outandabout : morning rays light a path

Morning rays light a path at Camp Long. Fox and other wildlife abound here.

outandabout : Rock Climbing Dog!!

Sophia summits the dog-size climbing rock at Camp Long. She won't be attempting the BIG rock anytime soon.

outandabout : viewing Vashon Island

A morning view of Vashon Island from the cliff on the edge of Lincoln Park.

outandabout : morning rays

Sophia soaks up some morning rays in Lincoln Park (3/24 AM)

outandabout : Two roads diverge in a wood

...both happen to be well-traveled however. 3/24 AM in Lincoln Park along the cliff trail.

outandabout : Seattle

An evening sunset view of downtown as seen from Alki Point, West Seattle. Not too bad for a camera built into a handheld device! (phone/pocket PC)

outandabout : Windy evening walk on Alki

A windy evening walk on Alki with Sophia. Steve was on rollerblades. 3/25 PM (Dates are stamped on the photos)

What's in bloom ~ at the SSCC Arboretum 3/28 AM. 

outandabout : Cabins at Camp Long

One of several cabins in the woods you can rent at Camp Long in West Seattle.

Ron Judd on being an American traveling in Italy

My favorite newspaperman is back in town! He's been gone for a couple of months - he is a sports/outdoors writer for the Seattle Times and boy is he funny!! He always goes to the Olympics and writes off-the-wall stories about his experiences, not something that anyone else is ever going to write. He's been touring around Italy since the Olympics ended a month ago.

Needless to say, this further shows why most everyone thought we were English. We did NOT wear parkas and always were in dark clothes. And we carried umbrellas in the rain (Steve's was a 5 Euro one, mine was a more expensive dusty rose colored umbrella with a wooden duck painted handle from Florence).

Read on and enjoy!!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Ron Judd
I wear a parka — I am an American

Pardon the interruption.

The good news — or bad, depending on your particular taste for what regularly appears in this space — is that we're finally back, relatively unscathed, from a five-week-plus jaunt around Italy, where, as at least seven or eight of you NBC watchers noticed, a Winter Olympics took place last month.

Thank you all for watching and reading and not wretching at the mere mention of those two most frightening of all Winter Olympic words — "ice dancing."

Once the flame was snuffed, a small but hardy traveling group consisting primarily of yours truly, a California colleague and close friends Gail and Brute Force of Edmonds spent another couple of weeks taking the rest of Italy by storm — well, at least by train. Along the way, we learned some important things about travel in the fabled boot nation.

At the risk of offending PBS Pledge Drive Prince Rick Steves and other career-travel gurus, we offer up the following fresh wisdom pearls for future Euro-travel victims:

• First, abandon any pretense of pretending you're not a North American. They'll spot you coming a half a kilometer away. Reason: very likely, your brightly colored waterproof/breathable parka.

Trust us on this one: Nobody in Italy outside the Alps ever wears a rain parka in public.

In Florence, for example, the residents will go out and face even the wettest, coldest, windiest (think: Bellingham) spring day wearing wool or leather (dark colors only). This is done for three primary reasons: 1) It looks cool. 2) It looks cool. And 3) there's no reason to parka up if you can, instead, wield a cheap umbrella that has the added advantage of serving as an excellent eye-poker-outer while walking down narrow city streets.

Result: After a day of rain, the entire populace of a major Italian city will look and smell exactly like a blind, wet, sheep dog.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, a local will explain to you, in pretty good English, having ID'd you as a foreigner a half-hour before by virtue of your parka, which might as well be a giant, flashing "WARNING: APPROACHING AMERICAN" neon sign atop your head.

• Hang onto your wallet. Just like many other places in the world, pickpockets are very active on Italian public transportation. On our trip, I was the only one who didn't lose a wallet or see one mysteriously disappear. However, I made up for that near the end of the journey by taking it upon myself to lose someone else's — my friend Emjay's, which I apparently dumped out on a public street while moving goods from the front seat to the backseat of a rental car.

• If you do plan to lose your wallet, lose it in Rapallo. Just before departing for Milan and a plane home, Emjay and I decided to check at the police station in Rapallo, the Mediterranean coastal town where I had most likely lost it in the first place.

