Then This

  PSP north PSP south up seasonal creek - Demuth Photography      At 10 o'clock I, D and Skip went to Possession Sound Preserve in the Subaru. This is a  new Nature Conservancy property off Humphrey Road with a brand new gravel trail running a ways down an old roadway leading to the beach, about 3000 feet of it. Beautiful day with light rain later in the afternoon.      In that later afternoon S and I took the yellow van to the wheel people at Les Schwab to replace the brake pads, but after going to Freeland in the car to get stuff we heard that Les got the wrong pads so we returned to the yellow van to take it home until the right brake pads come. We were at China City having tropical drinks and pot stickers when we got the call about the pads, so we were cool with it.      Not a bad day, and tomorrow won't be any better due to setting an IV and infusing me with the Keytruda better known by its folk name  pembrolizumab at the Lake Union home of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. As

  2014 unidentifiable SWA student on Useless Bay dike finds parking place for journal writing Monday! Not thinking there will be much going on today and as it is now 7:36 pm that has been the case. But there was a desultory walk on the west Langley beach with the again uninspired D. But on our return the cream cheese bagel was very satisfying as was the BBQ pork sandwich from the Star Store directly following. This impulsive feasting was unfortunate due to S having made a lovely vegetable soup to which one could and should add some kimchi for lunch. I was just able to enjoy that as well, however then it was rest period. Greg B sent some fishing pictures featuring the former kid next door who inhabits the sea off the Santa Barbara-Ventura-Channel Islands coasts. The backstory with the tuna is that after 3 hours trying to bring the fish in looking south all the time at a coming squall the boat got caught and nearly went down. It must be nice to really know the ocean as above

  Bocce - some said D moved the balls, but it was indiscriminate therefore a non-issue      R's birthday party at Le Pechet      Standard breakfast: toast with one egg sunny side up with tomato wedges all with a light application of Yucatan Sunshine habanero sauce. D and I went downtown close to noon and I ordered a heated bagel with cream cheese and a glass of water. Ventured on the usual left beach but neither D or I was into it and D hurt himself out of my sight and was strange for a while.       After a quiet early afternoon it was back down to Star Store with D on foot but S came by in the car and offered us a ride which we took to get some greek salad, artichoke salad, cookies, cheese and crackers for a 5 o'clock picnic with Dean and Mary at Maxwelton beach park where we had Mary's pesto pasta salad mixed with ours and some watermelon prior to bocce in the baseball field. Chatted with musician Eli and Dean author friend Kevin. Good sundown.      Just realized in addin

taproom 1 tap 2 tap 3 tap 4      Saturday morning at 9 went to session one of 6 week agility class for dogs. D did pretty good, better than I expected; it's not that I thought him unagile it's just whether he would see the point, but the hot dogs and cheese cubes took care of that.       Tried the farmer's market - pretty good, lots of tents and beautiful produce. Got 4 peaches and 4 nectarines and 3 tomatoes.      The day went quiet after that with sleep and just stumbling around until S brought us back to reality with a run at the coffee cup holder for the front of the new machine, thus its soul.      Day continue with music outdoors at the Penn Cove Taproom where I nor the dog nor S had yet been. Bruce was on percussion and Jack was leading with his own creations. The fields around the old place captured my and D's imaginations. D jawed with a sheep dog stationed next to us. Spoke with Bruce concerning his son-in-law's reassignment to go evacuate Kabul. Spoke wit

  bad sign? good sign?      Woke up feeling unusually good. Was it the smooth muscle relaxation medication?      Ordered some t-shirts.      With D got the mail, a jalapeno bagel toasted with cream cheese (the second in this life), and rolled up Langley west beach in some tranquility. Unexpected as I thought the electrocuted crow was a bad sign.      Later did some light repair: bifold door adjustment, sheet metal skirts for van wheels to thwart rats and other sentient but small creatures who are bent on their own projects, assembled folding bike "Liberte" (Lee bur tae).      Walked to Maple and thence to Sprinkles with Skip.      Made a soothing sweet from applesauce and vanilla ice cream.

  Last Dance Big guy in white had good rhythm      S and I entered the young forest by the Trail of the Wild Fell and came out hours later on Flying Squirrel sort of like and episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle. Those woods had been forgotten by me after such a long absence. There were flashbacks even to ancient days making my living somewhere back in there between the clear-cut and the old forest making wood out of blowdowns and the odd old growth log beautifully preserved but an inconvenient distance that needed a lot of heavy packing.      S was feeling poorly, but D romped and sniffed sufficiently for all of us.      I made some calls that may produce a wheel for the new ride and some medication for the urination. I also whopped up a pot of pasta fazool that was better than usual.      Last we went to the last Bayview dance, but when D, already anxious from the noisy churn of the event, had a can of IPA spilled on his back, we had to take him home.

