2008 Rose Festival Pictures and Video

Here are a few more shots from the fireworks celebration last night. Lori, Grayson, Ken and I went to Dairy Queen for blizzards and then got to the event about an hour early. We found a good seat and then I called Brittany and Brandon and they walked down and joined us for a little while. The people-watching was almost as entertaining as the fireworks display.

The video is of the last few minutes and the finale.

enjoy



This picture is a test shot. I set the camera for slower night setting and when I took a shot the vendor was swinging his green sword. I thought it was interesting.


Fireworks








Misc city shots

Rose Festival 2008

Leftovers! Yum

Gross gutters

Our Clematis Bloometh

I have been waiting for months for this event to happen and here it is. Here is the story. Lori received two Clematis for mothers day last year and we planted them. One died and the other did so-so. This is the so-so one...(obviously it isn't the dead one)

All winter and spring I have been going outside and guiding its little vines up and around the trellis I made for it. The vines have been clinging and wrapping and doing a great job making their way to the top. And now the reward for all of the hard work.

This first picture is from my phone.

The rest are from my home camera...

Here are some pictures of Grayson tending to his garden yesterday. He is planting more flowers to help bring color to the space and hopefully attract bees and keep slugs away... Grayson really enjoys the garden and is an awesome contributor to its care.

Hang Tough - Lend a Hand

There are times when someone needs an extra hand. Helping others is always a good thing but sometimes you just don't have time... I give you my hand. When someone asks you to lend a hand and you simply dont have time, lend them mine :)

6.57 Miles - Just For The Hill Of It!

There is an old phrase that came to mind while I was running in the beautiful metropolis of SeaTac today:

• There is no amount of planning that can replace dumb luck.

Well, that just wasn't the case for me today. I decided since I had a 9 1/2 hour trip to Seattle and it was still early I would get on the computer and map out a run that went from my hotel to the Puget Sound. I have wanted to plan a run there from the hotel for the past two years and today just seemed like the perfect opportunity. The sun was shining bright, the traffic was light since it is a holiday weekend, and my energy level was great.

So I mapped out a simple course from my doorstep to the shores of the sound on my handy dandy website I use from google. It is a mapping site that allows a person to map a route from point A to point B and gives the exact miles, contour of the route, and other helpful information us analytical runner types like to use. Here is the link to my path...

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1233062

Nice little 4.27 mile route from the hotel to the water and only about a 400' incline throughout the entire route. Sounds like a great plan to me... I figured I would run about a 8.5 minute pace and I should arrive at the water in about 35 - 40 minutes and then hang out at the beach, soak up some rays and watch the sunset. If you look at the map you can see my ending point... now go about 3 miles south... I ended up at Des Moines Beach Park... ooops! Not even close!

What a great plan eh... well there were a few holes in my brilliant plan that I didn't consider and my 8 1/2 mile round trip run turned into a half marathon. Here are some of the planning "mis-judgments" I encountered:

1. I have no printer so I couldn't print the route, I tried to look at it an remember it.
2. The 400' incline was from the water to the main road... I didn't take into account that the trail descended and ascended numerous times so I probably climbed a total of 1800-2000 vertical feet on the entire trip.
3. I forgot some turns so I ended up getting lost and ran 2.3 miles out of the way.
4. I forgot my water bottle. (ran into QFC and bought one at mile 7.8)
   
5. I haven't ran in a week.
6. I am too stubborn to turn around until I get to my destination.
   
7. Some streets are dead ends...
   

These little mishaps turned my leisurely run into a grueling half marathon. I did survive and I will probably run it again here pretty soon. As I was running I had two things stuck in my head. One was the quote I shared above and the other was a slogan I heard one time from a tv commercial. I can't remember who it is or what it was for but it goes something like this.

• He came for the views... but he stayed because his freakin legs cramped up.

Enjoy the photos:

Here is one of the hills I tackled early on:


This picture shows the dock I saw while running. If you click on it and look over the roof of the condos you can see the dock stretch out into the sound. I went all the way to the end of it. At the furthest point I was at the 6.57 mile mark:


Photos from the dock walkway:
















weapher

Happy Baseball Mom

A very happy baseball mom. This is Sandy, she is a mom to one of the boys on Grayson's baseball team. Today's game was a nail biter but the home team came out a winner in the bottom of the last inning thanks to an in the park home run, a walk, and a triple.

The final score was 5-4. Hopefully more happy days tomorrow!

Grey and Gloomy

On such a grey and gloomy day I thought I would share a picture from our front yard that I took a week ago when it was sunny and nice out. I have been working a ton again and I am trying to decide if I am going to lay off a trip. It is either go to work tonight at 9:30 and work all night in Clackamas and Oregon City switching box cars in the rain or get the next 24 hours off. Whatever the decision... I hope you enjoy the flowers!

