How about those odds? A story of unbelievable odds that will ruin your gambling dreams!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

A few weeks back, my brother called me at 6:30 in the morning to tell me he saw my old car in North Seattle. He had recognized the old bumper stickers on it and knew it was my car, so he had given me a call. I must admit, that was kind of a fun surprise to know that my old 1983 Mercedes Benz 300D (Turbodiesel) was still running. My brother wanted to tell the current driver that the Mercedes Benz use to be owned by his handsome brother Kevin (OK, I added the handsome part) but wasn’t able to catch him.

It was a fun car to have. Sunroof, power windows, great fuel mileage. It was a tank but still a fun car.

The next day, I’m traveling back home from South Seattle College (former South Seattle Community College) and I roll up to a traffic light. As I am slowing down, I noticed a yellow Mercedes Benz in the left turn lane.

It is my car.

It has my bumper stickers on it and the same chrome rims. It has a few more dents but it is still running.

I rolled down my window and signaled for the driver to roll down his window. We chatted briefly in which I told him that my brother said he saw that car yesterday in North Seattle. The driver told me that he lives in North Seattle and that he was there yesterday morning.

It now has 500,000 miles on it (good old German engineering), huh?

Now, one has to wonder what the odds are that my brother would see my old car on Wednesday at 6:30 am in north Seattle and then the next day, I would see my car at 11:10 am in south Seattle? We haven’t seen this car in 14 years, yet in two days, two brothers see the same car and it was formerly owned by one of them? Seattle isn’t a small town…the car is now 32 years old…my brother saw it in on Wednesday morning and then I saw it on Thursday morning. What are the odds?

Happy Mother’s Day! A message from your favorite Worthless Advice Blogger!

~ K ~ 2 Comments

A Happy Mother’s Day to all the awesome moms that take the time to read my blog; I do appreciate you taking the time away from your kids to read my words of wisdom (or rather my Blog of Worthless Advice). Of course, by reading your blog you are really just learning how to be an even better mother than before, right?
Well, it probably has been a month since I last posted something; which is just plain awful. I was swamped with work (and still am) so I’ve put a lot of projects on the back burner. Then, when I do have free time, I’ve been working on Boy Scout projects or hikes. In fact, last month we did a service project and managed to get in a hike. I’ve decided to include my Girl Scout troop in on these hikes and the girls do just. Our last hike was on May 2 to Taylor Mountain here in King County. I thought it was going to be between 3 to 5 miles but we logged in 8.65 miles on a wonderfully sunny Pacific Northwest day! You can’t complain when you get a great hike in!
I’m still behind on my work, but I’m fairly confident, I can catch up this week. Of course, this is what I say every week. But again, I think I can do it this week. It’s all about positive thinking, right?

And You Thought Your Cat Has It Rough!

~ K ~ 2 Comments

It’s a sad day in America when you don’t have enough space in your car to have your cat ride on the inside of your SUV. But on the plus side, the cat gets first dibs on those tasty bugs that smash into the windshield! Yummy!

At least my imaginary cat, Mr. Whiskers gets to rid in a comfy cage to his vet appointments.

Not Mr. Whiskers....
Not Mr. Whiskers….

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news/picture-captures-leashed-cat-riding-car-hood-ohio-n329396

http://player.theplatform.com/p/2E2eJC/nbcNewsOffsite?guid=nc_cattiedtoc_150324

Time to Start Doing….Something?

~ K ~ 2 Comments

Yes, it’s Friday night.  This is the time when you reflect on your week and think about what an awesome weekend you have planned.  That’s if you aren’t too busy.  Now, being busy can mean different things.  For a middle age guy that lives in the suburbs, that might be watching your favorite shows on Hulu.  For the twenty something douche bag crowd, you might be in the hip bars of your city doing the douche bag crowd things you like to do.   You might be the retired grandma at the country club, and throwing back a few glasses of wine to drown the sorrows of your life.  Remember wine isn’t for disenfranchised PTA mothers anymore.

I personally enjoy folding my laundry on a wonderful Friday night.  Maybe eat some microwave popcorn while enjoying a little Tullamore whisky to fulfill the image of a suburban father on a Friday night.

Whatever you have planned, enjoy your evening.  Best of luck to you!

Do Nothing….and get jealous.

~ K ~ 2 Comments

I hate to say this but I’m jealous of my friend.   Last night he told me he was writing a book. He has never expressed any interest in writing before and now drops this bombshell on me. I haven’t done anything except write a few blogs once in a while. And he mentioned he has 100 pages of rough draft. Talk about making me feel like I’ve done nothing with my life.

