Schertzl..... 

A nice serving Mt. Baker 

Seattle Stats

As an admitted student to Seattle University's Law school, they have been sending me all kinds of information trying to get me to commit to their school. Alot of the literature is targeted to out of towners, so much of it is about the city and the area. Here are some of the things I found interesting:

• Population: Seattle 572,000 And suburbs 3,388,000
• Average Rainfall: Seattle - 36.2 inches, San Fran - 19.2 inches, New York City - 40.3 inches
• The Olympic Peninsula receives 160 inches of rain annually.
• 96 espresso stands in downtown, Seattle
• Seattle residents purchase more sunglasses per captia than the rest of the US
• Washinton State is know for apples, fine wines, asparagus, wheat and salmon...all of which I enjoy from the local producers.

Come visit :)

Seattle 

Does this mean I am drinking too much coffee? Rado made himself right at home at our coffee shop, this morning.  

Rado likes to try an catch/eat/drink dripping water. Caught in action here, looking kinda fierce. 

Rado meets Dizl. Dizl is our friends Erik and Jodi's dog. She is obviously the same breed and is about nine months old. When we started searching for a pup, we quickly realized how fanatic owners of this breed are. We have now become the same way...giving extra attention to other Berners. And the dogs definately know when they are with one of their own...its fun to watch.  

Rado on Daffodil Row 

We have become very popular people all of sudden. We can't go anywhere in public without everyone coming up and talking to us. He's a real conversation piece. And its easy to see why....he is pretty darn handsome! 

A very cool pic of the small eruption of Mount St. Helens on March 8th. It also shows our incredibly weak snowpack. 

The watering hole at puppy kindergarten. A very fun time where 10 puppies gather for lots of play and a little bit of learning....just like real kindergarten. Rado is the biggest guy in the class....but not the toughest.  

Spring has arrived. It actually arrived shortly after fall as we have had the driest and warmest record. But with all the daffodils and cherry blossom out, its now official. This picture is John St. on Capitol Hill looking west at the Space needle with the Olympic Pennisula in the Background.  

Rado's Mom 

Rado's Dad 

Rado and Porter 

He didn't take long to make himself comfy in his new home. Rado has been described as mellow more than once. 

Rado and his brothers and sisters.  

PUPPY!!!

The topic of getting puppy came up a couple months ago, and recently we began researching more seriously and even looking into local breeders and their litters. Well on Feb. 16th we picked up our new puppy. Very exciting and I already know that this is one of the biggest decisions I have made in my life. School, house, moving, jobs...they all feel small compared to being responsible for such a dependent being. I can't imagine what having a kid must feel like. Anyways, after a difficult period of coming up with a name, we chose Rado Falls. (Rado most of the time) Name after Jen and I's favorite part of Squaw Valley (where we met) to ski. Silverado is the proper name and we always looked forward to days off when we knew the conditions would be good. We would often spend the entire day riding this one lift. Well, I will once again let the pictures do the talking. I am sure there will be an abundance of photos to come as we are pretty proud parents....and of course, our puppy is the cutest puppy to ever walk the face of the earth. what do you think? Oh, by the way, Rado is a Bernese Mountain Dog.

Time for me to pipe in....

Ok, so if bush is going to go around spewing off about how Social Security is in crisis and throw around all sorts of false numbers, its time for all us little people to start fighting back in hopes that a hundred quiet voices even out one loud annoying one.

Lets start with this question. If SS is already going to come up short due to less workers than baby boomers retiring, and we (the workers) all decide to pull out some money and put it in "private" accounts, then HOW are we going to overcome the shortfall?

can somebody say tax increase.

Also, did you know, that you only pay SS tax on your income up to $90,000. So if you make $150,000 you pay the same into SS as someone making $90,000. Hello! Why not make everyone pay SS on all their income! Lets try some common sense.

More to come on this issue I am sure.

Another beautiful and unseasonably warm for this winter.