In September, our Seattle friends (Joe & Rickey; Jessi & Jerry) visited for the weekend. The first day, Joe, Rickey, Jessi & I went to Canby, Oregon, for the Flock & Fleece festival. Joe & Rickey like to crochet, and Jessi is slightly obsessed with knitting. So they were very excited to look at fancy yarns, and I was very excited to see fluffy barnyard animals!

The visit merely confirmed that Chester is half sheep. It's quite obvious. If I sheared him and spun his wool, I could sell it to people like Joe, Rickey & Jessi for lots of money. This is good to know. :-)

While we were at the festival, Jim was riding his bike around Salem. Where he got hit by a city bus. He's ok.

The next day, we did the Peach of a Century ride. We did the metric century option, 65 miles (100k). We had quite a group: Jessi & Jerry, Me & Jim, Shibley from Portland, Joe & Rickey (R's first big ride), Peter Crawford (his first big ride), and Stuart (like his 4th ride ever). It was a gorgeous day & we all had a lot of fun.

Here's a slideshow for your viewing pleasure:

This summer, I had the pleasure of working with a group of fascinating Salem women who represent Historic locations around town. We met once a week and toured each site, including historic residential districts, Bush House Museum, Deepwood Estates, Marion County Historical Society, and others.

Now that our summer of learning about each others' places has ended, we decided to set up a blog to facilitate communication between each institution and with the public at large. The goal is to connect these places and allow them to work together for the benefit of all, hence the name of the group: Salem Heritage Network.

We met at my house last night to set up the blog and learn how to use it, so it's definitely in its infancy right now.

You can see our blog here: www.Salem-Heritage-Network.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Today's going to be a good day! I woke up and the sun was out (thanks end of daylight savings time!). The rain had finally stopped (thanks crazy Oregon autumn!). And I found out I've won a copy of the new Michael Moore book, "Mike's Election Guide" (thanks GoodReads.com!).

Hey, if you live in one of those polling-place states, don't neglect to vote today!

We had a great weekend in Depoe Bay on the Oregon Coast.

We had lunch Saturday at Newport Bay, and afterward we watched these awesome, ridiculous sea lions lounging around below us. Here's a video from YouTube that essentially shows what we saw:

Aren't they funny? I could've watched them all day! It was incredible to be so close. I've been in Newport lots of times, but somehow never found these guys.

That afternoon, we took a hike at Cascade Head in Lincoln City. It was incredibly gorgeous. The hike started us at the Salmon River. We trekked up through a forested mountain, and popped out on the ocean side into a vast, incredible meadow. We hiked up the meadow to the top and took in the view of the river entering the Pacific Ocean. It was so beautiful. Yes, I've got pictures. No, they're not on this blog yet. Sorry.

Sunday morning, I dropped the boys off in tiny Beaver, Oregon, so they could ride their bikes 85 miles back to Salem. Some guys with a dead antlered crittered in the back of their pickup wandered over to admire the bikes and tell their own cycling stories. Apparently everyone in Oregon is a bicyclist, even the camoflauge-wearing hunters.

On my drive home, I stopped at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Reserve and played with my new binoculars. They're very cool. I watched a bunch of Canada geese doing their thing. I read informational signs that said the Dusky Canada Goose winters in the Willamette Valley from October thru April. That explains why the open areas near my house (the field, the sports park, the prison) have been under siege by happy, honking geese. As I was watching the geese, I caught a couple of hawks and followed them around with my binoculars. It was fun. Thanks for the binoc-buying advice, Jessi!

This week, I got a piece of junk mail at work addressed to me and the title: "President/Office Manager." That was amusing. :)

I've blogged before about "Reel Film Snobs," the cable access show that I work on. Since our regular director (hi Melissa!) left to have her adorable baby (hi Oscar!), I've taken over most of the directing duties.

Lately, I've learned how to edit our show, too. This is a fairly new thing- before, we recorded the show directly to tape, and that was it. Now, we do it all digitally so that we can put it online, etc.

So, take a look at www.ReelFilmSnobs.com to watch some shows that I directed and edited. Tonight's show, I think, was my best work yet (or at least my fastest). It won't be online for a few more days, though.

After this week, though, I think I'll mostly just be directing and leave the editing to My Good Friend Chris (thanks Chris!!).

