Everyday Gifts

The Boat In Our Garage Part 2 - Motor Swap

2011-04-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

You can find part 1 of The Boat In Our Garage here.

Every family has it's own language.

Things that in some way define who they are.

At our house one of the things that most amuses me is when the guys take on a little problem solving.

My hubby is the king of figuring out how to make something work.

Throw a couple of the boys into the mix and things are about to get real interesting.

Since my last post there had been a whole lotta scraping and grinding goin on.

There were layers of dust on any uncovered surface.

And progress was progressing.

The word on the hotline in late March was that Collin would be around for the weekend and that can only mean one thing.

A whole bunch of stuff is about to get done.

We like to take ample advantage of Collin's education and professional experience whenever he's around.

It was the perfect time for the motor swap.

Here's a hint...

It involves this...

Yes...

A garden tractor and a motorcycle ramp.

Can you see why I just revel in these things?

How can you not smile just trying to visualize what they could possibly have in mind when you see something like this in the garage??

So boat A...meaning the one in our garage... was to receive a motor transplant from Craigslist donor boat B

I'm going to refrain from much mechanically oriented commentary here cause pretty much anything I say I will be totally making up and it will assuredly be wrong.

You're welcome.

Collin catches me at this every time I try.

It's kind of become a sport for him

So here's where the tractor/ramp gadget comes in...

Unfortunately for all of us the tractor/ramp thing didn't have enough hydraulic power and try as they might the motor stayed put and the rear tractor wheels lifted.

It was definitely the most entertaining solution...

On to solution 2...

While I was gone all three of them hung from the pull up bar in the garage to see if it could take that much weight....

Can I just say...

I'm still kicking myself for not witnessing that.

We'll all just have to take a moment to make up some crazy mental image of that...

Since that idea seemed to be working out they moved on with solution 2...

The problem with solution 2 was that they neglected to all hang from exactly one point on the bar.

And... on to a borrowed solution 3.

Boring yet effective...

I'm so glad they didn't get to this solution in too much of a hurry.

I bet some of you have wondered aloud what people who don't have cable or satellite do with themselves...

Well now ya know.

Collin hopped right in there and got a lot of the electrical run in no time.

Electrical systems are kinda his thing.

For which his dad is very grateful.

More work has gone on since this little weekend of amusement and I'll have more stuff coming.

Collin is supposed to be here again this weekend .

Ya never know what might happen.

I'll be on the look out for cheap entertainment.

Happy Easter to all,

Cath

Raising The Lion's Whelp - Port Clean Up Part 2

2011-03-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't been following along you can find my post about the tsunami aftermath here and part 1 of the clean up here.

On day three of working to raise the Lion's Whelp I got one early message....really early....like still dark out early... that this would be the likely day that she would be floated to the surface.

The next message I got was that she was up ...

I know.

I'm gonna have to dock his pay for that.

Soo I don't have the part when she came up but there was plenty of other interesting stuff....

She had some good sized holes in her hull that hampered the floating a bit. The crew had to find all the holes so that they could be closed off and the pumps could be effective.

With some constant pumping they were able to keep her afloat.

There was a little timing involved.

The plan was to utilize the hoist at high tide.

Sean was in a dive suit as well since he had helped to find the last of the holes that needed securing.

I came back later when the tide was right for the hoist.

It was pretty interesting.

So I shifted to a better vantage point.

Once everything looked like it was in place they began to raise her.

The range of colors in this one blows me away. 92 feet of Gor.geous.ness. Who knew?

Sooo about this time the boat was raised up pretty well and they seemed to reach a resting point.

My ADD kicked in and as I waited for the progress to renew I looked around at interested bystanders.

Both sides of the basin were lined with fellow watchers of interesting things.

Then all the watchers and I heard a SNAP.

About then I saw the wave headed my way....

And Mama didn't raise no dummies...

I sprinted (Dylan will debate my definition of a sprint but it was as sprintly as I get) to get off the end of the dock.

You all know I love ya more than my flip flops ....

but after the recent battering from the tsunami I wasn't real secure about how much more they could take.

Plus I'm kinda wimpy.

So we will now pick up after the sprint :).

From a safer angle.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the old girl...

And the Port officials...

And the work crews.

They will continue to get the thing done.

I have no doubt.

In order to make the most efficient use of the resources currently available the Port has opted to reduce the crews so Sean's dive boat job is done for now and I won't have the tip line but I'll try to keep my eyes open.

I find it all to be so amazing.

The everyday gift of seeing something extraordinary on an ordinary day.

Lookin around for the extraordinary,
Cath

Dismasting the Lion's Whelp - Port Clean Up Part 1

2011-03-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Remember this from my last post?

Our oldest son, Sean, got the opportunity to be a part of the crew working to clear some of the sunken vessels in our port.

The design of his boat makes a particularly good working boat for dive crews.

It's deck gives easy access to equipment and convenient places for divers to load and unload.

Radon boats are frequently used as dive boats.

After the hazmat crews did their thing to clean up the area around the Lion's Whelp, the dive and salvage crew got to work.

The first step was to dismast her.

The more I learn about the history of this ship the more bittersweet the process seems.

As I hear the stories of her history and the lives she has touched....

The adventures she has seen....

The places she has been...

It has all made me stop at take a better look.

But it had to be done.

The wreckage needed to be cleared.

Our Port officials and work crews have accomplished an amazing amount in a really short period of time.

They've been working really hard and doing the best they can under some really long hours and unfavorable weather conditions.

I'm pretty proud of them all.

And this is all sort of fascinating.

But it's painful at the same time.

I'm pretty sure Sean feels the same way.

Glad for the opportunity...

But sad to see this beauty go.

As a very small child he would drag books of wooden boat designs (courtesy of his sailboat loving dad) into his bunk bed at bed time and build models of sailboats from whatever he could find.

I'll post a photo some time soon of one of my favorite things...a model he made from balsa wood, a metal keel and fabric for sails.

It's been one of his lifetime interests.

It's funny how when you look back you can see the path so clearly but when you try to look ahead it all seems so mysterious.

There's no places he's happier than on a boat.

Robert made him wave for me.

He looks thrilled huh?

More to come,

Cath

The Aftermath - Tsunami 3/11/11 Brookings Edition

2011-03-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

At 4 a.m. on Friday morning I was awakened to the sound of sirens.

They ran on and on.

On the south Oregon coast that long ongoing set of sirens means a tsunami warning.

On the first of every month here at 5 p.m. they test the system so we all know what it sounds like.

At 4a.m. though it takes a while to compute.

I rolled over after a bit and said "Tsunami???".

Still it took a few minutes more to think to grab my phone and check the local news.

And then of course I saw it.

The awful thing happening in Japan and the ensuing warning for Hawaii and the West Coast.

We've had these before and they never pan out.

Our house is high enough on a hill not to be in any danger.

I couldn't go back to sleep though and went to watch the news report paying special attention to what was happening in Hawaii since that can be and indicator for us about what the swell might be.

Around 6 I took a quick roll call of my kids.

Sent Sean a text message to make sure he had heard the sirens and wasn't planing to head out on the ocean for a day of fishing.

Got the reply that he was out of town...inland for the day and his boat and gear were safely stored at his house.

Arik, fishing in Alaska didn't reply at first and I was uncertain of the forecast for them which left me feeling a little uneasy. I heard from him later in the day and discovered that they didn't feel a thing.

Strangely, fishing in Alaska felt like a relatively safe thing that day.

Collin, I knew was on his way to work in Eugene and well out of harm's way.

Dylan had a day off from school and was safely tucked in bed.

It looked as though Hawaii didn't get much as the first surges were scheduled to come through so we thought it would be another uneventful warning and went about our morning rituals.

As I grabbed my work stuff and headed for the office a call came in from Rich who had been about half an hour ahead of me.

He said he was watching the port from an upper vantage point and had never seen anything like it. The ocean was swirling and the river was sucking out and surging in.

Rich is a waterman. He's been on the ocean in some way most of his life. He knows it well.

In all the strangeness I did something I rarely do.

I left my camera gear at home.

So the few that I have here from Friday are from my phone.

The port was closed early on to all but essential personnel so we all had a distant view.

I still don't really have words for what I saw. I've never seen anything like it my life.

Watching our river suck out to a such a shallow level that we could almost see the bottom and then rushing in a rapid surging rate.

The confused swirling waves.

Here you can see some of the rippling toward the mouth of the river as it sucked out.

The rocks you can see here are not normally visible

Several really good videos have been posted on YouTube and facebook so if you are curious you can do a search and find them.

Banks, post offices, and even the UPS office closed.

Many people here either work in the fisheries or know someone who does so there was a lot of interest and concerned spectators who had been sent home from work as their places of work either closed or asked their employees not to report that day.

We spent the day as a community watching, listening to local radio and praying for the safety of the local fleet and emergency workers.

The surges lasted until evening and made for a very long day for most of the locals who had been up since the blaring of the sirens.

Friday evening after the tsunami threat was lowered to watch status the boat owners who had spent the day out at sea to keep their boats from getting battered in port were able to come back in.

This morning I went to take a look at the aftermath and have these images to share with you.

One of the concerns in our port is that there is a campground and a hotel beachfront. Both were evacuated at 4 a.m. along with any residents in low lying areas.

It looked as though the surges did breach the usual beach area into the campground and parking areas.

