Randomness

Change

2011-11-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Now that we are reasonably settled in our new home, all of the changes from the last year are finally settling in:

Baby!
2 new jobs
3 homes

Tom and I figured why not make all of our major life changes in one calendar year.

In seriousness, it has been one heck of a year. It would be hard to jam much more change in. I think I've been a trooper, but am finally in burnout stage. All in all, we are glad to be settled in and have regular access to family. We see my folks and sister frequently -- all without having to hop on a plane.

Connor has been wonderful, he is truly thriving. We had our first parent teach conference this week. We wondered what in the heck can they say about a 10 month old, but it was good to hear that they feel he is thriving and independent. The comment was made that everyone always knows when Connor is around aka, he is loud.

He is a sweet boy. He kisses frequently versus the little love bites he used to readily give, is quite snugly, and is generally pleasant to be around. He has started to sign a bit which is awesome. First signed word=milk, first spoken word= uh oh. He has been so healthy, and we feel very grateful each day for all of the gifts we have in our life.

Settling In

2011-06-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

We are now in Richmond and settled into temporary housing. I started my new job this week, Tom starts his next week, and Connor had his first half day of day care. I think we're all doing reasonably well.

There are lots of things that we miss about Portland, mainly our friends and comforts of home. We really miss our backyard as Miss Sadie needs to be walked 3 times a day. With working, taking care of Connor, and trying to take care of normal life things, it seems like most days these isn't room for much else at least during the week.

Connor is such a sweet boy, mostly full of smiles and giggles. I hope that the choices we are making help him continue down that path. He is starting to become aware of Sadie, and I think he will have lots of love for his fur sister.

Connor has been able to enjoy the pool here. I think he likes to watch everyone in the pool more then he likes the water, but it's fun. We have gotten together with our friends the Brolunds, and Connor and Lily are fast friends.

We feel very thankful for how everything is coming together. We know that we have been very lucky on all fronts. Thank you to everyone supporting us through this journey.

Goodbye Portland, hello Richmond?

2011-05-14T23:13:00.000-07:00

I have always been the type of person to fare better with more on my plate than less, and 2011 is well on it's way in keeping with that tradition. After many long and late discussions, we are going to be heading east to Richmond, Virginia.

This was a really tough decision for us. There are so many things we love about Portland, walk factor, public transport, food, and progressive culture . Over the last year and a half we finally feel like we have friends that we've come to consider family here. As wonderful as that is, we found ourselves frequently wishing that we didn't have to hop on a plane to see our family. With the arrival of the little guy that feeling has grown stronger.

I was lucky enough to land an offer from Capital One in Richmond at the same time that Tom landed a job that was transferable to Virginia. We're going to give it a shot and see how things pan out. Both my parents, sister, and Tom's brother will be drivable from Richmond, and our good friends the Brolunds live in town, so we'll have some support to start with.

To our friends in Portland, we can't say thank you enough for making the last 6 years some of the best we've had. Portland truly is a wonderful little gem, and we are going to miss it and you.

Hinnies, poop, and barf

2011-02-23T10:11:00.001-08:00

These are now daily words in my vocabulary. It feels like I spend a good part of each day tasked with the removal of body fluids. I frequently am wondering what I am smelling. Am I wearing baby barf, is Connor? Why is my hand wet? Please don't let it be poop!

I am also amazed by the number of diaper and outfit mishaps we have. Maybe Tom and I have poor diapering skills, but we have to swap out outfits nearly every day. I have become expert at removing body fluid stains from fabric. Ah life with an infant!

There is also the art of timing the diaper change so that we don't get hit directly with poop or pee. It is harder then what you may imagine. Changing diapers immediately after waking up or after feeding is risky.

One thing no one told us was how explosive baby bowels are. It is a good thing we outgrow this!

Getting burped

Immediately after a diaper change

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Growing

2011-02-21T20:30:00.001-08:00

The little guy continues to grow. Connor had his two month appointment on Friday and his weigh in confirmed it. He is now in the 90th percentile for height and in the 75th percentile for weight. He clocked in at just under 13 lbs!

Connor also got his first vaccinations. Tom had the honor of sitting with Connor as he got them. We felt bad for him as he started to realize it hurt.

Here is a picture of him after the appointment, but before the hysterical crying started later in the afternoon.

His Valentine's Day outfit, you'll notice he has developed quite a belly and some chubby cheeks!

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Sleep or lack thereof

2011-01-18T19:24:00.001-08:00

I've always been a person that has functioned well on little sleep, and I knew that I wouldn't be getting much sleep when the baby came. No big deal right? Wrong! What I had failed to understand is that in the early days and weeks there is no real sleep at least none like I'd been accustomed to. Instead sleep becomes a series of naps an hour here, a hour there. Try doing that across several weeks and it forms a haze across which days blur into each other and coping skills are low. Throw a little person that is totally dependent on you that has no ability to tell you specifically what they need and it gets interesting.

