Big Husky Loss!

Sitting here in the lobby of the hotel finishing breakfast after a big loss to Oregon. Heading home today - pictures posted later today. Had a great time regardless.

Later -

Jim

Go Dawgs! Beat the Ducks!

Heading out this morning to Eugene! I brought little plastic rubber ducks to place in the urinals at the game today! Go Dawgs!

Later -

Jim

Eat, Swim, Read....

Just a quick note to share a few pictures from our annual trip to the lake. We had a great time as usual.

We stay at Peterson's' Waterfront - nice place to stay - although it is a time share condo unit - there are nightly rentals available from owners that rent the unit out when they are not using it. Well worth checking out. As you can see by the title of this blog - the majority of our time is spent eating, reading and swimming!

This year we were joined by our niece Kara and Carmen. Kara leaves for college tomorrow! Kara - we are so proud of you! Thank God you did not need a u-haul to get all your stuff to Whitworth!

We have gotten into a habit of putting at a puzzle together each year, this year we actually did two! The Texas puzzle was purchased in Houston on our driving trip across county last year.

View of the pool and the lake from our unit.

Toby stayed at Big Dog Kennel while we were at the lake - it's a short 10 distance from the condo in Chelan. If you need a place to kennel your dog and you are staying in the area - we highly recommend it! It's a small kennel where the dogs each get their own run and individual attention. Toby seemed to have a good time!

Last picture is Kent and Toby getting ready to head out! Notice the truck all decked out with the Husky flag for the drive to Eugene!

Hopefully the next time you hear from us we will be celebrating a Husky win over the Ducks! For more pictures from the week at the lake see the pictures at the bottom of this post.

Later -

Jim

Time Flies

Here we are in the last few hours of our week at the lake. This is one of the few times a year that I actually dread Friday arriving. It’s hard to believe that the week is over and once again we leave again not to return for another year. We have been coming here long enough to see newborns turn ten this year and eight year olds going off to college. The latter is the case with our niece Kara. She was eight years old when Kent and I first met and this coming Saturday she leaves for college at Whitworth in Spokane. Time flies!

We pick Toby up in a few hours and then head home. We always put off leaving until the last minute and take one final swim in the lake. I’ll post a few pictures of our time at the lake in the next day or so.

The exciting thing this year is we leave from here only to turn around tomorrow morning and head to Eugene for the game against the Ducks! Go Dawgs! It was great to see the kick off to the Pac-10 season with Stanford getting a win over the Beavers 28-36!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Later –

Jim

Washington Husky 2008 Football Predictions

Here are my keys to the Huskies upcoming 2008 season:

• Locker’s Passing - Last year he had a 46% accuracy rate and more interceptions than touchdowns. Quarterbacks generally make their biggest jump in proficiency between their freshman and sophomore years which bodes well for Locker this year. He can only get better.


• Defense - Last year it was as bad as it gets. It was the worst in Husky history and near the bottom in division I football. You can only go up from the basement. New coaches and new players give us new hope.


• 2nd Half Losses - The Huskies led, were tied, or were down by less than 1 touchdown at halftime in 12 of the 13 games last season. If they can hold on or figure out how to adjust in the 2nd half, they'll get more wins.


• 5 Close Losses - Last season the Huskies had 5 losses by a touchdown or less (as many as anyone in division I football). Put it down to bad luck or bad breaks. Sometimes things bounce your way and sometimes they don’t. Based on research conducted by Phil Steele, a team with 5 close losses has a 89% chance of having a better record the following year.

My prediction for the Huskies is between 4-8 and 7-5. Listed below is what it’ll take to win 7. Tyrone likely keeps his job with 6 wins and a bowl game. 7 wins guarantee it.

