That Time of Year Again

It's that time of year again where I have to go around and make sure all the downspouts are working right, and climb up on the roof and clean out the gutters. It's amazing how fast we transitioned from 75 degree weather to the gray rainy days of fall. It was literally a one day transition. This of course gave me no time to do the tasks I need to do to get ready for the rainy season. I didn't make it up on the roof this weekend to do it, and I don't see any breaks in the forecast. I see myself having to get up on the roof one evening this week in the rain to clean out the gutters. Ah, the joys of homeownership.

-G

Out on the town...

I guess.
Gabe and I went to Harvey's Comedy Club this evening. A teacher I've worked with for the last 5 years decided to make a career change this year. She is now doing stand-up comedy. I guess that's what teaching middle school can drive you to.
After the show we were going to grab some food downtown but it's a complete mess. After driving around the same block several times because we couldn't get down the street we wanted, we gave up. We ended up driving back "home" to the east side. All the while we were asking ourselves why we even bothered. We never go downtown because there's no reason. The east side of the river holds all we need.
I decided that while we were circling the block several times I should probably get a shot of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. And since I took the picture in the car, with the point and shoot, it didn't turn out very good. Oh well!

$14.45

As you all know, I only work half days on Friday, it's really nice, and basically gives me 3 day weekends. When Heidi is in school it's my time to get errands and chores done. Today my task was to take back a summers worth of bottle and cans. After it was all said and done, I had $14.45 in cash in my pocket. The problem is, I'm not sure it was worth my time. While I was standing there feeding the machine, a torrential downpour began, then thunder and lightening, and then there is always the constant flow of unsavory individuals hovering around the bottle machines. That's not even mentioning the machines that never take the bottles or cans that it should. It took me close to an hour to do it all, so not a very good wage, especially dealing with everything. I guess it did pay for my haircut, though I'm tempted to start putting the cans and bottles in the curbside recycling every week.

-G

Funny Face

Finally! I've been trying to post this stupid picture for 1/2 an hour. Blogger was down or something!
Now I have no motivation to write a single word.
I've run out of things to photograph.
I'm sleepy.
I'm soooo glad it's Friday tomorrow.
Can you tell I'm in a foul mood?
-h
Just a little explanation about the picture. When I was little I always thought electrical plugs looked like people who are sad/surprised. But I also thought that my toys came alive whenever I left the room too! That's a child's imagination for ya.

Another Dahlia

Yeah, I know, another macro flower shot. Sorry. I think this is the 3rd or 4th dahlia picture that's made it on our blog, but Heidi is right, they are a beautiful flower. I've been trying to avoid posting another one, but couldn't resist this one that is about to pop open. For some reason it reminds me of the sarlacc in Star Wars.

I think my goal is to not fall back on macro shots for my next few posts. It's just that I find I can get really neat looking stuff even when I'm feeling uninspired.

-G

Stupid Nonsensical Game

If you've ever played Fluxx...then you know what I mean.
Jen, Alexis and I got together this evening to play some games and Fluxx is finally growing on me. I really hated it the first time I played because it makes absolutely no sense and the rules change all the time. So, if you aren't familiar with the cards, it's completely infuriating. Not a good game for someone impatient like me.
Those of you who have played know that the rule cards can really pile up. That's exactly what happened to us the first game we played tonight. At one point we had tons of cards in our hands and none in the draw pile. It's that stupid "first play random" card. None of us could change the rules.
Anyway, now that I've totally lost those of you who have never played this crazy game...you should try it.
-h

Basketball is fun...

But also dangerous. Bryan, Mike and I were playing some basketball this evening, nothing major, just fooling around. Mike and I were jumping to tip possession of the ball, and as I came down I rolled my ankle pretty hard. Hard enough that we didn't play anymore and I needed an ice pack for the remainder of the evening. It's not swollen too much and doesn't show any bruising so I'm sure it'll feel better soon, but doing anything more than not moving it still hurts pretty good. I guess I'm not really as young as I used to be.

-G

Fall is here!

