Congratulations Ethan

A big congrats to my nephew Ethan for hitting a Grand Salami in his Little League baseball game.

BOMV Turns 4

This Friday marks the 4th blogiversary of Barers Of Maple Valley. From humble beginnings, this blog endures. It has had over 28 thousand visits and I feel the best is yet to come. Thank you for visiting Barers Of Maple Valley.

The Sunday Night Barbecues

Born in the early 80s, the Sunday night barbeque's became an institution, at least in our own minds. It began when my friend from KYYX, Garry, proud of his Alki apartment, took some bricks and boards with which he had been decorating with, and combined it with an oven rack to make the most unique home made barbecue apparatus that I had ever seen. As the spring sprung, the initial barbecue was held, with a rogue collection of characters, Garry's friends from high school, people we had met on the beach, and KYYX employees. Sunday night was figured to be the best time to get together, as nothing else seemed to go on . The event was always BYOB, (bring your own beverage) and each participant would bring their own main dish. The house would supply homemade potato salad and garlic bread. This event went a little over a decade with various locales (the above picture was taken at my condo in 93) and degrees of participation.

Randy Johnson Returns To Pitch At Safeco

Randy Johnson was gone from the Mariners when Safeco Field first opened it's doors in 1999, but has returned many times as an opposing pitcher. Last Friday he made what could be his last appearance in Seattle.

Grandfather Barer Picked The Wrong Game

While the football season is a few months away, my Dad has the story that my Grandma Barer would always tell us about, the one time Grampa went to watch him play football. Click here

Rusty vs The Possum--A Night To Remember

It seemed like a normal evening, last night--I went down to say goodnight to my wife, the dog was on the deck and I was finally getting to bed early. I went upstairs and suddenly heard barking, it knew it was Rusty and it was time for him to come in Pretty soon, I heard every dog in the neighborhood barking and this was up around 11:00. I said to Deb that we had better let Rusty in. Deb told me that he would not come in.

Rusty was still loudly barking when Deb told me to grab something and come out. It was about 11:15 and cold rain was falling down. This is the Seattle area, where Mother Nature does not always get the message that it is the middle of May and winter should be over. I could not find my baseball bat but grabbed an oar from our inflatable boat and some shoes and ran to the back yard. Rusty continued to bark and I could see him. He was barking at a bush. There was some kind of animal in the bush. We had flashlights but neither mine nor Deb's could illuminate the back corner of the yard to a point that we could see what was going on. We knew there was some kind of animal in the back yard that was vicious and could not only seriously harm Rusty, but us as well. I was afraid to poke at the bush and after one half hour, Rusty was still barking loudly, undoubtedly waking up every single person in our cul-de-sac. We tried shaking a treat jar at Rusty, but it was no use. He would keep barking at the animal and there was no stopping him. We decided to call the police. Maple Valley is an incorporated city, but contract with the King County Sheriff for police protection. We dialed 911, but the County deputies would not come out. It seemed like a hopeless situation. The animal had gotten out of the bush and was in the corner of the back yard, I ran around to the back of the fence, but I was unable to see what what was going on, Rusty was still barking (he would not stop) and an animal was snarling.

Finally, our neighbors from the corner, Alan and Kim came out. They brought a stool and a more powerful flashlight. They looked down and saw what was happening, Rusty had killed a possum and there was blood and a nasty scene. I went into the bushes, where Rusty was still barking maniacally, the possum was laying on the ground. I shine my flashlight, I could tell it was not dead. Alan took the oar and trapped the possum. Debra grabbed Rusty, who had now barked for 45 minutes straight. I threw a rock at the possum but could not get a square hit. Debra got my baseball bat and Alan came into the backyard and we were able to kill the possum and put it out of it's misery. We put it in a plastic bag and dropped it into a trash can. We bid good night to our heroic neighbors and called the vet. We found out that possums do not carry rabies and there was no need to bring Rusty (who was now panting heavily) to the animal hospital. This morning, Rusty was subdued, but seemingly feeling fine as we all went to work. Thank you to our neighbors, Alan and Kim.

Horsin' Around

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away! No not really, it's my brother, Steve and I posing with a pretty horse at the Walla Walla Fair in 1993.