• Bottom Tier - need to win both (+2 wins)
  - Stanford - must/need win
  - WSU - must/need win
• Middle Tier - need to win 2 of these (+4 wins)
  - Arizona - win
  - Oregon State - win
  - UCLA - loss
• Top Tier - need to win 1 of these (+5 wins)
  - California - loss
  - Oregon - win
  - Arizona State - loss
  - USC - loss
• Non-Conference - need to win at least 1 of these (+6 wins)
  - BYU - win
  - Oklahoma - loss
  - Notre Dame - win (7th win)

This weekend - As you can see I’m going with a win over Oregon. The loss of some key Oregon players from last year and their quarterback situation makes me think they won’t be as strong as last year. Even though I pick a win, it’ll be close…by 3 points or less.

Go Dawgs! Kent

Overheard - A women confides to a friend in Starbucks:

"he said he likes my lips".

Hilarious! I had my headset in but was not listening to any music at the time! Let's just say I heard enough to know she was not talking about her smile!

It's our last day of vacation at the lake! We are ready to go pick up Toby and take him home. We pick him up tomorrow morning and head home - pack and head to Eugene for the first Husky football game of the year!

Have a good one -

Jim

Where UW Stacks Up

Just in case you’re wondering where UW stacks up against the rest of the Pac10, here is a link to the preseason coaches poll which has a pretty good track record over the past few years. However, there is always 1 team that surprises. It was ASU last year. Let’s hope it’s the Huskies this year.

1. USC (38) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
2. Arizona State . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
3. Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
4. California (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
5. UCLA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
6. Oregon State . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7. Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8. Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9. Stanford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
10. Washington State . . . . . . . . . 61

As you can see there is the top tier group (USC, ASU, Oregon, and Cal), the middle tier (UCLA, OSU, and Arizona), and the bottom tier (Stanford and WSU). UW lands in between the bottom and middle tier. There are 7 bowl games this year for the Pac 10 (1 more than last year). A team has to have at least a 6-6 record to be bowl-eligible. With 7 bowl games this year, everyone in the Pac 10 with 6 wins will go to a bowl game. UW needs teams placed above it to lose (we’ll be rooting for the Cardinal tomorrow night).

Later -

Jim and Kent

Hello Dawg Fans!

The season is about to begin. The first Pac10 game is tomorrow night; Oregon State at Stanford. We’re at Lake Chelan where we’ll be rooting for the tree.

Every year we follow the Huskies on a couple of away games with our friend Bill. Our goal is visit all of the Pac10 football stadiums. If we had a great time at the game, we’ll sometimes adopt the team as secondary fans (which is why we’re rooting for the Cardinal).

So far we’ve been to:

• California - a great time! The fans were nice (they invited us to tailgate with them), the weather was perfect in late October 2006 (sunny in the lower 80’s), a way-cool old stadium where you are so close to the field you can touch the players, and a good game (even though we lost in OT). Since then, we’ve adopted Cal as our secondary team and root for them often.
• ASU - Because of the heat, most games at Tempe are at night. As was ours last year. We had a nice time, but not as good as Cal the year before. There was a Husky tailgate party at a nearby Mexican restaurant that was fun. However, the fans weren’t as friendly, the stadium was a character-less brown monolithic structure, and our team embarrassed themselves by their poor playing.
• Stanford - another great time in the bay area…..almost as good as Cal. The game was in early November and again it was sunny and in the lower 80’s for our afternoon kickoff (we lucked out on the weather….the following Saturday it was cold and rainy). The new stadium was nicely placed on the Stanford campus; hidden amongst trees to blend it into the surroundings. The fans were friendly, and we won our game.
  
  

This year, we’re going to:

• Oregon - the game is usually in rainy November so we quickly snagged tickets for this Labor Day Weekend game in hopes of more reliable weather (so far so good -- the forecast is partly cloudy and 74).
• USC - November 1
• WSU - November 22 (we always play WSU in November so we’re not going to ever have a chance at good weather)
• and California (again) - December 6 (I hope the weather is nice, but early December is iffy)
  

That only leaves:

• Arizona which we have to miss this year because of a business trip so we’ll have to wait and catch them in 2 years.
• Oregon State which we’ll go to next year
• and UCLA which we’ll also go to next year.
  
