Lueders Haus Blog

Finally can cross one item of the todo list this summer. The weather finally cleared up enough to get the painters here to put a new coat on the house. After painting most of the inside of the house green we have switched to blue. The outside has the same color scheme as our bathroom. Also the blue is just a few shades lighter than the neighbor’s house. Hopefully he doesn’t mind.

Took the painters about a week and most of that was prep. Once they got out the sprayer it only took a few hours to paint. Of course they chose what might end up as the hottest week of the summer to paint. Coming home Friday night to a wrapped up house after highs in the 90s was not fun.

Finally starting to warm up here in Seattle with highs in the upper 80s forecasted for this week. But the warm weather did not make it here for the 4th of July weekend. We took Highway 20 over to Mazama last weekend. It was a bit warmer than in Seattle but pretty windy.

We stayed at the rolling huts again. There is now a new cafe right next to rolling huts along side the highway. They serve breakfast and lunch every day and dinner on the weekends. The dinner menu is Spanish tapas and Polish beer! Not what I would have expected for the middle of nowhere but we will give it a try the next chance we get. The community ski trail goes right by there.

On Saturday hiked up to Louis Lake. The trail head was down near the end of the Twisp River Road. We had never been down that way before. The ski trails don’t go down this way but there is plenty of great hiking. Even though we had lack luster snow for the ski season this year, we had a number of late snow storms and a cool spring. So most of the really high country is still snowed in. Louis Lake had a few big patches of snow in the trees in right before the lake but was clear at the lake. There was a really chilly wind at the lake so we ate our lunches quick and headed back down. Not too many hikers on the trail that day but we did see six people on horseback and two goats. Emily was okay with the goats but growled at the horses.

We had enough waiting for summer weather to start and headed up north for a quick ride on Lopez Island yesterday. We rode our bikes on the 9:30am ferry and back on the 3:00pm ferry. Enough time to do a leisurely 30 mile loop. Since it was Sunday the island was pretty sleepy. Two of our planned stops, the winery and the juice bar/cafe were closed. Lunch was obtained from the natural food store instead and consumed on the ferry ride back. Next time we will bring a picnic.

Finished up the first big trip of the year. My mom and brother came out for a visit last week. The first day took we in the Fremont Solstice Parade. We missed the main group of naked bicyclist but there were still a few stragglers and plenty of crazy floats.

The next day we headed to Leavenworth. We avoided the town mostly and hung out at the Sleeping Lady Resort instead. Readers of the blog would know we often stay there in the winter but this was our first time in the summer. It was nice to be there when it was warm enough to enjoy their great rock swimming pool.

After heading back to Seattle, we caught the main event: the Cubs vs. Mariners. Too bad it was not the Cubs day. They lost to the Mariners two-zip.

Been away from the blog for a while. It is only just starting to get warm out here in Seattle but we haven’t hit 75 yet. We got a busy summer ahead starting tomorrow when the house painters show up!

Finally made it to the new Jolly Roger last night. The pub closed down last year when the brewery moved a few blocks away. Originally it was schedule to reopen in the fall but ended up only reopening last weekend. This was a long time for us to go without one of our favorite pubs. We tried to go to their grand reopening last Saturday but changed our mind after seeing the line out the door. The crowd was pretty intense last night as well. The new place has kept the charm, even down to the treasure map painted on the floor. Most importantly the menu hasn’t changed much.

Spent Saturday evening in Georgetown at the Belgian Beer Fest. I had not been to a beer festival in Seattle in a few years. The last beer festival I had been to must have been the one in Brussels over a year ago.

Last night’s was also Belgian themed but all the beer was from Washington breweries. We both liked the brews from the Elysian and Pike, no surprises there since we have been enjoying their brews for years. I got to try a some beer from a few breweries new to me. Both Snipes Mountain and Salmon Creek had some really good brews. The guys from Salmon Creek were dressed in camo and looked like they just gotten back from a hunting trip. A lot of the Saisons and Wits I tried tasted a bit off to me. Might not have been a good idea tasting them along side the darker Abbey and Sour styles. Also a few of the barrel aged brews tasted too strong of whiskey and completely overpowered the beer.

Afterwards we walked down the street to Georgetown Liquor Company for some non-beer calories. Pretty cool place, nice vibe. Not too many chances to order nachos when dinning with Sherry!

Just got back from another New Year’s ski trip to the Methow. The three of us drove over in a snow storm on New Year’s eve. We had about five or six inches of new snow to ski on New Year’s day. A little too much snow for the groomers to keep up with but on the second day we had some perfectly groom skate lanes.

We changed from our usual logging in Winthrop to a cabin at the Freestone Inn near Mazama so Emily could stay with us. She is not quite ready to join us on the ski trails yet. So she mostly lodge skied but she did get in some good snow shoe hikes.

Graphing calculators were required at my high school for many of the advanced math classes. My HP-48 calculator one of the first devices I learned to write programs for. Most kids in my school had one of the TI-80s but a few of the nerds shelled out for the HP. Those with access to a BBS or the Internet would spread the games to their fellow classmates. I would say most good computer programmers have spent sometime plugging programs into their calculators. It is too bad TI is going after these kids. These kids are their biggest fans.

Finally have a good reason to go to the Sasquatch music festival this year. The Pavement reunion tour is stopping there. Pavement has been keeping me waiting for their reunion for a while. This should finally clear my band reunion list.

Speaking of reunions, we are off to see Dinosaur Jr. tonight. I need to dig up some earplugs.