After all the waiting, you might have expected some sort of grand announcement, like email or a customer letter or a notice on the Comcast web site. Instead, self-discovery seems to be the main way Comcast customers in Bremerton will learn that the “coming soon” HD channels are actually here. In my case, I was checking the channel lineup in the Comcast Guide yesterday afternoon just before President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan and there they were: Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and about 15 others, all in high definition and all occupying a previously unused block of channels starting at about 650. 650! No wonder Comcast complains about bandwidth problems.
Buttermilk Bars
Buttermilk bars, preferably unfrosted, are my favorite type of donut. Unfortunately, not many bakeries make them. Locally, they are available, on a hit-or-miss basis, at Larry & Kristi’s Bakery in Manette. When I visit my dad and sister in Del Mar, CA, we always make a trip to the legendary V.G.’s in Encinitas, a great bakery and creator of some of the best buttermilk bars made anywhere. But if you can’t find them at a nearby bakery, you can make buttermilk bars at home. While they aren’t the same as the donut-style bars, they are devilishly good, and it’s worth passing on the recipe.
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Posted in Friends & Family, Home
This One Probably Won’t Drift Away
Will a rising tide lift this log?
Okay, a lot of people wouldn’t mind having this problem. Living on Mud Bay I like to keep the shore in front of my house reasonably clear of logs, large branches, lumber, trash, dead fish, and other flotsam washed in by the tide. Most of the time all this means is waiting for a subsequent—and often higher—tide to carry the natural objects away. I clean up the man-made stuff, like plastic bottles and bags, right away. Last night, however, a log washed up (see photo) that doesn’t look like it is going anywhere soon.
It’s an ugly thing, about 14 feet long, barnacle covered and partially waterlogged. Whatever combination of wind, tide, and current brought it here also conspired to get my attention by depositing it directly in front of the kitchen window. Likely it has been drifting around Dyes Inlet for weeks seeking permanent rest on some beach like those huge gray sun-weathered driftlogs you see along the Washington coast. I wonder if other waterfront property owners have influenced its journey by dragging it back into the water from their beaches in a “pass it on, no return” scheme. I won’t do that, but if nature decides to intervene over the next few days, I won’t mind. Otherwise, this one is going to North Mason Fiber for recycling.
Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point
Why Write About the Belfair Bypass?
There’s an excellent letter in yesterday’s Kitsap Sun by first-term state representative Fred Finn (D-35th District) in which he urges that the Belfair Bypass be taken off the shelf (link at end of post). The idea of a bypass has been around since the 1980’s, and currently there is almost no local opposition. Nor is there much disagreement on when we need it: now. Yet budget woes have delayed the project until at least 2019. In the interim, it has little chance of competing successfully for funds against the state’s mega transportation projects. So I was curious why Rep. Finn wrote the letter. To find out why, I asked him.
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Four of a Kind
The forecast is for symmetry
The five-day forecast (see screen capture) for Bremerton from today’s Seattle Times is symmetrical—a palindrone of predictions. My poker-playing dad would say it contains four of a kind, a pretty good hand. Last night the TV weather person went on and on about low pressure areas coming from BC followed by a weak high and then a cold front. To me, the forecast is fairly typical for this time of year in Bremerton, which averages 8.19 inches of rain in November. One good thing: rain keeps the Mudcat a little closer to home.
Blue Mailboxes
How many locations are there for blue mailboxes in your zip code? Officially known as USPS collection stations, these sturdy steel containers, bolted to the sidewalk, do yeoman duty collecting mail and seemingly used to be everywhere. There’s a link at the end of this post to a web site that will tell you how many are near you. Before you click it, take a guess. Hint: The number is probably less than you think.
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River View
Skokomish River
Before I left home this morning I already knew that the National Weather Service had canceled its flood warning for the Skokomish River. Yesterday’s storm, which dumped more than 2.5 inches of rain on the Skokomish River watershed, caused the river to rise but left it just under the 16-foot flood stage. While I didn’t see any flooding—except for a few spots where the high-water signs on the Skokomish Valley Road are permanently posted—my day trip took me past one of my favorite spots along the river.
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Evidence of Fall
Leaves on roof
By the calendar fall is at its midpoint, and the maples in Western Washington have shed most, but not all, of their leaves. The photo shows what happens when a gently pitched roof is nearby. Ironically, the building in the picture is a maintenance shed at Belfair State Park. There are several improvement projects going on at the park, including work on the campsites that border Hood Canal and construction of a path along Big Mission Creek. The shed’s roof will probably need to wait until more of the leaves are down before it gets any attention.
A Used Truck
Despite the overcast weather, my neighbor and I were excited during the 60-mile drive to Olympia on Friday to look at a used truck. Ever since he sold his massive Ford F250 a couple of years ago, my neighbor has been looking for a small pickup to replace it. On Craig’s List this one sounded great—a 2006 Toyota Tacoma regular cab model with low miles for $9800. But when we saw the actual truck, it just didn’t scream “buy me.” The experience got me to thinking about the difference between shopping for a used vehicle from a new-car dealer and a private owner.
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1500 Books
I started keeping track of the books I’ve read at the beginning of 1979. At first I used a simple 3 x 5 card file. In 1993 when my books database outgrew the largest file box I could find, I transferred it to Microsoft Access. The software has had a couple of upgrades since then, but the database design—a flat table along with some forms and queries—has remained essentially unchanged. This morning the database reached a milestone when I entered book number 1500.
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Posted in Books & Movies
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