Mike and Susie

It is FINISHED

2010-01-09T21:18:00.000-08:00

About a year ago my friend Jill talked me into making a 'rag quilt.' She is a super quilter herself and thought I would enjoy in the hobby as she did. I swear she finishes a quilt every weekend. She is that amazing. I began my search for fabric. It took me several times in the fabric store before I finally got up the nerve to actually buy the material. I was so sure I was going to pick the wrong fabrics, or they wouldn't go together. The day I bought the fabric, I asked this older, seasoned woman what she thought of my choices. If she hadn't of said, "looks good dear," I may still be searching.

After purchasing the material it took me a year to finally start cutting. (Again I was paralyzed by the fear of cutting wrong - which I actually did but didn't know it.)

Today, about a year and a half later I stand finished with the quilt. Jill tutored me through the process. Good thing she was on my case to finish, if not for her, the material could still be in the closet. Anyway, here are the pictures. I made 2 medium quilts. I cut it wrong and/or had a lot of fabric, and decided 2 good sized quilts are better than 1 jumbo.

One of the two quilts. Finished product!

Catching a break - mid sewing together.

The assembly process. Now that's a lot of material!

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2009-12-20T17:02:00.001-08:00

As a part of our pre-Christmas tradition, we like to make cookies and decorate them with friends. I took them to work, then Mike and I hit the Greene's, Tomlinson's, and the Smith's houses to complete our rounds. I tried a new frosting recipe this year that allows more FUN decorating. Below are some examples.

Christmas Gingerbread man with spirited plaid.

The never before seen Zebrapotimus.

A stylish star.

A BLIZZARD IN MY OFFICE ?!?

2009-12-12T15:02:00.001-08:00

Well, I went to Dad's retirement party in Texas and left my staff to run the show. Upon my return, I was greeted with a flurry of snowflakes of all different sizes, shapes and patterns. A Blizzard. I think this is a bit of revenge on me, although I am innocent. I take NO part in acts of random fun in the office. Don't listen to those who say different. Anyway, I thought it was worthy of showing off. On a side note, we initially thought it would be cool to do the whole office in snowflakes like on the movie "Elf," but I think after this feat, that dream is gone for this year. Maybe we'll just continue to add in the upcoming years to eventually accomplish our dream.

Notice that it is snow the full week. I think this means that I shouldn't come into work. Just a thought.

Myk made the big ones. I had made a request the prior week and I came back to two BIG HUGE ones. We are definitely saving these are for next year.

Gobble, Gobble - Turkey Trot

2009-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving day, I participated in the Mid-Valley Turkey Trot. I put the challenge to two of my friends to participate and both "willingly" participated. Supposedly I forced them. yada yada yada. Anyway, Mike and I arrive to get him situated to volunteer but realized that we were too late for him to get his position as a volunteer and so he grabbed some coffee and joined the fray. Soon after Malissa and Jill both arrived. Britney (Jill's daughter) after spouting off that she was going to kick out butts, was no where to be found. Hm...a bit scared I think. We all got our free stuff and headed for the starting line. Mike positioned himself at the corner, but somehow didn't cautch us leaving. However, he did get a couple of shots of us crossing the finish line. This time, Jill got her name announced over the speakers.

We were drenched! I, of course, was blamed for coaxing them into running AND for the rain. I must say though, the temperature was perfect. No freezing lungs. I care.

AIR SHOW

2009-11-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

Nellis Airforce Base was putting on an Airshow so Mike & I decided, hey, it's free and its planes. We're in. We headed to the Base to take in the sights. There were some amazing planes. Huge, small, WWII, current, you name it. There were several Air Acrobatics that took place. I tell you, these men and women can fly. I was truly in awe.

This is the C5. Humongous! The front and back open up to load Hummers, tanks, and the tactical big stuff. Crazy!

I was talking to the airman and he said that the gun fires 750-1000 rounds per minute. Per minute. I asked what the usual trigger finger pull was and he said one would typically get off 5 rounds with one short trigger pull. kack,kack,kack,kack

I really wanted to get behind the gun on this chopper. I bullied my way past some 5 & 6 year olds and went straight to the seat.

The military started adding what they title the "Heritage Flight." There basically are different planes from different eras, wars, etc that fly together. It is neat to see the evolution of technology and tactics. This picture doesn't do justice, but I think there is a WWII fighter jet, F15 and some other planes. Mike knows the names, ask him.

This is just cool. A craft you would find on a naval vessel.

Viva Las Vegas

2009-11-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 years I've been contemplating getting Mike a "Race Car Experience" package. This year I decided it was as good of year as any and I purchased an Indy Style Racing Experience. I really wanted to get the BMW Road Racing Experience, but my timing was off. Mike and I flew down to Vegas, stayed with Vegas Josh & Teri, and lived it up for a few days. We arrived at Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday morning. Mike was pretty excited. I was too. He got to put on the handy dandy driving jump suit and take in about a 30min. training. The catch phrase we both liked was "you can drive on the freeway going 100+ mph, but can you do it turning left?" Here are the pictures. Mike will have to blog with his words later.

Hitting the top speed of 146.5mph. Speedy!

The pit crew member gave Mike the low down again. Then once his time was up and he was to hit the oval, the 4-runner would give him a push and Mike had to pop the clutch.

I wanted Mike to drive the blue or the maroon car. He got the blue. It looked fast and was really shiny. It reminded me of picking out go-cart cars at Boon Docks. You size up the cars by how fast the previous driver drove and its passing ability.

Mike at full attention during the training. Sweet jump suit.

OINK'S

2009-10-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Most of you know Mike is going to school full time at Oregon State University. He is pursuing his GIS certificate and is slated to finish at the end of Spring term. During this time we are living off of one income. I was thinking the other day that Mike and I are no longer DINK's (Dual Income No Kids), but rather OINK's (One Income No Kids). I got quite the chuckle when I thought of it. I tried it on Mike and his response was similar. I think I've come up with a new acronym. OINK's. During this time where families are adjusting to the economy and incomes fluctuate, I think this gives us something to laugh and smile about. Please feel free to use it. It has a ring to it.

Fall Festival Fun Run

2009-09-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Malissa is a runabee (runner wannabe) and we decided to challenge ourselves with a "fun" run. Of course we wanted the t-shirt as well. Any runner wants the t-shirt. Mike and I headed to Corvallis to meet up with Malissa. Malissa and I would run the 5K and Mike would cheer and drink his coffee. Mike caught us coming and going. Notice that we have running chips (the stuff that REAL runner use to time themselves). We pretty much rocked the course. We're thinking about doing a 5K on Thanksgiving Day, The Turkey Trot, so we can eat to our heart's content the whole day and not feel guilt.

They announced our names and numbers as we crossed the line. That was neat!
"Malissa Larson from Corvallis and Susie Friberg from Albany"

Iron Mountain

2009-09-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

We also hit Iron Mountain on the same trip as Smith Rock. It was rated difficult in our little handy dandy hike guide, but really it was simple. A steady uphill march, but nothing compared to Rooster Rock.

Smith Rock

2009-09-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Mike got a taste of Smith Rock when he tagged along with Josh, Jess and hoods on their summer time fun and fishing. The pictures looked so amazing, that I suggested we go there for some rest and relaxation. We took Misery trail around the mountain to see "Monkey Face." The primate was amazing. There were folks climbing it early in the morning. Amazing stuff. The structure itself is God's handy work. Incredible!

Susie's birthday

2009-07-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

The one downside to going camping is that we came back on Susie's birthday; meaning i didn't wake up early to make her breakfast in bed, like i usually do. Instead she was woken up by Ned who was crying for his breakfast, although he's not all that into having it in bed.

I got home while she was at work, so i cleaned up and prepared the gift - i was considering leaving it in the bag it was shipped in, but wisely chose to wrap it in a box with wrapping paper

... although that didn't mean that i took it out of the bag it shipped in ...

She had been eyeballing a new pair of mountain biking shorts a while back, so i decided that would make for a pretty good gift. Unfortunately when you purchase clothes online, there's no way to see if they fit correctly; so they have since been returned and the next size smaller is on it's way.

That night we went out to Johnny Carinos for dinner, then topped it off with going to bed at 9PM since we where both beat.

Lake Billy Chinook & Smith Rock

2009-07-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

I was invited along with the Smiths for a couple days camping and boating at Lake Billy Chinook. At first it was mentioned that it would be like having another parent around to keep the hoods in line, but after careful consideration of this statement (about the blink of an eye) it was restated that it might be more like having three kids. Although this statement hurt me deeply, i wasn't about to miss out on a chance for camping and boating with a "little" fishing thrown in on the side.

For those of you who have never heard of Lake Billy Chinook, it's in central Oregon, a little north of Redmond. The lake is at the bottom of a large ravine and extends off in several arms. It's a great lake for water sports since it's fairly well protected from the wind. Along the walls of the ravine, you can see the incredible rock formations - i don't know enough geology to describe how they were formed, what kind of rock it is, etc, but it's incredible to look at.

There are a couple rivers that feed the lake (or are sourced from there, not sure which) - the Metolius is one of them. There are several smaller creeks/streams that end up in the lake, some creating cool waterfalls.

