I love this Freeeedom out here!

Arielle has been applying her talents to any blank spaces.

I thought that it would be a full week before you heard from me but there was an event this week that afforded me the opportunity to post a short update on what is going on with us. Today is the day that we decided to celibrate Cullen's birthday. He picked Red Robin as his preferred party place and his dad wanted to allow him a chance to catch another nice 27" brown trout so they left at 5:00 am to head for La Pine.

Here is a picture of the dinner party.

This is Cullen, the birthday boy, on the left with his younger brother Wyatt. Hmm, nice smiles guys!

The girls were all going to go to Bend for the day and shop. Debbie wanted me to go along and intently whined till I gave in. She didn't care if I stayed around and watched them shop so I went hunting for a free wi-fi signal and here we are.

This is what we looked like after hooking the Winofsky tent trailer to our overloaded truck. Looked like something out of the hills of Kentucky!

The lake is beautiful and the temperature has only been around 90 degrees. We have not experienced the 102 plus degree heat of Portland. Just between me and you, I'm glad it's you!

I've been sneeking out nearly every afternoon to fish along the Breitenbush river. The trout are small and a little rare but the solitude is such a joy and I have caught enough to keep me anticipating more.

Debbie keeps asking when I'll be home. She remembers when I dislocated my shoulder in a fall along the banks of the breitenbush a couple of years ago. Anyway, yesterday I told here 6:00pm. Apparently, fish and people start eating at about the same time. I was just getting into a little action having had a couple of really nice strikes when I noticed it was 5:42 pm and I was going to have to really hussle to get back to the truck and to camp by the proposed deadline. It was soooo hard to leave right then but I did get back to camp within the alotted timeframe. I probably won't get a chance to get on the water tonight since I am sitting in Bend right now and we haven't been to Red Robin yet. Oh well, I expect that I'll be able to focus on fishing tomorrow and for the rest of the week. We have to get back to Portland as soon as we can on Sunday as we have the Window space at Monticello next month and need to get it loaded and decorated as quickly as possible. I guess this will have to be it for now. I might update this post next week or when I get my next wifi conection. Thanks for coming by to keep up on what is going on with me.

On Vacation!

This is last year!

We're on our way to Detroit Lake for the annual family reunion. Sorry that you'll have to wait for a week but I promise that on my return there will be some new and hopefully spectacular photos of the trip and I will try to punch it up with some commentary that'll make you smile.

These are a sample from last year. I think we can anticipate at least similar if not even greater memories this year. Look forward to a great collection of photos so you can vicariously experience our time with us!
I'll catch up with you in a week!

When I Look Down From Lofty Mountain Grandeur!

Before I start out today, I just want to be sure to thank all of you who take the time to read this blog. Granted, I get a lot of enjoyment just from writing this stuff, but to actually discover that there are those of you out there who enjoy keeping up on what goes on in my life is very encouraging. Thank you!

Be sure to click on any pictures for a closer look.

Wow, the other day I heard a voice on the answering machine that I hadn't heard in many years. I called right back and he answered the phone. It was Konrad F. He was a missionary who I met while on a summer mission trip to France in 1980. He had since come back stateside and is living in Chicago and works for Moody Bible Institute. He called to see if we could get together to catch up on each others lives. During the conversation, he indicated that he planned to hike to McNeil Point on Mt. Hood. Since I often have an inflated idea of my physical abilities I asked to tag along. I am sooo glad I decided to follow along as the scenery was just amazing! Let me share some of them with you.

Take a look at the wildflowers.

Look at the lupine!

And the beargrass.

There was lots of indian paintbrush.

There were many that I can't identify by name but they deserve a place here.

This was the strangest of all.

I had to take its picture!

This little hut is at the 6000 foot mark. Can you imagine having to build it.

We ate our lunch here and then headed back to the car.

Let me leave you with a few more images of our trip.

Please read these words by Swedish author Carl Gustav Boberg. In english we call this hymn:

How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:

(Chorus:)
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

(Chorus)

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

(Chorus)

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Tonight we had a simple little dinner at home with Debbie's parents as our guests. Dinner consisted of Beef Tenderloin with a creamy garlic mustard sauce. We also had mashed pototoes and gravy, asparagus, and Shirley brought a tossed salad and some desert.

Here's Mrs. July. Pleased to be in front of the camera as always.

And of course, the rest of the dinner party.

Thanks for coming by and remember to wish her Happy Birthday!

