Forever Due

Posted on January 9, 2019 | Leave a comment
no stamp

Return to sender.

Last week, in a senior moment, I mailed in my final 2018 quarterly tax payment with one big omission. Yep, I forgot to stick on a Forever stamp (currently $.50 in postage), thus denying the letter a smooth flight to the IRS office in San Francisco. And now forever is due (see photo).
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Posted in Current Events, Government

An Updated Fortune Cookie

Posted on October 5, 2014 | 2 comments

The fortune cookie came from the Safeway deli, a place where you can order takeout Chinese cuisine. Inside the folded golden cookie shell was a modern fortune, printed on a slip of white paper:

It’s time to write a letter or email to one who is distant.

The fortune, my fortune, was on the money in two respects. First, when I write letters, I almost always use email, with a ratio of electronic to paper messages of at least 20 to 1 and probably higher than that. Second, earlier that day, I shared a photo and some news with a cousin I communicate with only every year or so. You guessed it: I used email for the job.

Apparently the humans who write these fortunes recognize that times have changed. However, I still look forward to the end-of-meal pleasure of reading, on paper, what they have in mind for me. Even if I get a smart phone someday and pay for my order that way, I hope the fortune doesn’t arrive after dinner by text message.

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Posted in Friends & Family

Signs of Fall

Posted on October 5, 2014 | 1 comment

These pheasants are safe for a few more days.


The first photo shows the pheasant pen that’s been featured in the Mud Bay Blog a couple of times. The pheasants live there for a few weeks in September and October before being released for the fall upland game bird season. Interestingly the pen is on Wilkinson Road. Last Friday, when I took the photo, two pheasants had escaped but were nervously hanging out near the security of the pen almost as if they wanted back in. Did they instinctively fear the coming danger of nightfall when raccoons and coyotes would be out hunting in the rural Belfair valley where the pen is located? Death by critter or death by hunter. That’s the fate that awaits most of them.
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Posted in Biking, Other Local Places

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Dancing Man in Belfair

Posted on April 11, 2014 | 1 comment

The parts come with a great guarantee.


The dancing man phenomenon has spread to Belfair. Local Wrench auto repair, located at 23530 NE State Route 3, just added one of the quirky inflatables to advertise that they use genuine ACDelco parts. Local Wrench provides auto repairs and services for all makes of foreign and domestic cars and trucks. So, along with the General (GM), perhaps auto makers everywhere are dancing for joy.

I’m not an expert on dancing men, despite numerous previous posts about them, but this one looked new when I stopped for a photo this afternoon. It could be his first week on the job.

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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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There’s No Money in It

Posted on April 2, 2014 | 1 comment

Wanna buy a former bank?


The former Kitsap Bank branch on Marine Drive (see photo) was listed as a commercial property for sale on the Reid Realty web site this week. At $350K it might be a good buy. However, there’s no money in it—bank money that is. Customer deposits and accounts, including my safe deposit box, were moved to the downtown branch when the Marine Drive branch closed last June.
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Posted in Business Beat

Used Horseshoes Wanted

Posted on March 30, 2014 | 1 comment

An unusual request


I have no idea why Kitsap Muffler in Gorst wants used horseshoes (see photo). Nor do I know if they are seeking the outdoor game pieces or the metal objects that protect a horse’s hooves. But since you don’t see a sign like this often ever, I figured it was worth a blog post. The phone number (360-373-3101) is a bit hard to read; it’s the number for the shop in Gorst.
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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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A Bit Scuffed

Posted on March 27, 2014 | 1 comment

Where’s George?


Perhaps the title of this post should be “Two Bits Scuffed” as the photo shows a United States quarter dollar coin. It’s one of the state quarters—on the reverse side is a sun symbol representing New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. It was issued in 2008 and probably had normal wear from circulation until it landed in the bike lane on Kitsap Way and was run over by a few dozen cars. That’s where I found it today. The closest business is the Family Pancake House. The previous owner should have left it as a tip instead of tossing it out like trash.

A few years ago I wrote a post about the serendipity of finding money. While I’m not sure if this quarter is legal tender, I still think, like any coin you find, it brings with it the chance to wish for favorable events for the days ahead. Whether I can exchange it for a new quarter will be up to the bank or perhaps the Coinstar machine. As a side note, I find a lot of coins on my bike rides and some are beat up. But not like this one. I guess our money isn’t as tough as it used to be.

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Posted in Economy

Pi Day

Posted on March 14, 2014 | 2 comments

As good as 3.14 other cats


Today, March 14th or 3/14, is Pi Day for people who celebrate the wonderful constant that specifies the relationship between the circumference and the diameter of a perfect circle. But on Mud Bay, at least at my house, I’m honoring the Mud Cat (see photo) instead. His real name is also Pi.

Pi, the number, has an infinite number of digits without any repeating pattern. The most significant ones are 3.14, although a few million more have been calculated. Pi, the cat, cannot be reduced to a number, but he does provide an infinite amount of playfulness, companionship, and trouble in a pattern that tends to repeat itself.

So what did Pi do on his special day? He went out before dawn, got wet in the early morning rain, returned for breakfast, napped in the late morning, “helped” me clean the garage, and went on a second, longer patrol in the afternoon. Pretty much the usual. He’s in for the night now. Tomorrow will be another Pi Day too.

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Posted in Pi

Driving Is Again a Pleasure

Posted on March 11, 2014 | Leave a comment

Yesterday the nice people at the Les Schwab Tire Center in Bremerton installed four new tires on my 15-year-old Toyota Tacoma. And while my pickup doesn’t drive like a new truck, the ride improved so much that driving is again a pleasure.
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Posted in Cars

Speed Limit 20 When Flashing

Posted on March 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

Read and heed


I’m asking for forgiveness from neighborhood drivers if it takes me awhile to get used to the new rules for the school zone at the south end of Rocky Point Road. For years I have been creeping through there at 20 mph ever mindful that the area is frequently patrolled by the Bremerton Police Department. The speed limit in the school zone is still 20 mph, but now you only need to slow down (from 25) when the spiffy new solar-powered signs are flashing (see photo).
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Posted in Government, Mud Bay & Rocky Point