The small mouth bass population in the lake is out of control, so we did our best to bring it down a notch. I lost count of how many fish we caught, but i would cast & hook the fish and Abi would reel them in. I didn't get any shots of the fish, but they were a blast to catch. It was also fun to tool around the lake and watch other boaters and see what animals we could spot on the shore. If i recall, we saw quite a few wild horses, a couple deer, a couple otters, a mink/marten, a couple bald eagles and a goat that was on an impossibly steep cliff (not a wild goat, it had a collar on it).

In the way back home, we stopped off at Smith Rock since it was on the way. We didn't spend too much time there, but it's definitely a place we'll have to go back and check out.

Quick trip to Opal Creek

2009-07-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

This has turned out to be quite a weekend ... Saturday morning we got up early and headed to Josh & Jess's house to go over to Yaquina Bay to do some crabbing. It was a busy day because the silvers are out in the ocean, but we had the bay pretty much to ourselves. We loaded pots and let them soak for a while, then started pulling them. Things started a little slow, i think because some of the bait was still frozen, but after a couple pots things picked up and we ended up with a great haul. I'm not positive on the counts, but i think we got 10 red rock crabs and 13 Dungeness. We headed back in, made the quick jaunt back to Corvallis, threw the crabs in water, then feasted like pigs.

Today we decided to work off some of the crab meat and Susie and i headed to a place we've heard of called Opal Creek. It's an old growth forest 40 or so miles east of Salem. The area has quite a few protected areas including a stand of Redwoods that are somewhere in the range of 500 to 1000 years old. We didn't quite have time to go back to see those, but we really enjoyed the short hike we were able to do and are planning to go back and camp out over night to allow for some more exploring.

This first shot is from the drive up to the trail head. The clouds were hanging pretty low and made for a cool shot.

Back in the day, Opal Creek was a mining area, first gold, that didn't last long, but they found nickel. There was also quite a bit of logging. Some of the equipment has been left behind and now serves as a marker 2.2 miles into the hike. It's interesting to see the rusted remains. This was part of a chain we saw.

The trail follows the Little North Santiam River and the water is amazingly clear. Right as we started the hike, there was a bridge over one the the many pools and even though we were quite a ways up and the pool was pretty deep, you could see the bottom. Unfortunately that picture didn't turn out, so we'll have to go back and take another. This was another bridge looking down on the river.

Of course i had to head down to the water and took this shot looking back up.

We're definitely going to have to head back and spend some more time here ...

2009-07-09T21:55:00.001-07:00

Cruisin' to Alaska

2009-07-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

I recently put my name on a list of interpreters who wouldn't mind interpreting on a cruise. I thought, Oh I'll try it and see what comes up. Well a page came through that had a cruise to Alaska during my break between Spring and Summer term. I was going to rule it out, but asked Mike what he thought. He gave me the go ahead since he was on call that week and off I went.

As happens often with me, I had a doosey of a time getting to the boat. I was suppose to fly out on Sunday at 7:30am. I got to the counter 35 min. before take off and the ticket lady said I couldn't go. I was rescheduled on the 9am flight. I arrived in Seattle and found that I was on stand by for the 12pm flight to Canada. I was hopeful, but a bit weary. My name was called and they said that we have one seat we think. After a walk through, there was NO seat for me. Now the panic set in a bit. I was suppose to be on the boat by 5pm and it was now 12pm. I had 5 hours to get myself to Canada. I looked for a shuttle (nope 5.5hours), I thought another flight (no I would arrive at the airport too late), renting a car? Yes. I rented a car, drove to BC, dropped off the car and had a taxi take me to the dock. All along, I've got the interpreter I'm training with on the phone saying the ship is leaving early, you need to get here. That wasn't helping. I arrive in BC and the taxi drops me off at the port to a lady saying, "Are you on this boat?" yes. "You better run." I don't know where to go. Lady pointing, that way. Ok, susie is off. This nice port man came running up beside me and said, "I'll take your bag, you run ahead to customs." What the heck? Customs. I just went through in the car. I ran to customs, very politely and hurriedly, showed my passport, smiled and gave my best I'm an ok person look. He waved me through. As I'm running down the corridor, all I hear are these women on walkie talkies giving a stage update: She just passed me wearing a green shirt. Next woman: Green shirt just passed me. Funny stuff. I thanked the port man and ran across the gang plank, they pulled the plank, and set sail. Crazy stuff. ButI made it.

These next 2 pics are from a short hike I did at the totem park. Cool stuff. It was a great day. I saw my first bald eagle here. In this park there was a total of 11or 15 totems with explanations

This is Russel Fiord the home of Hubbard Glacier. There are four major glaciers that meet up to form a giant massive sheet of ice but I can only remember Hubbard and Valerie glaciers. Anyway, this glacier was massive and fascinating. I could have stayed and looked at it all day. I wanted to go walk on it, but of course that didn't happen. It is a truely amazing sight. If you have the opportunity to see it, go.

This is Juneau Alaska. I went on this great hike to the peak of Mt. Roberts. It was great. It took me about 1hr 15 min. I saved $27 going by foot. Have a cup of chowder at the top and took the tram down for free. It was great. I also went to the Mendenhall Glacier. I walked to a point on the beach and just took in the view. It was fabulous! Again such a spectacular sight to see. The colors of blue in these glaciers are phenomenal. These pictures don't depict it well. The hues are crazy beautiful.

Rooster Rock

2009-07-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the day to meet up with my old friend Rooster Rock. For those of you that don't know, it's a hike a couple miles outside of Sweet Home, OR on highway 20. The trail (in my interpretation) has 4 distinct sections:
1.) the Deception - this is the first 200 yards or so of the hike. You start out in a nice wooded area with the sound of a creek and cars whooshing by on the highway. The area is relatively flat and it makes for a great stroll - it lulls you into thinking the rest of the hike is going to be like this.
2.) the Wakeup-call - not sure how long this section is, but after you cross a dried-up creek bed, you get the wakeup call that the pleasantries are over and it's time to hike. I don't know the slope of this section, but it heads up at a pretty good slope and gets your heart pumping. There are a couple some-what level areas, but for the most part, from the creek bed to the second switchback, you're on an incline the entire time.
3.) the Grind - you think you should be reaching some sort of a level spot to catch your breath and give your legs a quick break you, but you're not. The grind is a steady incline, some areas are a little less steep than others, but i think there were just two areas that were level, and each was about 3 steps long. It's an infuriating section - you look up and all you see is a steady incline stretching a ways out in front of you. As you keep going, you reach a little bend and you think maybe around that bend will be a little level spot; but once you reach the bend, it just reveals another long uphill stretch. It's brutal.
4.) the Push - the grind finally intersects with a trail from Trout Creek and leads up to Rooster Rock. The pitch increases and you start thinking that maybe the last section wasn't so steep after all. It feels like it's about a 40 degree incline, but it's probably a lot less. You go through a couple sections where there is no tree cover and it becomes hot very quickly. As you keep going, there are a couple switchbacks and just about the time you're ready to stop and grab some oxygen, you make it over a rise and see Rooster Rock. There's a short trail to the peak, and from there you can see East almost to Bend.

Gravity is not my friend ... on the way up, it makes you pay every time you lift your foot. On the way down, it forces you to go faster than you want, making you slow down or lose control. My lungs don't do well with the up and my knees don't do well with the down. Good thing though is that i laced my boots a little differently and my feet did a lot better today. I still got some blisters, but nothing too serious. I might need to work on some kind of a heel wrap to see if i can find a way to protect them a little better.

Today was an awesome day to be up there; it was a little overcast when i started, but the sun came out about half way up. Since you're in the trees, it doesn't really affect you until you near the peak and on the peak. I ran into a father and son (son was around 14 i'd guess) but other than that the trail was empty.

Next up, although not sure when looks to be Iron Mountain ...

