March Kicks Off with a Visit from the Auburn Sleights

On the 1st, after the family (less me) drove down to Seattle Christian to enjoy Chairs' basketball game, they returned to a family get-together with Nathanael, Cynthia, Jonny, Reuben, and Isaac.

It's not surprising that the cousins pair off in their play, Charis with Jonny, Valerie with Reuben, and Irene with Isaac.

While Nancy and Annie prepared dinner, I helped watch the kids.  And when three littlest ones and then all six wanted to play outside as evening came on, I was on duty with them in the south yard.

The UPC Property Vote on March 2nd

Members of University Presbyterian Church were asked to decide on a proposed property deal with Ryan Companies of Minneapolis.  Our Session had recommended the deal which proposed building a 7-story apartment building for "student housing" just north of the church.  While the church would retain ownership of the land, it would not revert to us for at least 100 years!  Parking for 125 spaces underground would not be adequate for the many hundreds of proposed residents. 

This project would mean the removal of two church-owned houses and the loss of our north parking lot.  Nancy and Susan were adamantly against the proposal.  I was not happy with how certain facts were kept from the members and the rush vote to solicit membership's approval.  My quick analysis showed the project to be a huge win for the developer with little benefit for our church.

A well-attended congregational meeting on February 23rd shared the plan with church members.  Just a week later, we were asked to vote at a second 12:30 PM congregational meeting.  Nancy spoke for the "no" side at both meetings.  In the end, the vote came out to No 127 - Yes 103.  Nancy, Susan, and I were relieved and pleased.  Nancy had invested many hours of research in this.

The church has some real work to do to review its mission and focus going forward.     

They're Back!

Tiny sugar ants reappeared, this time in the master bathroom.

After three down days with a flu-like bug that swept through the household, for me on March 8-10, I ordered a supply of Hot Shot Ant Bait via Amazon Prime in the morning and it arrived in the early afternoon.  (I share Annie's Amazon Prime account.)

I found their entry point from the south yard and deployed two of the eight bait stations along their path.  Para bellum!   

Two more bait stations in the Great Room stopped their counter-attack there.

Yet on the 26th, they'd returned in force to the kitchen where they'd foraged last month.  The 5th and 6th of 8 bait traps were deployed.  Yet another battle won, but the war continues.

Our 44th Anniversary on Pi Day

Nancy often reminds me of the gift
I gave her for her birthday in 1992.  ― in-wall stereo speakers to be installed in the second floor Great Room (called the Gymnasium back then) of our big new house we would move into that next June.  In her opinion, it was a gift for me.  I considered it a gift of necessity. 

Nancy wears her mother's ruby ring given on her parent's 40th anniversary.  So I'm not likely to get her a sapphire one on our 45th.   

This year, I looked up what was the appropriate gift for a 44th anniversary.  "Electronics" was suggested.  So, again, Nancy may consider these items gifts for myself, but she's likely to make use of all three of these electronic tools at some time or other.  From COSTCO, I purchased a SanDisk Extreme Go Portable 2TB SSD storage drive.  From Amazon I ordered a compact but excellent external speaker for a laptop and wireless Lavalier microphones.  Nancy is finally using the laptop I bought her in 2023.  She used the microphone at her very next P.E.O. meeting on the 17th.  I also got her a big Apple-Berry pie from COSTCO to celebrate Pi Day, our day.  She insisted we enjoy it a day early.  She likes berry pies while I like apple pies.  We both greatly enjoyed this one.  I enjoyed mine warmed up.

 
Party on the Ides of March

In late February, Jean asked me if I could act as host/dealer for a surprise Star Trek themed poker party for Joel's 31st birthday.  I accepted the challenge.  I took it upon myself to learn and type up the rules.

I'd played poker before but had never learned the complete rules of any of its many versions.

We had Jean and Joel, and Joel's sister Amanda visiting from Massachusetts, plus Ryasa their house guest, and three of Joel's friends.

I taught them 5-card stud, then moved them on to 7-card stud.  After we broke for birthday cake, we returned to 5-card draw followed by 7-card draw.  Finally, I threw in the Jokers and one-eyed Jacks as wild cards and the poker hands got crazy.  Joel won it all on the last hand with a king-high straight flush.

Nobody there was knowledgeable about poker.  Joel was happy to finally get to use the set of poker chips he'd purchased years before.

Jean prepared ample food and drink and a great time was had by all. 

