I Vaccinated Obama

I got the best night sleep at the weird hotel in Bariadi despite the lack of water, the loud TV, the thumping bass, the lack of a mosquito net, and the smell of diesel. It was blissful. After an egg, a slice of bread, and some tea, we were off to Matonga, a fair sized village about a 2 hour drive from Bariadi.

Ate In July, Good For The Year

I just sat down to write today’s post when my friend knocked on my door to deliver me a bucket of water to shower with. We are in a village called Bariadi, southwest of the Serengeti Park, at the ‘upscale’ motel. So upscale that they don’t provide bednets in the room because it would make them look unsophisticated.

An Amorous Ostrich

I woke up this morning at 6am to find out that the generator does not get turned on until later. So I fumbled around sleepily, in the dark, to try and wash my face and found out that the water pump from the bore hole was apparently not working and there was, also, no water. I threw on some clothes and met my friends for some tea and a morning drive around the Serengeti.

Not Kidnapped On Kilimanjaro

I groggily walked off the plane in Kilimanjaro at 8:30 last night, after 24 hours of traveling. I was told that a driver would be there to meet me. As I exited the airport, I saw many names on placards, none of them mine.

The Kitchen Video

No pomp, no circumstance... WAY overdue.

The Kitchen Reveal from Marcus Engley on Vimeo.

We Are Gathered Here Together

On Monday I had the honor of performing the wedding ceremony for our friends Andy and Mica. The service was held on the beach near Blue Ridge, north of Golden Gardens. The small wedding party walked down the train tracks to a locked set of steps. Undeterred, the bride and groom (and the wedding party dogs) stemmed across the gap in an oddly symbolic transition into the rest of their life together. Anastasia had me all weepy with the words she shared and we celebrated with a four hour meal at El Gaucho. A fantastic day.

Happy Father's Day!

[caption id="attachment_579" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Self portrait in the \"AirTEP\" short-haul platform, a new rescue tool that Snohomish County is trying out."][/caption]

It's tough being so far from the family sometimes, since it's so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day stuff that keeps us all busy. Happy Father's Day Dad! Love you.

The Details

It's remarkable how long the "little things" take. It's been a couple of weeks since Keith finished up and we're slowly chipping away at the detail work that we saved for ourselves. Tiling the backsplash -- the last big project -- is finally done. We still need to grout it, but thanks to a full day's help from Mica, we got it all mortared to the wall yesterday.

Late Update

Apparently it's much easier to maintain daily updates when someone else is doing all the work. Here are photos of the latest, to include finished floors, new fridge, new dishwasher and some potential paint color choices.

The Home Stretch

Today was a day of small projects and touch-up details. Having finished all the major pieces yesterday, Keith cut baseboard, tweaked cabinet doors, hooked up the final plumbing and electrical connections, etc. Basically, we have a completely functional kitchen now, with only a few exceptions.

Long Day For Keith

Keith finished up at 7:30, 12 hours after he got here. He worked his butt off today. The list that remains is awfully short. Oven and cooktop -- done. Hood -- done. Cabinets -- done. Sink et al -- done. It's just about finished, despite still having a plywood floor.

Revealing

Not the whole shebang, of course, but some bigger pictures since everything's starting to come together. Doors are all on, handles are on, the counter is darn purty. There's one more cabinet to install and the appliances should be going in on Monday -- Tuesday at the latest. After that, it's in our court for the floor. Trips to the tile store are on the agenda this weekend, as is a trip to look at new cookware -- a requirement that you'll understand soon enough.

Good Days and Bad Days

Today was an odd one. With countertops on the way, Keith was here early to get as many cabinet doors finished as possible before the counters arrived and took over the kitchen. When I went to work I knew I wouldn't get to see it until late tonight, since I had a heli flight in the afternoon and a classroom session for our rigging class immediately after.

Uppers And Downers

Upper cabinetry is in and we continue to add new bits and pieces to the future kitchen-state. Anastasia decided to replace the dispenser for our Insta-hot (which will be making a return in Kitchen 2.0) with a different style.

Truth And Fiction

There wasn't a ton of new work done in the kitchen today, but the base cabinets are pretty much done and the countertop subcontractor was here to take his measurements. He left with a pile of cardboard cutouts in the shape of our new kitchen.

An Unveiling? Or Not...

If Anastasia and I were doing this remodel we'd be lucky to have the cabinets removed by now, assuming we'd taken the last two weeks off from work. Instead, the base cabinet boxes are already 98% installed and the upper cabinets will probably be going in tomorrow.

Making Mud

Mudding and skim-coating was the plan today. The insulation is in and the walls are closed, so come next week we'll start seeing cabinets. Tuesday we take measurements for a very exciting component of the kitchen, hopefully to be installed on Thursday.

