Inclement Weather

While not unheard of, it is unusual to get snow this late in February. It will make for an interesting day. I believe it's suppose to stick around until tomorrow and then it's going to get cold for a few days. The weatherman is calling for temperatures in the teen's over the weekend. Brrrrrrrr!

Frosty Morning

Just above freezing this morning for the walk with the boys. It was raining when we went to bed last night. A cold front moved in overnight and made pretty ice patterns on the cars.

You can't see it very well but the pattern on the truck canopy has little hairs of ice crystals standing up, making the patterns. Mini stalagmites!

It's going to be a beautiful sunny day. First is a driving lesson for grandson E. Time to try a short drive on the freeway in my truck and then some more practice with the stick shift in P's car. P get's to visit with Troy while we're out terrorizing the other drivers.

At work it's two weeks to the two day ISO audit and a week after we get hit with a three day SSQA (Standardized Supplier Quality Assurance) audit. It's the second one that has us worried.

Signs of Spring?

Saw these on our walk this morning along with a flight of geese heading in a northernly direction.

Spring can't be far behind.

Superbowl

Go Packers!

Spring, 2009

It's been a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, temperature got up to the low 80's for the first time this year. Twilight is almost done, only the faintest light left. I just came in from sitting out back with the dogs, helping them make sure the backyard is safe from those pesky squirrels. The sound of the kids playing in the cul de sac behind our house and the birds singing back and forth adding to the atmosphere. Reminds me of earlier times.

Best of all, tomorrow will be a repeat of today.

Spring!

What a gorgeous day! It hit 70+ this afternoon. Tomorrow is suppose to be even better. It should hit the midwest and eastern seaboard later in the week. Enjoy it while you can.  I got a bit of yard work done today - mowed the lawns again. The sun did it's magic on the trees. The maple tree out back has been close for several days but it wasn't until this afternoon that the buds finally started to  blossom.

We've seen the buds on the "tulip" tree in the front yard. (I don't know exactly what it really called, we call it the tulip tree because of these flowers it produces every spring)




We bbq'd for the first time this year for dinner tonight. That first time always smells and tastes sooooo good! I hope it made the neighbors change their plans for dinner.

I've sent my resume off a couple of times in the past several weeks. I haven't gotten any responses, but at least there are some positions out there. It's just a matter of time, right? I'm signed up for unemployment benefits now. Every little bit helps. If not now, it surely will in the long run.

Tomorrow, after the dog walk and the days chores we just might take a ride to the coast. There's a little place that serves a great cup of chowder. It will be a beautiful day for a ride. It will be just what the doctor ordered for attitude improvement.

Plan B

Got the call this afternoon, I was not the candidate choosen for the position. I guess I didn't do quite as well as I thought. 

Time to pull out Plan B. 

Waiting

Tuesday morning I had the face to face interview with the hiring manager (Quality), the head of Purchasing and the head of Logistics as well as the Sr Recruiter. I learned a bit more about them and the company's operation, they learned more about me. I'd already had an hour and a half phone conversation with the head of Quality. This time was so he could put a face with the voice and I could be introduced to others I would be working with if I'm hired. They had a preprinted list of interview questions to start from and then asked about things that concerned them. I thought it went well, except for the "ambiguous" question. "Describe a time in your work history when you were faced with an ambiguous situation and how you handled it." I wasn't quite expecting that and kind of fumbled through it. I had a hard time coming up with an "clear cut" ambiguous situation. I managed, I guess. They didn't ask for further clarification. There were more concrete questions after that and I got a chance to ask some questions of my own about their processes. One of them had another meeting after an hour and the others wrapped it up fairly quickly after that. I got a folder of company propaganda from the recruiter on the way out. He said they had more people to meet and then meetings to discuss us all. He thought I should hear of their decision by Friday.

Tomorrow.

We have been patiently and not so patiently waiting ever since. P is three days into a head cold now and still trying to find the right combination of drugs to make her feel half-human. There aren't a lot of activities to take our minds off the decision and what hangs in the balance. I've done some work on the taxes. Not the most ideal task to take on when you're kind of anxious in the first place. I go over the interview in my head every night while I'm on the treadmill. Sometimes I think I've nailed it, it's in the bag. And not three minutes later I'm sure I've blown it, they're going to hire someone else. All we can do is wait. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we will know, one way or the other.

