Good kitty

Maya and "Millie"

A couple months ago, Amanda came home from Hanks Grocery Store with a neglected and rather ugly kitten that she picked from a box. Honestly, "Millie" is so ugly she is almost cute. The girls were delighted, the husband considerably less so.

But what "Millie" lacks in looks, she makes up for in personality, and soon won the household over with her docile ways, befriending the dog and letting the girls tote her around and dress her up.

That picture of Maya sure reminds us of another cat, long ago...

Amanda and "Cowboy"

circa 1980

Some of you might remember our fine old Tabby "Cowboy," the star of many a dinner party.  Amanda would dress him in doll clothes then push him around the table in a toy stroller. He loved attention and lived to a ripe old age.

A rare visitor

I feed the birds sunflower seed during the winter, and we have so many different species in the yard right now: Black-capped Chickadees, White-crowned Sparrows, Towhees, Juncos, Northern Flicker, assorted finches and the Scrub Jay, a new migrant. Up until recently, their range was south of Portland. Scrubs (although pretty birds) are aggressive and supposedly pushing out our handsome resident Stellars Jay. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a Stellars since last summer. 

My two bunnies survived the winter are still hopping around the front yard. We have dozens of fat squirrels up to assorted mischief, and an unknown someone dug a tunnel and made his home under the shed.  I suspect a possum, but he keeps to himself.  Raccoons I'm sure still make their nightly rounds while we're asleep, along with busy moles, rodents and other assorted riff-raff.  I love it. Quite a wild menagerie for a small city yard, not to mention, a carnivore's smorgasbord. 

I was in the kitchen cooking yesterday and noticed the feeder suddenly swing around wildly.  It's supposedly squirrel proof, but that doesn't keep them from trying. But it was not squirrel, it was a Red-tailed Hawk strike. He missed, and sat sulking in the plum tree for a minute before flying away. That sure cleared out the airspace.  We see large hawks occasionally along the freeways in Western Washington, but it is an extremely rare sighting in suburban neighborhoods.

This is the parade of storms headed our way.  These are relatively warm and juicy storms-- windy and wet in the lowlands, snow only in the mountains. It's been a mild winter so far.  I know it's weird to say there's a whiff of spring in the air, but there's already a whiff of spring in the air. The bulbs are starting to poke through the mulch.

Have a good weekend.
 

Onward, my friends! Courage! Comedy!

I thoroughly enjoyed Garrison Keillor's latest blog post:
CLICK HERE.

Back to reality

So long, iconic view

About 90,000 cars a day use the Alaska Way Viaduct. It was built in 1949 to carry Highway 99 traffic into Seattle, and was considered a marvel of efficiency at the time.  The only other route to and through downtown is the I-5 freeway to the east, a parking lot for most of the day.

Our traffic is rated as some of the worst on earth, coming in at 20 for traffic congestion on a list of the 25 largest cities on Earth, beating out much bigger cities like Rio de Janeiro.  Go, Seattle!

You remember our infamous tunnel project, initially projected to open in December 2015. A two-year delay halted the drill Bertha from completing the work until April 2017. The projected opening date was moved to early 2019. And here we are.

The problem is the Viaduct will be permanently closed on January 11, and the new tunnel won't open for another 3 weeks. This is the largest road closure in the history of the state, and no one knows quite how bad it will get.  We have a pretty good idea though, because we know what happens the Viaduct closes just on weekends.

Anyway, the tolled tunnel will soon whisk people right through Seattle like an express lane, but there won't be any exits. All those cars going downtown from West Seattle will be forced on to the surface streets. Like poor us, trying to get to the Symphony on Sunday afternoons.

OK, I made a resolution about complaining, but that 4:30 alarm was pretty rude. John has been off since December 23rd and went back to work this morning. It isn't that we slept late or anything, but it was nice lazing around drinking coffee and eating cooked breakfasts most days.

The tree is down and Christmas all put away. Back to January reality. 

2019

I was thinking about my New Years resolutions yesterday, as always. I should just look back on the blog, and recycle the old ones. Ha!

But here we go again:

1.  I will complain less.
2.  I will do more of the things I enjoy, and fewer things I don't.
3.  I will say yes more than I say no.
4.  I will read less news.
5.  I will try not to worry about things I have no control over.
6.  And the usual health and fitness stuff, blah blah blah. 

Dear blog readers, our heartfelt wishes for a happy and healthy 2019.  This is a poem I put on the blog almost 10 years ago:

May peace fill all the empty spaces
Around you and in you.
May contentment answer all your wishes.
May comfort be yours, warm and soft like a sigh.
And may the coming year
Show you that every day is really a first day, a new year.
Let abundance be your constant companion,
So that you have much to share.
May mirth be near you always
Like a lamp shining brightly
On the many paths you travel.
May you have true love.

Ready or not

 "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. 

A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”

Bill Vaughn