Trouble In Paradise

Trouble in Paradise for window cleaner. Two election cycles ago Brian D. McClerren ran for the Lopez County Council seat; and those who came to know him found him to be an earnest, intelligent and articulate young man who had previously attended seminary school. 

Orcas man charged with identity theft and trafficking stolen property: An Orcas man has been charged with trafficking in stolen property in the first degree, identity theft in the first degree and identity theft in the second degree. Brian Douglas McClerren, 35, of Orcas Island, has an arraignment date of July 31.

According to court documents, clients of McClerren’s window washing business noticed on June 11 that he had cashed a check from them for $4,722.90. The clients recalled he had washed their windows in May, but that they had paid him $570 for his work. They reported to the San Juan County Sheriff’s Department that McClerren had washed their windows for two years with no issues, and on that particular day, May 30, they had left the house to run some errands while he worked.

McClerren (pictured) admitted to the sheriff’s office that he had taken two checks and a ring, and recounted what happened on May 30. According to the detective’s report, McClerren said he had been washing windows in the client’s office when he saw a checkbook. He stated that he took two checks from two different checkbooks from the middle of the books so that the clients would not notice the missing check right away.

According to the report, McClerren said while he cleaned the mirrors in the client’s bedroom, he took a man’s wedding ring that was in a jewelry box in a cloth bag. The detective wrote: “Brian stated that he did not have a plan to steal the checks and ring going into this job.” According to the detective, McClerren then began crying during the police interview.

On June 8, McClerren went to Burlington, Wash., to sell the ring he had taken and received $600 for it. He cashed the stolen checks, as well as the check for the ring. According to the detective’s report, when McClerren’s wife was interviewed she told them they were having marital problems, and McClerren told her he was leaving her and their 4-year-old daughter and assuming a new identity.

McClerren stated that he was planning on taking the money that he had stolen along with his personal money and was going to “just leave.” He said he had a friend in California who told him he could prospect for gold there.

In the report McClerren said he “feels horrible” and that he sent a letter of apology to the clients he stole from. Trafficking in stolen property in the first degree, identity theft in the first degree and identity theft in the second degree are a Class B felony, Class B felony, and Class C felony, respectively. McClarren had no previous criminal history.

McClerren ran for San Juan County Council in 2013 District 3 on Lopez Island and lost to Jamie Stephens. He has since moved to Orcas Island.

"Former Council Candidate Accused Of Theft" - Two election cycles ago Brian D. McClerren ran for the Lopez County Council seat; and those who came to know him found him to be an earnest, intelligent and articulate young man who had previously attended seminary school. He lost the election to incumbent Jamie Stephens.

Today he is in trouble with the law, and is due to appear in court on Friday to face charges of theft, crimes that he has willingly admitted to. He has been ordered to show up at the Sheriff’s office July 31, 2015 to be photographed, fingerprinted and complete paper work, and then at 9:00 AM show up before the Superior Court to face accusations of “trafficking in stolen property in the 1st degree, identity theft in the 1st degree and identity theft in the 2nd degree.

According to court documents, last May McClerren was hired to clean windows of a home owner, and when the residents left the house he took, filled out, and deposited a check made out to his company in the amount of $4,722.90, and then from a different check book removed, filled out, and again made it out to his company, in the amount of $800.00. The owners of the home discovered the canceled checks and alerted the SJC Sheriff’s office.

How do you plan to balance the county budget? Do you support renewal of Prop. 1, the voter-approved property tax increase that expires at the end of 2015?

BM: I am bothered that the assumption appears to be larger government and increased taxes. A special part of our identity in this place is that we value our independence. I can tell you unequivocally that nothing sacrifices independence like being in debt . This relates to bond debt as well as grant-funded activities.

Last year our council signed a debt obligation which demands repayment through taxation “without a vote of the people.” Worse than that, they are touting it as a demonstration of fiscal responsibility.

The recent Community Conversation meetings are creating a helpful guidance for specific areas where we may be overspending on services. There are many great ideas about restructuring departments and eliminating costly delays. A budget that has increased about $20 million dollars in the last 8 years contains hundreds of places to reduce expenses, we just need leaders with the courage and energy to start digging.

