Eugene OR

We left Crescent City, CA and arrived in Eugene, OR later in the day. Our other set of grandparents live there. We went to a pizza joint. It reminded me of Double Daves....a pizza joint in TX. They even had the same uniforms as they did in TX. We walked in and I promised Bre I would try not to embarrass her in front of "all the nice people." She looked at me and told me to "lay low." I couldn't help at. I promptly laid down on the entrance bench in the restaurants reception area. Put my arms behind my head.


Bre and Krista will be going to college here and rented an apartment ahead of time.

They get ready to open the door


The following are pictures from the last few days put together. Mom and Aunt Heather have taken the girls out on many shopping trips for their apartment.

Uncle Will and Dad


Uncle Will was working a construction job for someone and they said he could give their couch and chair to the girls. Dad and I went and loaded the couch/chair into the van. We drove it to their apartment and did gymnastics trying to get it into the apartment. Dad and I took a bet that Mom and the girls would rearrange the couch and chair...no matter where we put either. Yup.

Later on Krista and I take the chair up the stairs of their apartment

Mikhail (my cousin) and I take a dresser up the outside stairs

All of the G kids (minus two)


Bre and Arielle were trying to see who was taller. I walked up and made a smart guy comment to Bre...something about her almost being up to my shoulder. She slapped me in the face after the following picture. I just don't know what I did.


Josiah and Jamin left TX yesterday and should be here in about twenty minutes. They are going to go with us to Seattle and then see us off to Japan. Then they plan on helping Bre and Krista get settled.

We've done a lot as well...but I'm waiting for pictures to be uploaded.

The Last Day....

This is a combination of two days in Crescent City. The day before our last day we went down to the ocean. We took pictures and walked along the pier. That was cool. And then the last day we....we....I don't know what we did. I forgot, I do remember finishing up jobs around the house and visiting grandparents.

In a few days y'all will get another post titled the last day! I have a lot of last days! lol

One of the final jobs we needed to do was bring the rowboat up from the river. Krista, Alex, and I undertook this job. I didn't position myself right and so I was bent over double..it looked sort of like I had a cross on my back.

"I fell like I'm carrying a cross." I comment to Krista.

"Do we need to stop so you can move around?" She asks.

"No. Just hurry and take me to Calvary."

I'm Back!!!

We are in Oregon. Internet connections have been down and so I haven't updated. there is a lot! I'll try to get to it tonight. I'll load some pictures later!

The Lumberjacks, part II

Dad, Uncle Earl, and I continued to work on the tree yesterday. I know I mentioned it a little, but here are some pictures so you can try to visualize what was happening.

When we cut the tree, it fell down a steep bank. We couldn't cut much of it because the bank was to steep. Then someone suggested we use the truck to pull it out up the bank. We all thought it was a good idea....well, more importantly I thought it was a good idea. lol

What we did was find some cable. I climbed down to the tree and tied the cable around the tree, while Uncle Earl pulled it tight from the top. Dad was in the process of cutting away branches from the main tree.

I climbed back up and Uncle Earl and I tied a rope around a different tree which ran through a pulley. We ran the cable through the pulley as well.

U. Earl and I tie the rope

It looked like this: Mid-left is the rope tied to the other tree, on the right side is the cable coming up the bank and to the truck

Dad went and found some cable clamps so we could make a loop for the hitch. Even though it looks like we're playing in the dirt, we are really working with the clamps!

We then attached a safety rope and grabbed the hatchet in case we needed to cut the truck loose. The owner of the truck said she didn't even want to watch, and handed me the keys. We used the van in the end...I was going to bury her keys and give her a map to go and look for it. But I decided to live and didn't.

Dad started to drive. The rope attached to supporting tree snapped. We re-tied it. It snapped again. Uncle Earl and I went and found some chain and used chain instead. Dad started again. The safety rope snapped. We threw away the safety rope and hooked the cable itself to the van. Dad took off again. The tree was heavy and it was a struggle. But thank the Lord for Ford and we started to drag it up the bank.

Uncle Earl and I jumped down by the tree with crowbars and pushed it more in the direction we wanted it to go. Dad started driving again. Slowly, but surely it came up. We were nothing but smiles.

