Final Yard Work of 2009?

November 1st and November 25th - the 20th and 21st lawn mowings of the year. Most of the leaves are down, and I don' think the grass has much growing left to do. The last grass cutting was more of an easy means of leaf gathering. The spots in the yard that died off during the summer are all green again - and I probably should have spread out some seed in the more bare spots earlier. December is too late for for sprouting seed in Oregon.

I managed to fill the yard debris barrel for the last four or five weeks. It gets quite heavy with wet leaves and grass, rotten pears, and all the branches that have blown down in the recent windstorms. Now - we've got a forecast for cold coming up at the tail end of next weekend. Might be cold enough for snow - but not sure yet if the moisture will arrive at the same time as the sub-32 degrees.

So - I just barely made this post during December. I've got quite a few running around in my head - and lots of photos to post. Life is just to busy I guess. Keep watching this spot for a few soccer action shots, random fun adventures, and of course - Mt. Hood as seen from Lolo Pass Road. We just had our Annual Christmas Tree hunt up on Mt. Hood - and rain, snow, and sun were all part of the day.

Stay tuned. I hope to get some photos organized soon.

Picasa Facial Recognition and more

Have you seen that the latest version of Picasa now has facial recognition built in? Previous to this release - you could upload your photos to Picasa Web Albums, and the faces would be found and organized there. Now you can do the same thing on your computer. If you have thousands of photos it will take a lot of time for your computer to process the pile...and really - if you have had a digital camera for any length of time - you have thousands.

When it is done, and even before it finishes, you can start adding names to the faces it finds. As it looks at more and more photos - it gets better. But - if you have kids - no matter if you think they don't look alike - Picasa will find photos that will match your kids. Photos of them at the same ages will look strikingly similar.

Give it a try - you'll have a lot of fun.

Yard Work #18 & #19 - September 21st and October 10th. The grass is growing again, even as the days turn colder. The rain is increasing - though we had a nice fall, dry, blue sky week this week. Soccer games today were at 8am and 10am - and it started out at 40° this morning. But the blue sky and dry wind makes up for that.

Finally got my new camera this week - I should have some new soccer photos to post soon. Just need to install the Nikon software and download the photos....

Just give me time....

Benchmarks

We had our annual church campout at Fort Stevens State Park this past August. Lots of friends, fun, and sun. Only a little bit of rain one night and some misting for a few minutes here and there. Not bad for five days on the Oregon Coast.

One of the fun things to do there is to go see the Battery Russell. It is an decommissioned battery that was used during World War II to guard the Oregon coast and the entrance to the Columbia River. It was the only mainland location in the USA that was attacked during WWII. Shots were fired at it from a Japanese submarine - and they did not return fire. Some accounts say that they didn't want to confirm their location, and others say the sub was out of reach of their guns.

While we were exploring this time, I found a couple of benchmarks. These are locations were the position of the point is know - usually both in the horizontal and vertical positions. Surveyors can use these point to locate other locations bases on the distance and angle from the benchmark.

So anyway - taking photos of benchmarks is one of those strange quirks I have. Someday I could publish a coffee table book of the benchmarks. Yep - that would be a big seller.

Benchmark on top of the Battery Russell

Benchmark near Battery Russell, on the wall of a small bunker

So anyway - no big story here. Just wanted to let you see some places we've been recently. From a different perspective.

Yard work update... grass cutting #16 was on August 26th and #17 on September 8th. With just the few days of rain recently - the grass has started to grow again. Three more months before winter sets in and it stops growing for a couple of months.

2009 Nehalem Bay Camping, et al

The first week of August, Tegan was at camp and Connor spent some time with Grammi & Papa and his Bare cousins. So with nothing else to do - Mick and I decided to go camping.

So not really...we wanted to go camping. With a little prior planning - we packed up the camper and Explorer and headed off to Nehalem Bay State Park. Prior planning - we reserved our campsite the week before. We were very luck to find a campsite - but the amazing thing is we got the exact same campsite we had the previous July. Good ole' E-27. Not sure why people don't like it. Maybe because there is a 'sink waste disposal' location near the corner of the site. We didn't mind...though we did camp next to like 50 million people involved in a family reunion or something. I have never heard the 'pay attention to me' crys from kids in my life. We've been camping with lots of little kids - our own and nieces and nephews - and they never act like that. Even with a bike crash - the crying is done in a minute. But not these kids....

