Julia Hucks a fit.........And other PDX Stuff

Visited Portlandia this weekend. Paper and a drop by of Rejuvenation. They have a nice kids play area, and this is Julia's reaction at the news that we had to go.
























Went to the Provvista Open House.........Provvista is a wholesaler dedicated to artisianal products. They distribute our OGS line, and so much more. Great people, totally leading the way for responsible and artisianal producers.

Thanks Joe and Karen!





























Cypress Grove.........



























Nathaniel waits for fresh Peach and Strawberry Gelato

John Day

Later that week, I took the Day to go to Southern Oregon, John Day, to be exact, and the Eastern Oregon Rural Alliance. We are pushing to keep Community Scale Renewables as part of Oregons Renewable Portfolio Standards………



Wonky, yes. But worth it……….

So we drove past Laura Pryors Farm……..



Went to the EORA meeting. (got the endorsement)

Drove back through the John Day Fossil Beds. (Cool)



And we drove by a pretty large Fire Camp. (Federal Crews Fighting a Wild Land Fire……)


And that brings us to The Weekend, and………

Julia!



Oh, and Nathaniel and I played Blind Hunt………

Tomatoes are in from Bitterroot farms.

I’ve never tasted to many wonderful tastes…………… Celilo is really in a groove. We are still a couple of years Early for Hood River, but we sure are having fun………..

Sumerfield Farm

Took Nathaniel and the Fam to Sumerfield Farm, and Uncle Mike brought out the plane…..Bills got a nice five acres, and the kids ran wild all night………………

Driving by the Shed the other night,

About 6 horses tied up out front…..Bunch of Vacqueros in town……..

Catching up from July.

August was a busy month, lots of wheel spinning, and only now, at the end of the season is our work paying off.

I’ve been keeping my head down, perhaps a bit too much……

Went to the coast this weekend. We had hoped to meet up with some friends but couldn’t find room at the campground. Well, we actually did, but had a moderately hilarious exchange with a person in the campground. We decided to take off, and found a great little roadside camp spot.





The coast was Crrroowded! Hood to Coast this weekend, Hot coastal weather, and Surf! We had a wonderful time camping, went to Oswald, and Surfed, and Nathaniel played in the water………Good Tired Kids on the way home.

Another Major Accident on the way back this time. Sports Car Flipped in the West Bound Land…………no fun for the people who were returning from Hood River that weekend……..(The Driver was safe, BTW)



Took Nathaniel to Families in the park, good turnout…..



Ed Prideauxs’ home Caught fire the other day…..I saw him on the street, I think. I hope everything came out alright. The Place was in bad shape when I drove by. His Bradness was directing traffic, and he asked me to tell Jax that he was going to be late for a half hour………….Made Friday night a little touch and go.

County Fair! Yee Haw!

County fair was wonderful this year. Not too crowded, great displays, all our families there. I know it’s a throwback event, but Our County Fair is such a great, family, community thing!
They had a Petting Zoo. (This is the back end of a Yellow Python…….)



And we rode the Merry-go-Round, and ate dogs with the Perkins’ kids.






And we rode the Merry-go-Round, and ate dogs with the Perkins’ kids.

Summer's in Full Swing!

I never seem to get ahead. Jan was out of town driving out to Montana to visit her brother, and I had a week to get a handle on things.
Saw Dave Gee restocking our OGS product at Rosauers. Oregon Growers and Shippers is going gangbusters. Last evening they were a presenter at the American Cheese Society. (It's a bigger deal than it sounds, I promise)



I went out to Utah for a couple of days to a wedding reception for a friend of ours. We got a chance to hang out with Jan's sorority sisters, who are all very accomplished in their own rights. Pretty amazing bunch, Gina, Shelly, Heather, Tracy, Kelly and Sarah. Some of us went to the same college, some others, but those ladies remain very close, and much like family.



Came back........

Went to see Art and Chris, two Dentist friends, who just opened up their new practice. Broke a filling, gave them some business, it was a real treat, honestly.......!




Right after that, went to Salem to talk about Community Scale Renewables. I'd like to say here, publically for the record, that American Government is pretty much Bought, Sold and Paid for. I'm being honest, and I don't want to demean the work being done by our representatives,(because I'm friends with many of them) but I was blown out by the whole process. I came away more convinced that we do nothing but make shorter and shorter term decisions in an effort to achieve quarterly results. It is, in my best estimation. Broken.



Community Scale Renewables is almost a birthright of any community in America today. It is the core of self-definition and self-determination. With the threat of this pseudo-right being taken away, we received a nice pat on the head, and comments that lead us to believe that there will be no ability for community scale power generation. It's a total embarassment.

And thus ends my Rant.

OK back to what really matters........

At Monday Nights Meeting, El Neffe came by promoting a fire levy for Cascade Locks. The commission will be placing the formation (and subsequent taxation district) on the Ballot for November in Cascade Locks. Jeff did a great job! All grown up n-stuff.



Oh yeah......it was my Birthday this week too!

My Sisters flew in to suprise me, and so did my Dad. Jan planned it, and it was a nice, small scale event, with family. We had such a great time! I'll post more photos later, but here's my dad trying on an airpack at the Fire Station..........



The Leis that my sisters brought me........



And Julia.

Last Week..........

Got a day away from work this week. Summer is going to be long so I figured a quick trip to the coast was in order. Most importantly, my Son has taken a liking to the water. In the time honored tradition of my water training......we bribed him to hold his breath for the first time with........



Yep.

Went out to Indian Beach at Ecola, climbed around on the logs for a half a day...



Then wandered home. Got waylaid by a major accident on I-84.



While we were away, the craaaazyiest and potentially disastrous event happened. One of our team members Melinda Springer had her child! Milo is his name. He's a couple of months premature and there was a helicopter involved. I haven't heard the whole story yet, but I know enough to Thank Dayl Dickson for calling the helicopter.......There will be more later, I'm sure.


Picked some Strawberries..........



Saw Gene Thiel (One of the single most inspirational Farmers I've ever met, Grows awesome products out in Joseph, and is a true Titan in our circles)



Ate some Posole for Lunch with Benjamin



Drank some Beer.

Renewables Tour in Eastern Oregon………………

Went out on a well attended tour to the Klondike Windfarm. Pretty cool windfarm. Learned lots about turbines and how the process works. There’s so much potential, it’s frightening.

David Meriwether and Les Perkins, standing under the blades………




One of 66 Towers






We were at a farm with 66 towers, on 06.06.06. they were staffed by 6 technicians. My head spun.