HAL4NOW

I have only skimmed the Fleet Report and Daily for the past eight days. Sea days from Vancouver to Hawaii were smooth and relaxing. This is my first time in Hawaii and it is beautiful even with the heat and humidity. We got rain most of the day while in Hilo and I felt more at home. I would have loved for that rain to fall in Skykomish. While we have been enjoying clean air to breathe, the Bolt Creek fire rages on back home. Highway 2 has been closed more than opened. The pastor that was going to fill in for me while we are gone was not able to make it to church on the 9th. He did make it up to Skykomish on the 16th and then they closed the highway just after he headed back down the hill. The incident command was saying the fire was 50% contained a couple days ago, it then dropped back to 41% containment. Praying for moisture, preferably snow, but not much in the forecast and temperatures have been staying in the 80’s and high 70’s during the day.

@rafinmdYou may already have this information, Roy. I asked about Staff Captain Sabine and was told she went back home and she is no longer with HAL.

Crew still wearing masks on the Koningsdam. A server in the Grand Dutch Cafe said the masking requirement for crew would be dropped after this ship returns to Vancouver on the 24th.

We are sitting in the cattle call waiting to board. No tests necessary.

We just double checked on the HAL specific cruise protocol search. We put in the booking number and name and it states that fully vaccinated passengers do not need a Covid test. If HAL has changed that without changing the app, I would not be shocked; we would just make like Gumby and Pokey and be flexible. See you on the ship.

Border crossing today on I-5 into Canada was the easiest I have ever experienced. No traffic in three open lanes; showed passports, answered one question and drove right through. When we arrived at the hotel check in was pleasant, service was out. Then we went to the room and watched our Seattle Mariners win their first playoff game in the wild card series. Their playoff drought is finally over. Looking forward to breakfast at Eggspectations and then a cab ride to Canada Place; we will leave our car at the hotel.

I will try.

I just looked at our weather report for the next couple weeks and there is no precipitation in sight. We could really use some; the smoke is beginning to get really thick in town when the wind dies down. The fire has grown to over 12,700 acres. Praying for the first snow soon, but temps continue to be in the high 70's and low to mid 80's. My DW and I are leaving Skykomish today to go to Whidbey Island to see her DS and DBIL for one night on our way to Vancouver. We board the Koningsdam Saturday. Maybe when we return on the 24th the fire will be smothered in a surprise snow.

Our Highway out of town is going to be closed both ways again today from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The firefighters and Washington Department of Transportation are teaming up to attempt to mitigate the falling trees problem for the upcoming season of wet we hope will come soon. Another tree came crashing down from a cliff two days ago and almost hit a car. They are hoping to avoid this problem going forward. "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in setting of silver." Proverbs 25:11. Sometimes, words are the action we need. "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-5.

@Clay ClaytonHow crowded do the various music venues feel?

Road Verge, according to Wikipedia. Some other regional names: Devil Strip, Besidewalk, Nature Strip, Government Grass, Yard Sample, Neutral Ground, Sidewalk Buffer, and Furniture Zone. The Furniture Zone is more for street furnishings, like phone boxes, streetlamps, etc., but when I heard that term, I thought about yard sales. Of course, in Maine, you wouldn't have a yard sale; it would be a Tag Sale.

No! Thanks for that. Even in New England it seems like each state or area has their own words and culture, different from each other. New England is the melting pot that never got stirred. We had friends in their 60's and 70's that had never ventured outside of the state. New Hampshire was only about 30 minutes away. I never did see Duckpin but would love to experience that. Maine had Candlepin and Tenpin. Nobody has ever bowled a 300 game in Candlepin. I have(had) a couple of uncles that bowl 300 games often in competition with Tenpin Bowling. The balls in Candlepin are even smaller than the balls in Duckpin, but like Duckpin balls, they do not have any holes for fingers or thumbs.

When we moved from the best coast (west coast) to Maine in July of 1980, I learned the hard way not to order a milkshake. Expecting a thick cold beverage with chocolate flavor, I was quite disappointed to only find it to be frothy chocolate milk. When I finally realized I should have ordered a frappe, the waitress then asked if I wanted whipped cream and 'jimmies' on top. I thought we had left the country and had to learn a new language and culture. An 'elastic', we found out, was a rubber-band. "Con" is a yellow vegetable that looks like corn. You "pawk the caw in garraawge". Bowling was so different; you got to bowl three balls instead of two to get a spare, the pins knocked over on the first or second ball just stayed laying where they fell, no pin sweeper came down until after the third ball, the balls weren't really bowling balls--they resembled a slightly oversized croquet ball, sometimes you could knock pins over with a gutter-ball if there was a pin (or stick) laying in the gutter. Now that we are back on the best coast it would be wrong to order a frappe; you most likely would end up with some sort of coffee beverage, and I don't like coffee.

