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I hope Spring has made a showing in your neighborhood. Nothing
so disgusting than everyone else having a marvelous time while you're
having none. Or being disabled in some physical way so you can't
enjoy the season.
The later is the case for my husband JC and I last week. We missed
putting up a new issue of FAOL since we were both totally incapacitated
with what we are calling 'chicken surprise.' We named it since we both
became ill after a chicken dinner (which I prepared.) I had the new issue
partially done, with no possible way to finish it. It took until Thursday of
this past week before we felt safe to leave the house.
And leave we did. We live four miles from the Hood Canal Bridge,
the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge is undergoing major
repair and upgrading, requiring the bridge to be closed to traffic for six
weeks or more. The newspaper said 20,000 vehicles a day cross the
bridge, so having it closed for any length of time is going to affect
someone. There is a way to drive 'around' but it adds about a hundred
miles to the trip. The state department of transportation spent eleven
million dollars to figure out a way to cause the least disruption to those
using the bridge. The system includes two leased foot ferries from
Victoria Express in Canada, a bunch of vans and busses and creating
parking lots on both sides of the bridge. Buses are also available to
take passengers from the parking lots to Port Townsend and other
destinations on the other sided of the bridge. Some folks worked
out car sharing, motor home rental, and living on one side or the other
of the bridge until it's done.
So on Thursday, the day before everything happened we drove up to
Port Gamble, a historical town where one of the parking lots and shuttle
services is set up, and saw the whole mess. Wow. Then we drove
over the bridge and up to South Point where the new foot ferries will
land their passengers. The newspaper on Saturday said everything
went off without a hitch. Quite an accomplishment.
Since we live just up the hill from Hood Canal we can see the foot
ferries in their half hour crossings. It won't last forever, but fun while
it lasts. Giving the binoculars a work out which is good. Below
is a link to the live camera at the dock on our side of the Canal.
I always feel badly when we don't get an issue up. We don't have
anyone to answer to except you of course, and I know for sure you
won't be really upset with us if we just can't get an issue up for
whatever reason. You need to understand that for us, doing an
issue every week is part of our life. It is part of what we do. No
doubt we feel worse about missing an issue than you do. Funny isn't it?
I do want to make sure you know about the new Chatroom. This
I believe is the fourth maybe fifth one we have had. They all have
their problems, and except for the really crappy 'free' ones they
are expensive and take a lot of time to install and 'tweek'. Frankly
if we didn't have Ron Tidd as our super guru we wouldn't have the
new room at all. It is way beyond our pay grade. Really.
Since we've spent our money, I hope you will take a look. Follow
the instructions from the Bulletin Board (BB) page or link from the
front/main page. It has all sorts of whistles and bells and can be a
lot of fun. Give it a try. You might be surprised at who you meet there.
There is a flu scare. Wash your hands often and use sanitizers.
Avoid crowds if you can and drink lots of liquids. Till next time,
please take care of yourself. ~ DLB
If you would like to comment on this or any other article please feel free to
post your views on the FAOL Bulletin Board!
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