Mary's Peak

2009-07-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

I hiked Mary's Peak today after getting my oil changed on the Tacoma. I need to figure out what elevation i started at, but i made it to the top (4,095') and back to the truck in just under 4 hours. According to a map at the top, i covered 10.4 miles, but i have a funny feeling it was a little longer than that since one of the sections i hiked wasn't on that map. Going up felt surprisingly good; my left knee did well as long as i supported it on any steep sections - mainly where i had to take a step over a log / root. I had my sleeping bag, a second set of shoes, water and a couple other misc items in my backpack. Why a backpack for a 10 mile hike? Let me tell you ... i'm training to climb Mt. Hood.
A brief trip down memory lane - back in the day, right after graduating from NNC, a couple of the dudes that i knew and lived with - Vegas Josh (Josh Williams) and Oldschool (Ryan Barton)- got into mountain climbing. Not wanting to be left out, i went out and bought a whole bunch of climbing gear and invited myself along. They've dragged me up Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams (actually i did pretty good on my own on Adams) and they've gone on to climb a couple other peaks. I had to go on hiatus for a couple knee surgeries and never really thought i'd climb again, but fast-forward to last week, and Vegas Josh called and asked if i wanted to climb Hood this year.
I'm a little hesitant about my knee, but have decided that i'll do some hikes to see if i'm in good enough shape, and if my knees will hold out on me. Today was hike #1 on this quest and i'm feeling pretty good, except for the hike down. Going up felt really good; i only stopped once (more on that later) and for the most part, my knees felt fine, my pack felt good and i had plenty of water to keep me hydrated. The one downer was my boots. I bought some really nice Montrails a couple years ago, and for the most part they fit well and seem to offer the ankle support i need. But either i walk funny, or because they have a stiff sole (so you can wear crampons) after about 2 miles i start getting blisters. Thankfully i was prepared for this and brought along a second set of hiking shoes and those did me right. Problem comes when we're on the mountain and i can't wear low-top hiking boots while i've got a full pack on me. I'm gonna have to try a couple different things and see if i can find a way to get them to work better.
Coming down was a whole different matter. My knees, and particularly my right knee ached like the Dickens. I'm not sure if i tweeked it at some point and didn't notice, or if i'm going to have to go have it worked on, but as long as i was on even ground or a bit of an incline, it was fine, the minute i was heading downhill, it really hurt. I'm going to have to see if wearing a brace makes any difference, or if i did just tweek it and a couple day's rest will take care of business. Another thing to check is if i use two walking sticks coming down instead of just one if i'm able to take enough weight off to make it easier. One good sign is that walking around the house doesn't hurt, so i'm hopeful that it isn't anything really serious.
Perhaps not my best move, but an interesting one - i got back home around 4:14, and by 5:30 i was on my bike with Susie at Chip Ross Park heading up the Lower Horse Trail. I didn't make it to the top, but was able to go about 4/5ths of the way before i petered out and turned around. It was good to see that i was able to get some decent recovery in a fairly short time. Obviously hiking and biking use different muscle groups, but my aerobic level is what i'm worried about. And, my knees didn't hurt while riding!

Alright, more on this subject later - i think we're going to hike Iron Mountain this weekend.

Been a long time

2009-06-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, i must be having fun, cause time sure is flying!
Big day tomorrow, it's officially my last day as an HP employee. Without going into the minutia of it, i was told i had to move to Texas in order to keep my job, and we don't have a desire to leave family, friends and the Pacific Northwest, so instead of waiting till the last minute to be kicked off the bus, i found a stop i liked and got off. I'm bummed to leave a job that i was good at, that i enjoyed (most of the time) and the people i worked with, but such is how the world turns. I'm going back to school in aspirations of getting a GIS (geographic information systems) certificate from Oregon State University. It should take just over a year to get the certificate, so i'm hoping the economy picks up by then and i'll be able to find a job in that field. First term went well, i took two courses to make sure i was interested and motivated to be in school, and i ended up earning a 3.87 GPA - not too shabby for an old dude like me :)
I'm "taking the summer off", working around the house, taking some trips to see family & friends, etc. I'm excited for the downtime and have already gotten off to a pretty decent start.
I'll try to find time to take some pictures and post some info about what's going on - i *should* have more time now ...

A Day at the Cape

2009-01-24T08:41:00.001-08:00

Back in the day, i had been to Cape Town, but had never spent much time there - so it was great to do some driving around and seeing the sights. We went to the Cape of Good Hope which is in the Table Mountain National Park. Seeing as i hadn't seen any Proteas in a while, i had to take a picture of one. The King Protea is South Africa's national flower - this is not a King, but it looked cool.

The Cape of Good Hope has some significant nautical history - it's not the southern-most tip of Africa, but it does signify the point at which sailors could stop heading directly south. In the 1400s, a couple Portuguese explorers left some landmarks. Below is a replica of the one left by Vasco da Gama. The information sign said the original was placed in 1488 and that it's whereabouts are unknown - so this has been erected in it's place.

Closer to the coastline there is a lighthouse with a path winding up a series of WWII watchpoints. It turns out that Toby is not all that fond of heights, but he hid it well and even got some 'over the edge' pictures.

How could we resist a hike to a lighthouse on the coast?

We got another picture with Susie's hair pretty much straight up in the air from the wind, but i've been "requested" not to post it.

We didn't stop at it, but there is a second similar landmark that had been placed by Bartolomeu Diaz (not sure what year).

We drove around the rest of the park as it is more of a nature reserve. We saw some animals that i didn't expect to see - bontebok, tsesebe, eland, ostrich, and white deer.

We arrive in South Africa

2009-01-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

Paris was a great stopping point, but to reach our destination we had to catch another 10.5 hour flight. When we had selected our seats, the plane looked relatively empty, so we were hoping for some stretching room. Things started out looking good, but before long we realized the flight was pretty much full. Susie and i sat next to a South African lady that now lives in London. It was great meeting and getting to know her a little bit.

We landed in Johannesburg at O.R. Tombo airport and after a quick lunch with Guy - a guy that sat next to Toby and Lynne'e - we boarded another flight to head down to Cape Town. Interesting bit of trivia for you all ... both Tam, the lady we sat next to, and Guy went to school in Pietermaritzburg ... yes, the same city i went to boarding school in. It's a small world!

The Cape Town airport is being overhauled for the 2010 World Cup, so it wasn't much to talk about, but the plans for the new airport looked impressive. We picked up our rental car and headed to our first couple night's stay in Wellwood Lodge in Fish Hoek. After a good night's sleep and a great breakfast the next morning we set out in search of some penguins. So to Simonstown - The Boulders - we went.

We found a place to park (and someone to watch our car as long as we were willing to tip them) and headed to the water. There is a really nice wooden boardwalk setup to assist you in your penguin search; and along said boardwalk were some very descriptive bins.

After trekking a while (about 5 minutes) we came upon some birds on the rocks.

Along with another helpful sign.

The area is setup as a sanctuary, but is a good mix of allowing you to easily see the wildlife without encroaching too far into their space. Part of the incentive not to encroach was the nasty green sludge that the penguins were hanging out near. We couldn't figure out what the deal was, but i hope it's not what i think it is.

Susie did find some non-sludged ground to get down and bridge the gap between human and penguin kind. It's a good thing she did, lest relations run afoul (get it ... a foul?).

Africa trip - touring Paris

2009-01-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

After hitting the Cathedral Notre Dame, we headed to the Eiffel Tower - what trip to Paris is complete without seeing that? I'm not sure if it's standard fare, but there was a circle of stars on the front - i don't recall ever seeing those in pictures, but maybe i hadn't been paying close enough attention?

Just in case you were wondering, it was a tad chilly, especially when you're armed with a wardrobe that's ready to head to summer in South Africa. I might have mentioned this in the last post, if not, i might say it again sometime, it was pretty stinking cold.

Once we were sufficiently amazed by the tower, we headed towards the Champs-Elysees (i would spell it with all the accents, but i can't find them on the keyboard) in hopes of seeing the Arc de Triomphe. Oddly enough, we headed in the correct direction and intersected the avenue about half-way between the arc and the ferris wheel (i prefer paris wheel). I would have preferred that a French car had been in the picture, but in the grand scheme of things, you can't complain when a BMW shows up.

Lining the avenue on both sides were stands with people selling Christmas goodies. I didn't check, but i'm guessing most of the goods being sold were made in China, but it was a really cool atmosphere. We wandered down to the ferris wheel. We never did figure out if it's a permanent ferris wheel, or if it was brought in specifically for Christmas. It sits on the Concorde with the Obelisque de Louxor.
After a brief shuffle down the Tuileries Palace - or should i say the remains of it from it's destruction in 1871 - we found the Louvre. Of all the things in Paris, the Louvre is the one thing i HAD to see. I wish we could have spent a couple days there, but we only had around 2 hours. It was just enough time to hustle through some of the more famous displays [ the Main Entrance, the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, Aphrodite (the Venus de Milo), etc ]. We also spent a little time in my favorite paintings - 17th century Italian! There is so much more i wish we could have seen - i believe i could spend a week just in the Louvre and still not feel like i saw everything - but i'm very glad we did get a chance to pop in.

Time was starting to run short, so we bolted the Louvre, hopped back on the subway and scooted back to Charles de Gaulle. Turns out the subway got back faster than we expected, so i took the chance for a little catnap.

Africa trip part 1

2008-12-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Susie and i took most of December to go to Africa to visit mom and dad (Friberg) before they retire from being missionaries there. I had great plans of blogging every couple days while we were on the trip, but Internet access was a bit of a problem, so i'm going to do a little catch-up work and hopefully will recall any details i need.

We flew out of PDX on December 2nd and met up with Toby and Lynne'e at LAX. Air France had the cheapest air fare, so we headed to Paris for a 12 hour layover on our way to Johannesburg. On a side note, i was quite pleased with Air France. We flew on Boeing 777-300's which i think are the newest of the 777 family. The service was excellent and the food was good. I'd fly with them again.

The flight to Paris was around 10 1/2 hours and none of us really slept that much. The seats on the plane were fairly comfortable, and all things considered, there was enough leg room, but those seats are clearly not made for adults to be able to sleep in. I sat next to a German guy that was coming back from the SEMA auto show. He works in Italy for Lamborghini - i want his job.
We made it to Paris in one piece, and had around 12 hours to do some sight seeing. One of the other passengers gave us some tips on how to get around on the subway, so we plotted a course and headed out to see the City of Lights.

