Summer 2013 - Where have I been?

Wow; I just noticed I haven't posted anything since late June. July, August and September was a combination of good and bad. In July we got to go to Chicago by train (!) to visit Andrew and Henriët and help them fix up their new house. The train trip to Chicago was awesomely fantastic train trip tbut I was really unhappy with my pictures and became discouraged with photography in general. Since I wasn't really happy with my pictures I didn't have motivation to make any posts.

Then upon our return, I got sick in August and was down for the whole month. I've had a problem for 30 or 40 years where I get a cold that goes directly to my chest and I spend weeks recovering. I've always ended up resorting to a combination of codeine and prednisone; a combination guaranteed to pull me into a dull but tightly wound string. It's always been diagnosed as asthma, but I've become increasingly convinced over the past 10 years that it isn't asthma; I don't have the characteristic wheeze and it is always brought on my a virus rather than pollen or other allergy reaction.

We switched to Kaiser this past year and they've been great. When I got hit in early August I went to my allergist and started the regular round of treatment. I kept calling back every week reporting I wasn't well and asked what else we could try. He eventually sent me for a chest x-ray and saw a couple of things that concerned him. So, I went in for an CT scan. The scan showed three spots in my lung that required follow up from a pulmonologist. When I met with Dr. Brixey, she in effect said "I have good news and good news." The first good news is that I don't have asthma; the other good news is that if I had to pick a chronic lung disease, bronchiectasis would be the one to pick. The lung's structure is similar to a series of repeating sugar cones; large on one end tapering down to a point. Coughing pushes mucus  from the narrow ends of the bronchia to the large ends and out of the chest as phlegm. Clearing the phlegm allows for clearer lungs and gets rid of bacteria that love the warm wet home of mucus. I have three spots in my lungs that are honey-combed and don't have that tapered structure; as a result mucus gets caught in these spots making me have an extended unproductive cough.

She prescribed an "Acapella" breathing device. It looks like an oversize duck call and has a oscillating paddle that pushes air back down the lungs helping to clear the phlegm. I now use that device daily to help keep my chest clear. In addition, at the first sign of a cold I need to immediately start a prednisone taper and an antibiotic to attack the bacteria that wants to take up residence in the bad spots of my lungs. I'm very happy that I've been properly diagnosed and now have a plan that is directed at my true condition.

Finally and more significantly Carla ended up needing some surgery in September. That directed my attention to things other than the blog. She had successful surgery and is rapidly recovering.

With all that behind us, I thought I'd try to get back on line. As for the picture taking I can either give up or remember it is the journey that matters. I don't have to be an expert; I just have to enjoy myself and try to gradually improve.

Thanks for attending my pity party; we did have fun times this summer. I'll post some pictures documenting the cooking and parties.

Reflections on Fernhill Wetlands

June 15, 2013

Back on President's weekend Carla and I headed out to Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove. We had great light and dramatic clouds; my posting of that day, which includes a couple of pictures of eagles, can be found here. The wetlands is about 30-45 minutes west of Beaverton

Now that spring has sprung we wanted to go take another look. In the morning, Herb and I explored some garden railroads; later in the afternoon we got together for an outing with Herb and Dianne. As soon as we pulled in, we saw a Great Blue Heron nearby.

Great Blue Heron

 He (she?) put up with our paparazzi routine for a while but tired of it after a bit and flew off.

Great Blue Heron looking for some peace and quiet.

 We also saw a big white heron (?) but didn't get close enough for a picture.

With hardly any wind, the water was very calm, allowing me to get some reflections which is something I've been working on these past few months. These are the trees that housed the nesting eagles in February. Compare this view with that in the dead of winter. Nothing rivals the Willamette Valley in summer.

View across the wetlands

 My bird identification skills are definitely rudimentary. I can traverse down the taxonomy from Animal --> Bird. When Herb identified this as a Red-winged Blackbird I thought it certainly describes it well. Hmmm, maybe bird identification isn't as hard as I've imagined. Naturally I forgot the name in the intervening week and needed a remedial class from my pal Jay who is a bird expert.

Red-winged Blackbird

 
We also saw this pair of Cedar Waxwings. The name is somewhat descriptive, but not as much so as the blackbird. Jay identified this for me this morning.

Cedar Waxwings

With some birds I can go down a bit farther on the taxonomy; I successfully identified this as a "duck". However, I haven't seen ducks this dark colored before. I've asked Jay for help in further classifying it; I'l update the post when I hear back. It was right in our path and couldn't be bothered to moved out of the way as we approached, allowing a nice close shot. 

