Change

Back when we first got Jake he was just a little guy. I think the first time we weighed him he was like 8 or 9 pounds. His body was shorter than my forearm. He was a little pill. Just ask Chelsea. I had this new job that I had to go to all the time, so she bore the brunt of his 4 month old attitude. He's still a punk, and he'll still lie to your face if you catch him doing something he shouldn't, but we're just as glad as ever to have him around. (Except now he takes up more space on the couch.)

Some Recent Pics & Etc.

It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would write a little and show some of my recent pictures. I'll start out with a couple of Jake. He and I were haning out around the new church bulding that we got. It was a little before sunset so the light was kind of cool.
These next pictures are of these new stoves I've been tinkering with. They're made out of pop cans and run on almost any kind of alcohol. About an ounce of fuel will burn for about 7-8 minutes and can easily boil two cups of water. Basically I cut the bottom off of two pop cans with one can section just a little taller then the other and shove them together. I'm keeping this description brief to spare the large majority of my readers who probably don't care how the stove is made, but if you'd like more info, then I would again direct you to google. I also made this little pot stand out of a coat hanger. It's getting harder to come by a metal coat hanger these days. This picture is the first of these stoves I made. (The above picture is the second). Pop cans a pretty easy to come by so I just keep making them. Apperantly the best stoves are made using 12oz. Heineken Beer cans. Since I'm not a beer drinker those are tougher to find, but the pop cans seem to be doing the job. This is what the stove looks like when it's running. I was too lazy to get out the tripod so the picture is a little dark. If you would like to see more, google "penny stove" and you should get some better ones in no time. This next picture is an oddity from the kitchen. This was one of those moments where I took leave of my senses. I turned on the front burner on the stove and put the kettle on the back burner. This unfortunate container (which happens to contain dog food) was just a little too close. Since the burner was on high, just being close to it was enough to melt the container. It created kind of an interesting effect with the dog food partially spilling out.

Last time I turned on the wrong burner I had left a plate on the one I did turn on. That was cool because it was a stoneware plate and it exploded. Chelsea can vouch for me on this one--it popped while we were both in the kitchen and scared us to death.

These adventures in turning on the wrong burner may sound fun, but caution should be exercised. Airborne chunks of stoneware is more dangerous than glamorous and the combined smell of burned dog food and plastic is enough trigger convulsions.

We'll finish out with one of those right-place-right-time-with-camera moments. Sometimes Jake finds a comfy spot and just sticks with it--no matter where it is. Coming soon: Hopefully by this time next week we will be homeowners. We'll tell you all about it.

Auto Tour: Bon Jon Pass

So what do you do when the rain is coming down like crazy and you want to get into the wilderness? Why take an auto tour, of course. When I moved up here I bought a book called Washington Byways that has lots of good backroad drives. This weekend I decided to go to Bon Jon pass because it's relatively close, and because I've wanted to get to know the area a little better. And since rainy days make for some different photographic opportunities than sunny days, of course, I took my camera.

Bon Jon Pass is located in the north east of the Olympic National Forest.

Jake accompanied me on this trip, but I think I enjoy these car rides more than he does. Come to think of it, if Jake can put his head out the window he will be content for hours. Today it was raining off and on, so he couldn't stay out the whole time. We also hit a section of the road that the Land Cruiser barely fit through and he was getting smacked in the face, so I made him come in.Here's an interesting plant from the roadside. I don't know what it is, but I'll find out.As the rain came and went, the clouds rolled around the mountians creating these great effects. Bon Jon Pass itself was a little inderwhelming. I don't even have any pictures from it. There was no sign or marker indicating your location, you just had to recognize the location on the map. I love the Washington landscape and even though the pass wasn't all that cool, I still liked the drive. As always, the Land Cruiser was awesome. Despite its age, it brings comfort to the backcountry. This is the first long backcountry drive that I've had since I did some work on it. bumpy roads used to make my ABS light and check engine light come on and neither of those came on this time. All systems ran flawlessly. Jake was a champ, too. After three hours of driving he curled up on the backseat and waited patiently to get home.

Backpacking at Heather Creek

In keeping with my constant desire to find my way into the backcountry, my buddy Wood and I took advantage of a free Friday to hit the trail. We went to the Dungeness Trail in the Olympic National Forest. This trail is a little to the northwest of the Big Quilcene Trail that we took to Marmot pass about seven weeks ago. It was a great time.

This is Wood.This is me and the great pack that I got this year.This trail has two cool log bridges.

We found this great meadow to camp in. It was a little up the trail from the main camp so we had the place to ourselves.

Wood wanted to revive a tradition of old that he and his buddies used to have of cooking meat over the fire on a spit when camping. I was a little dubious at first, but he made a believer of me. We stopped at Wally's World on the way out of town and bought this seasoned pork loin roast.Wood made this spit out of some sticks that we found nearby. We basically just ate the meat right off the spit. It was quite delicious.For breakfast Wood was going to have scrambled eggs, but I also had a pouch of salmon and some tortillas so we had salmon and scrambled eggs breakfast burritos. Let's call it the accidental backcountry gourmet. I'll definitely remember this recipe for the future. It beats the crap out of outmeal.

I love the forest and I'm glad we had the chance to get out, brief though it was. Here's one last picture of the beauty of the backcountry.

Swing Shift & Star Gazing

This week I switched up the routine a little bit by working the swing shift. It was also a departure from the norm in that I was doing a job that has nothing to do with my normal job. I was working in a support role for the shipboard work that is happening on the carrier Abraham Lincoln which is at the shipyard right now. This was really fun for me because I've been wanting to get some experience working on the ship. The office I was in was on the hangar deck of the carrier and even after working out there for a week I still think it's awesome to see the ship as I'm walking out to it.

