Milestones

Another donation to the Red Cross this afternoon. I've been working up to this one for a while. Here are some of the other tokens I've gotten over the years.



They've been calling me to come in every three weeks since this summer. I used to make my appointments once a month. I don't mind the process, I'm not squeemish about having a needle stuck in my arm for an hour and a half. I schedule the appointments for Friday afternoons, makes for an early start to the weekend. Work has no problem donating my time, giving back to the community in this way. It's one of the company's "Core Values". I watched the the first half of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon today. They have quite a collection of movies. It's the hardest part of the whole procedure, choosing the right movie.

There's a storm moving in. The remnents of a couple of typhoons are heading our way. Should hit us Sunday evening/Monday morning. We're talking winds up to 70 mph for over a day. There is a good chance there will be wide spread power outages. This is one time all the trees here just may be a handicap. Especially when they fall on and take down power lines. Oh yes, just for good measure, the storm thats coming in before hand, Saturday afternoon could drop up to three inches of snow on the valley floor. Never a dull moment around here. Our friend DJ lives at the coast and was planning on coming to town this weekend. It's her birthday. Instead shes staying home and battening down the hatches. Better safe than sorry. There's sure to be snow in the costal range passes. She has studded snow tires but there's no reason to tempt fate. It's just too costly, money and time, if you make a mistake trying to get through a snow covered pass.


Here are the boys. We took Shakespeare in to get neutered a couple of weeks ago. There will be no little Shakespeares in the future. Bailey has been on a diet for almost three months now and has lost about 20 lbs. A shadow of his former self. He has more energy, can move faster and jump higher now. He hasn't been real happy about it but you can tell that he knows he is in better shape than he has been for years. Now, if he can just get that pesky puppy to leave him alone when he's trying to take a nap. Shakespeare, on the otherhand has energy to burn. Exactly what you'd expect of a puppy. He goes out to the backyard many times a day and races from one end to the other looking for squirrels in the trees. He hasn't caught any yet, but it sure isn't from lack of trying!

Listened to some Rossini an the way to work this morning: Maometto Secondo Overture. Nothing like a little Rossini to pep you up in the morning, get you ready for the details of the work day. I heard it on the KBPS, the local "listener supported" classical station. You can listen to it on the web if you like at www.allclassical.org. And they have just finished their Fall Pledge Drive so you won't have to listen to the endless pleas for $, at least not for several months. Check it out, they have their play lists on the web site. They do more that the usual "Top 40" classical numbers.

We're winding down the fiscal year. Only two and a half more weeks. One of the accomplishments this year was consolidating the space we occupy in the building. That ment moving the warehouse. Corporate policy dictates that a full, physical inventory be done after such a move. So, that's what I and the rest of the Operations team get to do tomorrow and Friday: come in early, stay late, touch all the parts and compare it to what the computer says should be there. Hopefully we will come close.

This is a test to see if I can post to my blog from Google Docs & Speadsheet, a web application, albeit within the Google family of stuff.

This is a test. This is only a test. If this had been a real emergancy you would have been contacted by the Homeland Security Department... We're from the government, we're here to help....

So, now, theoretically all I have to do is click on this PUBLISH button...

The Addition

Meet the newest member of the family: Vanity Fair's King Lear, commonly known as Shakespeare.



He's an English Springer Spaniel. A regular ball of energy when he's awake, angelic when he's sleeping. Just like any baby I suppose. Bailey seemed a bit annoyed to begin with, but now I think he's realizing that he (Bailey) is a dog too. He's starting to put up with Shakespeare's antics and actually play with him occasionally. Kind of hard not to when you have this little ball of energy jumping on you, nipping at your ears and just generally getting in your face. Bailey weighs almost 60 lbs, a bit overweight. Shakespeare clocks in at about 20 lbs and growing daily. Bailey is like a big old sumo wrestler shifting his weight around to knock Shakespeare off his feet or get the right position to keep him from getting to his ears, a favorite target when they're playing. Like all baby's, he has a very short attention span. He has toys and anything we can think of to keep him busy strewn about the house.

This all started when Randy contacted a breeder about getting a puppy to replace Hanna, the basset hound he lost just before last Christmas. Pat went with him to visit the puppies after they were born. It didn't take long before "we" had to have one. And there just happened to be one left when she talked me into it.
How can you say no to a face like this?



