Time Flies!

Wow, has it really been three months since my last post? Jeannette and I have been busy moving in to our new home and trying to get the other house ready to rent/sell. Assuming this house doesn't fall in some kind of plague like event, I never want to move again! One of the good things about moving every couple of years has been the inevitable "cleaning house" - going through the old stuff and asking yourself if you really need something you haven't used in the last couple of years. Extend that to 8 years and you really find some nice stuff! Goodwill was our friend this Fall.

So we are in our new home and loving it. The initial move was somewhat orderly since we didn't really need to get out of the other house too quickly. I think we are pretty well settled in the new house now. I am still putting pictures up, and we have a fence and deck to put in. That stuff can wait until the Spring, though. We don't have a pet (except Danny) and fencing the yard isn't essential, yet. It has been nice seeing a few other families move in to the neighborhood. We now have neighbors on both sides of us. The builders are even picking up the pace now and we have several new homes in various stages of construction on our street.

Looking down our new street. We now have two sets of neighbors and several other houses nearing completion. 

Looking out the back of our house after several days of rain. Who knew we would have waterfront property?

I actually put up our decorations right after Thanksgiving this year. You have to take advantage of the few dry days around here this time of year. We actually have room to put the Christmas tree up in the living room now.

The tree fits in the living room now!

Melissa and Stephanie came home for Thanksgiving, and Melissa brought her cat. The cat has an interesting story. Melissa's roommate found it in the hills while hiking after dark. It is a jet black cat. I have to admit it was very well behaved and took to the house like it owned it. The trip home was eventful for both girls. Stephanie's normal method of travel - Amtrak - was victimized by heavy rains the week before Thanksgiving and they wound up using a bus to get folks down from Bellingham. Melissa needed a ride and so I went over to Seattle to pick her and the cat up. Everything went great until the 2+ hour wait for the ferry. Bummer!

Waiting in line for 2+ hours for a ferry ride home. No other travel method was any better.

Midnight quickly found his favorite spot on a cool fall day :)

Monkey bread was a perfect way to start Thanksgiving overeating :)

Other fun stuff over the last several months - I was promoted to Commander (finally!), we attended a Carrie Underwood concert in Seattle, we listed our old house for sale (unsuccessful so far). It has been a busy year.

The Space Needle as a backdrop to Fisher Plaza in Seattle. Beautiful evening to see Carrie Underwood!

Jeannette, Melissa and Danny were able to join me for my promotion to Commander.

Catching Up

It's been a little while since I have posted anything. Jeannette and I have been really busy trying to finish up stuff with the new house and get ready to take our vacation to Alaska. The house is coming together very nicely and the vacation was fantastic! For those that don't know, Jeannette and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year, and the Alaskan cruise and land tour was our present to ourselves to mark this milestone. I know, I have the exact same thoughts all the time - how has she put up with me for 25+ years? You would have to ask her :)

First, the house. It is coming together nicely, if not a little more slowly than we hoped. Some of that is caused by the new construction process, and some of it by the fact that we are the first home in the development and there are just details that have to get smoothed out. For example, our bank cannot do anything more with our loan, including the appraisal, until our brand-spanking new street address is registered with the national address registry. Never heard of it? Me either, but apparently it has to happen to be able to legally describe the property location. Why couldn't they have done that sooner? Good question. The county didn't approve the final plans for the development until about two weeks ago. Details, details. Having said that, we are very happy with the way the house has come together and our involvement in the process, and with the way the neighborhood has taken shape.

Progress to this point includes mostly finish work. We have flooring, doors, cabinets, counter-tops, sinks, fixtures, etc installed now. The cleaners were there yesterday starting the process of cleaning up construction dust and such. Landscaping is done in the front yard now, too. I noticed the gas service isn't hooked up, yet, and cleaning will take some time because the dust is everywhere! They even open up the vent ducts and clean those. Anyway, here is the latest view of the house in it's current state. I also included a picture of Silverdale waterfront park on a picture perfect Sunday morning to make you jealous. 100F where you live? No thanks, I am happy with my cloud-free 80F :)

I am ready to move in!

Silverdale waterfront park on a PERFECT Sunday morning!