50 million people? Well - they asked me to take a few group shots one morning....5 or 6 cameras were handed to me at once. C'mon people! These are digital shots. Share a few electronic bits! You can duplicate them for practically nothing! Or send them all to you best Photoshop guru. He can make sure you are all smiling in those combined shots. Maybe even put Aunt Mabel's head on Uncle Steve's body....

Enough of that talk... We had a great time, Sunday through Wednesday. A little cloudy in the mornings and after 6pm...but in between was blue sky, sun, and mid 60°s. You can't expect much more on the Oregon coast.

Brian. Mick, Yukon (actually looking!) at the bay in Wheeler, Oregon

Mick and Brian - enjoying the beach



Yukon - enjoying the water - far, far away from him



Brian - cooking up some meat!



Campsite E-27 - our home for a few days

Beachgrass and Blue Sky? Or just bliss....

Nothing to see here, move along. Housekeeping note, inserted here for recordkeeping purposes.

August 8th - Yard work #15. We've had 28 days of no rain - I think it rained last Tuesday, Aug 11th to break the streak. I had to mow because some areas of the lawn get the overspray from watering the flowers and do keep growing. And I guess we do water the strip of grass along the driveway. The back yard is pretty much brown, with a little green where the splashes from the blow-up pool help keep it alive. Enjoy it now - the fall rains start in just over two months...

One Week 'till Tour de Cure Portland

Today is Sunday July 19th. Next Saturday is July 25th - the day of the Tour de Cure event here in Portland. It takes place out in Hillsboro, which is west of Portland. Checking out the temperature forecasts at this point - it looks to be a hot day. The NWS Portland office hourly model shows a high temp of 99° at 5pm on Saturday. It looks to be only 79-84° at 10:30am - out start time for the 10 mile ride. No rain forecast though!



There is still time to donate to the American Diabetes Association. We have all met the $150 minimum fund raising goal, though we'd like to do more. My account (Brian) has quite a bit more, since my company, AMEC, matches the amount I raise dollar-for-dollar. They have agreed to match up to at least $3,000 - so I still have around $1,100 more to go to make use of that commitment.

A recent potluck at my office, with voting for the best food with your money - raised $209 dollars! Mick's peanut butter pie and ham and bean stew won 1st and 2nd prizes. Thanks to all my AMEC co-workers for your donations!


Yard Work #14 - July 16th. About four weeks since the last mowing - the grass is quite patchy now. Some areas that get the runoff from the driveway or where spray from flower watering helps the grass to survive - these areas have still managed to stay green and grow. Other areas - that had formerly been bark dust - are quite dry and brown. The recent 90°+ temperatures here in Portland haven't helped.

Friday Afternoon Traffic

Just checking Google Maps to see what traffic looks like before we head out "Over the river (Tualatin & Willamette) and through the woods (Stafford Area around I-205)" for a strawberry waffle night at the Larsons.

Not starting out good this Friday. At least we are not on I-205 South....looks like an accident.



Yard Work #12 - June 9th. Less grass to cut - either the growth rate is slowing down, or the less hardy grass plants are giving up. Not much rain recently.

We had a tree climbed

We had a guy over to climb our tree this week. Actually, we didn't have the guy over. Dave, a remote control airplane pilot hired the guy to climb our large tree in the front yard. Dave was flying his plane in the large field over by Tualatin Elementary, and he had a mayday event happen. His plane crashed into our tree about 50-60 feet up.

The tree itself might be climbable by an adventurous youngster. Having been a tree climber in my earlier years - it is definitely doable once you reach the first branches 14 feet up. Straight climb up, with branches every four or five feet. However - I am much older and hopefully wiser now. And the kicker - my body has a lot more mass. Something that falls under Newton's Second Law of Motion. That law that I can experiment by throwing different balls up into the air. Something I won't prove by falling out of a tree. Also - it wasn't my $300 plane up there. I had no incentive to risk my life.

