I’m back from three weeks on the road, and I’ve seen and done so much my head is spinning!

One definite theme throughout the trip, though, was that at each friend or family member’s home we visited, there was a pet. Or two.

Now, were I a better blogger, I might have thought, “I should take photos of each of the pets we visit for a blog post!” But, alas, I’m just not that prescient. So, this series of posts will not feature photos of all the furry friends we made. I’ll leave that up to your imagination.

The first place we stayed was actually my parents’ house in Edmonds. That’s where Miss Sassypants and Mr. Shmee stayed during our vacation.

My parents are saints for agreeing to keep them, since there are already two cats residing there: my sister’s is Apollo, and my brother’s is Loki. My mom was especially nervous because the first cat I owned as a grown-up, Captain Groovy, was staying with my parents when he was hit and killed by a car. But I assured her that these cats are much more road savvy, and there was nothing to worry about.

Except, of course, how all four cats would get along.

You see, Sassy and Shmee don’t have what I would call a “close” friendship. And my sister’s cat still won’t forgive the family for bringing in Loki. So the four together would be an interesting combination. My biggest fear was that Sassy and Apollo wouldn’t get along. I figured Loki and Shmee (the two younger and more easygoing of the bunch) would end up playing together the whole time.

Man, was I wrong.

Turns out, Sassy took over the whole house and yard, adopted my dad as her personal petter, and intimidated the other three cats (who are all male and much larger than her). Apollo ignored the whole thing. Loki wasn’t feeling well, and was grumpy and standoffish the whole time. And poor Mr. Shmee — he hid in the basement for three weeks, afraid of anything that moved.

Needless to say, Shmee was mighty glad to have his home, and his family, back. Sassy seemed disappointed to leave her new “Summer Villa”. Both survived the ordeal, and are none the worse for wear.

Next in the series: Clijoh, the foot-licking cat from Portland

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My husband Brian and I visited some friends in Bellingham this weekend. That meant that we had to squeeze in many eating adventures into one too-short weekend. The good part is that, since much of the weekend involved timing our activities around food, we got to do lots of chatting.

Our first stop on the food tour was Boundary Bay Brewery. They make pan fried, cornmeal crusted oysters that are the best non-raw oysters I’ve eaten.

Later on that evening, we headed to Fairhaven to take a walk along the boardwalk/pier thing and finish the night out with gelato at Sirena. People were crabbing along the pier. I was jealous. I wanted to get myself a crab pot and some raw meat and eat my catch, but alas, I’ve never done it before and don’t have the equipment or a license or anything else necessary for crabbing. Oh well.

In the morning, my friend, Sara, and I headed out for coffee and pastries and gathered up some bagels at The Bagelry for me to take home. Then we headed up to Trader Joe’s for treats.

Our last stop was LaFeen’s for awesome doughnuts. I ate my buttermilk bar on the drive home — delicious.

All in all, the weekend could hardly have seen better food. Good times.

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Just listened to Loggins and Messina doing “Danny’s Song.” Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it. I used to go to The Loft in the Pruneyard in Campbell CA after my weekly summer school night class at De Anza College and listen to Greg Harris, a very young man who performed all the songs I loved, or learned to love.  He was SO good. Same age as my older son. Sigh. 

Loggins and Messina had that song on their record’  ”Sittin In” 1971.  Record? Look it up. It’s in the dictionary. Big round black thing. Music came from it. You had to have a needle in a machine.  Tapes were just coming out.  Ah, technology!

Pure Prairie League just finished “Let Me Love You Tonight.” I would have put a You Tube of it here but don’t know how.  Doug Shirk…HELP!  Hey! Thanks, Doug, for the YouTube link.

And now Carly Simon..”Nobody does it better.” Double meaning here. I have to leave Mellow Rock for awhile sometimes as I get all reminiscent and weepy over the times of the late 60’s and the 70’s and the music from that time. 

OMG   (Oh My Goodness, in case you’re wondering_)  Now, Simon and Garfunkel. I have to switch to TV, even though for me TV is a last resort. I’d rather go to bed and read.  Too many memories on Mellow Rock.  I see a Pink Panther movie is on. Good for putting memories back where they belong. Tom Wolfe may well have written, “You can’t go back again.:

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…or I should say of interest to me but either way here’s a list of September shows.

9-3 Marilyn Manson at the Knitting Factory in Spokane however it is Sold Out.

9 5-6-7 Bumbershoot in Seattle. There’s a lot there but there’s really no one of interest playing, well I do like Katy Perry.

9-9 Reel Big Fish, ska at it’s best, at the Showbox At The Market and I do have my tickets for this one.

9-9 Mike Got Spiked at The Funhouse in Seattle punk from Ireland

9-10 Supersuckers at Neumo’s in Seattle great country. That’s right I used the words “great” and “country” in the same sentence.

9-12 The Boss Martians at The Central in Seattle good R-n-R.