The back side of the Chetco River Coast Guard Station...some docks missing.

The crazy tangle of angles where there once was order.

This is for Arik. When talked to him he said he was glad to hear that their parking spot was still intact.

Well...yes it's there Arik. But you might want to called ahead for a reservation when you head back from Kodiak. There's a tiny bit of a lineup of displaced vessels in your spot.

And so we begin to face the clean up.

There's a whole lotta mess out there.

The fuel and oil aboard the sunken and battered boats requires some special teams.

And they were already arriving early this morning.

Just a couple of months ago it was a very different place.

Heck a couple of days ago really.

One day it will look like this again.

For now....

It's kind of a big ol mess.

And yet when we compare it to what the people of Japan are dealing with it seems very small.

Sean got called in this afternoon to be a part of the dive team clean up crew.

He won't be diving but his particular boat makes a really good dive boat due to the flat deck.

He'll be running his boat for the dive crews to use.

It will likely be a long rainy night for them all again and he's happy to have the opportunity to be a part of it

Counting our blessings,

Cath

Winter Garden Update - In Which I Am Knowingly Duped

2011-02-21T15:01:00.000-08:00

As a reasonably long time resident of the Oregon coast I should have a handle on weather patterns right?

We get rain here.

Have you heard about that?

Well it's true...

Our seasonal average is somewhere north of 70 inches...

And I totally try to pretend it's not true...but it is.

BUT fairly often in January we get a spurt of sunshiney awesomeness and in my little pretend world I'm back in San Diego and Spring has arrived.

It gets me through til spring break when I really do get to be in San Diego.

This year we got bonus sunshiney awesomeness.

Four weeks instead of two.

And we were all gettin our Spring on.

Things started to really look good in the garden.

Cauliflower happiness abounds.

Seriously, we had no idea this was even out there since I don't venture out nearly as much in the rain.

Ooooo ahhhh.

Also I'd like to take a moment to mention that these shots were the first time I got to use my new lens.
My first Big Girl for real glass.
The Nikon 50mm f1.4 G
I think I'm in love.

Purpleness happening too.
Some side shooting broccoli...

And some Purple Cape Cauliflower....

Some definite visual coolness...

The kale is starting to look like a palm trees...which I love.

It goes along with my tropical fantasies.

And while the slugs were having a field day with outer cabbage leaves there is still lot left for fish tacos and Asian salads.

What's up with the slugs this year anyhow??

I have never, ever seen this many.

I'm considering approaching my friend Vanessa about starting a Rent-A-Duck business.

I'm sure the ducks would eat only the slugs and not touch anything else right??

So here's where my Springlike delusions start to cause me some concern...

The plants really think it's Spring ...

When I saw this I sprinted... in slow motion ...like in the movies....

Nooooooooo

The fruit trees are falling for it.

It's all a big lie and they are totally falling for it.

For the past two years we've gotten about 3 Asian Pears because they fall for the fakey Spring and then the hail hits.

I do love that they seem to be eternal optimists though.

The peach tree too...

Falling for it.

I'm not as worried about that one though since it seems to be able to hold it's own when the real weather returns.

All this sunshiney goodness had me in a gamblin mood.

The row that we covered in plastic last year (you know, the one that caused me much guilt and angst)
Made it super easy to get a row ready to plant.

I'm almost a total convert...still some teensy guilt floating around but I think I can alleviate that with some biodegradable version and run a tester on that.

So I threw caution to the wind and planted carrots, onion, lettuce, spinach and turnips.

And it felt goooood.

I know.

Wild and crazy huh?

Wild seed sowing abandon I tell ya.

The cold snap back in December messed with my greenhouse big time this year.

Arugula, Mache and Sorrel were the only survivors among the seeded greens.

Lettuce, spinach and carrots... not so much. Not at all really.

Nada.

The back ups of the outside stuff are lookin great.

I used the sad empty spaces to get a quick crop of radishes in before we need the space to start tomatoes and peppers

And they popped right up.

Which is great because we love radishes but we have a horrible track record with growing them outside.

And since all of my unscientific experiments are....

Welll...

unscientific...

We never have really figured out quite what the problem is.

Suffice it to say it's not worth wasting seeds on.

So I went happily along with my spring fantasies until Thursday.

When I woke up to this!

Ok so past that far tree line is the ocean people!

It's not supposed to snow here.

I can't drive when it snows.

My inner San Diegan freezes up and panics.

I tried to use that an excuse not to make it to the gym that day.

Rich laughed and reminded me that it was two inches....and I have an all wheel drive vehicle.

So I laced up my sneakers, threw back my shoulders and begged him to have his phone on in case I ended up in a ditch...since had to make it at least 100 feet down the road before there was no snow....

I know.

So remember this?

It became this...

Woot! She gambles....and gets burned.

And this....

Became this....

It's in there....I swear on my flip flops.

And of course the pear tree I tried to persuade to hold off on the blooms...

Felt the sting.

I won't collect pear recipes this year.

The hoops and nets on the blueberry bushes collapsed in despair...

This one got the prize for visual coolness...pun intended.

We have another chilly week ahead and I'll just hang out and see what happens and try to pay attention when I hear my inner voice say "step away from the seed packets".

Keep your bunny slippers close at hand this week,

Cathy

The Boat In Our Garage

2011-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

Our garage has an interesting life.

All kinds of strange things have occurred there.

This, I think, may be one of the more interesting things....

Let me introduce you to to the Frankenboat also known as the Hogcatcher....

It began as an outdoor project boat...

Rescued from neglect and a not quite perfect design.

It had potential.

It had good bones.

But was in need of a whole lotta elbow grease, another trailer and another engine to make it happen.

As the full force of winter set in, the whole outdoor thing lost it's charm and it was decided that if the dream were to come to fruition the bulk of the fiberglassing and mechanical work would need a much warmer home.

Imagine if you will the conversations and engineering that went into getting this puppy in the door.

It involved the removal of "stuff" (my technical term) from the top and the removal of wheels from the trailer.

And let's just say the floor jack became one of the key pieces of this grand scheme.

And here she sits.

All snug and warm.

As packages arrive from Fiberglass Supply

Oh wait....
I gotta try that again.

Here she sits.
All snug and dry.
As packages arrive from Fiberglass Supply.

Sorry... I couldn't resist....one of those poet and she don't know it moments.

The guys had already begun some of the demolition before it got this uptown spot.

The plan is to add a fish hold and create a wash deck.

And from all the talk I'm hearin about how many fish this boat is gonna catch it better be a whopper of a hold.

Collin (kid #3...the mechanic) helped Rich locate a second boat that they will use for the trailer and the engine.

I'll keep ya posted on how this progresses.

If ya wanna come join in the fun we have plenty of tools laying around here for ya.

Happy Weekend,

Cath

Photo Friday

2011-01-14T15:11:00.000-08:00

It's been kind of a crazy week.

Every time I began to make a plan something changed and rearranged and I had to scramble to get my bearings.

It's a great exercise...

Rollin with it....

Knowing that plan A can become plan B and it's eventually all just fine...

Sometimes better than just fine....

Sometimes better than plan A.

And sometimes you just look up on Friday and wonder where the heck the week went and what one possible thing was that you actually finished.

That's this week for me.

I learned some stuff....which I love...

But never really got anything finished and mostly feel like I ran in circles.

So in the spirit of rollin' with it I'm just gonna share one shot from this week and call it good.

And just so it seems planned and official and all ...I'm gonna call it 'Photo Friday'.

Have a great weekend and take time to notice the everyday gifts.

Even if it's one pile unpiled.

It's all good.

Happy weekend,

Cath

Boats In The Night...Or Really Cold Early Morning

2011-01-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

I got a text message from Arik(kid #2) on Monday night saying that he would be back in port around 5ish Tuesday morning.

I kindly informed him that I would be up around 5:20 to go to the gym and asked if could he please float around at sea til a bit after that so I could get down there to see them come in and take a few shots.

Just kiddin.

I did think that part though.

Really ...if you're gonna float around all night in freezing temperatures what's an extra 20 minutes??

Well, as it turned out, it was my lucky pre-dawn.

I messaged him as soon as I had my shoes laced up and was headed out the door to see if I had ...hehe...missed the boat (sorry couldn't resist).

The message I got back said:

Cupple miles.

It made me smile.

Arik will be the first to admit that spelling is definetly not his strong suit.

It was like....ya that's Arik and he's headed home ...for a few days anyhow before they head for Alaska.

So I asked what that meant in real time....and began calculating how long I had to get to the harbor and how many police officers might be lurking in the dark.

next message:

10 mins or so

OK so that's about exactly what it takes to get there from my house so I started going through gear in my head...

How long did it take to run to my back door, unzip the bag?

What needed to be reset?

As I hit the port frontage road I saw them headed for the mouth of the harbor.

I'd like to pause here and apologize to any of you who may have been camping in the port.

Yep, that was me speeding thru there at approximately 5:47 a.m.

I had a boat to catch.

Sorry about that.

I took on the minefield of potholes fearlessly in the name of art, and motherhood, and getting there first.

It was at about this time that I had a revelation.

Boats carry their own lighting system. How cool is that??

I mean theoretically a person could do a really cool photo series based on nights in the harbor.

I started to get really excited about that idea....

Wow a year's worth of light experimentation in the dark...

