As usual, the Iowa State Fair in August will boast of a butter cow. That’s a 600 pound butter cow, mind you. This year, Sarah Pratt, butter sculptress, is providing company for the cow in the shape of a butter Harry Potter. The butter gets reused each year until it goes bad, so parts of Harry could be constructed out of last year’s butter Superman. Back in the 1950s they also made lard pigs.
Camp Blaze is a firefighting camp — for girls! The 16- to 19-year-olds who are accepted spend a week at the Fire Training Academy in North Bend, Washington learning firefighting skills. The camp is free and women firefighters from many states donate their time as instructors. The young women are pushed physically as they put out car fires wearing heavy gear. They climb ladders, rappel out of buildings, and learn CPR. There’s also time for typical camp activities like putting on skits. Camp Blaze provides a unique and intense team and confidence building opportunity.
Highway 520 is within earshot of our house and this past weekend the Washington State DOT took advantage of the annual closure of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge to resurface a half mile of 520 with two types of quieter pavement. Wilder Construction installed stretches of rubberized asphalt, polymer-modified asphalt (containing cellulose fibers), and a control strip of the standard asphalt. We walked over on Saturday to watch the crew and machines in action. The two quieter asphalts will be monitored for noise and how they hold up in this environment. There are ongoing results posted from a similar project on I-5. The rubberized pavement performs best at the start but as the surfaces age and the weather changes it’s not a slam dunk winner. We’ve noticed a significant reduction in highway noise in our neighborhood. Driving over the quiet asphalt is nice too, though it’s jarring when you hit the old loud pavement once again. (photos and longer writeup on my Vox site)
Actual toddler conversation transcript from the “why phase”:
Him: “Why? Why? Why?”
Me: “Can you be more specific?”
Him: “Why… Mommy?”
I haven’t paid attention to IHOP since college and I’ve never been to Applebee’s, but it still caught my eye that IHOP is making a bid to buy out Applebee’s. Their CEO, Julia Stewart, used to be an Applebee’s exec, which must be helping things along. The $25.50 per share bid comes to $1.9 billion plus IHOP will assume $155 million of Applebee’s debt. The company will partially make up that huge $2 billion debt by selling company owned Applebee’s to franchisees. Stewart took over IHOP in 2002 and the stock has gone up 75% since then.
I’ve picked up on mentions of a new frozen yogurt trend. It started with Pinkberry in the L.A. area, which likely got its inspiration from Korea’s Red Mango. I thought it might take some time for this new fro-yo wave to reach Seattle, and then even longer to cross to the Eastside, but today I spotted a little place in Kirkland called Shnoo. It’s the same concept, down to the two yogurt flavors: plain or green tea and a selection of toppings featuring fresh fruit. A little web searching also turned up Yoberry, a new fro-yo place in Seattle. Red Mango’s site says Bellevue Square and Alderwood locations are coming soon. The fro-yo wars are beginning again (remember when TCBY got sued by I Can’t Believe It’s Yogurt?). (Yelp: Yoberry, Shnoo in Kirkland, Shnoo in Seattle)
Amtrak is going upscale. GrandLuxe Rail Journeys (formerly American Orient Express) is attaching its luxury cars to selected Amtrak trains starting in November. Passengers who pay the premium price will be able to travel along regularly scheduled Amtrak routes in fancy refurbished cars from the golden era of train travel. GrandLuxe typically operates luxury tours spanning ten days of rail travel in scenic locations such as the Grand Canyon and Pacific coast. This partnership will allow them to offer shorter, more affordable trips, though many will still balk at the $789 per night pricing.
Sports Illustrated’s Photo Gallery of NHL goalie masks. Aggressive monsters, pop culture references, local themes and of course team logos and colors dominate the designs.
Seattle street signs from “Adams” to “Weller” are now on sale to the public. Over the next nine years, the city’s signs will be replaced with bigger, brighter models, so the list will change as the project makes its way through the streets. Certain signs with historical or novelty appeal will be sold on eBay.
A lucky few adopted their own peach tree from the The Masumoto Family Farm this summer. Located near Fresno, California, the farm takes applications for this unique adoption program which gives “parents” the responsibility for harvesting their own Elberta peach tree on two consecutive Saturdays at peak picking time. It’s tough work in very hot weather, but you get to keep a typical yield of 200-300 pounds of fruit and you can share ownership with friends or donate one weekend to a food bank. The adoption fee is $350. (via SF Chronicle)