A visit to the asylum

No I didn't get admitted!!!! My friend Tony joined me for a trip north to the Northern State Hospital. It was shut down in 1973 (the year I was born) and is believed to be haunted. Go figure, haunted by those less mentally capable...
We stuck to the farm section of the property since time was short and daylight was limited. Even in this part it was a bit spooky and eerie. We did see a barn owl, bald eagle and sadly a dead cat that we think died recently during the cold weather, poor little guy.
We explored the old buildings and tempted fate by climbing stairs to the upper levels of some and getting some decent pictures. I hope to go back there again to get pics of the hospital and more of the grounds.

Getting caught up

I realized today that I hadn't updated my blog in over a week. Well Christmas is over and tomorrow I get to pick Cathy up from the airport. She flew down to San Jose for Christmas with her family. Then they flew to Vegas to celebrate her sister's 21st birthday. I've been keeping myself busy with work and friends/family.
The uber amount of snow that we got is mostly gone, thank goodness. I really like snow but the city does not have adequate equipment to remove it and the roads were terrible as a result. Lucky for me I have good snow driving skills and a great car that really helps me get around in it.
I've taken a lot of pictures recently of the freakish amounts of snow that we've received.

Snow days in Seattle

The forecast for Wed. night included cold temps and snow. When I awoke Thursday the weathermen had not faltered on this forecast. Snow covered the ground in Kirkland as I hoped the library would be closed for the day. I was bummed to here that I would still be going into work and the library would be open normal hours.
I got a text from Cathy and she wasn't going in to work since the roads near her place were a solid sheet of ice. I hopped on a bus and headed to Seattle where we were to meet for coffee. Snow was falling as I found her and we headed to Starbucks for a hot cup of coffee.



After coffee and a stop for a quiche muffin I headed off to work while Cathy met up with some friends to go sledding down some Seattle streets.
When I got done with work I walked up to Cathy's place and found a group of people sledding down the street in front of her building. There were two transit buses that were abandoned at the intersection and the Union Ave was closed off since it was so steep and icy.



I went up to Cathy's apartment and asked her to join me in playing in the snow and sled down the street. Having grown up in the Midwest I am used to snow, but the chance to sled down a street in Seattle would be a first for me.
The buses had ad signs on their sides which had been removed and used as makeshift sleds. These are about 2 feet wide and 10 feet long, making for a good toboggan.



Cathy and I jumped on the back of one with about 6 other people and started on down the road. We got going pretty past as we started to fish tail a bit. I saw a Lincoln in my path and feared a direct hit with it. As we approached I leaned to my right to avoid a direct hit with the bumper and ended up nailing the front right tire with my butt. I hit really hard and laid there for a few moments before getting up with a very sore backside. As I type this my butt still hurts. I continued to sled down the road on various items that were strewn around at the top of the hill. The best was a Teflon coated cookie sheet. That proved to be the best ride of them all. I got going pretty fast and had a lot of very close calls with car bumpers!! Cathy and I went on a few more rides on the bus signs before heading inside her place for warmth. AS the night went on the crowd outside got more drunk and more creative. They started sledding down on a sofa and a mattress wrapped in plastic. They hit a few cars pretty hard but no serious injuries ensued. Metro Transit came to retrieve their buses and got a good laugh at the creative use of their bus signs. The Police stopped by too to make sure that everyone was OK and to say hello. Asking the crowd to disperse would have been useless, so SPD didn't even bother. We even heard them shooting the breeze with the drunk sledders. The view from Cathy's balcony was great and offered a great bird's eye view of the fun.





Friday morning life somewhat returned to normal. Businesses reopened after closing early on Thursday, bus service was closer to full operation and the library was open as usual again. Cathy had the day off again and I was sore from my crashes into the cars the night before. Roads were still icy but there was a bunch of sand scattered to aid in vehicular traction and most vehicles were seen driving with chains.
During the afternoon two charter buses crashed due to icy roads and are currently perched on top of a wall high above Interstate 5. Two lanes of traffic on I-5 are blocked as crews asses the situation and prepare to remove the buses from their respective perches. The following photos were taken by "SeaTurtle". I'm having a problem with the links for these so just copy and paste them into your browser.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/3120658163_4eb454ec13.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/3120658163_4eb454ec13.jpg

The forecast for tomorrow night into Sunday morning calls for more snow and bad weather. Forecasters say that what we got Thursday morning would end up being a "dress rehearsal" for what's to come, oh boy.......

