Mukilteo Musings

NATURE gives me my stories.

The topic I had planned to write about keeps getting shoved off my blog because of Mother Nature--but that's OK because stories about lawyers are probably boring to most people anyway. I'll just say a little. I attended one of my required conferences last week about Lawyers and Ethics. Yes, we are required to obtain several Ethics credits every year. This is not an oxymoron. Several attorneys spoke to us throughout the day but I noted two in particular because they were so stereotypical Seattle!!

GEEKMAN
The first one was a guy from Microsoft. As he droned on in his monotone, with his power point presentation, all I could ask myself was, "Could this guy even be any more geeky?" His hair was parted on the side, he had big glasses, khakis and a green sweater over a blue button-down collared shirt. He actually looked like Bill Gates--maybe that's a requirement at Microsoft in addition to his Oxford and Yale education. I am sure he has tons of money.

COOLDUDEHIPPIEMAN
Lawyer number two was from the Washington State Bar Association. In fact, if any lawyer has a question about whether something they are about to do is right or wrong, this guy will answer the phone. His presentation was from scratched notes on a yellow legal pad. He had no power point; he just told fascinating true stories about lawyers getting into trouble for doing really stupid things like "borrowing" money from clients' trust accounts. I thought to myself, "This guy could not be more cool!" His hair was very long and pulled back into a significant pony tail. He had a dangly earring and an armful of bracelets, but he did not look comfortable in his suit and tie. I had this feeling money was not terribly important to him.

So now on to MOTHER NATURE!
The truth is it is NOT windy in the Puget Sound area. Ninety-five percent of the time with our 40-50-60's and chance of rain weather, we have no wind and barely a breeze. It is windy out on the coast and in the middle of our state--especially driving over the Columbia River at Vantage--but not in Seattle. I actually have memories of my children first feeling wind when they were babies and they would act like they could not breathe. Out of my window at this very moment, it is calm, the water is smooth, and barely any movement of leaves on my rhodies and azaleas. I really like not having to worry about my hair blowing all over--ever.

The reason we have no wind is because we get it all at once and half of the time unexpectedly. Like yesterday!!! Usually this happens in November or January but not April. The wind hit us off the water like a freight train. It lasted from 3:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon. I could not open my back door and Apolo, my Golden Retriever was scared to death. The Edmonds Ferry stopped service because of waves and a Mukilteo Ferry had windows blown out. The problem is we have huge evergreen trees everywhere and they blow over. When they blow over they smash into houses, pull down wires, and block traffic. A single tree actually fell onto I-5 and blocked 2 or 3 lanes of traffic. Our power went out at 5 and did not come back on until 11. No computer, no TV, no lights!! Interestingly, at 5:30 when the wind stopped, it STOPPED. It was completely calm and sunny like nothing had happened!! Without power, I noticed everybody was walking or gardening and that is exactly what I did. After I found some of my deck cushions in my neighbor's driveway, I watered all of my flowers and my potted kitchen garden and decided I'd pick up branches another time.