Paris was chilly and raining on and off, but not bad enough of either that it stopped us from doing our tour. Warmer clothes would have been a wise choice, but since we were on our way to summer in South Africa, our wardrobes were a little slim.

We caught the subway into town and wandered around in search of something to eat. We found a small cafe and headed in to get out of the rain. Right across from the cafe were these Christmas trees - it seemed funny that in the middle of Paris we would find Christmas trees for sale, but there they were, and were priced around 70 Euro each (around $100).

After a light lunch, we decided to go to Notre Dame. We asked directions and somehow in the translation i snuck a 'si' in which the French cafe owner understood, but thought was very funny that i didn't use an 'oui'.

The directions were a little vague, i suppose there might have been some steps lost in translation, but eventually we found it.

It seemed a little sacrilegious to take pictures in a church, but it was quite awesome in there. This is one of the two huge stained glass windows that are approximately in the center of the cathedral.

After Notre Dame, we headed to the Eiffel Tower - i'll put that in a new post ...

Announcing "Sparkle Avenger"

2008-11-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

Sparkle Avenger
I'm going to post the few pictures of the WOU Gladiator Challenge and let Mike do the commentary since he viewed the event from the stands. He'll give you the spectator's perspective. Here is the pose I chose when I was introduced. As you can see it needs some work. The ending stance is more in line of "Walk Like an Egyptian" not a Gladiator.

The Finished Look

2008-11-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

I thought Mike had posted the final touches of the sink hardware. Here it is. The faucet is a good match with the decor. All Mike needs to do now is caulk the baseboards and put in a door plate between the carpet and the travertine. Maybe this weekend.

It is finished...almost

2008-10-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow! Look at the master bath. What can I say, Mike and I are good, although we did have help from friends. The counter came today and we can assemble the faucets tomorrow. The only question that remains is lighting. I don't know if the pictures will turn out, but you can put your vote in for what lights you like best.
It is beautiful!

Mike's 35th Birthday

2008-10-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

I must say that Mike is a spoiled man. His birthday fell on a Tuesday and on Friday he was still celebrating. Lucky guy! Here are some of the top pics.
At home, we celebrated with Banger and Mash, a favorite of Mike's. He had the privaledge of eating from the "blue plate" and enjoyed his meal. It was followed by some cheese cake.

We went to Sybaris, a locally owned restaurant, to feast upon the delicacies. This year they didn't do the "Octoberfest" which was a bit of a disappointment. The food was still fabulous, and Mike got to wear the Happy Birthday glasses.

Our friends Josh and Jess were with us to celebrate the night. We were a jovial foursome and greeted the two older couples next to us. The sweet older lady asked Mike to come closer so she could get a good look before guessing his age of...25. Pst! Mike, of course, quickly agreed with her.

Sturgeon fishing on the Columbia

2008-10-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

In April Susie and i went to an auction for the school that is a part of our church. One of the item to bid on was a full day of fishing - our choice as to the time, location and type of fishing to be done. We talked to G Brown - the sponsor of the trip and determined that Sturgeon fishing was the deal. So yesterday morning, we started out pretty early and met G Brown and Kevin (his fishing partner / deck hand) and headed up to the Columbia.

Neither Susie nor i have ever been Sturgeon fishing, so it was a great new experience. G Brown has a 20' jet boat and it had one of the best engines i've ever heard! He uses the boat for all kinds of fishing, and likes to use it as a ministry. He often takes kids from under-privileged homes out, and is a staple for the ACS auction. He's a model for taking this things he's been blessed with and using them to bless others. It was a pleasure being out on the river with him and Kevin.

We started fishing at some seemingly random spot on the river and almost immediately after Susie had put her line in the water, she got a bite. We all watched anxiously for a follow-on nibble, but no dice.

After almost an hour in that spot, one of the lines started bouncing, so elbowed my way past Susie and grabbed the fishing rod. We had been instructed to set the hook like we mean it, so i gave it a grand jerk and started reeling the bad boy in. It didn't take all that long, but it was a fun reel. I could feel that he wasn't a huge fish since i was able to muscle him when i wanted to. I got him to the boat fairly easily and we popped him into the boat to see if he was a keeper. Keeper length is 46" and he was slightly under 40", so we took a couple pics and released him back into the water. (ok, i'm kidding about the elbowing, but it makes for a better story.)

Unfortunately that was the only fish we caught all day. We got a couple other nibbles, but none that resulted in a fish. We changed spots a couple times and saw a couple other boats bring in fish. About mid-afternoon the wind came on strong and started whipping up whitecaps, so we packed it up and headed in. It sure was fun being out on the water and away from work for the day. It was also great to meet and fish with G Brown and Kevin.

Building the vanity

2008-10-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy working on woodworking projects in the garage. I'd enjoy them more if i had a great big shop and i didn't have to shuffle the cars and tools in and out of the garage, but i'm not complaining too loudly. One problem though, for the most part, i'm not the best woodworker out there - i can get things done, but not always to exacting specifications. So when we started working on the bathroom remodel, i secured the services of one Josh P Williams; although he managed to avoid the camera lens.

Josh flew in on a Friday night and after some Saturday morning planning we headed to Home Depot and then on to the Hardwood Center. A couple hundred dollars later and we were back to the garage and ready to get to work.

The overall design came from a picture in Pottery Barn that Susie found. Needless to say, it was very cool, but would have left a hefty dent in the savings account.

We used Alder wood since we knew we were going to stain it. It turned out to be the least-expensive of the woods we found but still were able to find some good sections of the right thickness. I've never used Alder before, but it quickly became a wood that i'd use again in a heartbeat. It cut really well and has a beautiful grain. In a way it's a shame to stain it, but for what we want, we need a really dark color.

If you thought the last picture i posted of the mess a planer makes was impressive, just take a look at that pile!!! We ran most of the boards through to get them to an equal size. It made for a great pile of sawdust (which i now surrounding the blue berry bushes).

It took about 2 days to make the vanity, with a couple breaks for fun stuff in between.

The next steps are to stain and finish the vanity, install it in the bathroom, then call the counter-top guys to come measure for a new top.

Josh - thanks again for your help, it looks awesome!

Remodeling the bathroom

2008-09-22T19:26:00.000-07:00

This topic will take a few posts to cover - but a bathroom remodel is an obvious choice for something to blog!

A while back we decided that the master bath needed a little freshening up - so it started out with a simple removal of the wall-length mirror being replaced by two smaller mirrors. Of course nothing around here ends with a simple mirror change - with or without smoke, so we took the next step last weekend and started tearing out the old sinks and the flooring - note exhibit A.

(Exhibit A)

Exhibit B proves that i can't claim all the work. Susie is all about demolition - the rubber mallet is never far from her reach.

We didn't get any pictures, but Josh Smith is my tiling expert, so he was brought in to help get things kicked off. We added a wrinkle of adding under-floor heating. It was about this point in the process that i noticed a warning label on the heating strip that said to test the resistance of the strip BEFORE, during and after installation. Let's hope that AFTER will suffice ...

Susie can read Japanese words in the tape work.

I got the finishing touching in place and then grouted the tiles.

This next weekend Josh Williams is going to be here to help out with building a new sink cabinet base. I'll try to get some pictures of that ...

Ned, the Killer Beast!!

2008-09-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ned is growing up. He's come along way from kittyhood, where he bonked his head on the chair more than a few times, didn't know how to chase and sneak up on things to adult kittyhood where he has successfully had his first kill. Lucy, you may remember, use to bring us love gifts of shrews and snakes when she was alive. Ned is now successfully following in his big sister's steps with field mice and shrews. We are so proud! ha ha! He hasn't got the full handle on things; he left one alive and we had to scoop it up in a bag and dump it over the fence. He's learning though.

New York, New York

2008-09-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

As you all may or may not know, it is one of Mike's goals to make it to all the Major League Baseball Stadiums. Since Yankee Stadium is to be demolished at the end of this season, we decided that this year would be the perfect time to go see a game, catch a Broadway show, see Lady Liberty and have some fun. So that is what we did.

Mike was a bit tentative about going to a Broadway show, but I was persistent. No way was I NOT going to a Broadway show while in NY. I guess one might call that selfish, but I don't care. When in NY go to a Broadway show. The first night we started with a classic "A Chorus Line." The second night, after Mike was hooked, we saw a more contemporary show, "Avenue Q." It really is The Muppets and Sesame Street wrapped in one. Hilarious!

HILLMANS AT THE COAST

2008-07-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-29T21:50:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

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 ...

What to do with my life

2008-04-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

I found out recently that the Corvallis HP [Hewlett-Packard] site is no longer open to IT [Information Technology] employees (effective the end of FY09 - or Nov 2009). I'm still in a bit of shock over this, and am just starting to get to the point where i've accepted it and am ready to figure out what to do next. That's where i seem to be hitting a wall. For all of my 'real' working life, i've worked for HP in the IT department; so the idea of going outside of those bounds is foreign and somewhat frightening.

For a couple months now, i've been looking for other work options to see what the world outside HP is like. I've sent out 8 or so resumes to various companies where i thought i'd be a good fit, and so far have gotten bubkis for response. Not even a "we reviewed your resume and we don't like you". It's taken a small toll on my ego, but friends have lifted my spirits in reminding me that looking for a new job isn't easy and there are going to be a lot of rejections before you get a 'yes'. Of course it's one thing for me to be looking for another job when i have a steady one in hand, but it's another when all of a sudden i found out that steady is a poor descriptor.