Thanks for all those good thoughts!!

Unemployed

I signed the Participation Agreement for the Voluntary Separation Package on the 2nd. That was my last work day. According to the terms of the agreement, because I'm over 40, I get an extra 7 days to think about it and can revoke my agreement if I so choose. There must be some legal reason for that part of the plan, I certainly have never heard of such a thing in the past. At any rate "The 7 day revocation period will be a non-working but paid period." Now, THAT is nice work, if you can get it! So, I'm not officially unemployed until tomorrow.

As for the job search, I had a phone interview last week with the hiring manager.He called from the plant in California. About half way through he said he had an emergency that had just come up, he would call me back shortly. About 10 minutes later he called back and explained that they'd had a fire drill! Luckily it turned out to be only a drill. We laughed about it and continued on with the interview. After about an hour and a half he concluded the call saying that the next step would be a face to face interview. He did say he had several other candidates to talk to and that he would leave it to the recruiter to arrange the details for the face to face. I hope to hear more about that in the next couple of days.

The dogs sure love my being unemployed. It means a walk first thing every morning. Yesterday and this morning it was foggy and frosty. Very slippery in places where the moisture from the fog condenses on the roads and sidewalks and then freezes. You have to be very careful because the thin layer of ice is transparent. You can't always tell where it's slippery and where it isn't. And with a couple of dogs pulling their leashes it doesn't take too much to put on quite an acrobatic show trying to remain in an upright position.

Remember those picture of the fountain with all the snow on it. Well, this it the result of Ma Nature's worst:

It had some cracks in it already so I checked it out after the cold and snow spell . The bucket portion of the statue fell apart in my hands when I touched it. There is just enough of the bottom of the bucket to hold about a cup of water. As you can see from the picture we've had some more sub-freezing temperatures. The forecast for this afternoon is for snow mixed with rain and more of the same tomorrow. Yeah, I've had enough of this for one year.

Happy Groundhogs Day!

It's cold and foggy out tonight. I went out back a bit ago to take the air and keep the dogs company while they made sure the backyard was safe. We heard some geese flying in the dark, north I think. I sure hope so. We're ready for spring to start. The plum tree in the front is starting to get buds already. Monday IS Groundhogs day...

Today was my last full day at this job. Monday I go in to sign my paper, get my exit interview and turn in my badge. Nine years and four months. I'm getting a pretty good Voluntary Separation Package, 14 weeks pay plus two weeks for every year of service. It isn't something I really wanted to do but with the changes to our little part of the company it became apparent that taking the package was a win-win situation. It will provide a cushion while I look for another job. I was working on being depressed for a while when P's friend, Sally suggested I look for work at a local company that many of the people at her job were applying at. I checked the company's web site and third on the list of "career opportunities" was Sr Document Control Specialist. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather! Document Control positions are not that easy to find and with the current state of the economy I expect there are fewer than usual. I had to whip together a resume as after nine years I no longer had a copy of the last one I used. Luckily I was able to get a copy of the last application I filled out. It had all the dates for my past jobs. That was a great help. The rest I was able to word smith. It's hard to summarize all those years in just a few sentences. I submitted my resume on-line that night. I got an email the next day and yesterday I had a phone interview with the recruiter. I think it went well. Now I wait. I should hear something next week as to whats next. Wish me luck!

In the mean time, the dog will be expecting a walk every day now. Any day I don't go to work they watch me like a hawk until it's light out then they pester me until I get the leashes out. At least they wait until the sun comes up.

Welcome to Winter 2008!

