23 Thursday Jul 2015
Posted in Coupeville, Family, Gardening, Hobbies, Home Improvement, Sailing
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I had fun creating an infographic that depicts Rich’s and my interests, pets, properties, hobbies, shared passions, coincidences, and much more. Click and enjoy the link below!
20 Thursday Nov 2014
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Last December, Julie received a $100 gift card for several prominent Seattle restaurants. It took until September, our 12 year wedding anniversary, to use the card. While the food was trendy and elegantly presented, it wasn’t memorable. In a sense, 2014 was similar with high expectations, and some disappointments.
We started the year with Rich diving into being a realtor for Coldwell Banker Bain. He spent months creating an engaging website – http://www.RichLaryRealtor.com – eye-catching mailers, and other promotions. For three months, he sent the mailers, and waited, and waited for a client to make contact. After some investigation, he learned the mailers were never sent because the post office’s automated mail sorting system couldn’t distinguish Rich’s contact information from the recipients’ addresses, both on the back of the card. The post office simply discarded 800 post cards without notice! Government efficiency at its best!
In addition, the few clients he engaged weren’t able to find suitable houses, struggled to sell their houses or changed their minds. While he held many open houses, nearly everyone who walked through the doors already had realtors. The handful of transactions he oversaw resulted in commission that came nowhere close to covering his costs.
By mid-year, Rich realized he 
needed to do something different. Fortunately, everything lined up perfectly, and after several interviews, in June, he secured a year-long contract role at Microsoft, testing Windows 8 applications. He works independently, testing applications on the breadth of devices from Windows phones to Windows PCs, and tablets. In addition, he works in a small lab with a bank of windows, overlooking a forested area.
Julie started the year as a contractor for Microsoft Information Security and Risk Management, creating amusing internal awareness programs. She’d started working for the group last October. While she received kudos for her work, and was making in-roads with fostering awareness of security scams, her contract wasn’t renewed, leaving her searching for jobs in mid-June.
Like Rich, her resume landed in the right hands at the right time. Two weeks after her Microsoft contract ended, she started working at Fluke in Everett. Her year-long contract was to develop and market the service programs for Fluke’s industrial tools, something she did at Tektronix and Dell. The week before Thanksgiving, however, she was told there’s no funding for 2015 so she’s back to looking for a job.
With our jobs in flux, we opted for a couple of mini, two-day vacations. In March, we went to Orcas Island in the Puget Sound, driving from one end to the other, and hiking. We took Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada, in May, spending two wonderful days walking, taking the elevated trains from one end of the city to the other, and enjoying the panoramic view from our hotel room at the historic Empire Landmark.
When it warmed up, we took several lengthy bike rides, and paddled around Lake Washington in our kayak. In late October, we had an unexpectedly magical day visiting Mount Baker, which made us realize, we really need to get out more, and tour the spectacular Pacific Northwest.
We also enjoyed gardening at our Mount Vernon house, producing bumper crops of tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, berries, and apples.
In early spring, Rich’s daughter, Stacey (above), moved back to Bremerton, Washington to work for the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. Her move gave us excuses to visit and several times ride ferries from Seattle, Edmonds, and Port Townsend.
We also made several trips to Portland, Oregon, to visit Rich’s son Chris (below) his wife Shawnie, and their two-year old, Coen. On November 18, the threesome became four with Caitlyn being born, weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces. Exciting!
While in Portland, we also met up with Julie’s cousin, Bobby (above), along with her best friend, Wendy.
As the year progressed, Doris (Julie’s mother) mobility started to decline. She was moved into a retirement home in Mount Vernon in early June, along with her cat Mei-Mei. After an initial adjustment period, she spent more time out of her room. By September, however, her strength declined along with her attitude and appetite. On the evening of October 12th, she was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia. Her health declined dramatically, and by the next afternoon, surrounded by family, she passed away.