Oh, and in a month, the entire studio is moving from the dank, icky basement of the library to a fancy new building that's still under construction: www.cctvsalem.org/295church.php. Fun!

I hate making blog posts without photos! But I'm obviously not getting around to uploading photos, so here's a boring, non-illustrated update:

-Jim is home from his week in Idaho! Yay!

-He brought with him a steam juicer from my Gramma. I spent all Saturday making grape juice- drop the grapes into the top, boil water in the bottom, and let all the juice run out. It was fun! The juice is a lot on the tart side for me. Jim likes it. I can drink it, tho, if I add a lot of sugar to the glass! :-)  I ended up with 10 quarts of grape juice. Want one?

-We're spending the weekend in Depoe Bay with some new-ish friends. I'm excited to be at the coast!

-We came up with a great idea for our Halloween costumes! It involves me, Jim, AND Chester. Couldn't find a way for the cats to fit the theme, though. It'll be funny & fun & scary in its own way. You'll just have to wait for photos to find out!

On my lunch hour, I finally finished painting our porch!

For now, anyway. I think we want to tweak it a little- change the color of some parts, paint other parts. But for this rainy season, it's done. Yay! I love the red!

You want pictures? Hmm. Maybe later.

<3

Awesome.... We got our heating-oil tank topped off the other day in preparation for (sigh) winter. The price was $3.60 per gallon. That feels expensive, but I went back & looked at our last oil delivery, in May, and we had paid $4.11 per gallon! 

The price has dropped 51 cents! What a deal!

I always manage to keep myself super busy while Jim's out of town. My first day of bachelorettedom yesterday was no exception.

The day started at a very cold, dark 6 a.m. I joined several of my friends for a 5K at Minto Brown Park:  Stuart, my usual 5K buddy; Kobbi & Brian- this was Brian's first 5K as a new runner, and he finished first; and Beth and Michael- Michael spent most of the run pushing little Eli (9 months old- his first 5K!) in a stroller & wrangling their big dogs, Zula and Wally. It was a really fun morning, despite the cold and despite Jim not being able to join us.

Followed that up with brunch at Sybil's Omelettes and then the Farmer's Market with Sarah & Stuart. Did some chores at home and took a nap. Then put on my shoes and walked downtown to pick up my bike from its tune-up (”Cost: zero dollars”) at the Bike Peddler downtown. I made some stops on the way, though. Got my favorite iced tea from Wild Pear. Yummm. Stopped at The Arbor to pick up a gift for my friend Marissa (coffee-scented adorable candle). Bought a shirt from the discount rack on the sidewalk of Merangue.

Wandered through an exhibit on the Capitol grounds called “Eyes Wide Open“ showing the human cost of the war in Iraq. They had a pair of combat boots lined up for each Oregon soldier killed in Iraq, along with a picture, name, etc., tagged on the boots. They also had construction hats for the contractors, and a bunch of other random shoes to represent Iraqi civilians. It was very sad and touching.

That evening I went over to dinner at my new co-worker Marisa's house. I brought Chester, despite some misgivings. He doesn't have the best history of good behavior at other people's houses. Sometimes he freaks out and refuses to go inside (Joe's house, Pippen's house), or won't move once he's in there (Jessi's house).  On Marisa's driveway, he plopped himself down a couple of times, and I dragged him a little bit. Then he changed his mind and trotted right up to her front door, went inside, and made himself at home. He had such a good time with her dogs- a tiny fluffball named Maggie, and a fun 6-month-old boxer named Lois. They played in the backyard, and he came in and out of the house without any problems. Inside, he was very good and would sit & lay when I told him. It was quite an impressive evening and one of those exciting steps forward in his development into the world's best dog!

Once I get out of bed today, I'm going to finish painting the porch (there's just one little edge still waiting for paint). Then I'm having brunch with my second-cousin Honey, and she's going to try to teach me (again) how to knit. I hope this evening to finish cleaning the house and then stem the grapes!

Phew, I hope my whole week isn't this jampacked.  But it probably will be...   :)

Click on picture to view more!

