Early Summer Scenes

JUST ONE: Our solo sunflower bloomed this week. It's not big, and it's not strong (it falls over all of the time), but it is pretty.

While admiring the 'chocolate' sunflower, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad about my alien garden art standing next to it. Check out how the black paint on its eyes is flaking terribly.

I asked our resident artist (Annabelle) to see if she could do something about it.

She scraped off the bad black and simply used a Sharpie to make the statue look much sharper. It's *so* much better!

PUFFY: A few evenings ago, we were headed toward home under clear blue skies. However, to the south, we couldn't help but notice TOWERING clouds

They were cloaking Mt. Rainier entirely. In fact, it's obvious the mountain created the micro climate around it so that the clouds accumulated there. It was really pretty and really interesting.


TABLE TIME: This week, we made it a point to get back to some gaming. It seems like that pretty much stopped when the pandemic started. We played the easy and always fun UNO, the cute and competitive "Llamas Unleashed," and a looooong round of Zombie Fluxx (not as much fun as the other themed Fluxx games, in our humble opinions).

CANCELED: My morning Google calendar alerts have been like salt in a wound for months now. Every morning I have a notice about my upcoming events for the day, and every day it's fun stuff that's been canceled.

Tonight, CJ and Christian should have been seeing Ozzy Osbourne at the Tacoma Dome. And that's not a date that will be rescheduled. Ozzy has been diagnosed with Parkinson's, on top of a host of other ailments he already had. 

Today's COVID-19 casualty was the annual 7-11 day, where the store gives out free Slurpees on July 11.

They didn't want thousands of people streaming into their stores today, so no special Slurpee day. 

This photo was from 7-11 day back in 2012. 

I told the kids they would still get their annual treat, so Christian took them to a nearby 7-11 (with masks on, of course), and they got a socially distanced Slurpee. As the old jingle goes, "Oh thank heaven for 7-11."

Sign of the Times

KEYS TO THE CITY: Yesterday evening we were out looking for some good takeout (that ended up being an epic quest) and out of nowhere, CJ said, "There's the Key Arena sign." 

I had heard earlier in the day that the iconic keys and Key Arena signage were coming down. It didn't say when or where they were going, but lo and behold, when we were on Marginal Way just south of The Museum of Flight around 8 p.m., there the keys were.

Turns out trucks were taking them to Tube Arts, a neon sign business.

I wonder where they'll wind up. Maybe the MOHAI, the Museum of History and Industry?

Amazon bought naming rights for the remodeled historic Key Arena. The new name is Climate Pledge Arena. I'm all for climate change awareness, but that name ... on that arena. Awkward, at best, IMHO.

Click here to see cool photos of the keys coming down: https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/hockey/keyarena-no-more-watch-the-sign-come-down-as-climate-pledge-arenas-transformation-continues/

https://twitter.com/i/status/1281018885492203521

Per press releases, goals for the arena are to be 100% powered by renewable electricity by 2024. They're also for a zero-carbon footprint, produce zero waste, source food locally and all single-use plastics will be eliminated.

NO FAIR: Yesterday, the Washington State Fair announced this year's fair is cancelled for the first time since World War II.

We have so many fond memories of trips to the fair. And today, we actually tried to tap into that - there was a pop up "fair food" food truck at the Walmart down the hill from us. 

I was working and couldn't escape, but Christian took the kids down there midday. Christian reports it was "the longest line I've ever seen."

I thought that might have been a bit dramatic, but between social distancing and it being at a Walmart, it probably looked like that.

So, the family came home with no scones, but the fact of the matter is, they're barely glorified biscuits, and you can buy the mix at countless local stores. Also, The mix is available on Amazon. 

Red Rover All Over

Laboratory in Pasadena, California, engineers observed the first driving test for NASA's Mars 2020 rover on Dec. 17, 2019. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Activities today included Japanese, Algebra and mowing the lawn. The highlight of today was a one-hour live workshop presented by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories. It presented an in-depth look at how the Perseverance Mars rover will explore the science of the Red Planet, building on our understanding of the planet and preparing for future human missions. 

Experts featured in the presentation included Systems engineer Christina (Diaz) Hernandez and education specialist Brandon Rodriguez.

