Pond now officially devoid of piscine activity. :(
Posted on May 17, 2011
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Ok, a couple of weeks after discovering a lone holdout in the pond after a long winter, and an algae-filled spring, he finally gave up the ghost last night. Of course this is only a day after I finished the cover to protect him from any backyard predators, and two days after seeing a blue heron on the neighbors roof.
Spring? Fooled and doused.
Posted on April 5, 2011
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Spring has come, and played cruel jokes on the flowers in the garden. Light rain and warmer temps brought out the Daffodils, the Magnolia, and the Clematis.
The Daffodils fared better than the Magnolia tree in the heavy rain and chilly temperatures. They’re coming back. The Magnolia, however, got a lot of it’s flowers knocked off in the rain, and a lot of the remaining blossoms are starting to brown around the edges, even before the whole tree is in bloom. And, the early Crocus (Croci?) got beat down to the ground. 
On a happier note, the Hyacinth and Clematis have yet to bloom, and the Tulips are just starting to bud. The Cherry is also starting to come out of hibernation, there’s new growth on the Hydrangea and all of the roses have a good head start. So do the weeds, unfortunately. Once we get some dry weather, we’ll need to get out there and mow the lawns and go hunting Dandelions – and anything else that we don’t recognize.
Tsunami Stories
Posted on March 20, 2011
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Over the past couple of weeks, Zey and I have gone through TWO tsunamis: one geologic, and one emotional.
Thursday the 10th, the same day that the Earthquake off the Japanese coast triggered the tsunami headed west toward the US, and the Big Island of Hawaii where we were trying to get a Sun Break, the mother of a dear friend was declared missing. We considered Sandy a friend of ours, as well. We got the message about Sandy in the afternoon, and that evening at 10:00, the tsunami siren near our room started going off. We were disturbed enough about the news from the mainland, but the hourly siren bumped up the stress level even more.
Around midnight, the hotel loudspeaker came on and announced the evacuation of the lower parts of the hotel, the parts closest to the beach. Our room was only 3 rooms away from being the furthest possible distance from the beach. We stayed put. Just because we weren’t moving didn’t mean that we weren’t subjected to the periodic loudspeaker announcements by the hotel. Zey stayed up all night; I crashed, exhausted, about half an hour before the geologic tsunami was scheduled to hit the islands (06:00 PST).
When I woke up and looked down at the beach, I could see a high water mark that didn’t come up more than about 20 yards further than the previous high water mark. Our hotel made it through with no damage that I could see. I later found out that several other hotels on the beach had lost ground floor restaurants (2 at the Four Seasons) and rooms to the waves. And, the tidal surges that followed the wave were still causing damage. I found one YouTube video that shows waves pouring over the seawall onto Ali’i Drive – the coastal main drag in Kailua-Kona. I have to give credit to the local cleanup department: we had breakfast at a place that was on screen (or just off) 2 days afterwards, and didn’t see any evidence of damage, or water on the street.
Neither one of us were in a very good mood, but we drove around the island to visit Kilauea. Not much damage was showing in Hilo when we passed through, but we weren’t all that attentive. The volcano was impressive, the scenery pretty, but we were tired and worn. On the Saddle Hwy back over to the west side, we passed into the cloud zone and started passing between fields and fields of yellow flowers. When the sun poked through, that magical moment lightened us up a bit.
Snorkeling the following day was garbage, due to the wave action stirring up all the coastal silt and sand. There was also a local collecting parts of his boat by kayak. Lots of debris, including a full-sized bathroom sink. The trip up Mauna Kea for sunset the day after that was good: sea level to ~13,800′ in just a couple of hours. 38 degrees felt just like home. Chillin’ on Hapuna Beach, snorkeling, and dinner in Hawi made up our last day.
We got home Monday night, and left for Bend to help with the search for Sandy on Tuesday night.
Time has no meaning in a crisis. We met up with Dave at 11 that night, and stayed until around 1. Search and Rescue had been working for a few days, Bend PD and Sheriff had been working on leads, and Dave and a dozen family members had been out putting up flyers and going door-to-door to try and find anyone with any information on what might have happened. Family support was high, community support was/is incredible.