So anyway - there was a professional tree climber who ascended the tree and retrieved the airplane. He also threw down a couple of loose branches. Good thing too - because today we had a nice windy storm pass through. This image is supposed to be an animated GIF - but I don't think blogger likes it.



Final note - yard work #11 was June 2nd. The grass keeps growing - and this storm helped with the watering.

Are you ready for this?

Are you ready for this?

June 12th - your analog TV stops receiving over the air analog broadcasts. The long talked about and delayed transition from analog to digital TV occurs in just under two weeks. Do you have your digital TV tuner? Or a new HDTV? Or maybe you subscribe to cable or satellite - you don't need to do anything yet, because they probably provide a device which outputs an analog signal to your good old Channel 3.

Remember when TV was simple?

Housekeeping note - Yard Work 2009 #10 - May 25th. A little later (and thus the grass was longer) than needed due to the Memorial Day Weekend. Now - we're in a stretch of warm without rain - maybe the grass growth rate will slow down. If you compare the your current 'weather' with your expectations due to the 'climate' of where you are - it seems that it is never normal. Right now is just about Rose Festival time in the Portland area - and that usually means rain on your parade.

For an interesting book on how we as humans deal with randomness in everyday things like the weather - check out The Drunkard's Walk - How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. Not too mathy for those of you without a math degree. Interesting ways to think about experiences and how our brain classifies them. Like - with ten checkout lanes at the grocery store - why do you always pick 'the slowest line'?



Just how random are these letters? Did your brain run a randomness test? Probably not. I'll bet even unconsciously you are looking for patterns. One pattern is highlighted for you.

Can you find your name in these letters?
- What if your name was John Twelve Hawks?
What symbol is made by following the letters in a word you can make up?
- What does that mean?
Why are six hearts visible?
- Does that have anything to do with six letters in 'random'?

If the letters are random - there is no meaning there. But what if they are carefully placed on the table, and not just poured from a container? Did someone hide a clue for you to find? Or is your brain trying to make sense of randomness?

Fun stuff!

Yard Work 2009 #9

May 14th - break in the rain, and a jump start on the weekend. Lawn work number nine of 2009.

May 16th - my neighbor mows his lawn for the first time this year. Guess what his yard looked like before he accomplished that task....

The previous week, our other neighbor had a yard service come in and trim some bushes, pull some weeds, and lay down some nice bark dust. Her yard was looking pretty good - and now I didn't have to think about the bushes growing through the fence. A few days later - up goes the For Sale sign. Not quite sure why she is moving - she has only lived there a year and a half, and we really don't see her much at all. Maybe it is the mortgage crisis...

Maybe the work involved in keeping up a house was too much for her. It sure ain't no picnic. She did have woodpeckers knocking on her chimney. For a while - we had the same problem. They land on the chimney cap and hammer away on the metal cover. Inside the house it sounds like a machine gun in the fireplace. We solved this problem by putting a small 'dome' of chicken wire on the cap. The woodpeckers could no longer land where they wanted to - so they moved to the neighbor's house.

I don't have any woodpecker photos - but here is a squirrel that was chirping away quite loudly yesterday morning. He wasn't happy about something. Maybe he had been talking to Woody...

Yard Work 2009 #7 & 8

Another mindless post...feel free to ignore. My in-depth analysis of days between lawn mowings is still to come.

Cut #7 was April 30th - a quick break of a sunny day in between rain.

Cut #8 was 8 days later on May 8th. A sunny day after quite a bit of rain. In fact - soccer practice was canceled this Monday night because of the rain downpour. Not your normal Pacific NW light rain - this was a Midwest thunderstorm.

Some cool photos to be posted soon. Stay tuned!

Yard Work 2009 #6

Quick housekeeping post - please ignore. I know these yard work postings can be boring.

April 22th - cut number six of 2009. Seven days between cuts - and three bags of grass each.

It's a jungle out there...

