My Sister

01 Tuesday Sep 2009

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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!!!!

Finally Caught Raccoon

27 Thursday Aug 2009

Posted by in Cat Diaries

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Last night, after several nights of vigilance, we were able to capture the baby raccoon that we’d seen the week before, struggling to get up onto our upper deck. It appeared that it’s back was broken because it was dragging its feet.Attempt to catch raccoon

Last Saturday afternoon, Rich and I spent a couple of hours building the contraption below and testing it on Pu’Yi, our placid Siamese. The concept was to put a bowl of food in the middle of the tarp. Ropes were secured to the four corners of the tarp then threaded through a hoop. The hoop was attached to a rope that lead up to a pulley that was at the top of the ladder (we had to use two ladders). The other end of the rope went over the top of our french doors and into the house.

The contraption worked perfectly. Once I spotted the injured baby, around 8:30 at night, Rich put a bowl of food on the tarp. Usually, the raccoons return within a few minutes of the food being put out. Last night, however, we waited 20-30 minutes, inside the house, before they showed up.

The mother raccoon showed up first, followed by the injured baby and another baby. Fortunately, Rich is very patient, because it took a while before the mother and the healthy baby bound off the tarp, leaving the injured baby to continue feeding. Rich saw his opportunity and yanked on the card. I then rushed outside with gloved hands and grabbed the corners of the tarp to make sure the baby didn’t escape. I was surprised at how light the baby felt.

Raccoon in trashcan We then lowered the tarp into a large trash can with a flannel sheet on the bottom. We then placed the trash can in one of our bathrooms so we could observe the baby. It was surprisingly calm and happy to munch on the food that had tumbled into the trash can along with it. Throughout the night, we could hear it munching!

The next morning, we drove the to the rehabilitation center. It was a shock, however, when we took the trash can out of the truck, looked inside and saw that the sheet was covered with blood (right). Rich reasoned that the racoon had open sores from dragging its feet.

We were already prepared for the reality that the raccoon would probably be euthanized if its back had broken. What we didn’t expect to hear – a few hours later – was that the baby had been shot with a bullet, which severed its spine.

We are horrified. Horrified that in a neighborhood of families, someone with a gun and an obvious lack of conscience shot a baby raccoon. Horrified at the pain and suffering the raccoon had to endure. Horrified that if the gun-bearing imbecile had missed or the bullet bounced off a rock, it could have gone through a window and struck a sleeping child.

Our trust and naivety has been shattered. We’re going to be more carefully about having our cats outside after dark and we’re going to hope that the other raccoons in the area don’t become the next victims.

Insulation Project

23 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by in Home Improvement

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For the past few months, Rich has been working in the kitchen — installing bucket lights, removing the florescent figures, adding two large skylights, and an electrical outlet that will be accessible from a peninsula I’m hoping to be in place by October. Rich and insulation

Before he can enclose the area between the attic and skylights, he wanted to blow in additional insulation. Saturday afternoon, he purchased 15 bales of "green" cellulose material that is ground-up in a special machine then blow into the ceiling.

Saturday evening, before Home Depot closed, we rented the machine so we could start on the distasteful task early Sunday morning. 

With me in the kitchen, feeding the bales of cellulose into the machine and Rich in the attic with the hose, we completed the project in a lightening hour and an half.

We then snapped some pictures to commemorate the event. The speckles in the picture are the dust, which once it settled took a few minutes to sweep up. Julie and insulation

Rich looks a bit like an alien with his mask, but it was absolutely necessary because the machine turned what looked like shredded paper, bits of plastic bags, and grayish puff into fine dust. And unlike traditional insulation, it’s safe to touch and doesn’t contain any harmful fiberglass. Plus, it’s produced using ten times less energy than traditional insulation.

Below is the area above the kitchen, which you can’t see any longer because Rich has spent the rest of afternoon sealing in the area with strips of fiberglass insulation. Later this week, he’ll put sheet rock over this insulation… then texture and paint the sheet rock Insulationto complete the area surrounding the skylights.

It’s going to be very, very cool because he’s also covering two support beams with sheet rock so when you look up, you’ll see the beams along with the skylights (hard to explain; you’ll have to wait to see the pictures in a few weeks)!

My Cheater Pie Crust

22 Saturday Aug 2009

Posted by in Food and drink

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I’ve NEVER succeeded at making a traditional pie crust whereby you cut and fold the dough over then crimp with your fingers. Okay. I’ve made such a pie crust, but I’ve always been disappointed with the results.

I arrived at a solution several years ago. I simply trim the crust flush with the edge of the pan. I then roll out the scrap dough and cut it into small rounds using a cooking cutter. Using a little water, I adhere the circles to the crust, slightly overlapping. The result is picture perfect. Apple pie

This is an apple pie with a crumb top, using frozen apples from our tree in Mount Vernon. Last year, we had a bumper crop and every week I’d slice up the apples in a food processor, mix with sugar and cinnamon then toss in freezer bags. I mix the defrosted apples with tapioca flour (available in Asian stores) then pat into a crust.

This crust was made with a cube of butter that was cut into flour, brown sugar, and salt then mixed with some grated orange peel and cold water. I kneed the dough while it’s in the bowl the roll out on a flour-covered block of marble with a wooden rolling pin.

