such a cool event. :(

Anyway, we totally took advantage of the situation. CJ is currently enrolled in the Washington Aerospace Scholars program, and his next essay is supposed to be about what kind of aerospace-related career he might be interested in. CJ loves research and history, and is a really strong writer, so he's interested in museum curating and communications as it pertains to aerospace. We were watching via my desktop, so I posted the following question: "My son is interested in working as a museum curator in the future. Any advice from Mr. Lassman about college classes to take or pathways to pursue toward that goal?"

His question was answered post haste, and you can see it in the video below (fast forward to about 17 minutes in). Pretty cool to have access to ask Mr. Lassman a question, and CJ quoting that answer in his essay for Washington Aerospace Scholars will probably look pretty legit. 


Also worth noting: During the webcast, the host pointed people to a Smithsonian website: ISS Science. 

I gave it a brief look and, Wow! We'll definitely be visiting it in the future. Lots of great resources for teachers and engaging information for students of all ages. 

Something Fishy

BIRTHDAY BASK: Tuesday, one day short of spring, the temperature was nearly 80 degrees and it was Ivar's birthday. Both causes to celebrate. :)

If you live in or around Seattle, you know of Ivar's, a chain of seafood-focused fine dining and take out cafe restaurants. March 19th is the birthday of Ivar Haglund. This excerpt from the Ivar's website sums up the genesis of the Ivar's legend. ... 

The story of Ivar's Seafood Restaurants began in 1938 when 33-year old Seattle native Ivar Haglund opened his city's first aquarium on Seattle's Pier 54. Droves of people lined up and paid a nickel to view the sea life that Ivar had collected from the surrounding Puget Sound. Noticing that his patrons often came with an appetite, Haglund began to sell red clam chowder and fish n' chips from the site—an instant success that began his career as a restaurateur.

Smart guy, that Ivar. :)  All of the restaurants in the chain offered buy one (full price), get one entree for $1.14. Great deal! Count us in.

So, the kids (and the dogs!) and I went down to the Renton waterfront Ivars for lunch on Tuesday.  Seems like we were not the only ones with that idea. ;) All totaled, that venture was 45 minutes between waiting in line to order, and waiting for the food. While the kids did the line/food stuff, I managed the dogs, who were pretty unmanageable.

However, the food was good and the sun was delightful and we felt bad that Christian missed it so we went for Round Two when he got home. I stood in line and ordered and waited while the kids and Christian took a lakeside walk.

There is a big deck repair project going on outside of Ivar's.

The work included a patriotic crane. ;)

We checked out the Boeing plant, of course. 

And we thought this 'island' looked like a perfect spot for a future picnic.

EJECTION: Interesting news from asteroid Bennu. Would you believe it's spewing particles from its surface?  Check out this photo, taken on Jan 19, 2019, by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft:

(Image: © NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/Lockheed Martin)

NASA reports the 1,650-foot-wide Bennu "is one of just a dozen or so known 'active asteroids' — and the only one to be observed up close." 

During a March 19 news conference, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator Dante Lauretta, of the University of Arizona, said the discovery "is probably the biggest surprise of the early stages of the OSIRIS-REx mission and, I would say, one of the biggest surprises of my scientific career," 

The OSIRIS-REx mission launched in September 2016 and arrived in orbit around Bennu on New years Eve, 2018. In mid-2020, the probe will descend to the asteroid and collect a sample, which is supposed to be returned to Earth in 2023.

Sunny Days

HOT STUFF: Spring has sprung! ... 

OK, not technically, yet, but Monday was the warmest March 18 on record at Sea-Tac Airport, according to  the National Weather Service.  It was also the warmest winter day on record (spring doesn't really start until March 20), and it was the earliest day in the calendar year to hit temperatures this high. And Tuesday was even hotter, with some thermometers registering 80 degrees!

The daffodils have been pushed out of hibernation and into full bloom. The one below is from a a pair of bulbs I dug up and we brought with us when we moved. I wanted to take them with, because CJ and Annabelle planted them when they were super young, and I couldn't bear to leave them behind.  

The sunshine felt delightful, for sure. The weather definitely spurred us to get our garden going. We planted dozens of wildflower seeds along our driveway, hoping they'll be food for our future bee hive. And we sowed some leek seeds for fun.