A week in my life

What a week this has been. On Monday I went on a snowshoe trip with my friend Tom. We went up to Stevens Pass and headed up to Big Chief Mt.

The snow was great but did not require our snowshoes for the first half of the trip up. We followed up some of the ski runs until connecting with the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Canada to Mexico. Soon we were on the ridge top and followed that all the way to Big Chief. The views were slim due to clouds but the feeling of accomplishment was awesome.




We took a Bryan inspired shortcut down the mountain which didn’t excite Tom too much after the first five minutes down. The way was steep and tricky with foliage still visible making the route a bit precarious in a few spots. After some re-routes and some exciting moments we were out of the tough stuff and heading back to the parking lot.

Later that night I spent with Cathy relaxing with her after an exhausting day. When I got to her place I found her doing laundry and the dryer was not working correctly. I attempted to fix it for her and ended up breaking my cell phone in the process. That was a big time bummer. Cathy felt bad but I told her not to worry that I’d get a new one right away and that it wasn’t her fault. Tuesday I ordered a replacement phone and went into work for a short shift to cover for a guy who is gone on vacation. After my shift I surprised Cathy with a Christmas Tree. She had wanted one but didn’t think she’d be able to get one. I found a 5’6” Noble Fir and hid behind it as she opened her apt door. She had the most beautiful smile on her face as I appeared from the tree. I got the tree inside and she found a good spot for it.

On Wed I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home from work and slept for hours. I got a few things done around the house and later in the evening went to spend some time with Cathy. The next few days were filled with work and spending more time with Cathy. On Saturday things got busy for me. After work I had 3 parties to go to. The first was a work party. That was fun as I shot the breeze and some pool with co-workers.
The next stop was in Ballard where my friend Rich was celebrating his birthday. We hung out at a bar called Old Peculiar as snow started to fall outside. As the snow increased and the flakes became the size of quarters I decided I should leave a bit early as I had to get up to Capital Hill in Seattle and didn’t want bad roads to keep me from getting up there. I parked my car and headed to Clever Dunnes to meet up with Cathy for her friend’s birthday party. The birthday girl had gone by the time I got there but others were still around and I got to meet some of Cathy’s friends. We stopped at another bar for a few minutes then I took Cathy home.
In the morning the roads on Capital Hill were icy and I decided to leave my car up there and walk down to work. The library was busy with people hiding from the cold weather.
What a great week I had! The more time I spend with Cathy the more I realize how wonderful of a woman she is.

Getting into the holiday spirit

Last night marked the annual tree decorating by the Seattle contingency of my family. This year would have a few changes as compared to previous years. First was that the tree was to be a bit shorter, about 5'0" tall to be exact. I must say that the size of it made it a real breeze to haul up the stairs and set up in the tree stand. The other change was that this year it wasn't just the usual three of us, we were joined by my lovely girlfriend Cathy. Being able to share this occasion with her meant so much to me. Her beautiful smile lit up the room as we decorated the tree and I shared a few stories behind some of the ornaments that have been in our family for many many years. I am delighted to have Cathy in my life and for her being willing to participate in this family occasion. Like me, Cathy comes from a large family and they are not here in Seattle, so it felt good to have her with us. Cathy and I are planning on setting up a tree in her apartment soon so that she can have some holiday spirit in her place as well as have some of her family memories displayed for her to enjoy.
As promised in my last posting, I finally have a picture of the two of us that Cathy has graciously allowed me to post for all of you to enjoy.

Taylor River hike and life update

On Monday Tony and I hiked up along the Taylor River just outside of North Bend. The trail is fairly flat which was good for Tony as he has had knee problems lately and he's trying to rehab it. We stopped along the way for shots of different waterfalls. The day started out rather clear but soon the skies filled with clouds. By the time we headed back to the car the air was moist with rain and darkness.
All said, it was a great day to get out on the trails and even better with a good friend.

Otter Falls


Marten Falls




Me


I hope that all of my family and friends are doing well and enjoying the holiday season. Life here in Seattle is going really good. I have a stable job which I really appreciate. I have wonderful family out here that are always there for me. And I have a wonderful girlfriend who is quickly turning into a big part of my life. We are getting to know each other quite a bit and I'm reminded everyday how wonderful she is. I feel very lucky to have her in my life and to be able to be a part of her life as well. I hope to post a picture of her on here soon. I took one of her the other morning and posted it on my Flickr page, but she's not to thrilled about that one, so hopefully I'll get one of her that she likes and I'll post it here so you can all see how beautiful she is :)