It's that time

Jillian went to go see Santa today. The whole time she was worried because she couldn't think of anything she wanted. I'm not sure what they talked about but took quite a while. I think she asked for a puppy. Doh!

Monster March

Vampiress and Uncle Festerski.

Camping!

This weekend was Dad and daughter camping time. Julie had prior commitments and couldn't make it. We drove to central Oregon and met up with some friends who just happened to be renting a cabin at the same state park as us. Jillian and Claire had fun playing on Saturday and both got to take a canoe ride across the river. On Sunday Jillian and I went to Smith Rock and hiked the misery ridge trail to the top. It was actually harder coming down.

Nice catch!

Gil caught a nice 28 lb coho salmon. Smoked salmon on it's way.

Halloween is near!

Some of the witches, goblins and spooks are coming out.

An Apple a Day...

Jillian's cavity brought a bout a day trip to the apple farm. Not really but it makes a good story. Anyway, we headed to Hood River for the girls annual apple trip. This time I was allowed to go as well. They had some things for Jillian to play on and a hay ride through the orchard. The weather was perfect. I realized that 16 years ago that very week, I was visiting Oregon for the first time and saw Mt Hood just as I did that day.

Dentist

Last Wednesday Jillian went to the dentist to have a cavity filled on a baby tooth. When we got there, the adult tooth had moved down far enough that they decided to pull it. Jillian was a brave little girl and got a visit from the tooth fairy.

Pheasant!

After 3 hunts, I finally got my first pheasant. I started out at daybreak and after about 30 minutes, I came around the edge of a cornfield and he was sitting there feeding. I saw him and he saw me and started running for the cornfield. Having no dog, I sprinted after him to get him to fly and sure enough, it worked. I got him on my first shot. This was my first harvest of any animal, so I guess I can call myself a hunter now? And to my father, the bird watcher, "Sorry, Dad."

I brought him home to show Jillian and she watched me clean the bird and was very interested in what was going on. Surprisingly easy to clean. Now it's time to figure out how to cook this bird.

Strut Your Mutt

Hey all,

I'm fundraising again!

This year I am strutting for the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon. Strut Your Mutt is a yearly DOG event, and this year we were asked if the cats would join. Best Friends Organization is putting on the walk on September 28th, 2013 at the Sellwood Riverfront Park. I am in charge of the volunteers for our walk and so far have raised $630.00 It costs $30 per cat in the clinic. My goal was originally to raise $200, but surpassed that quickly. My new goal is $750. That's a total of 25 cats!
The benefit of this walk is to raise funds for YOUR non-profit towards spay/neuter.
If you feel so inclined, you can click on the link and look me up, and donate.

Thanks you so much for your time!    Julie
www.strutyourmutt.org

First day of second grade!

Summer break is officially over. Jillian started second grade today. She knew plenty of kids in her new class, unfortunately, she got the strict teacher of second grade. I think the teachers reputation is worse than reality. Jillian just needs to toughen up.

The Sunflowers

Summer is fading into fall, but the sunflowers at Grandma's just keep getting bigger.

Jillian's catch

Julie had some volunteer work to do on Saturday morning, so Jillian and I decided to go fishing. On our way out we stopped to see if Grandpa and Grandma wanted to go along. Grandpa knew of a good little spot on the Clackamas River, above the damn and Jillian caught a couple of small trout. We took them back to the house and Grandpa cooked them up and Jillian had fresh trout for lunch. Very proud of our fishergirl.

Bang!

Before we left for vacation I went to the trap range and shot a couple of rounds. One of the guys I had met there was shooting pictures since his gun was in the shop. He was nice enough to send me the pics of me. These were taken during my first of two rounds in which I shot a personal best of 22 out of 25. After taking a break, talking to some people and watching others shoot, I decided to give it another try. My second round was a new personal best of 23 out of 25. Unfortunately it hasn't been consistent, as my last 2 times at the range have been much worse.

The Grand Finale!

We came back to the park for the evening parade and fireworks. Definitely one of the coolest firework shows ever. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking us on this magical trip!

Disneyland Day 2

The first part of the day we spent at Disneyland itself. We rode more rides and met more characters. We then left for lunch and swimming at the pool.