Here is the holiday weather report for the next five days:

Today	Tomorrow	Sun	Mon	Tue
Showers Early	T-showers	PM Showers	Few Showers	Few Showers

WOW, what a shock, more rain!

Ouchy!

Grayson was playing cops and robbers and got kicked in the eye. He was the robber. I would say police brutality.

Reflections

I have always found reflections intriguing. I thought I would share this one today.

Biking with the boys

We went on a bike ride to the top of Mt Tabor this evening before dinner. As you can see, Grayson is pretty beat from climbing the hills on his bike. Austin got about 3/4 of the way to the top and wanted to know where he can bring a girl to show her the views... yah, whatever. It was nice since the sun came out for a little while and the wind was blowing ever so slightly.

Strange Similarities - Grayson and McGwire

I have been a baseball fan for many years. I also was a huge Mark McGwire fan in the late 80's and 90's. I have over 4000 Mark McGwire baseball cards in my collection and tons of his record breaking homerun memorabilia.

With that said, I was looking at a picture of Grayson hitting at his baseball tournament this weekend and noticed some really strange similarities between him and Mark McGwire. Grayson is a right handed hitter, and so is McGwire. He can hit home runs, and so did McGwire. Grayson has rock hard muscles, and so does McGwire. Grayson wears his pants high, so did McGwire. The similarities are endless... I wonder if there is anything to that. We shall see.

Here are a couple photos for you to see for yourself...





Almost can't tell the difference really.

Grayson was one of five kids this weekend to have a homerun without any throwing errors. He hit the ball into center field and outran the throw to home... Good job Grayson.

Survival!

More birds from Bruce.

Here is a picture of a group of crows chasing a hawk. They were trying to scare it off. The hawk has a baby crow in its talons. If you look at the bottom picture close up you can see it.

I saw bigfoot!

I was in the gorge waiting for about two hours and looked into the trees and saw bigfoot. I actually took his picture. If you look close you can see him by the tree... He is a fast runner. Once he heard the camera click (good hearing too) he took off and i couldn't keep up.

I truly believe this picture of bigfoot will be seen all over the world and eventually become famous. You can say that you were one of the first to see it. Remember that I hold the rights so do not copy it and try to sell it. I will find you like I found him!

weapher

What are the odds!

Here is the burning question of the day for me.

"What are the odds of having two people from two different states send me an email of a flying bird on the same day?"

Well, the answer is 100%.

The first picture is from Lori's dad Bruce. He is in the Rowena area on a wildflower hike and took a picture of this turkey vulture.



This picture is from sister Kris. (No she is not a nun) She took this picture from her home in Naches, WA.



I found it very interesting that I have never to my recollection received a picture in my email of a flying bird and today I was sent two of them... How cool is that.

Here is a picture of a flower Bruce sent too.


The whole bird thing reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah.
Isaiah 40:31: "Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary."

It does say Eagles not turkey vultures... but the message is still the same :)

weapher

Good morning world!

I am on my way to Hermiston and the sun is coming up. A cloud cover is beginning to form so I took this picture before the sky turned a bit hazy. It is a short sleeve kind of night and this is turning out to be an excellent run! I need trips like this once in awhile.

This is for Saturday

Since i have been working nights and going out on my rest I didnt send a pic in on time for saturday. So here it is... Monkey Boy!

Just A Picture Of Wood

Not any time today for much. Going back to work so I sent a picture from my phone I took a while back... Thought this wood looked cool.

weapher

A Day In The Sun

I had some errands to run today and a couple of appointments so I decided to do it by bike. Since the weather is beautiful and gas prices are so high, I figured that bicycle was the way to go.

Here are some pictures I took from my phone on my errands.

Here is the first picture I encountered. The sign is for new homes in a development on Mt Tabor. Starting at only $725,000. The caption says, "You Can Have It All." With that kind of price, sounds like someone else gets it all to me...




Here are some more beautiful home pictures... Some of my favorites that I have ridden by over the years.







I also discovered another bumper sticker. I have never been much of a bumper sticker guy so I don't really understand presenting a message to the world about the things I represent on the back of my car. This one caught my eye. After reading this I have come to the conclusion that liberalism is a mental disorder.



Passing Grandpa Carey's old meat market.


As I traveled around Laurelhurst park I saw a lot of school kids playing. These little ones are rolling down the hill. Looks like fun to me...


What a beautiful place.




Not everyone was having a good time however...


Back on Mt Tabor I took a picture of the city from the middle reservoir.


After this I rushed to the bus stop to get Grayson, I had his bicycle waiting. He was pleasantly surprised that he was able to ride home rather than be in my truck today.




Time to get Grayson ready for his baseball game and for me to take a nap. I will be working again all night...

weapher