UMTravels

That would be the view of the house. The owner also owns the house next door, and the lot beyond that containing the giant covered swimming pool, and a lot down the road that used to be ocean front property until 1987 and the lava came.

And pretty lava it is:

And pretty me on the lava bluff:

The boys went into Hilo to pick up a few more supplies, I stayed home and read. Lightning also came home with the new iPad running on Verizon to give us a better hotspot. $729 seems like a lot to just get faster internet, but apparently he was planning on using his tax refund for one, so he just bought it early.

Dinner (again) with the landlord (Passion) with marinated chicken breast being the main, more of the heart of palm salad, and a tomato/onion/olive oil/balsamic salad as well.

Yum, yum, yum.

[? ? ?]

The dining room table has been turned over to technology:

And there are several more devices missing from this picture.

Somehow we have buggered up the internet connection so we are running over a cellphone Edge hotspot that Lightning brought along. Nothing like having a bunch of devices competing for bandwidth. If I had cell service out here, I’ve have my phone tethered to my laptop.

Went to the closest larger town to get a few items from Longs Drugs, and stop for lunch (lunch first, Longs second).

That would be the Kalua Pork and Cabbage, and no, I didn’t eat the rice, but I did have a MaiTai after tasting the one Lightning ordered — as did Dancing Bear. MUCH better than the ones that I refuse on Alaska flights to Hawaii because they are sickeningly sweet.

And speaking of sweet, a shot of the guava sweet bread we picked up at Longs:

Here is a shot off the balcony of the house showing how lush the grounds are:

And BreticusMaximus holding the two coconuts we scavenged from a tree they took down next door, and me holding “heart of palm” in the raw. We took the inner most part and I made a marinated salad out of it.

We had the landlord over for dinner (he’s a faerie that’s been to the Breitenbush gathering) which I think sort of shocked him as it might be the first time a guest has asked. But, then again, with the oddity of furnishings in the kitchen (more glassware than butter knifes), we might be some of the few who are actually cooking breakfast and dinner in-house.

Mixed bag for weather today. Rains for a bit, suns for a bit.

[205 on an old analog scale so I’m not really believing it]

Too funny. Dancing Bear and I are sitting in First Class, side-by-side across the aisle (1C and 1D) as the rest of the passengers are boarding and I look up to see my friend Kaloha who lives in Santa Cruz. Once we landed we had some time to catch up while he waited for his friend on a United flight and we waited for Lightning to arrive from his direct flight.

It was also nice to be able to change into shorts, t-shirt, and sandals.

We soon realized that his friend’s United flight landed at the next terminal which isn’t connected and that his buddy was on the way to the Thrifty Rental Car counter, which oddly enough is where we are picking up our Jeep, so off we go and we’ll come back for Lightning. That and I seriously need a little food in my system, and now that we are beyond security, there are nothing up vending machines.

Down the road a bit we find a TDM as Dancing Bear calls it: Taco del Mar. Fresh Mexican in Hawaii.

A quick bite, and back to the airport to pick up Lightning: who try to his name arrives in the middle of a torrential downpour. I’m drenched just getting out to let him get into the back seat of the Jeep. It is then that we realize we maybe should have gotten a bigger car. Three big guys (four by the time we pick up BreticusMaximus in Hilo), all their stuff, and we haven’t even been to Costco yet for the supply run.

Speaking of this: this is what the Jeep looks like after said Costco run and picking up BM.

Not even any room for the boxes that things came in. But we are well stocked with food and booze and lots of fresh local vegetables that BM packed along.

We took the Saddle Road which is now legal to take rental cars according to the nice lady at Thrifty — even though the on-line contract I read said it was a no-no. Interestingly enough it used to be printed in big letters on the contract that you had to initial. Apparently (and it’s true) they have significantly upgraded the road. It was nice to do some driving on the island on roads I hadn’t been on.

By the time we got to our rental house it was after 5 and the owner was patiently waiting for us.

First order of business. Make more ice. Second order of business, make cocktails.

And then it was time to deal with dinner:

• Prosecco
• Caesar Salad (pre-made from Costco)
• Scalloped potates (pre-madefrom Costco)
• Filet Mignons wrapped in bacon (seems we ended up with 7 pounds of bacon for 4 days)

Luckily I found skewers in the kitchen drawer — actually the house is fairly well stocked with unusual ingredients like chilies, curries, etc.

And here is the gang in action at the kitchen table (the dining room table has been given over to flowers and electronic gadgets):

The only downside was the lack of propane for the outdoor grill (and the lack of cell service for T-Mobile, but the boys on ATT are fine).

Aloha.

