105 posts from 2009

This week at work was fantastic!  I worked for one day on Monday.  On Tuesday I worked half a day and then headed north to Portland.  I had a two day planning meeting up there with BLM officials from across Oregon and Washington.  The goal was to initiate strategic organization planning with a five year scope.  I'm part of the "workload" committee which means myself and half-a-dozen others are responsible for making sure BLM employees from Oregon and Washington are not overburdened, overworked, demoralized, etc. while still ensuring that the agency remains reputable and relevant.

Anyway, the conference was at the Benson Hotel which was a pretty amazing place right in the middle of downtown Portland.  I had a full dinner there the first night and don't think I've ever spent that much money on a meal, but it was still fun.  Dohnele and Emma were going to go with me, but Emma got a runny nose on the day I left, so Dohnele opted to stay behind with her which was probably a good thing.

One of the highlights was lunch on the second day at the Portland City Grill.  I spent a couple hours there rubbing elbows with the District Manager of Spokane, an ecologist from Eugene, the Field Office Manager of Wenatchee and a fuels specialist from Spokane.  Anyway, we had some fantastic sushi on the 30th floor of Bancorp Tower which has the best view in all of Portland; all of downtown, the rivers, Mount Hood, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams.  Plus it was a gorgeous, clear day (although windy and cold).

The drive up and down I-5 was uneventful.  I took some pictures of I-5 in Portland with my cell phone during some stop-and-go traffic around rush hour; I just stuck my hand up and through the sunroof and snapped a few blurry, yet somewhat artistic pictures.  I spent this morning sitting on the couch watching the Ducks-Beavers Civil War Game that Dohnele recorded on the DVR for me yesterday.  Unfortunately the Beavers lost, but at least Oregon will go to the Rose Bowl.  This afternoon I spent trimming trees in the backyard.  Tomorrow I'll do more of the same.  Emma is much better now.  My hand is nearly completely healed.

We were going to go to Eugene tomorrow so that Dohnele could get her haircut, but we decided to go next week, because the spa/salon where she normally goes is offering free massages with any haircut!

This morning Emma got her first haircut!  We've been meaning to do it for a bit now since her hair is so curly that we have to comb and brush it like crazy after every shower.  If her hair isn't constantly maintained she ends up looking like Tarzan or Sasquatch.  So we just trimmed a couple inches off the ends to even things up.  Emma was all excited about it, though.

Then this afternoon we went on a hike at North Bank Ranch.  We went a couple miles up the Middle Fork of Jackson Creek.  Surprisingly we didn't see any deer or turkey, but we had the place to ourselves.  It started out sunny and about 55, but steadily got more and more cloudy.  The rain is imminent.  And there's fresh snow on the mountains.  None down here yet and it can stay that way for all I care!

I get my stitches out on Monday which hopefully won't be too painful.  Dohnele made a pumpkin pie cheesecake last night which was so good that it didn't even last 24 hours!

We cannot wait for Thanksgiving!!!  Just a couple days at work and then we're off to Spokane!  We're bringing up the pumpkin pie cheesecake and a sour cream pumpkin pie along with a delicious apple-cranberry sauce and all the fixins for a bacon-almond quinoa dish.

I also found out this week that I'll be going to Portland for a work meeting on December 2nd and 3rd!  It's a five-year workforce development committee.  They're putting us up at the Benson Hotel and I'm bringing Dohnele and Emma so that after meetings we can go out to dinner and go shopping and stuff.  Good times!

Here's some more shots of Emma's artistry.  She loves drawing something nearly every day and the easel that she has does triple duty as a marker board, chalk board and drawing board.

We went to Eugene yesterday which was a lot of fun.  We're finally getting a print framed that we've had rolled up in a tube for exactly a year now.  Since it's 59 inches wide, only two places in Roseburg have been willing to take the project on and both wanted to charge over $400.  We went to a really nice place in Eugene that was willing to charge only $150 for everything short of the frame!  So we; re looking forward to that.  It'll be done at the end of the month.

We also got together with Todd and Casey which is always fun.  We brought up some wine and just did a big pizza and salad dinner at their place.  Emma and Gavin played well with each other for a change - probably because they were both tired.

And now the big news...  This past Monday I was supposed to be working in the office all day.  Unfortunately the computer servers were down.  I waited for a couple hours before I said "screw it" and took off to do some field work.  I needed to retrieve some stream temperature monitors since summer is definitely over.  Since stream flows are up a bit I had brought my machete to poke around in the creeks so that I could more easily retrieve the data loggers.  On my very short hike (100 feet) between the creek and the road I took a step that I didn't quite stick and so I started to fall backwards.  In instinct I jammed my machete into the ground to arrest my fall.  I do that all the time and it works great!  But for whatever reason, this time around my  hand slipped off the handle and slid down the blade and saw of my machete.  With a blade on one side and a saw on the other side, I cut my thumb and pointer finger real good.  I ran the last 30 feet to the truck, washed the gaping wound, bandaged it up with bandages from the truck's first aid kit and sped to the ER where I got 13 stitches.  Now my right hand looks like a mummy.  The bandages came off a day or so ago for a change (that's when I got the pictures) and they can come off for good tomorrow if I want.  I'll probably keep it bandaged until I get the stitches out in a week just because the stitches make me look like Frankenstein.  It's amazing how  under appreciated those fingers are, but fortunately Dohnele is taking great care of me and babying me excessively which I love!

