• About
  • scribbles
  • Tribute to Rose

Rajalary

~ The adventures of Richard and Julie Lary

Rajalary

Monthly Archives: September 2009

Cat Report Cards

27 Sunday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Cat Diaries

≈ Leave a comment

Our pet-sitter leaves a daily report of when she visited and what occurred during the visit. Here’s a snippet of what she wrote:

9/19: The kitties all greeted me at the door with Pu’Yi acting as main guard! Everyone got treats. I turned the sink on for Juju and everyone got lots of petting!

9/20: Everyone, even the birds, were napping as I arrived. Zephyie and Pu’Yi competed for attention, with Pu (of course) being more vocal.

9/21: After the kitties got their treats, I headed downstairs to take care of the birds and [litter] boxes. The racing from one end of the house to the other was noisy — Juju and Pu’Yi were having quite the race.

9/22: This morning your steps were carpeted! [the cats pull the rugs down the stairs] Pu’Yi won the purring contest, but Zephyra was a close 2nd.

9/23: Pu’Yi made himself very scarce today and Annie was a bit grouchy (do not pet me)! Juju got his water facet fix in twice and Zephie enjoyed the catnip most of all

9/24: Pu’Yi was not going to miss out on treats today! he was front and center when I went into the kitchen. Jujube got his water fix, of course. Z. was needing lots of love. Birds are noisy!

9/25: The rugs were creatively rearranged and everyone got catnip along with their treats today. Someone vomited in the laundry [room]. Your kitties will be so glad to see you!

A Week of Amazing Sailing

27 Sunday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Sailing

≈ Leave a comment

The 120 pictures we took have been downloaded and edited, clothing washed and put away, sailing gear stashed away, left-over food tossed in the refrigerator… time to start writing about our adventure of sailing in the Puget Sound on Wave Dancer, a 34-foot Hunter sailboat.

Ominous Start
For our first day, Rich charted an aggressive 17 miles. We’d loaded our three bins, four duffle bags, and ice chest onto the boat in advance of the captains’ meeting at 9:30 so we were ready to set sail as soon as the meeting ended and we completed the boat orientation with someone from
San Juan Sailing. Since we charted Wave Dancer last year, the orientation was quick with the manager of San Juan Sailing going over the finer points of how to use the navigation, radar and autopilot on the boat. Wave Dancer

It was a glorious, sunny day with a strong wind that begged us to unfurl the jib and mainsail. The boat responded beautifully, reaching six knots as it heeled in Bellingham Bay. Then Rich looked up and exclaimed “Oh no.” The tack of the mainsail was flapping in the breeze. We quickly pulled in the jib then gingerly rolled up the mainsail. The thick woven strap (tack) that holds the mainsail to the boom was shredded. “Our vacation is ruined,” exclaimed Rich. I thought otherwise.

We immediately called San Juan Sailing and they told us to sail back to the marina. Within moments of our arriving, a jack-of-all-trades set to working sewing the strap back together using a special needle that was attached to a bobbin of heavy, waxed thread. He initially sewed the two pieces together, knotting each stitch then wrapped the rest of the thread around the strap to create a super strong loop. I took several pictures, but they’re on another camera, which I left in Mount Vernon.

Within an hour, we were back on the “water” and sailing towards Inati Bay on Lummi Island.

Magically Sucia
Rock formationHands down, the most interesting place we visited was
Sucia Island, which is now a Marine State Park. In Spanish, sucia means “dirty” or in a nautical sense “foul” because the underwater reefs and rocks, and jagged shore – formed by the folding of the earth’s crust — is dangerous to ships. 

The rugged landscape of Sucia proved beneficial to smugglers of illegal Chinese laborers along with illegally imported wool and opium in the 1800’s. During Prohibition it was used by rum-runners and most recently, drug traffickers.

Rock formation_2 After anchoring Wave Dancer, Rich (dwarfed by the rocks in the pictures to the right and below) and I took the boat’s dinghy ashore and cautiously stepped from boulder-to-boulder, marveling at the geological variations. The cliffs had been worn away by centuries of pounding water, exposing layers of sediment and carving the harder rocks into interesting shapes. In one area, the rock had a “bubbly” appearance.