Duck.

I guess I'll need to put forth more effort in this bird identification, or make sure Herb or Jay are always around. Jay takes part in the annual Christmas bird count. He and MaryAnn recently returned from a trip to Europe where they visited Amsterdam, Normandy, and Scotland. Jay got a couple of lifetime "gets" in his on-going birding.  

My son, Jeff, is an environmental attorney and noted the "Wetlands Mitigation Site" sign below. This means the site was developed as a wetlands to compensate for some other nearby wetlands that was filled in for development.

Wetlands mitigation site. 

 After getting back to the car we headed south to McMinnville for a stroll down Main Street and dinner at Nick's Italian Café. McMinnville has upped its game when it comes to dining; Nick's is an especially nice place. Eleven years ago the four of us started our "Four For Breakfast" escapade with a trip to Wildwood Cafe here in McMinnville. It is a great little breakfast place where they coat the French Toast in corn flakes. I love French Toast and these guys do it as good or better than others I've tried over the years.

A great day with our great friends.

Garden Railroads

Apparently there is a thriving garden railroad hobby in the Portland area. The garden railroad is modelled in "G Gauge" which is larger than the old Lionel O gauge. Standard HO gauge is half the size of O which is how HO got its name.

The local hobbyists get their garden railroads spruced up for public display a couple of weekends in June. Herb's Rotary friend Hal Beighley has a nice set up and Herb was headed out to take pictures for a slideshow and invited me to tag along. I grabbed my camera and headed out with him.

Hal's layout is in the side strip between his house and his neighbor's. He had to scramble Saturday morning because his neighbor's roof gutters were blocked and lots of water dumped on his layout. But you couldn't tell he had any problems when we got there around 10:30 in the morning.

I hear that train a comin'; headed 'round the bend.

A couple hanging out on the porch watching trains go by.

Hal is plugged into what's going on in this hobby and directed us to another layout about 5 minutes away from his house. So we headed over there. This layout is much bigger with a large classification yard and track that runs all around the back fence. The owner, Bill Neville, has worked on his layout for years. He was part of a family business, Portland General Tool & Supply which was sold a year or so ago. He stayed around long enough to make sure the new folks would be successful and then gave his notice; he will retire at the end of the summer and devote even more time to his layout. 

In the fall and winter Bill works on structures in his workshop then gets his layout in shape for spring and summer. He is building a 7 bay roundhouse. He told me each window in the building has 37 individual pieces. That is dedicated. Too bad it wasn't ready for display yet.

The classification yard; the foundation for the  roundhouse in the back right has 800 pounds of concrete

Pennsylvania RR heading through a mountain pass.

Bill Neville, the owner of the layout.

Mama Leone's Chicken Soup

One of my workmates has been raving about the chicken soup at Café Yumm!. I usually go for a standard Yum Bowl (which Carla and I like so much we make at home every couple of weeks) but when the soup was available on the menu, I ordered a small bowl. It was Yummy for sure and I set out trying to find the recipe. A search for Mama Leone's Chicken Soup revealed a very similar soup on food.com from Elephant Deli. I think both companies are local and I thought maybe they shared, so I tried.

Here is my recipe with notes. I substituted chicken thighs for breasts.

It has a pretty basic set of ingredients.

Most of the line up. The butter was shy and stayed in the fridge.

Ready for the pan.

After sautéing the onions and celery in a combination of butter and cooking olive oil (not EVO) I added the aromatics and garlic. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of flour at that point. I thought that was a a lot and worried how I'd toast the flour enough without burning it 

Flour toasting with the onion, celery, and spices.

As it simmered, a skin formed on top like a pudding in the refrigerator. I had to continually skim that off. I think it was because of the high amount of flour. It tasted pretty good but you could definitely taste that flour.

Dinner is served

It's definitely very similar to the Café Yum recipe.

When I spooned some out of the container for lunch today, it again had the consistency of pudding. But it thinned out during warming. I think next time I'll cut the flour down to 1/4 cup. I may even try making the base like I do for Gumbo where I cook the roux in the oven and then add the onion, celery, and what-not. I think I'll also add an additional chicken thigh.

I used the remainder of my home made chicken stock so decided to make another batch at the same time as I cooked the soup. I highly recommend you use home made chicken stock for this, or any recipe that calls for chicken stock. It's ridiculously easy to make and there is a world of difference compared to even the best canned chicken broth. Looking back I see I have a posting on the Cook's Illustrated stock which is more involved than it needs to be. I'll blog on my new way of making chicken stock soon. In the meantime, check in with Dad Cooks Dinner.

