Just back from the Cottage in the Woods

And I missed the gold medal hockey game! It sounds like it was quite the game, but the best team won!

Looking at the final list of medals, Canada is third in the total standings, but it had the most gold medals. Does that mean that the USA has more second and third-rate athletes? Just wondering...

Depressing trip to the QFC

I go the Wallingford QFC when I need something (like Spam or toxic householder cleaners) that I can't get at the Fremont PCC. Today I went there to pick up some deli meats and a couple of odds and ends. Usually there is at least one panhandler out in front, and more recently with the recession and all there have often been two, but today there were four asking for money. One seriously old guy was especially pathetic in his battery powered wheelchair. He was up against the outside wall near a 110V outlet. He gestured for me to come over, and I did. He'd obviously had a stroke or something because he could barely talk, but he did make it known he wanted his wheelchair plugged in. But look as I might, I couldn't find the power cord. I went inside to get some help from the store, but the manager promptly informed me that the guy was around a lot, was nuts and that I should just ignore him. OK... I guess.

So I grabbed a basket and went over to the deli counter. There was no one right there to serve me, so I stood waiting patiently for a while. Finally a little old lady (she must have been at least 80) appeared behind the counter and asked if she could help me. I asked for a half-pound of sliced roast turkey, and then watched as she fumbled around for several minutes trying to find some in the display case. Finally a co-worker told her she'd have to get a new piece from the big cooler. The LOL disappeared into the cooler for quite some time and finally reappeared with a factory-wrapped turkey breast. I watched in sympathy as the LOL, who also is afflicted with a Parkinson's-like trembling, tried to get past the industrial strength plastic wrap. When she finally got down to the meat, my sympathy almost turned to horror as I watched her load the breast into the slicer. I thought I'd end up seeing her spraying her blood around the deli. but I guess the machine is foolproof and safe enough that even an 80-year-old with Parkinson's can't do any damage. It was excruciating to watch her lay out the plastic wrap on the output tray of the machine and then to watch her slice off one piece at a time into her hand and then lay it out on the plastic. She finally got enough cut to weigh it, but it was only 1/3 of a pound, so she went back to slice more. I told her it was close enough. I didn't have the heart (or the patience) to ask her for the 1/2 pound of pastrami that I also wanted.

I don't know what to think. At first, I figured, good for her to get out and work, and good for QFC to give her a job. Then I thought what a pity it was that this obviously frail old girl had to go to work for whatever reason, and then I thought that QFC should have put her in a job where couldn't do much damage to herself and to QFC's sales.

When I went outside to my car, the four panhandlers were still there, and the old guy in the power chair was still trying to get someone to hook him up to the AC outlet.

Who'd have thought a quickie trip to the store could turn out to be so sad?

Lack of Rants

I haven't done a good political rant for a while, but it doesn't mean all's well or I'm not paying attention to what's going on. Sometimes it's just too depressing to follow the news too closely. Here's a story about Israeli plans in Hebron that made my heart sink when I read it. Megan and I were in Hebron last year and were absolutely appalled at what the ultra-orthodox whack-job Jewish "settlers" were doing there. Their only mission in life appeared to be to humiliate the local Arab population. Now Netanyahu wants to make the Cave of the Patriarchs an Israeli heritage site! That will surely help the peace process, or what's left of it.

Closer to home, it looks like there is some hope for health insurance reform, and the public option, though still on life support, has been brought back from the dead. The Democrats appear to have finally realized that they've got to pass something and that they will get zero Republican support for whatever they do. So if there's zero Republican support, they may as well go for broke and jam through reforms that include a public option. One can only hope.

The torture memo lawyers, Yoo, Bybee, et al.,  appear to have gotten off scot-free. I would have preferred to see them in jail or at least on trial. In Nuremburg in 1947, sixteen Nazi jurists and lawyers were tried in the Judges Trial for among other things,  "War crimes through the abuse of the judicial and penal process, resulting in mass murder, torture, plunder of private property." That indictment seems to me to fit perfectly what Yoo and Bybee did. Four of the defendants were acquitted, but the remainder were given sentences ranging from five years to life. Over here, where freedom reigns, Yoo still has his job as a professor at Berkeley, and Bybee has a lifetime job as a federal judge.

