Freezing cold and windy, that’s my forecast for the day. I woke up with just about every inch of my body aching from my Pilates workout. I didn’t mind, infact, it took my mind off my back pain and made me feel like I’m putting a dent into this body of mine.!

Got out of bed fairly late, later than usually and so we got ready for the day and hung out in the living room. Mike had already made two different types of soups and I ate the Vegetable Rice Soup he made with all the left over Veggies and Rice in the refrigerator. I sprinkled in some Whole Wheat Bread and chowed down. It was very delicious… makes me very jealous that Mike’s able to make food at a drop of a hat like this.:(

Vegetable Rice Soup:

5 Celery

4 Yellow Onions

3 Potatoes

3 Parsnips

2 Cans Diced Tomatoes

1/2 Bag Spinach

1Cup Rice

1Can Kidney Beans Canned (drained)

Sunday Vegetable Rice Soup

Directions:

Put water chopped up vegetables, spinach, beans, diced tomatoes, and rice all into pot and place in crock pot for 1 hour.

 Even thought it was 24 degrees and windy outside, Mike decided to take us ice-skating. I said, lets go! So we took a drive to Reston Town Center and parked near the skating rink set up in the open area of the mall. We went into the information area where they were selling tickets and skates, and sure enough, I took my boots off and told the girl size 9. I was sad Mike didn’t buy a ticket, but that’s to be expected. He’s not much of a sportsy guy. But that’s O.K. his son and I took to the ice until I got my ice skating legs… and by that time, we were icicles from the blasting wind and very chilly temperatures. So, we got off the rink and headed over to Panera Bread for a nice Hot Chocolate.

Today was certainly an escapade of sorts. The anticipated morning sunrise to glisten off the newly fallen snow turned into, well, giving us more windswept snow throughout the day. The Litchfield Hills of Connecticut are a very rugged highly forested terrain that spends the vast majority of it’s winters constantly covered in snow. Largely in part because of our elevations and how close we are to both the Berkshire and Taconic mountains.

Today, these rugged hills were certainly alive. I got the chance to experience it all first hand today. Now, normaly on a day like today, I would go skiing. However, I’ll wait until mid-week when all the kids have returned to school and it’s not as packed. Today, I decided to take the usualy short drive over to Sailsbury to LaBonnes Market. Well, it was anything but short.

The drive itself was quiet snow covered. In fact, it was rather entertaining. Along the way, the winds swept the snow creating tons of snow drifts, as high as 5 feet in some places. The hills themselves though were absolutely breathtaking. Traveling through the mountain passes and pine lined roads in a snowstorm along with views of the surrounding mountains and hills set the tone. It set the beauty and tranquility of it all. The best part is, since were out in the country, there’s really no traffic, so you get the feeling of it being your very own winter wilderness.

-Michael A. Valletta
Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeValletta

project 365 entry for Sept. 25, 2009
Tried to get shots of the sunrise again. It was too cloudy again.

We went to the beach & rode the ferry again.

The ocean was getting pretty rocky on the ferry ride back. Boy it sure has gotten windy.

Went over to the beach that is close to the motel & to see Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The windy is strong. The beach looked like a sandstorm in places.

The kids played around in the motel tonight. My youngest makes just about anything out of paper. LOL

Hope I made you smile. Until next time…

Far western Wales.. looks pretty, is freezing.

Look at the liquid clouds, Wales is strange

English sand...

Rock stacks - the only thing to do on the beach here.

Great traditions number three… going to the beach… in the middle of winter… hmmm.

Corpus. Family. Mommy. Ocean. Windy. Support. Love. Happiness. Time. Future. Calm. Birdie.

It really amazes me how many people (including me) wait until the last minute to buy Christmas presents. We all know that the stores are going to be super crowded, but there are still those people (like me) who wait until the last minute.

To make shopping matters worse, it was really windy and cold today. During track practice it was so windy I really thought somone was going to just fly away (which would have been really funny).