Jeannette and I spent a week and a half on an Alaskan cruise and land tour with Princess cruise lines. I posted a few of my favorite pictures at this location. There were too many to include in this post! We boarded in Vancouver, BC. I particularly enjoyed my somewhat unique plans to get there. We didn't want to fly, and it was too far to get a ride from someone. We had a friend give us a ride to the ferry terminal, rode the ferry across to Edmonds, used the Amtrak train to ride up to Vancouver, and then used a taxi to get to the ferry terminal. The whole thing went off without a hitch and we got to see part of the state that was not familiar.

Port calls included Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, and we also cruised through Glacier Bay national park and College Fjord before docking at Whittier. Princess gave us another train ride up to their wilderness lodge at Denali National Park. We spent one day there, one day at their lodge at McKinley and one night in Anchorage before flying home. It was a fantastic time with my best friend and I can't wait to do it again! I leave you with one picture of Denali (Mt McKinley) at sunrise. The locals say only 30% of the people who visit ever see the great mountain. We were lucky to see it at sunrise and sunset!

Denali (Mt McKinley) at sunrise.

Follow the Brown Sign

One of my favorite things to do while out driving or riding my bike is to follow my instinct and pull over for the brown signs of the world. It has been great and I am sure there are many more to follow! My most recent adventure came while I was out riding around northern Oregon to snag some dams with Dam Tour. I generally try to stay off the beaten path and away from interstates while on my motorcycle - partly because there is more opportunity to stop, and partly out of a sense of self-preservation. I was travelling up US 197 in north central Oregon on my way to Hood River and saw a brown sign for White River Falls state park. Only 4 miles off the highway, it seemed like a promising stop. Who can resist a waterfall, right? Once again I was not disappointed! It was a great little detour.

Looking down White River from the falls.

White River Falls

Lebanon Dam

Lebanon Dam

The first couple of pictures are of the White River Falls state park. The next two are from one of my stops at Lebanon Dam. It was a bit wet on the ride down and the clouds in the picture are just starting to break up a bit. As you can see in the pictures, the dams we ride to are not necessarily that big. It is more about the fantastic roads on the way.

Drywall is going up!

Ready for paint!

Progress on the house is steady. During my last stop by the site we found the garage floor concrete poured, drywall work in progress and preps for exterior paint complete. I am looking forward to our next stop to see if the paint is going on. I think the most realistic timeline has the house being complete the second week of August.

And finally, Jeannette and I are going on a little vacation later this month to celebrate (a little early) our 25th anniversary. We are heading out on an Alaskan cruise with a couple nights stay in Denali National park. Definitely exciting!

More Home Progress

So it turns out that sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice all the time. Some of you know I have been frustrated by the lack of progress on our house, and it kind of came to a head a week ago when I confronted my realtors to get some answers. What I found out was productive and a little frustrating. It turns out that the builder had been experiencing some manning issues on his framing crews and did not prioritize my house (the paying customer) over the model home. We have seen some significant progress on the house since that meeting. Pictures of the state of the construction from a little over a week ago and just this past weekend are included below.

This picture shows the house on May 19th, and May 12th, and May 5th :(

Progress after meeting with the builder and realtors! Now we're moving again.

The roof adds a lot to seeing how it is taking shape. Now it looks like a house.

The builder assures us that the 12th of July is still going to happen. I have my doubts. There seems to be a lot of work to get done by then, and the county still hasn't approved the plans for the entire neighborhood, so we don't have a street name and address, yet. Without that info the bank cannot lock in our rate. I guess this is the price we pay for getting in early and having our pick of lots and plans.

I have been getting out to ride quite a bit this spring. Weather has been cooperative - just need to dress in layers to ward off the morning chill. This past weekend I made my way south towards Portland to grab a couple of dams. The day started off poorly when my bike wouldn't start - dead battery. I probably should have seen it coming. I have had a few warning signs but ignored them. I went ahead and took off thinking that the battery would recharge during the ride. My stop for gas proved otherwise. I wound up having to get a jump start three times throughout the day.

That wasn't even the worst part of the day, though. While riding in the mountains around Mt St Helens, I came through a curve and hit a large rock that was hidden in the shadows. It could have been worse, but I still bent my fornt rim. Luckily, the front tire wasn't damaged and held pressure for the (slower) trip home. Definition of anxiety: a possible flat tire and dead battery in an area without cell coverage and very little vehicular traffic. I scrubbed plans for the other dams and limped home.

The Mompano Dam spillway.

Looking into the Columbia River Gorge near Portland.

My bent rim. BMW price to replace with a new one - $895. I will try to get it straightened!

