Hiking - Goat Lake

As a technology professional, I end up staring at screens much more that I should.  That may account for my desire to get outside when I can.  One of my favorite ways to get outside is to go on a hike.  Living in the Northwest lends itself to many spectacular hikes within a couple of hours of the house. 

On Father's Day this year, I decided we'd go on a hike to Goat Lake.  It was recommended by one of my coworkers who enjoyed it the week before.  So, I made everyone get up early, and we hit the trail. 

The trail follows Elliot Creek about 5 miles to the lake.  Along the way, the trail divided, so we went up to the lake by the creek and back down by way of the old logging road.  

We were doing fine until we were within half a mile of the lake.  We missed a switchback and ended up on a non-maintained, overgrown trail heading toward the falls.  After wandering around for a half an hour or so, we decided it was time for lunch.  We headed out to the little rocky island at the base of the falls and had our lunch.  The dog never really got relaxed, but it was a very cool place to be.

Goat Lake

After we got our energy back up, we doubled back, found our wayward trail, and made it up to the lake.  There were a couple of dozen others up there, some camping, some sleeping, some just enjoying the view like us. 

After the dog got his swim in, and we found a geocache, we headed back down.  The trail along the road was easier, but in the end, it was about 2 miles too long.  We got back to the car nice and tired and picked up some KFC on the way home. 

All in all, a good day. 

Jackson Senior-Staff Basketball Game

For the past 19 years, the Jackson High School staff have challenged the Seniors to a basketball game.  They use the proceeds of the admission to fund staff scholarships each year.  It is very well attended, in part because some person had a great idea and used it as the first chance to pass out yearbooks.

The students love the chance to beat the staff, and the staff love the fact that "It gives Seniors the feeling of what it is like to lose to out-of-shape, over-the-hill, completely un-athletic 40-year olds."

The staff had a 12-6 record going into the game, with last year's game being won by the students on a three point buzzer beater.  This year, the staff was down by 1 going into the last three minutes when the students put their A team on the court.  The staff held the students scoreless and sank the clutch free throw to put it away 93-91.

Gail's contribution was 3 minutes at the beginning of the 4th quarter, running around after one of the Seniors that go to our church.  She did touch the ball once this year, and was called for travelling.

New Parent Advice: Read to your kid

Goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush"

Today, we are visiting our sorta-granddaughter.  One of our exchange students stayed in the country, got her degree, found a nice Russian immigrant to marry, and settled down.  Since she is the closest of our "kids", we get to see them more than our own progeny.  Sophia was born on Friday, and we finally get to go see her tonight. 

We are going to bring her a couple of traditional English language books since both her parents are natural Russian speakers.  Then, we will sit down and read to her. 

As our children were growing up, we read to them constantly.  They would crawl up on our laps, relax and listen to the stories.  And we collected stories. 

The public library once put a hold on Gail's card because she had the maximum number of books checked out (60).  Valerie came home crying one day because her teacher had given the students homework of counting all the books in the house.  I taught her about estimation that day, for the total we came up was north of 1000.  The girls were reading Harry Potter books in second grade. 

All of my children are eloquent, and all still read.  I firmly believe that reading to them stretched their mind, as well as formed the parent-child bond both physically and mentally.  So, put down the phone, remote, video game controller or dirty dishes, and read to your kid.  You both will feel better. 

Whitewater Rafting

Payette River - 2004

The middle squares of my t-shirt quilt are from whitewater rafting companies.  I first went rafting the week before final exams my senior year in college on the Lower Gauley River in West Virginia.  The remnants of a hurricane came through the week before and the water was running high.  I figured if I was going to die, I might as well do it before I had to take my finals.   It was a blast, and after that, I was hooked.

On our honeymoon, we had been going for a week straight when we got to Moab, Utah and we were beat.  We decided to spend a day and floated down the Colorado (which is actually pretty tame there).

When my daughters got older, I introduced the oldest two to rafting in the middle fork of the Flathead River in Montana.  A couple of years later, the whole family rafted down the Arkansas river in Colorado.  Gail spent the entire trip hanging onto the 8-year old Deanne, who would have fallen out multiple times otherwise.  We rafted the Payette River in Idaho, the Nooksack in Washington, but the most adventurous was a midnight raft trip down the Manatuska River in Alaska in July.  We had dry suits for that one, since the river begins from a glacier.

For our 30th Anniversary, we had a float trip down the Merced River in Yosemite, and a few years later, we channeled our inner Burt Reynolds by rafting the Chattooga River in Georgia, the filming site of Deliverance.

The white t-shirt on the quilt says it all. 

 It was once believed that the Earth was flat.  

And if you went too far you'd fall off the edge. 

  Cool! 

Bob's T-Shirt Quilt

During the last round of t-shirt quilt making, Gail took a bunch of my old t-shirts and made me a quilt.  The quilt tells a bit of my story, from my favorite football teams to churches I've attended, to places I've lived and worked and other interests.

Each of these squares has a story or a memory that makes it special.  You can see National Parks on here, maps, ice cream, minor league baseball, old tuba shirts from college, NPR programs and mementos of trips I've taken.

The oldest shirt dated from 1975 (grey shirt on the left edge).  That's the year my sister went off to college at St. Olaf and bought me a handful of t-shirts for Christmas.  There's a map of Milwaukee from the 70's, an Immanuel Lutheran Chapel shirt from the 80's, Richmond Rooster's shirt from the 90's, Bethany Lutheran shirt from 2000, and a Yellowstone shirt from the 10's.

40 years of my life, keeping me warm.

Trinity Lutheran College

Over the past three years, I have had the privilege of teaching at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett.  A family friend sat on the board of directors and referred me to the college when they were looking for someone to teach a Business Information Systems course.

The college was never very large, and unfortunately, it became obvious that the enrollment numbers could not support the institution.  The last graduating class was matriculated on May 8th, 2016.

The class project was to design, produce and sell a t-shirt of their own choice.  The students put up the money and were able to keep the profits.  There were many good designs for the t-shirts, from a 12th Man, WoT Clan, Euro design, Psychology, local clubs and the last year, a farewell Trinity shirt.  The objective was to teach the students something about logistics, project planning, information gathering, finance, and sales.  Most students learned that they ran out of time and had to do too much at the end, not much different from real life.

I enjoyed teaching the class and I'm sorry to see the college close.  God has his plans for the faculty, staff and students, even if we don't know what they are as of yet. 

Students like black

New Parent Advice: Let the kid explore

Hey dog, I won!

Between my daughter who is due in September, and one of our Exchange Students who was due a week ago, it may be time to start doling out random advice for new parents.

Today's advice:  Let the kid explore.

They sell those door/drawer locks for kitchen cabinets and drawers to prevent toddlers (and others) from getting into them.  Don't buy them.  Put the unbreakable stuff in the bottom cabinets and let the kids explore.  Keep the knives and glassware up high, of course, but let the kids empty out the cabinets.

It lets them see how things work.  It allows you the opportunity to teach them about putting things away, and just as important, it keeps them busy.  And it works all over the house. 

So you have to wash a few more things.  So the house looks a bit cluttered.  So the child's inner drummer will come out when they find out that metal pans make a lot of noise.  Just rinse off the pan before you use it.  Don't try to control what the kid should be doing, let them explore.

We acquired this plaque when the kids were young.  Truer words were never spoken.