Portland is just a nice ninety minute drive from the coast, but it feels like it’s about 2,000 miles of difference in temperature. Portland, ninety-five degrees, beach, sixty-five. As much as I love the ocean and the beach, and even the beauty of Oregon, this still hardly qualifies for me. … Read More
Rose City Molars
Ouest had a molar loose for a couple weeks. She finally agreed to let me yank it. I put a loop of floss around it, and in doing so realized that the tooth was basically just slightly wedged in between the other two teeth. I gave it a yank without … Read More
Portland Excursions
Despite appearances, Ouest walked out of here with two holes in her ears, and without shedding a tear. She did the same thing a couple years ago, but they kept getting infected that time, so we let them heal and close up. Personally, I would have been happy for her … Read More
Fair Season
You can hardly live in Portland and not have a nose ring, so Ouest made a couple out of paper clips and got Grammy in on the act. Ouest has been taking guitar lessons while we’ve been out here. Amazing what a difference a good teacher makes. We tried this … Read More
Seattle Tourists
We never come to Portland without a trip to Seattle. This time a couple of our plans fell apart, but we headed up anyway, and spent a day being full-on tourists. First, a stop at Kerry Park, overlooking the city. Broke out the selfie-stick for this one. That backstop. When … Read More
King County Fair
On our way up to Seattle we stopped at the King County Fair. We love small county fairs—the down-home redneck-y goodness of them. Part of that, I’m sure, is due to our nostalgia for simpler times. Very little has changed between a fair when I was a kid, and a … Read More
Clutch Hitter
For the past couple of years the Porsche clutch has been slipping. I haven’t been able to really stomp on the gas, and I’ve had to nurse it a bit on steep hills. I was determined on this visit to do something about it, so with a quick road trip … Read More
Mississippi Avenue
The Mississippi Avenue Street Fair, in Portland, is one of our favorites. It’s always an eclectic group of people and food, and somehow it always seems to fall on the nicest weather day of the year. “Oh, Mexico…It sounds so sweet with the sun sinking low…” Getting him ready for … Read More
Lewis River
It’s not often I get to meet up with my business partner—really, any time we are able to meet up with friends it is a random occurrence in which we all end up at the same place at the same time. But here we were, just an hour apart, so … Read More
Mount St. Helens
We’re out in Portland for a bit helping Grammy out with some stuff around the house. We’re always thankful that we get to come visit her in Portland—it’s such a great town with so much to see and do close by. But then again, when we’re here we also tend … Read More
Portland-y
When I was leaving Florida I had to figure out what to do with Crabby, the hermit crab who is now 150 years old in hermit crab years. For some insane reason, airlines don’t allow a hermit crab on a plane—if you have a 90 pound Lab, he can sit … Read More
Hurricane Season Haul-Out
With nowhere to go for two days I was able to just hang on the boat, work, and… nope, that’s about it. No people came through, no going ashore, no swimming. Just quiet—except for the water being released from Lake Okeechobee. The morning that the railroad bridge opened up, the … Read More