Left the house a little before noon, hit the apartment to drop off Swanda’s car, and pick up the mail and drop off 3 dead toner cartridges (good thing I got more at UW last week) and then to the shop to drop off a 6×6 dishwasher rack to hold our champagne glasses, and then onto the highway with the top down all the way to CanadaLand.

So rare for an early February, reasonably warm and very sunny. Having pulled the temperature at Breitenbush Hot Springs for next week, I’m guessing no snow on the ground.

No line at the border, but it was past 3 when I hit the outskirts of the city, meaning northbound was down to one lane under the river (reversible lanes). I’ll remember that for the next time. Grabbed groceries at Safeway and was checked in with cocktail in hand at 4:20.

BamBam and Hummingbird for dinner tonight. Totally spaced getting a picture. Oh well.

After the PuPu platter, it was a Sunday Roast on Tuesday. Seasoned pork blade roast over a bed of potatoes and onions with a salad. Only a little of the pork left when all was said and done.

Nice to be back in Vancouver and seeing the boys who are just back from a month in Yelapa (just down the coast from Puerto Vallarta).

Helene for lunch tomorrow, Epick for dinner, and Marmot for drinks after.

And now to bed.

[211.2]

So, here is the best guess on what’s going to change on June 1^st:

• Nothing changes in the beer world. No discounts, no central warehouse.

For wine, a couple of changes:

• Discounts allowed, but must be offered to everyone
• If you have more than one location, you can now have an off-site warehouse
• Possible broken case fees from distributors (currently those fees are not allowed)
• Still Cash on Delivery, no 30 day terms

The real changes are in the spirits end:

• Basically, liquor prices are going up
• Two new “royalties” (think the mining business) of 10% charged by the Distributor and 17% charged by the retailer… on top of the sales tax
• Big firms (Costco, Safeway) can save the Distributor Royalty by purchasing direct from US distillers (think cheaper Bourbon), but not from foreign distillers (no cheap Grey Goose)
• And the odd thing about the Retailer Royalty (17%) is that it won’t show up on the shelf price, but will be added at the cash register. Talk about sticker shock. $38.44 on the shelf, and at the register with all the different royalties and sales tax: $47.39

Washington State already has the highest liquor taxes in the US, now add 27%.

In other news, late afternoon saw the start of printing the directory for the Faerie Gathering next week. 180 copies, 7 interior 8.5×14 pages, 90 second per duplexed page = days of printing.

Timmy and Anne came over for a lovely corned beef dinner. The dish went into the oven at 2pm (sautéed half an onion, deglazed the pan with some red wine, added half a dozen juniper berries and a bunch of whole green peppercorn) and came out at 7pm. Fresh grated horseradish, sauerkraut marinated in dry vermouth, roasted asparagus and a salad accompanied.

Damn fine meal if I don’t say so myself.

[210.8]

After being on the road so long he has some major repairs needed:

• Major crack in skull
• Both elbows broken
• Two fingers missing

And I haven’t even checked his legs yet, though one did fall off in transit (but popped back in).

I’ve been need a nice quiet, low-maintenance roommate.

As for my day, just the standard Sunday at the shop. Light business, but I got all the wine description cards updated with all the typos fixed.

[209.0]

So, in the picture below we have several “printer” related bargains. The printer (top two thirds of the printer) from Greg (who bought it from me YEARS ago). The duplexer and extra paper tray from Floating Bridge Press via Wonderful (who bought it from my YEARS ago), and the pile of toner and drums courtesy of UW Surplus (University of Washington Surplus Store) at $5-$10 each.

The downside is that at the moment the printer is in my KITCHEN and will probably remain there until the directory is printed. Oh, and the downside of getting it down the stairs at Greg’s house and into the back of the SwandaSleigh. Greg was there (sick with a cold) to help me get it in, but at my house it was up to me (I brought the trolley from the garage).

Basically it took me all night to get it tuned up to get good copies in preparation for the directory printing.

That and a chunk of lamb was my evening.

[210.0]

Or maybe that look is the Russian Brandy that my friend Natasha gave me for my birthday, though it was only a shot.

My day was spent tracking down photographs of 171 faeries attending the Winter Gathering and arranging the Photo Directory (cover posted a couple of days ago). A beautiful sunny winter day in Seattle (great top down day) was in front of a computer for the betterment of my faerie brothers.

The evening is a blur, yet again in front of the computer after being in front of the plate for dinner.

Tomorrow more of the same, and work.

[210.0]

Nothing like weaving in animals having sex. It is going to my faux-nephew in Portland on the way to the winter gathering.

Lots of work on the gathering directory and a quiet/sane dinner.

[210.3]

This one should be an interesting on to see on and eReader as the photos are approximately where they were in the print issue. You can click on the cover and go to the Libboo site and read it for free.

I finished that project right at five and switched to the living room to start working on tracking down all the mug shots for the winter gathering directory. Here is the front and back over:

At six, the boys showed up (Wonderful and Marc) for cocktails and a 7pm dinner of slaw, Frenched rack of lamb, sautéed mushrooms, onions, zucchini. Damned yummy.

Then it was back to work for me.

Damn, too many projects in the hopper and none of them paying.

[206.8]

The Anthology, Pigletté and BoBo Visit Kansas City (#17), and Sign of the Times – A Chronicle of Decadence in the Atomic Age Volume 5, Number 3 are now all available on the Barnes and Noble Nook site. Still waiting for notification from Amazon about the Kindle versions.

And on the health front, my father is weak but home from the hospital, more as I know it. For Swanda, here is the update:

I talked to Chris late yesterday afternoon as he was getting up from his afternoon nap. Sounded a little winded, but not surprising since he’d had two rounds of physical therapy during the day.

MINIMUM time for his return home is three weeks which would be another week in the hospital and then two weeks in a rehab facility. Again, all this is dependent on how his strength is returning.

He did log into email for the first time since his trip to the hospital and spent most of the time deleting emails and trying to clean up his inbox. My guess is that it will take several days before he’s actually sending out any emails.

DancingBear come over a little at 5 for cocktails and then dinner. Brown sugar glazed pork chops, slaw, mashed potatoes, and a little wine rounded out everything.

[207.7]

• Reading The New Yorker
• Checking email
• Portable music box when I’m on the road

The one thing that has annoyed me about Ken is while the folding cover makes it possible to have a landscape stand, it doesn’t have a portrait stand, and The New Yorker only displays in portrait. Solution?

It says plate holder, but it’s rubberized and only $5 with free shipping from Amazon.

And speaking of Amazon, I discovered this old issue of Sign of the Time available for $15 plus $3.99 shipping. Gee, I’d sell you one for the cover price ($3.50) plus shipping.

Other than a run to the apartment to do a load of laundry in the big machine, picking up a package and running it to the shop, it was generally a quiet day in the city.

[207.7]

A good Sunday of sales, made even better with a special order of five cases of wine for an event. We need more days like this.

Work, shop, home, drink, eat, drink, bed.

That would make a boring blog.

But to livein it up… best comment about yesterday’s blog/FaceBook picture was from an old college mate who I have never forgiven (sinca 1980) for stealing and trashing my Christmas tree in February:

 You can dress yourself up Mr. Souder, but that smile still says you’re looking for mischief!

[209.4]