Welcome to Issue #274
by Rachel Brandes
Quote of the Week
“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
– John E. Southard, American Author
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
Dear Humans,
Can you believe that today is August 25th and that means there are only four months until Christmas? That’s right, we went there. It is just around the corner, after all. We can’t wait to see all of the snow on those Utah mountains this winter.
We get to take the long drive this week and are so NOT excited!
Much Love, Brady & Belichick
Brady & Belichick are Rachel’s adorable felines. These two cute boys turned two on May 4, 2025.
Random Photo of the Week
This is one of the cutest Little Free Library stands Rachel has found in Tacoma while out on walks. The creativity knows no bounds. Photo by Rachel.
Mental Health Minute
Stress Related to Life Changes
Over the past ten months, Rachel’s brain has been in a whirlwind. Loss of a loved one, loved one being in dangerous place in the world, a relationship ending, injuries, and planning a move. Thank goodness there has been so much positive to somewhat counterbalance things, but it hasn’t been easy.
Rachel is always looking for new ways to relieve stress, and while she isn’t always successful and gets overwhelmed a bit too easily, she tries. She found a great article on clevelandclinic.org that had some interesting things to try. Lowering your expectations was one that she hadn’t really thought of before and plans to begin using, as she tends to set very high expectations for things to go a specific way. Click the below link to read the full article.
Sunday FunDay RunDay
with Tacoma Run Club
Sadly, yesterday was the last Tacoma Run Club photo that will include Rachel in until she visits Washington next year. She has enjoyed being a small part of this sizable group each Sunday. She thanks Ejay, pictured below, for accidentally starting this run club over seven years ago. She just wishes she had joined sooner.
*Photo credit for above photo to @keithfisher.creative, taken 8/17/2025 during pre-run dynamic warm-up and stretch.
No Better Place
Pictured above: This is what happens when you take a friend (Billiam) paddle boarding for the first time and they become addicted immediately and try to overthrow your ownership of the board. ***No persons were harmed during this moment of attempted power grab.
Which one are you?
- Hydrophilia/Aquaphilia — general love of water
- Thalassophile — lover of the sea or oceans
- Limnophile — lover of lakes, ponds and marshes
Rachel would check all three of those boxes, as she loves it all. Photos included in this section are from multiple trips to the water with friends over the past month.
The Puget Sound Experience
On this high tide afternoon, Rachel was joined by Bill, Alanna and Jackson for paddle boarding and kayaking fun at Owen Beach in Tacoma, Washington. Check out those cool Tacoma Run Club hats Bill and Rachel are sporting.
The Red Solo Cup Experience
Yep, it was a red solo cup kind of day when Rachel was joined by Angeline, Joshua, Jennie and Bill for some paddle boarding and tube fun on Spanaway Lake. There may have been some attempted singing by a few. Who can resist singing Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith? Not to be confused with Cab in a Solo by Scotty McCreery, also a great song about the old red solo cup.
The Spanaway Lake Experience
With limited paddle boards, Rachel brought along a couple of discount tubes. One adult tube and one child tube, which had a weight limit of specifically 132 pounds. Really, exactly 132 pounds? Rachel wanted to put this to the test and is well over 132 pounds right now. She was set on proving them wrong.
Did she prove them wrong? Definitely not. As you see in the above group photo, she isn’t sitting in the tube but rather floating like a life preserver. The weight limit should be more of a… ‘your butt won’t fit in the center of the tube unless you have very small hips.’ It was entertaining for the group while Rachel tried to get her bum in this tube a few times before giving up. She is happy to report it did hold her weight, which will not be disclosed at this time, as a life preserver.
The Pringles Swindler
You will notice there is no photo for this section, as the Pringles swindler was so fast, a photo wasn’t possible. Pringles swindler, you ask? So, this guy we won’t name (Bill), saw a canister of Salt & Vinegar Pringles come out during a paddle boarding break. It went a little something like this….
- Ooh, those are my favorites.
- I’lll take a few of those.
- Did you want some?
- I better stop before eating all of these
- Okay, I am stopping (with four chips left).
- Uh, I better just finish these off.
The Tube Experience
While everyone was deflating the paddle boards and putting things away, Bill was off to the side having what appeared to be a special moment with the larger of the two tubes. Doesn’t he look like he was just caught doing something wrong? You can always count on Bill to entertain in a photo. This image should be used in the instructions on how to deflate a tube.
The rest of the group couldn’t miss out on that photo moment. What is that face Rachel is making? She doesn’t even know, its kind of like that emoji that is gritting its teeth. Is it a cringy face or a teeth clenched smile? Oh, the wonders of the universe never cease.
These were some great times with friends as Rachel’s time in Washington quickly comes to an end. What else will she squeeze into this last week? Stay tuned to find out. Until next time, be well.