  

Go Huskies! Pictures taken at Husky Picture Day 2008 a few weeks a ago! This post was authored by Kent - be on the lookout for part II tomorrow!

Later -

Jim and Kent

Pig Piece Rescue

Things are well here at the lake. It's hard to believe that we only have three and a half days left! Sunny and 80 today with no wind. Yesterday we went and picked up Toby from the local kennel where he is staying and took him for his first swim in Lake Chelan. Kent and I both read, dog related books in the last couple days -Kent read, Marley and Me

by John Grogan

and I read The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein.

Garth just happen to be in town at a book signing on Friday night which is how we were introduced to the book. Both worth reading.

The following story and all the great pictures were recently in the Sunday PI Pacific NW Section as a cover storey. I enjoyed it and thought I would pass it along. And all I want is a few chickens. Kent does not know how easy he has it!

It all started simply enough with just one pig, a Vietnamese potbelly, who arrived in 1992. The potbelly was a hand-me-down from a Seattle friend who didn't want her anymore.

Judy Woods named the pig Fern and took her to live on the 6 ½-acre spread she owned in Arlington.

Then, in 1994, she heard King County Animal Control might know where she could find more unwanted pigs. She called. As it turned out, a male potbelly was running loose in Des Moines. Did Woods want the pig? He was a full-grown, 4-year-old boar with untrimmed tusks and would be euthanized if she didn't take him. She would.

Woods, a nurse by day, named this one Wilbur and trucked him back to her little farm.

That same year, Woods created Pigs Peace Sanctuary and organized it two years later as a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing swine, potbellied and hog alike. The pigs haven't stopped coming.

Fourteen years later, Woods' flock has multiplied to somewhere in the neighborhood of 190 pigs. About 160 of them are potbellies, the rest more familiar Yorkshire and Berkshire pigs, some of them as large as 600 pounds. They live with Woods now on 34 acres just east of Stanwood.
But unlike almost every other pig farm in creation, Pigs Peace exists not to ready piggies to become bacon or pork roast for QFC shoppers, but to give them all the comforts of meadow grasses and custom-milled grain they were denied in their former lives as once-trendy potbellied pets in someone's apartment or backyard or as hogs grown for human consumption.

Pigs Peace is hog heaven, in other words. Each pig has a name. There's Willow, Bunny and Harry. And the pigs own the farm, the trees, the outbuildings and equipment right down to the broken 1959 Ford 600 tractor that sits in a yard, grass growing around its tires.

Woods, you see, is vegan and hasn't touched meat since she was 15 years old. So committed is she to the cause that she stuck $50,000 of her own money into buying the Stanwood spread in 2002 and, then, gave ownership to the nonprofit (http://www.pigspeace.org/). "It's all in the name of the sanctuary," she says. "The pigs own it all." In effect, she works for the pigs almost every waking hour of her life, not the other way around. "24-7, I am at their beck and call," Woods says. "I'm their slave."
She knows she's a small voice raised against the way porkers are used as food and, yes, as pets in America.

To the inevitable question of why she plowed her life savings into a hog farm, she simply says, "Because I love pigs, and pigs are the most misunderstood animals."

Woods grew up in Seattle's Northgate neighborhood, the daughter of a Seattle firefighter. She attended Ingraham High School and, like most people around here then, was part of a meat-eating household. One day when she was 15, she says she read a letter to the editor in The Seattle Times. In it, the writer questioned the hypocrisy of people who claimed to love animals while eating animals at the same time. Woods was struck by the logic of it and became a vegetarian on the spot, an unusual move for a teenager in 1970.

Then, in quick succession, Woods gave birth to her first child (at 16), was married (at 25), had two more kids and became a registered nurse, worked in psychiatric and chemical-dependency units in Snohomish County and divorced her husband. That was in 1992, three years after she became a vegan, meaning she eats and consumes no animal products of any kind.
Now 53, Woods stands 5 foot 3, has graying hair and a friendly manner. When you visit her on the farm, she's often accompanied by one of several dogs she's taken in over the years, castoffs like the potbellies, or one of 20 or so feral cats.