The kitchen ended up an unholy mess. Carla was out hiking with a friend so I had to do the dishes.

Remains of the day.

June 8, 9 2013 Sunriver and Sisters

Back in February around my birthday Carla and I attended a fundraiser for Ride Connection, an organization that provides transportation for those in need. Our good friend Elaine Wells is the executive director there. Ride Connection is a fantastic organization and it's very moving to hear people tell their stories of how Ride Connection helped them. This year a legally blind woman told how Ride Connection worked with her  to coordinate her commute from Salem to Portland for her job.

There is a large silent auction before dinner and our friends John and Karen Lee bid on tickets to the Sisters Rodeo and the Pendleton Roundup. The Lee's won four tickets and asked if we'd like to join them. It's been years since we've been to a rodeo, so of course we said yes.

Sisters and Sunriver are out in the high desert of central Oregon. It's about a 4 hour drive from Portland. When we went on our road trip this past March we encountered packed snow on the summit of Santiam Pass. This time of year it is usually clear of snow.

Sisters and Sunriver are out in central Oregon; about a 3 or 4 drive over the Cascades from Portland

A satellite view of the map shown above. The white spots south of Sisters are the 3 Sisters mountains 

We had planned on staying in a hotel but Karen's sister recently purchased a house in Sunriver which is about 45 minutes southeast of Sisters.  Now we have only briefly met Karen's sister and brother-in-law so we were going to be staying at a stranger's house. To make a good impression I offered to buy and grill some steaks on Saturday night. I went to the store and bought 4 beautiful Rib Eyes and all the fixins.  As I packed Friday afternoon I made sure I had everything in the cooler. Well almost everything; when Carla and I stopped at a rest stop up in the Cascades, I suddenly remembered I left the steaks in the refrigerator at home. So, we bought some more steaks in Sunriver.

The rodeo goes all weekend but our tickets were for the Sunday finalé; that left us Saturday for lounging around Sunriver and going for a walk. Sunriver is a resort town with wonderful walking paths. We love going there and taking in the scenery. Sunriver is bordered on the west by the Deschutes River. The large Central Oregon town of Bend is named for a bend in the Deschutes.

A pond in Sunriver

A bridge over the Deschutes leading to an off road bike path

A look north from the bridge

Sunriver is a summer and winter playground. They groom paths for cross country skiing and there is a large ski resort on Mount Bachelor a little out of town.  Sisters is named for the Three Sisters mountains which are the 3rd, 4th, and 5th highest mountain ranges in Oregon. Mount Bachelor gets its name for being a solitary peak fairly near the sisters.

Mt Bachelor peaking over the ridge.

On the way back to the house we got a quick peek at some of the multitudinous deer that graze in the area.

Some deer enjoying a shady lunch.

It was a hot day, around 85 degrees. We enjoyed a nice dinner  and conversation on the back deck of our hosts.

Sunday morning we had breakfast and headed out to the rodeo. We packed up for the ride home since Sisters is about 45 minutes closer to home than Sunriver. I forgot how fun a rodeo is and how dangerous. First up the rodeo queens come rocketing out and scream around the ring and line up in the middle, then scream out again. I thought the queens were for show but they worked as well. On the calf roping events, the cowboy jumps off his horse to wrestle the calf to the ground and tie 3 of its legs. The rodeo queens shepherd the calf and the cowboyless horse.

Another picture after many of the rodeo queens have entered. The one riding in was my favorite; she really worked hard bringing the horses back to the corral after a rider was unhorsed.

Another queen speeding around the rink before joining her sisters.

One of the signature events of the rodeo is the bareback riding. The cowboys take a hard ride being tossed back and forth; it's a young man's game.

Bareback bronc riding

 A non-competitive event was a man riding 6 huge horses while standing on the back of the two rear horses.

Riding 6 horses at once while one of the Sisters mountains rises in the background

A close up of the cowboy.

Unfortunately I missed the team roping event when I went out for some water and a hotdog. I thought there was an intermission. I'm bummed I missed that because my sister Diana is an accomplished team roper.

One of the final events is the wild bull riding; why anyone would want to do that I don't know; but then again, I'm not a young cowboy. Here is the best picture I got, showing a cowpoke just as he was thrown over the bull's head; notice the rodeo clowns rush in to distract the bull to get the cowboy out of danger.