Song of the post: Again by Faith Evans

The train came pounding down the track, gusting wind and sending my hair askew all over and I turned away from it and he turned into it, into me, leaning into me like he leaned on my vowels and grazing my lips with his, just barely, just lightly touching his into my bottom lip, a fine row of teeth just maybe smoothing against my soft lip, and his hands dug into my wild hair as the wind and his will pushed us together into a violent, hurricane of a near-kiss, all breath, all low pressure system, vortex, train.

Yesterday was it really cold, we had -9°C outside. Today is it not so cold (-3°C), but we have snow – a lot of snow. Furthermore we have a really hard wind and I am very happy that I do not have to leave the house today. I like cold and snowy weather, but the wind is not very nice.

  Here  is a  picture of  some my friend tied , until then,see ya,  Grumpus Grange. 

Todd's Wiggle Minnows these are Todd's Wiggle Minnows made by a friend

Last night the official low was 8 degrees below zero. Luc’s car says it was colder. Our high was 1 degree.

Tonight’s forecast says Clear. Cold with lows 10 below to 20 below zero. Light and variable winds.

I’m glad the Kinney Drug guy showed up with my meds and toilet paper! It’s not nice cruising around weather

Now you know why I like camping in warm places in the winter.

Gone fishing,check back later.
See ya!

When I was growing up I always thought that Christmas time and the Holidays to have snow during this time.  If not it just wasn’t the same without it.  usually, when it stormed at Thanksgiving and Christmas time in Iowa it was so miserable that it either was a blizzard and hindered the family get-together because of driving conditions or it was to foggy outside.  So really it was more of a pain than not.  Many places of the U.S. get snow and it’s perfect timing.  I can say that living in Las Vegas at this time of year is great.  You can plan most any kind of gathering because the weather is always nice. 

Yes, sometimes it gets a little windy and possibly may rain, but usually not.  The grass is green, people hang their holiday lights indoors and outdoors. (You don’t have to worry slipping off the icy ladder), they put up their blow up Santa Clause’s .  All kinds of beautiful decorations.  Yes, I do miss seeing the snow on the trees and allowing he kids to go out and sled.  I loved watching my kids make snow angles.. Here is LV you can just drive up to MT. Charleston and do all that then come back down the MT. and be in the warmth of  the Las Vegas weather.

It’s easier to play a little touch football too, the boys love to play sports, I love listening to Christmas music and taking family pictures.

Mac (red) -- Mt. Hood Peak At 11,239 Feet

The names have changed, but once again experienced mountain climbers get into trouble on Mt. Hood.

Something went wrong for climbers Luke Gullberg, Katie Nolan and Antony Vietti. This past Saturday, rescuers found Gullberg’s body and retrieved a digital camera that recorded the group at 10,000 feet on the Reid Headwall, the steep rocky face that rises above Reid Glacier.  This part of the mountain is complex and best climbed in May-June under cold conditions.  Rescuers are continuing to search for the other climbers.

It was just three years ago, almost to the day that we learned about rescue efforts to find 3 other missing climbers (Kelly James, Brian Hall and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke), on Mt. Hood.

All this made me reflect on the one-and-only time I climbed the mountain. Of course it wasn’t in the middle of December, but none-the-less it was a challenging adventure for someone with no mountaineering background.

It wasn’t until I was 3 hours into the mountain climb with the crunch of crampons on ice and a heavy fog filled the predawn air that I fully appreciated the skills, hurdles and human conditioning required to do this every other weekend. Let alone execute a rescue like Portland Mt. Rescue in poor weather conditions, with extremely high avalanche hazards and with hurricane force winds.  Here are my summit stats:

Mazama – Summit Certificate
Ascended MT. Hood (South side) on May 16, 1978
Leader: Dick Sawyer w/ assistant Steve Rearder

Mt. Hood is one of several volcanoes on the west coast of the U.S. It is located about fifty miles east of Portland, Oregon in the Mt. Hood National Forest near Hood River. It is very easy to reach the trailhead since it starts at the parking lot of Timberline Lodge at an elevation of 6,000 feet, which is the base for the ski runs located on Hood’s southern slopes. It is common to see skiers high up on Hood. In fact, last year/season the ski area Meadow’s broke the all-time skier/boarder attendance record with 1.83 million visits.