As we rounded a bend, the rough rocks turned into a pebble-strewn beach. We followed a path to higher ground and walked a few miles to the far end of the island to a sandy beach, which a passing hiker called “the busiest place on the island.” Sure enough there were several dinghies on the beach along with people who were camping, kayaking or boating in the area. There are five coves around the island with mooring balls and docks for boats of all sizes. Plus, there are facilities to camp and picnic along with an underwater scuba park.

What makes Sucia so facinating in the range of landscapes. The western side of the island where the waves are the strongest, the beach consists of slaps of enormous rocks with large appliance-sized boulders. The protected side of the island has pebbly and sandy beaches. The top of Sucia is a thick forest with native plants and wildlife like deer and raccoons.  

Rock formation_3 After a restful night, Rich attached the outboard motor to our dinghy and we embarked on circumnavigating Sucia along with the eleven satellite islands. It was a brisk morning and the island was just starting to wake up. Seals bobbed along the shore then ducked into the water in search of breakfast. Along a particularly rocky sloop, we spied a large light gray seal. We motored closer and from underneath a ledge, a brown otter tottered out to investigate the noise.

On a rocky cliff, we came upon a cormorant rookery (below). Throughout our trip, we saw dozens of these perky birds, often catching a ride on a floating log or thick patch of seaweed and kelp. We also saw numerous blue heron, which can be very vocal; their call described as a “harsh croak.” Because I love blue heron and believe that they bring good luck, my ears are tuned to their call. It’s a thrill to see them in flight with their six-inch wing span, long graceful necks, and long-thin legs stretched out, rather than tucked under their body. By the water edge, they can stand perfectly still, graceful sculptures in shades of gray. Comerant rookery

In a dinghy (and even more so in a kayak), you can motor close to the shore and zip between the islands, some of them less than a mile in length and a short walk from side-to-side. Depending on the tide, you can walk across rock bridges to the islands. Although the harsh terrain and unpredictability of the sea can make it dangerous to get too close to the rocky outcrops, surrounding the islands.

Below are more pictures from Sucia. Stay tuned for more pictures and adventures from our sailing trip. How birds travel in the San Juan Rock formation_4 Rock formation_5 Sucia Island Sucia Island_2 Sucia Island_3

Sailing… Sailing on the Briny Sea

17 Thursday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Sailing

≈ Leave a comment

On Saturday morning, we’ll be loading up WaveDancer, a fabulous 34-foot Hunter sailboat that we’re chartering for an entire week from San Juan Sailing in Bellingham, Washington. I’m super excited because we chartered this boat last year… and on the final day of our charter, I completed my bareboat certification. In addition, we celebrated our six year wedding anniversary on this magical boat.
 
This year, we’ll be celebrating seven years and I won’t have to worry about taking a written or practical exam at the end of our trip! Although, Rich would like me to get my coastal navigation certification, which happily is just a written test. I enjoy charting and doing the math so I shouldn’t have a problem earning this certification.
 
Meanwhile, for the past few weeks, we’ve been accumulating food, clothing, sailing gear, and miscellaneous stuff to take – including CDs for our listening pleasure, trivia game to play at night, passports (in case we drift into Canadian waters), stacks of magazines, video camera, digital camera, GPS, emergency radio, our favorite snacks (including a box of macaroni and cheese), two bottles of wine, and a large feather quilt for warm on chilly nights.
 
I’ll be snapping lots of pictures and have stories to tell in late September… stay tuned!

Day of Caring

11 Friday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Health and wellness

≈ 1 Comment

For the Microsoft Day of Caring, I volunteered to teach basic computer skills at the Kirkland location for Hopelink, a non-profit organization that offers more than 40 services to help homeless and low-income families, children, seniors, and people with disability become more self sufficient.

