Traffic Accidents, Fruit and Birthday Parties

Greetings from the GPNW Earthlings.  Summer has returned - it's hot.  Yesterday we took the mountain bikes up the trail again.  All morning we had been hearing sirens on I90.  That's never a good thing.  Anyway, when we reached the Highland Drive overpass, we saw this. None of these vehicles are moving.

We continued up up the trail.  Jim went down the steep hill and was able to ride back up without putting a foot down.  I waited at the top of the hill because I have once again buggered up my back, and that much strain is too painful.  It's always something.  Monday I go to the physical therapist and hopefully he will improve it.  The back issues just come out of the blue.  One minute I'm fine, and then I'm not. 

We saw this coming back down the hill on the trail.  Those cars are not moving.

It was due to this.  At exit 22 a semi t-boned a car.  The first responders had to cut the 18 year old driver out of the vehicle.  The news reported her as being in critical condition.  One witness recalled someone moving in to her lane which caused her to lose control of her car.  One hopes that youth will help her survive.

Jim spent one day last week moisturizing the slide seals.  This is an unpleasant job which must be done twice a year.  It involves going up and down the ladder at least a zillion times.

While he did that, I took pictures of the site.  We have cute little yellow flowers in the weeds.  Any green on the site is mostly weeds.

The pear tree next door is dropping fruit on the ground.  The rabbits are enjoying the bounty.

Today we went up to Monroe for a birthday celebration.  It's really cool how much is still rural out there.  We keep expecting it to all be paved, but there are miles of green still left.  The fact that much of it is wetlands is also helpful.  We used to spend a fair amount of time out there on our bikes, back when we were young and strong and fast.

This is Elizabeth.  She and Jim worked together for decades.  I met her later.  She's a hoot.  A meeting with Elizabeth in attendance was always a better meeting.  She's also the proud owner of a new to her Georgetown RV with very low miles on it.

This is her Mom, Geri.  She's 90 and is in remarkably fine fettle.  It was a good party, it was wonderful to see them both.

Other than bike and hike there's not too much going on in the area.  We're here for less than a month from now, so soon there will be new vistas to photograph and write about.