Neighbor's Grass Fire

The homeowner to the south of our property had a pile of debris burning today but unfortunately for him, the winds picked up and it quickly spread across the field. The fire spread to the west, crossing the property line.

At first the fire was headed southwest which was great but then the wind changed direction. You can see the blackened grass in the back of this photo showing where the fire burned initially. 

Not sure how they managed to save the cars, but they did. I was not the first person to call 911 and even then, the first firetruck on the scene was not a water truck, so even more land burned before a water truck arrived.

They ended up with four different water trucks on the scene before they stopped calling for more help.

Even though I knew the fire would not reach our property it was still a little scary to see how fast the field burned. 

The ever diligent Toby watched as the firefighters hosed down the hot spots. That is enough excitement for me for the day.

Famous Dave's

Famous Dave's opened last weekend in Yakima and we went to lunch there yesterday before going to Art in the Orchard.

Susan and I ordered different sides so we could taste different options. The potato salad, coleslaw, beans and mac and cheese were all good and all prepared just a bit differently than most restaurants. The atmosphere is fun and the service was really good, especially for a brand new crew.

We loved the pork and the ribs and intend to go back and try a few more items. YUM!

Art in the Orchard

On Saturday, Johnson Orchards located at 4906 Summitview in Yakima held a fundraising event for Children's Village. All donations plus 20% of all art proceeds goes toward helping children in our community with special health care needs.

Artist sell a variety of items at this event including jewelry, glasswork, birdhouses and signs.
Well known artist such as Duane Heilman, Lucy Valderhaug, Dennis Pedemonte and Boris Gaviria are featured along with other vendors.

Susan and I loved the watercolor work of Sally Griffin from Sammamish so we purchase two of her pictures. Last year this fundraising event raised almost $3,000.

Snipes

Mom and Dad spent the long holiday weekend with us and while they were here we celebrated Susan's birthday, which was earlier in the month. They told Susan they would take us out to dinner anywhere she wanted to go and she picked Snipes in Sunnyside.

The actual name of the place is Snipes Mountain Brewery and Restaurant. The restaurant is family owned and was designed to reflect the surrounding countryside.

You enter the restaurant through large double doors with beautiful glass etched scenes to enter the main dining room. There are banquet rooms available and kids are welcome.

If you order pizza, they bake it in a wood fired oven and brew their own beer. Susan had been to Snipes many years ago, but none of the rest of us had ever been there and we loved it.

Tillie's Bath Day

It was bath day for Tillie today. When Susan is finished giving Tillie her bath, she wraps her up in the afghan, which Tillie will stay in for a long time. Tillie usually dries off sitting in Susan's chair but today she kept me company while I was resting in my room.

Toby stays nearby waiting for Tillie to emerge from the afghan at which time Susan uses a hair dryer to finish the job.

Anacortes Arts Festival

Susan and I went to the Anacortes Arts Festival this weekend for the first time.  We drove over on Saturday morning taking Highway 2 in anticipation of the heavy I-90 traffic the result of Seafair and we were so glad we did.  We took a little side trip to Cashmere, stopping at the '59er Diner.  This darling diner is located in Apple Annie's Antique Mall. We got quite a kick out of looking at all the memorabilia from the 50's. 

They have a kitchen decorated from the 50's complete with a table you can eat at, if you are lucky enough to get there when it is empty. 

A person could spend a lot of time simply looking at all the decorations on the walls of the restaurant. Apparently the restaurant is famous for their milkshakes. We did not try one, because we stopped by in the morning, but they even have a contest every month to see if someone can guess how many shakes they will make that month.

We want to go back when we have enough time to look through the antique mall, and go through the Applets and Cotlets factory at Liberty Orchards.

The weather was just gorgeous and there were a lot of people at the Arts Festival. I took these pictures while we were walking around - really an excuse to use my new digital camera.

The festival is in its 6th year and features 250 artisans over a six block area. There were several jewelry and pottery booths, but they also had some stunning wood and metal art.

Terry Jones from Trout Lake, WA won the Best of the Fest award for his wood art. It was just beautiful.

Even though many of the items were pricey, I would go back to the festival again. On Sunday, we drove up to Port Susan and visited with Mom and Dad while we watched the NASCAR race and some tennis. They treated us to lunch at the "Little Casino" and then we drove home. We had a great road trip!

Seattle Mariner Baseball Game

Susan surprised me with tickets to a Seattle Mariner baseball game for my birthday this year. The tickets were for the game on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins. The Mariners lost the game, but it was so much fun to spend the weekend in Seattle. Besides going to the game, we ate dinner at one of our favorite downtown restaurants - Etta's.

This enormous chandelier made of baseball bats is one of the first things you see once inside the stadium.

Click on an image for a full-size view. 

A view of the stadium before the game started.

Taking pictures while walking around the ballpark.

One of the many food booths around the stadium. We also heard they sell Fried Rice Krispy Cookies, but I did not see that booth.

Outside the Kids Clubhouse, a gift store that caters to kids.

The fountain located outside the Playfield.

I love this mural.

A nice tribute to Dave Niehaus. A staff member will use your camera to take a picture of you sitting next to Dave in the broadcast booth.

We had perfect seats. There were many, many foul balls hit during the game, but none of them came into our section.

A view of the outfield while walking around the stadium.

A view of the pitcher's warmup box.

The self-serve yogurt stations were very busy on Saturday.

I took this picture of Susan from the other side of the stadium.

Yakima Weather

This pretty much says it all!

Bye Bye Birdie

Friday evening Susan, Kay and I went out to dinner and then to the Warehouse Theatre in Yakima to see their production of Bye Bye Birdie. Monica Sevigny, playing the part of Kim Macafee, has a beautiful voice. The group of kids playing the teen dancers were also very fun to watch. It was not the best play we have seen at the Warehouse, but still a nice evening out supporting our local economy.

The next show at the Warehouse is Anne of Green Gables. It runs from September 27 through October 12. I have always wanted to see this show, but I will be out of town. I hope Susan and Kay go so they can tell me all about it.

Restoring Old Furniture

When Mom and Dad were in the process of downsizing they gave us kids the option of taking what furniture we wanted to keep. Susan and I recently took a few of the pieces we kept to an antique specialist to have them restored. I do not have a picture of this commode before it was restored, but it had been painted a light yellow, the handles were broken and some of the wood pieces on the side were broken. The commode was built in 1890.

My great grandmother used this writing desk until she passed away. The desk was built in 1910 and you can see the amount of work that needed to be done to restore it to its original condition.

Following the restoration process.

This old shelf stand dates back to the early 1900's and I believe this came from the lake cabin.

The finished product.

Needless to say, we love how the furniture turned out.