The daughter of a close friend is soon going to Ecuador for a few months. She is participating in “Global Citizen Year”.
I’m not sure how it works but subscribing for email updates on her blog (the link above) is of benefit to her.
Category Archives: Home Life
Epic pickup line
While returning from lunch today Barb L. and I saw this guy wandering the sidewalks of Seattle:
This is a better picture of his sign:
I can’t claim expertise on pickup lines (or even ever attempted one) but I’m pretty sure this guy is going to be experiencing some epic failure in his quest.
An interlude from the cynicism
It’s easy to get bogged down in all the political stupidity and garbage going on in DC, as it slowly infects and infests the rest of the globe. But sometimes, you just have to get away. So, the other half, sprouts, the mutt, and I climbed into the minivan, and went out into the deep weeds. Continue reading
HO-ly…!
Earlier tonight my daughter and I were on the deck watching silent lightening. We could see, fairly close as lightening goes, large, naked bolts, and no sound but for the occasional very low rumble on the edge of hearing. Very odd.
I explained to her that distinct layers of different air density could reflect sound, not altogether unlike light reflecting on water, and so the sound was being carried away somewhere else, that submariners deal with this phenomenon in using sonar, as they travel up or down between layers of water. She responded with one of those, “Yeah, Dad. I know” dismissals than can make a father both proud and a little disappointed at the same time.
Anyway I figured that sooner or later the sound path would open up. It was much later. I’d forgotten about the lightening. A channel opened up though, wide open, and, rumble rumble CRACK! It was less than a half mile away, and it was as the sound of trees exploding and rocks cracking, which very well may have happened, just a moment ago. It shook the ground.
It haven’t jumped like that in years. Being around gunfire for so long, and several seasons of Boomershoot, plus a few private and up-close Boomer events, you get so the sound is as the regular waves along the ocean shore, or not much more alarming than that. Being out in my garage, maybe it was all context related, and the context was wrong. The dog came in and plopped down on the floor just now.
Watching the stars
I have just laid down in my sleeping bag near Boomershoot Mecca. No tent. Just the sleeping bag, pads, pillow, and a blanket.
I was going to fire up my computer and make a quote of the day post to go live at 6:00 AM but it is totally quiet except for an occasional dog barking a half mile or more away and the sky is moonless and clear. I can easily see the Milky Way. The QOTD blog post can wait. Tonight I’m going to watch the stars instead.
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Power Problems
Today’s post for The Stars Came Back was delayed by power problems. Specifically, this (click to embiggenate):
What’s wrong here, boys and girls? It seems that Novelty Hill Road was shut down for about 12 hours, starting at 4:55 PM 02July2013, because some wood failed. If you look closely at the right-side ends of the pair of 6″x6″ wooden beams hanging on to a couple bits of angle iron, you can see that the bolt that used to hold them to the power pole pulled through the end. You can also see the bolt that used to hold them on the pole, not holding anything. (You can also see a pair of wood-pecker holes lower down, but that may be the subject of a future post). When the beams fell out of place, a wire going across the road pulled free, crossed the three lower / outside 7200 volt wires, shorting them, causing them to arc, melt, and fall (still live) to the ground, right along / across Novelty Hill road (second picture; it’s a fairly major commuter road). A fire was started at the base of the wooden pole (creosote-covered wood burns pretty well) from sparks and arcing that went down something on the side of the pole. A nearby house got hit with a surge/spike, and the owner said “everything just hummed for a moment” then every fuse, circuit-breaker, GFI, power-strip fuse, fluorescent light, and a some electronics that were plugged in blew, big time. Blew as in totally defunct, needs replacement, black marks. Apparently, one or more of the falling 7200 volt wires fell across the line to his house. No one seems to have been hurt, though a person from another nearby house apparently had some of the falling / flying molten metal weld / melt itself into the windshield of her car, and some of the hood / roof panels got weld/melt/burn spots as she was sitting at the intersection right underneath the spot where it happened. I just heard a huge pair of BWAAAAAAANT! sounds, then the computer UPS started beeping and the lights went out. Fun times. Got the generator out for a while to make sure the frozen stuff stayed frozen, etc. Finally got power back around 5:30 AM.