But the mountain can also be very dangerous as noted by the deaths in May 2002 of climbers falling into a crevasse and a helicopter rescue gone bad. The nine climbers were swept into a 50-foot wide and 20-foot deep crevasse, known as the Bergschrund, early in the morning. Three of the climbers were killed and four more were critically injured.

And despite being the site of one of the worst climbing disasters in the U.S. in 1986 and that in the past 100 years, there have been more than 130 deaths on Mount Hood, it is very popular for various skill levels and some 40,000 people fill out permits to climb it every year.

But I’ve moved off topic.  I summited Mt. Hood in May 1978 (yeah, I know that was before Al Gore “invented” the internet!) with two college buddies along with a number of other climbers who we never met before. We used the standard route named the “Hogsback“. It is a very long, but straightforward day. We climbed independently most of the time, but roped up near the summit since the final ridge is exposed, slippery and can be windy.

The previous day we met up at Timberline Lodge to get final information and register with our guides from Mazama and the Park Service. We got the paperwork filled out and proceeded to an orientation as we spread all our gear on the floor for a final check and a quick refresher course on the “rest-step”, crevasse rescue and harness/rope travel. My friends and I looked at each other…”refresher”…we didn’t know about crevasses, or ropes, but we all thought the ice axe was cool. After the “lesson”, we killed a few hours in the lodge giving Heidi some love (a St. Bernard dog who has since past away) who was the lodge’s goodwill ambassador. Bruno has since replace Heidi and is doing a fine job continuing the role. We over nighted in the Chalet Rooms. These are European-style bunk rooms with shared access to a public bathroom with showers centrally located in the hallway. We had a 3am wake up call and everyone knew it would be difficult to sleep. The “snorer’s” seem to be asleep in seconds and kept most of us from any quality shut eye in the bunks.

We started the climb at 4:00am after a big bowl of oatmeal from the cafe. The route was clearly marked (by our flashlights) with a big sign stating “Climber’s Route” as well as discs on tall poles. This route takes climbers along the east side of the ski runs. The starting elevation is about 6,000 feet. The steady slope rises two miles to the top of the ski runs (oh how we wished for a chair ride on Palmer!) at a 30 degree grade. You are cold for the first 30 minutes then the steady grade gets the blood flowing in the legs and you begin to peel off layers.

MC (L) -- Mt. Hood Peak At 11,239 Feet

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was surprised to see so many other people climbing on this foggy morning. There was no wind, but the heavy fog made it cold anytime you took a rest.

As the sun came up we were treated to the burn off of fog and the shadow of Hood off to the west. I was a little slower than my friends, but I plodded along…step-rest-step-rest. We took a longer rest at the base of the Hogsback about 10,000′. I remember the strong smell of rotten “eggs”…sulfur…I expect from the out-gassing of the mountain. Looking up at the ridge, it was clear as we needed to rope up for safety otherwise it would be a quick slide down the mountain!  So, on with the harnesses as I latched onto the rope.

I plodded along near the end of the rope for the short climb up the ridge. I remember someone shouted “FALLing” so, we all fell onto the snow with ice axes to prevent an accident. The person only slide 10-20 feet. We were all down to short sleeve shirts by this time as the sun was in full force. At Bergshund we split the ridge about halfway to the twin rock towers called the “Pearly Gates.” We took a path to the left to reach a narrow gap in the Bergshund. Once across, we continued our climbing to the Gates. Waiting for a number of people already on the way down and everyone else to arrive, I enjoyed the views of the “Kitchen” and surrounding pinnacles and ridges. And that sulfur smell continued on… We disconnected from our rope and quickly headed for the summit saddle. About 200′ at an aggressive angle and then we were…

On top! It was about 11:00am and it had taken seven hours to climb the 5400′. Everyone enjoyed the views and took pictures as well as made a quick climb to the true summit about a hundred feet away and maybe 50′ vertical.

