Forever didn’t seem to last as long these days as once it did

35 months of Pratchett and Rest In Peace

This month marks a bitter-sweet time for me and my relationship with one of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett.
On the first day of working at the company I continue to work for, I needed to be in California. This was in March of 2015. I brought my old hardbacks of Sir Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic with me to read. My intent was to begin reading all 40+ of the Discworld novels in the order they were published. I had recently been to a book event to see Pratchett, one of my favorite authors, in Seattle for his US release of Snuff. I bought two copies, one of which came with a signature card from the author (I gave the signed copy to my brother, who had first introduced me to Pratchett's world).

While I was training in the daytime and reading in the evening, two things happened. I ran a fever all that week and felt awful all day, and Sir Terry Pratchett died at his home on the morning of 12 March 2015 from Alzheimer's. After Pratchett's death, his assistant, Rob Wilkins, wrote from the official Terry Pratchett Twitter account:

At last, Sir Terry, we must walk together.
Terry took Death's arm and followed him through the doors and on to the black desert under the endless night.
The End.

I continued reading one book at a time. Some books I already owned and had read and others I had read but did not own. I picked up used or new books at stores and I took this opportunity to get more familiar with my ebook reader. I skipped a few books that were not novels, but I did try to find all the short stories as well:
(referenced from http://discworld.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Discworld_Books)

The Colour of Magic (1983) (Rincewind)
The Light Fantastic (1986) (Rincewind)
Equal Rites (1987) (Witches)
Mort (1987) (Death)
Sourcery (1988) (Rincewind)
Wyrd Sisters (1988) (Witches)
Pyramids (1989) (One-off)
Guards! Guards! (1989) (City Watch)
Faust Eric (1990) (Rincewind)
Moving Pictures (1990) (One-off)
Reaper Man (1991) (Death)
Witches Abroad (1991) (Witches)
Small Gods (1992) (One-off)
Lords and Ladies (1992) (Witches)
Troll Bridge (1992) (Short story)
Men at Arms (1993) (City Watch)
Theatre of Cruelty (1993) (Short story)
Soul Music (1994) (Death)
Interesting Times (1994) (Rincewind)
Maskerade (1995) (Witches)
Feet of Clay (1996) (City Watch)
Hogfather (1996) (Death)
Jingo (1997) (City Watch)
The Last Continent (1998) (Rincewind)
Carpe Jugulum (1998) (Witches)
The Sea and Little Fishes (1998) (Short story)
The Fifth Elephant (1999) (City Watch)
The Truth (2000) (One-off)
Thief of Time (2001) (Death)
The Last Hero (2001) (Rincewind, although this is debatable)
The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents (2001) (One-off)
Night Watch (2002) (City Watch)
Death and What Comes Next (2002) (Short story)
The Wee Free Men (2003) (Tiffany Aching)
Monstrous Regiment (2003) (One-off)
A Hat Full of Sky (2004) (Tiffany Aching)
Going Postal (2004) (Post Office)
Once More* With Footnotes (2004) (Compilation of short works)Skipped
Thud! (2005) (City Watch)
Where's my cow (2005) Skipped
Wintersmith (2006) (Tiffany Aching)
Making Money (2007) (Post Office)
Unseen Academicals (2009) (The Wizards, Rincewind)
I Shall Wear Midnight (2010) (Tiffany Aching)
Snuff (2011) (City Watch / Sam Vimes)
Raising Steam (2013) (Post office)
The Shepherd's Crown (2015) (Tiffany Aching)

This month I finished The Shepherd's Crown, a somewhat short book as this was Pratchett's last. A great story coupled with sadness at knowing this is the last story Pratchett will be able to tell.

Hot Hot Hot

Boy it's hot in SEAtown. BOO Rex Block! The BC, Washington, and Montana wildfires are also pushing a lot of smoke up in our 'hood.
Went on a few trips this year so far. NAUCC 2017 was here in nearby North Bend and I got to volunteer for a day before we rented an RV (for the first time) and took a trip up through BC and through Jasper, Banff, and Montana to visit a friend. Kamloops, BC was holding many evacuees and on the way back down I90 there was the most smoke on the road we had seen so far.

Winter reasons

Hola amigos. It's been a long time since I rapped at ya. Over 2 seasons!

A lot of rain this winter, and a 9 inch snow fall made things interesting.



I've been taking advantage of our proximity to snowy mountains this year and took some ski lessons.

In October I had my first (obvious) injury in mountain unicycling: Dislocated finger at the last 1/4 mile of a 10 mile ride.

North East and North Eh?

Had a few good trips over the last few months. Took a 5 day loop road trip along the Columbia river and into British Columbia through Nakusp and back along my new favorite route through the Cascades, SR 2. Heliskiing appears to be a popular thing to do in Nakusp. We got to cross the Columbia river on a cable ferry for the first time. It turned into a real Dam and Hot Spring tour. Pretty relaxing trip and I brought a muni along to try to hurt myself with.

Went to the Bend, OR area for a few days. A great place and I wish to spend more time there.

Rode the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) this month. There was a scramble the previous month to train up for this and I could have probably used a bit more training, but it was a good challenge.

I'm excited about an event coming up next month, the Seattle Muni Weekend. I plan to do all the days this weekend if I can. Last year I could only pop in for a few hours at the beginning.

Two Summers for 2016?

Hola, amigos. I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but things have been pretty busy and beautiful. We've had the warmest spring I've ever seen since moving to the North West area. Usually we are wearing jackets to watch July 4th fireworks, but I'm not sure that will happen this year. So much sun for April it's unbelievable. Growing tomatoes might actually be a feasible option this year.

We've been getting around a little bit; Mostly local trips. So far this year we have been to Anacortes (with a stop by Camano Island), Port Townsend, the Olympic Peninsula (staying at the Kalaloch Lodge), and took a slippery snowy hike through the Hoh rainforest.
I got to ride the big unicycle on the new 520 bridge before they opened it, and on the I5 express lanes (closed to traffic) during the inaugural Emerald City Bike Ride and I've been training up on the mountain unicycle more. I did the Chilly Hilly ride for the first time, with some friends. I think this was considered the wettest one yet. The side winds and rain were pretty brutal on the South West side of Bainbridge island. Later in the summer I'll get to do the RSVP ride from Seattle to Vancouver BC. We've done the STP 2 times so far and this year I wanted to change it up and go the other direction. Maybe one day, I'll have time to do the 7 day ride through Washington (RAW - Ride Around Washington).

Here's to another great year of living as well as we can and treating each other with respect and love.


An older home lifted up for what looks like a new foundation being poured. Saw this while walking around Anacortes, WA.