Postcards - 7/23/14

This one is a bit late but it is still good. My Grandson, Chris, sent me a leaf postcard. He also sent several to his sibs back home, too.

I like this for a couple reasons:

Reason #1 - It's a leaf!! Look at it!! It's a leaf!! Seriously, how many people can say they've gotten a leaf through the mail…as a postcard.

Chris had gone to a Sea Camp down in Florida and found out, as Scouts find out all fun things to do, that you could mail a leaf as a postcard. As you can read, Chris tells me that the leaf is the only thing other than paper that can be mailed.

Reason #2 - He thought of me. I mean, this is really cool, he's down there having a blast in Florida at a Sea Camp and he thought of me…along with his family, of course. I really like that idea…that he thought of me, too.

Reason #3 - Chris recently (and I mean the ink isn't even dry on the certificate yet recently) earned his Eagle Badge. Hooah!! He's an Eagle!! That's some serious bragging rights there, y'know.

Not only did he earn his Eagle, but he recognizes that being an Eagle is something special. Something to be proud of. Keen insight, there. Usually, it takes some time and distance before a teenager appreciates just how great an honor and achievement it is to become an Eagle Scout.

And, finally, he acknowledges that all three of my sons, and all three of his Uncles on his Mom's side, are also members of that exclusive Fraternity, Eagle Scouts. And this includes my son-in-law, his Stepfather. All Eagles…

And I appreciate that he also is aware that I am not an Eagle. Again, that recognition of how truly unique this particular achievement is. Yeah, I'm not an Eagle and I'll never have the chance, again, to be an Eagle but…as Chris points out, I can still be an influence, in a small way, to helping someone else to be an Eagle. I'm really pleased that he can see all this and put it into such a short note.

Reason #4 - And the final reason. He committed to me to getting his Photography Merit Badge. I really enjoy photography and, quite naturally, want to share my happiness. I've tried to allow all my kids to get involved with my hobby and, happily, a couple have expressed an interest.

Then Chris had a chance to shoot some pictures for the High School Yearbook and he began to enjoy this thing called photography. Hooah!! I was able to take Chris out one afternoon for a short photo shoot on the way to a Flea Market to find him a pocket knife. I had a lot of fun.

Anyway, he is having fun and that's the purpose. Keep on shooting, Chris!!

And you're right, I did do something right.

Haha, my leaf postcard!!

Thanks, Chris!!

Oh, and I was totally serious about being your Photography Merit Badge Counselor. Check it out and let's get'er done!!

Hooah!!

Renton River Days Rubber Ducky Derby - 7/27/14

Small Town America - it's a gift. it really is. The sense of community, of safety and security. The feeling that things make sense. It's all there, pretty much, in Small Town America.

It's all a sense of fun and doing things that are good for everyone…and open to everyone. For example, Renton has had a series of fun events for the month of July to celebrate their Renton River Days. A couple weeks ago, we went to the Classic Car Show on N. 3rd St., the same street where they held the parade a couple days ago. And today, they had the Rubber Ducky Derby on the Cedar River. It's the fun of living in, or near, a small town in America.

So today we headed to Renton for some Small Town America fun…and dinner. I had planned to stop at a small asian sub sandwich shop and pick up a couple sandwiches to enjoy along the banks of the Cedar River but…they were closed. 

Best laid plans of mice and men, eh?

No problemo, we went to Plan B and we were off to Panera Bread down in The Landing.

Where I met Ty, on the left, and Jay, who was making our flatbread sandwiches. Oh, and I was a good boy…I had the Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread with some kinda Greek cheese and cucumbers and all kinds of good stuff.

I was able to see what Jay did…he made the sandwiches. I still have no idea what Ty was suppose to be doing. Regardless, I had a pleasant conversation with both of them.

There's Jay, hard at work creating my Flatbread Sandwiches.

And, I enjoyed mine. Carol had a Thai Chicken Sandwich that she enjoyed. We are sooooo cool. And hip!!

So, lunch firmly in hand, we headed back to the…Cedar River Trail.

We've been on this trail before. It's a beautiful path alongside the river. We've seen a Great Blue Heron and several Osprey while on this trail. Always a good time.

So we found a place to sit down and took care of lunch.

In honor of The Rubber Ducky Derby on the river, we both wore yellow shirts, for the Duckies, and I wore my Jonas Grumby hat.