Most folks say sleep becomes more plentiful about week 8. Fingers crossed on that one!

Picture of the little guy on his first outing at one week.

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Life with the little guy

2011-01-16T16:27:00.001-08:00

How life has changed in the last month. I am typing this with one hand while I feed Connor. These days, if I can't access it via my iPhone, it doesn't happen, at least not quickly.

The little guy is a five weeks old today and the time has flown. It is amazing how much time you can spend doing nothing specific. These days if I get a shower, a few bills paid, caught up with laundry, and dinner on the table while keeping up with Connor, I feel like I have had the most successful day.

Here is a picture of the little guy at one month old. Grammy K. Is burping him.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Baby Love

2010-12-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a year since I've updated this blog and we've got some major changes coming so I thought it was about time for an update.

I'm currently home on maternity leave getting ready for the birth of baby H. We decided to not find out the sex of the baby, so we're looking forward to a big surprise.

This has truly been an experience. Work, family, and friends have been completely supportive. We couldn't be more thankful and overwhelmed by the support, kindness, and generosity.

Here are some pictures from along the way:

First good picture of the little bambino at 12 weeks. Mom and Dad K. were visiting so they got to participate in the ultrasounds. The tech had a hard time getting the baby in position, so we did 3 ultrasounds over 2 days.

Maui at 5 1/2 month pregnant. This was a great trip, no set schedule, cooking, swimming, and reading. I definitely noticed an increase buoyancy! This got me back into swimming for the rest of my pregnancy.

Tom hamming it up at Amber and Greg's wedding in October. Yep, looks like he's ready!

Work shower at 36 weeks:

My due date is 12/12/10, but they're predicting I'll be overdue. Keep us in your thoughts over the next few weeks as we have quite a few transitions to make.

I hope to be better for posting some pictures here for family and friends that aren't on Facebook.

Delhi day 2, Red Fort (Lal Qila)

2010-01-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

On day 2, we headed over to the old city center and this had a distinctly different feeling from day 1. The hustle and bustle here was intense and we were approached by floods of people selling everything imaginable. At the red fort, we also got our first

Delhi day 1 -- Qtab Minar

2010-01-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

Our final stop of the day was Qtab Minar. This dates from the onset of Islamic rule in India is an example of Afghan architecture. The minar dates from 1193 and is 73 meters tall. The pictures don't do adequate justice to the color of the red sandstone and detail of the carvings.

There was also another minar, Alai Minar that was started but never finished.

We saw our first real example of intricate carvings. My eyes are closed here, but it gives you an idea of the scale and scope of some of the work.

India Delhi Day 1-- Bahai (Lotus) Temple and our first Sikh temple

2010-01-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Our driver took us to the Bahai (Lotus Template). As you can tell it gets it's name from it's Lotus shape. The Bahai religion has built temples around the world and in each location, tries to pick a theme that is appropriate to the location.

Up close, it bears similarities to the Sydney opera house. It's spectacular inside, but no pictures allowed.

We also visited our first Sikh temple. One of the things that I hadn't been prepared for was that most of the temples and mosques required shoes to be off and in many cases for socks to be off and heads to be covered. You'll see us with some loaner headscarves and we also had to walk through a mystery pool of water to cleanse our feet. I always felt a little nervous and uncomfortable in these situations, first from a general hygiene perspective and secondly worried that someone would run off with our shoes.

One of the common themes of the Sikh temples was community service. Many of the temples had kitchen facilities on the backsides of the building in which they fed any guests or needy several times a day.

Delhi day 1 -- Humayun and Isa Khan's tombs

2010-01-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

We slept in late to give me a chance to acclimate to the time change. I woke up feeling pretty good, and we ate breakfast at what I think is the only American style dinner in Delhi.

We met up with our driver and we were off to Humayun's tomb and the octogonal tomb of Isa Khan. You'll notice many similarities between the structure of Humayun's tomb and the Taj Mahal. Most of the Northern part of India has been significantly influenced by the Mogul's which started invading the country roughly in the 1500s and the architecture and religious diversity was heavily influenced by this. This was one of the reasons that drove us to visit the north.

Isa Khan's tomb
Humayun's Tomb

There are beautiful stone wall grounds around both of the tomb's. You can walk around the grounds via the tops of the walls.

We also saw our first example of jalis. The stone is carved out to act as windows in that it let's some of the light in and the air flow through. We also saw these used later to allow women to practice purdah which is the practice of women maintaining modesty by not allowing men's eyes to fall upon them. With the jalis, you can see you but not in.

