A smattering of observed curiosities from western Washington state

It's that time of the year, my wife and I are back in Woodinville, WA (east suburb of Seattle) dog/house sitting while the owners spend some time in Florida. The couple owns an Airbnb we used several times coming to visit our daughter and her family just a few minutes away. For the second year we are 'guests' with a purpose.

Alert readers may recall the series of calamities that beset us last year-a serious financial scam involving Apple gift cards supposedly for a friends' dying cousin, two significant speeding events (caught on camera, not by a real policeman) that we didn't know about until we got home and our inadvertent destruction, and subsequent replacement, of a prized cooking dish of our hosts. Nothing like that so far but we still have a few weeks here so we're trying to be cautious and optimistic.

Every time we come over to the Seattle area I see things that intrigue and puzzle me. I can't list them all but I thought a random selection of what I'm calling "observed curiosities" from western Washington state might resonate with readers out on the Great Plains. Here are three:

Ten plus days of sunshine

Everyone asks "Why do you go out there in November, isn't that the wettest time of the year?" Woodinville averages more than eight inches of rain in November, the city's wettest month. Our hosts say, "We go to Florida in November to avoid the rainiest month of the year in Woodinville."

But this year is a curiosity. As I write this the sun is shining, just like it has for the last ten days straight. Every night, for several nights, the full moon was gloriously visible through the evergreens that surround the house where we are staying. Since the last rain, about three weeks ago, I have walked the dog without a rain coat (for me, the dog doesn't wear a rain coat) every day.

Even locals are confounded by such a dry and sunny fall. My former boss out at the pumpkin patch by Arlington, Washington, said, "Here it is Halloween and we've still not had a killing frost." Usually by Halloween the pumpkins are visible as the vines are killed by frost and the corn in the mazes is a dreary brown. Not this year, everything was still green for Halloween. It did finally frost during the first week of November. And checking my weather app up to Thanksgiving...rain should begin the week of Thanksgiving. Oh well, it's been an unusually nice run of weather.

BYOB and other shopping developments

In October, 2021 the first phase of Washington state's Plastic Bag Ban law went in to effect. We were here then for a six week stint watching the dog and wondered why the Safeway store didn't have bags for groceries unless you paid eight cents each for them. Our hosts already had a stash of bags so we began to use them (Bring Your Own Bags) for shopping. Everyone here was trying to get used to the new bag law.

We see in the stores this year most everyone brings their own bags. A large percentage of shoppers use the self-checkout lanes rather than wait for a checker (more about that later).

This year the part of the law that regulates carry out prepared food packaging has kicked in-you can ask for a lid and straw but it's not automatically included. Same with plastic cutlery, little packages of condiments like salt and pepper, you have to ask for them or the store has to have it available for you to pick up yourself but it's never put in the bag for you.

Another new phenomenon is how to speed up check out time for shoppers. The Safeway we use actually has more self-checkout lanes than lanes with checkers. Self-checkout is pretty widespread, it's even reached us on the Great Prairie so not really startling news.

With an eye to speeding up the retail checkout process Amazon is pioneering with new approaches (I thought Amazon sold everything through the internet but not so).

Amazon Go is a new concept being implemented in several small Amazon-owned grocery stores. Customers use their phones to 'check in' as they enter the store. They do their shopping and then leave the store without going through a checkout. Purchases are tracked electronically and then billed to the shopper's account as they leave the store. (You must have the app on your phone, etc.). Amazon has already built 28 of these stores around the U.S. No surprise, none are in small towns or rural areas.

Amazon has another new standalone payment option called "pay with your palm." It's based on face recognition technology. To make a payment a customer simply waves their hand across a device where their palm print and other info is stored and used to make a charge. It was tested recently at some selected concessions stands at a multi-purpose arena in Seattle, never saw a follow-up about how it worked. Note to seniors: now you not only don't give out any information, you may not want to shake hands for fear someone will copy/steal your palm print.

The mysterious traffic crossing with two call buttons for pedestrians

Maybe I'm the only person in the world who had never seen this but it sure baffled me for a time. I was walking the dog on the Tolt Pipeline Trail, a 100-foot wide, unpaved equestrian, pedestrian and mountain bike trail in the eastern suburbs of Seattle that follows a buried water pipeline. The trail is about a mile walk from where we are staying and it's a nice way to walk without traffic issues...except where the 10-mile trail crosses a busy street near Woodinville.

That crossing is busy enough that a pedestrian crossing light is installed. Trail users push the button, a traffic light stops vehicle traffic and trail users cross safely. What I couldn't understand was why there was a call button at the normal level but also one about seven feet off the ground (see photo with arrows). I first thought the upper button was so drivers of maintenance vehicles on the right of way could reach the button and stop the traffic without having to leave the equipment they were driving. But mirrors and other parts on the equipment seemed like a problem.

Walking a side trail one day I saw horses' hoof prints. Then it became clear to me, the upper button is so a rider on a horse can stop traffic without having to dismount. That did make sense. And it got me wondering how those pedestrian lights could be adapted in our part of the world when moving livestock across busy roads. Something to think about, but probably not very long.

That's my current curiosities list from western Washington. Oh, there is one more. Our first day here our granddaughter and her husband announced to us we would be great grandparents in May. Being a grandparent is pretty grand, but the next stage could actually be great. I'll be curious to see how that all plays out.