The B•LOG

A twinvasion indeed!  A word I made up by cleverly adjoining two words together; "Twin" and "Invasion."  A word I've come to describe the third great chapter in my life, this being my thirties.  Of course I'm already two years into this (and a half!) realm but I'm finding sometimes a period of acclimation is necessary.   A year ago had someone told me I was going to be the father of fraternal twins I would have spit my beer all over them.  Had they mentioned in addendum to that that I would become the defacto stepfather to another set of nine-year-old twins simultaneously I might have taken another swig and proceeded to exhale it all over the individual telling me this.  Had they mentioned that the set of twin black kittens I had recently acquired acted as the harbinger of all of this... well I might have simply stopped believing you.  I mean, how is that possible?   Its true, an invasion of sorts has taken place within the last year, ...

Cattail Flour: When I first heard one could actually eat cattail it was while browsing through a US Army survival manual I have that stands at roughly a bajillion pages thick. Regardless it goes over what kinds of unconventional plants a human may ingest in a number of different environmental types. I remember reading the section on Cattail and thinking that might be fun to do. Everyone, I give you the process to refine flour using a fine local plant; the Cattail. First I went out for collection, I’m sure there’s better ways to do it but my novice regard made it seem fairly straight forward, I found a place where Cattails are, pulled off the side of the road and voila I started pulling my first Cattail. On my first mission out I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be looking for so I naturally grabbed the biggest healthiest looking one I could find. It stood well over my head at around eight to nine feet high. It had long frond leaves that hung down, a giant grass. I ...

Cioppino This was my first foray into the highly dubious world of Italian soups but I have to say, after the fact, it was simply the best recipe I've done thus far. Living on the coast of the Pacific Northwest allows one to enjoy the bounty by which they are surrounded by. By this I mean shellfish. Clams, mussels, oysters, crab. Its all here for the taking. And for Cioppino, its for lack of a better word, perfect. To Save a lot of time and typing I'm going to simply copy and paste the recipe from which I derived my version, take note that I did not have all the exact ingredients but I think thats okay when dealing with something like this. Cioppino Recipe Ingredients Seafood 3 pounds halibut, sea bass, or other firm white fish, cut into inch-long cubes 1 large (2 lb or more) cooked Dungeness crab (hard shell) or a cooked lobster 1 pound (or more) of large shrimp 2 pounds little neck clams, mussels, or oysters or all three Sauce 1/2 cup olive oil 1 1/2 cups ...

Hawaii: Molokai to Maui Everyone who knows me well will tell you I don't like flying very much. It's not that I'm inexperienced to the whole ordeal, I imagine I've been in an airplane at least one hundred times or so, it's my active imagination that dooms me every time I step from the gate to the plane , then to make matters worse, you're treated like a sardine being crammed into tiny seats and patronized throughout the entire flight being asked to buy a blasted Coca Cola for three dollars. A can of coke, for three dollars. It's a lesson in modern society at it's finest. Say nothing of the fact that you're sitting in an aluminum tube, at 35 thousand feet, going at an incredible rate of speed, made by the lowest bidder. But as I found on this trip to the US State of Hawaii, it's much much better to fly with someone to share the experience with, bless her soul! It starts in the Portland International Airport, one of the finest I've had th...

BEEP BEEP BEEP .... This Just In... BEEP BEEP BEEP There has been a 60 megaton thermonuclear detonation off of the coast of northwest Oregon, near the small town of Tillamook. If you are within the affected area please proceed to your nearest fallout shelter or local health service department. All access to the affected area has been shut down by force of local, state and federal forces.

These aren't my favorite HDR shots but I decided I liked them enough to post them... so enjoy! The first is of The Capes housing development in Oceanside, Oregon. Detritus up 'Top of the World' Josh fixing his car An Average rainy forest in T County.

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