Holy cow, I need to do something right? At least whip out a few pages of something…a short story? I mentioned his book project to my wife. She said “Boy, what if his writing is better than yours? Considering I haven’t even started a novel, yeah, I think his writing is better than mine.

Drought Time in the Olympic Mountains – Does this mean I have to drink my swimming pool water?

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Jeez, I knew this was coming. With the lack of snow this winter and spring fast approaching, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a drought situation was coming.  Last night, we heard that the Olympic Mountains are in a state of drought.  This means that us water whores in the Seattle area need to be worried.  Pretty soon our Cascade Mountian Range will most likely be in a state of drought as well.

 We may be forced to turn to our swimming pools and hot tubs to water our huge lawns over the summer. I’m seriously worried that I won’t be able to relax knowing my water bill may skyrocket when the water district jacks up the price of water to combat folks like me that just leave our garden hoses running.

Frankly, we live in the Pacific Northwest so we know it is our right to allow water to pour out of our faucets without a care in the world.  Sorry California and other dry states, we usually don’t have a drought problem in soggy Seattle so we don’t care about your “feelings” about conserving water.

But now I am concerned about water and that sucks. One of the benefits of living here in Washington is the massive snowpack we get during the winter that allows us to not care about how much water we use. I might actually have to think about my water use.  That isn’t fun for me.  I shouldn’t have to think about water.  I should just able to swim, waterski, or drink water without a care in the world.

Sigh.  Now this summer will probably shape up to be a “water restrictions” summer. Great. We will be like Texas or California but without the sunshine and heat.

Thanks for reading…I’m off to turn on my neighbor’s faucet to fill up my pool.



Kauai, Maui, Sunny March Weather in Seattle! Oh My!

~ K ~ 1 Comment

IMG_5778Yesterday, we had some beautiful sunny March weather here in Seattle. I was actually out on my back deck enjoying the sunshine and working on my suntan. It must have been about 65-70 degrees out. Even after we “sprung” ahead into Daylight Savings Time, I got some stuff around the house accomplished. So spending a few minutes on the back deck with my wife and daughter was a treat that was well deserved.

We usually, have pretty gray weather around here in March but not lately. Last week, we went hiking in the sun.   I have been able to preserve my Hawaii tan for a lot longer than I thought I would. Yes, dear readers, I was gone for two weeks to Hawaii in February. I spent a week on Kauai with my daughter visiting my parents and then we flew to Maui and join my wife and my son for another week. Life is rough.

My last trip to Hawaii was two years ago and that was to Kauai. I haven’t been to Maui in 15 years. To be honest, both are wonderful places but I prefer Kauai. I admit I lean towards Kauai (since I went to school there and lived on Kauai as a teenager). My wife likes Maui because she use to live there. As I always say, Hawaii is a great place to visit but not as fun to live there.

Koi Fish Pond
Koi Fish Pond

What? How can I say that? How can I say Hawaii isn’t an awesome place to live? When you take a vacation, everything is awesome. I’m relaxed, I don’t worry about money, and I’m living in a nice condo resort with hot tubs, swimming pools, and sunny beaches. I picture myself relaxing and drinking every day of my life if I lived in Hawaii. Heck, every time I’m on vacation I think how wonderful it would be to live in Washington, NYC, Eastern Washington, etc. Where ever I am at, I can picture me enjoying living there. My family and I would be hanging out at the pool every day. In reality, you have to work or you would be retired. Ah, retirement. But you would be doing the same thing as you would be doing now. Just in a warmer, humid climate.

Now, I’m not turning down the opportunity to move to Kauai or Hawaii in general if someone offered me a job there. Both my wife and I know what it is like to live there.   But rest assured dear readers, I’m still a few years away from retirement, I haven’t won the lottery, and my online business hasn’t taken off where I can retire from school photography just yet.

Do you have a place you wish you could move to? What is holding you back from moving or even taking a vacation?Kaua'i - The Garden Isle

Back into the Thick of It: Hiking Greenwater Lakes Trail 1176

~ K ~ 2 Comments

In the Seattle and Puget Sound area, our cold winter weather is nowhere to be seen. Our snow pack in the mountains is low so most likely we will have a drought in the Puget Sound area. However, this has allowed us to do some great little hikes we usually wouldn’t do this time of year.

This past Saturday, I went with Boy Scout Troop 480 to the Greenwater Lakes off of Highway 410. These lakes are a little outside the town of Greenwater, Washington. The hike to the Greenwater Lakes is a flat hike of about two miles with an elevation gain of maybe 800-1000 feet. We logged in a total of 7 miles round trip after we hiked past the Greenwater Lakes, had lunch, and back to the car.  Trail is fairly dry but there are mud patches. 

Troop 480 Greenwater Lakes crew!