After a half-day cop-station search adventure — one that took us to a number of interesting unexpected destinations, including what's best described as a high-rise burial crypt — we found said Polizia hideout.

And there, in a desk drawer in a back room, we discovered, to our shock and amazement, Emjay's wallet — with cash, credit cards and other documents completely untouched.

An old man had found it on the street and turned it into a cop, an officer told us. Another decent soul unwittingly strikes a blow for international diplomacy.

• No, we don't have any more Turin chocolate. But thanks for asking.

• Maintain proper art-gallery decorum at all times: You never know who's watching.

One of the hazards of covering the Olympics is that when they end, every journalist in the world packs up his/her dirty laundry and heads to one of the tourist spots of the host nation.

One day in Florence, the smallness of the world came crashing home, anyway. Part of our group was in the Uffizi Gallery, staring with admiration at some treasure such as Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," when a large head suddenly blocked the view. Attached to it was the body of a certain very tall sports columnist from another Seattle newspaper.

Sheez. Talk about a hair in your pasta.

We did the only honorable thing — slapped him on the back and issued warm greetings while stealing his wallet.

• Be prepared to never look at a frozen pizza, soft-serve ice cream, cafeteria-style risotto or a cliffside sunset the same way again, ever.

Whether you're talking about art, culture, architecture, gelato or just plain, old-fashioned warm memories, Italy is a treasure. See it before your eyes and taste buds get any older and duller.

Ron Judd's Trail Mix column appears here Thursdays. To contact him: 206-464-8280 or rjudd@seattletimes.com.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

outandabout : The Arboretum at SSCC

This week Steve's car is in the shop, which means Sophia and I get up early to take him to The Junction to catch his Metro Vanpool. We're out of the house before 7 AM and we stop and walk somewhere on the way home.

We live down the street from South Seattle Community College. It is a great asset to the community - not only did we both end up going to school there for new Associate degrees (Steve 2001-2003, Wendy 2003-2004), but there is a great arboretum there, and the Seattle Chinese Garden (currently closed for a new phase of construction).

It was raining this morning, which is a good thing since my hair was a mess and it was normal to wear a hood. Sophia is not a big fan of the rain, but in her little fleece-lined yellow rainjacket she doesn't mind so much. It seems the curiosity to explore overrides her distaste of the rain. Not mudpuddles tho - she won't walk thru a mudpuddle.

We will be visiting different places every morning this week, to see what our favorite woodsy haunts look like in the morning light. The birds are singing, the camellias, clematis, and alyssum are blooming, and even some of the rhodies are getting an early start.

More Information

Tuesday: Longfellow Creek Legacy Trail south of Greg Davis Park
http://www.longfellowcreek.org/trail/trail_brochure_index.htm

Wednesday: The Arboretum at SSCC
http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/arboretum/index.html

Thursday: Camp Long Environmental Learning Center
http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/Environment/camplong.htm

Friday: Lincoln Park
http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/parkspaces/lincoln.htm

outandabout : Sunday at Magnuson Park

Kite Hill at Magnuson Park. The soon-to-be setting sun shines on us warmly. That is the blue waters of Lake Washington to the east behind us (Kirkland is across the lake).

More information:
Welcome to Warren G. Magnuson Park!
Discover a great urban park for the 21st century! Warren G. Magnuson Park sits on a splendid mile-long stretch of Lake Washington’s shoreline in northeastern Seattle. At 350 acres, it is Seattle’s second largest park.

This former Navy facility is rapidly becoming home to a unique combination of features and activities for you to enjoy: recreation and leisure—boating, swimming, walks, kite flying, to name a few; sports fields; natural areas; and a community campus. In addition, you can take part in shaping the new and expanded park features now in the planning process.

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/Magnuson/default.htm

Officially the cutest dog in the world

According to my friend Kelly, Sophia, by evidence of this photo taken at Mud Bay Granary at University Village on Sunday, is the CUTEST DOG IN THE WORLD. I have to agree with her.


The weather this past weekend was awesome. On Saturday Steve spent the day at Pacific Raceways for another BMW driving event (one of those 6 AM to 6 PM sort of days). Sophia and I had a leisurely morning, and then I left for my volunteer shift at the Seattle Animal Shelter.