Brad Huffman autopsy
Since I see people searching for this information and brother Doug posted it on Facebook last week (June 19th) I’m posting it here for better visibility:
The autopsy on our son Brad was performed in Pullman today. The preliminary results showed nothing. The coroner told me they did a very detailed autopsy, organ by organ and found no aneurysms, no blood clots, and no abnormalities that could explain his sudden death.
They are sending vials of body fluids to a lab for a wide range of toxicology tests, but he said nearly all toxins will leave some type of physical symptom that is noticeable in an autopsy (and they found no such tell tale signs). They have removed the electrical conduction paths from his heart and if the toxicology report comes back negative, they will examine the heart tissue with a scanning electron microscope and they might possibly find a defect in that.
Julie’s father had a defect in the routing of the nerves controlling his heart muscle. It caused him problems most of his life, but he died in his mid 70s of lung cancer. The coroner said Brad did NOT have that defect.
It will take about two weeks to get the results of the toxicology report.
Daffodils, Boomershoot, and the super moon
Last Saturday Barb L. and I were at the Boomershoot site to “go on a daffodil rescue mission”. As I mentioned a few weeks ago there are some daffodils near the shooting line that get abused pretty badly by the fireballs.
We figured it would only take an hour or two of our time and we’d be done with the project. We dug up about a half dozen clumps of the wilted daffodils and got a five gallon bucket full of bulbs.
To get so many bulbs from so few flowers was surprising to us. Then we started digging holes in the front of the shooting berm. After we had dug about 10 holes we knew this was going to take a LOT longer than an hour or two. After about three hours we started on “Plan B” which was to just dig a ditch in front of the shooting berm to dump the bulbs into so they survive another year and we could move them again when we feel up to it. We made the length of the ditch match the width of the berm we put daffodils in. This was about 60 feet which is only about one third of the width of the berm.
After about 4.5 hours we had all the bulbs back in the ground, fertilized, and watered.
We then went to look at some luxury accommodations my brother Doug offered us for the night:
We declined this time. It was too upscale for our tastes.
We went back to Boomershoot Mecca and made our bed under the stars and the super moon without a tent so we could see the sky better:
To the northwest we could see a beautiful sunset (at 9:38 PM) (see also this sunset picture taken a few minutes earlier from a different location):
To the southeast we could see the super moon:
The glowing sphere in the field is just a friendly UFO* which was visiting.
I got better pictures of the super moon earlier in the evening when we visited the Big Eddy Marina on Dworshak Lake:
The next morning what I believe to be a Western Meadow Lark sang several songs to us. I recorded some of them and will probably make a post about that someday.
*Actually it was an internal reflection in the camera lens.
Brad Huffman obituary
Brad Huffman was my nephew.
From the Lewiston Morning Tribune:
Our hearts were broken when our son, Bradley Ray Huffman, died in his sleep June 14, 2013, of natural causes. An autopsy is under way. He was born Nov. 21, 1990, in Lewiston, to Doug and Julie (Seeley) Huffman and two older sisters, Amy and Lisa. Brad grew up on the family farm in Cavendish, helping with the farm work from the time he could walk.
Brad attended Cavendish Elementary School before going to Orofino for junior high and high school. He won the OJHS geography bee in both seventh and eighth grades and participated in the state geography bee both years. He also won the District 171 spelling bee in eighth grade and competed in the regional spelling bee in Lewiston. He ran track for six years and qualified for state in the 800 meter three times. Brad was also involved in 4-H throughout his school years. He took several advanced placement classes in high school and graduated as a valedictorian of Orofino High School in 2009.
Bradley attended the University of Idaho and majored in plant science while working for the university wheat breeding program. He graduated in December 2012 and took a job in U of I mustard and canola breeding, although he was still involved with the wheat breeding team.
Brad enjoyed farming, gardening, photography, hunting and fishing. He returned to the family farm most weekends and enjoyed going for long walks with his dog, Kanobi.
