It's Gone!!

The mobile is gone, all three pieces and the garage has also been removed. My apoligies for not posting earlier but we have been involved with a couple weddings, one in our neighbor's yard.

The ribbon foundations will be broken up and used for fill under the soon to be build patio. We are planning on bringing in a lot of fill to cover the rest of the mess and scape a large yard.

Tony

From One to Three

I haven't done a house update since the completion of the new structure and things have changed a lot in our front yard. After much frustration and many phone calls with the title company and lender we were able to get the correct paperwork filled releasing the mobile and "disconnecting" it from the property, figuratively. Above is the view from the roof of the new house looking northeast at the garden and what was once our side yard, you can see portions of the mobile home foundation on the left. Below is a shot looking east at the three sections, the old garage and our new well house (brown shed).

Next is a view looking southeast at our neighbors placed with the brown/red roof and their metal roofed garage. Things are a little tight around here right now. Now as you can see it is literally disconnected from the ground and ready for the move. It should be rolling away this Saturday. The separation process was complicated by the fact that the three sections were installed facing north and had to be spun around 180 degrees to facilitate the move via our neighbors driveway. Then, of course the Bobcat's hydraulics went out and a section was left overnight blocking the driveway. But now all is well and the the move permit will be filled and then the landscaping nightmare will begin. Anyone have a few hundred yards of free fill dirt?

Tony

Summer All-Comers Meets

Every summer we help host and compete in weekly tTrack and Field meets on wednesday nights at Shoreline Stadium in north Seatttle. Here are a couple images of the boys throwing the kids turbo jav.

...and running. Gabe does the short races, like the 50 and 100 meters, and Jon favors the mile.

Check out the meet schedule at http://clubnorthwest.org/

Tony

Skykomish River Steelhead Fishing

Jonathan turned 10 this last February and in our family the double digit year is when you get your first knife and a special trip with Dad. Jonathan loves to fish, so seeing an oportunity we purchased a guided Steelhead fishin' trip at an auction. It helped that, Doug, the guide was a good friend from our church who has a trout pond on his property that Jon has fished in many times. We started the day by dropping my car in Sultan and heading to High Bridge in Goldbar to drop the boat for the float trip. After a short instructional period on the gear and how to reel in the big one, Jon was ready. It was a beautiful day of drifting and fishing. The river was running a little high which made for an exciting time. After a few unproductive holes Jon hooked one and fought it to the boat. It appeared the instuctional portion of the day stuck as jon fought the beast with great rod technique. It ran a few times on him and as he reached the limit of his strength, Jon swung the fish close enough for me to bring it in with the net. It was a beautiful Dolly Varden. Which was a suprise to us. The Sky is not known for its Dolly population. As you can see Jon was a little happy he caught the first fish. We released the Dolly and Jon gloated about the catch, it was great!

After the first was landed we drifted for awhile before Jon landed a smolt steelhead. It was smaller that the dolly and we released it quickly to allow it to grow. Doug and I were sensing a skunking. We had been on the river for several hours eating snacks, drinking pops and watching Jon catch fish. The final fish was a large sucker Jon pulled from the bottom in a slow moving hole lower on the river. As it turned out is was a slow day for others on the river and the three Jon caught were the only fish we heard about. A true skunking for the old guys. The river began to get crowded down below and we were a bit pinched for time so we just moved on down to the pullout in Sultan. All in all a great day with wonderfull weather. Thanks Doug.

Tony

The Table is Done!

One and a half years ago it was a big leaf maple tree threatening to fall on our neighbors pump house, one year ago it was a stack of milled wood in Sultan, six months ago it was a bunch of sanded planks and boards in a Monroe wood shop, two days ago is was an unfinished table in my garage and now thanks to a close friend and a lot of patient craftsmanship it is a 107" x 45" solid maple dining room table that will forever symbolize 2010 for our family. This table stands for the successful completion of my probation with Sno. Co. Fire District 1, the sale of our old house and the building of our dream home. This year, like the table, has been a lot of work that often times seemed endless. Now that they are complete they will both provide memories and lessons. For instance: I don't ever want to deal with mortgage and title companies when it comes to a mobile home and secondly I don't ever want to build another table again.

Tony

Longview

Recently Cheryl and I traveled to Bellingham with the boys to say our final goodbyes to, and remember the life of, her Grandmother Lucile Longview, seen here in the center.

I first met her days before this photo was taken. The woman I met was amazing. Her knowledge of the world, history, and politics was intimidating. Here life was filled with passion and action and I learned a lot from her example. She held strong opinions and beliefs and backed them up with her life. This is evident in her three children and two granddaughters. Her legacy is one of love for all others and love for nature and I am told she took the name "Longview" as a testament to her view on life. She passed peacefully with here family around. I am honored to be an adopted part of her family. She will be missed and I am glad that my boys were able to know their "GGLu".

Joy, Joy, Joy!!

Tony

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