Summertime

It's 83 degrees out and not quite yet noon. Just finished mowing the lawns. It was 75 when I started and it's suppose to hit the mid-90's before the day is over. Tried to balance rising temp with the fact that it is Sunday morning as to when to start lawnmower.

When I was cleaning up, washing off the mower, sweeping the driveway I could hear the sounds of kids playing in the distance. The yelling and screaming. I can't see them, but imagine them running through a sprinkler and splashing in a kiddy pool set up in the backyard as they chase each other around, burning off some of the boundless energy that kids have. I could also hear some crows scolding the kids, adding their voices to the the sounds echoing over the neighborhood.

I put the mower away, that chore done for at least another week, and go rest with my feet up, a cool drink and the tv remote. What more could you ask for?

Yesterday was the second annual Portland Pen Show. We went last year and got good deals on some very nice pens. This year was no different. I scored a Visconti Opera Club fountain pen, Summertime color. Check it out


Looks nice and writes like a dream. A new favorite....

We also got a Namiki fountain pen with a dragon hand painted on the barrel. It will take a bit more practice with the camera to get pictures that do it justice.

Back to work tomorrow. Last two weeks of the fiscal quarter for us. The usual scrambling. Our ISO auditor is scheduled to visit for a couple of days at the end of August. We have started preparation meetings. Time to dust out the cornors, double check to make sure that we have the evidence that shows we follow our procedures. It is also review time. The managers have until close of business this Friday to give us our reviews. Not having anyone working for me, I don't have to worry about giving reviews. I only have to worry about receiving one. The first rule of reviews is "No Suprises". This will be my first review from this boss. Always a little apprehension before a first review.

This Tuesday, besides a staff meeting, and an ECO Review Meeting I'm scheduled to give whole blood after lunch. The Red Cross comes to Etec three or four times a year to harvest. I've been lucky the last several time in that the whole blood donation date fell in the middle between my monthly hemaphersis donation appointments. I believe I'm working on my 21st or 22nd gallon of blood products donated. All I know is it's a lotta time with needles in my arms but for a good cause.

Back Home

Arrived in Portland just before 10 last night. Had a great view of the fireworks going off all over the place, especially on the Washington side of the river. Kind of interesting looking at them from the top down. By the time we got off the plane, collected our luggage, got the shuttle out to the parking lot and ransomed our car we were in the midst of all the people going home from watching those fireworks. Bailey was sure happy to see us! He hasn't let us out of his sight today. Can't says I blame him!

We were about an hour late getting into PDX because our takeoff time had been pushed back from 6:45 to 7:15 to 7:32. And then we were in a long line of planes waiting just to take off. There wasn't any problem for the flights heading west, but the ones going east had to contend with the thunderstorm activity that passed through in the morning heading northeast. We didn't have any problem driving to Chicago, just a bit of heavy traffic that slowed to a crawl several times to give us a chance to gawk at some poor unfortunate souls at the side of the highway with car problems, getting a ticket or exchanging insurance info because of a minor accident.

A thunder storm moved through Milwaukee and woke us up around 3:30 Sunday night. We rarely get thunder storms in the Portland area. Lots of rain but none of the drama. At any rate, it had stopped raining and dried up a bit by the time we checked out of the hotel. We decided to stop at the Zoo after all. Naturally, when we were the farthest spot from the zoo entrance and our car it started raining once again. At least there wasn't any thunder or hail. We were a bit damp by the time we got back on the road to Chicago. At least it wasn't cold, but then the mugginess and humidity isn't something we are used to either.

Sunday evening, after the get-together, Allana found a fireworks display that was going to happen on the 3rd instead of Monday the 4th. We tagged along. We took the round about way to the high school where it was held, but the Wilgus luck held. Dave got a pretty good parking spot, we walked about a block to the school, got a good spot to sit on a little slope, Allana and the rest of the boys found us within 5 minutes and the fireworks started a few minutes after that. Very good timing. It was a pretty good firesworks display too. It has been years since P and I have gone to a fireworks display. Usually we just watch the goings on in the cul de sac in front of our house.

The get together Sunday afternoon was a good chance to talk to everyone and catch up. Here is the obligatory picture:


The crew

It was interesting to hear Bo's take on the No Child Left Behind act, what it means to him as a school principle.
Toni is doing well, with Rachel planning to take the Dental School Entrance Exam this fall and Brooke going to school to become a nurse. The grandchildren are growing like weeds.