I know this isn't that unusual for people east of here, but this is a really big deal here. We usually get some snow every year, occasionally it sticks around for more than a day but we haven't seen weather like this in 10 to 15 years. It started with a storm on Sunday two weeks ago that dumped 1 to 2 inches of snow and pretty much brought things to a standstill. It warmed up some every day, it snowed some every day and dropped below freezing every night. The snow didn't completely melt. The well traveled roads were clear maybe 60% of the time but a lot of the side streets were very slick. I got to work every day, just put a couple of sand tubes (150 lbs) in the back of the truck and switched to 4 wheel drive. Of course, being older and wiser now, I didn't try anything crazy so I didn't have any problems. It was one of those strange weeks at work, a lot of people out because of the weather conditions, but it also was the last week before the three week shut down. I don't have to be back to work until 12 Jan. Thats a good thing, considering this weather! 

Last Wednesday, employees were notified if they were eligable for the Voluntary Separation Plan . This is the first act of an 1800 person reduction in force. I am one of the eligable employees. I would receive 34 weeks of pay (14 wks + 2 wks for every year I've been with the company) plus what it would cost for 4 months of Cobra coverage for insurance. A tidy sum. I have to weigh that against how hard it will be to find another job by the time the money runs out and the chances of being laid off later anyways if 1800 people don't take the VSP. Merry Christmas, eh? I have to decide by 2 Jan. And, there is a chance that if I do opt to take the package that they could not accept me for the program! Between 2 Jan and 14 Jan they will decide who they need to keep to do business and who they're willing to let go. That would make for an awkward situation, asking to leave, not being allowed and have to come back to work. 

But, I am fighting a cold I got last weekend from taking the boys for a walk without proper head gear on.  My first head cold in several years. 

Heres the bird bath after the first snow fall.

Here it is after the freezing rain and another couple of inches of snow

We thought that would be it, but we've been wrong before....

This is the view out our kitchen window. Notice the branch the snow has bent all the way down to the driveway.

We lost a limb from the tree in our front yard. It didn't damage anything but it probably suprised the squirrels when it came down. It only took one day of warmer temperatures for the trees to loose all that snow.

R, on the other side of town, got a bit more snow and a lot more wind that caused drifting. He had to shovel  a path from the dog door, across the deck and down to the back yard so Gabby could get out to do her "business".

Shakespeare enjoys romping in the snow. It rev's him up every time we head out for our walk in the morning. We've had to walk in the streets for the past week because the sidewalks don't get cleared here. Luckily there hasn't been a lot of traffic. The snow depth is no problem for Shakespeare, but Baileys legs are shorter. He doesn't like to drag his stomach and such in the snow. 

Normally we have the family over on Christmas Eve for a party. Not so this year. The icy, snowy roads and pathways with the possiblilty of an accident or nasty fall just aren't worth it. With luck the weather will cooperate and we will get together some time next week to swap presents, lies and have some good food.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Safe New Year!

Fall

It's grey, cooling off and starting to rain. The dogs took me for a walk as soon as it got light enough, around 8 this morning. That will change with the time change tonight. They'll like that but I'm sure it will take some time before they get used to eating an hour later. The trees are changing colors and loosing their leaves. One last show before they go dormant for the winter. Here's a sample of the show Ma Nature is putting on around here.



With the foliage finale comes the raking of the leaves. The price to be paid for all that nice shade during the hot parts of the summer.

R has been having some success fishing on the Columbia this past month. The run of Chinook salmon was very low this year but the Coho salmon have been returning in solid numbers.



That's a 20+ lb Coho salmon R caught a couple of weekends ago. Pretty nice!
R and Gabby were over yesterday to participate in and add to the general hullabaloo for Halloween. We didn't have a lot of tricker treaters but that may have been because of all the barking the dogs did each and every time the doorbell rang. We have a lot of candy left over. I'll take whatever is left on Monday morning into work. Let it fatten up everyone there. R brought his deep fryer too, last night, and his secret beer batter receipe. We had an excellent halibut fish & chips dinner. He says the leftovers are just as good. We'll be checking that out later today.

Granddaughter Tyfini started at EWU (Eastern Washington) this semester. Her mom is enjoying the peace and quiet and thinking that all that quiet and peacefulness may not be all it's cracked up to be. It's a bit of an adjustment going from a high school senior with all her friends to an empty house (nest?) with just the dogs to keep her company. Tyfini did come home for a Halloween party last weekend, but it is a 6 hour drive, a long drive for a short weekend.

