Yesterday, RyJa, kids, Jason, Smartz and I took a trip to the kite shop. There, three kites were bought. Jason, Taviri and Sarah all got kited.

We then headed to Gasworks Park.

Even Arkaedi got to fly a kite!

We headed up to Carkeek Park for more kite flying.

Here, you can see all of the pics…

The bunch of us¹ recently ventured to Gas Works Park. There we saw a fine little vessel called Amazing Grace…

After some searching, I found a website about her:

“Amazing Grace is a topsail schooner and sets a square topsail on the foremast and seven fore and aft sails: gaff main, gaff topsail, main and fore staysails, fisherman staysail, and inner and outer jibs. These can be used in different combinations to suit the wind conditions. The rigging is complex and logical having evolved over the last two hundred years. She was originally rigged as a brigantine and would have carried three square sails; a course, topsail, and topgallant. We plan on restoring her to this original rig by adding these three sails soon!”

Though I couldn’t get any pictures of it, she does seem to be equipped with some firepower. We heard her firing her guns on a couple of occasions, which must frighten the crap out of other boats in the area (which is, of course, hilarious).

1. Ryan, Jaime, Taviri, Arkaedi, Ryan Full, Jason, Smartz and I [↩]

Ryan, Jason, Sarah and I hit the annual Greenwood Car Show just a few blocks away from our place. It was two miles of (mostly) classic and antique cars!

There were about a billion people there and I took a LOT of pictures (discovering that I kind of suck at taking pictures of cars).

But anyway, here they are!

Click to open photo gallery.

I’ve been impressed with the comings and goings of the tides at Carkeek Park in Seattle. Around the new moon, they vary more than I’ve seen in other places.

I’ve tried my best(ish) to capture the differences. I didn’t do such a great job, which is a shame, because it’s pretty impressive. I guess everyone will just have to come here and see for themselves.

You can click on them to make them a bit bigger. Sorry for the crappy quality – I really don’t know how to do the panorama thing.

Here are four shots from sort of the same angle. The day of the lowtide was really sunny, but the evening of the high tide was very evening. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do this again with better results.

So there. It’s much more impressive in real life.
Here’s a gallery of the low tide pics.

As you could almost see in one of the high tide pics, Smartz has decided to stick around Seattle for the summer. It took a little journey for her to come to that conclusion and eventually she might get around to posting about it on her blog.

Got a new splint the other day and I got to see my lovely pins. I get to see them three times a day (to clean them).

Want to see them? If you’re squeamish, don’t look, ok?

Well, that’s that. Fun, huh?

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go ahead and click the picture…
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For most, the 4th of July is a one-day event with family and fireworks. But for years now, for me, it’s just the day after the anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg.

In past years, I’d ride down on June 30 and stay till the morning of the fourth, spending each of those days touring the battlefield. The park offers free tours, each about two hours long, describing more specific parts of the battle.

This year is the first year that I simply just can’t make it for the anniversary (being 3,000ish mile away).

Thankfully, PCN TV (Pennsylvania Cable Network) not only videotapes and broadcasts the tours on their station, but they have now added streaming video to their website. This means that I don’t have to miss a single tour! It also means that I don’t have to deal with the horrible humidity, ticks, sunburn, exhaustion and so-so Chinese food that Gettysburg brings. Oddly, I’ll still miss all of those.

The tours this year are pretty good, though I may skip one or two that I’ve been on before.

Here is the tentative schedule (in Eastern Time)

Thursday, July 2
12:00 a.m. – The Attack and Defense of Oak Ridge with Eric Campbell

Friday, July 3
12:00 a.m. – Benning’s Brigade (This is part of a larger tour – three groups will follow three different brigades – this tour follows Benning)

Saturday, July 4
12:00 a.m. – The Pre-Dawn Engagement at McAllister Ridge with Troy Harman (YAY!)

2:00 pm – In the Footsteps of the 157th New York with Scott Hartwig
4:00 pm – Law’s Brigade ((This is part of a larger tour – three groups will follow three different brigades – this tour follows Law)
6:00 pm – Robertson’s Brigade ((This is part of a larger tour – three groups will follow three different brigades – this tour follows Robertson)
8:00 pm – Major-General Jubal A. Early Early’s Attack on East Cemetery Hill with Troy Harman (YAY!)
10:00 pm – In the Footsteps of the 15th Alabama: A Family Program with Barb Sanders

Sunday, July 5
12:00 am – Pickett’s Charge: Kemper’s Brigade
2:00 am – Pickett’s Charge: The Union Response

3:00 p.m. – Cemetery Ridge: A Visual History with Tim Smith and Gary Adelman (these guys are always really fun/funny)

Not a bad little schedule. They are missing two tours, (The Struggle for Culp’s Hill on July 2 and To Save a Life – The Evacuation and Treatment of the Wounded), but usually they miss more.

Though they haven’t mentioned it, they often run tours from previous years. More than likely, I’ll be seen in one or more of them, if I can, I’ll grab a screen cap.

Ok, HERE is the PCNTV site where you can watch the tours.

Here’s a bit on the tours themselves (on the right and down a bit).

And here is a great site on Gettysburg.

The last time I was on an anniversary tour was in 2007. I wrote some fun stuff about it here, here, here and here.

Aside from the tours, my favorite thing is people watching. In the links above, you’ll see some strange and fun folks, so click away.

This guy was my favorite:

I was actually going to introduce myself to him because he looked really, really friendly. Sadly, he left before I did.

OK! That’s enough for now.

Smartz will be taking her leave of the west coast for the summer, to return in September. She’s taken a summer job back home.

I was trying to get a job there too, but they had nothing for me, so Smartz is starting back today on a solo journey across the US.

She’s not going to do much sight seeing or anything like that, but she will be posting on her blog, as usual.

I’m really envious of her for getting to go across the country twice (here to there and back again), but mostly she will be missed.

Return in one piece, Smartz. Try not to let the icky, oppressive humidity destroy your soul and try to find something to eat somehow.

Hurry back, ok?