Bend Police are not releasing any information on where they are in the investigation, which is extremely frustrating to the family and friends that are in need of ANY information about Sandy’s whereabouts. We were out walking the river, looking for any clues that she might have passed that way, we walked some of the undeveloped areas near her home. It’s been over a week now, with little apparent progress by the PD. News has gone from bad to worse as the week went on.
Zey and I had to come home Thursday night to make sure the pets still recognized us, and to make sure we still had jobs.
The search is still continuing by both the family and Bend PD. We’ve helped set up a donation point to help repay the family members and continue the search. The family has set up a website, and a billboard has been utilized on Hwy 97. If there is any information out there, I hope it comes to the surface.
Sandy, find your way home soon. You’re loved and missed terribly.
Turkiye, 2010
Posted on September 5, 2010
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Impressions from this trip? As we get ready to head for home, I’ve got a little time to reflect on what we’ve done, and what we’ve seen.
There’s a distinct difference in people here, but I’m having trouble clarifying that distinction. Is it city/country, haves/have-nots, white collar/blue collar, us/them?
The first-hand accounts are of generosity, hospitality, and care. What I’ve seen in others who I don’t know doesn’t match. People who went out of our way to hit a tortoise crossing the road that we’d stopped for (I think he was ok: shell intact, only a couple of scrapes on the underside). As well as children throwing rocks at ducks while adults looked on. Both events brought strong reactions from the ‘adults’ that I was with – reactions that were much stronger than the intent of the original actions. Is that it? Maturity? And, am I tailoring the definition to suit my own beliefs? Or, is it just my own arrogance to believe that my beliefs are ‘right’?
There’s definitely a different ruleset in play here. In traffic, the laws and guidelines may be laid down, but they seem to be rarely adhered to. Like some third-world countries that I’ve seen, the attitude seems to be: let me get where I want to go, nothing else matters. There’s an understanding between drivers that is hard to get used to, hard to understand if you haven’t grown up with it. Passing maneuvers that start a couple of feet from your rear bumper, and complete a couple of feet from your front bumper. At highway speeds. “Might Makes Right” plays a large part of it, too: busses/trucks may or may not use their indicators before changing lanes into the fast lane (illegal) to pass slower traffic.
Never a dull moment out in the mix of life!
Pine Bay: English name to make it sound like …?
Posted on August 11, 2010
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Ok, if this place was completely remodelled last year, I can’t tell. Other than some new fixtures in the bathroom, and LCD tv’s in the rooms, you’d never know. And, what’s with the pay-for-time internet access? There was WiFi in the hotel lobby, which, if I’d known, would’ve prompted me to bring my phone with me. But PAID internet?
Although it had pretty mediocre food, the desserts were great! We tried to get reservations for the smaller restaurants for about half the dinners, and were rewarded with no crowds and decent food. Although the Turkish restaurant didn’t have Döner, which is like an american restaurant not having hamburgers, or salad, or soup. Döner is one of THE foods associated with the country. And it’s pretty good, too. The staff seemed to be woefully outnumbered by the guests, and they didn’t seem to care too much about that fact, either.
The other “pro’s” that I can think of were the very nice rock hard beds, the quiet rooms, the swimming bay, and the availability of free booze. Both the Efes Pilsner and the local vodka, gin, and wine were all free. I’m still glad that we’d brought a bottle of Belvedere with us: happy hour in our room, or the Onalp’s room were a nice way to get together and strategize for dinner, the evening’s entertainment, and the next day.
The “con” list would be much longer, starting with the guests. I’m trying hard not to sound arrogant, but it’s hard. It would be impossible to compare the people to animals without insulting the animals. Even the pigs, cows, and jackasses have their shining moments.
Yes, it’s all you can eat. That doesn’t mean you need to pile your plate(s) high, and then leave half of each when you’re done. Yes, there’s a lot to choose from, but that doesn’t mean that you can wander starry-eyed down the middle of the aisle trying to decide which way to go. And, about that congregation in the middle of the passageway: what’s up with that? And, to the two middle-aged Russians who bypassed the line at the water slide to grab a turn before their time: that really was a jackass manuever.
