July 2009

Snack, a Ball Python, is a "nice" snake said his owner, 17-year-old Shilo Fullerton.

Fullerton has owned Snack for about two years since the snake was old enough to be away from professional handlers. Ball Pythons get their name from the way they ball up when they are nervous, but they make good pets because they are really calm.

Fullerton said one out of 10 snakes are aggressive, but not Snack. He even gets along with his cat. Once he even layed on top of the cat as if to cuddle, and both the cat and snake seemed relaxed.

Fullerton takes Snack for walks and they attended the West Seattle Summer Fest. Fullerton often wears Snack around his neck and says, "he attracts a lot of girls."

Two Hi-Yu girls approached him at the festival and reached out to pet the snake. They noted how soft the snake felt. Fullerton says more girls pet the snake than guys.

He feeds Snack rodents he buys at Petco. The biggest response to Snack happened when he took him to school and a girl was so surprised she fell out of her chair.

How to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week:

To address an unusually high number of students requesting to attend both Schmitz Park and Lafayette elementary, the schools will be adding additional classes this fall.

Schmitz Park will add a third kindergarten class and Lafayette will add a third class at the kindergarten and first grade levels.

According to Seattle School District spokesperson David Tucker, enrollment needs have increased this year, forcing the district to provide more seats in West Seattle schools.

Parents at both schools are concerned that the schools will not have enough space or administrative resources for the added classrooms.

"I was surprised like everyone else,” said Geoff Patterson, a parent with two children at Lafayette Elementary. “It struck me as odd that one of the biggest elementary would be getting two more classrooms."

Patterson described Lafayette as having “good special harmony” and worried that moving certain programs, especially the school’s autism program could disrupt that.

He also worried that office staff could become overwhelmed as well as the school’s librarian—a position that was cut to half time in the spring.

The Nordic Heritage Museum’s annual Viking Days festival celebrated its 26th anniversary Saturday and Sunday, July 11 and 12.

The event offered unique Scandinavian entertainment, food, arts and crafts merchants and battling Vikings.

The Taste of Scandinavia represented each of the five Nordic countries, featuring Swedish meatballs, Norwegian lefse, Danish æbleskiver, and a variety of Finnish and Icelandic dishes.

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW

In keeping with tradition for 60 years, the Seafair Pirates landed on Alki Beach just after noon on Saturday, July 11.

The event was sponsored by West Seattle Hi-Yu and the Hi-Yu Queen and Princesses were on hand to greet the bevy of bearded beach-landers.

Some pirate fans remarked that the crowd of well over 1,000 was the largest they have ever seen for the landing. Because of a slightly submerged sandbar, the pirates had to put boots in the water and wade a couple hundred feet to shore.

Some had the honors of carrying the "Captain Barnacle" and "Davy Jones."

"The only surprise was the Sound," remarked Captain Barnacle. "But I didn't get wet. You'll have to ask the crew about that!"

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDE SHOW

The 27th annual West Seattle Summer Festival is back.

The three-day street fair is hosted by the West Seattle Junction Association. The event features dozens of bands and hundreds of merchants and artists, and has a food court, beer gardens and family activities.

Check back for more photos.

This year will mark the Seafair's 60th celebration and there are several main events right here in West Seattle.

The annual event lasts from June 27 through August 2 and kicks off with the traditional Seafair Pirates Landing on Saturday, July 11 at Alki Beach.

The free event is scheduled to start around 11:30 a.m., but come early to grab a spot. Call Mark Jensen for more information at 206-365-1590 or email seafairpiratespr@aol.com.

From the Seafair Web site:

"Avast ye scurvy dogs! This be yer warnin’ shot! The cutthroat Seafair Pirates crew has made a deal and are comin to collect the bounty left behind last year!

They be landin on Alki Beach in West Seattle on July 11 around 11:30. The CarToys Aftershock stage will have the local band Shelley and the Curves for a day full o wild piratical merriment! Citilights Electric is sponsoring a Dunk Tank with prizes for the kids.

Dennis Raines, Marcie Myrick, Elise Lindborg, Joseph Traina explore diverse contemporary printmaking techniques in ArtsWest’s exhibition, Pull This: Summer Print Exhibit, from June 28 through July 25. 

The free exhibit is noon to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
 
All four artists in this show create work from various printmaking techniques, including collographs with pastel and colored pencil, hybrid digital and silkscreen prints, unique Polaroid land camera photos, woodblock prints and engravings.
 
A professional artist of national renown and educator, Raines received his MFA at UC Davis and was visiting faculty at Cornish College of the Arts and California State University Sacramento.  He is well known for his experimental work in hybrid print technology, which he refers to as tradigital printmaking.  His work at ArtsWest explores both traditional and digital techniques for captivating and thought provoking prints. 
 
Traina is a local photographic-based artist exploring the world with a Polaroid camera, an incredible whit and gifted use of color.  Since the Polaroid Land Camera only makes one direct positive print, each image is a unique piece of art. 

"Metro is embarking on one of the major service reductions it's had in many, many years. The service cuts are going to come, and we will feel the pain."

Those were the not-so encouraging words Ref Lindmark, chair of the City Neighborhood Council Transportation Committee, had for the Ballard District Council July 8.

During his presentation on the future of public transportation in Ballard, Lindmark, also a King County Metro employee, warned of pending service cuts at Metro due to lack of funds.

The economic recession has taken its toll on sales tax funds, from which Metro gets 70 percent of its budget, he said. It also couldn't have happened at a worse time, as demand for public transportation has never been higher, he said.

"It's going to be a smaller system," Lindmark said. "You'll either have to walk longer for a bus stop, or wait longer for a bus once you get there, or when you get on a bus, it will be standing-room only."

The outlook for Metro service could be even worse for Seattle than for the rest of the county, he said.

The snow leopard cubs at the Woodland Park Zoo have reached six weeks old and are growing, playing and testing the likes of solid food, reports the Animal Management team caring for a pair of snow leopards born at the zoo.

The male and female siblings underwent a six-week examination July 9, and received their first set of vaccinations.
 
Click here to watch a video of the exam, and here for more photos.

The cubs were born on Memorial Day to first-time parents, 4-year-old Helen and 3-year-old Tom. Mom and cubs remain off public exhibit to ensure continual bonding and proper nursing while staff monitor the new family via a Web cam. Since snow leopards are solitary animals in the wild, the father is separated and is in the snow leopard exhibit with the zoo’s other adult female, Nadia.
 
The male weighed in yesterday at 7 pounds and the female, 6 pounds. According to Pat Owen, an interim collection manager at the zoo, the cubs are venturing outside the birthing den more frequently and playing, particularly favoring a game of playing with mom’s tail.

The community came out to enjoy the warm summer weather, support local art and partake in some preliminary Summer Fest celebrations last night, Thursday July 9.

The Art walk takes place the second Thursday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m. in downtown West Seattle. However, in lieu of Summer Fest happening this weekend, there was additional food, performers and music.

While people migrated from business to business to view local art and socialize, the white tents started to rise setting up for the annual festival to start the following day.