On the p
et front, we continue to have five cats, five birds, numerous ravenous squirrels (who entertain the cats), and several visiting raccoons (one mother with four adorable babies). We take way too many pictures of Lila, our all-white cat, wearing various hats or engaged in cute behavior, which we post on social media site.
We hope you had a memorable 2014, and are welcoming 2015 in good health and spirits.
Rich and Julie Lary
22 Tuesday Oct 2013
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Gulf Islands, Haro Straits, Julie Lary, rajalary, Ranger Tug, Rich Lary, Roche Harbor, San Juan Sailing, San Juan Yatching, Sucia Island, Tug Time!, Victoria
It’s been a mixed up year for Rich and I so I’ve decided to scramble around the account of our annual trip on Tug Time, a 29-foot Ranger Tug, and focus on the highly memorable parts.
Ominous Beginnings
With forecasts predicting rain, cold, and general dreariness for much of our trip, neither one of us was particularly gung-ho about going. We packed at the bitter end, tossing in clothing, food, linens, boating gear, and other “stuff,” which was on our check-off list. We’d started this list years ago so it also included things like sunblock, bathing suits, and shorts. None of which we anticipated needing this trip.
With spirits dampened by the weather, we didn’t rush to get to Bellingham. We arrived less than an hour before the orientation for captains and crew. Rich being the former; me the latter. We half-heartedly listen, ate hotdogs and potatoes salad, provided by San Juan Yachting, and then dragged our stuff down to the boat.
After unpacking, we realized we’d forgotten to take our fleece jackets and pants. I was in a bit of panic because it’s nice to pull on my fleece after showering, or first thing in the morning when the boat is chilly. With Mount Vernon 30-minute away, Rich agreed to drive back and get the extra clothing.
When we returned, around 9 o’clock at night, we were prevented from getting on Tug Time… by a very agitated and vocal seal, which was sprawled across the dock. Last year, when we were pulling into the slip, at the end of our trip, a seal was also on the dock. It slithered into the water at the last minute, before I needed to step onto the dock to tie off the boat.
The seal we encountered the night before our departure, however, had no interest in moving. He’d found a nice place to sleep, a few feet from where we needed to step onto Tug Time. Hearing my reasoning with the seal – I couldn’t decide whether he was going to bite if I eased between him and Tug Time – several people arrived from other boats.
One man scolded me for thinking I could get close to a seal. They evidentially have no reservations about biting, and their saliva is full of bacteria. Their sharp teeth can easily tear human flesh, resulting in a terrible wound and infection.
The man then shooed the seal into the water, allowing us to safely board Tug Time.
The next morning, we had an uneventful voyage to Deception Pass. Originally, we planned on going from Bellingham to Deception Pass via the Swinomish Channel, which separates Fidalgo Island from the mainland. However, it was an ambition plan, and if we couldn’t make it through Deception Pass, we’d be stuck until the next slack (point of minimum current) tide. The current through Deception Pass can be 8 or 9 knots, which can rapidly sweep a boat against the rocks.
I’m glad Rich opted for the safer route because it gave us time to explore Deception Pass Park and learn about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Established in 1923, the park now welcomes over 2 million visitors per year. It’s the most visited park in Washington. In the 1930’s the CCC built roads, trails, and sturdy stone and timber buildings, which are still in use today, including covered barbeque areas, restrooms, group shelters, cabins, and a conference center.
Two of the buildings are now part of an interpretive center, which has displays and a short movie on the CCC. It’s extraordinary (especially in light of today’s short-sited Republicans), the vision President Roosevelt had to put citizens to work on public projects, which not only gave them a sense of purpose, but significantly contributed to strengthening the country’s infrastructure (bridges, roads, dams, etc.) and recreational facilities (trails, parks, cabins, etc.).
I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Deception Pass Park, which previously, we’d only seen while zipping over the Deception Pass Bridge which connects Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands. And several times, we’ve walked in the vicinity of the bridge, venturing less than a quarter mile on either side. The park, however, is quite large with lots to see and do.
