Meet Mark and Beth Gasser

When I spotted a very tall man walking his wife and a tiny dog last week I stopped the car and asked where he got the Chihuahua.

He said that is not a Chihuahua; that is my wife and the poodle she is hanging onto is not a poodle. It is also not a holy terrier but is really a Dachshund.

Meet Beth and Mark Gasser who live on Three Tree Point with the wiener dog and two sons Hans and Sven, who were not with them.

Mark is a former basketball player who at 6 foot, nine was the fifth tallest player for the Arizona State team and is married to Beth who is only 5 foot, nine so she could never play for the team, which she never wanted to do in the first place.

Mark works for Boeing, proving airplane systems will work after they are installed and before the plane takes off, which is nice to know.

He and his family and the wiener dog (named Chunk) love to kayak around the local waters and Mark has several he built himself.

Beth did not play basketball but is an accomplished fine artist and is also a skilled boater

I was with Elsbeth who thinks 6 feet (me) is tall as she is five feet.

So just for fun, I asked Mark to stand next to Elsbeth.

Meet Gary Hobbick

Where did Gary Hobbick go?

The answer is not very far. After nearly 27 years as a fireman and fire chief, he now is fire commissioner for the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department has been retired from active fire fighting for nine years.

We bumped into him at B.J. Bjorneby's auto rehab in Des Moines the other day.

He was having his car fixed.