If we move forward in a business-friendly posture I expect no need for a renewal of Prop. 1 and I will work toward that end on the council.

Seattle's Window Cleaners

Clean sweeps: Seattle’s window cleaners have seen it all. It’s a clean sweep for Travis Seera as he soaps up a window at Seattle Heights, a 26-story condo building in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Seera captures views of the city from ever-changing angles.

Clean sweeps: Seattle’s window cleaners have seen it all - With squeegees and guts, they keep our views clear. Travis Seera is sitting on the sun-drenched rooftop of a high-rise in Belltown, enjoying the last few bites of his lunch until it’s time to climb off the edge.

To the uninitiated who peer over the parapet to see where he’s headed, it feels like this could be Seera’s last meal. It’s a stomach-churning drop, one that has turned his safety cones, parked on the sidewalk 26 stories below, into puny orange dots not much bigger than the period at the end of this sentence. But Seera is unfazed. A high-rise window cleaner in Seattle, he’s gone over the edge hundreds of times and always comes back for more.

So does Ben Cruzat, a married father of three boys with another on the way. Now 36, he’s rappelled down Seattle high-rises with a bucket and a squeegee for 15 years. “I didn’t have any plans of being a window cleaner this long, and every winter I have a different plan,” says Cruzat. He’s smiling, but not laughing.

Sitting at a desk all day is not for 31-year-old Travis Seera. The college graduate, who majored in Bible studies and philosophy, has been a professional high-rise window cleaner for six years. His job at Puget Sound Window Maintenance gives him a window into the city’s soul.

Remember the subfreezing temperatures during the Super Bowl parade? Cruzat and Seera worked nine hours that day, hanging off ropes attached to the roof of a high-rise on Second Avenue; it was so cold they put methanol in their buckets to keep the soapy water from freezing. Seera, 31, wore four layers of clothing that day, including two beanies and gloves that did nothing to stop his fingers from freezing to the point of immobility. He cried that day. Everyone on the job did.

“In the winter, I look inside and I’m jealous,” Seera says. But then there are glorious days like this when light bounces everywhere, and the city admires itself in sheets of newly cleaned glass. Days when people tethered to their desks on the other side of the glass look out at Seera with envy.

Unlike most of us who spend our lives on the ground, Seera experiences the city from every angle imaginable: Up close, panoramic, cubist, upside down, outside in and spinning around. His is a world of stunning visuals, an ocular onslaught of ever-shifting perspectives. Whether he’s cleaning the green-glass dome of the Second and Seneca building downtown, or eyeballing lichen growing on cornices, his view is relentlessly novel.

Ben Cruzat heads over the edge of the 26-story Seattle Heights in Belltown to clean a new column of windows as he rappels down. His ropes are secured by steel anchors on the roof; the city doesn’t require anchors on high-rise buildings, so sometimes he has to improvise.

Seera has dangled over parapets on some of the city’s tallest high-rises and climbed hidden stairwells with keys to places even the building inhabitants can’t access. He’s been divebombed by nesting seagulls while turning the corner of a building on a rope. He is more than familiar with his own face. Seera sees how we live and work, how fog looks when it crawls from the mountains into the Sound. He knows how petty we can get when our cars get dribbled with water.

 He finds the city at its grimiest and makes it sparkle. Seeing the results of his labor matters to him. “A desk job is not for me,’’ says Seera, a Tennessee native who had one after he graduated from college. “I’ve got to use my hands. I’m proud of them.” He turns his palms up to show off the calluses he’s acquired working for Puget Sound Window Maintenancethe past six years. It’s a well-paying job with good benefits — medical insurance, a 401(k), three weeks paid vacation, mileage reimbursement and a hefty Christmas bonus.

Ropes, one’s a safety, support Ben Cruzat as he rappels down the building’s facade, cleaning windows on the way down. He’s seated on a boatswain’s chair, which was initially designed for working aloft on ships.

