June 18

Nancy and I were getting ready to head down to Bandon, Oregon Friday.

David and Sherry invited us up to Scappoose for an early Father's Day dinner and to share their pictures from their trip to Mexico.

June 16

The day to day activities have been pretty mundane. Adjusting the irrigation system, mowing the lawn, weeding the garden ......






Today my friend Mark and I went back to the Columbia Gorge to take some pictures.

Mark's web site

We had a great field trip! I tried some new settings on my camera. A couple were even successful.

June 5

It has been an interesting week for weather. Monday and Tuesday we were on slow roast in the low 90's. The dogs spent most of the day laying in the shade and getting up to bark at the squirrels. I enjoyed the mornings for coffee on the Casa de Patio and for outside work. Nancy and I did errands or something inside the remainder of the day. Wednesday, the rain started. Thursday afternoon a weather alert was issued for high winds (60mph) and possible large hail. The main storm front moved just north of Milwaukie, but we received a good dose of weather. Winds about 30 to 40 mph, thunder and lighting (rare in these parts) and rain by the buckets. It was a very lively show from inside the house.

Nancy and I went to see the new Star Trek movie today. 5 stars

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"White Tulip Close-up"

May 31 "Feed the Hungry"

Ross, Debbie, Nancy and I cooked for about 125 people today for our church's out-reach program for the less advantaged folks in our neighborhoods. 120 pounds of chicken cooked this morning, 26 plus pounds of fresh homemade potato salad, green beans with bacon and various desserts. Our team, which included our children in the early years, has been cooking two or three times a year for over 20 years.
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HOT? It was warm in the kitchen. It was so hot that we would go outside and stand in the sun to cool off.

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After five hours in the kitchen, it was time to relax.

May 29 "The field trip"

The Milwaukie Lanes hosted a little road trip through the Oregon countryside. After leaving Phil and Linda's home we headed for the Canby Ferry ( R. J Lee). This is one of the three ferries that are used to cross the Willamette (Will-am-met) River, so for $2.00 you get to ride across the river and save about 20 miles of driving. I showed the captive audience some of the schools I worked in over my 28 years in Canby. I regaled them with geology facts, local color, pointed out interesting sites and generally spouted out information like a fountain, when a sip might have done the trick. But~~ What fun is it to ride down the road and not know the Canby area has a very large part of its farming acreage in various species of nursery stock that is shipped all over the country.

It was a beautiful drive down country roads with Mt. Hood in the background, by our old house in Oregon City and along the Clackamas (Clack-a-mess) River to the Stone Cliff Inn for lunch overlooking the river. Thanks Bill and Vira for lunch.

Carol had mentioned that she wanted to go to Bob's Red Mill (I think she did.). The main store and packaging plant are within 5 minutes of the house. Carol buys Bob's products back in Virginia. Everyone bought a couple of things. I am not sure how Bill fared with the almond butter on the plane.

Phil and Linda hosted a dinner for everyone in the evening. We had a good time with garden tours to see how much the corn had grown since last Monday, rides in the newest hybrid Lexus and watching the ducks fly in and play in the water feature. It was nice to visit with everyone, eat great food and bid farewell to those leaving Saturday.

Life is good.

May 26 ~~ Cousins Galore

Nancy and I hosted a dinner for Bill, Vira, Phil, Linda and Carol. We all enjoyed the time together.

Memorial Day

Willamette National Cemetery is a few miles from the house. The cemetery has a commanding view of downtown Portland from it mountain side and top location east of the city. Today was my first visit on Memorial Day in many years.

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My schedule is to wake up the birds and nudge the rooster to crow. After 8:00, the cemetery starts filling up with those coming to visit their loved ones. So, with the sun just coming over the hilltops I visited 130,000 plus of my comrades in arms. It is always emotionally hard for me these days, remembering family, friends and comrades who reside on the other side of life. So far, I have found family that has served in the Civil War, WWI, WW ll, Korea, Viet Nam.

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A lot of peace keepers and freedom fighters.

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May 24

The cousins are arriving in Oregon. Today CUZ Carol (from D.C.) came over to visit with CUZ Linda (Wilsonville). Sunny weather and a great lunch. Bill and Vira arrive Monday.

May 23

Task number one~ Nancy and I dropped off David and Sherry at the airport for their trip[to La Paz. The puppies will be staying with us for two weeks while the kids are gone.

Stella and Rockie

Task number two~ Scouting trip. Tough duty, but it has to be done. We joined forces with our friends and headed to Hood River, Oregon to find some wineries for a large group to visit in September. Ross, Debbie, Bruce, Sharon, Nancy and me were very successful in narrowing the list to the three finalists.

The views are awesome. The picture below was taken in the parking lot by one of the places were are going to visit in the fall. Mt. Adams on a clear day.

May times

Days in the garden, errands, and photography classes. Fun times.

A new flagstone path in front of the house.

We went to Lincoln City for a few days. The sun was shinning, the wind on the beach was lite, the tides low and we found found lots of agates. We had a lot of things to undo from winter and get somethings ready for summer. Good news - The windows are clean and the moss will be ready to thatch out the next we go over.