India

2010-01-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

Tom had the opportunity to go back to India for work, so we took this as an opportunity to extend his trip and make it into a vacation for us. We didn't want to miss the opportunity to go again partially on someone else's dime. We spent 18 days traveling through the northern part of the country frequently referred to as the Golden Triangle. Our itinerary as broken out as follows:

3 nights Delhi
2 nights Agra
1 night Ranthambore
1 night Bundi
2 nights Udaipur
1 night Ranakpur
2 nights Jodhpur
1 night Pushkar
2 nights Jaipur
1 night Delhi

Since Tom had left 2 weeks earlier for the work portion of his trip, I was flying solo. The Portland to Newark flight was smooth minus the cabbie needing directions to the airport, but my Newark to Delhi flight was delayed 5 hours. This made the 12 1/2 flight to Delhi seem extremely long. However, I made it in around 2:30 and Tom picked me up with our driver as planned.

I was so thankful to make it to the hotel, get a shower, and a good night's sleep.

Many pictures to come over the next few weeks as I wade through the 800 pictures we took, so keep checking back!

Done, finally!

2009-05-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

We spent most of the three day weekend painting the kitchen trim, unpacking the kitchen, and trying to get the house back on order. We've gotten the mudroom, dining room and kitchen in order, but have more cleaning to do and need to spend some time getting the living room back in order.

All in all, I think we're pretty happy with the result. We finished up just short of 6 weeks.

We've got a few things to buy or replace that don't work as well with the kitchen, but you can see the basic jist of things.

Here are some before and after pictures:

North view before

North view after

Northwest view before

Northwest view after

East view before

East view after

Southwest view before
Southwest view after

It's amazing how different the space feels. We actually don't have enough stuff to put in the cabinets. The pantry is almost totally empty and the rest of the cabinets are only half full or so.

Thanks to all of our friends that graciously had us over for dinner over the last few weeks and lent us time and gear to get this done.

Just a few details left

2009-05-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

We're coming down the home stretch. The tile is grouted, the new lighting installed, and the appliances moved into place. We finally got a good look at the new hardwoods, they look good!

You'll notice that we still haven't picked a trim color, but have decided the brown is to dark. Back to the drawing board, we are planning to finish that off this weekend.

Unfortunately we also have a ton of cleaning left to do, they did a very cursory job of cleaning debris out of the new cabinets, so we need to vacuum everything out and wipe it down. Needless to say, I'm ready to be done with all of this and not thrilled to have cleaning added to the agenda for the weekend.
There are a few details left to finish up, the exterior wall needs some patching and the grout needs sealed. Not much left outside of that.

All in all, I think a good result!

Kitchen Remodel Week 4: Countertops!

2009-05-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened over the last 3 weeks: a new functioning window, the installation of the pulls for the cabinets, finishing the hardwoods, and new trim. However, we've been on hold for any major progress until the counter tops were ready. The process for natural stone counter tops is to stencil the mold for the counter tops once the cabinets are installed to ensure a tight fit. It took almost 2 weeks from the time the stencil was done until the install and the backsplash and appliance install was on hold until those were done.

They did the install today, and will start the backsplash tomorrow. That should be finished up on Tuesday or so, and then they'll install the appliances and the new lighting.

We think things are looking pretty good. Here's the north view. The new fixtures are inplace, but not properly mounted. The counter folks custom cut through the quartz to custom mount them.

Northwest view

New window framed in with custom built trim from Andersen Renewal. These are amazing windows, built to replace old double wooden double hungs. They slide like a dream, look consistent with the era of the house and have screens. It's a little thing, but it's awesome!

Our on site contractor/project manager custom build trim to match the rest of the woodwork in the house. We'll be priming and painting that this weekend.

From there it should be finishing details. We're hopefully to have a functioning kitchen by the end of next week!

What a difference a week makes

2009-04-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

A week ago, Tom and I had a totally demoed kitchen. There's been a lot of progress over the last week. New plumbing, new wood floors, and drywall were all in by the weekend which meant that Tom and I painted all weekend.

Since we're getting a lot of cabinetry in, we put some color on the wall and just pained the areas that would be shown (days 9 and 10).

The cabinet installers showed up today and starting putting in the cabinets. They've got another day or so of work to do to get in the molding and hopefully the pulls for the drawers and knobs for the handles. The hardware for the cabinets didn't show up with them, so that will happen another day.

North wall, new window should be going in on Friday. You may thank Tom for the artistry.

They did some cool custom work for us to work with some of the interesting angles and space needs we have. They built an entirely new unit to replace the past built-ins, and they built custom cabinetry to fit in the angled corner. They also built a structure to fit the fridge in.

East wall

We're probably 2 weeks on having the counter tops installed since they custom cut those for us, and the back splash and appliances won't be installed until that's done, but it no longer looks like we're living in a construction zone which is a good thing.

