Miss K Thought that This JibJab is Cute Too!

Giving equal time for a diverse blog... :)

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A Little Christmas Fun...

Here's a little fun from JibJab...hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Merry Christmas! M&G

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Good Grief!

The view of I-5 at the Centralia exit....When the water recedes, there's likely going to be a lot of damage to the roadway - which is the major North-South interstate between Seattle and Portland. So even when it's "dry" it may not be passable for most folks...

You can see WalMart is covered in water to the upper right there (uppermost white roofed building)...this photo was published today in the Seattle times website...taken some time this morning. There's a Home Depot there somewhere too...and that white "strip" toward the upper center is a small mall...wow.

Today we found out that some of our family are stuck in the mess that is now Centralia, Washington.

We are all very concerned about them, as no one can actually get to where they are to bring them out of the flooded mess that their house has become. But they are in contact with Sister K, and are doing as well as they can at the moment. It's just that there is a tremendous need at times like these to actually "see" the folks that are effected...we'll have to wait for a bit longer though.

Hopefully, the roads will clear enough to get in to their place by Friday...if not, Sister will likely rent a blimp and fly in to get them :) Right now, there isn't a passable road that will get us within miles of them. That whole part of Lewis county is pretty much an island that can't be approached other than by boat. The national guard is keeping folks from launching their own boats to go in a fetch people (that was magic's bright idea, but - NO!)

The water started coming into their place around 4:30am early Tuesday morning. They were fast asleep in their bed, when an early rising neighbor called and told them that their house was taking on water. It got to be about 4 feet deep I hear, before it started receding. Luckily, their bedroom and master bath are elevated a bit above the grade of the rest of the house, so they are able to stay out of the water there with the help of a generator. They were able to move their cars to higher ground before the water got too deep, but that was about it. No one has been able to get in and deliver supplies yet, though, so we are all a bit concerned.

These pics show the "after" at around 2:30 pm yesterday afternoon - water is about 2 feet deep. It's still pretty wet there. They don't expect the Chehalis River to crest in the Centralia area until this evening.

Once they open the roads, we'll be down there in a flash helping get what stuff can be salvaged (mostly irreplaceable stuff, I suppose) out of the house. Hopefully, they'll stay with Sis while the details of cleaning up are figured out. Most of the furniture will have to be replaced...ugh...what a mess!



A view of the water line in relation to the outside of the house as of 2:30PM Dec 4, 2007. Something is floating by in the yard there...can't really tell what...but the roof sure looks nice and clean. :) Might as well smile as cry...



A view of the backyard, same time...

We'll keep you posted on progress...but in the meantime, send happy thoughts to all the folks effected by the flooding here in Washington...it's going to be a long haul getting things put back together.

Hope you all are happy, warm and dry!

M&G

Here Comes the Rain Again...

WOW!

We've had about as much rain as I've ever seen in Seattle over the last day or so.

Up here on the hill, we were pretty dry (although the drain field is saturated - forcing me (really forcing) to forego doing laundry as it adds lots of water to the septic system - not a good idea at the moment :)

Down the hill a bit, though, it's a totally different world!

The bottom of 228th (the big street that comes up the hill) was flooded under the overpass of I405. We were able to drive through that area late yesterday afternoon, and the water line on the cement pilings under the overpass was up around the 10 foot mark. Seriously, two+ magicians high water mark!

The second rainiest day in Seattle history. We had 3.77 inches of H2O fall over the 24 hours starting Monday at midnight. That's pretty impressive.

I'm more impressed by that than the flooding, really. I think that the flooding is to be expected - especially with all the development around here these days. It used to be that when it rained, the ground absorbed a lot of it...now we've paved over the ground...so it's logical that it has nowhere to go but downhill, right? Anyway...here's some pics!

This shows the area to leading to the overpass at the bottom of the hill (228th)...



...basically, Little Bear Creek over-ran it's banks...sadly, there is a house on this creek (just up and across the road to the right from here) and the "river" runs through it now.


Here's a shot of a flooded car stuck in the water at the business park at the bottom of the hill (along 228th). What a bummer...just trying to get to work, and bam! Flooded car. I wonder if that's covered by car insurance?





This is a car at the Residence Inn at the bottom of the hill near Beardsley (off of I405 near Woodinville).





The overpass in Woodinville near 195th (off of 405, near highway 9 at the back side of our hill).



Notice the car underwater? What were they thinking? Probably weren't thinking at all....