The seeds were all a couple of seasons old, so we'll see what happens. We figured putting them in the ground was better than chucking them in the compost bin!

We also got our indoor starts started. Here's hoping we have some pepper, tomato and sprouts soon!

INVESTIGATION: The past couple of weekends, we've spent a few hours getting to know our "new" oven. 

Actually, it's not even close to new. It's an old beauty - a 1962 Frigidaire Flair Custom Imperial.

I think I first saw one in the mid-1960s, on the television show "Bewitched." 

The one "Samantha" is standing at is *just* like the one we now own.

We bought it months and months ago, from a private party on the Olympic Peninsula. The woman said she was told everything worked on it. We had no way to test it (it has a funky old plug), so we had to take her word for it.

It has been sitting in our garage for months now, but we think we have our kitchen remodel pictured, and before we committed to that and built it around this old stove, we wanted to make sure the thing worked. Christian managed to make an outlet for it in the garage. We fired it up and there was good news and bad. The good news was the two front burners and the left/small oven worked. The bad news? The big oven didn't heat up at all. Neither did the back burners. 

Naturally, Christian saw this as an exciting challenge. ;) He dove right in, and I jumped online. 

One thing we learned from the Internet is that these units have a switch in them that won't allow the back burners to turn on unless you have the cooking surface pulled out all of the way.  We made sure that we had the burner unit slid all the way out. It still didn't work. We still suspected it was a switch issue and Christian located the two switches. Lo and behold, one of them was badly broken.

Christian fashioned a splint for it, sandwiching it between two Popsicle-type sticks and secured it with hardcore glue. After the glue dried, he reinstalled the switch, and guess what? It worked! Woo hoo!

There are still a few things to check out on the unit, but overall, we're thrilled that it works as well as it does.

 On one peek inside the unit, I noticed a wiring diagram on its 'ceiling.' 

 That diagram might come in handy in the future. 

The oven needs a super thorough cleaning, but now that we know that it works, we can move forward with our kitchen plans. 

Super Saturday

CEREMONIAL: On Saturday afternoon, we headed to the Rainier Beach Community Center, for an awards ceremony for a t-shirt design contest Annabelle had entered a couple of weeks prior. 

When we arrived, we found Detective Cookie's Chess Club was underway in a room at the center. We all joined in the fun. CJ and Annabelle played against other kids. Christian and I played head-to-head. Playing chess was a nice way to kill time while waiting for Detective Cookie herself to arrive. She came about 1:30, and the awards ceremony began shortly thereafter.

Since January, a contest had been running where people of all ages from all over were encouraged to submit designs for a t-shirt to promote the under-construction Detective Cookie Chess Park.

There were lots and lots of entries. Here are just a few. ... 

And then here was the winning one ...

It was drawn by none other than Annabelle! 

Detective Cookie said she and a couple of other people were judges for the contest. She said they loved that the shirt depicted that chess was for all ages, and that it is about helping people. 

It's worth noting that for her design, Annabelle's chess pieces were inspired by a couple of cool statues in the park by artist Peter Reiquam. 

COMEBACK KIDS: Right after the awards ceremony, we had to race north to Magnuson Park, where Annabelle had an Ultimate (Frisbee) game. The league she plays in has rather atrocious "organization," so, as usual, the field they were supposed to play on at 3:45 was being used by other teams.  Fortunately, Annabelle's team and their opponents were able to find a patch of grass to play on. At one point, Bee and her team were down 5-1, but they managed to fight their way back, and the final score was 5-6. It was a sweet victory! 

WORDY: We play tabletop games all of the time, but it seems like I can almost never convince the family to play word games with me. However, they finally relented and were good for a round of Bananagrams this weekend. It's kind of like Scrabble, in that you make words connecting crossword style. Each player starts with 21 tiles, and makes and many words as they can on the table in front of them. You can reject one of your letters and throw it back in the pool of tiles, but you have to draw three more, then. When you run out of tiles, you 'peel' another letter from the pile, and everyone else has to 'peel,' too, The winner is the one who uses all of their letters and there are only a certain amount of tiles left in the pool (three in our game with four players).

Here were a few of CJ's words.

 And below are some of Annabelle's.

It's a fast, fun game.