Calling coyotes under a big, full moon

Today, we did two really cool things. First, we attended the high school robotics championships in Seattle. Lots of schools from all over the west were taking their creations through robotic games to be the supreme champions. There was music, millions of high schoolers, mayhem, and lots of fun. We had a blast!

This is the beginning of moonrise over the by the Sammamish River trail.

We went for a long evening walk after dinner.

We heard a coyote howl and howled back. It answered and came closer. We kept calling until it was about twenty yards from us. Then it figured out we were human.It took off down the trial to howl with its two other brother and sisters.

Tonight was a special moon. By the horizon, it appeared much larger than a normal full moon as it was much closer to earth than usual. Way cool!

Back from the Rain Forest!

I recently attended the Rain Forest Writers' Retreat.

No, this would not be the balmy warm tropical rain forest.

This would be the temperate, or more rightly temperamental, rain forest of Washington state.

We stayed right along the banks of beautiful Lake Quinault.

The sunsets were spectacular!

We had every kind of weather: rain, snow, light rain, ice, heavy rain, thick clouds, more rain, light clouds, and finally a bit of cool sun.

Bear's bread on a log.

Snow on the elk field.

One of many impromptu waterfalls, I encountered on a hike.

An early skunk cabbage beginning to bloom.

Ice patterns, taken on my early morning run. Brrr!

The writers in full retreat! (I'm in the middle.)

Oscar Night down on the Funny Farm

We had our annual Oscar night appetizer dinner last night. Here's the champagne, soda, shrimp, and stuffed mushrooms,

Accompanied by mini crab cakes, flatbread sandwich rolls, artichoke spinach dip, smoked salmon spread, cukes, roasted peanuts, ham roll-ups, pretzel sticks, crackers, flax chips, a trio of tasty sauces, and (not pictured) lemon chocolate drizzle cookies.

Anni watching the Oscars. She liked the music.

Alex and Ari watching the Oscars. They were pulling for our favorite movie of the year: The King's Speech. We all think Geoffrey Rush got gipped. He was fab!

Huh?

A strange pink landed among the kitchen clutter this evening.

It popped its hatch to reveal...

the extraterrestrial cupcake.

Okay, okay, it was Anni's fabulous peanut butter cupcake,

made in her very own cupcake oven. So much cooler than an Easy Bake!

And here are the rest of the crew, a half dozen peanut butter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and orange zest.

I think I need to turn around and go back to the gym for a few more miles! Groan.

Julie Ann: Eek! Is this another space critter? An intergalactic space slug?
David: No, this is my world infamous raisin braid bread.

Julie Ann: Don't you mean famous?

David: You haven't tasted it yet.

Julie Ann: I think I might be full.

David: Chicken.

Julie Ann: Cluck!

(I did eventually try some. It was delish! Back to the gym again!)

Life in pictures

Here I am in Pasco, WA at Radcon 5C. I was the science geek (I mean guest) of honor. I participating in the opening ceremonies (here with Radcon Bob), gave the science keynote presentation, did visits with two high school classes, was a member of 11 panels, and briefly modeled for the auction. Phew!

Fellow writer, Jay Lake, just had to try my hat on. He bares a striking resemblance to a Star Wars ewok. (sorry Jay).

After nearly a week of con food. I arrived home craving organic veggies. Here are the fixings for homemade pizza!

Two veggilicious pizzas about to hit the oven. YUM!

Anni getting cozy with the tea cozy!

She thought Alex needed a turn too.

The snow decided to make a reappearance in Western Washington.

At first it was just a few flakes.

And then a few more.

It began to stick

until the ground was covered

and so was the greenery.

The guard owl was not amused.

Barkley? Are you out here?

Today, it warmed up just a bit and melted some in the sunshine. Sending warm thoughts to all of you.

And finally...

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Ellie and Joey on the birth of their beautiful baby girl!

Finally, a new post!

Finally, a new post! I've been taking a blog hiatus to work on another project. I'm going to be the science guest of honor at a conference next week, meaning I had to come up with a key note speech.

Then, I said I'd be happy to fill in wherever else I might be needed. Now, I'm also giving a talk to two high school science classes and being a member of nine panels, on such varied topics as Alvin the submersible, Pulling an All nighter, Brain Plasticity, and Technology of the future! It's a lot of firing up my brain, but I'm having a blast!

Dinner on Tuesday: Asian chicken salad with wanton strips - delish!
Farm box on Wednesday: celery, broccolini, red leaf lettuce, greem beams, tomatoes, lacinato kale, mushrooms, shallots, apples, pears, oranges, tangelos, and a mango.

Evening Song

Julie Ann tickling Argyle, the greenhouse gargoyle.

We've been busy over the past few weeks. I took the older farmers to see the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. It was awesome, more Picasso in one place than ever before. We waited in line for 3.5 hours!, but it was well worth it!

We've been moving furniture and mountains of books down in our family room in a futile attempt at better organization. I know this is a futile endeavor because we are a household of highly creative people.

And finally, we received our latest power bill. We finally made it into the top 10% for energy conservation and lower usage. It almost makes all those sweaters, thick socks, and slightly coooool (translation: freezing!) showers worth it. Some where penguins and polar bears are smiling.

Evening Song in the Northwest.

New Goal!

The funny farmers have added a new goal (#9) to the list. Whenever possible buy used, good for the environment and the bank account. One of our other goals this year was to do more with less. We'd love to travel more often around our region. Therefore, we are having adventures in buying used.

Today, Anni and I went shopping for cold weather gear for the gals. We hit two local used establishments, one a nonprofit for foster kids and the other our town's Value Village. We scored! Anni found 4 pairs of nearly new cords, a pair of waterproof boots, three sweaters, 4 long sleeved shirts, a tank top, a belt, a Zingo game, and a valentine book. I found waterproof boots for Ari, 12 current books, a down vest, a lacy evening dress, a shirt, and high end sweater. And the grand total for 33 really nifty (some designer) items was, drum roll please, $110. We put the money we saved into our vacation savings account - way cool!

While we putting these items away, we cleared out our closet of things that no longer fit our bodies or our styles. These were donated to another local nonprofit. We love win-win-wins

Colds and Cold!

After a full week of sneezes and coughs, the A team is back in action. All of us had monster colds except for Alex. He credits his immunological defenses to a 'healthy' diet of nachos! (Kidding!) It's also been very cold outside with more chances of snow this week. We had a light dusting this am.

In other news, we found a new fun and free activity! The second Monday of each month, the Pacific Science Center does Science Cafe at one of our local pubs. I took the older future farmers for a talk about crow and ravens. It was very informative to learn about these exceptionally smart birds.

Finally today, we'd like to send a big shout out to our Auntie D. Best wishes for your upcoming surgery! We're sending all our best wishes and blessings your way!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 Everyone!

I spent New Year's Eve out with friends. We had appetizers and drinks at Spazzo's and then went to see Carmina Burana preformed by the Seattle Corale Society. It was awesome! Afterwards, it was home for our annual crab cakes and champagne toast at midnight to welcome in the new year.

We said a sad goodbye to one of our pets this week. Dusty cat died. She'd been sick for a while and passed to the great mouse hunting ground quietly during the night. Alchemy never left her side. We buried her in the back garden under the evergreens.
New Year's Day is the annual polar bear dip in Kirkland. Here are the brave souls rushing to the water's edge. The air temp was 28 degrees F. Most of the brave souls stayed in the water for exactly 1 second. The entire event was over in 4 minutes.

Our weather has been frosty and very cold. We've had tracings of snow and lots of ice, but bright clear days with awesome sunsets.