Sorry for the short post but its just too hard right now to tell the story over and over. but i felt like i needed to say something, perhaps you could send happy thoughts this way.... theres a lot of people needing it.
Had a traumatic day at work, as you or may not know, i'm working in the applegate valley in southern oregon at a little organic vineyard and winery, Applegate Red. well I came into work monday morning early, met up with the grape picking crew but the winemaker frank hadn't showed up yet, he lives at the vineyard so we went to his house to check to see where he was... unbelievably and unfortunately he had a massive heart attack earlier and I found him passed away in his hallway... :-( I've taken over the winemaking responsibilities as well as i can and am still waiting for the family to decide what to do next, still over half of the grapes on the vines, which r going to the birds (literally) and because of the frost earlier there are no leaves, so no more ripening, feel like they needed another couple weeks of nice weather before they were fully ripe. worried they will soon start to rot. nothing easy, a real mess. but at the least, frank and I were able to start making about 3 tons of merlot and 3 tons of syrah...
Real tough day. I think i'm still in shock.
fortunately frank was loved by so many and his family and many of his friends in the applegate valley are really stepping up and being very helpful. but as you can imagine the decisions are still nearly impossible to make.
I hope you are all well and i miss and love you all, take care!!!!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Catch Up Time.
Just got back from a 2 week trip visiting my sister in Corvallis, Brian and Claire, my friend Raechel and my old roommates dan, matt, henry, and ryan in portland, and finally to Bremerton (near seattle) for Megan and Dans wedding.
I'm exhausted. it was a fun time and a great break from the house work which has been kind of on hold because of frustration and illness. but I have some new motivation and ready to make some real progress.
so let me catch you all up on things that have been happening this year. i posted a lot of pics on my flickr page but here are the high lights.
first are a few of the best pictures i took of the hummingbirds just out side the front window, heres a link
Next are a few pictures i during my first trip out on the rogue river with megan, dan, cassidy, austin and megan's dad. it was a great day, very fast, and a fun time.... hehehe, funny story, so sometimes after a big rapid you have to pull over to the side to empty the water out of your raft, sometimes while everyone else continues down river leaving you alone. well when i flipped my raft over my paddle shot out and started to float quickly down stream... with no one to help nearby not bad but the paddle is kind of necessary. i jumped head first on to my raft and started to paddle with my arm to chase it down. after about 100 yards, i caught it!!! and to my surprise i heard cheering... looked up and there were a bunch of people at the galice restaurant watching all my excitement. here's a link to the pics
also this summer my roommate from college got married at OSU. had a blast. saw a lot of friends i haven't seen in a very long time. it was an early afternoon wedding and after the reception a bunch of us headed out to the pubs for a little fun. heres a few pics
A place i have to recommend for everyone to visit is the susan creek campgrounds and hike all the waterfalls nearby. it was a family trip with my parents, sister, and the puppies, also all my parents neighbors. It was so amazing and i took hundreds of pictures. hope you enjoy my favorites. here's the link
and now my most recent trip, megan and dan's wedding...which i wish i would have taken more pictures but i'm sure i'll post some later from the photographer. like i said before i stretched out my trip to about 2 weeks. had a fun time up in portland with my cousin brian his wife claire, my sister and some beer. we intended to have a fun time at the porland brewers festival but it was crazy packed full of drunk people, sure there were like 50 breweries offering tastings there but every single line took atleast 20 minutes to go though... glad we all agreed to drink our tastes quick and get out of there and head to somewhere better. and lucky for us my friend raechel works at a really cool bar called uptown billiards. got their happy hour special, a 5 course meal (tiny servings) with wine pairing... it was great! plus she kept bringing us random things to taste too. also that week i met up with raechel for a concert, chromeo... a goofy electronica, dance, punk...umm not sure what to call it, but it was so much fun. after the concert went to the famous voodoo donuts and i got a captain crunch donut!!! (they were all out of the bacon topped maple bars) and then headed for a cool fountain to play in. one of those moments when you are just waiting for the cops to appear and grab you for being drunk and silly. oh and spent the night in a hammock... a perfect ending to a kicka$$ evening. also that week i got together with all my old roommates from college for a bbq. i miss those guys, we always have so much fun hanging out. the last night in portland was a little fuzzy... went to a wine tasting at uptown billards, hard to keep track of your drinking when its all so good. but i do remember after the tasting "helping" out a couple ladies (some may call them cougars, hehehe) with their pool game and being a dork, but heck i got Victoria's numbers. after a slow morning i headed for Megan's place. 3+ hour drive hung over is no fun. but made it. and what a ball of stress megan was...hahaha sorry if you read this megan but i gotta be honest, not judgemental, just how it was for me. you know i love ya. i can't believe i was there for like a week and a half, what a blur!!! all in all it was a great wedding, everyone looked great, the place was beautiful and a lot of fun looking back, sure there was lots of drama but if you have been around megan much thats just the way it is. i was one of the groomsmen, each of the pairs wore matching colors... i was tangerine with megan's friend kate. all during the reception we called each other tangerine. after teh wedding i changed out of my tux into a suit, which many joined along and we headed out for a little fun, a little karaoke and late night dennys. as a wedding present megan and dan got a few mariners tickets and brought me and the best man along to sundays and mondays game... great seats too...about 20 rows up from 3 base. spent a million dollars on beer and food but you gotta! then after a few days of hanging out head back home, stopping in corvallis to visit with the sister for another couple days and now i'm back home! yeay!!! heres some pictures from the time i was up in seattle.