          Trash day always a bit of a fright as the truck rolls by around 6:45 like it might want to snatch your can but doesn't until maybe 11 or 1 or 9. Like the guy said when asked a while ago, "We just don't know when, where or how much". It's just garbage.      S went off for an allergy assessment in Everett as well as a booster and a thorough vacuuming of the Subaru with a short foray into Costco, but not to wrangle my Rapaflo pee amplifier, rather for cheese.      For my part I poured 4 gallons of hot water and detergent down into the black and gray water tanks, drained the fresh water and sloshed my way over to Les Schwab to have them check the crack in the front right aluminum  wheel. Other than to say that if it failed I was fucked the guy there couldn't help.      Texted up B and went for a walk for the update on the bike tour which was challenging and was he glad to be home. He feels he may well buy a scooter so he and his partner (who already has

  longer shadows Dusty vs Romeo bipolar bear 1 bipolar bear 2 - Gretchen L. paper mache creations      Off to see the urologist (solo) who I last visited in January with the opposite issue (too often pee) and now with too little piddle. She thought I might be not drinking enough liquids this time and maybe eating too many bladder irritants. She prescribed Rapaflo™, but insurance wouldn't pay and it cost $300 at RiteAid. However with Good Rx at Costco it is going for $35 so yeah probably go there and get some of this smooth muscle relaxer. Hopefully I won't have to buy 144 bottles.      One D walk and one Skip walk the latter led to a chance encounter with several former colleagues from the middle school and an extremely cute Icelandic Shepard pup named Lucy  who is  partially bipedal .

  the end of Edgecliff minus the no trespassing signs      At 10:40 pm I left the home under a full moon to clock the last few points needed to satisfy the watch.      Earlier I and D finished the Tour de Edgecliff meeting briefly with Ryan D and having a short chat re bicycles. Coincidently S today bought a folding bike from Costco online presumably to stash in the back of the Adventurous LX to facilitate trips to the self-pay station from our chosen site at the camps among other errands. And even earlier D and I did a cottage cheese run to the Star Store, that wonder grocery that still has a reasonably full diary section unlike Payless of Freeland.      Made a reservation at Le Pichet for Thursday evening to celebrate R's birthday in the real French bistro style.      And on top of all that I made a solo visit to the Island County Fair and Campground dump station to relieve Adventurous LX. S thoroughly cleaned the vehicle's insides as well. On a side note I see on my phone wh

       We blew out of Bayview postage stamp; too many children and people. Went shopping for R's birthday at La Conner also lunch at the unremarkable Waterfront Cafe. Found a couple of strange things to buy for presents. Did the Quilt Museum. Got booster shot at Rite Aid in Oak Harbor. S took the wheel and I retired to the back for a rest which was real lovely except for the odd bump lifting me into the air.

  Refinery moon over Bayview Padilla Bay dogmoonhay international picnic      Met Mike at peace arch state park.   Very gray in more ways than the overcast. As we finished our very good picnic it began to rain. Mike walked back into Canada across zero avenue. We went south into the dry.      Birch bay state park, 16 mile side trip, was packed way too tight      Good nap.      Long walk with D at twilight into dark under a big orange moon. 6 youths on wheels on the Padilla bay dike trail with us.

  Dike Trail looking back toward the village of Bayview  Bayview Methodist      Camping, even in an rv like a minimalist Japanese micro-apartment, leaves little time for the luxuries such as documentation. It is now 10 pm as I try to record something of the day just passing. Maybe if I had skipped the nap.      We are tucked in a postage stamp at the Bayview State Park in the village of Bayview (no retail or commercial activity of any kind) a few miles south of Bellingham. A friend had a 3 night reservation here that he could not use and we took it.      D and I walked most of the village on obscure lanes and driveways trying to find the soul of the place. I believe, like Langley itself, that this is a NORC (naturally occurring retirement community). S swam in the bay meanwhile and cooked a nice dinner of salmon, asparagus and rice.      Tomorrow we meet Mike for a picnic at Peace Arch Park in a gray zone that is neither the US nor Canada.      The park admins at Bayview state shut off

       shadows the Maple upper story two babies      Went to see Doctor Wang at the University of Washington Medical Center's Surgery Pavilion on the Montlake Cut. I have come to appreciate Duane for his wry and dry yet boyish style. He said I could sit but not hot tub or bike for maybe two more months which is fine for the hot tub if not so fine for the bike as it is the beginning of the Fall.      The doctor demurred at my request for an oxy refill, but offered Tramadol to blunt my despair. On checking out this Tramadol however, I was able to rally when I saw that it was comparable to codeine.      Otherwise there was only the hospital cafeteria lunch where I found the sweet potato tostado decent.      Later Skip and I walked the dead end of 6th and the rough path to 3rd and enjoyed an informative conversation with Big Shanti.      Sadly R reports interpersonal trauma on her travels on the Kenai Peninsula. Way up there it could be worse: it could be interspecies trauma - 🐻's