Kitchen remodel

2009-04-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm long overdue for a post but with good reason, it's been busy. Tom and I have flown 3 weeks in the last month, work is busy, and we've embarked on a total kitchen demo. When I say demo, I mean complete to the old studs. The only things that we're moving back in are the fridge and the garbage disposal!

We left town for the demo, and I think that was a wise call. Here's what we came home to:

It's hard to believe all of this actually fit in the kitchen!

This is the north side of the kitchen where the sink will go in. Windows are being replaced.

This is the east side of the kitchen

So far, it's been moving quicker then we thought. Days 1-3 were demo and new plumbing. Days 4 and 5 were new electrical, permitting, and the start of drywall. I did a happy dance to come home from work and see walls and insulation!

Next steps are the get the drywall done so we can paint, and get the new hardwoods installed. We'll have to evacuate the house next week when they are sanding and staining.

One of the things that's been interesting is the story of the house that's unfolded. We found old plumbing where the stove was, and a window that had been on the east wall. We also found where there were holes into the exterior wall for allowing air to flow in and out of the icebox. Pretty cool!

A new year, and a new president

2009-01-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

Well as you know, I've been ready for years to wish George W. adieu and I got my wish today. While I believe government is slow to change, I look forward to seeing where President Obama will lead our country and how much he's able to effect change.

I believe that he will bring a warmth and dignity to the office that has been missing in recent years. He's building a strong cabinet around him that hopefully will help him navigate the complicated Washington landscape.

I also have to admit that I'm excited to have a young family in the White House. I've been impressed with how openly demonstrative they are in public, and how they have been able to maintain a private family dynamic under the public eye.

During today's inauguration, I was impressed by how many Americans felt were compelled to turn out or tune in. Even more then that I was surprised by the celebrations all over the US (Times Square closed) and all over the world. I don't recall ever seeing this level of excitement over an election in my lifetime.

Winter in Portland

2008-12-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about Portland is that the winters are very mild, well not this year. I'd invested in some serious winter boots before we left for Montana, and I've needed them as much in Portland as I did in MT. We made it back Friday night and managed to get a few errands done before things really started storming.

Portland has very few plows so the whole city basically shuts down when it snows. My office was closed today and is on delay for tomorrow. I'm thinking about taking the whole week off since it's a short week with the holiday.

Sadie had her first experience with snow, and she's had fun exploring. We took her to a local park and let her run off leash in the snow. She got the hang of it, but also wiped out a few times.

Here's a picture of her in full speed action:

Here's some video of her in action. Only the first half is interesting:

Our neighborhood, we've got 8 inches on the ground.

Early Christmas in Whitefish Montanta

2008-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you're asking yourself, who volunteers to go to Montana in December? Well Tom's sister now calls Whitefish home, and we spent a week there for an early Christmas. It was cold (think below 0 lows), and very snowy. For me it's one of those places that's perfect IF you never have to leave the house.

We got lots of family time with the Honermanns and my folks were able to come as well. We got lots of time with my niece and nephews. My niece Maya is at my favorite kid age: 4 1/2. She's old enough to be able to talk with you and she's learning so much.

Tom and I bundling up for sub zero weather (am I really that pastey?)

Tom and his favorite niece

With my folks and niece. My dad needs to smile in pictures!

Snug as a Bug in a Rug

2008-12-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Sadie is a superior snuggler. She likes to be hugged, pet, and snuggled while she's sleeping. When she was tiny, tiny, I'd put her up in bed with Tom while I got ready for work and she'd curl up under his chin. We're kicking back watching some TV together.

Sadie Reflecting

2008-11-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

Our little pup is all grown up! Sadie's now weighting in at over 30 lbs and is in her first heat. It's hard to believe that the same shy little pup we brought home 4 months ago is our eager and curious Sadie. She's a loving dog, always eager to snuggle and please. She hardly ever makes noise, though she has developed a snore, and she loves to bark at our rarely seen neighbor to the back.

She as Satchel is spoiled with an overabundance of dog beds, toys, and neck scratching.

Tom's got a new eyedentity

2008-11-29T22:14:00.001-08:00

Tom upgraded his specs at a place in our neighborhood Eyedentity. I think he's channeling more retro and less inner Geek. What do you think?

Sadie's in Heat

2008-11-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

To make a long story short, our dog Sadie was scheduled to be spayed right after our Aruba trip. We'd noticed when we got back that she had some hair falling out and had irritated skin patches, so we took her into the vet. She was diagnosed with mange and as a result, we couldn't have her spayed until she was treated for that.

She finished her 3 weeks of antibiotics and twice weekly baths and Tom scheduled an appointment for today. Well lucky us, Tom picked her up today and she's gone into heat. The vet doesn't want to spay her until the heat is over, so she's rocking puppy diapers. The things we do for our animals and to protect our furniture.

