26-29SEP08 - Monroe, WA

Upon Dan’s return from his business trips we directed our attention to clearing & cleaning our property in Sultan. We had had some trees removed and we needed to clean up all the debris left over. In addition we finished closing-in the small barn so that we could store tractor out of the weather when we finally head south once the NW rains start. At the same time we were able to sell our Ford Ranger and now have only one excess vehicle left to get rid of.

Our intentions were to completely clean the property so that we had a clean slate for building some sort of RV garage/apartment next spring. Unfortunately Dan Sr’s health had been deteriorating over the last few months; so we have decided to stop work and quickly head back to Texas.

13-25SEP08 - Everett, WA (and dry lake & red stick)

The Saturday after the Pig Roast was a small Memorial Gathering for Uncle Bob Harris who had succumbed to cancer. Many of the maternal relatives we had seen at the roast were again together for this bitter, sweet, occasion. Although it was good to see Aunt Madeline and cousins Stephanie & husband Ron, Sheila & husband Mike, and Robbie; we wish the circumstances could have been different. The last we had seen Uncle Bob was almost exactly one year ago on a previous RV trip to Washington, see our BLOG for 07-11SEP07.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2007/09/070912-kittitas-wa-aloha.html

Uncle Bob was one of the Greatest Generation having served in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. After the war he was a life long avid skier. In fact, he and his wife Madeline, were Ski Patrollers at one of Dan’s favorite ski areas, Stevens Pass, for decades. Fortunately, they were never on duty when Dan had his run-ins with the Ski Patrol.

Although the reason for the get together was sad, it was a beautiful day with fond remembrances of his life along with continually video photos from his entire life playing on the TV. At the end there were several champagne toasts to the many good things he accomplished.

First thing Sunday morning Dan departed for Playas (aka Dry Lake), NM, on business. Playas was a true company town built from scratch by Phelps Dodge in the 70s. Turns out Phelps Dodge built a brand new copper smelting plant in the middle of the NM desert, and the town of Playas was created to house the workers. The town had everything needed – medical clinic, school, two churches, fire house, bar, bowling alley, community center, houses, etc. To Dan it was very similar to most military bases he has seen.

When the price of copper plummeted in the 90s, Phelps Dodge closed the smelter, kicked everyone out and walked away. Eventually the state acquired the property and created a branch of New Mexico Tech University called Energetic Materials Research & Testing Center. Dan can’t tell you all that they do here, but he can tell you they blow up things. We’re talking C4 plastic explosive, and his favorite hundreds of pounds of ammonium nitrate!

http://www.emrtc.nmt.edu/

Unfortunately there are no accommodations in Playas. So Dan had to stay in Deming, NM, 70 miles away! Some of you may recognize that we had been in Deming previously; for others see our BLOG for 25/26OCT07. While in Deming Dan discovered a very unique restaurant called the Adobe Deli. The Deli is ten miles out of town and is in a cinder block school building that is probably 40 years old. The school was small with maybe four class rooms and small gym/multi purpose room the size of a half court basketball court. The bar and restaurant occupy the gym, and they serve the biggest and best steaks, along with fresh Maine lobster. The prices are not cheap but the food and atmosphere are worth it.

http://www.adobedeli.com/

Dan returned for one day Sunday, 21SEP08, and then departed for another business trip to Baton Rouge (aka Red Stick), LA, that Monday. The good thing about this trip was that Dan was able to take time to visit our daughter Rebecca and husband Raymond Pitre in Houma, LA. Although Baton Rouge is well inland from the Gulf of Mexico, the effects of hurricane Gustav were very evident. Although Gustav was only a category two by the time it passed over Baton Rouge, the direction of the winds and the sustained velocity made it one of the most powerful the city ever experienced. There was no flooding but a tremendous amount of roof damage and thousands of oaks toppled over. Just reaffirms our decision to sell our house and get away from the Gulf of Mexico. Dan returned Thursday and hopefully that is it for business trips for the year.

