They are inexpensive, easy to store and install, safe, colorful, use low-power LED bulbs, and, most important, send a welcoming message. I’m talking about holiday window lights, which might be all you need to decorate your house’s exterior for Christmas or whatever December holidays you celebrate. This is the second year I have displayed them in my upstairs windows (see photo).
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During Black Friday and Cyber Monday retailers try to lure shoppers in with big sales and massive discounts. Reef Cannabis in Bremerton (see photo) also wants to cash in on the holiday shopping season. Reef is having a sale that lasts for the entire month. Perhaps the owners are hoping for a green December.
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What’s your favorite part of the online Seattle Times Sports section? For me it’s not the pages devoted to the Seahawks or the Mariners or the main Sports section page. The page I look at most often is the TV & Radio page (see screen capture showing a small portion of it), which has the listings for just about every sport you can think of. If a sporting event is on TV or radio, chances are it will be listed here.
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The annual “fall back” drill last month provided an opportunity to grab an extra hour of sleep as part of setting clocks back an hour to mark the end of Daylight Saving Time. On Friday night there’s an even bigger bonus in store for the sleep deprived—a planned power outage for the Rocky Point/Marine Drive neighborhoods.
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The first year I biked at least 2555 miles was 2011. This year (see photo) I reached that goal yesterday with a couple of days remaining in November. A few things have changed—I’m older and own a different bike—but my basic approach hasn’t. Ride every day no matter what. That’s worked every year since 2011.
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Like many (mostly older?) Americans I’m bummed that penny production ended this month. Just because pennies cost several times their value to make doesn’t mean the United States should stop minting them. Lost in the coverage of this issue in both mainstream and social media is what Victor D. Brenner, the Lincoln wheat penny designer, might say if he were still around.
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The cost of Washington’s annual Discover Pass (see screen capture) went up from $30 to $45 on October 1. The price of a daily pass stayed the same. While this is the first increase since the annual pass debuted in 2011, not surprisingly the 50 percent hike affected sales, at least in the first month. This post has a few thoughts on the increase and Discover Passes in general.
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It was fall 1975. Gerald Ford was president, Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine won the World Series, the Cold War was at its height, and the defense contractor I worked for opened an office in Silverdale in advance of the coming Trident boom. The photo shows the first place I rented in Kitsap County for more than a few weeks. It’s in Chico, across the street from Town & Country Auto Repair and just a few steps from Hank’s Grocery.
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If there’s such a thing as a malaise-era collector stove, I’m pretty sure I own one (see photo). It’s a Tappan Gallery electric range that was manufactured about 1970. While I cook on a gas stove at my home on Mud Bay, the Tappan gets daily use when I’m at my vacation place on Treasure Island.
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The big news out of the nation’s capitol today is that the Senate reached an agreement that will lead to the end of the government shutdown. This post would have been more timely last week when there was still no end in sight. However, Congress is so polarized, and so clueless, that while the current shutdown is the longest in history, it won’t be the last. Can anything be done to send Congress a message that future lengthy shutdowns are unacceptable?
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