I read an article today about local vineyards that were scrambling to harvest their grapes, because there's a chance for freezing temperatures tonight. That reminded me that I should get around to picking the grapes in our backyard. We've been nibbling on them for a couple of weeks, and there were a few beautiful bunches of grapes back that I wanted to pluck before the weather ruined them.

I grabbed my little harvest basket and clipped off half a dozen bunches of grapes. How wonderful!

Then I stuck my head into the brambles of vines..... There were more grapes. Lots, lots, lots more. An hour later, this is what I ended up with:

29 pounds of grapes!!!

Isn't that crazy? This is from one grape plant. I'm going to go do some reading to find out what I can do with 29 pounds of grapes.... Wish me luck!

So, a couple of months ago, I started going to ::gasp:: Jazzercise. It's actually really fun and a great workout and I like it.

Tonight after class, one of the instructors pulled me aside and asked if I've thought about becoming an instructor! Um, no, I haven't.

(OK, Jazzercise is nothing like this 1982 video by the founder of Jazzercise. But it cracks me up. I could do that, right??)

Here's my new library! Big tall bookcases, adorable little chair, swinging lamp, plenty of books. What more could a girl need? (Well, there ARE a lot of bare spots on those shelves, huh?)

Here, supermodel Jim showcases the new chair. Isn't he a catch?

I ordered the chair online. When it arrived, I realized that the pattern almost exactly matches the fabric of my purse. Heh. I guess I know what I like:

Here's Chester enjoying the new Library Wing:

If you've been to my house, here's a shot to show you where the bookcases are in the living room. It's right as you come in from the front foyer:

Fun, huh? The bookcases are from Ikea; the chair is from Overstock.com; the lamp is from (shhh) Fred Meyers; the books are from a lifetime of hoarding.

I love my new chair! ... except for the woozy feeling* it gives me from all the chemicals it's soaked in. Whew. Well, soon enough we'll soak up all those fumes into our skin and brains, and then the chair won't smell anymore. Yay!

(*Friends with babies: Please stay away! The outside of my house is surrounded by lead paint chips, and the inside is a funhouse of fumes. Friends with an affinity for chemically altering yourselves for entertainment purposes: Stop on by!)

This chair should be arriving at my doorstep today:

Tho, there could be complications, because my doorstep is unaccesible. We spent yesterday painting the porch & stairs red! They're not quite finished, but they look great! I'll post pictures when it's done...

I'll also post pictures after the chair is assembled and the books are placed in the new library wing of our house! :-)

Hello out there-

It looks like autumn is coming our way, and right on time, with the Equinox today. I'm happy we had summer right up 'till the end. Tho I wouldn't mind a little extra bonus summer, if it wants to come back for a few days.

-We bought paint & supplies to finally paint our front porch & stairs. I'm hoping for a few non-rainy days to coincide with a few non-busy days. Mother Nature needs to consult my social calendar if she's planning any more rain.

-Went to Yakima this weekend for my Great Aunt Dorothy's funeral. It was really nice being there & spending time with all the family.

-Will put together the second of two big new bookshelves tonight (yay Ikea!). They won't fit in the spot that I had reserved for them. So tonight will also entail a lot of re-arranging of the living room. Hmmm.

-Chester is filthy. And adorable.

Bye for now!

At some point, a long long time ago- but not so long ago that I would forget -  Jim promised me that he would run a 5k with me this year. Last year I pretty much gave up running in order to bike with him, so it was a nice gesture that this year he would try running, just a little.

So, we signed up for the Oktoberfest 5K in Mt. Angel, and got a bunch of our friends to do it with us:  Shibley (Jim's buddy who also doesn't run) & his wife Heidi, Amy & Peter (who claim to not be runners, but just ran the Hood to Coast event a couple of weeks ago), and Stuart (who doesn't run much, either, but was kind enough to do a 5K with me last summer). We also ran into my friend & former co-worker, Ruth, who has recently taken up running & likes to do 5Ks.

Jim made a point of refusing to run at all before the 5k. No training, just get out there & suffer through it.

We rode our bikes out to the run, about 20 miles away. We left at 6:45 a.m., and it was lovely to be out in the country as the sun was coming up, and everything was quiet and still. It was a great start to the day.  We arrived, locked up our bikes, changed in porta-potties (yikes!) and hung out with our friends.