[? ? ?]

The tax man cometh, and the tax man goeth in the mail.

Actually got the rest of my tax information assembled in the first hour and a half at the shop. Dropped them mail box at 23^rd and Union on the way home.

Got to the house with half an hour to take a shower and change before Dancing Bear (driven by Possum) picked me up for the ride to the airport. Destination: Oakland (OAK). Really it’s Berkeley, but no direct flights. Saint Lunetta picked us up at a little before eleven.

He’s a Saint because he is taking us back to the airport at 7 in the morning.

DB was in coach, me in First. I got him upgraded for tomorrow’s flights but because the layover in the Bay Area was more than 6 hours, I couldn’t get this leg upgraded. Oh, well, he’s upgraded on the important flight — the long one from Oakland to Kona and from Kona to Oakland.

Much fun, but short lived conversation on our arrival to Berkeley, though mostly the boys were busy resolving a work problem — sounds like it’s a trying time.

[210.1?]

I actually was up before the alarm. Granted it was an 8:30am alarm, but considering dinner guests, not bad.

Opened at 11, and started working on going through the stack of papers for my 2011 taxes. I got all the credit card bills pulled and filed by month — and that’s most of what I need for the business portion of the taxes. Other stuff like health insurance (deductible as a small business), gas, can be pulled from my checking account online.

Jimmy showed up at 1:30 and the taste was on. Not a bad day, helped by a guy at the tasting who said, I’ll take a case of that, half a case of that and three bottles of that. Gotta love someone who comes in and drops $500 without batting an eye.

Dropped by the apartment on the way home to put new “parking passes” in Swanda’s car. They are changing the form, which means I’ve had to digitize another one so we can change the dates at will. Thank you Photoshop. He is good to April 23^rd, as is his sister. I made some blanks, I just need to drop by Office Depot to pick up a couple of green Sharpies which is what they are doing now for filling them out.

A lovely day for driving around:

Too weird that there was snow in Portland when I was there. Is there a law against photoing and driving?

Stopped on the way home at Stacy’s, this ODD junk/thrift/vintage shop on 4^th (near Michigan, next to McDonalds). The score?

2×3 foot two sided banner saying: “Wine A Bit, You’ll Feel Better” — not bad for $5, and other $5 for a set of four dice valve stem covers, and $2 for a set of tux studs and cufflinks, knocked down to $10 including tax.

Home for dinner — pre-prepared fajita mix (marinated beef and vegetables) over a bed of greens.

Then more tax stuff (and a little Faerie Business). Why didn’t I do this earlier, and just wait for the K-1 for the business. Live and learn.

And I still didn’t get enough stuff done tonight.

[208.9]

Out of the house at 10:30 and didn’t get back until 2:30, moving the whole time:

• To the apartment, put load of laundry in, check mail, pick up new parking pass, report that something is backing up into the kitchen sink
• To Costco to pick up more Alli — which they don’t have so I leave without buying anything
• Back to the apartment to move the laundry into the dryer
• To rehab center to visit Swanda in his new digs
• To the store to drop off a couple of pieces of wood and pick up my K-1
• Back to the apartment to pick up laundry
• Home

And even then no rest, as I’ve company coming to dinner and its ribs off the grill, which means 3-4 hours of smoking.

Seth and Maia showed up at a little after 4 to beat the traffic into town. Dancing Bear showed up at 5:30.

Maia is one seriously cute ginger.

And she loves her ribs!

[212.4]

Disturbing news when I checked my news feed today. A slide in Southern Oregon took out the baggage car of the Coast Starlight last night… that would be the same exact train I’m supposed to board this afternoon. 1-800-USARAIL. Booked on the 6:15pm Cascade train, in coach. No business seats available.

Brunch with the boys and their father at Gravy. I was good and didn’t get the Rueben, but went for the two eggs and sausage, the rest of the gang had planned to split two omelets and an single order of the biscuits and gravy. Waiter misheard and only one omelet came. Just as well, with the size of their portions, two would have killed them.

After brunch we went to the restoration store where I spotted this mini-toilet — apparently out of a kindergarten, the seat was only a foot off the ground:

Wish I could have moved it next to a full size one, but you can kinda see the height in the one next to it. Why do I want one. And at $90, not cheap. And how useful since I don’t have children, and don’t really want to add another 4″ drain to my house.

