Updates

A satellite image of the Northeast Pacific taken by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Sept. 12.

NOAA

SMOKE STACK: Another day, another smoke 'storm.' I could literally see the cloud rolling in from the southwest this afternoon. Don't get me wrong, it was already *plenty* smoky, but it became even worse. Shortly thereafter, my eyes started (and haven't stopped) working. 

Here's what the Environmental Protection Agency  has to say about what we're breathing:  "The biggest health threat from smoke is from fine particles. These microscopic particles can penetrate deep into your lungs. They can cause a range of health problems, from burning eyes and a runny nose to aggravated chronic heart and lung diseases. Exposure to particle pollution is even linked to premature death."

Forecasters keep promising rain, and we did get a brief (two minute) shower last night, but it's not nearly enough.

You know, 2020, Dumpster fire that it is, has been a real eye opener and a 'great' reminder of how many things we take for granted. Things like being able to go outside without getting sick. Ironically, it's also the year you're supposed to try to do things (socially-distanced) outside, because being inside is so dangerous thanks to COVID.

FINALLY, FAN PHOTOS: For weeks, I've been wondering what happened to the cut outs we ordered of CJ and Annabelle for seats at T-Mobile Park during this COVID-shortened, no-live-fans Mariners' season. 

Back in July I received an email from the Ms with the location of the Rick and Kennedy cutouts I'd ordered. I didn't understand why I didn't get an email about where CJ and Annabelle are located. 

Today, I finally started investigating and realized that Christian's email address was listed on that order. I asked him about it tonight and sure 'nough, he has had that email notification sitting in his inbox for weeks. Sigh. But better late than never.

Can you spot CeeJ and Bee in section 143? 

They're pretty much in the center, in row 2.

I couldn't help but notice that they're seated in the section we were in for the last game that Felix "The King" Hernandez pitched as a Mariners player. 

Yesterday, the Mariners surprised us by inviting us to pick the cut outs up after the season is over. That was a big surprise, because when we bought them, we were told often and emphatically that they would be recycled post-season.

I told Christian I suspect the Mariners' organization realized a marketing opportunity to get their most ardent fans to the team store likely drove the decision. I also predicted they would pitch ticket plans during pick up. By responding to the pick up survey, it sounds like I was right on both counts. 

Short Stuff

SPA STYLE: We're keeping busy, in the pandemic sense of the word. Plus, I'm working long hours, hence the lack of blog posts. Apologies to those who are actually curious regarding what we're up to.

Last week we fit in a Birthday Dreams donation cake. The teenager chose a spa theme. (Name on cake above is obscured.)

We looked online for ideas and more often than not, the cakes included makeup, spa masks and such, so we used those ideas as inspirations.

First, we had to bake the 3-layer cake. It had to be lactose free, so that was an extra consideration. It was also one of the reasons we chose that cake/kid, because we knew they were likely not to get a cake if it came down to Birthday Dreams having to buy them a store bakery one. 

Once the cake was baked and built (filled and iced), it was a matter of decorating. Annabelle crafted nail polish bottles, lipstick, eye shadow, and more as cake toppers. 

I wish I had taken better photos of the cake. The two here don't do it justice.

LETTERED: CJ is pretty much consumed with politics at the moment. I think it will be good for him once school starts Sept. 29, to get his mind back on classes and away from the ugliness that can be current events. In the meantime, we have at-length discussions about all of the many, MANY things so wrong with the world right now. It ranges from forced hysterectomies at the southern border to the founder of cray-cray QAnon being from Mukilteo, a town just to our north. 

I challenged him to do something other than doomscroll, and write a letter to his senators. He is focusing on the disastrous fires and climate change. The letter writing process has been an ongoing edit and re-edit affair over the last couple of days. I have stressed to him that the communication should be constructive, and offer resources and a buy in instead of just a bitch out. Stay tuned for a final missive.

Flighty

BACK WHERE WE BELONG: On Labor Day, we had a glorious time. We actually went to a museum for the first time since March. And not just any museum, but The Museum of Flight, one of our favorite places on Earth.

The museum reopened on Sept. 5, with special COVID precautions. They can only have 25 percent capacity, there's a ticketed entry, and a lot of things are off limits. 