The other thing I like about swing shift is that I get done with work when the stars are out. Usually I have to be in bed by this time so I can get to work on time. So I decided to scout a little and I found this great place near my house to see some stars. It's the parking lot at Island Lake. The county park commission was nice enough to not put lights in the parking lot so the darkness is pretty profound.

I want to get a telescope but before that I need to orient myself to the night sky so I can actually point it at something interesting. During this week I have been able to identify several constellations and a galaxy. I've seen Andromeda, Pegasus, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Aquila, and Lyra. Inside Andromeda I saw a well known galaxy called M31. Through binoculars it looks like a large fuzzy star. Stars in Cygnus, Aquila, and Lyra form what is know as the Summer Cross. Here at about 47 degrees latitude it's almost directly overhead at midnight.

Anyway it's fun to look at stars. Soon I can buy myself a cool telescope and actually have a good look at that galaxy.

Dogs

Here are some more recent pictures of Jake. We also have a little neighbor beagle named Sasha. She's a cutie too.Here they are, Jake and Sasha. They both have to be tied up because it's an apartment complex and there are no fences. Technically, it's against the rules to tie your dogs up outside but we justify it by saying that we never do when they aren't supervised. It's a good compromise because Jake won't tolerate being inside all day. They get those ropes tangled pretty good sometimes so we have to go rescue them every once in while.

The winter time this year was very strong, and so far the summer is shaping up the same way. This morning we went on a walk (since I'm working the 4:00pm to midnight swing shift) and when we got back Jake went straight for the water dish then to the floor. He's doing his best to stay cool.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I started this post more than two years ago on June 29, 2007 and I finally got around to finishing it. I wrote three quarters of it back then, but I was reminded of how the book effected me and decided it was important to finish. I hope you enjoy.

One of my favorite authors of all time is Mark Twain. It may sound cliched, but there is no other author that I have read as much. In "Roughing It" he relates an instance that involves the destruction of a certain raincoat at the hands of a camel's ravenous appetite. I laughed for a day. Later on in the same work a dog is humiliated by a coyote. I still laugh about that one. Twain's humor is always balanced by his wisdom. Every subject from social injustice to the high ideals of a republic government to the divine friendship of husband and wife can be found in the writings. Almost all of his stories involve social injustice in some way, but I had no idea what I was getting into with the Connecticut Yankee. In this story he managed to deal with all three of those topics.

The problem with a great story is that it is used over and over and many liberties are taken with the story to give it a semblance of novelty. Also, many authors aren't as concerned with making the reader think and therefore water down the more poignant areas of the story. It is for this reason that I was caught unawares. I had only known the story as a cute tale about a man who finds himself in another time and has some lovely adventures before waking to find it was all a dream--or something. The truth of the matter is that Hank Morgan is about to turn the sixth century on its head.

This Connecticut Yankee is from early 20th century New England. This a man who has been raised with liberty and knows what it is to live free and he is flung into this world that is utterly backward to him. Peasants are treated as scum by the nobles and the fact is illustrated by numerous examples. From the very beginning he begins to work towards the reform of the country. His major targets are the idea of divine nobility, the organized church, and illiteracy. In his estimation these were the conditions and institutions that were most detrimental to the founding of a republic. Nobility and the apostate church (the book names the Roman Catholic Church) work together to continue the oppression of the people with illiteracy as their chief tactic. Early in the story, Morgan's resourcefulness wins him Merlin's post as second in command in the kingdom and he begins to work secretly toward the pulling down of the institutions of the time starting with secret man factories. Man Factories are places where he sends individuals that he meets from time to time. These individuals are usually young men who have shown the capacity to believe that a better situation could exist. In the man factory these students are taught all subjects beginning with literacy. It is from this stock that he hopes to propagate a change in the kingdom to bring about the Republic. It is righting the wrongs of the church and state that is his chief concern in his endeavors.

He says this about the public at large: "The most of King Arthur's British Nation were slaves, pure and simple, and bore that name. and wore the iron collar on their necks; and the rest were slaves in fact, but without the name; they imagined themselves men and freemen, and called themselves so. The truth was, the nation as a body was in the world for one object, and one only: to grovel before king and Church and noble; to slave for them, sweat blood for them, starve that they might be fed, work that they might play, drink misery to the dregs that they might be happy, go naked that they might wear silks and jewels, pay taxes that they might be spared from paying them, be familiar all their lives with the degrading language and postures of adulation that they might walk in pride and think themselves the gods of the world." What a vivid picture of contemptible nobility. Also of note is his indication that the men who consider themselves free are also slaves, but to a different degree.

A republic government is put up as the antithesis of this society which is degrading to its members. Morgan believes it to be the way any country should be run and is thus motivated towards his revolution. The presence of his man factories underlies one of the most important aspects of a republic, that each citizen must be educated. The only way to properly revolutionize a country is with a stock of well-educated individuals. Education is key, but does not stand alone in terms of importance. The individual must have a desire for and a belief in the possibility of change. These characteristics can not be effectively taught; no teacher can force learning if the student does not wish to learn.

Finally, I enjoyed Twain's description of the fast relationship that formed between the hero, Hank Morgan, and his wife, Sandy. The way they came together was unorthodox for our time, but Hank 'drew a prize' nevertheless: "...Ours was the dearest and perfectest comradeship that ever was. People talk about beautiful friendships between two persons of the same sex. What is the best of that sort, as compared with the friendship of man and wife, where the best impulses and highest ideals of both are the same? There is no place for comparison between the two friendships; the one is earthly, the other divine."

The next time you're looking for something to read, give this one a try. Twain has never let me down.