An old postcard map of Puget Sound

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Old Seattle photograph

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This photo is probably from about 1900 (the flags are 45 star, which they were from 1896-1908), taken at the corner of Seattle's 2d Avenue S. and South Jackson St. in Pioneer Square. The street doesn't look much different today. The buildings still exist. One was damaged in the 2001 earthquake but was restored. This corner is now leased by--surprise--a coffee shop. Photo courtesy Allen, of Vintageseattle.org. He bought the photo used. Note: Everyone in the photo is wearing a hat.
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Invented in Seattle?

Not sure if they are referring to the phrase originating here, our famous phallic Space Needle, or the locally famous hamburger chain?  From the married to the sea website. . .

Seattle's Ravenna sinkhole, circa 1957

It was such a gnarly event, that even the New York Times covered the story - click to enlarge


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In Seattle's tree-lined (at least it seems tree-lined to me, a boy from the logged-off Ballard forest) Ravenna neighborhood, a massive sinkhole opened up in November, 1957, and threatened to suck the whole neighborhood down to the 145 foot deep sewer tunnel buried below.

These photographs are courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives. At the time, this was the biggest sinkhole, ever in the United States. You can read more about it here.

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Seattle rain and The Beaufort Rain Scale

Seattle, Washington is well-known for its rain, but many cities have greater rainfall than Seattle (especially in the east, and particularly Lousiana and Alabama [it's the Gulf!]). It rains very often in Seattle, but it is often a drizzle or sprinkle. The rain in other cities is often heavier, causing them to have larger averages.

Tonight, the sky is dotted with cirrus clouds. Sometime in the next few hours, I expect we will see them converge. . .rain is predicted for tomorrow. The clouds tonight are scattered enough that you can still see numerous stars and glimpses of the moon.

The annual rainfall in Seattle ranges is almost always between 37 and 39 inches.


Average Rainfall in Seattle by month:
Jan 5.13
Feb 4.18
Mar 3.75
Apr 2.59
May 1.78
June 1.49
July 0.79
Aug 1.02
Sep 1.63
Oct 3.19
Nov 5.90
Dec 5.62
Total 37.07

According to Livescience.com, Seattle is actually pretty far down the list of rainy cities, with a little over three feet of rain. Many cities in Florida and Louisana get a couple feet more rain than Seattle, and there are cities in Alaska and Hawaii that receive over eight feet of rain anually. New York City gets at least three more inches of rain than Seattle does, annually; those inches, however, fall on far fewer days.


The Top Ten US cities for rainfall:

Mobile, Alabama--67 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average annual rainy days

Pensacola, Florida--65 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual
rainy days

New Orleans, Louisiana--64 inches average annual rainfall; 59 average
annual rainy days

West Palm Beach, Florida--63 inches average annual rainfall; 58 average
annual rainy days

Lafayette, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 55 average annual
rainy days

Baton Rouge, Louisiana--62 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average
annual rainy days

Miami, Florida--62 inches average annual rainfall; 57 average annual rainy days

Port Arthur, Texas--61 inches average annual rainfall; 51 average annual
rainy days

Tallahassee, Florida--61 inches average annual rainfall; 56 average annual
rainy days

Lake Charles, Louisiana [Lake Charles is also the name of my favorite Lucinda Williams song] --58 inches average annual rainfall; 50 average annual rainy days

The rain in Seattle splashes, burbles, spouts, gushes, mists, pours, pounds, drizzles, sprinkles, and precipitates. Rain is really just the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into drops heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface of our planet. Much of this planet depends on rain for fresh water, both collecting on the surface, and in creeks, rivers, and ponds, as well as recharging the subterranean aquifers and springs that we tap with our wells. In many parts of the world--specifically the arid desert regions--water never even reaches the surface. This phenomena is known as virga. In Seattle, we do not experience virga.

According to the Wikipedia, "The fine particulate matter produced by car exhaust and other human sources of pollution forms cloud condensation nuclei, leads to the production of clouds and increases the likelihood of rain. As commuter and commercial traffic cause pollution to build up over the course of the week, the likelihood of rain increases: it peaks by Saturday, after five days of weekday pollution has been built up. In heavily populated areas that are near the coast, such as the United States' Eastern Seaboard, the effect can be dramatic: there is a 22% higher chance of rain on Saturdays than on Mondays."