This could be a thing...

Until a guy waking his dog passed me and said...

"What are you doing out here in shorts?? It's 34 degrees!"

Which made me remember how wimpy I am about such things...

So way unlike the crews of these boats...who actually stay up all night before they come in, in the 34 degree pre-dawn thinking about what they need to do next....

I explained the whole headed-for-the-gym thing and he seemed to feel better that I wasn't quite as crazy as he had originally imagined.

Totally worth getting up and freezing your sneakers off for at least once in your life tho.

Who knows, maybe I'll surprise us all and work on this idea some more.

Happy weekend,

Cath

Dungeness Season 2010 - Part 3 - Bust Out The Caesar Salad and Sourdough

2010-12-20T15:52:00.000-08:00

Ya know how it gets to a certain time of year and there are some flavors that you just can't wait for?

Well crab is like that here this time of year.

We usually get a hankerin' (people in rural areas use words like hankerin...go with me on this) for it right after we clean up from the Thanksgiving feast.

Immediately after...

Exactly 5 minutes after.

So when the season gets delayed it's a sort of slow torture waiting for what we know is coming.

Even the seagulls are waiting...

Posting guard at the end of the jetty.

When the boats start to make their first deliveries you see a lot of smiling and fist pumping from the crews and a lot of drooling from the spectators as we get the first peek of crab in the overflow containers on deck.
I love the seagull escort on this one:

By the time Sean brought his first load of the season in there was somewhat of a wait at the unloading dock so they radioed in and waited for their turn.

Which gave me time to get permission from the owner to get a closer spot to shoot from.

And while I waited I did my usual ADHD act and became very distracted by light and colors here as the sun began to set. I almost asked on of the dock guys to pose for me under this amazing light, next to this cool crane thingy... but I didn't think the crew from the boat currently being unloaded would appreciate that.

Really though, it was such a waste.

Note to self: Someday you must find someone willing to stand in upper rigging of a boat with it's lights on at dusk.

OK time to get back on task....

We get our first look at the overflow crab that didn't fit in the hold.

Is it just me or did anyone else just get a flash back of when Sean used to look just like that when he backed up his little VW peddle car when he was 3?

From the upper dock they lower this silver bucket thing for the crew to fill and send back up.

Which then gets dumped into these larger totes.

And repeat.

After the guys got the overflow stuff unloaded the super nice owner of the fisheries plant let me peek straight down into the main hold of Sean's boat.

Sean's load filled up two of these big totes.

On this day he had about 40 pots in the water.
Every time they run out to collect crab they bring more gear to drop.
So as the season progresses he will have more gear in the water.
The big boats drop all their gear at once.

Between the pots he owns and the ones he will be leasing he could have as many as 150ish in the water.

His permit allows for 200.

These fellers tried to make a break for it but no such luck.

When the boat is unloaded the large totes are picked up by a forklift and moved to a scale where the weight is recorded.

The fishermen are paid by weight.

This boat load weighed in at about 1400 pounds.

This is just me getting distracted by the cool lights from across the harbor...

These trucks get loaded full of those big totes and they head to a market near you.

Which totally remind me of one of Sean's favorite books from when he was a little tyke. Let's Follow That Truck and See Where It Goes.

One of the perks of hanging around the crab dock, drooling into the hold is that more than likely the boat owner will want you to go away and he knows that the fastest way to get rid of you is to promise crab fresh off the boat.

I say this every year but I swear that was the best crab ever.

I ate mine without lemon or butter...just plain with our famous caesar salad and sourdough on the side.

Oh man...heaven.

We picked and froze some to go on our eggs with Hollandaise sauce on Christmas.

And some for future crab enchiladas.

Looking forward to that.

I probably won't post again til after the holidays so I'd like to wish you all a season of peace and joy with hearts full and open to overflow and spill out to those around you.

Merry Christmas to all,

Cath

Dungeness Season 2010 - Part 2 - Ready To Be Crabby

2010-12-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

It seems as though every year the crab season opens just as the ocean gets really nasty.

And the Oregon coast....

Well let me just say....

This ain't no Mission Bay.

And so the Chetco River Station Coast Guard unit was standing by on the morning the local fleet made their first run.

12:01 a.m. was the time set for dropping the first sets of gear.

Mostly the larger boats of the fleet went out at that time.

The smaller boats waited for daylight and a check on the river bar conditions.

This river bar can get real serious real fast.

These next two shots are from a day in November when we had high surf warnings.

And so as the first of the boats came back to reload with more gear early that morning, the Coast Guard acted as escort at the harbor mouth.

Can I just say...

One of my most favorite things about living here is waking up when it's still dark out and seeing the light from these boats on the water.

It's really beautiful.

And it reminds me of how really wimpy I am...

Seriously.

I would be such a whiner in those conditions.

And as some of the boats came in our #1 kid got his small but mighty boat ready for it's first gear run.

While some of the boats utilized then loading services of the cranes on the docks.

And this goes on for the better part of of few days....

Depending upon the size of your boat, the ocean conditions, and the limitations of your permit.

One of the local boats headed out with more gear...

And Sean on his first run of the season.

He decided to err on the side of caution and go with a light load for the first run to test the bar conditions.

And this is when it starts to look reallly small to me...

I know this kid has been on the ocean since he was 5....

I know he knows what he's doing...

I know he carefully watches forecasts and conditions...

but still...

And my #2 kid is on the crew of this larger boat farther north up the coast.

And still I worry...

These guys are hard core, round the clock, out in almost any conditions...

I meant to get a shot of them all geared up too before he left but I blew it...sorry about that.

So do me a favor...

When you sit down to your holiday crab feast and bow your heads....

Throw in an extra mention for the men who go out on the ocean to bring it in to market.

And all the mamas, wives, friends, and families who worry over them.

Thanks.

One more comin...

Cath

Dungeness Season 2010 - Part 1 -The Waiting Game

2010-12-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

Well alrightly then.

My clickin finger's been gettin a workout lately.

There's just something about living near a working port during crab season that is really unique and everywhere I look I'm goin' "Oooo check that out."

The trouble is that everything else...season-wise is happening at the same time and it all kinda gets to be too much for the twisted tangle that is my mind.

And so...

In the interest of actually getting this stuff posted this year...

And because I have a lot of stuff to show ya...

This is gonna be a three parter.

I'm gonna keep the words to a minimum.

Generally, Dungeness crab season begins Dec 1st here on the Oregon coast.

The guys all start getting gear ready in November.

I love to walk around in the port when as far as I can see there are crab pots and colorful buoys and line.

This year, the crab, like every other thing in nature, were running a bit behind so the fishermen agreed to hold up an extra couple of weeks to guarantee a top quality product.

Boats were stacked and ready.

OK this one doesn't have any crab gear...
I just got distracted by the colors.

And the rain drops....

And patterns...

Sorry about that...

It's part of being me.

And so they patiently...
Or impatiently...
Waited for the go ahead.

And tolerated my presence.

More comin...

Cath

Green Maters

2010-11-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

A super quick post today.

Gettin ready for lots of Thankfulness in the house but I wanted to share something I learned.

When we got the first Arctic blast of the winter we decided to pull the tomatoes in the greenhouse and make room for cooler weather crops.

There were still quite a few green maters on the vine....

What to do?....

I grabbed one of our new fave books this year

Serving Up the Harvest

Figuring I was going to need to find some spiffy way to use them...

When I looked up green tomatoes they had a muy bueno tip.

It turns out that if you leave the stems attached and keep them in a cool place with straw over them...
or in between layers if your a layering kind of person...

They continue to ripen.

So hey I'm still making salsa and roasted tomato pasta sauce!

I had never heard that before but it totally explains the whole tomatoes on the vine thing you see in stores.

It works great.

So I've been keeping them in my guest room/root cellar.

We close the door to keep it cool and dark.

Squashes got a space too.

Oh and if you're coming for Thanksgiving....

You know who you are....Collin.

Never fear.

I moved the remaining maters out to the garage and warmed up the room today.

Nice eh?

Just call me Martha Stewart.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and may the thankfulness of the day fill your homes and hearts.

Cath

House Painting Project Part 3 - The Paint Reveal and Fixtures

2010-11-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

I'm seriously hoping that no one was holding their breath waiting for this post.

And if they were....

I think it's safe to assume that they are no longer with us.

If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 click on the links there.

Go ahead.

We'll wait....

Okey dokey then.

Join me now for a phase where I imagined I was channeling Christo .

I call it Wrapped Windows.

Thoughtful and original huh?

I know.

Moments like this make my dad so proud that he put me through art school.

The incredibly handsome work crew did their thing while I watched with great appreciation.

I'm usually the follow up trim crew.

I know. Multi talented.

I not only wrap but paint trim as well.

Anyhooo.... we're loving the new color.

My excuse for the tardiness of this post is that I wanted to wait for the light fixtures.

Convenient huh?

So without further delay....

The motion lights near the garage door....

And the fixture that go near the doors...

Oh and some buckets of apples from the trees....

I'm sure you'll all sleep better now.

You're welcome.

Cath

Senior Night and Treasures of The Heart

2010-11-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

They call it Senior Night.

The last home game of regular season play for the Seniors.

I knew it was coming.

I've done this before.

This is the eighth consecutive season that I've had a kid on the BHHS Boys' Soccer Team.

