R is for Run

My worthless blackberry camera doesn't even begin to do this justice.

Imagine, me and the wilderness, no cars no bikes.....
A woman at one with the world - though thank god I had the blackberry.

So I took some flack this year for finally coming out of the closet with my dislike for 5 hour bike rides and my preference for trail running. Every year I go on a bike trip up and over Highway 20 in Washington. It's a beautiful ride and a great challenge. It's all up and down hill. But my body does not like sitting on a bike for 5 hours. And the ride includes crazy descents that most bike riders love, but I dread. This year I decided to try the north cascades run. It was quiet - no cars - and peaceful. There were lots of critters running around and beautiful babbling brooks (yes there still is water in Washington).

I just want to share a couple pictures of how much more beautiful and peaceful it was running rather than riding. All that was missing was my trusted running companion Otto (yes, no Otto pictures!!!!)

BTW, I'll post some more pictures of the weekend in the next couple day.

Adventure #3

Ladder, paint brush, and a tired dog.

My what a week, the adventures do not end. This adventure really involved conquering a fear. I hate heights. They scare the shit out of me. Others around me don't seem to have the same issues. Two immediate examples come to mind:

1. Cleaning the roof on Hood Canal with my mother. My mother is running around with a broom sweeping leaves off the roof as if she were standing on solid, flat ground. I am sitting down cringing in the center of the roof gingerly pushing leaves as far down as a broom stick will allow.

2. At the Grand Canyon my friend and I climbed out to a really big flat rock. My friend had no problem walking to the edge and taking pictures. Me, I could only crawl out then lie down with my head near the edge and the rest of my body solidly planted on the ground. And still I was worried about how I might suddenly fly off.

I seem to have no problem envisioning myself falling large distances to my death.

So this weekend I needed to paint up near the roof. I borrowed a ladder and very carefully hoisted myself time and time again up to the roof line to paint (three coats, both the walls and the trim, six sets total. Though in the middle set I made the rather unorthadox/ill advised decision to go up with two loaded paint brushes, trim and walls, to save time. This only resulted in yellow on the trim once and a big huge splotch of paint on the window once.) And now, with one set left, I am practically an expert. I can now go up to the second to last step without holding onto the walls of my house!!! And without that hit of adrenaline kicking in every time. AND, I didn't die (not yet anyhow). I couldn't take pictures to describe my fear, a video of my getting to the top of the ladder the first few times might have been entertaining. You'll just have to imagine and revel in my conquest.

The animals, of course, were a big help!

Yes, that's me, WAY UP HIGH, taking these pictures.

When I fall, which of these animals will make the news by miraculously calling 911 to save me?

As a special bonus, for those of you who have made it to the very end of the

blog, I thought I'd share the beautiful outfit I don each weekend to do my endless painting/sanding.

Adventure #2

My view at 5.30 this morning when the alarm went off.

Whew, what a week! Not just one adventure (Sound Transit to Work) but two!!! Adventure #2 occurred last night and can be titled Sleeping Outside. It's been hot in Seattle, and really not just hot, but HOT. Never in my life, and possibly never in anyone else's life has it been this HOT in Seattle. To give you an idea, today is 93 and feels cool and balmy compared to the last two days.

On Monday I got the idea that sleeping outside might be nice. But it wasn't until yesterday and 103 degrees that I decided it was necessary implement Adventure Sleep Outside. And not only did I get to sleep outside, but magically (without paying top dollar or standing in line outside Home Depot) a fan appeared in my life. And the fan came complete with a grouchy* boy to provide free assembly.

Beds and fans.

And I'm here to say that sleeping outside rocked. There was a cool breeze with the fan. It was pretty and quiet and dreamy. I do think, however, the animals were a bit freaked. Otto spent the entire night awake, protecting his loved ones from raccoons and crows and other critters rustling in the night.

Otto and Daisy keeping watch (the tilt of Otto's ears indicates 'stressed out').