I am becoming known as the laundry queen at the shelter. All of the volunteers there just want to work with the animals and don't appreciate that taking care of all those kitty towels and doggy blankets is also a way of helping them. So I wander back and forth between doing laundry (kinda stinky, but very rewarding) and doing my MatchMaker work. This shift I answered a lot of questions from people wanting to be a foster home. This is great, since foster homes are so valuable and directly instrumental to saving the lives of dogs and cats coming thru the shelter program. Every home opened to foster a cat or dog frees up a cage or kennel at the shelter for a new arrival coming in off the street. If there was no room, the euthanasia rate would be a lot higher. SAS takes pride in its high adoption rate and model volunteer program.

Sunday we woke up to the power going out at 9 AM. All of the cordless phones beeped when they lost power at their bases, and the fridge shut off. It's really quiet when nothing humming anywhere. It was time to get up anyway, so Steve built a fire and got out the one-burner camp stove from the teardrop. He boiled a big pot of water for hot chocolate and then we scrambled some eggs and split a grapefruit. Since it was too dark to do anything downstairs (cleaning was on the agenda) we sat around the fire and read. Then he did some touch up painting in the bedroom.

The power came on about 1 PM, but by that time we were planning on heading across town to Magnuson - Sophia for a visit to the small dog play park, and Steve to "Kite Hill", above Lake Washington. We also packed the skates and blades but ultimately didn't use them.

So Steve dropped us off at the dog park and went to find Kite Hill. Sophia is doing real well, pretty much a normal dog now. She runs around a bit chasing some of the other dogs. She still doesn't really "engage", in wrestling or biting or tackling, but she sort of plays referee. When two other dogs are chasing each other around and making a lot of noise she runs up to them and barks and watches, then scoots off again before she gets sucked in to the rambunctiousness (yes that's a word - because I said so.)

Steve showed up not too much later - there really wasn't enough wind for his stunt kite (unlike the previous weekend out on Alki - where there was so much wind my eyes streamed tears and I froze my butt off - and Sophia tried to hide from the wind). After she seemed to get bored, we walked with her off leash out of the small dog play area into the big dog park - the first time she has been off leash around big dogs (other than meeting my friend Colette's dogs the previous week). A couple of times she took off ahead of us, but most of the time she fell into step between us, at a heel, as if she was on the leash, part of the "pack". She got worried after Steve left to try the wind again, and then she didn't have any fun because she was trying to find him. So we finally left and walked up the trail and out onto Kite Hill. There's quite a view from there!

By this time it is after 5 PM. So we start heading back, making a stop at University Village to use our freebie coupons at Jamba Juice. We also went to Mud Bay Granary, a small natural food pet store, and had the feather try-on incident.

We got home about 7 PM, and it was dark. We didn't get anything done around the house, but had a great time!

File this one in the "weird" category

Man hits his own car then sues himself
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LODI, Calif. -- When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. But that minor detail didn't stop Gokey, a Lodi city employee, from filing a $3,600 claim for the December accident, even after admitting the crash was his fault.

After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name.
City Attorney Steve Schwabauer said this one also lacks merit because Rhonda Gokey can't sue her own husband.

"You can sue your spouse for divorce, but you can't sue your spouse for negligence," Schwabauer said. "They're a married couple under California law. They're one entity. It's damage to community property."

But Rhonda Gokey insisted she has "the right to sue the city because a city's vehicle damaged my private vehicle."

In fact, her claim, currently pending at Lodi City Hall, is for an even larger amount - $4,800.

"I'm not as nice as my husband is," she said.

@home : Perennial Retreat

This weekend was the first weekend we had dry weather long enough to get some stuff done around the yard. Steve mowed the lawn and I raked up cedar tree litter far and wide. We filled the rolling yard waste container and the extra bag and still didn't get it all.


We then moved on to the new garden area. Steve put together the bench my dad had bought me for my birthday, and then we installed a "dry creek bed" (all those rocks you see in the picture). But this creek bed won't always be dry since the overflow from the rain barrel is piped into it. So when it rains REALLY hard there will also be a creek running through my garden!





Doesn't it just look sweet? Don't you want to sit and relax? I can't wait to get the rest of my plants and finish the look!