We spent the better part of today dealing with dental/vision/health insurance since it's Open Season; figuring out what plans offer and for how much and where the plan is accepted.  We decided to downgrade our dental insurance a bit since there's not much difference in the plans and it'll save us $40 every month.  We thought about getting vision insurance since it was cheap, but found out that it really only covers glasses and contacts (which none of us have) and our health insurance (which we decided to not change) already covers any eyeball surgery should it become necessary.

It's been a really fun week!  A week ago Sunday I picked up a rig from work and drove it home.  I had a nine hour drive in front of me on Monday and I didn't want to waste time in the office, so I just brought the rig home with me.  On Monday morning I took off.  I had been checking the webcams at Santiam Pass and it looked clear and dry.  I wanted to go the more direct route across Oregon as opposed to the longer way - even though the longer way was freeway.

So I drove up to Eugene and from there I drove up the McKenzie Highway which connects with the Central Oregon Highway.  I'd never been on either of these roads and it was gorgeous!  The weather cooperated nicely and the views were amazing.  Santiam Pass yielded teriffic views of Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington and the Three Sisters.  I'd never been to Bend before and it turned out to be a pretty neat place.  Between Bend and Burns there was nothing but rolling hills of sagebrush and juniper.  It really reminded me of Utah and was really neat in a remote, desolate sorta way.
After Burns the highway started following the Malheur River as it wound through some neat canyon country.  Finally the highway popped out in Ontario where my conference was.  The conference itself was interesting.  Granted, I was meeting with a dozen others who all had huge egos, but overall the meeting was good, we got a lot accomplished and I volunteered for a bunch of other stuff.  Hopefully I'll be sitting in on another state committee concerned with five-year personnel planning.  I'm also going to be in charge of a statewide website for human resources.  The highlight of the trip was hanging out with the associate state director for the BLM and other committee member who are all focused on furthering their careers.
I did get a chance to go on a hike one evening.  It was a good break from all the meetings.  Myself and a forester from Eugene drove a few miles out of town and hiked up Henry Gulch into the foothills of Tub Mountain.  It was so nice to be hiking in an area like Utah and Colorado; wide, open, beautiful terrain.  Really loved it!
The last day was a half day of meetings followed by a field trip to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City.  Afterwards, most everyone drove back to Ontario to spend another night.  However, I'd been looking at forecasts and weather satellites which made it look like a big weather front was moving in, so I decided to take off right for home.  Plus, since I was starting in a different spot, I could drive back a different route.
I headed out of Baker City on the Whitney Highway.  I followed that through the Blue Mountains, over Dixie Summit and down into the John Day River Valley where I got onto the Ochoco Highway.  This route is a bit more north than the road I took over a few days earlier and so it was more mountainous.  It was super windy and you could literally see the weather front moving in from the west.  I saw a ton of deer and some really neat canyons before the sun finally set.  After that I drove up and over Ochoco Pass, where it started to rain, and down into Prineville.  I gassed up in Redmond and then reconnected with the Central Oregon Highway.  It cleared up a bit and I was worried that would mean ice up on Santiam Pass, but as soon as I got west of Sisters, it started pouring down rain.  It stayed rainy all the way to the top of the Pass and all the way down the other side.  The next morning, after getting home, I checked the Pass webcams and saw where there were vehicle accidents and almost a foot of fresh snow on the Pass, so it looks like I timed it perfectly!

Now that I'm back and it's the weekend, I spent the day with Dohnele and Emma doing yardwork.  We ripped up a rhodedendron and some other plants that were dead when we bought the place.  We raked some leaves, planted some wildflowers and mulched a strip of ground along the street near the mailboxes.

It's raining again, so we're going to spend the rest of the day curled up by the fire watching movies!

Dohnele cooked a soup yesterday; three types of mushrooms in a sherry-shallot broth.  Tonight we're making a chocolate red wine cake which sounds reeeeaaaallllyyyy good! 

This parade is sooo awesome!  This is the third year we've gone and we've never been disappointed!  This year was probably the best we've seen - even though Dohnele and I didn't dress up this year.  It didn't hurt that this year there was a zombie Michael Jackson rendition of "Thriller" which was VERY entertaining!

As always there are literally thousands of people that show up.  And even though the parade is technically for the kids, just as many adults show up.  The best part is that everyone just has fun.

After the parade we went to Harry and David in Medford where they were giving away free pumpkins!  I got dropped off at a Halloween party that an old co-worker was hosting while Dohnele and Cindy went shopping and trick-or-treating at the Mall.

It was good to catch up with friends and gossip from Medford.  We stayed the night at the Rogue Regency which was really nice.  Cindy and Juleah took off this morning, we did a Costco run and then drove home.  Beautiful day in Medford (sunny and 65), but it was and still is dark and cloudy over Douglas County.