"Of course," I said, "I could have just picked it up and brought it up, but I didn't want you two to look bad."

"Thanks for thinking of us." Uncle Earl said.

We did more yesterday, and a lot more today. But I have an early rise tomorrow and it will require more time to blog everything else! I just found this operation very interesting! lol

Ben-Hur and I

Have you ever tried mowing a lawn with a mower like that???? I'm so glad I used a gasoline mower to work my way to a camp last year!

It looks like it's going to be a race
Did I mention the grass was wet?

I fell flat on my face...but it gets worse, I lost the race!

Today...not any other day

Uncle Earl, Dad, and I worked on cutting that tree up today. It was a lot of work! Pictures will follow later on! We didn't like climbing down through the poison ivy and poison oak to get at the tree and so someone came up with the brilliant idea to drag it up the hill with the van. I say brilliant....I don't remember who's idea it was. But since it was brilliant, it most likely was mine! lol

The pictures will tell the story and show what we did better than me trying to explain.

We did go down to the river. Nolan and Alex were further down the stream, Uncle Earl and I were doing something with the kayak when we heard Nolan and Alex yelling and screaming. We look up and saw them both running towards us. I take off towards them....preparing myself for all sorts of monsters.....that's my Hank the Cowdog mode!

They had seen a snake....Alex told me that he thought it was a rattlesnake. When I got there to look around I found the snake. It wasn't a rattlesnake; but we all have lived in Texas for sometime where most snakes are bad for ones health.

I think I was the only one who ever dealt with a live rattlesnake while in Texas. I was mowing a jungle yard and ran into a baby rattler in the grass. That was a crazy job!

I Was Done Tagged

I was tagged by Natalie...so let me try this.

What's your favorite day of summer?
The first one and the second one...come to think of it, I like the third and fourth one to!

What's your favorite indoor activity in the summer?
Sleeping, well and eating. I like to do both!

Favorite outdoor activity?
Um...I usually mow lawns during the summer...so pushing thirty pounds of hot iron around Texas?

The pool or the beach?
I've never lived by the beach (I've lived in Alaska and Texas), so the pool

Have you ever camped during the summer heat?
I'm sure I have...I just can't think of an example


Popsicles or Ice cream?
Ice-Cream!

What Flavor?
Cookies and Cream

Do you help your church's VBS?
I haven't seen a VBS in four years, so no

Do you get bored during the summer?
I'm not going to lie....pushing a lawn mower around all day gets boring. "Oh look, I'm taking a left turn....and another left turn!"


Are you going anywhere this summer?
Um....Japan

Is summer your favorite season?
I like the winter and fall time better than summer

If you're human and want to be tagged, then you're tagged!

Eureka

We spent the day visiting family further down the coast in Eureka (this was two days ago)

This was with Uncle John and Aunt Mary

Great Uncle Jack and Aunt Beverly, 2nd cousins

Up the River

After swimming on the river we did our annual "Sleep by the River," night. Dad, Bre, Krista, Nolan, Arielle, Alex, and I dared the odds. This is fun...but you are always soaked in the morning. I wasn't sure if I'd do it because I haven't been feeling 100% for a while.

Dad introduced the M&M's and said you'd get an M&M if you could recite a whole Bible verse. Great idea!

The holder of the goods

Da Bre G and Jdog

Bre

I brought Smoore makings from across the River (I have no idea how you spell that!)

The fire

I look like a phantom

Bre and I talked for some time while everyone else went to sleep. Usually everyone goes to sleep before me and so I lay there and listen to everything...imagining that each noise is an animal coming to eat me. Not this time. I decided to be a cycle breaker!

We woke up early and it was raining on us....typical.

The Drunken Duck

Alright, here it is. The pictures are in random order!

We went down to the river by our grandparents house and played on the river....naturally. Krista and I worked some more on the tepee and then we went to work on building a raft. Krista and I would find the logs and then test them in the water to make sure they floated. If they did then we'd push them up shore and Arielle would pile them while Dad would tie it together.

After the raft was built, we named it, "The Drunken Duck."

Can you find the frog???