I can't determine who came up with the Beaufort rain scale. It's been drifting around the interweb for a long long time now...you can find it in some places with huge lists of recipients, and about twelve carats > in front of every single line.


The Beaufort Rain Scale

Force 0: Complete Dryness. Absence of rain from the air. The gap between two periods of wet. Associated Phrase: "It looks like it might rain."

Force 1: Scotch Mist. Presence of wet in the air, hovering rather than falling. You can feel damp on your face but if you supinate your hand, nothing lands on it. Associated Phrase: "I think it's trying to rain."

Force 2: Individual drops. Individual drops of rain falling, but quite separate as if they are all freelance and not part of the same corporate effort. If switched on now, windscreen wipers make an awful screeching noise. Spectacle wearers begin to grumble. A newspaper being read outside begins to speckle. Associated Phrase: "It's spitting."

Force 3: Fine Rain. Raindrops falling together now, but still invisibly, like the spray which
drifts off a fountain with the wind behind. Ignored by all sportsmen except Test cricketers, who dash for cover. Spectacle wearers walk into oncoming traffic. Windscreen wipers, when switched on, make the windscreen totally opaque. If being read outside, a newspaper gets damp. Associated Phrases: "Is it worth putting the umbrella up?" and "Another fine rain you've got us into."

Force 4: Visible Light Shower. Hair starts to congeal around ears. First rainwear appears. People start to remember washing left out. Ignored by all sportsmen except Wimbledon players, who dash for cover. A newspaper being read outside starts to tear slightly. Associated Phrases: "It's starting to come down now," "It won't last," and "It's settled in for the day now."

Force 5: Drizzle. Shapes beginning to be visible in rain for the first time, usually drifting from right to left. Windscreen wipers are too slow at slow speed, too fast at fast speed. Shower-proof rainwear turns out to be shower-proof all right, but not drizzle-proof. First damp feeling inside either shoes or neckline. Butterflies take evasive action and begin to fly straight. A newspaper being read in the open starts to turn to pulp. Associated Phrases: "It's really chucking it down now," "It's raining cats and dogs," and "Nice for the farmers."

Force 6: Downpour. You can see raindrops bouncing on impact, like charter planes landing. Leaves and petals recoil when hit. Anything built of concrete begins to look nasty. Eyebrows become waterlogged. Horse racing called off. Wet feeling rises above ankles and starts for knees. Butterflies fly backwards. A newspaper being read in the open divides into two. Gardeners watering the flowers begin to think about packing it in. Associated Phrases: "It's coming down in stair rods," and "It's bucketing down."

Force 7: Squally, Gusty Rain. As Force 6, but with added wind. Water starts to be forced up your nostrils. Maniacs leave home and head for the motorway in their cars. Butterflies start walking. Household cats and dogs become unpleasant to handle. Cheaper clothes start to come to bits. Associated Phrases: "It's pissing down now," and "There's some madman out in the garden trying to read a newspaper."

Force 8: Torrential Rain. The whole world outside has been turned into an en suite douche. It starts raining inside umbrellas. Windscreen wipers become useless. The ground looks as if it is steaming. Butterflies drown. Your garments start merging into each other and becoming indistinguishable. Man reading newspaper in the open starts to disintegrate. All team games except rugby, football, and water polo called off. Associated Phrase: "Jesus, will you look at that coming down."

Force 9: Cloudburst. Rain so fierce that it can only be maintained for a minute or two. Drops so large that they hurt if they hit you. Water gets into your pockets and forms rock-pools. Windscreen wipers are torn off cars. Too wet for water-skiing. Instantaneous rivers form on roads, and man reading newspaper floats past. Rain runs up windows.

Force 10: Hurricane. Not defined inland - the symptoms are too violent and extreme (cars floating, newspaper readers lost at sea, people drowned by inhaling rain, etc.). So, if hurricane conditions do appear to pertain, look for some other explanation. Associated Phrases: "Oh my god, the water tank has burst - it's coming through the kitchen ceiling," and "I think the man upstairs has fallen asleep in his bath."
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Labor Day, and a reluctant end to summer

click to enlarge the West Point Lighthouse

OK. It is technically the last day of summer, although it is supposed to get hot again later this week.

In Seattle, the last weekend means Bumbershoot, and usually, a good weekend--Saturday at Bumbershoot, we saw Mayer Hawthorne and The County, Sheryl Crowe (briefly), The Old 97's, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (awesome!), and De La Soul.

