Above Ground Tour

  2019 Festival of Fruit Pipers Orchard Over 300 people attended the 13 th annual Piper's Orchard Festival of Fruit in Carkeek Park Seattle, Washington on October 5 th 2019. Attendees enjoyed Master gardeners, fruit tasting, cider pressing and orchard tours. For the first time in many years two apple trees were planted in the orchard. After volunteering at the Festival since 2008, I was excited to become a member of the tree planting committee until I found manual labor was involved as Paul Brookshire handed me a shovel indicating where to dig. Soil in the orchard is a hardpan glacial till similar to quick dry concrete. While digging a nearby anthill boiled ants while squirrels dropped horse chestnuts from a nearby tree! Ah these are the joys of volunteering. Our first tree, donated by Bob Baines, was an Ashmead Kernel in a 10 gallon pot. Soon a crowd formed to witness this auspicious occasion and discussions on planting apple trees and soil amendments ensued. Bob’s theory is...

  We will never forget                                                                                September 11 th 2020   Edmonds Washington Fallen Firefighter Memorial            On Friday September 11 th I took the day off and visited the Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Edmonds Washington to remember the first responders. I found flowers and a note “ We will never forget” on a steel girder recovered from the World Trade Center. Surrounding the memorial are four panels with the names of 343 first responders A Chaplain, Firefighters, EMTs, Chiefs, Capt...

photo Sandpoint Way, Seattle Washington scene of March 27 th 2019 shooting It’s Saturday morning and I'm at a community center with 14 other people to learn how to S top T he B leed. . This past spring a man stood in the street [photo] 1 mile from our location firing a handgun at passing cars in which he struck three, killed one and crashed a hijacked car killing a second person . This shockingly senseless act left neighbors frightened and most of us have this incident on our minds as we prepare for an active shooter scenario. Although statistics tell us we are more likely to experience wounds and severed arteries on a back country hike or slicing a tomato in our kitchen. Medical science informs us after serious trauma to a major artery you have 90 seconds to stop the bleed before you are gone. So read carefully because learning how to stop the bleed could save a life even your own! Call 9-1-1 ·         Call 9-1-1 yourself OR ...

"Diamond Head, like some mighty sphinx or lion couchant, guarding the approach to an earthly paradise, was next approached. It is an extinct volcano and, properly fortified, would be the Gibraltar of the Pacific." John R Musik making landfall in Honolulu 1898 'Hawaii Our New Possessions' Fast forward 100 plus years and the 'mighty sphinx' loomed over our Hotel at Kaimana Beach where they used to award "I climbed Diamond Head Tshirts" no such luck today. Visiting Honolulu sans car meant one of three options hike to the trail head 4-5 miles, taxi cab and or the bus. After wandering around bus stops in Waikiki we settled on a Route 22 which stops in front of the Honolulu Zoo and is nicely air conditioned, costs $5 for two fares. Our morning hike had become high noon as the Temps reached high 80s and we fell into single file through a tunnel leading to the trail head. We stopped at the entrance to pay $2 and pickup a trail map as tour buses and ...

LuLuMahu Falls (meaning hidden place) is a short hike on private land off the Pali Highway in the Nuunau Valley outside of Honolulu Hawaii. June 22nd 2017 was a cloudy and at times drizzly day and there is an old story about the Nuuana Valley where it rains often. A local was giving directions to his house and said "go up the valley to where it's raining and my house is the second on the left".  We contemplated breaking local laws by entering a water reservoir area (you go through a hole in chain link fence) and King Kamehameha's II old summer grounds.We were reassured by our Uber driver and a parking lot full of fellow hikers that it was ok. We were counseled to follow the river and the trick was to find the river through the bamboo forest. The wind picked up and soon the bamboo was knocking together along the trail. One wrong turn and we double backed to stay on the gravel path to our left and soon came out into a clearing where crews were repairing a draw br...