I also knew that this one would be a little different for a couple of reasons.

1) It's the last time.

And
B) This kid of mine loves this game down to his toes.

My good friend Deanna took time to come shoot for me during the presentations.

Thank you Deanna.

The coaches asked the Senior boys to each prepare something to say.

None of them really wanted to go first.

Since Dylan is the team captain he stepped forward and started first.

He thanked us for helping him with everything and for always being there for him.

And that's when the magic happened.

My boy could say no more.

He choked up a bit...and so did everyone there.

Our hearts all full of love.

Full of pride.

I can't think of a time I've been more proud to call this boy mine.

And he gives us lots of opportunities.

It was one of those moments.

The kind when you know you need to soak it all up.

Squirrel away every piece of heart burstingness.

Draw a big 'ol circle around the whole thing and store in the corner of your heart.

So you can find the playback button later.

Here's the thing that surprised me....

I now technically have four adult sons.

I had no idea that my heart would keep making room for these things after they were grown.

There is no limit.

Hearts stretch and grow all the more for handing out what's inside of them.

I knew in my head...but still it surprised me.

I am so blessed and grateful.

Dylan had a great game and played his smelly shin guards off.

There were a few shots that didn't quite work out.

Some nice passes in the midfield.

And there was this:

A beauty of a pass from Thomas to Dylan.

Under a bit of pressure.

Dylan shoots with the left foot.

And in it goes.

The two of them work so well together.

And little later a similar set up.
The pass...

A little footwork.

One defender down...three trying to catch up.

Right foot shot this time.

And in it goes.

Add a little defending for good measure.

And call it a day.

The game ended in a tie.

The Bruins go into post season play on Thursday.

We've got a few more memories to soak up before this week is up.

Waitin to see how my heart gets stretched next,

Cath

October Garden Goodies

2010-10-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie update from the garden.....

We're in a big harvest mode right now.

It's the end of the season for lots of the greenhouse stuff...

The cucumbers are toast.

They've been replaced by winter crucifers...

Which is basically a bare bones version of the stuff that's outside...

Cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbages of several varieties.

It's kind of our emergency backup if everything outside goes to heck.

Peppers and basil will be the next to go.

But first let's take a moment to admire the sweet peppers shall we??.....

They took for-pickin-ever to get ready....

And I can't say I blame them since we never did really get a solid month of summer weather.

But aren't they purty??

I would say they qualify for the certificate of visual coolness.

Which, as you know, is the highest honor awarded in my garden world.

Spinach, lettuce, mache and arugula will take their place soon...

And carrots will replace the tomatoes...

But we're letting them stay for as long as is reasonably possible....

Cause we love making salsa and we still have a lot of habanero peppers waiting for a purpose.

And check this out would ya please?

Sweet peas in OCTOBER!

How crazy is that?

An absolute indicator of the lack of sun and heat here on the Oregon Coast this summer...

And I'll bet you thought I was whining...

Well.... I was.

Our strawberry days are probably numbered as well....heavy sigh

With the recent rain deluge the squash vines finally gave up their indecision over whether or not we might be starting summer soon.

Luckily the Carnival acorn squash ....

You guessed it....

Selected entirely on the basis of potential for visual coolness...

came through for me.

Aren't those little zucchinis just a little sad?

They fought hard all summer and went in fits and spurts.

Some of them took on the oddest shapes due to the crazy weather changes.

Rich pulled out the whole row of exhausted squash and melon vines but left the much debated green plastic mulch.

One of two things will happen.

Either it will act as a weed block and save us lots of work come next spring (and alleviate further plastic guilt having served a dual purpose)

OR it will create the perfect insect overwintering vacation house ever and create a disaster.

Just another of my unscientific experiments I thought I'd share with ya.

You're welcome.

I'll keep ya posted.

Cath

Homecoming 2010 and Metamorphosis

2010-10-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

There was lots of Homecoming silliness this past week.

And since my boy is a Senior he and many of his good friends were in the midst of it.

There were a couple of soccer games.

And you know how I love to watch the boy play.

And Friday brought the main events.

A big fat Bruin assembly with lots of strangely dressed Bruins in the house.

Let's just say the blue and gold were present in abundance.

Then there was the homecoming parade.

Friday morning I told Dylan to try get a spot on the float where I could see him.

I didn't have one single homecoming parade shot during his whole high school experience where you could actually pick him out.

Mission accomlished:

So here's my baby boy...

My honor roll student....

My little AP classes genius....

Who apparently has some difficulty with which way is up....

Should I be concerned??

Friday night brought the big football game.

For many of Dylan's good friends it was Senior Night.

So we went to check it out and cheer on the Bruins.

I was telling Rich later that I went to snap this photo real quick I thought about Dylan's choice of attire.

The boy hardly ever does anything without thinking about it.

So this was interesting to me.

What we've got here is the classic letterman's jacket ...

Loaded with patches...

And under that...

The bright orange sweatshirt of his most likely future college.

As we talked Rich said....
"Huh. Kinda like he's ready to turn into a butterfly...
All he needs to do is peel off the high school jacket and keep moving forward"

He nailed it.

That's what this time is all about for Dylan right now.

I'm lovin watching the metamorphosis.

Cath

Fall Garden Update

2010-09-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Let me open by introducing The Fuchsia Dude.

The local deer adore him and keep him all duded up with this awesome do.

Sorry... I do not deny being easily amused.

It's been a crazy wacky summer on the Oregon Coast.
But I thought I'd bust out a garden update for you.

The dill battled the bush beans for supremacy....
And the bush beans were winning for a while...
But let's face it no one can beat out volunteer dill.
And in the end victory was theirs.

The absolute best thing about the cool summer we had was that my sweet peas are still going.
I adore them.
They make me smile.
And smell makes up for stinky shin guards.

Even better than the absolute best thing above ( so would that be the absolute bestester?)...
Was the strawberries.

We pretty much eat strawberries every night and every morning.
How awesome is that?
I will be soooooo sad when they give up for the winter.

I really wanted to update you all on all the new stuff I tried out for funsies this year.

This one I didn't even try for.

We must have eaten a spaghetti squash sometime in the past year....
although I don't remember doing that...
which is not at all unusual...

Luckily it came up in a most convenient place so we let it ramble...
Apparently they are very productive...
Even without a lot of heat.

Sooo remember that whole green plastic angst saga?
Well I can only say that without the green plastic sheet we would never have seen the squash we were able to get this year...

And another of my new crops....Tigger Melons... barely eeked out an existence and would certainly have met an early demise....

But victory is mine!

I got...are you ready?....
Two

Yep count em....two
I stuck a strawberry near this one for scale for ya.

But wait....

Since these pictures were taken we've rain, sun, and fog....
So pretty much the same pattern as the whole summer...
And there is one more out there!

See?? Totally worth it!
I know!

Now I don't wanna go dissin on the new guys so in all fairness they all deserve at least one more shot during a more normal summer.

I mean here it is September and the pole beans are still just blossoms...

It's because of things like this:

Seriously a 2-3 inch rain in September??
They just look so sad...

No wonder the poor things don't know what to do...
I think I might be a little scared that I'm making excuses for my vegetables....
hmmmm...

The Soliel yellow fillet beans were scared too....and still in blossom...

Although I am happy to report that since that photo was taken we have harvested a bunch of them ....
Since we got a sun burst and they figured it was safe...
And boy are they tasty...
They will definitely get a rerun next year.

Another newbie that apparently likes a little sun...
the edamame has given us exactly one edamame and beer feast...

We waited all summer for them...
And I say, reluctantly, that is was kinda worth it...
They were really yummy ...
and I feel they deserve a real summer...

Beets are coming along....

Napa cabbage loves this time of year...
Unfortunately every slug and bug on the face of the earth loves Napa Cabbage...
Hopefully they will leave us enough for our fish tacos.

A good portion of our winter garden is in....
Cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli...
It's amazing how fast they grow...
Check this out one week....

One rain and sun and fog later.....

Cheddar Cauliflower one week....

One rain and sun and fog later....

Mourning what could have been and looking forward to roasted cauliflower leaves,

Cath

The House Painting Project - Part 2

2010-09-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

If you missed part one of the ever so simple paint-the-house project, you can find that here.

Soooo....

After a few days of the "plastic is our friend" phase...

We began to find insects the size of an air craft carrier.

We quickly moved on to my least favorite phase...

The "just put siding over the whole durn thing" phase.

I affectionately called our living room the Bat Cave.

Windowless places make me crazy.

So we were crazy but bugless...

Life is all about trade offs.

Thankfully three of the windows and a new door soon arrived.

I am totally lovin the living room windows.

When we first chose the windows for this house we thought that the gridded windows would give a little cottagey charm.

We always regretted that decision...at least for this side of the house.

The grids were constantly in the view.

So here we have the new and improved, slightly larger, gridless windows and the famous Door To Nowhere:

We've had a Deck Fund for a few years. We keep adding to it in hopes of a future deck.

Every time we have a family party or graduation we wish there was way to connect our house to the backyard without having to go out the front door and go around.

So now that our youngest child will be graduating we are shooting for a deck by graduation.

For now it's the Door To Nowhere...

But we have hope people!

Dylan helped Rich a lot with this phase.

Collin had some lame excuse about a great job four hours away...

What? Our windows don't trump a career move?

