Cory and Meg Granholm

Hi.

2010-05-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, we have a blog. I'm so awful at keeping up with writing anymore. Good gravy.

Anyway. Last time we spoke it was June. Since then almost nothing has happened. Except:
* I went camping in August:

* I cut my hair off, also in August (and am now growing it back because, though it was cute, Cory likes it better long)

* I joined a madrigal choir after pinch-hitting for them in September at Shrewsbury Faire

* We got attacked by a deer in December which made us unable to go to Disneyland for Christmas

* In February, we spent two weeks eating only raw food. I consider it a mixed success: we both felt much better after eating it but I planned poorly so we didn't love all of the recipes and I spent a lot of money on groceries.

* I turned 30, and Cory helped me celebrate by putting together an amazing surprise party at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, with all of my family and friends. It was awesome.

* A dear friend of mine had an adorable daughter and I was very happy to have been able to hang with her at the tender age of 2 weeks:

* A couple of hours after meeting my friend's daughter, I got rear-ended on I205 North as I was taking my friend and my sister to dinner. We were mostly OK (my sister and I now have new chiropractors) but the poor Echo was toast:

Here I request a brief moment to remember our little Gerbil, who was there when we got married, took us on our honeymoon as well as two trips to Texas, and was a happy little trooper. But the Jeep Liberty last weekend was too much for it; the side rail got smooshed. So we took our total loss check and...

* Yesterday we purchased a 2009 Subaru Outback!

I have never written a check so big as for the downpayment of this car. Ouchies. But we love it so - it's got so much space for our legs! We've outfitted the trunk area for Mr. Linus! It's such a pretty color!

And now you're about caught up. See you next year! :P

Ryan Hill in June

2009-06-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Megan and I packed the car the day before we headed out to Ryan Hill. All the necessary accoutrements were there, including what seemed like way too much dog stuff and way too much camping stuff. After all, it was only for one night, and only with one dog. How things change when you add a little variable to your lifestyle.

I wanted to leave by 7 am on Saturday, but we didn't actually hit the pavement until a leisurely 7:45 am. That was just fine. We stopped at REI to snicker at the dog-related items like a sports drink for dogs. (I wanted to buy one to see if Linus would start sweating green beads of moisture like in the old Gatorade ads.) In order to make sure Linus was comfortable while we were in REI, I gave him a chewy bone. By the time we came back some 20 minutes later he had apparently eaten the entire thing. Or else he managed to bury it in his crate somewhere. Ah well. Next time we shall watch him more closely.

Then we set out onto 84 to get to the usual northward turning point at Biggs. At some point Meg suggested we take the old Historic Columbia River Highway, so I turned off at the appropriate exit. We soon came upon the beautiful Wahkeena waterfall and took a swift jaunt up the path to the bridge. Linus met some new friends while Meg and I tried not to step on some rather portly slugs. After a quick stop for some canine bodily functions, we continued onward. This time we didn't stop at Multnomah Falls because of the already hefty tourism going on there. We did stop at Oneonta Gorge to walk through the short tunnel and admire the creeky river.

Onward we pressed with a brief pause at the mock Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, Washington. Speaking of which, we do need to see Maryhill Museum for the fabrics and other tidbits they house there. Another time. After another canine bodily function moment at the Agriculture Museum in Union Gap, we finally arrived at Ryan Hill. Grandma and Grandpa Ryan, the Hoys, and the Striblings were there along with their dogs. It was a great time to meet some new friends (in Linus's case) and greet some old family. After some conversation we headed over to Tim & Stacy's house for some dinner. Roger was there, and it was nice chatting with him. We also saw Remmy's brother, Therby, though he didn't talk much. There we all stayed and talked and visited and remembered until about 10 pm or so. Megan was teaching Sara and Sammy how to crochet while Tim introduced me to the wonders of Peggle (which is now permanently attached to my iPhone). At long last, Megan and I drove back to Grandma & Grandpa's place to pitch the tent in what was becoming a strong wind. Grandpa pointed out a good spot between the grapes and the pool and in moments we had the tent up and filled with dog and sleeping bags. However, Megan and I did wander around the orchard a bit in the dark looking at satellites and spooky branches before getting to sleep.

The next day we visited some more around the breakfast table with rye bread and coffee. Meg showed everyone some photos on her laptop -- a device we were proud to introduce to Grandma and Grandpa! Some time later Grandpa insisted we all go and get cherries (bings and rainiers) and so we all obliged. While we picked cherries, Linus was getting used to the Stribling dogs and they were teaching him his place in the temporary pack. After a lunch with the family, we packed up the car and headed for home. The trip home was quick, but we did pause for a few hours at Mike's apartment in Lake Oswego where we talked with him and Angela about their goings-on, and looked at some of their recent photos.