And we spend the day doing all sorts of fall related activities.
Gabe spent most of the day being the brewmaster and working on his next batch. While I made bread, cleaned out old and no longer needed clothes from my closet, and made a delicious rosemary pot roast for dinner. Our house smelled delicious. I can't say the same for the garage. When I went out to see how Gabe was doing out there I didn't stay long. I don't really like the smell of the beer brewing process. The end result is much better.
Yesterday we went on a nice long bike ride...last one of the summer. And today my butt is really sore. Too bad I can't ride with a pillow on my seat. Why do they have to make bike seats soooo uncomfortable?
It's been a nice and relaxing weekend. Too bad it can't last longer!
-h

The Basis of Beer

Here we have the basis for the beer I'll be brewing tomorrow. It's going to be a porter, a pretty basic one, but hopefully something like a Black Butte Porter. This will be my first brew where I'm actually getting some of the fermentable sugars directly from grain. All the other beers I've made have been from an extract syrup. I'm still using some extract, but using some grain to add in some more sugar. Using this process will add another hour or more to my brew day tomorrow, but the end result should be pretty darn good.

-G

International Day of Peace

September 21st is the International Day of Peace. Our staff and students supported peace today by making pinwheels for peace. I put mine out in the morning before school started and there were only 2 others. I went back after school got out and the courtyard was full of them, many whirling in the wind. What a cool message and symbol! I found lots of really powerful things on the web related to this day. Check out this video.
As of today, 3,793 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Almost 80,000 Iraqi civilians have died because of violence in Iraq. That's way too many reasons why we need peace in the world.
-h

Dinner Time

While I was outside this evening firing up the BBQ and looking for tomatoes that needed picking, I noticed this little guy getting his dinner ready. These are the spiders I'm used to seeing all over the place around here. It seems that any web I see around our yard is one of these guys, there must have been at least 5 around our garden this evening. I'm not sure what they are, but they seem harmless enough. Harmless to me anyway. I couldn't tell what was getting wrapped up here, but I'm sure it'll be a tasty treat later.

-G

last birthday celebration

Alexis and Jennifer met me for dinner tonight at one of my favorite restaurants, Pambiche. They have great food and even better dessert. The restaurant is really colorful and creative and they have great outdoor seating when it's warm. Tonight the wait was a little long (especially for a Wednesday) and we were all really hungry, but the food and the desserts did not disappoint. Before dinner I opened my gifts. They gave me these and these. It's funny because when I was looking through the Crate & Barrel catalog a few months back I saw these plates and really wanted them. I love them! My friends obviously know me really well!
-h

Night Clouds

There were some really interesting clouds rolling through this evening. I went out back with the tripod to see what I could get. I had hoped to have something static in the picture as well like a tree or something but it just didn't work out. I like the movement in the shot a lot and the few stars peaking out on the left is fun too. I hope to someday be able to be in a place dark enough that I can actually have an exposure long enough to capture star trails, but since we're done camping for the year that might have to wait till next year.

-G

Reflection

Gabe and I made a deal. We are both running low on motivation to keep this blog going but we're also both really stubborn and don't want to quit. So, our goal for the rest of the year is to really push ourselves to take more creative photos. The whole reason we started this blog was to encourage ourselves to take a photo each day, in the hope that we would become better photographers. It's something we both really love but we certainly aren't professionals. Well, lately we've really gotten into a rut and neither of us ever wants to take a picture. So, I decided to try something out tonight. I was really aiming for the reflection of the key in this shot. Then when I was editing, I decided to also play around with some effects. I think our camera needs some cleaning..the spots are really bugging me!
-h

Laying Low

After all the celebration yesterday, Gabe and I have been taking it easy today. We did get out in the yard before the rain started this afternoon. The grass needed a serious mowing and the garden needed some attention. Other than that, I think I've spent most of the day watching reruns of Beauty and the Geek on MTV. Why do I get so sucked into stupid reality TV?

Feels like fall arrived this weekend. It might be time to get all my long sleeved shirts and sweaters out of the back of the closet. Fall is definitely my favorite season and I'm glad it's finally here. I look forward to the crisp cool nights and the changing color of the trees. Plus, nothing says fall more than a nice bowl of homemade soup and curling up with a blanket and a book.
-h
I had a really fun birthday and I just wanted to thank all of you who celebrated with me yesterday!

Who's Birthday is it?