The average high-rise window washer makes about $17 an hour, Seera says. He makes considerably more. How much more? You can ask him when you see him. “So many people ask me what I make,’’ he says. “They’ll say, ‘I hope you get a lot to do that.’ They see it as crazy risky and kind of like, ‘Why in the world are you doing that?!’ Why? It's not an unreasonable question.

Hanging midair, Seera looks as though he’s riding the swings at the county fair. If he’s feeling playful, he’ll draw a smiley face in the suds. Or a heart, which usually draws a smile from the woman on the other side of the glass. “I’m all bluster,’’ he says. “I only have the guts to do that because there’s a pane of glass between us.”

Window cleaners Tai Koenig, Colin Ray and Mitch Jacobsen carefully maneuver a ladder through trees so they can reach higher-level glass. Although the trade has gotten safer, falls from ladders remain an occupational hazard that injures scores of window cleaners annually.

Glass is a tease that way: It simultaneously connects us and keeps us apart, which can make for some odd interactions. Some people pretend not to see Seera, even when he’s dangling right in front of them. Occasionally someone will open a window to say hi. Some wave or take photos. Mostly, they’ll do an eye check, then go back to work or playing solitaire or watching YouTube.

Glass can give people a false feeling of privacy. Building managers routinely post notices alerting their tenants that window cleaners will be on the premises. Still, some forget or ignore the alerts.

Ben Cruzat, left, and Travis Seera break for lunch on the rooftop 26 stories up. Their job gives them access to places off-limits even to the people who live in the buildings they maintain.

Seera recalls the mortifying moment when he was cleaning a medical tower and dropped down to a room where a woman was undergoing a gynecological exam. “She and the doctor saw me and started laughing,’’ he says, shaking his head at the memory. Now, he fights to clean the pediatric side. “The kids are so much fun. They’re terrified when you kick out and do a 360.”

One day he finished a drop, only to find himself standing a few feet from two sleeping women in a company nap room. He prayed they wouldn’t wake to see him standing there.

Seera can get lost in his head, too. He puzzles over people in condos with million-dollar views who cover their windows with cardboard or close their drapes year-round. He listens to books on tape through a Bluetooth ear set or talks to his momma. Sometimes he ponders the future.

Ben Cruzat moves safety cones to mark out the landing for his next 26-story descent from the Seattle Heights in Belltown. The Seattle native has been rappelling from high-rises for 15 years. He rethinks his career plans every winter, when the weather turns cold.

It may come as a surprise, but even in this high-tech age, the human hand remains the only viable option for cleaning windows. No one has figured out how to mass produce a self-cleaning window at a reasonable cost, and without cleaning, windows — and views — become permanently marred.

Most homes can be cleaned with an extension ladder. Some high-rises, such as downtown Seattle’s Columbia Tower with its 8,816 windows, have built-in scaffolding systems. But most high-rises are cleaned by a person hanging from a rope using a boatswain, or boatswain’s chair, originally developed by the maritime industry to inspect ship hulls and perform other work aloft. The chair is basically a plank with straps; it’s attached to a rope that is secured to an anchor on the building’s roof. The chair allows cleaners to work while sitting down, and gives them a place to hang their equipment.

Working gear for window cleaner Travis Seera includes a professional harness, climbing ropes and carabiners. He and his co-workers at Puget Sound Window Maintenance wear clothes designed for outdoor adventures.

Looking around Seattle’s skyline, you could get the idea that architects have it in for window cleaners. Some buildings have huge overhangs that make it difficult, if not impossible, to reach the windows without taking great risks or using customized equipment. Others are built without anchors on the roof, forcing the workers to attach their ropes to whatever stable object is there: a steel stairway, an air-conditioning system . . .

Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries has begun to address the issue, mostly by citing and fining companies that use “unapproved” objects for anchors. (Oddly, Seattle’s building code doesn’t require anchors on high-rises. Instead, the city leaves it up to the market to decide when and whether to install them, said Bryan Stevens, a manager at the city’s Department of Planning and Development.)

Seattle hasn’t had a window-cleaning fatality since 1998, when a 15-year-old worker was killed in a scaffolding accident at Northgate Mall. But there are injuries. Last year, L&I received 61 reports ranging from scratches to back sprains, rope burns and broken bones. Nationally, scores of injuries and fatalities have been reported to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 1994, most of them involving ladders.