It was a long weekend, but completely fun! Linus is still exhausted from all that activity, and I'd wager that Meg and I are in recovery mode as well. Nevertheless, we're looking forward to another visit during August.

Astoria R Good Enough

2009-06-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend we're gonna load up the Toyota Echo and head to the northwestest part of Oregon civilization: Astoria. Whenever you mention Astoria, you're supposed to remind the reader that "The Goonies" was filmed there. Now that we got that out of the way (as well as the Cyndi Lauper reference: see this post's title), we can get to the good stuff.

We haven't settled on a route to get to Astoria yet. Actually, we have, but I'm not going to disclose it here because I would like to believe that someone reading this is a stalker, and frankly I won't give you the satisfaction of knowing where I am. That reminds me. I watched last night's Colbert Report and it was much better than I thought it would be. Obama even put in a few words! What a guy.

Back to our goings on.

We haven't had a sound vacation in awhile. I guess life is, you know, like a vacation, man. Right? I mean, we work and we play and we have a good time, right? I dig, man.

Aside from that, we haven't spent the night, together, somewhere other than here for awhile. Since I decided not to do the OSU graduation thing this time around, we figured we'd make the most of the weekend outside of Corvallis city limits. Why Astoria?

Well, there's the Lewis and Clark angle. And of course the aforementioned Goonies. And I think there was a song about Astoria on the radio a few years ago. I dunno. (Well, I guess I do since I bothered to get the Wikipedia link for you.) Why not Astoria? You got a problem with it?

If there's no better reason, then at least it's a nice name. Astoria. Doesn't it make you think of fairies and rainbows and magic? Assssstorrrria. Now say it with a British accent. Ah-STOW-ree-yah. Hm. Maybe more transatlanticish. Ah-STAH-ree-ah. How about a nice cockney? A-STA-REE-YAAAH. Now Klingon. A'sto'ri'acklablak. Doesn't that sound nice?

Anyhow, it'll be a blast. Next destination: Ryan Hill!

3 Weeks

2009-05-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

We've had a great three weeks, for the most part. He tries our patience just a little bit, mostly because we're having to learn how to train him, just as he's learning how to understand us. We're doing clicker training, which is based on completely positive reinforcement, and are really enjoying the results. We're reading Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor, which isn't so much a how-to-teach-your-dog-this-trick but rather how animals think and how you can shape their behavior using positive reinforcement and why punishment doesn't work. Being a punishment-focused species, though, and naturally more drawn to the bad things (or at least we notice them more), it's been a challenge for us to not just overlook when he's doing well; we have to make sure we tell him when that's happening. So far he mostly knows sit, down, high-five, drop, and come. And we're working on leave it.

Today we went to the vet for the first time. He's been before, to get two rounds of shots, but that was with his littermates. He got his third round today, and dewormer, and Advantage (for fleas), and some meds for a yeast infection in his ear (which we'll be trying hard to prevent in the future; I think he must have gotten water in his ear during a bath a couple of weeks ago). He did just fine; chewing on a rawhide during the rectal thermometer and the vaccines and only flinching when the tickly otoscope went into his infected ear. And he's gained 10 pounds since we got him! No wonder I've started having trouble picking him up out of his kennel in the mornings to take him downstairs and outside to go potty.

Yesterday was his first swimming day! We went to Avery Park, which is bordered on one side by Marys River, and we went down to a little swimming hole and put Linus on two leashes end-to-end so he could frolic. Which he did, until he started shivering from the cold water. I went in calf-deep myself, and it was nice. Then we sat in the sun in the grass until he dried off.

We also took him to the farmers market on Saturday morning, his first big outing where there were tons of people and other dogs. We'd get about ten feet and have to stop and let people pet him. He did so well, even with little kids sitting down on the pavement and leaning on him! I was so proud of him, he's going to be such a good boy with our future kids!

Linus the Peaceful

2009-05-02T08:52:00.001-07:00

Like his namesake, Linus is a true pacifist. Linus Pauling won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work against above-ground nuclear testing. While our puppy won't be getting any such accolades for at least five or six years (after all, he must first learn SIT before NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT) he's showing some strong signs of being the most submissive dog of the litter.

Linus has taken to the leash quite well. He scratched at his collar a bit last night, but barely notices it today. I attached the leash to him for a bit to let him drag it around. This morning I can have him on leash and he'll meander very closely to me. When I stop, he comes to me and sits down at my feet. Odd behavior, but I praise him for it. He's alert to loud noises and unfortunately fears neighborhood cats. However, I can see that his area of distraction is quite small at the moment. Passing cars mean little to him. A dog more than 15 yards away doesn't exist. His world is truly minute, and we're trying to make sure that we have a central part in his focus.

