Pike Place Market and PETA

We’ve been to Seattle a couple of times now and done some shopping and eating. Two of our favorite pastimes, although we would probably prioritize them in different order. Both trips we stopped at Ivers and Pike Place Market.

Ivers is a seafood restaurant just a block away from the ferry terminal. And that’s how we get there from Bremerton. We just leave the car and walk on the ferry. It’s about an hours trip. Ivers has a more formal sit down section and a fast-food sidewalk section also. We’ve done both and fed the seagulls. The chowder is just great. Worth the trip all by itself.

Pike Place is the home of the famous Pike Place fish market where they throw fish around. Always a crowed there watching the fishmongers. We didn’t see PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) there, though they have protested the throwing of fish. “Go figure!” But for us, just around the corner is the little mini-donut place that Kat just has to stop at. We always get a dozen. No ‘Calorie Police’ yet. But that may be coming. Speaking of that: we got an email from Fred Meyer grocery that there was a recall on the Tollhouse cookie dough we purchased a couple of weeks ago. Salmonella or something? So, we’re thinking it must be the Club or Rewards card that allows that information to be tracked. Damn! Big Brother is watching! Scary! Is that how they’re going to do the caloric tax? Real Scary!


Our last trip we rode the bus through town to the Woodcraft store to by a couple of things for woodcarving. What I ended up getting was a set of micro tools and case. A must have! He said with a grin.

The Bed and Brain Connection

Many times either going to bed or waking I think of really neat stuff to write about. And I know that I have a problem with remembering what I was thinking about. The ‘Bed and Brain connection’. As soon as I get up the connection is broken and for the life of me I can’t remember what it was I was going to write about that I thought was so neat. I have to get up and write it down quickly or its gone. And I do mean quickly. Any hesitation and I may not even remember that I was going to write something down. I may be stuck with half a thought or one of two thoughts, or something like that. There could be some ‘Old Timers’ disease in there but I think it’s mostly the case that a good portion of my brain really resides in the mattress. Anyway, I try to write stuff down and here’s some of it.

Jade and Mutt
Shawn the Ranger has a big old dog named Bo who roams the area and ain’t too crazy about interlopers, which in this case includes cats, which includes Jade (people are OK),. But Bo and Jade have been formally introduced now and things are pretty much OK. Bo comes by now and then and lays on our rug looking for handouts or pees on the bushes, just to keep Jade honest. Jade turns her back or climbs on a chair or the picnic table to demonstrate her lack of concern. But somehow she manages to convey the point that she’ll rip off Bo’s face if he tries any funny stuff. They have learned to cohabitate.
Downy woodpecker and the paranoid Jade
I have no earthly idea what I was thinking! Kind of proves the point huh? It may have been a Hairy woodpecker anyway. They’re a little bigger.
T. Tommy Tucker and friends
Really it’s just Tucker. He’s a Golden Retriever belonging to Linda, a very nice lady who lives near here and does some volunteer office work for the park and walks Tucker here every night. Tucker has allergies and has to have special food and treats. Shawn (or maybe it was Linda)bought a bag of potato and duck treats just for him. Thanks to Shawn this is a dog friendly park. Shawn is able to ‘talk to the animals’ especially Bo (see above), but not just Bo. So unlike lot’s of parks this one is quite animal friendly. We have treats and most dogs get a welcome at the gate too. Not a problem for me! Anyway, I have explained to Tucker, who really is a pretty boy, that his secret is safe with me. I won’t let on that he gets potato and duck treats and ‘oh by the way’ carries around a pink floppy eared bunny named ‘Bubby’. While I’m on dogs, one of my jobs here is to explain to park visitors that the big black dog named Bo that belongs to Shawn the Park Ranger, that I’m shooing out of the park, does not belong to the Park Ranger, but is really just a neighbor mutt. Really Bo stays home real well but every once in a while he likes to visit the park. Shawn lives right next door to the maintenance area and the whole place is pretty much empty except on summer weekends so it’s not a problem, but when it does happen and there are people around, Shawn is too embarrassed to go get her dog. She just starts laughing and asks me to go get the neighbor dog out of here. That’s when Bo becomes the mutt! As a point of interest, this is the Golden Retriever capitol of the world or so it seems I think every fourth dog we see on a leash here is a ‘Golden’. No exaggeration! Still on dogs! Kat, not my Kat, but another Park Aide here, has a dog named Willow that is mostly wolf. Kat hales from Alaska and so does Willow. Not too long ago I was down in the park near closing time and it was getting a little dark and I’m busy doing something and sense this presence behind me. I turn to see a ‘freakin’ wolf standing behind me. And that was my thought. “There’s a freakin wolf standing behind me”! As you already know it was really Willow but I hadn’t met Willow yet. You go stand in the woods when its getting dark and have a dog that looks more like wolf sneak up behind you; “see how much you like it!” OK so maybe it wasn’t getting dark and maybe the dog is 14 years old and can’t see very well. It was still a little scary.
After reading this last I realize it wanders a bit and you may get lost somewhere in my discussion of dogs and who, and what they are, and to whom they belong . Just live with it! I’ll entertain questions but it’s too late to change it.
The Sunseeker Couple
Just yesterday an older couple came in and got a camping spot for the night. For some reason I couldn't take their payment right away and explained the self registration process which is to go pick a spot and come back an put the payment envelope in the box. They said, ‘oh, couldn’t we just pay in the morning or something because we don’t want to walk all the way back’. I could see they had no tow car so I told them, better yet, why don't I drive by and find them and pick up their payment later. Which I did! But that is not my point, even though it does demonstrate that I am a pretty nice guy. My point is, that when I got to their site they were setting up and pulling out their lawn chairs, and I thought ‘how neat is this, a nice spot in the trees and nothing to do but relax’. And with a little more reflection I realized I/we’ve been doing this for several years and still I was a little jealous of them. Making the real point. I am still just enjoying the hell out of our lifestyle! And it made my day!

