Gallery of Life
Observation of the day…
October 24, 2014
Photo courtesy of Blulink Solutions.
I'm not really a Seattle Seahawks die-hard fan. I like when they win but I've never been to a game. (Shussshhh, don't tell on me). So I've never been close to a Seagal before.
The folks at Blulink Solutions, as part of their sponsorship of SharePoint Saturday on Oct. 11, had a couple SeaGals come by for a photo session. My friend Dave, who's part of the Blulink team, convinced me to take my turn for a photo.
The Seagals are, of course, the professional cheer squad for the Seahawks. I sure don't remember high school cheerleaders dressing like that but perhaps my memory's faded. They were friendly and nice.
I only got the photo yesterday. Blulink posted it to their Facebook page. Now that I've looked at myself, I see myself as incredibly geeky—whether that's really my normal state or just being uncomfortable.
Observation of the day…
October 18, 2014
I'm the first to admit I hate gardening. I don't have the motivation or skill to cultivate pretty plants that other people seem to enjoy. Apart from not being much fun, it's also that I do more damage than good coaxing plants to bloom.
That's why this rose bush is so baffling. It was here when we moved in. I've done nothing to encourage it. The neighbors told me I need to cut it back after it stops blossoming. I tried last year but gave up when it punctured more of me than I hacked off of it.
Plus—it just doesn't seem to know when to stop blossoming. It's mid-October and "the little rose that wouldn't die" is still out there, showing its glorious pinkness to the whole world. And as if those two fully open blooms aren't enough, there … in the inset … is a bud.
Frankly, I give up. This rose bush has the better of me. If I can't take care of it the way the experts tell me, then it's on it's own. It can sit there untrimmed for another year. Don't ask me again, bush.
And please stop flowering. Today there are two more buds starting to open.
Observation of the day…
October 8, 2014
This is insane! The city just reduced NE 166th from four lanes to two. We live on 163rd which exits onto 166th … five blocks away. I noticed this morning that traffic is backed up all the way in front of our house.
The problem always has been waiting for a break in traffic to turn right—even with two southbound lanes on 166th. Usually that starts about 7:45 and continues up to about 9:45.
With just one southbound lane, I've notices an increase in traffic on 166th that sometimes leaves no breaks to pull out. Increasingly, drivers going straight are reluctant to let people out of side streets (or downright rude).
My son said "someone needs to tell the city." Dunno how to do that, so I'm posting photos here and will Facebook about it. He's right. One supposedly small change has created a nasty ripple. Good thing the aliens aren't coming; we'd all die in traffic.
Ed. note: Turns out that a traffic accident on the other side of us, 159th (Woodinville-Redmond Road), stopped traffic into town. The police re-routed all the southbound traffic past our house. Still, that's something the planners could have anticipated before changing 166th.
Observation of the day…
October 2, 2014
Not sure if this is the harbinger of fall, or just out-of-control affection—but these two spiders are going at each other like a pair of rabid teens. Well, maybe not that bad. They don't seem to be fighting, just touching each other with their front legs.
There's an egg sack farther down the web, so some kind of "twitter-pation" has happened. (Hope the reference to Bambi is clear; it's not from fascination with social media.)
I'm not sure about what happens next. Do these two move inside now that we've turned on the furnace? Do they croak and become fertilizer? Do the babies hatch in the spring? I know spiders are good for the environment but how many are there? Too soon to know.
It's interesting to watch nature at work. Mother always knows best, so I'll let her take down the web and the egg sack as fall and winter progress. If these two spiders move inside, we'll politely escort them back off-premise.
