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~ The adventures of Richard and Julie Lary

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Monthly Archives: April 2009

Fabulous Weekend

27 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by rajalary in Travel

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Late Friday afternoon, Rich and I picked up our motor home in Mount Vernon, loaded it with food, clothing, and a newly purchased inflatable canoe, then set out for Deception Pass State Park. Rich had made a reservation weeks earlier so we simply needed to drive to our campsite, connect the water and electricity, and enjoy a candle-lit dinner of rotisserie chicken, baked potatoes, salad, and kalamatta olive bread dipped in roasted garlic olive oil. 

With a sliver of sunlight remaining, we quickly cleaned up then walked to the beach to gather rocks – mostly white and cream-colored quartz – and listen to the waves crashing on the shore. The beaches in the Pacific Northwest are rugged with rocks and pebbles instead of sand, and huge piles driftwood from fallen trees and branches.

There were several elaborate lean-tos, built from the driftwood, on the beach. Rich and I crawled into one then realized if it collapsed, no one would hear our cries. We envisioned being featured on a TV show or Website as one of the dumbest ways to die. 

Coming to our sensed, we scurried back to our motor home, using a dirt trail instead of the well-lit road. We had to strain our eyes to see the boulders and roots in the path. We could have easily stumbled and been featured in the dumbest way to break a bone.

The next morning, we hopped on our bikes and rode to another beach. We thought we could ride on the sand, but it was too soft and akin to pedaling in gooey mud… not fun and lots of hard work. Nevertheless, we got to watch several people in sea kayaks practice flipping over and righting themselves up. I now have no desire to ever go sea kayaking. The idea of being upside-down in frigid water, teaming with Orcas whales, and struggling to flip myself over, without slithering out of the kayak, doesn’t appeal to me.

Our walk/ride on the beach ended by the Deception Pass Bridge (below). Built in 1935, the bridge connects Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982.  Before the bridge was built, travelers had to hit a mallet against a metal lumberjack saw to summons a ferry boat captain who would take them from one island to the other. Deception Pass Bridge

Crossing Deception Pass is a tricky feat even in today’s powerful boats. At peak current of 8 knots (9.5 miles per hour), almost 900 million gallons of water pour through the deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fucas with the Saratoga Passage. The only boat that I’ve seen go through the channel is a high-speed tour boat. And supposedly, several gutsy Navy pilots from the nearby base have flown under the bridge.

After dragging our bikes from the beach up to the highway, we decided to ride on a “perimeter” trail. At first, we encountered several large boulders and roots, which forced us to walk our bikes. The trail then evaporated into a narrow foot path that zigzagged along a rocky slope.  In certain places, Rich had to carry my bike because I didn’t have the strength and balance to hold the bike up while clambering up the rocky boulders.

Nevertheless, the view and the surrounding flora were spectacular. On the sun-baked slopes was pale green succulents interspersed with delicate red, yellow, white, and purple wild flowers. In the bay below, the tide was completely out, leaving a dozen or so boats resting on the muddy bottom. Several blue heron took advantage of the receding water, prodding the mud with their long, sharp beaks for morsels of food. Of course, we didn’t have our camera!

Canoe after maiden voyageOnce we got back to our motor home, we ate a quick lunch then laid-out the canoe, which was flat with a multitude of zippers, tubes, and baggy canvas. I was pleasantly surprised as Rich pumped it full of air. As you can see in the picture, it’s fairly large and amazingly comfortable. Once assembled, we were able to easily carry it from our campsite to Cranberry Lake, a 15-minute walk. The lake had once been filled with sea water, but natural springs in the area eventually flushed out the salt water, leaving a calm, trout-filled lake.

We gently placed the canoe in the water and eased into the seats. Rather quickly, we discovered that the canoe was best powered by having me paddle with one half of the kayak paddle and Rich with the other. In this manner, we balanced out each other. Plus, it gave me something to do.

I was amazing at how easy it was to paddle around the lake. I can’t wait to try the canoe in other waterways, such as Lake Sammamish by Microsoft and Lake Union in downtown Seattle… and so many other places that will be fun to see from the water!Captain Rich

Because the weather was so perfect, cool with clear skies, after canoeing, we headed back to the beach to watch the waves and hordes of people also enjoying the evening. With summer solstice two months away, the days are getting long in the Pacific Northwest with dusk arriving around 9 o’clock.

Sunday morning, we awoke with no aches or pains so we jumped back on our bikes and did more sightseeing and rock collecting. Around 1 o’clock, we sadly headed back to Mount Vernon to unpack the motor home, run some errands then head south to Kirkland and our workaday lives.

From canoeing to enjoying time together in the motor home, it was a fabulous weekend!

Big Printing Presses

21 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by rajalary in Mount Vernon

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On Saturday afternoon, Rich and I visited the Skagit Publishing open house in Mount Vernon. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a press used to print newspapers.

