The rain has returned. We had a record stretch of sun and warmth. But, this is Seattle so there must be rain.

We've been preparing the house for winter. Unblocking the drains, clearing the gutters. And, taking it easy on this cloudy, rainy day.

On Sunday we hosted a large end-of-summer BBQ. It turned out very well. The weather was perfect-- mid 70s and sunny. Unusually pleasant for October.

I counted 24 adults, 16 kids.

We hung around on the deck until it got too cold, then we hung around by the fire pit.

This blog is 12 years old. Happy birthday.

Every year I make a birthday post, and act amazed at how much I've grown, and how much has change since 2000.

I am now meta about life's path. Perhaps the next step is awareness and acceptance.

We went to the Berliner last night, to celebrate Oktoberfest. It was pleasant, though we drank too much beer.

We met an interesting group of people there. We have tentatively decided to meet them at the same bar, on the first Saturday in November.

Stuff

For months I've been pushing RO to get ride of stuff. We have far too many things that we never use. Its difficult for me to follow my own advice. While cleaning out a room, I ran into a case full of old cassette tapes. Music I used to love.

I haven't listened to them in over a decade. I don't even have a working cassette player. Yet, they are so hard to get rid of.

Another plumbing story. This one ended well.

The garbage disposal was jammed. I know how to fix that. In the drawer beside the kitchen sink is a special crank just for fixing garbage disposer jams. I got the crank out and pulled out the stuff in the cabinet under the sink.

It was wet, everywhere. I unjammed the disposer and then went hunting for the leak.

The leak was a slow drip from the faucet valve. It took a long time to find the drip. The drip started from the cold water hose, then transferred over to the spray hose where the two hoses touched. It was a slow investigation. The hoses wer behind the sink and plumbing, where it is dark and cramped.

After hours of looking, I realzied I could spot the leak by wrapping paper towels around the hoses at various intervals to see which towels got wet.

It took me a while longer to figure out how to remove the faucet valve.  The bolt I needed to turn was in a very cramped location. I had to hold the wrench with the tips of my fingers.

After I got the faucet out, the seal around spray hose developed a second leak. I didn't know that though. We went to Home Depot, bought a replacement seal that turned out to be the wrong seal, went back to Home Depot, bought the right seal. Replaced the seal. Reinstalled the faucet valve.

Of course it still leaked.

Removed the faucet valve again. Did more investigating and saw that there was still a cold water leak.

Went back to Home Depot and bought a nice new faucet with universal plumbing connectors.

Started to install the new faucet, but found that the universal plumbing connectors didn't work for my plumbing.

Back to Home Depot to buy a converter.

While installing the converter I noticed that the old water hose attached to a converter, which attached to my plumbing. If I removed the old water hose and the old converter, then the new faucet would attach to my plumbing just fine.

I feel good about this faucet. It works well. Much better than the old faucet. Since I removed a set of water hoses and converters during the instalation, there is less that can go wrong in the future.

Last night I volunteered for Washington United For Marriage.

Same sex marriage is on the ballot this November. Clem joins their phone banks once a week. He asked me to join them for one night.

The evening started with about 30 minutes of training. While they did have a scripts for us, it takes some practice to know the material.

Ninety percent of the time I got voice mail, "Sorry I'm Busy." or "I don't talk politics on the phone."

Of the people who did want to talk, I'd say that 90% were receptive to our pitch. They support same sex marriage and plan on voting for it.

I didn't run into moderates. The remaining 10% were opposed, even hostile, to gay marriage.

One callee vented at me her disgust with same-sex marriage. She also was irritated with the use of the word 'gay' It used to be such a happy word. She had a friend whose first name was "Gay" She hated the ribbing that friend had to endure.

I apologized for taking her time and then hung up.

Finally, after months of cleaning, scrubbing, painting and decorating, our deck is ready for summer guests, parties and BBQs. Oh wait... it's mid September.

We had a big BBQ on Sunday. RO's family was over to celebrate his son's 19th birthday. It was a fun BBQ, though we probably bought twice as much  food as we needed.

C2 is in town for the long weekend. He still works in Afghanistan and is taking an R&R in D.C. Chicago, Seattle, Phoenix & San Diego.

Saturday, we hiked up to the top of Rattle Snake Ledge. Not many of my friends would be up for that hike. I missed doing this with him.

unexpected beauty

Tonight, at sunset, I saw a hawk flying. The hawk was high enough that the sun reflected off its bottom. It was beautiful.

Can you tell I've been drink in?

Housing updates...

We painted the deck last weekend.  It took two full days.

The upstairs shower is leaking into the downstairs bathroom. Shit.

Today is one of those perfect days that makes the nine months of rain worth it.

Today on my motorcycle, for the first time, I took a corner with such a lean that I scraped my side bords. Don't worry, this is fine thing. It means that I'm getting so comfortable with my bike that I'm capable of pushing it to it's limits.

Dog texting.

There is a man near me who slowly walks his dog two or three times a day. He plays with his smart phone the whole way.

My parents are gone. It was good to see them. We did lots of touristy things...

Watched paragliders
Went to the Seattle Art Museum
Watched fireworks from the top of a mountain. They weren't big and loud, but we could see every firework show accross the Puget Sound
Went to a vintage car show
Farmers Market.
Went to see the King Tut exhibit and then eat at El Gaucho.

My parents are in town for a few days. It is good to see them.

They are getting older. Mom has heart palpitations if she drinks too much coffee or doesn't sleep right. Dad's legs hurt him if he walks to long. He gets winded easily and wheezes often. I guess this is life. Is this also a hint of what could happen to me?

We went camping over the weekend. Of course it rained hard on Saturday. Thankfully the tent stayed dry.

Saturday was Stein's 40th birthday. We met up at the Third Door to celebrate. That night, blues rocker Alice Stuart was the headliner. When Alice heard that it was Stein's 40th birthday, Alice invited us back to her private rooms. We got to hang out with her band and entrourage! It was wonderful evening.

We fell a tree in our backyard today. Of course it fell at a 45 degree angle from where we wanted it to fall, so it fell on the neighbors yard where it got snagged on another tree.

We are back from our road trip. The drive was very uneventful.

This was a wondeful trip.