A New Adventure

Well, I thought I (Andy) would post for once and share my newest and latest adventure. I have been working up in the Kellogg area (what a surprise) for the last few weeks and have several to go. So I decided that I would try and hunt up here in this new but great elk country. I have no idea what I am doing but I thought I would try it this year. Well to make a long story shorter, I was talking with some of the guys I am working with about where to go. One of them mentioned he has a tree stand set up and has been watching some bears over the past week. Of course, I was intrigued so I asked him tons of questions and before I knew it he was asking me if I wanted to go with him. I said sure, since I have never even tried for a black bear.

So we didn't end up working last Friday so it was the perfect day to go (as long as the weatherman was wrong about the rain). So that morning we went into the woods and set up a second tree stand, dumped some good food (baiting is legal in Idaho) and retreived a motion-sensor camera from the tree that they had set out. (Here is a shot of the 2 tree stands in the same tree...I was in the top stand which is the most visible one)

Went back to town and looked at the camera. The bears are very habitual and this game camera helped to take all the guess work and scouting out of it. That whole week there was a smaller black bear with a white "v" on his chest coming in between noon and 1 and then another cinnamon colored one that was coming in between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. So we headed out before noon and got all set up. We only were sitting in the tree stand for about 45 minutes before the black one came strolling in. I got a short couple minute video of him coming in and checking out the fresh food. After watching him for about 20 minutes, I decided to shoot him. Well long story short, after tracking for a little while, we found him and I had shot my first ever black bear.
(Matt and I with my first bear)

(Here is a better shot of him...you can see the white "v")

It was extremely fun and something I knew nothing about previously. When I tell people this story, they seem to think it (baiting) is halfway cheating and not very sportsman. After looking back on it, I have determined that it sounds like so, but the truth is that this guy (Matt - who I hunted with) really knew what he was doing and had done his homework. If I was to try and go do this on my own I am pretty sure it wouldn't be even close to that easy. But anyway, it was tons of fun and I have checked yet another new adventure off my list. I think this now got me thinking I would like to shoot all the game animals possible in Idaho before I die. I have a good start but there are still lots to go and some are controlled hunt with very minimal odds. We will see what happens.

Portland, Part II: Chasing Waterfalls

Read the post under this one first.
Colleen came up from Eugene on Friday night to see Susan and I, and we planned to go hiking on Saturday, despite the weatherman's prediction of rain. We googled easy hikes in the Multnomah Falls area and came up with Horsetail Falls. We chose to avoid Multnomah (although stunning) in order to get away from the crowds and just have a relaxing walk around the mountains in the Columbia Gorge. We ended up starting at a different trailhead than the directions said, and our 4-mile, 2-waterfall hike turned into more of an 8-10 mile, 6-waterfall hike. The weather was cool and a little humid with some misting - perfect! - and there were just enough people on the trail; we didn't feel crowded or rushed, but it wasn't hard to find someone else to take your picture.

The way we approached the waterfalls on our backward hike was Ponytail, Triple, Upper Horsetail, Lower Horsetail. If you start at the main trailhead, you will see them in this order:

Lower Horsetail

Upper Horsetail

Ponytail

Triple Falls

We wore ourselves out and headed back to Susan's for some homemade pizza before going our separate ways. I'm really glad we got to sneak some memorable sister time into my mandatory fieldtrip!

Green Roofs and Gray Skies

A couple of weeks ago - in fact, the week before Moscow's Oktoberfest, I had a studio class fieldtrip to Portland. We went to see a city that actively incorporates sustainable/green design into their buildings and way of living. Each morning, we met as a class at the first site and then traveled together throughout the day by MAX, trolley, or tram. It really was a good way to experience the city AND to not get lost!Our adventures included tours of Wieden + Kennedy (advertising firm), GBD Architects, U of O - Portland, Portland Water Resources Lab, the Center for Health and Healing, and the new AIA Headquarters, as well as some walking around neighborhoods and the OHSU campus.
The most impressive tour was at Wieden + Kennedy. The building doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but once inside it is a jungle-gym of concrete and huge glu-lam wood beams. From many spots within the building, you can see people working, meeting, having lunch, or showing presentations, on multiple floors of the building (4 total). The middle of the building is very open and just full of criss-crossing catwalks. This firm does all the advertising for Nike, Coca-Cola, Converse, Visa, Target, ESPN, etc..... They have a full-size basketball court and a very well-equipped weight room, a sit-at bar area, gaming cubicles, a "bird's nest" meeting room, and tons of other unique office features. Some of the employees even taped off a hop-scotch game on the concrete floor near their desks. It really seemed like a fun place to work. There was obviously no dress code, although most employees seemed to be wearing Nike or Converse shoes....imagine that....
One on main wall in the building, there was this motivational message:

What's it made of? A wall painted white and stuck with clear thumb tacks - purchasable at your local department store, craft store, and maybe even dollar store. The patience that went into this is incredible! I should have taken a close-up shot of it but didn't think of that until we left.