The Why On Scenic Beach?

You may be asking why I’m working after 11 years of retirement? I’ll ‘splain! Very briefly, I need some earnings to qualify for Social Security benefits. I didn’t get any (earnings toward SS that is) while working with the P.O. And I’m a world class procrastinator. Now I have the age and not the credits. A summer here ought to do it. But every time I talk to them (SS) I get a different response. “I mean I don’t hardly get the same answer once”. First I can, then I can’t, then its GPO, then its WEP (they’re both provisions to reduce annuities for Federal retirees who didn’t pay into social security or who make too much money or both or something like that?). I use to need two credits, now its five. And I’m somehow getting Medicare through my late wife’s account. Who knows? I have an appointment with a benefit person on Monday. Maybe we can straighten it out. So I hope my earnings count anyway.

Well I had that appointment with SS. Tiffany in Silverdale WA was very nice and assured me I only need the two credits. Rest assured that I will be going back to her with my earnings statement as soon as I have enough and get her to ‘sign me up’. When she told me I only needed the two credits I made some comment about getting the answer I wanted to hear and “could you put that in writing”? And she did! So like I said I’m going back to her, because I want to be like Kat. Kat just became eligible for SS benefits and has been walking around singing a song about getting a SS check. She hasn’t yet but she’ll start getting them soon and she is really enjoying it. I guess its one of those rare times when you can celebrate getting older. Lots of LOL’s. Unless of course the liberals in power determine we’re just having too much fun and they need the money more than we do. I guess that’s just a part of the new ‘Hope and Change’ Is this really what so many people voted for on Election Day? How’s it working for you? Looks like Socialism to me. Which reminds me, I wrote to my people in Washington DC and said "no" on Obama Care but only got a response from Merkley, Oregon’s junior senator. He wants to do something with health care so unfortunately he’ll go along. It’s probably already too late for Oregon. It has already turned to the 'dark side'. Or more correctly it turned to the 'dark side' some years ago.

To work! To work! And the Girlfriends.

So here we are at Scenic Beach again. And I really have a job. I do light maintenance and close the park at night. Which is drive around in a pick-up making my presence known and getting people out so I can close the gate. There is a 50 site campground and separate ‘day use’ area. My hours are 2:00 PM or so to close (about 9:00). Sometimes I start early and split the day up. The work is easy and the setting is fantastic. I see a lot of my girlfriend, who I call ‘girlfriend’, to she how she is doing. Then once in a while I see ‘momma and the twins’. Both are deer! Actually they may be the same doe. She hangs around Emel House and there is some thought she has her babies stashed nearby and she brings them out just sometimes. She seems to know that if you are driving something, pulling a hose, or carrying a tool that you are OK and she can just relax and graze on the clover. Of course, if and when she is ‘momma and the twins’ it’s a little different. Then she is a little more cautious. And an UPDATE. As it turns out she is not the same doe. Just recently I saw them all in one group, including a yearling who hangs with ‘momma and the twins’ sometimes. So it’s 2 doe, two fawns and one yearling.

Scenic Beach kind of specializes in weddings at Emel House and has one picnic shelter for rent for larger picnics and events. Emel House was built in 1910-12 and overlooks Hood Canal. Pictures. So for about $1000 you can have a wedding here in the house and/or the grounds. And lots of folks do! It’s probably rented two or sometimes three times a week during the summer for weddings.

At our site we have the bird and hummer feeders out, the canopy is up with a picnic table underneath (for wood carving don’t ya’know) , the satellite dish is up and working, and Jade likes her spot. The ‘dish’ was a challenge in that we are in some tall timber here and there is no view of the sky at less than about 80 degrees. This far north you need about 35 or 40 degrees to get a signal. But we got a real nice kid from Direct TV who came out to set us up and was very understanding and helpful. When he first pulled up in all these trees he was shaking his head and thinking no way. But I took him for a walk and we found a spot about 400’ or 500’ away. He used much more cable than we were authorized and gave us a new dish and all the connectors and everything. He was a ‘breath of fresh air’ in this day and age. And he loved Jade! She was laying on her back sunning like she does (we get about an hour around noon) and I pointed at her and he looked and said “how adorable”. Twice! So he pulled out his phone/camera and took a couple of pictures for his wife who he said just had to see this. I felt better when he said wife because I was beginning to wonder after the ‘adorable’ thing. LOL. But he was a nice kid and I doubt we would have had satellite TV service with most technicians. Anyway the whole setup is pretty nice and we have a good group of folks to work with.

One of the more comforting thoughts about being here is that we’re just a few miles from Bangor and the US Navy Trident Submarine base. Home of the largest (I’m told) nuclear warhead storage area in the nation, So if somebody screws up and pushes the button I’m prepared to just bend over and kiss my rear end goodbye. Kind of a Cold War thing I guess, but its still got to be a high priority target.