Tam’s Think Tank

It’s almost five o’clock and time to go home. Woo hoo! This has been a long week. L-O-N-G. I’m tired and ready to hang at home, watch a movie, enjoy a snuggle with my sweetie and our pups.

Monday and beautiful outside. I love these days. Crisp air, blue sky, fall feeling, leaves changing and falling. This is an absolutely gorgeous place to live.

Haven’t posted in eons. Thought I’d get back on the band wagon with this. Happy Monday everyone.

PS.. More posts coming soon on the bathroom addition and life in general. The bathroom addition, plus the kids being here for a couple of weeks, plus a work conference all contributed to my non-posting. No excuses… Just really busy.

Out on the river again. One big nibble so far, no fish on yet.

Waiting, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Watching the line is part of fishing. Did it move? Was that a fish? Grab it!

At The Dock, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Girls have to take breaks while fishing to go in and take care of business. This is the dock for those purposes. Nice dock. Great photo op.

Fishin’, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Last week and then this last weekend has been filled with “stuff” for the addition. Shopping for the addition, painting and siding the addition (Thanks Kev, Mom and Don for the assist this last weekend. You guys rock as painters and siders!), more shopping for the addition, more siding, etc., etc., etc. I also snuck in a day of fishing with Stan, Stacia, and Connie. Nice to just get out on the river and hang. I caught nothing, but got to watch Connie and Stacia catch fish. It was worth it.

Out Salmon fishing today. So far tons of fish caught around us but no luck yet on our boat. Fingers crossed.

Evening on The Columbia, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Sun setting, Columbia River, Osprey… there’s nothing better than that.

Eating Out, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Outside that is. The view from our table at McMenamins. It was so nice Friday night. A nice dinner out after we’d worked around the house, in the yard, all morning. We got tons of stuff done this weekend at our place. Very satisfying. Also very satisfying to play after you work.  Oh, and the plans on the table… they are the plans for our bathroom addition.  We took them along so Sandy and Vicki could check them out.

Out For A Walk, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Friday night, July 3, we met some friends (yo Sandy and Vicki) at the McMenamins on the Columbia over in Vancouver. It’s a great spot right on the river. We sat outside. It was grand.

The Gang’s Almost All Here, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We had a terrific time on Sunday with our pals and all the pups. Thanks guys for a really nice time. Not to mention the after hike lunch at the St. Johns McMenamins Pub. Tasty. Nothing says healthy more than following up a physical fitness activity like enjoying a burger and a strawberry lemonade at the pub.

We ended the weekend with some weed pulling at the house. They have somehow taken over all of our flower beds. They must be thwarted. They must be vanquished. They must be… well… pulled. So we started that process in the big bed. And let me tell ya… it’s a process. But damn… our place is looking lovely right now. And again I’ll say… we are lucky. In so many ways.

As to the photo above… you can see Benny’s paw in the shot… we were only missing Weston and Riley’s and it would’ve been perfect.  Maybe next time?

Mt. St. Helens, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

The Northwest is such a wondrously beautiful place. What else is there to say really… other than maybe… wow.

Driftwood, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

On the shores of Sauvie Island.

Sauvie Island, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

This last Sunday we ventured out to Sauvie Island with some friends for a little hike along the beach. The dogs, ours and our friend’s, loved it. As did we. It was gorgeous out there. What a beautiful spot and a lovely day. Just about perfect. The only thing that might have made it better would’ve been if we’d thought ahead enough to pack a small barbecue and some food. We could have stayed there all day. At a certain point the dogs got to be off leash and it was as if they were sprung from prison or something. I’ve never seen such happy dogs. Running, playing, chasing, rolling around in the sand (after getting a little wet in the river of course)…. happy happy joy joy.

There was a fantastic view of Mt. St. Helens on Sunday.  Pretty clear.  Plus, there was quite a bit of water traffic out on the Columbia.  Made for some good photo ops.

Line In The Water, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Here’s one, actually taken with the Canon PowerShot SD750. Much more portable and easy to get on the boat than the Rebel XT. Not a bad little shot taker either.

 

Equipment, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Went fishing today with Stan, Stacia, and Dennis. We caught nothin’. I think these guys aren’t going to take us out anymore. Ah well… I love going anyway. Just being out there, on the river, watching the sun rise, the fog lift, and freezing my ass off as we make the turn and whip back up river… yelling ye haw as we go. It’s a pretty darn good time.  Throw in great company, boat talk (plug cut fish, Stan’s butt holes, questions about last names of famous characters like Alice of Alice in Wonderland, music), AM snacks, and a dash or two of Baileys and I can’t think of many better ways to spend time.

Sunrise, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

This week’s theme for the photo hunt… yellow. I decided not to go for the flower shot, which would’ve been super obvious since I have tons of those, and instead put up a shot I took on a September morning. Sun coming up, nice yellowish glow.  I was out on the Columbia River fishing for salmon with a friend who keeps trying to “get me into a fish”.  He didn’t.  I didn’t catch one.  But really, who cares.  Man… it can be beautiful out there.

If any of you out there are interested in joining in the hunt, CLICK HERE for more info. tnchick will fill you in on all the ins and outs of getting on board with the hunt.

Dusk on the Columbia, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

We spent a couple of evenings in the last couple of weeks taking the pups for walks around Cathedral Park. It’s one of our favorite spots to take them and now that Riley is old enough we can go more often. I love this shot as the sun was going down out past the St. Johns Bridge.

A storm came through yesterday afternoon while I was at work. This was taken after it started to clear.

Large Ships Passing, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Out on the river these big daddy ships pass quite frequently. It’s a bit disconcerting when they’re barreling down on you, but as long as you’re out of the channel, they won’t run over you. It just looks, sometimes, like they might.

Morning on the Line, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

I went fishing on the Columbia a couple of days with some friends of ours. Poor Karen couldn’t go. We didn’t catch much, just a couple of sturgeon we couldn’t keep, but it was fun none the less. Talk about peaceful… no wonder so many people spend so much time out on the water. Very relaxing.

Standing on the Deck, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

Looking out from the deck at Stan and Connie’s place. A great place to have dinner, if you can get reservations.

Gangway, originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl.

 Since I was so late in posting last week’s photo, scroll down and you’ll see that it’s there, I wanted to get a jump on it this week.

The theme for the week is Metal. I took this one near the end of the year last year. This gangway is fairly new and goes down to the public docks on the Columbia River. It was sunset and the pink in the sky and reflected in the water was lovely. It made a nice contrast to the metal of the gangway.

If you want to join in all the photo hunting fun, click here to find out how.