CATURDAY

May 13, 2017, 5:22 am

≫ Next: Progress

≪ Previous: SchadenFriday

BONUS Saturdogs

Many thanks to:
Animals Being Dicks
Señor Gif
k00l 4 k@+z
Almost Famous Cats
Cats, Beavers & Ducks
Derpy Cats
FAT CATS
FUCKYEAHFELINES!
CHEEZburger
Every Day is Caturday
Cats and Dogs
The Cat Reviewer
And everyone else who happened to put a cat or dog where I ended up seeing it this week!

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Progress

May 13, 2017, 11:50 am

≫ Next: Video day

≪ Previous: CATURDAY

It was tempting to get another time lapse with the moon yesterday because it was so bright and dramatic. The clouds over the valley were better, though.

See? Much more interesting.

A previously-overgrown area that was cleared out to get rid of encampments near the new houses is now even clearer, cleaned completely out pretty much. I walked all the way to water's edge that way, and found some clothing and garbage, plus this strange setup.

I could see these clouds the entire time I was there, and had to walk right up to the edge of the water to be able to get this.

A lot of phone wires go through that area, and it's cool that you can walk right up to this tower.

The housing development's gotta be close to done. I wasn't sure if anyone lived there yet, but I could smell bacon and eggs cooking as I passed.

Check out the fairy rings in their rain garden!

Pretty squares of the day.

Yesterday's awesome walk, 5.68 miles in 1:57, 12,681 steps

5.68 miles in 1:57, 12,681 steps

I left the Podo on the overpass near the 4-mile mark, then drove on to where I started the walk from. I like doing that because the time lapse lasts even longer.

We had a nice evening. Our friend Lisa invited us for dinner, which was our first time at her place. More pretty squares from my walk to kill time since I was about 35 minutes early getting there.

Very tasty and lots of fun. After that, we spent the night at a hotel at Paine Field.

That was an experiment to see if, now that we both have CPAPs, we can sleep in the same room. Same bed will always be out of the question, but we always also used separate rooms because of snoring. But neither of us do that any more, and aside from the very firm beds, last night was totally fine. This is great news, because a lot of options open up for us now when we travel. We've always had to get a suite, but it's so much easier to find a room with two beds.

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Video day

May 14, 2017, 1:09 pm

≫ Next: Shuffle about

≪ Previous: Progress

It wasn't much of a day for photos, so I only got a couple. More videos today, that might be a first!

One thing I saw when I was out today was a few of these new benches. Really annoying design, since there's not only the bar in the middle to stop people from laying down, but there's also no back, so you can't really relax.

There's just no need for the bar down the middle. In cities, it's to prevent people from laying down, but this place is so far out of town. I've seen people sleeping in their cars there, but there's no way anyone's walking out there to stay the night.

The smaller birds that are usually over on the island were hanging around near the biosolids holding area todayl, which was weird. And frustrating, because they move so fast, it's hard to get a good video. At least I caught this hawk. Later on, I saw an eagle leave its nest nearby and fly toward where the hawks hang out, and one drove it off.

Lots of goose action today.

Today's pretty square.

And today's time lapse. If you look closely, you can see the white car that belongs to the dude with the dogs, along with another car, both annoyingly parked much further in than they're supposed to be.

Today's awesome walk, 7.47 miles in 2:35, 16,721 steps

7.47 miles in 2:35, 16,721 steps

We're leaving soon for a prime rib Mother's Day dinner with Bev and Dennis. We saw them a week ago for Garrett's birthday, and I keep joking she should have waited a little longer to have him, but he was a month late.

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Shuffle about

May 15, 2017, 4:14 pm

≫ Next: Suckerpunch!

≪ Previous: Video day

The rest of yesterday was lovely. All four of us ordered prime rib and it was very tasty. And there was enough that we'll have French dips from the leftovers. Unfortunately, Garrett had to work the rest of the evening, but before we headed home, he helped set up the new computer we picked up on the way to dinner for his dad.

I left the Podo running in our back yard all day while we were gone. I really like the single rain drop that shows up and then evaporates.

And I got a pretty decent one by mounting the Podo on some playground equipment while I swam this morning.

Work ended up scheduling a very late meeting today, so I went out for lunch and to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2. That was a lot of fun, though perhaps a bit long. If this entry seems rushed, it's because that late meeting is in less than 20 minutes.

Before I go, here's the obligatory Bella photo.

And one of the shop kitty who lives at Wild Birds Unlimited in our neighborhood. We stopped there to grab a gift for Bev on the way over to see them yesterday.