When the Better Window Cleaning crew is done with the floor-to-ceiling windows of this house, there will be no streaks, spots or drops on the glass.

Seera, the high-rise cleaner, said he trusts his equipment — and himself, so the job doesn’t feel dangerous, even though he knows a fall would likely be fatal. One of his newer co-workers, however, recalled a scare when he leaned past his center of gravity and swung upside down. He got tangled up, and his hand was trapped under a rope against a railing, “I had to yank it out,’’ says Dan Warner, 31, of West Seattle, who has been practicing the trade for less than three months. His wife hasn’t come out to see him work yet, he says: “When I tell her stories, she’ll be the one getting a little nauseous.”

Still, “contrary to popular belief, it’s very safe, and it’s gotten much safer,’’ says Emmanuel “Manny” Ochsenreiter, owner of Windows 101 of Seattle, one of a handful of companies that sell specialized products to the window-cleaning industry.

Ochsenreiter, who has worked in the industry for 20 years, describes it as “a growing profession. Glass is becoming a big factor in building because it’s cheaper, so there’s a lot more windows to clean.” Statewide, 282 full-time workers were classified as window cleaners in reports to the state. That doesn’t include part-time workers, companies that don’t have to report to L&I, and people working off the grid, which appears to be quite a few.

“It’s an easy business to start because the investment is so low,’’ Ochsenreiter says. “A bucket and a squeegee, and you’re on your way. You’re selling your labor.” Hundreds of people start every year, and hundreds of people leave it, he says. The ones who stay tend to like the freedom.

Window cleaners Mitch Jacobsen, Colin Ray and Tai Koenig detail the windows of an architect’s home in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood using microfiber washers and #0000 steel wool to remove small spots barely noticeable on glass.

Mitch Jacobsen, 35, and Colin Ray, 30, fell into the residential cleaning business eight years ago. “We started with $3,000 and a car,’’ says Ray. It felt like a transitional thing — something to pay the bills and give them freedom to travel. It still does that, only now, their company, Better Window Cleaning Seattle, is licensed, bonded and insured, and employs their friend, Tai Koenig.

They run larger crews in the summer and pare down in the winter. Periodically, they’ll take a few weeks off to give their bodies a rest from the physically demanding job. “This has been good for us,” Ray says. They’ve met interesting people, worked inside and outside architectural wonders, and learned how to run a small business. “On a sunny day,’’ says Jacobsen, “our phone doesn’t stop ringing.”

Inside this home on Queen Anne, Tai Koenig and the rest of the Better Window Cleaning crew remove their shoes as they take care of business.

Ralph “R.D.” Swalwell is, by his own count, the oldest window cleaner in Seattle. “When you’re on the street doing windows, you are really on the front lines of life,’’ he says. He’s sitting in Alfie’s Food and Deli, an old-school haunt in the Denny Triangle that’s become his go-to place for pastrami sandwiches. Swalwell is 81, but looks a decade younger in a sensible blue windbreaker and black-and-white Hawaiian shirt.

He’s been working a squeegee in Seattle since 1962 when his uncle hired him as a janitor on the opening day of the World’s Fair. Soon after, Swalwell started his own cleaning service, calling it “A 2001 Space Cleaners” until his wife, Patricia, suggested he rename it “Lift-Off.” “My wife is a genius,’’ Swalwell says of the women he fell in love with when she was a widow with nine children. “I’m a lucky man.”

Initially, windows were only part of Swalwell’s custodial gig. But he tired of the night and weekend hours. He wanted a home life, a job he could control. He cast his eyes toward windows. “I was too old for high-rises, and I didn’t want to do homes,’’ he says, noting that tiptoeing around furniture and knickknacks made him feel clumsy. “What’s left? Storefronts.” He’s got about 300 customers.

R.D. Swalwell, 81, left, assisted by Tyrone Edwards, has been cleaning this Lower Queen Anne storefront for half a century. His job, he says, gives him a front-row view of life. He’s hoping to leave his mark on the world by selling his Lift-Off Window Cleaning service to someone who will do for window cleaning what Starbucks did for coffee.