My big news came in the middle of last week; that state committee that I was trying to get on...  Well, I got the position!!!  My supervisor, another manager and the District Manager all came over to congratulate me.  Apparently the vote was unanimous in my favor!  That said, I leave tomorrow for Ontario (located in eastern Oregon) for my first week-long meeting.  These meetings happen every three months in different locations around Oregon and Washington.  I'm driving to this meeting; it'll take most of the day to get there and instead of going over on the interstate, I'm going to drive over Santiam Pass, through Bend, Oregon and right through the middle of the state.  There was snow on the passes a few days ago, but it's all cleared up now.

We had a beautiful day today; got up to 70 degrees and was nice and sunny.  I spent the morning weeding the lawn, pruning trees and bushes, raking leaves, mowing the lawn and then edging the lawn.  Yes, I am mowing the lawn in 70 degree temps at the end of October!  We LOVE living down south!!!  Emma and Juleah did a lot of helping (playing).  They spent a lot of time with maple seeds; tossing them in the air and watching them helicopter down.  We also saw a praying mantis which was fun.

Yesterday Dohnele made an awesome dinner; creamy carrot soup with scallions and poppy seeds!  It's such a beautiful soup (bright orange) and is (was) really tasty.  Tonight we're breaking down a whole pumpkin and making soup out of it.  It's a recipe we've been making for the past few years and is delicious!
When everyone else went to town to go shopping today (not sure what they do in town every day, but the still go) Emma and I stayed home and built an IKEA foot stool to match an IKEA chair.  Emma had ice cream and I had Gorgonzola cheese with a ripe pear.  Mmmmmm!
Have a nice night!

We've been soooo busy these past few weeks that it's hard to figure out where to start.  And unfortunately, I've only got a few pictures from work to post.  I'm going to try and be brief since I need to get to bed.

I finished up a big restoration contract at work; at least the tough work is done.  The only thing left is to plant a thousand willow saplings, but I'll probably try and do an "office planting day" or something like that in order to get it all done in a timely manner.

I ripped up the entire front garden which was planted with crappy little one-bloom-wonder plants.  I split apart a huge cluster of day lilies and made four smaller day lily clusters and still had enough bulbs to bring and share with a guy from work.  After ripping up all the crap, I tilled and mulched the soil and then planted 75 daffodil bulbs and 32 iris bulbs!

Yesterday I ripped up two of the back gardens and tilled and mulched the soil.  I planted 15 Tahitian daffodils and 15 pink daffodils back there.  I also drained the fountain for the winter since all the fall leaves were starting to plug the filter.

I figured out that the underground sprinkler system isn't pressurized, so I'm not going to worry about insulating sprinkler lines or flushing the system.  I've talked to some neighbors and they don't worry about it either.

With Dohnele's help, I hung a peg board in the tool shed for all of our gardening tools.

Hopefully I mowed the lawn for the last time this season a few days ago.  Dohnele and Emma have been madly raking leaves trying to stay on top of things.

Dohnele's mom and youngest sister have been visiting for the past couple weeks during which time we've spent a day in Medford, a day in Eugene and two days in Portland shopping and seeing the sites!  Portland was especially fun; we got together with Dohnele's brother, Josh, and we went to Voodoo Doughnuts and a few other great places to eat.  The shopping was good, but exhausting.  Among the highlights was a marble rolling pin that I bought for $9.99 (should have been closer to $40!)  We also finally got to the zoo which was OK; not nearly as good as the Seattle Zoo, but still fun for Emma and Juleah.  We also went to the Farmer's Market at Portland State University which was fun to see since all the fall squash were on display.

Fall weather has started in earnest; lots of rain and cool nights.  Tonight the snow level is actually supposed to drop to 2,000 feet!  I doubt we'll see anything around here though.  While we wait for the white stuff, we've been spending plenty of evening snuggled down around our fireplace enjoying its warmth while we watch movies!

We've been having fun cooking lots of tasty gourmet meals for everyone, but really can't wait for Thanksgiving in Spokane.  Personally, I can't wait for time off.  I've got a lot of assignments due at work, so I've been spending a fair bit of time in front of the computer typing up reports.  It's not a bad bit of work, but tedious at times.

Last Thursday at work, on a field tour, I managed to lock the keys in the rig.  It's one of those new, fancy rigs that automatically locks the doors of the vehicle after you close the door.  I had left the keys in the ignitions and only walked 20 feet away to look at a culvert and the truck locked us out.  Fortunately, one of the guys had his cell phone and was able to call dispatch and have a second set of keys driven out to us.  That particular field tour was originally to show a bunch of soil scientists and hydrologists the recovery of a big landslide that happened about 15 years ago on steep, unstable ground that the BLM had clearcut.  It was a great day, beautiful scenery as we were high above the North Umpqua River, far from any paved roads.  The whole area was very unstable and there were lots of landslides originating at roads and in clearcuts.

Things are also looking up that I may get the position of statewide representative for the Roseburg BLM and a human resources development committee.  Only a dozen people from across the state sit on the committee and I'm trying to represent Roseburg.  There are two other people who I'm competing against, but I heard back this morning from my supervisor that he and another manager put in really good recommendations to the district manager on my behalf, so I'll keep you posted!