I'm having a difficult time deciding if i want to find another IT job, or if this is a point in my life where i can branch out and do something different. The idea of doing something different is cool, but i can't figure out what i should do. There are a couple things that interest me - but none of them seem to translate into jobs. Another option would be to go back to school for something, but there again, i can't really think of anything that i'm interested in enough to go to school for.

Location is a problem - here in Corvallis, there's not that many options, at least not in IT. We like the area, and Susie has a really good job, but if i choose to stay in IT, we'll need to move.

If you think about it - say a prayer for us that we'll figure out what to do.

Thanks - Mike & Susie

The last season in Yankee Stadium

2008-04-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, someone mentioned to me that this is the last year for Yankee Stadium. I must admit i'm not a huge Yankee fan (i'm not a hater though), and i appreciate what they mean to the National Pastime (baseball). I know it's clique to say that i would like to make it to each MLB stadium, but i'd like to make it to each MLB stadium, and Yankee Stadium is one of the historical stadiums that's high on my list. So after discussing it a bit with Susie, we decided to make that a quick trip this year - go to a game at Yankee Stadium and hang out in New York for a couple days. The tickets arrived today (i got them on StubHub.com) - now i just have to stay calm until July 31st ...

In the interest of perspective, these are the stadiums i've been to so far -
1.) The Kingdome - Seattle, WA - home of the Mariners
2.) Safeco Field - Seattle, WA - new home of the Mariners
3.) PETCO Park - San Diego, CA - home of the Padres
4.) Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL - home of the Cubs
5.) Minute Maid Park - Houston, TX - home of the Astros
6.) Ranger Ballpark - Arlington, TX - home of the Texas Rangers

Hopefully over the next few years i can extend this list ... :)

Another break

2008-04-03T21:11:00.001-07:00

Ai karamba, i don't know how people manage to have something to blog about every day - i seem lucky if i can get a couple posts in a month.

I don't have a whole bunch to say this time around, i'm just hoping that if i post something today, tomorrow i'll be inspired to write more.

Also, just in case there's anyone who reads this and isn't on the Tax Relief list, send me your home address as you'll want to be included in the distribution this year. The picture is put together and a first-run has gone to Costco - it's an instant classic.

Hope all is well out there ...

Mike

In the pits

2008-03-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Next stop on our tour was pit row ... this is a shot right after we left the staging area for the cars (post-inspection) and headed out to the pits. Quite an amazing sight to go from being in the garage area to the sudden spaciousness of the track and pit area. Each car has a specific pit area setup, from what i recall, it's chosen in the order that the driver qualified.

Jeff Gordon's stop was right at the mouth where the cars left the staging area and were pushed onto the track. He chose this pit placement so that no other cars can block his front when he's trying to exit. It seemed a good strategy as he wasn't pinned in the pits at all - in fact he probably gained 4 or 5 spots just because his pit crew was consistently quicker than other crews.

The crew stands are amazing in and of themselves. Each one is rolled out a few hours before the race and have quite an assortment of tools and computer equipment. I believe each pit stop is recorded and reviewed on the spot so that crews can solve process hiccups on the fly. The crew boss sits up top most of the race along with wives, owners, etc. I don't recall which rig it was, but Troy Aikman (QB for the Dallas Cowboys; now announcer) was seen on one of them.

Here's Teri and i both looking like we knew what we're doing - like we'd been to many a race before.

Lost focus, i'm back now

2008-03-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

Yikes, too much stuff going on, i have neglected to add more pictures (along with ever-so-witty commentary).

Before the race, as we were going through the Neon Garage, we passed by the inspection station where the NASCAR inspection team verified a ton of things on each car. Things like car profiles, weights, etc are checked over and made sure they fit within the rules that NASCAR has set out for both safety and equality to ensure that each race is fair. As we were wandering by, it happened that the 24 car was being inspected. The 24 car is sponsored by DuPont and driven by Jeff Gordon. According to Jeff Foxworthy, Jeff Gordon is hated by NASCAR fans because he enunciates.

A little further down from the inspection station was a staging area where teams did final prep on the cars before they were rolled onto the race track. There were NASCAR officials all over the place making sure none of the last minute work would undermine the inspections. One of the most noticeable actions was to clean and cover the windshield to remove hand prints left by the inspectors and then cover to keep the inside of the car cool.

I don't recall who drove the Ford car above (nor do i recall the car number - ok, i just looked it up, #17, Matt Kenseth), but it was interesting to see the cars up this close. Being a Toyota driver, it was nice to see the 83 car of team Red Bull (don't recall the driver right now - looked it up too, Brian Vickers, who incidentally started the race dead last ... ) up close. It amazes me that Toyota is allowed in NASCAR, but i'm glad to see it - i believe it will push American car companies to produce better products.

Last, but not least is the 99 car (a Ford) driven by the race winner, Carl Edwards. I believe here the team is loosening the screw that holds the oil cap in place. [For those of you that don't follow NASCAR, after the race, the 99 car was re-inspected and was found to be missing the oil cap. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but somehow it's linked to air movement through the cabin and creates a significant amount of downforce which allows the car to take corners faster at this speedway. Of course the team claims that the screw that holds the cap and the cap itself worked themselves loose during the race and that by no means was it removed to provide an advantage.]

Enough for one night ...

NASCAR race day intro

2008-03-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

The race we went to was the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - it's the third NASCAR points race of the season (i know that because i read it in the newspaper). Jimmie Johnson has won this race three years in a row, but this year they've switched to the COT (car of tomorrow) and our friend Jimmie hasn't quite gotten the feel for the car. I'm a little surprised at the COT name, unless at some point they're going to change the meaning to 'Car of Today'.

We showed up at the track a few hours before the race and made our way up to the luxury box suites. This picture is looking down onto the track from the suite. From our glass house we could see right down onto pit row, the start / finish line and had a pretty decent peek into the 'Neon Garage' (i'll explain that later). Looking down onto the track, they were setting up for a Blue Man Group pre-race mini-concert.

This is just a second picture of the suite showing the stadium seating where we perched ourselves for most of the race.

As part of the suite package, we got to go under the race track and out to the Neon Garage. The speedway has just spent a couple million dollars redoing this area. The idea is that each race car has a spot for their truck and a garage to pre-race prep the cars. They have it setup so you can look down onto the garage areas (without interrupting the crews) and watch as they prepare for the race. They also have entertainment setup - when we got there, there was some lady singing Faith Hill cover songs. It's a really great way to get a peek into what goes on in race preparation. They've got things setup so that the crews can get their work done, but fans can feel like they're a part of it.

We were lucky enough to have a guide that is originally from North Carolina and understood the NASCAR atmosphere. As we toured the Neon Garage, he told us some of the traditions, meanings and so on. There's a lot more to racing cars than first meets the eye. We toured for around an hour with him, then were set free to roam around and look. This picture is taken from pit row looking up at where we would watch the race.

I'll post some more pics tomorrow ...

I car, you car, NASCAR

2008-03-04T21:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly a NASCAR fan - i don't dislike it, i just don't follow it very closely, so in the unwritten list of things i'd like to do in my life, going to a NASCAR race was on the list, but not very high. But here's where it gets good ... i happen to know someone who is able to get people like me into places like NASCAR races.

I'll post some pics over the next couple of days with my slant on the race, but for starters, here's a quick clip of the track - i don't know if there's sound or not.

no pictures for you, come back in one year

2008-02-17T15:24:00.001-08:00

I looked through our pictures, and can't find anything recent that invokes a blogging about. Obviously this means we need to go do stuff and take more pictures. So instead you get a couple ramblings from me.
Every year that we've lived in Oregon, for somewhere between 1 and 2 weeks in February, we get sunshine and beautiful weather. We're in that window right now - it's awesome. It's just enough to hold me through till summer gets here in June or July - almost. It's really more of a cruel reminder that it's sunny somewhere else, but it will be back to rain in a couple days. I'm glad for the little lift though. So seeing as it's not raining, we've been doing some yard work. We planted some blueberry bushes, moved a couple plants from the front to the back yard and Susie did a lot of work on the path back to the shed. There's still a ways to go, but it's coming along well.

I've been working on a couple projects in the garage. Our neighbors - Rob and Dawn - have a tanning salon just down the hill. Rob had talked to me a couple weeks ago about building a little stand to cover over some of the cables, wiring, etc running from the front desk to the tanning beds. I have some left-over wood scraps in the garage, so i'm putting together a table for him. It's coming along well, i have to sand, stain and put a finish on it, but it's a piece that i'm going to be proud to been seen by the public. I'll have to take a couple pictures of that.

I'm a little hesitant to admit this, but we watched a move the other night - Hot Rod. Man-oh-man was it a stupid-silly movie. I'm not sure that i'd highly recommend it to anyone unless they were truly looking for a stupid-silly movie. But with that being said, i did a fair amount of laughing at it.

Have a good one ...