That is us getting ready to take the Duck on it's maiden voyage
It is coming along nicely

The Drunken Duck

The Duck can take Krista and I, along with a younger one (Alex or Stacia). We took it out for the maiden voyage and we had Nolan with us. The Duck sunk about four inches under water and then it floated. We took it to the middle of the river....trying to figure out how to steer without flipping the raft. It can't take Nolan on up with Krista and I.

The wood we built it with had all sorts of bugs in it...which went everywhere once the raft was in the water. The maiden voyage was successful...it was unnerving to have random logs start to float away from us, but that's what the third person was there for!
Alex attempts to board...the little pirate

You can see the raft sinking a bit

Alex and Dad cleaned the rowboat

Krista and I figured out how to work it

The progress was slow, but fun. At one point we couldn't make it up the current so I jumped out and pulled it...that was very cold! I also jumped off of Big Rock...I wasn't pushed this time!

We were all sunburned pretty bad. Somehow or another I got burnt on the top of my feet. I guess it is what I get for having big feet. Either that or it is punishment for all of the Longhorn symbols?

Internet connections have been really bad, so that is why I haven't posted in a while! I'll try and update later today

Dead men tell no tales

But don't worry, I didn't die, so I can tell you about today!

Dad, Nolan, Krista, Alex and I decided to tackle a hike today. We would hike to the top of Little Bald Hill and then we would hike down Sheep Pen Gulch...which has no trail.

Here is the before shot

Krista

You may notice than in every picture at least someone is doing the Texas Longhorns symbol....that was NOT my idea. I have influenced them with it for a while, but doing it in every picture wasn't my idea!

Nolan

I just went along with it
Good job, Alex!

Flowers along the path

I remembered this hike being a slow and gradual upgrade and was very relaxing. I did not remember the rock climbing....okay, maybe a bit of an over statement, but it was steep!

I forgot my lognhorns

Yes, more hornsWe reached the top of the mountain. Had lunch and then we planted an apple seed and an nectarine seed.

Dad plants the seed

A few weeks back I had cleared my back-pack out (the one we were using for the hike). It had used to be my Civil Air Patrol 24 hour pack...so it had the necessities to survive for a day. Matches and a knife would be included. While I was clearing that stuff out I was very careful to make sure the matches were taken out. Can you imagine how awkward it would have been at airport security to have matches in my bag????

Ironically enough I was looking for matches when found my knife. That would have been bad to!

Dad wanted to hike down Sheep Pen Gulch. He said there wouldn't be a trail and so we would have to make our own. He wasn't joking. Have you ever tried forcing a path through the Redwoods?

This is the start of that trail...this was the easiest it would ever be on that trail

Dad was appointed "Scout" by Alex
That was a hard trail. Through trees, over water (or under it), in thorns, through brush and anything that stood in our way. The camera died at the start of the way down, so we don't have any pictures of the way down.

We followed this creek on the way down. Most people would agree that going down is easier than going up. Not in this case. We started that morning at 9:30, we reached the top of the mountain at around noon. We started down at around 1:30. We dragged ourselves out of the brush at 9:30, P.M. It had been a 12 hour hike!

I think I was the first one to try out gravity. I slipped on a wet rock and went head first into the creek. Everyone else did similar blunders on the way down.

For several hours we were all saying, "We are almost there." Spirits were starting to get low. I tried to cheer them up.

"I think we're getting closer...I have seen that tree before!"

After the hike

It was a long hike, but we had a lot of fun!

BTW, I am having some blogger technical issues and I can't close up this huge gap between the bottom of the post and picture. I was not hiding a secret message in the gap....

Crescent City, Day 3

Bre made it!

We went hiking....guess where!

I am not a tree hugger...Dad told me to see how many Jared's big that tree was. It was 11 of my full arms lengths. And I'm six foot, 2 inches. So, lets say it had a parameter of 66 feet.

We got almost as much attention walking up the road as the redwoods did....the redwoods were not walking up the road...just to make sure there is no confusion on that!

My Longhorn pride....is that a halo...hmmm

All of us kids...minus Josiah and Jamin

We linked arms to see if we could go around the tree
These are almost bigger than the trees in Texas!