2007 Christmas Tree Hunt

Last Saturday (12/08/07) we headed off on our annual Christmas Tree Hunt. Every year, usually on the Sunday after Thanksgiving - we head off to the Mt. Hood National Forest to search for the perfect Christmas Tree. We go with Mick's family and some other people also come along for the fun. This year - due to the lack of snow after Thanksgiving, family members on vacation in Hawaii (!), and Uncle Marty's work schedule changing - we went on a Saturday a few weekends later.

The fun of the adventure is multifaceted. Of course - it would be great to find a Christmas tree. We stop at the Zig-Zag Ranger Station, located on Hwy 26, to purchase the $5 tree tags. We used to stop at the Mt. Hood Information center, but in the past few years they stopped selling the tags. We still stopped to answer the call of nature, but this year the center was closed. Not sure why - but the port-o-potties at the ranger station had to suffice.

So - after buying the tags (thanks Papa!) - we heard off up Lolo Pass Road. This road goes up the west side of Mt. Hood, generally following the power lines coming from Hood River. We hit snow at maybe 4 miles up the road, and following the twists and turns - our Explorer was soon switched to 4x4. After a couple of more miles - we had some trouble, due to the depth of the snow, the hardness and ice covering...and the Explorer's low transmission clearance. Uncle Dan in his Yukon Suburban, and Papa driving Uncle Dan's large diesel pickup didn't have any trouble. But - we continued and reached the 'top' - which is about 10 miles from the starting point at Hwy 26.

We got settled in, suited up in snow clothes, and had fun! The Bares found their tree almost immediately, Papa got one after a long hike up a hill and over deep snow, Uncle Marty got one a little later...and we came up empty. But - we are looking for a more 'traditional' looking tree - a Douglas Fir. The area we are looking in is a great place for Nobel Firs. It is a little difficult to find a perfect tree - as many trees grow clumped together and the easy pickings are no longer there. It is quite a hunt.

However, the day was perfect. Temperatures in the 20's, blue sky with no clouds, and Mt. Hood shining in glory! We sledded, at lunch, played some more - and then headed down the mountain. It would have been great to stay and watch the sunset on Mt. Hood - but no one wanted to go down Lolo Pass in the dark. There are no guard rails on the road, it was snow covered by at least 2 feet of snow...and the road is only wide enough for one vehicle in places. You don't want to meet another vehicle at some curves...

So - check out the photos of the day. We've posted them on our Picassa account.

Brian & Mick Picassa Web Album
2007 Christmas Tree Hunt

Test of email posting...

Hey - another adventure is happening right now.  I am attempting to add a post the our blog using email...  Not sure if this is going to work, but I guess that is the point of testing it.   (This is the 2nd test...I had the posting email wrong on my first attempt.)   (Actually - this is now the 3rd test - the inserted image didn't work at first...and sorry - I removed the bad postings.  They don't exist anymore...)

 

The blogger formatting tools don't quite work the way I think they should.  Many (many!) people manage to make Blogger work - and I don't know why I am having trouble.  When I insert images into the posts - the text formatting is always hit or miss.

 

Anyway - here is an inserted image.  It is quite large...I'll have to see what Blogger does with it.

 

 

And here is a horizontal rule...

 

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And here is some red text, blue text, green text, bold text, underlined text....had enough of this yet?

 

Here is a URL to AMEC

 

www.amec.com

 

Here is a URL with different text that the URL itself...

 

AMEC Earth & Environmental

 

Thanks for watching this test.  Remember, this was only a test.  If it had been an actual emergency - you would have been directed to something, somewhere....

We've been Elf'd!

We got an email from Aunt Paula - there is an Office Depot website where you can upload photos of yourself (and 3 more people) - and you become a singing elf group. You can even call a toll-free number and record a greeting. The message is available within seconds of hanging up the phone.

Here are the two elf groups we spent some time creating. Enjoy!


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9582111846

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9586601784

Putting up the lights

Yesterday was a great day to put up the Christmas lights. We usually wait until after Thanksgiving, and by then it is usually raining. We had a nice sunny day, blue sky, and probably temps in the 40s-50s.

I did have some helpers...

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Mick put up the lights on the front yard fence, and I hung the icicle lights on the house. Still can't quite get up to hang any from the top story of the house...the ladder just isn't strong enough, and a little bit short to get up there safely.

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The lights did have a few burned out bulbs - so I replaced them before I hung the light strings....

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Maybe this wasn't the best method to get the lights out...or I should have unplugged them first.

Tour de Cure Training #2

We begun our training for the Tour de Cure. The Tour is on July 26, 2008. We've got over 8 months to go - and we're doing great! We drove our bikes to the Tualatin Community Park, and biked about 3.5 miles over the new bridge over the Tualatin River to Cook Park in Tigard. Mick and Tegan each rode their own bikes, while Connor rode the tag-a-log connected to Brian's bike.

It was a nice sunny day that was supposed to be rain - a perfect autumn day.
Check back for more training updates.

Testing links to Picasa Movies

Here are the photos from Mark & Ronda's wedding, as a slideshow movie.



Pretty cool, eh?