R's has a female named Gabriella, also known as Gabby. We've gotten them together a couple of times for play dates. If you could only bottle that energy: running all over the place, chasing each other and just generally having a good time. Separately, their frantic energy spurts might last 20 to 30 minutes before they take a break. Together it lasts an hour or more. Just when one thinks it might want to rest for a minute or two the other senses weakness, attacks and they're off to the races once again. Whatever one has the other has to have it too.



R and Gabby start Puppy Training classes on Monday. We will start with Shakespeare soon. And Bailey? He's got someone to play with and is actually loosing some weight, finally. All the extra activity is paying off.

Now, for something totally different:
Books currently on my nightstand:

The Road to Ruin Donald E. Westlake
The Vintner's Luck Elizabeth Knox
The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll Alvaro Mutis
Under the Tuscan Sun Frances Mayes
The Story of Civilization Vol. 6 The Reformation Will Durant
The System of the World Vol 3 of the Baroque Cycle Neal Stephenson
Memoirs of a British Agent R.H. Bruce Lockhart

A Busy Month, Part III

But first, R and I did some fishing!
We went to Shady Cove on the Rogue River in south central Oregon.



A beautiful slice of Oregon.


We went with a guide to show us all the spots along the river. 5 am we started. What is it about fishing that requires getting up so early in the morning? R and I both got a strike about 6 that first morning. It didn't take long to figure out that we were both working the same fish, our lines got crossed or something. Vernon, the guide said he saw my rod tip dip first and cut R's line. It took me over five minutes to tire the fish out and land him. My hook was firmly in the cornor of its mouth but Vernon found R's hook deep in its throat! It must have swallowed R's bait just before hitting mine. As you can imagine, it was the subject of conversation for the rest of the weekend: just exactly who's fish it was.


About 21 pounds, and a native, not a hatchery fish. You can tell that by the fact that it still has it's adapose fin, the little fin on it's back close to the tail. That area of the Rogue is a salmon spawning ground. Fish you see or catch there have already made the trip back from the ocean, not like fish caught in the Columbia or Wilamette who are on their way back to their spawning grounds. There you can only keep hatchery salmon. You have to give the natives a chance to get back to their birthplace and make even more natives.

That was the only fish we caught the first day which intensified the debate over who's fish it was.

The second day Vernon saw a doe and her fauns on the way to pick us. We went back to get a glimpse and sure enough they were still there, the mamma feeding by the side of the road and a couple of shaky legged fauns, one trying to get some breakfest from mom. We took a couple of pictures, but it was too dark, they didn't turn out.

As for fishing, I caught another native in just about the same place as we hooked the first fish the day before. Only about 18 lbs this time, but no doubt as to who's fish it was.


R had to wait until early afternoon before he caught his salmon. Also about 18 lbs, it put up quite a fight before he was able to land it.


It's a little hard to make out in the picture, but this one was a hatchery fish, the adapose fin is missing.

The trip was a success, more so because we caught some fish.

Next up: we'll be getting an English Springer Spaniel puppy on Tuesday. A little brother for Bailey. This is going to turn the household routines upside down for a while. R is getting a female from the same litter. A new companion for him. I'll post pictures soon.

A Busy Month, Part II

The next weekend we tackled taking out the spa. It hasn't been used in years and though it didn't leak, it had some good size cracks in the acrylic covering. It was a matter of getting in there and cutting it to pieces so we could disconnect the pipes and pull it out.



The double wall construction in places made it a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, but we prevailed, once we figured out what was going on:


It took a couple of pickup loads of dirt to fill but looked good by the end of the day.



The next step is to put a "frame" around the edge of the opening and plant a couple of flowers for some color. I'm saving that for "next" weekend.

A Busy Month

It's been a busy month.

First, we took care of some dry rot on the deck off the dining room. This required taking a good portion of the deck apart and rebuilding it. This is the before shot.


It doesn't look too bad, but that big post that "holds" up part of the roof has been sagging for some time, you can tear away the wood at the base with your fingers.


We had to replace the two deck support boards holding up this end of the deck and about a third of the deck that isn't protected by the eave.