He is survived by his parents at the family home; sister Amy (Nathan) Faragher and nephew Jared Faragher of Orem, Utah; and sister Lisa Huffman of Kent, Wash. He is also survived by his paternal grandfather, Lowell Huffman of Cavendish; his maternal grandmother, Shirley Seeley of Orofino; and many aunts, uncles and cousins. His paternal grandmother Ellen Huffman and his maternal grandfather Bud Seeley preceded him in death.
There will be a service at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Best Western – Lodge at River’s Edge in Orofino, followed by a luncheon.
Memorial donations may be made to the Cavendish Elementary PTA, 455 Middle Road, Lenore, ID 83541; or the Orofino High School Track Program, 300 Dunlap Road, Orofino, ID 83544.
Pine Hills Funeral Chapel and Crematory is in care of arrangements.
Quote of the day—Kevin
Let’s all sit around the fire and tell Brad stories.
Kevin
June 15, 2013
Referring to my 22 year old nephew, Brad Huffman, who died sometime during the night between Thursday and Friday.
[Last night Brad’s father, my brother Doug, and Brad’s siblings Amy (with her husband Nate and son Jared), Lisa (with boyfriend Kevin), and I sat around a fire in the woods behind the house and told stories about Brad for a long time.
It helped. Thanks Kevin.—Joe]
Messed up
Yesterday a new Huffman came into the world with the birth of my grandson. I joked on Twitter:
I became a grandfather at 3:13 on June 13, 2013. No name yet. He has two black cats at home so I’m proposing “Lucky”. pic.twitter.com/BseuMzy9AK
— Joe Huffman (@JoeHuffman) June 13, 2013
Happy times. I was going to Idaho to spend time with my Dad for Father’s Day and share pictures, etc.
I got a call from my brother Doug this morning. His son, Brad, died in his sleep last night. He was 22 years old.
Brad Huffman with his nephew Jared.
He didn’t smoke, drink, or do drugs. No known health issues.
This is really messed up. This isn’t the way things are “supposed” to happen. He just finished college. He had a good job. He was considering taking over the farm when Doug and Gary retired.
As Barb L. pointed out when I talked to her about it, “It’s so terrible, one Huffman enters the world and another leaves.”
Bra stories
Last night Barb L and I were hanging out with a bunch of friends. The woman who, a few months ago, reported breast enlargement after frequent “Dr. Joe’s Cure for Everything” treatments was there. She was telling all her friends, “See! Look at this! I went from an ‘A’ cup to a ‘C’!” “And”, she continued, pointing to her boyfriend, “It’s all because of him!” At first people thought he had paid for a boob job. Nope; It was the continuing application of the treatments advocated by Dr. Joe.
Apparently five minutes of continuous orgasms once a day (she claims, “I didn’t even know that was possible!”) for a few months stimulates enough hormones to dramatically affect breast size. She says she is continuing the treatments and is increasing the frequency of treatments to twice a day. She went on to say, perhaps jokingly, that she anticipates another increase of two cup sizes in a few more months.
Since she gives Dr. Joe partial credit I asked for pictures. This evening I received this picture:
Yeah. Not quite what I was hoping for either.
Entirely by coincidence I stumbled across this blog post yesterday. She references Dressed To Kill: The Link between Breast Cancer and Bras.
She claims:
- Women who do not wear bras (or rarely ever) have a risk of 1 in 168 chance of developing breast cancer.
- Women who wear a bra less than 12 hours a day have a 1 in 152 chance of developing breast cancer.
- Women who wear a bra more than 12 hours a day, but not to sleep have a 1 in 7 chance of developing breast cancer.
- Women who wear a bra 24 hours a day have a 3 in 4 chance of developing breast cancer.
And of course there are the obvious conclusions that a guy like me would love to endorse but further research on my part turns up this information:
The book’s claim that bras cause breast cancer has been dismissed by the medical and scientific communities; the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the National Institutes of Health have all concluded that there is no link between bra use and breast cancer.
Heavy sigh. I’m probably too honest. I’ve been accused of that before.
Do you believe in mermaids?