Snowboarding at Hoodoo

2008-02-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since i've gone snowboarding, but Josh asked me to go a while back, and since my knee has been feeling better, i decided it was time to try it again. We set off way too early (at least for people who like to sleep) and got up to the Hoodoo ski lodge before the lifts were open. On the up side, we drove all the way up to the parking lot and only got stuck behind one semi driving up highway 20 - other than that, we hardly saw anyone. We got to the parking lot and were right up front (another first for me). We headed in, signed away our lives and got fitted for snowboards. Pretty soon we were waddling out to the lifts talking trash and stealing poles from skiers.

The first couple runs were on green runs, just to get our legs back under us. I hadn't boarded in somewhere around 6 or 7 years and Josh hadn't in about 10 - so at first, we looked like rookies. That didn't last long, on our second run we were pulling backside 1080s off phat cliffs - oh wait, that was what i watched on the X Games ...

After a couple runs and surprisingly little time, we headed to the lodge to catch our breath and drink some go-juice. Man-oh-man were we styling in the lodge ... we were fighting off lodge-bunnies left and right.

After a couple mins, we were back to shredding. Somewhere in the mix, we decided we should take the big chair all the way up to the top. There were some great views, and thankfully one blue run (the others were black, and we weren't quite on our games yet).

We were convinced we had somehow learned to jump in the past couple non-riding years, and come to find out, we hadn't. But we gave some great tries, and wound up getting snow in places snow doesn't feel good.

A couple more runs and it was lunch time. A fist-full of cash later, we had lunch in hand and perhaps some spilled down our fronts. At those prices, i would have expected some steak, but oddly enough they fleeced us, then had us stack our trays on the way out. Back to the white-stuff. By this time we're strutting like we own the place - hitting jumps and sticking landings - well, at least hitting some jumps.

Not too long after, and perhaps because we were trying to land some jumps, my knee started talking to me. It was saying things i didn't want to hear, but things that needed to be said. So we called it a day and headed back down.

Good day!

snow better time for an angel

2008-01-31T21:10:00.000-08:00

we got snow this week, and a little last week - who would have guessed? i am not a big snow person - well, i like snow well enough, but i like to go to snow, not have it come to me. i like the snow-covered ground, just not the snow-covered roads. but since i don't have a whole lot of control over the snow coming to me, i tried to embrace the moment (and stay off the roads by working at home).

susie on the other hand is quite fond of the stuff and even ventured out to lay down and make a snow angel in it.

Rancho Sisquoc

2008-01-07T19:20:00.001-08:00

I have no idea what a Sisquoc is, but i'm here to tell you it produces some good wine.
While we were down in Cali with Toby and Lynne'e, we stopped in at the Rancho Sisquoc tasting room. For directions see www.ranchosisquoc.com - or call T&L and they can take you on a personalized tour as long as you pay the tasting fee.

I can't quite tell you where it is, but it's about a 35 minute drive from T&L's place (an 18 minute return if Susie's driving). You get off highway 101 somewhere south of Nipomo and head east. After winding your way down some cool roads, you end up at a Y in the road. The high road takes you to a chapel (the one on the wine label), the low road takes you to the winery. We 'really' were meaning to take the high road, but once we started down the path, there was no where to turn around.

The tasting room is really cool, almost like an old barn and the ladies doing the pouring were very friendly. Unfortunately there were quite a few people that had missed the chapel turnoff, so we had to share the place. I think this also led to shorter pours, but Lynne'e took matters into her hands and snuck in an extra drink since she and Toby kept trading off getting refills.

I'm partial towards reds (wine that is), so i'd recommend the Tre Vini and the Meritage, but the Sylvaner was really good (for a white).

After putting on our best wine snob show, we headed out to the picnic area and had a great lunch. Might i remind you that this was 30 Dec - we shouldn't have been able to be outside having a picnic - oh wait, it was in Cali ...

On a separate note ... beware if you have T&L with you - you get to keep your wine glass as part of the tasting, and T&L even offered to give us theirs - but lo and behold, the wine glasses are in Cali in a cupboard, and we are in Oregon.

Happy New Year (a few days late)

2008-01-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years everyone - to commemorate the year, i give you a couple pictures of the sun setting on 12/31/2007 as seen on a beach somewhere near Oceano, CA.

I hope that 2008 will be a great year for each of us.

bitter grappa face

2008-01-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

I was looking back over some pictures from the year and found some from my birthday dinner with Josh and Jess Smith. For the past couple years we've gone to Sybaris for their OctoberFest dinner. Sybaris is a local restaurant that changes the menu every month. The food is incredible, and although it's a tad spendy, we've never felt that it wasn't worth it. For those of you that need a reminder, my birthday is October 7th and i have idea lists on both Amazon.com and Rockler.com.

Susie and i have gone enough that we know one of the waiters - Jesse - he's a great guy and always hooks us up with a little something extra. As it happened, Jesse was our waiter on the night of the birthday feast. He was getting our drink order, and Jess asked him what year the Pinot Grappa was ... Jesse chuckled a bit, then told her that the year really doesn't matter, we didn't want grappa with dinner. We asked him what the dealio with it is, and he said the best way to describe it is for us to try some. Thankfully he waited till after dinner to bring it out. Below are the facial responses to what grappa tastes like ...

gettin us a Christmas tree

2007-12-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

On a road not too far away from here is a Christmas tree farm. Seeing as it's getting close to Christmas time, and we're going to be at home this Christmas, we decided a visit to said Christmas tree farm was in order. We set out on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn (well, maybe 10 AM) on our mission and got there around 10:03 and promptly realized we didn't have enough cash and we had forgotten the checkbook. We hung our heads, turned the Tacoma around and made the daunting return trip to secure funding. Fast-forward to 10:07 and we're back at the tree farm with checkbook in pocket, along with our hands since the wind was blowing and it was a full 5 degrees colder up to the hill. We chatted with the dude in the barn and he told us the prime area for the type of tree we were after - a noble.

We waddled back to the truck to pick up the saw, then it was deep in to the forest. Right next to the road we found just the tree we were after -

come to find out, Susie has been stopping to talk to this tree for about the last two months to ensure that it grew up straight and kept good spacing for lights and ornaments. Turns out she'd done too good of a job as that particular tree was a little too tall for the living room. We scoured the hillside and after 10 steps found a tree that was paying better attention to Susie's pep-talks. Susie gave the tree a big hug to let it know it had to endure some sawing before it could come home with us.

For some reason, i am physically unable to cutdown a Christmas tree, so i hacked at the trunk for a while, then had to have Sus finish the job.

Fresh in my mind was a conversation that i should have borrowed Sean's cordless sawzall ... . Oh well, at least i can carry trees 20 steps before having to ask for assistance.

We paid the dues, threw the tree in the back of the truck and headed back home - again, but for the last time for this excursion. We got home and then my wish of using a sawzall came true as i cut a straight bottom for the tree - note to self though, use the correct blade next time.

After some pushing and shoving, we got the tree setup - next comes the decorating ...

Long time no post ...

2007-11-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, seeing as it's been almost a month since i've posted anything, i guess i'd better get on it.
The shed is pretty much done - a couple things to finish off here an there, but not much that is picture-worthy.
I took off part of Friday this last week to spend some time working on various projects around the house. Susie was off in Boise spending time with family and friends, so i stayed up way too late working out in the garage. I was able to get a new 'cabinet' made for holding all my tools with cases. I also made a new mobile base for my chopsaw - i should clarify, i bought a mobile base, and added a platform for the saw since the mobile base wasn't quite big enough. Anyhoo, i'm able to roll the chopsaw around the garage as needed now.
I've also been working under the house as some of the insulation has come loose and is hanging down touching the ground. I'm pretty sure this has a direct link to one of the airvents being broken and cats being down there. I think i've blocked off the kitty-portals, now it's on to cleaning up the mess before the rains come and turn the ground to mush under the house. I REALLY don't like crawling around down there - this house is really close to the ground - not sure if it's because the foundation is shorter, or if they didn't take out any dirt - but i can't even sit up straight while under there. I've been taking it a little at a time so i don't have to be down there long.
Alright, i'm out of stuff to say for now ...

Adding the shell

2007-10-09T21:03:00.001-07:00

Next came the siding. I don't remember what the deal was, but Sus wasn't around, so i had to put some of the siding up myself. Note to self for next time i put siding on something - make sure there is someone to help. Siding is awkward and has a way of staying in place until the milisecond that you pull the trigger on the nailgun. Once the nail has embedded itself right in a stud, then you're able to see the error of your ways and that the sheet isn't where you were needing it to be. Oh well, it's not too bad, and what is a little off will just get an extra helping of caulk.

I only got two sides up the first night (after the shingling) and it was just in time, cause it rained like there was another flood coming (actually it just sprinkled a little bit). So the next day i did the third side.

Next came the realization that windows go behind the siding, not in front of it ... something that would have been good to know before hand. I must admit though, it was easy to cut the siding from the inside with a sawzall (one of the greatest tools ever invented by man) using the window frame as the guide. There was no measuring, no guess work, just a simple cut and then a tear-down of the siding.

Meaning that once the window was in and the siding back in place, it fit like a glove.