“It’s a stress-free operation,’’ he says. “You don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder.” Swalwell has kept one storefront on Lower Queen Anne shining for more than 50 years. “Same windows, same tile, same sills, same door, same everything,’’ he says. “It’s like a time capsule.” In his heyday, Swalwell could make a storefront gleam in 10 minutes. He’d work his way down the block, charging $10 a storefront. Now he charges $15 a storefront.

Swalwell still works 4½ days a week. He rises at 6 a.m., hooks up with his “crew” of one at about 7, breaks for lunch at 11:30, and heads home to catch the 5 o’clock news with his wife. His sole employee, Tyrone Edwards, does the physical labor. Swalwell helps keep things moving: he drops off the portable cleaning carts he designed, and circles the block in his van until Edwards is ready for the next string of storefronts.

Swalwell’s wife runs the business, and even launders four dozen blackened towels each week. “There was a time I worked to keep the business alive,’’ he says. “Now it’s the other way around. Now the business keeps us alive.” He’s not talking financial.

Cleaning windows gives you all the time in the world to think, and Swalwell lets his mind wander wherever it wants. “I want to be part of the 1 percent, not in terms of wealth but in terms of leaving a footprint,’’ he says. “Most of us: Poof! What did we leave that was delible, something tangible?” He dreams of selling his business to someone who will do for window cleaning what Howard Schultz did for Starbucks. “That’s what I want to do, leave a footprint, something that will be here when I’m gone.”

Resilient Window Washer Recovering After Fall

Bruce Sherman of Brite-Way Window Service washes windows of a sidewalk overhanging along the 1300 block of Cornwall Avenue Tuesday, Feb. 15, in Bellingham. Sherman, who has been washing windows for 30 years, said he probably has washed most of the buildings in downtown at some point over the years.

'Resilient' window washer recovering after falling through glass awning in Bellingham: Friends of a Bellingham window washer have set up a fund to help pay for his hospital bills after he crashed through a glass awning last week. Bruce Sherman, who has washed windows for 37 years, hit his head on the sidewalk after a second-story awning gave way under his weight on the afternoon of Sept. 11. He suffered six broken ribs, dislocated fingers and a serious head injury. The fall also triggered some heart problems. Those troubles are mostly under control, but longtime best friend Randy Elmore said Sherman still has a long recovery ahead. For days Sherman seemed confused as he rested in his hospital bed, answering most questions with a monotone "sure."
 

Since then he's shown some flashes of his old self. He was still in the cardiac unit at St. Joseph hospital as of this week, wearing an eye patch to deal with his double vision. He'll need to undergo speech therapy and have stitches removed from wounds all over his body. "He's a rainbow of colors right now," Elmore said. "But he's strong as an ox and a really resilient human being." Sherman, 64, has lived in the Bellingham area for decades. Before he started his own business, Brite Way Window Service, he earned a teaching degree at Western Washington University and taught sixth grade in the Meridian School District.
 

He was scrubbing windows on his knees at 2210 Rimland Drive with employee Luke Frontezak - who is not his son, contrary to an earlier report - when he fell through the awning. Because Sherman is the owner of his business, the Department of Labor & Industries likely does not have jurisdiction to investigate the accident, said spokeswoman Elaine Fischer. Sherman is married with two sons in their mid-20s. His kids are taking care of the family business while their father is recovering.
 

Best case scenario, Sherman is months away from working again. His total hospital bill, according to Elmore's best estimate, will easily exceed $100,000. Insurance should take a chunk out of that, but it's still a burden. Much of the bill comes from the four days Sherman spent in the intensive care unit. People can contribute to "The Bruce Sherman Donation Fund" at any Whatcom Educational Credit Union branch. Prayers for Sherman, whom Elmore described as "a very strong Christian," are encouraged.