Cowboy goes head over heals and the rodeo clowns rush in to protect him. At least he's wearing a helmet.
(Click on the photo for better viewing)

I need to get some Wrangler jeans, boots and a cowboy hat for next year's visit.

Then it was time to head home. Normally I'm crabby getting back from central Oregon late Sunday night because I have to get up for work on Monday. But no more; a perk of my semi-retirement means I had all day Monday to unpack, shop for the week and generally relax.

Trains at Ridgefield

This is one of the days I've imagined when I retired. I had coffee and breakfast with Carla then as she headed to work I drove about an hour north of Portland to the Ridgefield Bird Sanctuary 14 miles north of the Columbia River. Only I wasn't looking for birds today, I was looking for trains.

I went to this location to take some train pictures in the fall just as the leaves started to turn. (you can see the pictures here) . I thought it would be nice to compare the lights and foliage today.

There wasn't a lot of activity today so I parked and read my book The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western  Europe, 1944-1945 by Rick Atkinson. Occasionally, I'd look down the line to see if the catenary lights indicated any traffic coming my way. After a bit a green light came on indicating something was coming from behind me.

Lights indicating something coming from behind me on the right-hand track.

BNSF southbound

Another version of the BNSF southbound

Union Pacific with track rights on the BNSF

I used the LightTrac on my iPad to identify the best time for taking pictures. It shows the sun angle at your selected location so you can avoid unsightly shadows. The app showed me my best light would be on trains rolling south. Luckily for me, the 4 trains I saw today were all heading south.

Spring Trip - Cemeteries, railroads, and reservations.

(Updated May 27 thanks to some corrections from my Uncle Jake).

Part of our trip was bittersweet; we visited a couple of gravesites. My Aunt Lucinda and my cousin Rebecca Laughman both passed away this past fall. My Uncle Jake and Aunt Sally had taken care of both of them the past few years and had to do most of the work in settling their estates. My sisters and I went down to Arizona when my Aunt passed away; Diana was able to be there and make her comfortable in her last days. Laura and I came a bit later and helped clean out her house and prepare it for sale.

My Aunt was buried in Sedona where she lived since the 1970's. Her husband, my Uncle Will was buried there years before. I didn't get a picture of their graves, but the Sedona cemetery is beautiful with a gorgeous view of the red rocks. While there we saw a pair of headstones that I understand have been made famous (or infamous) on the internet.

(NOT MY RELATIVES)

Click on the image below to blow it up so you can read them.

Different feelings for someone's mom and dad.

I almost laughed but then thought about the hurt and anger that went into the effort to put that on a headstone. And I can't help but think the mother's treatment of the kids went into why Mike was unable to express his feelings to his father in his lifetime.

Our family's drama amounts to nothing compared to that.

My cousin Rebecca wanted to be buried with her (and my) grandparents in Winslow, AZ. I remember all three of these people so warmly. My grandma died when I was 11 but I remember her as smiling, quiet, and most of all loving. My mom took us kids over when she helped her sisters and brother care of her when she died. My grandpa died when I was 15; My uncle was there for him.

Rebecca was 10 years older than me and I remember her introducing me to American Band Stand when we'd visit Arizona. We spent one Fall afternoon betting which leaves would crunch when stepped on them. She also taught me drive her car at her mom and step dad's farm (Aunt June and Uncle Tony) outside of Sedona.

My maternal grandparents and cousin's resting place in Winslow. My first name comes from my grandpa.The "H" stands for Howard.

My absolute favorite memory of my childhood was grandpa taking me to the Santa Fe railroad station in Winslow to watch the El Capitan and Super Chief passenger trains come into town. They stopped in town for about half and hour as they switched crews and gassed up. This was the beginning of my life-long love of trains.

So no trip to northern Arizona is complete without a stop at La Posada, the refurbished train hotel.

Inside La Posada hotel with Uncle Jake, Aunt Sally and Carla

We stayed two nights so I got plenty of train watching in.

Eastbound

Westbound high priority container train.

The hotel is a favorite of rail fans with a large grassy area with comfortable chairs. Our hotel room was on the upper floor with a balcony looking down on the tracks. This isn't for everyone; but is perfect for me. I think Carla enjoys it.

Interestingly enough, it isn't that loud. There isn't a grade crossing for cars within 50 miles so there are no horns unless you give the sign to the engineer. They glide into town from the east decelerating for their stop on the west side of town for a crew change and refueling. Trains heading east will be a bit noiser as they notch up the throttle.

