First BBQ of the Year

Tonight the weather is more typical, misty rain and cool temperatures; however, last night was the end of a perfect, if atypical, day here in Seattle so I had my first BBQ of the year.

Generating coals

Beer to nurse while making coals

I say first BBQ because I fired up my favorite grilling device, a fifty- gallon drum cut in half and filled with sand. It makes a nice backyard fire and the leftover coals do a great job of barbecuing anything needing a good hot fire.  When the coals die down it's good for chicken or other things which like a slower fire.

I have a gas barbeque which is handy and quick and I have a Weber kettle which is pretty versatile. Both of those cook things but my favorite is the drum which not only cooks things but also gives me a nice fire, a comfortable feeling and generates some nostalgia from memories of fires in years past. Years ago I had Garth down at Ballard Sheet Metal make me a stainless grill for the drum. The grill has taken the heat for many years and some of the welds have parted but it is still serviceable and holds many good memories.

Sunday I helped Iko prepare dinner. My job was to cook rabbit loin. I broke down the rabbit carcasses that I had gotten earlier from brother Keith, the Shacho, who runs the best meat supply house west of the Mississippi and east of Honolulu. I used most of the carcass for stock but saved the hind quarters for another use, as the cookbooks say.

Most of the Sunday meal was good but I didn't do a very good on the loins. Well, I did a good job but we held them too long so the end product was not so good, but that's another story.

Nosy azaleas overseeing the coal making  

Back to my barbeque last night. The saved hind quarter meat I cut up into small pieces, threaded on skewers, dusted with Penzey's Greek dressing mix and let marinate for an hour.

When the time came I opened a can of Top Cutter IPA by Bale Breaker Brewing over Yakima way, spread the coals and burned off the grill. The Top Cutter is pretty good beer, by the way. It is hoppy, not too alcoholic (6.8%) and nicely bitter with an IBU of 70. I turned the skewers, sipped the beer and watched the waxing gibbous moon through the trees to the south of our backyard.

Iko made some wonderful potato balls for the Sunday dinner so the two leftovers I sliced up and sauteed in browned butter. Their crispy blandness complimented the slightly spicy meat. That plate, a small green salad and a glass of cabernet blanc made a good Monday dinner.

Pretty yummy entree

After dinner my little dog, Kuro, said it was time for his walk so off we went into the balmy evening.

Along the way we saw a panorama of downtown Seattle, Elliot Bay and our proprietary mountain, Rainier, standing regally above it all.

Seattle panorama from the Space Needle to Mt Rainier

On the way back we came across an ancient lilac in full bloom perfuming the evening air and giving us a glimpse of the moon overseeing the evening.

Lilac moon

 A lovely day like that makes us appreciate them so much more because they are rare this time of year. It was a perfect end to my first barbeque of the year.

Security

I enjoy posting reports of my travels more or less as they occur. I think people read a blog expecting it will be timely. But we live in a world tied closely by electronic communication. Well, I guess that also explains why we can have such things as blogs. I hate to say it again but, "when I was young" things were a little different. Diaries, travelogues or letters (remember those old fashioned missives?) were the accepted way to keep track of and report on travels and other life experiences.

Well, in addition, people conversed more in those days. Dinner time, back fence, front porch or barbershop conversations were even more personal ways to pass along experiences and opinions. It seems those ways of exchanging information have faded in favor of instantaneous electronic communication. I'm not sure that's an improvement but progress(?) is hard to stop.

But back to timeliness, immediate communications and security. As a couple of my friends have pointed out, when I post to my blog that my wife and I are traveling in Mexico, or Canada or Eastern Westonia, it's a pretty good indication to the nefarious reader that our house is empty and might be easy pickings for the casual thief.

We live in a fairly dense neighborhood, we have a block watch group of neighbors, access to our backyard is difficult and we have an alarm system. Does that mean I can post our absences on the internet with impunity? I don't know. I see people posting their comings and goings on Facebook apparently without much regard for the lurker with evil intent.

I have considered posting only after we return home and sometimes I do just that by default since it's more difficult to post in real time when internet connections are spotty or expensive. But to complicate the issue my blog host now offers an app for portable devices which allows shorter posts with smaller pictures while on the road to Mandalay, or wherever in the world the user might be.

What to do? What to do? Maybe the precautions I've taken are enough. Maybe I should make the blog private requiring a user name and password? Maybe I should hire a house sitter each time we travel?

If it were you what would you do? Is a password and user name too complicated? I'm open to suggestions so please give me your ideas in the comment section, below. Click on the red "no comments" or "# comments" and you can contribute your thoughts.