Who is Jonas Grumby? Oh, shame on you!! 

It's The Skipper from Gilligan's Island.

Yeah, I know. The physical resemblance is uncanny. We both have those distinctive bellies that all old salts have.

It was a beautiful day…a tad bit warm but still, a beautiful day. Lots of folks were out and enjoying the river and the day.

This is the most shallow I've seen the River in a long time. Usually there is maybe two or three feet more water flowing down to the Sound.

The folks were lining up for The Derby well before the starting time.

And, the finishing line. What they did was string a fence across the river just beyond this bridge. The fence caught most of the Rubber Duckys. They had some folks behind the fence with nets to catch those few strays that got through.

And the folks were enjoying their river.

So we were set to root on our two Duckies…Duck Vador and Duckzilla.

Oh, wait!! Here come the Ducks!! Aha!! The race is on!! You can see the first ducks coming out of the shadows of the bridge…more are there, in the shadows and more still, behind them.

It was a tight field, crowded and there was a lot of jostling as each Duck fought for a better position.

But even with all the chaos of the pack, several Ducks were separating and establishing a commanding lead to victory.

The pack began to thin as the frontrunners showed their mettle and kept on building their lead.

You can see the excitement of the fans along the race route.

Go, Duckys, Go!!

"Did you see that!!" 

"Oh, yes, dear. I most certainly did!! I got it on my cell phone camera."

"Man, that Ducky must be on Steroids!!"

You can see, if you look closely, the tension on the faces of the Duckies as they careen towards the finishing line.

"Quak? Quak?"

"Whoa, slow down, Speed Racer!! Someone could get hurt!!"

This was the pack. By this time, the frontrunners had established a clear lead over the herd. There were maybe six or seven Duckies way out in front.

None of them were mine.

I'll show you my Ducky, Duck Vador, in just a minute.

The excitement is clearly visible on everyone's face as they watch the race.

Wow!! Did you see that move!?!""

Cheering on the frontrunners.

You can see how commanding their lead is over the herd.

Duck Vador? Oh, he'll be along soon. Him and Duckzilla.

And they reach the finish line. Brave soldiers, these duckies would have kept on going but the fence stopped them.

And still they came on.

Swim on, Brave Duckies!! 

Swim on!!

And Duck Vador and Duckzilla?

As far as we can figure, they were there…at the end of the pack. 

Harump, no real sense of urgency here, eh!?!

"Is this the Finish Line? Anybody seen the Finish Line?"

The action was so fast and furious that the Duckies actually forced a breech in the fence. They had to call in an engineer, the guy in the light green shirt, to shore up the fence.

And then they started collecting them up…in big trash cans.

You can see the second line of defense there…the women and girls in the water with the fishing nets…ready to grab up any wayward duckies.

The horror; the horror.

They gave their all.

The Rubber Ducky Patrol, a subsidiary of the U.S. Customs Border Patrol, was hard at it. Corraling all those Duckies and taking them to holding areas on military installations. 

They made short order of the Valiant Duckies.

And, soon enough, the Derby was over. And the people reclaimed the river. Seems any idiot could wade out into the River...

See!?! What'd I tell you!!

And, yes, there is a kid immediately behind me holding onto the rope tethered to the inflatable. I wasn't holding onto it with my butt cheeks.

Normalcy returned to the River quickly and folks began again to enjoy the Cedar River.

They were wading and throwing balls for their dogs to chase in the water.

And kayaking. 

Another beautiful day on The Cedar River.

You don't see anything like this in Los Angeles!!

We had a great time and enjoyed the time outdoors.

 It was fun, this visit to Small Town America. Gotta do it again, soon.

Hooah!!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

And, finally, we found some Rubber Duckies when we walked through Liberty Park. Carol is a Princess and me, well, I was conflicted.

It's an old problem, who to identify with? 

The Marines?

The Army?

 

What's a duck to do?

So the Princess got the best of both worlds.

Now, Hooah and Oorah!!

Renton River Days Parade - 7/26/14

One of the neater things about living where I do is…the City of Renton. It's a small town set in a large urban area and, well, it's neat.

The whole thing is cool. It has that small town atmosphere and, yet, it has the Big City just around the corner. Best of both worlds, really. We go there for our haircuts, to visit the Comic Book Store, and just stroll around. There's a couple of diners we're going to visit, too.

