Thursday, April 29, 2010

Give Me A Shot Of 151

I think these guys are a little off the beaten path for sightings.  Maybe they should really start hunting the Yeti instead...


Here's an alien for ya...


Then again, Just makin a statement (not sure what unless, just die already)...


Slippery proposals...



Perty flowers...



Heading out for delicious Thai food here in a bit.  Sun is out (was out when I started this) and all is well.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Raising Arizona

In response to the impending implosion of Arizona as a free state, we headed to Silverton to hang with Bill & Maria at the Brewfest Friday night.

And if that wasn't enough for ya, Nevada is tracking a close second.  Thought we could grab this fella and head on over to the doctor for some surgery or something...


I wonder what one can get if you brought some venison...


I bet we could even get a heart-lung transplant for one of these fast talkers...


Then again, maybe I should get these corns removed first...


And yesterday was  a pretty great day for none other than the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival...





And then there was this black sheep...


No festival is complete without a good ole fashion steam tractor....



Flowers and kettle corn to boot...

Thursday, April 22, 2010

My Hams Needs It A Kooza

Or an iPad.  We pre-ordered the 64GB 3g version yesterday and hoping we made the right move:-)

Ah, the night started out simple enough.  Sushi with Evyl K and Jim at Yoko's.  Delicious fresh Fish, Sake, Wine and Beer.

Wasabi Killer Roe...


Spicy!



Then we were off like a Jack Rabbit to Kooza, put on by none other than Cirque De Soleil!  Awesome show and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

Welcome to the Big Top...


And I leave you with the latest in mating season shenanigans...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Whad'Ya Know? Not Much...

Well, at a minimum, we think we have an answer to the baby or no baby question.  We saw the Woodpecker sitting in the nest the other day and we are 99% sure it is an affirmative...


Guess we will have to run for our lives if the male shows up...


Or at best, we could escape in this Volvo P1800 Wagon...




Our neighborhood seems to be obsessed with these cars.

Might be hard to escape if you are as smart as a boot...


I was unaware your trailer could get the boot.  Anything for revenues I guess.

Here a re couple of cool church pics, if you are into this sort of thing...



This Church was built in 1909.

And we'll finish off the post with another flowering tree blossom...

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Death & Taxes 2K10

We filed, died, and were resurrected.  Now it's time to eat some lamb.

On our walkabout yesterday, we saw some more Northern Flicker Woodpeckers!  These 2 were apparently nesting in a telephone pole dugout.  Pretty cool.

This one's for Uncle Gabby...



 Baby or no baby?  That is the question...


Headed over to the H&R Block Office to finalize our tax situation and we were blessed with the Big Screen HD TV with of all things... Rabbit Ears!  Hence the chopped hand on the TV...


As you can see (or not), we were treated to a marvelous OPB classic, Knit & Crochet Today, which will enable us to knit some super cool  granny socks.

Sponsored by Coats & Clark, this exciting new show is hosted by Kassie DePaiva, both talented actress and inspired crochet designer of “Happy Hats” -- a line of wildly popular, one-of-a-kind crochet caps Kassie creates to support charity! Perhaps best recognized for the role she plays on the popular ABC daytime drama One Life to Live, Kassie is also turning heads with her line of unique and whimsical caps that she designs and sells to support the League of Hard of Hearing in New York City.

Kassie is one inspired lady!  I mean Happy Hats and One Life to Live?  Game over.

I think #8 is my favorite...


Game over indeed for Netgranny unfortunately (they need funding and you can become their sponsor if you click here).
You wood (no pun intended) think that H&R block would have been the proud sponsor of our next exhibit.  But no, Key Bank beat them to the punch apparently...


If you want to pick up one of these Air Dancers for your front yard, head on over to Skymall and order away.  I also must add that in the suggested items, when reviewing this item, they suggest ordering the Garden Yeti as well.

While we were there, guess we shoulda grabbed 2 Papa Murphy's pies (they had a $10.40 2 pie special going), a Pita Pit and then made a deposit at the Key Bank.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Portland Walk About 4.12.10

Well, to get this party started, we saw these birds yesterday and we believe the google has identified them as Northern Flicker Woodpeckers.  Apparently (per the Wikipedia link), this is one of the few Woodpeckers that actually migrate and commonly feed on the ground...


To continue along the bird theme, we captured this video of Crows down the street.  Something had 'em all up in arms...



We suspect that one flock of Crows ran into another one's territory and the were dukin' it out.

I always  like these skyscapes...


Argh... The Azaleas are back!


Who would of guessed?  This next one is from the Olive Tree Family and although considered to be a tree it is classified as a bush.  Introducing, the Lilac Bush...


Very cool looking Iris...


And today we finish up with the neighborhood favorite, The Dogwood...

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Don't Be A Whiner

Joined Heidi and Julian yesterday for the opening of wine touring season here in good ole Oregon. We bought tix for the North Willamette Wine Trail Tour,  which gave us a glass (each of course) and access to many an independent winery for tasting all day (for us anyway, it lasted Saturday and Sunday).

Huge kudos to Julian for being our designated driver for the day!

Here is the map for all the potentials that we had to choose from (click the map to enlarge)...


We started out at Garden Vineyards and they had some nice wine and snacks to start us off.  Then we headed over to Helvetia Winery where we were treated to some delicious Salmon treats (sliders and Hors d'oeuvres).  Apparently their son in law is a tribal fisherman and he supplies the goods.  Pretty tasty and pretty cool.  We ended up purchasing a canned smoked salmon infused with Jalepeno.


Not to stay on the beaten track, we then went to SakeOne for...  Sake tasting.  Not my cup of kale but, Susan liked the offerings.

Next up was Montinore Estate for some more traditional Pinot tastings.  Most of what we were having on the trail were Pinot Gris and Pinot Noire as this is the Oregon grape of choice.  They served us up nicely (Buffalo Wellington and Fresh Fruit Tartlets) and we had to head outside to get away from the Grateful Deadesque (or not) music.

Here is a photo of us by what may be the old estate mansion...


First vineyard sighting (not really)...


Plum Hill Vinyeards was our next stop.

Very nice barrel tasting out front...


Most excellent barn photo...


Next Up Patton Valley Vineyard.  They had an assorted meat and cheese plate to go with the tasting.  I think Julian took full advantage of the meat plate.  Great Pinots and this may have been our fav...


Hmm.  Wish they had frog legs?


Awww.  Death Metal Man and Banker Heidi...


Beware of... Satanic Cows with Deer Antlers (and red golf ball Rudolph nose)...


Dos Mas.  We decided to hit Kramer Vineyards and made a quick visit here.  After that, we went to our holy grail of the trail, Elk Cove Vineyards.

They probably had the best tasting, even though we were a little late, and sported a $100 bottle of Pinot tasting!  The server graciously treated us to seconds on this beast.

At least we ignored the parking signs!


You're Dead To Me..


Not Dead Yet!


All in all, great day to be touring the area and we had great company to boot.