I started writing this blog while waiting for others to arrive. In the background, I could hear the clatter in the food bank, which is at the back of the building. I peeked through a door where other volunteers from Microsoft were sorting donated goods.

My heart is pounding because I remember helping at a food bank in Austin, Texas when I worked at Dell. It was heartbreaking to sort through and clean discarded and donated goods that would be given to those in need. From high-end grocery stores came canned white asparagus, petite peas, and other esoteric gourmet foods.

Most canned and packaged goods, came from everyday grocery stores. Boxes of dented cans, returned items, meats and dairy products with dates nearing expiration, droopy or excess produce that couldn’t be sold… torn bags of dog and cat food, opened or dented boxes of feminine goods and cosmetics… virtually anything that couldn’t be sold to consumers with money in their pockets.

The horror of food banks isn’t the food. It’s the realization that the donated foods and goods are often not enough to meet the needs of the low-income, homeless, working poor, elderly, and others who don’t have the means to feed themselves let alone their families.

Although, Amy Arquilla, a senior manager with Hopelink, commented that she believes the Kirkland food bank fulfills the needs of most people in the area. In addition, it’s open extended hours and set up like a grocery store to make it easy to “shop” for food.

She had noticed, however, that for the past fourteen months there’s been an increase in people coming to Hopelink and the food bank. "Many people are a paycheck away from having to seek help," she explained. Others – the working poor – have paychecks, but they’re insufficient to cover basic needs from housing to transportation, insurance, utilities, healthcare, and food.

According to Amy, a livable wage on the east side (Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, etc.) is $22 per hour. The minimum wage in Washington is $8.55.

The least expensive apartments in the area range from $785 for a 506-square foot studio in Redmond to $995 for a 784-square foot one-bedroom in Bellevue. If you work 40-hours per week at $8.55 and are in the 25% tax bracket, after paying the rent on a $750 apartment, you’d have $69 per week for food, transportation, gas, utilities (i.e. phone, cable), insurance, healthcare, and other necessities.   

Amy further elaborated on the working poor, mentioning that the Redmond Target and Home Depot allow people who live out of their cars to sleep in their parking lots as long as they leave by morning. Unaware that the Day of Caring party was schedule to be held at the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in affluent downtown Kirkland, Amy commented that the homeless spend the night in places one wouldn’t expect, such as the parking lot behind Purple!

I’m intrigued and horrified to take Amy up on her invitation to cruise around Kirkland, Redmond, and Bellevue at 2 a.m. and see the parking lots where the homeless are sleeping in their cars. As she spoke, I recalled that a large white van has been parked towards the back of our neighborhood Safeway. Inside lives a woman and her small dogs.

Just three miles from our house, and close to Hopelink, is the Holy Spirit Lutheran Church where one of the largest tent cities in the area is erected. Every few months, the tent city moves to another church! Looking on the Internet, the church unabashedly announces on their home page that the tent city will be located in their parking lot from August 1 – October 31, 2009.

I don’t know if I can sit idle. They’re asking for volunteers to serve meals… I need help…

Seadragon Experiment

08 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Microsoft

≈ Leave a comment

If you ever wanted to enlarge or scroll around an image that’s posted on the Internet, Seadragon technology from Microsoft Labs might be the answer. Seadragon makes it easy to enlarge, zoom and pan around an image to view the details… such as a map, drawing, panorama, or the produce displayed by a grange… Grange.large

The image to the right was reduced in size, but not compressed to retain as much detail as possible. As a result, it’s 165KB versus 63KB in the article below. After publishing this article, I’ll send the URL to www.seadragon.com and see whether it can be made into a "navigatable" image.

Okay, see the image in the Seadragon viewer.

Colors of the Evergreen State Fair

07 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Travel

≈ Leave a comment

On Saturday, we zipped to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, which is about 20 miles from Kirkland. I thought the "State" in the title signified it was the State of Washington fair; however, upon arriving it was obviously a county (Snohomish) fair. Nevertheless, they had a nice assortment of livestock, handicrafts, point-of-interest, events (i.e. rodeo, monster truck races, and singers), and ghastly food.

