Let's go on a wine tour . . .

Anybody that lives in Western Washington county or Yamhill county cannot travel very far without driving past a winery. Visiting wineries has become a huge tourist attraction around here and from what the wines, meals and sceneries have to offer, it's no wonder. In all the years we have lived here I've never been on a "wine" tour. So before I get too old (uh, like tomorrow), going on a wine tour is on my list. There are so many to visit, but these are a few that I would like to make sure I stop by. Hey, maybe if I sign up on the web for their wine clubs and mailing lists, I'll even get coupons, yeah!!!

In Carlton, this winery is always a busy spot on the weekends when we pass by on our way to McMinnville. http://canasfeastwinery.com/winery/pages/cucina

On the back road into Lafayette when we visit our son and his family we pass by the many acres that this winery occupies, http://www.willakenzie.com/

This winery is in Forest Grove about 5 miles out of town, they have a great holiday wine and the best Christmas ornament collection around, http://www.shafervineyardcellars.com/

My sister-in-law worked one summer at this winery and we definately loved the view and the wine at a discount! http://www.montinore.com/

This is why I am a wine slob, I like to buy wine that has a cool label, now this looks like a wine shop that I would like, http://www.hipchicksdowine.com/

Another interesting place to stop in Carlton, which is now the new Dundee in winemaking! http://www.winemakersstudio.com/thestudio/index.jsp

This site is just for area winery browsing, great pulldown menus to check out local vineyards, http://www.winetouroregon.com/

One less good person in this world . . .

Sad to hear today of the passing of Paul Newman. He made so many great movies over the years, but what is truly amazing is his 50 year "Hollywood" marriage to Joanne Woodward, and the millions of dollars he raised through his charities for people in need. He was a total class act. Although this video was taken 20 years ago, his screen work and charity work continued.

Rest in Peace Cool Hand Luke . . . .

BEAVERS WIN! BEAVERS WIN! BEAVERS WIN!

OSU 27 - USC 21 . . . Oh my gosh!!!....what a great game!!!!! I can't even talk, I've lost my voice, my throat is killing me, but soooo worth it!! yeaaaahhhhhh Beavers!!!!

Let's make history again Beavs!!

WE BELIEVE!!!!!

Sweaters, pumpkin latte's, and football . .

Fall is here. It made a statement this Monday by coming into town with 60 degree temperatures and a light rain in the morning. After a summer full of lots of warm & sunny weather, fall has definately arrived. This season of the year is my favorite, as much as I love summer, fall is the best. The amazing smell in the air after the rain has arrived, the changing colors of the leaves (not the raking of them, I don't like that part), wearing sweaters and sweatshirts, going to football games, shopping at fall holiday bazaars and having a fire in the fireplace again, it's great! There is one thing that I definately don't like about this time of year and that's the flu, cold and cough season that seems to start as soon as the weather changes. I'm an example of that today as I stayed home from work feeling lousy with runny nose, plugged up ears, headache, in general just feeling yuck. Browsing the Fred Meyer aisle today to look at getting some cold medicine was extremely intimidating. Do I want cold/flu medicine? Or only cough medicine, or cold/cough medicine, or only sore throat medicine, or sinus headache/cold medicine? Do I want preventative medicine like Airbourne? Do I need Daytime medicine or Nighttime medicine?? I could be spending a fortune here . sooo many brands, sooo many symptoms, oh brother, why does it have to be so difficult? What if none of my symptoms are a combination of what they are selling?, My headache is getting worse just thinking about it (so I know I need headache medicine). Enough about that, now back to happy thoughts of pumpkin latte's and cute kids at Halloween, that's what this time of year is about! right?

Congrats!

to Brittany and Tommy! Look forward to the August wedding!!

Yeah! this is fun . . .

Does God have a PC or a MAC? . . .

Prayer and the Internet. I understand that people preach in all different ways, some by going to church, and some by not going to church. Lately it seems to be popular to receive an email request to continue a prayer chain, instructing you to forward this or that email or you won't pass go and head directly to heaven or some person might not get better from their illness or even worse die. I'm sorry, but I think it cheapens, demeans and provides unnecessary guilt by condemning the receiver to basically "go to hell" for not doing as the message says. Like God is sitting at his PC and looking through your firewall to confirm that you ARE in fact forwarding everyone of those emails and doing so to 10 friends within 5 minutes of receiving it, as they are instructing. You will not want to face him at the Pearly Gates without having forwarded the "prayer message" email. It just seems cheesy to me. I think prayer and spirituality is a personal experience, although many want to stand on the mountains, preach to the choir and shout from the rooftops, fine, it must be good for them, it's just not me. Prayer to me is for everyone and everything, not to be selfishly given or focused to any one person, or any one tragic event, there are too many who need our prayers. So just know when I'm forwarded an email like that, I delete it without guilt, so perhaps I will go to hell, that would really suck. But . . I do enjoy prayer emails like this one! Thanks Doris! I guess we can relate!