He woke up several times to whine last night. We expected that. However, poor Megan sleeps closer to him so she took him out a few times. I woke up at one point -- around 2 a.m. I think -- and she told me that she hadn't had any sleep yet. I empathized briefly and went back to dreamland. To help make things fair, though, I woke up at 3:30 or so and took the dog out. Then I slept next to him on the floor so he'd feel a bit less lonely. That worked for a couple of hours. At 6:30 this morning we began the routine that we'll keep for the next three or four weeks.

First, I will take him out for a brief walk. Second, feed and water the guy. Third, play. Fourth, into the crate. Fifth... shoot. I forgot what's next. It's all written down in our handy guidebook, Mother Knows Best by Carol Lea Benjamin. It's from the '80s so it's a hoot and a holler.

But I was talking about his submissive nature, wasn't I. Linus appears to be quite comfortable on his back. I try to get on my back and let him play around as alpha for a bit. It's a behavior we noticed on his farm. His brother was constantly the top dog during roughhousing, and Linus was satisfied entertaining the notion. Right now Linus gives a super-wide berth to Trout. (Seldom is he far away enough, in her opinion.)

I can't help but wonder how that will change when his attention span develops to an area greater in size than our living room. But until then, we're capitalizing on his limited perceptions by making sure he knows that the center of the pack is us, and he has a very special place in it.

2009-05-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

Trout is upset, and that may be a good thing. Today, something changed in her world. Today, we brought home a new golden retriever puppy, Linus Granholm [flickr].

Megan discovered Linus through a Craigslist ad. We talked to his parents via email and phone and then headed out to their farm for a visit. The mom, Lucy, and dad, Romeo, had a litter of 13 pups. All but Linus, his brother, and his sister (and maybe a couple more?) were either spoken for or adopted. They were born on February 20, so that puts him at 10.5 weeks old. He has big feet, a persistent patch of pitch on his face, and a devil-may-care attitude of where his toilet is. In short, he's a gem.

It's tough not to think about his predecessor, Remmy. She was a good dog with a good demeanor. She also had big paws and initially didn't care where to relieve herself. But she learned, and we learned with her. I missed out on her puppy years, but took over with reasonably good results at about her two- or three-year mark. I am excited to start training Linus how to be a good dog, too.

Until the training begins, we must observe. He is not done with whining, so we have to figure out how to deal with that. He has noticed Trout several times -- each time he sees her it seems that he is shocked for the first time -- and has barked at her out of either amusement or confusion. Trout, with her flat ears and penetrating, does not flinch.

Earlier this morning we bought a crate for Linus to sleep in. He's not used to confined spaces yet, but we're working on it. He likes to play, and I think he even likes to play with us. In fact, he played so much in the past couple of hours that he now naps under the stone table, with his muzzle wedged beneath the couch. This brief time of resting gives Trout the opportunity to observe the new arrival with us.

Oliver is here!

2009-03-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was having coffee with my very pregnant friend Erin, and she invited me to come see her give birth to her second son Oliver! I was really excited - I've seen lots of YouTube videos of births (I started a Natural Birth YouTube group) but hadn't had a chance to see it in person. So as her due date got closer (he was due April 3rd) I started bringing my phone to bed with me so I could get going as soon as I got the call.

Yesterday I chatted with Erin on MSN Messenger a few times, and she told me she had lost her mucus plug and was starting to get sporadic contractions. At around 2 she told me it was difficult to wrangle her toddler while she was in labor, but when I asked if she wanted me there to help she said no.

So I made a dumb decision and thought it'd be nice to walk to Fred Meyer to pick up salad fixings for dinner. It's a 30-40 minute easy walk. I took my phone and we set out, and got there, and gathered our groceries, and as soon as we hit the checkout (at 4:40) my phone vibrated at me.

"It's Tom," the voice said. I was all "...hi!" but thought "Tom? Who's Tom?" The voice said "we're on the way to the hospital now, it's time!" OH! Time, not Tom. Duh. And at the worst possible time, too, heh.

We flew through the self-checkout and walked home as fast as we could. I ran the last block or two, got inside and changed out of my now sweaty clothes, grabbed my bag and was out of there.

I had to call my aunt to have her help me with directions at the hospital, as the original plan was for me to go to Erin's house and ride with them. I made a wrong turn and had to make a U-turn and go back the other way, but when I got to the parking structure I found a spot pretty quickly and then made my way over to the birthing center. It was just before 6pm.

I got up to the labor and delivery area and stopped by the nurses' station and asked them to take me to Erin. The nurse knocked on the door and opened it, and I heard a baby crying - I was TOO LATE! By maybe a minute. The doctor hadn't even sewn her little tear up or anything. I rushed in and grabbed the camera out of my bag and went to see Oliver.

