summer's end

The weather has finally decided to change from summer to autumn here in the NW USA. What an amazing year we've had, a winter with as much snow as I've seen in my 50 years here (including Christmas, at last) followed by a record number of days at or above 90°. We could still reach 80° into October, but for now it's rain showers and perhaps snow above 5000' in the mountains. A change is in order, and I've always enjoyed the weak sun of October.. not to mention the great colors coming soon!

a full summer wanes..

This summer's vacations were packed together tightly - a little too much so for my tastes.

 
Four camp trips in a month, each with decidedly different styles, gear and weather. First off was a family camp with the tent-trailer, a reasonably normal event even though I had to set up then return to work for ½ day! We returned home to pack for the big 2-in-1 trip after that, taking a full-size tent for the next weekend and backpack gear for the following week. This trip started with record heat and thunderstorms, but in Yosemite NP devolved into snow-pellets and driving winds that cut our hike short and sent us out by another path (Buckeye Creek, image above). Returning home through the amazing Crater Lake park, we then geared up yet again for the Oregon Star Party, taking the tent-trailer and as much astronomy gear as could fit into our car. It was an exhausting five days of hot weather (again) and clear nights, meaning up all night and poor daytime naps. By week's end we were back into cooler weather but our exhaustion from the combined trips had caught up to us. Next year we'll plan things a bit differently.. I think!

summer's best images here!

Hard Times and Good Deals

It's sad to see so many companies disappearing in my lifetime, let alone in two years. My folks likely had such times, but never in mine. While Ritz isn't going the way of Circuit City, their closing of several branches has made some camera gear available at very low prices. I visited the one nearby shop that will close about a month ago, and they had nothing noteworthy for a Sony/Minolta dSLR. Last week I stopped in again - and only Sony and Pentax lenses were still in stock! I left the 70-300 on the shelf but picked up an 18-200 and a 28-90 'macro' lens for less than $160 combined. That will probably force me to shuffle my lineup a bit, but in the end money will go back into my bank account with these bargains - that's pretty rare for me in the camera biz! Let's face it, a new lens is like Christmas even if it's similar to something you already have. I hope to learn a few things about the 18-200 over the holiday weekend, and post shots to Picasa soon.

Tossing in some images on May 17

 

A group of imagers at DPReview chose Sunday as the day for everyone to submit images. It turned out I was homebound for most of the day, so here's a collage of images from my yard. Most of them were with the Tamron SP14, but two with the 18-250 are in here too.

Going wide: Tamron's 14mm/2.8

 

Well, after a lot of online and off-line shopping for a sub-18mm lens, a deal finally came to me. CameraWorld lowered the price on the Tamron SP 14mm f/2.8 into my budget. I had looked at this lens before and been impressed, though I wish it were lighter; for the price I paid I can manage the weight. My first tests show a touch of back focus when up close in low light, so I need to watch out for that - and the extreme field of view can catch flares off the sun at surprising angles. In any case, it's very well put together and will capture some unique views.

Larry's party!

 
A small crowd of well-wishers gathered at Silcox Hut, high above timberline on Mt. Hood, for my brother's birthday-party. My wife could not attend, and the car would be needed early the next day, so I stayed until bedtime and caught a snow-cat ride to the car (which had 4" of fresh snow to scrape off!). The sky failed me both on arrival and departure, thwarting my plan to snowshoe to and from the hut - but skies cleared while I was there, allowing for some fine imaging opportunities. I didn't get back until after 1AM, but it was great.

Images here!

a pretty hike

 
We took a walk on the 21st in the eastern Columbia River gorge, allowing us a good stretch o' the legs and our camera a good test of its capabilities with the Tamron 18-250 attached. It did not disappoint, and we have several images at the /ccreek folder on picasaweb. I've seldom shot real telephoto shots while hiking, but several birds made it worth trying, and the images will keep me at it!

images here!

The first bird, a mistakenly-ID'ed Western Meadowlark (his/her back was turned, depriving me of a better ID -- honest :)) is perhaps the best image, but the Mountain Bluebird was a touch more colorful and a surprise as well. I'd never seen one outside of the Ruby Mts in Nevada, so at 400' in Washington was not expected! Of course, the vultures weren't all that expected either; thankfully I shot in RAW mode, so later processing brought the sharpest image to life later. And oh yes: the flowers were wonderful as well, lots of grass-widow and two types of parsley, along with yellow bells and short sprigs of Bitterroot waiting their turn to show in a few weeks.

