#Tumwater Washington

[stopdoopyphotos]

Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls

back when swimming was allowed

[themonsterthing]

Olympia w/ @waytoomuchinformation and @lovelylunasage <3

[lowquality-buffet]

Walked along the Deschutes today. You wouldn't know the interstate is less than 100 yards away....

[wexlermendelssohn]

[sparklybuildingsdesign88]

He should come over to Tumwater, specifically the 7-Eleven and should also bring a super smol friend for the other hole that’s not as large in diameter (yet) but is definitely a Problem also.

[umbralsnaps]

[natures-moments]

The Wenatchee River along the Tumwater Pipeline Trail, Washington, USA

[mutant-distraction]

John Applegate

Tumwater Canyon

near Leavenworth, Washington

[ashwin-the-artless]

Sarah and Goreth Ampersand

Cast of the Tunnel Apparati Diaries

Note: although the Vanderkemps chose to do so in their premature fanfic of our work, I'm not going to deadname Sarah and Goreth here.

In short, in the books we're writing, Sarah and Goreth are my hosts. And before they hosted me, they were hosts of Phage (@ohthatphage).

There is an alternate universe canon where we actually all live in a vessel originally owned by Jenifer and Eh, with a totally different backstory, different parents, everything. Though it still does hew pretty closely to Sarah and Goreth's story in some ways. But I'm not writing about that, I'm writing about The Tunnel Apparati Diaries and my book, The End of the Tunnel.

Sarah and Goreth Ampersand are an autistic transgender plural system who grew up in Tumwater, WA. They went to college at the UW, and moved down to Portland shortly afterward. This much can be learned from reading the book. There's actually a lot of autobiographical detail in there.

Instead, I'm going to use this post to tell you my impressions of my favorite two Earthlings.

This will be a little bit of a long post, but it should be fun to read.

And, I'm going to start with Sarah, because while they're effectively twins, of the two of them she spent more time closeted and not fronting.

Sarah Ampersand

Pictured here is Goreth's attempt at drawing how they see Sarah in their inworld, and a photo of the dress that Sarah likes to wear the most while inworld.

Ethnicity-wise, Sarah and Goreth are what they like to call Scermutch. Scottish, German, and Dutch. At least, their ancestors were. But Sarah adores Irish iconography and mythology, and really just loves that Irish wedding dress and wishes she could wear it in real life. She doesn't claim it to be her heritage, though. But it's become part of her 'residual self image' as the kids say.

I mean, they are both U.S. Americans and born and raised in Washington State. Their cultural upbringing is mochas and almond poppy seed muffins. But that dress is described in Goreth's upcoming book, and I thought it would be nice to include it here so that you can visualize it easier when you get to that part. And then I start feeling like I have to give it context.

Anyway, there's way more to Sarah than that dress.

But, that photo is useful in another way.

Probably due to a quirk of their brain, Sarah and Goreth's psyche tends to interpret the presences of other headmates in sensations of warmth, softness, smell, and colors. And when Sarah is coming toward the front to share it with me, I perceive her bubble of consciousness as having the range of colors of that photo. She even smells of linen and dandy lions, and has a sunny warmth to her, with the softness of a light breeze.

I think this description pleases her to no end, too.

You can usually tell when she's fronting when our voice becomes softer and lighter, and takes on the inflections of a Canadian radio hostess. She worked really hard to learn how to talk like that, too.

She's also a little bit more dour, demanding, and reluctant to accept things than Goreth. Which fine. Those are not actually negative traits, like Earthlings like to treat them. She's spent most of her life hiding from the world and watching Goreth adapt to their birth assignment of 'boy'.

In coming forward during their transition, she often had to deliberately carve out time and space for herself and assert who she was to family, friends, and classmates. And later, for the brief time that they worked, to coworkers and clients.

Legally, their system is now known under her name, Sarah Ampersand, and their extended family uses that name when they aren't deadnaming them.

And while, at the beginning of their transition, she was bright and cheerful and as girlish as she could be, that struggle to get respect - and then also their struggle to find accommodations for their disabilities and find a place to live in Portland - really took a toll. She developed new habits of behavior in the necessity to protect her system.

Both Phage and Goreth helped a lot, but because they were all doing it under her name she shouldered the most of the emotional burden.

She could really use a break, honestly. To find a time and place where she can actually be herself. And, by the time you get to the end of the whole trilogy, you'll see that maybe she has a chance at that.

Other things about her that our readers might be interested in?

Like Goreth, she's ace. Unlike Goreth, she's primarily attracted to men, but she's still technically bi-romantic. She doesn't pine for a relationship quite as heavily as Goreth does, perhaps because her cynicism gets in the way of that, but she does feel their touch starvation, and doesn't really know what to do about it.

At least, that's how it was when I first met the two of them. Over the following years, things kinda worked out. Maybe not how either of them hoped or expected, but in a comfortable way anyway.