Oh Canada… You Treat Us So Well
The next morning, it was very overcast with less than a quarter mile visibility as we headed to Victoria, Canada. Rich and I both kept our eyes on the water, listening carefully to the VHF, and trying to make out shapes in the dense, gray blur.
As we were crossing the shipping lanes, which are like giant freeways for ships and commercial traffic, we got a call on the radio. The caller wanted to know if we were pulling a barge. It took us a while to figure out that he thought Tug Time was a commercial tugboat!
When surrounded by pea-soup-consistency fog, you need to constantly watch the radar
to spot ships before they appear, and then adjust your course accordingly. If a large ship is traveling 15-20 knots in a shipping lane, by the time they spot us, tugging at 8 knots per hour, it could be too late for either boat to avoid a collision.
It took us five hours to get to Victoria, with us passing many ship, but only seeing through the fog a couple of commercial whale watching vessels. These boats travel very fast and can switch course quickly so they often zip behind or in front of Tug Time on their way to drop-off and pick-up sightseers.
Happily, the rain held off until we finished going through customs. We then docked in a light drizzle, secured the boat, and briskly walked to Chinatown for dim sum. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but they graciously heated up left-over dim sum. It was a lovely, very late lunch.
We then walked around and darted into shops until the rain necessitated returning to the boat. We read for the rest of the afternoon, and watched a silly blue heron saunter on the dock, periodically poking his beak in the water, and then springing into action, seizing a small fish, tilting back his head, and gulping it down within seconds.
After dinner, the rain ceased, and we decided to venture out for a walk. The moon was bright and the air crisp. We had a very pleasant walk along the water, in front of the government building, through the Empress Hotel, and then back along the water where we saw a river otter dashing across the docks. On our way back to Tug Time, we started a conversation with two men who were sailing a 42-foot Hunter, named Perfect Excuse, to San Francisco. They’d been sidelined for several days in Victoria because of the weather, and were anxious to take off the following morning with forecasts of clear skies.
The owner of the boat was from Edmonton, Canada, where he works in the coal tar industry. We spent at least an hour chatting about natural and renewable energy, differences between Canada and the United States, politics, and the benefits of living in Mexico.
After arriving in San Francisco, the man was going to pick up members of his family, who would compete with him in Baja Ha-Ha, a sailboat race from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
The next morning greeted us with dazzling skies and a splendid drive to Sydney, at the top of Vancouver Island. Rich and I both love Sydney. It’s the perfect-sized town with everything a person could want, plus, it’s breathtakingly beautiful.
We spent the rest of day walking around, talking to a Canadian woman about her travels and life in Canada, drinking Americanos at Starbucks, checking out books on living in Mexico and Costa Rica, and enjoying the splendid weather.
Because we were both unemployed, and feeling very unemployable during this trip, we lapsed into thinking about packing up our lives and relocating to Mexico. We envisioned living in a cute house with a VW Bug parked up front, working at minimum wage jobs, eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and hanging out at the beach.
When we returned from our trip, I was convinced a great place to move, with affordable, newer houses walking distance to the water, is Barra de Navidad north of Manzanillo on the western coastline of Mexico. However neither one of us are the type to run-away. And after reflecting on what we really wanted – a house by the water with room for our “stuff,” the cats, garden, and opportunities to occasionally sail – we realized all we had to do was continue working for a years, and then move into our Coupeville house on Whidbey Island.
Back to America
We didn’t linger for long the next morning, knowing we had to drive for many hours from Sydney to Roche Harbor, check into American customs, and then zip over to Sucia Island for the night. Roche Harbor on San Juan Island, is one of my favorite marinas. It’s a treat to walk around and admire the historic Hotel de Haro, wander through the gardens, enjoy the other historical buildings, and meander through the sculpture park.
