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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V-Bucks

Reminds me of the trunk of a 1959 Chevrolet


Tallbucks, posted last month, showed a picture of the new Starbucks that’s under construction in the Walgreens parking lot at the intersection of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. A better title would have been V-Bucks (see construction photo taken last weekend).

At least we now know what the architect had in mind for the metal posts that extend up from the masonry pillars on the building’s north and south sides—they support huge beams that in turn support the building’s V-shaped roof. In addition to attracting attention, the roof might be a great place to store extra cartons of venti cups.

March Lion

Wet cold days, colder nights


March roared in like a lion and then apparently we pissed him off. With a nod to the ancient proverb about the weather, it’s apt in some places, but not here in Western Washington. Not this year anyway. By the calendar this bad boy is just about outta here, but he’s one angry cat—soaked, snarling, and with claws unsheathed (see weather graphic). There’s no word on whether he ate the lamb or just scared it off.

March Madness: Intrastate Rivalries

New Mexico vs. New Mexico State for the national championship? That’s a long shot given the rest of the field in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament. However, the intriguing possibility made me wonder whether any intrastate college rivalry, like the Lobos and the Aggies, will be settled during “March Madness.”
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A Brief Complaint

Complaining by picture


It has been said many times that a picture is worth a thousand words. When it comes to complaining, the savings might be even greater. Instead of bitching about the miserable March weather we are having, including seven straight days of rain*, showing a picture of Rocky Point pond (see photo) should get the point across. That way I don’t need to mention that spring, due next week according to the calendar, seems as far off as it did on Groundhog Day.

Despite a wetter than normal winter, this is the first measurable accumulation this year in Rocky Point’s informal rain gauge. And that should be worth some sympathy—at least until you compare the size of the pond to a picture published a year ago in the Mud Bay blog.

* Catchall term used in short complaints for rain, sleet, snow, hail, and rain blowing sideways.