9-15 Pink at The WAMU Theater in Seattle. Not sure if this is still on. It is no longer listed on the WAMU site but it’s still listed on Pinks site.

9-16 Flogging Molly at The Knitting Factory in Spokane celtic punk at it’s finest.

9-17 Flogging Molly once again on the west side of the state at The Marymoor Amphitheater in Redmond.

9-18 Dillinger Four w/ Riverboat Gamblers at El Corazon in Seattle good punk.

9-21 & 22 Pearl Jam at The Keyarena in Seattle grunge from the past.

9-22 Shinedown headlining at The Showbox Sodo in Seattle

9-23 Billy Talent at El Corazon in Seattle.

9-27 A flash from the past Living Colour with all the original members at Studio Seven in Seattle.

9-28 Semi Prescious Weapons as an opening act on the Perez Hilton Tour, they should really be a headliner, at The Showbox At The Market in Seattle.

And that’s it for September.

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If, as  Benjamin Franklin once said, “A penny saved is a penny earned,”  we just earned $85. while on vacation

About six weeks ago I read a study on how driving habits affect the fuel economy of a car. As we were preparing to travel  4000 miles (round trip) shortly, I passed the article along to my driver. Nothing more was said about it and we prepared to leave.

I keep travel records of our longer trips. In my book I record the date we leave, the times we stop and start, the mileage at which we start and stop, the cost of gas per gallon, number of gallons and location of each purchase. I also record food and other travel expenses.  It is very helpful, when traveling the same route again, to know that fod at **** was BAD in ****, and the ****motel was not clean or comfortable.It also helps me keep track of where Costco stores with gas stations are located. And I can compare the last trip on this route to our present one.

We headed for Wenatchee and Costco and filled up.  As we pulled out onto Hwy.28,  Alex informed me that we were going to experiment on this trip. He was setting cruise control at 60-65  for maximum speed, to see just how accurate the article on fuel economy was.  Almost everyone knows that slowing down does save gas, but is it enough to bother about?

After I got over the shock, I was more than happy.  I would be able to see the scenery and admire the views–not that he ever before exceeded the 75 mph speed limit on Interstates!

Our car displays a screen which shows fuel use and mpg, among other things. We started out at 26 mpg and watched, fascinated, as the miles rolled by and the mpg number crept slowly up: 29, 30, 31. By the time we reached Wyoming we had hit 34.3. Taking one non-freeway road at sixty helped. But in Wyoming,  because  everyone in a motor vehicle was whizzing by at unbelievable speeds (yes, that used to be us), cruise control was set at 70. We still were passed–one time, I swear, by a bicycle. But mpg stayed up. By Omaha it had dipped a little to 33.7 but came back up in Iowa.

On previous trips like this, our mileage would average 26.7 to maybe 27.2.  So we averaged six more miles on each gallon of gas, or nearly a hundred more miles per tank.  I checked my notebook records  to be sure the numbers displayed by the car were correct. They were.

So perhaps these studies and statistics we read aren’t all “made up.”  Our four cylinder Subaru Outback isn’t advertised as being  fuel efficient, but we have been happy at averaging 25-26 around here and 27 on the road. Now, having learned how much speed really does affect our mileage, we are very happy. Not only do we feel safe in our all-wheel drive car, but we know it will get us up and down our winter driveway with ease, and with reasonable gas economy.

Maybe Pres. Nixon wasn’t too far off when, in response to the 1973 oil crisis,  he signed the bill January 2, 1974, reducing the speed limit to 55.

And, while we aren’t quite ready to go back to a speed limit of  55 mph, we do wonder how much better mileage we’d get if we did.

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I’ve always liked Drew Carey.  Not his politics for sure and not really the way he hosts The Price Is Right, but boy, the guy sure can rock.  Back from when the original Drew Carey Show opening using The Vogues 1966 smash “Five O’Clock World”…..

….which in turn became a hit again in 1990 when the show used it.  The show’s take on “Time Warp”, along with the Peaches and Herb song “Dance With You”…….

….the fact that Drew actually can sing……

and the later opening credits that used The Presidents of The United States…..

….which brings up an interesting question.  Who did the original version of “Cleveland Rocks”?  Simple, Ian Hunter from his 1979 LP “You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic”.    I don’t know the date of this video, but here’s Ian doing his song……

Nothing against The Presidents, but Ian definately ROCKS.

Have a great weekend……

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On July 16, 1949, a crowd of 3,000 spectators watched 12-year-old David Weedin win the first All-American Soap Box Derby here. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Weedin of East Wenatchee.

Weedin drove his sleek orange racer across the finish line three times during the day to win the North Central Washington Championship. His fastest time was 38.1 seconds for the 1,100-foot course.

Weedin, Class B champion, defeated Donald Holman, Class A champion, for the right to compete in the national finals in Akron, Ohio. Holman won the Class A title by defeating Duane Dodson of Wenatchee and Ronald  McMahon of Ephrata. McMahon had previously defeated Dwight Squibb of Wenatchee in the first round of heats.

