Sunday, September 19, 2010
Graham Oaks Nature Park
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Oregon State Fair
So here we were on Labor Day: Oregon's State Fair! Too big to miss - you got to be there!
Hence, we had to experience what we had been missing out on all these years! And...? Why - cows of course! And goats and horses and pigs...a gentle reminder that Oregon's 'Silicon Forest' is as unrepresentative of Oregon as Willamette University. It's agriculture...all agriculture (well, almost)!
But to be fair, there were some beautiful cows there!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Push! PUSH!!!!
So I've been working on this grant proposal for the last months, and it's slowly turning into something that I think I can really send out and be proud of. There is still a *lot* of work that needs to be done (and I freak out at least once a day because of this ;)), but the end is in sight.
This means I am currently working in our office a lot, and George has discovered a problem with this: There just is no comfy spot around here. He tried the window sill - which is ok for a while but not really soft enough for a nap. He tried the desk - same problem. He tried my lap, which he actually enjoyed (and I don't mind either), but after a while the constant motion of my typing hands gets too much for him. He's tried the floor which is ok, but let's be honest - that's just not the place to be for a proud hunter like himself.
Being the good cat parents that we are, we decided to buy him a soft cat bed and place it on the desk. And guess what - he already accepted it and slept in it, purring and happy. I forgot to take a picture, but I'll do that next time he honors me with his presence.
Until then - back to work!
And here they are:
This means I am currently working in our office a lot, and George has discovered a problem with this: There just is no comfy spot around here. He tried the window sill - which is ok for a while but not really soft enough for a nap. He tried the desk - same problem. He tried my lap, which he actually enjoyed (and I don't mind either), but after a while the constant motion of my typing hands gets too much for him. He's tried the floor which is ok, but let's be honest - that's just not the place to be for a proud hunter like himself.
Being the good cat parents that we are, we decided to buy him a soft cat bed and place it on the desk. And guess what - he already accepted it and slept in it, purring and happy. I forgot to take a picture, but I'll do that next time he honors me with his presence.
Until then - back to work!
And here they are:
Here's the old blog!
As I haven't been able to figure out how to add posts and change the day at which they were posted, here are all the previous blog posts with a brief note when they were posted. Enjoy the trip down memory lane!
August 04, 2010: More fun with the kitties
It is time for an update! By now, George can do “on your side” without any help at all (he’s so smart!). Abby is still working on that :).
Our big guy gets into trouble again. Notice anything strange in the above picture? Yes, his right eye looks a bit cloudy. Well, after seeing that in the picture I checked his eye and sure enough, there was a scratch right across his cornea. No idea how he got it (Maybe while play-fighting with Abby? They usually know when to stop, so I bet it was an honest accident. Or maybe he ran into something (yup, that happens every once in a while).). We had it checked by the vet on Tuesday, and thank goodness it is not very deep. He still needs antibiotics every few hours, so lucky for him (and me!) that I can work from home this week.
In the spirit of decoration, we’ve added some minor things (i.e. mirrors) in the dining room and bathroom. 
As Jan’s parents will stay with us in just over a week, we finally re-arranged our guest bath and bed room a little. We removed the flowery border in the bath room (YES!) and painted it with a neutral brown color. It’s a quick fix which looks nice until we take the time to fully paint that room. We’ve also bought a new shower curtain, new towels and some decoration for that room.
Happy birthday, hon! This year his birthday turned out to be on a Saturday - what better day to get some fresh strawberries for a strawberry cake?
In the evening we used the new Weber BBQ (yummy!), a great combination of a coal and gas grill.
Oh, and Abby and George joined us as well. We've bought this cute little cage which allows us to take them outside with us. After some initial skepticism ("You want me to go in *there*??" they now love it and often go into the cage before we even move it to the door.
This fellow looks extremely realistic!
Beaverton market, here we come! Finally, it’s berry season again. Yummy!
Home is where the kitties are. We picked up Abby and George on our way home from the airport (as our flight was delayed and we had to spend the night in Vancouver). They were both extremely happy to see us (George followed me everywhere I went for over an hour once we got home). But thanks to Pawswego they looked great. I can highly recommend them. They’re pricey, but they take good care of the cats.
Today Robert (Jan’s cousin) & Flitzi got married (more pictures in the tabs). As promised, the weather was much better than the days before and we got some nice pictures in the sunshine.
Today, we went to Gruenstadt and walked through downtown for a while before enjoying a latte macchiato. It is still rather cold and rainy, but the forecast for tomorrow looks much better. We’ll see. Later today we drove to Heidelberg to meet with some old friends (Patrick, Bjoern, Jan H., Christian). Had some more great food and a nice chat with them. It was good to see them all again! Jan H. had just built a new house, which we visited as well. It’s very pretty, and nicely located in the middle of ... nowhere (very scenic!).
