Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sunday, March 24th, a Full day

D.W. and I got up early (for a weekend) in order to get to the WAC gun show before the "after church" crowd. We have heard that the membership lines have been back to and out the door, and the floor crowded. Getting in early today there was no line to avoid. Some vendors were not represented this month because their store stocks are depleted enough to not want to do table sales.

Ammo prices were high, surprise. I heard one man ask a vendor if he was having any difficulty getting ammo stock. The vendor gave him a "well duh" look and then explained that yes, he definitely was, along with everyone else.

The KelTec KSG (shotgun) was seen for $2100.00. We saw it on their web site when it was still in development with an estimated SRP of $800. Somebody is looking to make a profit.

One vendor had a sign saying that he now accepts Paypal. The only one there as far as I know.

Lots of knives for sale, no beany babies in evidence.

 I was told that AR-15 parts are becoming available again and the prices falling. So I'll wait a bit longer to get mine built.

I talked to some familiar vendors that haven't seen me for a while. I saw a few "interesting" things; and bought a couple of others (thank you,  Sweetheart!). My amber dealer didn't have anything which called to me this time. I found some green turquoise that is quite nice. It's bling, even though it does not sparkle.

I bought a number of DVD's to send in "care packages" to Afghanistan. When the vendor heard where the DVDs were headed he gave me a set of 3/a season  as 1 and told me to pick a couple more for free. Veterans like it when we support the troops.

I bought a T-shirt from Banterwear. It's the "Guns and Coffee" in support of Starbucks' for their support of 2nd amendment. It is raspberry color, finally not pink or black. They were trying the color out new this weekend.It works for me.

From the gun show we went to buy moss killer for the garage roof. While we were at the store we decided to buy a couple of grocery items. Why is it that once you are in the grocery store there are always more things that come to mind that are needed, but which are not on the list?

We had about 3 hours at home before we had to leave for our dinner reservation.

Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse is located at the edge of Factoria Square,in Bellevue.

They have a set of double entry doors. This  is the inner pair.

 To the left of the doors is an alcove which I will assume to give nice ambience when in operation.

In the alcove is a number of large pillar candles. Lit and in the darkness between the doors it would be striking.

We were there in early evening and it was still too light. The candles were unlit.








Novilhos is a meat and potatos lovers kind of place.  They  have a salad bar in the center of the restaurant which has 60 items on it; salads and side dishes. It is the first course.

When you have eaten your salad they clear your plate and give you your dinner plate, and a two sided token which indicates if you are ready for meat. Green side up means you want to see the next selection, red side up indicates that you are fine for the time being. There are 3 side dishes to the entree. They are mashed potatoes, fried polenta with grated parmesan, and fried bananas with cinnamon and sugar. The servers rotate through the restaurant with 17 different meat selections; chicken, beef, pork and lamb. They give you a slice or chunk off their serving skewers if you want that selection.





We asked one server what he could tell us about their selection of Malbec wines. One he knew not very much about as few people ordered it, it was triple the price of most of the others. One he described as very dry. Two others were "meh". That left two choices: one that he said that he really liked and drank "all the time at home". the other he described as getting rave reviews from diners and somewhat more expensive.

We went with his at home selection. It was quite good! Not too much for the chicken but perfectly able to cope with beef or pork.

 I tried 7 or 8 of the meats. I didn't track D.W.'s but he said he had his fill.
D.W. finished with homemade flan, I had the lemon cake. And coffee for both of course.
[Dinner was kind of pricey. I think if we go back it will be for lunch.]

We got home to the cats yelling that it was past THEIR dinner time and where had we been forever.
Time to dress down, relax and digest.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Spring (?)

This is the time of year when we all expect the sun to come out of hiding, for flowers to bloom, and for the weather to warm up.

Ah, expectations. We seem to have jumped a bit too far this time.

Spring began officially at 4:02 AM on March 20th. It came in with SNOW, and 60 mph winds. Well, actually, Everett got the snow, and Camano Island got the highest winds and wind/tree damage. At home I only got hail and rain and winds clocked at 41 mph. And temps in the low 30's which meant scraping ice.

March 21st - Our wedding anniversary - driving home from work in the sleet.
D.W. gave me a beautiful floral bouquet.
I gave D.W. a garden gnome. Before you start shouting or cursing, you should know that it is a Thorsson & Associates combat garden gnome. Reclining position, red hat, blue shirt, green trous, and black rifle.
 The 50 cal machine gun was not available when I ordered; I almost got the flame thrower, but this guy was cute.

 

We are going to go to dinner at Novilhos Brazilian Steakhouse  on Sunday. We couldn't go on our anniversary because the salt mines insisted he be at work way too early the next morning. We will both have next Monday off.

March 22nd - 15 minutes of scraping ice; soon after getting in to work it started snowing. It didn't last too long and it didn't stick, here. North of town there were school delays and closures because of snow accumulation.