Sadie's growing

2008-11-17T22:13:00.000-08:00

Sadie continues to grow, and it's hard to recall that she was a little 12 pound puppy when we brought her home.

She's also getting sneakier. We keep these mats on the couch when we're not around to keep her from sitting on the furniture and getting hair all over it. Well it turns out that she's figured out that she can sit up on the arm rest.

She's also discovered one of Satchel's favorite things, looking out the window on the landing to watch what's going on outside.

Visitors

2008-11-17T21:55:00.001-08:00

My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, niece, twin nephews and husky came to visit. Let's say that our house had a very different vibe with the little kiddos under foot. Fortunately Portland has a lot to offer, and we went to OMSI, the zoo, and the Portland Children's Museum.

Andrea with Dakota

Sadie was wonderful with the kids, and she was definitely put to the test. Over the course of the weekend, I saw one twin try to ride her and another poke his finger in her eye. She took this all in stride, but she did sleep for about two days after everyone left.

My niece Maya was very excited about Sadie and kept telling her how much she loved her. Sadie tried to hop into bed with her in the middle of the night.

Tom with his two of his favorite things

Aruba!

2008-10-29T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tom and I spent a week with my folks, my sister and her fiance in Aruba. Mostly it was a kick back week of sleeping in late, swimming, and family time. Thanks to mom Kaminski for planning almost all of the logistics.

The sun is intense there, so I protected my pasty white goodness with SPF 40 and a safari hat. I'm unfortunately still suffering from my internal balance being off due to the rough ocean kayaking, but I'm sure it will correct itself soon.

Tom and I celebrated a belated 4th anniversary at Pinchos Bar and Grill. The restaurant is on a pier built just for them. They had a good menu and the setting was amazing. It was pretty cool to eat at an open air restaurant. I was even tempted enough by their menu to partake in some fish and steak.

Tom and I did two excursions, kayaking to De Palm Island, and a snorkeling tour. Tom flipped out of his kayak and when I realized it was happening, I abandoned ship and paddled hard to get away!

It was beautiful once we reached the island but we had to paddle straight into headwinds on the bay to get back to shelter.

We also did a snorkel trip to the Antilla ship wreck. It was pretty cool to snorkel over an abandoned shipwreck. We also enjoyed a local cocktail the green iguana.

Here was the view from the plane as we landed in Texas:

We're now back into reality, and Tom's sister is showing up with our niece and twin nephews tomorrow. Kiddie patrol will be in full force.

Procrastination

2008-10-15T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'm procrastinating working on performance reviews, so here's some new stuff for y'all.

Fall is here in Portland, and it's been sunny but cold. No serious rain (yet)! I've been able to see Mt. Hood the last few days and even caught a clear view of St. Helen's in it's entirety.

I've finally gotten back into running. After I tore my ACL and MCL, I was pretty fearful of running on it. Insert mental image of death clench on the handlebars the first time they put me on it. I've been running since then regularly, but not very far or fast. I found a great running site where they provide programs to help you build toward your goals. I just finished one of the 5K programs. Yay me!

Lots of vacation coming up through the end of the year:
Aruba
Sister-in-law and brother-in-law coming to Portland
Thanksgiving
A week in Whitefish, MT
Christmas
Cabin rental on Mt. Hood

I caught most of the debate tonight. I have to say that I'm feeling pretty excited about the upcoming election. I've been really disappointed with the Bush administration and I'm hopeful for change. Get out and vote or if you're an Oregonian, make sure you mail in your ballot!

Habanero Peppers

2008-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is what an eye looks like that comes in contact with a habanero pepper:

I had just chopped and deseeded 5 habanero peppers and made the mistake of rubbing my eye. Before I knew it, my whole eye area had become inflamed up to my eyebrow. I don't recommend it!

Tomatoes!

2008-09-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

We didn't have our act together enough to get much of a garden going this year, but fortunately our neighbors did. Across the street, our neighbors are sports writers and they travel during peak harvest season. Next door we have neighbors that are very committed to their organic garden. All of that means tomatoes for us.

We ended up with a beautiful allotment of red, green, orange, and yellow tomatoes, and it was caprese, alla checca, and tomato tart all week.

Here's the recipe for the tomato tart. It was delicious:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1634806

Many of you know I'm a foodie, I love to cook, eat with friends and try new recipes. I've become a dedicated vegetarian, and it goes to show you that with beautiful food like this, you don't miss the meat!

Sadie and Cujo

2008-09-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

We've started taking Sadie to the park, and there's another little puppy about her age that also seems to be a shepherd mix. His name is Cujo, and Tom's gotten to know his owner Heather. She's been dropping Cujo off every once in awhile, and Cujo and Sadie have been having lots of fun. Tom's enjoying watching their antics, and Sadie's knocked out for the next two days.