Then there are the pigs. They're everywhere. Black-and-white potbellies, black potbellies, immense white sows. They roam almost at will through the pastures and woods, contained by 3-foot-high panels of wire fencing. Some of the 30 hogs Woods has came from farm-abuse cases around the state, and they arrive at the sanctuary broken down and confused (pigs are intelligent, social creatures). In June, Woods drove over to Wenatchee and returned with a pig that had been mired in mud for months and could walk only on its knees. Another pig had been kept in a basement in West Seattle for years and couldn't recognize the light of day.

Woods rehabilitates pigs, depending on their injuries, through a series of small buildings where they lie in wood chips, eat and socialize with other pigs. The pigs who can walk are first set loose into a small pasture with grass 3 feet high, an attempt to return them to their own nature before turning them out in the regular pastures with other pigs.

"They've never seen grass before," Woods says. The farm itself is about the cleanest-looking and sweetest-smelling pig farm you could imagine. Woods is very aggressive about manure control. Her land — or the pigs' land — used to be a dairy farm and sits on a rise east of Stanwood proper, tucked between a farm that raises Morgan horses and another, a former egg farm that now raises hogs for market. Woods isn't thrilled by the irony of her pig-rescue operation sitting next to a pork-producing farm.
"It's horrible," she says. "But there's really nothing I can do about it." Woods lives in the original farmhouse, a small, two-bedroom home with wide porches and a view all the way to Camano Island. Bucolic as that seems, a mile to the west a series of other farms have become subdivisions, crowded with look-alike homes. People commute to Seattle from this area, Woods says, and she knows the land she's on is more valuable than the $450,000 she paid in 2002. Most of the money came from donations to the nonprofit — $200,000 from a Ballard woman named Mitzi Liebsper, who died in 2001 and left Pigs Peace money in her will, and $200,000 from the Seattle Foundation.

Says Woods: "We get people who believe in what this is all about and in teaching people there's a different way to live, and that would mean not eating them." The pigs, that is.

Beyond rescuing potbellies and hogs from certain death, half of the sanctuary's mission is to educate the public about pigs and the vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. But that part of the mission took a beating in 2006, when a farm building used to host tours for schoolchildren and other interested groups burned to the ground. A volunteer had let a wood stove in the building overheat, Woods explains. Until then, she'd hosted as many as 50 kids a week during school months, some from as far away as Seattle and South King County. Now, she's slowly working to convert an old milking barn on the farm into a new education center.

Tools for education or not, the pigs seem OK with the arrangement. They wander the land, snouts to the ground, and make quiet snorting noises as they chew up grass or eat from a bowl of feed. Small boulders are set out for them to rub on, and Woods often walks about with a hose creating watering holes for them to enjoy. Half-pipe-shaped huts have been fashioned into sleeping quarters. As many as 12 potbellies nestle together inside the huts, which can handle only two or three regular-sized hogs.
The pigs get to live here for the rest of their lives. When they die, Woods buries them on the farm and plants small fruit trees over them "so no one ever disturbs their grave." Last winter, 12 potbellies died of pneumonia, and on a recent spring day Woods had just finished burying a potbelly that had died from old age. Pigs, well-cared for, live into their teens, a far cry from the six months or so that an average razorback lives before being slaughtered.

In the summer, Woods grows much of her own food in raised beds near the farmhouse, planting five kinds of lettuce plus beans, squash and asparagus. The rest of the year, she relies on grocery stores.
Her salary for running the sanctuary is $15,000 a year. Annual costs for the operation run to $135,000, much of it going to feed for the pigs (about $36,000) and vet bills ($20,000) and upkeep on the barns and land.
THE FIRST potbellies came to the United States in the 1980s, imported from Canada and promoted as house pets. In Southeast Asia, the pigs are eaten much like more familiar hogs are here. They are roughly the size of a medium dog, but denser in body, their by now familiar potbelly hanging beneath their swayback spines.

