Life in the Punchbowl

This is time of year when hikers start to get lost, people get stranded on roads and general outdoor chaos dominates the evening news. Someone is always wandering off the trail wearing a tank top or driving down a forest road only to find that it's a dead end and they've run out of gas.

Sometimes I can't believe B and I have never landed ourselves on the news.

We left Portland on Monday afternoon around 2pm bound for Eagle Creek in the Gorge. The clouds had been threatening rain all day, but we figured it would hold off long enough for us to scamper the short 2 miles up the Eagle Creek trail to Punchbowl Falls. B wanted to take photos, of-course.

After we shot upper Punchbowl, we slid/shimmied/fell off the trail down the steep side of the canyon to photograph lower Punchbowl falls. By that time, the sky was getting darker and the air cooler so we decided to hike out. We got back to the jeep just as the first rain drops started to fall and the light was quickly fading. It was about this time I took stock of our situation:

B had on sandals and his pants were wet up to his knees.

Half a bottle of water.

One Clif bar.

One headlamp.

Two rain jackets.

No cell phone coverage.

Like I said, it really is a wonder we don't end up on the news.

The Garden: A Recap

I think it's time to close the book on my first garden. Let's discuss the report card shall we?

Point 1: I'm a gardener, not animal control.

Yes, those deer were pesky, but unless I plan to spend the night in the garden with a shotgun by my side, I can't really do anything about them. So, I decide to take the deer out of the equation.

Grade: C. I figure we all start out in the middle of the scale right?

Point 2: Harvests like this one:

This is what I gathered just the other day, after I have been ignoring the garden completely for the past month. I dock myself a few letter grades because I didn't get any green beans, sweet peas and only about 8 strawberries.

Grade: B-

Point 3: The habanero plant.

This took awhile to get going, but these are the hottest peppers on the face of the planet. Because B ate one and I almost dialed 911, I give myself an extra letter grade.

Final grade: A-

I'll be back in 2010 for my sophomore year with an electric fence. I predict bountiful bounty.

Fall Foliage

It's officially Autumn here in the Great Northwest so Dacia and I decided to take a drive south of Portland on Friday to see a little fall foliage.  New England, you've got nothin' on us!

Ski Training, Day 1

Welcome to our gym-- the Cooper Spur trail up to the Tilly Jane Cabin on the northeast side of Mt. Hood. B and I took advantage of a clear blue September day to stretch out our ski legs and take in some views.

Ski season is coming folks. You best be gettin' yourself to the gym.

Bambi, you win.

I give up.

I turned off Stafford Rd. today into the lane up to the garden and had to stop short.  Three deer, just chillin' in the driveway, munching on some early apples from the apple trees.  They didn't move, just kept munching away.  I didn't want to freak out the neighbors so I didn't honk but instead stuck my head out the window and yelled a few choice words at them.  They looked at me and then, almost as an afterthought, sauntered away.  Yep, that's right, they sauntered.

I parked and went to check out the damage and oh. my. god.  My garden is a disaster zone.  Every leaf on every plant is gone.  I have four-foot tall okra plants that are just stems and okra, no leaves. I have six green bean plants with a green bean here or there, no leaves.  I have habanero pepper, jalapeno pepper and bell pepper plants all with peppers on them and guess what?  No leaves.  Even the cucumber is being eaten alive.  Arrrggghhhh.  It is such a dismal, depressing sight, I didn't even have the heart to take a photo.

So, Bambi and the twins, I give up.  You win.  I picked most of the remaining veggies today so you are now free to do with it what you will.  I even took down part of my "fence" so you won't have to trample it anymore.  

But, don't get too comfortable.  Next year, you are in for a treat.  Did someone say electric fence?

The Cyclist's Republic of Portland

During the month of September, Portland's BTA (Bicycle Transportation Alliance) organizes the Bike Commute Challenge, a friendly competition between businesses to see who can bike to work more.

The BCC is only 5 days old, but here are some amazing stats:

Number of miles biked:  158,017

Number of calories burned:  7,742,869

Pounds of CO2 saved:  154,857

So far, I've ridden two days to work, totaling 16 miles, burning 784 calories and saving 15 pounds of CO2.

Big ups to Portland!  Saving the world, one bike trip at a time.

B's Bloggy Blog

Have you visited B's website lately?  Oh, you haven't?  Well, do it.  Right now.  

Because he has taken some gorgeous shots lately.

www.bryanhoybook.com

The Official End of Summer

Last weekend, we celebrated the "official end of summer"-- our annual raft trip with the Incredi-Lodges on the Deschutes River out of Maupin.

We brought some new kids to the group this year, Ryan and Dacia, and also had plenty of fun with the usual crowd-- Geoff, Julia, Katie, Emily, Kendra, Darci, Kathryn and Steve.  Here's our trip by the numbers:

Days on the river:  3

Rafts:  1

Rafters over the course of the weekend: 14

Brats consumed:  a bunch

Beers consumed:  a whole lot

Games of Blongo played: 4?

Times Julia floated through the Elevator rapid:  about 30

Number of rafters we lost from the boat:  only 2!

Times we rafted through Oak Springs rapid:  6

People we saw wearing socks, on the river, with their sandals:  1 (which is probably one too many)

B hopped out on one of the trips down and got these great shots of us going through Oak Springs:

The Crew:  Ryan, Katie, Julia, Emily, me, Dacia, Darci & Geoff, our fearless leader.

Raft babes!  Katie, Dacia, me, Kendra & Julia on Day 3.

So, summer is on it's way out, but September is just getting fired up.  Were you aware that September is the greatest month in the world?  It is perfection.  Warm days, cool nights, Husker football.  Ahh, yes, September, how we love thee.

Three Years