Cujo

Sadie

Girls Weekend!

2008-09-25T20:09:00.001-07:00

My college roommates have ended up geographically in two areas, the glorious pacific northwest and the Midwest. Usually we see each other at weddings, but we got together to celebrate Kimberly's wedding and Courtney's impending addition to her family. Hopefully this is the first of a regular tradition. It was great to relax with old friends, tour a new town, and get caught up.

See you in March ladies!

Satchel

2008-09-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

There's a good chance that if you're reading this, you knew our dog Satchel or at least heard the stories about him. Tom had Satchel since he was about 6 months old. For many years, it was the 2 of them, and then since Tom and I got together 6 years ago, it's always been the three of us.

He was definitely a special needs dog. His circle of trust was small, problematically so as he always wanted to be leading the action. For those lucky to be in the circle, he was affectionate and always wanted to be close. He knew a lot of words so much so that we spelled most of the ones he knew to avoid a burst of unwanted excitement.

Tom and I had been slowly realizing that Satchel was becoming an old dog. His snoring had gotten loud at night, his coat greying, and he was having a hard time getting up. Still his energy and spirit always seemed puppy like. He'd had cancer right before we moved to Oregon 3 years ago, but we lived close to a veterinary oncologist (only in CA can such a situation occur), and they thought they'd gotten what they needed to.

In short, he starting showing active signs of illness quickly and Tom and I had to make decisions quickly regarding his care. An ultrasound showed he was full of cancer, and he was bleeding out a from a large tumor in his spleen. It was a question of when not whether things would end. We'd had to put down to sleep on July 3rd.

Here are some of my favorite pictures. Enjoy.

Miscellaneous and Sundry

2008-09-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

A few notable events:

Most of you know that I've been working on an acquisition for the last 14 months, and we're finally getting the systems into production this weekend! I've been responsible for managing the testing for both the business and IT teams and 60+ hour weeks were a regular occurrence. I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Could that be the glimmer of a normal life?

It was a good experience, but a lot of responsibility, sometimes more then I felt that I should have or wanted.

I'm on my way to Seattle this weekend to celebrate some life events with friends, a wedding, and a soon to be addition to anothers family.

Finally, Tom and I are going to be celebrating our 4 year anniversary. I'm actually fleeing so the coup to head up to Seattle on our anniversary, so Tom's on the hook to plan something to celebrate when I get back. Pressure on!

Pictures from the park

2008-09-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to be better about taking Sadie to the park then we were about Satchel. We've been going to Laurelhurst lately and they've got a cool off leash area. It helps her burn off her endless energy, keeps her socialized with other dogs, keeps introducing her to strangers.

We had a late summer, but a very dry one. I'm guessing 5 days of rain in the last 3 months. We need to take advantage of it before it's gone. For those of y'all not from Portland it doesn't actually rain here all the time.

Sleepy, toothless puppy

2008-09-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

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Sadie seems to be going through a growth spurt and wants to sleep a lot. Apparently growing is exhausting! She's also losing her baby teeth. It's pretty gross, but also pretty funny. We're finding them around the house, and I keep mistaking them for popcorn.

We had a nice weekend between summer BBQs and some lovely weather. Hope it lasts for a couple more weeks!

Sadie's growing!

2008-09-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

We had Sadie in for her next vet visit, and they confirmed what we thought. She's growing! She's gained 5 pounds in the last 3 weeks or 30% of her total body weight. She no longer fits on my lap, much to my dismay, but is still very much a lap dog. She loves being pet or snuggled.

She seems to be doing well with socialization to the point where folks are scared by her. She's so excited to see them.

Sadie's got a friend

2008-09-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

Friends of ours have a pretty energetic Beagle, George. Since Sadie doesn't have all of her vaccinations, we've been limited her exposure to animals at the parks. George is about her size, and we thought he'd be a good socialization exercise for Sadie. She had a great time playing with him, and they made fast friends. It was a little crazy having two pups in the house.

Mt. Hood

2008-09-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

We've been getting out and hiking a lot more since we've gotten Sadie. She's got a pretty healthy amount of energy. We went up to Mount Tabor a week or so ago and discovered that when it's clear, there's a pretty good view of Mt. Hood.

Puppy Exhaustion

2008-08-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Tom is traveling for work, and I've got full time puppy duty, and I've decided I don't like it much. I got up at 6:30 took the puppy out, and continued to take her every 4 hours. In between I tried to avoid her chewing on my feet, my pants, or trying to sit on my lap while I worked.

