HILLMANS AT THE COAST

My brother Mike found this cool trail that was 2.7 mile in and out. The crew trekked down to the Hart's Cove to see the water fall and the scenery. It was beautiful! Besides being 5.4 mile round trip without a lot of water and no snacks for the younger crew, it was great. I think Alyce got Mexican out of the deal.

Newport Aquarium
These are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend. This was a cool "old school" diving gear. We all got in it and put our faces in the helmet. Fun stuff. Mike's snapshot is hilarious to me. All you see is cheeks. Love you brother.

Independence Day Fun Run

My friend Jill one day posed the question to me about running in a marathon, specifically the Portland Marathon in October. Of course once she mentioned it I couldn't get if off my brain. We both signed up. However since then injuries have sidelined us to short distances. To challenge ourselves we decided to run in the Independence Day Fun Run from Monmouth to Independence. It was great fun. We're still trying to figure out the marathon thing.


This photo is irreplaceable. I started skipping for the crowd who gathered to provide a bit of entertainment. The resulting picture is a "classic susie."



This is at the beginning of the race. It is pretty cool. The race happens before the parade so the streets are filling up with residence who have come to see the parade. They start saving seats the day before. It is serious business. Josh, Jess, Brayden,Abby (with signs held high) Mike, Lyda, and Shelia were all cheering us on.




Of course Mike wanted to know what it was like to walk down the middle of the street. He and Lyda strolled down Main Street gleaming with pride.

A Ned for all seasons

This post is about Ned ... the cat. Every year he starts slowing down as the summer starts heating up. He's a short-haired cat, but it's pretty dense fur and it's not too heat-friendly. We like our kitties playful and energetic, so when he starts slowing down, we send him to the beauty parlor to get a trim. This year we found a new place not too far from us that does kitty grooming, so we took him in about a week ago. He's not one for riding in his carrier and he made sure that i knew that dislike had not changed over time. We got to the grooming place and i was chatting with the lady behind the counter about what the expectations from the quaff touchup were. She mentioned that the 'lion cut' was an option ... i looked at Ned and he gave the thumb's up (it was more of a mournful meow, but i'm pretty sure it meant 'gideup').
It took the beast a couple days to forgive me for dropping him off at the hands of the shearers, but he has a new and youthful spring to his step, is chasing stuff in the evening and prances around like a tiger out of his cage. To document the occasion, i took a few pictures of him - unfortunately none of the 'before' state, but a couple of the after - i hope you enjoy.





Shadow cat ...



Don't try sneaking up on me, i'll eat you for dinner. Notice my tail poof, it's very tough.



I'm outta here you losers!



Leave me be - i'm sharpening my meditation skills

hello July

I can't believe it's already the first of July ... it just started getting sunny here.

Life has been rolling along. We went up to Portland yesterday to catch up with Dave Rarrick & family. They were down to take part in the LiveStrong Challenge. I'd heard of LiveStrong, but beyond it being a yellow bracelet, i wasn't sure what it was about. I'm not sure i can do it justice, go out and Google it if you have a desire to know more - but Dave and his wife Deb are particularly touched by it because of her medical history. They've found the foundation to be a place of a lot of information and support. It was good to be somewhat involved and to hear stories of cancer survivors and those that are going through treatment right now. We even got to hear Lance speak for a little while; he's an amazing speaker and he has a great vision - ride now for cancer so that in the future we can ride for some other cause once cancer is eliminated. On a personal note, it was great to see Dave and his family. It's been a long time since we've been able to spend time together. It was fun to catch up and to tell a couple stories about the good-old-days. It was also really good to see his family.

Things on the work-front are a little tense right now. I gave my decision not to move to Houston or Austin which my employer is viewing as a declining to continue a job - so a resignation on my part. It's really frustrating that companies can conjure up loopholes like that to avoid giving any kind of severance or having to pay unemployment. I'm trying to stay positive and to realize that it's just business, but it's tough when you've thought so highly of the company in the past.

I did have one interview last week - that i totally botched - and i have another next week, so at least i've gotten some responses. I keep trusting that we'll be guided to the right opportunity.

We watched the first two movies of the Lord of the Rings this week - what a great trilogy, i wish i had bought the third set, but at the time i thought the third one was lame. I might have to rethink that and go out and buy it.
We also took an evening and went to watch Prince Caspian. I thought it was better than the first, but still was not 100% sold on it. I'm not sure what it is, just didn't quite have the impact i was expecting. Even so, i'm glad we went to watch it.

Alright, i'm out - we need to take some pics ...