Being Called from Afar

Last week Iko and I were in North Carolina, in January we were cruising (see 50th anniversary cruise, below), last weekend I was in Japan, later this year I'll be going to VFW conventions In Yakima, WA, and Pittsburgh, PA, in between son Glenn and I will spend three weeks in Vietnam and Laos and then in the fall Iko and I will travel to Japan again for sightseeing and to attend the fifty-year memorial for her parents. Sometime a little later this year I'll make at least one more trip to North Carolina and in November we're scheduled to spend a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

I sometimes wonder what it is about travel that appeals to me so much. When I was in the Army, at first I thought it was a natural tendency that anyone in strange surroundings, or better yet, in a foreign country, would want to get out and observe their surroundings and take in the differences in customs and cultures. But, no, I soon found out there were lots of guys who would just as soon stick close to the base, go to work, go to the mess hall, go to the club and go to bed. There were even some who complained bitterly about being forced to be away from home in this "hellhole."

The first time I observed this attitude the "hellhole" in question was Southern Japan! In fairness I guess I should say this was in the early sixties before Japanese cuisine and culture was much appreciated by the majority of Americans, but what a wasted opportunity, to be living next door to an ancient culture and not even give it a second glance.

Over the years of Army travel I learned that this was not an aberration and perhaps not even the most egregious example. I have seen people living in close proximity to amazing tourist attractions who decline to go have a look for what seem to me to be absurd reasons.

I don't claim to have access to universal truth. All I can say is what works for me. I enjoy staying home watching the almost daily change in the seasons, the different points on the horizon where the sun appears and disappears each day, the pleasure of making or eating a new recipe and the heightened awareness of surroundings and people as I sometimes take the bus through downtown Seattle.

But all this pales (for me) in comparison to the sense of anticipation I feel when I plan a new adventure or set off to the airport or step outside the hotel in a new place. What new experience lies in store tomorrow? What new contrast will I see to the standard routines of home? What novel approach to life lies hidden round the next corner?

Not to say there aren't interesting and sometimes different things to do around home and the comforts of home are hard to deny, but the call of the wild (or even the tame) in a different part of the world is hard for me to resist.

Flicker Update Two

For the first time I've had trouble with one of my blog posts. This post about our backyard flickers was originally posted Tuesday evening after I returned from Japan but some readers complained that they never received an email notifying them of the new post. I checked my own email accounts and found the same.

If you go to the blog website you may have seen it and in case you don't know, when you are notified by email of a new post you can click on the title of the post and it will take you to the blog itself where you can see all the entries.

