Spent the day in the office, working on the new DVD project that is before me. I had most of the first 5 chapters completed, just finished some things off and got them mastered to a DVD for review. We’ll pass it around amongst ourselves and see if it’ll work, and pass around ideas to make it better.
Planning on going to Dave’s place tomorrow -possibly shoot some skeet after church, but we’ll see. Shaky hasn’t flown in yet - Dave stated ever so eloquently: “Apparently he was not a very good homing pigeon and a really bad racing pigeon.” Hope it makes it home soon.

Yes, back in the office once again. Spent some of the morning re-organizing the storage part of the office. We received 10,000 WorkBooks the other day, and 4 of the 5 skids needed to be re-stacked. That just got me started in spending some time there.
Burnt 4 DVD’s of photos (x3 copies each) to get the photos off my HD. That’s over 14 gb of photos.

Trying to make the by-line interesting enough for you all to come on in.
I did leave Motel 6 of Yakima, and started driving home. The plan was to arrive before lunch, to be able to try and catch up on my work back in the office. But, as you know, plans are made to change. And that they did.
In driving, I saw a sign that I’ve seen many times before - to the Petrafied Forest State Park, exit 136 off I-90. So, I thought today was the day to check it out. It was pretty interesting, though I think I would visit the interpretive center first, then hike around the 22 logs they have out in the wilderness. What I found interesting, was the couple dozen species that they’ve found in just the little area.

After leaving there, I was just driving down the road, minding my own business, and I saw a car drive into the median a bit, then a huge cloud of dust engulfed it. 2 cars in front of me didn’t stop, so it was my turn and I did, fearing the worst. The car didn’t flip over (for which I was thankful) and the lady driving seemed be to just fine (again - wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was a very good thing.) I stopped, asked if she was ok (I was expecting a heart attack or something) and she said she was fine. So I called 911, got the operator, who transferred me to the State Police, which went to a busy signal. I let it buzz for a bit, hung up and called back. Got a different operator and she said that don’t hang up on the busy signal, it’ll go through. (My thought - with the technology we have, can’t we develop a system where you don’t hear a busy signal when being transferred? Especially the 911 system?) But I digress. ((I am thankful for the system, which worked flawlessly, save the busy signal!)) So I waited with this lady till help arrived.
About a half hour later an Officer drove up and took over the situation. Made it home by oh, 3:00, so it was. No worries, not in the right frame of mind to concentrate much anyhow.

Well, after another good sleep in the tent, I figured I would try to leave again. The fine folks here at the campground wanted to wade the tide pools before making breakfast, so I just headed out.
I drove up the coast, to the Colombian river, then back East to the interstate. Figured it would be a good thing to stop at Mt. St. Helens on the way home, because like, it was right here. And I’m glad I did. The road in was about 45 miles long, and you clime to 3800 feet, then down to 2500, then back up to 4100. It is a big mountain, that’s for sure, much bigger than I had pictured in my mind from all the pictures. This trip was from the West.
But, with still time in the day, I figured I’d try to get to the other side (Windy Ridge) before heading back home (thinking I could still make it yet today.) This drive is not for the faint of heart (unless you drive slowly) as it’s windy mountain roads. Since I had no passengers, I didn’t concern myself with car-sickness, though I did think that if I was riding, I would probably walk.
I liked the second drive better, because you can see the devastation of the forest from the blast so much better than the more popular trip on the West side. The west side has been re-planted, and the hills are covered with lush growth again, hiding the effects from the explosion.
On Windy Ridge, you can hike to the top of a hill to the right, and get a better vantage point, which I did, overlooking Spirit Lake. The lake is still full of logs, though not as much as before.
The ride down was nice, and spent the night in Yakima.

...well, at least that was my plan. Breakfast was baked oatmeal (very good, if I say so myself.) And I had a lot. In fact, it lasted me till 5:00 pm.
I packed Russ’ tent and headed out after that. Plan was to drive to Florence, then up to Mt. St. Helens. But made it to the third lighthouse, and decided to head back to camp for the night. Stopped in Burger King of Newport and pocessed the photos till this point, and got them up on the web. Thanks, Burger King for the free WIFI.

Woke up at 6:30, and got out. No body else was awake, so I figured I’d walk down to the lighthouse. Just for thes record—its longer than it looks! Took me 2 hours to walk down, and about 1.5 to get back. Of course I had my camera, so I did stop from time to time.
Throughout the course of the day, had a nap, drove to the Devil’s Punchbowl, read, talked and ate. I’ll try to fill in more later, but for now the photos will have to suffice.

Good day driving today. Left at around 6:30 - and had a good day driving on down the road. In Oregon, I drove down the old part of the highway, where all the waterfalls are. Horsetail, Multnoma Falls and a couple other (though I didn’t stop at all of them.)
At Multnoma, this was the first time I was there when the trail to the top was open, so I had to go up. I got up the first section before I realized that I didn’t have my water bottle with me - but I figured it was ok and continued the hike. Part of the reason for not going back to get it was that there are old ladies, even pregnant ladies climbing this trail, so no problem! It wasn’t the easiest hike, but made it ok.  Some photos from up there for you all.
Next I decided which way to get to where I was going, and ended up deciding to go through Portland, then up 26 to 101, then south to the campground. This was to give me more time on the coast, and was a good trip.
I did stop at the Air Museum, which was closed, but was a neat stop - at least I was able to see Darryll’s new plane.
Made it down in good time, roughly 6:30 at the campground, glad to get out of the car.
Watched the sun go down over the Pacific ocean.