I'm exhausted. it was a fun time and a great break from the house work which has been kind of on hold because of frustration and illness. but I have some new motivation and ready to make some real progress.
so let me catch you all up on things that have been happening this year. i posted a lot of pics on my flickr page but here are the high lights.
first are a few of the best pictures i took of the hummingbirds just out side the front window, heres a link
Next are a few pictures i during my first trip out on the rogue river with megan, dan, cassidy, austin and megan's dad. it was a great day, very fast, and a fun time.... hehehe, funny story, so sometimes after a big rapid you have to pull over to the side to empty the water out of your raft, sometimes while everyone else continues down river leaving you alone. well when i flipped my raft over my paddle shot out and started to float quickly down stream... with no one to help nearby not bad but the paddle is kind of necessary. i jumped head first on to my raft and started to paddle with my arm to chase it down. after about 100 yards, i caught it!!! and to my surprise i heard cheering... looked up and there were a bunch of people at the galice restaurant watching all my excitement. here's a link to the pics
also this summer my roommate from college got married at OSU. had a blast. saw a lot of friends i haven't seen in a very long time. it was an early afternoon wedding and after the reception a bunch of us headed out to the pubs for a little fun. heres a few pics
A place i have to recommend for everyone to visit is the susan creek campgrounds and hike all the waterfalls nearby. it was a family trip with my parents, sister, and the puppies, also all my parents neighbors. It was so amazing and i took hundreds of pictures. hope you enjoy my favorites. here's the link
and now my most recent trip, megan and dan's wedding...which i wish i would have taken more pictures but i'm sure i'll post some later from the photographer. like i said before i stretched out my trip to about 2 weeks. had a fun time up in portland with my cousin brian his wife claire, my sister and some beer. we intended to have a fun time at the porland brewers festival but it was crazy packed full of drunk people, sure there were like 50 breweries offering tastings there but every single line took atleast 20 minutes to go though... glad we all agreed to drink our tastes quick and get out of there and head to somewhere better. and lucky for us my friend raechel works at a really cool bar called uptown billiards. got their happy hour special, a 5 course meal (tiny servings) with wine pairing... it was great! plus she kept bringing us random things to taste too. also that week i met up with raechel for a concert, chromeo... a goofy electronica, dance, punk...umm not sure what to call it, but it was so much fun. after the concert went to the famous voodoo donuts and i got a captain crunch donut!!! (they were all out of the bacon topped maple bars) and then headed for a cool fountain to play in. one of those moments when you are just waiting for the cops to appear and grab you for being drunk and silly. oh and spent the night in a hammock... a perfect ending to a kicka$$ evening. also that week i got together with all my old roommates from college for a bbq. i miss those guys, we always have so much fun hanging out. the last night in portland was a little fuzzy... went to a wine tasting at uptown billards, hard to keep track of your drinking when its all so good. but i do remember after the tasting "helping" out a couple ladies (some may call them cougars, hehehe) with their pool game and being a dork, but heck i got Victoria's numbers. after a slow morning i headed for Megan's place. 3+ hour drive hung over is no fun. but made it. and what a ball of stress megan was...hahaha sorry if you read this megan but i gotta be honest, not judgemental, just how it was for me. you know i love ya. i can't believe i was there for like a week and a half, what a blur!!! all in all it was a great wedding, everyone looked great, the place was beautiful and a lot of fun looking back, sure there was lots of drama but if you have been around megan much thats just the way it is. i was one of the groomsmen, each of the pairs wore matching colors... i was tangerine with megan's friend kate. all during the reception we called each other tangerine. after teh wedding i changed out of my tux into a suit, which many joined along and we headed out for a little fun, a little karaoke and late night dennys. as a wedding present megan and dan got a few mariners tickets and brought me and the best man along to sundays and mondays game... great seats too...about 20 rows up from 3 base. spent a million dollars on beer and food but you gotta! then after a few days of hanging out head back home, stopping in corvallis to visit with the sister for another couple days and now i'm back home! yeay!!! heres some pictures from the time i was up in seattle.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Burrrrrr.... oregon, it aint arizona!