It turns out Erin was at 9 centimeters when she got to the hospital at 5:30, and after half an hour she was done! Her mom barely got there in time; she'd arrived seven minutes before he was born.

I stayed for almost three hours. I looked at the placenta (I said "it's kind of pretty, in a weird way" to the nurse, and she laughed and said "that's the first time I've heard anyone say that!") and got to hold Oliver for a few minutes (he sneezed, which startled him - so cute) and was there for his first feed, and was there when his big brother Anthony came to the hospital to meet him for the first time. When Erin's brother and his family got there, I decided it was time to get back home; before I left we planned for me to come hang out at her house on Thursday after her mom left, so that I could help out with Anthony and help Erin get some rest.

It was a whirlwind evening! I was so happy to be able to see at least the tail end of the birth, and Oliver seems to already be a pretty laid-back little guy!

I put a few more pictures up at Flickr.

All Quiet on the Front

2009-02-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report, unfortunately. We are currently in a holding pattern, waiting for word back from people who have received Cory's resumes, and waiting for more job opportunities to present themselves for Cory to send resumes out to them too. I kind of feel like we're holding our breath, just waiting for the next stage of our lives to start. Which is probably the way that a great deal of other people suffering from the recession are feeling. Can't do much else but wait (and keep your eyes open) when you're looking for a job; can't look for a house, can't start a family, can't spend much money on fun stuff 'cause you don't know if you'll have to spend it on groceries in a month. It sounds depressing, and it kind of feels that way sometimes, but we're actually in pretty good shape, all things considered. We have savings, I still have a job (for now - who knows how long it'll stay though), and we don't have much else to tie us down to any one area. It's just frustrating sometimes. So here we sit, waiting, for a little while longer; sure that when the waiting is done we'll actually have something to blog about.

Mom Update

2009-01-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Mom had surgery yesterday to screw a plate into her bone. It looks sort of like a Chuck-It, she said - a cup on one end that the ball of her shoulder goes into, and then a 4-5" bar that screws into her humerus. She'd been in quite a bit of pain all week, while she waited for her surgery, so it was good to finally get it done. They kept her overnight and may keep her again tonight if she is still needing it; hopefully she'll be able to go home and rest in her own bed. The surgery went fine, and she was super sore and groggy last night according to my stepdad.

I'll be going over this weekend as long as the pass doesn't keep me on this side of the mountains, to cook and clean for them a little. Hopefully she'll be feeling a little better by then.

Ouch.

2009-01-06T06:11:00.000-08:00

My mom broke her arm yesterday morning on her walk. She and her neighbor (who's a nurse) go almost every morning, from their houses on top of the hill down to the bottom and then around their street's loop a couple of times. Here's the email I got:

Well, 2009 is getting off to a somewhat "disarming" start.

Penny and our neighbor went for their morning walk at 6:30 this morning......It was very icy.

Everything went well til about 6:45 when Penny elected to become an Olympic gymnast/figure skater....without skates.

She did a beautiful half-gainer and landed on her left side and shoulder. The neighbor called to tell me she was taking
Penny to the ER in Redmond.

I met them in the ER where Penny was being X-rayed. She was in a great deal of pain. The doc prescribed some pain killers and suggested we meet with another Doc in Bend to determine the best course of action..... We were lucky that the Bend doc could fit us in at 1:00 PM.

The Bend Doc showed us the X-rays and the upper bone that connects to the shoulder joint was definitely fractured and separated. He said it would be best to schedule her for surgery and have a metal plate installed.

We're currently waiting for a call from the scheduling nurse with a date and time.

It is very painful for her to make any movements and she is currently taking a bit of a nap.

Will let you know what happens.

Poor Mom. :(

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:20:00.001-08:00

When the clock struck midnight, Cory and I had our new year's kiss and as I looked at him I got a little misty: I realized I'm so excited for this new year. I'm hoping to work more on my crocheting, getting more submissions in to more magazines and books, and making more money at it hopefully (though that was never really the ultimate goal of crochet - the process is so much more fun than the process of depositing a check). We're also at a crossroads in our professional lives, both trying to find new jobs, which means we could move anywhere we want (which we've narrowed down to three areas, all of which are near family). And I'm crossing my fingers that babies are in our '09 plans, once we've got the professional stuff out of the way.

I'm glad that the continuing downturn at work hasn't made my outlook for the future turn down as well. I know my time there is short, but it also puts us into a good situation: one where we're not tied down to any one city. I remember when things were going well and I was worried that I'd have to leave my awesome job to follow Cory once he graduated and found a job. That decision might be made for me, now, and I'm actually happy about it.

Now all there is to do is let that excited momentum carry us forward into actually doing all the things I thought about when I got misty last night. Whee!

Happy New Year, guys.