Today Barb L. and I went to Flaming Geyser State Park (Washington State). This was the “stomping grounds” of Ted Bundy and The Green River Killer. In fact the Green River runs right through the park:
As we were entering the park I told Barb L. the story of when Barb S. her mom, and I came to the park about 30 years ago. Barb’s mom, Joy, used to tell the story of that visit. Some guy started talking to Barb and quickly left when Barb said that her husband was “just over there taking a nap”. Joy thought the guy was acting strange and she was very suspicious. She would point out that Barb S. looked a lot like the victims of Ted Bundy and her recollection of the guy at the park was consistent with Ted Bundy.
It was sort of a strange feeling as Barb L. and I pulled in and parked. There, just a couple hundred feet away, was “The Green River” so famous for all the women killed and dumped near or in it.
We shrugged off the feeling and found the trail to the flaming geyser. It’s not much. For a while when hole was drilled (coal exploration), back around 1900, the flame would be as high as five or six feet. Now it’s about five or six inches (see also the picture associated with this tweet):
We found a geocache nearby. It was the first one I had looked for in a long time.
We then found the trail that went into the woods a couple hundred yards to the “bubbling geyser”. If you looked closely you could see bubbles coming up through the water. We hung around for a few minutes then some guy showed up on the trail above us with his dog and just stood there. I figured he was waiting for us to leave so I suggested we go because we really came for a hike, not to stand around and talk.
We hiked up the little hill to the trail where the guy and the dog were. The dog really wanted to approach us but the man had him on a leash and held him close. I slowly reached out my hand and let the dog sniff it. The guy started talking to us and told us a little about his dog. Then asked if we had been down the trail by the river to the Indian hieroglyphics. We told him no but that sounded interesting. He gave us directions then asked, “Do you believe in mermaids?” We smiled, and said no. He then started telling us stories about Indian paintings of people with big fins for feet and a hand coming out of fisherman’s nets and taking a swipe at the fisherman. “I believe”, he told us. As Barb and I started edging on down the trail he started talking about the UFOs (see also this tweet).
We strolled on down the trail in the direction of where the hieroglyphics might be. The guy and his dog passed us and disappeared on ahead. We found the trail near the river and followed it for a while in the proper direction until it petered out in thick brush and trees. We decided we weren’t so interested that we wanted to push through the brush. Then the voice of Mermaid Believer came to us, invisible through the brush ahead of us, “The river’s too high. You can’t get there easily now.”
Okay then. Time to head back out. We walked back toward the picnic area with Barb checking to make sure she had her knife with her. I told her, “And you know how to use my gun if need be and I’m not able to do so.”
We went back to the picnic area and there was Mermaid Believer again. He was a couple hundred feet away on the other side of the picnic area moving parallel to us. We went back to the car and I got out my telephoto lens and camera and managed to take just one picture of him before he ducked behind what we believe was his vehicle:
That was interesting.
We found another trail and went on up the trail with Barb telling me “women raped and killed while hiking in the woods” stories from the knife class she took last weekend.
Our trail made a loop and we arrived back in the picnic area 20 or 30 minutes later. Mermaid Believer, his dog, and his pickup were gone.
I have just one question for you… “Do you believe in mermaids?”
Barb learns to fight with a knife
As a birthday present I gave Barb L. a Syderco Delica knife and a one day Defensive Folding Knife class from Insights Training.
This video was taken when she learned what she could do with it on a piece of meat covered with two layers of clothing:
There was also a birthday card, cake, dinner, and some other things included but this is the portion of her birthday most on topic for this blog (and suitable for public consumption).
Slightly off topic is that the Instructor is someone I have talked about numerous times on this blog. Here are some posts that mention him. There are others as well:
- Quote of the day—John Fogh (“Nothing says, ‘Please don’t rape me…’”)
- Quote of the day—John Fogh (“It is a historical constant that the strong rule the weak…’”)
- Gotcha! (Interaction with Washington Ceasefire)
Barb and I had lunch with John and we had an interesting conversation. He has had some unusual jobs recently. Some were extremely boring, but that was actually part of the interesting part.
Update: The second link to the QOTD by John has been fixed.
John and Hero reunited
Daughter Xenia made a video of their dog, Hero, when son-in-law John returned from a six week class:
That is one very excited dog. Or as Xenia said, “All the feels.”
