Mmmmmmmm!

07:26am - Thursday:  Don't get me wrong, I love perked coffee; I love hearing it perk,  and I love how long it stays HOT.  The Corningware coffee percolator we have as backup makes the best coffee, but, and this is a big BUT, I like waking up to coffee already made and ready to drink.  The only way I can get that is if I have an automatic drip coffee maker with a clock and a timer built in, so it will turn itself on at 6am, and keep my dark elixir hot until I get up.  With the percolator I have to get up, grind the coffee, turn on the stove, and then wait 15-20 minutes before I can have a cup of coffee.  Now that is plainly, and there can be no dispute, not natural.  The replacement Starbucks Barista Aroma coffee maker arrived via USPS yesterday, was dutifully cleaned by TLE, and did its job this morning promptly at 6am.  I once again awoke to the aroma of fresh coffee, and just got up and poured a cup.  Order has been restored, and all is well in my universe.

The prior Starbucks drip coffee maker that bit the dust in my "FRIED!" blog was a 12 cupper.  This one is an 8 cupper.....we usually only made 10 cups in the old one, so we're losing 2 cups.....really half cups, right?  We all know that the industry's definition of a "cup" is not our definition.   And, additionally it fits a little bit better in the space....slightly more appropriate for our petite kitchen.

More to follow!

05:58pm - Wednesday: After all that great coffee we got out the tandem and headed down to Fort Vancouver.  The distance is around 12.5 miles, so that is a cake walk on the tandem.....we run around 16mph, and can cover that distance in around 45 minutes.  The weather was partly cloudy, but quite cool....we left around 10:15am and arrived at Fort Vancouver around 11am.  When we were there on Sunday they were closed, along with Pearson Air Museum.

Fort Vancouver was established by the Hudson Bay Company as a collection point for all the furs, minerals, etc. that flowed from other forts, and eventually back to England via the various trade routes.  Again, the entrance fees at this National Park were waived, saving another $3/person.  The fort has a working period carpentry shop....typical of what would have been back in the mid 1800's, with real carpenters working will only hand tools making things of wood for the fort's current maintenance.  There is also a working blacksmith shop where metal is being worked on fired hearths with manually operated billows, etc.  Very, very cool

 A typical "middle class" one room cabin for Hudson Bay Employees

 Above:  The building on the right housed the Doctor's quarters, infirmary and apothecary, and the building on the left is the blacksmith shop.

Warehouse

1943 Texan used for flight instruction in WWII

 1952 Trojan - replaced the Texan

There were a lot more airplanes....these were the ones that interested me, and a great display for the B-17, better known as the "Flying Fortress" - I wish they had a B-17 on premises as I would love to see, and go through one of those amazing bombers.  

After touring the fort and air museum, we rode down to the Columbia River, and then back into downtown Vancouver, where we found, on a weekday, that there is a lot open.  We were looking for a quick lunch spot, and I spied "Woody's Tacos" on the right......I love serendipity.  They serve the most amazing fish tacos and I gladly consumed two while Elaine had a single shrimp taco sans beer for both of us....part of our new streamlined diet.  We need to lose a few pounds before we begin working at Amazon in 5 weeks.

From Woody's we rode north on St. John......Elaine spied a thrift shop run by the Humane Society, so we stopped and she picked up another book, and a couple of soup thermoses she says we will use for lunches at Amazon.  After that brief stop we made it back "home" in about 40 minutes.

Today the USPS delivered my new Progressive Dynamics charger/converter to replace the one I "FRIED" a week ago, and 10 LED automotive bulbs, which I used to replace the many incandescent 12 volt light bulbs that if all turned on the same time use about 10+ amps.  Now if they are all on the draw will be around an amp.....big improvement!  The charger/converter was installed in about 10 minutes......now we only have to replace the microwave/convection appliance and we are made whole again.

It has been a good day.  We have decided we will be here one more day, and then depart on Friday morning going southeast on I-84 toward new unknown adventures.  We hope you will continue following along!

Thanks for stopping by!