Goreth Ampersand

Pictured here is Sarah's drawing of Goreth as they appear in their inworld, and a Blender rendering of Goreth flying in the Garden of the Sunspot done for the cover of Goreth's upcoming book, The Sun Also Hatches. (an explanation of that would be spoilers - you'll just have to speculate)

If you've been following my blog, and definitely if you've been following @fenmere, you've seen these before.

So, of the two of them, despite developing in parallel together since birth (they are twins), Goreth has fronted far more often than Sarah and is the one of them that people actually know best from their childhood and teen years.

People may think they knew Sarah as her pretransition self and persona, but that was actually mostly Goreth, with Sarah and Phage interjecting in moments of extreme safety or duress. Sarah tended to come out more often when they were safe, and Phage more often in danger or discomfort.

Goreth is a therian, and has known that they were a dragon since they were three years old. And has never, ever wavered from that identity and self image. Even when they thought their parents were right in calling them a boy and naming them their deadname.

These days, Goreth lists their gender as dragon and calls it maverique, sometimes using aporagender depending on mood and who they're talking to.

They take great pride in being a dragon, too, and have shaped their life and habits around it.

Now, there are about three words in Sunspotian culture that get translated to "dragon" (gerbesh'i, ktleteccete, and whatever it is that the Collective of the cuttlecrabs speak - I don't know how to render that word in any Earth typography as it uses flashes of color and dancing as well as vocalizations). And, I think Goreth and Sarah's linguistic cortex translates those words to "dragon" due to numerous superficial similarities, but also because the word "dragon" is such a broad category of things anyway.

Living with Goreth, however, has taught me a lot about the differences between their kind of dragon, and what gerbesh'i and kletaccete are (I'm a ktleteccete, not a gerbesh'i).

For instance, Goreth hoards things that they consider valuable to them, and makes a point of patrolling what they call their territory (which they don't actually own, but is a number of places they visit regularly and pretend belongs to them). They also, to my own chagrin, eat a considerable amount of meat.

Goreth's presence in our system smells coppery, is cool and metalic in feel, and to me is actually colored in oranges and reds, brassy and rusty, with a green tarnish around it. Sarah reports that, to her, they're all greens and blues.

Goreth is completely ace, but curious and needy enough about intimate physical contact that if someone close to them proposed something they'd probably try it out. But they are deeply, deeply bi-romantic and daydream constantly about the kinds of partners they might have someday. And fret about it, and get into spirals of self doubt and depression over their lack of prospects.

"Fortunately", ever since I came aboard, they've been able to be distracted by other things, such as how to manage an influx of alien beings barging into their psyche.

But they manage pretty well, and their astute nature has been integral to our survival on Earth.

---

If you want to read more about Sarah and Goreth Ampersand, we have a website for that where I'm telling their story:

You can skip right to the web serialization of my book, here:

And if you want to read it in its entirety right now, or invest in its archival preservation with a printed paperback, you can order it here:

[fentonphoto]

Long exposure waterfall near Tumwater, Washington.

[stopdoopyphotos]

Tumwater Falls Park

[rileyomalley]

Having some small sales in various shops, but need to catch up on some funds for bills this month, it's been excruciatingly slow! Anything that isn't super detailed I will try to have it done by the end of this month! (same goes for items sent out I have stock in!)

[nwbeerguide]

South Sound breweries SIG and Triceratops expand distribution via River Barrel River Barrel Distributing.

Press Release

River Barrel Distributing continues to grow its list of Pacific Northwest breweries with the addition of Triceratops Brewing Company and Sig Brewing Company. Both are family-run breweries based in Washington. 

Triceratops Brewing was begun by partners Rob and Kelly Horn. Originally from Flemington, NJ, the Horns moved to Olympia, WA and opened their own brewery in August 2014 after years of home brewing. Triceratops’ operations began in the family’s garage and with the last name Horn, the brewery name was an easy choice. Three years later, the Horns opened a tasting room in Tumwater and have had a steady flow of great customers, good friends, and craft beer lovers. 

“We’re very happy to add Triceratops to our list,” says River Barrel Distributing Sales Manager Joe Cohen. “Rob and Kelly brew clean, classic styles that appeal to a wide market of beer drinkers.” 

To date, Triceratops Brewing has earned four medals at the Washington Beer Awards for their Hawthorne Coffee Milk Stout, Pennsyltucky Vienna-style Lager, Revival Coffee and Motors Coffee Milk Stout, and Bohemian Raspberry Golden Ale. 

Three varieties Cohen is looking forward to sharing with the Western Washington area are: 

Collin James Irish Red Ale - Low in alcohol and bitterness, this Irish Red Ale is a well-balanced people pleaser. Lightly hopped with the mild, earthy, and somewhat woody Fuggle variety, this beer entices the nose with a rich, toffee-like aroma. Meanwhile, notes of plum and raisin play with a slightly bready and nutty flavor provided by Irish ale malt and a touch of roasted barley. 

Liquid Swords IPA - We launched our popular rotating IPA series back in 2016, and by drawing on the wide variety of expressive hop varieties available to brewers, haven’t made the same beer since. Hazy or bright, fruity or piney, no two Chambers are alike, and they never last long. 