We’re on our way to Gruenstadt now to spend a few days with Jan’s parents. We arrived at around 1pm, had lunch (yup, more food), cake and coffee in the afternoon and BBQ in the evening (despite the rain). Jet lag hit us again this night - we were up between midnight and ~4am, but could at least get some more hours of sleep before we got up the next day.
May 17, 2010: Bebra.
First stop: Bebra. We spent about three days there (from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning).
On Monday, we went for a little walk through Bebra (which has changed a little), had an iced coffee in a cafe and had good Indian food in Bad Hersfeld in the evening. It tastes quite different compared to the American Indian food. Tasty nevertheless. Oh yes, and we dared to head to the attic and looked through my old stuff there. I heavy-heartedly tossed several things.. and packed others into our bag to take them with me. Can’t let go of everything just yet.
We took the plane from Portland to Vancouver, where we spent about 6 hours before boarding another plane to Germany. The airport is really pretty (thanks to the winter Olympics). Once aboard, we were delayed for over an hour as the “flying carpets” decided not to fly today and the baggage had to be loaded into the plane manually. Oh well. The flight was very nice, though. They upgraded us to Premium Economy (no idea why), which means more leg room - always appreciated! After slightly over 10 hours, we finally arrived in Germany, where we had some coffee with our parents before heading to Bebra.
January 24, 2010: Nappy Time!
Nice and warm - for both of us!
November 29, 2009: Christmas time is here.
Perfectly timed for the 1st of advent, we’ve just finished decorating our house today. Most of the lights are indoors (easier to attach), just the ones above the garage are on the outside (there were already hooks >.<). Looks pretty, doesn’t it?
August 14, 2009: Our house!
We just found out today that the sellers will not need the additional three days we had given them after closing. So... we can move in even earlier! *happy dance* We managed to move the movers to Wednesday (instead of Friday). That will give us a day to move the light and breakable stuff before they move the rest. Exciting!
August 02, 2009: Another day in the woods.
Just about an hour to the East is Mile Mciver State Park. Nice little park, although sharing the path with horses has its disadvantages (go figure...). More pics are in the main section.
July 26, 2009: Just 4 more weeks!!
We’ve begun preparing for the big day: Moving day. The first boxes are packed, and I started painting our shelves. It’s quite a lot of work, but it is worth it: They do look a lot better than before.
July 18, 2009: We did it again!
Updated the pictures here (2002-2008 in Rochester should now be accessible). Enjoy!
July 17, 2009: It is done.
Yup, Abby did it. She knocked my off my feet while I was walking down the stairs. Michaela came crashing down the last few steps. Funny enough, though: When walking down the stairs the next time, Abby stopped at the bottom and looked back up, as if to say “Well, you think you’re gonna make it this time?!”
Update: During this stunt I injured my shoulder - an injury which took almost a year to fully heal... thanks Abby, love you too.
July 11, 2009: Berries, berries, everywhere.
This morning, we packed our bags, said good bye to the apartment and the ocean and drove back home. But what a shock when we arrived at Catopia: George had escaped (!) over night and was still missing. You can imagine how scared we were. Luckily, we found him under a tool 
shed and were able to get him out and back to safety. He has a little scratch on his ear, but is otherwise fine. Thank goodness, we’re so glad he’s ok. He seems to be happy, too, now that he’s back home: He’s purring and cuddling with us all the time. Poor bugger has lost a few ounces, too.
Our last day. As the weather was beautiful - a whooping 72 degree F! - we decided to spend most of the day on the beach. We found a cute little corner right next to the cliff where we settled down for a while. In the evening lots of fog was rolling in from the ocean, so we spent big chunks of it playing Khet & co. All in all, a great vacation! :)
Finally! We saw whales! Not from our apartment, though, but from the “Discovery”, a boat that took us out into the ocean near Newport. The whales were pretty far away, and we only caught a glimpse of them (i.e. mainly their spout), but they were there, alright! It seems we’ve picked a bad time for whale watching, as most of the migrating whales have already passed through, and the residents are not here yet.
Both of us got up very early this morning (around 5:30am), and we headed straight for the Cascade Head trail, which is slightly north of Lincoln City. It’s a beautiful 4.5 mile hike that starts in a forest and continues over meadows overlooking the gorgeous Oregon coast. The view was breathtaking. We made it up to the upper viewpoint (elevation of about 1200 feet) and then headed back to the car. The trail continues past the upper viewpoint but is closed at this time of year to protect a rare butterfly that lives in that area.