Today we hiked down the hill in Discovery Park to the beach at West Point. A nice walk--with intermittent sprinkles and sun breaks, as we like to say--to the lighthouse and foghorn just below Magnolia Bluff. It must be scallop season--there were far more scallop shells on the beach than clams, crabs or mussels.
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The Lake Of Fire

A man died and found himself in limbo, waiting in a long, long line for judgment. He noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates. Others were led over to Satan, who threw them into a lake of fire. Every so often, instead of hurling a condemned soul into the lake of fire, Satan would toss him or her off to one side.

After watching Satan do this several times, the men's curiosity got the better of him. He strolled over The Great Deceiver:+

"Excuse me, there, Your Darkness," he said. "I'm waiting in line for judgment, and I couldn't help wondering why you toss some people off to the side instead of flinging them into the fires of hell with the others?"

"Ah," Satan said with a grin. "Those people are from Seattle. I'm just letting them dry out so they'll burn."
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It looks like Seattle's Mayor Greg Nickels just got his walking papers in this week's election

Mayor Greg Nickels appears to have come in third in our top two primary. I guess we will have to rename Nickelsville:


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Greg Nickels: "It's time for my bootheels to be wandering"
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Space Needle Concept Art

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Ballard Bear Update

The black arrow shows the location of my house.

From the Seattle Times: "Urban Phantom is the name given by state wildlife agents to a 2-year-old black bear who was first seen in Magnolia late Saturday, and so far has eluded capture as he has been sighted also in Ballard and Shoreline."

The 'bar was tromping around my neighborhood, after possibly swimming from Magnolia to the beach at Golden Gardens, and then climbing the heavily-treed hill. He was spotted near the graveyard up the hill, just a couple of blocks from my brother and sister-in-law, Dean and Mary's house near Blue Ridge. Later yesterday, he made good time, and ended up in a park in Shoreline. I know bears can run fast, but this bear made serious tracks. And so far, no one seems able to find him. At Twin Ponds Park, where he is possibly located now, he will run into a serious roadblock. Interstate 5 probably blocks his path (if he moving to the east, where forests and bear habitat exists).

From The Seattlest: Damn Bear Almost to Jack's House
The black bear we mentioned this morning seems to have somewhere pressing in mind. So far it's cruised from Magnolia, through Ballard, and "made a stop in Twin Ponds Park in Shoreline," says MyBallard, who have created a bear-tracker map. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has put its hunt on hold because there are too many people running around, but that doesn't bother Seattlest Jack: "I am gleeful over the fact that even in a major city, in the 21st century, one might still encounter a bear, or giant bear-like raccoons."

Also from The Seattlest: "Fish & Wildlife officials, meanwhile, have discontinued the search because they don’t believe the small bear is dangerous. The bear had quite a day, swimming across the Ship Canal from Magnolia into Ballard late Sunday night, criss-crossing its way through the neighborhood with police and wildlife officials in close pursuit with tranquilizer guns and tracking dogs. The bear disappeared for several morning hours — wildlife officials believe it was taking a nap — before heading sharply north into Shoreline. There, the media joined the chase, with TV crews on the ground and choppers swirling overhead. "
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A salute to Golden Gardens - Excelsior!

Orcas ("killer whales") off Golden Gardens in February, 2009 (they
don't usually come this close to Seattle proper) - click to enlarge


a typical scene -- looking over toward Bainbridge Island - click to enlarge


Sunset (a great time to visit), just before the bonfires are lit. The sun becomes an
orange or red ball and fills the sky with pink, yellow, and orange as it slips below
the Olympic Mountains behind Bainbridge Island - click to enlarge


An amazing polyglot mix of people gather every day at Golden Gardens. Golden Gardens is a beach in north Seattle (Ballard) on Puget Sound's Shilshole Bay. It is within walking distance of my house, down a trail and maybe 150 stairs. Its 87 acres contain multitudes, and a lot of Ballard history. It became a key Seattle park early on, since it was at the very end of the streetcar line.

You'll find volleyball players, Christians gathering to pray and sing around the campfire, families cooking over open fires or charcoal, drum circles, solo guitar players, skaters, joggers, bikers, kite fliers, scuba divers, wind surfers, Buddhist gatherings, Wiccan meetings, kayakers, canoeists, and mostly just people walking and sitting on the beach.

