Category: blahblah

Back in the saddle

I’ve officially returned to work after a month off for paternity leave. While I’m enthused about being able to take a month off, it hardly seems like enough. Ella is just getting to the point where she’s going to be smiling and we’re getting our “routines” down pretty well. I think Michelle is also a little concerned about not having me around to hold Ella when she wants to accomplish tasks that require two hands or exclude holding a baby.

Luckily, I still have a fair amount of sick/vacation time I can use, so I’ll be taking 1 day a week off until Thanksgiving. Michelle is convinced I’ll still work this extra day, but I’m certain I’ll need the time for classwork instead. This is going to get interesting.

Canoe the slough

This past weekend was the last non-weekend-weekend I get on my paternity leave. From here on out, I’ll be splitting my weekends up with actual work. Lame.

In order to enjoy the weekend, Joe, Scott and I borrowed my dad’s boats and went for a canoe trip on the Columbia Slough, entering at Kelly Point. The slough, which enters the Willamette just upstream from the confluence of the Columbia River and Willamette, is lovely and gross at the same time. The proximity to industrial uses and landfills has not made it the cleanest, but it’s still a lovely place for a paddle.
Joe and Scott at the mouth of the Columbia Slough
Before heading up the slough, we paddled out to the Willamette to check out the view of the big water and see some of the other users. Just south of the slough is a large grain silo where misc. grains (wheat, I assume) are loaded from box car into silo, then into tankers and shipped away. North is Kelly Point Park and lots of folks come to fish from the beach.

As we paddled up the slough, we encountered a number of folks fishing. This of course was in contrast to my suggestion to Joe and Scott not to get wet if they could avoid it, and not to touch their orifices if they did get wet. Once we got up stream a ways, there were actually signs hidden in the overgrowth of cottonwoods that warned that you shouldn’t swim, fish, or drink from the water.
Fork in the Slough
This picture is of us heading back towards the mouth of the slough. To the right of the canoe is a dormant and capped landfill. On the same bank as the landfill was a teen fisherman trying his hand at carp fishing. We were puzzled by this – maybe he didn’t get the memo about the bio-accumulative property of heavy metals and other toxic materials in fish, or maybe he was hungry enough that it didn’t matter. They were the largest carp I’d seen in Oregon.

I like the slough – partly because I enjoy birds. We were treated to close encounters with some great blue herons, kingfishers, ouzels, sand pipers, and a beaver. They hadn’t received the memo either.

Afterwards we rallied with others at Concordia from some tasty brews and food. Ah, summer.

Changing of the armbands

I was just looking at Lindsay’s photos from Tour de Fat and realized that on Saturday I was wearing a “I’m old enough to drink” armband, and on Sunday I was wearing a “I’m about to be a Dad” armband. Quite a contrast.

I’d be a little worried about the change if I didn’t see people just like me out having fun with their kids. Life doesn’t end…

Distractions

Michelle is scheduled to be induced tomorrow night. This last week we have looked for any distraction we can and have done quite well. We’ve accomplished a lot around the home, beat Super Mario Bros 1 & 2 and are 90% done with Super Mario 3, brewed some beer, cleaned, walked, fretted, talked, ate, chilled, and now there’s not much else to do.

Today I hung out at Tour de Fat because it was my distraction of choice. Michelle ran some errands and watched some Tivo for hers. Then we hung out with the Walz’s, Jasper/Nailor-Japsers and Dunlaps and sipped some brew, ate some bratwurst and had some truly satisfying “old friend” time. Plus, the brats were awesome.

Now what? We still have 23 hours to kill. We’ve planned tomorrow’s breakfast and dinner so I suppose lunch still needs some structure. All the planned and prepared for stuff is done so only the unknown is left. Its a whopping unknown though. The Walzes helped relieve some of the apprehension, but there’s still the unknown. The biggest change in either of our individual lives and the biggest change our our life together is about to happen. Someone ought to tell the animals. Cheers.

2

holy shit, two!

We’ve tried a number of home remedies for inducing labor, but what seemed like the sure fire method has so far failed. We took down our bed, moved it in to the living room, scraped plaster off the ceiling and reapplied a skim coat. I primed it tonight and we’ll paint it tomorrow, but the lack of a bed, the incomplete project and the chaos of the whole affair didn’t quite had the intended effect.

We got each other a super Nintendo for our anniversary and we beat Super Mario Bros. this evening and will move on to “the lost levels” and Super Mario Bros. 2 tomorrow. 8-bits of joy. Well – 16 actually. Its the Super Mario All-stars version.

The tipping point

I’m working on moving my site to a new host, finding coverage for my leave, figure out a paper topic, clean stuff up around the house and live how I like, but there’s this ella-phant in the room. This is all about to change, isn’t it? I’ve probably kept us busier than we’ve needed to be these last couple years but I get the feeling that we’re about to take a forced sabbatical. I know Michelle will take some relief, and when I think about it, I’ll probably enjoy it too.

I just have to stop thinking about it as “a time to get some stuff done.” We’ll both be such mental cases that anything we accomplish will be simplistic (hey… you mowed the lawn!), or have a mild poo smell.

Adjustments.

Distracted?

I just locked my keys in my car. In the ignition. With the car running. Something must be on my mind.

Luckily my parents were less than 1/2 a mile away with a copy of the key. The easy fix makes it funny.

Work Shower

My coworkers just threw a baby shower for another expecting couple and Michelle and me. It was fun, thoughtful, and the first time Michelle had met many of my cohorts. I think many of my coworkers thought I was making the whole thing up. The proof is in the belly.