Let There Be Drywall

It's funny, but in a way these first few days are my favorite part of the project. As Anastasia will attest, I get WAY more excited about the inner-workings and nuts-and-bolts of the project than she does. Don't get me wrong, I can't wait for the brand new log-cabin style cabinets, the red linoleum floors and the refurbished electric range*, but it's really cool to see all the brand-new guts of the kitchen and know that we won't have any problems with it for a long time to come.

The Legend of John Adams

Our dearly departed former homeowner (may he rest in peace) continues to exercise his remodeling prowess from beyond the veil. After discovering (and correcting) the kitchen drainage vent that distributed sewer gas directly into the attic, Keith (our main-remodel-man) discovered that most of the electrical work in the kitchen was just a series of paper clips and staples, crimped together and attached to the breaker box with bubblegum.

Continued Mayhem

Well, we replaced the light bulb and it still appears as if something is wrong with our kitchen.
[caption id="attachment_458" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="Mmmmm, new plumbing."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_459" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Demo complete."][/caption]

Kokanee Video

Andy put together a fine little video with our footage from the trip. Be sure to expand it to full screen.

Kokanee Hut from A. Toyota on Vimeo.

Something Seems Wrong

[caption id="attachment_446" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Something\'s unusual about the kitchen, but I can\'t quite place it."][/caption]

Busy May

The moment we got back from our Kokanee trip we dove into a hectic schedule for the month of May. I'm wrapping up my documentary film class with Andy for a "premier" on June 8th, trying to fit in as much helicopter flight time as possible and, the kicker, taking Snohomish County's "Rigging For Rescue" class, with Mica and Anastasia.

Kokanee Hut, Nelson BC

Five years ago, when we did our first hut trip to Fairy Meadows, we fell in love with the "hut trip" concept. We've since gone to several others, but have been trying each year to get a spot at the Kokanee Hut via the Alpine Club of Canada's lottery system. We missed it again this year, but managed to grab a later winter/early spring spot when the vacancies were announced in January.

Helicopter Fun

It's official -- Andy and I have both been accepted as members of Snohomish County's Helicopter Rescue Team. Here's a recent article about some of the new technology that SnoHawk 10, the team's Huey, is packing:

HeraldNet SnowHawk

The Hog Loppet

This past Saturday Erik, Carey, Alisa, Rich (Alisa’s husband) and I all skied the Hog Loppet, a 30k “race” from Mission Ridge outside Wenatchee to Haney Meadows at Blewett Pass. It was a bluebird day with temps in the 40s.



The race covers 18 miles and starts at 6400 feet. The first 3 miles has a LOT of down, over 1000 feet, which makes for some comical moments when everyone is on waxless fishscale cross country skis, or skate skis. Ass-craters littered the slopes.

Flying

Well, now I can officially say that flying in a helicopter is superior to jury duty. After missing my first opportunity to go on a training flight with the Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team because I was compelled to fulfill my civic duty, Andy and I drove up to Taylor's Landing (the SC Sheriff's heliport) and hitched a ride on the 1974 Huey that is their aerial workhorse for Search And Rescue missions.

We spent some time going through a variety of hoist procedures on the ground, in the hangar, while waiting for some weather to move through the area. Once done, we rolled the heli out onto the pad and strapped in. Andy and I were passengers, but had flight helmets with radios and were able to listen in on the comms and ask questions if we had them. The 15 minute flight to the training area was excellent -- I couldn't help but be reminded of Vietnam War movies as we flew.

Once at the training area, the Rescue Technicians (the same position Andy & I are applying for) were lowered to the ground on the hoist, along with their gear. The pilot then set it down and we got out. The crew ran through four rotations of hoist lifts, using a litter, a "screamer" suit (basically a reinforced nylon blanket with hard-point lifting rings) and a strop (like a horse-collar that you'd lift a swimmer with). Andy and I were used as the subjects for the screamer suit and I got hauled up in the strop -- super fun, if also just a tiny bit disconcerting.

There'll be a lot more of these trainings coming, if we're accepted onto the team. Looking good so far!

Searching

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Two-climbers-missing-near-Alpental-83759752.html

I can't really go into much detail about things, but the highlight of my weekend was being involved in the effort to help track these guys down and get them out safe. Feels good to be doing this kind of work again.

Finally Skiing - A Two Tour Weekend

It has been a fairly dismal snow year here in the Pacific Northwest. Our passes to the Snoqualmie resorts lie crisp and fresh, untouched, in our helmets. Amid the organized chaos of involvement with 3 or 4 Search And Rescue teams between the two of us, we've had precious little time to use those passes, even if there had been snow to play on, so when we looked at the schedule and realized that the last weekend in January was blissfully free of commitments, we decided to ski tour both days and make the most of it.

Caribou Lodge - The Puppy Tour

After ushering in 2009 in a moldy, half-frozen yurt, we made plans to close out the year in comfort and style. Caribou Lodge had been good to us despite poor skiing conditions in March and it came through again for New Year 2010.