trillium lake

Last week, the Mr. and I decided that we were going to go on a date on Friday. He asked me where I wanted to go and I had been thinking for a while now about going to a lake over by Mt. Hood somewhere, but I wasn't sure which one. Then Thursday night it rained and got cold and I didn't particularly feel like sitting in the cold by a lake in the mountains Friday morning. So we postponed our date until Saturday. It was very cloudy almost the whole way there, then we stopped at the Ranger's station in ZigZag to get our day use pass and by the time we left there, the sky was perfectly blue with barely a cloud.

Whenever we take this drive up Rt. 26 to the mountain, I am always amazed by how many trees there are. It's insane, really, how many trees.

I gave Phil three choices of lakes: Frog Lake, Timothy Lake (where my hairdresser camps every summer), and Trillium Lake. The ranger said the best views of Hood were from Trillium Lake, so that's where we went.

It was beautiful. 

We did a little hiking and then went back to the car for our lunch and grabbed some chairs. We found a spot tucked away behind some trees and I sat there and read some journal articles while Phil took Wilson for a walk the whole way around the lake - about 2 miles, or so the signs said.

Wilson doesn't particularly like laying on the ground, especially ground that is somewhat muddy, and he was whining like crazy. I put up with it for a while, but then it just got annoying, so we left. He's a spoiled dog, and sometimes that comes back to bite me in the butt.

this just in. . . i'm still alive

My dad asked me the other day if I gave up blogging. Of course not, I just don't have time to write beyond what I'm required and graded on. And when I do have time to write, all I feel I write about is school. I love my dear ol' blog. It holds a lot of memories. I don't have plans on quitting it anytime soon. Long pauses, maybe. Calling her quits, absolutely not. It's sort of like scrapbooking. I want to do it, but there's just no time.

I've been super busy with subbing, pretty much nearly every day I'm booked somewhere. I'm getting ready to do a maternity leave for the lit. specialist at Marshall. My job will entail making sure all 3rd-5th graders get their state testing finished and the end-of-year district testing done for 1st-5th. Then I'll do some data stuff and have that ready for the teachers to mull over at their last data meeting. It's kind of a lot of responsibility and I'm slightly nervous about it, but the staff at this school is awesome and the principal told me not to worry about it, so I'm not. I'll worry about getting my homework done instead.

I'm on week #6 of class #9. My current cumulative GPA is a 3.95. (I'm working my butt off for that, by the way.) I received verification last week that I can pay $100 and apply to graduate. Yeah! My next two classes overlap with the class I'm taking right now the week of May 16th. And then it gets real crazy for the rest of May and most of June as I'll try to basically work full time, do homework, and keep my husband fed. I'll take 2 classes the first summer term and the last class the last summer term. Best of all, I'll be done August 26th.  Hallelujah! School starts August 31st (which also, coincidentally, happens to be the big 5-0 of my Phil505). I'm still not sure what will happen in the fall, I've been told I'm "on the queue for fall hiring," but I don't really know exactly what that means. I'm praying fervently for a full-time position that's not 5th grade at a school I love, and I'm still praying for Phil to find work as well. He's going on 3 months of unemployment.

Here's a few recent pics from our little spring break to-the-beach-and-back-real-quick trip to Astoria (so I could research Lewis & Clark for a project I'm working on) and Cannon Beach. It was crazy busy, so many people crowding around. I like it a little less littered with people and so does Wilson. We don't let him off-leash when it's packed. It was nice to get away for a short time and hang out on the beach for a little while.

the annual "in search of the perfect picture of the dog in front of the tree" post

Ya, I'm that person who takes Christmas pictures of the dog. Because, well, he's cute. And he has a jingle bell collar. And because he pretty much camps out in front of the tree every night. Hope your day was merry and bright!

fall break

So my 6th grad class ended October 16 and I had until the 26th before my next class started. Ten days of freedom!!! It also just so happened to be parent-teacher conference time when I wasn't working. When I saw that was going to happen back in August, I told Phil, "We are going to the beach." And we did. We went camping. Well, not exactly. We went cabining. Because who wants to set up and sleep in a tent at the beach in October? Not me. (In other news, I think our tenting days are done. But back to the story.)

We looked online for either a pet friendly cabin or yurt so we could take the world's best dog. Turns out, there aren't a lot of choices. But Cape Disappointment on the Washington coast has three pet friendly (heated) cabins. And that's where we went. Neither Phil505 nor myself had ever been to Cape Disappointment, and, unlike Lewis and Clark, we were not disappointed. It was so beautiful!

Cape Disappointment is on the north side of the Columbia River in the bottom corner of Washington. So in some spots you see the river and the jetties and in others you see the Pacific Ocean.

We left Thursday after Phil got home from work and we got to the beach just in time for the sunset. This is the view from Beards Hollow Overlook.

The first night we were the only people in our loop except the camp hosts. That changed Friday night when we were invaded by two Boy Scout troops on both sides of the cabins. Middle school boys are. . . interesting.

We hiked the Benson Beach Trail and ended up here. This, I guess, is Benson Beach on the Pacific. Wilson was the only dog and there were only two other people out here that we saw.

