Walter turns 50

Saturday night Walter turned 50.



Lovely Courtney arranged a Super Hero Surprise Birthday party. Super hero's form around the world attended.

So many Super Heros attended I am finding it hard to list them all.

• Social Justice Man
  
• Business Man


• Sunshine Girl


• Princess from the land of Lovlonia


• Flashing Flat Fixer Man


• Hell Boy


• of course Bionic Birthday Boy


• Electro-Cute

to name only a few of the great costumes ...after introductions
a wild game of T-shirt Jeopardy broke out. Everyone played at Super hero speed and Walter, of course won most of the prizes, as he should have, it was his party and he was the one with the correct answers. Comic books for 500, please how could we compete?

Arron Runs Portland Meadow

Friday Arron and the rest of his fast paced Snohomish X-country team cut class and headed south to Portland to race Saturday September 29 in the Nike Pre-National's. The weather was perfect for the challenge, Snohomish runners ran and other teams stepped aside to let the Crimson Tide through. Snohomish Boys are currently rated 3rd in state while the Girls are holding on to 1st, ho-hum 5 years in a row now ... Arron met his goals and surprised everyone with his new blue porcelain spikes. But really Arron, you can run on the bottom of the shoe, I will buy you more spikes if you wear these out.

Drive to Portland and home work

Warming up

Running like a pro...

It is over ....
until Thursday ...

Arron's Cross Country Schedule

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Corrections and updates

1. The Thursday Snohomish Meet is being moved, I assume because of construction at the high school. The new location is rumored to be Arlington in the River Meadows Park.
2. The Race time for Arron's group in Portland Meadows is 12:50 leaving me with only my Super Hero dashing time to be back by the magical start of evening activities local time.

Arron Runs Wild on Whidbey

Arron running his first meet of 2007.
Holding his own against the others Arron stands out in Red.

Leavenworth the non hike

Dark grey clouds had filled the sky over night blotting out the moon, the morning air was heavy with moisture, the kind that can not be mistaken for fog, no this was the moisture that dripped from the sky with a purpose. It was rain, true undeniably wet drippy, soaking wet, Seattle rain, and we were going hiking.

We gathered at the invisible park & ride along I-5, just north of Lynnwood. I was last to arrive even though I was 2 minutes early, the anxious crowd of would be hikers were - you will love this... they were sitting in their cars talking to each other on cell phones because it was raining too heavy to open the windows. YEP we were going hiking

I started doing the unthinkable; I got out of my car and stood in the rain while I gathered my hiking boots and back pack. Slowly others realized and the gear was loaded. Soon we were off and driving north towards Hwy 20. The rain now pelted the car. I had been assigned the task of back seat driver, from my position I began surfing the web, yes on my cell phone and checked the weather of various eastern Washington towns. Soon a decision was made to turn back and head east. Merle took an exit and pointed the car south back to Hwy 2.

The rain let up as we crested the top of Doe's Pass. We stopped and viewed the DoeMer Cabin over looking the valley and Big Rock Mountain. The actual cabin may not exist but I could see it, hot tub and a cool bear rug in front of the fire places.

The rain stopped and we went exploring, to my amazement we found the lost portal to the under world. Of course the "man" had posted the entrance to keep us out. He claims it is unsafe but if the truth were know it would be something more sinister. We probably discovered the hidden government entrance to the underground rail road which connects to the top secret presidential tunnels in Camp David.

Energized with our discovery and new found knowledge of the portal to the under world we grew tired of exploring the vast unknown and went cabin shopping. Plus Merle told us about eyes looking at him form deep with in dark spooky corners, fun times. Check out the photos I think he was right.

After looking at one or two cabins we needed lunch, Leavenworth was closer then ever so we swaggered into town parking right in front of the local candy shop. A search of the town brought us to a back alley and a dark stair way. At the top of the stairs we found a delicious roof top restaurant. Here we dipped chips, sipped sodas and licked whipping cream off cinnamon treats. Stuffed to the breaking point we decided a little ice cream dessert was next up for tasting, seems Doe has a sweet tooth for this little shop down the street.

With fully tummies we headed west. The drive home was incredibly short almost as if I had fallen asleep. One minute we are leaving Leavenworth, the next we are in Monroe, the Doe mobile must have a secret time travel flash drive.