One of our first stops was a heritage museum, which had a nice  display of vintage farm equipment. I’m intrigued by such equipment because much of mankind has depended on its ability to plant, grow, harvest, and preserve crops. Even ranchers depend on farmers to produce hay, corn, and grains to feed and fatten their steer, swine, and poultry.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the tractors. Tractor.blue Tractor.red Tractor.brownTractor.beigeTractor.green 

Next, we tottered to the diary, goat, and sheep barns. We learned that diary cattle are feed a small, but powerful magnet that stays in one of its four stomachs where it attracts bits of metal that could be mixed in with feed or in a pasture. A diary woman explained that they recently slaughtered one of her cows. They found the magnet in the entrails; it was covered with pieces of metal, including a small piece from a barbwire fence.

Understandably, if a piece of metal were to travel through a cows digestive system, it could puncture the cow’s intestine, resulting in an infection, or death. Goat for mohair

Diary cows are very skinny with large, protruding hip bones because most of their energy is used to produce milk and calving. Most of these calves end up as veal, separated from their mothers within a day of birth.

Yes, the diary industry isn’t much better than that for beef cattle.

Goats. like cattle, are also raised for meat and milk. Although, I think most goats are allowed to run free rather than be cooped up in feed lots or barns. And some lucky goats, like the Angora goat above are raised for their fur (mohair).

Sow with babiesDon’t get me started on pigs. Here’s a picture of a mother pig with her babies. Notice the owner holding a bucket under her butt to catch her poop!

Even though I don’t eat beef, I’m starting to think about phasing other meats out of my diet! 

It was a welcome relief, therefore, to visit the buildings where the only thing slaughtered were fruits, vegetables, flowers, nuts, and grains. I always enjoy seeing the displays by the local granges. The wealth and breadth of food grown in Washington is astonishing when you look at what’s produced in Grange.first placeby this grange, which won first place. Along with fruits and vegetables, they displayed dairy products, grains, nuts, seeds, wines, and flower bulbs.

I also liked the display for the third-place grange (below). The produce is displayed in a tree-like shape in the center with jars of grass seeds at the bottom and baskets of eggs, flower bulbs, peppers, and nuts at the top. I can discern some of the labels on the large mason jars: Spinach, secret pizza sauce, dell pickle relish, Hollywood plums, sauerkraut, mince meat, barbeque pork, pears, grape juice, potatoes, dill pickles, corn, spicy dill pickles, tomato beef sauce, spiced tea, peaches, and apricots. 

The amount of work that goes into these displays from canning the goods (time consuming) to finding the perfect produce is mind-boggling It take an entire grange (community) to create a winning display! Grange.third place

Other displays at the fair included textiles (quilts, clothing), baked and canned goods, decorated cakes, cut flowers, flower arrangements, bonsai, photography, crafts (needlepoint, dolls, woodworking, collections, scrap booking, etc.), and place-settings (usually a part of 4H).

There was also a large area where handmade yarns were displayed along with hand-knit sweaters, hats, and other clothing. Quite a few women were sitting in this area, displaying weaving, spinning, knitting, felting, and croqueting. I was intrigued by the variety of yards and the ribbons awarded to them (below). Yarn.ribbons

Our next stop was the industry building, which features booths of hawkers of every ilk from Mary Kay cosmetics to rubber roof shingles, replacement windows, cleaning products, pots and pans (that clean up in the blink of an eye), saunas, hot tubs, chiropractors and massage equipment, car wax, truck bed liners, and this year’s elixir… tubs of ghastly concoctions that remove impurities from your body just by soaking your feet for an hour or so.

Hello? Hello! Soaking your feet in goo can’t cure cancer let alone relief your achy back!

As I write this entry, I’ve been listening to the rain (finally) and realize that not only is the fair season drawing to a close, but so is the warmth and colors of summer. Brrr… I think I’ll grab a sweater!