Grandson Eric became a teenager last month. Need I say more?

A "Grand" Friday

Listened to the Grand March from Verdi's opera Aida on the way into work just now. The trumpets made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, sent chills down my spine. I turned the volume up. Exhilarating!! We have a long central hallway at work with 30 foot ceilings. A "grand" space that I marched down the center of with the music still ringing in my ears, imagining myself making that triumphal return after vanqishing the enemy. What a way to start a Friday, all charged up!

It's a good thing to get the blood flowing...it will help for my apheresis donation this afternoon. I'm closing in on 27 gallons of the good stuff donated. Lately they've been taking triple doses. It makes the hour plus with a needle in my arm take about 15 to 20 minutes longer. The arm gets a little sorer and worse, it puts me right in the heart of Friday rush hour traffic trying to get out of downtown back to the 'burbs. All for a good cause though.

Summer

Sat on the deck and watched the sunset this evening. Quite nice, as the light fades from the pinks and oranges into twilight, the wind rustling the leaves. Its the eerie time when you can see most things but the shadows have things that only the dogs can see. Then to the streetlights and porch lights start shining in the your eyes as darkness falls in earnest.

We bbq'd steak for dinner earlier. A tasty end to the latest shutdown week. I've been off all week and we've been busy. We put the house up for sale several weeks ago and this week fell into our laps as the time to repaint. We did quite well actually, it only took four days. P did the lower part, I spent most of my time up on the ladder. It was a lot of work, long days, a lot of sore muscles but it was all well worth it. The place looks good.




It's been a while since I've posted here. I thought I'd carved out a time in my week for writing but apparently not yet. I guess it's like I took the summer off, right? I'll have to work on finding a time and working it into my routine. Just like it turns out now that any day I don't go in to work for a Amat I "get" to take the boys for a walk right after we finish breakfast, before the rest of the world is ready for their day. They're going to be disappointed come Monday.

Me too.

HOT!

It's 102 out back, its 100 in front in the shade. Its 89 upstairs, 86 in the computer room and 82 downstairs in the family room. All the windows closed, the drapes and curtins pulled and all the fans on high. The previous record high for today is only 95 so we've set a new one. Oh boy... Tomorrow won't be quite as hot, a couple of degrees cooler. Monday it's suppose to be in the low 80's, Tuesday in the mid 70's, cooler and rain (possible thunderstorms) on Wednesday. Nice weather for my second work shutdown week, scorching hot to rain. Figures, eh?

The dogs went for a short walk this morning, early this morning. It was already 80 by 8:30 when we finished. Bailey had a vet appointment to get some lumps on his chest and stomach (benign fatty masses) and a couple of hot spots looked at. The best we can figure the pollen level has gotten to the level where he itches. He's got some antibiotic and antihistimine to try to keep things under control. The vet wanted him to wear a lamp shade to keep him from scratching his neck. Ain't gonna happen! Especially with Shakespeare sticking his nose in everywhere.

R and I spent last weekend in Shady Cove, a couple of days fishing on the Rogue River. We (I) only caught one fish on the second day. The guide had caught 11 fish the three days before we got there, only one the two days we were there, none on Monday and then 5 on Tuesday. Poor timing on our part...
Heres what we got, about 15 lbs worth.

Empty Nests

Tyfini graduated from Washougal High School last night, received her diploma, survived all the whistles and woo hoo’s from her family and friends in the audience and got to move the tassel from right to left on her mortarboard. That portion of her life is history.

She leaves for a week in Mexico on Tuesday with other members of her senior class, her mom’s going too as one of the chaperones. Tyf will be working for her dad this summer before going to Easter Washington University in the fall. Yup, it was a major milestone for her last night. Tabetha has the rest of the summer to get ready for her baby leaving the nest. A nest that she will be proud to tell you, that she (and the bank) now owns! They’ve had a lease with an option to buy for the past year plus. Tab has been struggling with scraping together a down payment, all the details of getting a loan, and dealing with all the paperwork. She was able to qualify for some sort of a grant program to help single mothers purchase their own homes. So, she is the proud owner of her own home now and up to her eyeballs in debt.