Yard Work 2009 - Extra!

Pretty flowers no one sees - they are on the back side of the house

The weather was so nice this weekend - we got out in the yard and tended to all kinds of issues that had waited patiently all winter. Maybe not patiently...but the issues themselves could only nag at us. I certainly felt fine ignoring them for a while.

Mick did a great job weeding out our flower beds and the long strip down our front fence. It looks awesome now.

I cleaned up some large branches that had fallen in our backyard from a neighbor's tree during the December snows. I trimmed up the small stuff, and cut up the large main branches for firewood. We're going camping soon - so that pile of cut up branches just might last about an hour or two.

Right...don't believe everything you read

I also pulled out the edger and spent way too much time edging. I posted a while back about our 'bump-less' edger that didn't work. It still doesn't work, so every couple of feet of lawn I have to pull off the housing on the bottom of the edger and advance the spool.

Looking at the mechanism in there - it seems like it has a good idea behind it. I guess if the line gets short, the edger should rotate faster. Then a little switch should move in place based on solid physics principles. When the edger is stopped and started again, the mechanism (I like that word) should advance the spool. This rotation should allow more line should go out, thus slowing down the rotation of the motor. Simple physics. Maybe I just can't figure out what angle to hold the edger. Maybe it needs a sudden stop to jolt the little switch. Maybe the switch has some friction in the wrong spot, preventing it from moving at the right time. Maybe I just bought a defective product - and the other 99,999 edgers of that 99.999% defect-free batch are fine.

Enough of that...it still bugs me.

Look at that edge!

I also got to work on moving the step for the new gate I built in our back fence. Connor helped me with this - I had a lot of cinder blocks to move from the old location to the new spot. That will have to be another post...stay turned Uncle Earl. I know you can't wait for the Fix The Fence saga to be completed.

Yard Work 2009 #5

Quick housekeeping post - please ignore. I know these yard work postings can be boring.

April 15th - cut number five of 2009.

Also - taxes are due today. Hope you paid Uncle Sam. Unless of course, you don't live in the United States. Sometimes I forget that people read this blog who don't live in the US.

Hello France!

Hello Spain!

Hello Finland!

Hello Germany!

Hello Turkey!

Hello United Kingdom!

Hello Morocco!

Yard Work 2009 #4

19 - 12 - 9

April 7 th - cut #4 of the year. The days between cuts are getting shorter. Cut #5 will be due in about a week at this rate.

The grass is starting to really get going, and the with the temperatures in the upper 70°s yesterday - there is no turning back now. The grass cuttings are now in the two-bag range. The back yard almost filled up the mower's rear bagger attachment. Now - after 4 or 5 days of sun, rain is due to return for a few. Hopefully sun returns for Easter...or the egg hunt will happen indoors again. Not as much fun as the wide outdoors!

I've managed to keep up with the emerging weeds in the lawn - not many are visible at this point. I did have to put down a lot of moss-killer fertilizer back in February. The wet winters out here in Oregon causes lots of moss growth. The moss-killer did most of the work, and the moss is now mostly dead. Now I have to go and thatch it out. And keep an eye out for weeds - that keep getting re-seeded from the neighbors. Not much time is spent on their yard work....

I really need to go find a good aerating tool, too. There are sections of lawn where the ground is really hard, and the grass is sparse. I've seen a tool at Home Depot that will put nice holes in the ground, but it does not pull out a plug. I'd really like it to do that - and then spread those topsoil rich plugs to areas of the lawn that were formally bark chips areas. That grass seems to die out rather quickly come July, and the ground doesn't hold any water there - and I'm sure there are not a lot of nutrients either.

Yard Work 2009 #3

A day of no rain - March 30th - cut number three. It was plenty long and was ready to be cut last week. Now - I have to watch out for these dry days. The grass is growing at a rate of one cut a week. Can allergy season be far away?

I know, I know. Not much of substance here. Keep watching - a post about spring break is coming soon!

Yard Work 2009 #2

March 18th - lawn mowing number two.