*sigh* We'll just have to make do.

We were still waiting on the boys' bathroom window and of course we decided that since every window on this side of the house was being replaced except one....

Well what was one more??

Are we certifiable yet?

And then....oh happy day! The last two windows arrived!

We...we in the collective sense...meaning Rich and Dylan.....added the outer siding and some trim for good measure.

Ooooo ahhhh all the windows together at last:

Before:

After:

The gridded living room windows before:

No grids and the Door To Nowhere after:

We made some progress today toward getting paint ordered.

The forecast this weekend is for rain.

A prefect reason to put this off one more week dontcha think?

Next weekend is the goal.

I'll keep ya posted.

Cath

Happy 18th Birthday Dylan!

2010-09-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

On September 8, 1992,

in a little house in Oceanside, CA....

literally...

he was born at home....

we welcomed Dylan into our world.

Arik and Collin checkin out the new guy...

He was a whopper.

Ten pounds, eight ounces.

The size of a toddler really.

I was terrified that I would never be able to handle adding another little body to the blur that was my life.

But hey... it all worked out.

He was a very shy baby and young child.

My first child who wanted to pretend.

He noticed things that no one else did.

And he made us all laugh.

He was quiet...except for when he was REALLY loud.

He had two volumes....
"Huh? Speak up!" and "Jeez don't yell!"

He had no intention of being left behind.

He was absolutely certain he could do anything his three older brothers did.

And he was usually right.

I think this was the year we had to haul him off third base where he had taken up the base runner's stance during one of Sean and Arik's T-ball games. Wow was he mad! It was his team. They needed him!

See the skates in the background? Those are his too. I know.... they don't match.

He didn't care. He was one and a half....

skating, rollerblading, playing t-ball and catching frogs with the best of them.

Our kids didn't have a lot of toys...unless you count the 94 billion Legos I stepped on every night...

We were a video game free zone...

But they did have a lot of tools, art supplies and science kits.

We had kid sized tools of all kinds and for the most part they jumped right into the mix of whatever we were doing.

When we cleared our home site for our new house they 'helped' til they dropped.
The guy who collects the most dirt wins.

Cooking?

They dragged over a chair.

One of the rules of fishing was that you had to help clean the boat....

However high you could reach...

And boy did he want to go fishing.

It beat the heck out of being stuck with Mom while everyone else was out.
.

Did I mention he made us laugh?

See Sean there trying to keep him in line?
Sean had a lot of patience.
He taught Dylan a lot of things ...
And made sure he didn't kill himself.
Dylan could give us all a good case of the giggles.
Collin, especially, found him amusing.

Dylan and Collin have a special friendship.

We used to refer to them as Frick and Frack.
They spent a lot of time together and between the two of them they had a lot of fun.

Helping on the volunteer crew for the Naish Wave Bash in Pistol River. Our job was to time the windsurfing heats from the top of the big rock.

He was already a windsurfing fan as well. He began windsurfing at the ripe old age of six.

The year he was seven going on eight, he and Collin played on the same Little League baseball team and he had his first pitching experience....

He was rockin' the futbol pitch in a pretty serious way....

And he and his buddy Ben ran in the Oregon State Cross Country meet in the Pre Bantam division in Sandy, Oregon where it was a mighty chilly November day....
he came in 5th...

Summer after summer we return to Floras lake to meet old friends, make and bring new friends, and do our best to wear out kids on the water.

Remember that tools thing?

Beware... it leads to scenes like this...

Middle School brought a few new sports onto the scene.

Track and Field...his main motivation being to be faster for soccer...
and to win medals.

And basketball...
Good indoor fun in the winter and chance to hang out with your buddies on the team.

One of Dylan's favorite memories is our unforgettable trip to Maui when he was in 8th grade.

He snorkeled and swam with the turtles...

Mountain biked the back side of Haleakala...

Not the Skyline road thing that everyone else does....

It's a dirt trail much less traveled and quite an adventure....

The kids loved this sign at the beginning of the trail.

He ocean windsurfed off the beach in Kehei....

He can't wait to get back one day.

Every now and then he takes a little break from all the action.

But not for long....

There are things to do....

Pigs to feed...

The first day of High School looking forward to new adventures....

Hunting with Arik in Eastern Oregon.
Arik is always one of Dylan's biggest encouragers and probably taught Dylan more about sports and the outdoors than anyone else....
He's always ready and willing to cheer Dylan on...

Another of our "happy places"....
San Elijo State Beach in San Diego County...
Worth every minute of the long drive...

You blink twice and the DMV sees fit to hand your baby a driver's license...
Lord help me...

The bodies keep getting bigger and the games go on....

But I don't want you to think Dylan is only about sports.
True enough it's a big part of his life.

He inspires me in so many ways.

He takes classes I never even qualified for.

And maintains a pretty impressive GPA.

He is incredibly conscientious and his work ethic is amazing.

He inspires me to challenge myself and do things when I don't want to.

Isn't that one supposed to be the other way around?

He is thoughtful and remembers special days for family members and friends.

On occasion, he volunteers when he sees a need.

He finds a space for God in his life.

He shows leadership on his teams and among his friends.

I even got a phone call from a teacher last year who took time out to tell me what a great kid he is.

He never gives up.

And won't let his friends down.

And so it goes...

Amazing really....

I am so thankful for the ride...

I can't imagine it any other way...

Happy Birthday buddy!

Thanks for lighting up my life.

I love ya!

Mom

It All Began So Simply....Part 1

2010-08-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

You know how it goes...

It's just a little house project....

In this case it actually started last summer.

We figured it was about time to paint the house and since Dylan would be around for the summer we could utilize the extra muscle power, he could earn some money, and we'd knock this puppy out.

But....we never did decide on a color so the summer came and went.

SO when this summer rolled around... we were totally on it.

We picked out the color.

Found a source....

And started scraping and prepping...

That was when we found out the laundry room door was rotted out....

As was the floor below it...

Collin was home too, so we took advantage of his love of problem solving.

The dude can figure anything out.

Sorry Col.

Do you feel used?

If it makes you feel any better Arik's dog, Duke, was feeling rather used too.

And well....

As long as we were replacing that door and the siding around it ...

We may as well replace the teeeeeeny window in the boys' bathroom...right next to the laundry room... and make it a bigger view window.

And so it began.

Next up we decided we may as well add that window we always wished for in the master bathroom.

Seriously. For about eighteen years (but who's counting) we've been looking at this.

I know. Not bad right?
And the thing is... I totally picked this house because of this bathroom.

First of all just the the fact that it had a master bathroom made me giddy.

I was totally over the charm of sharing a bathroom with four little boys.

And it had this great tub.

What more could an exhausted mother want?

Just the potential for sitting in a tub had me ready to sign on the dotted line.

But the thing is.....

Beyond that mirror... is an ocean view.

And every day we wished for a peeky hole.

And since Collin was having a great time cutting holes in our house we decided to go for it.

How cool is that?

Muuuuch mo betta!

Only we got so caught up in all the hole cutting we didn't actually have windows to put in the holes.

Details.

For for a while we were well ventilated.

Plastic sheeting was our friend.

And the saga continues...

We have now replaced two doors, four windows, added a new window and replaced all the siding on that side of the house.

I know, right?

And guess what?

No paint yet.

More coming soon...

Cath

25 Years

2010-08-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

Twenty five years ago today we stood together in front of God and everybody (and I do mean everybody we have a very large family) and said "I do"

It's the kind milestone that makes ya pull out the old album and scan photos on your almost vintage scanner and hope that no one will notice all the dust that you didn't clean off.

It was a very 80's affair.

The dresses and the hair were huge...

And we were really young...only we didn't know it...

And everything was very pink...which strikes me as odd because I rarely have anything pink in my life.

But I'll tell ya what I do have...
Everyone of those girlies is still in my life in some way.
The little one now has a little one of her own.
We must have sealed some kind of bond-of-the-pink-dresses.

My dad has always been into vintage auto restoration so he hooked us up with one of his friends for the cool ride.

We had to sort of pack that dress into the car so we could fit...
I took up way more than my quota of the back seat.
What was I thinking anyhow with that dress...in August...in So Cal??

The reception was at a golf club it was kind of a Dutch version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

My Mom and Dad....probably trying to calculate how many years it might take to pay off approximately 8 million dinners.

The cake was huge too....like three fountains under there and who knows how many layers.
It was almost as big as the dress.

And if this isn't all just 80's overload enough for ya...

For our first dance we chose How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

And one of my lifer best friends sang it....that's her in the left corner.

If we can be the best of lovers,

Yet be the best of friends;

If we can try with ev'ry day

To make it better as it grows;

With any luck, then I suppose,

The music never ends!

It's workin' for us so far.

Looking back on the gifts of twenty five years,

Cath

Bits and Pieces

2010-08-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while.

Life kind of took over for a bit as it has a way of doing every now and then.

And even in the unexpected there are gifts all around.

Though none of us would have chosen the circumstances, I got to spend some time with my Mom and Dad....in a hospital ICU burn ward after my Dad's race trailer blew up with him inside.

My dad is out and about and doing much better now but it gave us all a scare.

I learned a lot about the procedures involved in burn care and got to experience a very caring burn care team.

I got to see a couple of my brothers, brother and sister-in-law, Aunts and Uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews....all in the course of a week.

