In Case You Didn’t Know

Posted on May 30, 2012 | 2 comments

Would a liquor sign send an unnecessary message?


Let’s be clear. The Liquor sign in the photo is a fake. Can you tell? :) Although I think the sign looks great, the QFC on Kitsap Way has not filled in the big gap on its storefront between the Deli and Seafood signs. I did it for them using Microsoft PhotoDraw just in time for the June 1st end to Washington’s 80-year monopoly on retail liquor sales. Beginning on Friday, QFC and many other retailers in the state will begin selling liquor as a result of the 59 percent yes vote on Initiative 1183 last November.

In QFC’s case a row of shelves in the wine shop will be cleared out and stocked with some of the more popular brands of spirits like Smirnoff vodka, Jack Daniel’s whiskey, and Tanqueray gin. By one count, liquor will be available at more than 50 stores in Kitsap County. Previously we had six state stores. Because consumers can expect to find the hard stuff for sale in so many places, QFC will probably cool it on adding a liquor sign. They did include a liquor insert in this week’s grocery circular. Prices shown are for cardholders of course.

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Posted in Business Beat

Lexoma

Posted on May 25, 2012 | 1 comment

Lexus: it starts with the badging.


A Lexoma (not trademarked…yet) would combine features from Toyota’s luxury brand (the Lexus) and its popular midsized pickup truck (the Tacoma). Although no one seems to be designing such a vehicle, I decided to get things rolling by rebadging my 1999 Tacoma’s front grille (see photo). The prototype, created in Microsoft PhotoDraw, looks promising, so I’m in the market for a surplus Lexus oval to upgrade my ride.
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Posted in Cars

A New Toaster

Posted on May 19, 2012 | 2 comments

26 seconds to heavenly toast


After 15 years of faithful service and thousands of toasting cycles, my Proctor Silex toaster died yesterday. Since a toaster is mission critical in my kitchen, I visited the Target store in Silverdale today to shop for a new one.
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Posted in Home

A Clean Roomy Trunk

Posted on May 12, 2012 | 5 comments

1955 Chevrolet rear view

Tri-Five Chevys look great from the rear (see photo). That’s just one of the reasons why 1955-56-57 Chevrolets are popular collector cars. Their tushes may be a bit flat by Miss America standards (or when compared to the curvy rear end shown in the photo below of a 1951 model), but the design is clean and functional. It makes for easy loading/unloading, and that was important for many families in the 1950’s.
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Posted in Cars, Friends & Family

Dancing Man in Port Orchard

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Where’s your smart phone?


Readers of the Mud Bay blog know I can’t resist stopping to take a picture whenever I see a dancing man in Kitsap County. Clearly I haven’t found all of them. I spotted a new one today during a rare weekday trip to Port Orchard. The dancing man outside Talk’s Cheap on Bay Street (see photo) might have been jumping for joy for months about the store being an authorized Verizon retailer. I wouldn’t know. I only pass through the county seat on Sundays on my way to Annapolis, where I park and ride my bike along Beach Drive.

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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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Duck Sighting

Posted on May 7, 2012 | 2 comments

Duck and truck


Amongst cows and other barnyard animals, the mascot for the Great Kitsap Duck Race was spotted yesterday in Gorst. It was a beautiful day so the sunglasses were definitely needed. The reason Big Yellow was hanging out with the Mattress Ranch menagerie is that the quirky Gorst business is one of the race’s sponsors. Or maybe it was because, as a great philosopher once said, “You have to be somewhere.” Note the replica of the duck on the Nissan pickup truck shown in the photo.

This year the Great Kitsap Duck Race is scheduled for Sunday, July 29 during the Whaling Days Festival. Sponsored by the Silverdale Rotary Club and about 30 other businesses and organizations, the race raises money for civic groups in the community. To participate you pay $5 for each rubber duck that represents you in the race. At race time the popular bathtub toys are dumped into a boomed-off area at the Silverdale Waterfront Park. The ducks that splash across the finish line first win great prizes. Top prize is a Nissan pickup.

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Posted in Other Local Places

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Pi at Nine

Posted on May 5, 2012 | 3 comments

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.

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Posted in Pi

Mr. 40

Posted on May 4, 2012 | Leave a comment

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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Posted in Sports

Water Line Insurance?

Posted on April 30, 2012 | 1 comment

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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Posted in Home

Cats and Doors

Posted on April 26, 2012 | 3 comments

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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Posted in Home, Pi