The rain broke for a day - and with more running coming the next few days, I had to get a jump on the growing grass. At this rate - cut number three should come in two to three weeks. Maybe closer to two weeks as it is getting warmer now.

After a few more cuts - maybe I'll try and setup a Google Charts example showing how 2009 compares to 2008.

Sure...when I get the time. Don't be holding your breath...

Yikes...time flies by

Here is it already March.

Wow. Our adventures have been happening, but my posting of the adventures has not. What have we been up to recently?

1) Last Saturday (February 28th) marked the beginning of Yard Work 2009.

Mick started on the weeding in the flower beds along our front fence. I gave the grass the first cut of the year. So - again this year I missed out on mowing in January, but February was covered on the last day.

Before starting the mowing, I figured that I should change the oil in the mower since I didn't do it last fall like I had intended. It was a little scary because only 4 ounces of oil came out when I took out the oil plug. I about 20 or so ounces of oil back in. It was quite hard to determine the exact amount that was needed since the oil dipstick always looks like there is a certain amount of oil in the engine. This must be due to the crazy tube the stick is in - the oil must stick to the sides and it gets on the stick when pulling it out. So - I guess I was mowing last season with only a little bit of oil in the engine. I'll just have to see if any long term damage was done...doesn't sound like it as the engine is still purring along - 13 years after we first bought it.

I tried sharpening the mower blade - but my Dremel tool is still not working after many hours of taking it apart and putting it back together. Not sure why - and they are too expensive to just go buy another one. I did put the Dremel sharpening bit in my drill - and that seemed to work, even though the drill RPMs are much less than the Dremel.

The lawn needed a lot of moss killer this spring - the green I was seeing was not due only the the grass, which does stay green year round. It is just starting to be growing more now...but winter is not completely out of the picture. Apparently there is a chance for snow in Portland this coming weekend.

2) Family dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Last Friday, we went to the local Macaroni grill with all of Mick's family. We had a table full of cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Sister-in-law Maritza's mother was soon going back to Guatemala - and she was there too.

Connor really loves this place because he can get pizza - and draw on the table. They have the paper on the tables, and we all love drawing on it. Connor even packed extra crayons so we wouldn't be stuck with the roasted Red Pepper, Bleu Cheese, Florentine, and Eggplant colors they provide.

I love the pizza as well - but I really like the bread they bring the table when you sit down. It is always warm and fresh out of the oven - and it has a delicious coating on it - almost sweet. Dipping this in the olive oil with ground pepper....hmmm. Yummy!

3) Waffle Extravaganza at Temple.

Just over a week ago - the Women's Ministries group at church had a waffle feed after the Sunday Morning service. I was there to make my 'famous' chocolate chip waffles. They are famous at least to those who have had the pleasure of enjoying them. I made regular square waffles and also Mickey Mouse waffles....because those people are hungry and waffles do take 4-5 minutes to be cooked. I stayed mostly ahead of the rush - but I did have a line for a time. There were other stations with other types of waffles being prepared as well.

4) Speaking of church....I've been workin on our church's website. http://www.temple-baptist.com - just in case you are interested in checking it out.

I am not the person creating the content - I just get it formatting, looking good, and get it posted. I've learned a lot of XHTML, CSS, and lots more web programming tricks. I've checked out more web books from the library that I thought possible, checked out 'how-to' CSS websites, and more. There is still not a lot of content on the website - but I am still working on it. Bit by bit it will look more and more like the place you have to be on Sunday mornings in Portland, Oregon. If you are out there reading this - make plans for this Sunday. The morning service starts at 11am, and Sunday School starts at around 9:45am. We'll see you there!

5) More, more, more!

Bingo night at Tegan & Connor's school.
Getting ready for spring soccer (starts March 9th!).
Diabetes Expo - Tegan & I were there in our Red Rider shirts!
Getting bikes ready for the coming Tour de Cure!
Small group bible study every week - hi small groupees!
Birthday parties, dance classes, Wednesday night bible clubs, homework
Reading! You should see all four of us sitting around some evenings - each lost in our own book.


So - dear blog reader - what is going on with you these days? You never write, and I'm never quite sure if you get my updates.

