Update 7/20/2010
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and that’s because, quite frankly, I’ve not felt the need to do so. Life has been pretty routine, lately, and I get the feeling that nobody is really interested, anyway.
As of now, Sherrie and I are doing okay. We went to the Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival in June, and we’re planning to attend another one in Moses Lake, WA at the end of this month. The event is three days, so we’ll be camping during the festival. After it’s over with, I’m thinking of driving to Grand Coulee Dam which is about 70 miles north of where we’ll be. GE operates the dam and puts on a cool laser light show. Also, I want to check out Steamboat Rock. That’s a camping site in that general area, and I hear it’s a good place to go camping.
The weather has been great, lately. Hope it stays this way for a while to come. It’s hard to get next to the fact that it’s downright cold in the mornings in the middle of July. Oh well, that’s life in the northwest.
That’s about all for now. Will write some more, later.
Mt Rainier Fishing Trip
Well…we didn’t get to where we were going on Mt Rainier. We went up on the northwest side which is the rain forest side. We went to the first entrance that’s on the Carbon River Road. The road follows the Carbon River for a ways into the park, but the problem was that the road was closed once we got to the ranger’s station (1700′ elevation). So, we turned around, went back, and attempted to go up Hwy 165 to Mowich Lake (around 4500′ elevation and about 1 1/2 miles from the foot of the Carbon Glacier). We got to the 3400′ elevation, and the “forest development” road (it’s a logging road) was so bad, I said “enough”.
Now, 3400′ elevation doesn’t sound like much when you’re talking mountains, but here in the northwest, you need to understand that the base elevation off the mountains is much lower and closer to sea level. For example, where we live is about 450′ elevation. So, this makes the mountains to appear very tall compared to some place where the vase elevation is 4500′ and the mountains only get to 5500′. If we could have made it all the way to Lake Mowich, we would have been at 4800′.
Being this close to the glaciers and the upper elevation of Mt. Rainier, one would think that you can see everything much better. Well, the old saying, “Can’t see the forest through the trees” holds true, here. Also, there are about 1/2 dozen tall ridges to go over before one even gets to the glaciers on the north side. Again, it’s a rain forest in this section, and it’s treacherous in some areas. You can only go so far by car, and then it’s hiking time.
I took a few pics around the 2600′ elevation. We were just coming out of the clouds. lol. These give you a good idea of what I’m talking about.
Picture doesn’t show too much, but the truck got filthy going up the “forest development” road. It was like driving on the moon in some areas. (Crater City.)
Looking northeast. The Carbon River is beyond the next ridge.
Looking southeast. On a clear day, one may have seen Mt. Rainier (14,411′ elevation) rising above the ridges. The tops of these ridges get up to 4500′ – 5000′ in some areas. That’s about as high as it gets before you reach the base of the glaciers on Mt. Rainer, and then it’s sloping upward from there.
Looking down the side of the ridge from where we were parked. You can see how this area has been logged, already. If you look at the bottom of the ridge, you can see the Mowich River winding down in between the ridges. All the rivers in this area begin at the base of one of the glaciers that are located on the side of Mt. Rainier.
Another shot looking down the ridge from where we were parked…looking at the Mowich River.
Looking south…coming from where we were. We were on the east side of the ridge where this picture was taken. Beyond the curve, the road goes back to the west side of the ridge. On a clear day, Mt. Rainier would be over in the far left corner of the picture.
So, we didn’t get to do any fishing up there. I also found out that any fish we would have caught would have to get thrown back. You can’t keep the fish. In that case, I know where we won’t be going again to go fishing. lol.
We did make it over to a couple of ponds after we got back to Federal Way. Didn’t catch anything, but I didn’t think we would. It was really late in the day once we got back. I did learn a few things which I’m going to try out today on our trip up to Easton Ponds!
Easton Ponds Fishing Trip
Sherrie and I went to Easton Ponds (Easton, WA.) to do some fishin’, yesterday. I caught three, but I let them go. (Too small.) These ponds are stocked by the state, and the season has just begun. Also, the fish will get larger during the next month. It was pretty cold, but that’s because it’s high up in the Cascades. Isn’t it just beautiful up there?
I’M BACK!!!
Yes, I’m back…that is, from the hospital. Apparently, I had a prelude to a heart attack, but the docs don’t really know for sure.
Yesterday, I was watching television about 6:30 pm, and I coughed…a minor dry cough…the type you get when your throat is dry. When that happened, I felt something rip…tear…explode in my chest…I don’t know what you’d call it, but it hurt really bad. Over about the next 1/2 hour, it didn’t go away, and I couldn’t get comfortable. That’s when I decided to have Sherrie take me to the VA hospital.
I’m familiar with the routine…have had 3 previous MI’s, so I know what to expect. The blood enzymes came back negative, but a portion of the pulse on the EKG (I forget what the segment name is) was elevated and had changed from the last EKG I got. This was indicative of ischemia (lack of oxygen to the heart which is usually a prelude to a full blown attack). Also, the chest X-ray came back negative. They put me on a nitro drip and kept me overnight. The drip made all the pain go away whereas the nitro they give a person while they’re having an attack didn’t do too much.
