tiltawhirl

trash day

In response to my previous post, where I mentioned that the Punisher still lives on in the attic at Mom's house, my sister marvelled at the fact that my Mom didn't put it out at the curb, and that it was still in the attic. It reminded me of another story, where Mom did actually put something out at the curb.

Mom and Dad used to have this red and black Mediterranean-style couch - regular readers might remember it as the couch with the wooden arms that I carved Charlene's initials into.

That couch lived a long life at my parents' house, and I realize we were pretty rough on it - carving initials into the arms, probably jumping on it like wild animals. Eventually, once it was completely destroyed, Mom put it out to the curb for the trash men. It was in REALLY bad shape by then, and although the Mediterranean styling was the height of fashion when Mom got it, it was looking pretty dated by this time.

The school bus stop was right on the corner next to our house. I walked out to the bus stop on Monday morning, and several other kids were already there. They were laughing and when I got there they said "Ewwww, look at that nasty old couch! Gross!"

I mustered as much fake indignation as I could and glared at the couch and said "What? Who put that dirty ugly couch in front of our house!?"

I can't even imagine what would happen if she put the Punisher out there. So, I think Mom is just trying to save us all embarrassment. I appreciate her sensitivity. If I lived in NJ, I think there would be a risk she'd bring it over and put it in front of MY house.

The Punisher

If you've ever been an overnight guest in someone else's house, there's a good chance you've slept on a fold out couch. I've slept on quite a few, and it seems like spending the night on even the nicest, newest one is akin to spending the night on some sort of medieval torture rack. But I don't think I have ever encountered anything like the guest bed my parents used to have - The Punisher.

I think the Punisher started life as my sister Charlene's bed. The Punisher was a twin-sized trundle bed - a regular-ish twin bed with a bed underneath that pulled out from and then sprang up to the height of its evil parent bed. I am not sure why this arrangement was necessary, whether that extra hidden bed was ever someone's assigned sleeping place, or if it was there in case of overnight guests. My mom wasn't big on sleepovers - I think she was pretty annoyed to see US in the morning, and theoretically, we lived there.

The Punisher came with these nifty kelly green bolsters that I guess would let you disguise the Punisher as a daybed as well. Those bolsters weren't really useful for much else but I do remember us (Char and me, then later, me and Chris) beating the living shit out of each other with them. I can remember running down the hallway with one, screaming, with a pillowcase on my head (which had a pillow inside of it, to make the pillowcase stand up like a magnificent headdress). So, they did serve some purpose. This behavior may explain my mother's reluctance to have overnight guests.

When you pulled the underneath bed out from under the Punisher, it was often a challenge to get that underneath bed to rise up to regular bed height the way it was supposed to. (Let's call that underneath bed "Spawn of Punisher" for clarity.) You had to push down a little on SOP to get it to release and come up, and most times it wouldn't react right away. So you'd push down on it a little harder, and harder, and soon you'd pretty much have all of your weight on it, and be jumping on the thing until SPRROOOINNNG it would launch upwards, propelling you toward the ceiling, through the roof, and up into the sky. SOP developed the habit in the later years of crashing to the floor in the middle of the night, while you were asleep, making it the guest bed equivalent of a nonconsensual trip on the FreeFall ride at Great Adventure. A system of ropes was deployed to lessen this risk.

But overall, SOP was a fairly comfortable bed, once you got past the initial rocket ship ride to the ceiling during setup, and once the midnight plunge to the floor issue was resolved. SOP was nothing compared to the back breaking horror of...The Punisher.

The thing about a trundle bed, at least, the thing about The Punisher, was that in order to accommodate SOP, there was no boxspring underneath the mattress. As I think about it, I would expect there would be a sturdy platform under there instead, but based on the way it sagged, I would venture a guess that there was NOTHING under there. Just a bedframe, with a mattress. I know this can't be true, but that was the way it felt to lie on it.