31AUG-12SEP08 - Monroe, WA

We arrived back at the Monroe Fairgrounds on the last day of August just in time for last two days of the Evergreen State Fair. This meant that all the RV facilities at the fairgrounds were full, but luckily Corrie had made a reservation. The bad thing was that the “powers that be” had a ridiculous policy that no one (including RV’ers) could leave the fairgrounds in their vehicles without paying to park upon return! That meant should we decide to go shopping or to a restaurant, we had to pony-up $7 for each re-entry! Finding this to be unacceptable Corrie went off to do battle with the powers that be. We can’t tell you how, but once again she was able to solve the issue, even if it meant the rules were bent (if not broken).

We chose to return to the fairgrounds, rather than the Peters, so we could be closer to our property in Sultan. We needed to be closer because we needed to be their almost daily. First we needed to make the barn weather tight so we could store our recently purchased Ferguson tractor in it; and also to check on the progress of the removal of some trees. Dan noted that early in the morning our property was home to five or six deer; and there were small tracks and scat indicating a small bear was around somewhere.

On Friday we stopped by the Peters to help set up for “The Pig Roast” to be held on Saturday 06SEP. The Pig Roast was started by cousin Steve Kiesel sometime in the 80s, and was held almost annually usually right before or after Labor Day weekend. When Steve & Bonnie left the Seattle area to live on the east side of the Cascade Mountains in Kittitas, cousin Paul took on the tremendous amount of work (not to mention cost) necessary to continue the tradition.

We assisted in setting up tables, awnings and tents, and a general clean-up of the yard. But the main item Paul needed assistance with was preparing the 150 pound pig to go on the spit, so it could be slow smoked/BBQ’d in the homemade smoker. Since this is a family show, we won’t go into the anatomical details of driving a six foot spit through the pig; then driving steel rods through its spine; and then wrapping the whole thing in chicken wire.

The next day at the roast was a gathering of Dan’s cousins & nieces & nephews from his mother’s side of the family; neighborhood friends of the Peters; and Shannon & Paul’s coworkers. Not to mention all the second & third cousins. Since we hadn’t been to a Pig Roast in about 15 years, there was a lot of catching up to do. Sadly, all the Harris cousins (Dan’s mom other sister) were not there, since uncle Bob Harris had recently passed away. Dan’s middle brother, Shawn, showed up briefly on his way to work. Maybe next time, youngest brother Gary will make it.

Later in the week we headed into Seattle for another field trip. Our first stop was a part of Seattle called Capitol Hill. This was the location of Dan’s paternal grand parent’s (Fred & Jean Ryan) house. The Ryan grandkids and many other cousins spent a many a sleep over here, roaming the local area (especially Volunteer Park) during the day. We also roamed the main commercial street of Capitol Hill, Broadway, where we discovered the Seattle Museum of Mysteries. This is a very small museum the size of two living rooms and contains mostly books on Paranormal Science, and for strange reason an Oxygen Bar. In general it devotes itself to “mysteries” centered on the Pacific NW; for example Big Foot, or DB Cooper the skyjacker.

http://www.seattlechatclub.org/museum.html

From Capitol Hill we headed over to a Seattle neighborhood called Ballard. As you cross over the Ballard Bridge into Ballard there is a small brick building with a sign that advertises Mike’s Chili Parlor & Tavern. In all the times Dan has passed this sign, he never stopped into sample the chili; a situation he planned on correcting this time. As we crossed the bridge we could not see the building or the sign. Even so Dan exited the main road and circled the block. Turns out the Tavern is still there but is surrounded by a large building being constructed so as to block the view from the bridge. Apparently the owner of the Tavern was asked to sell his property but declined. The chili had a layer of grease on top, the onions were strong & watery; and the cheese was cheese “food” not real cheese; all-in-all a perfect Tavern chili. They even had a spot at the end of the bar labeled “The Office” just in case you needed to tell someone – you were still at the office.