I renewed our membership and signed us up for 10:30 tickets. We were all smiling broadly approaching the front doors (where there were safety checks aplenty). The place is enormous and cavernous and we felt like we were the only ones there most of the time.

We chose to spend most of our time out in the airpark, where an eclectic collection of planes are on display, including a Concorde. My, what a long nose it has. 

We also checked out the flying fortress. There are a number of reasonably realistic statues around the grounds, and I always like cajoling the kids into posing with the statues.

I think my favorite plane in the collection is the second ever Air Force One. It's just *so* mid century modern.

I just love all of the keys and buttons and switches. So high tech for the era!

The obligatory presidential toilet shot.

Every time we go to The Museum of Flight, we see something new. This trip, we spied where President Lyndon B. Johnson used to hang his hat in the plane's meeting room.

The galley is on point - specifically, on Hotpoint.

Surely some important announcements were made over these devices.

Another first-time notice: These signs in the galley. I love the "we the ground crew" repeated references. 

Even the handle on the escape hatch has high style.

We also checked out the space gallery, of course. 

After checking out exhibits, we parked ourselves on the patio and did some plane watching in the sunshine. It was a little slice of heaven. 

It felt *so* good to go to a place we love and enjoy it like "normal" times. 

GOLDEN: We have tapped into the hive for the first time this season. The haul was nearly two gallons of liquid gold! And it's so delicious. It's very different from last year's crop. You can taste that the bees found the the clover field that we planted for them. Yummy!

GOOD ONE: We've had this game kicking around our cupboard for a couple of months. We finally got around to playing it this week. Fun! We'll be playing it again. 

Quick Trip

WINGING IT: Thursday afternoon we headed to Seatac to hop a flight to Las Vegas. A bit of  curious thing to do during a pandemic, we have to admit. 

We had purchased the tickets way back in January or February, before COVID was a thing here in the U.S. Now it's very much a thing, and the airline industry has been hit hard by the pandemic, as people pretty much quit traveling for awhile.

We were definitely in the 'not going' camp until very recently. We researched what flying is like now, made sure the airlines we were flying had strict mask policies, read up about changes at the airport and decided that the chances were we could safely fly.

For the flight we wore N95 masks covered with yet another mask (two layers of tightly woven cotton with a high tech filter in between). We had copious amounts of hand sanitizer, and eye protection during the flight. We also took an immunity booster for days before the flight, and used Nozin pre-flight (I learned about that from my friend who is an RN and works with COVID-+ people every day). We purposely booked the last row, so that no one was sitting behind us, coughing or sneezing on us. 

We weren't too happy to see that Spirit Airlines did not have social distancing on their plane what so ever. The flight was full, with strangers sitting shoulder to shoulder.  I would not fly them again during the pandemic, that's for sure. They did announce that their cabin air is filtered and 99.999 percent of bad stuff is filtered out and that the cabin air is refreshed every 2-3 minutes. We hoped that was true

The flight was uneventful, and we were on the ground in Vegas by 4:30. We went straight to R&R's house, where an inviting pool and two adorable Doberman dogs were waiting. 

Strudel likes wearing a damp towel around to help him cool down.

We spent a lot of time outside, and practiced social distancing inside and out. We stayed at a hotel not far from their place to help with distancing and limiting exposure. 

I had to work on Friday, so Christian and the kids went swimming and hit a couple of stores. 

Rather than going to a risky restaurant, we had dinner at R&R's on Thursday and Friday - take out. 

CJ didn't sleep well on Thursday night, so he was pretty tired on Friday. He and Pretzel hung out on the couch, not socially distancing. 

By Friday evening, CJ was struggling to stay awake. Rachel suggested he go upstairs and lay down 'in the pink room' for awhile. CJ headed upstairs ... and took a wrong turn at the top.

Imagine our surprise when it was discovered that he had gone into R&R's bedroom and climbed in their bed and napped with Pretzel. OMG. Worst COVID guest ever. 

Later, I asked CJ why he did such a thing. He replied, "I was really tired, the walls looked pink, and, most importantly, Pretzel was there."

I can agree with the first and last part of that explanation, but not the middle. The walls did not look pink whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Annabelle spent time with Strudel, without violating any COVID precautions.

