Porom Hat - Scary

I've made quite a few hats - all pretty basic;
72 stitches on - rib for an inch or so, then
basic knitting and reducing - switch to double
pointed needles till the end. Nothing fancy.

But I'm about to try something more difficult:


















The Porom hat from Jared at Brooklyn Tweed.
His site has more photos and information
about making the Porom hat plus LOTS of
other knitting ideas.

I purchased Jamieson's double knitting yarn in
two shades of blue, one for my hat and one for
a hat for my daughter. Wish me luck!

Garfield County Courthouse

The town of Pomeroy is the county seat
of Garfield County and home to a very pretty
courthouse. I've had to drive through there
a few times for work and finally managed to
remember my camera last time. One of my
favorite parts is Lady Justice at the very top
of the building.



















Here's a look at the building in 1923 (before they
painted the brick facade white) and you can see a
variety of courthouse shots over the year at this site.














Another favorite part is the turret. I'm think
this may be where they keep all their dangerous
prisoners before they appear in court.

Columbia Queen

Driving through various places in Idaho and
Washington today with my dog I saw the Columbia
Queen, a pretty riverboat that cruises up and
down the Columbia River from Astoria to
Lewiston then back again. I’ve never been big
on cruises but this boat is very pretty. If
only I could hire the entire boat and travel
up and down a few times - just me, and maybe
my family, and my dogs, sort of like in Love
in the Time of Cholera. You can read about the
Columbia Queen here.

Helmer

Hiking outside of Helmer, Idaho last week
was the best part of my week. No people,
no noise, no guru, no method, no teacher,
just the dogs and I and nature.


















Seamus enjoyed the creek and the fresh air.



















Nosey blends right in . . .

Payette ID: City of Dog Haters?

I had to go to Payette ID for work this week. Looks
like a pretty place on the surface. See?
















And look at this cool old gas station.
















What isn’t cool is their pet policies. If a
dog is found running free (got out of the yard, slipped
off his lead, whatever) authorities can pick up the dog
and destroy him immediately. Honest.

Also, no pit bulls allowed in this county, or anything
close to a pit bull. In fact if you are driving through
the county and have a pit bull in the car you have to
get a permit from the Sheriff’s Dept or face a misde-
meanor charge. And what about the pit bull owners who
lived in Payette before the ordinance was enacted?:

"Pit bull owners living in the county prior to March 28
are required to meet stiff kenneling requirements for
their dogs, register their dogs for a fee of $500 and
obtain a one million dollar liability policy. No new pit
bulls are allowed in the county after the date of March
28, 2007."

Cocusa Motel - Not Recommended

On our recent trip to washington we planned to
stay one night at the Cocusa Motel in Burlington.
It was reasonably priced and accepted dogs.

We really booked this room based on the internet
photos showing lots of grass and thought this
would be perfect as we were traveling with two
dogs.

The motel is MUCH closer to busy streets than
the internet photos showed and on the corner of
a major freeway entrance. The photos don't
really give an accurate portrait. When you are at
the place it feels like a bad neighborhood in LA.

You can't see any grass from the outside,
apparently the grassy courtyard is only on the
inside. The woman in the office wasn't exactly
rude but when I asked, "You have a grassy area
right, because we have dogs and that's why we
booked this place" she answered "We do have a
grassy courtyard but absolutely no dogs are
allowed on the grass!" Heartless.

We were already very disheartened by the busy
location and appearance of the place - so the
No-Dog-Grass was the last straw for us and we
canceled our reservation. I didn't think about
taking a photo at the time but now I wish I
had. This place is not a good place for dogs
or families.

Renton, Wa

On the way to Bellingham last weekend Del and
I stopped in Renton, WA to see Jimi Hendrix's
grave. Supposedly the cemetery is across the
street from the neighborhood he grew up in.

It was a little strange to be there.