Window Washer Falls Through Glass Awning

Window washer hits head on sidewalk after glass awning gives way in Barkley Village: A veteran window washer was rushed to St. Joseph hospital after he fell through a second-story glass awning and hit his head on the sidewalk below Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 11. Bruce Sherman, who has washed windows for more than three decades, was breathing on his own and talking after the 10-foot fall at 12:20 p.m. left him bleeding from his head. He had been cleaning an awning that juts out above an entrance at 2211 Rimland Drive. Sherman and his son climbed up onto the awning on a ladder and were kneeling when they started scrubbing the dirty glass.

Pete Redpath, who was eating lunch in the building's lobby with his girlfriend, heard one of the glass panels shatter soon afterward. "They couldn't have been up there five minutes," Redpath said. An employee at Group Health Cooperative brought out a first aid kit and tried to slow Sherman's bleeding - moving him as little as possible while an ambulance was en route. Sherman, who is in his 60s, owns Brite Way Window Service. He's been contracted to work at the building since Barkley Village was finished.

In a Bellingham Business Journal feature printed in 2008, Sherman recounted a two-and-a-half-story fall he had in the early days of his work as a window washer, when he set his ladder on a bed of beauty bark. He walked away from the fall because he landed on the bark. The profile described him as a chipper entrepreneur who invented his own anchoring system for his high-wire work. Redpath said he didn't see any boards or other safety measures in place on the awning Tuesday when the accident happened. Sherman's son didn't fall. Sherman remained hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday evening.

Bubble Truck Window Cleaner - Advertising Window Cleaning

Bubble Truck Window Cleaner: Adam Froman admits that his way of advertising brings them out of the woodwork. "This is a publicity stunt to advertise my window cleaning business," he says. Adams Window Cleaning, operates from Kent, WA. serving King, Pierce, Snohomish counties in Washington State - around 20 miles North East of the Seattle area. Since starting with the bubbles, Adam has had continued success attracting new customers & thinks you would probably have the same result to. Adam has added his secret of bubble success below, just in case you too want to follow his lead.

History of the bubbles:

I squeezed a dishwashing liquid bottle and a bunch of cute little bubbles came flying out. After that moment, a dream was born. My dream became; with a bubble blowing machine (a small one) on top of my bucket , it could attract some attention. I didn't have much money to start.

I bought a little bubble blowing machine. It was a little 10” tall blue plastic bear that dipped a little bubble wand into a small container. It brought the wand to it's mouth and blew a few bubbles out. There are many like this. Little Tikes - Bubble Bellie Series in Target or Walmart. It took about 4 AA batteries. I placed it on top of my lid of the water bucket for dipping my scrubber into. The bucket was next to my sign for window cleaning. It would run for up to 2 hours. I would have to replace batteries.

I was mostly using these at storefront cleanings. A few bubbles would drift, it was starting to look cute. Every once and a while, little children around 2 years old would drag their moms or dads over to look at the bubbles. My conclusions at this point; these use a lot of batteries (I like to recycle so I don't like this), dollar stores have batteries cheap (in my search to keep the machine going), it did attract some people, and this setup would work best for kids at home.

My dream became bigger. Now in my dream; there would be a cloud of bubbles around the front of the storefront I was working at. I purchased a bubble blowing machine made by Gazillion Bubbles. It is just called a bubble machine. I got it at Target. It was about $15. It took 4 AA batteries. It is about 10” tall, purple on the outside, and yellow spinning bubble wands. It produced a lot of bubbles. The machine would last for about 2 hours till I needed new batteries.

I liked the amount of bubbles, so I bought another machine. I placed (2) machines on my water bucket and cleaned the storefronts. Now the bubbles carried across the storefront and on to the next storefront or two .. this was a great result! Then about 2 hours later, The batteries died. Sometimes it was enough time to get a job so I kept buying batteries to try. No changes - batteries still dying. After a week or two the machines themselves broke. It turns out the wiring inside is very small.

My dream became bigger .. now I wanted the cloud of bubbles to last the whole time I was working the storefronts. I began to research a little into solar power and wind powered bubble blowers. So far, the best I can find to do is buy a solar cell to charge a car or marine battery and run the bubbles AC off of that. I was not happy with results of recharging AA or C batteries. I didn't get any good results with homemade wind powered bubble blowers just yet.