To cure (hopefully) the problem I just deleted the original post and am posting it again. Thanks.

~~~~~~

Well, I guess our flicker family has decided against moving into the newly remodeled house in our backyard. I've been watching from the kitchen window as they come for the suet in the feeder and they don't even glance over toward the house they worked so hard on.

While she was working on the entrance the female would occasionally poke her head in and when she had enlarged the hole enough I saw her actually climb in a few times. But then she didn't come back. I guess something about the interior didn't satisfy her instinctive requirements for a home.

On the other hand, I thought it had great potential as a flicker house. There was the nice morning sun exposure, a moss covered roof to keep out the rain, a good view of the wisteria vine climbing above the feeder and house, close proximity to the suet feeder and several tall trees nearby where the adults like to perch near the top and survey the countryside.

Flicker's eye view of wisteria above the birdhouse and feeder

If I were like big government I could issue a "fair housing standards act" and tell her to move in or I'd stop feeding suet, but I doubt that would work in her case.

It does seem to work for the government though. In cases from schools to roads they say, "Do it our way or we'll take away lots of money." In other cases from new cars to new appliances and light bulbs they say, "Do it our way and we'll give you lots of money." Strange thing is, it's our money they took away to begin with.

Maybe we should get the government out of the meddling business and follow our instincts more?

Lightweight Newspaper

This morning when I picked up my morning newspaper from the front porch I thought, "The paper has gotten really light lately."

 I put it on the kitchen scale and it weighed in at 4.1 ounces, including the plastic bag in which it is delivered. That same bag advertised jobs earning from $800-1000 per month as a new carrier. I don't know how much a carrier gets paid for each subscription he delivers but he must have to deliver lots of papers to make $1000 per month.

After I read the news of the day I counted the pages. There were 14 pages, which, when printed on both sides, totaled 28 pages of print including 5 pages of advertising. Not so long ago it seems there were upward of 50 pages. Of course, there were many more pages of advertising but even with that there was more news.

I guess lots of people nowadays get their news from the TV and radio shows.For the computer users (and who isn't now?) there is the ever-present home page with its news teasers aimed right at the reader. 

I find it amazing that if you like to read about riots, for instance, there will be lots of headlines about riots next time you visit your home page. If you prefer stories about beauty contests you will see scantily clad girls and news of beauty contests from around the world. Myself, I like to scan recipes for possible future candidates when it's my turn to cook. Of course, soon I see lots of leaders for recipe sites.

I like to defeat the little (wo)man in my computer who is my personal news selector by skipping my home page completely and going straight to email or other favorites. I know, I know, the little man doesn't get any extra revenue from me but I figure he makes enough off the others who nibble at his bait.

On a more serious note, I do wonder how people gain exposure to the other side of the news when all they see or hear is what they like or have selected in the past.

My morning paper, lightweight as it is, still prints only one local edition. They don't put out one edition for conservatives (not many in Seattle), one for liberals, one for tree huggers and one for heavy users of natural resources. 

I can skip the stories written by journalists from the other end of the political spectrum but they are there just in case they catch my eye and I might see some interesting editorials that I don't particularly agree with but at least I see them. There's something to be said for wide ranging news and opinion exposure. It's sort of like the days of the draft when I first entered the Army, you never knew who you might meet sitting next to you in the mess hall. Interesting people from many walks of life populated the Army in those days.

Another point to make in favor of the newspaper is the people and money they can send after stories that wouldn't necessarily make the evening news or find their way to your home page. 

So, what can I do to prolong the life of my local skinny newspaper? First, I can continue my own subscription. Second, for those of you who can, please subscribe, or re-subscribe. 

Help save news diversity in our time.

Our Northern Flickers

In our backyard I have several bird feeders hanging from an arbor where a wisteria grows. One feeder contains assorted bird seed, two have sunflower seeds and one has suet. The suet attracts Northern Flickers, a variety of woodpecker, but they are very cautious birds. One will land on the arbor and another might land on a nearby fence. Both will look this way and that for several minutes until they are convinced there are no predators nearby then the one on the arbor will hop down onto the suet feeder while the other keeps a sharp eye out. Even while feeding they will pause frequently to check the surroundings.

Several years ago my brother Harry gave me a birdhouse made from some old growth cedar he had salvaged from the woods near their house. It was a beauty with three holes leading into the nests, a small nail for the birds to perch on while entering and each hole had a horseshoe around it. I hung it from the edge of the shop roof on the far side of the arbor.

A nice multi-level birdhouse

I'm not sure if I have it in a bad spot or it it just wasn't attractive to the kind of birds we have but we never had birds nest there. Over the years the little nails rusted off but the horseshoes acquired a nice rusty patina and some moss grew on the little roof. It looked pretty attractive to me so I don't know why birds never moved in.

A couple weeks ago I saw a pair of flickers checking out the nesting box. The male would fly in, hang on the front of the box and peck at the holes a little, then fly off. Next time I looked the female would be there pecking at the holes. They both were a little tentative but over a few days they made a little progress on all three of the holes.

Finally I saw that the female had chosen the bottom hole and was busy enlarging the entrance. She worked pretty steady and in a few more days had enlarged the hole and climbed in several times.

Hole enlarged to woodpecker size

As I mentioned Flickers are very cautious so I haven't been able to get a picture of one actually at work. I can follow their activities from the kitchen window, about thirty feet away, but as soon as their is any kind of strange movement in the backyard they are gone.

