Furlough Day

dear Gov, thanks for the day off! OK so its unpaid, well..

Just how far from Salem can you get (& back) in one day? Well lets put that to the test.
Then again, furlough means no pay, hmm.. And a tank of gas too. Well - is that like "real money" or "budget money"?

Subways (sandwich shops) have a lock on I-5 restaurants, they are absolutely on every exit sign

Its hard to do some things at 60 mph (tune a satellite frequency). Then again, if you try again, you can (do some things at 60 mph..)

Moss covers the concrete bridges along Highway 101

In the town of Potlatch, there are 2 espresso stands. I could live there..

Johnston Realty and Windemere seem to be cleaning up - 99.999% of the properties along Hood Canal seem to be listed by them (the other 3 are for-sale-by-owner). Note Johnston Realty is a local company - who have expanded from their original 2 offices in Quilcene and Brinnon to also have a site in Hoodsport.

Whitney Nursery has Free WiFi! Catering to tourists..

Sign along the road: "Do you have defensible space?"
I wonder if this is like the "castle initiative" in Oregon - where a property owner has the right to use deadly force against intruders. Well lets just completely devolve into the jungle shall we? But we will faithfully follow what the NRA instructs us.. I could be way off here - maybe it is about people willy-nilly cutting down your trees - maybe you should spike them to mess up their chainsaw.. which also sort of sounds like deadly force, but in a different more defensible way.

Geese make way for cattle. Used to be next to the store (where I tried in vain once to get an "arm" for my campstove, but they don't sell such things, so it was chicken fingers for me+kids from the Geoduck Tavern for us around the campfire) there was a goose farm. Old geese, middle aged geese, and lots of little goslings - cute and fuzzy. No more, the center section with trees now has big old cattle roaming around. Now I know of 0 goose farms that I pass on a regular basis (the one in Hillsboro became a housing development).

Olympic Timber House - is back! Was once the "Timbers", what Pat at the hotel called a "Seattle class restaurant". Then shut down in the Last recession, now is back and looking inviting (and Seattle-priced).

Mount Walker Inn - still alive and kicking. It seems this small motel used to be under a different name.. now has a new gazebo! Loggers' Landing restaurant - still alive. Good - the best corned beef hash, and I've learned to not wear Birkenstocks there (though to their credit they didn't seem to care) to not piss them off with the 'Spotted Owl' Helper box above the cash register.

Peninsula Foods & Grocery in Quilcene - still alive. They are so very nice in there - I left a license there once (not sure why) and they actually mailed it to me in the U.S. mail. At their expense.

Quilcene showing some tough signs - Chevron - shut down. Quilcene Grocery and gas pump - shut down. Though the building looks pretty nice, maybe someone will occupy it? Can I ever get back the frequent espresso card that I kept in their little index file box? Where I had an investment of at least 3 or 4 punches - would the new owners honor that?

Heading north from Quilcene on Highway 101 - old gas station looks like it is filled with plants, and possibly occupied by squatters? Not sure, but its been repurposed in any case.

Sign offering "Alder control"; I know I hate it when those darn alder trees run all over my property.

If you see one thing, it is an observation, see 2 of them, it may be cute, if you see 3 - maybe this is a trend. Old wooden boats as yard decor.

Rossi for Senate territory - Jefferson County, WA. I had to remind myself who he is running against - Patty Murray is the incumbent. Not a single sign for her.

Then lets see what local radio stations have to say:
* The Cowsills will be at Silver Reef Casino on Saturday! Now, they are so so old, I was a small child when they were making songs. Wow.

* CBC news from Canada - in Alberta where they are reaping oil from shale, the Athabasca River is getting polluted and fish getting tumors.
* New Westminster Salmonbellies, apparently a hockey team - yes they are Canadian

* 100.3 "The Q" broadcasting from Victoria. Story about a homeless man at UVic. In the kind Canadian way they will have a hearing to evict him. Process matters.

The city of Port Townsend
The espresso stand outside Swain's General Store, where the gal called me "love" had an interesting if disheartening tale to tell. Her chickens were getting eaten by coyotes. She told me several times that this area is a "no kill" zone. But that the coyote population had increased over the past two years, and the coyotes were taking advantage of their superior position by being more bold, looking into windows and such. Nope, you can't take a gun to them in the city limits. (Hmm, maybe my NRA friends have a point, who wants to wake up to see slaughtered chickens sitting around in the yard?) Her next step is traps, and an electric fence.

If you tell the merchants in PtT that you are from Oregon and that it is important to you to "live free or die!", they will let you get out of paying Washington sales tax. OK you don't have to really tell them you have reasons, just show them your driver's license.

Ron Paul yard sign

Yard sign - Yes to Proposition #1. All I could find online about this is a King County sales tax. I suppose the folks in Jefferson county are happy if Seattelites have to pay more in taxes?

Whistling Oyster bar in Quilcene - shut down. Crimson Cart store - shut down, for sale.

Bus stop signs along Highway 101. I don't ever remember that before.

Geoduck "Restaurant and Lounge" (no longer a "Tavern", but family friendly!)

Brothers' Welding - business for sale.

Richie Brothers Auctioneers in Olympia along I-5: a sea of excavators and construction equipment - 100s of them!

Time to take a tally of life on the Olympic peninsula:
+11 - continuing local businesses, espresso and wifi for tourists, and buses as public transportation
-6 - businesses that have shut down

Plus a new category, for "repurposed" estalishments:
+1 - squatters taking up a plant residence in an old gas station