The nursery

A nice day today. I went out to mow the lawns so I wouldn't have to do it on my recouperation day when we get back. Here is what greeted me when I went out the patio door:


This is what I saw when I looked for the source of the mess....


There are three baby robins in that nest. They appear to be getting fairly big, about time to test out their wings. Momma was keeping a sharp eye on me as I was taking these pictures...

Had to get up on a stool to get this one: eye to eye

Beer and Brats

Woo Hoo!

On vacation until next Wednesday! Going back to Milwaukee for a family reunion. Catch up on all the happenings since the last one, see how the nieces and nephews have grown, what they're up to now. Even the cousins will be in attendence! A good time will be had, guarenteed!

I took today off even though we don't travel until tomorrow. Figured it would be nice to have a day to do nothing before the hub-bub of traveling, partying and generally carrying on for four days. We will be coming back late on the Fourth so I scheduled a vacation day to recuperate before heading back to work. I'll need it! That will make for a very short week as I'm scheduled to give platelets at the Red Cross Friday afternoon. I'm working on my 22nd gallon of donated fluids: whole blood and platelets. I've got the scars on my arms to prove it too.

The other big deal coming up is the Portland Pen Show, 15-17 July. We went last year and drooled over the beautiful pens, new and vintage. It was kind of overwhelming: too many choices. I kind of know what to expect this time so I've been trying to do my homework, scoping out the pen catalogs recently received. Eye candy! Still too many to choose from. And then there will be all those vintage pens! What a delightful dilemma!

Road Trip

Brother H. et. al. will be traveling west after the reunion in Milwaukee, and will swing through the Northwest. Time will be limited (isn't it always?) so we need to point out the highlights, the "Must See's" as opposed to the Should See and the Nice to See. To that end, we figured we'd better get off out butts and see some of the stuff people had been telling us that we should see. Well, this is what we saw yesterday:



This is called the Vista House. It has been closed for four years for renovations. It reopened two days ago. This is why it is called Vista House:

The view looking east, up the Columbia River Gorge, and

the view looking west, towards Portland.

We proceeded east, up the Gorge to the town of Hood River, known around the world for the quality of it's apples and the fact that the geological configuration of the area creates a natural wind tunnel. It provides excellent wind surfing conditions almost year round. We stopped and watched some of the "Dudes" practice their moves


You can't see it very well, but there are a bunch of guys kite surfing out there.

We've got a nursery under our deck. Not one, not two but three birds nests.
I guess the word got around from the birds that used the ledge outside our computer room last year.

These are robins nests, this year. They get up very early to sing. Like 4:30 am! With open windows and the calm of the morning they are LOUD!

Brrrrrrr

It's suppose to be the hottest day of the year so far. I'm in my little room here at work with a sweater on. The AC is over compensating until it gets it right. In the mean time I have a very cold draft blowing on my neck and back. I have to get out and take a brisk walk around the halls to warm up. I've taken to washing my hands just to warm them up! It's got to be close to 65f in here.

In other news, the weekend is almost here. A long, holiday weekend. The Indy 500 weekend. Naturally, the weather is suppose to cool off, cloud up and possible showers. It's a long weekend, what did you expect?

It was just about this time in 1977 I got out of the Air Force and drove to Las Vegas. Stay'd with Jay W for a week before heading to Portland with Dan. Twenty eight years! I can remember it (well most of it, there was a lot of partying going on then) like it was yesterday. We were all so much younger, with more energy, more potential, and dare I say, alot more stupid. That assumes that we've learned a thing or two since then.... Of course, if we hadn't killed so many brain cells drinking we'd probably remember those lessons!

P. U.

Someone hit a skunk last night on the road I take to work.

You talk about an eye opener!

PHEW!

It's like it gets into your clothes or something.... you can smell it long afterwards, kind of like the phantom pains people with missing limbs feel. You know it isn't rational yet it sure is real!

With any luck, it will keep on raining and wash the smell away or at least dilute it to the point where you don't smell it when you drive by with your windows rolled up.

And I pity the county road crew worker who gets called upon to pick up and dispose of this road kill....

Lost Time

Woke up to the rain coming down the spout right outside our bedroom this morning. It had been threatening all day yesterday but held off so I could mow the lawn. It was a busy week in the cul-de-sac: the people almost directly across from us moved to a ritzier neighborhood, a house with three garages. And even with three, they won't have space for all their vehicles in doors. Five cars and trucks and an RV between the two of them. The cul-de-sac got a little cramped at times. Now, a retired real estate attorney has move in. He and his two dogs. And his four cars! That's a lot of cars for one person... Our kitchen window has the prime view for all the goings on in the cul-de-sac. It's not like we're nosey or anything...