Potbellies became the trendy pet of the late-1980s and early-'90s and, in time, breeders began churning out potbellies to order for discerning urbanites and suburbanites enamored of their intelligence and charm. Reportedly, potbellies could be sold for as much as $20,000 at one point. Even actor George Clooney owned a potbelly named Max, who died in 2006.

"There's nothing in the world cuter than a little pig baby," says Jenny Blaney, who raises pigs in upstate New York. "They are so darn engaging and cute, and they kiss you. And people want them to stay tiny." But like kittens and puppies, piggies grow up. Those cute little potbellies can weigh in as heavy as 150 pounds. And they can become, well, piggish, taking over households, ripping through food, opening refrigerators, tearing up newspapers and intimidating owners who aren't careful to keep the upper hand.

Plenty of other potbellies have been dumped along America's roadsides or sent to animal shelters and end up euthanized or, if they're lucky, at rescue operations such as Woods'. Blaney, an expert on potbellies and other pig breeds, estimates that between 250,000 and 300,000 potbelly pigs are in the U.S. (the USDA does not have a formal estimate). She says, too, that there are a fair number of pig rescue operations around the country. Some are formal nonprofits like Pigs Peace, some are informal operations run by pig lovers who have maybe 10 rescued pigs in a backyard.

However big the potbelly craze was in Seattle at one point, it's not even a blip on Seattle Animal Control's radar now. Don Baxter, an enforcement supervisor with the agency, says he knows of fewer than six potbellies licensed in the city.

Needless to say, the world consumes a lot of pigs. In 2006, China consumed 88 pounds of pork per person while the U.S. ate 64 pounds per person, according to the USDA. Outside of Islam and Judaism, almost every major culture eats pigs. In this country, pork is everywhere from barbecued ribs on the Food Network to bacon in a kitchen pan. As with most meat production in the U.S., the days of free-range pork are mostly gone.The majority of the nation's hogs are raised in large sheds these days. Woods decries this as factory farming. "Intensive farming" is the polite term.

But no matter how they are raised, pigs have long had the reputation of being nasty, dirty creatures that will eat anything and attack humans. "You don't ever turn your back on a pig" is a common saying among farmers.
It's a reputation that may not be entirely fair.

"Pigs raised in confinement on concrete are not happy animals," says Cheryl Ouellette, who raises pigs, the free-range kind, for slaughter in Summit in Pierce County. She's one of the few hog farmers in Washington state, where hog production isn't even among the top 40 agricultural products, according to the Washington State Farm Bureau. "Most are raised that way." They are large animals, she notes, and you don't ever want to get on their bad side.

"I would always be cautious for safety reasons," agrees Ruth Newberry, an associate professor of animal sciences and comparative anatomy at Washington State University and an expert on swine. "At the same time, most of them are not nasty at all. They're pretty intelligent." Newberry says there's some evidence that pigs are intelligent enough to engage in deceit, a primary measure of animal intelligence.

Woods goes much further. "They are kind and gentle animals," she says. She has no problem sticking her head into one of her pig huts and rousing a 600-pound sow. When she walks about the land, pigs often walk up to her and roll over on their backs to have their bellies rubbed. "This," she explains, "is what pigs are like. They have a social structure and spend their day roaming about. They don't like to eat garbage anymore than you or I like it."

That's what she tells the younger students who visit her farm, a process she hopes to restart soon. Woods teaches the kids about potbelly pigs, the responsibilities of pet ownership and how she believes the little pigs should never have been brought into the country.

"People didn't realize what they were getting into," says Woods. "Now the shelters won't take them. Someone living in an apartment has no business getting a pig as a baby. What are they thinking?"

Older students and adults do get more of the vegan manifesto, although Woods is hardly the fire-breathing true believer you sometimes encounter in conversations about food and animal rights.

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did!

Later -

JimA

Best E-Card Site Ever!

I love sarcastic cards! I found this great site - Someecards - with the funniest cards that I thought I would pass along. You can even create your own custom cards! There are a bunch of cards in various categories. Here is a small sample of some of my favorites.

Hilarious site - Give it a visit! Back to the pool!