       former newspaper man helps rebuild the Dog House Dean cools knee while D looks on      Breakfast of left overs from yesterday's stupendous cookery of fried tofu in a sauce of coconut milk and molasses, braised green beans with mint, kimchi, rice and kombucha; we read an article in the Times about the benefits of fermented food. D and I went for groceries and walk. Met former colleague from school and her grandchildren at least 4 times in the process. D suspicious of little people. S off to the mainland for doctor and car wash.       Met Dean at 4 for what became an adventurous walk on the west beach involving some light trespass to avoid wading through knee deep water followed by wading through that knee deep water to avoid trespass on return voyage. Dean surmised that the cold water might ease the pain in his knee. Chatted with Dog House crew Senn and Justin, the latter formerly of the Whidbey Record editorship. Senn offered that the main floor of the old tavern would be op

  the round Bob on the right beneath his work I'm sorry, can't help it      I remember starting the day in the recliner and now there I am again. Have to think on what happened in between, it will come. I have the pictures.      There were walks, 2,: Langley beach west where there was an unvaccinated pup whose owner did not want D to approach. She of the funny colorful house on the bulkhead. There was a much later walk down Edgecliff with Skip during which it began to rain. Before the rain we stopped to talk to builder Bob who was working on what Skip called his legacy project. Bob said he had at least 10-20 people stop each day to attempt to hire him for their project. He was accepting none.      There was the trip to Freeland RiteAid to attempt to get a booster vaccination, but they were out of that juice for at least a week, so S made an appointment with the RiteAid in Mukilteo for tomorrow when she goes for her premier appointment with Bibby of Harbor Pointe. S gets things

  Murk above average breakfast - just a glimpse of Uncle Bob's Red Mill Polenta Corn Grits under over easy egg!      Quite heavy fog at 6 am.  Unacknowledged by Cliff Mass or weather.com, but there it is. Thinking maybe to hang those big plastic fish from the tree outside this window to enhance the aquarium effect already apparent. Not sure if we still have those fish, have to go look under house, ugh.      Replaced headlight bulb on yellow van, cleaned channel/gutter under wipers. Put black shoe polish on brown Merrell slip-ons. Inventoried 20 pieces of black clothing not seen in some years. Wound up in three pairs of leg coverings like the guys and gals in Hopkins back in old Belize when they dressed to go to farm. S painting two doors to backyard. S also took D to dog park. In escaping two large white troublemakers by going into small dog area she met up with small vicious terrier. There were some good times prior to these negatives.      Walked D to beach and Commons earlier. C

a morning like any other      Breakfast of scrambled egg on toast, tomatoes and cream of wheat all with habanero sauce to some degree. Not much surprise or drama today. Walked with D into a busy Saturday tourist scene in lower Langley. Sticks so rare on the sand that D only swam and fetched twice especially since he didn't haul his stick all the way back to shore.      Hot water and dishwasher soap down the toilet of the Adventurous to maybe free up the sensors that tell how full the tanks are. S drove around to slosh the stuff and then we went to the dump station at the fairgrounds for a seemingly successful dump of black and gray.      Peggy and John should arrive at 5 for a social hour out under the Coleman pavilion. S said they might bring their own snacks; I only got saltines and some cheap Swiss cheese that doesn't taste like Swiss cheese. Peggy and John did arrive at five and we had a good talk on most subjects and snacks plus gin and tonics and beer.      Lot of crow ac

  threw this in while waiting for the foto team to upload today's glamour shots looking for rounds                          - Demuth Photography Windup pup                                         - Demuth Photography      Had a conversation with the nurse yesterday about the percentage of salt in blood vs sea. She googled it and compared to the label on the infusion bag, which said .9% sodium chloride, the ocean is about 3 times saltier than blood; I thought, hoped really, they would be the same. I also liked my immersion in Dinesen's book Out of Africa once upon a time.      The air is full of wood smoke and the temperature is high. No wind. I can't say it smells strong or even smells really. S upbraided me for letting the cool out and I threw some carrots, those shaved baby ones.      Fixed bottom rung on yellow van ladder. Got reflective insulating window covers for new van. I guess we're committed to this vehicle adoption.      I thought we had to go to the dump st

  suddenly today morphed from a blood draw to all the above at first it was fine but after an hour or two my attitude deteriorated       Originally I got a message that I had an appointment at the downtown SCCA for a blood draw and I called in to see if I could do that at the NW hospital and the person, Peter, said yeah he would look into that and get back to me on the online portal. Checking for such a message this morning I see the above series of activities planned for me this day. Good thing I checked. The last item with the unpronounceable chemical is the immunotherapy drug provided by Merck free of charge I guess cause they want to see how it works in random victims.     Earlier I got a call from the UW Northwest hospital pharmacy saying they had a prescription for oxy with my name on it, so that was a bit of gravy on the unwanted surprise of the day as summarized by the screen shot at the top of the post.      The above hand gesture is in no way a disparagement of staff or facil