The American nutritional-industrial complex seems to be at it again, this time with their arch-enemy, salt. But at least there is some push-back this time. Not all researchers are swallowing assertions that lowering salt in the typical diet will improve the health of the average American. I love salt; I use lots of it; and I've always been skeptical of claims that lowering salt intake lowers blood pressure which decreases the risk of heart attach and stroke. I've never read a study that showed conclusively that lowering salt intake in an otherwise healthy person was beneficial at all. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago to have my arthritic knee looked at, and of course my blood pressure was taken. It was 112/75.

So instead of getting too worked up about stuff  I can't control, I'll go skating with Megan on the ice at Fish Lake near my Cabin in the Woods. Last night we went to Play it Again Sports, and she bought me the first pair of skates I've had in what, 30 years?? Thanks Megan.

She bought herself a pair of figure skates, so we'll soon start training for the pairs competition at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

The Cabin in the Woods

I'm using the updated template from Blogger, but so far it's just as annoying to post pictures as the old one was, but here goes anyway.

Good grief! Here I am 20 minutes later seeing how the pictures and text have migrated all over the page. I think the new template is even worse than the old one. Or maybe it's just me. There are millions of people using blogger, and I've seen some pretty good looking sites, so maybe it IS me. Oh well. Bear with me.

Megan, Caroline, Farley, Sandy and I went up to the cabin on Wednesday for the night, and came back yesterday. We've officially broken the place in, having steaks and a few drinks in celebration. All in attendance had a good time!

The place came pretty much furnished, but of course we (I) had to buy a bunch of stuff to put the Friesen stamp on it. It came with a coffee maker and some left-over Folger's coffee, but life is too short for crappy coffee, so we went out and bought a coffee grinder with beans to follow. There are lots of pots and pans and cutlery there, but they're all the cheap and tinny stuff you find in a place that used to be used for nightly rentals. More substantial stuff will have to be found because everyone knows how much the Friesen clan loves to cook (and eat).

Here's a shot of the 20'x30' garage. The former owners did a good job of cleaning it out and getting rid of the bodies that had been stacked up like cord wood. (Actually I don't know if bodies were stacked up in there like cord wood, but since I couldn't get in there the first couple of times I saw the place, I figured that must be the reason.)

Even though we didn't do much in the way of exercise while there, there is something about being in a cabin in the woods in the snow that makes you just want to crash.

Farley liked the place too, and went off exploring on his own for an hour or more. For some reason he goes totally deaf when he's running full speed away from the people who are calling for him to come back. Fortunately, the neighbors seem to be pretty dog friendly, and Farley's a friendly dog, so no one was upset about him running around loose.

This place has the easiest-lighting woodstove I've ever used. The previous owners left quite a lot of wood for the two stoves, but there was no kindling, and the pieces were so big I didn't think they'd ever start without the help of some flammable liquid. Well, once again I was wrong. I followed the instructions for lighting the stove with paper, and was absolutely flabbergasted at how soon the fire was roaring. I guess I can take the axe off my to-be-bought-immediately list.

When the fire is not on, there is an electric forced air furnace to keep the chill off.
Here's the view from the kitchen looking into the living room. The only thing missing from the kitchen is a dishwasher, but I guess that's why I have daughters. I'm thinking of maybe extending the kitchen floor into the living room area and putting in a big long table that can seat eight or ten people. There are all kinds of possibilities for arranging and re-arranging the floorplan, but I don't think I'll do anything drastic until I've been there a bunch of times.

Megan the Elder and I are going up there later today, so I'm sure more decorating ideas will develop.

Dan's Blog

Check out Dan's blog for more information, photos, and even video of the Toliva Shoal Race. I also added a link to his site in my Links section on the right.