 
Fellowship at Hope Presbyterian Church

I'd often been invited to stay for lunch after church at Hope Presbyterian.  Earlier in the month, I'd all but promised Elder Jim Sherwin that I'd stay for lunch the next time.  Well, that time came on the 16th and I had great food and Christian fellowship.

The men at my table were Emery Horvath, a 57-year old computer programmer for the City of Seattle who plans to retire this year, James Clark, Brad Smith, and "T.C.", an older fellow who lives at Christa.  All of these men drive to Bellevue from far away.  James drives from Federal Way, others from Shoreline, Bothell, and Lynnwood.  Pastor Martin Hedman also lives in Lynnwood.  Only elderly Ben comes from the Crossroads area.

Alas, I learned more about the two unbiblical overtures, 24-A and 24-C, approved this year by my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), at this PCA church in their morning service than I have at University Presbyterian.  I've never heard them mentioned at all at my own church.

On the 16th, I attended at 10:45 AM followed by lunch and again at 5:30 PM.

Shadow Gave Us a Scare

At 4:00 AM on the 18th, Shadow crawled in next to me in bed   By itself, this was not unusual, but she was wet and cold.  Apparently, she had stayed outside most of the night.  For the rest of the week she mostly slept, eating little.  Nancy made sure she drank water regularly.

By the end of the month, she seems to be her same OLD self: slim, bonny, and sleeping as much as possible.

Preparing the Spring Garden

On St. Patrick's Day, I moved the first fourteen tomato seedlings from the basement grow room to quart pots in the dining room window.  Over two dozen more seedlings are a few weeks behind these, including nearly twenty Early Girl plants.  Planting out tomatoes in early May should lead to the first ripe fruit in late June. 

On the 25th, I took Valerie and Irene on an outing to Home Depot and we bought more potting mix, steer manure compost, and fertilizer.

On the 26th, I moved a bookcase I'd gotten from Don & Judy's house and put it in the south facing living room window.  Onto it I moved up from the basement and repotted five more tomatoes along with six Cayenne and nine Jalepeño pepper plants.  On the 31st, I transplanted another ten tomato seedlings of the Early Girl variety from the basement. That's 29 tomato plants so far.  I typically plant about 33.

Although I have well over 1,000 Marigold seeds, Walmart had some amazing looking "Jolly Jester" Marigold seeds for just 50¢.  All of those seeds went into pots and the Haida-styled cement planter Don and Judy had given me.  Many of these are just peeking up at the end of the month.

I'll also start some "Royal Carpet" Alyssum flowers.  And since my little Asters have done so well, I started some "Crego" mixed color Asters.  I prepared a little raised flower bed area just east of the strawberry raised bed and planted the new Aster and some of my old Zinnia seeds there on the 22nd. 

I ordered Evergreen bunching onion and Oregano seeds from Amazon,  They'll be here in early April.  I like to start a first year onion crop each year.  The existing second year green onions will produce ample seeds for 2026.  I always add Parsley, Basil, and Oregano to my pizzas and our Oregano supply is almost out.

Shadow, my buddy in my basement office or at bedtime, is here playing mother hen to my Russett potatoes.

I like getting the girls out into the garden.  While my garlic is finally looking very good (left), my old potatoes from last year's crop have just barely come up.  On the 20th, I stopped in at Carpinito Brothers and picked up sixteen Yukon Gold seed potatoes (right).  If I plant them in early April, they are likely to be harvestable in July.  Yukon Gold is a "determinate" variety, meaning they produce horizontally, so planting a few at different levels in a grow bag is the way to go. 

On the 21st, Annie and I and all three girls took a quick drive to QFC where I bought six organic Russet potatoes.  "Organic" means they should be free of sprout inhibitors.  This variety is "indeterminate" so I can grow them like tomatoes.  We are already past the last frost date so all of these potatoes will be planted out in early April.  I've set them all out in the basement to "chit" them, that is, to get a start on their sprouting.  I leave a fluorescent light on all day above them, plus the basement is sufficiently cool (when I'm not running the small space heater at my desk).  The Russet potatoes might be harvested in August.  On the 27th, I cut them in half and put wood ash on their cut ends to help them callus over.  By the end of this month, both varieties are showing good sprouts.  The Yukon Golds will go into three 7-gallon grow bags and a few 5-gallon buckets.  The Russets will be my first go at in-ground potatoes.

The many flower bulbs (lower right) that I planted last Autumn south of the peppers have begun to come up nicely and promise a colorful collection to attract pollinators to the summer peppers and tomatoes.  And last years beautiful lilies are also coming up.