I'm still getting back around to my "normal" schedule (whatever that means) and am seriously in arrears here.

I have stuff to post tho...

It's coming I promise.

I just wanna share a few quick ones today.

A few weeks ago the BHHS boys and girls soccer team gave a soccer day camp for the local youth soccer players.

It was time put the boot on the other foot and play coach.

Inspire their charges.

And most of all...

Make sure they all had some fun!

The girls took charge of the littlest ... and cutest...future Bruins.

This guy definitely has a spot on the BHHS soccer team waiting for him.

It was a successful week overall and the players and "coaches" all learned a lot...and had some fun.

While I was away Dylan left for a week at Northwest Soccer Camps...now in their 39th year.

By the time I was back he was just about home too and full of enthusiasm about camp.

He learned a lot from the many coaches attending and had a very successful week.

During Power and Explosion training he broke two of the Power camp records.

One for vertical reach and one for power jump .... 5 standing broad jumps back to back.

He also tied the Explosion Speed record for the 20 yd dash.

And best of all....their "cabin" totally rocked the evening skits.

One of the coaches there...Edu...played on the 1970 Brazil World Cup team with such notable teammates as Pele, and Rivelino...guys who only need one name...sometimes known as the best attacking team in the history of the game.

He gave Dylan this signed photo for his accomplishments at camp....pretty cool.

Dylan says he still has that amazing footwork the Brazilians are known for.

He also received lots of encouraging words from some of the other coaches on staff and at least one offer for a letter of recommendation if he needs one.

We'll see what the year holds.

Life in a remote place has its drawbacks.

Visibility is a big one.

We're all looking forward to the coming season.

We loooove watching the boy play.

Cath

Roasting Green Coffee - Keepin' Em Guessin'

2010-07-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

There are some perks to parenting.

When the kids are babies you can make them wear goofy hats that amuse you.

A little older, and you can sucker them into things like matching up all the socks in the white laundry load.

You call it "The Match Patch Game" and the guy who matches up the most pairs wins... a nickel! Woohoo!

Still older, and you can do things that keep 'em guessin'

When Collin came home from school a few weeks ago he walked into our kitchen one morning and said two things.

The first was "What is that?"

It seems he was not well acquainted with an air popper.

We've always been oil and an old pan for popping corn kinda people.

I did try once to convert the guys.

It didn't fly.

No amount of persuasion could convince them that they were better off with popcorn that tasted like cardboard.

Really, I tried.

The second thing Collin said was accompanied by a sympathetic shaking of his head.

"You just never know what you'll find when you come home. Really guys? Popping your coffee?"

So of course we sensed an opportunity and went for the...

"Well ya! Of course!"

Like duh.

Gotta keep em guessin'.

I've always been inordinately amused by doing the unexpected.

Ask my mom.

She'll tell ya.

So back when our coffee maker broke and we were researching coffee makers.

I found Sweet Maria's and their plethora of coffee nerd stuff.

There's a whole coffee library where you can ~~waste~~ spend hours educating yourself about coffee, coffee roasting, and equipment.

Fast forward to a few months ago and we could resist the nerdiness no longer.

This was our latest order:

The differences in color and flavor are fascinating.

One of the really cool things about Sweet Maria's is that you can read about each coffee and the farms they come from.

I love that.

This time around we ordered (from top to bottom)

Sumatra Takengon Classic Mandheling, Honduras Organic Marcala -Cocosam Coop, Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Sidamo "Maduro", Hawaii Kona - Moki's Farm , and Colombia Finca Buenavista -Carlos Imbachi .

We have an amazing amount of fun learning about the differences in climate, roast recommendations, and flavors.

Go ahead and be sad for us if you want.

We understand.

Sweet Maria's recommends storing green beans in cloth bags that can breathe.

We take the labels off the plastic bags they ship in and tie them on so we can easily choose what variety we want to roast up.

The simplest (and cheapest) version of roaster is an air popper.

Our first one croaked but I easily found this one at a thrift shop.

There seems to be some difference in roasting time.

We're not sure yet whether that was due to a different heating mechanism or the different beans we roasted.

More testing will be needed.

Anyone for a coffee tasting?

The main thing to look for according to the information sheet (some listing of brands there too) is this sort of interior venting on the popper:

Don't even try this if yours has the screen thingie in the bottom as most of them do now. It won't work.

There are even web pages by people who modify their poppers.

It's a crazy coffee nerd world out there.

Be very afraid.

Today we are roasting the Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Sidamo "Maduro"

We generally roast about a third of a cup at a time.

Get the popper heated up and dump.

We replace the butter cup with this little glass bowl for two reasons.

1) We can see better.
2) We're not partial to the smell of heating plastic.

We like to roast near the sink and just let the chaff blow into the sink but this new popper doesn't have a long enough cord so we have to use a bowl to catch the chaff during the roasting.

There are also information sheets about roasting levels. We do it by sound and color.

I would never want to be too scientific about it.

That takes away some of the magic for me.

I just watch for color and go with it.

Rich, however, loves scientific perfection.

He sets timers, listens for the first and second "crack". The whole deal.

His, of course, are much more consistent.

But I'm sure mine are magical....somehow.

The description for this Ethiopian variety said we should look for "quakers" and remove them after the roasting.

So I had to Google "quakers" to find out what exactly we were supposed to be finding.

They are apparently unripe beans that do not turn dark when roasted.

You can see a few there on the pan that we picked easily enough.

They say you should leave the roasted beans exposed to air in order to vent the CO2 for about the first twelve hours and then store them in air tight containers.

It is recommended to roast no more than about 5 days' worth for the best flavor and freshness.

As it turns out, this is all way more entertaining that I thought it would be.

Which may or may not mean that I am way more nerdy than I thought.

Hmmmm.

Contemplating nerdiness and the wonders of keepin' em guessin',

Cath

Summer Garden Update

2010-07-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite part of the gardening year.

More plants than weeds.

AND I have babies! Lookeee:

Even though I still feel guilt over the whole green plastic thing it seems to be working well.

The zucchini already looks much happier than last year.

And I have high hopes for these Tigger Melons.

I had to replant one batch cause the greedy slugs completely decimated them.

So those will be a little behind.

But still...I have hope people.

How cool would it be to eat garden melons on the Oregon coast?

Chives are flowering and getting thrown into something daily, and the potatoes are about to flower too....yippee. Almost time for a potato treasure hunt.

Good thing too. I promised some nephews, who helped plant them, they could help dig them when they returned.

We've got about a week to go before they plan to find some potatoes in those mounds.

Baby Rubine Brussels Sprouts comin along on the right there too.

We pulled the water on the garlic and it's heading toward harvest time as soon as those tops die down a bit more.

Here's a new one for us this year....edamame. I'm assuming they will look a lot like bush beans.

And another new one...celery...inter planted with lettuce.

It looks pretty happy but what do I know.

The pole beans seem to be the troublesome crop this year.

This is a replant and waay behind schedule.

Notice the netting?

Welllll the first batch completely disappeared.

And at first we blamed it on the slugs.

Cause they are usually the big culprit in the garden.

But then we saw a Blue Jay fly over and pull one.

So we apologized profusely to all the local misunderstood slugs (I lie, we never ever apologize to the stooopid slugs) and replanted and netted the pole beans.

They still don't look great but we should have some anyhow but I wouldn't plan on the deluge we had last year.

One really strange thing is that they didn't touch any of the bush beans right next to the pole beans.

Anyone wanna take on that mystery?

Sugar pod peas are goin off.

We pack them in our lunch every day.

And I'm so, so happy to see the sweet peas blooming.

One of the perks of Oregon living is the wild flowers that pop up and claim some territory.

Sometimes they pop up inconveniently and we relocate them.

But still... I love these even more than the flowers we get in packs and plant.

They all feel like little gifts from God.

Love em, love em.

Got some berry action too.

These are new plants this year and the raspberries still bear the scars of the spring hail and snow and we have to race the blue jays to claim our berries but we are super happy to be seeing these raspberries and strawberries.

Summer is here for reals when we have to put the shade covers over the spinach and cilantro.

And in general things are lookin good.

We always run out of room to plant though.

As soon as the potatoes and garlic come out we'll start up the winter stuff.

And in the greenhouse....

Tomatoes are in our near future.

We go out and encourage them every day.

And infant habaneros:

The stuff that looks like concrete is diatomaceous earth it's our first line of defense this year against the aphids that plagued our greenhouse last summer.

It's an abrasive, pumice like powder that we mix with water and spray on. It basically cuts up soft bodied insects.

So far we are winning.

I'll keep ya posted.

Cucumbers are a bit behind. They got the axe the first time around from the slugs so this is a replant.

And the fruit trees....

fuzzy baby peaches...

baby apples

and a few baby Asian pears....they look pretty sparse again this year. They get fussy about late hail.

Our early blueberries didn't take to the harsh spring weather very well either but these later types are doing well.

I hope you all have big plans for the holiday weekend.

I for one, will be livin it up.

Putting in a new back door...OK holding stuff for Rich while he puts in a new door, getting the house ready for a new coat of paint, picking peas.

I know....I'm tryin not to make you all jealous here.

But hey... my glass is totally half full so it's gonna be a great weekend.

It will absolutely involve ocean views and red wine so how can that be bad?

Whatever you do with yours live it up eh?