I did spend the day in the office today. Good thing too, because it hit 101 today. 102 for tomorrow. Working on my website a little, then on the newest project going with the DVD video. I wanted to get the first 5 chapters done, but didn’t quite make it.
Over lunch I ran down to Best Buy to buy the best, though it wasn’t even offered. Sooo I went to Radio Shack, then DQ for 2 for $2.22. On the way home, picked up the inverter out of my truck for the trip to Oregon.
Yes, you heard me right. Oregon. Tomorrow. For a couple days. I might not be online for a few days, but hope to have some photos for you on the return trip.
The afternoon was spent building files and XL spreadsheet to organize this project. Then got my climing gear out of the truck to take with. In the process, I figured I would wash the beast - because it’s needed it ever since I got the topper for it months ago.
Went for a quick ride in the neighborhood, just looking at all the new construction going up - in the 4-5000 square footage range. The amount of money it takes for all that is just staggering to me. No worries - I’ve a better home coming.

Office work again today. Better get used to this, eh?
On the phone today w/ KW, RS, JC - trying to figure out what I’m going to be working on for the next while. I knew there was a lot to do, but in the course of events, we came up with some more things. Some is just re-mastering the DVD series to include the new logo (which is fun - I like DVD authoring.) Other things include another DVD made from this one, audio books, photography and some DTP (Desk Top Publishing.) So, later today I went and bought coffee and Coke.
RS just got a new camper, but I’ve not seen it yet. Possibilities…
Went over to BI’s and had a look at his power steering (he’s away for a couple weeks.) Hoses look like they are shot, so will take it to Mike’s tomorrow.

Spent the morning here in the office today, working on this, that, and the other. Finished off some product photography—getting it ready for Jim.
After lunch, I went to help out at the church, in the form of mudding, sanding and some drywall. I only stayed about 3 hours today.
So, back in the office again, stayed tonight to plan a new menu for the Stranger DVD. There’s more to this than I can put here, but let’s just say, I’ve plenty of work to do!
Oh, about the angels. We received 10 Angel Awards (Excellence in Media) today (2 copies of each) for the videos that we worked on back in NTM. The titles are: EE-TAOW!, EE-TAOW! The Next Chapter, When Things Seem Impossible, The Taliabo Story, and Delivered from the Power of Darkness. One set will be for the office here, the other going North to our Canadian office.
I just looked at the 2006 winners for the Silver Angel - and there’s only 11 in the Video/DVD category, one of which is the Stranger DVD series. I thought there would be a lot more!

Interesting day, so it was. Fist of all, we had an office meeting where we got to view the new logo that we will be implementing sometime soon. Very nice indeed.
Then, with my Toyota Ticket in hand, I drove Torri (sp?) as Tom drove Lina and Lori drove Matty and Noby to Silverwood park. I get a free pass when I drive my Toyota in, and being the generous fellow that I am, gave my ticket away. The lady at the gate (trying to get $4 for parking) had a hard time with my conversation skills. But in the end it worked out just fine.
Spent the rest of the daylight in the day helping mud some wall board (commonly known as Sheetrock.) Spent about 6 hours there before going home for dinner.
Back to the office tonight to work on cutting some photos I had taken a while back (new products for the web.)

Went to church again this morning, this time I brough my camera (though I didn’t take too many photos) and ran the sound board. Looks as though I’ll have a position running sound whenever I’m around. The biggest thing has been not being here consistantly.
Tom and Lorie and fam came home before I got back, and spent the afternoon resting up for the next week (though many guys from the church are starting to prepare the new room for inhabitation.) I’ll be working with them in the evenings this next week I’m sure.
Well, after a nap, took the car and bike to the south side of the lake, and went for a ride. This time it was 40.9 miles in 2:43 - averaging 15 mph.

After driving to camp last night, (getting home past midnight) I headed north again at 7:30 for another 140. I stopped to see Dave and Katie (and Morgan) and was good to catch up with them again. I should have done this a long time ago, because they are only an hour’s drive away. But with a cup of Joe, we hung out for a bit, which was a good time.
I then went to camp to pick up Ryan and MJ, in Barney’s stead - so he could stay home and work. Fun trip, place was packed, and hit 2 McD on the way home. (One was just for sundaes.) But on the way, I got a pigeon from Dave, and we released it in CDA at 2:00 pm. We wanted to see how long it’ll take him to get back to Newport, WA. I’ll post it here when I find out.

Not a big production day - spent most of the time cleaning my hard drives, and organizing data on my 2 computers. With over 500gb of data floating around, this does need to be done from time to time.
Tom and Lorie took a camper up north for the weekend, so it’s just me and Mica at home.
After supper, Sadie wasn’t feeling well at camp, so I rode with Barney to go to pick her up. It was only about 140 miles there and back.

Another basic day in the office. Worked on finalizing the audio files for The Lamb Powerpoint presentation. Had some trouble finding some files, and in the end didn’t fix one little problem. That’s one of the drawbacks from being in 2 places at once. (Well, between 2 places, that is - the files I need are in Canada, and I’m not there. Trouble is, that I’m not sure where the files are there, exactly. Moved too many times in the past 6 years.) Which brings me to the next point—DAM software. Digital Asset Management. One needs to know where files are, and to this point, it’s been going rather well, considering. I do need to be more organized with the files I create, so this isn’t a big problem later on in life. And with over a TB of files, you know that can be a job.
I did call home to wish Mom a happy birthday. Come to find out, she spent at least part of the day at David’s house pulling weeds. That’s one of her favorite past-times.
This evening I did laundry and worked on Skip’s videos from Alaska - trying to edit them down to a managable size. I’m about 3/4 the way through the first hour. A link to photos from that trip…here.