Chirico Trail to Poo-Poo Point

We have had to be up early more often than not this week, so it was nice to sleep late today.  After a leisurely morning we met Pat and Clark for a delightful lunch in Issaquah.  Food was good, the company was better.
After lunch we decided it would be good to hike the Chirico trail to see how my new orthotics are doing.  It's 2 miles and 1,700 feet up, the grade is fairly relentless.
This is Mr. Rainier from the south launching point for the paragliders.  I have not taken one good picture of the mountain this summer due to persistent haze from fires in Asia and humidity.  It's SO annoying.

 

This is the north launch, aka Poo-Poo Pont.  It was windy at the top. From eavesdropping on the guys flying we learned that there is a pattern to the wind; they wait for it to be favorable and then turn around and run off the launching area, into the wind.

 

There were many tandem jumps.  The instructor was giving the woman instructions on when to run straight, when to run to the side, and what to do once in the air.

 

There they go, they're leaning forward and leaving the ground.  Notice the orange piece of tape is horizontal to the ground.

 

This guy was just magic.  He's flying a smaller wing than the tandems.  He basically got it filled out, turned around and stepped off the ground.  Really pretty to watch.

 

This woman was not paying enough attention to the instructor.  She had a video camera on a stick and was paying attention to the camera, and not what he was telling her to do.  Eventually they launched, but it wasn't pretty.

 

This was really not pretty, a strong gust went through and just picked them up.  The instructor was able to get his weight shifted back onto the seat in the harness, but she's pretty much along for the ride.

 

This is the guy I'm going up with, if we ever do a tandem jump.  His name is Todd Henningsen (253.226.3357).  He's really good, and eavesdropping revealed that he is well respected in the paragliding community.  This is his wing, beautifully shaped in the wind.

 

 And this is him, on the ground, getting his parasail up in air while he watches it.  None of the other tandem jumps did that, as soon as the wing left the ground, they were running.  The two of them calmly turned into the wind, and stepped in to the air.

 

We got back to the truck in the parking lot about 4:45, and the shuttle was on its way back up to the launch zone with more people and more kit.  Some people hike up and fly down.

 

Today drove home the point that I am not in good enough shape to do this hike.  The descent was very painful, putting a lot of strain on my knees and hips.  I think we should ease in to this one a little.

The First Faint Hint of Fall

I went for a walk yesterday with my new shoes and new foot beds.  It's amazing how uncomfortable a new pair of the same shoes I have been wearing for the past 4 years can be.  It's also terrifying since I only have one pair left in the shoe hoard.  It's all a by-product of the Accursed Bony Feet From the 7th Circle of Hell.  However, as interesting as I find my feet, I'm certain no one else does.  So I will talk about Fall.

While walking, I detected that first faint change in the air that signals Autumn.  Today I read in the Seattle Times, that "... summer is almost outta here."   Yep, we had our two days of 90's, and now we are done.

I see people out with buckets, picking the blackberries, and for the life of me I do not understand why.  They're terrible!

A Tragedy in One Act

Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak.   Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak.

"Jim, what's that noise?" an agitated Allison asks.
"It's the ice maker." Jim replies, cooly.

Allison and Jim wonder why it's making that noise.

Holy Crap!  The dynamic duo realizes they have once again allowed the frost in the freezer to grow thick enough so that the ice cube ejector can't rotate freely and eject ice.  Breakage will ensue.  Fortunately the blow dryer frees the mechanism quickly.

Note to self!  Stop letting the frost build up on the ice maker.

The End.

Hot in the City

We had summer this past weekend.  It hit 93 (33.8C) yesterday, and to us pale northwesterners, it felt pretty dang hot!  Yes, I know, everyone else sneers at our complaints of being too warm.  However, today we have the on shore flow and a significant temperature drop.
We did our favorite ride in Carnation Valley Saturday.  We left WAY too late in the day.  I ended up overheating, and had to sit in the shade and pour water on my head.

A significant water control project is being done.  The fields in the background almost always flood in the winter.  

Yesterday we were up and out earlier.  We did the 5 mile walk with the giant hill.  We're getting faster on the hill, and I no longer have to stop for a breather.  So there is progress on that fitness frontier.

 

This is what we're doing today.  Jim's going in for a screening tomorrow morning, so he's spending the day drinking gatorade and chicken broth, eating jello and generally starving to death. Note to self in the future; Campbell's is the least disgusting chicken broth.

 

Other than this maties, I have zippity doo-dah all to report.

Large Dogs and Blue Angels

These are our new neighbors.  The dog with her head in the coach is a French Mastiff.  They were bred to guard the wineries in France.

 

This is a Bull Mastiff, his name is Cujo.  The predominant color of these dogs is brindle, they were bred to protect the game on the large estates.  The game keeper would station the dogs around the property, hiding in the weeds, waiting for poachers.  When the poacher would come, the dog would bite them and hold them down.  The dogs spend hours loitering, the lady that owns them says they require about 10 minutes of exercise a day, and then they're done.

 

I have to tell you, the dogs make me nervous.  The female has lunged at Jim on two occasions, fortunately she is on a short lead.  Many RV parks forbid breeds that large.

Today was the first day of the Blue Angels' practice over Lake Washington for Seafair weekend.  It's amazing to me that every year the I90 floating bridge is closed twice a day for 2 days of practice, and then on Saturday and Sunday for the shows.  We were able to ride down on to the eastern end of the bridge to watch them fly.

 

There it is, an empty bridge.

 

A very young airshow fan.

 

Look out on the water, many boaters out watching the show.

 

The F18 is a better airshow plane than the F16, in my humble opinion.  They're louder, they make your chest vibrate.

 

This is the most amazing thing the Blues do.  They're flying really slowly, going forward with the nose up.  One of them flew out level, and the other one went straight up then rolled it.  Very impressive.

 

It was a good day for an airshow.

A Book Recommendation

I normally do not read non-fiction, I'm more of a British murder mystery reader.  However, this book has really resonated with me.  The writing is very good, and it has opened a window into war that is generally not available to civilians.  It's written by soldiers on the ground.  This is a good book, you should read it.