I have a new business scheme, and it’s a dandy.
There are a few tiny problems to work out, mainly I need to convince a certain reluctant daughter of mine how brilliant my plan is.
For some time I have been trying to convince my little miss know everything daughter, Katy, that I possess all the special tools needed to pick the perfect boyfriend for her. I believe my natural sunny disposition and trust of no male under the age of 94 makes me the most fair and balanced of judges.
Give me grammar, give me code, give me project management – I’m your gal. But baking isn’t one of my strengths. In fact cooking isn’t one of my strengths.
The Green River Valley is under threat of flooding by the diminished capacity of the Howard Hanson Dam. Lots of work still remains to put a permanent fix in place at the dam and shore up levees along both the Green and Cedar rivers. Now, it has come to light that a new threat to the Green and Cedar River Valleys has emerged – taxes.
If pundits are to be believed, the hottest contest for elected office in our state this year is our U.S. Senate race, now that Dino Rossi has decided to challenge Patty Murray.
But there’s another battle that promises to be just as fierce: the looming showdown between Republican Dave Reichert and Democrat Suzan DelBene, the expected winners of the primary in the Eighth Congressional District, which includes Redmond.
The Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council met for its regular monthly meeting July 12. Several major topics discussed were joint unincorporated area council forum, Black Diamond master planned developments and King County code change recommendations.
The council serves as an all volunteer, locally elected advisory body to the King County Council representing all rural unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District.
Over the past two years the Board of Commissioners, leadership team and staff members of King County Fire District No. 43, Maple Valley Fire and Life Safety, have taken aggressive measures to monitor expenditures. Line item budgets and the emergency reserve fund have been reduced, training, travel, overtime and other discretionary costs have been restricted or eliminated. These steps were initially taken after the most recent levy failure in the fall of 2008.
This past Tuesday was declared Carly Overhauser and Dean Kayler Day in Maple Valley, due to their heroic actions in pulling a drowning man from Shadow Lake, and administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics could arrive.
Thirteen years ago as an outdoor enthusiast and local paramedic, I discovered a quiet oasis of towering 60-100 year old cedar trees, towering maples, and ferns the size of Volkswagen Beetles and a quiet solitude between to growing cities of Maple Valley and Covington.
Enjoying our first Fourth of July at home in years, Trav and I spent the holiday having barbecue and street fireworks with our many friends and neighbors. It was a fantastic time in which I was asked lots of questions – which I may or may not have entirely gotten around to answering.
This past weekend was a holiday for most of us, but not for a lot of door-to-door salespeople. I didn’t think I needed more magazines, dubious cleaning supplies, or bug and rat control, but these folks apparently saw my deficiencies in this area and decided to make a personal visit to help me out.
So, I visited Pride Fest last Sunday at Seattle Center.
For those of you not familiar with it, Pride Fest is Seattle’s celebration of sexuality, in all its facets. It’s a festival about acceptance of our fellow humans – whether those humans are older folks in North Face jackets, or a guy with a mohawk in a tutu.
Given its subject matter, Pride Fest is a magnetic north pole for some folks, kryptonite for others.
Well, I still don’t have a job. Technically. Although it’s sadly true that I haven’t been hired for a full-time position, my freelance business is – finally, thankfully, wonderfully – becoming another story.
Well, Independence Day is this weekend, and you might expect to read a well-researched and carefully thought out treatise on freedom and liberty in this column. Nope, not here.
The Green River Valley is under threat of flooding by the diminished capacity of the Howard Hanson Dam. Lots of work still remains to put a permanent fix in place at the dam and shore up levees along both the Green and Snoqualmie rivers. Now, it has come to light that a new threat to the Green and Snoqualmie River Valleys has emerged – taxes.
After spending last week’s column encouraging us all to shop locally, I spent the weekend getting rid of the fruits of my own shopping. Most of it was household clutter, a lot of it was books, and it ended up taking five van loads to get rid of it all. If you are in need of some truly great stuff, get to the Goodwill before it’s all sold out.
Some time ago, I was asked by a friend with whom I share a mutual interest in the history of this great country of ours, to write something about it. Both of us are particularly drawn to the early history; centered around the years leading up to and following the American Revolution and the patriots who influenced the thinking and subsequent decisions that ultimately led to the formation of the greatest experiment of self government ever devised.
Lady Gaga is arguably the biggest star in the world and over the past year she’s been interviewed by almost every major news outlet and journali
Last time in this column: My cat, Algie, went back to the vet. Again. Some more. They gave him shots. He got a little better. Then he got a lot worse. He started lying around like he was going to die. So we spent all day saying goodbye. Then we took him to the vet for the final time. And we cried. A lot.
Get ready for another “Shop Local” campaign in your town. Hopefully this one will do better than they usually do.
I’m not knocking the abilities of the Chamber of Commerce folks who are putting this together. They have a lot of successful business people who are able to attract customers, but the track record for creating artificial desires in the minds of shoppers isn’t good.
For example, take the campaign from the 80’s that encouraged us to “look for the Made in the USA label”. Celebrities such as Barbara Mandrell did TV and print ads to drive the point home. It worked for a short while, but it never became a habit. Why? American factories just couldn’t compete with imports from China, and American consumers are simply too addicted to low prices to care.
This Sunday is Father’s Day and this year I am looking at it in a whole new way.
After my dad died in 1986, Father’s Day became a non-holiday, there was no reason to celebrate it.