The 125-year old company had recently located to a new $13 million, 59,0000-square-foot building, which was designed to house the newspaper, sales, advertising, and commercial printing staff along with an enormous press and associated equipment for cutting, sorting, and collating the four newspapers produced by the company. Below is a picture of Rich learning about the machine that inserts flyers, ads and other inserts into newspapers.  Rich learning about the collating machine

The printing press is over two stories high and must be the length of a football field. Giant rolls of newsprint are feed into the press, which prints in four colors — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black — then folds, cuts, collates, and stacks the sections of the newspaper.

While I’ve seen many presses that are used for producing brochures, business cards, posters, and other printed pieces, I’d never seen a press for newsprint. Because of their size and expense there are probably only a handful of such presses in a state or region. Julie and Rich at printer

Here’s a picture of Rich and I with the Skagit Publishing mascot. Notice my stunning Mickey Mouse overalls from Goodwill. Rich and I had earlier been doing yard work at our Mount Vernon house… actually, we usually dress the Mr. and Mrs. Bumpkin!

The flyer we got from Skagit Publishing lists these facts about the building:

  • Eleven miles of CAT-6 computer wire
  • Press foundation contains 56, 16-inch diameter cast concrete pilings up to 80 feet deep
  • 50,000 tons pre-load dirt
  • 1,700 cubic yards of concrete
  • 75 tons of reinforced steel
  • 616,000 pounds of structural steel and metal building components
  • 307,000 lineal feet of wire containing 38,000 pounds of copper
  • 33,500 lineal feet of conduit

Flower Fields in Bloom

06 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by rajalary in Mount Vernon

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The start of April usually signals the beginning of the Mount Vernon Tulip Festival. However, Mother Natures thought otherwise. This year, she brought months of unusually cold, wet weather. As a result, few tulips are in bloom and festival activities are on hold. Flower fields

Driving out to our lot on Anacortes, however, we passed a few fields of daffodils, which were very dramatic. 

I can’t wait until the tulips bloom. We plan on riding our bikes through the area to see the many fields of not only tulips, but irises, daffodils, narcissus, and other spring bulbs. Click here to learn more about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and see pictures.  Flower fields2

Jujube Loses Two Toes

06 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by rajalary in Cat Diaries

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Several months ago, Jujube started to favor one of his front paws. As the weeks passed, he started to limp and shake the paw. When a lump formed on the top of the paw, we realized that he might have a serious issue. Jujube's paw

Sure enough, the vet took multiple x-rays and determined that Jujube had a growth on his foot that could be bone cancer. Amazingly, one of the vets where we take our cats is considered an expert on such an ailment. He wanted to immediately amputate two of Jujube’s toes! The cost? Don’t ask!

Rich and I were torn as to what to do. In the end, we decided to go ahead with the surgery since Jujube is only five years old and the vet assured us that the growth was only on his fourth toe. They planned to remove his “pinkie” toe too to ensure that they got the entire growth.

If you’ve ever seen an x-ray or skeleton of a cat’s foot, you’ll know that only the last knuckle of the toe is separate from the main foot. The rest of the toe extends up to the ankle. Humans, in comparisons, have longer “fingers” with two knuckles and three sections of bone that join the palm. Juju spread out

When you remove a cat’s toes, you remove 1.5 to 2 inches of bone. In Jujube’s case, half of his front foot was removed!

Happily, we made the right decision!

The biopsy indicated that a growth was “eating” the bone and would undoubtedly, spread up the foot.

Since his surgery, Jujube has learned how to walk on half a foot. He certainly has enough energy to chase the female cats around the house and strike a macho pose on our deck!

Sweetie-Pie and Pot-Pie

06 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by rajalary in Seattle

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It was bound to happen… I talked Rich into allowing me to buy dog food to feed the raccoons that wander through our backyard. Every evening, I put out bowls of food for the raccoons and opossums.

Several months ago, when it got dark in the late afternoon, the raccoons would sneak onto our porch and chow down. I had to turn on the deck lights to see them. PuYi and a  raccoon

Now, with it staying light longer, they show up long before dark. And if I haven’t put out their food, they stand on their hind legs, plant their paws on the french doors, and look inside to see if anyone is home!

Last Saturday, we got home around 6 o’clock at night. There was still several hours of light so Rich let Pu’Yi and Jujube outside. A few minutes later, he checked on the cats. They were sitting several feet apart on the deck. Equal distance between them was a raccoon, looking into the house!Jujube and a  raccoon

I quickly got some dog food; Rich gingerly opened the door. The raccoon skirted around Jujube and hid until Rich put the bowl of food out. Check out the pictures.

We have at least two visiting raccoons. The smaller one is Sweetie-Pie and the larger is Pot-Pie. We also have visiting opossums. They have long, bright pink toes. Our most frequent visiting opossum is named P.T. (Pink Toes). A smaller, more elusive opossum with a deformed back foot also visits. He or she has yet to be named.

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