Running Man

I suppose it's not really funny, after all it is a very serious natural disaster, but for some reason Chris and I find humor in these signs. They are posted fairly frequently along the Oregon coast. It shows a guy actually trying to outrun a tsunami... OK, maybe the signs wouldn't be quite so humorous if the idea wasn't so ridiculous. Me, when I hear that tsunami warning siren, I'm jumping in my car and driving to higher ground. Anyway, we've nicknamed the guy on the sign "running man."

You know you're Orthodox in the Pacific Northwest When...

See the original article on "The Onion Dome" website and my additions to their list - on my Orthodox blog for today.

Scruggs - the "Animal Planet" aficionado

I think the picture speaks for itself... forgive my (finger?) in the frame... not one of my finer photographic moments.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was yesterday. As usual we had a great time over at Linda's (Chris' mom) hanging out with family and eating way too much. Mom and Dad came up as they have for the last few years. We love having them up as part of the festivities - and Mom's contribution is always Macaroni & Cheese - yum!




As usual, Jacob & Madeline stole the show. Jacob has lost his first tooth, which you can't really see in this picture (it's on the lower row) and he's not sure where it is... it's been lost. I don't think we ever had that problem as kids... not when there was cash involved!

We just met Bose(Please forgive me if I've spelled it wrong), Lea's significant other. Lea and Bose just moved to Seattle from Boston. Bose has taken a job working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - very cool. Alas, Bose is really used to the East Coast and is still adapting to the West Coast way of life. I really hope that he and Lea will adjust. We love having them back on this end of the country where we hope to be able to see them more often.

My journey to Orthodoxy

I've started another blog... this one is about the Eastern Orthodox Church and my life within The Church. There's not too much there yet, but I hope to be adding more in the days to come, feel free to check it out here. This blog will continue to focus on on the more general part of Chris' and my lives. I will try to provide links to the other site from time to time in this blog, plus I have put a link in my links section to the left for those of you who feel like jumping over to the other blog from time to time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. I am grateful for each one of you. May God bless your day!

I went to church Saturday to do my weekly altar flowers and the place was just buzzing with activity… I was there not only to do flowers but to also iron some vestments as we were supposed to change colors to holiday red on Thursday, but since I was sick, it didn't get done on time. There were also a bunch of women, men, & children making fleece hats and scarves for the homeless in the fellowship hall, (they started around 10am and were still going strong when I left at 1pm). Fr. Matthew was up in the church with another parishoner working on an extension so that the choir can stand up front in the church. Even with all of this, the hospitality committee was having a meeting in the kitchen planning the events/activities that will take place through Christmas & the new year. It is such a great church community and I feel like we all genuinely care for one another. So many people take such an active role in supporting our church and making it feel like home.

Loving Husband

This cracked me up. Thanks to my friend Paula from church...

Progress...

As you can see from this picture, Elmo has adapted quite well to having the kittens around... I was sick at home with a cold several days this week, so one afternoon Elmo and Scruggs decided to hang out on the couch and nap with me.

They are all still working out how to play together as Elmo's idea of play is a little rough for the kittens and he's not sure what to think of the fact that they like to play with his Floaty and his Rope. The girls, on the other hand, like to sneak up on him and bat at his hind quaters... to little effect. He has so much fur on his flanks that he rarely feels any their invitations to play.

Can you spot the cat in this picture?

One of Flatt & Scruggs new favorite pasttimes is playing with the plastic "grass" that we have in our front entryway. However, Flatt has decided that the best way to really make sure to whip this grass into submission is to actually crawl into the middle of the plant and attack it on all sides from one central location. This plant, being plastic, can withstand a bit of a beating. Unfortunately, all other plants have had to be removed form the reach of kittens for their sake (houseplants are usually poisonous to cats), not to mention the sake of my plants.. which wouldn't fare nearly as well were Flatt to attack them from a central location inside the pot.

CWF (Cat Wrestling Federation)

I've never had two kittens at a time before. Let me tell you it's a lot of fun. Not only do they entertain themselves, but they also entertain us in the meantime. Their latest activity is working on their auditons for the CWF. Here you see them practicing moves such as the dreaded head-lock and the required psyching out of one's oppontent.

