Renton, WA

Since our gas prices keep going up - now almost equal to California as the highest in the country - you might seriously be considering winning the lottery as a form of financial planning. Logically, therefore, lottery officials have made free gas the new prize.

According to the Seattle PI, drivers who buy $10 in quick pick Mega Millions tickets at those stations will get 10 gallons of regular unleaded or diesel gas on Friday.

As you might expect, the what the lottery promises, the odds taketh away. There are three locations that will provide the “free” gas. Each of the first two limit the offer to the first two hundred vehicles. The third location is limited to the first 100 vehicles.

The Auburn location will be the Safeway at 101 Auburn Way S., Auburn

If you were thinking of trying this out anyway, you should be aware that only one of the locations (in Auburn) is in the greater Seattle area. I don’t think that driving to Spokane or Kennewick for a chance at free gas will benefit you more than you burn getting there.

Some of the attractions at the Woodland Park Zoo are only open in the summer time. Current weather not withstanding, it is now summer-time, apparently.

Willawong Station
This is the exhibit where you walk into a giant cage filled with birds, and purchase a stick of birdseed and peanut butter. Depend on their hunger at the moment, you either try desperately to coax birds to you, or have a mild panic attack as birds swoop at you. For best results, ask the employee at the counter whether you should enter then or come back at a different time.

Carousel
The antique carousel in North Meadow, which offers rides for $2, is now open

Butterflies & Blooms
This attraction opens later this week, on May 25th. There is no extra cost, so if you are planning a trip, you might consider waiting a few days to catch this one too. Unlike the Willawong exhibit there is no touching, but you enter a large mesh canopy filled with butterflies. Keep an eye on small children, and consider bringing a camera for this.

The city did not have this position before, but created it this month for Deborah Needham. I am glad for anything we do to help prepare for emergencies, and it sounds like Needham is well qualified. She spent the past nine years with the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (CRESA) in Clark County, Washington, and has completed FEMA training, among other credentials listed in the press release.

Renton’s Fire Chief I. David Daniels is enthusiastic. In puzzling news, he has said that in August he will run a three day drill “to test residents’ preparedness. The simulated drill will give people a chance to try living without shelter or power and with limited provisions”. I hope that participation in the drill in voluntary. I’ll keep my ears open for more information about this.

All I found about our Fire Chief’s plans is that the City of Renton is holding an open forum to discuss the City’s capabilities during an emergency and how citizens can prepare themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods. The forum will be held on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Renton Community Center (1715 Maple Valley Highway).