Then I noticed the bubble blowers that work on 110 volts AC and figured about plugging them into a converter, attached to a car battery. This is about when I had the idea about putting the bubble blowers on my truck. I attached (2) machines to my truck. I found them at Party City. Each was a black bubble machine that is made of metal and shaped like a stop sign. It was about $40 for each one and many companies make machines like this one on the net also. Both of those plugged into an extension cord. That extension cord is plugged into a converter that converts 110 AC to 12VDC. I got at Staples or Office Depot. I got the smallest one. It was about $40 also.

With the bubbles on the truck, I began driving around. I stopped using the bubbles at the storefront and now focused using them on the truck. With the bubbles on the truck a lot of new things began to happen. I would keep the bubbles on while I was cleaning storefronts and houses now. While driving, I would see people in other cars smiling, pointing at the bubbles, giving me a thumbs up symbol, and people waving (like a parade wave) to me.

Now when at a job with the bubbles, I can almost guarantee some child will come out of the woodwork and start playing in the bubbles and that would drag a mother or father out with the child. I rarely get a job in these situations but I know the advertising is working.

After having the bubbles on the truck for a little over a month, when I go to the bank or a store people ask me if the bubbles are mine. I say, ”Yes.” and they say, "my children love your bubbles”. I ask them where the kids are and they say that the kids saw me driving around town. I think more and more people are seeing the bubbles. I think teenagers respond best, young children second, and adults last. But when I drive by a group of teenagers, they yell, “Bubbles!” Young children smile, play a little, and definitely try to show their parents.

I did notice a situation at this point. The cost of bubble solution. I found solutions range in price from $3 to $20 per gallon. I learned the $20 per gallon Gazzillion solution works as good as the $3 per gallon kind. I found the best deal at Walmart or Target. They have the $3 per gallon pricing. Bubble solution is a seasonal item, so I am buying up stock to get ready for slow bubble solution months. I have begun for fun, to see if I can find a bubble solution sponsor.

For fun, I got another 3 machines, another battery, and another converter. I drove around. One lady asked if I could park in front of peoples homes during birthday parties and such. I told her no so far. I got one other question like that before. It puts out a lot of bubbles, but I think it is just as effective with two machines. There is one other truck on the internet with bubble machines on it. He has more bubbles coming out of the truck. He charges $160 per hour to park the truck for parties and such. This is the only other thing like this idea I could find on the web.

As far as cops go, I haven't had any bad situations. I have passed many local cops and they haven't done anything. One cop was writing a ticket, and the bubbles came flowing in and he just smiled and kept on writing. I even had a cop following about 2 cars behind me and still he didn't do anything.

I have ran the bubble in all types of weather. One time, it was a regular rainy dreary day, someone called me in a car behind me, saying the bubbles had changed their day to be happier!! I even had the bubble machines running in the snow. I just pulled them inside the house at night when the weather turns to freezing.

I think the setup I am going to is: to keep the (2) machines on the truck and use another bubble machine setup at the storefront. For the storefront, a smaller bubble machine and smaller battery like for a wheel chair. I have (2) batteries and I will be starting this setup soon. The two locations both seem to get customers. Not many, but the whole setup has paid for itself twice.

I am completely open to people copying the idea. I think it would be great that when people see bubbles, they think of window cleaning. I do know that some people around here when they see bubbles, they think about me. Anybody reading this, I am open to any new ideas. As Adam says; "Don't keep up with the Jones,"- "BE the Jones!" "Please feel free to contact me, Adam of Adams Window Cleaning. on 206-423-7408.

If you would like to add your unique story to the blog - please contact me.

Window Washer Falls 8 Stories, Survives

Seattle, WA - A window washer is extremely lucky he's alive after falling eight stories -- and the whole thing was caught on tape! The only thing that saved him was his rope, which caught him just as he hit the ground. It happened Thursday morning in Seattle. Paul Schaefer works at the building next door, where a security camera caught the incredible scene. "It's like, holy cow, this guy hit the ground it looks like and bounced. Fire crews believe 34-year-old Eduardo Lozada stopped just inches short of the ground.
"We heard some yelling," says Robert Kleppen, who witnessed the event. "We looked over at the window. We saw a body come through the 7th floor window and then he fell and continued to fall." Amazingly, after the fall, Lozada was conscious and talking. Witnesses are stunned he survived with his only injury being a broken pinky finger. Looking closely at the video tape, it appears as though Lozada's legs actually hit the ground.
"He was free falling when he actually hit the window and kept going," Kleppen says. "And his ropes were still attached, so safety gear saved him from actually hitting the ground." Emergency crews say Lozada was resilient. He was treated at a hospital and then released. Fire officials haven't said if Thursday's windy weather in Seattle was a factor in the fall.

