The Haselwood Times, a weekly advertising circular published by the Bremerton-based Haselwood Auto Group, always includes a testimonial letter from a happy customer. This week’s letter heaps praise on two employees at the West Hills Detail Center who helped the owner mitigate excessive road noise in his 2009 Honda Sport Fit. After reading it I crossed the Fit off my list of possible new rides. It also made me question the wisdom of publishing any customer letter that describes a new car design or production defect in detail and then thanks the service department for dealing with it.
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Noisy and Not a Good Fit
Posted in Business Beat, Cars
Another Ten Feet Wouldn’t Help Much
PRF at High Tide
I was part of a group who appealed Mason County’s approval of a 110-foot pier-ramp-float (PRF) project (see photo) in the Grapeview Channel across from my vacation place on Treasure Island. We filed a petition last year with the Shoreline Hearings Board (SHB), a state agency that provides a final chance to appeal county decisions concerning shoreline development (unless you want to sue in Superior Court). In its January 2009 decision, the SHB didn’t prohibit the PRF completely, but it did reduce the overall length by 10 feet and required the applicant to add an additional nearby waterfront property owner to his joint-use agreement. The PRF was constructed last weekend, and for the most part things turned out differently than I thought they might.
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Getting Older
I have a friend, B.H., at Treasure Island whom I haven’t seen around for awhile. On Monday I checked on his whereabouts with the homeowner’s association secretary and was saddened to find out that he is in an assisted-care facility in Woodinville. While I’m sure the decision was made with great care, I hate to see him lose his independence.
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Posted in Friends & Family
Where Should I Store the Seafin?
The product is Seafin teak oil, made by Daly’s. Locally, it’s available at McClendon’s Hardware. The directions for use include the most puzzling step I have ever seen for a product designed to beautify and protect wood.
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An Accidental Cat Perch
Nap Time
The cat perch at Treasure Island (see photo) wasn’t created by design. Maybe that’s why the cat likes it so much. It’s shady, perfect for napping, and the thick rough cedar planks do double duty as a giant scratching pad—for his claws and his back. Perched above the deck his view is both scenic and strategic. Plus he can retreat to the far corner where I can’t reach him, so he goes there when he wants to stay outside awhile longer. I don’t mind because at least I know where he is.
K’s younger brother gave us the picnic table years ago, not long after we bought the vacation place at Treasure Island. It’s a massive thing, stable as an aircraft carrier, and seemingly about as heavy if you try to move it by yourself. Every couple of years when I would seal the deck boards, it was always a major undertaking to remove the table from the work area. Last time, with the help of a large strong friend, I flipped the table up onto a corner of the railing to get it out of the way. The contented hours that the cat spends atop the table are a strong vote for leaving it there permanently. As for us, now we use a different smaller picnic table that K’s dad made.
So Long, Panda Inn
Panda Inn Sign
This isn’t news. The Kitsap Sun reported a couple of weeks ago that the Panda Inn was about to close after 14 years at its location on Kitsap Way in West Bremerton. (The East Bremerton Panda Inn will remain open.) The restaurant’s passing didn’t fully register with me though until I noticed the “restaurant for sale” sign during yesterday’s bike ride (see photo).
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Posted in Business Beat, Friends & Family
Trike Ban
How does an organization like the San Diego Wild Animal Park with an experienced public relations staff err on the question of allowing adult tricycles on their trails? My take is that they must not understand what an adult tricycle means to someone who has difficulty walking. I don’t have difficulty walking, but the co-owner of my vacation place at Treasure Island does. Last year several of us chipped in to get her a shiny blue adult tricycle for her birthday. Having purchased a trike and having seen the effect the increased mobility it provides has on her, I think the Wild Animal Park was dead wrong in their decision last month.
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Posted in Friends & Family
Pittsboro’s Finest
Pittsboro storefront
I just bought a painting—a watercolor titled “Pittsboro’s Finest.” The artist is one of my cousins, G.K. of Sandy, UT. She and her sister, who also paints, plus their husbands, were in San Diego last weekend to attend the 2009 Western Federation Art Show. I flew down from Seattle to visit my dad and sister in Del Mar and to attend the family reunion triggered by their trip. My cousin had some note cards displaying renditions of her work. After looking through them, I decided, on the spot, to buy one of her watercolors.
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Posted in Friends & Family, Home
Otter on Deck
Otter view
Mud Bay is a body of salt water. Washington state has a large population of sea otters (around 1000 by one estimate). So the otter that sacked out on my deck one winter morning last year (see photo) was a sea otter, right? Wrong. “What you had was a river otter,” said my cousin J.A., retired curator of marine mammals at Sea World in San Diego. His wife, a former animal trainer at Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, agreed. The clincher was the otter’s choice for a napping place. Members of the weasel family, both river otters (Lontra canadensis) and sea otters (Enhydra lutris) move about easily in an aquatic environment, but only the river otter is equally versatile on land. It would be extremely difficult for a sea otter to haul itself up on my deck. Sort of like the difference between a seal and a sea lion.
The name “river otter” is a bit of a misnomer. I can’t improve on Wikipedia’s helpful attempt to clear up the confusion: “Although commonly called a ‘river otter,’ the name can be misleading, as the animals inhabit marine as well as freshwater environments.” While most river otters I have seen have been the size of house cats, this one does fit in the upper end of the size range for its species (11 to 30 pounds and up to 42 inches in length). Had it been a sea otter, it would have been a small one, as males range from 49 to 99 pounds and females weigh between 30 and 73 pounds. After a brief rest the otter moved on, possibly to hunt for fish, mollusks, or crustaceans in Dyes Inlet. From my safe vantage point inside the house, the sleek visitor didn’t appear to have missed too many meals.
Posted in Mud Bay & Rocky Point
Movie Soundtracks Search
So what movie soundtracks have featured “Crimson and Clover,” Tommy James’s paean to love, sex, and psychedelia? In another example of how you can look up just about anything on the Internet, the Mooviees! web site includes a database with the answer—incredibly, there are seven movies listed, although one used the Joan Jett version. OK, maybe you want to substitute some other song for “Crimson and Clover,” like the one you were humming this morning. If so, I have included the link at the end of the post. I just hope you haven’t started humming “Crimson and Clover” as there is no known cure other than a good night’s rest.
The database isn’t perfect in that it doesn’t seem to include soundtracks from older movies. For example, a search for “Sounds of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel doesn’t return The Graduate (1967), just More American Graffiti (1979). But the database handled just about everything recent I tried. And the web site has a Feedback page that solicits corrections and updates, so I assume the database is steadily improving. Speaking of humming, for me yesterday it was “White Flag” by Dido. Her rendition of the song hasn’t been used in a movie, but two films have featured a version by David Young and Michael Sherwood. Hmm, I’m not sure who they are. Back to the Internet.
Posted in Uncategorized
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