A Long Day

Yesterday began at 4:30AM with a wake-up call from the rarely-set alarm on my TV. My planned time to leave for Olympia was 6AM, which came so quickly (time flew with breakfast, walking Farley, final packing of my sailing gear, etc.) that I didn't even have time for a shower. I was supposed to be in Gig Harbor at 7AM to rendezvous with a couple of crew members with whom I'd carpool to Olympia. But because I was running a bit late, I didn't check the map before leaving and I assumed I'd find my way to Gig Harbor. I'd been there several times before by boat, and I knew it was west of Tacoma, and I knew how to get to Tacoma by car, so I'd be OK. Too many assumptions too early in the morning, I guess. I got off at the main Tacoma exit, and ended up winding my way through the city before asking for directions and finally getting on the right track. In the end, I wasn't too late, and was able to hook up with Jim and Kathleen for the rest of the trip to Olympia.

Once we got down to Olympia, we parked and headed down to the dock to meet up with our skipper Dan and the rest of the crew on Great White, a J35. I had raced before with Dan when he was our "consultant" on Surt during last year's Race Week. He's a good guy and a knowledgeable skipper and racer, and I was glad to have the opportunity to race with him on his boat in the annual Toliva Shoal race.

The forecast from the day before included rain, but had 10-15kt winds. A good day for racing, I hoped. But as usual, the weather forecast was at least 50% wrong, and wrong on the wrong 50%. The front had stalled, so we had rain, but no wind. Not such a good day for racing. The start was delayed by a couple of hours, and we thought for a while it might be called off, but the winds came up a little and we finally did take off on a slow start. The full race is a long race (36.8 nautical miles), and we hoped that the winds would pick up. They never really did, but we had a race, albeit a shortened one, anyway.

In spite of the lack of wind, the race was a good one for me. On Surt, I am usually working the foredeck, rarely venturing to the back half of the boat. On this race, Jim handled the foredeck mostly on his own, and I worked in the back trimming the jib upwind, and trimming the spinnaker when running downwind or reaching. That was all new to me. Other less exciting firsts included sailing backwards when our forward progress was less than the current pushing us backwards. It was interesting to watch the current in action. There were times when we were stalled and other boats were running past us in a river of current less than 100' away. But in the end, everyone got stalled one way or another. At one point, we were seriously considering digging out the anchor to stop us from sliding backwards like some of our competition did.

In the end, the race was shortened by about half, and we had our greatest excitement when a competitor's boat rightfully claimed overlap at finishing buoy and pushed us off the line, beating us across the by seconds. We ended up third in our class, not too bad at all. We continued on to Gig Harbor where I had left my car 14 hours before. I drove three of the crew back to Olympia where they picked up their car. (If the race had gone it's full length, we would have ended up back in Olympia, and Jim would have driven me back to my car in Gig Harbor).

It was a long day, but it was a good day. Thanks to Dan for the opportunity, and thanks to Kathleen, Peggy and Jim for being such a good crew to sail with. I'll do it again in a heartbeat.

Chalet in the Woods

Well, it looks like I've bought a chalet in the woods near Lake Wenatchee. I signed the papers today, and am only waiting for the closing date to be set. It would only take me a couple of days to arrange for the transfer of funds, but I guess the title insurance people have to do something to earn their money, so it will probably be next week before I get the keys.

The cottage lies on a 0.8 acre lot and has a garage and woodshed for outbuildings. Even though it's in an area with lots of other homes around, the lots are all big enough and set back far enough that you don't have to strain too much to imagine
that you're really out in the boonies.

I've liked this area ever since the first time I was out here a few years ago. It's about two hours from Seattle and 40 minutes east of the Steven's Pass ski area. It's convenient for downhill skiing, and in the middle of literally hundreds of miles of trails for cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. And since it's east of the Cascades, there's a lot more sun here in the winter than in Seattle. Lots of snow too! As much as I hate stinky and noisy snowmobiles, I might even buy a couple of them. I hear that if you go fast enough, you leave the smoke and the noise behind you! There are
two lakes in the area, Fish Lake and Lake Wenatchee, plus several creeks and rivers. Apparently the fishing can be pretty good, and

the snowmobile/ski trails can be used for mountain-biking or hiking.

It's truly a year round recreation area.

