Sparrow Park Beach

Woo hoo!  I got my new camera in the mail on Friday!  We've been playing with it every since.  It was a good excuse to drive over to the beach today (to try it out).  Now I'll have a camera to take to work and document all the neat things I see.  I don't want to take my nice camera out, because it would get a beating.  A smaller camera is more manageable and easier to protect.

But let's get back to Friday; it exhausted me.  I went out with the soil scientist to look at an especially steep timber unit.  We were looking at soil stability, soil types and old landslides.  This timber unit burnt in a wildfire about 45 years ago.  The timber was salvage-logged immediately afterward.  That winter yielded tons of snowmelt and flooding.  Most of this timber unit slid downhill in landslides, because the soil had been so disturbed.  Anyway, since it is proposed to be logged again (only thinned) we were assessing whether or not it would be alright.  It's still incredibly steep, but after removing several small areas from the timber base and recommending that more trees be left per acre, things should be alright.  So the work that day entailed hiking all the way to the bottom of the unit, then hiking all the way back up to the truck, then dropping down another ravine all the way to the bottom of the unit and then of course back up the ravine (through some thick blowdown) to the road; all the while carrying a shovel and a solid-steel, 7-foot auger.  It didn't feel bad while doing it, but when I got home (after going to the grocery store and to Blockbuster) I was so tired I just went to bed.  OK, so I had dinner first (Dohnele made beer bratwurst and mashed potatoes) and then I went to sleep.  We slept in until nearly noon the next day!

Yesterday we really didn't do much because it was cold and foggy all day.  I guess we did make a funky dinner - a salad made with jicima, fennel and beets.  Emma loved it so much that she was stuffiner her mouth with jicima - piece after piece - until she couldn't take it anymore and threw up all over the living room floor.  Good times.  Dohnele and I didn't like the salad too much, but the salad dressing we made (made from macademia nuts and lime zest) was delicious.  We did take some pictures of Emma eating beets - she loved them too.  Also that evening we finally documented the fun that Emma has talking on the phone.  She LOVES doing that and is always so mad at us when we take the phone away.  In these pictures, Emma is talking with her Aunt Juleah up in Kodiak.

Today, however, when we rolled out of bed at about 11am the sun was shining brightly and I hustled everyone out the door, into the car and we headed to the beach!  We stopped off at Tomaselli's for lunch (mmmm!) and then walked across the street and bought a nice pinot noir from Anindor Vineyards which has consistantly produced the tastiest wine we've tried from the region.  On down the Umpqua River to Reedsport and then just a smidgen north to Sparrow Park Road.  We'd never been to this beach before and we didn't see any sparrows or any park; just a logging road that travelled through four miles of clearcuts before reaching a "locals-only" beach.  This beach is far off the beaten path and is entirely undeveloped which was really nice.  The beach itself was great!  Endless sand beaches and no people!  A slight fog on the horizon slowly working its way towards the beach as the sun worked on setting.  The best part about it was that the temp was approaching 65 degrees (a little jab at our Alaskan relatives) and there was NO wind which is unheard of for the Oregon coast!

Emma wasted no time in falling down into the water and soaking herself.  Fortunately we brought extra clothes for her.  But since we didn't have a second pair of boots for her and she wasn't too keen on doing anything at the beach anymore, we carried her for the rest of the afternoon.  The only exception was when she spied a shell that she wanted; then she'd demand to be put down, pick up the shell and then demand to be picked back up.  On the way back to the car she snuggled down into my shoulder and nearly fell asleep.  So anyway, all the pictures of Emma with a smile on her face are pre-soaking and any pictures with a frown or generally sleepy expression are post-soaking.

MOVIE REVIEW

• "Kung Fu Panda" was cute, but nothing special.  Emma liked it, I guess which is all that matters.  The story was just a bit shallow.  Still worth watching, though.  B-
• "Transiberia" was actually pretty good.  Kind of a play on the old Sean Connery flick "Murder on the Orient Express."  A little bit gory in a spot or two, but good other than that.  B+
• "Postal" was the grossest, dumbest and probably one of the wierdest movies I've ever seen.  Don't watch it.  F
• "Journey to the Center of the Earth" would have been better with 3D glasses and definitely appeals to the tween age-group.  For everyone else the movie can't really be appreciated.  C
• "Deception" was alright.  Definitely not a kid movie.  Good story (not what I thought it would be about) and good acting with a good ending too.  B+
• "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" was entertaining.  It was on par with the first movie in the series, but the ending of this one left things totally open for a third movie which was a bit frustrating.  Hate it when they do that!  B

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARY!

• Grandma and Grandpa Buckman (51st anniversary)
• Grandma Newbill on November 3rd
• Caleb on November 11th
• Aunt Barbara on November 22nd

HAPPY CELEBRATIONS EVERYONE!