River View

Skokomish River Bend

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

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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Keypad Button Fix

It’s a long shot that anyone reading this would have a similar problem, but if the buttons on the handset of your cordless phone stop working, there’s a fix. I’m not sure what’s more amazing—that I fixed my phone (which implies almost anyone can perform the repair) or how easy it was to find a solution using the Internet.
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Did You Hear Any Salmon Today?

Chico Creek at the Taylor Road Bridge

Chico Creek at the Taylor Road Bridge

The fall chum salmon run is going to start soon. After a week of rain, stream flows are up, and the forecast (for salmon not weather) is for a good run this year. On my bike ride today I checked out Chico Creek, Central Kitsap’s most prolific salmon stream.
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Another Neighborhood Flower Shop

Remodeling at 1107 Marine Drive

Remodeling at 1107 Marine Drive


Last Saturday I found out what the plans are for the building at 1107 Marine Drive (see photo). When the new owners began fixing it up last month, my neighbor and I made some guesses but we weren’t even close. Sporting a fresh coat of green paint, a remodeled interior, and a new garage door, the building looks great. But no amount of remodeling will fix the site’s biggest problems: access and parking. Thus I was surprised to learn that Flowers To Go will be opening a shop there. The very name implies a business that depends on in-and-out traffic. Their decision is even more surprising because Paul’s Flowers recently moved into the strip mall at 3850 Kitsap Way next to Subway, just a stone’s throw away.

The new home for Flowers To Go is only a half block north of Kitsap Way, one of Bremerton’s busiest roads. Because traffic backs up often on Marine Drive while drivers wait for a green light, it can be difficult to exit the building’s small parking lot especially if you want to go north on Marine Drive. Lack of access hurt the other businesses that tried their luck in the building, most recently a cleaners. The other Flowers To Go shops in Kitsap County have drive-through windows, a feature impossible to put in at the Marine Drive location. Still Flowers To Go will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood. I hope they are successful.

Game Birds

Staging pen for pheasants

Staging pen for pheasants


In the rural Belfair Valley near the Union River, almost at the base of Gold Mountain, a man keeps pheasants in a pen that is easily seen from Wilkinson Road. Until yesterday, I thought he raised them there. That’s when I rode by on my bike to see this year’s flock, something I do every fall, along with checking out the salmon runs in local creeks.
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A Sign from the Past

Highfield & Myers sign

Highfield & Myers sign


This morning when I picked up K’s mom to take her to work I saw an abandoned real estate sign in a vacant wooded lot across the road from her house (see photo). I have been to her house hundreds of times and never noticed it before. Yet there it was. Real estate signs are apparently indestructible as she said it’s been there about 25 years. The sign brought back some memories because Blaine Highfield was one of the first people I met when I moved here in 1975.

Just before the Trident submarine base was built at Bangor, Data-Design Laboratories, the company I worked for, decided to open an office in Silverdale. I volunteered to help staff the new office and relocated here from Norfolk, Virgina, arriving in October. During the Trident boom the office grew to more than 100 people. But when there were just a few of us, thousands of miles from our East Coast homes and unsure of what to make of rainy western Washington, it was Blaine and his wife Doris who extended a warm Kitsap County welcome. He found office space for us, first in a trailer across from the old Poplars Motel and later above Mitchell Lumber. In 1977 his real estate firm, Highfield & Myers, built what was then the largest office building in Silverdale on busy Bucklin Hill Road. We were the first tenants. I should call Blaine and ask him if he wants the sign as a keepsake.

One Less Charley’s

Perhaps you have eaten at Charley’s Grilled Subs. According to their web site, they have more than 400 stores, many located in or near malls, and are the #1 Philly CheeseSteak chain in the United States. To me Charley’s was a lunchtime indulgence I looked forward to whenever I visited the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale. But as I learned today, even a great menu might not make you recession proof.
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