Very glad Washington has been able to make what progress it has against Covid, as things have gotten relatively back to normal here. Generally no masks required, and we got to have an actual Fourth of July celebration.
The neighborhood HOA arranged to bring someone by to pressure-wash the walkways, and anyone’s driveway if they wanted to shell out. I have a pressure washer and decided to just give it a go myself. I’m glad I had the experience, but it would definitely be worth the $70 to get a professional to do it.
Lil forest friend spotted while I was working. 
A before/after pic wouldn’t really work since the pebbles make it hard to spot when things have actually been cleaned. But the dirt was direct evidence that stuff was coming off. 
I’d go over the same area a couple times and keep getting dirt off, so I decided to run an experiment, spray my initials and see if they appear later. Yup.
I had tried to pitch a trip to Bainbridge Island to a couple friend groups, no takers. I decided to heck with it, I’ll go myself. Had a great dinner and short walk around town.
Later that week I embarked on a trip back to the Cabin, by way of Marcia & Kenton’s place. Thought I’d pop over to chill with Hayden and Mom, bum a ride over to the cabin while I was at it. I think I’ve decided that I’ll want to make that little excursion at least once every couple of years.
Good eatin’ 
Seesaws are serious business. 
If I’d had an actual camera with a good zoom lens, this woulda been a neat shot of some moose walking into the dust. 
So nice of someone to have set out the salt lick. 
If I would’ve known they were collecting found items for the gallery I would have definitely loaned the horseshoe puzzle. 
Do I have something on my face? 
Spent an afternoon in Boulder. Happenin’ place. 
Went and visited a Star Wars geek’s basement that was full of lego sets. 
With the exception of his wife, seems like his entire family was into Star Wars. So cool. 
Max lookin’ sharp. 
The original plan was to fly back to Washington, but I decided to change things up and drive back with Mom and spend a week in Utah with the folks. Awesome time. Listened to an audiobook recommended by Hayden on the road, which I ended up getting a copy of in Park City.
Saw a Banksy while wandering around Park City. 
While I was in Utah I put the finishing touches on a letter to the ACC regarding that business with the easement I mentioned in my last post. Ran the thing by Uncle Steve to get some legal perspective and he said it was ship shape. I’ve since heard back from the ACC and they’re not super enthusiastic about letting this one slide. Which is an understatement. Thankfully it looks like most of the board is on the side of a peaceful resolution that doesn’t require tearing anything up, so hopefully this can be resolved amicably, though it’s very possible the ACC chair will resign in protest; feelings are that strong here. We’ll see.
I got back to Washington on Sunday night, and shipped out for Young Men’s camp on Monday night. I’d volunteered to stay a couple days, till Wednesday evening, at which point my bishop would relieve me of duty. As it turned out though, by the time he arrived, both of the young men from our ward had gone home due to health issues. So, as it happened, we both left Wednesday night.
Young Men’s camp was awesome though. They had this core of young men who were assigned as “Camp Council”, in charge of leading out on things like greeting the youth as they showed up on their first day, running scripture study, and making prayer assignments, among other duties. It was really cool to see a priest from our ward who was normally very reserved get very charismatic for the meet-and-greet portion. I was chatting with him later that day and he was like, “Yeah that really took it out of me, I need to recharge my batteries.”
At camp I ran into an old co-worker who I used to go recruiting with at BYU, who since left Google. Also met the surgeon who operated on my knee. Never saw him without a mask so I didn’t know it was him until someone referred to him by name and I was all, “oh wow I know that guy.” So, pretty cool time.
One of the leaders brought a 3D-printed Mandalorian helmet. 
Kid in the front went flying like ten feet in the air with all the speed the others gave him heading down. 
If it wasn’t for the rough sleeping arrangements and the meetings I had lined up the rest of the week I would’ve seriously considered staying through the end of camp.
This weekend has turned out really great. A friend from my old singles ward has started going to a Seattle ward, as Sammamish Valley was trending quite young. She invited me to some activities with members from the Seattle ward, and I ended up going to church there this morning, then wandering a Seattle park afterwards. Remains to be seen how I might juggle things with my current ward but it was a really good time.
(Not pictured in the shot cause I left the water early to fly the drone.)
Quick peek inside an Asian art museum inside the park.
Will end with a couple of new artwork additions, both procured in Colorado: the first a generous donation from Jane, the second something I picked up in Boulder.
You’ll notice the lighting is a bit dim on the second shot. If we zoom in a bit…
The smart switch on the right has failed. It emits a clicking noise every second, and fails to respond to any commands, physical or over-the-air, to turn the dining room lights on. I’ve already ordered a replacement, but let this be a cautionary tale about putting microprocessors every which place.