Friday and yesterday were beautiful, weather-wise. We finally got some sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s for the first time this month. We worked around the house and garage, cleaning and tossing stuff. I made two trips to the Goodwill with the back of the truck full of the past 23 years accumulations cleverly disguised as next years tax deductions. I was able to get after the out of control bush next to the drive way that tries to get in the car every time we go anywhere. I had to get the stepladder out to trim the top of it. It was taller than the garage roof! I was wearing a hat and a long sleeved shirt but I got plenty of sun on my face, neck and ears. I seem to be radiating heat this morning, especially from my ears. I’m sure I won’t be the only one with a sunburn at work tomorrow. It didn’t help that Tyfini’s graduation ceremony was out doors and we were facing the sun the whole time. I got an extra dose of vitamin D just for good measure. This morning it’s kind of overcast but it’s suppose to burn off and be another sunny, 70 degree day. The forecast calls for the temperature to drop down to the 60’s again by Tuesday with clouds and possible showers. That’s Oregon weather for ya!

It will be a short work week for me. R and I will be leaving on Friday for southern Oregon and a couple of days fishing on the Rogue River. Last year we caught three salmon. R called the guide late last week to make sure everything was in order. He was told that the spring run was making it’s way up the river, the fishing was fine. We hope the conditions are just as good when we get there next weekend.

The mama robin has been busy this week. This is how you know something’s going on:
I got up on the stool to see if I could find the culprets

I went around the other side and got this picture. It looks like there are four beaks poking out of the nest.

The chicks seem to have lost their baby feathers already. This nest should be empty in a week or so too.

Almost Summer?

It’s been another week of cloudy, grey, wet, cool days. Hard to believe summer starts a week from today. We’ve only had a handful of days were the temperature has gotten above 70, and two of those set record highs. Crazy weather! The Rose Festival has been going on this past week and culminates with the Grand Floral Parade this morning. You can guess the forecast for parade time: cool (low 60’s) with the overnight showers tapering off to possible showers.

We’ll miss the parade this year. (We’ll have our own parade around the neighborhood with the dogs this morning.) We have a bit of cleaning to do. Scott moved out of his room here last week. We have a spare bedroom again! We have a lot of vacuuming, washing and dusting to do. I have a ceiling fan to install now that I have room to move around there. We’re “discussing” how we will use that space now: sewing, crafts, exercise. There are lots of possibilities. More discussion is required…

I talked about the nest under the deck being used again this year, well last week I peeked through the boards in the deck and this is what I saw:

R and Gabby were over yesterday and when I went to show him the eggs, this is what we saw:

You can see bits of feathers and flesh down there now. The eggs have hatched, but it’s hard to see. The mama wasn’t too far away giving us a piece of her mind, telling us to move along!

We won’t be using the deck for a couple of weeks, or at least until we see some baby robins testing their wings.

And speaking of testing wings, Tyfini graduates from high school next Saturday. A major milestone! She's going on the senior trip to Mexico afterwards. Tab will be going along to help "chaperon" the group. Sounds like a fun time. Tyfini is going on to college in the fall at Eastern Washington University, outside Spokane, close to the Idaho border. Just far enough away that you don't just drive home on a whim, like, say, when you're out of clean clothes and need your laundry done...

This has not been the best of vacations. P came down with a cold on Monday and it hit me Tuesday. It starts with a headache and a sore throat. Next it screws up your voice for a several days and turns into a nice cough. The headache doesn’t really go away either. We were planning on taking in the IMAX film with R on Wednesday but decided against it, not wanting to get on a coughing jag in the middle of the film. Even today, a week later, we both haven’t shaken this bug. We still have the same general symptoms: cough, twinge in the back of the throat and the headache. Not much you can do except wait it out, eh?

The dogs have had a good week: they got walks every day but one (that would be the day I took a nap instead). A lot of flowers are blooming all over the neighborhood. There are a number of places where the fragrance from the flowers hangs like a mist over the area. It smells wonderful walking through them. Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone. I managed to get the dogs to quit pulling on the leashes for a few seconds so I could take them. I have to start taking the camera with me. The quality just of the phone camera doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the flowers.



