FW: Mystery of the chewed beach slippers

We thought the case of the chewed flip-flops had gone cold, but along comes Warren to revive it with a fresh perspective!

 

From: Warren Halpern
Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2015 3:57 PM
To: Steve Taylor <steve@taylorroth.com>
Subject: Mystery of the chewed beach slippers

 

Hello Steve,

 

Sorry for my late response to the mystery of the partially chewed slipper.  I was on vacation and just got back today.

 

Over lunch, several of us discussed the case.  The facts are clear, the culprit unfortunately does appear to be a family member.  Initially, we felt that all signs pointed to Henry.  We employed the following logic….

 

Annie has been a member of the family for many years, as the grand stateswoman it would be unseemly for her to stoop so low as to chew a personal item belonging to you.

 

Judy has also been a member of the family for many years and again it would appear to be beneath her to be involved in such a disreputable act.

 

Henry, the newest and youngest member of the family has already established a reputation for occasional aberrations in his behavior.  We initially felt strongly that Henry was guilty of this transgression. 

 

However, we received an anonymous tip that Judy had recently been experiencing difficulty in sleeping and had turned to the consumption of federally controlled substances to help with this issue.  Our research on these controlled substances discovered that their use often leads to a condition referred to as “the munchies”.  In light of this information, several of us feel that the weight of evidence leans heavily toward identifying Judy as the potential culprit.  We feel that we can’t simply dismiss the possibility that after consuming one of the “edibles”, Judy may have awoken in the middle of the night with a ravenous sense of hunger and reached for something to satisfy that hunger and chewed on the slipper. 

 

Perhaps you should pointedly ask Judy if there is a possibility that the scenario I have described is true?

 

Its good to be back in the office.

 

Warren

Sequim Bay

 

Tides.  Low and High.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is terrible!

 

We took the RV to Eric to get the rattle/clunk fixed.  He found it and fixed it.

 

Why is that terrible?  He fixed so many things all at once, we don’t know which one eliminated the noise!  He found a loose body panel and secured it.  He found a defect in the hydrohot exhaust pipe hangers and added new ones.  He replaced all eight shocks.

 

After years of no-one being able to find the rattle/clunk, he found it and then some.  We drove the rig back to the RV Park and the ride was eerily quiet; smooth as silk; much improved over yesterday.  It’ll take some getting used to.

 

 

We know a guy

 

His name is Eric.  He runs Eric’s Performance RV Center in Sequim (pronounced Squim) out on the peninsula.  He’s a chassis/suspension guy.  HE will be able to locate and eliminate the mystery rattle/clunk.  I think we’re the last of the four brothers to bring an RV handling issue to him.  We hear he is the guy to talk to.  In fact we’ve already talked to him.  Last week.  He says we’ve got a problem with the left front shock.  He hasn’t seen it yet, but he’s already diagnosed it.  We drop off the rig for him to work on tomorrow morning.

 

We’re at the John Wayne Marina RV Resort.

 

 

2015 summer trip map

 

Red breasted sapsucker.

 

 

Lifer!

 

2015

 

The seventh Taylor Family Reunion.

 

1985    Leatherwood Lodge, Grand Lake, Colorado

1990    Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington

1995    Truckee, California

2000   Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington

2005   Fort Worden, Port Townsend, Washington

2010    Snow Mountain Ranch, Granby, Colorado

2015    Natapoc Lodging, Plain, Washington

 

I took the group photo.  One person at a time.

 

By family:

 

Bill and Pat.

 

 

Tom and Kathy.

 

 

Suzanne.

 

This year’s hosts: Christie, Andy, Kyle, and Cameron.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David and Nina.

 

 

Steve and Judy.

 

 

Becky, Brian, Taylor, Tony, Teigan, and Conner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt, Lindsay, Alex, Austin, and Arie.

 

 

 

 

 

…and of course, we took some group photos.

 

The brothers.

 

The wives.

 

The entire group.

 

Now the reunion has come and gone.  We’ve all headed out our separate ways.  Judy and I are spending the night in Ellensburg, WA, all set for a drive tomorrow morning.

 

2015 summer trip map

 

Reunion

 

Enjoying the reunion.  Meant to get some pictures but don’t have anything yet, so here is something else from that boat ride last week.

 

An elephant seal youngster lying on an island (with a great blue heron).

 

This youngster probably goes 400 pounds.

 

 

Spoiler alert

 

We weren’t through with the Olympic Peninsula but it was time to move on.  We moved to Leavenworth in Eastern Washington.  We settled at the Icicle River RV Park just outside town.

 

2015 summer trip map

 

We’re a day early for the family reunion.  Once we got settled in the RV Park, we drove the car up to the reunion site to see if there is room to park the bus there. There is.  And, spoiler alert, the facility is fantastic!

 

 

 

 

We’ll see everyone tomorrow!

 

 

(And, as a bonus, we found an old rusty thing.)

 

Judy ate a bon-bon

 

Chocolate in the evening might not be a great idea for sleep, but Judy has been waking up restless at 4am and wandering about.  She’ll settle in the recliner in the living room and go back to sleep.  She’d rather just sleep in bed but no, she’s the midnight wanderer.  It’s time to try something different.

 

We stopped in at the local cannabis shop and asked them for their advice.  Edibles.  We bought a box of bon-bons for forty bucks.  She only ate one, but she got a little buzzed.  We watched the 1932 movie Tarzan the Ape Man.  She lost herself in a game of solitaire on the iPad.  Her head was still a little busy when we went to bed, but she slept through the night.  And then some.  She slept until ten and woke up feeling rested.  I guess it worked.

 

Maybe half a bon-bon will do the job tonight.

 

 

Birds we saw from the boat

 

Moving target.  Moving boat.  Not very good pictures, but we can tell what they are.  Tufted Puffins.

 

 

Well, it was easier to tell with binoculars.

 

Pigeon guillemots.

 

Rhinoceros auklets.

 

Got a lot of them.

 

 

 

 

Common murre.