With an earlier start and a longer day, Echo Lake is a doable day hike.

One of the five bridges we crossed.



Who needs a sandwich? We have a hot lunch!

The best water is from the middle of the stream!


We used our water filters to get some mountain fresh water from the river for lunch. As you can see from the photos, we cooked up some Mountain House meals for a hot lunch on a cool, winter day.

Access to the trailhead is along paved Forest Service roads.  I estimate 10 miles out of Greenwater. You will need to pay a day use fee or have a Northwest Forest Pass to park in the parking lot.

Thanks for reading!

Should You Care About What You Post?

~ K ~ 17 Comments

I am by far, not a prefect writer.  My sentence structure is poor and my grammar can be criminal at times.  I make mistakes.  However, I try to minimize my mistakes by proofreading.  I do eliminate as many typos as possible and actually capitalize the beginning of each sentence.  Why do I bring this?  Mainly because I’ve been reading a few new blogs and the bloggers don’t seem to think that it is important to capitalize anything.  To me, it is very confusing and annoying.  I also see it as a sign of laziness.

Should it bother me so much?  Am I being too picky?  No, I’m not.  I would rather read a blog post, a book, or a short story where the author actually cared enough to pay attention to the details.  I want my mind to gobble up the story and not have to slow down to interpret what the author meant when they should have capitalized “I”.  Did they mean to leave it lower case?Was the sentence supposed to start there?  Or maybe a comma should have gone there?

I just want the author to care.  I want them to care enough to take pride in their work and make me want to read it.  Trust me; I read a lot.  Some people are better writers than me and some are much worse.  But if they care about what they are writing, it shows in their work.  If they care enough, then they might hook me into finishing their writing, get me to care and be involved.

If you are going to write, at least have pride in your work.  Take pride in knowing I appreciate your hard work and effort to entertain me.  Thanks for reading my post; now get back to your writing

!DSCI0644

Twin Falls State Park Hike – North Bend, WA

~ K ~ Leave a comment
image3
Twin Falls in North Bend….no one fell in so the hike was a success in my book!

The semester ended for our kids this past Monday so the whole school district has to let the kids off for the day. I’m not sure if my kids really go to school for a full five days in a row. What, with all the holidays, late start days, etc. my kids never seem to go to school for a full week.

Wait children….

However, we aren’t here to complain about the state of our education system. Instead we are here to chat about another great little hike here in the Seattle area. It is the Twin Falls Hike off of I-90 in the North Bend area. This is a short hike coming in at only two miles round trip.

Of all the years I have live here, I have never done this hike. With all of this great winter weather we have been having lately, I thought we should take advantage of going on an easy hike during the “off season” of hiking. (Die hard hikers would say there is never an “off season”). From what I have read about this hike, it is a fairly popular hike especially during the summer. Consider it is January and we usually have a bunch of rain, I figured this is as a good time as any to do this hike.

Luckily, I checked the trail report at wta.org and learned that there was a washout on the trail to the Twin Falls. This would stop is if we left from the traditional trailhead off of Exit 34. Good thing I check it out before we started our hike. The Wta.org website is an excellent resource for all hikes in Washington State and I highly recommend checking it out before any hike.

We modified our starting point to the Ollalie State Park parking lot off of Exit 38. You start your hike on the Iron Horse Trail for about half a mile until you come to the spur/trail to the Twin Falls trail. The Iron Horse Trail is an old Burlington Northern railroad bed (now a service road) so the downhill grade is mild for about half a mile. The trail to Twin Falls is clearly marked (from the Iron Horse Trail) and you won’t miss it (unless your face is buried in your phone texting a friend).

After you leave the Iron Horse Trail and use the Twin Falls Trail, you will be going downhill for about 3/4 of a mile. Just remember, you will be going down and that means the way back is uphill.

Easy trail down for my hiking partners and myself. In our hiking band, we had my wife, my daughter, and another Girl Scout (and friend) with us. No one complained about the hike so that means it is a fairly easy one for 12 year old girls and 40 year old parents.

For all you math geeks, the different route brings this hike in at 2.5 miles.

Awesome detailed map of where you will be lost. The best part? You won’t have a clue of where you are at!

Overall, this hike is a good family hike and easy to do. We left the Covington area around 2 pm and we’re back to Covington by 5 pm. That included a stop at McDonalds for hot fudge sundaes (for the girls). Hey, I’m working out so I can win the Fat Ass Dads Weight Loss Challenge so I’m skipping that stuff. Well, until I get home…then I pig out and cry into my bowl of chocolate peanut ice cream….

At least Cyndi (my imaginary stalker) cares….

See those two dots? Those would be the kids I’m suppose to be in charge of.