The Portland Visit

The vacation started out by Nana and Jonesie battling a snow storm just to get to the airport on time. We did leave on time and flew to Seattle and then down to Portland on one of the smallest commercial planes in the air. The CRJ or the Canadian Regional Jet. It should have been banned before it was put into operation.

We then were off to the coast for the weekend with everyone. We had a three bedroom beach house that was nice and comfortable. The weather did not cooperate as we wanted but we still had some beach time and sand surfacing by Evan.

The plan was to go for ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It is a place that we never miss when we go to the coast. Evan and I wanted to go on Saturday afternoon, but were voted down and we then planned on stopping on Sunday on the way back home.

Sunday morning we got up checked out of the hotel and stopped in Pacific City for lunch at the Pelican Inn. W have been there before but could not remember much of it. Well, it is not a memorable place. The beer that everyone first asked for was out so we had to settle for second best. The waiter came back and told us that they
were out of regular beer glasses so he used pint glasses and just didn't fill them up as much.

On to the ice cream. All of were busy making our list for the kind of ice cream we were going to have. We arrived at the cheese factory, were walking up to the door and were informed that the place had just closed the doors because of a water main break.
we were kind of bummed out but we thought we would go to Dairy Queen for a lesser treat. Drove back toward town to the Dairy Queen to find out it was closed and looked to have been closed for some time.
Never fear, Jonesie had read in some tourist litature that a French cheese place, just down the road, had ice cream. So it was back toward the cheese factory to the French cheese factory and animal petting yard. Inside this place they a lot of treats and trinkets, they did have Brie Cheese and guess what, no ice cream. By this time all of us are hysterical except Evan. He is really getting worried that we weren't going to get some ice cream.

My last hope was McDonalds. Out of the French Cheese Factory driveway we went, the wrong direction of course, on our last quest for ice cream. When we, Nana, Evan and Jonesie, arrived we did not see Jeff, Katie, or the mini cupcake anywhere. So we thought that they just headed home so we went thru the drive thru. I looked in the rear view mirror and there they were. They too went the wrong way.

We did get something that seemed like ice cream and finally went back to Portland.

The rest of the vacation could not compare to the quest for ice cream. The following Sunday was sad as Nana and Jonesie had to leave for Wisconsin.

Get 'em While Their Cold

Because of the recent warm up in temperature, Nana and Jonesie have been fortunate enough to have a nice crop of icicle's. They are for sale to the ighest bidder but you better hurry and "Get 'em While Their Cold".

It Dosen't Give Up

Just when you thought that in Wisconsin you could go from wearing 6 layers to wearing 5 layers - WHAM - the bottom falls out from under you.

It has been unusually warm for February, like last week when it got up to 40 degrees and all of or most of the snow melted. People started driving around with their windows rolled down, people were out trying to get rid of the ice that was hidden under the many layers of snow since November, most of the birds did not seem to need out sunflower seeds anymore.

Then WHAM, the temperature this morning was 1 and this was
after a 4 inch snow fall on Tuesday night. The high today is suppose to be 18. Such is life in Wisconsin

Evanston Countryside

Here are some photos of the scenery on my way to work and back.
As you can see there is snow on the ground but it is not very deep. The temperature has been great, around 50.









On a different note, pdxkatie has suggested giving up processed sugar. It took me a bit to process that undertaking but I think I am up for the challenge. So this week I have been trying to figure out what I can eat and what I couldn't eat. The couldn't eat list is a hell of a lot longer than the eat list. That is according to what I eat now.
You can only image how much "Jonesie medicine" I have in the Jonesie digs.

Room For All

Well, I haven't blogged for awhile because of how busy we are right now.
They have had me in El Segundo, CA, Iraan, TX, and now I am in Evanston, WY.

So anyway, I have been traveling for my job for over 20 years now and have stayed in some odd and crazy places.

But I have never had a room like the one I am in tonight. It has a king size bed, which is what I asked for, and a small room that was added or walled off with bunk beds in it.


I was quite surprised to see the bunk beds but was really surprised when I turned on the light and discovered the Sponge Bob sheets. I, along with the grand kids, think Sponge Bob is the greatest. The only one to ever get a voluntary kiss from Emme is Sponge Bob himself.

Hard Water Fishing 2009

The Saturday started out as a COLD, but sunny day in the Valley. To get things started out right I had to make a trip to metropolitan Spring Valley for some essentials for a day of sitting on the ice.
The first stop was at the local gas co-op for a St. Paul, Wisconsin Edition, Pioneer Press and a Eau Claire Ledger newspapers. You can only stare at the tip-ups so long without passing out. While there the candy shelf called my out my name so I had to go see what was up. Well, the Giant Snickers were on sale, 2 for 2 bucks, a bargain in any one's book.
Next stop was at Gale's Bakery, a staple in Spring Valley for, as you can see, a raised glazed and a jelly filled bismark. My snacks had enough calories for breakfast, mid morning snack and lunch.
This photo shows that I was not the only one who thought the fish would bite. There were several cars and trucks on the ice and even one new fish shack was pulled out while I was there.
In the back ground is The Midwest's Largest Earthen Dam. It is quite large and was built by the Corps of Engineers in the early 60's after a flood nearly wiped Spring Valley off the map. The metropolis of Spring Valley is just on the other side of the dam.
Oh by the way, one flag and no fish. It was just as well I didn't catch any fish as it was 7 degrees out and was to cold to try and land anything.

2009

I have been very lazy when it comes to blogging lately because of the holidays and the bad cold I got as soon as I got off the plane from Portland.

Yesterday was a significant day for me because as of 4 pm in the afternoon it was the start of my second year of being smoke free. I didn't think it could be done, but as my brother in law told me once, "you can get use to anything".

Christmas was fun as usual being with the grand kids and all in Portland. We even had the chance to make a snow fort and snow woman.

So today we are awaiting a snow storm that is suppose to leave another 4 inches of snow this afternoon.