Post 4th Post

Back in the saddle again (or should I say couch surfing comfortably at home).

We had a great time with the SF Browns in Burney Ca and also popped into Crater Lake on the route home.

It was very hot and we spent lots of time at the lake and in the water. Thank god it cooled down at night or we may not have survived.

The camp ground was great and getting a cabin is highly recommended since it stays cool inside for a good part of the day. More importantly in the am when the sun comes up and the tent becomes a wood burning oven, it helps to have an escape plan (cabin/lake).

Doug and I got skunked fishing but, its the thought that counts.

Here is the slide show from the trip...

Burney Falls July 4 2009

Burney Falls Tomorrow - Happy 4th!

Damn straight! We are going camping and taking the Hugo and the Kayak for 4th weekend.


Meeting Heather, Doug & EJ with plans to attempt to catch some fresh trout and live off the fat of the land. With that in mind, we will be bringing Thai food from Pad Thai Kitchen for our first nights dinner (Drunken Noodle, Tofu and Red Curry, Pra Ram with Peanut Sauce).

The Forecast:


The Plan:

Water sports and hydration as it will be friggin hot as a MF'r. The river and Lake Britton should be accommodating in this respect.

Our site is very cool (we hope) that brags a small cabin, tent space, table, fire ring and parking for 2 vehicles. The grounds have real toilets and showers too! Not the Ritz but, what can you expect.

Have fun!

Yooper Vacation June 2009

And yes it has been a long time. Here is a web album of photos from our U.P. MI trip this June.

And if you must know, I did Wii bowl 298 (8 pins split on the last ball). Guess it's better to not be perfect (har).

Enjoy...

Ross Lake 2009

Looks Like Water Fun

It was May 2005 and we were supposed to head out with the DBA crew on this killer boat and sail around Manhattan.

As you can see from the photo, it was a little overcast/rainy and also pretty windy. Therefore, after boarding the vessel and preparing to disembark, the event was canceled.

Shiver me timbers.

Off to the big apple tonight for Friends, Food and of course Fun.

What The Hell Have You Been Doin?

Well to be honest, we have been very busy here in the Pacific Northwest.

We dove right into a project soon after the last post on this site and this is the main reason I have not been updating the blog. I hope to re-engage going forward as most of the work is now complete.

So, you say, "What was this project you speak of?" A big one: We tore out the old back yard that was Ok but, suffering due to mud plots, cracking patio stones, dry rotten deck and an eyesore of cement table.

Goal of the project was to get us off our asses and get some real work done that would make this summer all the more awesome.

Here is the slideshow (click on it to enlarge):

Back Yard & Deck Project 2009

As you may not be able to appreciate from the imbedded slideshow here are some highlights....

• Built ramps within the debris box to ensure we filled it to the brim (if you have done this before, it makes for good theater seeing someone race a wheelbarrow up the ramp to dump debris in back and on top of the pile)
• We had an minimum load of 4 tons for the box and put in 18 tons
• The truck that came to pick it up looked like it was going to flip over on its side when it was loading up the bin. That would have been interesting and depressing all at the same time.
• Our initial paver delivery was the wrong stones
• The deck wood order was short and this is why we have yet to put on the railings
• Karen was instrumental in picking out the plants for the back garden area replanting (and effort I might add!)
  

Kudos to the following vendors for providing superior service and materials...

Lakeside Lumber
Willamette Graystone
Porland Sand & Gravel

We are off to NYC tomorrow and hope to post from there. Have fun!

Week In Review

We had a great day out last week with Jim, Krystin and Josie. Here are a couple of shots of them at Imbibe grabbing a bite.



One of me taking over the humvee stroller. Now I know why women rule the sidewalk while driving these urban vehicles.


Now for the weekend in Las Vegas with Bob and Kaci.

Kaci and I ruled Susan and Bob at the Euchre table on Saturday 7-1. Bob and I then ruled the table on Sunday against Susan and Kaci 2-1.

Those two ruled at the dining table with an awesome set up of colossal crab, mashed potatoes, grilled shrimp, grilled asparagus and grilled portobello mushroom.



Then a quick shot from LAS before we headed into the airport for the trip home.


As we stalked Krystin yesterday, we took a shot of their flowers and Japanese Maple between the sidewalk and street. Nice to see the colors popping up all over the place.


Now it's our turn to get moving on the back yard and deck. We will post some before and afters once we have completed the work!

Osa Peninsula - Photo Gallery

In order to close out the Costa Rica posts, I have decided to just embed the summary photo gallery from the trip at this point.

Click on the pic to enjoy!

Costa Rica 2009

Osa Peninsula - Birds

Here are some pics of birds we were able to capture on our trip.

Note that we did not get a good picture of the Macaus but, they were all around and very cool.

Ode To Hugo - Year 1

Well we have had the beast for a full year now and decided to do a web album of the past year dedicated to Hugo.

If you click on the picture, it will open up into a larger window, which you can then choose to view the slideshow.

The photos speak for themselves...

From Hugo -A Year In Reflection

Osa Peninsula - Sea Life

Since we spent most of our time in the rainforest, we have very little photos/footage from the water. We can share a few things though.

Here is momma Sea Slug and baby sunning themselves in a tidal pool. The link may or may not be the slug in question.


And now for the Bottle Nose Dolphins.

We were set up by Bosque Del Cabo for the day with Brian. Great guy and he headed us in the right direction for dolphin watching, hanging on the beach and a short but ok snorkeling adventure.

Before we got on the boat, we did see a Sea Turtle by the pier. Dare I say, first Sea Turtle sighting!

When we found the Dolphins, there were about 40-50 animals in the vicinity and it was super cool.

Unfortunately the video on our camera had weird vertical streaks and is a little choppy but, here it is anyway.





Good news is we turned the camera back into Best Buy when we returned and got the new Powershot SD960 IS which features a whopping 12 megapixels and HD video. Now that's what we call a score.