It’s the first of September, the first day of the fall school term in Bremerton. That’s one more reason to be careful when driving around town. The safety of kids is of course paramount, but that’s not what I’m writing about. With red-light cameras at major intersections and a citywide emphasis on traffic enforcement, drivers already need to be especially vigilant when driving in Bremerton. The all-day 20-mph speed limit in school zones just ups the chances of getting a traffic citation.
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Driving in Bremerton
Mud Bay Salvage
Will someone claim this boat?
A long-neglected boat (see photo) drifted in on an overnight high tide late last month beaching itself on the spit in front of my neighbor’s property. At first I was excited as it would be great to have a rowboat for exploring Mud Bay and nearby Dyes Inlet. In checking around I learned that it is customary to wait a month before claiming a small derelict vessel. But a close examination of the hull shows that I probably don’t need to wait that long. In fact it’s unlikely the owner will ever mount a search for it. Now I’m trying to decide if I should patch the leaks or haul it to the dump.
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Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point
Finding the Property Line
Location of Surveyor Muller's 1975 mark
My neighbor to the north, whose large lot fronts on Mud Bay, has long been concerned about identifying the exact location of the line that divides her property from mine and the house just to the east of mine. I used the word “finding” rather than “surveying” in the title because she isn’t a licensed surveyor. But she sails, understands navigation and the use of a GPS, and owns a laser light. She put those skills to work and seems to have done an accurate job. Part of the evidence is that she uncovered a long-buried surveyor’s mark in an area that is underwater during the highest tides (see photo).
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Posted in Home
100 Thousand
Parked along the Skokomish
The “Posts” section of a WordPress account keeps track of the number of posts published in a blog. With 99 prior to this one, the Mud Bay blog has reached a milestone worth perhaps two sentences—of which this is the second. So I’m writing instead about a different “100” that just happened in my life. Yesterday the odometer on my collector car (see photo) rolled over and now reads 00021 miles.
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Posted in Cars
Fishing Sculptures
Sculptures in 2010
Can anything new be said about the controversial public art (see photo) that was installed this month at the intersection of Fourth and Pacific in downtown Bremerton? The sculptures, of a fish and a fisherman, have been criticized in blog entries, in letters to the editor, and in hundreds of online comments on the Kitsap Sun web site. The answer is probably no, but that didn’t stop me from writing about them.
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2010: The Year of Easy Subtraction
This year the speed at which late 20th-century events are disappearing in the rear view mirror seems to be accelerating. That might be because of the ease of calculating the elapsed number of years between them and 2010. The calculation was also simple for the first couple of years of the new century, but back then the 20th century was only, like, you know, a couple of years ago. Now it’s been 10 years since we were worried about the millennium meltdown.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Mud Bay and the SMP Draft Report
SMP is an abbreviation for Shoreline Master Program, a comprehensive shoreline land-use plan that includes policies and regulations for the use and development of the shoreline. The Shoreline Management Act, passed by the Washington legislature in 1971 and adopted by referendum in 1972, directs local governments to periodically update their SMPs, which are the basis for implementing the state law. A task force recently issued a draft update to Kitsap County’s SMP. A section in it describes the Mud Bay shoreline.
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Posted in Government, Mud Bay & Rocky Point
Walking to SeaTac
People walk to subway stations, bus stops, ferry terminals, and train stations. Why not walk to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport? I don’t mean from home. For me that would be more than 50 miles. I mean walking from the satellite parking lots along International Boulevard (SR 99) to the airport, or the other way around if you are returning from a trip out of town. There’s no good reason to do this, of course, other than exercise and the possible benefit provided by a good walk just before or after a lengthy airline flight.
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“Quarterly” Payments
I have been paying quarterly estimated tax for years. Today as I made out a check for the 2nd quarter of 2010 (due June 15th), I wondered for the umpteenth why the IRS Department of the Treasury doesn’t divide the year into 3-month quarters and make the payment due on the 15th of the month after each quarter ends. While looking for the answer, I came across a blog post on the subject that was so thorough further research was unnecessary.
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Posted in Economy, Government
Horn Rings
Ford, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, De Soto, Buick horn rings (clockwise from upper left)
Automobile horn rings date back to the days of heavy exterior chrome, glitzy dashboards, and designers who were more concerned with looks than safety. The rings were functional as well as eye catching—press anywhere on the ring or its center emblem and the slowpoke in front of you instantly knew it was time to get moving. My small collection of horn rings has been in storage since I moved a couple of years ago. Recently I mounted them on a pegboard panel in the garage (see photo).
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