Snow on the Coast - Again

We woke up to frost and frozen streets but then it snowed for about 5 minutes. Since it was about 7am, it was quite nice to sit in bed with a cup of coffee and watch. By noon it was mostly melted away and just remains cold. We certainly have had our share of weather this year. Looking forward to some nice weather coming our way!

Almost four years later and the sunken ship chart is finally in full production mode! The final product is awesome and Bill is ready to launch the sales of this very limited and extremely detailed product.

There are pictures of some of the lost vessels on the left hand of the chart, the center is devoted to the lost ships complete with narration, the lower right had corner has a list of lost fishing vessels, a postage stamp with the Peter Iredale is affixed on the matting and cancelled with the Dead Reckoning of the Pacific Graveyard 2007.

Every inch of this chart has information and memorabilia packed into and on it - from the tall tales, myths and convictions to the Cape Disappointment Coast Guard in 1880.

Bill has already sold some unframed lithographs without his opening launch. The big launch will be in April at the annual Crab Fest and we look forward to the reception of this much anticipated product. Bill has two months to get the framing, boxing and paperwork compiled and an inventory assembled! The framed chart is 22" x 42" which is much larger than previous endeavors. If you double click on the image, you will see a larger and clearer image, click on your browser back arror to return to the blog page!

This image is to give you a general idea of the product and you will not be able to read the vast majority of the many entries of the chart!

What's up with the Blog??!!!

First thank you to those of you who were looking for my entries and are keeping me on my toes. I was hoping to post some cool snowboarding pictures from Will's recent ski trip. He took 3 out of 26 pictures on the disposable and those were in the equipment chalet! Aaaagh!

He had a great time snowboarding and of course thinks that he needs about $500 worth of snowboarding equipment. Which is funny since he can't come up with the $ 70 to take the next trip the end of the month. Dad and I will probably spring for the trip to give him a second try at the mountain. This time he will not have to take the lessons, so he should be able to get more boarding time in. He was sore for a couple of days and said he hurt his knee. Since I know a little about knee injuries, I was able to ask several questions and determine that he just banged it a bit and all was okay. Mostly it was probably just using his legs in a very different way than normal. Of course, that didn't keep him off his bike for long.

The layout above is William at Jones Beach, WA on a quad (another toy he would like to have). He went with a friend and her two boys. They had a blast. William babysits the boys from time to time and they enjoyed having a bigger guy around while riding. I think that Liz enjoyed the additonal help as well - so it worked out great for all. You may recognize the setting from our Christmas cards!

I took Martin Luther King Day off at work and joined other consultants in a stamp retreat. I took over a year's worth of unfinished projects along with my Extravaganza ideas and finished all except the layout above. I still have to put it all together, but overall was very happy with my efforts. I am again going to try and teach at the national convention which is being held in Orlando Florida this year. My concept is transforming page protectors into other items. In this layout, I used 1/2 of a page protector to create my own transparency overlay. I also am playing with liquid glass and you really can't see the detail in the letters but they are colored and look like epoxy stickers.

The item that I am happiest with is this folio of pictures and items. Because the base is plastic, it seems very airy and I love the overall look whether it is folded up or open. I've had great initial reactions from folks that I have shown it to.

I had 3 1/2 days of creativity and it seemed to have sparked me to get more accomplished at work. I feel that I am finally catching up! We have been a week behind since the storm and never seem to gain momentum but this week I was able to knock a lot off the list, even when I had a few new things added to it!

All about Biking!

Well the second storm to hit the Oregon Coast was not bad for us. The winds were probably in the 50 mile per hour range but didn't seem bad. We did get plenty of rain in a short period of time. We awoke to a small snow covering this morning but are hovering aournd 35 degrees so it won't last long. But long enough that Hy wanted to get back in the house and find a warm lap to cozy in.

I guess the weather farther south was a different story. Highway 84 was closed most of yesterday due to winds strong enough to blow semi trucks over sideways (that is quite an impressive image to see not one but several large semis on their sides along the highway).

William and his buddies Cody and Devin talked dad into the Seaside bike/skate park yesterday. Hy went and got to take a full out run on the beach - he loves the park area near the skate park and was exhausted last night.

As a teenager, we find that William is into pulling his bike apart to upgrade and add new things to it. Yesterday's endeavor will mean purchasing a new wrench as we don't seem to own the size needed for the job.

Welcome 2008!

I did actually stay up and ring in the New Year in 2008! William was up and rung in the year with our neighbor's girls. They enjoyed the noise that the new year brings. There were quite a few ships in the river this year and so there were several vessel horns going off at midnight. It is fun to listen to.

I took the day off for the holiday (although I really should have gone in and tried to catch up!). The thoughts of going in was the start of our impromptu venture yesterday . . .

Bill loaded us up in the van for a Long View run. William took his bike along so we could stop in Clatskanie at the skate/bike park. He has wanted to try his bike in the park for quite awhile now and yesterday was his opportunity. He had a great time and Hy loved the park. Everything is well watered by our bug boy (as if it wasn't already from the recent storms that have drenched the area).

It was quite impressive to see the slide area. The homes (or what is left of them) are not salvagable in any way and there were piles of sludge, cars and debri against the roadside. It was very lucky that everyone had been evacuated, the power of mother nature is awesome. We are very lucky that we haven't had the slide damage in our town. Most people have dug out from the trees and the repairs have begun. I visited a friend last night and they have their new roof on, but it will be months before the interior is replaced. They lost about a quarter of their roof down one side and the rain came through and soaked 2 bedrooms upstairs and then drained through to their dining and living room continuing through to the basement. They have torn out all the lathe and plaster to the studs and are waiting for the insurance settlement before they can go further. We were indeed lucky in the 2007 storm!

The van made it through the trip and we feel we can put that chapter to rest.