Two of the three robins nests, one got dislodged during the construction process. We are negotiating with the owners for appropriate compensation: more bird seed.

The first day ended with the deck floor rebuilt and a new post actually holding up the roof. We had to jack it up over two inches to get it back to level.

Replacing the railing was the second days task. Maybe not as hard to do physically, but equally as hard or harder mentally, all those measurements to get the spacing just right.


You will notice that it rained the second day just to remind us that we were in Oregon. Once the frame got up it was all detail work.

It looks pretty good now, even gets Bailey's approval



Not bad for a weekends work!

A Walk in the Rain

Just got back from my Saturday morning walk with Bailey. A very light for most of the time but stepped up to a more serious rain for the last couple of blocks. Here are some of the flowers we saw along the way.

 
Not sure whats going on here. Looks like he's trying to kill the tree. Must be too close to the driveway or the branches get tangled in the phone lines. It's too neat of a job for it to be kids or vandals.
 


The annual Rose Festival is going on this past week, culminating in the Grand Floral Parade starting just about now. Hence the rain.....

To all you Mothers out there

Went fishing again with R last Sunday. Didn't get a bite. Didn't see anyone else get a fish either. R is at a loss as to where the fish are this year. Two years ago they were predicting a terrible year for salmon and it was, for about three weeks and then it turned into the the best salmon run in the previous 15 years. No such luck this time. My boss, E and his son were fishing Saturday in just about the same spot we were on Sunday. He caught a 14 lb steelhead in the first 10 minutes of fishing but no action the rest of the time they were there. No matter how much fishing experience you have, it still takes a little luck apparently. We trolled up and down the river for over six hours. This is some of what we saw:

As you might imagine, property along the river is pretty exclusive ($$$!) and besides some very nice sail boats and cruisers, there were several sea planes. This one taxi'd out as we were trolling by.

He moved up wind of us and took off. He didn't try to climb up and over the bridge, instead flying under it before climbing and banking to the left. Pretty cool.

This guy started following us when he noticed us eating. He wouldn't get close enough to take anything out of our hands, but he was sure quick to get whatever we threw in the water.

P's oldest came by with the wife and son to wish her Happy Mothers Day earlier. They gave her a digital photo frame. It accepts digital camera memory cards and displays the photos as a slide show or, using the remote control, one at a time. It's pretty cool, actually! We were at the kitchen table trying it out, talking about anything and everything. I took a couple pictures to try out in the picture frame. You can see it here to the left on the kitchen table.

Before too long I felt this pressure on my streached out legs:

I guess he was bored with everyone sitting around talking, not paying any attention to him. Pretty soon he tried to work his mind tricks on me to get me up out of the chair and get him a treat:

It worked.

Our Story, So Far...

I went fishing with R several weeks ago in the Multnomah Channel. It splits off from the Willamette River and takes the long way around Sauvies Island to hook up with the Columbia River further down stream. It was cold, raining and we didn't get a bite. At least R's boat has a canopy so we were able to get out of the rain most of the time. We went again yesterday. The conditions were a bit better: dry, overcast and in the mid 40's when we put into the water around 7. It just got better from there. The sun burned off some of the clouds around 9:30-10:00 and kept on burning them off until we had a beautiful sunny afternoon. A very nice day to be on the river. We were fishing for salmon. The spring run fishing season is open from March to the end of May at various sections of the rivers. A week ago, further down stream in the Columbia, R caught a couple of keepers (hatchery fish that have had their adipose fin clipped to distinguish them from the native or wild fish) as well as a couple of wild salmon (with their adipose fin intact) that he had to release. They were all good size fish, 20+ lbs. That was a good indication that the fish were running. Our first bite, yesterday was a 14" sucker fish or chub. A bottom feeder, a waste of bait. Around 1:30 - 2:00 we got our second bite. This one put up a bit of fight and took a while to get to the boat. It was a sturgeon, around 4 feet long. I had the presence of mind to grab the camera:

Sturgeon can get up to 12 feet long, over 1000 lbs and live for 100 years. R called it a pre-historic fish. They have to be bigger than 42" and less than 60" to be keepers. It wasn't what we were looking for and neither of us have any experience with them: catching them, preparing them or cooking them. So we released it. About 45 minutes later another sturgeon, bigger than the first, took the bait and played with us for a few minutes before spitting the hook out and taking off. This one acutally jumped out of the water trying to get rid of the hook. Quite a sight seeing over four feet of fish come out of the water! I wasn't able to get a picture of the second one, so you're just going to have to take our word for it.

