Ferocious Gang Attack Foils Our Plans

Yes. We're Ok. But I'm typing on a borrowed computer after a ferocious gang attack which left me without a laptop computer and thereby no way to share with you photos of our trip (for now).

So, here's how it went down.

V and I were at the dining room table in peaceful Seaview, Washington where my mom and stepdad typically foster kitties from the local shelter. They take the cats and kittens which need socialization, medication, extra rest or other special attention. This week is no different. They are hosting two cute orange kittens - Splash, completely skittish; and Stubby, super cute and playful.

While V was eating her breakfast, I turned on the laptop to check e-mail and cast my votes. A short mug of mocha sat on the table cloth at the next place setting. Splash decided he'd play with the power chord. It was the closest he'd played to a person, so I looked down to wiggle the Velcro on the chord and encourage him. I didn't suspect his more sinister plan.

While I thought he was warming up to people, he was actually just plotting against me, and he had a gangster buddy in on it. Splash wasn't playing with me. He was diverting my attention, you see, while Stubby was sneaking up behind me. Stubby leaped stealthily onto the table behind me, crept up to the mocha mug and stuck his face in whereupon V exclaimed. I turned to the focus of her attention to find Stubby getting a caffeine fix. When I tried to pull his face out of the mug, he dug his claws into the place mat which then tipped the mug over and thereby splashed mocha into the laptop keyboard.

The gang skittered off to their dark hiding spots while I tried to turn off the computer and clean up the mess. I was fast enough to keep the mess off the carpet, but the computer screen went black and the lights haywire. We think the laptop has been fried irreparably, but won't know for a couple of days. (It takes things longer to dry here on the Washington coast.)

Darn Cute Kitten Gangsters! They think just because they're cute and young they can get away with anything! I suppose there are many lessons here. Mr. B would say the key lesson was not to have liquid anywhere near the computer, but I say that's unrealistic. So let's go with some other morals:
Never use place mats.
Never trust a foster kitty.
When a wild kitty wants attention, watch your back.


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Long Beach Kite Festival 2010

Our first day in Washington was spent largely relaxing at the house, picking up foster kitties from the local shelter, catching up on my votes, and finally heading down to the beach for an introduction to the Washington International Kite Festival. It was an overcast day, but the kite fliers weren't daunted. Today was tube day - anything tubular was welcome to fly. Plus there were demonstrations of various kite flying styles and a Rokkaku kite fighting competition.

I'd heard of Rokkaku before and was curious about it. I thought it would be an intense, high-speed event involving those trick-style kites you see ripping and roaring through the air at local beaches and parks. Turns out, it is THE slowest, quietest fight you've ever seen in your life. If ever there were a relaxing fight, this is it. The kites glide in the gentle breeze, and while the teams work to encircle each others lines to pull opponents' kites to the ground or cut their opponents' lines, onlookers who don't watch the teams on the ground can be a bit lost. It was all very slow to me 'til I started watching the folks on the ground. That's where the fun really started. They talk to each other, talk amongst their teammates to plot, and when it's over, they congratulate each other, cheer in delight, and there's a lot of laughter and joy in it.

Tomorrow - Kids n' Seniors Day.




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On the Road Again - Pacific Northwest 2010

Recently, Mr. B said something to me about our penchant for travel. It seems that while I felt we've been home FOR-EVER, he feels we're "always traveling." I couldn't figure out what he was talking about since, the way it came to my mind, the last BIG trip we took was in 2008. Sure, in 2009 the girls and I traveled to Utah (to see my family), Nebraska (while we were out thataway), and Colorado (to see his family) for about a month all totaled. The way I saw it, the girls and I hadn't gone ANYwhere since then!

But I checked the calendar. Turns out MY idea of "going nowhere" involves at least one weekend away from home almost every month. Since the new year, we visited family in Southern California for three days this winter, went to Disneyland with Mr. B in May, visited more family in Marin County for three days in July, and camped on the Central Coast in June (with sister-in-law, niece and nephews) and May (with homeschoolers from throughout California), and in the Sierra last weekend (with Grandpa). I guess my idea of "here" is "California."

Well, now we're on the road again. Since last November, we've known we'd be taking this trip north to Washington for the International Kite Festival on the Long Beach Peninsula. The girls and I set out VERY early Sunday morning and had a great stop at Turtle Bay Park in Redding - probably the only real reason to stop in Redding. (Thanks, Amy, for telling me about it.) We made it in time to enjoy the museum and the GPS Maze, a traveling exhibit by Geocaching.com, but the bird show had already come and gone. It was really hot, so we didn't do a lot with the outside attractions, including trails through the botanical garden, the Sundial Bridge, and the playground structures. But now we know where to stop whenever we're headed along this route.

Thanks to the Forest Service website, we were able to find a relatively fantastic place to camp for the night. The F.S. listed the campground as "underutilized" as well as convenient to the freeway. Plus, the price was right - Just $15/night. We towed in our little trailer just before sunset to find an almost abandoned campground which had recently had a serious clean out, including tree trimming, site raking, fire ring clean outs and restroom rehab. The host informed us we'd arrived on a fee-free night, too! What more could we ask? THEN we found the ripe blackberries growing along the trails to the wide, shallow river which provided just enough white noise to cancel out the freeway sounds. We'll probably make this a regular stop on this route in future.



The temperatures as we traveled north were ridiculously hot. I expected heat in Redding, but when we dropped out of the passes in Oregon it was STILL hot. We stopped at one of Oregon's many wonderful, wooded, park-like rest stops to play in the sprinklers and have a picnic lunch. While we were there, a family pulled in with their horse trailer and opted to let the horses out for some cool shade. It seems the weather was even too hot for traveling animals.



When we hit Portland, the temps were still ridiculously high. But E came up with a great idea for dinner on our way through town. She recalled Noodles, a place the girls and I discovered last winter during our visit here. The parking goddess was smiling down upon us - she saved us two adjacent parking spots along the curb directly outside the restaurant f0r easy parking WITH the trailer. Sure, we had to pay for two spots. Still, it was a great deal.

Managed to get to Seaview, where the marine layer had taken over and dropped temperatures, around 9:30 p.m.. A VERY long road trip. Next time, it has to be a 3- to 4-day drive. 600 miles per day, one day after another, is just too much.


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