I took her to the park hoping to burn off some energy before the dog training class. She was wound up, and got to run off leash with some other dogs for a few minutes, but she was still full speed at the dog class. She didn't listen at all, and I now have rope burn from the leash on my hand.

Fun stuff. It makes me very glad to not be in this alone.

Tomorrow I need to go into the office, but we don't have someone lined up to take her out mid-day, so I'll be running home to let her out over lunch. Lucky puppy!

Update: As I typed this, she promptly piddled on the floor.

Some new pictures of Sadie

2008-08-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

She's getting bigger and less timid. Still as cute as can be! We're almost through the puppy kindergarten class and she's learned some basics but has a very short attention span. We've got to watch her like a hawk.

Minnesota trip

2008-08-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Tom and I got back last week from a few days in Minnesota. It was a annual reunion of sorts with his brother back from Africa, and his sister and brother-in-law and their kids visiting from Montana. Friends of Al and Dianne's were very generous to take us out on their pontoon boat. It was very hot, but everyone enjoyed.

Here are some pictures:

Jen and Maya

Brian and Maya

Lincoln driving the boat

Maya and Erik

Dianne, Alan, and Brian

Dianne and Maya

Dianne, Maya, and Al

Noah working hard

Tom and Lincoln

Dianne, Andrea, and MayaA view of the lake

Beach with Sadie and Friends

2008-08-06T23:10:00.001-07:00

Tom and I had rented a house at the beach for my birthday. We were lucky to have some friends and family join us. Sadie got introduced to the beach and we sent off Satchel's remains. Here are some of my favorite pictures!

Mom with the alligator

Sadie looking very captivated with her new friend Cydne

Us on the beach

Jen and Mom at Cannon Beach

Some scenery and sunsets

Hanging at the house

Sadie trying to compell Tom to get up and play with her. You'll notice she wasn't every effective on this one.

Sleeping Beauties

2008-07-22T21:08:00.001-07:00

ps
I've been taking Sadie out in the morning and then bringing her upstairs while I get ready for work. Tom has taken to snuggling with Sadie, and it looks like she's growing pretty fond of this as well.

We went to our first dog obedience class tonight called Puppy Kindergarten. It's a lot about basic puppy behavior and even more about training the owners. :)

Mom K. is heading out here tomorrow for a visit and to meet her new granddoggy!

Settling In

2008-07-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sadie is starting to settle in at the derailment of Tom's work productivity. I'm going to chose to believe he did not spend all of the afternoon as shown. This was however, how I found them when I came home from work.

Sadie is seeming less timid day by day and more engaged. She's acting less timid and more interested in exploring. She's figured how to climb up on and promptly fall of the lawn furniture. The weather has been lovely here, high 70s, so I think Tom and Sadie will have many of these days.

Sadie: Day 2

2008-07-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Well today was our first full day with Sadie, and it was an adventure. We woke up at 6 a.m. to what I can only describe as a mix of a howl and a rooster. Apparently her lungs are healthy. I ended up taking her outside. Tom ended up promptly falling asleep. :)

She's starting to interact more and actually started exploring versus cowering behind furniture. She's starting to come when called, and she had her first leash walk. She also ended up pooping in her kennel while we were out to dinner with friends (not so fun), but she made good progress over the last day.

Here are some new pictures of her. You can get a better sense of how tiny she is!

Meet Sadie!

2008-07-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that we lost our dog Satchel a few weeks ago and that we've been having a hard time getting through that. We loved him terribly, and it's left our home and hearts a little empty.

Well, we starting looking around this week just to see what was out there for rescue dogs and we have a new addition to the family. Thank you familydogsnewlife! Sadie is a 15 pound, 3 month old mix. She's seems to have a lot of German Shepherd in her, but we don't have info about the parents. She's tiny, and very, very shy, so we're going to be busy with her for awhile. Enjoy!

Rain, rain and more rain

2008-06-10T19:45:00.001-07:00

It's been forever since I've written, and unfortunately the weather hasn't changed much in Portland since I last wrote. With the exception of three hot days, it's been cold and rainy. You know it's bad if someone in Portland is complaining about the rain.

The only positive slants I can put on the are that I've been too busy to get out to enjoy the weather, and the second is that we haven't had to water the lawn? :)

Dominican Republic

2008-02-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a week's vacation in the Dominican Republic. You may be asking yourself, how does someone that live in Oregon decided to go to the DR for vacation? Well, my parents have become vacation aficionados and decided to go here on vacation. Coincidentally, Tom's parents ended up on a trip there at the same time. We decided to join in since we'd be able to see both families as once. We also had two uncles, my aunt, and two cousins join in the fun, so it was a joint reunion of sorts.

Some highlights:

Tom apparently has a secret love of karaoke and after I went to bed, gave the guests a once in a lifetime show. His performance was apparently so complelling, that two audience members joined in as his backup dancers. No pictures of that!

