Thunderstorm

An awesome storm rolled through Selah this afternoon. This was the first time since moving to the area in 2007 that I have seen hail. The thunder was so loud that Tillie got upset and that is very unusual.

The lawn was saturated and the patio underwater in a matter of minutes.

An incredible amount of water was pouring out of the gutters.

It sounded like the hail would break the windows, but they remained unharmed.

Killdeer Update

A week ago I posted some pictures of a Killdeer nest. I am pleased to say that the eggs are still in the nest and we are still helping the mamma and papa bird scare off predators. I took this picture this morning of one of the parents sitting on top of the eggs.

Yakima Trolley Centennial

On Friday, June 21, the Yakima Trolley made its centennial run to Selah. Only dignitaries could ride the trolley yesterday, but today the trolley was open to the public. The trolley last made a run to Selah 8 years ago due to the theft of overhead wiring.

Our ticket.

Our conductor dressed up as the mayor of Yakima when the trolley made its first run on June 21, 1913. The Yakima trolley is the nation's last turn-of-the-20th-century interurban electric railway.

The mahogany woodwork is beautiful.

The cord is attached to a bell that lets the conductor know when you want to get off. For the centennial run, the trolley did not make any stops, but we were told that the city of Yakima plans to use the trolleys again in the future.

The back of the seat switches to the other side of the bench seat so we could face forward going both directions.

Leather strap handles should you be unlucky enough to not get a seat.

I just loved the old advertising signs.

Our conductor was a little "whistle happy" and the whistle/horn was very loud. Many of us (myself included) had our ears covered for the 1.5 hour ride.

The conductor stops the trolley over the Yakima river to collect tickets. If you do not have one, you have to get out here.

Rainbow in Selah

I took these two pictures tonight in our backyard. I used the sunset setting on my digital camera to try and capture the vibrant colors in the rainbow. We did not get a drop of rain, but we could see that it was raining in the valley. Beautiful!

Killdeer Nest

A pair of Killdeer birds have a nest at the base of one of the legs on this wooden archway in the front yard. Every evening when Susan would go out to water the plants, the birds would create all kinds of racket. They move away from the nest in order to keep predators away from the eggs so it took awhile for Susan to identify the actual location of the nest.

One of the parents.

It is amazing how the eggs just blend in so well with the rock. Some magpies were trying to get the eggs this morning so Susan went out and scared them off. I hope we get to see the birds hatch.

A close-up view of the eggs. So cool!

X-ray Class Reunion

This last weekend, five of us from the Holy Family Hospital 1979 Class of Radiologic Technology held a reunion at Priest Lake.  This is the only picture I could find of our entire class that year.  The back row (L to R): Kathi, Rose, Karla, Susan, Stephanie & Janet.  In the front row: Patty and Julie. A few of us had not seen each other since graduation.

One of our classmates, Rose, has passed away and two others were not able to join us, but considering how many years have passed, I think we were fortunate to get five people together.

Our instructors, Bernie and Earlene, came up on Friday and spent the day with us, reminiscing about old times.  There was a great deal of laughing involved. 

We rented this cabin at Hill's Resort.  It was right on the water and was just perfect for the reunion.

Our view of the lake in front of our cabin.

Julie's boss, John, happen to be putting his boat in the water at Coolin on Saturday and was nice enough to give us all a boat ride.  Chimney Rock can be seen in the background. 

Kathi was kind enough to bring two kayaks with her for us to enjoy. 

Everyone seemed to have a great time and I enjoyed seeing my friends again.