Cool Quotes...

"Hope floats like lava beneath the crust of daily life." Philip Yancey Okay so think about lava, well let's think of it as magma because magma is underground and lava is above ground. (There is all that Science teacher poking thru again; igneous, metamorphic, whatever, I forgot it after I memorized it for 11th grade geology.).) No-matter, for serious. God still loves us, cuz, well, God made it all. So where is your hope? Does it burn and heat your life? Is it self sustaining in its heat when your "drive" cools? does it flow or just pool and cool off to hardened rock? Just questions I ask myself after hearing the quote this morning.......Now onto geology.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsJn8izcKtg is a great video of pillow basalt. (Oops sorry, basalt is the rock formed by the cooling, rather quick cooling, of magma.) The faster it cools the smaller the crystals, the slower it cools the larger the crystals = granite. (go look at a granite slab supplier to see the size of the crystals.) Or just look at a kitchen with granite counter tops. So back to magma and lava.....did ya know lava cools and forms two different type as of surface rock? So those of you who did, well that's cool but for those of you who did not here are the two types. Aa adn Pahoehoe, for serious. I think Aa lave agot its name from the sound, or screams people made from walking across it...... and pahoehoe means rope in Hawaiian......like a coiled rope. Wikipedia has some great info..... Keep hope alive, or at least on a simmer below the surface, Tony

Custom Lisence Plate of the Century

Okay I have officially seen the coolest most creative plate ever, for me at least. It was a washington State Plate: PANDNH4 Here is your clue: crazy chemistry. (It took me a bit of the drive to figure it out but I have a science background.) Tony

We are in...

So the earth around us moved last night, find info from last night's Mag 2 shaker here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/47.49.-123.-121.php

There is actually a link where you can submit your experience of the quake, it's pretty cool. Now on to house updates...

We finally made the big move last week and are into the house, thanks to a couple great mover helpers. It is wonderful to be moved but awuful to be reminded of how much stuff we have. We are deep into the purging process. If you come visit you will be forced to leave with something from the discard pile in Emma's room.

The two houses are but a few feet, around 60, apart. I constructed a "ramp" of sorts to bridge the gap so as to make the move smoother and track less dirt into the new house. The inspector siging off on our final pointed at it and asked, "Temporary?" To which the builder sheepishly responed, "Yes." It worked great for the move. The dollies rolled across without a problem and there were less steps to haul couches and big stuff up and down. The newly finished floor was protected with several large cardboard boxes broken down flat. The fireplace is doing a marvelous job heating the house, althought we have not figured out the wood storage arrangement yet. The two side cabinets are Ikea. Now to tackle the A/V wiring.

The kitchen flows great and we tested it out yesterday with an impromptu Easter dinner gathering of 16 folks. A bit stressful but all went well and there was even leftover ham.

Here is and entrance view of the powder room downstairs just off the kitchen and passed the now full shelved and stocked pantry.

Jonathan and the twins resting with Sodhi on Easter afternoon.

The boys upstairs "War" room is now fully opperational.

Master bedroom a-la, http://latedalove.blogspot.com/ , thanks Tisha. Now I'm not allowed to touch anything. "AND DON'T USE THOSE PILLOWS, THOSE ARE THROW PILLOWS, YOU DON"T ACUTUALLY USE THEM, THEY'RE FOR DECORATION." (You mean you don't throw them?) I think I have to levitate at all times in my own bedroom.

All for now, Tony

Video update on the house

Here is an 8 minute walking tour of the main entrance and interior. Enjoy... Tony

2010 Vancouver Olympic Curling

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Cheryl and I went up to Vancouver last weekend with her mom, sister and the brother-in-law. Sarah, Cheryl's sis, has a friend who sold us tickets to Curling. Okay, curling, I know, I know ("Canadian Bowling")...but it was really fun and it's the Olympics. We headed up early and left our two boys and Sarah and Mike's twin girls with Daco, aka. Grandpa. He had help from the entire neighborhood stopping in all day to make sure the kids were okay. We made our way across an undelayed border, parked on a cozy side street of south Van., jumped on the underground train to downtown and began to roam the city and people watch. It was great. The Canadian fans were everywhere and very vocal. The city's heart was shut down to traffic and jammed full of people from all over the world. Vancouver is normally a very metropolitan city, but wow, I have never heard so many different languages in one place! The Olympics and the beautiful weather made for an amazing downtown spectacle.These Canadian mitts were the hit of the day. Tons of folks were sporting the red covers and Cheryl just could not pass up these hands, and these two ladies.

We enjoyed the city for a while then headed back via underground train to the curling center. It was a short ride to the station followed by a neighborhood walk to the venue. It was located in the middle of a quite area of houses and surrounded by banners, flags, fences and people.

The lines to get in were long but moving. The security screening was similar to any average airport, and when I reached the metal detectors I chose to surrender my pocket knife instead of hiding it in some one's landscaping and waiting in line again. As we prepped out tickets we noticed for the first time our seat were in Row 1. We would be sitting right up front.Indeed when we found the seats we were seated less then 15 feet from the ice smack dab in front of the US team; who were competing against Great Britain.Cheryl didn't need to zoom in much for the day's photos. We also had the privilege of being next to the US Team skipper's family, and also a very friendly gentleman who helped us through a lot of the more technical points of the sport. Our team did well but in the end was defeated by the Brits by one point.

The Canadian team defeated the Swiss soundly and the place erupted periodically when the Canadians made a good move, even more when the final rock was thrown.

The team from Norway....well the pants say it all. (Click the link for their Facebook.)

It was a great day learning about a new sport and taking in the Olympic games.

...and when we finally noticed who the AP photographer was shooting just a few seats down, we just had to get a picture of him too. He's got a few years on him but he is still the same guy with Olympic medals in the 100, 200, Long Jump, and 4x100.

Tony

House Updates

The granite counter tops in the kitchen were installed today. In the photo you can see the birch top on the island.

The fireplace slate-work is also done. The grout and fill is a dark charcoal that really brings out a depth in the stone.

The entry way slate tiles, same as the fireplace, were also completed today.

The downstairs bathroom, often referred to as the powder room, also received a granite counter top. It was a "bone yard" piece and has a whole lot of personality.I am tweaking the landscaping as much as possible to help with parking and driveway issues. The backyard seems to be coming together well. All of the plants I ripped out of the ground are either budding (trees and shrubs) or poking out of the ground (tubers, bulbs and corms). It is crazy. Yesterday and today we ran in short sleeves. Did winter ever happen or can we expect a harsh last minute blast? I guess it kinda makes up for last years record snowfall.

That is about it for now.

God bless and Go Saints!! and Payton, and the commercials, and my pico de gayo.

Tony

Fatality Fire in Edmonds

...I was on the nozzel with my Capitan in the lead. I was assigned to the right hand wall for the search and I found her.

Tony

If you don't have smoke detectors, get some. If you do have them, check the batteries.