It was a lovely day on Liberty Bay and the sun on the water worked its stress relieving magic. I’ll definitely do this again.

This was NOT the boat we rented, but was easily the loveliest boat on the water today – a racing sailboat of some sort.

Zach and Cheri watch the windvane.

Zach the helmsman steers the boat.

Zach watches from the sail deck.

Apparently I was the captain since I signed the rental contract. Who knew?

Mt. Rainier looms over the marina.

Me in my (rented) kayak.

Zach and Ben conferring about something. Zach has his own inflatable kayak; it’s not quite as efficient as a traditional one but boy is it portable!

Ben takes a break and waits for us in front of the Gran Kirk condos. The bottom right one is for sale and I can afford it, but I’ve resisted going to look at it.

The breakwater was inhabited by a very tame colony of seals.

It was a lot of fun – and we’ll definitely try to do it more frequently.

Sons of Norway float – with Vikings! – at the opening parade.

My four legged black sister Sadie, mom’s nearly human Aussie.

It was a really great day, sunny, 70, and Cheri and mom were excellent company.

Sadie also accompanied us – not by design – but as we started walking to the shuttle bus she jumped the fence and ran out and across a busy road after us. Scared us silly! So as her punishment she got put on leash, taken downtown, and snarfed her way through the food court.

I missed the pancake breakfast, but had a superb grilled chicken florentine crepe instead. We enjoyed the parade, the waterfront and the people watching, but missed the fireworks.

Zach and his girlfriend and buddies stayed downtown until the carnival closed at 9, and then wandered back home. I love that 1) I live in a small town where that’s the norm, and 2) I have a great kid who I trust.

Then I got to do some company cooking – yeah, cooking! – and have another great sunny day with mom again today.

I did manage to miss the all-you-can-eat lutefisk session. Doggone it! Maybe next year.

How was your weekend?

This photo, taken last week, is of the sun setting over Kvellstad Pavilion at the Poulsbo Marina on Liberty Bay. It’s not as spectacular as some of the others posted this week, but I like the misty haze over the water and the shape of the pavilion in silhouette.

See:
Alaskan Sunset
Denver Sunset
Ohio Sunset
Savannah Sunset

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.

• 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.

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!