Last time we took the boat out, Zach was trying out his brand new camera and he took a couple of decent pictures of our marina and town from the water.

Poulsbo from the water. It’s a ridiculously cute little Norwegian-themed, tourist-friendly harbor town.

Mt Rainier, viewed across Liberty Harbor and through the Poulsbo Yacht Club marina.

Thanks to Sadiq, Nathan and Jim, who have been doing a great job of photographing their areas for visitors to their blog.

When we tool around the Puget Sound by boat, we see a lot of cool things that look different from the water. The area we live and moor our boat in is home to:

• the Bremerton naval shipyards, where active aircraft carriers come to be refitted and old ones are torn down
• the Bangor sub base
• Keyport naval undersea warfare center, where Raytheon and other contractors work on naval weapons systems

Today, like we have many times before, we went past the last facility. On one end of the base, there is a somewhat dilapidated building on the water:

It has a boldly posted across the breadth of the building that says “When light flashes, reduce speed to 3 knots.” The sign on the door, blown up and grainy because we were some distance away, reads:

“Naval Undersea Warfare Center.” And, helpfully, “No Mooring.” Because, you know, if the light is flashing because they’re testing torpedoes, I think I’d zip right up and TIE UP alongside! That would be FUN!

Today, there was a light flashing. I don’t think it was the actual warning light, it was just a little light, but we took no chances. We slowed down to 3 knots, no wake, until we got past the facility.

Obviously, we made the right choice. We made it home with our boat in one piece.

I am spoiled; I’ve had a cleaning service for the last several years. Upon moving down to Poulsbo, we used an online referral service to find a housecleaner and were matched up with a local business called Cathy’s Cleaning Crew.

Like many such services, they started out strong – high quality and reliable. Over the course of a couple of years, that changed.

In the last year, we struggled with both quality and reliability. One of my more important requirements is that the cleaner come on the day scheduled – not move it around in the week for their convenience. Last minute day changes began happening more and more often, and I instituted a policy of “come on your scheduled day – or don’t come at all.”

We also agreed at the start on a list of items to be cleaned every week, and others every month. The every week items slid to monthly, and the monthly were never done. I shouldn’t have to leave notes asking to have my dining room table dusted or my shower cleaned! When I was working at home, the quality was a little better; when I was traveling or over in the Seattle office it was abysmal.

In late December, the proprietress asked that we (along with all of her other customers) start prepaying for service monthly, on the first visit each month, to simplify accounting. I took exception to this because of the reliability problem; requiring them to come on their scheduled day to actually get paid is powerful leverage. Because searching for a new housekeeper is always a painful process, and this service was relatively inexpensive, I made the lazy decision to try the monthly payment.

It did not go well; unreliability continued to be an issue.

This month, they came the first week while I was in Anchorage, did the usual shoddy job and picked up their check. Last week, they called in sick. I was pretty cranky, told them not to come that day, and that I would no longer be prepaying. This week, they didn’t show and didn’t call.

We tried to contact them, and the number was disconnected – both home and cell. Email bounced. The online referral service told us that Cathy’s Cleaning Crew had stopped accepting new leads several months ago. The service is also attempting to track them down.

We are out the prepayment for 3 weeks of cleaning, and our provider appears to have left town.

Honestly – I have only my own stupidity to blame.

Note: usually I would not name names in a post like this. I’m making an exception here – if anyone ever googles Cathy’s Cleaning Crew, I want this post high among the results!

Being away from home during a natural disaster like the current Puget Sound area flooding is such a disconcerting feeling.

My wonderful husband is perfectly capable of handling anything that happens. He’s resourceful, practical and careful.

Zach is pretty sensible too – he is not going to get himself in trouble with stupid decisions or risk-taking.

Our house is just fine. There’s not even any flooding around our pond, much less in the crawl space or rest of the yard. Living on a hill helps! ☺ Most of our major roadways are safe and drying out, and those that aren’t have well-marked detours. The major exception is I5 – linked above – but that’s 75 miles south of me.

There was some flooding at Zach’s school, and classes were cancelled today, but they should be back in session tomorrow as well.

And, I should have no problem getting back home, outside of late flights and Seattle baggage handling. There are no problems with the airport, nor with the roads I take to get home.

Still, it’s a time when I’d rather be with them than 1,500 miles away… just in case something happens.

Photo from the Kitsap Sun storm gallery.

It’s been an interesting weather weekend and Monday. As Jeri’s last post relates, we had a huge, for this area, snow storm. That weather then turned to rain early afternoon on Sunday. By the time Zach and I went to bed last night (Jeri headed to Anchorage), the temperature had risen to the mid 40s. The rain continued to pour.

Today, chunks of Poulsbo are flooded, including one of the grocery stores we regularly visit. Parts of Zach’s school were flooded, and they final let out a bit early this afternoon. We’re fine, we essentially live on top of a hill. Our pond is a bit near the top of its banks, but the rains stopped. There was a promised high wind event that at least here was a fizzle, but I understand parts of the Washington coast got hit very hard, near hurricane-force.

We moved from Anchorage to escape bad winter weather! Meanwhile, there, Jeri tells me there is no snow on the ground. Strange days indeed.

For some pictures, check out Kitsap Sun.com.