Party

2008-12-13T17:50:00.000-08:00

Cory's graduation party just wrapped up. It was nice - everybody spaced themselves out pretty well, so we were able to entertain everybody relatively easily and I felt like we gave equal attention to everyone. I do wish that people could have stayed a little longer, and that some other people were able to get here and not be sick or get stuck on the other side of the very snowy mountains. He got six bottles of wine! We were left with an empty house by 5, so now we're watching Holiday Inn and relaxing a little.

It still hasn't really set in for both of us that we've now passed over the cusp of a new part of our lives. I think for me it's difficult because I've been so focused on my situation at work (the company is on shady ground at the moment and I could be laid off any day) that I haven't really thought about what the new part of our lives means. There are so many possibilities - from the silly little things like being able to go on vacation without worrying about homework, to finding a new job and a new house in a new city, and starting a family - which is what I'm most excited about.

But first thing's first - finishing crochet projects for Christmas, and getting through another week of choir practice and a bank audit at work. Well, that's second - first is to finish watching Holiday Inn.

Strategic Management

2008-12-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

My last final for my life as an undergrad happens in about two hours. The class is Strategic Management, and I really need to focus on Michael Porter's Three Tests for Firm Diversification. But I also know that I need a 52% on this final in order to get a passing grade in the class, so the cost-benefit analysis has me writing a blog post instead. This is one of those classes where I just go through the motions and forget everything as soon as I walk out of the room. Strategic Management, heh. What the deuce does that even mean? Shouldn't I know after studying it for 3 months? Okay, I guess I picked up a couple of tidbits along the way. Writing a few papers and giving a few presentations in class has forced me to gobble up and regurgitate a few items of note. I know about the five forces. I know about support structures and about low-cost versus differentiation. But mostly I know about objectives and goals. I know more about mission statements and vision statements. I know the difference, I suppose, between posturing and what is gut-wrenchingly real.

This is my last term as an undergraduate. It's taken me longer than the average bear to get here. Part of me is still in high school, wondering what the point of college really is. It's just a piece of paper produced by a system that was invented by the man, man: It don't mean nothin. Part of me is still in the future: I have kids and a wife and a house and a job and a fairly happy disposition. College is the glue, in my mind, that holds these two positions together. It is the bridge, the door, the other cliches, that gets me from that cynical kid to the happy adult. So it's taken more than a decade to get there. It's a long bridge, it's a heavy door. Whatever. The point is that I'm done, and I couldn't be happier. Well, that's not true.

Business-speak is funny stuff. "Strategic Management." What is that anyhow? Who talks like that other than pretentious actors in pretentious television shows written by pretentious writers trying to sound less pretentious? I guess my classmates and future colleagues talk like that. I guess I talk like that now. At least, now I have a piece of paper allowing me to talk like that. But what "Strategic Management" really means is something I wish I knew more about a decade ago. It really is just a very weird, publishable way of saying "Watch your step." It is a quasi-academic way of forcing you to sit down and ask, "How long is that bridge? How stable is it? How heavy is that door? When is the right time to open it?" You ask the question today, and again tomorrow, and again next week. You wake up at 2 in the morning on some still night and ask it again with sweat dropping off your brow and your wife breathing slowly next to you. You ask it again when you're feeling stressed at a pumpkin patch on a beautiful October day and you're confused about how best to spend your time. You ask it again when you're putting peppermint sticks on your Christmas tree and putting off studying for your finals. You ask it again when you're studying for your last final of your undergraduate career.

So while I'm studying about Michael Porter and his highly publishable thoughts and considerations, I'm asking myself about this bridge I've crossed. Did I cross it quickly enough? Did I cross it boldly enough? Did I open this door with enough flamboyant gusto? Have I made my entrance into this bold new world with enough zest? I know Megan says Yes, and I know she says it with all her heart. I'm not sure what I think about it yet. Here is where Strategic Management comes in, though: The bridge continues on and the portal is guarded by a revolving door. The process continues, and it must, because I don't have the kids and the house and the dog that I want yet. What I have is a piece of paper and an ability to more accurately judge my position in my life, and my placement in this world, and the dreams and goals I have, and the methods I have to retrieve them.

My last final for my life as an undergrad happens in about two hours, and I am finally ready.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

Megan and I are now enjoying a relaxing evening at Curt and Bonnie's pad. Curt and Meg are making pumpkin pie and egg nog, respectively. Earlier, I helped Curt get some shampoo. Meg is supposed to cut away some of his Gumby-like hairdo. That should be fun.

Just a couple more weeks of classes and then I will have a degree, a wall to put it on, and hopefully, some money to pay for the wall. Gotta get me a job. Frankly, the job would be better than the degree. Wait, why am I in school? Oh yeah. The circle of life.