Afternoon spent hanging around the house shooting the shit until I left for the train station. I was hoping to have enough time to go to the ticket counter, pick up the new ticket, then go next door for some high class grub. What happened was:

• Got there later than I wanted
• Exchanged ticket to find out that the Coast Starlight DID run today, and on-time (I really wanted the steak in the dining car for dinner)
• And that there wasn’t enough time to get anything other than a dog and a salad at the gift shop

Here is that is weird. There were no business class seats, but they seated me in a car that was laid out like business class (seat size) that was in the other half of the café car. No bistro coupon, but still comfortable. Another advantage: wifi. And $84 in a refund to my VISA card and an override so that I got the same $29 fare.

Train was running late. I heard over a conductors radio that there had been a truck accident several hours earlier that they referred to as a “Darwin” winner. That made me and several other passengers chuckle. Click here if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

Home by 10:15. Just enough time before bed to deal with snail mail, email, and today’s paper.

[? ? ?]

Up early. 6:30. Off to the apartment to park the car, then off to the Train Station.

A great shot of me settled in my Roomette with the complimentary champagne turned into a Red Baron with the addition of a little Cranberry Juice.

Lunch on the train (comes with Roomette price). By 2:30 I was at Julian’s house for his first day his spring break.

Some errands and then it was onto cocktail hour:

I brought down some of the new Spanish vermouth, the above is a vodka martini made with the blanco vermouth and a twist of lemon. Of course to get the twist I had to go out and buy a zester for their house.

Steaks, potatoes, salad for dinner. Then off to the airport to pick up Jameson and then feed him some dinner — stuffed mushroom caps, and the rest of the salad.

A VERY long night of hanging out and chatting.

[209.4]

Today feels like a grocery list, but I’m not even shopping for groceries.

It’s that list of things you have to do, which I’ve already thrown in the trash. What I remember:

• Blog
• Swanda Update
• CRFR site work
• PayPal Donation Button
• License Bureau— wrong paperwork for what Swanda needs to do, yet another notarized form
• Harbor Freight to ogle tools
• Short nap
• Apartment to pick up mail
• Gift shop to look for mags for Swanda — BAD selection, almost bought Martha Stewart Living
• Pay for parking for long visit with Swanda
• Home for dinner

For the pictures today, we have the “Swanda Series” of the big man himself, and all of this new appliances, including the Hummer chair:

And the commode:

And his walker:

And Swanda at 558.6 pounds this morning smiling in the afternoon:

After Swanda it was home for cocktails, dinner, and packing for tomorrow’s trip to see both of the “faux nephews” — that would be my dead brother’s widow’s new husband’s nephews, and maybe their dad as well depending on what time he gets in on Thursday.

[210.4]

Finished up some things at the apartment, then met Jimmy at 11:30 in the food court. Off to Ballard (Shilshoal, so FAR Ballard). Giving Jimmy a ride because the bus runs maybe once an hour out that far.

Today’s tasting is another of those gigantic affairs:

• 165 wines open for sample, probably did ¾ of them
• 46 bottles of spirits open, did three (yes, only three)

Here is a note that I sent to Dan about the day:

Thank god Jimmy didn’t get a picture of me SPITTING booze — rums, etc. are now part of industry tasting. I did swallow the 10 year old Rye from Whistle Pig in Vermont. I threatened to go upstairs, get some of the really expensive vermouth ($32 a bottle wholesale) they were tasting, come back down, add the Pig Whistle Rye (10-year-old whiskey from Vermont, and not cheap), and some of the bitters (Bitter Brothers, I believe) they were showcasing. They said go ahead, but after 2+ hours of spitting wine, I was kinda done.

Doesn’t pay (much) but it’s a fun ride.

And more amusingly, here is what your glass and program look like after three hours of intensive tasting (at least the food was good):

Note the massive wine residue on the glass.

My plans to deal with Swanda’s title issue were put on hold until tomorrow, easier to go grocery shopping, gas up the car and get it washed with the tasting running to long.

Finally got around to finishing getting the Cascadia Radical Faerie Resource non-profit site up and running separate from the Gathering Site. Now remaining on the list before the summer gathering are:

• Update the PayPal buttons to reflect new site
• Add new copy for the summer gathering
• Add Donation button to the CRFR site

I can get two out of the three done without information from the current QR (Queens Registrar), but left a message to see when text would be coming in and if they needed any of the previous summer’s files.

Did a marinated flank steak over salad for dinner tonight.

And that was my day.

[210.1]

Up, out, into the shop by 11 to open the doors to… nobody for the first hour or so. An OK Sunday made better by the afterhours tasting with Gage from St. Clouds (the bartender next door, came with appetizers, $12). Great guy, great appetizers (enough that dinner tonight is the salad I forgot to take to the shop today).

For today’s humor we have this illustration (thank you FaceBook and https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei):

Thankfully, it’s a Windows tool.

