A Day in the Life

8:00am

Me, to B, "Hey, what are you doing today? Let's go for a hike!"

B, to me, "I might have a shoot tonight. I'll let you know."

2:06pm

B, to me, "Hey, let's go for a hike!"

2:07pm

Look through hike book, select hike, go online to find out

the conditions.

2:17pm

Realize the hike is still snowed in. Go with Plan B.

2:47pm

Stop at grocery store for picnic dinner provisions.

3:20pm

Sit in early rush hour traffic trying to get out of Portland.

4:00pm

Follow directions in guide book and drive on crazy forest roads for two hours.

6:00pm

Come upon a paved, two lane highway that would have taken us to aforementioned hike destination much, much quicker.

6:07pm

Commence to hike Lost Lake Butte.

7:03pm

Reach Lost Lake Butte summit. Gawk in awe at the amazing view. Study Mt. Hood's peak and crevasses with binoculars for the next 45 minutes. Put on an additional layer of clothing. Eat aforementioned picnic dinner.

7:48pm

Put on two more layers of clothing. Wait until the mountain turns the most perfect shade of pink.

8:10pm

Bust it back down the trail to catch the moon rise over the mountain, reflected in Lost Lake.

9:32pm

Drive home, content.

No, Portland, you're awesome.

Spotted at the Lucky Lab Brewpub.

Discovery Day

Sometimes, my job is just too much to handle.

Sometimes, I have to go spend the day at the Tualatin river and help people get into life jackets and find them paddles and then get them in boats and sometimes, this is their first time in a boat ever. Then, I have to listen to them cry out with glee about how fun it is to be in a canoe on a river. After all of that, I have to get into a kayak by myself and paddle down the river to make sure all of those people made it safely to the take out point. Plus, I have to do all of this on the first sunny day since last weekend.

Like I said, sometimes it's just way too much to handle.

More pics here...

Keep Portland Weird.

There is a popular bumper sticker in Portland: Keep Portland Weird. You know, I think we're doing a rather fine job on our own without the encouragement, thank you very much.

SUNSHINE!

I really could hardly believe it. That bright, warm, shiny, sunny, yellow thing in the sky all weekend. Sunshine? Could it be?

Naturally, B and I spent the weekend outside soaking up as much Vitamin D as possible. We spent Saturday on the Portland waterfront taking in the sites of the Rose Festival, this crazy two-week long "festival" that celebrates...roses? It's just another annual Portland event that we usually don't pay any attention to, but B was shooting engagement shots on the riverfront so we went down early to take in the sights-- dragon boat races, the carnival midway and most importantly, the people watching. Oh, the people watching. It was awesome with a capital AWE.

Sunday was even sunnier (is that a word?) so I hightailed it down to Corvallis to hang with Craig and Bridget. We headed for the disc golf course and were doing pretty good until we got held up at hole 15 by some fools who threw a frisbee in a tree. So Craig says, "Screw this, let's go drink beers." Hard to argue with that. We finished the day with beers on the sidewalk and then dinner in downtown Corvallis. Cheers to sunshine!

The twins are here!

Geoff and Julia's girls made their arrival on Friday. We are so excited for them!

Check these links for photos:

Julia's blog

Bryan's blog

Garden update

And now, for your early June garden update:

Nothing really to report in the produce department-- nothing in the garden is quite ready to harvest yet. I have a couple of strawberries that are just-about-almost turning pink and the romaine lettuce is getting a little-bit bigger, but everything else is just drowning in the soggy, mud muck that is the raised beds.

I do have some wildlife updates. It appears, though it may be too early to tell, that the deer fence is working. Now, I know they might not be coming in the garden yet because there isn't much to eat, but last year, they were munching on our starts from the very beginning. Success, full success.

However, we are fighting a slow, losing battle with the slugs. They are gross, icky, goopy and eat anything green they can get their grubby little mouths on. I've heard that beer kills them. They are attracted to its sweet hoppy taste and then they fall in and drown. Go figure that I would have to waste something I want to drink on those little slime balls.

An "Extreme" Weekend

Saturday:

National Trails Day, trail building project in Forest Park.

Weather: Sunny, 72 degrees. Yay!

Me, spreading REI cheer to the group of volunteers.

A happy, dry group of volunteer fence builders.

Sunday:

REI Paddle Demo Day, Vancouver Lake.

Weather: torrential downpour. Yuck.

The view out to the lake from the shore. All ready for the crowds...

Boats and paddle boards ready for action.

Correction.

It has rained in Portland for the past 17 days.

*sigh*

Send help!

It has rained here for the past 16 days. I'll be out back putting the finishing touches on my ark.