Nothing like adventures in life's mundane tasks to make life just a bit more colorful.

*Special thanks to the grouchy boy who provided the fan and assembly and became instantly ungrouchy when there was a cool breeze blowing on him.

Riding the Wave

So, I thought I'd join all the Seattle hipster bloggers and blog about my Sound Transit experience. Yesterday I decided I would leave the bike at home and have a little Monday morning adventure on my way to work.

My ride to work rocked, in fact I spent the rest of the day oohing and aahing about how much I loved ST (i'm so cool I'm nicknaming it). I got on at the Mount Baker station. There was no one there. No lines at the ticket booth. Buying tickets was easy, the same price as the bus and unlike the bus could be accomplished with just a swipe of my debit card. Unfortunately, after a week of being open the escalator seemed out of service, but I just had a little jog up the stairs and the train arrived the second I got to the platform. And the trip was smooth sailing from there. It was quick, quiet, clean, air conditioned, empty. I was dropped off a couple blocks from work. It was a dream commute. I arrived home from my dog walk about 7.10 and was sitting at my desk at work by 7.45. That included clothes changing, hair doing and the walk to and from ST (which may say a little something about my prep time).

Unfortunately, the ride home was a little more challenging. I arrived at the station and immediately noticed quite a few more people. It seems Mariners fans are excited to try a Sound Transit adventure as well. At the top of the stairs, there were two ticket machines. One had a large 'out of service' sign electronically displayed across the screen (how long has this thing been in operation??) The other had a line. At the front of the line was an ST staffer helping someone buy an Orca ticket. This seemed to involved a lengthy conversation before the screen was even touched. Finally, they started the ticket buying process, the rider swiped her card and then nothing. The machine just started processing and processing and processing (envision a time clock on a computer). I was standing there holding exact change and beginning to think that maybe there is such a thing as too much technology. Finally, I piped up from the back of the line and asked the staffer if I had other ticket buying options. Turns out there were more machines way way on the other side of the station. Not a problem though I ran over, bought my ticket and was back before the machine finished processing the Orca card.

Next was the train ride. This time I had to wait a bit and was able to see the front of the train to notice there was actually a driver (I hadn't been sure). This particular one looked very dour. But undeterred, the Mariners fans and I hopped on and headed off through the tunnel under downtown.

So yesterday was 90-95ish. And yes ST is air conditioned, but I'm not sure the ST planners were planning on 95ish. And DAMN, it was hot and UNDERGROUND. There was just about zero air circulating in that train. At one point we stopped. Just stopped for about 10 minutes. After about 5 the chipper electronic lady announced we were waiting for 'traffic' (mind you we are still underground in a tunnel with no cars). So we waited in the dark, very very very hot train (okay maybe it wasn't dark). I personally was about to get up and rip the doors open and run screaming down the tunnel to safety. I think I might not have been the only one a bit panicked because as soon as we got out of the tunnel at least three people were on their cell phones describing the situation. (One person said we were stuck for 20 minutes, one said 5. I chose 10 as a nice middle number).

Anyhow, we finally get out of the tunnel and rid ourselves of the MFs. However, the train never sped up. On the way to work we were whipping right along. But on the way home it was a painful 15 mph or so the whole time.

As an extra adventure, I decided I would try the Lander street station on the top of Beacon Hill as my exit. The Lander station is 3 stories underground. You have to load yourself in a really creepy elevator with way too many people to get to the world again. It was, creepy and claustrophobic. I was happy to end my adventure. The ride home was longer. I arrived at the downtown station at 4.35 and got to Lander around 5.15. And there was no clothes changing involved.

One extra note, they don't have ticket machines. People - guards - come swooping on the train at random and ask to see your pass. It's rather odd. Oh, one more note. I live 4 blocks from the station and can hear every time it pulls in and out. It's not loud, but it's certainly not silent.

In general, I am very excited to take the train to the airport!!!!!! And I will hope that it can handle snow better than those stupid metro buses. And I will never ever get off in the Lander street tunnel again!