In the sculpture park, we hurried over to an easel with a polished mirror on it. Rich then pointed the camera at the mirror to snap the reflection of both of us. Check out the pictures to see how we look zoomed in-and-out. Last year, we had fun using this technique to snap our self-portraits.
I also wrote a wish and placed it in one of the prayer urns in the park, and then gave it good spin. One of the nicest aspects of the sculpture park is the ability to interact with the artwork, touching, spinning, opening, closing, and even using gongs to punctuate the silence with a pleasant peal.
We didn’t spend as much time in the park as usual because earlier I’d received an email asking me to write-up a document for a client… since I was the only person who had the knowledge. The challenge was remembering the details with nothing to refer to on my personal netbook. Once completed, I rushed to the café onshore, and sent the email with the completed document, and we were back on the water, heading to Sucia Island.
There are several places to moor at Sucia so we had no troubles getting a mooring ball. We then took our dingy ashore to walk around. It’s an interesting island, which in Spanish means “dirty” because of the jagged shores lined with hidden reefs and rocks that could do serious damage to a bottom of a boat.
The broken shorelines is from geologic folding of the earth’s crust, exposing not only fossils, but sharp, uneven rocks. Walking along the shores is fun because you can see layers of sediment along with imprints from sea critters caught hundreds of years ago in the mud. Plus, the island is irregular with several fingers and outlying islands, some of which you can be reach on foot at low-tide.
Because the island has many nooks and crannies to explore and protected bays, it’s attractive destinations for kayakers. Anchored in the bay were two ships with Un-Cruise Adventures, which offers expeditions through the San Juan Islands for adventurous guests who have access to the ships’ kayaks, paddle boards and inflatable skiffs to explore the islands, and go ashore to hike, bird watch, and wander through the towns where the ships stop.
For our second to last day, we went to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to stretch our legs, leave our recyclable, empty trash, shower, and wander through a couple of stores. I was amused by one boat in the marina named “Bugsy Seagall.” People come up with clever names for their boats!
We spent the night anchored off Shaw Island, watching the ferries glide over the water, lit like giant ballrooms, and wandering if we’ll ever have the chance to once again charter Tug Time. We’ve enjoyed every moment on the boat!
15 Thursday Sep 2011
Last weekend, I went to the Puyallup [Washington] Fair. I’d never been before, but believing the hype was convinced it was going to be fantastic. It wasn’t. Marketed as “one of the biggest fairs in the world, and the largest in the Pacific Northwest,” it fell short in several areas.
I’m old fashioned. Relishing cavernous buildings jam-packed with animals and agricultural products. I want to see tables overflowing with fruits and vegetables, pies, cakes, breads, canned goods, stalks of wheat, jars of seeds, and giant sunflowers with blue ribbons by the best. Show me rows of quilts, hand-sewn clothes, stuffed animals, macramé, knitting, tatting, weaving, crocheting, painting, and everything in-between. Let me walk in awe through buildings full of floral bouquets, cut flowers, potted plants, and landscape displays. I want to cheer for the winners and hope the losers do better the next years.
The Puyallup Fair dabbles on the edge of what I would consider a state fair. It has 4-H exhibits, but primarily what’s exhibited is cats (I’m not making this up) and artwork by local students. They have enormous pumpkins and elaborate displays by local granges, but only a few tables of vegetables. For the most part, they have booths for agriculture groups, gardening clubs, local and government agencies, commercial exhibits (i.e. magic pots, knives, cleaning products, pain relief remedies, rain gutters and roofing, freeze dried mixes, and of course, snake oil disguised as health remedies), carnival rides, petting zoo, entertainment, and ghastly food, including deep fried butter.
One section of the flower display was notable; it featured cut dahlias along with a jaw-dropping, identical bouquets of dahlias, grown by a Dan’s Dahlias in Oakville, Washington.
When I lived in Oregon, a part of my yard was dedicated to growing dahlias.