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Suckerpunch!

May 16, 2017, 1:50 pm

≫ Next: Halfway there

≪ Previous: Shuffle about

This time of year is funny. Garrett calls it the "May Suckerpunch" because, every May, the sun comes out for a few days and everyone thinks the rain is over, and it comes back for six weeks or more. You can't really count on Summer to start until July 4th, and we still have fireworks in the clouds once every few years.

The rain makes for much less dramatic time lapses, though they're still interesting. This is the parking lot next to the movie theater yesterday, and I like how the rain starts to evaporate, then comes back, after which you can see the clouds it's coming from.

I'll still walk in the pouring rain, but the marina didn't sound fun, so I went out to my normal Sunday spot. One thing I noticed Sunday that's still happening is that a lot of little birds that I'd normally only see over on the island are now hanging around by the biosolids storage facility.

I'm also curious how the goslings got on that side of the fence. Can they fly already? Did they walk through when the gate was open?

It was really wet out, so, one pretty square.

Today's awesome walk, 6.41 miles in 2:05, 13,800 steps

6.41 miles in 2:05, 13,800 steps

I noticed during the walk that the large gravel was very uncomfortable to walk on, always a sign that my shoes need to be replaced. Here's the wear that came from 311 miles in three months.

Unfortunately, this style of shoe seems to be discontinued, not too long after having to switch to it because my last ones were. I like to find a style that goes on sale for about $25 and whenever that happens, buy all the store has in my size. Hopefully there's a new style I can get a similar deal on. Either way, I've got one more pair left after this new one.

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Halfway there

May 17, 2017, 11:56 am

≫ Next: Several successes

≪ Previous: Suckerpunch!

I giggled at my own turn of phrase this morning during my swim when I thought, time lapses are a good pastime. Literally! But it's fun to make them even if I end up deleting them, so this morning when it was very overcast in a uniform way, I set the Podo up on the fence behind the swim center.

The timing was good, I like that little flash of blue sky at the end. I keep thinking on days I go to the grocery store on the way home from the pool, I should leave the camera running while I shop and come back for it, for the extra time. Maybe next week.

Today's soundtrack was Lip Locked 308. As a reminder, I'm working my way backward through the episodes and started at 398. This has been fun because, while I like all the episodes, she used to play electro and I really liked that era. So the further back I go, the more I like the music. Here's a nice track from that episode.

I've been tagging my local photos with the hashtag that the blog I write for uses on Instagram and one of my photos ended up in the top ten for the month that they just posted. Though I'm curious why they do those posts in the middle of the month.

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Several successes

May 18, 2017, 6:08 pm

≫ Next: SchadenFriday

≪ Previous: Halfway there

I thought about putting the Podo on the viewing pier right next to the ferry terminal, but when I got there, decided it was pretty risky. I'd have to put it over the edge of the fence, then reach through and wrap the tripod arms around. One of my biggest fears is dropping expensive stuff where it can't be reached. It's why I've been mad that smartphone cases no longer have the little loop so you can put a wrist strap on. But I thought of another good spot nearby, and was even smart enough to check the tide tables to make sure the water wouldn't come up while I was gone, forcing me to get my feet wet. Speaking of which, today was the first day in my new pair of shoes, and they felt great.

Over at the beach, the crane's still there. This is a different spot from where I saw it last week, and it even moved while I was walking. I'm so curious what it's for.

Today's pretty squares.

A little mindbender that reminded me of New Mexico. We used to joke that these orange barrels were the state bird, because there was always so much construction.

Another IRL emoji.

The time lapse vantage selfie. I really like this spot and will definitely use it again on a day when it's not as overcast.

Today's awesome walk, 6.51 miles in 2:22, 14,981 steps, 285ft gain

6.51 miles in 2:22, 14,981 steps, 285ft gain

Several of these are growing next to our driveway! And I'm happy to report the irises are coming back, too.

I went out for lunch, for a future Live in Everett post, and the sky was so great the whole time. I even took a slow street on the way out just to make the video better.

Speaking of the blog, one of the locations I wrote about for a piece that should be out next week was closed down today due to mudslides. Hopefully that doesn't last long, as this spot was already closed for a year and a half recently. I sent a note to the blog to let them know they should either do an editor's note about the closure, or we can delay the piece a bit. I'd rather do the former, but we'll see.