Later -

Jim

Blog-a-Postcard!

Well - I've got Bolg-a-Birthday and now I've come up with Blog-a-Postcard! Every time someone sends us a postcard, I am going to scan it and share with everyone. I love receiving postcards from family and friends when they travel even if I am terrible about sending them myself. So - next time you are on a trip drop us a line and we'll share it with everyone else.

This on is from my Mom and Dad. They just got back from spending a few days at Lake Tahoe. If you have never been it's definitely a beautiful place worth checking out. Kent and I love going to Secret Cove - our favorite Beach.

This morning I got a good taste of what the Marathon on 9/20 will be like. It's here in Lake Chelan and this morning I had an 18 mile training run to do much of it along the route of the marathon. We are having a great time and starting to get into the relation mode.

Kent's sister and brother-in-law Tony are coming up for the day - should be nice. Have a great Sunday! P.S - there is some weird formatting thing going on with this computer and as opposed to spending a great deal of time trying to figure it out - I am going to let it go! This is good progress for me!

Later,

Jim

Vacation Alert!

First of all - thanks to Kim and Jennifer for the tips on beating my cold. I am definitely feeling better!

We are in Lake Chelan for our annual week at the lake. This picture is actually a page out of a calendar that I made for Kent - all these pictures were taken last year here at the condo. We stay at a place called Petersons Waterfront - check out this link, it's right on the lake! When we get home I'll post pictures from this year.

We have been coming here for over 10 years now - (Kent and his family for many more.) It's a week of relaxation and reading. Only bad thing is that the condo does not allow pets so we had to take Toby to the kennel. We found one up here so we can have visitation and pick him up for the day mid-week - to be a dog in our household.....

Weather is sunny and warm! Back to the lake!

Later -

Jim

Vacation Colds!

I started vacation today and I'm sick! I HATE getting sick, especially in the summer and while I'm on vacation! The last time I was on vacation was in February and we went to Hawaii with my parents. My Mom got everyone sick - Kent nicknamed her - "Typhoid Betty". LOL....still makes me laugh.

A week ago today I was in my office and just like that - 2:15 p.m. I felt it coming on. I am not sure who I should be blaming but I've got a few suspects in mind. Word of advice - STAY HOME WHEN YOU ARE SICK (flip side of the coin is, go to work when you've called in sick and your not!) I hate when the office marthyr comes in looking like death warmed over with a droopy used tissue in one hand and a box of Kleenex in the other. Touching everything, sniffing their nose - coughing all over the place seeking sympathy or attention by feigning and exaggerating their discomfort. I'm the one that's uncomfortable! I watch people like this - rarely do they practice proper universal cough etiquette protocol - which by the way is to cough or sneeze into your bent elbow, not your hands! Go home already - stay home - don't come in! Anyway I digress.

I took time off this week hoping to avoid being sick all week of vacation but this seems to be hanging on! Oh well - at least I am beginning to feel better.

We are off to our annual trip to Lake Chelan for a week eating, reading and swimming (future blog topic).

Have a good one,

Jim

House Number Installation

Okay - they might be a bit large but when I have the heart attack or aneurysm that I have been talking about for years - I want the ambulance to be able to find out house!

I don't think it will be a problem! They look really cool on the house! Let me know what you think.

Later -

Jim

Spillage Issues?

In the spirit of full disclosure - I have to start this blog posting letting you know that it is totally biased. Kent is in Minneapolis on a business trip and not here to defend himself - and it just so happens that something that has been a bit of a controversy in our house arrived on the front porch when I got home.

Bare with me - this is going to take a bit of explaining. See Kent and I bought our house about 8 years ago. It's about 20 years old so there was definitely a flavor of the 80's about it when we bought it. We've done a lot of work on it since we moved in and believe that it's important to keep it updated.

We had two big projects going this summer one refacing the kitchen cabinets (still in process - which I will be writing about soon) and the other getting the house painted. This gets me back to the topic of this blog.