On the downclimb, we roped up again until we were at the bottom of the Hogsback. From there it was a simple matter of tracing our steps back to the parking lot. With the steep slopes, we enjoyed some glissading in the black trash bags we packed and that sped things up quite a bit. It took us about 3 hours to return.

I think Mt. Hood is more challenging than advertised, especially if the weather is poor. The route is straightforward as long as you use Crater Rock as a guiding landmark. The crevasses are grouped off the primary route but climbers have been known to “find” them during whiteouts or storms.

As I reflect I remember it was a quiet May afternoon and my body was absorbing the warmth from the midday sun. In fact, it was too much sun.  As we down climbed Hogsback a lot of people coming up were covered in Zinc Oxide?  Later, as I unbuckled my harness in the parking lot and felt the stiffness in my body…in particular my sunburnt face.

I’ve never forget this positive experience with good friends.  I hope only the best for the 2 remaining climbers.

UPDATE:  December 21, 2009 — sadly the Mt. Hood rescue/search was called off last week.  The remaining two climbers (Nolan and Vietti) presumably dead were left behind to be found another day.  Speculation of what happen was pieced together from clues found on Gullberg’s body.  Cell phone photos seem to indicate there was an accident along the way and that Nolan may have been injured.  Vietti stayed behind with Nolan and Gullberg elected to climb down the mountain, but fell on his descent suffering some minor injuries, but then died of exposure.

These deaths, like the many before them spawned another debate about people risking their lives climbing the mountain in the middle of winter.  There has been a barrage of comments on the climbing “boards” about the use of transponders and an ‘entitlement’ factor that such devices might provoke.  It’s a complex issue.  I know that many if not all the rescuers who are involved in this line of “work” get no pay and have to buy their own equipment as well as supply their own food and transportation.  They are hero’s in my book!  To the climbers who perished… may you rest in peace and let’s keep the families of the climbers in our thoughts.

Map photo courtesy of Steve Cowden/The Oregonian.

All Rights Reserved © Northwest Harley Blog

Winter Plans

- To explore as much of the city as possible. 

- To meet new random people whenever appropriate. 

- To read more.

- To watch more movies.

In order to highten my understanding of life, or to discover that such a task is silly.

I’ve looked at him in that way twice that I can remember thus far. Once, when I was utterly confused and making the decision to leave, citing exhaustion as the cause, and again long after I hadn’t gone anywhere, sincerely content. He responded with a series of lines broken up repeatedly at different points that were beautiful in their simplicity and highlighted life’s dual nature. Although the same answer was given on both occasions, each time a completely separate emotion that was somewhat linked to the other but could stand on its own was evoked.

Today is Saturday the 12th of December in 2009 and it’s cold ,windy, and rainy so there will be no fishing for me today.  I did a little shopping and house work instead.  Something that I just love to do….not!  My wife had to work today so I filled in for her.  A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.  Friday I had a retirement party at my last place of employment and got a nice gift certificate to Bass Pro Shop.  I think I just died and went to heaven, eeha! Anyone got a tip on deals at B.P.S. let me know, will you?!

Untill then ,see ya!
Grumpus

By the time Simon showed up, Nat and I were well on our way to being bored. The previous night was a rough one for the two of us – the winds were blowing and howling around this little house like we’ve never seen before. The little umbrella tree out front was bending and twisting in the wind, along with the bird feeder out back, which was now bent over like a crooked old man (and that’s on a steel pole!). The snow was blowing and dancing down the street along with the wind, and from what we could tell, it all blew down Fort Erie and Buffalo way. Our little hamlet has a good dusting but not enough to deter activities.