The beach ranges from sandy to rocky and littered with shells and driftwood. One section of the beach at the north was restored to what they believe was its original pristine state...a small dune area, freshwater pond, and wetlands were recovered a few years ago.

At low tide you find anemones, sea urchins, limpets, oyster drills, starfish, crabs, clams, sand dollars, oysters, and all sorts of other tide pool critters.

At the very north (the restored part) of the beach are reeds, sea grass, alder trees, salal and Oregon grape, and other native flora, which create some very private areas to hang around in. These areas are rumored to contain, at times, people performing the act of procreation (or just straight recreation without the pro- if you're on the other team).

The sunsets are stunning, as the orange sun falls below the Olympic Mountains after sending rays dancing along the sound.

My mom used to come here and swim in high school on the last day of school. A lot of kids, the polar bear club, and the occasional grown-up still swim here. The temperature of Puget sound ranges from about 45 degrees to around 52 in the summer. It is brutally cold, although there are some hot spots around the sound--shallow areas where the temperature is more hospitable. Golden Gardens is not a hot spot. When you jump in you are instantly numb. But you see people swimming anytime you visit there from May to September. I can't do it. . .mid-calf is about as far as I go.

In the last few years, the park has increased security, and cleaned up the beach. There are now 12 steel fire pits where the city allows park visitors to build fires. This is a big improvement from the days when you could build fires anywhere--which left the beach littered with charred logs and ash.

This is about as good as it gets...you bring in a surreptitious bottle of wine, sit on the beach and watch a sailboat regatta and later, the sun as it drifts downward, and finally slips down into the other half of the world.
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Seattle: City of Destiny, circa 1915

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Seattle's Hooverville in the 30's

Seattle's 1930's Hooverville actually looked fairly orderly, with something even approaching a street grid


click to enlarge - The Seattle Hooverville settlement sometime
in the '30s. The photograph is courtesy of the Washington State
Digital Archives.
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Digital Art: Jerry Garcia in Seattle, 1995

Click Jed to enlarge

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Seattle's Blue Scrotumed Monkey

I know this is kind of old news by now. . .after there was a "scandal" and internet meme around the Huffington Post mentioning the b.s.'d monkey. . .but last week, IMAO.US released a FAQ about the monkey escaped from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo (which is in walking distance of my house...or monkey leaping distance). This is pretty good (one slur aside). They also use a pejorative for a group of which I am a member. Live with it, or don't read it.

BLUE SCROTUM MONKEY FAQ (from http://www.imao.us/)

Q. How much concern should I have that a monkey with a blue scrotum is on the loose?

A. This monkey has been rated an orange level threat by the Monkey Threat Index for its tendency to gnaw on a person’s face or genitals when confused or scared and because it has a bright colored scrotum.

Q. What would rate a red rating?

A. Massive size and climbing a famous building.

Q. The monkey escaped from a zoo in Seattle and I live in Alabama. Does this concern me?

A. Yes it does. Monkeys are smart enough to buy plane or bus tickets, so it could be anywhere by now.

Q. What do I do if I see a monkey with a blue scrotum?

A. Immediately contact authorities or kill it with a hammer.

Q. What if I see a monkey with a purple scrotum?

A. Purples scrotum monkeys are common and harmless. Don’t waste our time with sighting of purple scrotum monkeys, homo.

Q. Well, that was uncalled for.

A. There is a blue scrotum monkey on the loose! We don’t have time for your feelings, Nancy!

Q. What kind of monkey is it?

A. An angry one. With a blue scrotum. And possibly a small caliber revolver.

Q. No, I mean what species is it?

A. Do you want to know its hopes and dreams too? It’s an angry monkey on the loose; what else do you need to know about it? What its favorite color is?

Q. Is it blue?

A. Obviously.

Q. Should I be concerned when I call authorities and mention a monkey, they could take it as a racist statement?

A. Don’t worry; the blue scrotum monkey sighting hotline is completely anonymous, cracker.

Q. Anything else I should know?

A. If the monkey’s scrotum starts flashing red, that means he is about to explode. Seek cover.
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WTF??--> Gary Locke, Ron Simms, and Gil Kerlikowske

Ron Sims

Gary Locke

Gil Kerlikowske

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Man, if this is the cream of the crop. . .we're in for one rocky four years.

President Barack Obama's third pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a senior administration official said Monday. This office is starting to look like the piano player's slot in the Grateful Dead--a ticket to oblivion.