A couple and their two dogs move into the rental next door to us this week too. They have larger dogs, a labrador and a mixed breed. Larger than Bailey. There was some barking going on at the fence as they and Bailey started working out the pecking order. The squirrels use the top of the fence as a pathway around the yards. I saw the fence shake yesterday from one of the dogs running and jumping on the fence trying to get a squirrel. This morning I was sitting at my computer, still trying to wake up when all of a sudden one of the fence panels popped off into our yard. The dog must have been going after another squirrel! A second later I saw a nose and then a head poke through to sniff and scope out our yard. After a minute or so of looking around he lunged through the opening, popping off another fence panel and took off to the other end of our yard. He must have seen another squirrel. Not exactly the thing you want to see at 8 am on a blustery, rainy Sunday morning while still in your sweats. I had throw on a jacket, get the dog back into his own yard and patch the fence. The dog was surprised to see me when I came out the door. He had his tail between his legs so he knew he wasn't where he was suppose to be, but the tail was wagging too, hoping for the best... I got him back through the hole in the fence and replaced the panels. I did my best to secure the panels. That portion of the fence is getting a bit old and weathered. I was cold and damp and not in the best of moods by the time I'd finished. I do have to say thank goodness for cordless screwdrivers. I'm afraid that if I used a hammer and nails I might have done more harm than good, such is the state of the fence.

How many clocks do you have in your house? Luckily we have a number of "atomic" clocks that pick up the radio signal from NIST or wherever so they are always right. But all the rest have to be set by hand. It is this time of the year that P's Micky Mouse watch collection becomes a liability.

Slap Happy?

Here is an amusing way to waste a few minutes of your time:

Click Here

Change is in the Wind

Just got back from my walk with Bailey. Blustery! Raining almost sideways at times. But that doesn't deter the dog, just spreads the smells around a bit more, have more bushes, trees and clumps of grass to check out. All the blossoms on the trees, well, they aren't there anymore. Now the baby leaves are showing. Another part of Ma Nature's Spring Show. The rain in Oregon, this time of year means only one thing: Spring Break. The weather people say we may have some sunshine by the end of the week. Don't get me wrong. The rain is great! We haven't had nearly enough yet this winter. We will take all we can get right about now. I was suppose to go on another fishing trip with R tomorrow but it was canceled. Not enough water in the rivers! I'm going to have to wait a bit longer before going after steelhead.

Tab heads to the coast this week, with a couple of adults and a gaggle of teenagers. You have to be young with lots of energy for the likes of that. Good Luck Tab!

Eric, Troys son is turning out to be quite handy with the tools. He made his own pinewood derby car for Cub Scouts. And he did a very good job too: his car has won every race it's been in so far. Next stop is the Regionals! (or is it the District Finals... I have a hard time keeping it all straight.) Eric has attended a number of Saturday classes at the local Home Depot and is amassing quite a tool collection. Every job is easier when you have the right tool, you know....

Along with all the kids getting the week off, I get the week off too. A shutdown week for Etec and Amat. While Amat is in the black and beat estimates last quarter, the projections for this quarter are below estimates so this is the way they choose to cut costs, reduce their accrued vacation liability and yet still keep the employees around with out laying them off and hiring them back. The new, flexible workforce... As for Etec, we are getting a lot of interest in our improved tool. Soon, soon.

All that free time on my hands is burning a hole in P's pocket, so to speak. We tackled a couple of closets today. Unearthed some things that haven't seen the light of day in years! Lots of small clothes and other interesting, miscellaneous finds. I still have my highschool LetterSweater: Class of '69, with the white L instead of the usual red one signifying that we had won the Conference Championship. Wow, that was a long time ago. I got that in 1966 for being part of the Varsity Cross Country team. To think that I could run 2 miles in under 12 minutes at one time in my life. Kind of seems like a dream right now!

Lot of memories in those closets.

So, I've made one trip to the Goodwill and anticipate a minimum of one more before the week is over. Lots of treasures for somebody. The interesting part of this exercise, cleaning/tossing/donating, are the decisions: you weren't willing to part with it last time you came across the item, yet this time you are. What changed?

That is the ultimate question as you get older isn't it, What Changed?

Well, if the weather allows, we will be changing the west side of the house. I built a shed next to it a number of years ago. We changed the house color while it was up and now that it has been torn down, that side of the house is still the old color. Going to have to clean it, put on a coat of primer and then the final coat. Of course that side of the house will look great, freshly painted. That means that the rest of the house will need some fresh paint too. This is all part of P's master plan....

