Diggin' A Hole Boss...

The rain has finally subsided enough for me to resume work on Rach's pond. It is officially the wettest November in Seattle's recorded history now and we're only half way through the month! We've received all the materials we need for the pond, now I just have to put everything in place. My muscles are sore from a long day of digging yesterday but I am happy with how the project is coming along. Here is a drawing of the initial plan, though my projects always tend to be pretty fluid, partially because I'm recycling materials (rocks, lumber) that we have laying around and partially because it is more fun that way. A quick interpretation: A 2' waterfall flowing into a 100 gal. pond then into a 5 gal. spillway to set up for the big 3' waterfall to the next terrace, a small stream at the bottom of that waterfall flows into the HUGE pond(redesign, it was initially only 85 gal.) I'd estimate the bottom pond is probably nearing 500-600gals. I love projects of this size because it can all be done by hand, no machinery needed, and because it feels like I am sculpting the land with my shovel and a sledge hammer. The other fun part is that it feels like a puzzle, there are always those unknown variables that come up when you are too far in to back up and you have to figure out how to make it work for you. I love that. Trying to figure out drainage and how the pond will react to heavy rains or drout is particularly challenging for me. I tried to convince my dad on the phone yesterday that maybe I picked up some of his engineering expertise through osmosis.

So, I'm going to save most of the pics for a before-and-after type post once I'm finished but here's a picture of my hole in the ground as it looks right now.

The Pineapple Express

The sun is finally out today and I have put a hold on the construction of my own personal Ark in the backyard. This weekend's rain was the wettest storm in many years for Seattle. It poured rain for three days straight as many of you may have seen on TV as the Seahawks flew past the Raiders for a victory in Monday Night Football. Here's a map of some of the rainfall totals for the area that I captured before the storm was even over...
Who knew fooding and devastation could paint suc a pretty picture? As you can see, some of the mountain areas were topping out the scale at over 15" of rain!! Here in Seattle I think we ended up with almost four inches over about 48 hours. All of this moisture was shipped directly from Hawaii on the Pineapple Express, so the temperatures were around a nice, balmy 62 degrees too. All of the rivers are flooding and another big storm is forecast to begin tomorrow and continue through much of this weekend. Brett had to stay the night at our house because her house flooded, there were Coke cans floating in her living room. We are known for our rainy climate in Seattle, but rarely does it flood up here. Between this and last year's near-record 31 straight days of rain, it's hard to argue that our planet's climate isn't changing.

A Pirate's Life For Me.....

Disneyland is possibly even more fun as an adult than it was the last time I visited when I was a young boy. Many of the rides have been updated, some for the better as in the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow robots in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and some for the not so better, like the Nightmare Before Christmas presents riding in your car with you instead of the hitchhiking ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. Mostly though, Disneyland hasn't changed since I was there last and it is, I feel, continually getting closer to the magical world Walt Disney envisioned. They're even using the same funky smelling water in the rides that was there when I was a kid!

Rachel and I attacked Disneyland with gusto, fueled by over-priced bottled water and humongous M&M encrusted Rice Krispy treats. On Saturday we pulled a 16 hour shift at the park that had us limping back to our hotel with delirious Disneyland grins on our faces at almost one o' clock in the morning. We did it all, well, except for the Matterhorn, it's sinking into the ground, oh, and Small World was closed for Christmas decorating but other than that, we did it all!!! Rachel insisted that no matter what, we had to ride the Indiana Jones ride, multiple times. This ride was not there last time I visited and WOW, IT IS AWESOME!!! You ride in a funky military Jeep-hummer thing that rides very similar to my Jeep, so it instantly got huge bonus points from me, there's fire and lava and bugs and the Jeep JUMPS onto a rope bridge, then at the end you're nearly crushed to death by a large boulder!! So, so, so, so cool!!

I spent a good deal of time in the "50 years of Disneyland" museum where some of Walt Disney's conceptual drawings for the park and a scale model of Disneyland as it looked on Opening Day are on display. As a kid, I'm sure this building did not even register in my brain, but it was really exciting to me to see a little bit of Walt Disney's creative powers in a raw form.
Thank you Mr. Disney, it is truly a magical place ;)

Extravagant Halloween decorations were everywhere!

Me, facing my fear of Merry-go-Rounds, they're too fast......
or
This is my horse, there are many like it, but this one is MINE.

Splash Mountain! Zippa-dee-doo-dah!!!

Interesting fact, the Matterhorn is the tallest man-made
mountain in all of Disneyland.......

I suffered a massive protein overdose after eating this
humongous chunk of animal but it was SOOO worth it....

Awww.....cute kids....Rach became so excited a few times
that she went into uncontrollable fits of bouncing and squeaking...