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SchadenFriday

May 19, 2017, 4:22 am

≫ Next: CATURDAY

≪ Previous: Several successes

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CATURDAY

May 20, 2017, 5:37 am

≫ Next: Phew

≪ Previous: SchadenFriday

RIP Moose

BONUS Saturdogs

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Phew

May 20, 2017, 11:27 am

≫ Next: Square Sunday

≪ Previous: CATURDAY

I took a rare Saturday walk today, and yesterday's was also gorgeous, so I definitely need to post now or else tomorrow's post will be very unwieldy. Here's where it all started yesterday, at Legion Memorial Park.

I walked the marina yesterday and was originally planning to drop the Podo off up above at Legion Memorial, but pointing West so I might catch a big plume of steam coming up from the Cemex plant. The sunrise was already underway, though, and too stunning to ignore, so it faced East instead. Planning to do something close to my regular route but parking up North, I got in the car and headed down. The colors were absolutely stunning and I took tons of photos. Click on any of these to explore around over at flickr.

Thursday's special.

Lots of good cloud action.

Yesterday's pretty squares.

A+ boat name.

I turned one of my normal corners and discovered I couldn't follow my normal path!

Because of that, I decided to go past the car and finally go get a good look at the site of last June's recycling center fire. On the way, I noticed these old gross mini blinds that are in such bad shape, they look like zebra hides or something.

And a cute message.

Here's what's left of that recycling center. It's strange that it's still such a mess, you'd think they'd have cleaned up the site by now.

Yesterday's awesome walk, 5.91 miles in 2:03, 13,255 steps, 244ft gain

5.91 miles in 2:03, 13,255 steps, 244ft gain

Similarly today, I left my Podo behind at a high spot and kept going, but much further this time. It stayed at Harborview Park, and I kept going all the way down to the tank farm. The clouds above Mukilteo were gorgeous today.

Today's pretty squares.

Todays's awesome walk, 4.52 miles in 1:38, 10,419 steps

4.52 miles in 1:38, 10,419 steps

My favorite thing about an early morning walk is having the whole rest of the day free after that. We're doing a good job of cleaning out the DVR.

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Square Sunday

May 21, 2017, 2:29 pm

≫ Next: Uneventful

≪ Previous: Phew

The sky was really clear when I drove to the island so I parked the car right near the entrance and walked around looking for somewhere interesting to put the Podo, settling on a sign warning boaters that there are vertical pipes in the water. Of course, about halfway back to the car, I noticed that there was this wispy stripe of clouds over by the mountains and the rising sun made everything look really neat. So I turned around to get the Podo and found a spot by the overpass to leave it, hoping to see some of this in time lapse form later on.

All of that was probably about a mile of distance not applied toward the actual walk.

Since it was so clear out, most of the photos I got today were of something rather than a whole view, and I ended up making more Instagram squares than ever. Glad I stared to recently embrace the square format, it's useful sometimes.

A couple broke out into rectangles, though.

Pretty squares.

I saw two hot air balloons! I've ridden in them twice, but it's been about 20 years since the last time, back in New Mexico. I'd really like to do it again.

I really don't like being out in the bright sun, and this wall of fog off in the distance looked so nice. I hoped it'd be foggy at home when I got back, but it wasn't.

Todays's awesome walk, 6.47 miles in 2:13, 14,401 steps

6.47 miles in 2:13, 14,401 steps

Unfortunately, no clouds rolled in, but I like the mist at the bottom.

We had a nice little outing after I got back. Garrett needed to meet with our friend who's a mayor for the event they work on together, so the three of us had breakfast. Months ago, I got her a giant pair of scissors because every mayor needs one, and today was the day we could finally give them to her. She loved them.

It's farmers market season, and I'll check it out soon, but wasn't really in the mood to today.

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Uneventful

May 22, 2017, 3:56 pm

≫ Next: Unplanned excellence

≪ Previous: Square Sunday

Not a lot going on today, as is often the case on a Monday since that's a swim day. The next two will be different, though. I have a tattoo appointment Friday and don't swim for two weeks after those, plus a week from today is Memorial Day.

Strangely, I ran into a gentleman I chat with in the sauna sometimes, after the swim at Safeway. Not that it's weird for either of us to be there, as it's close, but he was still in the hot tub when I left, and I saw him pretty quickly after I got to the store. Lightning-fast showerer, I guess?

It was a cloudless morning so instead of bringing my Podo to the park, I left it on our back deck pointing at the yard for a little "day in the life" video. It's interesting to watch the light and shadows, too bad it ran out of battery power at about 1pm.

I consider it interesting, but not interesting enough for Instagram, so it's just on YouTube.

Did I mention we've got the AC set up downstairs? It's nice down here.

