Other animals that can rip your face off...

Okay, so maybe a possum can't rip your face off...

But that ferrett looked a little shifty.

We went to a wild game park, where we were all immediately attacked by assorted animals with horns and hooves that were certain we had snacks in our pockets.

The larger animals tucked safely behind fencing looked at us as if we were the snacks. In pockets.

Hot pocket.

here kitty kitty

Oh sure, it's cute now...

But wait 'til you see what it does to your drapes in about four months...

Oh Oregon

Little C and I just randomly stopped along one of the many trailheads between Gold Beach and Brookings, and we hiked it together. It was fun, and we were rewarded with a very pretty view.

That only leaves 1,342, 567 trails left to explore.

Awwww...

It was our turn to visit Patay...and I thought this here picture was so cute I had to post it.

It's all mushy and everything, and social worker types LOVE that mushy crap.

wassup beaches?

I am indeed getting sand in all of my special places.

It is a dream come true.

And a word to the wise from my medical professional friend....if you roast a marshmallow, be sure not to fling it from the roasting stick directly onto your ass.

Apparently third degree burns can result...very painful...and can leave you susceptible to infection....

...and if that infection is antibiotic resistant?

Yes. That's right.

MRSAmallows.

Beaches Two

Yep, this is really tough living here...oh, the horror...
Although Crisp did say that my fire looked like it had been built by a straight woman.

I told her to watch her weenie.

Good Friends, Good Beach

Went to the beach, built a fire, roasted stuff in it, played frisbee, let the big puppy pull Little C around, built sandcastles, played guitar, found shells, climbed rocks, had great conversation...

All in all I could think of worse ways to spend an evening...really...

Little C and I watched the surf coming in, the waves getting bigger and bigger...and her highlight was seeing a seal pop its head up to spy on us...

I have s'more pics (we did have banana s'more things, thanks to Jamya's chef talents) that I will post later. My scallops are burning.

Geez, that sounds like something I might need penicillin for...

Melissa Etheridge concert

Well, finally had the chance to see one of our all time favorite artists in concert. Incredibly talented vocalist and songwriter...even if she does seem to do a lot of "scratching, crawling, biting. clawing, holes in her chest, nails across her skin, standing outside of windows in the rain, scorched agony tattoed across her very soul" kind of songwriting...

But there was just something missing...

Even at her most mediocre I would guess that she outshines most performers...

Simply breathing into the microphone her talent is obvious...

One of those true rock voices...

But...but...

She used to be hungry and edgy. There was a sort of bite to her presence, her songs, her delivery, her movements...Now she seems...tame, domesticated, kinda packaged and canned in a way...

with generic comments to the audience more fitting of a Holiday Inn lounge act, kind of a peripheral quality to the whole performance...hard to explain...a glancing blow from an artist who could be nearly lethal with the passion in her writing and voice...

So, we were glad to have been a part of it...but we were also a bit disappointed. Perhaps it is the settling down with the woman who calls her "honey this" and "honey that"...or the weariness that must result from touring city after city...or just the mellowing that comes with age and comfortable success...who knows....it isn't as if I could truly criticize talent like that. She is something else...a natural...but that EDGE was missing.

But after a five hour drive to get to the concert, to see the woman who could have practically written the soundtrack for our young adulthood...perhaps our expectations were unrealistically high. I didn't need smoke and explosions though...just that hungry, angry at times, passionate, full of energy, dramatic, devastatingly accurate with her words, one in a million whisky and smoked rock voice artist that we have loved for decades now...

I'd do it again. It is Melissa, after all.

Little C has left...some serious mucous festival action (on my part) with the tears and snot at our parting...I will have LOTS of photos of the fun stuff we did coming shortly. SO glad to have had this time...and thanks to gramma and grandpa for taking her to enable my work, Coley's schedule, and of course that concert...

47 gallons of crazy

Hello and thank you for calling The State Mental Hospital.,
Please select from the following options menu:

If you are obsessive-compulsive, press 1 repeatedly.

If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.

If you have multiple personalities, press 3, 4, 5 and 6.

If you are paranoid, we know who you are and what you want, stay on the line so we can trace your call.

If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be forwarded to the Mother Ship.

If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press.

If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press, nothing will make you happy anyway.

If you are dyslexic, press 9696969696969696.

If you are bipolar, please leave a message after the beep or before the beep or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.

If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9. If you have short-term memory loss, press 9.

If you have low self-esteem, please hang up our operators are too busy to talk with you.

If you are menopausal, put the gun down, hang up, turn on the fan, lie down and cry. You won't be crazy forever.

If you are blonde, don't press any buttons, you'll just mess it up (I really didn't write this Coley...).

Little C is really excited to build a cat house with grampa.

No, not the kind you find in Nevada sometimes.

In Gold Beach there is a little "cat town" supported by the Humane Society to house abandoned kitties...

People bring home made "cat houses" that are made to look like miniature buildings in a town. The Humane Society then contributes to feeding them and controlling their population through sterilizing them...

No, not with alcohol, bleach, or boiling water...

Anyway, Conner has been designing the cat house on paper. Architectural plans from an 8 year old...including indoor/outdoor carpeting, central air, and space for a gumball machine.

No Dogs Allowed.

Flushback

Also from long ago in Alaska.

I may have had the mullet action going.

Can't tell. Don't want to.

Was the wind blowing or what?

More pics of Oregon adventures forthwithly....

Flasher Squirrel

A picture that was taken long ago in Anchorage...sent to me by a friend...

Cover you eyes. It is not for the faint hearted.

It is flasher squirrel.

Patay Visits Too!

Patay, Coley's bestest buddy in the world from Portland came to visit us in our coastal bliss.

We immediately took her to the beach, several times-and didn't leave her there.

We had a good time, despite the fact that Patay wanted to frequently impersonate a burrito by wrapping in multiple layers of clothing, jackets, and blankets to battle the apparently arctic type winds and frigid temperatures.

Next time Patay comes, I will buy her thermal underwear. And then I will take pictures of her in them.

Good Friends and Good Food!

Our friends, Blenda and Jamya, invited us to celebrate their 23rd anniversary with them. It was quite an honor to be invited...and quite an achievement on their part to not strangle each other after all of that time...

I mean 23 years! After that much time together you could almost finish (each other's sentences?) each other's sentences.

I mean, after all that time, even the incessant breathing in and out and in and out could get really old...

And God forbid one of them leave the cap off the damn toothpaste or something. I mean, holy hell, can't a person even make one damn mistake?!

But I digress.

We had a really nice time. Thier grandson was a little less enthused, but that is because he had apparently been up for 27 hours straight playing with trains. He was really cute and fun when he wasn't trying to poke Blenda's eyes out.

We are going to the beach with them tomorrow to build a giant bonfire...and play with innocent sea dwelling creatures that find themselves washed up on the shore.

Little C Arrives

Grampa and I met Spam and Little C halfway at Portland, and then we started our adventures.

First was to go to the "Enchanted Forest" theme park in Salem, where grampa and Little C began by picking blackberries in the parking area while we waited for it to open.

Then it was a day of rides and intimidating fairly tale creatures.

Lotsa fun!