Sus helped me get side 4 in place, but i think we were rushing to beat the fading light, cause we didn't do any better than i had done on my own.

We got the peak part covered, and another 'ah-ha' moment was that when i realized that i don't have much over-hang on the roof. I hope it doesn't turn out to bite me in the future. I think i should have added another sheet of plywood to the roof. But at this point, it's done and i'm not taking the roof off.

The first two corners are in place and the light is fading, time to head inside ...

Shingles anyone?

2007-10-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

The weather forcast showed rain for 10 days straight, so i figured it would be prudent to get the roof shingled. Let's see - the last time i actively shingled a roof was when i lived in Auburn, WA and i helped with re-shingling the church roof. I think i was 14 at the time (i might have the age off), but the idea remains that this is not something i do every day. Thankfully i assisted Bruce with putting a roof on Caiden's play structure a few weeks ago, so i had a pretty fresh idea of what was supposed to happen.

In hind sight, i wish i had put the siding on first. I got up on the roof and the whole thing wobbled and creaked. It was like being on a boat, but without the salmon biting -- hmm, that's a mental picture that brings back painful memories.

Thankfully the weather held out - it rained a little bit at the start of festivities, but tapered off and was really nice the rest of the day.

And at the end of the day, the roof was shingled - and with a little sunlight left, it was on to the siding (which i'll cover in the next post).

Getting the roof on the shed

2007-10-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

I tried to weasle Vegas-Josh into flying up to help with building the roof for the shed, but that didn't work out, so i recruited Corvallis-Josh and got some pointers and more drawings from Scott. I'm not sure if this was exactly what Scott has in mind, but it's what is in place now and i'm not changing it.

We started out with preparing the ridge beam. Josh and Sus put the truss supports on the ridge beam while i ate lunch (i needed my strength).

Then we attached some support pieces for the ridge beam. In Scott's drawing, he had noted that the roof should be a 12 / 4 pitch. When i first read this, i was thinking that mean that the peak of the roof would be 4 foot above the top of the structure, so i built the support piece that tall. I attached it to the structure and then noticed how high that was - it was ridiculous - so i called him up and decided it should be 2 foot above. This was much better! (In the picture below, the support piece is just above the blue step on the ladder.)

We set the ridge beam in place and started attaching the trusses. Although we don't have pictures, each truss is then attached with a hurricane strap to the building structure.

By the end of the day, we pretty much had the roof structure in place.

Josh had to take off for a hot date, so Sus and i finished up some of the small stuff, then (in Josh's borrowed Tundra) headed back to Home Depot for sheets of siding and other misc stuff ...

Body Worlds 3

2007-09-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Sus and I headed up to OMSI in Portland last night to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit. It’s an anatomy exhibit of the plastination work of Dr. Gunther von Hagens – a German anatomist who has developed a really cool way of preserving human bodies. “Plastination is the process of extracting all bodily fluids and soluble fats from specimens, replacing them through vacuum forced impregnation with reactive resins and elastomers, and then curing them with light, heat, or certain gasses, which give the specimens rigidity and permanence.” Admittedly, I’m not a big follower of anatomy, but the exhibit was fascinating.

There is a mix of showcase displays and display cases. The display cases are mostly of organs, cross-cut sections, bones, etc. These are interesting, but pale in comparison to the showcase displays. The showcase displays had full-body plastinations in various poses, each designed to highlight a muscle group or to display the alignment and association of our organs. In some cases the bodies are pretty much ‘intact’ but in other cases certain bones, muscles, etc have been moved to the side to show what’s underneath. It is both artistic and informative.

When I first walked into the display hall, I felt a certain amount of apprehension just because I didn’t know how I was going to react to seeing bodies on display. There is also a very faint smell – I’m not sure how to describe it – that I noticed at first that wasn’t very pleasant. But it didn’t take long until the fascination of seeing bodies in such a state of preservation took over and any qualms were long gone.

One of the most interesting sections was of the blood movement through the body. The process they use is to inject a plastic into the specimen, wait for it to harden and then remove all the non-plastic material. What is left is an imprint of all the blood vessels. They had a hand, a foot, and various other body parts. It is incredible to see how many (and how tiny) vessels are in your hands and fingers.

Also interesting was a partial timeline of anatomy that was displayed in drawings and writings. The main contributors they highlighted were Galen (AD 129), a Greek physician who studied the anatomy of dogs and pigs and extrapolated those findings to humans. In some cases, he was pretty close, but in others he was way off. His ideas were challenged by Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564) a physician born in Brussels. He wrote the book De humani corporis fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body) and is considered the father of modern anatomy. They also talked about many of the means used to preserve bodies and how plastination has really been a breakthrough in the preservation of color, mass and shape.

If you have the chance to view any of the Body World’s exhibits, I would highly recommend it. For any further reading – see Body Worlds

Building the shed - days 2-4 (9/23-26/2007)

2007-09-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Day two was a shorter day, so although it doesn't look like we got much done, we kinda did.

We started on the stick frame for the walls with Susie and i alternating between hammerring the studs. I did a pretty good job on the wood, but Susie kept getting confused by which 'stud' to hammer, so i have bruises all over.

At the end of day 2, we had the two back walls up and in place.

Day 3 didn't see too much progress either - we both had to work a little late, so we only had about an hour to work on the shed. We did get another side up. And get this ... i had looked the night before on craigslist and happened to notice a free vinyl window. I emailed and it was still available, so i went a total of 4 blocks to go pick it up. Ka-ching - freebie window!!! Granted one of the glass panes is broken, but it's dual pane, so we'll need to fix it at some point, but for the immediate future, it keeps rain out.

The end of day 3 saw three walls in place and one window placement ready.

Day 4 was actually just my lunch hour today - i was working from home and was getting a little peeved at some people, so i decided a working lunch was best; just not working for HP. I got the last wall up including the door frame. I have one more trip to make to Home Depot tonight, so i'm off to spend some more money.

Building the shed day 1 (9/22/2007)

2007-09-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

The next project on the list is a shed - we decided on the back right corner of the yard. Scott (Susie's oldest brother) drew up some plans and although i have tried to follow them as best i could, the last lineitem (DeWalt heavy duty 12" double-bevel sliding compound mitre saw and stand) wasn't approved by procurement. So i did the best i could with the tools available to me.

I started out with getting the 6 concrete pier blocks level and square to one another. This is a task that i would not wish on my worst enemy - it took forever.

But finally with some patience and a lot of time on my knees with a small shovel and level, i believe i got everything done correctly.

Once the pier blocks and outline were in place, it was time to add the supports.

Sus had to demonstrate that everything is actually attached and not ready to fall apart.

Then came the base OSB

And voila, we have the base to the shed

At the end of day one, the base was complete and level ...

San Francisco AVP stop

2007-09-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

and now for the exciting finish to the San Francisco blog posting ... the AVP tournament stop.

The tournament was held on pier 32 or 34 - just under the Bay Bridge. It was a little overcast in the morning, but quickly burned off and turned into a wonderful day. It would have been fun being there for each day of the tournament, but we had so much other stuff to do and see that we just went to the final day. I don't recall who was in all the games, but the first was a mens game to determine 3rd and 4th place. The second was the women's equivalent and it was a blow-out. After an hour or so break, it was the men's final followed by the women's final. Toby could probably tell who all played, or i could post a link to the AVP site, but i'll leave that up to anyone who's interested.

So here comes the funniest part of the day. We were being pretty good about drinking water throughout the day and so invariably the time came to run to the restroom. Right as the men's final completed, Sus and i headed down to the porta-potties. We got down there, and there was a huge line already formed, so we hopped in line. I had grabbed the camera just in case we saw any of the players close up and after a little while of standing there, here comes a lady with a Hilton shirt and fake tattoo on her arm (a tattoo for Hilton) - obviously one of the players. She headed through the line and went to the players tent which was in the corner. She looked around for something, then started heading back - so being the paparazzi that i am, i pulled out the camera and was doing my best to sneak a picture of her. No dice, the camera was trying to decide what to focus on, and didn't take the shot. As it turns out, since i was so madly trying to get her picture, a hole opened up in the line in front of me and she walked right through. I don't recall exactly what she said, but i responded with something like "yeah, and i didn't even get the shot off" - so she asked if i wanted to have my picture taken with her. Of course i did, so Sus took the camera and snapped a pic of the two of us. Once we're done, i sheepishly admitted that i had no idea who she was. She comes back with, "i'm a coach". Doh ... after all that, all i get was a picture of me with some coach. After taking care of business, we went back to our seats and i told Toby and Lynne'e about it. They laughed at me and the situation. At first i thought she was the coach for Misty May and Kerri Walsh, but after further review, figured she is the coach for Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh. Once i got home, i did some looking online, and found her name is Liz Masakayan - she's a really accomplished volleyball player. So in hind sight, it was really cool to meet her, i just wish i had known who she was in the first place ...

