Henry lugging my lenses

Henry lugging my lenses, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I took today off as there would be sweet F.A. to do. Our contractor was trying to get through a lot of work today, so I risked Henry hating me and took him outside.
It was hard to tell if it was going to be nice this morning but it was a lovely day. We had a pancake breakfast, hiked through the arboretum (I was testing out a new fisheye lens I was given as a gift), we played chess in a coffee shop, read our kindles, bought the stuff for Christmas dinner and then turned for home.
We are very close to having this project at an end. It will be great to have our house back and in better shape than before. But I will miss our contractor, Troy. He's an ace human being.

Cheers,

S.

Vancouver Skyline from the North Shore

Vancouver Skyline from the North Shore, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

On Thursday night I got a call from my pal James.
James grew up next door to me from the 7th grade through the end of high school. His Dad was a product of Windsor's toughest neighborhood, Drouillard Road and he worked the Ford foundry there. The foundry is the toughest job in Ford Motor. It is unbelievably hot, dirty and dangerous. There is a premium paid for working there but most of the guys working there are paying on a habit they still can't afford. It is a soul crushing, body killing grind that only a few people come out of whole. James' Dad Mike was a ridiculous tough, alcoholic mick with a gambling problem and he liked to take it out on the kids and his wife upon occasion. Rarely with his fists, but I don't know that the distinction matters.
James was at our house a lot. He is my brother's age. He and my brother were friends, but my brother isn't easy to be friends with. Pretty soon James was coming over just whenever he wanted to be out of his house, which was a lot. There was even a time when he had his drum kit set up in our garage when his Dad told him he was going to sell it. In high school it was not unusual to see James chatting my with my Mum at the kitchen table and doing his homework before heading home for dinner. I didn't realize it until a few years ago but there were a lot of kids in our house all the time and most of them were there because of my Mum.
After high school James got a job at Ford and I didn't pick up with him again until we linked up on Facebook. He had just moved to Vancouver. He had quit Ford and started college (sound engineering). Moving out of the cocoon of FoMoCo and Windsor James' world grew quite a lot. it was great getting reacquainted with him. It was great sharing reading lists. He was having a tough time though. Finances were tight. His house back in Windsor couldn't hold a renter and his renters were like rats vandalizing the place. He got through school only to see the entertainment biz in Vancouver get gutted by the Canadian dollar coming up to par with the USD. He's struggled to keep everything going.
He called to tell me that he had to move back to Windsor. The last set of renters completely vandalized his house before eviction. He didn't have the money to fix it to get it rented again and couldn't pay the mortgage and rent. He had a job lined up back home that would allow him to get things back on the rails again. He's hoping that this would only be a four month trip. He wants to get back to Vancouver as soon as possible. The people might be odd, the city is incredibly expensive, but the views are staggering, the air is clean and there is a vibrant economy (at least compared with Windsor). I told him to consider it a business trip. He liked the idea.
Friday I headed up to Vancouver (a trip I had been promising for months to make but didn't - for all sorts of reasons). I helped him a bit with the packing up and then we went on a tear. I haven't laughed that much in ages. It was a cure. It was sooo great getting time with someone who gets where I'm from and being able to joke, jab and parry. James is a great guy. I'm hoping he can get things on track.
Heh.. one thing off track. I hardly ever drink coffee anymore, but he gave me an espresso machine. James only drinks tea, but his brother re-gifted James one of his wedding presents last Christmas. I got it running this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll toast James with a cup of the black stuff.

Hmmm.. ever such a long time ago.

Oregon Road Trip 2011 (43 of 64), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I have no been able to wake up this morning. Probably a mix of last night's sleeping pill and this morning's anti-allergy pill. YAWN!

I think I need to pack up my tent and spend a weekend sleeping outdoors before the good weather ends. It's too beautiful here to spend another weekend shuttling through traffic.

Sigh..

Yorkshire from RAW (3 of 20), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I dropped Henry at camp today. He was still a bit under the weather and Jackie had a VERY hard time letting him go under the circumstances.
We stopped for a lovely dinner in La Conner at a gastropub that serves entirely locally sourced food. Delicious.
I'm restless though. No interest in going to work tomorrow. I'd rather be a scamp mooching bitter in Yorkshire.

Salmon La Sac & Cooper Lake Camping Trip

Salmon La Sac & Cooper Lake Camping Trip (3 of 20), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I really hate that I've neglected this place.