The Punisher sagged when you LOOKED at it. Just the weight of your eyes on it would make it creak, then sag. And that brings me to the other issue - the creaking. Raising your index finger to the side of your face to scratch generated enough creaking to wake the whole house. Scratching your face three times resulting it CREAK CREAK CREAK - every movement amplified enough to telegraph your every move.

The Punisher was banished several years ago from the computer room where it conducted its reign of terror. Once Chris moved out, his old room was outfitted with a very nice queen sized be that I will confirm is VERY comfortable. But I think I heard that Mom put the Punisher up in the attic. At night, when it is quiet, if you listen closely, you can hear it....

(softly) crreeeeeeeak.......... creeeeeaaaaaak..........

Hangar 30 at Magnuson Park

Hangar 30 lomo
Originally uploaded by Michelleration.

From inside the hangar where the Rat City Rollergirls matches are held.

It was my first picture with my new pocket camera - I picked up a point-and-shoot, just a little cheapy digital camera for when I don't feel like lugging my big digital SLR. It's not a bad little camera. It'll be nice because I can keep it in my bag all the time. Every day, there is at least once where I say to myself "I wish I had my camera with me."

Rat City Rollergirls

DLF through the chain link
Originally uploaded by Michelleration.

We went to see a roller derby match tonight. Very fun to watch, although we're still trying to work out all the details of the rules, particularly about how the penalties work.

We saw Seattle's own Derby Liberation Front and Throttle Rockets go head to head in a very close match. Then we saw a match between Seattle's Sockit Wenches and the San Diego Rollerdolls, which was not even close. The Seattle team is ranked second in the nation, and they really showed it tonight.

Fourth of July Weekend - Cornholing, McGee style

Fourth of July Weekend
Originally uploaded by Michelleration.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, Ryan's parents and Uncle Bob and Vince came to visit. We had a great visit with them, and time for a few rounds of Cornhole in the backyard on the Fourth.

No, it's not what you think. Cornhole is a backyard game, kind of like a beanbag toss, except the bags are filled with corn seed. Two boards, like the one visible in the photo, are placed about 30 something feet apart. You stand at one end, and attempt to throw your bags into the hole, or at least get them on the board. A bag thrown right in the cornhole is worth 3 points, bags resting on the board ("in the count") are worth 1 point. The game itself is a lot of fun, although there is no part more fun than standing around drinking in the yard, interrupting that every so often by everyone present howling "Cornhooooooole!!!!" when a bag goes in the hole. I don't even want to imagine what the neighbors are thinking.

The most common question we get about the game after people get past those details is "So, how did this come about - is this a made up game, or....?"

Here's the full story. At some point, one of us read about this game on the web. It's midwestern in origin, predictably, Iowa or Indiana or something like that. We thought it looked fun. Then earlier this year, Ryan and I were trying to come up with a compelling reason to go in our backyard. It's an under-utilized feature of our house. We tend to go out on the deck to be outside, but rarely venture down into the grass.

So the first idea we came up with was a horseshoe pit. Ryan has fond memories of playing horseshoes at his Uncle Pat's house. But an official horseshoe pit requires digging a big sand pit, and takes a pretty big toll on the lawn. Plus, we have a lot of wildlife around here, and cats running around. I immediately thought "Sand pit full of animal poop....no."

Then we remembered Cornhole. Ryan built and painted the boards himself, to American Cornhole Association specifications.

I signed up as a card carrying member of the American Cornhole Association, but have yet to receive my credentials. We expect to have our first officially sanctioned league match as soon as those arrive. In the meantime, it's strictly amateur cornholing around here.

eagle, cropped

eagle. cropped
Originally uploaded by Michelleration.

same eagle, different picture, cropped for a better view.

eagle over the lake

eagle over the lake
Originally uploaded by Michelleration.

I've tried for a while to get a recognizable picture of an eagle. They fly around over Lake Sammamish. but usually by the time I grab my camera and get ready, they've glided too far away. Today I saw this one, lower and closer than I've seen one before. Luckily they've been around a lot lately so I already had my telephoto lens on. I'm going to keep trying though. I wonder what you would put in an eagle feeder on your deck, hmmm....