In September, our Seattle friends (Joe & Rickey; Jessi & Jerry) visited for the weekend. The first day, Joe, Rickey, Jessi & I went to Canby, Oregon, for the Flock & Fleece festival. Joe & Rickey like to crochet, and Jessi is slightly obsessed with knitting. So they were very excited to look at fancy yarns, and I was very excited to see fluffy barnyard animals!

The visit merely confirmed that Chester is half sheep. It's quite obvious. If I sheared him and spun his wool, I could sell it to people like Joe, Rickey & Jessi for lots of money. This is good to know. :-)

While we were at the festival, Jim was riding his bike around Salem. Where he got hit by a city bus. He's ok.

The next day, we did the Peach of a Century ride. We did the metric century option, 65 miles (100k). We had quite a group: Jessi & Jerry, Me & Jim, Shibley from Portland, Joe & Rickey (R's first big ride), Peter Crawford (his first big ride), and Stuart (like his 4th ride ever). It was a gorgeous day & we all had a lot of fun.

Here's a slideshow for your viewing pleasure:

This summer, I had the pleasure of working with a group of fascinating Salem women who represent Historic locations around town. We met once a week and toured each site, including historic residential districts, Bush House Museum, Deepwood Estates, Marion County Historical Society, and others.

Now that our summer of learning about each others' places has ended, we decided to set up a blog to facilitate communication between each institution and with the public at large. The goal is to connect these places and allow them to work together for the benefit of all, hence the name of the group: Salem Heritage Network.

We met at my house last night to set up the blog and learn how to use it, so it's definitely in its infancy right now.

You can see our blog here: www.Salem-Heritage-Network.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Today's going to be a good day! I woke up and the sun was out (thanks end of daylight savings time!). The rain had finally stopped (thanks crazy Oregon autumn!). And I found out I've won a copy of the new Michael Moore book, "Mike's Election Guide" (thanks GoodReads.com!).

Hey, if you live in one of those polling-place states, don't neglect to vote today!

We had a great weekend in Depoe Bay on the Oregon Coast.

We had lunch Saturday at Newport Bay, and afterward we watched these awesome, ridiculous sea lions lounging around below us. Here's a video from YouTube that essentially shows what we saw:

Aren't they funny? I could've watched them all day! It was incredible to be so close. I've been in Newport lots of times, but somehow never found these guys.

That afternoon, we took a hike at Cascade Head in Lincoln City. It was incredibly gorgeous. The hike started us at the Salmon River. We trekked up through a forested mountain, and popped out on the ocean side into a vast, incredible meadow. We hiked up the meadow to the top and took in the view of the river entering the Pacific Ocean. It was so beautiful. Yes, I've got pictures. No, they're not on this blog yet. Sorry.

Sunday morning, I dropped the boys off in tiny Beaver, Oregon, so they could ride their bikes 85 miles back to Salem. Some guys with a dead antlered crittered in the back of their pickup wandered over to admire the bikes and tell their own cycling stories. Apparently everyone in Oregon is a bicyclist, even the camoflauge-wearing hunters.

On my drive home, I stopped at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Reserve and played with my new binoculars. They're very cool. I watched a bunch of Canada geese doing their thing. I read informational signs that said the Dusky Canada Goose winters in the Willamette Valley from October thru April. That explains why the open areas near my house (the field, the sports park, the prison) have been under siege by happy, honking geese. As I was watching the geese, I caught a couple of hawks and followed them around with my binoculars. It was fun. Thanks for the binoc-buying advice, Jessi!

This week, I got a piece of junk mail at work addressed to me and the title: "President/Office Manager." That was amusing. :)

I've blogged before about "Reel Film Snobs," the cable access show that I work on. Since our regular director (hi Melissa!) left to have her adorable baby (hi Oscar!), I've taken over most of the directing duties.

Lately, I've learned how to edit our show, too. This is a fairly new thing- before, we recorded the show directly to tape, and that was it. Now, we do it all digitally so that we can put it online, etc.

So, take a look at www.ReelFilmSnobs.com to watch some shows that I directed and edited. Tonight's show, I think, was my best work yet (or at least my fastest). It won't be online for a few more days, though.

After this week, though, I think I'll mostly just be directing and leave the editing to My Good Friend Chris (thanks Chris!!).

Oh, and in a month, the entire studio is moving from the dank, icky basement of the library to a fancy new building that's still under construction: www.cctvsalem.org/295church.php. Fun!

I hate making blog posts without photos! But I'm obviously not getting around to uploading photos, so here's a boring, non-illustrated update:

-Jim is home from his week in Idaho! Yay!

-He brought with him a steam juicer from my Gramma. I spent all Saturday making grape juice- drop the grapes into the top, boil water in the bottom, and let all the juice run out. It was fun! The juice is a lot on the tart side for me. Jim likes it. I can drink it, tho, if I add a lot of sugar to the glass! :-)  I ended up with 10 quarts of grape juice. Want one?

-We're spending the weekend in Depoe Bay with some new-ish friends. I'm excited to be at the coast!

-We came up with a great idea for our Halloween costumes! It involves me, Jim, AND Chester. Couldn't find a way for the cats to fit the theme, though. It'll be funny & fun & scary in its own way. You'll just have to wait for photos to find out!

On my lunch hour, I finally finished painting our porch!

For now, anyway. I think we want to tweak it a little- change the color of some parts, paint other parts. But for this rainy season, it's done. Yay! I love the red!