Iggies at the dog show

Saturday I went to the Seattle Kennel Club Dog Show to see the Italian greyhounds. I recognized most of them from the show I went to last summer.



I also watched several herding demonstrations. It was fascinating. Oh, also agility trials. It's amazing to see human and dog working together.



When I was done Steve brought Sophia and picked me up outside of the Qwest Field Event Center and we went down to the waterfront and went for a walk. We walked to the Ivar's outdoor seafood bar and had fish & chips. I shared mine with Sophia.

Later we went out to Alki for a walk and Steve to fly his new kite. But it was VERY windy, too windy for the dog. And she got very scared of Steve's kite, since it was making really loud buzzing sounds when it was flying overhead. She started barking at it and hid under the park bench. We had to go down the street and sit outside a coffee shop and wait for him to get done. I held her on my lap to try to protect her from the wind, and talked to several passers-by who asked questions about her. It was a great day!

Study In Gray & White

Are you ready to ruuuuumbblllllllllee?!?

The warm-up session
Rat City Rollergirls exhibition and charity bout
March 4, 2006.

Roller derby rides again! Well, it's the first time for me since I never saw it on TV growing up. But it's back, all across the country.

Being a new quad (roller skate) owner, I remembered hearing about roller derby last year. The Rat City Rollergirls, a 4-team league, until recently was based out of the Southgate Roller Rink in White Center, about a mile from my house. That rink may have closed too soon since there is suddenly a huge upsurge in interest in roller skating - both derby-style and for just plain ol' fun and exercise.

Not only are teams and leagues popping up all over (including new teams forming now in Tacoma, Olympia, Spokane, and Boise - not to mention Vancouver, BC) there's even a reality show on A&E called Rollergirls. I found out about it late and watched episode 10 last week - it's a little hard to come into a show like that so late in the game. Maybe I will watch it on DVD when it comes out on Netflix later this month. The RCRG just placed 5th at the Dust Devil in Tucson, AZ, the first national tournament of the modern roller derby era by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

I joined the RCRG forum a few weeks ago; l was looking for a skating instructor. Throttle Rocket's jammer, "Pris Toff", lives near me and has agreed to meet me and give me a few pointers. Now that I have been up on my skates I know how embarrassed I would be to skate in front of someone like Pris, so I need some more practice before meeting with her down at the waterfront. (My handle on the forum? "Roller Hound")

The 2006 exhibition match of the 4 teams of the Rat City Rollergirls, aptly named Sockit Wenches, Throttle Rockets, Grave Danger, and Derby Liberation Front (DLF), are a mix of experienced derby skaters and newbies called "fresh meat". Everyone has cool names, most are in costume (or at least fishnet stockings), and everyone has a great time. Their web site is hilarious - if anyone can appreciate the tongue-in-cheek writing style mixed with constant puns, it's me. I want to meet their writer(s)!!

Steve and I had pretty good seats. The "charity brawl" at the Everett Events Center last Saturday night was before their largest crowd ever, estimated at 4,500 people. They were stoked! There was even an international challenge - about 75 skaters from Vancouver, BC came down to challenge them to a "last woman standing" contest. They were all dressed in pink, which was cute, but they didn't skate very well.

I read the rules of derby ahead of time, but that still doesn't mean I understood it right away. Not having perfect vision and also being color challenged made it difficult. So I couldn't read jersey numbers or see that some people had stripes on their helmets which meant they were the jammer. But about half way thru it started making sense to me and I could see the strategy and appreciate the skill it took to play (especially after hobbling around the local playground in my skates the previous day).

There was a lot of cheering, some loud rock music, and the announcers and the mascots were very funny, and I was laughing a lot. 3 hours later, at the end of the bout, the ultimate winner was the Sockit Wenches. They donated their grand prize of $1,000 to the White Center Community Development Association.

Their regular season starts March 25th in Hanger 30 at Magnuson Park. There is a bout each month. Pre-show begins at 4:30 in the beer garden, and the bout begins at 6 PM. If you're looking for something fun and new to see this year, this is the ticket!

More info
http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/

The 100th Post

Finally on all 8 wheels!

This is the 100th post to my personal blog, started in November.