To date, the surface of the Red Planet has been visited by eight NASA spacecraft. Perseverance, set to launch on July 20, will be the ninth. It's the first that is expected to gather Mars samples for future return to Earth. 

If all goes well, Perseverance will touch down at Jezero Crater.

Here's what CJ had to say about the show. 

Earlier today, NASA's JPL broadcast a short livestream about the Perseverance rover, set to be launched into space later this month. The livestream gave a cursory overview of Perseverance's features, and what we should expect from the rover once if it makes it to Mars' surface. 

One of the mechanical instruments highlighted the most during the livestream was named the "Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals," AKA SHERLOC (a backronym referencing fictional detective Sherlock Holmes). According to NASA's website, SHERLOC utilizes "spectrometers, a laser and a camera to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life." Some NASA researchers even believe that microbial life may have existed on Mars over three billion years ago. Another tool used by Perseverance is appropriately named WATSON, another backronym, this time referencing Sherlock Holmes' fictional assistant John Watson. WATSON takes high-quality pictures, useful to NASA researchers back on Earth's surface.

And here's what Annabelle had to report. ...

NASA’s Perseverance rover has quite a few different tools and devices on it to help study the surface of Mars. The SHERLOC lens examines the particles in the ground for organic material, which is paired with the high quality WATSON camera to take pictures of what’s found. Another tool right next to these two on the rover’s arm is the PIXL lens, which can detect the elemental compositions of the soil. Mastcam-Z, located on the rover’s ‘head’ is sort of like the rover’s pair of eyes. They’re a set of 2 advanced cameras that can take both full-color panoramic pictures and smaller stereoscopic 3d images. 

In addition to these cameras, Perseverance has a few sensors that can get some very interesting readings from the soil in non-visual ways. The RIMFAX is an in-situ radar that can drill into the Martian surface and give us our first-ever look at the surface below! Most excitingly, MOXIE is an experimental tool on board that can superheat the air and potentially convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, meaning potential human astronauts would have a much easier time breathing on Mars!

You can watch a replay of the broadcast here ... 


Explore related education resources and events at https://go.nasa.gov/teachingspace

Road Trip

MANY MILES: This holiday weekend, we made a "quick" trip to Central Oregon and back to see some family. It's about 327 miles each way. "Our" mountain is Rainier. Above, Mt. Hood was our view to and fro this weekend. 

We left campus at 8:10 a.m. on Friday. Our first stop was Lake Oswego, to see Christian's dad and his wife, three hours south of Seattle.

Actually, that wasn't our true first stop - we drove through Papa Pete's in Ridgefield, WA, to pick up a couple of pizzas for lunch. :)

In Lake Oswego, we had a nice visit and watched water skiiers on the lake before heading south to Bend, another 3+ hours. It turned into 4+ hours due to traffic. It seemed like every other vehicle was some sort of RV. That definitely underscored our need to leave really early Sunday to try to beat most of those RVs home. 

Bend was fun, as always. We were able to spend cherished time with family, have some super good eats and enjoyed watching the local fireworks on the Fourth of July. Among other things, it's really fun listening to the different bird sounds. I was wishing I'd had my real camera (instead of just a cell phone) to snap some shots. Next time.

On our way up north, we stopped in unincorporated Hazel Dell, WA, for lunch. Good ol' Muchas Gracias, yummy Mexican comfort food served out of an old A&W in this location. As we sat in that parking lot, I had an urge to go see a place just a few blocks away where I spent countless hours as a kid. It used to be my mom's beauty shop on the left, and my maternal grandparents' residence to the right. Now' it's single family residential.

It's nice to see whoever's there now is house proud. The picket fence and flowers are sweet.

Upon arriving home, we found our Crososmia, a small member of the iris family, close to exploding.

Kennedy was kind enough to dog sit for us. Not an easy task on any day with our neurotic, IQ-challenged pups. Imagine how much more 'pleasant' that was during the Fourth of July weekend.

Below is a photo he took off the deck of our pandemic pantry.

Break on Through to the Other Side

TEAR DOWN THE WALL: The fun never stops here at MPA. This weekend's thrills included finally punching through the wall separating the kitchen and the living room/view.

We've wanted to do that since the day we moved in here about three years ago. Below is the monstrosity looking from the living room to the north.