As Simon worked away, pretty much on his own this time, we tried our damndest to fill the hours. I finished a project while Nat hovered over Simon now and again chit chatting away. I’m sure Simon was wishing Nat would go away and leave him to his job, but being the nice chap he is, he understood Nat’s dilemma – too windy outdoors, too quiet indoors! So as Simon finished the drywalling, flooring and installation of the shower doors, we knew he was a great worker and were glad we found such a good contractor. Aside from being neat, tidy and conscientious, he knows his craft, has a good sense of humour and works well with everyone. Along with our generator guy, this is another man’s business card we’ll keep close at hand!!

Now that the bathroom is taking shape – the shower surround and toilet installed, the laundry area painted and the flooring now finished – we see a huge difference and am more than pleased with our choices. Using the downstairs bathroom (the ‘dungeon’ as we like to call it) is getting less and less and our tolerance is improving.

Today should see Simon and his plumber back to finish the hook-ups for the taps, the sanding of drywall and any last touches before they return on Monday to actually install the vanity. Yeeeaaahhh!!!

I almost hate to say it…it has been such a loooooong struggle from 2006 to today….but if things go well, I will be getting IVIg Friday. I called to make sure everything was in place. The doc sent in his orders, I still have the appointment for the infusion. It all seems too good to be true!

Beth and Luc work in and around town. They are planning on coming up to the hospital two or three times during the day to take Zeke for a walk while I am hooked up to the IV. I need to bring snacks and drinks for me, dog food, treats, a water bowl, a long leash, my laptop and something to read. It’s going to be a long day if the infusion is done right.

I want to thank everyone a million zillion bazillion times over for keeping Zeke and I in your prayers and hearts.

Today, I headed out for a 4 miler.  It was windy and cold. But sunny.  I couldn’t pass up a sunny run…

I set off and instantly felt the wind to my back, pushing me along.  Ahhh, a nice relaxed run…  My feet barely touching the pavement, feeling as light as a feather and belting out Bon Jovi and Daughtry tunes…

At 2 miles, I turned around…  and…

Bam!  It hit me…

The wind!

I moved forward slowly.  Very. . . Slowly. . .  As I approached the top of the hill, I remember thinking, “don’t go all out”.  HA!  Running down the hill at my “downtempo”, (my new term for running down a hill slower than you can run up it); I laughed.  I laughed inside.  Then, I laughed out loud.  I didn’t care who heard me.  Battling the wind, my foe, with all the strength of a laughing runner girl.  That third mile was my slowest (it is also, ironically, the fastest section of my 4 mile route!)  Alas, I have proven that I can run slower down a hill than I can run up it. It can be done.  And I have Garmin data to prove it!

Wind-EEE Splits...

Who knew running down a hill, into the wind, could be so enjoyable?

Go run and laugh out loud!

There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind.  ~Annie Dillard

Bad weather always looks worse through a window.  ~Unknown

Zeke was very brave last night. He did not whimper or cry. He mostly slept. I was up until this morning, petting him, talking to him and checking on him every few minutes. Then I finally went to bed once Zeke conked out and slept until 11 AM when he woke me to go out.

There were several messages on the answering machine. One was the vet checking up. I called her back and made an appointment. No time for a shower or sprucing up. I threw on clothes and went out to the van. It took “forever” to start up and run. The maintenance man was still plowing. He had only done up by my apartment building, not all the way out to the road. Once the van was running well enough not to stall out, I forged through the snow.

Scary! The van slid all around down the hill to state route 3. I drove no more than 30 mph to Saranac Lake. RT 3 was just two unplowed tracks in the snow, ice and slush. The good thing about that was I was so nervous driving that I did not have too much time to obsess over Zeke. Made it to the vet exactly on time

They weighed him and tried to take his temp. Zeke got snarly. They decided he was in pain so should knock him out and look at his mouth. The BEST news is that they found a bone fragment in his soft palette and were able to remove it. I had visions of the whole thing being MUCH worse. I think the vet did, too.

The sort of bad news is that Zeke has some dental problems that still need fixing. Broken and infected teeth and gingivitis. They need to do more work on him another day.