Locke, a Democrat, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms in the Washington statehouse from 1997 to 2005. Obama's choice of Locke arose less than two weeks after his most recent pick, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, backed out. Just over a week after Obama named him and he accepted, Gregg cited "irresolvable conflicts" with the policies of the Democratic president. And after Bill Richardson bailed out early on, mired in some sordid money scandal. Gary also served as the King County Executive, a slot that the newly appointed Deputy Secretary also held.

Ron Sims - couldn't get elected Senator or Governor. But Obama wants him. I like Ron. I voted for him a few times. But would I have made him deputy Secretary? Probably not.

President Obama's choice to head the Office of National Drug Control Policy — otherwise known as the country's "Drug Czar" — is reportedly Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. Having served in law enforcement for more than 30 years, Kerlikowske is "known as an innovator and fierce defender of community policing principles that emphasize relationships with citizens over force." He got the Seattle Police Chief job when Norm Stamper (a pretty cool guy, and now an activist for relaxed drug laws) presided over the WTO riots in Seattle.

Seattle appears to have a bizarre lock on high profile jobs in the new administration. Hey, BHO, if you can come up with something for our governor. . .!
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Seattle postcard: The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge

Click to enlarge the floating bridge, ship canal, and Lake Washington.

I have driven from my home in Seattle over this pontoon bridge every day for nearly 20 years. At the top of the card, just off to the right, is where Bill Gates would build his mansion on the water years after this photo was taken.

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Old Seattle postcard - Battleships in Elliott Bay

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This postcard must be from the '40s. The only skyscraper appears to be The Smith Tower. . .

Holdout in Seattle: Ballard's Edith Macefield turned down $1,000,000 for her ramshackle cottage

Click to enlarge Edith's house -- I took this six months ago, before

the buildings on either side rose to five or six stories (that's her car).

If you want to see Stuart Isett's great photo of the same buildings six

months later, jump to the NY Times article.

You've heard about other "holdouts" -- almost always elderly people who refuse to sell their homes; about people holding up Progress. Well, Edith Macefield in Ballard, did it, and we drive by the results every day. She refused an offer of $1 million from developers (probably four or five times its market value) to buy it. Whoever ends up living there won't have far to go to get to Trader Joe's or L.A. Fitness.

The New York Times must have had a very slow news day, because they just published a long article by about her refusal to sell, and the strange story behind it.

The article alludes to an autobiography she wrote and published that contained some fanciful flights of imagination. That is undoubtedly so. We've always called her Hitler's babysitter around our house. The local Ballard 'paper published a story about her about 15 years ago in which she claimed, among other things, to have worked as the nanny for Hitler's right hand man, Joseph Goebbels (and his wife Magda). No word on how she escaped the white night in the Fuhrer Bunker, when Goebbels killed his entire family as the walls came down around Berlin.

She also claimed in the earlier article to have married a bazillionaire in England after the war.

"The interior of Ms. Macefield’s bungalow remains exactly as she left it," when she died a few months ago.

It's an interesting tale, of Seattle, holdouts, a very interesting and eccentric woman, and an estate controversy. Check it out here, in the New York Times.
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Snowmaggedon in Seattle!

sledding, skiing, tobogganing - click to enlarge


A snowman on the ledge of Kinnear Park, with a view of the needle. Click to enlarge.


Walking...click to enlarge

It's been a hairy, but beautiful day in the Puget Sound region. As the storm first hit last night, it took me nearly three hours to get home to the Ballard Neighborhood in Seattle, which had no snow at all. But overnight it began to come down...with a vengeance.

By noon today, more than half a foot of snow had fallen in parts of the Puget Sound region, and especially the hills (of which Seattle has at least eight good sized ones). 9 inches fell in parts of Redmond, near where I work, and north of Seattle in Arlington, two feet came down in some communities. Most work and school is cancelled. And there will be an even bigger storm this weekend.

We're about as good at dealing with the snow as we are with sunshine. Actually, we exploit the sunshine better than anyone on earth. Snow, however. . .we know how to play in it, but driving? The streets and freeways are littered with abandoned cars, jackknifed buses, and people just simply stuck, with bad tires, and no chains.

The best part of all this chaos: in the neighborhoods, most people don't drive. So everyone is walking, sledding, and cross country skiing. And it's quiet, both from the lack of cars, and the snow muffling the vehicles that are on the road...
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