There’s definitely a strategy to surviving a moderately-priced resort: be assertive, try to ignore the idiots, and don’t try to think about all those people out in the real world.
It’s a good thing that the flight back to Istanbul was a short one: it seemed like the a/c on the plane was broken, too. And, they only served drinks to about half the aisles… Ours was not one of them.
Kuşadası – a week at the beach
Posted on August 9, 2010
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It’s a short flight from Sabihe Gökçen airport to Izmir, about the same amount of time it takes to get from the airport to Kuşadası in the van.
We stayed at the Pine Bay (that’s “pee-na bai”) resort just a couple of bays north of the city. At first, I didn’t mind that we were requested/required to wear the wrist bands to show that we belonged there, but as the week wore on, we all got more and more tired of them. My last straw was on the 3rd morning when I was trying to put sunblock on my burnt chest, only to have the cut off end of the band scratch across my chest. It’s the little things in life…
While our room seemed fine (with a leaky shower and a poor fridge that couldn’t keep anything cold), the girls’ room had no a/c, the key wouldn’t operate the electricity circuit, so they didn’t even have lights, or TV. The parent’s room had some electricity issues, as well. We were lucky in that the room was at the far end of the complex, far away from the pool deck. At 9:30 each morning, the staff turned up the PA system, and played Reveille, a rooster crowing, and other ‘wake up’ music for about 5 minutes. I’m sure that it wasn’t appreciated by those that had stayed up late the night before. Zey and I were already camped out down on the beach by that time. 
Istanbul: Day one
Posted on August 1, 2010
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Well, we made it in without any issues. First flight gave me an infant sitting in the row behind (who eventually stopped squalling), and second flight out of JFK gave all of us a large elderly woman from NY who loved to hear herself talk (and, by the sound of it, she was mostly deaf), and a large simian man who liked to hoist himself out of his seat (frequently) by hanging off of my seat. 3 movies later, we landed in Istanbul.
It’s been about the same temp between PDX and IST, but the humidity in Istanbul was off the scale. Just incredible. We landed at 10:00 AM, and mostly made it until our goal of 9:00 PM before collapsing into bed.
I feel SO much better after a good night’s sleep!
That was LAST weekend?
Posted on July 16, 2010
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The Markleeville ride was a week ago? I was in Tahoe soaking up the sun, the lake, the air, a WEEK ago? Wha’ happened?
The Markleeville Death Ride was a great ride, through spectacular scenery. While we didn’t do the entire 5 pass/129 miles/16000′ of climbing, I feel pretty good about finishing 4 passes/90 miles/12000′. …and without injury, too. That last 20 miles uphill and remaining 20 miles back down would really have been a challenge. But, one that I’ve done before (11 years ago). The course stats are a lot of fun to look back on: max speed 57 mph, min temp 44, max temp 105. The 3 of us still had a great time. Lars and his family came up from LA, Kevin and I drove down. Kevin’s got some pix up on FB, and I put some pix up on my site, too.
Dinner at the golf club was a pleasant surprise, and swimming in Tahoe is always exhilarating.
Next up: getting ready for Turkey!
Long overdue: Spring
Posted on April 1, 2010
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Now, hopefully the Winter-ish storms will start clearing out, and we’ll get a little more sunshine.
I’ve put together the latest collection of Spring blooms and blossoms from the garden from the last couple of weeks. When we had a little sunshine.
- March in the Garden
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some truck drivers can be real @sses!
Posted on March 27, 2010
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ok, I know truckers have a hard time when there’s a lot of traffic, but I’ve run into a couple(almost literally) who have tried to run me off the highway.
When a lane ends for construction in 2 miles, there’s no reason not to use that lane until you’re close to the construction zone. this truck put on his signal, I slowed down, and he moved back into his lane. As I started to pass him, this double trailer rig veered back into the lane, forcing me onto the shoulder. Had the adrenalin rush been any less, I would have taken down his plates and called it in. That’s happened twice to me in the PNW. what is UP with the truckers up here?