It was most definitely Heidi's birthday, but when presents were getting opened, it was a little difficult to tell. Both Savannah and Sawyer were "helping" their aunt Heidi open her presents. It was really cute. It was a pretty busy day yesterday (part of the reason the post is happening today). Heidi's family was over shortly after 10 yesterday morning, which meant not much sleeping in. We had a fun morning, Tricia brought her kitten, seen recently on the blog, so Jupiter would have someone to play with. The cats got along pretty well, though Jupiter did have to lay down the law a few times when Taz was being too pushy. We watched Heidi open presents, had a lunch of sausages from Otto's, and ate carrot cake. After her family left we ran out to Beaverton to get fish for the sushi dinner we were planning. The evening was the celebration with friends (and some family), Dave, Carley, Josh, Danelle, Tricia and Jory all came over to make and eat sushi with us. We made a lot of sushi, but luckily ate most of it too. I think it was the most successful sushi rolling we've ever had. We let dinner settle for a bit and took off for the Black Cat down in Sellwood. Not too long before we left the house Jen and Craig showed up, and after a couple games of shuffleboard, Alexis and Eric showed up. We were definitely the dominant group at the Black Cat. All in all, it was an busy, but fun day. Hopefully Heidi feels the same way about her last birthday of her 20's.

-G

What is it?

I've been seeing these for the past week or so, and been meaning to take a picture of them. Anybody know what they are? And no, they are not some crazy fruit we got at Fubonn last night. Today was a pretty busy day, I had lots to do after work. My day after work did start nice, I met Dave at the McMenamins near the Lloyd Center for lunch. From there it was errand time. I had some shopping to do for Heidi's birthday, not only for gifts, but for the party tomorrow. So I finished up all my shopping and then it was time to bake. Heidi says that I'm a pretty good cook, but that I'm not the best baker in the world. I tend to agree with her on that, she is definitely the better baker in the house. I was proud of myself though, the carrot cake I made looks really good, we'll know tomorrow if it tastes good.

-G

Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away

Gabe made some new friends tonight.
I've been searching for an Asian market on the east side of town that sells sashimi grade fish since I moved over here almost 4 years ago. I've never had any luck. So, we decided to explore the market in the Fubonn shopping center tonight. Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck finding seafood but I did manage to get Gabe to pose with Bert and Ernie. I guess we'll be making a trip to the westside on Saturday to get the necessary fish to make sushi. My search continues.
-h

On The Prowl

Something weird is going on in our kitchen. We went out to the grocery store this evening and when we got home we didn't have a cat sprawled across the entry rug to greet us. When we went into the kitchen to put the groceries away, we found him spread out on the kitchen floor. He was intently watching the bottom cabinets. And we could not get him to leave the kitchen. It was obvious he was after something.

So, we decided there are really only two things he could be so intent upon catching. One...it could be a spider. We've had a lot of spiders in the house lately. Jupiter even knocked a plant off the fireplace mantle, and broke the pot trying to catch one the other day. And we've killed a few and then let him have them as a "snack" so he knows they are good eats. Or...it could be a mouse. When we first moved in to our house I had the misfortune to find mice on the stove one evening. That's part of the reason we decided to get a cat. I really hope it's just a spider.
-h

Playin' Around

I'm blogging this evening since Heidi has back to school night. I was being completely lazy and couldn't come up with anything to take a picture of. There I sat, on the couch, with a cool breeze draping over me. Such is the magic of a ceiling fan. This is the first place I've lived that has had a ceiling fan, and I really like it. I had walked around for a while with the camera looking for something that might inspire me, but ended up back on the couch. I just started clicking away at the fan, messing around with shutter speed and the varying amounts of blur I could get in the blades. Some looked decent so I figured I'd use one for tonights post. I started editing it in color and it was a little boring, so I played around with some of the other options at my disposal. I ended up with this black and white shot with a bunch of added grain. I think it has a film noire feel to it, though the subject doesn't really fit that category.

-G

White Men Can't Jump

Whoever said that was, well, right. As you can see here, Bryan is stretched to the max, and still wasn't quite making the rim. And this is a backyard hoop, there's nothing official about it. Granted, he was in flip-flops and I can attest to his ability to touch the rim back in the day. This was after a quick game of HORSE that went on while I was cooking dinner on the BBQ. We headed inside to play cards once the mosquitoes came out. Dave taught us two new kinds of poker, new to us anyway. We played Omaha and 7 card stud, both are definitely different than our standard Hold'em. They were fun, but I couldn't get into the hands like I do with Hold'em. That's probably why I didn't run out of chips early.