You have the option, when growing dahlias, to leave them in the soil and wait to see if they pop up in the spring. Or, like me, around Thanksgiving, you spend half a day digging them up the plants, cutting off the stems, and then laying the tubers (usually covered with mud) on newspapers in a cool, dry spot like the garage. Every week or so, I would shake off the dirt. Around the New Year, I would divide up the tubers, and choosing the healthiest ones, which were then packed in straw.
In the springtime, when the tubers began to sprout, I’d plant them in the ground. As they grew, I’d tie the stems to bamboo stakes so they won’t tip over.
Was it worth the effort? Absolutely. I loved picking huge bouquets of dahlias and being able to give away my excess tubers to other flower-lovers.
In a sense, dahlias are like employees. You can leave them alone, hoping they continue to producing at a high level. Or you can nurture them. Help them strengthen their skills, keep them engaged by providing challenging projects, and when necessary, encourage them to expand into other areas to augment their experiences.
13 Tuesday Sep 2011
During the Labor Day weekend, we loaded our Hobby Cat kayak onto the car and headed to Alki Beach, the westernmost point in West Seattle. It was early in the morning so we got a parking spot across from a launch ramp and easily carried the kayak into the water.
It took us about an hour to pedal across the Sound to downtown Seattle. Along the way, we passed the container shipping facilities and waved to several ferries, gliding to and from Bainbridge and Vashon Islands.
We went as far as Discovery Park, before we made the journey across the water, back to Alki.
Hopefully, we’ll have a couple more sunny weekends so we can see other parts of Seattle from our kayak!
01 Tuesday Sep 2009
Posted in Hobbies
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.
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!
05 Sunday Jul 2009
Posted in Hobbies
In years past, Rich spent weeks tending to the logistics of setting up, overseeing, and cleaning up what was once the largest fireworks show west of the Mississippi, the Fort Vancouver 4th of July Show. Happily, the organizers and sponsors didn’t have enough money to host the show this year.
Originally, Rich and I were going to take a sailboat out on Lake Washington and watch the many shows in the area; however, he was asked by Western Display to oversee the Renton fireworks show. Rich hesitantly agreed.
The show is just over twenty minutes in length with a manageable 220 shells on a barge opposite a large park in Renton, which is at the South end of Lake Washington. Around 20,000 people in the park, boats, and the surrounding area were expected to see the show.
Even better, Rich felt the show could be set up with just five people: Rich, myself, Chris (Rich’s son), Shawnie (Chris’ wife), and John (Chris’ friend from college) who lives near Everett and works at Boeing.
On Friday evening, Chris and Shawnie drove up from Camas, Washington and spent the night at our house. Saturday morning, we packed up the cars, grabbed some cinnamon rolls I’d baked the day before, and headed to Kenmore, which is at the very Northern tip of Lake Washington and around 7 miles from our house. The barge was opposite Kenmore Air so we were able to see seaplanes take off and land throughout the day.
We got a good start loading up and wiring the shells (right). Towards noon, Chris and Shawnie dashed down to the VA hospital in Seattle to visit Shawnie’s dad who is recovering from an accident.
Rich, John and I nibbled on some food from TacoTime then finished the wiring, including the task, I enjoy the most… wiring the boxes. Most of the fireworks you see in a professional show are various sized shells fired from mortars. For the Renton show, we had 4- and 5-inch shells.
The rest of the show consists of boxes of fireworks (bottom). Inside the boxes are rows of heavy cardboard tubes filled with explosive powder. When a box goes off, the rows of tubes ignite, one-after-the-other, creating an explosion of color and sound. The explosives in the boxes don’t go as high as shells, but the effect is magical!
I was glad when Chris and Shawnie returned to help Rich lay-out the cables because it was getting quite hot and I was running out of steam. Plus, the barge and tugboat pushing it were going to leave within the hour. Before leaving, we made sure we had everything we needed for the long ride down Lake Washington, including subway sandwiches and bags of Cheetos, Doritos, and SunChips.