Probably drove around the barricades (I lost count of how many people I saw doing that kind of stuff as I tried to get down the hill myself - I sat in lines and slowly moved down the hills that were passable, just like everyone else that wasn't "special").


And last, but not least...the new water feature in Woodinville. This is at the corner near the park (on the way to Molbak's Nursery).



This morning, much of the water has receded, but it's been raining off and on a lot too. Sometimes really hard. I hope it stops soon and this last of three big storms passes through quickly. We need a respite from the floods...

A link to KOMO 4 News video of the flooding in Woodinville (just down/over the hill from our cozy hilltop cabin). It should give a little more perspective of what Woodinville (and others in the state) is going through. We are still waiting for several rivers to crest and begin receding.

http://www.komotv.com/home/video/12098521.html?video=pop&t=a

Hope that you are all staying warm and dry!

Aloha!

M&G

Let It Snow!

Well, Saturday brought the promised snow to Seattle! The weather forecast was right for once...amazing, huh?

Goofy did the dance of snow, which was muy entertaining (well, at least for the first hour or so).

After all is said and done, we got about 6 or 7 inches of snow up here on the hill.

It snowed hard like this for hours...it was beautiful to see.



This is the snow on a tree in the backyard...Goofy thought it looked particularly lovely :)



Sadly, most of the snow was gone the next morning. We had snow showers throughout the day, that eventually turned into the torrential downpour we experienced all day Monday. Guess we are expecting three big storms to move through...so far, the second (and supposedly biggest) is working it's way past...more on that later.

Hope you are all safe and warm, wherever you are!

M&G

Waiting for Weekend Weather

Meanwhile...back in Seattle...

Wow!

It's been a crazy, hectic week since we got back from Maui last week (was it just a little over one week ago when that we were enjoying the warm tropical clime of island paradise? :)).

Seattle has been warming to highs of a chilly 45 degrees or so since we've been home...dropping to the low to mid 30's overnights.

We are currently awaiting a forecasted snow. Goofy is - of course - beside herself with the joy of snowy goodness. I suspect that the dance of snow cannot be far away.

Today is going to a day of lights...the house lights are up along the eaves, it's the trees and such that are feeling somewhat unadorned. Maybe we'll even get the tree up too!

Excitement abounds!

Have a great Saturday!

M&G

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi All!

Hope you are having a great turkey day today! We are almost ready to clear out of the condo here in Kihei. We'll be back in Seattle tonight!

These are a few more pics from our trip here...hope you are all happy and well!

This is a view from inside the second cathedral at Lana'i...looks kinda like a foot to me :)



This is a tunnel at the same dive site



This one will give an idea of scale through these caves and tunnels...I call this "traffic jam" lol



This is Goofy's tribute to Santa and the coming holiday season! He's posing there with a nudibranch :)



And finally (for now) Goofy took this lovely sunset from a lovely beach over near Lahaina...Aloha!



We are looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Take care and happy day!

M&G

Adieu, Maui

Aloha

Goofy and I are busily (haha) preparing to head home tomorrow. We have to run up to Lahaina (poor us) to pick up our gear and say goodbye (for a while) to our dive buddies.

Wow! These past two weeks have flown by...it's true that time flies when you are having fun!

We have had (as we've said before, too many times I think) a fantastic time!

The diving has been great and even amazing at times. We've seen so many sea creatures and fish that we hadn't seen so closely before. We've done three specialty certifications (in buoyancy, boat diving, and digital underwater photography), and both Goofy and feel we've become much better divers. Our course director and teachers all saw the improvements and have been very kind in encouraging and cheering us on as we improve. If only we could get paid to dive every day and visit with friends....hmmmm. :)


Here's a very rare glimpse of a frogfish "running" across the open sand. I still have to work with the image a bit to bring out his best, but you can actually see the fish here. He uses his pectoral fins more like hands/arms and with a combination of using those fins and jet propulsion (he gulps water through his mouth and ejects is under pressure through gills toward the back of his body) he can get along pretty well. He's usually very sedentary, preferring to hang around and wait for dinner to come to him :)



This is a school of goatfish hanging around out at Mala Wharf. They pretty much ignore the divers, just edging away a bit if we get too close :)



Goofy found a new shark out at the Wharf...




I'll get more posted later...but for now...aloha!

M&G

Under The Sea

Aloha!

Sadly, Goofy and I have pretty much finished up our diving for this trip...gotta get the gear dry enough to pack!