Weedin also won the Shell Oil Co. award for the best constructed vehicle. His prize was a tool kit.

In this photograph, Weedin is congratulated by Don Miller, a sponsor of the event

I could not determine where this Derby was held. Does anyone know?

Based on the attendance figure, this must have been a popular pasttime back then.

Did you participate or attend Soap Box Derby competitions? How long were they held here?

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The Arctic Monkeys do one of my favorite things bands can do with their music: Make songs that are distinctly different from one another while always remaining recognizable as their own.

Their new album, “Humbug,” is so beautiful and interesting it almost makes my face explode. And by that I mean I’m, in standard human terms, choked up, or in the popular Yiddish vernacular, a little verklempt. This happens sometimes when I’m overwhelmed by something amazing, like a shirtless Ryan Reynolds, or little baby kitties, or that scene in “Watchmen” when Nite Owl punches that dude in the arm. Stuff like that.

Because of the insurgence this year of concept albums, I can’t help but listen to other records in those terms. To me, “Humbug” is a gritty tale of espionage, told through musical themes of good and evil. It opens with “My Propeller,” the good spy’s noir avatar, followed by “Crying Lightning” with its crunchy bassline — clearly the introduction of the villain. It ends with “The Jeweller’s Hands,” hinting at a spaghetti western ending that mimics the licks of Ennio Morricone.

The band’s sound resembles an osmosis of The Doors and Spacehog, elevated by an undeniable cloak and dagger quality. Different musical elements stand out in different tracks, such as the classical march and handclaps strewn about “Potion Approaching,” not to mention the moment at about the 2:10 mark where the song lapses into a deliciously sludgy rhythm. “Cornerstone” takes the beat- and bass-heavy record to a more romantic realm where vocalist Alex Turner sings of a lost love left lingering by doppelgängers, visions and daydreams. The heaving tones of “Pretty Visitors” denote a feeling of dread and doom, muscled by cymbal crashes, drum rolls and forceful chord strokes.

Dark and brooding, yet at the same time bright and energized, “Humbug” is a magnificent success.

“Crying Lightning”

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So, a couple of weeks ago I read a story about eating healthy breakfasts. I’ll be the first to admit that my healthy breakfast eating is sporadic at best. Often, I’ll only drink a mocha. If I’m really hungry, I’ll buy some sort of unhealthy pastry too. And on rare, rare occasions, I’ll have an egg or a piece of fruit or something decent to start out my day.

Thus, I was quite intrigued by the story and its suggestions on how to fit a healthier breakfast into your day. One of the most appealing suggestions (to me at least) was to make a peanut butter and banana smoothie. So, I went to the store and bought a couple of bananas and some peanut butter. I whirred a banana and a couple of scoops of peanut butter together with some plain yogurt and cocoa powder yesterday morning. Then I poured the smoothie into a leftover iced tea cup and stuffed it in our freezer. I placed it in the refrigerator last night to thaw a bit.

This morning, the smoothie’s consistency was perfect. The flavor was fantastic, but it was incredibly rich. In the future, and this will definitely have a place in my breakfast future, I’ll use fat-free plain yogurt. The banana and peanut butter make the smoothie thick enough without the full-fat yogurt.

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You thought Hollywood’s machine-mania reached rock bottom with “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” All that screaming metal unfolding to convert a yellow Chevrolet into a kind of sad, giant robot — surely the industry’s special effects guys would move beyond these gears and gizmos to tackle other challenges.

Nope. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” a blockheaded summer blockbuster if there ever was one, fast becomes gadget-porn and pounds you, pounds you, pounds you relentlessly for almost two aching hours. If a soldier wields a gun, then we see it from all angles with exploded views and x-ray simulations. If a jet soars out of nowhere, we get on-screen gibberish that’s supposed to be stress specs and … really, it’s too stupid to even describe. At times, the screen is so full of this nonsense that it’s actually hard to decipher what’s happening.

Which isn’t terrible, because I’m not sure we really want to know where this infantile plot and non-existent acting will lead. Actor Channing Tatum, channeling Marlon Brando at his mumbling worst, looks mostly puzzled, confused or comatose. When he finally kisses cat-suited Sienna Miller, he seems less in love and simply resigned to rub his lips on her face. And, oh brother, Sienna as the evil Baroness has been coached to move with a fashion model’s bouncy runway gait, unintentionally hilarious when she struts through fuel depots ignited by phosphorous bombs.

There’s more: the Joe squad has ridiculous names that they actually use in battle (”Watch out, Storm Shadow!”), Dennis Quaid as General Hawk pretty much stands around a video screen saying the obvious (”We need to stop those bombs before they destroy Paris!” or something like that), and the physics of fluid mechanics are ignored as mini-fighter submarines whiz around like jets in undersea dogfights (”Behind you, Snake Eyes!”).

Unfortunately, this summer mess has reduced ol’ G.I. Joe, a cool toy in its heyday, from a Hasbro hero to a horrid has-been.

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