Saturday, we went on a field trip to Newport. The Rogue Brewery had a beer tasting and bring your dog to the brewery. The beer was good, the place was crowded and the dogs well behaved (mostly).

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Sunday was time to finish up and do some serious relaxing. We went up to Pacific City to meet Doug and Roger for diner and a test the hops and malt.

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Surfing in Oregon is not very crowded.
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Monday we toured home the long way and enjoyed some new roads and sights. After unloading the trailer. Nancy and I went up to Scappoose to pick up a few tools David and Sherry used to finish their new hardwood floors. They did a great job. Take a look. http://carpenterlane.blogspot.com/

May 9

Nancy and I walked along Portland's waterfront this morning. It was beautiful and the walk was great too. We encountered several thousand Doggie Dash people and dogs on their big walk for the Oregon Humane Society. (The white line on the bridge is a portion of the people and dogs). We decided to avoid the walkers and went the other direction past the Blue Fin submarine and watched Dragon Boat teams (12 people in a big canoe) practicing their rowing.

More planting (carrots, beets, onions and basil) and rototilling.

May 7

The last few days have been busy. Thank goodness, I do not have any pictures of rototilling, planting and cleaning the shop. The weather is sunny, cloudy, windy and rainy and rotates through the cycle about every 30 minutes.



Here are some pictures from the beach.

Uno de Mayo ~~ Track Day

I ventured out to Portland International Raceway today. David was getting his motorcycle tuned up for the race season. He is #177 and the other two riders are his teammates.



I took about 300 hundred pictures, of which about 150 turned out okay. I tried some new things with shutter speed that did not turn out well. Just more to learn.

April 30 Three run homer

Today was the last day we could fish for Chinook salmon. Doug, Roger and I went fishing on the Willamette River, near the mouth of the Columbia. We started fishing a little after 6:00 AM and were on our first pass through the fishing area at 6:30 when we caught fish #1. It was a nice bright salmon - about 8 pounds measuring 26 inches. We feel very fortunate when we are able to get at least one salmon on a fishing trip!

Now consider fishing with 80 to a 100 or more boats all trolling around in a half mile stretch of the river. They are all fishing about the same way you are and have two or more fishermen in each boat. The chances of catching a fish are pretty low.

At 7:00 we hook and land #2 - 12 pounds and 29 inches of fresh salmon.

It is phenomenal to get two in the boat on the same trip when we had only seen 8 caught by this time. We are really feeling good and the chances of getting number three are about the same as winning Powerball. A few more fish were caught by the armada of boats and "the bite" slacked off about 8:00. We continued to put-put around the fishing area snacking, telling fishing stories and dodging boats going hither and yon in a pattern based on the chaos theory.

10:00 "Holy Cat Woman!!" We hook another one. A nice 13 pounder that was 30 inches long.

Blossoms

April 27

We arrived home yesterday afternoon and started to settle into the home routine. We are off to the gym, then chores.

Hope you have a great day.

April 25

We did our Papa and Nana duties of reading, pushing the wagon, crawling around on the floor, going for a walk and keeping Nora occupied as we all worked outside on last fall's landscaping project. Nora loved the dirt and crawling through the tall grass before it was mowed.

Fun for all.

April 24 Matt's Birthday

Pam and Doug headed home. Nancy and I left for Klamath Falls after picking up some authentic Indian food (Matt's favorite) at the Taj restaurant in Ashland. We cruised over the mountain on a clear crisp spring day with snow still on the side of the road. In early March, we followed a snowplow for many miles to get over the passes. This was a much more relaxing ride.

We were greeted by Katie, Matt, Nora, Ginger the pug and two cats. Three hugs for the kids and lots of head rubs for the four footed members of the family. We all enjoyed the Indian food for Matt's birthday dinner. Katie made a scrumptious chocolate cake with mint icing -- YUMMMMM.......

Happy Birthday to Jackie, who was born on the same day, 29 years ago.

April 23

After MacBeth, today was light. The four of us went to Jacksonville, Oregon http://www.el.com/to/jacksonville/ The girls went shopping and Doug and I visited the Bella Union and enjoyed a beer and some good conversation. After a great lunch, we moved the shopping bags to the trunk and toured the back roads on our way to Ashland. The Medford area is great this time of year with hundreds of acres of fruit trees blooming. Most of the growers sell to Harry and David's http://www.harryanddavid.com/gifts/store/home___
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There are many vineyards and wineries here. We enjoy touring the area and tasting the fabulous wine.
http://www.applegatewinetrail.com/map.php



We all went to the Music Man. It was very well done. We quietly hummed the tunes while enjoying the story of the con man turned around by the power of love. As a bonus, all of the actors' heads stayed on.

April 22

Nancy and I traveled to Ashland, Oregon with Pam and Doug for some fun and culture. We saw MacBeth tonight. The staging and acting was very well done. Freud would have loved all of the characters. Psychotic breaks, hearing voices, heads removed in unceremonious ways and what happens when you get to big for your britches and develop a conscience.