Reuben is Five

We had quite a crowd on Sunday the 23rd in Auburn for our celebration of Reuben's and Joel's March birthdays.  The twenty-five who were there included the Sleights (Nathanael, Cynthia, Jonny, Reuben, and Isaac), the Dishers (Annie, Thomas, Charis, Valerie, and Irene), the Sittes (Jean, Joel, Galen, and Jadzia), the Pastricks (Alicia, Richard, Rowen, Corvin, and Vivienne), David and Heidi James, Susan, Julie, Nancy, and myself.

How did Reuben get so old so fast?  He only seems to have gotten to five more quickly because he was born on March 22, 2020, at the very start of the COVID lockdown years.

Cynthia and Nathanael prepared a Mexican-styled lunch and Jean brought a cake and cupcakes she'd baked and encouraged us to frost them ourselves.

It was especially nice to see the Pastrick family.  Due to repeated illnesses, we had not seen them since early Autumn.  The change in Vivienne was amazing.  I was unaware that she had undergone eye surgery in October.  When I looked at my photos of her, the change was instantly seen.  Her eyes now tracked together.  And she is now much more verbal.

There doesn't need to be a planned program at these gatherings.  With eleven children, play is spontaneous.  Nathanael and Cynthia moved bedrooms up to the larger one on their top floor.  See the cardboard maze/fort that the kids played in that's been built in their old bedroom on the first floor.

Alicia expressed her happiness that not only can her kids call Nancy and me Grandma and Grandpa, but she can call us Mom and Dad.

A Sign of the Times

It's hard to imagine COSTCO running out of eggs.  And what did they substitute?  Quail eggs!  They come 36 in a small carton and are priced equivalent to $3.40 per tiny dozen.

These eggs are smaller than small, with thin shells but tough membranes, and the cooked eggs go down in a single bite.  A seven egg omelet was meager for two people.

From Barrons.com: "Farmers have only had to destroy two million birds due to H5N1 infections so far in March, down from 12.7 million in February and 23.2 million in January." The current H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the US began one year ago this month.

Eggs were back at COSTCO on the 31st, at the equivalent of $4.49 per dozen.

Grandkids Corner

                 
              
        
        

Bits and Pieces

On the On the 7th, I purchased 2,000 shares of SWBI (Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.) at $9.825 per share.  It's one of the few stocks I follow.  While I do not plan to ever purchase another firearm, having too many now, I'm not against profiting from the volatility in the stock price of this small but strong company.  I want to be careful in the Stock Market because certain moves by the Trump administration could easily spark a recession.  Firearm sales typically spike three times each year, at the start of hunting season, at Christmas, and when tax returns arrive!

I still have 1,500 shares of ERIC (Ericsson), bought back in April 2022 at $9.25.  It's now selling below $8.00 and I hope to sell it when it comes back.  It's been my one bad trade in recent years.

March 5th, I was Diggin' Up Bones.  I wished happy birthday to Kim Sanders.  Fifty years ago last month we danced, first at Terry Hall, then at WSU, and finally at a Job's Daughters event.

The storm on the evening of the 26th had lightning that quickly passed but not the promised hail.  This photo from the
second floor deck shows the crane above the seven-story condo under construction a block-and-a-half southeast of us.

It's been reported that Bobby Sherman, age 81, has stage 4 cancer.  I remember him as the only pop star whose concert I attended.  It was at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe in the late 1970s.  Even today, his song Honey makes me cry whenever I hear it because it mourns the loss of a beloved wife.

House construction just over our north fence line is moving along steadily.  The noise and construction parking in our cul-de-sac is only mildly disruptive.  Once again, a large house with no basement on a modest sized lot is being built on our block.

I should stop listening to Seattle Mariners baseball on the radio ― they do great when I'm out of the room.  On opening night, the Ms were trailing 2-1 going into the bottom of the 8th inning against the Athletics.  It was a Thursday night so I took a quick break to set out the garbage and recycle.  When I got back to the basement, the Mariners were up 4-2 after a solo home run by Randy Arozarena followed by a two-run bomb by Jorge Polanco.  Our clutch closer Andrés Muñoz pitched his first strike out of the season in the 9th, but J. P. Crawford put the cherry on top with a game ending double play.  Our opening day starter, Logan Gilbert, pitched seven strong innings, holding the Athletics to just two hits and a single run with eight strike outs.  All around, a promising start to the 2025 season.  The Mariners went on to split their opening four games against the Athletics.