A window washer fell eight stories outside a downtown Seattle building Thursday morning, but suffered only a broken finger and some bruising and soreness. Eduardo L. Castillo, 34, appeared to be in good shape and was talking as he was being loaded into an ambulance shortly after the 11:20 a.m. fall, said Mike O'Donin, manager of the Broadacre Building at Second Avenue and Pine Street. His most severe injury was a broken finger on his right hand, according to a Harborview Medical Center spokesman. He was expected to be released from the hospital Thursday evening. Castillo, who works for Morris Hansen Enterprises, had been at work about two hours when he fell from outside an eighth-floor window. He was caught by his rope when he reached the second-floor level, and the rope "softened" the impact of his fall into an alley between First and Second avenues.

Castillo, through a hospital spokesman, declined to talk about the fall Thursday afternoon. Craig Castleman, operations manager for Morris Hansen Enterprises, said the window-cleaning work on the Broadacre Building, which houses Nordstrom Rack, was a "fairly straightforward job." Thursday was windy and rainy, but Castleman said it didn't immediately appear that wind was a factor in the fall. "Believe me, these guys are not going to work if it's too windy," Castleman said.
Window cleaning is a top-down affair, with crews starting by tying two ropes to anchors on a building's roof, Castleman said. One rope the cleaner uses to descend, sitting on a small wooden plank that's held up with straps. The other, by means of clips and a lanyard and tension, is supposed to keep the cleaner from dropping more than 2 or 3 feet.

Castleman said Thursday afternoon that company officials were still sorting through the evidence and hadn't yet talked with Castillo. But they theorized that Castillo, who was still strapped into the harness when he landed, could have been holding onto the grip that allows him to descend. Tension on the safety rope must have slowed him down somewhat, Castleman said, so "he didn't just free fall. It was more like a rapid descent. "It's terrifying, nonetheless, for the participant who's doing the falling." If the safety devices hadn't have slowed him down, Castleman said, "he would have more serious injuries if he fell eight stories and was caught up all of a sudden. There would be a lot of pounds of pressure on his body through the harness."

Joseph Eisenschmidt said he arrived in the alleyway just after Castillo's fall and saw "a guy over here with ropes all around him [that were] hanging off of the building." He said he ran into Nordstrom Rack to call for help, then returned to the alleyway. He said when he left the scene, Castillo was still in the harness and paramedics were walking over with a backboard.A handful of Morris Hansen employees at the scene said they were taking the rest of the day off. Castillo had worked at Morris Hansen, one of the larger window-cleaning operations in the area, for about two years, but left a few years ago. He was rehired in mid-October, Castleman said. Thursday morning, he attended one of the company's bi-weekly safety-training meetings — required by government-safety inspectors — where he heard company officials go over fall protection, ladder safety and other issues.

Castleman said he can recall just one other fall at the company since 2002, when he started. That time, the cleaner dropped about 6 feet and didn't hit the ground. Castleman attributed that one to operator error. That cleaner, Castleman recalls, held onto the grip used to descend; when he finally released it, the safety rope caught him. Morris Hansen was cited twice this year for safety violations related to fall prevention. In March, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) cited the company for two violations, both of them labeled serious. According to the citation, two workers were cleaning glass-topped awnings on a condo building without safety gear, exposing them to potential falls of 13 to 16 feet. That same day, L&I also cited the company for improper placement of a ladder. In May, the company again received a citation, labeled "repeat serious," for a safety violation. In this case, a worker did not use safety gear, exposing him to a possible 14-foot fall. Penalties totaling $700 were assessed.