making plans

Well, my wife and I joined a fitness club and are hard at work to regain our strength and stamina. Other than the Portland snowstorm and a few days of snowshoeing/skiing around the area, and a few bike-rides to work, we have not been doing a lot of exercise. This should help - and with hot-tubs in the changing area, we get our pain and our relief in one trip! I recently learned that my presumed bursitis is in fact an MCL injury; I might still have bursitis, but right now that isn't the problem. Whatever it's called, my knee needs to be treated gently while the rest of me gets more fit.
On the snow front.. that last post was a bit off on our 'last snow'. Perhaps it was Monday the 9th; forecasts sound warmer for a while, then cooler again but late March means cool not cold (usually!). We shall see about that. The yard suffered greatly from all the snow, which seldom stays on the ground for more than a couple of days here. Time to weed, feed and re-seed the lawn (and some moss killer would be a good idea too).
Hopefully as skies clear we'll be doing more star-gazing; that too has suffered in recent months. Also, partly because this year ends in a nine and partly because it's fun and theraputic, we hope to get more backpacking in this summer. Once again: we shall see.

transitions

Daylight has returned to my morning bike commute - well, only at the end, and I commute somewhat rarely this time of year, but still true! We had what may prove to be our last snowfall overnight, not enough to cover the lawn but there nonetheless. This is putting a cramp on the first flowers that are trying to come out and play; a few crocus have emerged and more shoots are shooting as I type this. Hopefully we will devote more time to the yard this year, it's been neglected and it shows. But perhaps a showshoe trip or two first? Not until my bursitic knee relaxes again.. this is quite a pain!

what a winter!

The latest official report is that Portland's up to 23.2 inches of total snowfall this winter. For PDX, that's a lot: #15 on our snowiest winters*. In my lifetime only 1968 rises higher, #9 at 34" - but no white Christmas in '68, and no flakes on my birthday so there. Speaking of which, we're nearly through the gauntlet of holidays now: Christmas, anniversary, birthday, then Valentines Day (no, Super Bowl Sunday doesn't count :^). We celebrated quietly at a local Irish pub which serves gluten-free beer. The next morning we had about 2" on the ground, so my birthday saw plenty of flakes and overnight accumulation! Add about an inch more on the 27th and that's where we stand. Here is a particularly nice image from the most recent storm:

So now it's on to February - wonder if we can find 10.81 more inches of snow?

*I just noticed that, if you remove 19th-century reports from the list, we're #5!

home again, time for more parties..

We had a fine time in Centralia for our 2nd anniversary! Amtrak and McMenamins' Olympic Club did the work, we just went along for the ride. The Club is an old-style place, stuck in the early 20th century when water closets and showers were down the hall. We wandered through downtown and picked up a few fine antiques including a nice old mantel-clock, had great meals and watched the latest Bond flick before turning in Sunday night. It's a two-hour train ride and a one-block walk from downtown Portland to the Olympic Club, and mostly-clear skies kept things chilly but pretty all weekend.
Now it's on to the next event. Sadly, I felt crummy on Inauguration Day, when we had hoped to go join a local celebration; my wife was crushed, for a while. Now it's my birthday and time to party again - I'm not 100 percent but will do my best to be energetic this weekend. What a stretch this past month has been!

A few shots of the fun can be found Here!

and so into 2009!

Well, for the most part we survived December '08 - the snowiest ever, breaking the 1968 record (whoopee!).  It also broke long-standing records for Christmas-day snowfall and snow-on-ground on Christmas day.  Now I've truly had a white Christmas in Portland, and seeing our lack of snow-removal equipment it's clear that white Christmases in Portland are a bad thing.  Sad, but true.  My sister is now dealing with water seeping into their newly-renovated basement, and floods are becoming a problem as warm rain on old snow looks for a way to the Pacific.  

I began 2009 with a high-quality head cold, with a bit of anti-fever (97°) thrown in.  Despite my lethargy and stuffiness, we headed north to visit my in-laws - the trip we were supposed to take at Christmastime. **  We used all twelve days to get Christmas in this year, with a final gift swap occurring on January 5th, the true Epiphany day from my childhood.  Beyond the visits and a few more bits of loot, my wife's cousin was married, so that added to the festivities.  Our own anniversary is coming up next week, so I'd better stop typing & start planning :)

** While there, I added at least four more inches to my winter snowfall total.. in fact, the morning we left town Portland added another 1½" (after 2" of rain - that must have been quite a snowfall to stack nearly two inches of snow on standing water!!).  At a rough guess I've now seen (12+2+5 =) 19 inches of snow, which must be a lifetime best as well. Rumors have reached me of another cold spell late in January, so we'll see where my final snowfall amount ends!