We have actually had the house painted once before, right after we bought it. We had a pretty good idea what we wanted it to look like and it just did not turn out well at all. The contrast between the trim and the main house color was terrible and looked washed out - but we lived with it. We hired a company called College Pro Painters. Piece of advice - run if they come calling, they did a terrible job!

Here are a some pictures of the house along the way -

Here's before.......

During.......



and after!.................

This time around we worked with a designer Julie Evans of JM Designs, that we have used before to help us choose the paint color and the painters - Pinnacle Painting Inc. We really like the final paint job and the painters were wonderful to work with and finished on time! We would highly recommend them if you are looking for painters.

Okay so now we really are back to the blog topic.

Kent tells me that I have what he calls - "spillage" issues. That is - I can't start one project without letting it "spill" into another one. Here's an example - after painting the house we had to get new house numbers, front door hardware, kick plate - you get the picture.

I went to every hardware store in town looking for just the right house numbers. I just could not come up with anything I liked. I finally found a company on-line that makes custom house numbers called Apollo Marconi and found the perfect house numbers. I did something I don't usually do - I ordered them on the spot. Usually I think about it for a few days but I had looked at so many in the hardware stores - I knew these were the one's!

The conversation with Kent went like this - "I found the perfect house numbers on-line today and ordered them." "Really - how much were they?"(he's goes right to the bottom line). "Oh, they weren't too bad." "How much?" "They were $XXXX." (you will have to check the web site if you are that interested) "Jim! - that's too much for house numbers, the old one's were just fine!"

It's hard to tell from this picture but they are plastic and the little holes are where the nails go. My photography is so good that it actually makes them look like they are better quality than they really are! They just don't "go" with the new house color.



Trying to come up with an answer that will help him understand - "Painting the house is like getting a new dress - you buy the dress and then you need shoes to match." "Well I wouldn't know anything about that." he says. Okay I say, "it's like buying a bike and not buying a new helmet". That he understood!

I'll spare you the rest of the conversation but ultimately I got to keep the numbers! Which arrived today!

I love them and can't wait to see them on the house. I'll post a picture once I get them on the house. They really are cool!

So there you have it - my biased opinion of our new house numbers! Let me know what you think about our new house colors and the new house numbers - Inquiring minds want to know!

Later -

Jim

Peggy's Place

It's funny how people connect. We come in contact everyday with so many different people and out of all the people we come in contact with everyday we narrow down the one's we want to hangout with to a much smaller group. I love asking people how they know each other, school, work, family - all common answers.

This last weekend we had went to our friend Peggy's house (Peggy, from a recent Blog-a-Birthday) and had a summer gathering to celebrate Peggy's birthday. Peggy can always be counted on for putting together a nice gathering. She has a great house and has done a lot of work on it since she move in. I wish I had gotten more pictures. I was not feeling well so I was not as social as usual and did not get as many pictures as I would have liked.

Anyway I thought I would share a few pictures. As you can see we had a lot of food - which went over well! The asparagus wrapped in bacon was made by my friend Jennifer - yummy!

Peggy has a wonderful backyard! Perfect for hanging out! Thanks for having us over Peggy!

It's great to have such great friends! Thanks for having us over Peggy! Your the best!

Have a good one!

Later -

Jim

Contain This!

Okay - so I know that not everyone who visits this site is into gardening but I urge you to check this out. Even if you are not into gardening, a container on the front porch or back deck is always a fast and easy, enjoyable project.

This may seen a bit late to put together a container garden but I've got several good reason to give it a try.

This past weekend I stopped off at Furney's Nursery - "just to have a quick look". Big mistake, there was a sale going on that was to good to pass up on. Because we are so late in the season all annuals were 75% off! They were practically free! I remembered that I had an old empty pot at home and a bag of soil so I decided to see what I could put together for under $10.

I purchased an assortment of 5 different annuals.

1 - Crocosmia from back yard (Thriller)

1 - 1 gallon Coleus - (Thriller)

4 - Saliva (Filler)

1 - Begonia (Filler)

3 - Dusty Miller (Filler)

2 - Sweet Potato Vine (Spiller)

This should fill in nicely in the next couple of weeks a make a nice fall display!

