2009 Tigard Festival of Balloons

This past weekend was the Tigard Festival of Balloons. We have never actually gone to Cook Park to see the fun. Usually we just go out the back door and watch the balloons float by. This works out if the winds are from the north or northeast. If the wind is blowing from the south, the balloons head off into Beaverton or Portland. Not good - as a test flight on Thursday had a not-so-good landing in Beaverton.

Friday morning started out with dissappointment. Due to possible rain and winds - no balloons flew. We decided to go there Friday night and see the night glow. We actually didn't think through how long we would be there. We got there at 5pm so we could get dinner, and then we planned to walk around until the night glow. Well - that wouldn't be starting until 9pm or so...

At around 8:30, they announced that due to possible rain - they would not be doing the night glow, but rather just 'candlesticking.' Apparently when weather causes problems, I guess they just setup the gondola's without the balloon and fire up the burner. I bet this is just to prevent riots from all the people who really wanted the night glow. We decided we didn't want to wait around for another 30-45 minutes - so we called it a night.

Saturday saw the launch of 19 balloons. Connor and I sat out in the Tualatin Elementary field and saw at least 17 of them. The wind was coming from the northwest...so the balloons didn't fly overhead, but rather off the the east. No landings near us...


Saturday night, we headed back to Cook Park and saw the night glow. We didn't want to pay the $5 parking - so we decided to park at the Tualatin Community Park, and walk to Cook Park. We had biked this before - but it was a good walk - probably a mile or so. And - we didn't think about the walk back until we were almost there...this path has no lights.

There were seven balloons setup, and it looks pretty awesome when then all fire at once. The wind was picking up a little, but there were no real problems. Fun stuff! The walk back to the car was fine - but we had to watch carefully for slugs. The path was full of those guys - not sure where they were trying to go.


Sunday morning - I was up alone to watch for the launches, as we didn't get home Saturday until after 10pm. When the first two balloons went up - they took off almost due east. Not a chance that they would fly near our house, so I jumped on my bike and took off. Less than 10 minutes later I was at Cook Park - just as the last balloon took off. So I took a few photos and headed back home.

We still keep an eye out for balloons throughout the summer. Sometimes we can see them off towards Sherwood.

Housekeeping - Yard Work #13 was June 19th. The grass is starting to look less green, as the rains have slowed down. We water the front yard some because of the flowers. The back yard doesn't get much - and now with a inflatable pool out there - we'll soon have dead patches.

Only about four weeks until the Tour de Cure ride. Still time left for your donations!

http://tour.diabetes.org/goto/TeamTegan2009

Washing Dishes Again

Our church, Temple Baptist Church, in NE Portland - has a wonderful kitchen and dining room. Wednesday nights, before the kids activities and choir practice, there is dinner served up. With dinner comes dishes and someone need to do that cleanup.

Larry Johnson, a steady volunteer, was going on vacation for a few weeks and was looking for help. I had not washed dishes in a large kitchen type setting since 1990 - when I had a 3 week job at TGI Friday's in Roseville, Minnesota.

That summer I was very close to getting an lab chemistry intern-type job at 3M in St. Paul - but it fell through. I had already committed to living in Bethel housing over the summer with 5 roomates - so I needed to find another job. I couldn't find anything that I wanted to do - involving chemistry. So - I grabbed the first job I could find - as a dishwasher. I had done dishwashing, busing, and hosting at Bosacki's Boathouse restaurant in Minocqua, Wisconsin for the previous 5 summers - and I really wanted to get away from the restaurant business.

After my first night at Friday's - I realized I really didn't want to do that all summer. So - after two days - I put in my two week's notice. My boss thought it funny, but appreciated the notice. Those two weeks gave me enough money to cover my apartment for the summer (amazing how cheap you can live with 5 guys in a two bedroom, college housing apartment). A week or two later I did get to work in the Bethel Chemistry Department, cleaning up and preparing the labs for the coming fall semester. It didn't pay quite what 3M paid - but I had fun.

Anyway - back to the present. Larry needed someone to fill in for him while he was on vacation - so I came in last week so he could show me the ropes. All the skills came right back (I do most of the dishes in our family still....) and I just needed to learn where to put things away, and the flow of things in the Temple kitchen.

Larry shows me the ropes

Last night, I worked with Gordon - and we just flew through the dishes, silverware, pots and pans - and even nursery toys.

So - everyone had clean dishes, good fun, and great conversation. A great success!

Another movie starring the Johnsons!

In the same spirit as the Office Max - Elf Yourself website - we are now starring in a snowball fight movie! Our nephew Kyle joins in on the fun.


Click here to view it.

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.

The fence is fixed

After 6 months - our backyard is again fenced in...

Yukon is still chained up, as he never met a fence he couldn't jump, dig under, crawl through, eat.....

 

Daddy's big helpers!

Here are Tegan and Connor - collecting rocks to use at the bottom of the fence post hole. We'll make sure these posts last more that 15 years this time....

 

Working on the fix

I took Kevin's advice and instead of putting the posts in the same spot, I replaced the end section that was 6 feet long, with one of the 8 feet sections. So - I had a two foot offset, and could leave the old concrete in the ground. Here is me digging one of the middle holes.

 

The middle and the far right post holes....how do I get these out of there? Build a scaffold with a smooth rod so I can pull them out? Tie balsa wood on them and flood the hole? Dynamite?

This is the middle post - the concrete crown is much wider - the hole must have been dug with a shovel and not a post-hole digger. This one I haven't completely dug out yet.

This is the first hole I was digging to put in a new post. Surprise! The previous post was in concrete - and it just broke off. The concrete is 3 feet down. This hole is dug deep enough to where the concrete can be pushed side to side - but I can't pull it up!

Here is the broken fence. A post is missing from the middle, and at each panel where the fence still stands.