When Zeke came to after the anesthesia, he cried. Good thing I was still in the little exam room by myself. I started sobbing. I think Zeke’s pain is worse on me than it is on him. While he was still ditzy from the drugs, he kept running into walls. Whenever he tried to itch or shake all over, he fell on the floor. He had a big goofy grin on his face the whole time I went right from sobbing to laughing.

Zeke now has antibiotics and pain pills to take. The vet said he should eat soft food while his mouth heals. Later, when there is no storm raging, we will go back to get more of his mouth fixed.

I told the vet, vet tech and receptionist about people who read this blog pitching in to get Zeke back to health. They were all quite touched and the vet got misty eyed. What a nice bunch of folks!!!!

As we were coming out of the exam room, Beth and Luc came in. They figured we were at the vet’s and came over. Zeke was darn glad to see them. Also, the male nurse who visits me from the county was in the office with his wife, kids and pug dog. Zeke remembered the guy. I wonder if Zeke thought we were having a party for him?

Oh, my gosh! When we went outside the tall pine trees were blowing violently in the wind. I was worried about the trip home. I stopped to buy 21 cans of dog food for a week of soft diet. I also got 3 bags of treats.

Going home was NOT what I expected. The roads were clear! RT 3 was great and the hill to my apartment was plowed and sanded. What a relief!

Laura, the apartment manager, met Zeke in the driveway and gave him two cheese sticks. He snarfed them down….no problem

Beth and Luc came to visit and we spoiled Zeke with lots of attention and treats. He had his first bowl of mushy food and willingly took his two pills with a Snausage. YES!

OK…for those of you who want to help Zeke get his mouth fixed, the vet’s office is setting up a fund. When you call or write, say the donation is for Zeke the service dog. They will use the money to get Zeke back in tip top shape.The receptionist said they can take credit cards on the phone. You could also mail a check. The vet is…

Emily Buskey, DVM
High Peaks Animal Hospital
1087 RT 86
Ray Brook, NY 12977
(518) 891-4410

http://www.highpeaksvet.com/

I want to thank each and every one of you for your love, prayers, support and financial assistance. Zeke is loved by soooooooooo many people near and far. Thank you

I really should force myself to go to town. Bad weather is on its way and it is only going to get worse. Single digit temps will hit for the first time this week and snow is in the forecast most days. I need to buy pet food and treats, plus would like to get fresh foods and frozen fruit for me.

While it was snowing at Heather’s house, we had green grass. The last two days and nights have been snowy. Maybe winter will REALLY start this time? A local naturalist wrote about pussy willows coming out in this confusing weather. Looks like the confusion is about to end!

Check out our Winter Storm Watch….

The National Weather Service In Burlington Has Issued A Winter
Storm Watch For The Northern Adirondacks…Which Is In Effect From Late
Tonight Through Wednesday Evening.

• Snow Will Develop Rapidly Across The Northern Adirondacks During
The Pre-Dawn Hours Wednesday…And Become Heavy At Times By Mid-
Morning. As Temperatures Warm Aloft…Snow Will Mix With And
Change To Sleet…And Then As A Period Of Rain Before Ending
Wednesday Evening. The Most Significant Impacts From This Storm
Will Be Felt Wednesday Morning And Into The Early Afternoon
Hours…With Snowfall Rates Up To 1 Inch Per Hour…Accompanied
By Low Visibility And Gusty Winds.

Good evening to you all, it’s Motoko blogging tonight, and before I say anymore about the topic in the title I want to talk about the weather.

The weather is at last coming to its senses and it’s stopped pouring it down now which means that the lane is slowly becoming less flooded and is still dropping. By the end of the week the flooded lane will just be a normal lane again, although it will need to be swept clear as I am sure that a lot of silt and rocks will be on the bottom of it. It’s still deep enough to canoe on still which is our only way to get away from the stables at the moment, as not even my Jeep will able to drive thought it at the moment. Below is a screen shot of the forecast for a small area of Cumbria, less rain so it’s all good. Looks like it will be a little bit gray though but its better than more flooding.