-G

Summer Showers

Not from the sky...but the hose. Boy was it hot today and I can't believe it's suppose to be in the 90s all week. Yuck! Gabe thought our new plants could use a little extra water to get them through this last (hopefully) heat wave. So, here it is, 90 degrees and Gabe and I had the oven on baking bread today. That's about all we got accomplished today...and a bunch of laundry. Maybe I should say that's what Gabe got accomplished today. You'll never believed what I did to myself yesterday.
After a much needed late start yesterday morning, Gabe made pancakes while I went out to the garden to pick ripe tomatoes for canning. When I came back in, "brunch" was ready and I leaned down to open the oven and get out a delicious pancake that was staying warm in there for me. Sounds simple enough...except that I couldn't stand back up. Some how I tweaked my back! I spent all of yesterday flat on my back and popping Advil. I did manage our excursion out for the evening but today I've been taking it easy. I still can't bend over and the most comfortable position is either standing or laying down.
If this is what getting old is like, I'm not having my birthday on Saturday! I've never been in so much pain in my life.
-h

Personality Goes a Long Way

Tonight we met some friends over at the Lucky Lab to have some beers and play some games. Our friends Anne and Ryan were in town from Ohio where they are both in school. I used to work with the both of them at Columbia Cascade back when I was in college. We started out playing Ticket to Ride and then moved on to Apples to Apples. As anyone knows who has played Apples to Apples, the cards you end up with at the end of the game are supposed to describe your personality. It's tough to see, but the card on Dave's forehead says "meek". That surely describes him. It was good to see old friends we haven't seen in a while and to play some new games. I think the next game purchase Heidi and I will make will be Ticket to Ride.

PS: Dogs aren't filthy, but they're definitely dirty. (Hopefully you've seen Pulp Fiction)

PPS: Yeah, the picture kinda sucks, sorry, I didn't feel like using the flash.

-G

Mmmm...brownies

As soon as I opened the front door this evening, I could smell them. Not many things smell better than fresh, out of the oven brownies. We went over to Josh and Danelle's for dinner tonight and our job was to bring dessert with us. Josh grilled up one of his many salmon fillets and then fell asleep while we watched Hollywoodland. I think we were all wishing we'd slept through it. It certainly isn't one I'd recommend or ever watch again...except that I do love Adrian Brody.
I wish the picture was more inspiring today. I can hardly keep my eyes open...I'm so exhausted. The first week back really drains me.
-h

Smoke Tree

One of the few things in the yard I really like that the previous owners put in was the smoke tree in the back yard. It's also called cotinus, but I've always known it as smoke tree. Apparently it's called that because of the "puffs" left over after the tree blooms. I've never really felt like they look like smoke, but whatever. What I do like about it is the color. From a distance the tree looks reddish or maroon, but up close you can see the green in it. What has really struck me this summer is the red fringe to each of the leaves. It looks incredible with the sun on it. I liked this shot a lot because of the way the leaf is peaking out from behind the other. I know the focal point is very centered, but I'm okay with it in this case.

-G

trying something new

I've never done a black and white conversion before. I figure 9 months into this photo-a-day thing and I had better finally give it a try. I use to shoot 35mm in black and white, but creating the black and white effect on the computer has always sorta freaked me out. Something feels not quite right about it. I don't do so well with things I'm not comfortable with.

So, I thought it was really funny that Gabe took a picture of an apple yesterday, being that it was my first day back at school and everything. You know...an apple for the teacher. :) I'm positive he didn't even think about it, but I thought it was funny. It's been great to see my kids again (since I have the same ones I had last year). I have so many really nice students and it's going to be a really fun year. Plus, I forget how much they grow and change over the summer. Wow! Voices have changed, facial hair is starting to grown, inches have been added! But, I am exhausted. I could barely walk at the end of the day. The combination of being on my feet all day, and not wearing my Dansko clogs because I wanted to wear cute shoes, is causing me some serious pain.
-h

Crisp

A nice crisp photo of a crisp apple ready to be sliced up into tonight's dessert, a crisp. I can't wait until it's out of the oven and I can dish some up while it's still warm and top it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We even had some crisp yesterday out at Heidi's parents, but it wasn't enough to calm our hunger for more. We're trying a new recipe tonight that uses nuts in the topping instead of the usual oatmeal. I'm hoping it's good, I'm not a huge fan of nuts, but I'm willing to give them a shot here. I'm looking forward to going up to Hood River again this fall to get apples and pears so we can make pies, crisps, applesauce or whatever else we desire. Can you tell I'm ready for fall to be here? I'm tired of this hot weather. Yes, 85 is hot.