This weekend has been absolutely fantastic. I took Henry camping along with my pal, Forrest. We were originally going to go camping near Skykomish but after looking at the weather report I thought we should go camp somewhere in the rainshadow. The trick is that neither F or I know the area well so it was a bit of a guessing game.
Friday night we headed up, grabbed dinner at The Brick in Roslyn (a town once made famous by Northern Exposure) and then made our way north on Salmon La Sac toward Cooper Lake. We wanted to get settled in before losing our light so we weren't too picky on our campsite. We did okay finding a place with enough wood to gather, a bit of privacy and good ground to put our tents down. The downside was that over a bluff from us was a rather large group of middle-aged wankers blasting bad 80s music. The local rangers did tell them to kill the music at 10pm and apparently someone in their party, who was quite drunk, promptly fell in their giant campfire on his way to telling the rangers off. They were quite quiet for the rest of the night.
Henry LOVED gathering firewood, tending the fire and cooking over it. He stayed up quite late with us and basked in the testosterone.
Henry was a HUGE help getting the tent all set up. I certainly had a lot more stuff in there than I would have if i was on my own. But he was pretty brilliant at arranging everything in the tent while I fed it to him from the car. Actually, he was incredibly helpful through the whole trip.
We both had as decent a night's sleep as you can have sleeping inches off the ground and woke up hungry as hell.
We got up a bit earlier than Forrest so we got out for a hike. Checked out a nearby creek, looked about some of the other campsites and marked a few places with the GPS in case we wanted to come back on our own sometime. When we got back F had a wee fire going and the campstove set up on the tailgate. Henry got his first camp breakfast of bacon, eggs and deformed hotcakes. We broke camp and decided to head for Cooper Lake proper.
Cooper Lake is further north and quite close to the snow line. After dicking about the fire roads for a while we settled in a spot not far from the lake just off a creek that feeds it. It was a brilliant spot. Well above the creek with good creek access. Loads of accessible firewood, trails, deadfalls to climb, etc..
Henry got a full day of romping around the woods, over the creek and down trails with his slingshot in hand. He was absolutely filthy and happy as hell. We were at a much higher altitude than the night before and it was COLD that night. Colder than we really packed for. But our sleeping bags are great and we survived the night with a sense of humour.
Sorry I can't make this more interesting. I guess you had to be there. It was a great thrill for me having Henry along and a bigger thrill that he liked it so much and wants to do it again. I can hardly wait. I think our next trip will be a mid-week trip to Spencer's Spit on Lopez Island. Clamming, crabbing, fishing, etc.. Good times.

Leia - April 11, 2011

Leia - April 10, 2011 (1 of 4), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

Last Wednesday my 13 year old American Eskimo stopped being able to raise her head properly and began to list to the side. She was terrified and so were we.
The vet (Dr. Sorenson of the Rose Hill Animal Hospital) told us that it was likely one of two things that was wrong with her: vestibular syndrome (which could clear up in a week and is common among geriatric dogs) or a brain tumour. Leia stayed at the hospital so she could be observed.
Thursday night I gave Leia a visit. We laid on the floor at the hospital. She was unable to stand without help, urinated uncontrollably and wasn't able to lift her head properly.
Friday night the vet asked me to take Leia home for the weekend. Knowing she was pretty high strung she thought she'd do better recovering at home. When I got there Dr. Sorenson didn't pull any punches. She told me that Leia's eyes were dilating and constricting considerably and were tracking whether she was awake or asleep. The doc told me that this was more consistent with a brain tumour, but that we should wait the weekend to be completely sure. An x-ray wouldn't reveal a tumour. An MRI could, but it would cost $3k. There is no treatment for a geriatric dog with a brain tumour so it was best to wait out the weekend.
It was simply the worst weekend of my life. She was clearly being brave at home. She slept on our bed. Periodically getting up to give us a smile. She refused food and most water. When she did take water she often threw it up.
Being the dog lovers we are the family held vigil at her bedside in a way that we never would for a person. My parents came over. We all took turns talking to her, petting her, carrying her outside to sit in the grass when it wasn't raining (that would always get a swish of her now limp tail).
I have never wept, sobbed and choked so much in all my life. This is not the first dog I've lost in my life, but for some reason the most tragic. She was the trial run for Jackie and I as parents. She was a problem child through her teen years (once digging a hole through the plaster and lath to escape our 1920s foyer and gain entrance to the living room - eating ALL of the carpets off the stairs - knocking birds from the air with her paws to make a snack of them). She was my constant companion when I moved to Seattle ahead of Jackie and Henry's emigration from Canada - we discovered Washington together: walking through parks, hiking trails and going for drives together. We HORRIFIED every sushi chef on Seattle's east side by sharing sushi - her absolute favourite food in the world. When Henry and Jackie joined me in Washington she guarded Henry's room every night. No one came between the dog and the boy without blood being drawn. She aged well into a prancing, mellowed companion whose company I enjoyed every day.
The last few months there were changes we put down to old age. Some incontinence, getting a bit bitey and cranky, periodic hearing loss... in retrospect it all adds up.
I'm so pleased that her quality of life was good until so recently given that it could have been painful and we'd be none-the-wiser.
Taking her to Dr. Sorenson this morning was a huge relief to Jackie and I. Leia was clearly spent sleeping almost all the way to the vet. She laid down quietly and almost immediately on the blanket. The doc talked Jackie through the process and in less than 30 seconds it was over very quietly. We spent a quiet moment with her and let her go.