One big happy (?) family

“The girls” are finally ready to start exploring the house. They really want out of our bedroom and have been demonstrating this desire by meowing very loudly and by darting for the door every time it’s opened. So, last night was their first adventure out in to the big, wild, woolly, world that is our house. They loved going into all the rooms and sniffing everywhere… I’m sure that there is Elmo smell and Vesper smell on almost everything in the house, so they really had to check stuff out. As far as they are concerned, everything went really well; they got to see new sights and visit new places. They arched their little backs a bit when they first encountered Elmo and Vesper, but then they pretty much moved on and began exploring without too much concern. As far as Elmo and Vesper were concerned, their perspective was a little different…

Vesper: OK, this was the reaction we saw coming. Vesper was not too excited about the new kids being in her “domain.” She growled and hissed and them, but fortunately, it didn’t go any further than that. Flatt & Scruggs would have liked to been friends with her, but when they saw that wasn’t going to happen, they backed off and pretty much left her alone. My guess is that Vesper and F&S won’t ever be great friends, but as long as they can deal with each other living in the same house, that’s good enough for me. Vesper has never been one to be too excited about sharing her space with others; feline, canine, or other. To her way of thinking, it should just be her and her people – everyone else can go jump in a lake.

Elmo: Now this really surprised me. Elmo is actually afraid of these little balls of fuzzy chaos. He had wanted to meet them so badly for days and now that he has, he’s not sure what to think of them. He was in the same room with them for a bit last night and wouldn’t even look at them. He avoided eye contact altogether and basically wanted nothing to do with them. Both Chris & I were caught off guard by this reaction. We really hope that with some time and work he will get over this initial reaction. He wasn’t like this when Vesper came into the house, but then, Vesper was a full-grown cat, and Elmo has had cats around his whole life. The kittens are a new experience for him.

Treadmill Woes

OK, anyone who knows me knows I’m not the world’s biggest health or fitness enthusiast. However I must admit to having an on-again/off-again love affair with my treadmill. Right now I’m back in the on-again mode with this device that simultaneously imparts both torture and cardio-vascular fitness. I have tried other pieces of equipment over the years, but I keep coming back to my treadmill; I guess it’s because I likethe option of being able to walk or run, plus if I raise the incline, you can actually work some muscle groups while doing your cardio (‘cause I’m so interested in working those muscle groups!). Anyway, the long and short of it is, I’ve had this treadmill for close to 10 years now and it has served me well, but as I was finishing up my walk last night, I noticed that my belt is starting to fray where it is joined together… this can’t be good.

I have an elliptical trainer which I also use regularly, but I still just don’t like it as much as my ol’ reliable treadmill. I know that it is probably possible to get a replacement belt for this machine, but I’m guessing that the expense of the belt plus the installation would get me a good ways towards the purchase of a new machine. This isn’t exactly a purchase I had in mind to make right now, but I guess when you consider the health benefits, it’s worth it. I’m off to check out the Craigslist offerings… maybe I can find someone who doesn’t appreciate the irony of the love-hate relationship you develop with the thing over the years and the fact that if it were gone, they might actually miss it.

The New Kids on the Block

Well, we have some additions to our little fuzzy family. Last night I picked up our two orphans from the shelter. We blame my aunt & uncle who we recently visited in Nebraska for this addition. They are a 5-cat household!?! Chris & I loved being in their house with all the cats wandering around, so we decided that we too could ornament our house with more cats! We found these 2 sisters about 2 ½ weeks ago through the Cat Adoption Team (CAT) here in the Portland Area, visited with them in their foster environment and went through with a pre-adoption as they were not yet ready to be released. CAT will not release their cats unless they have been spayed or neutered. Come to find out, kittens can be spayed as soon as they reach 2 ¼ pounds… which is around 8-10 weeks. This is a lot younger than (I think) they ever used to advocate doing it, but I’m sure glad that that is over & done. One less thing to worry about.