Looking north you can see the North Head Lighthouse. The other white building is the keeper's quarters which you can rent out in the summer.

I didn't remember ever going to see this lighthouse, but Phil505 assured me we had. When I saw the pointy spire thing on top, then I remembered.

Just mere steps away from our cabin was Waikiki Beach and the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Tucked up on the hill is also the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We didn't make it up there this time, but we plan on going back for sure.

The beach was small, and tucked in between this cliff and the jetty. It was one of the best beaches I've ever been to on the coast.

It was a nice relaxing getaway with my guy. He even drove me to Long Beach so I could get an ice cream cone. Huckleberry cheesecake in a waffle cone, in case you were wondering.

Wilson is a great camping dog. To an extent. Then when he can't tolerate being on the ground anymore, he wines for a chair. He does love the beach though, no doubt about that.

From our little picnic table area we saw a whole lot of wildlife. Can you spot the bald eagle? I saw it fly across the lake. That was so cool.

We had a blue heron and another kind of crane fishing just on the other side of the lake.

There were deer all over the place. We also saw raccoons and otters.

And then there was my personal favorite, the wooly bears. The term wooly bear is an Ohio thing. We have wooly bear festivals and all kinds of weirdness about wooly bears on the 6:00 news' weather report. This was only the second time I've seen them in the northwest, so I had to take a picture.

Saturday night it started to rain. We were fine, heated cabin and all. We drove home earlier on Sunday than we had planned after we stopped for breakfast. It was like driving through the clouds. The rain has been (an annoying) welcome around here after our extremely dry summer.

And now we're back and I'm deep in the books again. I'm taking Children of Exceptionality this subterm. It's class #7 out of 12. I'm on the downhill slide now and hope to be finished by the end of August 2016, just in time to hopefully get a job for the fall.

because sometimes you gotta learn lessons the hard way

Back story: On Sunday, my friend Barbara brought some veggies from her garden to church to share. I took two banana peppers and two jalapeno peppers because I knew my tomatoes were almost ripe and I wanted to make some fresh salsa. I ran them out to my car in between Sunday school and church because, who wants to carry peppers in their purse? Not me. After church, they kind of got buried under my piano music and I forgot about them until Monday. I went out to the car to get them and I could only find three peppers. One jalapeno was M.I.A. I looked everywhere and just didn't see it.

Totally forgot about that until today.

Today's story: I took a study break around 3:00 or so and took Wilson for a ride (you see where this is going, don't you?) to Sonic so I could get a 1/2 price diet cherry coke and he could get a Scooby snack. It all worked out well for me, but not so much for him, because the guy totally stiffed him out of a treat. No worries. We have plenty of those at home. And today, apparently, in the car.

Well, it got real quiet in the back seat and I took a quick look and noticed he was lying down. Kinda strange because he's usually right up in the middle between the two seats looking out the front window. I thought, maybe he's just sad about the no-go on the Scooby snack.

Then I heard crunching and I thought, "What the heck does he have now?"

I finally got a glimpse and noticed the top half of the jalapeno was gone. Seconds later, he is licking his chomps like it's nobody's business. He left the other half of the pepper on the seat. I think his mouth. was. on. fire. This picture was taken just after we got home and he'd emptied his water dish. 

He's had plenty of water to drink the rest of the evening and seems to be recovering just fine.

labor day weekend

Kinda per our tradition, we headed to the coast for the weekend. We found out Thursday night that Phil's aunt and uncle had an extra camp site at Fort Stevens and so at the last minute, I grabbed hot dogs and brats and packed the cooler and off we went. We couldn't leave until later on Saturday afternoon (I had a very important hair appointment), so by the time we got to the beach the sun was already setting. It was a pretty sunset, but putting the tent up in the dark is a pain in the rear.

I was thrilled to find a bunch of wild coastal huckleberries this year. We had four or five bushes right on our site. I picked half of a gallon sized ziploc bag. These things are pretty small and annoying to clean. I need to get on those tonight and whip up some jam or something.

 

Just around our loop was Coffenbury Lake. We took Wilson and Baker (Paul and Jackie's husky) over so they could go swimming. Then they got there and made another new friend. Wilson is pretty funny about water. He likes moving water and not calm water so much. Weirdo.

On Sunday we went to Astoria and checked out the farmer's market. We bought some huckleberry pepper jam. It reminds me of that raspberry chipotle sauce from Costco. Pour some of that goodness over a brick of cream cheese and serve with some tasty crackers. Yum.

We played a few rounds of Mexican train. Always fun.

Phil's Uncle Paul. . . champion Mexican train-er.

Wilson resumed his spot in one of the chairs. He's not a 'camping on the ground' kind of dog. He'd much rather be snuggled up in a chair he barely fits in.

And Sunday night we celebrated Phil505's birthday with a chocolate cake complete with a citronella candle. You make do while you're camping.

It's nice to end the summer at the beach. It was also nice that the weather was cooperative and didn't rain on us.

My only complaint was the showers. One building had no hot water. I did not do the ice buckt challenge and I wasn't going to stand under freezing cold water to take a shower. Another building had scalding water. I had to keep turning the water off because it was so stinkin' hot. Then there was no fan or exhaust system so the shower had so much steam I could barely see.