Now I will tell you what the blog title is all about. The Dragoness is my very good friend called Esumi, and she is also a member of Dark Cherry, but not any old member of Dark Cherry. She is the top model and is a figure heard of the club, so she is well known in the club, which if you don’t know Dark Cherry is in Kyoto in Japan. She arrived a few days ago but due to the flood stayed in a local Bread and Breakfast for a night and then the day after got a taxi to drive to edge of our flooded lane and then we canoed to her and picked her up and took her to our home. She is here for two weeks and already she is helping out at the stables so she is also very useful. We have already done a small fun shoot army style directed by Esumi, not for my Dark Cherry profile but a fun shoot for my personal blog on the Dark Cherry’s website. Esumi also was the bringer of my favourite brand of green tea, which I am hooked on. Pictures of my favourite green tea brand are pictured below. Esumi is now a physical education teacher at school in Kyoto but before that she was a member of Japan Air Self-Defence Force, her nickname was Dragoness and she has carried across that nickname for her Dark Cherry profile and model name.

For all of thoughts who would like to know the area where I grew up in I have taken a few photographs to show you. I love Kyoto but I love Cumbria more so, I wouldn’t give up Cumbria for anything in the world.

Below is the week’s weather forecast for Kyoto, very different from Cumbria!

If you wish to learn more about Kyoto click my banner I made below.

Final Fantasy XIII is at long last made real and the date for release is 2009-12-17 of course that is the Japanese date for release. The English copy of the game is out on 2009-03-09, which Jenny has reordered, but sadly for her my Japanese copy will be here just after Christmas. Jenny also can’t fully understand Japanese so looks like she will be jealous while I play it in front of her. Below is a video of Final Fantasy XIII.

While we are on the subject of Christmas Me and Jenny should be going out to Kyoto but this may not happen due to the resent flooding and so on. We shall have too see, and if we can’t go out to Kyoto we will do what we do every year which is have a nice small joint of beef and spend it together with no one else. Eat the dinner in front of our log fire and then snuggle up and red a good book and have some nice background music on. Must remember to stock up on log as soon as the flooded lane is fully clear, as we can’t fit all the logs we need into our canoe *laughs*

Work at the moment is a little less hectic and things are starting to go back to normal now at last I can say with great relief. Once the lane is clear our customers will return and we shall get the part time staff back in as well to work. This means that me and Jenny will have our days off totally clearly as at the moment we are still working the mornings on the days we have off. But all the staff here has been really supportive and helpful and I can’t fault their gallant efforts at all, they are a good team. Jenny’s sign on the gate is still up and always make me laugh when I think of it, although the paint has ran slightly but you can see what and read it. With my friend Esumi lending a hand she had ti be kitted out of our work uniform and she borrowed some of my stuff including a pair of coveralls, which are slightly too big for her but looks funny. Coveralls are photographed below, red is not that bright its just the light =^.^=

Also I am still supporting the RNLI for all the good work they have done in our small English paradise that is Cumbria. So please support them and click on the banner below. Also see a video below of the RNLI in Cumbria.

That’s it for now!

Jenny and Motoko Carter

Our Online Gaming Playstaion 3 ID

The strong NW storms in late August churned the waters in Port Philip Bay and battered the Bellarine coastline.  Saltbush and other coastal plants were lost and vast amounts of sand was swept onto the foreshore or out to sea.  The storm surge flowed into homes at Pt Richards and across parts of The Esplanade in Portarlington.

Beach in NW storm, Indented Head

Storm ravaged shore

Locals are used to seeing king tides and storms changing the coastline and moving sand bars.  However we must also hope that those responsible for the foreshore’s management are monitoring these changes and being proactive.  Hopefully next autumn we may see repairs to the protective barrier that has effectively guarded much of the coastline since it was built by a work-for-the-dole program in 1983. I’m sure many residents would be willing to assist in such works.

Salt marsh along foreshore after storm

Eroded shore, Indented Head

The Grassy Point boat ramp was one of the few winners from the storm. Having been covered in thick sand for the last few years it’s now quite clear and trailers won’t be getting bogged.

Grassy Point boat ramp after storm

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