It's going to be hard to go from lovely 85 degree days, with 80 degree water temps, to cold and rainy Seattle, but it's home, and hey, we miss it (really...ok, not the cold, but we like the rain :)

We have gotten a ton of diving in this trip, and really feel like our dive skills have improved greatly too! It's been just a great trip all around...can't say it enough!

It's also going to be harder leaving this time, as we'll be saying adios (for now) to our Maui friends too. We've gotten to know a bunch of folks here well, and will miss them when we are home like we miss everyone in Seattle (and Santa Cruz, and Austin, and Beaufort....and...well, you get the idea!! :) when we are here in Maui.

On our last dives, we had some amazing time with turtles (my favorite!)...one turtle in particular was very content to just sit on the sand and watch me, while I sat on the sand and watched him. We musta stayed like that for about 20 minutes...looking at each other, not saying anything, just chillin' in the sand.

It was Awesome!

At the time I was communing with the turtle, almost everyone else was turned the other way looking at the sharks (about 20 feet away under some fallen pier)...not me, though, I've seen sharks....it's turtles all the way!

Here are a few pics...




Just hangin...at the Wharf...




Still chillin'...in the sand...




I'm good...you? Feels a bit nappish, though! :)

We have lots of pics to go through...and several that are worth printing, so should be seen on a wall around the house soon!

We'll be flying home on Thursday...hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving, and take a little time this year to remember the things that are most important to you.

Love y'all!

M&G

Intermission...

Aloha!

Friday was a lovely, mellow day for Goofy and I.

We went into Kahalui to do some shopping, fill up the SUV with gas ($3.72/gallon - not that much more than Seattle, unfortunately), and then headed up to Lahaina for a leisurely afternoon.

It's been an amazing trip so far :) We've gotten to do a lot of diving, and we've also gotten to spend time with new friends here in Maui. Today, we are heading out with our real estate agent to look at a few condos - and then we are off to hang on the beaches and do some photo safaris :) Guess life really can't get much better, huh? Now if we could only figure out a way to live without money, we'd be set :D LOL.

Tomorrow, we are looking forward to a dive out at Lanai and the cathedrals. I'm hoping to get some good shots with the camera, and improve my ability to actually stop in the water where I want to (instead of 5 feet past the fish I wanted to photograph lol :) It's all a matter of practice, I guess...

Mike makes it look so easy...swoops in, stops on a dime, gets the shot, swoops out looking for the next shot...here he is with his brother John getting a shot of a frogfish and Santa :D



Have a great day wherever you are!

Aloha!

M&G

Here fishy, fishy, fishy...and turtles, and...woohoo, look at that!

Aloha from Maui!

I thought that I'd post a few pics of the cool fish and other creatures we've seen in our various dives. Remember, you can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version if you'd like.


Here's a green sea turtle flying by out at Jodo Reef



This is the elusive (and crazy fast swimming) Juvenile Peacock Razorfish.



Goofy got this shot of John and a Green Sea Turtle out at Jodo Reef



Goofy also got a pic of this Lizard fish out at Jodo



This little octopus was totally into checking out an old bottle we found nearby



A Peacock Flounder scurrying along the sand



An Undulated Moray trying to get back in a his hiding spot




Here is a very small hermit crab hanging out in a shell...John is holding the shell, so you can see how small it really is. Click on the image to see it a bit bigger...he's in there.



I like the look on the face of this Bluefin Trevally (aka Bluefin Jack)...you lookin' at me? LOL



And last, but not least...a Frogfish. It mostly looks like a lump of stuff, but it's a fish. These fish are masters of camouflage. Their fins are more like "hands" and the move around more by walking than by swimming. They mostly hang out and lure their prey to them...check it out! Way cool!



So there you go...just a small sampling of some of the stuff we've seen (and managed to get a picture of) under water this trip.

We have a ton more too...maybe we'll get some prints made this time :)

Hope you all are happy and well! Aloha!

M&G

PS: I turned on comments for this post...let us know what you think!

A Trip to the Carthaginian and Mala Pier

Aloha from Maui, Y'all!

Here are pics from the wreck of the Carthaginian and out at the wreck of Mala Pier. The Mala Pier was built by Dole when they were still growing pineapple out on Lana'i. They used it to move fruit off the boats and into the cannery (now the Lahaina Cannery Mall :) Hurricane Aniki collapsed the pier in 1992, giving way to a fantastic home for all sorts of marine life.



This boat used to be used as a maritime museum off of Lahaina. It was cleaned up and scuttled here a few years ago in about 100 feet of warm Maui water :) That's Magic lurking there on the starboard side (in the lower right corner)...musta been something shiny there :D



Here's Goofy at the wreck :)




A bunch of divers check out the top of the forward mast.