This morning we headed back to Otter Rock, but this time went to the beach slightly north of Devil’s Punchbowl to look for tide pools. Tide pools form in rocky areas near the shore when the tide is low and water pools remain in deeper areas. They can contain 
all sorts of plant and animal life. We saw several sea stars, lots of kelp and sea grass, anemones, and other unidentified objects. We also ventured back into Devil’s punchbowl and took a picture from the inside out.
We also discovered a message in a bottle, the first for both of us. It contained messages for loved ones who had passed away (as today is Memorial Day), which was probably thrown into the ocean near Depoe Bay the day before.
We’ve spent most of the day walking around and taking pictures of the beach, the ocean, and the rocks near the shore. We’ll upload lots of pictures when we get back home.
The clubhouse here has a pool, and we decided to give it a shot. Neither of us has swum in a looooong time, and yes, we felt that! It was good fun nevertheless, and we’ll do it again.
After dropping our furry friends off at Catopia (*sniffle*), we made our way to Depoe Bay, where we’ll spend the next week. Needless to say, our domicile is a tad bit more luxurious than theirs ;). Our apartment is as beautiful as the website promised, and we have a breathtaking view of the ocean from our living room. As Depoe Bay is the “Whale watching capital of the Oregon coast”, we will keep our eyes open for some whales.
August 04, 2010: More fun with the kitties
It is time for an update! By now, George can do “on your side” without any help at all (he’s so smart!). Abby is still working on that :).
August 04, 2010: Poor George!
Our big guy gets into trouble again. Notice anything strange in the above picture? Yes, his right eye looks a bit cloudy. Well, after seeing that in the picture I checked his eye and sure enough, there was a scratch right across his cornea. No idea how he got it (Maybe while play-fighting with Abby? They usually know when to stop, so I bet it was an honest accident. Or maybe he ran into something (yup, that happens every once in a while).). We had it checked by the vet on Tuesday, and thank goodness it is not very deep. He still needs antibiotics every few hours, so lucky for him (and me!) that I can work from home this week.Update - September 2010: While the scratch healed quite well, George was still squinting a lot (indicating pain). So our vet sent us to an Ophthalmologist who determined that his eye is not damaged (GOOD!), but suspected that he has Herpes. We tried an antiviral eye drop, and within a day there was no more squinting. Great!
On the down side - we have to be really careful with George now (antibiotics make his IBD flare up, Prednisolone (if he needs that to control the diarrhea) makes his Herpes flare up. Poor bugger!
July 08, 2010: More new stuff!
In the spirit of decoration, we’ve added some minor things (i.e. mirrors) in the dining room and bathroom. July 07, 2010: New guest bath and bedroom.
As Jan’s parents will stay with us in just over a week, we finally re-arranged our guest bath and bed room a little. We removed the flowery border in the bath room (YES!) and painted it with a neutral brown color. It’s a quick fix which looks nice until we take the time to fully paint that room. We’ve also bought a new shower curtain, new towels and some decoration for that room.The guest bed room has also seen some major changes: We’ve rotated the bed by 90 degrees so that it’s now facing the wall to the exercise room, added 5 pictures from places in Oregon and new lamps. I like it!
July 03, 2010: Jan's Birthday.
Happy birthday, hon! This year his birthday turned out to be on a Saturday - what better day to get some fresh strawberries for a strawberry cake? In the evening we used the new Weber BBQ (yummy!), a great combination of a coal and gas grill.Oh, and Abby and George joined us as well. We've bought this cute little cage which allows us to take them outside with us. After some initial skepticism ("You want me to go in *there*??" they now love it and often go into the cage before we even move it to the door.June 11, 2010: Having fun in Salem.
This fellow looks extremely realistic!He's sitting in front of the new student bistro. I had heard about him before, but up to this date didn't know where he was. So on our way back from our weekly group meetings during SCRP our students showed me where exactly he was.
May 29, 2010: Summer time!
Beaverton market, here we come! Finally, it’s berry season again. Yummy!May 23, 2010: HOME!
Home is where the kitties are. We picked up Abby and George on our way home from the airport (as our flight was delayed and we had to spend the night in Vancouver). They were both extremely happy to see us (George followed me everywhere I went for over an hour once we got home). But thanks to Pawswego they looked great. I can highly recommend them. They’re pricey, but they take good care of the cats.The pictures show Abby cuddling up to Jan's legs and George lying in my lap. We got a lot of lap time that day!
May 22, 2010: Heading home.
