Outdoor Lighting

When the landscaping people dug up the front yard, I took that chance to bury a 12v line that ran to the corner. This weekend I spent wiring up about 20 lights. Its fun, but involves a lot of squating and bending. I also ended up under the house in the crawl space pulling wires so they are all hidden. I have lights in the front, corner, and across both sides of the front of the house. They provide accents to all of the rocks and plantings we just did, and they throw light on the walk way and on the house. I'm happy with the way it came out.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to the EMP Museum, but they don't allow photography. After that we walked through the NW Folklife festival -it was not quite like the Smithonian folklife festival we were used to. We spent most of the weekend doing odds and ends around the house. I got the hot tub going and the girls tried it out. Following are a few pictures of the backyard. They transplanted about 10 rododendruns, and did some general cleanup.

Orchid

Debbie bought this orchid and it seems to like the light in the entry way, its in full bloom now.

Landscaping finished!

It took a little over two weeks, but its all done. They set about 10 tons of granite, hauled in two loads of dirt, scraped away all the bad grass, mulched the whole yard, re-did all the beds in the front, hydro-seeded the front, hand seeded the side yard. In the back yard they finished the cleanup work I started, and transplanted about 10 bushes from the front yard into the back. We love the planting on the corner of the front yard. The trees are high mountain spruce, they grow only an inch a year so they will not overtake the corner. They suprised us with the little dry stream bed - it looks really nice. We are very happy with the results! looking forward to seeing the grass sprout.

Tacoma Swim Meet

Catherine swam in a meet in Tacoma on Saturday. Tacoma is about an hour south of Seattle. The pool was really crowded so Caroline and I did some site seeing early in the day. Catherine had 2 first place finishes in her heats, and a 3, 4, 5 in other heats. She took time off several events. Caroline and I drove across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and went to the observation point to check it out. They are building its replacement right next to it. Then we drove around a small island nearby called Day Island. It had several very quaint homes that I photographed. We had lunch with Morgan’s family, and then headed back home.

Landscaping

We're about half way into the landscaping project. They have basically pulled out or cut away everything in the front yard. We moved about 10 shrubs into the back yard so far. The artistic work should start soon - were anxious to see it take shape!

Old House

The girls wanted me to go by our old house and take a few pictures when I was in Virginia last week. It looks about the same, in fact there are 2 houses for sale that were for sale when we sold our house – they are just flat over priced. It was a good visit.

Mall Tour

I was in Virginia for a meeting with several people from out of town that I work with; so we did one of my night time tours of DC. It was a clear, cool night perfect for seeing the sights. The two guys had never seen DC before so I wanted to make sure they got a full dose – they enjoyed it. I also could see the Air Force monument right next to the Pentagon, but I didn’t get close enough to get a good night picture – I’ll do that next time, it was impressive.

Yacht School

We took a step closer to getting into boating this weekend; thanks in no small part to Susan coming up and watching the girls. Debbie and I spent three days on the water with another couple and a boating instructor. This is a program that a friend of mine recommended. We sailed out of Elliott Bay marina on a 49 foot Bayliner, the Morning Tide. Our instructor was “Finn” he was one heck of a good teacher.

We started with a few hours of training – casting a line, tying off, and basic navigation – and then we were off. We spent our first hour on the water learning how to handle the boat. One turn of the wheel is about 10 degrees of rudder, and makes for a smooth turn. We started learning how to do slow speed (rudderless) maneuvering by shifting the direction of the port and starboard screws. Finally we were off – cruising at a smooth 8 knots – trying to steer a direct magnetic course. The boat will do about 20 knots, but we putting along at 8-9 most of the time. Once we got across the sound, near Bainbridge island, we picked up the course we had draw out in class. Each of us took a turn steering and navigating and all did ok. I came to realize how hard it is to keep track of where you are on your course, and I worked at this the rest of the trip.

We continued learning about navigation, reading a chart, using parallel rules, divider and understanding how to measure nautical miles. I think its really smart how one nautical mile equals to one degree of latitude. The part that I developed a lot of respect for is finding good waypoints on a course so you know when to turn. We then had dinner on shore at a pub right on the dock. We were in the mid ship state room- which was like sleeping in a double wide refrigerator box! But we managed.

Sunday morning we started with some more navigation, and then continued to develop our slow speed boat control. Practiced casting off, and learned a technique for getting of the dock when the wind is blowing you into it. We steered through a number of moored sailboats in the harbor. We learned a bit more about using prop walk when docking. Next we reviewed more navigation. We charted our course to Liberty Bay where we anchored for the night.

This time we had to use the charts that we plotted earlier in the day- I learned just how fast 8 knots is when you don’t know exactly where your going or where to turn. I finally got good getting a 2 point fix, and finding navigational beacons. All the time Debbie was doing the same thing – we rotated through stations on 20 minute watches. We learned how to use the radar to estimate distance, and track contacts. We did more close-in maneuvering, practiced holding steady about 2 feet from a piling facing into a wind. This is all practice for learning how to dock. We also started reviewing some of the navigational rules – and realized how many people on the water don’t have a clue.

We anchored in about 20 feet of water, in an area where the tide was about 12 feet. There were several seals playing around popping their heads out of the water. We put out about 125 feet of anchor chain. That’s 3 * (depth + tide + anchor height). We reviewed tides and current. This is very complex but if you have the right tide charts you can look up most of what you need. We also learned about some of the hazards that current can cause – like whirlpools. Whirlpools in Deception Pass can suck down a boat our size. The trick is planning your trip so you don’t go in areas where they form when the current is over 3 knots.

Interesting info about the boat – it was a 49 foot Bayliner twin screw diesel. It had three state rooms, 2 heads, a salon, pilot house, and flying bridge - about 40,000 pounds. We did most of our navigation work from the pilot house. We did all of our maneuvering on the flying bridge. We had a 16 NM radar, VHF, Depth, Compass, and GPS chart plotter – I found the combination of Radar and GPS really powerful. You can even see navigational beacons on the radar – it’s amazingly sensitive.

Monday was the best weather we had – it was crystal clear, you could see both the Olympic Mountains and Mt Rainer. Debbie took in the anchor, and we made our way to Port Orchard – across from the ship yard. We started using the GPS – oh man it takes a lot of the pain out of navigation – it can hold a heading perfectly – adjusting for currents, wind, and tide. Knowing how to do it on paper sure makes you appreciate how much more pleasant the GPS system makes navigation. We got to practice docking and undocking – Debbie and I both were able to do it. We also did fueling and pump-out. We then motored back to Elliott bay practicing navigation - it was fairly busy so we got to test our knowledge of the rules of the water. We got back to the dock, tided it down, and hoped in the car. We got home, hugged the kids and then took Susan to the airport – Susan we so appreciate you coming up to watch the girls. They had a great time, and we thank you. Debbie did great – she handled the boat, learned the navigation, and even worked on her knots! Thanks for putting up with me!

Debbie's Birthday

Debbie's birthday was Saturday. We started out with Catherine's swim meet, during which Caroline and I got the last few presents. Since it was such a nice day, we then went by McWhirter farm to see the animals, and get a little muddy. Then we went down to Pike Street market to check out a fair, and look around. Then we made our way down to the waterfront and had appetizers. After that we drove around Lake Union and checked out a park called Gas Works Park, and then headed home and had dinner out.