Cath

Cha Cha Changes

2010-06-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

June.

It's that time of year.

Graduation season.

And any mom who has been through it knows that it does strange things to you.

It doesn't even seem to matter what level of graduation it is.

I get crazy flashbacks every time.

Collin complete the International Trucks ITEP program at UTI and once again was recognized as a top student *yawn*

The thing is....

When you're the mom...

You don't see what everyone else sees.

The rest of world sees this:

I see this:

This is the engine in the newest International Trucks...the Big Bore engine....

Collin's class is among the first to be trained on this new engine.

Just the week before he had it all in pieces.

And everyone else can see this...

But I see this:

It's just crazy I tell ya.

A crazy mix of emotions.

And while he stands in the crossroads...

Making decisions and finding his next adventure...

We get to have him home again for a bit.

But even then...

Since I know that this too will change again...

The flashbacks continue in the strangest times and places.

Since he brought back our camp trailer (a.k.a. his little tin can home) we had the perfect excuse to take the boys and hit the lake.

It's one of our happy places and perfect for unwinding.

The wind was better the first day.

But I was so about the sun and the unwinding that day that I didn't pull out the camera.

One of the things I really love about photography is that it makes you slow down and really look.

So when I did get the camera out on the second day I saw this:

And this:

But I also saw this:

And this:

I love this kid.

He makes us laugh.

He shows us things

He talks with us.

Really talks.

And we love having him around.

Even if only for a while.

We also know that he's ready for what comes next.

And wherever that end up being....

He's totally gonna rock it!

But for now my garage looks like this again:

And it makes me smile.

From the Mommy Clubhouse,

Cath

Garden Rain Hats

2010-06-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Rain, rain , rain....

I mean it's June and here we are with all the rain.

Rich had to make rain hats for all the squash and melons

I took these pictures about a month ago so the squash and melons are now either
a) much much bigger or
b) completely eaten to the ground by slugs and replanted.

We kept thinking we'd just need these for a few days but no...

It went on and on and we had to make more of them.

Those slugs have been partying it up out there.

There's been some carnage.

We're supposed to get some sun for real this weekend.

If it dries out enought to mow I might be able to find my garden rows and take some new pictures.

Staring out a rain streaked window and contemplating singin in the rain,

(Who's with me?? Bring your umbrella and I 'll provide the coreography)

Cath

Walking and Eating In Eugene

2010-06-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Memorial weekend found us in Eugene for Day 1 and Day 2 of the Oregon High School State Track Meet.

Rich and I decided to stay in downtown Eugene and get to see a bit of the city.

We like the idea of walking to the track and to local dining and coffee venues.

We arrived late on Thursday and on Friday morning we got up and started patrolling the streets for some good coffee and potential breakfast.

Apparently the residents of Eugene are not early risers.

Most of the places we found didn't open til 8 or 8:30... and started walking around 7...

So we did a lot of walking and read the menus at promising looking houses of yum in anticipation of a good dinner at days' end.

We eventually did find our way to the Bagel Sphere thanks to a really nice local who pointed the way.

The bagels were excellent.

I had a multi grain bagel with avo, sprouts, cream cheese and tomato.

Rich had a veggie sausage and egg bagel.

We both thought we should have gotten what the other ordered... and since they were cut in half we swapped halves and had both.

Good stuff.

The coffee was just OK so we set our sights on finding an improved version the next day.

Our good fortune, though, was that while we were walking and reading menus we happened upon belly.

It billed itself as having "Rustic, European Farm House Soulfood". Using local organic suppliers and changing their menu seasonally to reflect the best of what's available.

The menu looked really interesting:

And then there was the award in the window 2009-10 Restaurant of the Year.

So we put that in the memory bank and returned after Day 1 at the track.

We were told that there was a 45 minute wait.

No problem.

Plenty more things to peruse in that part of town.

They took our cell # and said they'd call when a table was ready.

Cool.

When the 45 mins was almost up we were getting pretty hungry so we headed back over to hover near the door.

As we waited people came out saying to each other "That was so good".

Excellent.

Just what we wanted to hear.

Finally our table was ready.

We entered the cozy space with about 10 or so tables and a bar.

We checked out the fun and unpretentious drink menu written on a giant flip chart next to the bar and ordered up.

Making a decision about what to order from the dinner menu was no easy task.

For starters I went with the grilled hearts of romaine with buttermilk-bleu dressing ....ahhhhmazing.

Rich chose the bay shrimp, butter leaf, avocado, saffron rice and bacon with a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

He made happy noises too but I was so absorbed in my buttermilk-bleu I could not be distracted.

For the main course I finally settled on the Duck leg confit, and Rich ordered one of the specials, linguine alfredo with chicken breast and morel mushrooms.

Oh. My. Goodness.

This was one of those meals.

The ones you can count on one hand.

The ones you smile all the way though cause it's that good.

The ones you wake up thinking about the next morning.

Fab. Fab. Fab.

People listen up!

If you ever find yourself near here you gotta do this.

I don't think you could possibly go wrong no matter what you ordered.

We were actually really stuffed and happy after that but absolutely knew we would regret it forever if we didn't try whatever happened to be on the dessert menu.

So the Shaker Lemon Pie it was and some coffee.

Coffee arrived first.

Best coffee we had the whole time we were in Eugene....wonderful.

More smiling...even the coffee was amazing.

Neither of us had ever had a shaker style lemon pie before and it was wonderful as well.

A pretty different beast from the lemon meringue we've all grown accustomed to.

It's a double crust pie with layers of Meyer lemon slices.

Loooved it.

As we sat back and looked around every table was full of smiling laughing patrons.

Happy to be there and to be sharing their meals with friends.

As we walked back to our hotel and got into the elevator I overheard...

Yes I admit I was eavesdropping...

"The farmer's market will be open tomorrow behind the hotel"

Excellent.

Put that in my feeble memory bank before I fell into a blissful sleep.

Of course I had already forgotten by the time morning arrived.

I had already begun trying to decide where to hunt for the morning java when I peeked out the balcony window and saw this:

Woohoo.

Happy dance around the room. Farmer's market setting up right behind our hotel.

Yes!

So we sort of started to gather our stuff together for Day 2 at the track to give the vendors a little more time to set up.

Lucky for us we didn't need to be at the track til noon.

When we could stand it no longer we headed out and found an early bird vendor set up for espresso and crepes.

We scored a great cup of coffee and a couple of spinach, feta crepes and chatted with the vendor who knew a guy from Brookings that Rich knew from sailing with Sean and port life in general....small and yummy world.

Soon the farmers started to open and we had a field day check out the amazing produce and baked goods.

I mean seriously...check out these carrots and beets

It was crazy.

And made us feel like garden underachievers....in the best possible way

And since you can never have too many peppers plants we had to get one more.

Holy moly do these Hideaway Bakery people know their way around a pastry, and a bread loaf....and coffee....thumbs up.

Rich found this cool mug too for his green tea.

It was a whole festival of everyday gifts.

My kinda weekend.

Cath

State Track Meet - Day 2

2010-06-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning the meet had a later start time.

So after goofing around in downtown Eugene at the farmers market (more about that coming up) we headed back to the track around noon.

By the time we found a parking spot...

no easy feat....

not surprisingly we weren't the only ones ready to check out the top high school track athletes in the state...

the guys were already in warm up and psych up mode.

My boy won't talk to us at all when he's getting ready to compete.

He looks right through us focused on the goal.

Remember me??

The one who gave birth to you?

Oh never mind.

When the lane assignments for the final heat were handed out Dylan was a little concerned about being placed in lane 1.

He likes to really hug the line when he rounds the corner.

And this track has a little rail inside of lane 1.

Anyone know why they do that?

We made lots of random guesses.

Probably all of them wrong.

He spent his warm up time getting used to that rail.

They had another good run.

In a really fast final heat....which is as it should be.

And in the end they finished 7th....in the whole state.

We were all really proud of them.

The officials at this meet were all about staying on schedule.

They were very efficient.

Apparently turning around on the podium for the parents wasn't figured in to the schedule so we got the back.

See the guys at the top of the podium?

Those boys from Cratar High shattered the state record.

I wasn't kidding about this being a very fast final heat.

Since we have no Seniors on our track team this year we'll be returning the entire team.

And our boys have every intention of moving farther up the podium next year.

Lucky for me the 6A 4x100 heat was hapenning just as the boys got up there so I did get this little peek as they turned around to watch the race.

Nice socks dudes.

At the team banquet Tuesday night the coach told the boys that our school hadn't had a boys' 4x100 relay in the state final in 25 years.

These guys are already setting goals for next year.

I can't wait to see what they do.

We brought home a few souveneirs.

I can't think of any other way I'd rather have spent this weekend.

It was a weekend full of memories and proud moments.

A weekend full of smiles, good friends, and good times.

I am blessed,

Cath

State Track Meet - Day 1

2010-06-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

We're slammed again this week but I wanted to get some of this stuff up for you to see.

Which means I'll keep the narration to a minimum.

....And the crowd goes wild.

It was an amazingly fun couple of days and we are so glad we got to be a part of it.

We walked from downtown Eugene so we could get a feel for the town and get a little exercise before our hinies hit the bleachers.

The famous Hayward Field was already teaming with athletes warming up for their respective events.

The skies weren't looking much better than last week.