• If you ever thought about punching, chocking, poisoning or strangling someone that you work with - You need to pray at work!
• If you ever hear a co-worker call your name and the first thing that crosses your mind is "What the &#!@ does she want now?" and you try to hide beneath your desk. - You need to pray at work!
• When someone comes in and announces, "Office meeting in 5 minutes" and you think "What the &#!@ do they want now?: - You need to pray at work!
• When you take vacation time and you come back to find a mountain of paperwork on your desk because no one would do it and you think "Those sorry @!&# B#!$@!!" - You need to pray at work!
• If you avoid saying hello or how are you to someone because you know it's going to lead to them telling you their whole @&#! life story - You need to pray at work!
• When a co-worker comes in a little too happy singing "Good Morning" to everyone and you think "Somebody needs to slap the !&@# out of her" - You need to pray at work!
• When your computer mysteriously turns off and you want to say "Which one of you sons of @&!@# turned off my computer?" - You need to pray at work!
• And if you know all of the above words that have been bleeped out - YOU definately need to pray at work!
• NOW LETS ALL BOW OUR HEADS.

Couldn't pass up . . .

Sign at campground next to restrooms . . NO we were not in these sites, no way.

On to turtle heaven . . .

Sad news to report . . . one of Dale's beloved turtles passed away this weekend. During the summer of 1992 our son Chad (an 8th grader at the time) bought a box turtle from a local pet store. He named him Harry and put him into an aquarium in the house, very soon after that Harry laid an egg, so his name was promptly changed to Harriet. As with pets at times, the turtle ended up staying with us as our son moved on and out into the world. Dale has spoiled that turtle with exotic fruit meals, heat lamps and rocks, resort accommodations in the garage and in the backyard, and let her roam free in the yard when he was working outside. So today we held a small service (him and I looking at a box) and talked about the good life she lived. Dale talked about maybe having her stuffed . . what??! (I dont' think so!), instead she is being buried in our yard, where many other various cats, hamsters, birds etc have gone before her. So here's to the many happy turtle memories (oh brother) we have and the family reunion with "Timmy" that never happened. We think Killer misses her, oh yeah that's our other turtle, I know we're crazy.

Aahhhh . . a weekend at the beach

Barview campground north of Tillamook was beautiful this weekend, except at night . . . brrrrrrr . . cold! many layers of blankets. Lots of fun for the last campout of the year!. Good times! thanks for arranging Andy!

Andy doing some skimboarding . . don't worry Josh I won't post your stunt pictures (oops, fall down) ha!

Uncle Josh wants a ride too . . Lucas is not happy about it!

Chad and Lucas taking a stroll . . .

Happy Birthday Nicole! . . .

Have a great day!! and I hope all your 1st & 2nd graders are on their best behavior for their teacher Mrs. C!

P.S. Lucas told me he would only have poopies for Auntie Stephanie on your birthday!!

The Griswalds go camping . . .

A weekend under the stars awaits us . . . but first the part I dislike the most . . . packing. Uugggg. Good thing there is a checklist.

• Clothes: plus jackets and sweatshirts (never know what the weather at the beach will be)
• Bath/shower stuff: towels, shampoo, soap (never know where sand might end up..eewww)
• Food: our assignment breakfast, enough for an army whether an army shows up or not.
• Munchies: different than food, something that can be nibbled on all day, typically unhealthy but good ;). Don't forget the stuff for smore's!
• Tent & Bedding: Sleeping bags, blankets, comforters (never know how cold it might get in the tent, could possibly suffocate from the weight of the blankets . .take precautions) Make sure air mattress leak was fixed since last campout, not fun to be laying on flat ground by 3:00am in the morning.
• Cooler: beverages of all kinds, lemons/limes (sliced) hmmmm what could these be for? ha!
• Cookware: no use bringing food if there is nothing to cook it on. Something to make coffee with is a MUST, nothing worse than not having hot coffee first thing after sleeping on the ground when your air mattress has gone flat.
• Chairs: definately a must for the family circle around the campfire.
• Firewood: if there is room in between the other stuff in the car load some firewood to avoid buying overpriced pieces at the campground.
• Campstove/propane BBQ: makes for unhappy campers if you forget the one thing you cook your food on, yikes! better just turnaround and go home.
• Entertainment: cards, games, footballs, frisbees, whatever floats your boat.

Ha . . now how is all of this going to fit into the car, well that will be the challenge. I'm ready to see some stars and hear the ocean!

Lucky for me . . .

Our high school Athletic Director loves to fish. We have been the fortunate recipients of salmon and steelhead fillets when he has a successful weekend, which I have to say is quite often. He's quite the fisherman. We enjoy grilling fillets on the BBQ with a spray of olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning or I wrap them in foil bake them in the oven slathered in mayonnaise and lemon slices. Either way they are really good. With this time of year being peak sweet corn season here is another great recipe using both salmon and corn.