Meanwhile....out at Mala Pier...Goofy sees this white tipped reef shark




But not the one that was circling directly (seriously, right below) this sleepy turtle. :) Great pic of the turtle though!





We've been having a blast these last few days...lots of diving and visiting with friends. We plan to take a couple of days "off" to get some serious laziness taken care of ... maybe we'll even get down to the pool :)

Aloha! M&G

P.S. Today we went back to the pier and saw an Eagle Ray! First one ever...Way too cool!!!!

Magic and Goofy Dive the Day Away!

Hi All.

Sorry to be so slow in getting on the blog and showing you pics of our adventures this trip...we've been having a FANTASTIC time...getting to see old friends and dive buddies, and meeting new people...oh, and DIVING, DIVING, DIVING!!!! :)

On Tuesday, Goofy and I spent the entire day diving. What a treat! We did two dives out at Molokini crater, and then did two wreck dives closer to Lahaina.

Bright and early Tuesday morning, we headed up to Lahaina to catch a ride on the Dauntless out to the crater. It was a fantastic, sunny morning and we were really looking forward to trying out some of our new gear!

Sandy got some pics of me getting in the water...seems I made a bit of a splash :)





On board, observing my rather graceful entrance is Capt. Dan, and our dive buddy, teacher and friend John Cesere :)

We did two dives at the crater and got some really good pics. We were doing some of our digital underwater photography specialty stuff, and at the crater didn't use the strobes yet.

Here's a cool pic of a really big white mouth eel...




And...Goofy and John hanging at the safety stop...




I'll get more pics of yesterday afternoon's trips out to the wrecks posted later this evening...hope you all are having as good a time wherever you are, as we are having here!

Gotta run to the dive boat for this afternoon's adventures!

Love and Aloha!

Hello from Maui!

Hi Y'all.

We've been in Maui since Friday afternoon, and haven't slowed down for a minute since we landed! It's been a great time so far!

Friday, we drove into Lahaina to get some paperwork done for our diving classes, and visit with some friends. We got home late, and ended up sleeping early in prep for our dive adventure on Saturday morning.

Saturday, we were up at 5 am to head up to Lahaina to catch the boat out to Molokini crater. It was a beautiful morning, and the ride out to the crater was really nice. There are southern swells, which make the water a little rougher, but it wasn't enough of a bump to bother anyone on board.

Once we arrived at the crater, Goofy and I set out for our specialty dives in buoyancy and boat diving. Lots of fun, lots to see. A great day of diving!

Sunday, we went out to Turtle reef to do some underwater photography...again, lots to see and a beautiful afternoon for diving. Once we were back, we stopped to chat with the Cesere boys and their family, looked at their fantastic photos, and then headed to the shop to clean up our gear and get it hanging up to dry.

We are looking at some new gear - the DUI's are still a pain, and it's just interrupting our fun fighting the equipment to continue with them. We'll see how that works out.

Today, we are heading for the store to get some supplies and then we'll just chill for the day...we feel like we've been going full speed, but we LOVE it. It may be harder to get us back to the mainland this time... :)

We'll be heading out to dive tomorrow, and have more dives the rest of the week...pretty much a perfect time for us.

Hope you all are doing well...I'll post pics when I get them downloaded.

Aloha!

Magic and Goofy

iPhone, uPhone, we all want that iPhone! :P

Bourgeois or not..the invention of the year, baby! bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

Cheezburger of the week (month?)...whatever...

I love this pic...it messes with perception and reality a bit (at least for me...lol).

Babies....growing on trees, or what?

So...this past week, two close friends had babies arrive at their houses. Coincidence? Hmmmmmmm.

On the east coast, of a Hallowe'en night, Samuel Patrick made his debut into the world...much to the delight of his proud parents! He's been recently spotted chillin' on the couch with Dad...while Mom apparently stalks him and takes pictures as he sleeps :)

Meanwhile, on the west coast, a new little surfer girl decided to join her brother and Mom and Dad out in the world- November 1st. Violet Marguerite is her name, and keeping her Daddy amused is her game! She was born in a hurry (after only 2 hours of labor), must be a sale on flip flops somewhere that she needs to get to I guess! (her auntie K would approve). :)

Welcome, welcome little ones!

PS: I don't post pics of wee folk on this public forum, but they are amazingly beautiful children!

Arrrrrrrgh!