Except for one shopping adventure with some classmates after our last tour on Friday, I spent the evenings relaxing and catching up with Susan and Chad. They live in Portland, so I avoided the hotels and stayed with them every night (and benefited from their awesome cooking!)
Thanks again!

Moscow's 1st Oktoberfest

Moscow organized an Oktoberfest a couple of weeks ago (yes, in September, but never mind that). It landed on a beautiful Saturday, and it seemed the whole town was out enjoying the day and celebrating. The weekly Farmer's Market in Friendship Square was swarming with happy people, a bluegrass band was playing live, and both artists and children were creating masterpieces with chalk on Main Street! The band, Forgotten Freight, is a well-known local group with Andy's co-worker Susan playing bass.


Andy and I were VERY impressed with the artists' ability to create these incredible portraits out of plain ol' sidewalk chalk!
(The best I can do is a cartoonish choo-choo train!)

Got Bread?

So....I love to bake. Pies, mainly. Cookies, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls - anything that involves closely following a recipe, manipulating dough and having the reward of something delicious to share. In the last year, I have tried...maybe 3 times to bake just a normal loaf of bread. The first time, it came out weighing 20 pounds, I swear. The next...was a little better but once it was not longer fresh-out-of-the-oven, it was horribly dry. So, I decide a few weeks ago, to try again!
I pull out a new recipe to try - my mom's recipe for white bread. Trouble is, it is written for those who know what they are doing. It lists the ingredients and then says - "Knead, form and bake like normal bread". So, I'm looking at 3 different recipes at the same time, trying to decide how to finish this out. The dough turned out perfectly elastic, soft, raised incredibly well - I was going to nail it this time!!

When the timer goes off, I excitedly open the oven and pull this out....The world's tallest loaf of bread - for sure!! I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the recipe was supposed to say something like "Yield: 2 loaves"???

We had to store it in a plastic bag saved from a pack of 18 hamburger buns...Sandwiches for lunch were made with one slice, cut in half...BUT it was everything homemade bread should be - just on a larger scale :)

Car Show Season comes to a close...

Sadly, the summer is over and so are the car shows. We ended the season with an appearance in Lewiston during Hot August Nights and another show Sept.13th in Palouse (part of Palouse Days). During Hot August Nights, we chose to park at the private show in NAPA's parking lot rather than Main Street Lewiston while we browsed the show. Paid off! We won a little Barbeque Grill :)
At the show, we ran into a 50's trailer fanatic of sorts, and he got us motivated again to finish the 1953 Terry Rambler I gave Andy for his birthday....the day after he gave me a diamond ring. Quite the trade ;) So, hopefully in the next year or so, you will be seeing pictures of that project coming together.

The Palouse Days show was pretty exciting. It was the first public appearance for the Dodge!! Unfortunately, we were so absorbed in the happenings that we forgot to take pictures of it there! We're pretty sure someone in the club did though, so stay tuned and I'll post them when we get them. It got a lot of attention for an "in-progress" project, which was encouraging. We also came home with a trophy from this show - for the Buick.

All-in-all, a wonderful summer and car show season! Looking forward to the next...

1 year and counting...

Happy 13-month anniversary to us!

Since we were busy celebrating our first anniversary on the one-year mark, I decided to do an anniversary post on the one-year, one-month mark instead. This past year went by incredibly fast, but we filled it full of fond memories and good time spent having fun and getting accustomed to sharing life together. There are obviously many things we have in common, but it's the ones that make us unique that are discovered in that first year, right? I did a little reflection and came up with some funny differences I've noticed...

1. He folds his clothes like he's always had his own closet.
She folds her clothes like she's shared her closet with 3 other girls.

2. He thinks about dinner as meat and two side dishes.
She thinks about dinner as a main DISH (which could include 3 food groups), and some hope for dessert later.

3. He is careful to get excited about anything until it is certain to happen or is happening.
If there's some small chance she can go to Disney World in the next 3 years, she gets very excited, tells everyone, and looks it up online.

4. He puts his shoes on when he gets dressed and keeps them on all day and evening.
She slips hers on as she leaves the house, takes them off as often as possible throughout the day, and leaves them at the door when she returns home.

5. He dislikes putting laundry away.
She dislikes sorting laundry to wash.

6. He will research the life out of something, and even visit the store multiple times before purchasing.
She wants to come home with something if she's going to be stuck shopping for very long, even if it's not quite perfect.

So far, our differences balance each other out quite well! It's obvious that our pasts are a big part of who we are, but it's also becoming apparent that we are rubbing off on each other a little...who knows what the next year will bring?

Thank you all for your love and support of our marriage - it's the cherry on top :)