New Paint, No New Tenant

Posted on January 28, 2013 | 1 comment

Just sprucing up the exterior


Darn. I thought I had a scoop. Last Friday, when I noticed that part of the Oyster Bay Plaza is being repainted (see photo), I thought that we might be getting a new business soon at 4205 Kitsap Way in Bremerton. That would be news as the space has been vacant for years. But in a call to the Bradley-Scott agent who is trying to lease the space, I learned that he hasn’t found a new tenant. The owner is just freshening the building a bit.

The retail space in the photo is in the same building as the QFC. It was occupied by Rite-Aid until about five years ago, when Rite-Aid moved to its own building a few hundred yards east of there. It’s not the only empty space in the Oyster Bay Plaza. Blockbuster left a big space to fill when it closed last fall. I just hope that new tenants are found in time to bring in additional customers to help keep the QFC open. Their sales seem to have gone off a cliff since Win Foods opened last year.

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Posted in Business Beat

North Shore Valentine

Posted on January 26, 2013 | 1 comment

Happy Valentine’s Day


From previous bike rides along the North Shore Road, I know that a family who owns property not far from Belfair State Park likes to decorate it for Halloween and Christmas. However, until today I didn’t know that they also put up a Valentine’s Day display (see photo). I’m not sure how long it’s been there as I seldom bike the North Shore Road this time of year. They probably didn’t beat local merchants though, who began showcasing Valentine’s Day items in the first week of January.

Now, I’m wondering what other days that we celebrate rate a display at what could be dubbed “holiday woods.” If we ignore the presidents, the next up is Saint Patrick’s Day. I will check back in late February or early March expecting to see shamrocks. Hopefully by then the weather will be good enough to rate at least a weekly bike ride along the Hood Canal.

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Posted in Other Local Places

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Home Improvement Month?

Posted on January 21, 2013 | 2 comments

It never fails. Every January I get the urge to spend money on household projects and durable goods. This year’s “improvements” are modest, but they helped mitigate the nagging feeling that I should be doing something. Their timing, however, made me wonder if I’m in step with other homeowners on similar guilt trips.
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Posted in Home

Launching of the R-10 Submarine

Posted on January 18, 2013 | 3 comments

In several posts I have noted that my dad had a long career as a submarine officer (the most recent was titled Submarine First Day Covers). So when my Texas brother sent me a link earlier this week to a short video showing the launching of the R-10 submarine, I watched it with interest. Dad was assigned to the R-10 right after graduating from submarine school in 1942.
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Posted in Friends & Family

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Quarterly Taxes Due

Posted on January 13, 2013 | 2 comments

For some reason when I woke up this morning a reminder popped into my head that a quarterly tax payment to the United States Treasury is due on Tuesday. Normally my income tax preparer sends me a reminder by email well ahead of time. I didn’t hear from her last week. Perhaps she thinks I’m trained and no longer need one.
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Posted in Government

10 Books I Read in 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 | 2 comments

At the end of last year I wrote a post titled 10 Books I Read in 2011. This post does the same thing for 2012.
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Posted in Books & Movies

Just One Dragon

Posted on December 16, 2012 | 1 comment

2012 is the Year of the Dragon.


The 2012 Year of the Dragon coins (see photo), produced by Australia’s Perth Mint, are gorgeous. Available in both gold and silver and in several denominations, they are part of the Australian Lunar Series, which issues a coin each year for one of the 12 animal symbols in the Chinese astrology chart.
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Posted in Friends & Family

Heron Gates

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Unusual security gates


I don’t have a security gate because my driveway is too steep and I also don’t want to discourage the few visitors I do get. But if I did I would want it to be a heron gate (see photos). At least I think the birds are herons, although they might be cranes. I’m going by the crooked necks and long bills.

Great blue herons are regular residents of Mud Bay. By day you see them stalking the mudflats, patiently spearing fish in the shallow water when the tide is out. At night you hear their painful-sounding squawks in response to some threat real or imagined.

The owners of the gates in the photos must also feel that herons are symbolic of their waterfront properties. The top gate is from a home on Rich Passage off Beach Drive in Port Orchard. The exquisite bottom gate secures the driveway to a home on Erland Point in Dyes Inlet. I see the gates frequently as both locations are on regular bike rides. The photos were taken last weekend.

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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point, Other Local Places

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Free Parking

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 comments

A story in yesterday’s Seattle Times detailed how the Port of Seattle missed out on collecting almost $400,000 in revenue from the SeaTac Airport parking garage because of credit-card charges that were never processed. So far some 10,500 people have parked there for free. Buried in the article’s online comments was a nugget about how to continue to get free parking.
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Posted in Government

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Tying the Knot with Comcast

Posted on December 5, 2012 | 1 comment

In a post last December, I joked that because I bought a customer-owned modem I was “Married to Comcast.” I should have called it a pre-nuptial agreement. The real wedding took place today. We just tied the knot for at least two years.
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Posted in Business Beat