More beach pictures
Barb L. and I took Jazzy and Maddy to the ocean with us this weekend. Jazzy had never been to the Pacific Ocean. I took a bunch of pictures of Jazzy and Maddy and made a simple video of them.
We had some dramatic moments when they went on ahead of us around a tight spot on the beach while the tide was coming in. Barb ran to catch up with them, almost fell (I caught it in three sequential frames on my camera), then yelled at them, “The tide is coming in. Be careful!” They responded with, “We know!”
They then proceeded to continue on around the corner. We waited a couple minutes and watched with increasing concern as the water continued to cut off the “pass” between us and them. I then dumped my backpack and camera case and jumped between rocks over the water and ran around the corner to find them. They were another 100 yards or so beyond and about to go out of sight around another corner. I ran to catch up with them and yelled when I thought I was close enough for them to hear me above the waves, “You need to come back now!” I was concerned they might not heed my concerns either. But they responded and started walking back at a brisk walk. I ran back.
The “crossing” was almost unrecognizable as the place I had crossed maybe two minutes previously.
I stepped onto the closest rock and got my shoes wet up to just below the ankles. The hiking boots are water resistant and my feet remained dry as I waited for the wave to go back and I jumped across to another rock and climbed out the other side without getting wet.
Jazzy and Maddy soon followed and didn’t care all that much about the depth of the water because they had taken off their shoes much earlier (there is a tale to tell about the shoes too):
Maddy had tied her shoes to her backpack and then walked probably a mile or so before noticing that one was gone. We were able to determine, roughly, where she lost it because of all the pictures I had taken of them. But we figured the shoe was completely gone because the beach was about 100 yard narrower in that spot than when she had walked by earlier.
We were approaching the trailhead when Barb and I started thinking about making an improvised “shoe” for Maddy to walk the 3/4 of a mile or so on the gravel path back to the car. We had just concluded a t-shirt with a plastic bag wrapped around it held in place with a rubber band would work or maybe just have her wait at the trailhead while someone went back to the motel and come back with her other pair of shoes. Jazzy and Maddy were probably 75 yards ahead of us when we saw one of them point and then they both started running. “A race?”, I asked Barb. “I don’t know”, she said. A few seconds later we understood as Maddy picked her shoe up off of the beach. It was on the edge of the water and probably 75 yards inland from her path in the other direction. The two socks she had stuffed in the shoe were still there too.
Lucky day.
On the ocean
We made it to the ocean this afternoon and almost immediately went for a walk on the beach. I did not bring my chemistry set but we had a good time anyway.
View from our room.
View from our room.
View from our room.
View from the beach.
View of the beach.
Mutant moss. I think we should check on it tomorrow and see if the earth is in danger of being taken over.
Someone learned the hard way
Buses and trucks have a much larger turning radius than cars.
Someone at 4th and Olive in downtown Seattle learned the hard way this afternoon:
It’s a small world
Yesterday while walking from the bus stop to my work a guy going the other direction looked at me kind of funny, approached me, and said, “Joe Huffman?”.
In the first couple of seconds I was concerned it was my “stalker” but then I had a glimmer of recognition and said, “And you are?” He replied, “Microsoft, Direct X…”
It wasn’t so much the words but the sound of his voice and matching the face to memories that enabled me to pull out a name without significant pause, “Nick W. Yes, I remember you!”
We had worked together (I think he was my lead) in the late 90’s at Microsoft about 15 years ago. We ended up talking for probably close to 30 minutes. He had left MS before I went back in 2005, worked in NYC for a while, then came back to Seattle and now works for Amazon.
This is the second time I have connected with someone by seeing them on the sidewalk in downtown Seattle. The other time was late last year when I chatted with Jeff O. who I also originally knew from my Microsoft, Direct X days.
The temptation is great
Barb L. and I have arranged to spend some time on the beach next weekend.
After making the arrangements my thoughts soon went to what my profile on Match.com (where I meet Barb) said about the beach:
Long walks on the beach are nice–if we brought the explosives to see how big a crater we can make in the sand and how high the water will shoot up into the air.
In addition to the legal issues involved I left my chemistry set in Idaho.
Still… there are solutions to most of the issues and the temptation is great.