Home Progress - Sort Of

Well, after leaving the gates in a dead sprint, our builder has slowed down significantly and we haven't seen much progress on our house in the past couple of weeks. I suspect the builder is putting his efforts into getting the development approved by the county. This is also good because my bank won't lock in a rate until the development is approved and my house has a street address. Over the past two weeks we have seen the road get paved, storm drains installed and a lot of landscaping work with trees, bushes and dirt moving. The one sign of progress we have seen is a stack of windows in our garage area. They seem lonely, though. There is no one to look through them, yet.

Not a lot of progress recently. We hope they pick up the pace soon!

We do have windows, though :)

So we continue to work around our current house trying to get it ready for eventual renters. It is amazing how much stuff you are willing to live with until you think someone you have never met will come in and get a glimpse of your life. A lot of the repairs probably needed to get done anyway. It gives me something to do on the weekends.

I have managed to get out and ride my bike quite a bit this spring. We have had an unusual string of sunny weekends since the beginning of April, and I have taken full advantage. Last weekend included a ride out to north eastern Washington to visit a couple more dams on the Dam Tour. For those who have never driven in north east Washington, put it on your list of very nice drives. Beautiful. The Pacific Northwest has had above average snowfall this year, and the Army Corps of Engineers (they operate the dams and waterways up here) are concerned about water levels as the snowpack melts off. They have proactively lowered river levels to plan ahead. If you didn't know better you would think there was a drought. One of my rides took me to a small ferry ride across the Columbia river. The water level was very low but the ferry still was able to make the crossing.

Long Lake dam near Spokane, WA. This has turned into one of my favorite pictures of the year so far.

The Inchellum-Gifford ferry - still running at very low river levels.

Owhi Lake dam in the middle of nowhere.

I hope to update more progress on our house next time. Until then, take care of yourselves!

New Home Coming Together

Lot 32 - sold!

So the new house is coming together now. Our permit was approved last week and the builder already has the foundation poured and inspected. IT has been kind of fun seeing it go from raw dirt to this stage. Jeannette and I have spent some time going through the design stuff and adding our own touches to the plans. I think we will start seeing the framing begin this week. July 12th is the expected completion and closing date. We are holding our breath.

This is what an inspection approved foundation looks like :)

 I have taken advantage of the nice weather to go out exploring on my motorcycle. Yesterday was simply fantastic with sunny skies and temps in the low 70s. I invested in some decent riding gear because even when the temps are expected to climb into the 70s, the morning part of the ride can be very cool. Saturday was no exception. Layers and layers of clothing help, but the real savior is my heated grips and seat!

I have spent some time up on Mt Rainier, and have seen both sides of Mt St Helens, but getting a decent view of Mt Adams from the north is not easy. I rode down towards Portland Saturday morning to visit one of the dams on my list and was able to ride around the southern exposure of Mt Adams. I am constantly amazed by the dormant volcanoes here in the PNW, and they seemingly rise out of nothing to dominate the landscape. Views Saturday included My Adams (picture below), Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens and Mt Hood. On one stretch of road I could see three of the four at the same time. I want my retirement house in that spot!

Looking northwest towards Mt Adams on a sunny day.

After seeing Mt Adams, I finished my ride up to Mill Pond dam. It is nothing you will see on a map - in fact, most dams I visit on the Dam Tour are not big dams. The idea is to ride places off the beaten path. I have not rode in that area of Washington before and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and roads down there. The dam was a neat little run-off dam that forms a small pond with camp sites around it. The wind was calm and pictures came easy with no clouds in the sky.

Mill Pond dam on a calm day.

Dam, That Was Cold

Some of you probably have already judged me because you think I misspelled the "Dam" in the title of this post. I know, you can't help yourself. I am using the word in the correct context, however. This month kicks off my favorite summer hobby - Dam Tour! It is another excuse to go riding my bike, and in this case it is a collection of dams in Washington, Oregon and a few other states. Ride to the dam, take picture at dam, send in picture, and meet some new people along the way. I did the tour in 2009 and loved it, and I have been looking forward to it all year now. I have signed up Danny as a passenger, too. He gets his own placard. Unfortunately for him, he really needs warmer temps before we go anywhere because I can't afford to keep buying new stuff for him. The kids is growing like a weed!

My first ride this year was up to Cushman Dam near Hoodsport, WA. It is about 100 miles out and back. The weather was cold and moist, but the roads were in good shape. I have enough gear to stay warm in this weather, but I end up looking a little like the Pillsbury Dough Boy when everything is in place. Cushman Dam is just high enough to have received some snow in the last few days.

