Mt Rainier, again

It seems that we are fascinated with this mountain, I know, but there is much to be fascinated about.  We had another clear day this weekend and headed off to see it from its neighbor peak, Crystal Mountain.  Crystal is a ski resort with a summer gondola ride up the mountain to a lovely restaurant and the most spectacular view of Rainier we've seen yet.  I've been reading about summers on Crystal Mountain for months and couldn't resist!

And we weren't disappointed.  The view of Rainier and its neighbor Mt Adams were amazing.  The restaurant was lovely and the food was fantastic.  The gondola ride was pure luxury and the just-warm-enough sunny weather was the icing on the cake.  Wonderful!

It turns out that it's about a 2 hour (plus) drive from our house to Crystal Mountain and another hour from there to Mt Rainier.  We, of course, didn't realize that the distance between the two was that significant, and armed with no actual distance/time information we thought to dash over there after we'd 'done' the gondola ride and a little hiking on Crystal.  We wanted to see if the snow pack had melted down enough to get the picture of the mountain reflected in the lake that had eluded us the last time.

It was not to be.  By the time we made our way to the lake a large bank of clouds was rolling in over the mountain, being pushed by enough of a breeze to make the lake a little choppy besides - not at all the mirror surface my 'dream picture' would require even if the mountain had cooperated.  Stymied again!  (Mark thought it was quite a bit more funny than I did, on the whole...)  Why is this so difficult?

Anyway, ultimately Mark got better pictures of the day than I did - of which he is enormously pleased and anxious to have them posted here: 

You asked for it...

A Cat Scan of Maddie, who did NOT want her picture taken.

An anniversary missed

My first blog posting was August 3, 2005.  I was going to post an anniversary missive on the 3rd of this year, but forgot all about it.  That's been sort of the story of my blog for several years.  Life gets in the way and I keep forgetting about it.  So it's time to update.

I've been busy with projects of course - but the house-related ones are starting to wind down.  I'm finally willing to admit that maybe home improvement isn't really going to pay off in the long run.  Mark claims that my latest landscaping project is "the project that never ends" and he may be right - certainly adjustments have had to be made and new ideas for improvements have occurred to me on occasion.  It isn't done yet.

There are other interesting projects as well.  For example, I ran across a website that featured Cat Scans - literally having your cat walk on your scanner screen while it is scanning, resulting in interesting pictures of cat feet and 'undercarriages.'  Since I happen to have a cat with mutant feet and a very large and pendulous undercarriage, it was obvious I had to try that.  With mixed results.  My cats object on principle to doing anything I want them to do.

Anyway... other projects...  Oh yes! I'm also glad to report that my win-percentage at computer solitaire has finally crept up to 17%.  At long last.

We've had a 78-minute summer here in the Seattle area - with just 78 minutes of temperatures over 80 degrees so far this year - and that has impacted our vegetable garden and rose blossoms.  Unfortunately it hasn't impacted slug activity and our dahlias are nearly gone - before they really had a chance to get started.  The temperature, coupled with snowfall in the mountains over last winter of something like 52 feet, has meant that some of our favorite summer destinations are still under snow pack and not even going to be plowed out this year.  I'm thinking that means new glaciers are starting to form!  

Honestly, we've both been in a bit of a funk lately.  That 'life gets in the way' just isn't enough.  We are wondering what there is to keep 'old' people like us going.  We need things to look forward to.  Things to plan.  Goals.  Goals that don't require financing, considering the current state of things.  We need something more than the seasons rolling by and the gradual deterioration of our health and bank accounts (the occasional Cat Scan notwithstanding.)   And I'm just not sure right now what that would be. 

Now, more than ever, I need to NOT be 'Cathy, without a plan.'