Well i'm finally back from arizona, and what a fun time. Had so much fun, the wedding was awesome and even had the chance to extend my trip for a couple day to spend time with my cousin mike (and fam) in sedona and took it!
I don't know where to start... so much happened. well 1st off the reason for the vacation, brian and claire's wedding!!! most of the younger guests all stayed in a rental house that was awesome, pool, hot tub, huge kitchen, bbq... i attempted to sleep in all the rooms but ended up only sleeping in about half...but i managed to not sleep in the same spot twice. some of the prewedding activities included hanging out pool side, jamming to some music, drinking, the brian sniffen memorial golf tournament (which my team came in second, loosing to brian's ringer of a team, which had 2 real golfers), a big delicious bbq one night, brian's bachelors party (bar hopping, met 8th strongest man in the world, & viva la hector!), went to a seattle mariners spring training game vs the brewers, and a visit to the desert botanical gardens (awesome, had a butterfly exhibit that i took about a billion pictures in with my new macro lens). here is a link to a few select photos!
Then there was the wedding, which was very sweet and great to be a part of... can't beat having better then front row seats! it was a lot to take in at once, it seemed to happen so fast. it was a blast dancing the night away, i'm sure i looked like a fool but it was sooo fun, not to mention i was dragged out to dance a few times by some very lovely ladies... you know who you are!!!! ;-) since i was in the wedding i couldn't take any pictures...but my sister took a few for me. notice the sand ceremony they did, i think an Arizona thing, much like the candle ceremony i'm familiar with, where the couple combine the flames of their own candles but here with sand... love it. heres a link to the pics... i'll post more if i can of the photographers pics if i get them.
after the wedding, there was many goodbyes and farewells... a few of us still had some time to do what i think everyone needs to do if they go to the southwest...visit a wild west town! we went to Rawhide...where as you walked into town the song "rawhide" was playing. halfway through the town there was a gun fight, we also watched some cowboys (and cowgirls) shoot balloon while racing on horses. saw a couple of trick riders and a big wagon with bigger horses. very fun. pics
and as i said before i was lucky enough to extend my trip a few days to spend time with mike, beth, rog and my parents in beautiful sedona. what a trip of a life time, i couldn't stop taking pictures, everything was so amazing!! it was funny, i just finished going through all my photos and i think i got a couple of the formations from every angle. hahaha went a few hikes, one up top of one of the formations with an incredible view... could see for miles and miles. there's a cool feel, perhaps attitude about this place, they say there are vortex sites all over this area with healing powers, i picked up a crystal at a cool metaphysical store and cruised through a few amazing art galleries. oh yeah, the food was great too!! the pictures speak for themselves (i know, i know, i'm so talented)
but its nice to be home. and i can't wait to get back to working on my house. make some real progress, see some changes. well i got a mountain of laundry to do and 120 new emails i need to sort though...wish me luck! miss ya all!!! xo
I don't know where to start... so much happened. well 1st off the reason for the vacation, brian and claire's wedding!!! most of the younger guests all stayed in a rental house that was awesome, pool, hot tub, huge kitchen, bbq... i attempted to sleep in all the rooms but ended up only sleeping in about half...but i managed to not sleep in the same spot twice. some of the prewedding activities included hanging out pool side, jamming to some music, drinking, the brian sniffen memorial golf tournament (which my team came in second, loosing to brian's ringer of a team, which had 2 real golfers), a big delicious bbq one night, brian's bachelors party (bar hopping, met 8th strongest man in the world, & viva la hector!), went to a seattle mariners spring training game vs the brewers, and a visit to the desert botanical gardens (awesome, had a butterfly exhibit that i took about a billion pictures in with my new macro lens). here is a link to a few select photos!
