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Friday, October 15, 2010

Wood in the Fall


A whole season has passed since the last update. I guess thats what being happily employed full time (+) with the US Census will do to free time.

Today we had a half cord of wood delivered to the house. Because of hanging power lines, the delivery guy had to drop it all at the end of the driveway. Luckily, I was able to persuade him that it couldnt block the sidewalk or easement.

You can see the distance that the wood needed to travel in the background.


Here is the empty space it was headed to.




I put in the first hour of work, using the Stallone technique, utilizing just a wood bag and some gloves. (made from recycled PET!!) Olivia got home for the last 30-40 minutes and decided she would work "smarter." She used our dolly and pushed the wood to the garage. Because of her help we got done before sundown.



Here's the final wood pyramid. Olivia's design. (I was going more for a straight box).


Sunday, February 21, 2010


Mother Nature must have mixed up the dates. Felt more like March 21st than February 21st today. Here in Portland, it was sunny, warm and just plain beautiful.

After I tended to my worm herd: added a tier, bedding and a little food. Olivia and I started the early afternoon with a bit of gardening. She unpacked and moved our weatherized hydrangea plants back to the front door and I planted some flowers that would make it in the early warm weather. I'm especially interested to see how the hollyhocks do. They were a favorite of my grandma Nellie and I could use something that will grow in some hard soil.

I was inspired so I demanded that we also take the grill out of the garage and get some steaks on. Haven't seen bone-in steaks at the regular store recently so we made a special trip to Laurelhurst market for their steak selection. A bit pricey but we ended up with 2 T-bones just under 2 pounds each. A great meal, check out the pics. I hear its snowing in some parts of the country....




Sunday, January 31, 2010


We were at Best Buy picking up my anniversary present (a bit early, but stuff was on sale!). While we were waiting, Olivia became enthralled by a Rock Band 2 kiosk (with the Beatles) and started jamming out in the store.

She quickly started asking questions about how much it was, if it would work with our Xbox 360, etc. I've never seen her excited about a videogame like this. (Even when she managed to win one of the Wii Resort games against me over the summer at one of our lovely festivals.) Long story short, I got her the set (sans Beatles markup). A Saturday Night.... does she want to go out to eat? no. See a movie? no. Olivia wants to stay at home and play VIDEOGAMES!!! HA HA!!!

She's quite good at it and its been a lot of fun.


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Happy 2010




Happy 2010 everyone. Holidays were busy so the ole blog press got slowed down. We've been really enjoying the new year and hope everyone else has too.

We've been enjoying the Rose City Rollers. Portland's own flat track rollerderby league. Last weekend, we saw the premiere of "Brutal Beauty", a documentary on last season, at the Hollywood Theater.

Yesterday we hit the Season 5 opener with some new friends and watched 3 solid hours (4 bouts). Olivia supports the "High Rollers", complete with Elvis mascot and bright green uniforms, even as they started off the season 0-2. I enjoy all the teams, but I am partial to the underdogs. I found myself rooting against the Breakneck Betties last night, defending champions and undefeated team after the opening bouts.



Monday, November 2, 2009

Olivia and I were included in The Irish Wedding Journal's fall 09 magazine. Its the predominant wedding magazine in Ireland. Take a look!



I posted the pictures for facebook folks, but you couldn't really read the article. Going to try to post here so that everyone can see them.

Saturday, October 24, 2009


I love the fall. Its my favorite time of year. Looking forward to Halloween and my Birthday. All great events =)

We went to Lee Farms in Tualatin. Our first visit and a very fun one. Olivia had a great time eating the apple cider/pumpkin donuts and especially the caramel apple. I enjoyed the great natural apple cider. Unlike at the Farmer's Market, the cider was unpasteurized and never frozen. The way its meant to be.



I think Olivia's favorite was petting the baby chickens. She wanted to pet them again on the way out but she'd already sanitized her hands.



Bought 3 gallons of cider. 2 for drinking, one to make hard. We just had a bad experience making hard cider a few days ago. Had a one gallon glass jug explode like a bomb in the middle of the night. Would have killed/horribly injured anyone that was in the room.. we were very lucky. We wont make the same mistakes again.



Olivia picked up 4 pumpkins, a weird green gourd, a bale of hay and some corn stalks. She's ready to decorate the house for the first Halloween in this place.

Enjoy the season!

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Swell Choice

Olivia has entered the Oregon's Bounty Cuisinternship contest. Here is her entry. Soon, there will be a people's choice award vote. Please keep your eyes open and help her WIN!