black for babies

Lots of things change from design to manufacturing but this is quite a change for Christopher's design. Blogging Project Runway has both outfits and links to purchase them here.

carry on

despite the never ending smoke. This is the Yakima River which empties into the Columbia just down the hill from our house.

another day, another fire

The campfire smell is now normal around here. This fire is down on the Columbia Gorge across from Hood River. The terrain goes straight up so is hard to get a handle on.

Guess who has onion breath and a warning!

In their effort to thwart my gardening someone uprooted an entire onion. Then someone ate half that onion. Now someone (Tar) has onion breath. To the googles! Yes, onions are bad for dogs. Really, really bad. If in distress (despite looking guilty, guilty, guilty) take to the vet. Good news is that the damage is reversible and we're really taking long term onion eating causing anemia. So Tar is on the watch list. Right now he is racing around the backyard chasing Abby. 

It has started...

Since Christmas catalogs are coming in the mail already I have drawn a line in the sand for Halloween. At least outside for now. My favorite black and orange pansies and these little haunted garden accessories I found last Saturday. I have arranged some plants down below to keep Tar from terrorizing the residents. The jalapeno plant had to move and Abby has been chowing down on baby jalapenos which is terrorizing in and of itself.

Homecoming in the smoke

GB took this picture of the stadium before the Homecoming game this morning. Yesterday they had a air quality alert that said the smoke was bad for every living thing. Today... the game must go on. We have lightning coming our way. The Engineer is up in the mts, about the only park not on fire. And it's fall I hear....

it's a bird! it's a plane! it's the Space Shuttle!

Brother, in San Francisco, took this picture of the Space Shuttle flying overhead today.

Like we needed more smoke...

This truck was actually on fire while traveling down the road, dropping burning hay as it went along. A motorist chased the truck down to warn the driver. Driver got out fine. 60 tons of hay burning.

this is discouraging

Sunrise this morning, at 8am the sun is still red. Reports the smoke in Wenatchee and Ellensburg is impacting air quality more than when Mt. St. Helens blew up and dropped ash all over the state. Temps predicted to be in the 90s this weekend. High school football games, soccer matches and cross county meets being canceled all over the place.

Top Chef in Seattle

So apparently Top Chef snuck (ish) in and out of Seattle this summer. Who knew? Series premieres November 7. Sightings reported here.

Bravo, apparently, did not endear themselves to a local reporter.

Surely they tossed fish at Pike Place Market? Did they get to the top of the Space Needle? Did they caffeine-ate at Starbucks? Will our fair city come off better than Texas?

Finally - how many tasteful jokes can one make about geoducks??

New project

Grandfather, 21-yr-old farm boy and off to WW1.
I've been transcribing his letters from France and Germany for his five great grandchildren, along with pictures he sent back and history of the battles he was in. Will put them all together with the wonderful Bookemon.
About sixty years later we hosted a German exchange student, Jurgen. We discovered our grandfathers had fought across from each other in the same battle. 

crabby update

Our regular internet is down. AGAIN. We are using cell phone power. Our temperatures are going back to high 80s. The whole damn state is full of smoke because the whole damn state seems to be on fire. Outdoor activities are being canceled. But I bought a little pumpkin, damn it! Because fall starts on Saturday! I'm gonna sic Abby on someone!

another day, another fire

Wenatchee, north of us, where one of our nieces and nephew-in-law live.

Tar learns to outsource

Summer is hard on a big, black dog when running up and down the deck stairs fetching balls. Tar has decided to outsource. He lets Abby fetch the ball and then takes it from her when she reaches the deck. This lasted a little while and then Abby started turning around and letting the ball bounce to the bottom of the stairs. Two can play this game...

Abby sez, 'there be whales out there!'

Is there nothing a dog can't do - hmmm, cats?
This dog is sniffing out whale poo. Whale poo can tell scientists a lot about the whale health and we have a lot of whales around WA state.

"OFF THE COAST OF SAN JUAN ISLAND, Wash. — A dog named Tucker with a thumping tail and a mysterious past as a stray on the streets of Seattle has become an unexpected star in the realm of canine-assisted science. He is the world’s only working dog, marine biologists say, able to find and track the scent of orca scat, or feces, in open ocean water — up to a mile away, in the smallest of specks."

Full story here

sunsets in the west are the best

Combination of fires and harvest. That's Rattlesnake Mountain in the background where all rattlesnakes are encouraged to stay put.

Tar sez 'you really don't want to know what Abby is saying...'

Interesting article about how scientists are trying to decode other species' languages.
And in this day and age it seems entirely possible.
The question is - do we really want to know what Abby is saying? Tar says it is not good...

Abby has gone cat on us

Today I had to take away a mouse from Abby as she was cavorting with the poor wee thing. Abby assures me she is still a dog but I'm not all that sure...

adventures in motoring

Daughter drives our old 25 year old jeep. When the girls went to the coast The Engineer had the old beast gone over to the tune of $1k. Replaced the air conditioning... which failed once they reached the east side on the way home and melted all the salt water taffy they brought back.
Back the jeep goes to the shop, another $1k later, the girls take off for Seattle. A couple hours later I get a call, 'we're stuck beside I-90, the engine blew up and there is smoke everywhere...' Call AAA. Who towed them to a closed garage. We take our remaining two vehicles and off we go to Ellensburg. The jeep is in a shady lot with another SUV which is covered with drawings of penises. (This is a college town). They will look at the jeep when they get back from the holiday on Tuesday. Gawd only knows the artwork we'll see. Girls took the van, we went back to town in the truck.
And we saw a blue moon - actually blue! - due to all the crap in the air and trapped layers with smoke and harvest. It turned yellow later on.