Amazing Raku Vase

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Hobbies

≈ Leave a comment

While at the Oregon State Fair, we wandered into the Willamette Art Center. Located at the fair grounds, it offers year-round ceramic classes and events. In the center’s gallery, I found a small shell-shaped raku plate for the unbelievable price of $6. I was titillated because I love raku and have a dozen or so pieces.

Raku is a type of Japanese pottery that is fired at a low temperature then removed from the kiln and placed in water, on straw, sawdust, newspaper or other organic materials to create unusual and often unexpected patterns and colors.

While paying for the shell plate, one of the potters mentioned that I could glaze and create my own raku vase at the fair’s Artisan’s Village. I nearly stumbled over my own feet in my haste to get to the village. Within in minutes, I spotted an amazing vase with a chop (signature) on it. I knew it was special and more telling, it was screamed at me to be painted.

After paying for it, I set to work picking out glazes. The pottery to be fired is known as greenware. It’s a pleasant pinkish beige. The glazes, even though they have dramatic names like Reynolds Wrap and Brilliant Purple, are muddy colored. You essentially slop them on with a brush. With raku, however, any area that isn’t glazed turns black when fired because of the fumes from the smothering organic material.Vase front

In addition, the place in the kiln where the piece is place and when it’s removed from the kiln contributes to the resulting color. I was just thrilled to have the opportunity to create a raku vase!

After I glazing the pot, we spent the next few hours going through the livestock, horse, and poultry barns along with visiting the 4H building. When then returned to the Artisan Village to check on the progress of my vase. What I saw brought me to tears. The vase is indescribably beautiful…

More extraordinary… the vase was thrown (created) by Brian Ransom, a Portland born ceramic artists who makes ceramic instruments from clay. His work is breath-taking. I’m humbled to have one of his vases. I’m hope he likes how it turned out!

My Sister

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Health and wellness

≈ Leave a comment

When I visited Portland, Wendy, my best friend and soul sister, met me at the train station. I was thrilled to see her! She is the most upbeat, determined and resourceful person that I’ve ever known. Wendy

She’s been a public speaker under the name "Infectious Enthusiasm," done community outreach and marketing for a hospice, the Salvation Army, Girl Scouts, Portland Community College, and other civic and non-profit groups.

I’m convinced that she knows almost every cool woman in Portland and some in Seattle. When I first moved to Seattle, I took her to the Microsoft company picnic and she immediately spotted someone that she knew!

While I was a wallflower in high school, she was the homecoming queen. She’s blond and fair skinned with smile that lights up the room. She’ll walk up to anyone and start a conversation and vice-versa. As the maid-of-honor at my wedding, she was equally the bride, radiant, greeting guests and making them feel welcome.

Here she is with my mother at Marine Polis Sushiland in Tualatin (before I figured out how to remove the black-and-white feature from the camera I was using). She bravely ate the plates of raw and somewhat cooked fish that I plucked from the conveyor belt. 

She is more than a friend. She is my sister for ever and ever!!!!

Horns, Beaks, Noses, and Oh My!

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by rajalary in Entertainment

≈ Leave a comment

On Saturday, I went to the Oregon State Fair in Salem. The 11-day fair has opened the day before so only half of the paddocks and cages in the livestock, horse and poultry barns were filled with animals. Nevertheless, there were enough critter to enable me to snap a few shoots of horns, beaks, noses, and "oh my." Horn2Horn1Beak3Beak2Beak1Beak4Nose3Nose4Nose1Nose2 Ball3

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • November 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007

Categories

  • Cat Diaries
  • Computers and Internet
  • Coupeville
  • Entertainment
  • Family
  • Food and drink
  • Gardening
  • Health and wellness
  • Hobbies
  • Holiday
  • Home Improvement
  • Invocations
  • Microsoft
  • Motorcycle accident
  • Mount Vernon
  • Movies
  • News and politics
  • Politics
  • Puget Sound Islands
  • Rich Lary Realtor
  • Rose's Writings
  • Sailing
  • Seattle
  • Texas Life
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Rajalary
    • Join 108 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Rajalary
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar