Where in the fog is Pacifica, California?

This last weekend Steve and I took Sophia on her first tri-state road trip. She's been to Oregon before, but never California. The occasion? Steve's great aunt Lil, who lives in San Francisco, is turning 90 this year and the family threw a huge party for her. Turns out she is another Virgo, her birthday is actually September 16th, but the gathering was held now, before the kids went back to school, so the most people could attened. The family organizers picked Pacifica, CA - on the ocean a few miles southwest of San Francisco. Easier to get to then someplace in the big city.

We took two and a half days getting there, driving down the Pacific Coast (Hwys 101 and 1) and one day hauling butt home on I-5. We had a great time. We stayed at dog-friendly motels each night. We went for walks on the beach and also hiked on trails in the desert-like dunes.

And I have chronicled the trip by photograph. You’ll notice that there are no pictures after the Golden Gate Bridge. There is so much fog this time of year, there is nothing to take a picture of – it would just be a gray screen. And coming home we were on I-5 for 12 hours, so there’s nothing to photograph there either. I hope my other pictures make up for the deficit.

This is the cutest darn garbage can I ever have seen - in Corvallis, Oregon. We stopped at Great Harvest Bread Co for lunch, across from a nice park and walking trail along the Willammette River. There were planters on both sides of the garbage cans - and they seem well maintained! Turns out Great Harvest Bread Co now makes dog biscuits (st least in Oregon). I'll be checking with the one here in West Seattle, Sophia is a huge fan of these biscuits now!

An incredible, falling-down, see-through barn along Hwy 34 from Corvallis towards the Oregon coast. I was driving the Corvallis-Bandon leg (the 2nd half of the first day). I whipped the car around in the middle of the highway and went back to get this shot.

Above "Devil's Churn" (Central Oregon Coast).

Devil's Churn State Park
http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Tourism/Coast-Walport-Florence/Noll-Devils-Churn-SP-choices.html

An incredible shot from a cliff along Hwy 101 (Oregon Coast). This photo is the new banner background for a new mortgage industry newsletter I am developing for Pacific Coast Mortgage - appropriately titled "Wavelengths". 

Wendy and Sophia, both "barefoot" on the beach of Bandon-by-the-sea (Bandon, Oregon)

http://www.all-oregon.com/city/bandon/bandon.htm

Sophia LOVES to run on the sand. Something about the surface just makes her want to gallop. Steve is the only one who can run fast enough to make it fun for her. (We don't dare take her off the leash - she might get lost! She's not like your average dog, who obeys everything you say.) 

Steve loves the big rocks of the Oregon coast. 

The tide was going out - Steve took this amazing photo of sea life clinging to one of the massive rocks (Bandon, OR). 

Sunset on the Oregon Coast (Bandon-by-the-sea, OR). Our dinner, after dark at Alorro's, cost more than our motel room. But it was like being in Italy again! We deserved a treat.

A hollowed out tree house at the same compound as the Drive Thru Tree on the Avenue of the Giants.

Drive-Thru Tree
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/CAPHItree.html

Avenue of the Giants
http://www.terragalleria.com/california/california.avenue-giants.html

The Shrine Drive-Thru Tree

It's not nearly the challenge for a MINI Cooper to drive thru a giant tree as it is for the SUV that (idiotically) squeezed thru after us. A couple from Oregon ahead of us admitted they didn't drive thru the tree - it was a nice new rig and it made them nervous. We did not have to fold in our mirrors, as most other vehicles have to.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox greet visitors at Trees of Mystery, in Klamath California. Bunyan actually talks to visitors - there's a park employee ensconced somewhere (we looked but couldn't figure it out) but it is within virual range so he can be specific about the people standing around him and climbing on his boots. Kitchy I know, but it's just one of those American roadside rituals!

Trees of Mystery
Klamath, California
http://www.treesofmystery.net/

Wendy and Sophia on Paul Bunyan's boot. 

One of the giant Redwoods on the trail at Trees of Mystery, on the way to the Sky Trail. Sophia is the only one who got a souvenir on this trip. At the gift shop I found a camouflage dog t-shirt that says across the back "I took a hike in the Trees of Mystery, Klamath, California". The t-shirt will become part of her permanent wardrobe (and her Howloween costume - she will be "Commando Iggy".

The Sky Trail as seen from the platform station at the top of the peak.

Sophia did quite well on the "Sky Trail" tram ride at Trees of Mystery. I think it bothered me more than her how high we were. The people in passing trams were very entertained to see her looking at them thru the side of the car.

Skytrail Information:
The lift opened for passengers on June 18th, 2001
Length: 1570 feet one way
Vertical rise: 571
Altitude at top: 742 feet ASL
Trip time one way: average 9 minutes including three slow downs for loading
Type of lift: fixed grip gondola with moving drive for tensioning.
Cars: 6 passenger CWA Omega, handicapped accessible. Made in Switzerlad
Lift: POMA, designed and manufactured in Grand Junction, Colorado. Poma also owns Otis elevators and builds many public conveyances like funiculars and monorails
Cable: thickness-42.5 mm or about 1.5 inches. Tested to 296,000 pounds of pull. That is enough to lift all the towers, drive station, return station, bullwheels, all of the concrete and both control shacks! (wow!) Made in Austria.

Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco Bay. This is the last photo of our trip - a day and a half before it ended. Fog made it impossible to photograph anything in Pacifica. Pacifica's town motto? Seen on a t-shirt: (front) got fog? (back) Where in the fog is Pacifica, California? Steve resisted buying one.

The K9 Cruiser

We've found a new way to kick our daily exercise up a notch - the K9 Cruiser Bicycle Leash! We'll be doing some practice at the local playground before hitting the sidewalks around town. More info online at http://www.adogsbestfriend.com/template_page.cfm?id=12

Kitty Love

Sprite - sometimes it's uncanny how much she looks like our beloved Persi. But she is truly an original!

Imp - just naturally beautiful. (Don't forget - her whole name is Impressionist Painting.) 

Sprite is a kitty after Steve's own heart. She loves watching the motorcylces go round and round! 

This weekend went to the dogs!

Steve and Sophia share a moment.

I organized a third fundraising picnic for Italian Greyhound NW, the local chapter of IG Rescue Foundation. This was the 2nd one we hosted at our home. I had a lot more fun this time, setup was easier and I spent more time socializing.

Maria visited us from NM over the weekend. She was able to meet lots of Sophia's friends and enjoy our doggy playdate/picnic! 

I was interviewed for an article about using the internet to socialize with your dog. A photographer from the paper attended our picnic on Saturday and snapped pics for over 2 hours! I wish I could see all of those awesome pictures - she has some very nice equipment! 

Out To Lunch

I was supposed to be at home working on real estate clock hours today. Steve took my car down to Rasmussen MINI in Portland for a last bit of warranty work (the grace period runs out in less than 1,000 miles). So I was going to be home without a car. But when I read in the paper online yesterday that Soul Asylum was giving a free concert as part of the Downtown Summer free concert series, "Out To Lunch", I knew I had to be there! But how to manage it without a car?

I checked out the bus schedule - it would have taken 90 minutes just to get 4 miles to Seacrest Pier to be able to take the water taxi. So plan B. We recently got our bikes all fixed up to start riding again. I called my friend Colette, who has a van, to see if she could drop me off at the Seacrest Pier. I knew I could take the Elliott Bay Water Taxi across to Pier 55 and walk to Pike Place Market from there. I left my bike at Seacrest and ferried across.

The concert was really great! I have never seen them perform live before. Soul Asylum is a left-over from my depresssion days of the early and mid '90s (my pre-Steve era). Sort of how now when people see the color pink they think of me - it used to be people would hear a Soul Asylum (or Depeche Mode) song and automatically think of me.

Anyway, I guess they have a new album out! I am going to need to pick it up. They played a great mix of old and new stuff and I like the new stuff, too!

I was up on the curb for most of the show. The crowd was probably 75% men and they're tall. But I managed to get up by the stage for the final set. A lot pf people started leaving the area, but I was hoping for an encore so I got up there before they started playing again.

Soul Asylum has been rocking out for over 20 years! I am starting to feel old...

Soul Asylum rocks out!

Soul Asylum is an alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1983, perhaps best known for their song "Runaway Train". The group was an outgrowth of a previous band, Loud Fast Rules, formed in 1981 by guitarist Dan Murphy, bassist Karl Mueller, and drummer Dave Pirner. Two years later, Grant Young joined the group and took over the drums from Pirner, who switched to rhythm guitar.