Salmon & Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

3T. butter

1 large onion, chopped

3 red potatoes, diced into 1/2 in. cubes

3T. flour

4c. chicken broth

2c. fresh or frozen corn

1c. cream

1/2t. paprika

4 salmon filets - about 1 1/2lbs. cut into 2in. cubes

1 - 2T. fresh dill, chopped

1 - 2T. fresh parsley, chopped

sea salt & pepper to taste

lemon juice, optional

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and potato, cook stirring often for 5 minutes. Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered 5 minutes. Stir in corn, cream, paprika, salt & pepper. Return to simmer. Add salmon and simmer for 4 minutes or until fish flakes. Add fresh herbs and lemon juice, if desired Enjoy!

Available this holiday season . . .

All grown up . . .

Happy Birthday to my niece Amanda! It's so great to have you back in town again! Hope you have a great day!

Off to Bear Country . . .

Dale is off to his favorite city in the US, Chicago. Home of his beloved Bears and Cubbies. Some big machinest tool convention (now doesn't that sound like a barrel of fun!) takes him there for the week. He had hoped to catch a Bears game while in town, but they are playing in Detroit tonight. He's gonna see if he can find a "Bears" bar to hang out in and watch the game, maybe Ditka's restaurant. So for me a week of full use of the remote control, shopping until I drop and maybe even a quick trip out to Spirit Mountain (ssshhhhhhh!!)

Kinda short isn't it? . . .

Every 6-8 weeks I make my trek to the hairdresser. I have been going to the same gal for over 15 years. My appointments are pretty routine, wash, color, trim ends, trim bangs. Probably during the last 10 years I have said those scary words, "Cut it short, it's time" maybe a half dozen times. So I leave it up to Leia to trim away and I am always happy with what she does. Well, except one time, when I was in one of my spirited moods (many years ago) and said, "Hey, how about a perm?". She did it, I left the shop it looked nice. Went to Seaside the next day a Saturday, walked in the misty rain and wind, called her on Sunday practically in tears saying, "I look like Orphan Annie!!, my hair won't lay down no matter what or how much product I put on it, help! you have to do something". So she kindly took me in as her first appointment on Monday morning, put some straightener in it and life was good again. ha. I have basically worn the same hairstyle since . . sadly to say. . elementary school. Just your basic long hair. I sometimes get it cut short but it always ends up back to my regular old school hairstyle. When I would come home with a new do that was short some comments I would hear would be: "Geezzz, you sure got your hair chopped", "You look like a boy", "Did you get it short enough?", "Why did you do that?" or I would just get "the Look" you know the one, where they know if they say anything it will not be good. So I was not surprised when I had my appointment this Friday and I told Leia "trim it above my shoulders", she said, "oh, OK? you sure?" "Yep, it's time". I entered the house with hubby packing for his trip to Chicago, he initially gives me "the Look", then he says (as predicted) "kinda short isn't it?" and I respond "Not as short as it could have been" . .then he says, "Well, it looks nice". I love my hubby after 32 years he's gotten it right.

A weekend project . . . right guys?

What do you mean he was arrested?

Never have I seen a group of guys (Dani and Nicole are players too) so intense, so professional, serious and concentrated, their homework has been done (all 5 minutes of it in hubby's case), their papers are spread across the table, each having their own set of documents, and so knowledgeable about the background of current NFL players. "That guy is out for blah, blah, weeks with an injury", "This guy has been suspended for blah, blah weeks", "That guy was just arrested last night" "WHAT arrested!!, How did you know that?" "Well, they just talked about it last night on SportsCenter for about an hour". Man, you really have to keep up on all these players to be a contender in the fantasy football draft OR just be really lucky I think. So here's to a season full of trash talk (remember your sportsmanship) and we are talking BIG $$$ ha! Well for the end of the season winner I guess it is. May the best team win!

It's over already! . . .

Well, our nice long weekend has come to an end. How come they go so fast? Friday night was the debut of the new artificial turf field at the high school. There was a dedication ceremony prior to the football game for the families and the financial donors of the project, and the Viking football team capped the evening with a win over Sandy. The weather was perfect! Saturday was a beautiful wedding held in St. Paul that went late into the evening, Sunday was a birthday BBQ for mom at the house with Lucas spending the night so his Mom and Dad could have a concert getaway and today was the official christening (packing) ceremony of Blake's new Beaver's tailgater trailer. It will come in very handy for all of the longhauling of tables, chairs, generators, cookers, grills, flags, coolers, lights, bins of stuff, etc, etc, oh my gosh, it's become tremendous the amount of things that get hauled to the games now!! But it's totally worth it!! Yeaaah! Beaver Nation! It was great to see everybody and now it's back to work. The return of the wild (I mean students) begins next week and ready or not here they come!! Here is a photo of Lucas I took while he stayed this weekend, he likes to kiss now . . especially when he sees himself on Grama's oven door!! ha! . so cute.