Lake Washington is the second largest lake in Washington with a surface area of 21,600 acres and 22 miles in length from Kenmore to Renton. On the west side is Seattle; Kirkland and Bellevue are on the east.
The trip from Kenmore to Renton took around 2.5 hours, which was surprisingly fast considering the tug boat pushing the barge wasn’t very big. Along the way, we passed gorgeous houses and mansions including Bill Gate’s house, which from the water is easy to miss because it blends into the landscape and looks like a peaceful lodge in the Adirondacks.
To keep a barge in one place – a necessity for a fireworks show – a tugboat captain has to constantly watch a GPS and adjust the location of the barge accordingly. The barge we were on, however, has two huge steel posts or spuds that can be lowered to hold the barge in place. You can see one of the spuds in the far right hand side of the picture below. By dropping the spuds, the tugboat captain was able to turn off the engine of the tug and also enjoy the show. Joining the captain was a deckhand and his family along with two other families who brought numerous ice chests, blankets, and sleeping bags.
Throughout the day, the Renton fire marshall came aboard the barge and conferred with Rich about the show and safety procedures. Once we left Kenmore, however, the marshall had to hitch a ride with the Seattle Harbor Patrol to get to the barge. It must have been an exciting ride because the police boat has three 250 horsepower engines that enable them to rapidly speed across the water. Here’s a picture of Rich chatting with the marshall prior to the show.
At 9:45, we collapsed the canopy we’d set up, folded up our lawn chairs, donned our life vests and other safety equipment, and got ready for the show.
Surrounding the barge were motor and sailboats, kayaks, canoes, and jetskiis. From the hills, around the lake, we could see fireworks bursts from homes and parks. Every direction, there were sparkling lights from houses, boats, and fireworks.
At exactly 10:02 the show started with a bang. For twenty-two minutes, fireworks explode over my head. And because I was so close to the mortars and boxes, I could feel every burst as it lit and whooshed into the air.
As soon as it was safe to walk on the deck, we used flashlights to look in the mortars and make sure all of the shells went off. The tugboat captain turned on a generator that powered a huge light on the barge so we could stack the boxes, and pick up the wires, tin foil, fuse boxes, cables, and riff-raff from the spent fireworks. The "men" took apart the wooden containers and disassembled the firing control panel. It took about an hour to clean-up.
For the rest of the trip, we sat on the deck, bundled in fleece jackets, listening to the sounds of the water and watching dozens of boats zoom to their destinations as the fourth of July lapsed into the fifth. We got back to Renton around 1:30 a.m., quickly unloaded our personal items, drove home, took a quick shower and climbed between the covers.
22 Sunday Feb 2009
Posted in Hobbies
My obsession with buying stuffed animals from Goodwill then turning them inside out has continued. I started re-purposing stuffed animals when I moved to Washington and badly missed Rich and the cats who were still in Texas.
To soothe the angst of not being able to see them, I’d drive to the Bellevue on Friday evenings, purchasing a basket of stuffed animals (most of which were new or barely used), and spending all weekend, cutting, yanking out stuffing, re-stuffing and sewing. Because the animals are turned inside-out, their seams show along with the back-side of their eyes, which makes them look funky.
Some of the elements, like their feet, ears, tails, and clothing, I don’t turn inside-out and simply sew them back onto the animal. The effect is a little unnerving!
I must have made dozens of these inside-out animals in the past 18 months or so. Most, I gave away. Some like a small stuffed Hello Kitty, I had to keep!
I donated three to the Microsoft auction to raise money for charities. The first three pictures are the three I donated to the auction with Chicken Little raising the most money, $30!
Met and Target, below, I made for a woman who liked dogs. No doubt, someone bought Target at a Target store then realized a year or so latter that they didn’t need him. Met was probably given out by insurance representatives for MetLife. They were fun to make!
08 Tuesday Jul 2008
Posted in Hobbies
Rajalary 