The crumb topping is a half a cube of butter cut into flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped nuts.

Injured Raccoon

22 Saturday Aug 2009

Posted by in Seattle

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On Thursday night, we were peeking at the raccoons through the french doors when Rich exclaimed that one of the baby raccoons couldn’t climb onto the upper deck. Something was wrong with it foot.

He went outside and lowered the food to the lower deck and about a half hour later, the injured raccoon returned. Both of its legs were facing backwards and it didn’t seem to have any strength in its hindquarter. We surmised that it must have either fallen from the roof or a tree and broke its back, leaving it paralyzed.

The next morning, we contacted a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center with the hope that they’d come out and help trap and perhaps rehabilitate the raccoon. They explained that they didn’t have the staff to come out to people’s houses.

Great.We’d have to trap and bring in the raccoon ourselves.

For the past hour or so, Rich and I have been rigging up an elaborate system to hoist up the raccoon the next time it comes to visit. We spread a tarp on the ground, tied ropes to the grommets, threaded them through a pulley, which is tied to a ladder that is balanced on another ladder. The other end of the rope is snaked along the deck and into the house.

When it gets dark outside, we’ll put a bowl of food in the middle of the tarp and periodically check to see if the raccoons are eating. If the injured raccoon shows up, we’re hoping to hoist up the tarp then lower the raccoon into a tall box.

We’ll then take the raccoon to the rehabilitation center where they’ll most likely euthanized it. If a miracle occurs. the raccoon will simply have broken legs and could be rehabilitated. We’re both heartbroken, but feel the most humane thing to do is to capture the raccoon and put it out of its misery.

Wish us luck tonight.

Let the Light Shine In

16 Sunday Aug 2009

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For the past few weeks, Rich has been working in the kitchen of our Kirkland house, removing the dreaded florescent fixtures and replacing them with bucket lights, adding additional electrical plugs (and repairing existing one), and cutting holes in the roof to add two skylights.

Here he is on the ladder looking through one of the opening. Unfortunately, the installation of the skylights coincided with the hottest week on record for Seattle. Rich had to start working on the project at 6 in the morning and quit by early afternoon. Throughout the week, the opening in our attic heated up the house… with the hottest day turning our house into an unpleasant 92-degrees. Skylight

After Rich installed the skylights, he had only a few days to sealing them up and replace the shingles on the roof before it started to rain.

He still has lots of work to do, including blowing more insulation into the attic, adding sheetrock, texturing the sheetrock then painting. In the meanwhile, our kitchen is ten times lighter and it’s cool to look up at the stars through the skylights.

After the skylights are done, Rich will add a small peninsula to the kitchen for additional storage and a large workspace for rolling dough, making pasta, and cooling rack of cookies!

The Zucchini that Could

11 Tuesday Aug 2009

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Last winter, I yanked out a section of our lawn in Mount Vernon, mainly because interspersed in the lawn was hundreds of grape hyacinth bulbs. Every year, these bulb would proud bloom only to be mowed down by Rich and his reckless riding lawn mower.

Most of the bulbs I replanted or gave away. Although, this spring, I noticed that the distribution of bulbs is broader than I thought and this fall, I’ll need to continue my lawn destruction/bulb recovery program.Zuccini plant

In the meantime, Rich decided to plant a zucchini in the spot where I’d pulled out the lawn. I was opposed to the idea, reasoning that we’d only be able to water the plant once a week, on Friday evenings or Saturday morning when we visited Mount Vernon. He insisted.

For weeks, he faithfully water the zucchini (above) and was  rewarded with amber flowers that soon turned into tiny squash.

Two weeks ago, these squash were only a few inches in length and about the thickness of a hotdog. A week later… they were mammoth! Pile of zuccini

Because it’s obvious the soil and growing conditions in Mount Vernon are conducive for growing vegetables (especially zucchini), next year we’ll rototill a section of the lawn that was once a garden. We’ll then plant a variety of vegetables and use a drip system on a timer to ensure everything gets enough water.

Until then, I’m enjoying the pathetic tomatoes, peas, and peppers that are attempting to grow in my hillside garden in Kirkland.

Mailbox Vandals

01 Saturday Aug 2009

Posted by in Mount Vernon

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We arrived at Mount Vernon last night to discover our mailbox had been vandalized and was laying on the ground. Rich immediately recalled reading about mailboxes being damaged in the area.

Evidentially kids play a game of baseball in which they drive through rural areas. A person in the passenger or back seat hangs out the window and whacks at mailboxes with a baseball bat as they drive by.

Fortunately, our mailbox had simply been whacked off from the post and only needed to be hammer back on with fresh nails.

Later that evening, I unrolled our copy of the local newspaper. Taking up most of the front cover was a story about over 100 mailboxes being damaged in the area! One man had recently installed a new mailbox with a solar light. They had been smashed beyond repair. Other people have repeated had to replace their mailbox.

Next weekend, Rich intends to bury in concrete a heavy metal post next to the mailbox. If vandals decide to drive by and smash our mailbox, they’re going to be in for a rude surprise when their bat hits the metal post!