Steve bought some roller blades, so we went to Sanislo Elementary School yesterday afternoon to practice. I am standing here holding Sophia's leash, but trust me, I am not rolling anywhere with her yet. Steve is a lot more stable on his blades, so he slowly took her around and around the track while I practiced. I was a lot better after awhile, but I have a ways to go.

What is with all this protective gear? I never wore ANY of this stuff as a kid. Now everyone wears pads and helmets and mouth guards and if you don't you look like a reckless idiot. I guess I must thank the Plastics Council for that (they have a television ad campaign about all the ways plastic has been saving lives in the last 30 years). I bought all of the joint protection since I will most likely fall and it would be nice to not hurt myself too much. But I doubt I will ever be going fast enought to need a helmet or a mouth guard. I wonder if a bike helmet is good enough, I have one of those!

@thedogpark : Sophia's rehabilitation is complete!

Sophia gets to really run at the dog park!


It's officially spring! The cherry trees are blossoming, the clematis is blooming (!?!) and all of the shrubs are ready to burst! We had another sunny day yesterday, altho it was only 50-55 degrees, still cold enough for a coat (for both of us).

Every day I try to take Sophia to a place she hasn't been in awhile, to give her (and me) variety in our walking locales. Since I fired myself from Common Ground a week ago (I decided they didn't really need me so did the right thing) I have time every day to take Sophia for a walk. In wracking my brain trying to think of something new, I asked my office friend Kelly if she wanted to meet us at Greenlake and walk. She either has an incredible social life or doesn't like me 8-} (I am told it's the former.) We've never been able to get together outside of the office yet. Sophia has never been to Greenlake, and I think I have only been there once in oh say the last 20 years and I don't think I have ever walked the path there. So, no Greenlake today!

So I thought, I know! I will take Sophia to the "small dog" area at the dog park at Sand Point/Magnuson (on Lake Washington). She hasn't been to "playtime" at her school since before Xmas (she just didn't look like she was having any fun anymore; those darn little terriers just like to bite). When it comes to the city of Seattle you really can't find a place further away from home to go to - it is diagonally across the entire city from West Seattle to the northeast area past the University of Washington. It took 35 minutes to get there (at 3:45-4:20 in the afternoon). But it's the only park of 8 off-leash dog parks in the city to have a separate area designated for small dogs. I doubt I'll ever be able to go to a normal dog park since big dogs scare me. Altho working with the dogs at the animal shelter has made me a lot more confident about communicating with them.

Sophia started whining once we pulled into the parking area, she knew where we were. The city has redone the fence there, now, making the small dog area permanent. There is a nice double-gate entry close to the small dog area and also into the small dog area. This is so you can go into the middle part and take their leash off. Because as soon as you walk in, all of the dogs rush up to greet the newcomer. Sophia was a little overwhelmed by ten little noses, but after about 20 seconds they began to disperse and she felt a little more comfortable.

There were 2 dachshunds (I had no idea they could run so fast...), a little 5# white Chihuahua named Greta that is developing some insecurities (a biting problem), a Toto-like terries, a Benji-like terrier, 2 small black Schipperkes (I had to look that one up), 2 pugs, and a few other various dogs during the hour we were there. Oh, and a couple of dogs that are still puppies and learning socialization skills. They were so cute.

Sophia spent quite a bit of time running and playing chase. She came back to me all the time, tho, and hung around me, until she would run off again for a little bit before coming back. She also greeted all of the humans - she is very interested in people, since visiting the convalescent center she has learned that other people also mean food. People get a real kick out her, altho she goes along and leaves a dirty paw print on everyone's pants (everyone knows to wear "dog park clothes" when coming to the dog park).

I brought her purple polar fleece jacket since 50 degrees is pretty chilly, even in the sun. After a little bit she looked really cold, so I put it on her. Then she builds up static under her jacket and is REALLY friendly with everyone because she wants people to scratch her back under her jacket. It's pretty funny.

From having so much fear the first time we came here that she jumped in the lap of a complete stranger and wouldn't get down to now behaving like a very well-adjusted and happy little dog, I would say Sophia's rehabilitation is complete. Her confidence and interest in people, other dogs, and everything going on around her proves she is comfortable in her own skin.

I have a feeling I am going to be spending a lot of time at the Magnuson small dog park from now on.