That's all you need to remember when putting together a container garden. The right combination is an assortment of, thrillers, fillers and spillers.

Thrillers act as a focal point, fillers take up space and fill in the empty spots and spillers cascade over the side of the container.

If you follow these few simple rules you can put together a great container garden for very little money. There are a few things to keep in mind. The pot will only last until first frost. I figure for less than $10 two months worth of enjoyment is worth it. Because it is later in the season the plants are likely to be root bound. Remember to break up the root ball for best growth. Water and fertilize thoroughly and frequently.

Get to the nursery in a hurry - once they put these annuals on sale they go fast!

Have a good one -

Jim

David Beckham Loves Me!

I knew that would get your attention! And I have the pictures to prove it! Who would have thought - I just happen to run across this picture of him and there I was! The conversation goes like this - "I'm flattered David, but Kent and I are very happy together!" (I'll just dream about you!)

Okay, sorry I got distracted - is it warm in here?!....LOL. Back to David and I. Well I've got good news - David Beckham loves you too!

Have you ever had that experience where someone tells you about a website that practically takes over your life for a few days. That's what happened when my friend Jennifer sent me a picture from Photofunia. I spent hours creating various hilarious pictures! Imagine each of you tattooed on David Beckham - trust me I've seen it - I've got a copy - and you never know when it's going to show up! Bill, be on the lookout - because David loves you too!

The site is very easy to use - I thought I would share a sample of my "collection".

As I've mentioned before - I'm famous for the self portraits - I could not let the opportunity to pass without creating at least one Photofunia self portrait. Kara and I were goofing off at her graduation!

"I'm looking for my long lost sister, has anybody seen her" LOL.......this picture cracks me up every time I see it! Since our friend Harriett does not have a computer I'm pretty safe! Like the David Beckham picture I've got several versions of this one too! James Koch has already seen his! Jennifer sent me one with me - they are so funny. I love when you show them to someone and there focused on the old guy "who's that". Cracks me up!

"Cisco Morris Loves Me"...LOL....Definitly does not have the same ring to it and I can assure you that there will be no dreams involved! BTW - factoid, did you know, Cisco and I are the same height (stop laughing Jennifer). Actually I may be 1/4 inch taller! Imagine Cisco and I tattooed on David Beckham - Hilarious, and yes, Ive got one! The picture of Cisco and I was taken at the 2007 King County Master Gardener Plant Sale.

Okay last one (for today, there are just too good) This one is very sweet. Me and Santa - I wonder how old I was? I can tell you that I still believed in Santa when this picture was taken - momories are funny....... Makes me think of my Mom. (Hi Mom - I'll call you later!)

Okay - off to start the rest of my day. Heading to our friend Peggy's later for a summer gathering. I hope you enjoy and visit Photofunia and create some pictures for yourself. Send me a few and I'll post them!

Take a minute and take my poll and let me know what you think about the changes I've made to my blog.

Have a good one -

Jim

Blog Changes

As you can see I have made major changes to the layout of my blog. I really wanted to create a three column blog as I had so much information that I wanted to have at my finger tips! So here you have it - I'm pretty pleased with the results but would love to hear from you.

Please take a minute to take my quick poll.

It's been a long HOT day (thank God we bought an air conditioning unit for the bedroom,) I have a summer cold so I am off to bed.

Have a good one -

Jim

It's 8: Phelps passes Spitz with another gold

Cheering from the pool deck, Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games on Sunday to become the grandest of Olympic champions.

Jason Lezak held on to the lead Phelps gave him, anchoring the United States to a world record in the 400-meter medley relay against an Australian team that did its best to spoil history.

But Phelps, with a big hand from three teammates, would not be denied. He eclipsed Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games, an iconic performance that was surpassed by a swimmer fitting of this generation: a 23-year-old from Baltimore who loves hip-hop music, texting with his buddies and wearing his cap backward.

The excitement continues - It's hard not to be excited for him!

Later -

Jim