I'm working on a project for programming. I'm working on a project for government accounting. I'm working on a project for strategic management. All these things are due next week. Sheesh. Not much room for loving turkeys and all that. But priorities aside, I hope to watch the Seahawks play Dallas tomorrow. And by "play" I mean "lose horribly to." Man oh man, not a good season this year.

Let's see. What am I thankful for? I'm thankful for my family, of course. Mostly the wife who puts up with my fingers in her nose. But also for my sister who needs to get cured, and her family who supports her. Also for Mom who's put up with all sorts of kids' fingers in kids' noses for years. Also, I'm thankful for the other one. What's his name? Oh yeah. Joel. Joel, who should come up to Oregon to celebrate the fascinating occurrence we call "weather." I'm also thankful for accounting, as strange as that sounds. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and I wanna be sure to classify it as a current asset. Or a long-term liability. We'll see where that goes. Speaking of which, I'm thankful for my dad who had a pretty swinging Thanksgiving last year. In fact, it was a year ago that we saw Taj Mahal at a swinging bar in Seattle. That was a pretty cool Thanksgiving.

But back to this year. Blast it, I got no more words. The house smells of cinnamon and nog. I hope your turkey is warm and your hearts warmer.

Pumpkining

2008-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took advantage of the nice weather as well as the promise of a couple of free pumpkins and went down to our Community Sponsored Agriculture farm for an hour or two. Gathering Together Farm is just south of Philomath, which is just southwest of where we live. It's super close to downtown Philomath but still feels like you're out in the country somewhere. GTF has a very nice little stand and restaurant area which is out underneath a covered porch. We have yet to eat there and I believe their offered meals are winding down for the season, so maybe next year.

We had the option to take the hayride out to the patch, but we opted to walk down the dirt path instead. We met goats and chickens on our way, and peeked into greenhouses and saw tomatoes and peppers growing. The trees hadn't quite gotten to their peak in terms of color, but they were awfully pretty anyway, especially the large stand of birches at the alpaca farm across the street.

We left the stand for the patch at the same time that the hayride did, so by the time we got to the pumpkins the hayriders were in the midst of choosing their gourds. I loved the look of this little patch - it was like a tiny clearing in the trees, and looked almost wild. In some patches the farmhands clear away most of the vines and cut the pumpkins off so that all you have to do is pick it up and tote it home, but here they provided clippers to us and we walked on the huge leaves to keep from getting our shoes too muddy. We ended up using our keys to saw through the vines of our pumpkins.

We walked back again, and said hello to the pigs in the pigpen by the stand. (In their newsletter two days later they said they slaughtered one of them a few hours after we were there - poor piggy!) Back up on the porch, we each had a glass of apple cider and a cinnamon-sugar potato doughnut, and then headed for home.

Tuesdays with Brokaw

2008-10-07T06:39:00.001-07:00

The only thing I like more than presidential debates on Tuesday evenings is FactCheck.org on Wednesday mornings.

[Pause to remember HTML and insert hrefs.]

You know, now that I've had some time to think about it, I really like quite a few things more than either of those. I like rivers and I like a full moon. I like chocolate syrup on a spoon. I like a fairly funny cartoon. Speaking of cartoons, my new favorite is Order of the Stick. I'm no DnD (that's nerdspeak for Dungeons and Dragons, a game nerds play) nerd, but I get most of the jokes in this simple comic about a guild making its way through a dungeon. It's pretty good storytelling, with a touch of self-reference which I almost always enjoy.

But that's neither here nor there when the economy is in the toilet and we're electing the next guy to wave a lit match and say "I didn't do it." Ok, that's a cynical point of view. Thankfully, we have the presidential debates to let us forget about this country's problems and focus on petty differences between candidates who espouse mistruths in order to make the other guy look bad in order to make the accuser look good in order to prop him up as an example of American integrity. Bah. More cynicism.

I really enjoyed the VP debates last week. I was partly waiting for an infamous gaffe by either of the number twos. It was going to be my "Where were you when...?" moment of 2008. Now I guess I'll wait for something else. Snow on Mars? Meh. How about GnR releasing Chinese Democracy? Heh. Anyhow, I thought Biden was bland and Palin was a bit too winky. Seriously, if she winks at the camera one more time I'm going to vote for Obama. Really, I'm voting for Obama no matter what she does, but don't tell her that. Just, no more winking, kay?

So tonight I'm going to watch the next debate and have a good time. Oh yeah, when I was waiting for the veep debate to begin, and CNN told me that there was 15 minutes until they showed up on stage, I got a little flutter in my stomach. That's sick.

Applesauce

2008-09-21T19:41:00.001-07:00

This afternoon I used some local Gravenstein apples to make applesauce. It's becoming a fall tradition for me, but the last time or two that I tried it I got distracted and burnt it, and had to throw it out. So I was determined not to burn it this time. That sounds kind of silly, because applesauce is super easy, but you know me.