Ever since we knew we were getting “the girls” we have been really hesitant to come up with names for them as we didn’t know if any names we picked out ahead would suit their personalities. But on the way home yesterday (about a 30 minute drive), the girls started in with a “duet” of baby squeaks and mews. From that point on, I knew that the “Dueling Catjo’s” had their names… Flatt & Scruggs. My apologies to Lester & Earl who are probably spinning in their graves about now… we're not positive yet, but my guess is these names will stick.

The girls are sequestered away from their other fury siblings in our bedroom at the moment. We are trying to acclimate them to the house slowly and we’re not sure how the first intoductions are going to go. Elmo is dying to meet them. Every time we come out of the bedroom, he’s at the door trying to peek in to see them. Vesper on the other hand has either not noticed the strange new sounds and smells coming from our bedroom or she is feigning indifference. Either way, were pretty certain that the indifference may escalate in to something more akin to loathing when she actually spies her new sisters. She will not like the idea of having to share her royal acoutrements (she is the Queen after all) with others… she has a tendency to “not play nice in the sandbox.” Yes, pun intended.

Elmo at the Beach

Elmo loves the beach. He loves being able to play with his “floaty” on the beach. His floaty is a floating Kong toy with a yellow nylon rope attached to it. However, this one has long-since lost its floaty-ness. It’s more like a "sinky" at this point, but Elmo still loves it and loves to chase it until his little dog legs about collapse under him. He’s almost 13 years old, but when he gets out to the beach he will play like a dog 10 years younger. Then he has to be carried up the 3 long flights of stairs that are our beach access. After this he is usually stiff and achy for the next couple of days and will barely go outside to pee. This year we, as the dog parents, got a little smarter and didn’t let Elmo run himself into the ground. We paced him a little better and he was actually able to climb the stairs himself on the way back to the house – a good thing since carrying a squirming 45-pound dog up any stairs is a real struggle.

How Cannon Beach got its name

Cannon Beach, Oregon
The story goes that in 1846 a US Naval schooner foundered and sunk on its attempt to cross the Columbia Bar near Astoria. When the ship broke up, a part of it carrying 3 cannons drifted south and washed ashore near what is now Cannon Beach. One of the cannons was retrieved from the wreckage and carried ashore by a midshipman from the schooner with the help of 3 Tillamook Indians, the local tribe resident on this part of the beach. The midshipman and the Indians pulled the cannon onto a creek bed for safekeeping. They named the creek Shark Creek and the location “Cannon Beach”. However, due to shifting tides and blowing sands, the cannon was buried in the creek bed and eventually forgotten. It was found many years later by a mailman making his rounds on horseback. The cannon was then pulled out of the bank of the creek and put on display in town. Eventually the cannon was moved from it’s original display location and exhibited on highway 101, the Pacifici Coast Highway, which runs past town. In 1989, the cannon was moved to its final resting place, in the Astoria Heritage Museum. The above picture is a replica of the cannon which is still displayed on highway 101, just outside Cannon Beach.

Our Trip to the Beach: Part 1

Chris and I have spent the past week at the beach. Chris’ mom has a beach house that we love to borrow at least a couple times a year - usually once during the fall. One of my co-workers looked at me strangely when he found out we were going to the beach in the rainy season… isn’t that an oxymoron? Not for us, we love to come out here just to escape. Usually the rainier the better – it gives us an excuse to hide out in the house, light a fire, and read. OK, I admit, we do like getting out on the beach while we’re here, but for Oregonians that can be done in the sun or the rain.

This year has been sunny and really nice. Although for most people this is probably a stroke of luck, for us it makes it much harder to just sit in the house and read – and still have a clear conscience. It has been warm enough that having a fire has been difficult. The first night we tried, we ended up opening up the door and a window just to cool off. That night we ended up sleeping with the ceiling fan on high. The next couple of nights we figured out that if we wanted a fire, we would have to light just one log (whoever invented the “presto” log was a genius) and then not add any more but just let the one burn out. That seemed to work pretty well.

So Here Goes...

OK, so this is my stab at my own blog site. Thanks to my sister-in-law Heather for the inspiration. I love reading her blog to see what she, my brother and their kids have been up to. It’s a great way for me to peek in on their lives and see what’s going on. So, to that end, I thought I would post up my own offering of what Chris & I (and some of the rest of our family) are doing in our daily lives.