tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-112624002008-09-05T21:12:04.032-07:00Random happenings from my little corner of the world...samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-72026626491644146222008-09-05T21:07:00.000-07:002008-09-05T21:10:16.670-07:00

Miles driven: 2,940Photos taken: 318Diving pelicans observed: at least 20 Length of trip: 16 daysResults of the kids' first attempt at gold panning: approximately 7 flakes of gold and about 60 garnetsElectronic gadgets that needed to plug into the one car outlet accessible from the front seat: 7 (GPS, satellite radio, cell phone charger, Bluetooth speaker, iPod FM transmitter, DVD player, and

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-7882653543541676392008-09-05T20:23:00.001-07:002008-09-05T21:12:04.042-07:00

Once again, the blog has been neglected in favor of real life. We had a great summer - the weather here wasn't too cooperative (too hot and windy, or too cold and windy) but we had two+ fabulous weeks in California. We managed to hit many of my favorite places, visited some old stomping grounds, spent time with friends (okay, only one of them blogs) and generally had a great time playing

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-85199810834299285612008-07-17T22:27:00.000-07:002008-07-17T22:29:59.259-07:00

In anticipation of some camping on our vacation, we set up the tent in the backyard today. We bought the tent last year and never used it, and figured that we should give it a trial run. Of course, the kids asked if they could spend the night out there. We just saw them off, each equipped with a sleeping bag, pillow, flashlight, and stuffed animal. Yes, even the 12 year old. We'll see if

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-54364968429974108392008-07-16T20:21:00.000-07:002008-07-16T20:31:23.238-07:00

Not much to blog about lately. We've been busy working away at getting bedrooms painted and furniture moved around. No one has any organized activities going on; the kids are just hanging out with friends. When we can't take any more drywall patching, sanding, scraping, or painting for the day, it's too hot and windy to enjoy ourselves outside, so we just collapse in the house with a cold

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-79507774113065745802008-07-08T22:35:00.000-07:002008-07-08T23:01:58.503-07:00

Having always lived in the west, and reasonably close to rural areas, I don't remember a time when I didn't think of summer as fire season. Usually that wasn't at the forefront until sometime in August, but this year is scarily different. My beloved home state is under siege; the county where I grew up had three major fires before June was even out. Another place I called home is still

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-79370428951406803352008-07-01T21:55:00.000-07:002008-07-01T21:58:07.781-07:00

I finished four projects at work and my new staff person was as good as I had hoped in her first presentation to the executive team. I found out that I got a raise. A REAL raise, not the minuscule COLA the legislature granted but something I will actually notice. And I didn't have to ask for it. [As exempt, non-union employees, we do not get any sort of systematic pay increases other

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-34686630797406019832008-06-30T22:59:00.000-07:002008-07-01T20:30:32.089-07:00

Last weekend we were at the lake about an hour away from home. I brought my laptop figuring I would work on planning our vacation road trip later this summer. There is supposed to be wireless where we are staying, but I wasn't able to get a decent signal. So I decided to go up the road to a coffee shop with free wi-fi. Guess who begged to come along? Son. Why? He had promised to email a

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-83350625904274388192008-06-21T15:03:00.000-07:002008-06-21T15:03:25.445-07:00

First cherries of the season from the farmers' market.

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-22317329068278441342008-06-18T23:42:00.000-07:002008-06-18T23:48:03.947-07:00

Spring is concert season in our school district. It's not enough for each school to have its own groups perform; all the schools across the entire district have to get together. Twice. The first round is all orchestras, and the second is all types of music ensembles: choirs, orchestras, and bands. It is quite something to see so many students massed together and making music. It's

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-6032098914584296532008-06-17T21:48:00.000-07:002008-06-17T22:07:15.390-07:00

Somehow the calendar says it is mid-June. The weather outside is still saying March, with an occasional short lapse into May. My mind believes it is still April, because that was the last time I can remember having time to think. The days have just been too busy. A more thoughtful blogger wrote about her decision to cut back on writing for her blog, saying she needed to have both feet in the

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-33237918267532303502008-04-25T20:06:00.000-07:002008-04-25T20:24:41.201-07:00

Here are Son's youth symphony performances of O Mio Babbino Caro Powered by Podbean.com and the third Brandenburg Concerto Powered by Podbean.com In O Mio Babbino Caro, he is playing a bass solo along with the harp for about the first 20 bars - admittedly, it's very hard to hear his part; I don't think their recording equipment is very sophisticated. But it's still cool. The

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-86632159405872879782008-04-20T15:54:00.000-07:002008-04-20T16:25:53.796-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, our spring break adventures included an opera performance. I didn't start out planning for that experience, but it turned out quite well. Prior to this, my opera experience was limited to two field trips to the San Francisco Opera House during elementary school. I know we saw Carmen, and I'm pretty sure the second was A Midsummer Night's Dream. I can recognize and name

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-51799015029105743702008-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:002008-04-19T20:48:45.541-07:00