Finishing

So, sorry I have been so blog free lately. I will try to get back in the swing. This summer seems to be a bit of of whirlwind, making blogs feel like work. This weekend between chamber music, moms in town, 1 year old birthdays, 40 year old birthdays, running in way too hot weather, and house projects, there hasn't been a free minute. But, I have heard from my fans, so.........

My topic. House projects. Very time consuming house projects.

Last week my construction guys finished the back room in my house. I'm not sure how much I've shared about this, but basically the room off my kitchen was gradually sinking into the ground due to a lack of foundation. It was also cold and moldy and generally nasty and rotting. And very unfortunately, I seem to have not taken any pictures of the nastiness. Now, it is awesome. I have new windows, new doors, new walls, no mold. Unfortunately, the end of the construction workers, brings the beginning of my work. I am doing all the finish work myself. Let me give you an idea of the extreme effort this will require. All surfaces need a minimum of three coats. Some surfaces (outside door, for example, need up to 9). And there is a lot of staining involved, so the seems to be a stupid amount of sanding before, after and between coats.

Here's the list.

7 windows frames - inside (stained) and out (painted)
2 doors - One stained, one painted
3 door frames - one stained, two painted
interior walls - stained
ceiling - stained
exterior walls - painted/caulked
1 very pretty new bench/chest thing - stained.

Door, 9 coats outside, 4 coats inside PLUS trim!

Windows, 2 of 7 + laurel hedge that needs love, but is being ignored!

Windows, wall, lots of frames and a bench butt.

(Obligatory cute animal shots) As usual, the animals have been no help in this venture. In fact, now that the construction work has eliminated all grass creating a huge dust bowl, they like nothing better than rolling in the dust and then bringing lots of dirt into the house!

Lord it's hot will you just relax and take a nap on the rug with us.

Daisy in the dust bowl, coating as much body surface as possible.

Wow, turning over was tough! It's hot.

Wildlife

Evil raccoon about 5 feet from my porch.

You'll have to imagine the crows. Though I can't quite paint the right picture w/out their audio.

Something will happen.

Big big excitement around my house tonight. I was vacuuming (see exciting already). I turned off the vacuum to go chase a couple moths and heard a bunch of crows causing an uproar. I think maybe there is a crow baby running around somewhere near the back yard. Otto keeping running outside all excited and the crows go crazy. My guess is that there is a little crow baby they are trying to defend. Anyhow, I went out tonight and found not only 15 or so crows surrounding Otto, but a raccoon up in the tree staring at him. And Otto just sitting oh so calmly waiting.............. and waiting and waiting and waiting.

And the biggest excitement of all? Remembering that I now have lights outside!

Housing Crisis, Part 2

The back porch, temporarily supported by pieces of wood.

One of the reasons I was so bummed to be paying $500 to get my sewer lines rooted out, is that I have been attempting to save my pennies to stabilize the back room in my house. It seems that no foundation and wood beams sunk directly into the soil is not an appropriate way to support a covered porch - particularly not in Seattle. Mine has been slowly sinking for a while now. Not only that, but bad windows, no foundation, and lack or insulation = cold and moldy. Yuck. Anyhow, that project started this week.

So........ imagine my excitement when I went down to the basement today after washing a small number of dishes and noticed that once again the sink is backing up.

The grouchy rooter.

Another grouchy rooter, another toilet removal, and more rooting with absolutely no promise that the problem is fixed. On the contrary, I am getting assurances that the problem is probably not fixed. Roto Rooter is very excited to run a camera down my sewer lines (excited to the point of almost not taking no for an answer).

Why does this issue need to involve a toilet in my bathtub?

Does this teach one a life lesson? Does it make one a better person? Is it just part of being human? Sucking up makes me a better person? That which does not kill you can only make you stronger? (Kanye West and my mom)

So, that's me, bigger, better, faster, stronger. All because of the creeping expenditures of my sewer issues.