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Unplanned excellence

May 23, 2017, 3:22 pm

≫ Next: A nice break

≪ Previous: Uneventful

There's a Cemex plant on the Everett waterfront and every so often, a big plume of steam goes shooting up from it for a while. I've thought for a while it'd be fun to get that in a time lapse, so that's direction I drove this morning. Seemed like the best plan since the sky's been so clear. I was originally going to leave the Podo at the park on the next street over, up above, but at the last second I parked at the Northernmost viewpoint on the waterfront. At first I thought it would be a bust due to lack of objects to wrap the tripod on, but I found a tree with a perfect branch. It was thick enough so it wouldn't sway in the breeze, and the surrounding branches were far enough away that they wouldn't show in the sides.

Turns out I was wrong about how clear the sky was. There were some neat clouds off to the West, though they were few and far between.

Pretty squares.

I walked down to this pier for the first time for a shot that didn't really work out, but the view of the pier itself is pretty cool.

The heron finally figured out it can hide below the pier instead of just hanging out on the rocks and getting mad whenever someone walks by.

Todays's awesome walk, 6.22 miles in 2:12, 14,118 steps

6.22 miles in 2:12, 14,118 steps

The walk was nice, though a bit sunnier than I care for. And a plume erupted at the plant toward the end of the video, but it's so small you can barely see it. The video's really great, though. I love seeing the tide go out.

And since I haven't mentioned him in a while, here's Sam bringing down an offering a few minutes ago.

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A nice break

May 24, 2017, 3:27 pm

≫ Next: Ice where we left off

≪ Previous: Unplanned excellence

After a few really warm, overly sunny days, we get a break today. It's almost 3:30 and it's only 50 degrees. So nice. And there were gorgeous clouds out while I was swimming.

I've been wanting to set up more time lapses of things like ice melting, and decided to practice today with a toy I froze into a cup of water. The freezing was in two stages, the first in half an inch or so of water so it'd stand up straight, then the rest of the cup. I learned a couple of things with this exercise. First, one frame per minute isn't enough for something like this. Looks way too choppy. And second, things don't melt evenly, so something that looks stable at first might topple pretty quickly. Good to know!

Funnily enough, just as I copied the embed code for that, the doorbell rang. I could see in the Ring app that it was the mail carrier, who had left a box on the porch. I don't trust Sam not to pull my glass of water over when I'm away, so I brought it to the kitchen, and decided to get more ice for it. It's been a while since the bin was emptied, and a bunch of ice was frozen into a big hunk, so I took that outside and the Podo's pointing at it now.

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Ice where we left off

May 25, 2017, 2:51 pm

≫ Next: SchadenFriday

≪ Previous: A nice break

This time lapse of ice melting turned out just delightful.

It's disappointing that Movie Maker doesn't offer reverse video. I found software that does, but the watermark on the free version is huge, and the license is $40 a year. Thankfully, one of the gif tools websites that's been around for years has a free reversing tool.

Not that this particular one is so interesting, but it certainly gives me ideas.

This morning I went to my usual Thursday destination and set up the Podo at a nice spot near the lighthouse. It was a beautiful, cloudy morning, and my only complaint is that the earlier sunrise is bringing a lot more people out.

Keep this scene in mind when you watch the time lapse later, the lower right portion of the video is very dramatic due to the sun breaking through here.

Not a lot of clouds in the forecast for a while so I'm really happy I was out today.

Pretty squares.

5.63 miles in 2:07, 13,232 steps

This is one of my favorites so far. I'd like to find a spot at the ferry terminal for a really close view where the ships dominate the field of vision, but I should probably talk to a ferry worker about it before leaving a device behind.

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SchadenFriday

May 26, 2017, 5:56 am

≫ Next: CATURDAY

≪ Previous: Ice where we left off

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CATURDAY

May 27, 2017, 4:41 am

≫ Next: Right place, wrong time

≪ Previous: SchadenFriday

RIP Riley

BONUS Saturdogs

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Right place, wrong time

May 27, 2017, 7:21 am

≫ Next: It's hard to keep me in on a Sunday

≪ Previous: CATURDAY

On Thursday I made good use of all the sun and finally got around to seeing what happens when a shaft of light from a skylight passes over the vertical garden. It's funny, the plants look like they're just getting into it and then it's over. One of my only complaints about the Podo is that it only has a wide-angle lens, so it's pretty hard to set close-up shots up. This required two barstools stacked, just about two feet away.

Since it was another clear day, I went down to the river because it's nice and shady. I really had no idea where to leave the Podo but ended up finding a really awesome spot. I wish the fog that you can see a bit of would have rolled in further, but at least I got some good photos in it further North. This isn't the most interesting video, but I'm excited because it'll be a perfect spot on cloudier days. The reflections will be amazing.