http://mikeschiliparlor.com/

From Mike’s we headed to the Archie McPhee Catalog Store. This store is one of the biggest collections of gag & novelty items we have ever seen! Not only does it have the standard items like whoopee cushions, itching powder, plastic vomit, etc, but other things like Nihilist breath mints (ie they have no flavor). In addition they have some items that you wonder why they carry them and who would buy them – radiation meters, old vacuum tubes, cooling fans for computers, etc?
http://www.mcphee.com/

27-30AUG08 - Birch Bay, WA

We forgot to mention in our last BLOG entry that we purchased a new toad, a 2008 GMC Canyon. If you remember from our 19MAY08 BLOG entry, we wasted three days north of Houston trying to purchase the very same vehicle. Cousin Paul Peters believes he has some expertise in negotiating good deals on vehicles; so Dan asked Paul to see what he could do? Paul located the vehicle we wanted with more options than we had specified and for the price we were willing to pay in Texas. Unfortunately the sales tax is double in Washington vs Texas. So now even though we are homeless, we have four vehicles – the RV, the new toad, the old toad and a MB in Texas!

On Wednesday we departed the Peters residence to spend Labor Day Weekend at Birch Bay State Park. This State Park was the site of many group gatherings of the Kiesel family (Dan’s mom sister), the Peters family (Dan’s mom brother) and the Ryan family. On average there were eight to ten kids at these gatherings; it’s a wonder that there was only one broken bone during that entire time. Birch Bay is a shallow body of water very near the Canadian border. Being shallow it is an excellent place to be during the extreme low tides that occur on average once a month. During these low tides you easily get your limits of clams and oysters, and you can even wade out in the sea grass and catch Dungeness crabs.

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parkpage.asp?selectedpark=Birch+Bay

Upon arrival we found the campsite of cousin Jennifer (nee Peters) and husband Mike Hayes. Turns out they have a very nice boat capable of holding eight people. And because of this we would be setting crab pots with bait to catch our crabs. So after setting up camp, eight of us piled into the boat to set sixteen crab pots. State regulations allow each licensed person in the boat to set two pots per day and to harvest five mail crabs per day. We’re talking the potential of 40 crabs per day!!! The routine consisted of baiting the pot with a turkey leg, attaching appropriate line with buoy and dropping it over the side. State regulations further state that your name and phone number must be on the buoy, so if you are legally crabbing (and we were) there should only be two buoys in the water with your name.

The next morning during the low tide eight of us went back out to check the pots; while others went to the beach to collect clams and oysters. We did very well catching crabs in the pots but did not get 40. Why? Because it turns out there are many people who come out in their boats and pull other people pots and steal the crabs! We know this happened to us because the bait would be completely gone and no crabs in the pot; or there would be twenty crabs in the pot but they would all be females. In one case the jerks damaged the pot because they didn’t know how to get it open. In spite of this, we still brought back 30. Meanwhile back at the beach Corrie and others were collecting large amounts of clams and oysters.

Back at the state park we commenced cleaning the crabs, and prepping the clams and oysters for cooking. Mike was in charge of boiling the crab, and Corrie boiled up the clams in wine, garlic and other aromatics. Turns out Mike is big fan of Cajun spices, so he boiled half the crabs with Cajun spices and the other half in salted water. Mike also learned the Cajun trick of throwing your corn and potatoes in the boil so they pick up the spices. Dan showed Mike that if he took the cheapest button mushrooms and threw them in the boil, you get a real taste sensation. Some people complained that the mushrooms were too spicy, but they were first thing to go. In addition, we barbequed the oysters over charcoal with grated cheese and bread crumbs. Throw in fresh corn, potato salad and other side dishes, and this was not going to be a low cal weekend.

