While surfing the Internet for something, anything, to convince me there will be a Tom Brady-free Super Bowl this year, a statistic I read makes me think otherwise. At first glance the stat seems to point to a Kansas City victory over New England in Sunday’s AFC championship game. That doesn’t make it any less amazing. Credit for the stat goes to an article by sportswriter Barry Wilner, who, for the record, picked the Patriots to win in an upset.
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Brady and the Pats: An Amazing Stat
Posted in Sports
A New Mud Cat
Tide at high tide.
A lot happened in the four+ years while the tide was out for the Mud Bay blog. The biggest change? A new Mud Cat (short for Mud Bay Cat) now lives with me. She’s a two-year-old Bengal and her name is Tide. To mention the word for the third time in this opening paragraph, the photo was taken at high tide while she was patrolling the bulkhead in front of our house.
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Little Green Top
I wish my lawn looked this good.
The photo was taken a few days ago at Allen Shearer Trucking & Landscape Supply in Belfair. I’m not sure exactly what it shows but thought it was worth posting anyway. My guess: a mountain of topsoil with a thriving cover of grass. Mowing and fertilizing the mountain would be difficult. Watering isn’t needed as Western Washington is in the middle of the rainy season. The Little Green Top is proof that vegetation can grow like a jungle here—even in the winter.
Forever Due
Return to sender.
Last week, in a senior moment, I mailed in my final 2018 quarterly tax payment with one big omission. Yep, I forgot to stick on a Forever stamp (currently $.50 in postage), thus denying the letter a smooth flight to the IRS office in San Francisco. And now forever is due (see photo).
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Posted in Current Events, Government
An Updated Fortune Cookie
The fortune cookie came from the Safeway deli, a place where you can order takeout Chinese cuisine. Inside the folded golden cookie shell was a modern fortune, printed on a slip of white paper:
It’s time to write a letter or email to one who is distant.
The fortune, my fortune, was on the money in two respects. First, when I write letters, I almost always use email, with a ratio of electronic to paper messages of at least 20 to 1 and probably higher than that. Second, earlier that day, I shared a photo and some news with a cousin I communicate with only every year or so. You guessed it: I used email for the job.
Apparently the humans who write these fortunes recognize that times have changed. However, I still look forward to the end-of-meal pleasure of reading, on paper, what they have in mind for me. Even if I get a smart phone someday and pay for my order that way, I hope the fortune doesn’t arrive after dinner by text message.
Posted in Friends & Family
Signs of Fall
These pheasants are safe for a few more days.
The first photo shows the pheasant pen that’s been featured in the Mud Bay Blog a couple of times. The pheasants live there for a few weeks in September and October before being released for the fall upland game bird season. Interestingly the pen is on Wilkinson Road. Last Friday, when I took the photo, two pheasants had escaped but were nervously hanging out near the security of the pen almost as if they wanted back in. Did they instinctively fear the coming danger of nightfall when raccoons and coyotes would be out hunting in the rural Belfair valley where the pen is located? Death by critter or death by hunter. That’s the fate that awaits most of them.
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Dancing Man in Belfair
The parts come with a great guarantee.
The dancing man phenomenon has spread to Belfair. Local Wrench auto repair, located at 23530 NE State Route 3, just added one of the quirky inflatables to advertise that they use genuine ACDelco parts. Local Wrench provides auto repairs and services for all makes of foreign and domestic cars and trucks. So, along with the General (GM), perhaps auto makers everywhere are dancing for joy.
I’m not an expert on dancing men, despite numerous previous posts about them, but this one looked new when I stopped for a photo this afternoon. It could be his first week on the job.
There’s No Money in It
Wanna buy a former bank?
The former Kitsap Bank branch on Marine Drive (see photo) was listed as a commercial property for sale on the Reid Realty web site this week. At $350K it might be a good buy. However, there’s no money in it—bank money that is. Customer deposits and accounts, including my safe deposit box, were moved to the downtown branch when the Marine Drive branch closed last June.
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Posted in Business Beat
Used Horseshoes Wanted
An unusual request
I have no idea why Kitsap Muffler in Gorst wants used horseshoes (see photo). Nor do I know if they are seeking the outdoor game pieces or the metal objects that protect a horse’s hooves. But since you don’t see a sign like this
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A Bit Scuffed
Where’s George?
Perhaps the title of this post should be “Two Bits Scuffed” as the photo shows a United States quarter dollar coin. It’s one of the state quarters—on the reverse side is a sun symbol representing New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. It was issued in 2008 and probably had normal wear from circulation until it landed in the bike lane on Kitsap Way and was run over by a few dozen cars. That’s where I found it today. The closest business is the Family Pancake House. The previous owner should have left it as a tip instead of tossing it out like trash.
A few years ago I wrote a post about the serendipity of finding money. While I’m not sure if this quarter is legal tender, I still think, like any coin you find, it brings with it the chance to wish for favorable events for the days ahead. Whether I can exchange it for a new quarter will be up to the bank or perhaps the Coinstar machine. As a side note, I find a lot of coins on my bike rides and some are beat up. But not like this one. I guess our money isn’t as tough as it used to be.
