Three little words

What is it about those three little words?  You know the ones I'm talking about.  Those three little words that fill your heart with joy and excitement and anticipation . . . .  

Three. Day. Weekend.

Utter those three little words and it makes people crazy.  Crazy.  Huge, elaborate plans suddenly start taking shape as if adding that extra day allows you to do a myriad of things you can't possibly fit into two days.  And let me tell you, people get out of town as fast as they can.  To mountain, to the coast, to the gorge, it doesn't matter.  It's a three day weekend.  The world is yours.

The weather was fantastic over Memorial Day weekend in Portland for the first time in like a bazillion years.  Warm, sunny, not a cloud to be seen all weekend.  Not even a threat of rain which for Portland is pretty much unheard of.  Between REI and photo shoots, B and I practically had a one day weekend but still managed to fit in plenty of fun in the sun.

Take a look:

Julia and I took Kaya to the river for some play time on Sunday.

Julia and me enjoying gelato after burgers and beer at the Kennedy School.  Gelato Tour '09 here we come!
B stops for a rest in the middle of our 30 mile circumnavigation of Hagg Lake on Monday.

B also had a fantastic ride and BBQ with some buddies on Saturday and we both headed over to Ryan and Dacia's for some grill time Monday night.  

Bike ride?  Check.  BBQ?  Check.  Hike with the dog?  Check.  Burgers and beer?  Check.  Another bike ride?  Check.  Another BBQ?  Check.  Hmmm, felt like a completely normal weekend to us--maybe we finally have this time off thing nailed down. 

The Garden, Episode 5

Today's lesson:  Deer prevention.

Last week, I went out to the garden to put in some more strawberries and to my horror, discovered that my green bean starts had been devastated by none other than our friend, the deer.  Apparently Michelle's bed was an appetizer because we saw three hoof prints right through her peas and then he moved on to my beds for the main course.

Well, I didn't have much time, so I fashioned a very ghetto deer defense mechanism from some string, sticks and bird netting:

Last night, I went back over and constructed something a little better.

Linda's sister uses this method to keep deer away from her newly planted seedling trees in Montana.  It's simple and cheap-- just some wooden stakes and fishing line.  I guess deer are fairly particular and if they run into something, they will stay back.  Let's hope.

Spandex picnic

Sunday with the Hoybooks.  Bike ride to Champoeg State Park, picnic, a little frisbee, topped off with DQ ice cream cones.  Thanks for coming summer, we've missed you.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

A clear cut off Highway 26 on the way back from the coast.  Usually they leave a row of trees thick enough to act as a curtain so you don't see the devastation.

If you do one thing this week, take a reusable shopping bag with you to the grocery store.

Mini-break

Sometimes I feel like B and I live in a constant vacation.  Case in point:  Thursday.  Day off, trip to the coast.

We headed to Astoria to check out Fort Stevens, where Lewis and his buddy Clark finally reached the Pacific.  After a late lunch at another Oregon brewpub, we headed down the 101 to hang out at the local surfing beach, Oswald West.  Great day, great day.

So you thought you were going to Mexico...

Dear Traveler,

Due to the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus in Mexico, we unfortunately will be making some changes to your cruise itinerary.  Instead of the sunny, sandy, relaxing shores of Cabo San Lucas, you will now be headed north, to the cold, rocky, rainy shores of the Pacific Northwest. 

Your first stop on our way to Puget Sound will be in lovely, quaint Astoria, Oregon.  No snorkeling or cocktails by the beach here, but you can take a tour of the town to see places where various movies have been set.  Remember "The Goonies" and "Kindergarten Cop"?  Yes!  They were set here.  Won't that be exciting?  After the tour, you can take in some of the local cuisine, fish 'n' chips is popular here.

Yes, we realize it is May and the weather can be a crap shoot, but it is for your health and safety that we change our plans.  Remember to pack a raincoat, you'll need it.

Sincerely,

Your cruise director    

I *heart* the digital conversion.

B and I don't have cable TV.  That's right, we live in the stone ages and use rabbit ears on our old TV set.  Enter the digital conversion and we had to purchase one of those converter boxes.  Let me tell you, it has been FANTASTIC!

Because you know what channel we get now?  Channel 032-02.  Universal Sports.  All sports, all the time.  Not sports like NBA basketball or football or heaven help us, golf.  But sports like World Cup skiing and snowboarder-cross and swimming and coverage of the Paralympics and marathons and Ironman triathlons and best of all, bike racing.  

The Giro D'Italia started on Saturday and since then, I've been addicted to the US channel.  It is so fascinating to watch about a hundred cyclists all ride within about twelve inches of each other going around 35 miles per hour.  PLUS, they ride about 125 miles and do this everyday for about three weeks.  PLUS, they have to climb mountains AND then sprint for the finish.  It's incredibly dramatic.  Last night, I was actually nervous at the end and was cheering for some European guy to win.  It's awesome.  They better cover the Tour de France....

The Garden, Episode 4

Raised beds, check.  Dirt, check.  Plants and seeds, check.  Time to plant! 

Sunday was planting day at the plot.  I decided to plant some veggies from seeds and because Oregon is just so cold and wet, some from starts I picked up from the plant market.  The first bed has two cucumber mounds from seeds, a spot reserved for jalapeno and tomato starts, then a row of okra from seeds, two rows of bush green beans and a row of peas.
Bed #2 includes spinach from starts, a row of arugula from seeds, then leaf lettuce from seeds, onions from seeds, two clumps of shallot starts and finally four strawberry starts.  (I definitely need to plant more strawberries.)  The lettuce should come up pretty quick and once it gets too hot for the green leafy stuff, I can plant more peppers or just a whole bed of flowers until the weather cools enough again this fall to put more lettuce back in.  
Michelle and Linda discuss slug prevention tactics.  Oh, and deer prevention tactics.  Behold, our first scarecrow!
Now grow little plants!  Grow!

"Skiin' with the bra's"

"So, Geoff called...." B says with a shy little grin.  

Uh oh, there's a plan in the works.  They have been having some adventures lately and this week, B took the camera along to the slopes of Mt. Hood.  Here are some of the pretty rad shots he got of Geoff cruisin' Heather Canyon in the Meadows backcountry. 

Maybe next time, Julia and I will get the invite too. :)

The Garden, Episode 3

The dirt is here!  My two and a half yards of prime composted garden dirt arrived yesterday morning and last night, I spent two hours wheelbarrowing it over to the beds.  Linda calls it "black gold."  I'm just hoping it will yield green gold.

The Garden, Episode 2

Step two to planting a garden in the Northwest is apparently, go buy some dirt.  Seems like a weird thing to do, but I'm just following along here people!  Like I said before, I'm really trying to up my chances for success so I'm doing whatever it takes to get this garden off on the right foot. 

So, I bought some dirt today.  Two and a half yards of mulch compost will be delivered to my garden on Wednesday.  Just need to find a wheelbarrow.....oh, and a shovel.

Tonight, B and I are headed to the hardware store to get some fencing supplies.  There is a pesky deer that likes to nibble the new starts over at the plot and since we vetoed my scarecrow idea, a fence is in the plans.  Then, I can finally get something planted in the ground!

(Buy dirt.  Ha.  Sorry, I just can't get over it.)