Just Another Day In June

 Mr. Bullfrog relaxing in the bright June sun.

Most times when I post on this blog, it's about specific subjects. This one is more of a day-to-day post -- more or less about my day to day life in a sunny June in the Seattle area.

Mount Rainier from a parking lot in the White Center neighborhood in Seattle.

Today, as I write this, it's Sunday. And Saturday was spectacular -- 91 degrees (32C) and lots of sun. Usually we don't get into the 90's until August. And usually, the grass doesn't start turning brown until August or late July.

Brown grass in the first week of June along the Cedar River Trail in Renton. Usually this occurs later in the summer.

But the grass (at least grass that isn't watered by people) is already brown in most places. This summer looks like it will be a dry one. I have been in several other places in the United States, and aside from parts of California I don't think there is any better place to be during summer than in western Washington State.

Usually we have moderately hot to warm weather, and after the Fourth of July, it's dry until September. Our humidity is low, and the night air is cool enough to be refreshing.

This summer appears to be drier than usual, the brown grass being one anomaly, and the lower than usual Cedar River being another anomaly. The Cedar River generally runs fairly high in May and June, and by August, it is very low. However, several times this past month, the river has been low -- as can be seen in the following picture.

The Cedar River on a sunny day in early June -- very low for this time of year. This is how low it usually is in August, our driest month.

However, the level of the river does go up and down (it is controlled by a dam upstream) so right now it's a bit higher than in the above picture.

June is also the time where many of us Seattleites get to do a lot of yard work because of overgrowth from the Spring. If one isn't careful, Himalayan blackberries can take over everything. This is where that handy tool, the weed whacker, comes in handy.

I have several weed whackers (the technical term is 'string trimmer'), and lately have been using a gas powered one which was impossible to start until I took it back to the shop and the guy there showed me how to start it: i.e., forget everything you read in the manual. Since then, the gas powered weed whacker works like a charm.

An arsenal of weed whackers. My gas powered one at bottom, and my most trusty electric one (the first one I bought, a Grass Hog) on the upper right. The electric whacker on the upper left has old wrenches taped to the cutting head, to make it more stable. The hedge in back was partially trimmed by a weed whacker. They are very versatile garden tools.

My first weed whacker was a Grass Hog, which I discovered would cut everything from grass to blackberry vines. There is a knack to getting a weed whacker to cut blackberries without bogging down. You sort of snap it across the vine. With the gas powered whacker, of course, less finesse is needed. If it has blades instead of nylon twine, it will really cut. You can even mow a lawn with it if you need to.

June is also the time for fixing things, like bicycles. I had one bike which had a broken shifter cable, and after fixing the cable in the late afternoon sun, I cleaned the bike up and lubed it. Another bike -- my main riding bike -- developed a broken tire, which I replaced.

The gum rubber tire on my main riding bicycle. As you can see, the gum rubber just decided to rip and give way...

As it turns out, gum rubber tires just don't last as well as the black rubber tires, which you can ride until they're completely bald (if you had to -- it's not smart to ride a bike with bald tires -- they can slip around on wet pavement). Gum rubber tires give a smooth ride, but they will split and rip when they get old. The older gum rubber just can't handle the air pressure anymore.

As I replaced the tire, I re-checked my repair job on the innertube. I had patched the innertube in late Winter, to save a few bucks. Unfortunately, the glue that comes with most tire patches is runny and never dries. You can use other glues (like modeler's glue) and mix it with the runny rubber glue, and it helps. But even that didn't work this time. So I relied on that old standby: duct tape.

A five month old innertube repair made with a tire patch, which was reinforced with duct tape. The duct tape helps keep the patch on the innertube completely sealed, especially when it's pressed between the innertube and the outer tire.

I reinforced the crappy rubber tire patch with duct tape, and it worked. It has held up for at least five months now, and the tire doesn't lose any more air than the tires with normal innertubes. On some bike forums, they say don't use duct tape, it won't work. Well, it works.

The fixed / replaced tire -- a black rubber tire, which is long lasting, and even has kevlar, so I suppose it will even stop bullets. :-)  The wheel is an old German wheel which rides well even though it is missing a spoke (that's my next repair).

During summer, I sometimes let my cat outside for an hour or two. It's the time she gets to have her adventure. I always keep an eye on her, though. 

My cat on an adventure. She had just been surprised, so her tail is a little bushy.

A few days ago, of course, it was Summer Solstice, and during this time of year the setting sun blasts its way directly through my bedroom window, which faces northwest. I usually keep the curtains open, but I closed them for the photo, to show the directness of the sun's rays.

Solstice sun directly hitting my curtains, June 13th.

I was able to snap a picture of the sun setting just as it went down over a distant hill, right at 8:45 p.m. (local sunset) on solstice evening, June 21st. Unfortunately I didn't get a better picture because the battery in the camera was about to die. The sky stayed lit until after 10 p.m.

Sun setting, Summer Solstice. Where's something cool like Stonehenge when you need it?

Soon it will be the Fourth Of July, a big holiday here in the U.S.. I have no plans, except maybe to grill some hot dogs and watch the fireworks shot off by people in the nearby neighborhoods.

A shot of my eye. Trying to figure out how to take close up pics with my Fuji digital snapshot camera.

I have taken a lot of photos over the past month, with both of my digital snapshot cameras (a Fuji AX and a Canon A520 I got at a thrift store for $6). I took some photos of the Seattle skyline and Alki Beach, and took a few photos of birds and a couple bullfrogs hanging out in a nearby pond. 

Hopefully, I can sort them out and make a blog post or two within the next week, using all the new photos. Until then, happy end of June!