You want pictures? Hmm. Maybe later.

<3

Awesome.... We got our heating-oil tank topped off the other day in preparation for (sigh) winter. The price was $3.60 per gallon. That feels expensive, but I went back & looked at our last oil delivery, in May, and we had paid $4.11 per gallon! 

The price has dropped 51 cents! What a deal!

I always manage to keep myself super busy while Jim's out of town. My first day of bachelorettedom yesterday was no exception.

The day started at a very cold, dark 6 a.m. I joined several of my friends for a 5K at Minto Brown Park:  Stuart, my usual 5K buddy; Kobbi & Brian- this was Brian's first 5K as a new runner, and he finished first; and Beth and Michael- Michael spent most of the run pushing little Eli (9 months old- his first 5K!) in a stroller & wrangling their big dogs, Zula and Wally. It was a really fun morning, despite the cold and despite Jim not being able to join us.

Followed that up with brunch at Sybil's Omelettes and then the Farmer's Market with Sarah & Stuart. Did some chores at home and took a nap. Then put on my shoes and walked downtown to pick up my bike from its tune-up (”Cost: zero dollars”) at the Bike Peddler downtown. I made some stops on the way, though. Got my favorite iced tea from Wild Pear. Yummm. Stopped at The Arbor to pick up a gift for my friend Marissa (coffee-scented adorable candle). Bought a shirt from the discount rack on the sidewalk of Merangue.

Wandered through an exhibit on the Capitol grounds called “Eyes Wide Open“ showing the human cost of the war in Iraq. They had a pair of combat boots lined up for each Oregon soldier killed in Iraq, along with a picture, name, etc., tagged on the boots. They also had construction hats for the contractors, and a bunch of other random shoes to represent Iraqi civilians. It was very sad and touching.

That evening I went over to dinner at my new co-worker Marisa's house. I brought Chester, despite some misgivings. He doesn't have the best history of good behavior at other people's houses. Sometimes he freaks out and refuses to go inside (Joe's house, Pippen's house), or won't move once he's in there (Jessi's house).  On Marisa's driveway, he plopped himself down a couple of times, and I dragged him a little bit. Then he changed his mind and trotted right up to her front door, went inside, and made himself at home. He had such a good time with her dogs- a tiny fluffball named Maggie, and a fun 6-month-old boxer named Lois. They played in the backyard, and he came in and out of the house without any problems. Inside, he was very good and would sit & lay when I told him. It was quite an impressive evening and one of those exciting steps forward in his development into the world's best dog!

Once I get out of bed today, I'm going to finish painting the porch (there's just one little edge still waiting for paint). Then I'm having brunch with my second-cousin Honey, and she's going to try to teach me (again) how to knit. I hope this evening to finish cleaning the house and then stem the grapes!

Phew, I hope my whole week isn't this jampacked.  But it probably will be...   :)

I read an article today about local vineyards that were scrambling to harvest their grapes, because there's a chance for freezing temperatures tonight. That reminded me that I should get around to picking the grapes in our backyard. We've been nibbling on them for a couple of weeks, and there were a few beautiful bunches of grapes back that I wanted to pluck before the weather ruined them.

I grabbed my little harvest basket and clipped off half a dozen bunches of grapes. How wonderful!

Then I stuck my head into the brambles of vines..... There were more grapes. Lots, lots, lots more. An hour later, this is what I ended up with:

29 pounds of grapes!!!

Isn't that crazy? This is from one grape plant. I'm going to go do some reading to find out what I can do with 29 pounds of grapes.... Wish me luck!

So, a couple of months ago, I started going to ::gasp:: Jazzercise. It's actually really fun and a great workout and I like it.

Tonight after class, one of the instructors pulled me aside and asked if I've thought about becoming an instructor! Um, no, I haven't.

(OK, Jazzercise is nothing like this 1982 video by the founder of Jazzercise. But it cracks me up. I could do that, right??)

Here's my new library! Big tall bookcases, adorable little chair, swinging lamp, plenty of books. What more could a girl need? (Well, there ARE a lot of bare spots on those shelves, huh?)

Here, supermodel Jim showcases the new chair. Isn't he a catch?

I ordered the chair online. When it arrived, I realized that the pattern almost exactly matches the fabric of my purse. Heh. I guess I know what I like:

Here's Chester enjoying the new Library Wing:

If you've been to my house, here's a shot to show you where the bookcases are in the living room. It's right as you come in from the front foyer:

Fun, huh? The bookcases are from Ikea; the chair is from Overstock.com; the lamp is from (shhh) Fred Meyers; the books are from a lifetime of hoarding.

I love my new chair! ... except for the woozy feeling* it gives me from all the chemicals it's soaked in. Whew. Well, soon enough we'll soak up all those fumes into our skin and brains, and then the chair won't smell anymore. Yay!

(*Friends with babies: Please stay away! The outside of my house is surrounded by lead paint chips, and the inside is a funhouse of fumes. Friends with an affinity for chemically altering yourselves for entertainment purposes: Stop on by!)

This chair should be arriving at my doorstep today:

Tho, there could be complications, because my doorstep is unaccesible. We spent yesterday painting the porch & stairs red! They're not quite finished, but they look great! I'll post pictures when it's done...

I'll also post pictures after the chair is assembled and the books are placed in the new library wing of our house! :-)