Dominoes

Melvin & I play dominoes.

Sometimes I pretend he isn't cheating.

Happy Halloween

Melvin & his campfire. I think he has forgotten about trickle-tweeping, he is so entranced with his cowboy persona.

New lights I got today at the grocery store.

A better look at Melvin's "rig." I'm not sure why he looks so stern, maybe it is part of his cowboy image.

Self portrait with my contest entry for a seasonal & math-themed reader-board. I like having a camera in my phone.

Happy Halloween!

House

Airplane

Melvin was running around making airplane noises with his "arms" held out like wings.

Jo suggested paper airplanes.

I've hesitated to show him how to make them because I assumed that every piece of paper would get turned inot paper airplanes.

But I thought I would risk making one out of his sight & then giving it to him.

After I made a couple of demonstration flights and give it to him, he his simply stood there & quivered.

I think he is afraid of losing it.

Melvin meets Gracie

Melvin & I thought we'd have some quality time at the beach with a little construction.

But then Gracie arrived and took an overly strong interest in Melvin. I didn't even know I had this picture until I uploaded from my camera.

After a few minutes encouragement by dog-walker - not owner so less in control - and myself, we recovered poor melvin from Gracie.

I think Melvin is holding on here to keep from falling over - he seems to have lost interest in building and still hasn't asked where his hat went.

When I got up to 85th I saw Gracie & person jogging east so i caught them on the corner by our house & got a couple of pictures. She was still glad I wasn't mad, and was happy to pose with Gracie.

Melvin spent some time out on the front porch drying out. When I brought him in he was mostly dry but perhaps permanently bedraggled. Good thing he's the stunt double, though I do think this was more than he signed on for.

Heather Lake

Last Thursday Chris & I wanted to do some sort of outing.

I preferred to not drive if I could avoid it, and if Chris was driving here first and home after, then she didn't want too much driving in between.

We voted on doing something in the Mount Pilchuck area, along the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River - someplace I used to hike as a Boy Scout and with my family in the early 1960s. We ended up opting for Heather Lake.

This cirque lake lies on the slopes of Mount Pilchuck at about 2400 feet elevation. The trail there lists at 2 miles and 1000 feet elevation gain - which represented a greater challenge than I had tackled since my diabetes and various foot problems.

For evaluating some available alternatives, we used my my earlier edition of Best Hikes With Kids: Western Washington. which does a good job of providing information appropriate to my physical limitations & mental needs.

It turned out that Schmoo (who has mobility issues) had the most problems, though my hiking shoes were discovered to be coming apart when I changed out of them back at the trailhead.

The woods were wonderful, the variety of fungi intriguing, and the views of the lake and the mountains in the mist delightful. Note the last patches of year-round snow on the far side of the lake in the top image.

I hope to be doing more of this soon - in my new ankle-high boots.

Having actually gotten out on a trail should help me better enjoy my trail guides.

Fun stuff.

King Melvin

Firetruck

We had a firetruck in front of our house (not an emergency).

Melvin was entranced.

He says he really really really needs a firefighter hat.

Bridge

Melvin helped me build a bridge for my Blockplay blog.

Usually he complains about not having a construction hat to wear but this time he was quite happy in his new flowered hat.

Snow

We had snow last week. That seemed late but they are forecasting some snow again this weekend.

Melvin says it was his snow dance that brought the snow — that he danced more enthusiastically and longer than those spoilsports doing their no-snow dance.

Beach

Melvin went to the beach.

He wished he had brought his canoe.

He said that he could paddle all the way across to China.

We explained that the other side was the Olympic Peninsula—that China was a lot further.

Then we watched a train do some switching.

Woods

Melvin went to the woods today.

He was very quiet & mostly very still.

But he says he was not scared.

Melvin

Melvin thinks his new hat is pretty spiffy.