This morning, they took some more blood and checked the enzymes, again. These came back negative, too. The cardiologist had already said they were going to give me a heart catheter to see for sure what was happening, but then he changed his mind. He had me get on the treadmill and they did an “echo” using ultrasound. Both tests showed no indication of a blockage around the heart. So, it was decided that no heart catheter was needed, and they cut me loose.
I’m still having some pain…nothing like it was, last night. The doc thinks something happened when I coughed, but he doesn’t no for sure. I know for a fact (I’ve had this explained by another cardiologist after my first attack) that the heart is not the exclusive spot for blockages to occur.
So, something happened. They do know the heart suffered some very minor damage because of a lack of oxygen, but apparently, the damage wasn’t enough to elevate the enzymes.
I’m going to keep a close watch on this. I want to thank everyone for the prayers and concern. I truly believe it was because of the prayers that God intervened and kept me safe. You guys and gals are awesome just like our Heavenly Father. I think the good Lord knows how I feel about having a fourth attack. That would be really depressing.
King5 Interviews Gloria Steinem
Posted by Michael in Feminism, Liberalism, Life on April 22, 2010
I watched this and wanted to barf. Here’s Gloria Steinem being interviewed by Seattle’s King5 News, and she’s blaming the “male dominant” culture for women’s woes. As usual, she’s still up to her feminist crap. She even mentions that we don’t even have national daycare. I’m sure the left is real proud.
Obama, Finance Reform, and Socialism
Posted by Michael in Government, Politics, Socialism on April 21, 2010
If you’ve been paying attention to the news, you’ve probably heard about Goldman Sachs and the possibility of getting hit with fraud charges from the SEC. Some (and I’m one) believe that this is an orchestrated attempt by the Obama administration to make the banking and finance industry look really bad in the eyes of the American people. Why? The timing, of course. Obama is getting ready to hit the road to start peddling his version of financial reform.
Think about this: the five SEC commissioners are presidentially appointed although no more than three can belong to the same political party. However, the SEC is not required to consult with the president. In any case, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the Obama administration. (Obama has repeatedly stated that he didn’t know the SEC was going to file charges against Goldman Sachs. Yeh…right.)
It’s no secret that Obama was “in bed” with Goldman Sachs. GS contributed almost $1M to Obama’s campaign. Now, with fraud charges being filed, wouldn’t the president want to distance himself as far as possible from GS? And betcha by golly wow…he’s able to show the American people that we really do need finance reform! I mean, look at those bad managers at GS that attempted to defraud investors. They can’t be trusted! Obama is now effectively able to kill two birds with one stone: 1) He’s using this to distance himself, and he’s using this to push his agenda which brings me to my main point.
The following is from the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section of the DSA’s (Democratic Socialists of America) website ( http://www.dsausa.org/pdf/widemsoc.pdf ):
Further down the FAQ page, we see:
Now, isn’t Obama from Chicago, and isn’t Chicago big on labor unions, and wasn’t a lot of backing that Obama got during the campaign from LABOR UNIONS?
I’m sorry…I know that I’m not as educated as the Harvard academia types, but I was instilled with good old common sense from an early age. If it smells like BS, if it looks like BS, and if it feels like BS, then it’s probably BS. Obama can repeatedly say that he’s not a socialist as many times as he wants. His actions tell another story.
He tells us that we need finance reform. This is going to be another push for more governmental regulation, and at the same time, he will attempt to further paint capitalistic institutions as demonic in the eyes of Americans. Think about healthcare reform. It was basically the same thing. There was talk of even creating insurance cooperatives.
Obama isn’t wasting any time. Just as Neil Armstrong took one big step for mankind on the moon, Obama is taking several big steps for socialism right here at home.
Black Tea Party Activists Speak
AMEN AND AMEN!!! I wish more and more of the Democratic blacks that were “following the Democrats off a cliff for the last 40 years” could see this video. All the people in this video are 100% correct. The elite liberals that have preyed on the minorities of this country should be “escorted to the door” and thrown out on their ears. If more and more had the attitudes of the people in this video, it would happen.
Redneck Topsy-Turvy
I helped Sherrie with a gardening project, today. She bought a Topsy-Turvy to plant a tomato plant, and she wanted a few more. She asked if there was another way, so I came up with the bright idea of getting a couple of 5-gallon buckets from Home Depot, and I drilled 2 1/2″ holes in the sides and bottoms using a doorknob drill bit.
It worked like a charm! She’ll be able to use the buckets over and over, and we spent a fraction of what an actual Topsy-Turvy cost. :)
We need to get a few more plants for the bottoms because there were more holes than plants.
Country Music Awards Ripoff
Sherrie and I are watching the CMA’s, right now, and you know what sucks? What sucks is that we’re on the west coast, and all the text/web voting for the three categories took place at least one…maybe two….hours before the show was even aired, here. I knew who the winners were before they were even announced. I found this out when I attempted to vote using a text message vote. It came back as the service was unavailable, and when I went to the CBS website, I found out that all the categories had been closed. Sherrie then reminded me that the show had been previously aired on the east and central time zones before it was aired, here. What a ripoff.
About Michael
My name is Michael Behrens, but many just call me "Mike". Michael's Grapevine is my personal blog and journal that I created as a hobby and to document my life, thoughts, travels, and pretty much anything else that I choose to write about. If there's something that you'd like to discuss, or if you'd like to contribute, then drop me a line. Also, this place is much more interesting if you choose to leave comments. I look forward to hearing from you!