Drop us a line! Comment right down here! You know you want to....and I'll try and write more often. They will probably be "Brian's Crazy Thoughts" postings - I've got a lot of those swirling around lately.

Yard Work 2008 #16

After quite a bit of rain and wind recently - the grass needed cutting and the leaves were piling up. This past weekend was full of other things to do that managed to use up all the daylight hours. The weather has been nice for a few days, so things have started to dry out a little. Today I got cut #16 for the year in the bag, and then in the yard debris container. I should have done the oil changing maintenance on the mower, but by 4:45pm - it was getting dark. Maybe next time.

The grass has really slowed down in growth - but I don't think this was the last mowing of the season. Everything is still green - but it has really gone dormant. A few trees still have those die-hard leaves attached - and a trim up in December just might happen this year to get the last leaves and prevent the grass from matting up this winter.

Guess I'll have to turn my 'extra' energy to inside the house projects now. Or maybe just catch up on reading my This Old House magazine. Then I'll have a list of more projects to add to my to-do list.

Yard Work 2008 #15

I had a spare hour on Friday, October 17th - so I thought - 'Why not cut the lawn?' That idea sure beat 'Why not dig a hole for a fence post?' or 'Why not check the 401K account and see what we lost today?' Or ask your own question here. As it turns out - it wasn't the simple ten minute chore as was looking for...

The weather here in Oregon is still quite nice - the rain hasn't started the continual drizzle, the sun is bright in the sky, and the temps are still making it into the upper 60s. The lawnmower started right up...and then died. I primed it again and it started up. And it died.

This same thing happened two years ago. I really didn't know what was happening, I just knew that the mower was stalling due to lack of gasoline. So I traced the gas flow from the tank to the engine, looking for anyplace that might be plugged or gummed up - hoping to see a nice metallic part labels 'fuel filter'. No luck with the easy solution. I did manage to solve the problem then - and I even had a few photos of my engine disassemble-ment. Here is one of them, after removing a few of the plastic covering parts.

This time around - I couldn't remember what I did to fix the problem two years ago. I did have a feel of where I should look - so I got out my tools and started to take the mower apart. After half an hour or so of cleaning the dirt and grime off - I took off what I think is the fuel reservoir.

Here is is - the gold colored cylinder below the air intake

(Yahoo Answers had an answer to this problem that called the part a float bowl). This is a small cylinder maybe 2 inches in diameter by 1 1/2 inches in height. This is held onto the carburetor by a threaded nut with a very small hole/passageway in it.

Here it is - all cleaned up
Notice the hole in the nut?

When I saw this - I remembered that this was the choke point for the gasoline flow last time around. So - I got a pin and cleared it out. I didn't find any debris in there... (when looking for the cause of a problem, don't you like to eventually find something?)

This is a float of some kind....not sure how it works!

The next steps in engine disassembly looked much more difficult so I decided to put it all back together and see if it worked. Five minutes later I was cutting the grass.

Now - since I put this all down in a web posting - I can find my own answer in Google the next time my 'lawn mower stalls', 'seems like it isn't getting enough gas flow', 'continues to run as long as the primer button is pushed continuously.' I think my memory is getting worse as Google continues to provide a way to remember stuff...even stuff I never knew in the first place!

Yard Work 2008 #14

The last day of September included a lawn mowing. With the approaching fall rains - I figured I better get out there and trim it up. It is supposed to start raining on Thursday and continue through the weekend. Looks like our soccer games will be quite wet. We've been lucky so far this season.

The lawn itself does need a little more attention beyond a cutting before the growth slows down this winter. There are a few weeds I got with broad leaf weed killer today, but the edges on the driveway and in the back yard need to be visited by the edger. If I had the energy - there does appear to be a lot of thatch that needs dethatching. Not sure I'm up for that amount of effort.

I have also noticed that the ground in getting quite hard packed down. If I see a neighbor down the street with a coring machine...I should slip them a few bucks to let me borrow it for an hour. Even if I owned a coring tool - I really don't have the energy to go around and drill all those soil plugs up by hand.