Lyrics from two of my favorite Soul Asylum songs

Misery
They say misery loves company
We could start a company and make misery
Frustrated, Incorporated

Well I know just what you need
I might just have the thing
I know what you'd pay to see

Put me out of my misery
I'd do it for you, would you do it for me

We will always be busy making misery
We could build a factory and make misery
We'll create the cure; we made the disease

Frustrated, Incorporated
Frustrated, Incorporated

Well I know just what you need
I might just have the thing

I know what you'd pay to feel
Put me out of my misery

All you suicide kings and you drama queens
Forever after happily, making misery

Did you satisfy your greed, get what you need
Was it only envy, so empty

Frustrated, Incorporated
Frustrated, Incorporated

Frustrated, Incorporated (put me out of my misery)
Frustrated, Incorporated (I'd do it for you, would you do it for me)
Frustrated, Incorporated (forever after happily)
Frustrated, Incorporated (making misery)

Runaway Train
Call you up in the middle of the night
Like a firefly without a light
You were there like a blowtorch burning
I was a key that could use a little turning

So tired that I couldn't even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't keep
I promised myself I wouldn't weep
One more promise I couldn't keep

It seems no one can help me now,
I'm in too deep; theres no way out
This time I have really led myself astray

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Can you help me remember how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile
How on earth did I get so jaded?
Life's mystery seems so faded

I can go where no one else can go
I know what no one else knows
Here I am just a-drownin in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway train

And everything seems cut and dried,
Day and night, earth and sky,
Somehow I just don't believe it

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Bought a ticket for a runaway train
Like a madman laughing at the rain
A little out of touch, a little insane
It's just easier than dealing with the pain

Runaway train, never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here nor there

Runaway train, never coming back
Runaway train, tearing up the track
Runaway train, burning in my veins
I run away but it always seems the same

Only 2,500 fiberglass casts were made of the original Han Solo freezing death scene from Star Wars IV, The Empire Strikes Back. I found this in the "Big Boys Toys" shop on one of the lower levels of Pike Place Market. This beauty can be yours for only $3,200. 

The white caps contrasted greatly with the darkness of the water. The sun did not come out until early afternoon, which changes the appearance of the water entirely. This was from the upper deck of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi. 

There were a lot of people fishing off the Seacrest Pier. Some of the Sockeye salkon coming out of the Sound are a very nice size!! Too bad I'm not a fish eater, it's a very friendly place. 

Now in the "Aawwwww..." category we present ~

They did this - no manipulation on our part...

No, these are not bookworms. They are bookcats. 

What a difference a week makes. Sophia wants to lean on mom, and the kittens want to lean on Sophia. The only reason Sophia goes along with it is to have lap time with mom/ 

@home : Blue Angels

The Blue Angels fly over Puget Sound every year as part of Seafair and the hydroplane races on Lake Washington. We watch it on TV and enjoy some of their maneuvers from our yard

One of the Blue Angels performs maneuvers over our house.

outandabout : Puget Sound Scenes

Abandoned, falling-down building near Millersylvania State Park (about 10 miles south of Olympia).

On a clear day you can see forever - or at least as far as the Space Needle. 

Bremerton-bound ferry as seen from the deck of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi. 

Sunset from Alki 

Pick-Up Playdate

Pick-Up Playdate at our house - Sophia and Sophie of Mercer Island engage in tug-o-war, Sophia's first time to play with another dog.

My stuffy - back away

seen/heard/said

Don't go through life, grow through life.

Please welcome a new addition to the Hughes-Jelen household

Not just another pretty face!

It was very hard to say goodbye to Cheerio. And you know we could not leave Havana all alone without any feline companions. Altho right now I think she wishes we had...

We went adoptable-kitty hunting Saturday - we had quite a list. We made it as far as our third stop, all the way up in Lake Stevens. Her foster name was "Hazel" but she certainly needed something with more personality. She will be fluffy like Havana, she is a most amazing tortoiseshell!

This is Imp. Imp, as you may recall, is known as a mischievous child or small demon. In her foster home, and here, she is all about the toy. But so far she seems very good at evading my grasp. I don't know how demonic she is yet, she seems real shy. But I suspect it's in there (we saw a hint of it at her foster home). But really her name comes from Impressionist Painting - that's her full name. Her color reminds me of a dark Monet or something (my favorite artist). We'll call her Imp for short.

She's going to take some time warming up to us...altho she purrs from a distance of a foot or more away just looking at you.

But we didn't come home with just one...

This is Sprite. Sprite's color and pattern lends to her name. She has spots on one side of her body and stripes on the other. Sprite is sort of a mix of those words, but you can also think of her as a light and airy sprite of lore (small, human in form, playful, having magical powers). Her foster names were "Bailey" and "Sabrina". Not suitable kitty names!

Sprite is Steve's doing. I never would have suggested (out loud) getting two. Until a year ago we had 4 cats. Suddenly we were down to one. I could go along with his argument that there are only two laps here, so there should be only two kitties. HE is the one who said, upon playing with "Sabrina", that we could get two...