Before the specifics of March's books get pushed out of my brain, here are some comments. I finished two more books in Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory series. Stone Angel is one of my favorites so far. It took Mallory out of her NYC context into the deep South, and filled in some gaps from her past that gave more insight into why she is who she is. Charles came along for the adventure (not

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-81102433158651826482008-04-15T19:57:00.000-07:002008-04-15T20:17:05.435-07:00

...was the last two weeks flying by. In somewhat chronological order, that time has included: a review at work, for which I had to write all the reports, organize the documentation, etc.the kids' spring break. Because of bullet #1 above, I couldn't get away until late in the week, so we took a flying trip to Seattle for what turned out to be as much art and culture as we could cram into three

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-88182698567216878862008-04-01T22:00:00.001-07:002008-04-01T22:31:35.301-07:00

Yes, I still am capable of doing crazy, spur-of-the-moment things. Like deciding on Sunday that all of us should go to the NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday night to watch Stanford play Maryland. There were tickets available. Spokane is only about 160 miles away. The kids have never seen anything like a Division I college basketball game. Besides, this matchup was even my grad

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-69649700275894913982008-03-30T21:51:00.000-07:002008-03-30T21:56:31.357-07:00

Go read this post on Dooce. Especially if you've ever tried to come up with reasons for your dog's inexplicable behavior. It's been a while since I've laughed so hard. Go, Chuck!

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-14420224561913535692008-03-28T21:19:00.000-07:002008-03-28T21:55:22.340-07:00

For the second time, I am stuck on the wrong side of the state because of bad weather. What happened to my mountain pass karma of the past 15 years? and spring?Phhht on rental car companies that are too cheap to even give you a snow scraper. I might have thought more seriously about waiting out the pass closure had I had something besides my hands to clean snow off the car. In reality, though, I

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-44190354715753471242008-03-25T16:05:00.000-07:002008-03-25T21:50:22.794-07:00

Sometimes the kids seem to be growing up really fast. Other times, not so much. This past weekend we were discussing the schedule of activities -- this has been one of those weeks where we have not had everyone home for dinner because of all the practices, meetings, rehearsals, etc. When we got to planning for Easter Sunday, I was running through the list of events: "Well, I have to be at

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-78495003355710081352008-03-21T16:15:00.000-07:002008-03-21T16:30:01.844-07:00

Latest obsession in the NWWing household: Son has been hanging on to the various gift cards that he got for his birthday and Christmas, just waiting for the right thing to come along. Last weekend his youth group had an overnight event and he finally got the chance to try Guitar Hero. He was immediately hooked. Fortunately for me, the local Target had it in stock for the Wii and we didn't

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-48645023186113931772008-03-12T22:18:00.000-07:002008-03-12T22:29:20.171-07:00

Time for some distraction - needing to get my mind off stuff that's in the local news. As seen at Are We There Yet?: Of the top 250 movies (as voted by IMDB readers), bold the ones you've seen, and italicize the ones you've seen part of. The first 50 are here - the rest are below the fold. 1. The Godfather (1972) 2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 3. The Godfather: Part II (1974) 4. Buono, il

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-42677858420135558832008-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:002008-03-08T09:22:07.096-08:00

February was kind of a slow month for reading. I didn't have my usual energy for plowing through books. I've also resumed reading aloud to the kids at bedtime, and that fills the need to spend a few minutes with a book at the end of the day to disengage my mind. I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with Son; even though he got the book when it was released last year, he never

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-65325031903278438862008-03-07T21:19:00.000-08:002008-03-07T21:34:35.900-08:00

February technically has fewer days, but it's got to be the longest month of the year. The month started out rather frantically, what with getting stranded in Seattle by the weather. After that it never really recovered. No one was really dramatically ill, but all of us felt off - the kids each missed a day of school and I left work early several times with a migraine. The sky is grey, the

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-70228277368367456172008-02-22T17:36:00.000-08:002008-02-22T17:49:34.482-08:00

As seen at Pharyngula: a piece by Carl Hiaasen on science education and the Florida state board of education. Coincidentally, I picked up Stormy Weather at the library the other day - reading that is definitely on my list of things to do this weekend. I'm ready for some down time and a good laugh. And I need to recharge before my Sunday afternoon task: driving a vanload of middle schoolers

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-65198294907343490482008-02-13T21:36:00.000-08:002008-02-13T22:03:30.725-08:00

Trying to catch up here... I intended not only to keep track of the books I read this year but to make some notes and comments as I go, and already I'm behind. In January I started Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory mystery series. I liked the first book: not the usual formulaic plot, and the central character has a unique story--an orphaned street kid who was adopted by a cop and his wife; she

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11262400.post-91552260954201965912008-02-07T22:03:00.000-08:002008-02-13T21:33:26.863-08:00

We made it to Seattle, but I'm not sure yet we'll make it home. We heard the train wasn't running through the mountains today, and three feet of new snow is forecast between now and Saturday. The highways are closed frequently, and when they're open the driving is treacherous. There is a different urgency to getting home, since our state is holding caucuses on Saturday and given the choices

samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03422441532210271158noreply@blogger.com