But it was for the Renton River Days Parade that we went for yesterday. 

And it was FUN!!

We came onto the parade route by the Veteran's Memorial. There it is, on the left and we're looking across N. 3rd St.

We're at the head of N. 3rd St., looking down towards where the parade will begin. There's my barbershop on the left, Linda's, good $10 haircuts. And just three doors down from a pretty decent Sports Bar. Hmmmmm, works for me!!

Here's another facet of this Small Town Atmosphere that I love. You see the crowds? Large but, really, not bad. Manageable.There were enough people to add to the electricity in the air but not enough to overwhelm you and make you uncomfortable.

Just right for a Dad to walk his toddler before the parade.

Plenty of good places to watch the parade. And the folks were so courteous. Seriously, it was like being in a Emily Post Training Center.

So nice!!!

It was a beautiful day. We've had a lot of them lately. Odd, really, because on July 23rd, we had, in one day, as much rain as we usually get for the entire month!! It's like let's just put all the Bad JuJu in this one day and let the folks enjoy the rest of it.

Works for me!!

And….

Here comes the parade!!

Leading off, the Renton Fire Department with a blast from the Past!!

The motorcycle cops led the way, making noise and showing off!!

Looking good!! Love the sleek design. 

And there was…Sparky!!

Oh, and a lot of candy being thrown around. A lot!!

Here comes the Legion.

And, do you see it!?!

Everyone, and I mean everyone, stood and acknowledged the National Colors as they passed.

Now that's Small Town, America.

It felt good, and right.

The VFW and the American Legion were there. 

Funny story, this ol' truck…in the Marines we called it a "Six-By", for the six tires it rode on.

In the Army, we called the same truck a, "Deuce and a half" because it weighed two and a half tons.

My point is that Marines and Army use the same equipment and still can't agree on a common term. 

"Hmmmm, they call it a Deuce and Half? Then we shall call ours a Six-By. That'll settle their hash!!"

And a shark. Don't ask cuz I don't know why. 

It was is all.

Then along came the Mayor and the City Council. No complaints about these politicos inserting themselves in here. It's expected and, really, they haven't done any of the silly stuff the Seattle City council has so they're OK with me.

And the Candy Cotton Guys. They were very persistent and prolific.

The local Mexican Restaurant, Torero's, represented.

They were actually pretty good sounding. Who'da thunk you'd find a Mexican Band up here in the Great American Northwest?

And one of my Favorites, WalMart!!

Well, a WalMart truck. Yeah, that's right. They had one of their big rigs in the parade.

On the plus side, they passed out cold bottles of water and oranges. And I snagged one of each. Thanks, WalMart!!

A local bank was serving up savings and a 56 Chevy BelAir. I think this is the one with the Red Dash from an earlier blog.

And a Mexican Ducky.

Hahaha, I don't know and I don't ask anymore.

But this Ducky was very popular with the kids.

Then came the Pirates. See the guy in front? He's loading the cannon they have and were shooting off on a fairly consistent basis. It was loud. Very loud.

The pirates were a big hit, especially with the kids.

One of our favorites was the old tractor and the two push-carts from the Renton Farmers Market.

Next up was the Renton High School IB World. As near as I can figure from what the woman shouted back at me in response to my question, "What does IB stand for?" is that this is the International Baccalaureate School. 

Yeah, I'm confused, too.

And the clowns. They had a lot of clowns. All through the parade. 

Then came the regular Renton High School kids. With another Classic Car leading the way. 

For this entry, they got the football team out and had them put on their jerseys and walk along the route. Pretty cool, the football kids got to feel like heroes with everyone, i.e. little kids, wanting to shake their hands and be like them.

And the parade continued. 

Do you recognize this car? It was at the Classic Car Show. A little chopped down Bug. Leading the way for the Hazen Drill Team.

"Smile, Ladies, and listen to the whistles!! Listen to the whistles!!"

I don't really remember who these folks were representing, but it involves mothers. 

Hooah!!

As long as it's not Planned Parenthood.

And a surprisingly good Junior High Band. 

With Drum Majors.

"Whew!! It's HOT out here!!"

Fortunately, the parade route was probably under a mile long.

Cuz, it was H*O*T out there!!