Bolt Creek Fire Update: Evacuation Guidance has been dropped for the entire area. The highway is opened, but lower speed limits exist through the active fire region. The strategy for fighting this fire is 'consumption'. It is expected to burn within the perimeter until it runs out of fuel or, more likely, the rains and snow come. A little rain is predicted the middle of October now.

Here is a smokey sunrise from Skykomish this morning:

"Applications to receive these benefits should be made at least three weeks prior to cruise departure date." Quote from the document. If they apply the OBC with shorter notice, that is great. The November 2022 cruise is more than three weeks out.

2021 US Annual Report (carnivalcorp.com) This is the most up to date document I could find. You can apply for OBC for the first three cruises mentioned, but it is too soon to apply for the August 2023 cruise.

I hugged a vegetarian today, but then found out that National Hug a Vegetarian Day is actually the fourth Friday of September, so September 23rd this year. Tomorrow is World Vegetarian Day. I had no idea that vegetarians had so many special days, and neither did the vegetarian involved in today's hug.

Thanks, Jacqui, It has been interesting juggling what to pack for the cruise and what to pack for an evacuation notice from the fire. Really looking forward to driving up to Vancouver next Friday and boarding the Koningsdam on the 8th.

Bolt Creek Fire Update: Although the Inciweb report says the fire is 13% contained, the briefing from the Incident Command says it is 28% contained. That is due to the fire burning up to the highway and being held back. Next rain is predicted to be 0.25 inches on October 10th (one of our sea days to Hawaii). That is a long time to wait for rain in the Pacific Northwest. The highway was reopened last night and everyone in the fire area has been put down to the lowest level of evacuation notice (level one; ready). Love the Tolkien quote. When my DW and I worshipped with a Friends Society meeting in Tacoma for a few years, we got to know quite a few Quakers that were also members of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation. They do some pretty good work around the globe. Acknowledging the sins of the past is a good beginning to avoiding a repeat of those sins in the future. Too often we choose to ignore the unpleasantness of past actions when we or our nation were involved. We can also be tempted to use the atrocities committed as a bludgeon toward others if we perceive them to be in the offending people group. Reconciliation will not happen without acknowledgement and forgiveness.

I hope highway 2 remains open, also. I plan to take a neighbor to Everett for a doctor appointment tomorrow. She rescheduled because the highway was closed during her last appointment.

We just got back to Skykomish from Westport. Took the scenic long way around with a stop at the Ellensburg Mexican Grill for dinner. Total trip time including dinner stop and some grocery shopping for a couple of neighbors was about nine hours (normal drive time is 3 hours and 20 minutes). Highway 2 is now opened again, and all of the fire area has been reduced to a level one evacuation notice. No visible flames from town right now.

We canceled our tests for next week because the requirement was dropped; see you on the Koningsdam on your Hawaii leg.

I am hesitant to give an update on the Bolt Creek Fire with all that is going on with Fiona and Ian. I know many Floridians that evacuated are uncertain of what they are going to find when they return home. That is unsettling. We hope to return to Skykomish today from our condo in Westport. The highway in and out of town is still closed due to fire activity on the road, so we will have to add 3-4 hours to our trip to get around to the other side of the Cascades and work our way east over Stevens Pass. An inconvenience, but still doable. Besides the highway being closed, the fire continues to grow, the school is having to do remote learning again and USPS and other deliveries are all on hold again (after just one day of open roads for deliveries). Skykomish is still on a level two evacuation notice. Structural protection has been a priority for the fire crews, and they are doing a great job. The fire has grown a couple thousand acres over the past few days by creeping and flanking and with rollouts. The fire is up to 13% containment now. It has jumped defense lines in a few places and the firefighters have had to move from monitors to actively fighting back the flames. They even brought in helicopters for water drops and air support. We did get a light sprinkling of rain yesterday and hope for a little more rain today, but then temperatures are headed back into the upper 70's and low 80's for the near future, and humidity is dropping again. Ironically, we had a thick blanket of snow on the ground a few years ago by this date and people were mourning the loss of summer.

You ask for it the night before and pre-order for the next night, IIRC.