Quote of the Month

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other."

Voltaire 1764

Things you didn't know about Washingtonians

Today at work I had a job for a customer with a very unusual name.  Now  I cannot really call it all that usual because that would mean I had not lived in this state for more than 14 years. The name Steilacoom is not all that unusual for western Washington.  So I was thinking of how easy it was for me to say that name correctly and how that was proof I live in Western Washington and I thought I should make a list of all the things that are unique to Western Washington.  So here it goes

1. The United States of America begins east of the cascades.
2. The city of Portland is like an ugly sister but you say she's beautiful because she's family.
3. People like Canada a lot but they're willing to wait for Washington to change. 
4. All  the small towns have Indian names, to make it easier to spot people from out of state.
5. If you can count the sunny days in a month on both hands, you call it summer.
6. Your friend tells you about their California vacation and your first question is, what is smog?
7. People actually take the ferry to get to work.
8. There really is an espresso stand on every corner, but a cup of coffee is hard to find.
9. You have used every setting on your adjustable windshield wipers and you wish you had one more.
10. You wear a jacket every day, but only when it's cold.

Saturday Snapshot

IMG_0650
Originally uploaded by George Bentley

I had to work today and then I did a little flag waving for our troops. This is the view from our bridge.