But the rain held off and the weather was not bad at all really.

The boys checked out all the areas of the track and went into psych up mode.

Our girls' team also had a 4x100 relay to prepare for.

The girls were up first and ran an amazing race.

They surpassed their personal record by over a second and just barely missed qualifying for the final heat by .09 seconds

The boys were up next.

Dylan set his tape marks for leg three of the relay.

It's pretty cool to have your name, lane assignments, times and sometimes even your face on the huge screen.

They ran really well.

Their best so far this year.

They beat their personal record by over half a second.

This is the part where you hand off and yell really loud to scare the bajeeezus out of your teammate to try to make him run a little bit faster.

And I think it works.

The boys qualified for the final heat and were really happy with their time.

So check out those spiffy socks they have on.

I had to ask what was up with the crazy socks.

I was told they went to the mall the night before and all bought these matching socks for good luck.

And since they all had good fortunes in their fortune cookies at dinner they stuck those in their spiffy socks for the race.

I guess that works too.

Miss Ally finished 2nd in the 3000 meter final.

This girl runs and lives with such heart. I just love to watch her.

There was so much to see and be impressed by.

It was a good day indeed.

All of our athletes earned the right to smile and be proud of their efforts.

The boys had day two to look forward to.

More to come....

Cath

Track District Finals

2010-05-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

I don't have one single image from Friday.

I had to leave my camera in the safety of a watertight vehicle.

It was a crazy day of sprinkles, downpours, hail, wind...you name it...even a peek or two of sun.

Soooo I have no high jump images.

Sending out apologies to my seester, Dylan's cyber coach.

It was just too soggy.

Dylan ended up in a four way tie for 2nd place in the high jump.

Between events both days the team huddled in here:

Notice the nice mud puddle in the front?

These Oregon track kids are a rugged bunch.

Almost every meet this year has been pretty harsh.

Dylan's first event on Saturday was the 4x100 relay finals

He runs the third leg since he's used to the turns from the 200 meter event.

Ok now check out the sky in this one and keep in mind.....this is the nice day.

The boys finished second.

Good enough for a spot at the Oregon State Finals at Hayward Field at U of O this coming weekend.

We're all more than a little excited.

Dylan got to go last year for both relays and the high jump but Rich and I had previous plans.

It's a busy time of year.

I'm really looking forward to being in the stadium at Track Town USA this time around.

There's a whole lotta track and field history in that place.

And there will be no shortage of talent in the house.

Next up was the final heat of the 200 meter race.

It was a tight finish. As it should be with any good final 200 meter heat.

And in the end Dylan finished 4th.

He was a bit disappointed with that.

He had a little block slipage at the start.

And he can be a little hard on himself.

He ran a great race and was only .01 off his PR.

But his plan was to shatter that on this day so....he'll get em next year.

Oh lookey here a little spot of sunshine!

His final event for the day was the 4x400 meter relay.

Dylan ran the first leg in this one.

It went well and his coach was pleased with the time on his leg.

At the end of his leg he was in second position.

He would rather not talk about how the finish went.

I knew you'd understand.

I'm feelin a little bit like a gypsy but this is the juicy stuff of life.

So we unpack, catch up, repack....

And can I just say... I love this kid.

The way he strives for excellence is really inspiring to me.

From the far side of laundry mountain,

Cath

Cool Stuff: Garden Edition - Broadfork

2010-05-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Last summer when Rich's birthday rolled around kid #4 (Dylan) asked him what he wanted for his birthday.

Rich replied that he wanted a broadfork for digging in the garden.

Kid #4's eyebrows rose.

"Ummm really??"

"Yup"

"Huh"

If you ever want a few minutes of quiet contemplation tell your teen you want a broadfork for you birthday.

It's golden.

We had been reading about broadforks for some time. A couple of our favorite gardening books by Elliot Coleman (The New Organic Grower and Four Season Harvest) talk about using them.

Since we attempted to go to a year round garden this year we often just replant sections as soon as they become available.

This piece of equipment makes that easier to do.

It keeps all of our earthworms intact.

It's quiet.

It's made in the U.S.A. ....in fact it's made in Oregon.

We got the five tine version.

There's also a larger one but this one fit the width of our beds really well and it's a little lighter.

Rich making a space for some po taters.

We (meaning Rich works while I take pictures) use the heck out of the broadfork now.

Besides replant time, he loosens the soil around root crops mid season as well.

It makes them really happy.

Speaking of po taters. I wanna show you this.

This is the kind of thing that gets me into trouble.

Imagine, if you will, reading these seed potato descriptions one afternoon in the dark of winter.

It just might provoke a girl to order too many right?

Right?

Ummm hello?

Add to that these awesome labels and rockin cool bright green bags....

And I'm a total goner.

It'll give Rich lots of practice with the broadfork.

It's totally for his benefit.

********

Heading out tomorrow with kid #4 for a two day district finals track and field meet.

I'm taking my camera.

Just so ya know.

Dig on.

Cath

Live Catch

2010-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Rich has been out with Sean a few times recently on his live catch boat.

I talked him into taking the point and shoot camera along so I could see how it works til I get a chance to follow them around with my camera.

I thought some of you might be interested as well.

You can read some earlier posts about Sean's boat here and here.

This day they went out of Port Orford.

It's a small working commercial fishing port about and hour north of us.

It is a little unusual.

Tide dictates the time of day you put in and haul out here.

On this day the start time was late morning.

This live catch thing is interesting for several reasons...
They fish with fishing poles...
which isn't all that unusual for fishing I realise...
but I guess I never thought of commercial fishing with poles.

See that point way over in the upper right?

That's Cape Blanco.

Cape Blanco is the most westerly point on the continental United States.

It's also home to the most southerly light house on the Oregon coast which was built in 1870.

Yup that's it.

Right there.

What that means is that it's a pretty exposed section of coastline.

It also clocks some of the highest wind speeds on the coast.

Which is why our favorite windsurfing lake from this post and this post is located just on the other side of that point

It can be a heads up kind of place.

It has a healthy reef.

The guys really like fishing here.

You can see some of the rocks that form the reef in the distance here as they head in at the end of the day.

A pretty nice way to spend a day huh?

Here is what makes this port a bit unusual.

Because of it's rugged location there are no docks or ramps.

Every day, around the clock,...as tide and conditions permit... boats put in and haul out using this crane system.

This obviously isn't Sean's boat. They took this picture from their boat.

One day I'll go play paparazzi for them and check it out.

Apparently it's a sort of cheap entertainment for a group of the locals who bring their coffee in the mornings and come to watch.

Makes sense to me.

The other boats wait for their turns to first unload their day's catch, and then be hoisted up by the crane.

This is why tide matters.

They want a good amount of water in there while they are making all these maneuvers.

As they catch the fish throughout the day, they put them into this aerated tank built into the deck of the boat.

The goal is keep them all alive and active.

These fish ultimately go to fish market tanks and restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.

These are the guys you see in the tanks swimming around.

They sort the fish by types into these baskets for the buyer.

And then they use a sort of pulley system to unload at the buyer's dock area.

Elevator up.

The crews ride up and down with the boats.

Sean replaced these straps the next week and double checked all the eye plates they clip into.

Confidence in your straps and eye plates is a good thing.

It could get ugly.

By the time it's all unloaded, hauled out, on the trailer, and cleaned up it's time to call it the end of a good day.

The gifts of this day?

The drop dead beauty of the Oregon coast....

how could you not feel close to God out there?...

And a little father-son time.

They both speak the language of boats (constantly) and really love time on the ocean.

It's a really physical job.

Rich came back tired and sore but loving every minute of it.

Remember to stop and notice the beauty of wherever you are,

Cath

Cool Stuff: Kitchen Edition - La Chamba

2010-05-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

I first saw La Chamba cookware when we were in Jacksonville last summer for the amazing Britt Festival concert experience. Before the concert we walked around in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is a town whose roots go back to the gold rush in the 1800's. It's a great place to spend an afternoon. One of the shops there had La Chamba cookware and we were smitten.

It was beautiful.

A Fair Trade product.

No glazes.

No toxins.

The cookware is handmade in Columbia from an ancient clay that ends up black when it's fired.

You can see the artisans' finger grooves in the stuff..

None of it is perfectly symetrical...I love that!

I pilfered the following photos of the cookware being created from lavidaverde.com. They are importers of La Chamba and you can see more of the different kinds of cookware in the line at their site.

We didn't buy any that day in Jacksonville.

We did the..."Well it's kind of expensive. Let's think about it and come back." thing.

And of course we didn't go back.

But I did a whole lot of thinkin about the La Chamba stuff.

And every time I pulled out my 9x13 pans I wished it were La Chamba that I was cooking in rather than whatever cheesy metal they make those things out of.

Cooking in metal gives me the heeby geebies any more....except for my cast iron... I love that stuff still.

Anyhoo... I finally got some La Chamba for my birthday in March.

I use it every day.

No joke.

Loooove it.

And as a side note the black makes the food look really purty.

You care for it a lot like clay pie pans or pizza stones.

You don't preheat your oven because they can crack.

We have an electric stove (unfortunately) so the pots can't go directly on the stovetop to cook but they do offer an adapter that goes between the pot and the burner so it's a possiblity.

I plan to expand my collection of this gorgeous stuff.

Enjoy the weekend!

Cath