R and I are scheduled to go fishing for a couple of days on the Rogue River the first weekend in June. Until then I will be joining R on weekends to hone my technique: "I Swear! It was thiiiiissssss big! But it got away."

Spring Break

Spring Break starts next week in these parts. Many people head to the coast and hope for good weather. That's a 50/50 proposition this time of year. We've had some good days lately and a lot of grey, wet days. At least it's getting a bit warmer. Things are starting to grow. Ma Nature likes to suprise us with some early color. We saw this on a walk with Bailey last weekend.

P's brother, R, has entered into talks with an English Springer Spaniel breeder for a puppy from their next litter. This particular breeder goes to great lengths to ensure the puppies are healthy and defect free. They come from known (champion) blood lines. The parents are screened regularily for epilepsy, hip displasia, an eye disorder and at least one other thing that escapes me right now. The puppies are checked too before they go to a new home. The breeders match the puppies personalities to the personalities and situations of the new owners. The more compatible, the higher the success rate. Friday, P and R drove to the coast, to Seal Rock to meet the breeders and the pregnant mom. Heres a picture of her at one of the last dog shows she was in

They expect her to whelp in early April. R will have to wait until early July before he can bring the puppy home. A new addition to the family.

I'm trying to figure out where to put a garden this year. The trees have grown too much, the old spot doesn't get enough sun. I still have a few weeks before I have to decide, to get busy with the shovel and rake. The back of the house needs a new coat of paint this summer too. It faces south and gets all the exposure from the sun. Maybe over Memorial Day. Last weekend I mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Once you start, you don't get a break until November around here. Lots of other yardwork to do: edging, trimming, getting those garden and flower beds ready.

It takes a lot of energy to keep up with Mother Nature!

Signs of Spring

The weather has been quite balmy as of late: warmish and definitely humid. It's all conspiring to make things grow. The early warning signs of spring were evident on Sunday when Bailey took me for my walk.

Next thing you know it will be time to mow the lawn again!

Bailey developed a "hot spot" behind his ear and down his neck. He scratched so often and so hard Thursday night that he rubbed a raw spot on his neck.

His eyes were bloodshot like he'd been on a three week bender. He definitely wasn't having a good time. We cleaned it, put some antiseptic salve on and a gauze pad to protect it. An ace bandage wrapped around his neck kept it all in place and protected the area from more scratching. Well, that didn't work so well. Some times the bandage was too tight and his breathing would become labored, especially in the middle of the night. Or, it would be too loose and he would work the gauze pad out with his scratching. Naturally he'd have to shred the gauze pad and spread it all over the place for us. And then there was the time the bandage started to fray and he got his scratching foot caught in the stretchy fibers. He had the most forlorn look when we untangled his foot.

We finally were able to get him into the vet. Diagnosis: most likely airborne allergy causing the red eyes and the hotspot. He'd been shaking his ears frequently too. We got him an antihistamine for the allergy and the vet shaved the hair on his neck so the area could get some air and dry out. We also got a mild steroid solution to spray on the area to reduce the itching and promote the healing. Not a pretty sight!

We are pleased to report that he is doing much better now, it's starting to scab over nicely. He has tried to scratch it a couple of times but the pain apparently made the itch possible to live with. Also, spraying it helps alleviate the itch and the occasional antihistamine seems to clear up his head nicely. I guess it's good that we learned about this now, so early in spring. We get an awful lot of pollen when the plants start blooming and especially when the pine trees get their growth spurt. LOTS of pine trees around here. We'll have to watch him carefully.

Daylight Savings Time this weekend, several weeks early this year. Usually I don't mind the government futzing with that, it doesn't cost me any money and I adjust eventually. But I don't know, this just seems awful early for the change. Maybe it's because I haven't experienced the longer daylight days yet. It's throwing my - what would you call it? my solar acclimatization cycle? my celestial rhythm? whatever, this is throwing it off. I'm just not quite ready for it!