Preparation for a nice salad!

Blooming so hard it must hurt!

The Second Act

First Peek

Potential

Before

This is Wrong, just plain wrong!

Here it is, the end of February, and I just finished mowing the lawn for the first time this year. Not only is it sunny today, a balmy 65 degrees, it has been nice enough for long enough to cause the grass to start growing. Growing enough that it needs mowing! And Mother Nature was kind enough to schedule a beautiful day like today on a weekend for a change, just so we could work out in the yard. This shouldn't be happening for another three weeks at least! It should be raining non-stop this time of year, especially on the weekends! Unless things change drastically in the next couple of days March is going to come in like a lamb, not like a lion per its reputation.

Later-

We took advantage of the weather to crank up the bbq and burn some burgers this afternoon. I have a little grill that takes the small bottles of gas. It all fits quite nicely on a table on the deck off the dining room. Our deck is off the top floor of our tri-level so when the meat starts burning and the grill gets real smokey, that smell drifts off over the neighberhood. Everybody knows what we're having for dinner. The deck is half covered so I can cook there even when it rains. I bbq'd last Sunday for the first time this year: a couple of marinated pork tenderloins. Excellent! There's something about burning meat over a flame out of doors that makes it taste better somehow. I guess it is not my place to wonder why, just to enjoy it and burp with pleasure.

I thought I'd take the before picture of the garden today. It will be a while before I can really get started on it. I'm sure we're in for frost at least once before mid-April. So here is what I will be working with:


Before

I ran the lawnmower over the weeds when I cut the lawn. The area is covered with pine needles too. I will have to cut back the limbs of the tree just to the left of the picture. This year we will be growing more tomatoes and some corn. I tried with the corn a couple of years ago and got some stalks to grow but didn't get any ears. I want to try some carrots again too. Last time they were too close together and I hadn't rototilled the soil deep enough. We got some carrots but they were itty bitty things, no more than a couple of inches big. Yup, got big plans for the garden this year!

At least it wasn't underwear

Today was Troy's birthday. Yesterday was Scotts. Birthdays are ok, but we really don't want to talk about which one it is. Not so much as to how old the boys are as to how old it means their mother is! This year the gift of choice was shoes. Both boys needed some. At least it wasn't underwear.....

At work the company came out with the last quarters results today: slightly better revenue and profit than expected by Wall Street. Unfortunately, the forecast for next quarter is down a bit more that expected also. The company announced they will be shutting down the week of 28 March, the week of spring break, as a cost saving measure. We can use vacation time or take it as unpaid. It's been all most 18 months since the last shut down week. All part of the swings the chip industry goes through. As for my portion of the company, we are making some progress on product improvements. We need to continue to make more. The sooner the better. We are the leanest we have ever been. As we have no official drafters anymore and the only other people in the company proficient with the drafting software are tied up working on product improvements, I tried my hand at some simple updates to a couple of drawings: note changes. It took me several hours to do what an experienced drafter could have done in 15 minutes. Next time, it will take me much less time! This week is my boss's last week here. He took another job with the company in Austin Texas. We're going to miss him. He was a good buffer between us and management. We're going to have to adjust to his boss until they get the ok to replace him. In the current climate they will delay as long as possible. In the mean time, we and our acting boss will be teaching each other exactly what is important to get done and what isn't. Hopefully it will continue to be a two way street....

Currently on my night stand:
Durant's History of Civilization, Volume III: Ceasar and Christ
Volume 1 of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The American Scholar Magazine, Winter 2005

Sounds kind of heavy. I guess I'm still in my history phase.

The Big Game

About an hour to the big game start. We're just about ready. Lots of snacks, plenty of beverages and the TV has been warming up for an hour or so. I'm thinking of Tivo'ing the whole game just so I can back it up to all the commercials if need be. Ratine these commercials is serious stuff. I'm sure there will be several web sites dedicated to rating them based on internet votes. I don't have a laptop that I can surf on while I watch the game and my desktop is in another section of the house from the biggest TV we have. I know, I know.... deprived... We will be rooting for Philly, just because they are the underdogs. Most of all, we want it to be a good game!

We watched the movie Ray last night. Good film! Jamie Foxx did a very good job. Very believable. Ray Charles was a creative genius with some ghosts. It was the music. The music kept him going. Exploring, creating, always working for something new, fresh, inovative, entertaining. We enjoyed the movie.