Pi at Nine

Born 5-5-03


The Mud Cat (see photo) doesn’t have any Mexican heritage, but Cinco de Mayo is an important day for him—or at least his owner thinks it’s important. Today is his ninth birthday. For his age he’s still playful, curious, affectionate (sometimes), noisy, handsome, and, most important, healthy. He doesn’t stay outside as late as he did a few years ago, but to me that’s a good thing. In between naps he hasn’t slacked off a bit on his main job—patrolling the Mud Bay shoreline. Retirement is a few years off.

Before I did an Internet search on converting cat years to human years, I had always gone by the “multiply by 7” rule. That ratio would make us the same age when I have a birthday later this year. But the formula is more complicated as I learned on a number of web sites. Cats age 15 human years in their first year, 9 in their second, and 4 for each year after that. That makes him 52—the same age as a friend of mine who was also born on May 5th. He’s got me by a decade and it shows.

Mr. 40

A standard deviation of 1


Adam Dunn is a slugger. The big first baseman/designated hitter for the Chicago White Sox has hit more than 370 home runs in his 12-year career. Remarkably, a few years ago he put together what has to be the most consistent totals ever for home runs over a 6-year period by any MLB player who was among the league leaders.
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Water Line Insurance?

First you have to find the leak


Yes please. The brochure from the National Water Company arrived in the mail last week. Enclosed in an envelope from my insurance company (Bell-Anderson), it got past my first line of junk mail defense (toss all clearly unsolicited offers). The brochure described an offer I couldn’t refuse.
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Cats and Doors

How does your cat demand entrance to your castle? Most indoor-outdoor cats have their own way of letting their owners know when they want to come inside for a meal, a warm nap, and possibly a hug. The Mud Cat’s method isn’t unusual—not like the cats in YouTube videos that ring doorbells to get in.
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Name This Bucks Contest

Windows were installed last week.


Two previous posts, Tallbucks and V-Bucks, show pictures of the Starbucks that’s being built at the corner of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. The post titles are interim names I gave the building at the time the photos were taken. A reader has suggested that the Mud Bay Blog sponsor a contest for a final name for the building as it nears completion (see photo).
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Core Dump: The War of 1812

Old Ironsides


To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the War of 1812, the USPS will issue a stamp later this year (see illustration). This post covers everything I know, or thought I knew, about the War of 1812. It’s not a long write-up. My knowledge comes from the National Anthem, a decades-old public school education, and the lyrics to the 1959 pop hit by Johnny Horton called “The Battle of New Orleans.”
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Turning Aluminum into Green

Ignoring transportation costs, my recycling program is almost flawless. It’s a multistep process, but in the end it should make everything disappear.
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Kitsap Tire Round-Up

Tire recycling sign


By the numbers the free tire recycling project (see photo) at the Olympic View Industrial Park on SR 3 is already a big success. According to the Kitsap Sun more than 10,000 tires have been collected so far and the event has another week to go.
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West Hills Inflatable

As cute as the car?


Even when I’m clueless about the specific product being advertised, I always stop to take pictures of giant rooftop inflatables. Case in point: the hamster (or Hamstar as Kia spells it) shown in the photo. With a quick online search though, I learned more about a car, and the campaign to sell it, that’s tied to a hip rodent.
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Car Show Calendar

Each year the entries on the Pacific Northwest Region Calendar of Events seem to be printed in a smaller type size. Although I can barely see them without my reading glasses, the tiny type is actually a good thing. Smaller print means more car shows are listed on the two-sided calendar, which is available now, but going fast.
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