It is still to cold for longer distance riding (at least for me), and the mountain passes are not safe right now. This is about the only dam close enough until we warm up some more.

The picture used to get credit for the dam.

A stop along the way.

Need to go back when the sun is out.

Now, in other news...

Jeannette and I have decided to take advantage of low interest rates and low housing prices to buy a new house in Silverdale. We have narrowed our search to an area we like, and are trying to sift through floor plans to pick out the design we like. I am thinking we will be moving in sometime this summer, assuming everything goes well. The plan is to rent out our house we are living in now until the housing market rebounds.

Looking out at our future home. Not sure which lot, yet.

Looking for Stars

HDR rendering of a before-dawn, long exposure shot.

Danny asked me if I would take him to a dark spot before dawn this morning so he could set up his telescope and try to find Saturn. We left at around 6:30 for a dark spot near the Hood Canal Bridge. The weather has been very nice the last few days, and I suspected I could get a few good sunrise shots, too. I was not disappointed, but, unfortunately, Danny was. Plenty of stars, very few clouds, but no Saturn sighting. We will try again! The day was a success due to our follow-on trip to our favorite breakfast place - the Oak Table Cafe!

Those of us who live in the pacific Northwest know that winter normally brings clouds, rain, and very little sunshine. Every once in a while we get a nice sunny day where Mt Rainier pops out of the clouds and every mountain has a crisp layer of snow on it. This week brought us several of those days in a row.

The Hood Canal Bridge before sunrise.

Hood Canal at sunrise.

Hood Canal at sunrise.

Why PNW People are Wimps!

My truck was cold :)

We are just wrapping up "Snow-pocolyspe" here in the great Pacific Northwest, and it left me believing I that I have finally been assimilated into the PNW way of thinking about things. As background, we are one of a very few career Navy families that has lived in the fantastic state of Idaho for six consecutive years while on active duty. Don't ask me to explain because it is a source of a small amount of shame on my part. Snow? Yeah, I've seen snow. And I've driven in snow in a crappy front wheel drive car, too. This is the first storm that I have stood looking out the front windows of our house and found myself hoping for it to end. "It is far too dangerous to drive out there", and "I hope we have enough food in this joint" were thought in the privacy of my head. News coverage? You bet, non-stop and predicting catastrophe. To be fair, we in the PNW are used to inclement weather, but are much better suited to the wet form, perhaps with some wind accompanying the rain drops. Another indication of my assimilation is the number of rain coats I have. And no one who calls themselves a PNWer carries an umbrella. I mean, seriously, an umbrella is useless up here because rain almost never comes without wind.

I have come to terms with my whimpiness on this topic now. It may have been the result of my repeated efforts to keep my driveway clear even armed with the knowledge that all this snow will melt in a couple of days and the rain will return. On a related note, I have uncovered the secret to making it snow in Silverdale - walk outside with my snow shovel!

In other news - I could definitely get used to a two-day work week. I plan to pursue that schedule when I retire!

Here's a few other pictures I snapped over the past few days.

Looking at Silverdale from a local park.

Silverdale Waterfront Park

Melissa's car - snow, ice, then snow again.
Should be ready to drive in June.

Photography Hobby

I enjoy photography, although I would not venture that I am good at it, yet. I have some tools, some books and like to get out and about to places that typically tend to be photogenic. One of the interesting techniques I have recently admired is called HDR, or High Dynamic Range, photography. In its most basic form, HDR photography offers the ability to demonstrate a wider range of detail than most digital cameras can capture (simply due to sensor characteristics). The human eye is capable of seeing more than a camera can capture.

The basic approach is to take multiple pictures with the exposure bracketed so that you take under-exposed, over-exposed and normally exposed images. I use software to "compile" the images into one HDR image. You can apply additional treatments to the image with a good photo editing program, if desired.

I have a couple examples of my work that I am happy with. I recently bought a book and have read up on the technique, and I know that my earlier attempts were misguided and would not produce the desired results because my settings were wrong. Makes me excited for the results I might get with correct settings. Below is my "before" and "after" images of a nice fall setting down the street from my house. I took three photos (although at the time I was just changing exposures to try to get one decent photo). One thing to note is the additional detail in the previously shaded areas.

Any thoughts you have are appreciated.

This is the original, normal exposure I took.

This is the HDR image that was produced from three different exposures of the image.