We went zip lining, Mom, included! We spent a beautiful day zipping over the DR.

Mom in action!

Uncle Ted on his way

Our 2007 holiday letter

2008-01-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

As part of the madness, our holiday letter is just going out in tomorrow's mail. For those of you eagerly awaiting it, here it is with some pictures!

Hello and greetings from Portland! We hope this finds you in good health and spirits. 2007 has been another busy year for us, and we can't believe that 2008 is almost here!

Some highlights:

We still love Portland, though the pace has picked up here quite a bit. Between work home and friends, there doesn't leave much time for things in between as you can tell by our belated holiday letter! We still managed to squeeze in some fun trips and time with friends.
Jen is working on special assignment as a Quality Assurance manager for a company her company acquired. Tom is still working from the comfort of the house and likes what he does. It looks like some travel is in store for 2008 to CA and India! He got to spend two weeks in India last year as well.
We spent some time in Australia and New Zealand enjoying the scenery, culture, and wine. Tom literally took the plunge and went bungy jumping! (See below picture.) We had some amazing experiences and two weeks off work was an added bonus. Eventually we'll get some pictures up on Jen's blog.

Upcoming plans:

Tom's heading to India again. We're not sure if Jen will be able to come with this time due to work, but we're hoping it will work out.
We've been toying with some home renovation ideas, so who knows what's next there!
We'll be getting away over New Year's for some relaxation time on Mount Hood. Satchel our old German Shepherd will get some time in the snow. He still seems to be going strong and cancer free.

We hope all is well with you and yours. We hope to see all of you soon in 2008!

Jen, Tom and Satchel

Happy 2008 and some long overdue updates

2008-01-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been forever since I've posted any updates here, but I've got some legitimate reasons for that. The first is that we spent two weeks in Australia and New Zealand, and came back to the fury of the holiday season. Pictures to come over the next month. We've also spent part of the holidays enjoying winter sports and relaxing in a well appointed house. I've been working a lot, 50-60 hours a week, so that's left little relax time.

We'll be getting back into the swing of things, but will be leaving again on the 19th of January to visit with both my folks and Tom's folks in the Dominican Republic.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Crater Lake

2007-09-07T22:46:00.001-07:00

My folks are out visiting, so we made a little road trip of it by touring central Oregon and Crater Lake!

Back from the beach!

2007-07-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tom, Satchel, and I headed to the beach to celebrate my 30th birthday. The cottage we rented this time wasn't as nice, but it did have a nice outdoor area for reading. The owner had fixed it up in a charming fashion, but it had some interesting quirks i.e. slanting floor and some odd angles, but was had a fun time.

We also caught some nice sunsets as the weather was perfect Friday and Saturday.

Satchel got lots of off leash time at the beach. By the end of Sunday, he was tired out.

We partook at some wine tasting on the way back to town and found a few interesting wineries.

Sand in the City

2007-07-15T15:18:00.001-07:00

Portland puts on an annual fundraiser called Sand In The City. Tons of sand is hauled into the square and local companies (including mine) create sand sculptures themed by children's books.

Bystanders purchase coins and use those to vote for their favorite sculptures. All the proceeds go to charity.

Given that this is a once a year event and the sculptors have day jobs, it's pretty amazing what they're able to produce.

Tom and I made it more of an adventure by riding our bikes the 4 miles from our house to downtown. Portland's designed a pretty amazing bike network. You can get most places in town without having to be on a main road without a bike lane for more then a few minutes. Below are a few of my favorite sculptures.

Portland skyline including Mt. Hood and the tram

Berries, berries, and more berries!

2007-07-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today I went berry picking with a friend on Sauvie Island which is a little island in the Willamette River about 10 miles due north of Portland. I great up on the east coast, and I've never seen anything quite like it.

Part of the island is a nature reserve, but much of it is used for agriculture. You name it, there's a good chance they grow it. Raspberries, marionberries, corn, apricots, beans, etc. The picture on the right is of the blueberry fields, as you can see, they grow more like trees! Some of the raspberries were more like small strawberries.

Between myself and my friend, we walked away with about 20 pounds of berries, two heads of cabbage and about a pound of string beans.

I see some raspberry jam and marionberry tarts in my future.

Well here it is!

2007-07-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

After much foot dragging, I've finally accepted that I need to sign up for one of these blog sites to keep family and friends in better touch with some of our more notable life events. For those of ya'll that know me well know I'm a bad correspondent but well meaning none the less.

Tom celebrated his 34th birthday yesterday, and today has completed a week long celebration. Here are some pics from our time at the beach.

While the humans had a relaxing time, it's pretty clear from the pictures, that Satchel had the best time!

He even managed to be on good behavior, which for those of you that know him is a pretty impressive feat!