Rocky's Fortress of Solitude

Otherwise known as "Plan D," I believe I have finally figured a way to keep Rocky from destroying everything we own and making himself sick. He can't stay inside by himself because he eats or destroys as many things as he can before we get home. He can't stay outside by himself because he eats destroys as many things as he can before we get home. He is a model of good behavior while we are with him , but left to his own devices he is an absolute terror!! A brief sample of what he has eaten recently:

-nearly every plant I've planted in the backyard
-tape
-toilet paper
-garden hose
-pool filter
-a pool
-pond liner
-countless pounds of spoiled plums and apples from our fruit trees
-spatulas
-books
-welcome mat
-a rat
-a dead bird
-dog bowls
-BBQ tarp
-BBQ utensils
-pieces of the stairs going up to the deck
-Solar powered garden lights
-The DirecTV cable going to our bedroom
-lawn sprinkler

The list goes on. He's also figured out how to open doors and gates and has escaped from the backyard a few times. He is recovering from a sickness that he got from eating or drinking something in the backyard. To keep him safe from himself, we started leaving him in the downstairs bathroom, he knows how to operate a sliding door and easily escaped a few nights ago and went on a rampage in the house. When considering my options for puppy-containment solutions, the movie Hannibal came to mind. We could put him into a large glass box and cart him around on a dolly when taking him for a walk. Due to high cost, I dropped that plan and went down to the Home Depot for supplies. Thirty bucks later and Rocky now has his own escape-proof padded room, well except for the padding, he would eat it. He can't even have a dog bed in there because he ate his last one. I think I've finally outsmarted my wily, clever foe.........
So, I'm off to Chinese class right now and the Rocky Containment facility is getting it's trial run. Tomorrow I'm off to DISNEYLAND!!!!!

The Wanderlust Rules My Life

In keeping with our summer tradition of somehow spending as little time as possible in Seattle, Rach and I are halfway through a busy couple months of travel and fun. We spent another weekend in the San Juan Islands with Rachel's parents at a wonderful vacation home they had rented.

Panorama of the San Juans from the Anacortes Ferry

Then the following weekend we made a quick trip to Montana to visit our friend Mike who became fed up with the city and has been living in Montana since the spring. It was really great to see him, he's really in his element up there and him and Brett were both very excited to show me what Montana's all about.

Sittin at the Top of Thompson Falls

Now, with the Fall Quarter in full swing and school keeping me happily employed, Rachel is preparing for a trip to India (the videos I posted this week are themed for her trip). The day she gets back stateside we will be meeting up in Omaha for my cousin Erica's wedding. I'll be in Omaha for a very short time, as usual, but really hope to make the most of it. I arrive on Friday the 20th and leave at 5:00 AM on Sunday, can't wait to see all you Omaha types!!!

As if that's not enough, Rachel then leaves to go to Anaheim where I will meet her for the weekend so we can do Disneyland! I'm hoping they'll have something really cool for Halloween. Then I come back to Seattle and Rach continues out to Jacksonville, WOW!! Travelin' fools I tell ya!

The downside, Rachel will not be having her annual Halloween Party that she's been putting on for longer than I've even known her. I do hope to deck out the front porch as Davy Jones' Haunted Locker for the Trick-or-Treaters if I get some time though.....

A last note, I fixed the Pirates vs. Ninjas video from a couple posts ago, what a rookie mistake to promise you guys a great video and then fail to put the internet address into the HTML. Give it a look, it's worth the eight minutes!!!

The Chinese Dr. Evil

Fall quarter has begun at South Seattle Community College and after adding two classes to my schedule and dropping one I feel as though I am finally in the right place. My schedule includes Intro to engineering graphics, Intro to CAD, Manufacturing processes and Mandarin Chinese. My engineering instructor is an excitable, demanding little vietnamese guy that can't really speak english all that well. Whenever he talks about my generation he points at me and says "You young folk," except his accent makes it sound like he's calling me a young f**k. He's VERY demanding, I watched him hound one of his advanced students, he said, "very good work but you take too long, YOU MUST WORK FASTER!! Quickly, quickly, quickly!!!" Luckily he is extremely knowledgeable of his craft and has been teaching it for a very long time so I think I will learn a lot from him. He's also a Buddhist monk and part of my grade this quarter will be on pride and honor! My Chinese teacher is very funny and very good, when he learned English he learned to overpronounce words and to use his lips a lot(Chinese sounds do not require as much movement of the lips as English sounds), so when he speaks he sounds and looks a lot like Dr. Evil, sometimes I can't hold back my laughter when he speaks.

Pirates vs. Ninjas

I wanted to post this great short movie a few days ago on Talk Like a Pirate day but blogger's image uploader is being temperamental.......

No offense to the Home Improvement Ninja.......... :)