What A Week! Phew! Great Week-End Though!

Man! I can't believe it has already been a week since my last post. I have been having to keep up at work all by myself. That is a real chore! They told me when I was hired that the job was considered a 1.3 FTE (Full Time Employee) position. Well, between summer vacations and injuries, I have been having to handle the full 1.3 all by myself. I come home dragging and Friday is the most welcome day of the week.

Anyway, this weekend was like most except for the fact that a lot of the estate sale competition was at the expo antique fair and we were fortunate enough to not have too much trouble with the people who pick up the same kinds of items we usually look for. Here is a shot of some of the items we purchased.

They're in my work area waiting my attention. Most just need a little oil or cleaned up a bit. It is part of the fun.

We haven't been selling on Ebaycast-n-flies for more than a year but last week Debbie decided that she'd be willing to list a number of items on my account. If you want to watch or bid on our auctions, click on the above link to enter cast-n-flies @ ebay. (Cool name eh?) Note to Terry R, there are a bunch of lead sinker casting molds. You might want to take a look.

You know something? No matter how well publicized our bad economy is, people will still spend money. I can't believe how much they are spending for some of our items. And so far we are getting paid immediately. The internet is so amazing! I also love how Debbie is doing all of the work and I'm getting all of the credit. Life is sweet!

Hey I made dinner last night just like every night. (It's therapy.) I tried a stir fry recipe. I was encouraged by Debbie after she saw a picture posted by my friend Joel M. on Facebook.It was another hit! I love to cook Italian but Asian is also pretty good! Take a look!

Finally, do you remember how good the fireworks were before the liability lawyers got involved and the people who love "Big Government" decided that we needed to be protected from ourselves? I bought a box of the old time sparklers this weekend.

Now they are pretty old and time and probably a little humidity have affected their performance but this video will help you remember the good old days. Disclaimer--the video isn't that great because of the lighting and it took a long time to get it lit but you can giggle while you wait as you imagine my fingers getting cooked medium-well by the lighter as we tried to get it started.

Sorry everyone! For some reason the video wouldn't load. It wasn't that great anyway!

Thanks for coming by,

It Looks Like a Fish, Only Smaller!

Between injuries and regularly scheduled time off, we are extremely short handed at work. Usually, I can expect a certain amount of help but this week I was almost completely on my own. My normal helper is away and will be gone for at least three or four weeks and will probably be on light duty for another couple of weeks after that. All that to say that I really had to pick up the pace this week just to stay in the game.

Yesterday we were closed due to the holiday and boy! Did I need the extra time off or what! We lounged around the house for a few hours and then I loaded the pick up with essentials and then we headed for the river.

I have been suppressing my need to get out in the woods so that I can hold down a regular job, spend Saturdays with my wife combing through other people's junk for treasure, church on Sunday and probably some more junking and maybe a trip to Monticello to restock our space with some of the finer junk treasure.

Okay! Let me get back to yesterday. After that trip to the Deschutes last week, I've had a need for the river burning somewhere down deep and it lept to the surface and I found myself driving along the Clackamas river looking for a place we used to fish a number of years ago. When we arrived, both Jonathan and Debbie expressed chagrin regarding the steep decent down to the river's edge. I told them it was nothing and that I used to do it without thought and I was going to do it again on this day. They sucked it up and followed me down into the dark depths of the forest towards the sound of the river far below. Oh come on you guys; it's not that far! Anyway, we reached the edge of the river without injury and I prepared my gear for what I'd come for.

I can't tell you how many times I got a strike and lost the fish before actually getting a picture. I was a little disappointed also at the size of these fish as well. Apparently, the ODFW is no longer supplying hatchery trout to this water like they used to do.

Click the play button on this short video clip.

I never saw a single damaged dorsal fin or clipped adipose fin which is the most obvious indication of a hatchery fish. Finally after catching and releasing a number of eager but small natives, I got a strike that started to take line. Hmm, interesting. I played with this fish for a little while and then landed him, measured him, and released him, apparently unharmed. I always am happy when I don't see any post traumatic stress displayed in the fish I release. I let them go and dream of catching them again someday. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. He went 14 inches and probably 3 to 3.5 inches deep. It was probably the best trout I've ever seen on the Clackamas. He was beautiful but there is no picture since my camera crew was reading magazines and throwing rocks a few hundred yards downstream.

This was a really fun couple of hours for me and I think my companions had a good day as well.