Weekend in San Francisco, part 1

2007-09-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Toby and Lynne'e are pretty big beach volleyball fans, and a while back they invited us to join them in San Francisco for an AVP tournament and just to hang out - either that or we invited ourselves, i don't recall. Anyhoo, we got in touch with Shannon (one of Lynne'e's college roommates) and she graciously allowed us to descend on her place for the weekend. We flew in on Friday morning and spent a while getting from the Oakland Airport to San Francisco on the various means of public transportation. I'll take this as a moment to say that i really like well-organized public transportation. Back to the subject at hand - we beat T&L there, but after chatting with them a couple times on the cell decided to meet them downtown once they got in. In our wanderings around, we saw Coit Tower, and then the Fog City Diner. Once we met up with T&L, we wandered down to pier 39, then drove to the Presido, then headed to Shannon's place. The next day we got up early (ok, not really) and went to the Legion of Honor, then headed down to the Embarcadero and hit the Saturday Market. Inside, T&L were amazed at something i said which doesn't really surprise me. We also stopped in at the South Beach Yacht Club to hang out with Toby's cousin who's a member there and was volunteering at the bar that day. We had a great time hanging out in their beautiful new club house. On the way back to Shannon's we had to stop by the Cheesecake Factory. I'll post next about the volleyball tournament.

Sunriver in September

2007-09-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

Not that i don't like children, but let me just say that the best time to go to Sunriver is after Labor Day, once school is back in session. It was so nice to be in Sunriver and not have a bunch of kids everywhere you go.

For those of you that don't know, my cousin Bart has a place over in Sunriver that he generously lets us use if no one else has the house rented. It has been a boon on years that the vacation funds (like this year) are low. Susie and i had been talking about a week / weekend over there, and the weekend of the 6th through the 10th came up. Thankfully the house wasn't rented, so we were in like flynn.

Funnily enough, my uncle, aunt and cousin (other side of the family) were in the house right next to us. We were able to hang out with them a little bit, but uncle Mike had caught a cold, so he wasn't feeling the best. It was fun to see them, and to have good neighbors.

This is the bridge over the Deschutes River right near Bart's place

There is a mountain bike trail that Phat Eddie introduced us to a couple years ago (Phat Eddie was a roommate in college) that Susie and i had to ride since we were there. Usually we take 2 vehicles, drop one off at Inn at the 7th Mountain, then drive back to a point on the trail and just ride one way (around 12 miles) but since we didn't have 2 vehicles, we decided to start from Sunriver and see how far we could make it before i ran out of steam. Surprisingly, we went all the way there and back (40 miles roundtrip) and there was only one uphill stretch that i had to walk up instead of ride. This is a picture along the trail.

The next day we went fishing at Devil's Lake, right across from the starting point of the trail to the South Sister. Last time we fished there, we slayed em - this time, not so much. It was really windy and we weren't catching fish, so we didn't stay all that long. We did some driving around looking for other fishing options, but besides a cast or two here and there, didn't come up with anything great.

We took a ride around Sunriver on the bike paths - another 20 miles on another afternoon. We took some paths we hadn't been on before and saw some of the sights of Sunriver.

We were tempted to ride the bikes at Bart's house, but not knowing what to expect, we took our bikes. Of course we had to give his old-school rides a spin.

part 2 of Labor Day weekend - the fire pit

2007-09-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

The house has a huge deck off the back (sorry i don't have a picture of it as it was) that is nice, but not used a whole bunch. What better than to add a fire pit off the corner then? We started a couple weeks back by cutting the outline and seeing what it looked like under the deck. Quick jump back in time ... the lady that lived here before us had a shaggy dog .. and we're back - the deck had a whole mess of long dog hair in the cracks, worked under the boards, etc - GROSS. After looking under there, we decided on a good approach to changing the support beams, where to put the anchor blocks, etc. This weekend was the next part of the metamorphasis - changing the supports and setting up the fire pit base.

This is the area once the main section of the deck had been removed and the change in support had been made. Susie helped me a lot with all this, then i bailed to the garage to work on some other projects while she worked on the stonework.

Susie did a great job with making the area look like we had imagined. She used flagstones that had been on the side of the driveway - the same flagstone she's used for the path.

Susie surveying her handiwork (after having a shower and some food).

Of course Ned had to give his approval.

Labors of Labor Day weekend

2007-09-06T14:28:00.001-07:00

This will have to be a 2-part post, we got a lot of work done this past Labor Day weekend.
The first set of work was to install the new microwave and oven ... not a difficult task right? If you answered 'yes', you've never worked with me on a project - no matter how big or small, it always turns out a little more difficult than expected (or at least that's the excuse i use).

This is the old microwave and oven. The oven was a gas top, gas oven setup. It wasn't all that pleasant to be around as it would tend to gas you out when you were cooking. I don't think it ever reached a dangerous level, but it sure was annoying. Of course since the old oven was gas, the outlet behind it was only 110V. The new oven is gas cooktop, convection oven, so it needs 220V. Step in Mike the electrician (this is the part where things seem to get difficult). After a couple trips to Home Depot i'm armed with the right cables, outlets, etc. I fight with the insulation for a while, then decide that another trip to HD is in order to get a fish tape. That helped things tremendously. I got the outlet in, then started working on the microwave ...

According to code, the microwave should be 18 inches above the cooking surface. A quick check with the tape measure let me know that we were too close by about 1 3/4 inches - so instead of just slapping the new microwave in, i have to raise the cabinets (see some of the difficulties are not brought on by me, but by sloppy house building - thanks Conser Homes, and may i never buy another product of your 'craftmanship').

Anyhoo, after some moving around and some mis-aligned hole fixes, we got both the microwave and oven in place.

Then decided pancakes would be good - seeing as it came with a removable center griddle ...

Susie is happy about her almost-completed-kitchen :)

Ned wants some face time.

2007-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ned wanted some face time. He was feeling left out. The beastie is doing well. His hair is growing back from his annual summer shave. His day consists of lounging around the house.

Susie's annual bike crash

2007-08-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

As is tradition, I crashed on my mountain bike again this year. The funny part is that at the mid-point in my ride (atop Dimple Hill) I called Shannon to say, "Hey, I'm riding...wish you were here." That was my fatal mistake. As all or most of you know, I am imfamous for crashing when I am riding with Shannon. Needless to say, about 1, maybe 2 minutes from the end of my ride, I ate it. My front wheel hit soft gravel and it was Susie on the trail. This the one of my best war wounds. smile.

Adding onto the kitchen

2007-08-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

The kitchen is a pretty decent size, but one section in particular is really small - the area between the fridge and the pantry. It measured about 17 inches wide; about all we would put there was the coffee machine, and even that was tight.

When we decided on putting new countertops, we thought it was the perfect time to add some countertop space. We closed over the existing door (again, i have Josh to thank for his help there) and then had some new wall and base cabinets made (done by Santiam Cabinets in Albany, Oregon - good people).

While the cabinets were being built, Susie painted the kitchen a great blue color.

We had the cabinets installed on Thursday and the countertops on Friday. I don't recommend having the two installs that close, but i'm glad it worked out.

I'll save the finishing touches for a later blog entry ...

Refinishing the cabinets

2007-08-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of the things we really didn't like about the new house was the cabinets. They were too much of a honey color for our liking. We did some research into having them chemically stripped, but it was going to be a bunch of money and they couldn't guarantee that it was going to take all the finish off. So we decided that we could do it ourselves.

We rounded up the usual suspects (Josh and Jess Smith) and started sanding like fools. Susie and Jess took the doors outside while Josh and i worked on the cabinets themselves.

It didn't take long before everything was covered in sawdust, but amazingly, we finished sanding in one Saturday.

After the first sanding the oak looked great.

So i put on some wood conditioner and the first coat of Varathane Dark Walnut stain. The first cabinet turned out just like we had envisioned, but somewhere along the way they got darker and darker.

To be continued ...

The breakfast nook - phase 1

2007-08-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

This house has an interesting breakfast nook just off the kitchen and dining room. It seemed too small for a table and chairs, so we decided it should become a seating area with a bookshelf. These pictures are art of phase 1, hopefully to be followed by various other phases in the not-too-distant future. I would wax eloquent with the work that i did, but basically it's plywood boxes put on the level and painted white. The interesting part of it is that there was a register right under the middle window. We didn't want to lose that air, so there's a wood-cutout vent in the front and the sides are setup so that air can escape there. Hopefully it will never become a fire hazard, or at least if it does, it won't be while we own the house. The next phase (which i'll have to take pictures of) is the lighting for the nook. We have some of the lighting in place now, but i'll add the finishing touches once we have the bookshelf in place. The bookshelf is the next phase and i already have the base finished.

House Improvements

2007-08-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

As you know Mike & I are making changes to the house. The three big ones were a paint job, yard, and kitchen. The path was my vision, and it is almost done. It needs the shed at the end to complete the idea. (Hopefully a Fall construction), and the kitchen is Mike's main project this summer. He is 99% done. We are both very happy with the outcome. Mike did a lot of work (with help from friends), and it is nice to be able to use the kitchen.

Superhero Susie!!

2007-08-17T15:42:00.000-07:00

start of a blog

2007-08-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Since Susie has been patiently waiting for us to start a blog, i thought i'd better get on it.
I will probably use the house projects we have going as a basis for the blog, but will try to add some pics of vacations, friends and of course Ned.

I'm going to have to figure out 1. how to modify the size of pictures on a Mac, 2. how to add to a blog ... so pictures later.

back in a bit ... mike