Sprite was being billed as shy and timid, a project. Steve had a good feeling about her, and since he is home during the day right now, has time for a "project".

Boy, was the foster home wrong about this one! She came out of her shell so fast it disintegrated into a pile of sand! AND she wants to be buddy-buddy with Sophia! She's rubbing on her, trying to lie down with her. Sophia is very nervous, and is turning her head away, sending "calming signals". Of course, they don't speak the same language. It is going to be so FUN to watch this relationship blossom. (Just imagine the pictures we are going to be able to get!)

This kitty is a Persi/Cheerio kitty amalgam. But she is all Sprite.

Imp (l) and Sprite (r) 

Cheerio, Cheerio baby

1990-2006


I was distraught to have to make the decision to let my Cheerio, faithful cat companion of 16 years, move on to the next phase of her existence. She was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism last year and could not take the medication since it lowered her white blood cell count too much. I did not want to put her through the radiation treatment at that age; I elected to give her what medicine I could for as long as she had quality of life. I would know when it was time...

Cheerio has had stomach inflammation issues for about 3 years. She would throw up undigested food shortly after eating it. She's been off hard food for awhile. When she started vomiting no matter what she ate, and the medication she was given to treat this problem no longer helped, I knew it was time. She was about half her previous size.

It was very difficult to take the responsibility of making the decision of ending another being's life. She was spry and happy, played with me every day, greeted me every morning and slept next to me every night. How I could decide it was over when she was in such good spirits? I knew I had to be with her when it happened, to help make it a peaceful journey.

When Cheerio's brother, Whizzin, was put to sleep 3 years ago, I had Steve handle everything. I wanted a home vet so he would not have to die in fear - he became feral when crated or going to the vet. He buried the body while I was at work, and for 3 years there has been a small bucket marking the spot, waiting for a grave marker. Switch was waiting to come into our life and Whizzin had gotten so bad with aggression towards other cats and marking around the house, he had to go. A part of me has felt guilty about that ever since - he was in fine physical condition, he just had severe behavior and emotional problems.

I have always had difficulty in dealing with animal death, since seeing Bambi, Old Yeller, and Where the Red Fern Grows, as a child (3rd/4th grade). I also was around a lot of animal death growing up. We raised chickens and rabbits for food. We lost a cat a year to the woods and wild animals around us - or cars. Pet chickens and ducks were getting picked off regularly by predatory birds or raccoons or loose dogs; just a pile of feathers would remain as evidence. I personally dug the hole for the family dog at the age of 16 in a damn rainstorm - not by choice (yeah, I am still mad about it). Since becoming an adult I refuse to see a movie whose star is an animal (save Babe, which my mom told me was a good movie and had a happy ending. I guess she didn't think Babe's mom DYING was important.) A year and a half ago I went to see a certified hypnotherapist and Emotional Freedom Technique practitioner. I went to see her because she ran a diet group. What I found out right away was that I did not have a problem with food. I had other issues in my past that needed to be dealt with. She helped me with three main parts of my life:

1. Acknowledging that my grandfather's sexual molestation of me between the ages of 3 and 6 had an effect on my life and all of the relationships I had with boys or men since it happened;
2. Accepting the fact that it was ok to not be close to one's immediate family and to not allow social expectations to run my life, by absolving myself of the guilt of failed relationships and false expectations, I set myself free;
3. My incredible sensitivity to animal suffering overhung a large part of my life, and the reason for that was that I identified with the innocence and powerlessness of animals in a world run by men. And often in depictions of animal stories the parent animal is killed and the young is left to fend for itself. I guess it felt to close to home. My parents were alive, but I felt very much alone.

My "pink therapy" was part of getting to know myself and getting in touch with my feminine side in the process of dealing with issue #1 (see the 2nd post in my blog, from November 2005).

As I was getting to know myself and understand all these things, Hurricane Katrina hit. We donated quite a bit of money to HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) to help with rescue efforts. Two months after the hurricane had passed and the devastation and animal rescues continued, I decided I had to do something more to help. I joined the Seattle Animal Shelter volunteer force.

There were Katrina rescues coming into the local shelter system, not to mention our own city's homeless pet problem. People have often said to me that they couldn't do something like that, being around all those animals in that sort of environment. It would be too depressing; they would want to take them all home. But I found solace in it. I knew whatever interaction I had with a homeless animal at the shelter was going to be a positive one; that my time with that animal would improve its life. I packed my pockets with treats. I worked as a Matchmaker, someone who facilitates an ani