November 2009

My favorite nursery is decked out.

West Seattle Nursery is, once again, having way too much fun with change of the seasons.

This weekend, they are hosting the Annual Holiday Open House and store manager, Ingrid Nokes, has decked everything out with more ornaments and fun ideas than ever.

Just how many trees they packed into that store for the season is unknown, but each tree is a different theme, and loaded with decoration and inspiration that you can create for your own home.

For the foodie’s, there is a delicious “food tree” covered in fruit and vegetable ornaments, including collectible glass cauliflower ornaments, bananas and more.

The fabulous “kid’s tree” is a whole lot of fun, with a ton of knitted toys, animals and angels all over it – so much so that you can’t really see the tree. If there are children in your life this holiday season, be sure to check this idea out.

The Counter
4609 14th Ave. N.W.
206.706.0311
Sunday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Counter, a primarily California-based international chain, is one of the few restaurants we've reviewed that sells logo gear online.

Usually we use that as defining criteria when deciding where to go: do they sell hats and t-shirts on the Internet? If the answer is yes, we move on. But in this case we made an exception.

We typically try to stay away from chains, with the belief that what brings the highest yield of social capital are locally-owned establishments, serving locally produced food.

You can't have all that all of the time of course, but that's the direction our sails are tilted. And, the Counter does use locally produced beef.

Advance intelligence told us we could go carb-free, meatless and lo-cal here, which makes it stand out among burger joints.

Some might say why have a burger place that allows that type of thing, but we see the value, plus we got to ride the Ballard Blocks brand new escalators that go up and down pretty much to nowhere.

Cross country

3A state boys

Four boys from the Highline-Des Moines area placed in the top 100 in the Class 3A boys state cross country meet held in Pasco.

Simon Salzano of Foster took 47th in a time of 16 minutes, 47 seconds and Matt Dorsett of Kennedy came in 53rd in 16:51. Zakariya Omar of Foster finished 55th in 16:52 and James McLean of Mount Rainier placed 94th in 17:21.

1A state boys

Seattle Christian captured third place as a team in the Class 1A boys competition.

Michael Cross finished fifth in 16:40, with SCS teammate James Beckman 12th in 17:15, Michael Cardenas 28th in 17:40 and Andy Edmonson 51st in 17:40.

Also for Seattle Christian, Damon Wells was 71st in 18:28, Wilson Flint 99th in 18:59 and Jon Meis 109th in 19:12.

3A state girls

The area girls teams sent only two runners between them to state Saturday, Oct. 7 but they placed high anyway.

Yohana Salzano of Foster placed 12th in a time of 19:01 and Palca Shibale of Mount Rainier came in 23rd in 19:30.

1A district volleyball

Just a few hundred feet south of the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock the Fauntleroy Creek empties into Puget Sound. And every year between Halloween and Thanksgiving coho salmon attempt to swim up the picturesque, leaf-canopied creek, an obstacle course of rocks, logs, and native plants. A dedicated team called the Fauntleroy Watershed Council keep an eye on the creek and the coho, and count the fish. So far this season about 20 coho have been spotted since Nov. 8. There were just two counted last year, 90 three years ago.

“More fish are spotted when the tides are high, and with a lot of rain the creek goes up fast, which could push more fish up there,” said area resident Dennis Hinton, a volunteer at the creek for10 years since the council began. “You never know about ocean conditions, blockage on the creek, and whales,” he said. “About three weeks ago two pods of killer whales came by and ate a lot of fish.”
Hinton is an avid fly-fisherman and loves all things fish related. The retired ad-man coined the term “What’s Beneath the Surface” for a publicity campaign for the Seattle Aquarium.

Football

Skyview 56, Federal Way 14

Nothing like a trip to Vancouver, Wash. to cool your team off.

The Federal Way Eagles followed the path of many area teams that have traveled south over the years and lost to a home Vancouver-area team.

Skyview pounded the Eagles by a 56-14 in a state playoff-opening game at the Kiggins Bowl to end their season.

Cross country

State meet in Pasco

Thomas Jefferson journeyed to Pasco along with teams from the rest of the area and the rest of the state to compete in state action.

The Raiders took 11th overall on the boys side of the action, and the girls also had some state placers.