We started the race in a little pack with our friends, but quickly strayed apart, with the boys taking off and leaving the girls behind. Which was fine- I love the social aspect of running, so it was fun to chat with Amy, Ruth & Heidi. It was great at the turn-around point to see Jim fly past us, doing well & looking like he was having a good time.   Peter and Jim finished first- in something like 27 minutes, which is at least 2 minutes faster than my fastest 5k.  And Jim has never run before. Sigh.  But I'm so glad he did great.... Maybe he'll do some more running! He even mentioned that he would be open to doing another 5k. I won't forget he said so.  :-)    

His great run also bodes well for next year, when the Girls v. Boys triathlon teams break up, and we're all going to do the triathlons individually. So, Jim & I can both bike & run. Now we just have to figure out the swiming thing.

Oh, so the most amusing  (hmmm?) part of the day:  Jim lost his keychain, which included the key to the bike lock. So our bikes were stuck to a post in Mt. Angel. The boys re-traced the entire 5k route, and the girls wandered around the park, looking in the grass & port-potties & under cars, and asking everyone, and walking the course backwards. Finally, hours later, Ruth called the police, and they came out to cut the lock for us. (Although, they first accidentally sent out the medics. Oops!!)  They didn't have a bolt cutter, but one of the police volunteers went back to his house & brought his to us & cut the lock.  It was quite the adventure.  (ummm, and then we found the keys when we got home. They were in Jim's bag, but they had fallen inside his glove. Heh, whoops.)

We also spent the day in Mt. Angel, having fun at Oktoberfest. I'd never been before, and it was a really good time!

Cafe 22 West is just, ahem, west of Salem on Highway 22, across the highway from Pentacle Theater. It's run by the family that owns the fruitstand on the same site. So, of course, the cafe uses all fresh, local vegetables and fruits!

I had a fabulous chicken breast stuffed with sundried tomatoes, spinach and feta, with green beans & garlic mashed potatoes on the side. Jim had bbq ribs (the first night they've served them), with sweet corn on the cob, beans and potato salad. I also had a side salad to start, and it was delicious with green leafy lettuce & tiny cherry tomatoes. Then, to top off the evening, we ordered dessert, which they make over at the fruitstand. There were a ton of choices, but we settled on blackberry-peach shortcake, all fresh & homemade. It was incredible & we were very happy. :-)

We rode the motorcycle out there, and it was a perfect late-summer evening. Not hot, not cool, just nice.

Speaking of local foods, I was just reading my new used book (1973), purchased last weekend at The Book Habit - which was open late (yes, in Salem!) because the guy was there doing some work. The book is "The Wild Food Trailguide" and cover has a photo of a guy in John Lennon glasses with long bushy sideburns. Anyway, apparently you can make tea out of blackberry leaves. And blackberry shoots make a good snack. Huh. Despite my obsessive killing of our blackberry plants, we've still got plenty. Maybe I'll try to make tea....

****

Completely unrelated: Last week, we saw "Tropic Thunder" when my sis Rachel was in town. It was hilarious & fun. Since then, she has renamed my poor dog Simple Chester, after a certain, um, slow character in the film. I heartily defend him- he's sweet & cute & brains aren't everything, right? But in the past 20 minutes or so, he has lost his ball under the couch about 5 times. And each time, instead of sticking his paw in to get it, or telling me, or something, he just lays there and bites the couch trying to coerce it into giving up the ball. Sigh. Poor Simple Chester. (Tho, as I was writing this- he gave up on the ball and instead grabbed a shoe to chew on. And ya know what? Shoes don't roll! What a smart puppy!)

Last weekend, Jim & I visited Crater Lake for the first time. It's incredible! Why hadn't we gone before? We went camping with our friends Sarah & Stuart.

Here is a slideshow of tons of pictures. We had fun. :-)

I let it cook for 10 hours, then Jim put it in the fridge this morning. Then, the big taste test: It tastes... Exactly. Like. Yogurt. Woa, it's magic!

Beth asked if it's worth it. I don't know if it's exactly "worth it." It takes a long time, and it doesn't really seem to be any better or worse than the store-bought stuff. And I didn't exactly create it myself, because to get the yogurt bacteria to start reproducing, you have to start with yogurt bacteria... which you get by using yogurt. So you have to start off with (store-bought) yogurt to create more yogurt.