-G

Family Day

My mom and dad had a full house today. Becky is in town from Las Vegas. Heather and the kids are here from St. Louis. And my grandparents came over to see everyone before they head back to Yuma for the winter. It was great to see everyone and spend some time playing with the kids.

I can't believe how much the kids have grown! I swear Savannah is 4 going on 14. After her bath the fish food in the bathroom got spilled and her response was, "Perhaps we'll have to put that on the list." What 4 year old says "perhaps"? She's so silly. And Sawyer just doesn't stop moving. He loved being rocked on the rocking ottoman by his great grandpa. But the cutest thing of the evening was Sawyer trying to pick up and snuggle Tricia's kitten. It was like the little girl from Tiny Toons. You know the one who always said, "I'll love them, and hug them and hold them forever!" while she nearly smothers a small animal. Sawyer was just so happy to hold Taz like a baby and pet him. And amazingly Taz really put up with it. It just didn't make Sawyer too happy when the kitten finally had enough and would run away.

I guess I better finish this up. I didn't do any of the work I brought home to work on this weekend, and there are several things I have to get done before the first day tomorrow.
-h

The West Rescue Wagon

After a nice hot shower to wash off all the dust from our adventure this weekend and a nap to try to recover some of the sleep I didn't get last night, I got to go save the day for Carley and Dave. I guess "save the day" might be a little strong, but it was a little bit of a bummer bike ride for them. Maybe that's even too strong. In short, Carley got a flat tire that couldn't be fixed. Luckily we were home and had a spare inner tube we could give them to get Carley back on the road. This is Carley's best I'm-a-sad-bike-rider face which turned much happier as Dave quickly installed the new tube and got them going again. It was definitely one of the easiest sag wagon trips I've ever made.

-G

The Insanity!

For some reason, back in June, Jennifer convinced us all that we should go out to see Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA. The last time I was out there for a show (2 years ago?) I swore I'd never go out there again. For those of you who have never had the joy of a Gorge show/camping experience, I'll share some of the highlights. The venue itself is absolutely amazing. The sun goes down behind the stage and the view of the canyon and the Columbia River is amazing. Words can't really describe it, you just have to experience it. It's the camping part that's insane. When we arrived on Saturday there were literally tents as far as the eye could see. And people don't camp at The Gorge to sleep...it's just one huge party. And in some cases...one huge riot. That would be why I never wanted to go back again. I don't do well being kept awake all night long.

So, I can't believe I got suckered in again. Especially to see Dave...I'm really not a huge fan. This is what I get for giving into peer pressure. Since George, WA is about 4 hours from Portland we got up early Saturday morning to meet up with Jen, Craig, Alexis and Eric so that we could caravan out there and be sure to get a camping spot together. Like I said, when we got there all we could see were tents, tents, and more tents. The "camping" at The Gorge is just a huge field. People pull their vehicle in, set up their tent, and start the party. So, coming on Saturday is a bit of a nightmare because Dave plays all weekend and most people arrived Friday. Plus, we were trying to connect with another friend who is already there. That's a recipe for disaster if I've ever heard one. Amazingly, it didn't take us long to find our friend and we made friends with our neighbors quickly. They flew from Indiana to Seattle to see the show. They were serious Dave groupies...they'd been to 43 Dave shows! The show was fun. Dave played a few new songs and a lot of the old ones that I really like. The 45 minute walk back to our "camp site" was uneventful. My savior of the weekend were the ear plugs I made Gabe snag from work. I put them in when I crawled into my sleeping bag and I could still hear the shouting, blaring music and fireworks, but it was a muted and somewhat tolerable sound.

All and all, I had feared the worst but the weekend was fun. I still strongly believe I'm getting too old for this experience (since I'll be 29 in 2 weeks) but many of us have a certain nostalgia for The Gorge. A hotel in Ellensberg is looking better and better to me each year!
-h