So I cored and chopped the apples and threw them in the pot with a little water and some cinnamon and allspice. I didn't bother peeling them, as I like the added interest in texture; plus the peels are where the good nutrients are. (I don't peel my potatoes before I make mashed potatoes, either, for the same reason.) After about ten minutes, they started getting soft, and I realized I'd put a little too much water in so I sucked it out with a baster and put it in a mug and drank it like cider.

I let the applesauce boil on medium for half an hour, and then mashed it up with a fork. At one point my thumb slipped off the fork and I put my fist into the hot sauce, and burnt my bird-makin' finger a little. Barely hurt, though. I put a little lemon juice in, but gravensteins are a pretty good level of sweet vs. tart so I probably could have gotten away with not putting any in. I didn't put any sugar in, as I like tart sauce.

Then I put some in a ramekin and ATE it. It was yummy. I like it best when it's warm, and chunky. Mmm. I wonder if it'd also be yummy with pumpkin in it. (Maybe when we go back to the farm for our pumpkins in a few weeks, I can bring back ingredients to try it!)

Those Deviant Derivatives

2008-09-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in queue for Alterac Valley. The Horde have won nearly every battle so far today. I'm hoping to change that, though I doubt prime-time will be on my side. While talking to my guildies, Megan gently suggested a healthier use of my time. So while I wait for that battleground to begin, I figured I'd write a paragraph about it.

But seriously. I'm also watching Anderson Cooper talk to some CNN guest about the current state of affairs. I don't mind telling you that my eyes get blurry and my brain gets fuzzy when I think back to Accounting 319 when Professor Whats-his-name (how do students remember professors' names?) went over accounting for derivatives. That is, after all, the problem with the recent "market adjustment" -- as Bush calls it. Hearing the guys on television say they don't understand derivatives helps me not feel so stupid. In fact, I read a pretty long article at WSJ about the accounting behind these derivatives and how it came to today's crisis. I understood that article about as much as that day or two in Accounting 319, but the author made sure to mention that few people really understand derivatives and how they work -- or don't work.

Here's what I know as those rascals in Alterac Valley finish up. Some weird stuff is going on and it's not due to preferences of red states and blue states and people who were greedy to buy houses they couldn't afford, and greedy to sell houses their customers couldn't afford. It really does come down to basic accounting fundamentals. These companies were able to hire really smart guys who really understand FASB and GAAP and all that and they can manipulate fundamental ideas like what's a liability and what's an asset. The manipulation falls somewhere in that hazy word, derivative, and it's a bit scary that I'm heading into the workforce as one of the stupid guys who can write a journal entry according to the name of the game, but can't yet intentionally exploit the rules.

Meme

2008-09-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

I rarely do memes but I was actually tagged (thanks Laura!) so I decided I'd do it. Cory was going to do it too, but apparently it didn't save or something so mine is all you get. :)

20 years ago I... was 8 years old, starting second grade at Harold Oliver Primary. I actually don't remember a whole lot about second grade. I had a friend named Cindy Berube, and we would play underneath the big douglas fir trees in the schoolyard. They had roots that came up out of the ground in places, so we would play house with root chairs and tables. I remember sweeping the "floor" with fallen branches, and I would get mad at Cindy sometimes because she pretended she was the mommy and I was the baby, and she was really annoying. We also had a reeeeeally tall slide (or so I thought) and fun teeter-totters (that my sister would later fall off of and go to the hospital) and huge truck tires that were laid vertically and end-to-end that we could go inside of or jump across the tops.

10 years ago I... was 18. I'd just graduated from high school the year before, and flew by myself to Australia to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins for the summer. I took my cousins on the train to Sydney, I ate Turkish Delight (YUM), I fed kookaburras and saw wild kangaroos, and had an all-around great time. My aunt worked at a photo studio so we took a couple of Saturdays and played around in there, with different hairstyles and outfits and things. I also went on a blind date, which was sort of disastrous (for dramatic little me, anyway) because I was super nervous, and stood in the corner of the pool hall with my coat and umbrella in my arms, trying to figure out what the slang they were using meant. Haha. So 10 years ago today I was back from Oz, and preparing to go far away to Monmouth for college at Western Oregon University and live in the dorms.

5 years ago I... was newly-married! After a 2-year relationship and a cross-country move, I'd just come back to Oregon two years before and very soon after that met Cory through my friend Nicoal. We got married in July and were having a good time being newlyweds. I was working at Columbia Sportswear, and living right across the street (technically - the complex was big and I was on the corner furthest from Columbia, so it was a longer walk than if my apartment was RIGHT across the street). In September we were doing the South Beach Diet and walking in the mornings, I believe. Good times.