And cost-wise, yogurt isn't that expensive- i'm not saving a ton of money by making it myself. And to make yogurt, you have to make it from milk. So, if you want 2 cups of yogurt, you have to buy 2 cups of milk. So it's kind of a break even deal.

Though, I guess now the new bacteria are *my* bacteria. So if I found a local farm to buy my milk from, at least I would have local yogurt that wasn't trucked from God knows where (OK, God & I do know where- our yogurt comes from Eugene, which is, like, 45 minutes away. Heh).

But, it was kinda fun. :-)

Also fun? We went downtown tonight for Salem's First Wednesday event. We had a good time! Jim & I went once when it started a couple of years ago, and it was pretty lame. But tonight there were a ton of people, and most of the shops & restaurants were open, and it was, like, a lively downtown. Go figure. :-) I'm glad the good people of Salem are catching on, even if it's only for one night per month!

It's been a very busy summer! Today the sidewalk trees in front of the Statesman Journal building gave me the same bad news they do every year: Autumn is coming.  Those trees (and I don't know what kind they are) are always the first to get just a tinge of red splashed in their leaves, far before I begin to think about fall Sigh. But there's still some summer to enjoy....

Last weekend we went to Waldport with Jim's family for Kim's birthday. The first day was rainy- which is OK; it's the beach! The next two days were lovely despite the wind. We all took a nice long bike ride on the beach, and it was so fun & kind of surreal! Especially the part where Jim flipped his bike, cracked his helmet and injured his shoulder. Oops. But he dusted himself off & we continued riding. :-P  After a trip to the ER the next day, we found there was nothing broken in the shoulder, and now it's starting to feel better.

When Chester got home from Doggie Daycare, he rushed into the house & started squeaking his squeak toy. Hee. It amuses me to no end how much he loves that squeaky little thing.

I'm sitting here attempting to make my first batch of yogurt. First, I heat milk *almost but not quite* to boiling. That was tedious. Now I'm watching it cool to room temperature. La la la la. Then it has to cook in its yogurt incubator for 10 hours. La la la.  Won't it be fun if it turns out well, though?

Picked 3 delicious cherry tomatoes from the garden, as well as a couple of giant cucumbers. Unfortunately, the cukes weren't quite ready- still kind of green & hard inside. So I'll let the others continue to hang out on the vine for awhile longer.

Going to Vegas this weekend for Joe's birthday. My siblings, Rachel & Chris, will be there, too. Fun!

OK, off to stare at milk now...

I had a very productive weekend, foodwise....

Friday night, Joe was here & we made homemade pizza dough. Of course it was delicious! We made a margherita pizza with cherry tomatoes & golden tomatoes from the CSA box, and tons of basil & oregano from the garden. Made a yummy Hawaiian with fresh pineapple, too.  Later, Kristin came over & brought dark chocolate chocolate chip ganache cupcakes for my birthday! They were crazy good. J & K sang Happy Birthday to me. :-)

Sunday, Jim & Justin broke in the new smoker:

Men with meat.

While that was being marinated/smoked/mopped all day (and, ahem, into the wee hours), Justin helped me make rosemary hoagie rolls:

Homemade Rosemary Hoagie Rolls

They weren't much to look at, but were shockingly good. They had perfect crunchy crusts and super soft insides. Mmmm!

Next, Justin & I went out to inspect the garden & check on my first red tomato:

Omigod! It's an actual tomato!!!

Then, I picked up one of the dozens of apples that are all over the ground & dared Justin to take a bite. So, being a 12-year-old boy, of course he did. And it was good! And I took a bite, and, yes, it was very very good! So then we went about trying to get only good apples down from the very tall tree. Most of the apples are defective in some way. And the ones that are perfect aren't really within in reaching distance. But we got some, even though I got bonked on the forehead by a wayward falling apple:


Justin with our first apple harvest.

Today, I also noticed that our grape vines (which are not trained, and which we have torn out in previous years) are producing grapes! Jessi, prepare your hammock & buy a train ticket!

And here is the adorable, lone cherry tomato that I picked today:

Jim caught this critter red-handed in my garden today:

A big 'ole nutria lounging beneath our grapes.

Here he is, glaring at Jim's camera.

Looks like, before Jim spotted him, this nutria made a nice meal of my cucumber plant. The plant is big & vibrant, so it should survive. But I definitely need to get a fence put in soon!

I didn't see the nutria, but Jim said it was huge: 25-30 pounds. Yikes!

Yay, Jim found my camera! I knew I had left it in the back of his car. I'm just unsure as to how it got into the bottom of his smelly bike-clothes bag. Ewww.

Joe is coming to town on Thursday and staying through Sunday. And Justin is coming home with Jim on Saturday & staying with us for a week. Hooray for houseguests!

This was a very good, very long weekend. Some of the good things:

-When I got home, my zucchinni plant greeted me with an actual zucchinni! Go garden!

-When Jim crashed his bike in the last lap of today's Idaho State Championships race, he didn't break bones nor bikes (well, not his own anyway).

-Even though I have to be home alone all week while Jim stays in Idaho, at least I don't have to scrub his road rash everyday. I would, of course, but I'm happy his nurse sister will be taking care of him...

-A bunch of friends & family came out today & yesterday to watch Jim race both days. It was great to have them all see what we've been up to this year. :-)

-In yesterday's Twilight Criterium, Jim finished 12th out of a huge pack- he did so great!

-I finally got a camera case to protect my camera (and then prompty lost the camera...)

-I had a fun time at the Meridian High 10-year reunion. We got to hang out with friends Wyatt and Derek, who I've known since middle school, as well as some others.

-Had an even funner time at the Eagle High 10-year reunion, which I've spent the last 3 months frantically planning. It went off without a hitch, and turned out even better than I was expecting. My relief is immense.

-People were very grateful that Lindsay & I planned the reunion (since, 3 months ago, there wasn't going to be one at all). That made it all worthwhile.

-Had a wonderful time catching up with old friends! :-)  (& seeing all their masses of children!)

-Spent a lovely evening with Gramma & Vern. They even pulled out the old ice-cream maker, and we cranked ourselves some incredibly delicious ice cream. Mmmmm.

-Chester is having a fun vacation at Doggie Daycare. The kitties are very cuddly now that I'm home (and since the big loud guy and the big loud dog aren't here!).

-OK, on to the next adventures: Joe's in town next weekend; Jim's family is in town & at the coast the following weekend; then to Vegas for Joe's Big Birthday (turning 28 on 8-8-08); camping at Crater Lake soon after.

Whew. I'm going to bed....  

Click on the beach house picture for a link to my Flickr photo stream and vacay pics. I couldn't figure out how to reverse the order of the photos, so they're chronologically backward but I think you can figure it out. :)

I'm suddenly a baking fool....

Friday I made pizza dough (and put homegrown basil & oregano on the pizzas)

Saturday I made 2 loaves of wheat bread. Yum!

Sunday I made blueberry muffins (with handpicked blueberries, my favorite!)

Apparently all I needed to learn to cook was the right equipment. :-) 

Last week, we got struck by a vicious crime:

Somebody kidnapped Jane!

Jane is (was?) our British friend whose disembodied voice lived in our car. She would give us helpful tips such as “Take a left on the motorway” or  “Go straight on.” She was kind of annoying, though, always telling Jim to go a certain direction, when, as Passenger Extordinaire/Super Navigator, I was trying to tell him to go a different way. We duked it out on occassion, but came to a gradual, friendly understanding. We were happy to have her.

But Tuesday morning, some jerk broke the window on our Audi and stole our GPS Navigation unit. They also stole our (new) stereo and Jim's (old, expensive) sunglasses.

And not only that? They kidnapped David Sedaris, too!! For an early birthday gift, Rachel had just given me his new book on CD. And we had listened to the first CD on the way home from the beach house last weekend. So, Disc #1 was still sitting in the CD player when it was stolen. ... But the good news?

They didn't actually steal the box set of CD's. And in order to play David Sedaris, we had to take out another CD: “Adam's Soundtrack: Excess Ain't Rebellion.” This is an extremely limited-edition disc, sure to be worth a killing on the black market. And, by some strange luck, it's still in my posession. So now I'll always be able to listen to my friend Adam's favorite tunes from 2007. Yay! :-)

Thanks to Lindsey for this awesome video....