Starting to think about the upcoming trip to the “faux nephews” on Wednesday — trying to figure out how to take down some of the vermouth for Julian to play with all the bitters in his collection.

[213.0]

Not a bad day at the shop. We are going through a ton of the Spanish Vermouth that we recently started carrying.

This week it was my turn to close up the shop and then head down the hill to a last minute invitation for a traditional St. Patties Day dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, soda bread and assorted vegetables and salad. It certainly beef the marinated beef that I was planning on having. Guess that will be tomorrow’s dinner.

Got home by ten and stayed up (again) too long to make for an easy tomorrow.

[211.5] Damn return to the digital scale

I don’t know what it is about this trip, but I can’t seem to get out of bed before 10am. Maybe I’m still on Seattle time.

Middle Eastern food for lunch and packed my leftover ribs in my carry-on for later.

Off to the airport at three with two bags to check in:

• Case of Arthur Bryant’s BBQ sauce
• 6-bottle carrier with 4 Gates and Sons BBQ sauce, a bottle of red wine and a bottle of whiskey

That left me with two bags to schlep to the gate. And speaking of gates (not the BBQ sauce), every time I fly through MCI (Kansas City’s airport code) I am reminded that this was the perfect airport for 1970.

Why? As you can see above, there is no room in the terminal design for screening for an entire terminal, they have to screen by every four gates or so. This means MCI will never be a national hub because people won’t put up with being rescreened when transferring flights. It was a massive new airport designed to have people be steps away from their flights. This was pre-jet hijacking. Now it’s just a dinosaur.

Got upgraded to First Class on the way back as well. A lovely three-course dinner of salad, then vegetables, couscous, herbed chicken breast, and then cookies fresh from the oven.

Wonderful met me at the airport which was good because by that time I had three checked bags (gate checked my garment bag) and no coat. Off to the apartment we go to pick up my car and drop off Swanda’s since Wonderful now has a replacement for his totaled car.

Finally got to those ribs for an evening snack.

[205] analog

Today we (Wendy and I) head out of town to try one of the BBQ joints reviewed by the Wall Street Journal: Perry Foster’s Bar B-Q in Warrensburg, Missouri, about an hour southeast of Kansas City.

The verdict? Good, not cheap, but not good enough to warrant an hour drive in each direction. On the way back using a different route, we were on the lookout for antique/junk shops:

The verdict? Like a bad garage sale that never ends. Walked away empty handed.

Dinner tonight is with the gang in Lawrence, Kansas at The Burger Stand at the Casbah. Shown here is my old buddy Conan. And no, I didn’t eat all of those fries, though I did have a few to soak up all the $3 Knob Creek Manhattans I was drinking. The downstairs bartender had to learn how to make them from the upstairs bartender, and don’t think he realized that the “$3 Knob Creek 1oz” special didn’t really apply to Manhattans because you have to charge for the Vermouth as well, but I wasn’t complaining, especially when he was pouring doubles and charging for singles. I had the Black and Blue Burger: features Maytag Blue Cheese and Granny Smith Apple Chutney. Yum. And yes, I did eat the bun.

Drove (not me after all those Manhattans) home and Paul made us a round of his signature cocktails, the Side Car (one part fresh squeezed lemon juice, two parts Cointreau, three parts Hennessey Cognac).

[206, which Gail informs me is light by 5 pounds]

Slept in WAY late because I had used the computer as a clock and hadn’t set it back to account for the time change. Was up at 10, which my body said was 8, as did the clock.

Wendy and Paul picked me up a little before 1 to head to Arthur Bryant’s for BBQ, and what should be on the morning paper’s front page?

A shot of two big guys pigging out at Arthur Bryants. And here are Paul and Wendy doing the same thing:

And if you read the label closely, you will find LARD as one of the ingredients.

Should you want to, click on the image and you will go to the Arthurs site for the blow-up.

I came out of there with a case of sauce for the store. Then stopped at a grocery store to grab some Gates and Sons sauce so that the shop will have the “battle of the Kansas City BBQ titans” available for purchase.

Tonight is dinner at a German restaurant called Grünauer in the Freight District. Basically every skuzzy old neighborhood in the central core of Kansas City is being kitted out with new restaurants and shops. I was a little surprised at the recommendation since going to a German restaurant isn’t usually a good bet for a vegetarian. But it worked. I had the beer brauts with the mashed potatoes swapped out for steamed spinach. Yum. And because of the opera tickets we got a round of espresso/schnapps to warm us after our meal. We even split a bottle of Austrian wine — a Grüner Veltliner 2008 Höpler, which is a dry white with lots of citrus overtones.