I will always miss you, Leia. You were all I could have asked of a family guardian and companion. My heart is broken but I am relieved that you're not suffering. I will mend. I don't believe in an afterlife, but if this was a fair universe you'd get your fill of sushi and wild birds, fields to romp in and someone to rub your belly.

Adieu.

Time with the boy

Cabo San Lucas 2011 (24 of 30), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

I think my favourite part of every day was right after dark. I grabbed by tripod, my release cable, camera and boy and headed for the beach.
Henry doesn't take too much interest in photography unless we're doing long exposures, staying up past his bedtime or something like that.
I set the camera up, gave Henry my watch and the shutter release and told him how long I wanted each exposure. He had a great time seeing how the time effected each image. He was mostly just doing it to see how accurately he was nailing the timing. I don't care what was in it for him it was great to have him with me.

The Caipirinha

Cabo San Lucas 2011 (18 of 30), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

The Caipirinha is one of my favourite cocktails and they were on the menu at our resort. The first time I had one was in Greece. I was chatting and drinking with some of the Brazilian and Philappino crew members who were gulping these down by the pitcher.
The Caipirinha is made from cachaça (Brazil's answer to rum), limes, ice and sugar.

Spring in Bothell

Spring in Bothell (6 of 8), originally uploaded by seattleforge.

We're getting a taste of spring here in western Washington. I really, really needed it. I've been very under the weather for about a week. It's wearing me out a bit. Luckily work has hit a lull for a little bit which is brilliant.
Saturday was brilliantly sunny so I grabbed Henry, his bike and my camera and headed to the Burke-Gilman trail. He pootled along (he's not a very confident rider) and I walked along taking some snaps. It was a great time and just what I needed. Although when I was done my lungs seized and I was wheezing in the car all the way home. So odd.
Two weeks until Cabo.

Bulova Accutron Restored

Bulova Accutron Restored, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

Sorry, I often forget I have this place and that occasionally people read it.
The watch came back from the jewelers. It was buffed, polished, given a new band and a deployment. It looks like a million bucks. I'm very happy with it.

The guy I picked it up from was about my Dad's age. He sold Bulovas starting in 1969. He gave me a lot of really cool info on the watch and also liked my restoration choices. He did tell me to call him if I ever wanted to pick up an original band for the watch. He recommended I really only do that if I want to sell it. The setup I picked is nicer.

Bulova Accutron Railroad Approved

Bulova Accutron Railroad Approved, originally uploaded by seattleforge.

My Dad gave me his old watch today. He wears a shockproof timex these days, but this was on his wrist for decades until they stopped making the mercury batteries that fit it.
Recently they started making a modern battery that would fit the watch, so it is back in business and he gave it to me.
When I was a kid I knew all about this watch. It was made in 1965. Bulova was in a Space Race with Omega to outfit the astronauts for the moon mission. Bulova advanced watch technology by using a battery to power a tuning fork to drive the mechanics of the watch. The hands "sweep" instead of ticking along. If you hold it to your ear it doesn't tick it hums. When I was a kid this watch seemed like it was from the future. It only lost 10 minutes a year. Omega won the war though. Buzz Aldrin wore the Omega Speedmaster to the moon. Now those watches sell for tens of thousands and the Bulovas sell for hundreds. But I love its sweeping hands and humming heart.

My Dad removed the leather band before I was even born and put this stainless bracelet on it. It doesn't fit me and since it isn't original I won't feel bad putting a band on it that I can wear.