Blog

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Where in Chelan County was this photo taken?

I added some photos the other day from the following book, “A Review of the Resources and Industries of Washington 1909”. I was wondering if anybody knew where in Chelan County the above photo was taken? The caption for the photo says, “Farm of Wm. Turner, Chelan County. From Sage Brush to Bearing Orchard, Showing How Living Is Made While Orchard Is Coming Into Bearing.”

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Heat Wave!

Wow, it's hot today, and yesterday was no picnic either. Actually, there was a picnic yesterday before the AppleSox game. I didn't attend the picnic but I did sit through the game in that squelching heat. The game was good but I couldn't help but wonder what the AppleSox Coyote and Red Robin mascots must have felt like in those costumes. The Coyote even ran the bases in a foot race. Whoever was in that costume deserves a medal.

The photo shows the current weather conditions. For those that don't know, the "Heat Index" is the perceived temperature to the human body based on both air temperature and the amount of moisture present in the air. In case someone has to be out in this heat today, here is the American Red Cross Heat Wave information page on their website.

*Edit 7:00 PM* I see the temperature is finally coming back down. It looked like it topped out at around 106° for Wenatchee and Moses Lake and around 107° for Omak.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Adding time to headlines

Currently working on adding the time I recieve a new headline. I am also trying to figure out the best way to present the U.S. Grant Memoirs.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Feeding Bad Weather

I notice last night and this morning that the weather for the Wenatchee Valley is missing some information. I would just like to say that this is out of my control. The weather data is coming directly from the National Weather Service. Here is what their data feed currently looks like,

<description>
Winds are . The pressure is and the humidity is %. The heat index is 84. Last Updated on Jul 17, 9:35 am CDT.
</description>


Since were on the topic of North Central Washington weather and I came up with such a catchy title for this post, I would like to let everyone know that I plan on completely redoing the weather page soon. If anybody has any requests on what they would or wouldn't like to see let me know? For example, do you want fluffy clouds and smiling suns or should I stay with a no image format?

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Thanks pair Networks!

A little over a month ago I asked pair Networks if they would consider my
website for their Customer Site of the Week. With pair hosting almost 200,000 websites I really considered it a futile effort but figured it couldn't hurt to at least ask. Imagine my surprise when I first checked my weblogs last night and noticed traffic coming from pair. I can't thank pair enough for choosing my site. I will be sharing a page with sites like Roadside America and Tom's Hardware Guide. What a great opportunity to let more people realize that Washington State isn't just a dull gray rainy place with bad traffic. Sorry Westside, but the traffic and rain over there is just too much sometimes.

I would like to say a quick word about hosting. The reason I choose pair Networks for hosting and not a local web hosting company is because they offered the size, capacity and price that I needed in order to build my particular website. If you want to build a website, you should always consider a local company if possible. Most local web hosts can be found on my website. If your a local host and aren't listed on the website, let me know and i'll add your companies website right away.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Updated Weather Page

Just a small update to the weather page today. It still updates at the same regularity, but the weather section no longer has an initial delay before displaying the weather. Still a delay on the "Current Watches, Warnings and Advisories" section though, not sure yet how to work around that.

I was also considering adding the fire alert levels for the counties to the weather page. The problem is they don't have a data feed and it would currently require parsing an html page, but before I go through all that trouble I am going to contact them and see if they don't have a data feed in the works.

I also haven't forgotten about Ulysses S. Grant and Stephen A. Douglas. I am going to try to finish that project this weekend.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Changed the Headlines and News page

I changed around the headlines and news page today and hopefully it should be loading much faster now. Be sure to send me a message or leave a comment if you have any problems with it.

As always, I am still looking for more blogs to add to the headlines page. So if you have a family friendly blog (no political blogs please) that covers topics related to North Central Washington, let me know.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Rumble at the River Photos

PWB RingsidePlease visit PWB Ringside for all photos from the Rumble at the River show.

Rumble at the River Review

PWB RingsidePlease visit PWB Ringside for the Rumble at the River review.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

SayWA Photo Supersite

If you haven't heard yet, Washington State is starting a new tourism website, with the ever so clever title of SayWA. Not exactly sure what to think of that name, but the questionable name isn't the reason for today's post. They have started a campaign using the Flickr website to get local photographers to allow them to use their photos on the new website. I think they are even paying the photographers for the right to use their photos. Well, as a person who has been slowly stockpiling photos over the years to build the North Central Washington Portal website, I can't say that I am happy that the state is going to be able to quickly trump any effort I have of building a great photo directory of North Central Washington by offering the one thing I can't, quick cash.

I, of course, could also open a Flickr account and ask local North Central Washington photographers if they would allow me to use their photos, but the only thing I could offer would be a link to the photographers website or blog. I now know what a small business owner must feel like in Chelan right now. SayWA looks to be my equivalent of Walmart.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Looking for North Central Washington Blogs

I am looking for North Central Washington blogs to add to the headlines page. You don't have to be a frequent poster but preferably at least once a month. I am looking for family friendly blogs that deal almost exclusively with daily life in North Central Washington. Blogs with local area photos are preferred.

Your blog doesn't have to be a “Blogger” blog either, it can be from almost any source as long as it has a properly formatted rss or atom news feed.

So, if you think your blog fits this description, then you can either reply to this post or send me a confidential message here.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Rumble at the River

This Saturday, July 8th, at 7pm is the “Rumble at the River” at the Convention Center in Wenatchee. At first when I heard about this upcoming wrestling event I didn't have much interest, but on the 4th I stopped by Walmart to pick up some charcoal and they had the ring set up in the parking lot. They had about ten guys in the ring and what they lacked in size and muscle tone they made up for in spirit. After watching the wrestlers in the parking lot I now can't wait to go. They have ring side seats for $20 and general admission is $15. I hope I get there early enough to grab a ring side seat.

After the show they are having a Meet & Greet at Ciro's Pizza. Hopefully they will allow people to take pictures. I will bring my camera just in case.

Ulysses S. Grant and Stephen A. Douglas

For the next community page entries I am going to write a brief summary of the lives of Ulysses S. Grant and Stephen A. Douglas. These are the men that two of the North Central Washington counties are named after. I have public domain photos of each of them and have found multiple sources with information about their lives. If I don't get them finished today it may be a few days before I am able to get the pages up.