Well, HI!
Nothing special tonight but I do have to gloat just a bit. If you read my blog yesterday, you will have seen that I predicted that it should get up to 47 degrees by 5:00 PM. Well, Almie and I were returning from Port Angeles last evening at 4:46 PM and the outside temperature was exactly 47 degrees. Good, ain't I?!
Bill-Bo

Good Afternoon, folks.

While the much of the rest of the country is experiencing extreme cold, we here in Sequim, WA are having a heat wave. It got up to 40 this morning on our front porch. It has shot up to 45 now at half after noon and we may hit 47 by supper time. The sun is out and it is a beautiful day. I have said many times since we moved here that when the sun comes out, it comes out with a vengeance. So do the people who live here - maybe not with a vengeance but, boy! are they out! The city population here is a bit over 4,000 but I think they are all out in our little, increasingly busy downtown. When Almie and I first came up here about ten years ago and discovered Sequim (entirely by accident), there was only one stop sign in the whole town - at the intersection of Washington Street (the main drag) and Sequim Avenue. When we moved here in 2001, they had added a bypass for US-101 which used to use Washington Street to get through town and two traffic signals - one at Sequim Avenue and another one at Fifth Avenue. The only two really large stores in town were Safeway, close to the center of town and QFC (market) at the east end. There was a "plaza" with a J.C. Penny store as an anchor and a couple of banks. The tallest building in town was a grain elevator at Fifth and Washington. That elevator is still there but is no longer used for anything but a landmark. There is now a Mexican restaurant in the lower part of that building. There was a Costco about a mile east of town and that was basically it.

But, baby, look at us now. In the seven years that we have lived here, we have added a Wal*Mart, Home Depot, Petco, Office Depot, Applebee's, a UPS store and several more businesses including new banks, restaurants, medical clinics & an extension of Olympic Medical Center of Port Angeles. Much to the consternation of many of the old folks in town, our city fathers saw fit to install (the bane of Boston) three roundabouts. Many seasoned citizens still seem to take root at the approaches to them instead of merely pausing or slowing down to check for other cars already in the loops. Come to think of it, some of those people actually seem to take root in the aisles at Wal*Mart or Safeway, etc.. I only wish they would do it a bit less suddenly when they are in front of me. Sheesh!

Well, that's enough drivel for now. It's time for my nap. I'll be back.

The picture is of Lake Crescent - about 35 miles west of us. Pretty, huh

Bill

Okay, Pat - - - the profile is up and running. Do your thing.
Have a great day.
Bill & Almie

Well, shucks, folks. Here I am again. We finally are getting a break in the weather. It is supposed to last through Thursday before we have a 10% chance of rain. Actually, I am not complaining. We have very little rain here in Sequim. Our annual rainfall is less than 15 inches. That is less than they get in the Sacramento Valley where we moved from. Port Angeles is only 18 miles west of us and they get from 18 to 20 inches of rain per year. We have had a little snow - less than four inches but it has been quite cold - more so than we have seen in the past years we have lived here.

Almie and I will probably take a little ride this coming week to take in the scenery around us. We never tire of it. We get to live where other people pay to go for a vacation. Cool, huh?! We are less than 45 minutes to the top of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park and less than 10 minutes from the Strait of Juan de Fuca which connects Puget Sound with the Pacific Ocean. Sequim is about 70 miles (as the crow flies) from the north-western-most point of the continental United States (Cape Flattery). We have driven out there several times in the past 7 years. The ride is beautiful but the road was laid out by a drunk worm! It is all worth it, though. The Makah Indian Tribe has an excellent museum at Neah Bay which is just before Cape Flattery.

Also to the west of us is Lake Crescent which reminds me a lot of the lake in Farewell To Arms that Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones travelled across to get to freedom. (I guess I just "dated" myself. *sigh*) Lake Crescent is one of the most beautiful spots up here for my money. There is a lodge there with a good restaurant and some cabins for summer retreat. South of the lake is the town of Forks. Now there, they get rain - over 100 inches annually. They get all the heavy stuff and the clouds are all but spent before they get to Sequim. That weather effect is called a rain shadow and we are glad for that. It is one of the reasons we moved here. We get enough rain to keep everything green but not so much that we get sick of it.

I will post more later about where we are blessed to live. Keep an eye on us.

I have posted pictures of the rest of our "family." Whisper is out 3 year old Golden Retriever and Kelly is our (about) 6 year old, 20 pound ball of fuzz.

The two of them get along great - as long as EVERYONE remembers WHO is boss! Kelly, of course.

Have a great day.

Bill & Almie

I am teaching Almie how to do this also so you can disregard this post also.

You can really disregard this post. I am just trying to make sure I know how to keep this thing going.

C-ya.

Bill

Baby Steps

Good Afternoon!
After some trepidation, we have decided to join the 21st century. Since we were born not quite midway in the 20th century, it has taken us some time to catch up. *sigh*

Anyway, this is probably a good way to stay in touch with a lot more people and keep them (you) up-to-date on our goings and comings.

There will be more posted in the near future but for now, just know that we are well and happy and still nuts about each other after more than thirty-one years together.

Check out Almie's web site at http://www.sassyfrasspress.com/ and get a glimpse of the little book she wrote during her bout with breast cancer. Just for the record, she is now "clean" for three years. We thank God for that along with tons of other things He makes us thankful for on a daily basis.

More later.

Have a great day y'all.

Bill & Almie