Back in the air

Craig called me yesterday to announce the re-birth of a wonderful flying Machine. Years of hard work finally paid off as he is now flying this nicely restored Aeronca. The last time this airplane flew in the blue was 2002, not really it was actually in 2001, I just could not resist. Setting his goals high this airplane will have 40 or more hours in the air before winter sets in. I sure hope it doesn't interfere with snowboarding this winter.

Clicking the link above will take you to the yet unfinished web with photos 10 of his 14 airplane projects.

Park Butte - Mt Baker

You can tell from this photo of Snow and Mt Baker that if you were doing something else last Saturday, you are to be consoled. Perfect blue skies, temp, and no bugs made this one of Anno's Top Ten Hikes. Early risers Moe and Doe beat us to the trailhead by a few hours. They will have to write their own report, but they have more photos with better quality than my little Chocolate produces - but, I can't complain about the weight.

We drove up Hwy 530 which was part of the fun. No traffic and beautiful scenery - takes a little longer than the I-5 route. We hit the trail at 10:45 and only passed a few other hikers. The trail is groomed and easy except for the washed out areas. Those more experienced inform me that a big bridge used to cover what is now primarily a rock expanse. Beware, the manageable creek that you cross on the way up becomes more challenging as the snow melts in the afternoon. I'm guessing a few late isers found that out the hard way.


Here you see the fetching Anno place hiker under her spell to build plank bridge for us to cross part of the rushing waters. Most of this hike, and we took the Railroad Trail which follows a ridge to a park near the glacier, offers stunning views of Mt Baker and an impressive panarama of peaks and valleys. Also, you will find primo camp platforms, where we enjoyed our lunch.
We found some awesome mushrooms for our pizza (below) and fought off bears for our blueberry dessert.

Spotted the Doe-Moe Element still in the lot as we drove off at 2:45. We weren't worried. I'm sure Moe carries life jackets for river crossings...

Sunday Sept 9th

The Kirkland Concours d'Elegance is a charitable organization, benefiting two of the Northwest's finest healthcare intuitions dedicated to helping children, "Children's Hospital" and "Evergreen Healthcare". Each year the Kirkland Concours is held on the beautiful grounds of Carillon Point, and hosts approximately 80 of the finest antique, vintage, classic, and exotic automobiles selected from around the United States and Canada. In addition to these marvelous examples of rolling art, there are always a few special displays, which in the past have included vintage boats, motorcycles, and other private collections. In the first four years of its existence, the Concours has raised over half a million dollars for its charities.

Icicle River Walk

A complete 180 from last week's Crankcase was the peaceful and picturesque Icicle River Walk at Leavenworth. An added benefit was escaping the throngs of shoppers in town two blocks away. We started at the east end and walked west over Blackbird Island to the golf course and back. Noticed there were lightposts along much of the path so must go back for a night stroll. I'd also recommend a float down this calm section and hitting the rope swing on the other side.

This excursion included Carly, Carolann, Sarah - tame on the trail, but lethal on the golf course. I know my limits. Gina and Snow led but stayed away from the camera. Walk took about an hour.

Later in the evening, I took Bo Bo the Shiba up Moon Canyon (between Leavenworth and Plain) where the only wild life we saw were two bikers, one who crashed right in front of me, and a truck full of hunters. Somehow I didn't feel as safe with Bo as in the past with Angus so I ran all the way back to the cabin. I should thank them. (In the past I have seen deer and a wolf. Others have seen coyotes, bear and cougars.)

Turning Green

In the beginning, for this post the beginning will be 1988 as a point of reference. Jeep made a baby blue Comanche. This truck was driven by a lovely family of whom we have never met. Along about 2004 this nice family set their young truck free to see the big world. Corey, like the truck was soon to begin discovering the big world. The two came together and before long they had a strong relationship. Corey and the truck drove each other around town. One day the truck was feeling shabby so it whispered in Corey’s ear about how a nice new shinny paint job would feel so good. Corey decided a nice shinny new paint job would look nice too. Along about the end of July Corey started twisting bolts and unscrewed nuts pulled out windows, flooring and about anything he could unbolt, screw, break or other wise remove. Now in the first of September we are finally seeing the blue all but been sanded away and replaced with a fresh looking paint, the same paint you would find on the new 2007 Jeeps, 2007 Jeep metallic green.