Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Last Sweet Strains of Summer

This week I started back into the round of in-services that preceed each school year. Oh, it is so hard to sit still for a long day of lectures after having several weeks of freedom of schedule and imagination and movement. I thought my brain was going to explode and they would be wiping splatters of cerebellum off my Very Important In-Service Notebook so they could pass it on to the next hapless soul who would have to take my place. Next week: more inservices and prepping our classrooms and souls to welcome a new batch of 7th graders. We haven't been blogging much lately. Besides working more, we've also been spending more time on our bikes. Sunday, I was late for church because Stacey and I ended up accidently taking a 25 mile bike ride when we intended to take a 15-mile jaunt. We ride with our friend and neighbor, Debi, on Wednesday night. If you live anywhere near the Woodstock neighborhood, you'd be welcome to join us. Nate organized a visit from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance at his office today so he's getting to pass his interest in bicycle commuting on to others. Last weekend we missed a really cool ride because we toured the Stoller Vineyard's new winery with a group of architects and designers from Nate's firm. Although his firm didn't design the winery, they wanted to tour it because it was the first local winery to earn LEED Gold status (which means they did all these really great things to make their building more environmentally-friendly and sustainable). Before I moved here I didn't know that the gorgeous Oregon Wine Country was just down the Willamette Valley from Portland. Apparently, they can grow certain varietals of grapes here because our weather conditions match those of certain regions of France. The Oregon Pinot Noir is particularly noted. While neither of us are wine experts (oenophiles?), we do enjoy the well-ordered countryside and the occasional wine tasting. I've attached a couple of pictures of the winery as well as the electrical panels for the solar energy part of the winery so those who enjoy that sort of the thing can geek out on it.

posted by Deb @ 8/24/2006 10:18:00 PM 3 comments

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Crap!

I just wrote this long and detailed post about how much I love Portland and what a good weekend we had (Lauro, Twilight Criterium, BridgePedal) and then somehow I inadvertently deleted it. And I don't have the inclination to rewrite the whole thing. You can read Stacey's version of the Bridge Pedal here.

posted by Deb @ 8/15/2006 05:19:00 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

holy legalese, batman...

RE: the Landis case..... HERE is a *ahem* clear, concise article on the path an doping investigation is _supposed_ to follow .

posted by nathan @ 8/09/2006 04:46:00 PM

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Ways to Tire your Dogs

We're still trying out new ways to tire our dogs each day because we believe a well-exercised dog is a happy dog. And well-exercised dog owners are happier too :) Here's the latest gadget that we've purchased: the Walkydog. We don't have pictures of our dogs biking with us yet because it's pretty dog-gone difficult to carry a camera while riding a bike with your dog attached. Both of our dogs seems to like it so far. Abe settles into a comfortable lope pretty easily. Keegan seems to think it is her job to PULL the bike. Last night, the Wise and Bearded One was going 17 mph without pedalling because she was pulling so hard. We're going to have to find her old harness because she's choking herself on her regular collar and the Gentle Leader. P.S. Yes, as Stacey reminded us last night, we have crossed the line into Crazy Dog People territory.

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2006 11:11:00 AM 1 comments

Monday, August 07, 2006

all in all, it's just another link in a blohgg...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-26-green-construction_x.htm

posted by nathan @ 8/07/2006 11:10:00 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Ways to torture your dogs

We find great pleasure in finding new ways to torment, tease and otherwise test our dogs. Yesterday Abe and Keegan wore their backpacks on their walk. Abe managed to make it all the way to the library without dropping any books. He seemed to understand the importance of his load and walked with unusual gravity the three blocks to the library. On the other hand, Keegan, who was only carrying my wallet and two empty water bottles, was up to her usual tugging and swerving (is that spelled right? it feels so wrong) in no time. I think we've been watching too many episodes of The Dog Whisperer. Has anyone else seen this show?

posted by Deb @ 8/03/2006 11:30:00 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Taking Food Seriously

Reading the Omnivore's Dilemma this summer combined with other thinking we've been doing on food, the environment, and the plight of the small family farm is making us even more conscious of the food we eat. The Wise and Bearded One and myself have long been fans of excellent food grown organically (and who isn't) but now we're making even more of a concerted effort to buy locally and sustainably. This summer I already picked and froze at least 15 pounds of blueberries (I wasn't really counting) and another 5 pounds or so of black cherries. We also went in with friends to buy 1/4 grass-fed beef from a farm about an hour south of here. And, although our veggie garden failed miserably this summer, we're committed to try again this month by planting a winter garden. Last Saturday a trip to the downtown Farmer's Market yielded this whole pile of fresh produce for less than $20. It makes me feel richly blessed to walk up and down rows of earthy-fragrant, shining fruits and vegetables being sold by barefoot kids and aging hippies and old-fashioned famers. It's not a perfect plan. We still buy from the Industrial Organic (Trader Joes) and the Not Organic At All (Safeway). But it feels like a small step in the right direction. Support your local farmers!

posted by Deb @ 8/02/2006 01:56:00 PM 2 comments