And below is the ugliness from the other side. The hideous cabinets and oven have to go to, but one thing at a time. We removed the over-the-oven microwave and the upper cabinets will be torn out soon. 

The kids wanted to get in on some of the demo work. 

This isn't the first wall they've helped knock down, that's for sure. 

We only made a little portal for now. I was so fixated on opening the view to the south, that I wasn't really thinking that from the living room we'll now be able to see the kitchen. We're going to have to up our kitchen cleaning game, I'm thinking. 

HOT AND COLD: Meanwhile, in other home improvement fun, this weekend we poured a new concrete pad on the west side of the house. It will serve as a new platform for the new heat pump we hope to have installed within a couple of weeks.

That will be a game changer - no more oil furnace and air conditioning on demand. Hooray!

LOVE BUG: Daises are blooming all over our yard right now. There are hundreds of them. 

I cut some that had been knocked down by a rainstorm and stuck them in the cute little Volkswagen planter Renee bought for us. 

Perhaps not too surprisingly, it turned out there was a bee on one of the flowers.

Speaking of bees, we've had another swarm take off from the western hive. Crazy. That's three swarms this year already. It's actually a good sign regarding the bees' health. The colony is thriving to the point that they grow to a point of overpopulating the hive and take off! 

Sign of the Times

BATMAN FOREVER: This message is on the marquee of the historic Kiggins Theatre in the smallish town where I grew up. Its sentiment is powerful ... but I also wear the mask to protect perfect strangers. Everyone deserves that kind of consideration and respect. 

Speaking of masks, how do you like CJ's new look?

IT IS WRITTEN: Annabelle recently wrapped up a two-month class on Outschool. It was our first experience with this pay-for-classes platform. 

Following, she tells you more about it. 

My Creative Writing-character building and story development class on Outschool was an opportunity for me to learn from an actual published author (Jessika O'Sulliva) about what goes into good character arcs, character-driven stories, and how to brainstorm new ideas. The class lasted about 8 weeks, meeting once a week over Zoom in the mornings 

During the class, most of our homework was dedicated to brainstorming short scenes or arcs for our already established WIP characters and stories that we came into the class already writing. Jessika coached us through different ways you can develop a story, including everything from dramatic events that can kickstart your character’s journey to how to pitch your finished product to agents for publishing. I learned a lot about the writing process during this class, and I feel like I can use the information I’ve been given to really improve my stories and ideas in the future.

TAKING STOCK: Most all of our shelves are in, so we're starting to fill them in our new storage space off the kitchen. 

I do wish I had found flooring already. Because when I do, all of this is going to have to come back out. Sigh. 

End and Beginning

LAST RODEO: It's all such a blur, I honestly can't remember how much I've posted here about my job of the last 6 weeks or so, working for the Washington's Employment Security Department (ESD).

It has been an eye opener. The tsunami of COVID--19 has crashed on the unemployment department so hard. They are dealing with over 1.1 million people with claims. The demand is unprecedented and, as you might have expected, led to some serious problems. Even just managing the volume would be hard enough, and then factor in a Nigerian crime ring hitting the department. It's a mess. :(

I tried to leave it better than I found it, and in my closing hours exchanged emails with a high, high up policy person about (fixable!) deficiencies in the management, training, and more. There are a whole lot of people there at ESD who are  so well intentioned and are working really hard -  but maybe not as deftly as they could and should be, IMHO.  I do feel like I was listened to. I do hope things will get better.

Monday I start my new gig - back with King County Elections. I *really* enjoyed working for them during the presidential primary. 

NIGHT GARDEN: I usually only shoot our 'campus' during the day. Over last weekend I took a few nighttime shots. 

Here's the upper east deck, complete with a hops plant climbing the wind-fueled art.

And right now our front yard is exploding with daisies! I took a photo of some under our porch light. It was so bright, they were in full bloom at about 10 at night.e

ALL IN: Last night, we watched a Washington-centric special, All in Washington. It was a program to raise spirits and money, featuring a number of our favorite local artist. We donated, and so did many, many others.

If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch the special, too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08BQ6XG9L
We re-watched it again tonight.

The event raised over $45 million for Washington's most vulnerable.