Long Lost Friend Comes to Hood River

So just this past week I had a college friend visit that I hadn't seen in 1991. Rob Hughes and I went to Hungary and were roommates there in the summer of 1990. I had lost contact with Rob for a long time and just last summer we caught up with one another. Anyway to make a long story kinda short Rob was visiting some friends in Seattle and drove down last week and spent the night with Stacie and I.


So while we were in Hungary Rob bought this bottle of Tokaji wine bottled in 1981 and had said that he wouldn't open it with anyone else beside me. In hindsight I wish that he would have opened it with someone else because the taste was so bad, it had become sherry or something....

I don't think that either one of us could keep a sip down, tasted a lot like metal...

Next stop was the sink and poured the remainder out....

I even got Stacie to try some, she didn't like it either, I even think that she was scared of this stuff... Kinda look like river mud as Rob said.

All joking aside about the wine it was great to have Rob down here and show him around and go on a great hike, 17 years since we last saw one another.... That is a long time!

Night shots

So just the other night the moon was coming up and it was clear and cold so I thought about going out and taking some photographs... This is what I came up with on a few? Kinda strange for sure... but I like it!

So what happens in this is that I just set the camera on bulb and in the dark just take a flashlight and "paint" myself in... Now if Mick would send me that Mac that I am waiting on my life would be great:)

Trip to see Mom and Dad in Virginia

So last week I took a flight back home to visit my parents for a week and it had been too long since I was last home, I think almost a year to the day. It was great to get to see them along with Bodie and see some friends that I hadn't seen in a long time as well. As some of you know my mom was diagnosed with cancer almost two years ago, has recovered great and now has more energy than any woman that I know. My Dad was there with her during the entire process of surgery and radiation and helped Mom every step along the way. They are great parents and I am lucky to have them and have made my life wonderful and taught me to be happy and enjoy what life has to offer.....well truth be known, Mom would have loved for me to have worked for the Social Security Administration just like her but for some reason I wanted to bartend:)So I really think that I am like both of them, my mom really loves to be around people, she has never met a stranger and I think that I am just that way, I am better at remembering names than her but that is about the only difference. My dad is the most content person in the world, he wants really nothing, has a schedule to everyday that for the most part never changes and if he never leaves Gretna, VA again in his eyes that would be great. Me, well like him in that I am very happy with where I live, really hate to leave here, Stacie would agree with that with a frown on her face, I do want a few things but mostly just some different toys and I have a schedule that I don't like to change that much, kinda throws off my days if it does change. So yes, us kids do grow up to be like our parents...not saying that i am a great person by any means but I really did have great parents!!!

Bodie was my dog before I moved out to Oregon in 2000 and I had asked Mom and Dad to look after him for the summer while I was out here anyway needless to say I never got Bodie back!! Dad and Bodie do just about everything together, Bodie is over 12 years old but looks really good and has a great life there in Gretna with Mom and Dad.

It was a great trip, I ate well all the time, must be a southern thing because it seemed like every other world out of Mom's mouth where "you want something to eat?" or "there are snacks in the kitchen" or "I will fix you something to eat"...... well you get the picture!

Thanks for a great visit and I will be back home soon...:)

I love you Mom and Dad!!!

Lennis Gets a Job!!!

Well never really thought that I would see it happen! Lennis gets a "real job"!!! I love it. So Lennis has started to bartend over at Brian's downstairs bar. I got word of this on Saturday night when Lennis and friends were in and I hear him say that I have to leave, I have to go to work!! Sweet words for sure.

So last night I ran over with my camera just too see if it was true that Lennis was working and this is what I came up with.

Anyway he had a few people sitting at the bar and was making cocktails left and right, OK, not really that fast but he was slinging some drinks all the same and had one woman at the bar that wanted something fruity...... I suggest a Cosmo and Lennis gives me this stare and says: How do you make that? I didn't miss a beat, told him how and said see you later and headed towards the door and I head out I snap another pic and hear him say, "What goes in that again?"

I am thinking just make it red and may the force be with you Luke.... or Lennis!!!

Great Weather for this Time of Year!

So this past week the weather has just been incredible and I love that, seems like though that is coming to an end soon but it has been really nice seeing the sun. I was able to get out for a mountain bike ride with Stacie, road ride with some friends on one windy day and a couple of great runs with Shanti and Roxy along with a few rides on the motorcycle. The runs have been great, Shanti and Roxy, AKA the Girls just love getting out there, they start to go "crazy" when I start getting my running gear out and once the running shoes go on there is no stopping them. The good thing is that once we get back to the house they are so tired, I want to one day put my GPS watch on Roxy and just see how many miles she gets in on one of our runs, I think that she doubles my distance! Anyway, they are happy:) and we like that!

So the other thing with the weather was getting out on the motorcycle, it was cold some of those days but once out there it all just goes away! On Friday I got in about 125 miles on the bike and found some incredible roads that I had never been on and just incredible views.

Well enough of this, got to head into work very soon and looking forward to that as well.... Heading back East next week to visit with Mom and Dad for a few days and looking forward to that as well and seeing some friends back there that I haven't seen in awhile... Enjoy the weekend!

2007 is gone and 2008 is here

So we left for the Oregon Coast on New Year's Eve morning, the drive out was interesting for sure. Just about 40 miles West of Portland the road went from dry to a sheet of ice, we noticed that as we get behind a firetruck responding to an accident as we were following it up into the mountains. We were first car to be stopped going West so we got to see all the medics and firefighters responding to the accident and sliding around as they walked. Anyway we were able to get by after about a 30 minute wait but the remainder drive was nothing but a sheet of ice. We have studded tires and we took Stacie's Subaru and it did great, I never worried about us but there were many people that I think that was the first time they had ever driven on snow or ice.

Anyway we get to the coast in the afternoon and checked into our room at the Hillcrest Inn there in Seaside, OR. Great place too, I had been told about this place from my friends Nate and Katie and it lived up to its reputation.

We went out had some fish and chips and one of the worst service restaurants that I have ever been too, no kidding and I even had a beer there, yeah I know, I say that I don't like to drink in public but it was really fun:) Fact remains that it was the worse service that I have ever gotten.....After a walk on the beach and watching the sunset we headed out for a nice dinner and I hate to say it but I think that I was asleep by 10PM, I suppose that I am getting older and like my sleep....

We woke early, another walk on the beach and then headed up to Astoria and the surrounding area, great day again but it was another cold one.

We did all that we wanted to there in Astoria and hit the road driving home, much better drive back than the drive out the day before.

I think that Stacie and I had the best time out there, great to get away and we left Shanti and Roxy in the hands of our neighbors, Kevin, Lisa and Olivia so no need to worry about them being left alone here in Lyle!!!

So this is what things have come to in our house, the dogs are content to spend their time either sleeping on the sofas or on the bed. Roxy really seems to like to be wrapped up! The weather here has turned to rain now and not so much of the snow, I suppose that the grey above is something that we should accept and that it is going to stay this way for awhile. I did catch an afternoon to get out on the motorcycle, fun for sure, was snowing when I left the house but the roads were good. I took a dirt road as far as I could or rather i didn't feel like going any higher was a good idea. I have spent two days up on the mountain and had a good time, I will wait for Wednesday to get back up there.... Think Snow..