Anyone who knows me at all knows I really love fog. I got so excited when I spotted it off in the distance. My flickr album dedicated to fog is almost at 200 photos!

Sometimes I just love an odd little scene like this, especially when the morning light amps up the colors a bit.

I suppose there's no real need to get this photo each time I go any more as the rest of the houses being worked on are out of frame. But I'm still going to.

Pretty squares

That last square is actually from our driveway, and I'm excited to report that a lot of irises are popping up this year. I'll of course take photos as they open up. The second square is the first foxglove I've spotted so far this year.

Yesterday's awesome walk, 5.22 miles in 1:50, 11,807 steps

5.22 miles in 1:50, 11,807 steps

Yesterday was my sixth session with Jimmy. He shaded in the sky behind the peacock's neck and wing, filling up the top portion of my arm, plus made darker borders around the skyline we shaded in last time.

We scheduled our next session for two months from now (because he's booked solid!), during which the plan is to fill in the rest of my upper arm. Three weeks after that will be a followup session for any touch ups. After that, we're leaving it alone for five weeks before the Three Rivers Tattoo Convention in September. If it all works out, the plan is to enter it into the contest there, but the planning has been difficult because the organizer is only just now announcing dates and stuff.

And finally, my latest piece for Live in Everett was posted yesterday. I'm sharing the link with the disclaimer that they didn't use the headline that I submitted, but you probably could have guessed that I wouldn't use the word "beachy" like that.

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It's hard to keep me in on a Sunday

May 28, 2017, 8:38 am

≫ Next: Gulch-a-go-go

≪ Previous: Right place, wrong time

Our friend Nancy who lives on the other side of the state called Friday night from Lynnwood, the next city South of us, hoping to hang out. I was about to go to bed, so we made plans for breakfast Saturday. Then she saw a post I shared on Facebook from my tattoo shop. The apprentice is currently doing a sale, two tattoos for the price of one, so he can get more practice in and stuff for his portfolio. Nancy bought me my first tattoo for my 30th birthday and was there when I got my second, so it was time to do it again! So we had a late breakfast with Garrett, dropped him off, then stopped by Fred Meyer so she could do a little shopping because she hadn't checked the weather and was too warm in all the clothes she was in. Thankfully the apprentice wasn't working on anyone when we got there and he was able to take us right away. I got tattooed two days in a row!

It was hard to think of something small to do for this special, which had to be 3x5 inches or smaller and take less than two hours. I'm working on bigger projects now and hadn't thought about any small tattoos in ages. But Zima's being re-released soon, and Nancy gave me the first piece of my Zima collection, so it all just came together.

I just did some googling and can't find any other Zima tattoos. Do I have the only one?

Obviously with a fresh tattoo on my foot, my normal Sunday nine miles was out of the question, and that's fine because we stayed up late hanging out and watching movies. It's supposed to get up to 79 degrees today with no clouds at all, so I'm pretty a day in the basement is in order.

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Gulch-a-go-go

May 29, 2017, 2:07 pm

≫ Next: Sometimes, squares are all you get

≪ Previous: It's hard to keep me in on a Sunday

I didn't bring the Podo today because the sky looked really clear when I checked. While it turns out there was a lot of fog off in the distance nearly everywhere I looked that might have made for a neat video, I was glad I didn't bring it. Not having to go back to get it meant I could do a big loop today, which was perfect, because the mud situation at Japanese Gulch is much better now that we've had so many warm, sunny days. And I was surprised to see that one of the spots that's usually the worst for mud has a bunch of gravel, which is great.

Interesting mushrooms that I thought were litter from a distance.

Pretty squares.

Here's what I'm pretty sure is a new bridge. There are several like this in spots that get muddy a lot. There could be a few more.

Today's awesome walk, 5.45 miles in 2:10, 13,295 steps, 372ft gain

5.45 miles in 2:10, 13,295 steps, 372ft gain

It was really fun exploring the Northwest section again. There are so many trails up there and I always spend a good portion of the summer getting reacquainted with them. And I saw a coyote today! I stopped for a pee break and it jumped out of the same bushes, about eight feet away. Obviously my hands were occupied and I couldn't get a video.

However! I saw a deer right by where I parked. It didn't even seem bothered that I was around, and walked right toward me.

We just got back from a lovely barbecue at the adult family home where Garrett's grandma lives. They just completed a new deck out back, which was a nice place to sit under an umbrella and enjoy a meal.

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