DERBY DOINGS: On Friday evening, while watching the Vegas Golden Knights win the final match in a best of seven series against the Vancouver Canucks, out sports talk turned to Saturday, and the Kentucky Derby. We wondered what coverage would be like without all of the rich people in fancy hats in the stands. 

I suggested it would be fun if we had a very minor Derby celebration, with some kind of Kentucky food (no, not Kentucky Fried Chicken) and mint juleps.

I started Googling Kentucky recipes, and the first and foremost finding was something called a Kentucky Hot Brown. Not a very appetizing name, but it's a (usually) open-faced sandwich, with turkey, roasted tomatoes, a cheesy sauce, bacon, and more cheese. I followed a Bobby Flay recipe, it was pretty decent.

I also made a metric ton of potato salad (which had nothing to do with Kentucky). And Christian was the only one made a mint julep.

LEAVING LAS VEGAS: Turns out Saturday evening is a good time to get out of Sin City. We walked right up to TSA and scanned through no troubles ... well, except for two bottles of water and two beers Christian had stashed in my suitcase without telling me. That was an unpleasant surprise. When the TSA agents asked me about the liquids in my carry on, I had no idea what they were talking about. Word to the wise: Don't stick things into someone else's suitcase without telling them. Oh, and for 19 years now, since the 9/11 attacks, you have not been able to take liquids like that on a plane. Guess it's been long enough that some people had forgotten that.

As always, our gate was as far as possible away. We had to take a tram and walk and walk, but eventually made it there. 

We had about 10 minutes to kill, so I told Christian to take $20 and go hit the big one.

Shockingly, he came back $20 poorer. Go figure.

Soon, it was time to board. By choice, we were in the back row again. Delta does things differently, and the last rows load first. (That makes sense, really.) So on we went. There was just one person in the row ahead of us, and no one for a few more rows forward. The stewardess said there were a total of 29 people on the flight. It was boarded quickly and we were on our way.

The Boeing 737 we flew was a much newer, prettier and more well-appointed plane than the Spirit shuttle we were packed into on the way down.

Each seat had its own screen. I like being able to monitor the flight's progress. 

We waved at Nonnie and Bops as we flew over Bend.

Below, you see the snow-capped Cascades near Bend.

Annabelle had a view of a sunset, with spectacular colors courtesy of smoke-tinged skies due to wildfires.

This is what flying during a pandemic looks like. Doubled up masks and goofy goggles.

We appreciated the safety reminders on the seat screens.

This notice was also somewhat reassuring. Hopefully it's true.

Playing Catch Up

It's been a busy week. So busy, that I have neglected to blog about it.

We have taken some time out though to just have a sit (outside, of course) a favorite spot to relax, Super Deli.

While we were outside a could is nights ago, we were joined by a mantis. When it flew to our table, I thought it was a big moth, at first. Imagine our surprise when it ended up landing on the ground next to us. Christian gently picked it up, and the creature hung out with us for about a half hour.

It was totally chill, and seemed not to mind human company at all. It stated at us with its huge eyes and moved its antennae around. Pretty cool.

A friend of ours told us it was back again the next night! Guess it's become a regular.

REDDY: We are finally to a point where we have almost too many tomatoes.

 It's about time! It's September, after all. But better late than never! 

CAKING IT: Another thing keeping us busy earlier this week was a custom cake for a family friend. We don't make cakes for $, but will do them as a favor from time to time. Our friends offered to make a donation to Birthday Dreams in exchange for a cake for her daughter's 10th birthday. That sounded like a great idea, so that's what we did.

The birthday girl wanted to design her own cake. It was a take if two cakes, really. One side was a sunset, the other was nighttime.

First we made four layers of a vegan chai spice cake with vanilla bean filling and frosting. Then it was time to start decorating. How do you like our makeshift paint "booth"? The big cereal boxes act as a backdrop to catch over spray.

We also had to make vegan fondant (with agar agar) for the trees, roses, tulips and carrots.

Annabelle did a nice job air brushing the gradient sunset colors.

And below is the dark side.

The two scenes were the same. Each had a tree, a rose, three tulips and two carrots.

The report is that the birthday girl was thrilled with her custom cake. So yay for that!