If March is planning on going out "like a lamb", it had better temper its temper soon.





                                     

Thursday, January 10, 2013

A bus ride, and a short cruise review

Hello New Year!

I really need to learn how to keep a journal.  I keep forgetting to post.  This year my resolution will be to keep writing.

So, it is 2013. January 10th to be exact.

A milestone day; I rode the bus to work this morning. 
Big deal you say?
Well yes!
It marks the fact that after months of pain and stiffness, I could actually ride the bouncy jouncy bus into town without becoming so stiff that I couldn't walk by the time I reached my destination.

Herniated discs are unpleasant. (Just a tad bit of understatement BTW) Add to that an inflamed nerve bundle and you get real pain that runs from your spine to your toes. Thank goodness for modern medicine and good drugs.

So now I have had 3 procedures done. I get a few errant "tingles" but the PAIN has ceased.
(Hope it stays gone for a good l-o-n-g while.)
Thank you Dr. Ricki at Highline Hospital in Burien, WA!!

We went on vacation with D.W.'s (you know him? GREAT guy!) parents in December.
Fantastic!

We have had few occasions where we could spend an extended time with them. Mostly due to weird work schedules.  We had never been on a cruise, but knew that they had enjoyed several.

This Fall they said that if we'd fly down to meet them that we would all go together. Wow!

I had no vacation time left but told my boss that I couldn't pass up the chance. He agreed, so I got the time off although unpaid.

D.W. took vacation leave; not too difficult as the scheduling called for us to return just prior to the holiday.

We did run into a snag at the beginning of November. His job decided to loan him out to FEMA in NYC post- Sandy. They said "you won't be gone more than 45 days". Problem was that the cruise was in 39 days. OH NO! The folks went into shock when told. We all crossed our fingers and hoped that it would work out. Alternate plans for meeting up were made.

Then on Thanksgiving eve I received a text message saying that he would be home the next morning. HURRAH.  And he even got a decent seat on the plane even though they had overbooked it.

So now we are seasoned sea travelers. It was only 7 days, there were only 2 ports of call. Aruba and Curacao. Not a bad beginning.

Warm weather in the low 80's, so comfortable. We had a balcony. The food was good, our service people were admirable. I over packed. We took the 1st portrait pictures we've gotten since our wedding.  It was FUN.

We snorkeled in Aruba. There might have been a storm shortly before as the water was not as clear as we had expected from our experiences in Hawaii. I picked up a cold.

We did a short bus tour at Curacao. That is quite the colorful place! Seems that a former governor had decided that with everything painted white and reflecting the sun that it was just too dazzling. He told everyone to paint their buildings anything BUT white. Turned out later that he owned a paint factory. Hmmm. 

One of the stops, the major stop, on the tour was the Curacao distillery.  I knew that Curacao was made from oranges; or what was an orange before exotic locale soil changed the fruit composition. Unedible fruit but essential oil that was exquisite. A new industry is born. And the stuff is not blue.
The distilled liquor is clear and then they add whatever color they want to it. But it is not just orange in flavor either. We tasted chocolate, kaffe, and rum raisin as well. Seems that not all flavors are for export. We brought home some of  the kaffe and rum raisin.

The 4 of us participated in a set of music trivia contests in one of the piano bars on the ship; Caribbean Princess by the way. It began as a sort of "we're here, why not" thing. The idea was to name one or more of the song title, the composer, and show title if it was from a TV show or movie. Turns out we were quite good at it. The 1st round was 15 tunes, we got them all. The 2nd round was 16 tunes, we missed 1 so came in 2nd. He just had to throw in a character's theme song from a soap opera.

It was lovely to spend time with Mom and Dad. A very good holiday.

D.W. went back to work on Christmas so that someone else could have time with family.
Carole went back to work a couple days later; in time to participate in all the year end detail stuff for the office.

Now there is an idea in the works about a cruise up the Inland Passage to Alaska this next summer. Fingers crossed again.






Thursday, March 22, 2012

Bearcat



Red Panda, aka Bearcat, aka Firefox

what's in a name?

I got the name from my Grandmother.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Just silly

You will find below six posts featuring pictures of kites. (this is #1)

The bottom most of the 6 is entitled World of Kites Museum and it was to have been my introduction to this whole series.

My computer was having a temper tantrum at me today so they are somewhat disjointed.

I tried to keep captions and pictures in sync; wasn't always quite as successful as I wished.

I hope you enjoy the show, please have patience.




International


















Red: Chinese - 3-headed centipede (disc) kite

Bali - dragon kite

Japan: Edo style painting kite

WWII kites





left: Gibson Girl rescue kite

right: intelligence gathering kite









left: mail delivery kite, dropped to ships who snagged hanging lines

right: defensive barrage kite