Which makes the next picture all the more stranger to explain...

This drill team stopped in front of us to do a skit and at the end, this little girl did a really good flip and splits. On the street. ON THE STREET.

Remember, I said it was hot that day? And she did this ON the street.

She's dedicated is all I can say.

I really like this picture. 

See that little guy, way out in front? Leading the pack on his Hot Wheels?

Just truckin' along and leading the pack.

And some more clowns, juggling clowns to be exact.

Working the crowd.

Everyone loves a clown. Except for those who are pathologically afraid of them.

But not these folks.

More yellow on the way. Best of show, actually.

And they had these cool Duck Hats on. 

Seriously, I would have paid for one of these. Especially on The Rubber Ducky Derby Day.

So I stopped and asked three different people from this group…"Hi, where'd you get those hats?"

And three times I got a variation of, "I don't know."

Seriously? Idiots. I just really wanted one of those Duck Hats.

:  )

Then this band came along. Those bubble machines worked very well.

Oh, and the music wasn't bad, either. Surprisingly, another quality band of the Ol' Small Town variety.

With bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles.

I bet this was fun for those kids. Riding in an oil drum all painted up and pulled by a small John Deere Tractor.

And MORE Pirates!!

Not as noisy as the first batch.

But they did have a Pirate Shark running around.

AND, a Pirate Dawg.

Careful, he's armed!!

And a drum corps. Again, really good.

You know, if they did away with iPads, Phones, Macs, etc., we could still entertain ourselves with all the home-grown talent it seems every town has.

SELFIE TIME!!

Love the little Selfie Pole. A picture of Carol and I and the parade.

The parade was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Both Carol and I faded out before the parade did and so we made our way back towards the Mini.

And we passed the end of the parade where everyone ends up after the fun. Here are the Pirates letting their hair down after a hard day of Pirating.

We parked over by the Dollar Tree. (Love the Dollar Tree) and so we had to go through Liberty Park to get to where we were parked.

And, so, we had to walk through all the booths and food stalls and art vendors to get back to the Mini. We had to.

Kids love to make noise…just for the sake of making noise.

So this contraption was a HUGE hit. And noisy.

Renton really did it right. They had service groups and companies and what not representing with tents and give-aways and information. It was fun and entertaining.

The only bummer…no frozen bananas. 

None.

Bummer.

Plenty of art thingies and other foods. And loads of fun.

After a quick trip to the Dollar Store, (Love the Dollar Store) we realized we were a wee bit hungry.

There's this little Pizza Shop near the Dollar Store (Love the Dollar Store) that I've passed for over six and a half years. Today they had a kid out by the street waving a Pizza Dudes Sign.

OK, a slice of pizza AND a drink were just $3. And the slices were as big as the letters on his sign…which were big, take my word for it.

So we headed to...

And it was true!! Big slices AND a drink for just $3.

Mind you, that one slice was one-quarter of this pizza. In fact, that's what Carol had, the top one here. The cheese pizza.

I had a pepperoni. It was good.

Mmmmmmm…

Walking back through the quaint Renton neighborhood. Love the old neighborhoods. Each house is different, a different character to it. Like this 50s rancher (?)

This was a beauty. Sorry for the fuzziness. Stupid camera.

And, a detail from the same house. Still a stupid camera.

And each house has an established yard. Sometimes with a little extra twist.

Like this one with the six + foot high sunflowers.

Sunflowers kick butt.

Detail of a sunflower.

And the fun didn't end there!!

Oh, no, it was off to the Wiley Post Park, the small park near Lake Washington at the end of the Renton Airfield.

A little shade where you can watch the planes take off and land and the wind come across the lake. Oh, and the Osprey's. Carol saw one dive into the water and come up with a fish for dinner.

Got a shot of a water lily.

And, of course, we had to take time for another selfie. With the Lake in the background.

And I got to watch another seaplane land in the Lake. I love it!! He just comes in and lands in between all the boats and stuff on the Lake.

And, you're welcome. I had about six shots of this amazing phenomena but only put one in this blog. 

Hey, watch what you're saying!! I can get all the other ones and put them in here, too. 

So we had a good day with a lot of fun stuff going on.

Love the small town. The whole thing. Love the parade and the community spirit. Love the friendliness and the good will.

Love it.

Hooah!!