Over the next couple of days more relatives (including Paul & Shannon Peters) and friends showed up, which meant more licensed crabbers who could add to our quota. Poor Mike being the owner of the boat had to make every run. Dan volunteered on every run but one to be deckhand and only got “bitten” twice by crabs while emptying the pots. Thieves continued to be a problem, but we still did very well. Corrie made one boat run but felt pretty queasy so she stuck to digging for clams on the beach. After two straight days of crab and clams, it was decided that Friday would be a meat day. Dan slow smoked a pork shoulder and made his mustard BBQ sauce. Others prepared sausages, hamburgers, hotdogs and steaks, along with local fresh veggies and big salads. Dan’s mustard sauce was a big hit and he had to give the recipe to Mike & Jennifer.

On Saturday Mike made one last crab run and all the gear was collected and broken down; and the boat was hauled onto its trailer and washed down. In addition to those of us who were camping on site, several of Mike’s relatives and Aunt Jan Peters along with Jim Peters drove up just for the day. That night was the crab feed to end all crab feeds, along with clams and numerous side dishes. And it turns out that it was Spenser Peters’ birthday and we had birthday cake. An excellent time was had by all!

Early Sunday morning with our bellies still full we headed back to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA. We were leaving before the end of Labor Day weekend because we had to meet someone who was supposed to help us on our property starting Sunday.

11-26AUG08 - Everett, WA

For the last two weeks we have continued to work on our property and Dan has continued to volunteer in building an addition to the Heritage Museum at the Monroe Evergreen Fairgrounds. We did find time to finish riding the Centennial Bike Trail that we have described in previous BLOG entries.

During this time we took delivery of the 1950s Ferguson tractor. We purchased the tractor from Abe Wiens. Turns out Abe was the Ferguson tractor dealer for decades in Monroe. Although he is retired, Abe still fixes the older tractors and occasionally sells them when he has too many. We immediately began using it to move dirt around the property.

We did find time for a field trip to Seattle. As many know Seattle is the home of Starbucks coffee, and there are Espresso vendors every fifty feet in the city. In fact the coffee market is so saturated in the Seattle area, that some have resorted to “sex” to boost their sales. Some have hit on the idea of young female employees in bikinis (or even pasties) in their drive through coffee shacks. These establishments have names like Java Jigglers or Coffee Cowgirls. Naturally some citizens are not too happy with this and the court cases have started.

Our first stop in Seattle was Uwajimaya Asian Market. Uwajimaya started in the International District of Seattle selling Japanese and Chinese products and groceries to the large Japanese and Chinese population. They have since expanded to include items from Korea, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, etc. We find shopping at Uwajimaya is like being in Asia without the twelve hour flight.

http://www.uwajimaya.com/

We then headed to the top of Queen Anne hill to check out Dan’s maternal grandmother’s house (Grandma Monie). From the top of Queen Anne we headed down to the neighborhood called Fremont. Fremont has always had more than its fair share of free spirits (some would say kooks). Fremont’s motto is De Liberta Quirks (freedom to be peculiar). In addition in 1991 it was discovered that the center of the universe was located in Fremont. This discovery resulted in the following advice:

"Entering the Republic of Fremont, the center of the Universe, set your watch back five minutes." "Entering the Republic of Fremont, the center of the Universe, set your watch forward five minutes." "Entering the Republic of Fremont, the center of the Universe, throw away your watch."

http://www.fremontseattle.com/

Fremont has many unique pieces of art throughout the neighborhood. Some of the most photographed are a mock-up of Russian ICBM, Lenin statue from USSR, troll under bridge eating VW and six concrete people waiting for the bus at a actual bus stop. The six people at the bus stop are constantly dressed and decorated by the locals to reflect current events or holidays.

The newest statue is of JP Patches and one of his sidekicks, Gertrude. During the 60s, 70s and into the 80s JP was on TV each day after school. Thousands of Seattle children were official Patches Pals and learned how to be good citizens by following Patches Pal rules.

http://www.jppatches.com/