Dear Fort Stevens Shower Managers, there should be a dial that lets you set a certain water temperature on your water heater. Find it and use it.
Thanks,
a not-so-happy-camp-shower-er

the end of august. . . really?

Summer is flying by. Almost over, in fact. This weekend we'll celebrate Phil505's birthday with a quick trip to the beach. We have an opportunity to camp with his aunt and uncle Saturday and Sunday nights, but I don't know if we're going to go that extreme. Driving there to sit on the beach and come back home sounds like a good option, especially since it's supposed to be about 20 degrees cooler with a chance of rain. There's nothing worse than camping in the rain.

After six samples of blue paint, I've finally decided on Valspar's Carolina Skies (a blue-gray color) for the kitchen and dining room. Hope to have that finished by the time I get called in for my first sub job. The trim is almost done, a nice white instead of the dirty off white that was there before. I'd like to add in some yellow with new curtains. . . some day. Eventually I'll repaint all the trim in the whole house, but that will take some time and a lot of green frog tape. Green frog tape is where it's at, people. Way better than the blue stuff.

Monday afternoon, we headed over to hike at Lacamas Lake and this happened. My right foot caught a very small root or stone and I fell hard. Ripped up my left knee, scratches all down my leg, and sprained my right ankle. I had blood dripping all down my leg and we're out there in the woods with nothing except Phil's sock - which he promptly removed so I could clean myself up as best as I could. (He's my hero!) My ankle was fine until we sat down in the Jeep and then it got all swollen and stiff. After lots of ice and excellent wrapping by Dr. Phil, things are on the mend. Not perfect because I went to the grocery store yesterday and by the time I got home, I was ready to sit down with some ice.

Wilson has been enjoying his jolly ball at the dog park. It's like a kettle bell workout for dogs. Seriously, he's tired after the first lap. He gets so many comments when he's lugging that thing around. We saw a bigger one at Costco that's for horses. Phil thought we should get it, but it was a little too big. He loves this thing. He'll hold on to it for a long time and his jaws start quivering. It's so funny.

Other than that, I'm gearing up for our new ladies' Bible study that's about to start, still working away on my two quilt squares, and updating the scrapbooks for the women's ministries. I think I mentioned before that I'm the new historian and I get to document the retreats and fall festival missions' conferences. Fall Festival is September 19-20th and I'm on the committee for that this year, so I've been working on a few things with that. My paperwork has all been turned in for subbing and school starts Sept. 3rd. I'm praying for lots of calls because, let's face it, going from a full time teaching salary back to sub pay is going to be tough. God has already answered prayers by allowing for Phil505 to get some overtime hours most Mondays in September. And while we're grateful for that, his job is stressful, and he needs some down time. So keep us in your prayers.

spring break list of things to do: take wilson to see dr. allyson

This is my dog at the vet's office yesterday.

This is my dog at the vet's office yesterday after he'd had his temperature taken.

If looks could kill. . . 

lincoln city

It just so happened that Valentine's Day this year fell on a Friday that coincided with President's Day being on the Monday after which meant the following: I had a long weekend, Phil505 took Saturday off, and we headed to the beach.

He asked me where I wanted to go and my vote was Lincoln City, OR. There's stuff to do in Lincoln City, if you want to do it. They have a nice outlet mall, a movie theatre, good restaurants, and of course, trinket shops. We looked online for a dog friendly hotel for a few weeks and found one place that we didn't book when we found it, and then lost out. But that ended up being a good thing, because we found a different hotel, high up on a cliff, that had a kitchenette and a hot tub. Bonus points for the lady who cut us a great deal which was better than the one we wanted first and didn't book. 

Friday night we went out for our Valentine's date to a place called Low Bar. It's owned by our realtor friend Diane's son. She's talked up the Low Bar burger for a long time, and so, wanting to avoid the major crowds and the hour long waits at all the regular restaurants, we headed to downtown Vancouver for a candle lit burger and jo jo dinner date complete with homemade peach pie. The food was great and they played cool music. A win-win in my book.

Our original plan was to leave Friday after work, but we decided to wait until Saturday. We left in the morning around 10:00 and we ended up here. Well, after I could finally push the Jeep door open in the wind. It was crazy.

The view was great, although that night we did have a pretty bad storm with winds clocked at 70 miles an hour. There was one brief moment of a sunburst the first night.

The rain died down, but not the wind. Watching the waves from the hot tub was awesome.

We watched insane amounts of HGTV and the Olympics and on Sunday afternoon I got a lunch date with this good lookin' guy. We went to Mo's and had a seat with a view of the bay. I love watching the seals there. The clam chowder's pretty good too.

Halibut and chips for me. Neptune platter for him. Malt vinegar for us both.

My poor wind-whipped hair.

We did manage two trips down to the beach. It was sunny, but so windy though. Wilson loved it.

His happy place is the beach (or wherever he can get a free biscuit).

Our room - bottom left.

I finally got smart and just wore my hair back in a headband. It kept things semi-under control.

So thankful for the time to get away and relax with my Valentine.