Pennsyltucky Vienna-Style Lager - This smooth, Vienna-style lager is inspired by the brewing traditions of Central Pennsylvania. Caramunich malt gives this classic style a nice, roasty flavor while the Cluster hops provide a little bite and a touch of earthy bitterness. 

About 30 miles NE of Triceratops’ taproom is Sig Brewing Company. Begun in 2020, the family-owned location in Tacoma’s Historic Brewing District offers beers of nearly every style as well as a full menu of brick oven pizza.  

“We love craft beer and are very proud to be part of its local community,” says John Samuelson, Sig Brewing Founder . We were fortunate enough to hire a talented head brewer in Jeff Stokes and opened our doors in the spring of 2020. Our goal was to differentiate ourselves in as many ways as possible including our beers, food, and taproom.” 

Sig Brewing focuses on experimental varieties including fermented and soured beers as well as hoppy beers and pilsners. Three brands that will be distributed by River Barrel include: 

Experimental Nectar IPA – A hazy/juicy IPA brewed with 2-row, wheat, and pilsner malts in tandem with some flaked oats and brown sugar. Mash hopped with NZ Cascade, whirlpooled with Nectaron, and DDH'd with a blend of Hopsteiner's EXP 17701 and 17704 hops. Fermented with Omega Yeast's Cosmic Punch yeast. 

In Rainbows IPA – An unfiltered American IPA brewed with 2-row, special pale, and spitz malt coupled with a touch of flaked oats. Kettle hopped with Bravo and Citra, and DDH'd with Mosaic and Comet. The perfect IPA for gazing at rainbows. Fermented with Omega Yeast OYL-005 Irish Ale strain. 

Pilscifer: A New American Pilsner - Built on a malt base of pilsner malt with a touch of corn, wheat, oats, and vienna malt thrown in. We then kettle hopped Pilscifer with Adeena and dry hopped it with El Dorado. Crispy with a new world fruit flare and fermented with Fermentis 34/70 Lager yeast. 

“I'm excited to be on board with River Barrel and hope that we can continue to push boundaries and grow our brand through this partnership,” says Stokes. “I am most excited about growing our lager program and our barrel aged portfolio over time, but also happy to have the opportunity to get our core beers into a much wider array of spots!” 

River Barrel Distributing serves the Western Washington counties of King, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Snohomish, Kitsap, and Grays Harbor. 

from Northwest Beer Guide - News - The Northwest Beer Guide https://bit.ly/3ZzsW4n

[moony-hair]

Here's the base prices if anyone is interested.

Models start at half the base price.

Pricing is simple but a in person consultation is the best way to get a more accurate price range as the more product needed will add to the price. Pricing and budget, care, ect... Are discussed in the beginning and asking questions and confirming is everything. Being on the same page is the way to go!

Location is in tumwater Washington.

For more specifics please ask and or message 🙌

[amandacooperkf]

Are you in the American middle class? Find out...

"Our latest analysis shows that the estimated share of adults who live in middle-income households varies widely across the 254 metropolitan areas we examined, from 42% in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, to 66% in Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, Washington." #income #wagesandsalaries #economy

Are you in the American middle class? Find out...

About half of U.S. adults (52%) lived in middle-income households in 2022, according to our new analysis of government data.

Korn Ferry Connect

[lboogie1906]

William Owen Bush (July 4, 1832 - February 13, 1907) was the eldest son of George and Isabella Bush. The Bushes and their six sons were all farmers on the 800-acre Bush farm along the Deschutes River.

He became one of Washington’s most famous farmers. He was born in Missouri and came west with his parents. After a trip to the California Gold Rush in 1850 he moved to the Mound Prairie area south of Tumwater with his wife Mandana Smith Kimsey Bush. He moved to the Bush Prairie farm and with his wife and brothers, helped organize the Western Washington Industrial Association in 1872 to promote agricultural exhibitions.

The first of his many agricultural awards was in 1875, which prompted the territory to authorize his exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. There he won bronze medals and certificates for the “best wheat in the world.” The exhibit was put on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution while the medals and certificates were proudly shown from community to community around the territory.

In 1889 he represented Thurston County in the first state legislature. While serving in the House of Representatives he helped write the first state laws including House Bill 90 which pledged the state to “use federal money from the Morrell Act to establish a college for the study of the science of agriculture.” Combined with several other bills, this proposal became Washington State College in Pullman.

In 1892, the State of Washington, Thurston County, and the City of Olympia appropriated $2,300.00 to take his exhibit to the Chicago World’s Fair where he won impressive medals and certificates for vegetables and grains, and he was appointed to the Advisory Council of the World’s Congress Auxiliary on Farm Culture and Cereal Industry. He represented the farmers of the US in this Congress. The local newspaper headlined him: “Pioneer of Pioneers” and said, “No other resident of the State or Territory throughout its history did more to advertise the state.” #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence