Huge Snowstorm

As with much of the country, Oregon has had lots and lots of snow lately. We've had snow, ice, and freezing rain for 9 days now. It hasn't been over the freezing temperature mark either, and has gotten as low as the teens. Yesterday, it snowed for 14 hours straight and we got 8 inches. Then came the freezing rain to coat the top of the snow with half an inch of ice. I thought I'd share some pictures and videos with you.

In this one, you can see the bird bath filled up with snow. I think it looks kind of like a pie. You can also see that the pond is frozen over. In fact, the birds were walking on it.

In this one, you can see how much snow piled up on our car. That was after scraping it off once the day before and driving to the grocery store. You can hear that there is a 1/2 inch layer of ice on the top. Oh, and it was taken through a screen. Yeah, I didn't want to go out in the 23 degree weather!

This was taken to show the colored icicles. They really did look prettier in person. It was hard to get a picture that captured what it really looked like.






Our house with 8 inches of snow.













This is a gazebo in a park in the center of town.













Icicles and Christmas decorations.

Thanksgiving with the Fam

We went to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. I'm sure it was crowded at most airports, but ours was eerily calm for some reason. Our flight was at 8pm, but being that it was "the most heavily traveled day of the year", we decided to arrive at 4pm. Yes, the parking lot was very full and we had to park in the overflow economy lot, which is as far away as you can get, but there was barely a line to check our luggage, a short line through security, and we got to our gate with 3 1/2 hours to kill. Sheesh. However, I'd rather do that than to arrive 2 hours ahead and find long lines in both places and be all stressed out. So naturally we ate, then shopped, then pottied, then shopped, then sat, then walked around, then pottied, then sat. It was fine.

Had a great time with the family. It was nice going from 50 degrees and drizzle to 70 degrees and sun. I tried to soak up as much of it as I could. There were 10 of us for dinner. I have 2 brothers with wives, 2 nephews, my parents, and of course me and the Hubbs. It's hard to get us ALL together at the same time, so it was really nice. I think the last time was in Vegas in 2005. That was for my husband's and eldest brother's 50th birthdays, which are a week apart.

Ok, here's the problem. I have some pictures but not all of them. I have a 4GB memory card in my Canon digital camera, and after 2 years and over 1,000 pictures, it decided to throw a "Memory Card Error" on me -- AFTER I took a bunch of pictures over the Thanksgiving weekend. After researching, I discovered that I have to buy a card reader (which I never heard of before) to get the pictures off of it and on to my computer, but it's not guaranteed that it'll work. It depends on how bad the data was corrupted. Darn technology. I thought I liked it. Anyway, we went to Walgreens and bought another card so I could take pictures of what remained of the weekend.

Here are a few shots of our trip to Sedona. It's just beautiful. My Grandparents lived in Arizona when I was growing up, so we'd drive there from Los Angeles often, and I've always loved going to Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. There is a church built into the rocks that is so pretty that I'm going to make a separate post about it. (Yes, I know I'm slow at posting and I haven't even finished my Alaska cruise series yet, but bear with me!) As always, click the pictures to make them bigger. These are best viewed BIG. They are really gorgeous.










































































Edited to add: I had gotten a new Flip Video camera just before the trip (I LOVE IT, and will make a post about it later). I was playing with the software it comes with, and here's what I made.

My nephew the Drum Major

Kyle is the Drum Major (or bandleader, if you're not familiar) for a very large high school in Southern California. He's the one in a white uniform in this video. You can see him at the beginning, then after the sign-holder girls get out of the way, you can see more of him. He spins a mace, which is longer than a baton and has a round head on the end of it. Anyway, we're proud he was selected as Drum Major for his Senior year. This particular video shows him leading the band in a competition that they ended up winning. Go Kyle! Go Apaches! Oh, and he was also elected Homecoming King this year! He rocks! And... my other nephew, Kyle's brother Spencer, is in the band also. He's a Freshman and plays trumpet. I don't see him in the video, but he's there. Ok, sorry to bore you. That's all.

File this under - WHAT?!?!?

This is from katu.com, the website for the local CBS affiliate in Portland, Oregon. It was posted today, November 3rd.

Dispute over pet cat ends in murder-suicide

FLORENCE, Ore. -- A neighborhood dispute about a pet cat escalated into a murder-suicide Friday in a rural part of Lane County, investigators believe.

Teddy W. Sellers, 63, died Saturday morning at a Eugene hospital from gunshot wounds sustained Friday night in a dispute with his neighbor, 57-year-old Guy A. Frazier.

Frazier believed Sellers had injured his cat, investigators said. Frazier confronted Sellers on the street about the incident and a shot was fired, striking Sellers in the head, according to the Lane County Sheriff's Office

The two men lived alone and next door to one another. Investigators believe the two had an ongoing dispute over trespassing, pets and other neighborhood nuisance issues.

A postal carrier saw the injured Sellers and alerted authorities. Sellers was taken by air ambulance to RiverBend Hospital in Eugene, where he died the next day from his injuries.

The sheriff's office closed down Canary Road for several hours Friday night and Saturday morning while they searched for the shooting suspect. Officers executed a search warrant at 2:15 a.m. and located Frazier's body. Investigators believe Frazier took his own life before emergency crews arrived.

Ron Howard gets into character as both Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Oh Hail No!!

We had a surprise hailstorm this evening. It was already cold, but it got even colder, then it started raining really hard for about a minute, stopped briefly, then started again in the form of huge hail stones. If you live in areas where you get golfball-sized stones, disregard the word "huge". They were huge for Oregon standards. Probably a little larger than a marble. All I know is it was LOUD! I took a video, but it was just as it was all ending. You can kind of hear the sound in the first few seconds of the video. Oh, and it was through a screen if you wondered.





















Kids in the neighborhood came out to play as if it had snowed.



















I hope they didn't dent the car. They were huge and were hitting really hard. It was seriously LOUD.

Alaska Cruise, Part 4

I was looking through my Alaska pictures and saw some that I didn't remember posting even though they occurred before some of the pictures I have posted. After I recovered from my temporary Alzheimer's, I realized that we had done two adventures in one day. So I shall now go back and talk about the night we went to a Salmon Bake. I don't even like salmon. Neither does Mom. But it's ok because they have chicken also. We knew that ahead of time. Hubby and Dad LOVE salmon, and it sounded like fun, so we booked it. Anyway, they take you to this area just outside of town that has a creek running through it and lots of trees. They bake lots and lots of salmon and have some sort of yummy, sweet looking sauce they'll put on it if you want. As I mentioned, there's chicken too as well as corn bread, beans, salads, desserts, you name it. There was a lady playing guitar and singing folk songs, and she wasn't too bad. In between songs she'd tell stories about Alaska. It was fun. We liked it because it wasn't a rushed thing. You came on a bus at a certain time, but you could leave whenever you wanted. Busses were running back to the ships about every 20 minutes. So we took advantage of that. After we ate, we walked up the creek where there was an old abandoned mine.




















































They had a few gold pans out and you could try your luck in the creek. Hubby was all over that.




















There was a really pretty waterfall, and I must have looked like a professional photographer or something, because I got asked by no less than 5 couples/families to take their picture in front of it. We were all one big happy family.

















Oh! And it was lightly drizzling off and on, so they had this row of umbrellas hanging at the entrance that caught my eye.


















Here's a short video of the creek and waterfall. Complete with some random guy's voice.

Alaska Cruise, Part 3

I may just win an honorable mention in the "World's Worst Blogger" contest. Here is Part 3 of my Alaska Cruise Review. Ok, so it's been 6 weeks since Part 2. Whatever.

The good news is we're up to the most scenic part. Tracy Arm Fjord. We entered the fjord about 6:00 am and boy, was it cold outside! Probably mid-40's. They had a place on board where you could sign out a wool blanket. Even with the blanket it was pretty dang cold the whole time we were in the fjord. But the views were spectacular as you can see from the pictures. There was a naturalist on board providing commentary which could be heard out on deck, or through your stateroom's television.

Tracy Arm is a long, narrow, dead-end fjord cut by a glacier thousands of years ago. At the end of it is Sawyer Glacier. We were there on July 23rd, and of the weekly cruises from May through September, ours was the first to make it all the way in. They go as far as the icy waters will allow. Did I mention the awesome views? I took 94 pictures and 3 videos that day alone.

We were back out into the open waters by 11:00 am and I'd tell you what we did the rest of the day, but since it's been 2 months, I can't remember. So in the meantime, just enjoy these pictures and hang on 6 more weeks to find out what we did the next day.

Remembering 9/11

Now I know how Gandhi felt

Ok, perhaps that's a lofty comparison, but it has to do with - doing without. No, I didn't go on a computer strike, but for 16 days I was without mine. It was sheer agony. Never have I experienced such deprivation and withdrawal. You don't realize how much you're dependent on this MACHINE until you don't have it. After the first week when we saw we weren't going to get it back soon, Hubby set up our old antique PC. It was NOISY, the monitor was HUGE, the screen size was all screwy, it was ..s..l..o..w.. it had (e-gad) a corded mouse and keyboard; it didn't have my bookmarks, photos or favorite software. I hated it. Well, long story short (too late?) I have my lovely modern PC back. I am once again whole.

Since I like to attach photos to all my posts, here is a cartoon progression of what my computer has gone through. Poor baby.






Acting Wacky















Diagnosed Sick















Getting Fixed...















...While we used an OLD computer













All fixed!!!

Laziness, bikes, and flowers ... OH MY!

I am just plain ol' lazy when it comes to this blog. I promise I will post some more about our cruise. Someday.

Summer is sadly coming to an end. We just got back from a 9-mile bike ride on an 85 degree day. I must say, it wore my ass out. I cannot for the life of me understand how those Tour de France guys do it. Maybe it's the extra few (dozen) pounds I carry. Ya think?

Anyway, I'll be back, as Arnold once said. In the meantime, enjoy these photos from our annual Dahlia Festival in Canby, Oregon. We live less than a mile away from the country's largest producer and supplier of Dahlias, and for two weekends every year, they open their farms to visitors and have a simply GORGEOUS display of arrangements in their nice and cool basement. Maybe I should blog about that someday. Hmm... a new idea!! Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Especially the 2nd one with the bee on it.

The train! The train! Our Alaska Cruise, Part 2

Ok, so on Tuesday we got to Skagway. This is where we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railway for our 3 1/2 hour tour. The scenery was gorgeous. Oh, and the train tracks come right up onto the dock. That's it in the upper right in the picture below.
















Here are a few more pictures from the train ride.















































After we got back, we walked through the town a little bit, then headed back to the ship.

































I'm going to try posting a short video of the train trip. I haven't had much luck with videos in the past, but here goes.


Wow, it worked! Ok, it's not very good, but it worked! Ok, that's it for today. See you next time!

Alaska Cruise Review, Part 1

We drove from our home near Portland, Oregon to Seattle Saturday morning, July 19, anxious to begin our Princess Cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage. We looked forward to 7 days aboard the Golden Princess, which was scheduled to return us back to Seattle the following Saturday.

Checking in was a breeze due to my parents knowing one of the supervisors who works there. Our "cruise cards" - kind of a combination onboard credit card and key - were already made out for us with a VIP sticker on them. We were escorted very quickly through the process. We felt special.



















Here was the view as we departed Seattle right on time at 4 pm:
















The first night was a casual night in the dining room. Actually, they call it "Smart Casual". In other words, you don't have to wear formals, but you shouldn't wear jeans or t-shirts either. We had elected for "Anytime Dining" as opposed to "Traditional Dining", which means that you get the same menu and quality of service in the same type of dining room, but you get to choose what time you go. Think of it as going to a restaurant without a reservation, whereas the Traditional diners have a reservation. Two different dining rooms, but everything is the same. I didn't think to bring menus home, but believe me, the food choices are awesome. If you are really interested in seeing menus, check out this review from a fellow Cruise Critic member, cezovski. There are menus from their cruise at the bottom of the review. Ours were almost identical.

The first full day was a day at sea. I should have kept notes because it's hard to remember what we did. I'm pretty sure Hubby and I went to play Bingo that day, and I think that's the day Mom & I went to an arts and crafts class where we learned to make crepe-paper flowers. Of course, we shopped. There are 2 floors of great stores on that ship. Before the week was over, I bought a Swarovski Crystal fish, and Hubby bought a Citizen Eco Drive watch.

The first stop was Juneau. It was only about 50 degrees, the skies were an ugly grey, and it was drizzling off and on. Not what I had hoped for, but we didn't let it stop us. While Hubby headed out for a gold panning trip (he got a few flakes), Mom, Dad & I boarded a motor coach and visited Mendenhall Glacier. It's pretty awesome in person. The pictures don't really do it justice.
















After we returned from the tour, we met up with Hubby and toured the town a bit on our own.
















That night was our first of 2 formal dining nights, so we got all spiffied up and went to eat dinner. Dinners are quite an event on a cruise. If you don't want to spend 90 minutes to 2 hours having your meal, then go to the buffet, the hamburger place, pizza place, or order room service. Again, I wish I had brought back a menu, but take my word for it - the food is delicious and you can eat as much of it as you want. Our waiter kept telling people that if they didn't like what he brought them, he'd bring them something else. I didn't like my dessert and he did just that.

This could take forever, so I think I'll post this for now and work on the rest in a draft. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a bald eagle. We saw several of them.

Back to Reality

We're back from our cruise to Alaska. It was wonderful and I took 500 pictures!! Wow. It'll take time to go through them all and upload the ones I want. I think I'll put them on shutterfly.com . Once I get that done, I'll post a link here. In the meantime, enjoy Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord, and a picture I snapped during a train trip. UPDATE: I have begun my cruise review. It is currently in draft form. I hope to have it up sometime next week. Please stand by.

Anniversary weekend

Saturday was our 12th anniversary (oh hey.. 12th on the 12th.. just noticed that!) and we took a trip to the Oregon coast. There is an Indian casino we go to, and we had enough "points" on our player's card to get a free night in their lodge. We had never stayed there before and were very impressed by it. Here are a couple pictures of our room. I didn't get one of the bathroom, but it was nice with marble countertops and tiled floors.

































Anyway, so naturally we gambled. Hubby hit a 4-spot Keno his very first game. Cha-ching - $225. I didn't know about it, because I was playing machines. I was on my last $40, which I put into a red-white-and-blue 7's dollar machine and I hit 4 white 7's. Cha-ching - $400. So I go in the Keno lounge to tell hubby, found out about his win, and sit with him while his last 3 games are played. It was down to the last 2 balls drawn on his last game, and he hit another 4-spot. Cha-ching - $225. So we decide to take some of the winnings and play machines a little bit, and I hit 3 mixed color 7's. Cha-ching - $160. When all was said and done, we went to our room with $960. Naturally, I took a picture.
















After a free breakfast the next morning, we headed towards Depoe Bay. First, we stopped at the Taft district of Lincoln City. It was a beautiful morning. It was only 8:30 when we got there, so not many people were out. Here are some more pictures. I thought the fish sculpture was neat.
































Next stop was Newport for lunch, then to the man-made jetty where we saw the most unusual starfish. It had 15 arms. I'd never heard of such a thing, but looked it up on the internet, and discovered that it is called a sunflower starfish. Anyway, we had a lovely trip and managed to stay away from the 100 degree heat back home. (It was 70 at the coast) Here's a picture of that starfish.