3 years ago I... had been working at the lumber mill for about 5 months. I'd started in April as a temp at the front desk, and was hired on permanently in July. By then I'd taken over log accounting as well, and I think had started doing some accounting stuff as well. I was enjoying the last few days of quiet before the college kids came back - we lived on 9th and Adams in a "garden-level" (half-basement) apartment with neighbors who would get drunk and pee off the balcony, and play their music too loud. Around this time one of my neighbors asked if we'd seen the homeless guy who'd been sleeping in the laundry room. Heh.

1 year ago I... was learning the nuances of my old boss' job. She'd quit at the end of August and I took over most of her job (some of it went down to our sister company for someone else to do). I'd been going down to our sister company in Saginaw quite often to do log accounting for them as well as for my company, and then once my boss put in her notice they hired someone to do logs in Saginaw and I was trying to train her and get myself trained for my new position as well. I ended up going down to Saginaw almost every day for three months to train. I wasn't feeling all that confident and some of the new projects I had to do were pretty intimidating for awhile, especially since I didn't have a whole lot of training time. Cory also quit his job right around this time, so he could go to school full-time. That was a big change!

So far this year... I've been bringing home the bacon while Cory finishes up his accounting degree, work has been slow, I've been daydreaming about starting a family, and have been really enjoying the veggie box we get every week from our local farm.

Yesterday I... helped Cory put Lego sets together so we can take photos of them and try to sell some of them on eBay. This was the end of a weekend full of cleaning up the spare room and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. I also had a chai and some good conversation with a good friend who lives in my apartment complex.

Tomorrow I will... probably follow the same old routine - go to work, come home, grab our CSA box, make dinner, and maybe bake some bread (I'm trying to get back in the habit of using our bread machine).

Next year I will... hopefully be adding to our little family, and maybe staying at home while Cory utilizes his new accounting degree (and CPA certification!) at a shiny new job!

I Don't Like Ike

2008-09-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Cory's sister and her family live in Houston, TX - in the path of Hurricane Ike. We're glued to CNN this evening and probably will be staying up late to see how things are going for them. It looks pretty bad and we're nervous. Keep Texas in your thoughts tonight!!

UPDATE 9/13: Just got a call from my sister-in-law - they're OK! They have no power, but she said not a whole lot was damaged, besides her gutters and the trees outside.

Greeny

2008-09-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

The Granholm family is on a relatively meager income at the moment. Cory is about to start his "last" semester at Oregon State University, where he has two more classes before he gets his degree. (He's currently negotiating with his counselor to figure out if he needs to take any more credits before he takes his CPA test.) Because we wanted him to be finished with school soon enough to use his degree before he retires, he quit his job (which he'd been at for 12 years!) last September, and we've been living on his financial aid and my salary. It's worked out pretty well so far, though we're not going out buying houses and cars or much of anything extravagant.

In the past several months, I've been reexamining what I suppose could be termed our Carbon Footprint. Though I'm not so concerned about Leaving No Trace for future earthlings, I've been interested in paying more attention to our volume of recycling versus re-using versus throwing things in the garbage. We bought a handful of Envirosax for our groceries awhile back, which have turned out to be a great purchase. Not only are they keeping plastic bags out of Coffin Butte landfill, but they're cute and Trout likes to sleep on them when they're in a pile on the floor waiting for me to re-roll them into their little compact forms. I've been using more natural soaps, reusable... feminine products (not as gross as it sounds, and it's so much better than disposable stuff!), and yesterday I made my second batch of laundry soap!

What brings these two sort-of-unrelated paragraphs together is that I've found that in many cases living with more consciousness towards the environment can actually end up being cheaper than the chemical-filled convenience products on most store shelves. For instance, the laundry soap ingredients end up costing a penny per load, and the little bit of Tide we have left costs closer to 31 cents per load! Plus it's fast and it's fun and you can experiment with essential oils. When we have kids we'll have even more opportunities to be good to the earth and save some money on essentials - I'm actually looking forward to picking out cloth diapers. :)

I know that "thinking green" is kind of a catch phrase at the moment, and I don't usually subscribe to the trend of the moment, but I think this is a win-win situation for our planet and us, as long as one mostly stays away from the expensive products that tout their eco-consciousness and spends a little extra time on research and making our own products, we'll be happier and healthier AND keep a few more dollars in the bank for a special occasion!

September Morn

2008-09-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Sitting here getting ready to hear McCain talk about his politics with the people. Megan's slicing up some watermelon for us. The air is crisp and getting crisper, the odors of autumn are flowing into our open windows, and wealthy old white men make me feel uncomfortable when they dance.

Best sign we've seen so far at the RNC via C-SPAN: "COLLEGE REPUBLICAN'S FOR MCCAIN." I may have paraphrased, but the apostrophe is accurate.