Joan Rivers Named Celebrity Apprentice

It's really no surprise, since Trump can make the rules to fit the situation, it was not only how much money you could raise, but several other criteria. As tradition dictates, fired candidates came back to help with the final task which was to put on a silent auction with Kodak for their respective charity. As was expected, Poker player Annie Duke raised the most money, however she did a rotten job of incorporating the corporate brand into her theme.
Joan Rivers raised only a quarter of the money that Annie did, but had a very creative presentation with celebrity inpersonators and what not.
As Trump occasionally does, he fired Annie before naming Rivers the Celebrity Apprentice. Rivers, 70 something, is undoubtably, the oldest apprentice that Trump has named.

Renton Hosts County Executive Candidates Forum

Four Announced Democrats, vying to replace Ron Sims as our next King County Executive, met in Renton for a candidates forum sponsored by the King County Democrats. A full house was present as attendees enjoyed Mexican food and Margaritas, celebrating Cinco de Mayo. A look at the candidates

Larry Phillips is a longtime King County Councilman. He in my opinion has the best stump speech. He champions his conservation work as well as his work on light rail, which he says will begin service this summer.

Dow Constantine Dow is in his second term on King County Council, like Phillips, he is a Seattle attorney. While Phillips may do better in stump speech, Constantine was stronger in the forum, very articulate and well spoken, before he was elected to the council, Constantine was in the state legislature.

Fred Jarrett
Fred Jarrett is in the State Senate from the 41st district, he entered the House Representatives as a Republican, switching parties when he ran successfully for State Senate, calm demeanor, he has a banker look, harking back to his Republican days. He is a former Boeing manager and at one time was mayor of Mercer Island.

Ross Hunter
The newest entry into the race. Ross is in the State House representing the 48th district. A former Microsoft Executive his demeanor directly contrasts with Jarrett. Hunter is very intense and outgoing.

Since the position has been made non-partisan, it's possible that 2 of these candidates could face in other in the General Election. Susan Hutchinson (a former news anchor at KIRO7 TV) has announced her intention to run. She is thought to favor the Republican Party.

King County Executive Candidate's Forumn

Walla Walla Coaching Legend Included In Sports List Book

Whitman College Football Coach Raymond Vincent Borleske is included in The Great Book Of Seattle Sports Lists, a new book which features interesting tidbits on the Northwest sports history. The book is a collaboration between KJR Sportscaster Mike Gastineau and Print Columnist Art Thiel and Steve Rudman.

Borleske had a 32 year career coaching at Whitman, then became the mayor of Walla Walla. The largest sports field in Walla Walla (above) is named after him.

Celebrity Apprentice: Black Out

As this season begins to wrap up, the word is out that the show is being renewed. Yes 2010 will bring us another season of Celebrity Apprentice.
This week's show begins with the candidates being summoned to Trump's office where, all of a sudden Joan Rivers arrives in dark sunglasses. Joan wants to get back into the game and get revenge on the girls who she believes, railroaded her daughter.
The task this week is to come up with a radio spot for "Chicken Of The Sea" Tuna. Athena gets discouraged because neither of it's 2 members Brande and Annie are musically inclined. KOTU, on the other hand has Clint Black has been a control freak, alienating most of his team. He is a Grammy Awards winner though and this is his biggest strength. Both sides work hard and Annie is motivated, in the end, Athena pulls off an upset. This does not bode well for Clint and he is fired. There is no time for the candidates to relax. They have to interview with last year's winner Piers Morgan. He decides that Brande is not that bright (she is sweet though) and Jesse lacks the passion to be the next Celebrity Apprentice. Trump fires both of them, leaving Joan Rivers and Annie Duke to fight for the "crown".

Big Art Controversy In Little Waitsburg

10 years ago, it would have been a stretch to say that anything southeast of the Tri Cities was an afterthought. It was a "no thought". But with the blossoming wine industry in the Walla Walla area, there seems to be much more attention to the surrounding region. The latest controversy, according to the Seattle Times, involves little old Waitsburg. Wine Maker Charles Smith has painted a black and white American flag on his building in the heart of Waitsburg's downtown. The controversy is sure to bring the town some national exposure.