The San Francisco peaks 60 miles to the west. Flagstaff is on the southerly slope

Another part of the trip was to understand my mother's family heritage. My mom's family moved out west from a small farming town - Atlanta, Illinois - when she was very young. Both grandma and grandpa had TB and were in a hospital for a time. My mom and her 3 sisters (Lucinda, June, and Barbara) were in various locations being cared by members of the Methodist church.  My Uncle Jake was born after the family moved.

When grandpa was well enough to travel, my grandpa's brothers pooled their money to give him so they could move to a drier climate. He had enough money to get to Las Vegas, New Mexico. He got a job working in a gas station. A man in the wool business had his offices in a building  across the street from where he worked. He noticed by grandpa was always busy and always made the extra effort to help his customers. He came over one day to talk with him and offered him a job. After my grandpa explained the circumstances, the man loaned grandpa his car and told him to get his family and he'd have a house lined up for them when they got back from Illinois.

His job was to travel the reservations going to the various trading posts and grade the wool and hides for purchase and organize for them to be transported to the train hub in Winslow. I read  a story about him in a magazine years ago describing how trustworthy he was. Most of his business was settled by a handshake. Later he also worked for the Babbitt company selling things at the trading post. He'd carry samples of things for the trading posts to select from. Like I said; the man was always busy: selling and buying; two jobs in one. Over the years the family moved west to Arizona: Holbrook, Flagstaff, and finally Winslow because it was a major rail center in the day.

I wanted to travel this land that he worked for so many years. We headed out through the Navajo and Hopi reservations to find the Hubbel Trading Post which is now part of the National Park Service. My uncle and aunt were real sports and took the 5 hour drive in stride.

Heading north east of Winslow toward the Hubbel Trading Post

As we drove out there I couldn't help but think how hard a life it must have been back before there were paved roads everywhere. He would be gone in the vast desert for a couple of weeks at a time. My uncle told us a story of how grandpa's car got stuck. He walked a while until he found a hogan; a Navajo home. The resident lent my grandpa a horse and he headed out to the nearest trading post 50 miles away. The mare was nursing and wasn't interested in getting too far from its colt. So my grandpa let her go and he walked the final 20 or so miles and arranged for his car to get towed out. Meanwhile, this is in the years preceding cell phones (by about 60 or more years) so the family had no idea what had happened.

The Hopi cliff homes are out in the distance.

Finally we came to the trading post. Carla and I had thoughts of buying a Navajo rug but changed our minds when we saw the prices. They were gorgeous but we just couldn't afford it. Uncle Jake and Aunt Sally told us they had some old rugs we could have if we wanted. OH MY. They are gorgeous. We picked two beautiful rugs that are at least 50 years old and may even pre-date World War II

One of the buildings at the trading post.

Jake and Sally at the trading post.

Memorial Day Weekend Grilling

After some marvelous weather earlier in the month, we've had a couple of very cool, wet weeks. Nevertheless, it's Memorial Day weekend which is the traditional start of summer. Since the weather report showed we'd have a little bit of sunshine in the afternoon, we decided to grill. I've used this Cook's Illustrated recipe a few times with good results.

While the grill is heating up, mix the thyme, salt, and pepper with the onions, cover with plastic wrap and microwave 6 minutes on high.

Easy-peazie. 6 ingredients

 After microwaving the onions put them on the bottom of a disposable pan then cover with the peppers and sausages.

Ready to be wrapped and put on the grill

 Wrap with foil and put on the grill for about 15 minutes. I had to do 30 minutes on the smoker because it just doesn't get as hot as the Weber.

Add caption

 After the sausages have cooked up pretty well and the onions have reduced, finish off the peppers and sausages on the grill.

Finish on the grill

Remove the sausages and peppers to a platter and tent loosely with foil. Let the onions cook down a few more minutes.

A few years ago when I was just beginning to discover the joy of cooking, one of my regular TV shows was How To Boil Water on The Food Network. The show host was Jack Hourigan (female) who either doesn't know how to cook or faked it pretty well. There were two chefs over the seasons (Tyler Florence was the last chef) who would show up in her kitchen and haver her help cook a meal. It sounds hoky, but it worked. In addition to easy and tasty recipes I learned a lot of everyday prep skills like chopping onions. This American-Style potato salad was one of my early favorites.

Carla made American Style potato salad

Dinner is served