And then it’s off to the opera:

I have to say it was one of the most intriguing operas that I’ve seen in years. Great sets, wonderful music, and an odd plot line that had Henry Kissinger as the devil.

And the hall is stunning:

That’s it for today, back late (at least for the kids).

[204 but it’s their analog scale so who knows]

Ugh. 6:30am. Maybe I should go back to bed for an hour and just park at the airport.

No. It’s out of the house and into the city to leave the car at the apartment and take light rail to the airport. Knowing it’s going to be 79 and sunny in Kansas City, no coat. Probably a mistake, but I’m to the airport before I realize I could have brought a light one and just taken it off in the airport and stuffed it into my garment bag. Oh well.

Through security quickly, and off to the Board Room where I notice this outside:

Yes, snow. Maybe that coat would have been a REALLY good thing. Oh well, I’m inside and warm, and a First Class seat awaits me for the trip to Kansas City.

Shortly after getting into Kansas City and Paul and Gail’s place, we are off to a Happy Hour at Harry’s Country Club. One of the Happy Hour specials that Paul had was a Black and Tan where the tan was hard cider. Looks nice:

Yes, we are dining outside and Paul is in shorts.

Next stop was a wine shop/wine bar/whiskey bar/whiskey shop… two floors, this is the “basement”:

And back at the house, one of my nemesis’s:

Conversation and then bed.

A long day in the air over.

[? ? ?] Was so sleeping I spaced out weighing myself this morning.

Run, run, run would describe my day.

• Dentist at 11
• Chris at 12:30
• Lunch at 12:45
• Small Vineyards (22 wines) tasting at 2 (until 4)
• Wonderful to pick up Swanda’c car at 4:30
• Shopping for Peanut butter for Paul and Gail at 4:45
• Finally back to the house at 6

Whew! Lots of miles on the car as well.

And I still haven’t packed for tomorrow’s trip to Kansas City.

Luckily dinner is a snap with leftover chicken and vegetables over salad greens.

[209.1]

Slow day people wise at the shop, but OK moneywise as the guy who ordered a case of moderately expensive French wine last Sunday paid for it this Sunday, but since he’s a Metro driver, I had to deliver it after dinner since he also lives in South Park.

I had time to get the website revised, adding some specials to spice up the front page (http://www.madronawinemerchants.com), downloaded a bunch more of my photo archive from Ovi (who is stopping that line of their business), and got two more issues of Sign of the Times artwork scanned into the system.

Dinner tonight with Mr. Bliss took an amusing when I went to take the foil off a bottle of white, to completely take off the top of the bottle:

And the closeup:

Ouch. After that we just decided to move to Prosecco:

Which really bubbled nicely in SurfBetties pilsner glasses.

Dropped off the wine after dinner and ended up chatting with the customer, who has some seriously nice inkjet printing technology in his house.

[213.8]

Opened the shop today.

Checked out of the shot at 4:30 and headed to Wonderful’s place to change for the opera.

But first it’s a walk in the rain to eat Thai food, and a walk in the rain back to the opera house.

The opera tonight was Orpheus and Eurydice. Nice dinner music, but if I’d wanted to see dancing I’d have gone next door and seen the Pacific Northwest Ballet. The choreography was painful. The use of the lire (musical instrument) was more battle axe than soothing of the Furies.

On the upside, we got to dress up:

In the lobby.

In the box.

First half (3 acts) was 65 minutes, then 30 for drinks, then 30 for the last two acts. We were actually back in traffic at 10pm, maybe a new record for getting out of the opera.

And tomorrow is another workday. And I have one less hour of sleep. And Saturday Night Live is on.

[212.5]

Out of the condo by 10:30 and to the border by noon, only to find the Nexus lane backed up about 15 minutes worth. Better than the 30 minute wait in the regular lines. As Rich’s home bar is stocked, I got his allowance of duty-free so I scored the 2 bottles of Bombay Sapphire for $29.95. Not a bad deal. I prefer Plymouth Gin (also $15) but the deal on the Sapphire was better.

Stopped on the way down for 30% off steaks and gas from Safeway, a quick trip through an antique store I’d been passing for years (as it turns out, for good reason). Dropped steaks and Rich off at the house, he headed south to battle Friday afternoon traffic and I headed to the apartment to pick up mail for Swanda, and then off to the hospital to deliver it.

Question: how do you weigh someone who is 600+ pounds:

Looks almost like a mini treadmill.

After all the entertaining of the last couple of days, it was time for a quiet steak dinner at home.

I might need to get a bigger plate, or maybe just a smaller steak.

[? ? ?]