So, it's back to work tomorrow. The dogs will be bummed.

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s cool, damp and grey with scattered showers forecasted throughout the day: another typical spring day in the Northwest! I think this has got to be one of the wettest and coolest springs here since I got here 31 years ago. I sure hope that doesn’t mean we’re in for a string of scorchers (like last weekend) later on just to average things out. One of the ways we can tell it's spring is the rhododendrons are blooming, adding a nice splash of color to the backyard.

This is a shutdown week for me. I don’t go back to work until 2 June. The Solar and Flat Panel divisions of the company are very busy and not affected by the shutdown. A couple of our Mfg Engineers along with the buyer and planner are doing vendor visits for the Solar Division this week. They’re helping them ramp up to meet demand. A win-win situation for all involved. I don't have anything special planned for this week, just cleaning, straightening, yardwork (when it's not raining) and the like. We're thinking of taking in the IMax film about going down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon at OMSI. I think we've talked R into coming along. Despite living here all his life he's never been to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and he's never seen an IMax film. I figure with the 360 degree view this is as close as we will get to rafting through the Grand Canyon with out getting wet.

Saturday, R came over with Gabby to help me take out the pool heater, pump/filter and the spa bubble blower. It wasn’t as difficult as we expected, it only took a couple of hours and one trip to the hardware store for a couple of pvc pipe caps.

Before

After

And of course we couldn't do anything without proper supervision

We got scolded a couple of times by a mama robin who has taken up residence in one of the nests under the deck recently. We'll have to be careful going in and out of the patio door for the next several weeks.

Here's the best I could do for a picture of a hummingbird at our new feeder. I had to use the extreme zoom on the camera and of course, the bird it using the feeder on the opposite side from where I was but you can see it's tail at least.The feeder is just outside the window to the computer room. Sometimes I'll be at the computer and they will hover in front of the window and I swear they are looking right at me trying to figure out what I'm doing. They are voracious eaters, I've had to refill the feeder four times in the couple of weeks since I put it up.

hot, Hot, HOT!

I feel sorry for all the people that live east of us. We are in the midst of a bubble of HOT air passing over us causing record highs: 92 at the airport, 100+ in several areas around us. As a matter of fact, the low last night was 56, which was the high for last weekend. It has cooled off some today; only suppose to hit 88 this afternoon. But, this little heat wave is moving east. I’m sure it will hit the mid-west in the middle of next week. In the mean time it will cool off and start raining again here. The forecasted high for next Tuesday is only 54 degrees. Back to the cold, wet spring we’d been having right up to this little break.

This morning we went out to the car dealer we ordered the new truck from and got our old one back. It seems that the factory refused to accept the order for my new truck. They don’t have enough parts to build more 2008 Frontiers. They aren’t scheduled to build any more before they switch over to the 2009’s in September. I’m just SOL! So, we got the old truck back. It seems that it’s been sitting on the car lot for two months, just collecting dust, waiting for the deal for the new vehicle to get sorted out first. This is a bummer! I ordered what I wanted instead of settling for what they had. I didn’t really have a plan B. We are starting all over again, two months later, except we know we can’t get what we want! This will require some thought, some cogitation and some readjusting our expectations. Maybe we won’t get a truck, rather some other type of vehicle. P has been saying that she’d like a car with automatic transmission… Like I said, this will take a while to figure out what we are going to do.

I have one more week to the long Memorial Day weekend, and the shutdown week after it. We don’t have anything special planned, except to prepare for and have a Garage Sale at the end of the week We have been going through closets and cupboards already, but we will be going through the house, top to bottom. After 23+ years it is time for a lot of this stuff to go. Our plans call for moving to a smaller house in the future. It is time to downsize. What doesn’t go in the Garage Sale will go to the Goodwill. We hope to pull in a tidy sum from the sale and should have one heck of a charitable contribution deduction on our taxes next year. It’s all good, right?

It’s time to freshen my drink. We are celebrating Janet’s birthday this time. Seeing as she is many miles and several states away, this will have to suffice for now.

Happy Birthday Janet!