June 2017

2017 – Day 163

Monday, June 12, 2017

It was another gorgeous drive down to Moses Lake this morning. This is the last week of the school year which means bus inspections, riled children and probably some drama all mixed in together. I’m looking forwarding to being on the summer schedule next week and putting in 4, 10-hour shifts, and having Fridays off.

Last night Tiago and I went out to meet friends at the Old School House Brewery in Winthrop. Our friend, Bernie, has been on a 3,000 mile solo trek across the Southwest and stopped at the halfway mark to come home and recuperate for a couple of weeks before starting the second half. We were joined by his girlfriend Stacey and our friends John and Penelope. It was a great night with great friends.

I’ve completed one sock and will start the other sometime this week. I really enjoyed knitting toe-up socks and think I may be a convert. I’m not too happy with the heel technique on this sock and will explore the other heels to find one that appeals to my aesthetic. I think I’ll also explore knitting socks “two-at-a-time” on a longer circular needle.

2017 – Day 162

Sunday, June 11, 2017

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon.

https://flic.kr/p/UqBgER

My boss told me a new way to go home. Instead of taking Highway 17 from Moses Lake, through Soap Lake and by Dry Falls, I followed Stratford Road for around 25 miles and then got onto Pinto Ridge Road NE and followed that all the way to Coulee City and then get back onto Highway 17.

https://flic.kr/p/VACeZj

What a lovely drive home on a Friday evening. I was able to bypass all the tourists with their fifth wheels and campers. There wasn’t another soul on these roads at 6:00 PM on a Friday night.

https://flic.kr/p/V4YxvG

Once I got home, I dropped off Buddy and Little Miss and went to met Tiago and some friends at Copper Glance for a piece of chocolate cake and a cocktail. It was a wonderful way to kick-off my weekend.

House chores on Saturday. We were expecting a couple friends over; we had reservations for the Arrowleaf Bistro in Winthrop, but one of them had to cancel so we ended up meeting our friend in Omak and had dinner at the 13 Tribes Casino.

The Loup Loup Pass is still closed so we had to take the long way around, all the way down the Methow Valley, through Pateros and Brewster, up Highway 97 to Omak. Still, we had a great time with our friend Sheila.

Sunday’s been a day for some more chores around the house. While Tiago was busying organizing the garage and cleaning up the guest bedroom, I organized and ironed my clothes for the week and made three loaves of bread.

2017 – Day 157

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

I encountered this little fellow on my way to shower this morning. Spring’s officially arrived.

Here’s the progress of a toe-up sock I’m knitting. I’ve only knitted a couple toe-up socks; I’ve always been a top-down sock knitter, but I’m beginning to see some real advantages to this type of knitting, namely, not having to pick-up gusset stitches or close the toe. I’m using “Judy’s Magic Cast On” for the toe and I’m very pleased with the results. I just have to finish this sock and knit its twin before I can move onto knitting myself a sweater.

2017 – Day 156

Monday, June 5, 2017

This year is flying by. It only seems like yesterday when I posted “Day 1” for the new year and here it is “Day 156” already.

Monday morning, up at 4:00 AM, showered and out of the house by 4:30 AM for my 2 1/2 hour drive down to Moses Lake. This morning was an especially nice drive down; the sun rose about the time I reached Brewster and I rolled into town just a couple minutes past 7:00 AM and dropped Buddy and Little Miss off at the Taj Mahtrailer before stopping at Starbucks to enjoy an iced coffee and a chorizo breakfast sandwich and knit on a sock for half an hour before going into work.

I haven’t dedicated much time over the last couple of months to learning more about web development, but last week I took and passed my assessment for “Principals of Accounting” and “Marketing Fundamentals”.

I’m 59% of the way through my B.A. and I plan on taking “Spreadsheets” sometime this week.

My goal is to complete the remaining 16 courses before September 1, 2017 and thereby finishing my studies in two years.