Then there was the wedding, which was very sweet and great to be a part of... can't beat having better then front row seats! it was a lot to take in at once, it seemed to happen so fast. it was a blast dancing the night away, i'm sure i looked like a fool but it was sooo fun, not to mention i was dragged out to dance a few times by some very lovely ladies... you know who you are!!!! ;-) since i was in the wedding i couldn't take any pictures...but my sister took a few for me. notice the sand ceremony they did, i think an Arizona thing, much like the candle ceremony i'm familiar with, where the couple combine the flames of their own candles but here with sand... love it. heres a link to the pics... i'll post more if i can of the photographers pics if i get them.
after the wedding, there was many goodbyes and farewells... a few of us still had some time to do what i think everyone needs to do if they go to the southwest...visit a wild west town! we went to Rawhide...where as you walked into town the song "rawhide" was playing. halfway through the town there was a gun fight, we also watched some cowboys (and cowgirls) shoot balloon while racing on horses. saw a couple of trick riders and a big wagon with bigger horses. very fun. pics
and as i said before i was lucky enough to extend my trip a few days to spend time with mike, beth, rog and my parents in beautiful sedona. what a trip of a life time, i couldn't stop taking pictures, everything was so amazing!! it was funny, i just finished going through all my photos and i think i got a couple of the formations from every angle. hahaha went a few hikes, one up top of one of the formations with an incredible view... could see for miles and miles. there's a cool feel, perhaps attitude about this place, they say there are vortex sites all over this area with healing powers, i picked up a crystal at a cool metaphysical store and cruised through a few amazing art galleries. oh yeah, the food was great too!! the pictures speak for themselves (i know, i know, i'm so talented)
but its nice to be home. and i can't wait to get back to working on my house. make some real progress, see some changes. well i got a mountain of laundry to do and 120 new emails i need to sort though...wish me luck! miss ya all!!! xo
Sunday, February 24, 2008
back from crescent lake
had a fun weekend in the snow with mom, dad, katie and doggies emma and sasha. stayed in a sweet little chalet like cabin. went for a fun snowshoe hike saturday afternoon.
heres a link!
work in progress...
been working hard... through the dust and mold... ripped out loads of funky wood paneling, tile ceiling (asbestos?), water damage and even lovely rat poop filled ceiling insulation. also had a crew come in and cut down a big o' elm tree causing some foundation and driveway issues.
heres a link to the pics!!
heres a link to the pics!!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Yay!!!! Its a twofer...a job and a place to live!
Well i didn't think it was actually going to happen so fast but i did it... i found a house to flip. (aka renovate and sell for profit) LINK to pics
Its a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1956 single story home (1972 sq ft) with an attached carport, detached garage and detached guest house with its own bath connected to the main house by a deck. Its just down the road from GPHS and really is the ugly house on the block, loads of potential, needs lots of hard work... build that sweat equity! i plan on doing almost all the work i can legally do myself, basically needs all new flooring (beautiful oak under the carpets), bathrooms are nasty so they need a lot of attention, kitchen overhaul and landscaping is nonexistent. I'm planning on 6 months and a budget of $50k.
current status... accepted 3rd counteroffer and am waiting for the title paperwork to enter escrow... closing date planned for feb. 8.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Paella Party!!!
after a nice afternoon in the applegate valley wine tasting, we returned home and i made everyone a amazing pan of paella!!! it turned out perfect! finished off the night with another round of flaming spanish coffees!! (Link to the pics)
Friday, January 04, 2008
Happy New Year!!!
Well its finally here... 2008! Hopefully a year of growth and new beginnings.
Had a wonderful christmas with the family. heres a few pics (LINK)
heres a pic of all of us in our new ear muffs...cute huh!?!?!!
still looking for a job... anyone got good sources? i've been scanning craigslist, careerbuilder... but nothing i'm too excited about.
Had a wonderful christmas with the family. heres a few pics (LINK)
heres a pic of all of us in our new ear muffs...cute huh!?!?!!
still looking for a job... anyone got good sources? i've been scanning craigslist, careerbuilder... but nothing i'm too excited about.
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