So now the question is, will they actually nest in their chosen spot. I'm surprised that they have gotten this far but even in the city there are birds and animals that make themselves right at home. But will they actually nest?

Tune in next week and I'll try to post a picture of the female's head poking out of the newly enlarged hole.

Blood Moon

One of my sisters sent me an email yesterday about the rare "Easter weekend blood moon" forecast for this morning.

Kuro checking out the nighttime park

Last night as my little dog, Kuro, and I were walking we saw the full moon rising over Queen Anne Hill here in Seattle. It was gorgeous moon at that point because as it rose through the lower atmosphere it appeared larger and had a brighter tint than normal. The "blood" moon is so called because later last night when the shadow of the earth passed over the moon the color was supposed to go from full yellow-orange to more of a blood red.

Full moon rising over Queen Anne

Along our walking course is the old playfield just below the Magnolia Elementary School. The building hasn't been used as a school for many years and a few years back the city converted the playground from an asphalt-covered playground to a pretty nice park with a walking path around it, swings, teeter totters and such for the children and a grand city overlook for the adults.

Seattle/Elliott Bay overlook at dusk

We enjoyed our walk and because of the sightseeing and lollygagging we finished our walk in the dark. Of course, that doesn't matter to Kuro. As long as I'm willing to walk, night or day, wet or dry, he's happy and his stubby little tail is on high alert or wagging energetically depending on his mood.

I try to take my cue from him and enjoy our walk for its own sake and put aside day (or night) time worries. It's a time to relax and get into the spirit of appreciation that lets things happen at their own pace and significance.

When I went to bed I wasn't thinking of the blood moon but my subconscious must have been wanting to catch a glimpse since I became restless about 0200.

Well, I got up at 0213 and it was a bright white full moon I saw but then an hour later it was mostly hidden by clouds. Sometimes I could see a faint outline but mostly clouds.

At 0300 I started watching the live show on Slooh so I wouldn't miss the eclipse but it wasn't quite the same as watching live from my back porch. Finally the clouds thickened and completely covered my view of the real live moon so I watched the live feed from California via Slooh. Incidentally, slooh.com is the site for all things astrological. If you are interested in the stars, moon or other parts of our universe, you might pay them a visit.

At 0320 the clouds were still blocking my view. The Live Show on Slooh showed the lower left quadrant in full shadow.

0330 - Eclipse still covered by clouds here in Seattle. Local overnight forecast from NOAA was 40% chance of rain with mostly cloudy skies. I gave up on viewing in real time and decided to go back to bed. I'll watch the reruns.

Sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned. To paraphrase the great Robert Burns, The best laid plans of mice and men and the subconscious often go awry. It makes me appreciate even more the times when plans work out for the good.

The Smell of Spring

This morning I opened our south-facing back door to check out the landscape and give my begging squirrels some peanuts when I was struck by the smell of spring. 

This time of year it is getting light before I get up. Even though official sunrise this morning was 0624, because of our northern latitude we have a longer period of twilight at both ends of the day. It was cloudy this morning so it was difficult to tell when first light began but it was at least an hour before sunrise. In another couple months at summer solstice we'll have daylight or twilight for at least eighteen hours of the day.

When I was fishing for salmon on a commercial purse seiner in southeastern Alaska a lot of years ago I remember the June days being filled with light. Even though the sun would go below the southern horizon for a couple hours we had daylight during that period and it wasn't long before the sun would rise again to make its circle around the sky. Of course a little farther north, in the land of the midnight sun, the sun doesn't even set but circles from low on the horizon around, over and back down close to the horizon as the day passes.

But back to the smell of spring. When the cool air hit my nose this morning it smelled of pollen, a little salt from nearby Elliot Bay and the beginning of the earth smell caused by the warming soil. All this was enhanced by the high humidity of the early morning dew. It is a smell that resurrects memories of similar mornings experienced at this same time of year over many years of  smelling spring air.

When we lived in other parts of the world the smell of spring was different and sometimes not even distinguishable from other smells at other times of year. 

In Panama at this time of year it was the end of the dry season with its smoke from the burning grasslands and the return to the higher humidity and frequent rains of the rainy season. Even though we lived close to the salt water I never smelled the salt in the air like I do here in Seattle. Maybe because the smells of the nearby jungle overpowered other smells.

Northern Japan, on the Island of Hokkaido, had weather similar to home but, even though further south, the weather was influenced by the Siberian air flow and we had snow and cold temperatures most of the winter. When spring came it was fast with lots of pollen and quick warming trends. We had the smell of pollen and dew but the smell of the ocean was missing.

Spring was more fragrant in southern Japan where the strawberries would just be coming on. We lived in a rural area where the farm smells were strong but they were tempered by the smells of the sea with drying fish and seaweed and tidelands.

In those days the warmer air often carried the smell of burning plastic and other garbage. Thankfully, the Japanese learned to dispose of those materials in other ways (now their recycling rate is near the top) so the smells of spring there are more distinctive.

In Saigon the smell of the city overpowered any natural smell of spring. Mostly I smelled dust and rain and the human smells of a crowded city. It seems the tropics have a distinctive smell but that smell doesn't evoke memories like the combination of salt and pollen and dew and warming earth like the backyard smell in Seattle.

I'm sure the smell of home is best for people of any part of the world, but for me, maybe it's because I'm getting older but I like the natural smells of spring and the memories they bring back to life here in Seattle.