Ahoy there mateys!

Goofy and Magic went to the WAC for a Halloween party...Cleopatra and Sister were both there too....along with about 100 short people (most under the age of 10) and their parents.



The room was really crowded, but there was fun to be had...(even if Goofy and Sis were stuck at the craft tables the whole time). Cleo won a guessing game...only 17 candy corns away from the actual total of 717 (no one else even came close :)) There were also videos, a cupcake walk, a fashion show and (oooooooh scarey....) ...Count Wacula! as the MC.


Here's Sis in her pumpkin costume...dunno what the bat is all about, but it makes her happy :)

Magic became especially good at making spiders...they were, in fact, amazingly realistic and the envy of all the other kids. LOL

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYONE!

Someone Musta Known Ashleigh Cat :)

Here's a little animated blurb made by someone that obviously has a cat. :)

The Road MOST Travelled

Here's a little photo essay/slideshow courtesy of my iPhone camera and iPhoto (shameless Apple plug...lol ;).

I often have time to sit and enjoy the scenery whilst heading on downtown of an afternoon (or two)...this time I decided to play a bit while I was stuck in traffic.

Just a whim, really, but fun too...enjoy!

Through the Glass Eye

Today, regardless of what was promised, Magic went to the Glass Eye sale. For those of you that have never been to a Glass Eye sale, it's special indeed.

First, if you show up early, you spend much time milling about outside the "gate" created and heavily patrolled by Glass Eye Security. You can look into the parking lot - which is where this extravagant and high class sale is held - and see the things that they have displayed there on the asphalt.

The really fun part about this stage is to step back and watch the people that are on a mission. They jostle for position as the time grows nearer for the gate to open. But more interesting is the shopping commandos that bring recon equipment. They bring binoculars and shove their way up to the front so that they can see what is hidden from the ordinary mortal naked eye. LOL.

These people are the most entertaining of all. Until the gate actually opens. These people actually are quite insane...guerilla shoppers if you will...charging over every old lady and crutch-laden kid to get to those "special" items that they've scoped out with their night vision scopes and binoculars.

This year, we arrived at 9:35 (the sale officially opened at 9:30), zoomed in to a space only excellent parking kharma could have presented, power-shopped for about half an hour, then spent 45 minutes in line to check out.

All in all, not a bad time...got out of there and back up north in time to catch the second half of K's soccer game (cold, but no rain today :)

The Boys

Here's a pic of some of our favorite dive buddies and teachers in Lahaina.

The Cesere brothers, John, Dan and Mike.

Check out their website (C3 Submerged under "Surfin' Safaris").

We are going to be diving and doing some underwater photography with the guys when we are back in Maui next.

Happy Friday!

Ironic That I'm Posting This...

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinion, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." - Oscar Wilde

...but it's soooooo true!

Added New Message Board

I've added a message board so that we can "talk" about things...things that are about the blog, things that aren't about the blog...just saying "hi"...keeping in touch.

Try it out...start a new topic...let us know what you think.

If it doesn't get much use, we'll delete it, but it seemed like a fun thing to try. I'll leave it up for a month or so, and then we'll see if it's getting used...

Access is on the right side...in the light green area under the "Blog Archives".

Magic Discovers Not All Things Are Possible At All Times...

(Just now? you say? LOL)

Today, I went to my trusty Mac, Buddie, and was going to update the blog with exciting and new content for you faithful blogreaders (well...it's new anyway ;)

I found that options that are available in other browsers (like Firefox, for example) aren't available in Safari. Obviously, I've gotten around it, 'cause right here, and right now, I've posted a little slideshow I made the other day (aka a "movie").

...but that's not the point.

I can see these options easily in Firefox, and on my iPhone, so maybe I'm just missing something with Safari...perhaps I'm experiencing "USER ERROR". I'll figure it out, though, as it'll drive me crazy if I don't.

In the meantime, enjoy the slideshow and let me know what you think, k? It's my first movie, so be kind..if you watch closely, you'll see the sun setting...clever, huh? ;)

I've turned on comments again...don't disappoint me, Goofaholics...let me know what y'all are thinkin'...if I don't like it, I'll delete it anyway...LOL Not all posts are "comment-able", but if y'all like it, I'll start posting more with that ability...

Pictures of crafting hell...lol

So...here are the pics...the place, one of the projects and a little pic I like to call "an art piece"...lol

I guess it really wasn't _that_ bad. I like the coloring...LOL. Don't tell Goofy and C, tho...they'll make me go to more "craft" stores...