I looked around here a bit after I sold the condo in Whistler, but the prices were too high for my taste. But as everyone knows, real estate has taken a hell of a beating in the last couple of years, and the prices in this area dropped enough for me to start looking seriously again. The price on this place dropped 30% since its initial listing last summer!

The place is pretty much ready to move in, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need any work. The garage will have to be rewired and I think I'll just tear down the woodshed and and build a new one. The house itself needs a bit of work, but nothing that will prevent me from using the place right away.

I've got lots of plans for the place. I can build a workshop in the garage, and I think I'll replace the woodshed adjacent to the house with a brewhouse where I can make some wine and beer and hunker down for the coming apocalypse.

Who Books This Stuff?

Jeez, who books this stuff? Or maybe it should be spelled geez, with a hard "g" for the geezers, aka, the Who, who played for the Super Bowl XLIV halftime show. I used to love Teenage Wasteland, but somehow it doesn't ring true when played by millionaire geezers forty years after their best-before date.

I looked up the halftime shows here (isn't Wikipedia great?) to get the list of entertainers at Super Bowls past. I'm guessing The Who were booked by the same people who booked Paul McCartney (Super Bowl XXXIX), The Rolling Stones (SB XL), Tom Petty (SB XLII).

Isn't this like booking Guy Lombardo for Super Bowl I or Rudy Vallee for SB II? They were at the top of the charts in 1930.

Ps. In spite of my tendency to call the spectacle the Stupid Bowl, I watched about half the game, saw some of the best plays, and the right team won!

Mmmmm, good!

Megan's coming over this evening, and rather than having a humongous New York steak grilled to perfection on my Big Green Egg, I decided to make some light, yet delicious food to snack on. But I still had the primeval urge to cook with fire, so I fired up the BGE to about 500°F and made some pita bread to go along with the hummus and parsley/tomato dips I'd already made.

I've liked this Mediterranean and Arabic style food ever since I went to Jordan for a couple of weeks in 1991. At that point, you could not buy hummus in any corner grocery store here - in fact I had never even heard of the stuff. But in Jordan, you never get to work (it was a working trip for me) without first having a plate of veggies and dips and flat breads with the locals. I liked the hummus so much that while still in Jordan, I went to the local Safeway (yes, they had a real Safeway in Amman) and looked around for the jars or tins of hummus. I couldn't find any, so I asked for it. They looked at me like the ignorant foreigner I was and told me that you don't buy hummus, you make it. I asked for a recipe, and they said that everyone had their own recipes, but the basic ingredients were chickpeas, sesame oil or ground sesame seeds, garlic, and lemon. So I bought all the stuff and made some back at the hotel. The stuff I made today has all of that, plus some sun-dried tomatoes.

I can't remember what the name of the other dip is, but I'll always remember it too, because it is the first dish I'd ever had in which parsley was a major ingredient. I think most of the parsley sold in America ends up as a garnish on a plate and then in the trash. Arabs consider parsley an aid to digestion, so they actually eat it. Until then, I didn't know how good parsley could be. I've modified the basic recipe of chopped tomatoes and parsley by adding goat cheese and garlic.

Good stuff!!

Haiti and Racquetball Update

Here are some of the Haiti-bound crutches that Megan and I helped to collect. A doctor friend of a friend of hers went to Haiti yesterday and put out the call for crutches to take with him. With all the broken bones there, I'm sure they'll be put to good use.

But no, I was too selfish to send the Ray Wylie Hubbard and Eliza Gilkyson autographed crutches I used on my Broken Ankle Tour of 2006. I went to the local Goodwill store instead and bought several pairs. I figure I should get double gold stars in heaven for helping devastated folk in Haiti by helping out the poor in Seattle. But even if no one is keeping track, it was the least I could do.

And alas, I am not the champion of the Intermediate Plus Racquetball league at the Olympic Athletic Club. I am number two, so I guess I'll just have to try harder next time. I wasn't very pleased with the way I played tonight. My serve was working reasonably well, but I made way too many unforced errors. Final scores were 15-13 and 15-11, so at least I didn't embarrass myself.