Jeff Baklund led the local boys racers by taking 26th place in a time of 16 minutes, 1 second, with Chase Braxmeyer coming in 39th in 16:14.

Maron Simon snagged 71st for Federal Way in 16:42 and TJ's Ben Hogan came in 82nd in 16:49. Also from TJ, Oscar Iraheta placed 114th in 17:15, Jacob Thorenson 125th in 17:28 and Reid Mayfield 132nd in 17:37.

A bar fight at closing time this morning led to the death of one man. A second victim was taken to Harborview with stabs wounds. However he is expected to survive.

The incident occurred about 1:40 AM (November 12th) at Good Time Ernie’s, 15747 Ambaum Blvd in Burien.

A fight inside the bar involving several people spilled out into the parking lot where the stabbings occurred.

A Burien man, age 25, died at the scene, despite CPR efforts from Sheriff's deputies (Burien Police) and then from fire personnel. A second stabbing victim, age 24 and also from Burien, was taken to Harborview. The two victims are brothers.

Sheriff's detectives interviewed bar patrons and witnesses, but no one was arrested. What prompted the fight is unknown.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.

The Port of Seattle is getting underway on its 20-year plan for FIshermen's Terminal that, according to the Port, will provide an analysis of customer and tenant needs and help develop a long-range plan for Fishermen's Terminal.

The plan is a way of projecting out the needs of the fishing fleet and how to best use and improve the 20 acres of upland area of Fishermen's Terminal, Joseph Gellings, project manager for the Port of Seattle, said at the Nov. 11 Ballard District Council meeting.

A number of meeting attendees expressed concern that the Port would ignore the needs of the fishing fleet in favor of development interests, such as condos.

Getting the highest returns on the property is not the goal of the 20-year plan, Gellings said.

"The Port is bound by the primary mission of serving the needs of the fishing fleet," he said.

He said the study will determine how much, if any, surplus land at Fishermen's Terminal exists that is not being used by the fishing fleet and what can be done with it.

The Ballard Pool, located at 1471 N.W. 67th St., will re-open Nov. 29.

All swim programs are canceled through that date. Current lesson participants will receive a credit on their accounts for the canceled classes.

During a maintenance closure to comply with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which calls for new drain covers, Parks Department plumbers discovered a break in a pipe under the pool deck.

A contractor used a robotic camera to pinpoint the location of the leak and is attempting to fix the leak without excavating the pool deck.

The contractor plans a unique fix for the leak that involves a “sleeve” lining the pipe that bonds to the pipe’s interior and seals the break. As soon as the customized sleeve arrives (it needs to be custom made because of 90-degree angles and changes in the diameter of the pipe), the contractor will begin installation.

Metro Transit was recently looking at service cuts of up to 20 percent over the next two years due to a drop in funding from the sales tax, King County Council member Larry Phillips said at the Nov. 11 Ballard District Council meeting.

But, Phillips had some positive news for the council and the neighborhood.

"The good news tonight is that we are on the verge of being able to fill that gap for the next two years so we don't lose any service," he said.

Phillips said last year's audit of Metro, the first in seven years, found many efficiencies to save funds that can then be put into maintaining service.

For example, the audit found $105 million used for bus replacement that can be reallocated to service funding without having a negative effect on getting aging buses off the road.

The two-year stay of service cuts is not permanent, Phillips said. The county needs to work together to limit the service cuts that will eventually need to be made, he said.

Phillips said nothing will preserve current Metro service levels as well as an economic turnaround.

"We're not out of the woods yet," he said.

State Rep. Tina Orwall (D-Normandy Park) is holding a telephone town hall for her 33rd legislative district constituents on Tuesday, Nov. 17 from 6 -7 p.m.

Similar to a traditional town hall, this teleforum will be an opportunity to bring up questions, comments and concerns about the 33rd district and topics related to the Washington state Legislature.

By utilizing this new technology, participants can take part in the discussion from the comfort of their own homes.

Many residents of the 33rd district will receive a call that evening inviting them to stay on the line and join the conversation. If for some reason residents do not receive the call directly by 6:10 p.m., they can also phone in that evening by dialing toll-free 877-229-8493, PIN code: 15263.