That’s it. A week is over and we’re back at the airport to head home to Oregon. Unfortunately, the flight from Germany to Vancouver was delayed in we just missed our connection to Seattle and Portland. Lufthansa was very generous, though, and gave us a nice hotel room including dinner and breakfast.
We didn’t get much sleep that night (jet lag, exhaustion), but at least we didn’t have to drive home (which would have been a bad idea anyways).
May 21, 2010: Wedding and Pforzheim.
Today Robert (Jan’s cousin) & Flitzi got married (more pictures in the tabs). As promised, the weather was much better than the days before and we got some nice pictures in the sunshine. Later that day we drove to Pforzheim to say hi to Wiebke and Jo. They’re currently renting a beautiful house in Wuerms, which they share with their cute dog Lotte (again, more pics are in the tabs).
May 20, 2010. Heidelberg & Gruenstadt.
Today, we went to Gruenstadt and walked through downtown for a while before enjoying a latte macchiato. It is still rather cold and rainy, but the forecast for tomorrow looks much better. We’ll see. Later today we drove to Heidelberg to meet with some old friends (Patrick, Bjoern, Jan H., Christian). Had some more great food and a nice chat with them. It was good to see them all again! Jan H. had just built a new house, which we visited as well. It’s very pretty, and nicely located in the middle of ... nowhere (very scenic!).
May 19, 2010: Road trip.
On Tuesday, we drove to Bad Langensalza and walked on the “Baumkronenpfad”, a path high up in the trees. Very scenic, and very enjoyable (although also very windy and cold!). We had nice lunch in a local cafe (good bread and sausages), and finished the day with yummy Chinese/Thai food in Bad Hersfeld (I sense a theme here... lots of food!).
May 17, 2010: Bebra.
First stop: Bebra. We spent about three days there (from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning).
On Monday, we went for a little walk through Bebra (which has changed a little), had an iced coffee in a cafe and had good Indian food in Bad Hersfeld in the evening. It tastes quite different compared to the American Indian food. Tasty nevertheless. Oh yes, and we dared to head to the attic and looked through my old stuff there. I heavy-heartedly tossed several things.. and packed others into our bag to take them with me. Can’t let go of everything just yet.May 15, 2010: Vacation in Germany.
We took the plane from Portland to Vancouver, where we spent about 6 hours before boarding another plane to Germany. The airport is really pretty (thanks to the winter Olympics). Once aboard, we were delayed for over an hour as the “flying carpets” decided not to fly today and the baggage had to be loaded into the plane manually. Oh well. The flight was very nice, though. They upgraded us to Premium Economy (no idea why), which means more leg room - always appreciated! After slightly over 10 hours, we finally arrived in Germany, where we had some coffee with our parents before heading to Bebra.January 24, 2010: Nappy Time!
Nice and warm - for both of us!November 29, 2009: Christmas time is here.
Perfectly timed for the 1st of advent, we’ve just finished decorating our house today. Most of the lights are indoors (easier to attach), just the ones above the garage are on the outside (there were already hooks >.<). Looks pretty, doesn’t it?August 14, 2009: Our house!
We just found out today that the sellers will not need the additional three days we had given them after closing. So... we can move in even earlier! *happy dance* We managed to move the movers to Wednesday (instead of Friday). That will give us a day to move the light and breakable stuff before they move the rest. Exciting!
August 02, 2009: Another day in the woods.
Just about an hour to the East is Mile Mciver State Park. Nice little park, although sharing the path with horses has its disadvantages (go figure...). More pics are in the main section.July 26, 2009: Just 4 more weeks!!
We’ve begun preparing for the big day: Moving day. The first boxes are packed, and I started painting our shelves. It’s quite a lot of work, but it is worth it: They do look a lot better than before.
July 18, 2009: We did it again!
Updated the pictures here (2002-2008 in Rochester should now be accessible). Enjoy!
July 17, 2009: It is done.
After almost a year, I finally took the time to set up my website at Willamette. Check it out here
July 14, 2009: Knocked over ... by a cat!
Yup, Abby did it. She knocked my off my feet while I was walking down the stairs. Michaela came crashing down the last few steps. Funny enough, though: When walking down the stairs the next time, Abby stopped at the bottom and looked back up, as if to say “Well, you think you’re gonna make it this time?!”
Update: During this stunt I injured my shoulder - an injury which took almost a year to fully heal... thanks Abby, love you too.July 12, 2009: Portland Zoo.
A nice day at the Zoo. First time we went there, and it is actually quite a nice one.
July 11, 2009: Berries, berries, everywhere.For the third (fourth?) week in a row, we’ve visited the Beaverton Farmer’s Market. What a delight! The berries are soooo delicious. Strawberry season seems to be over, but Raspberries, Loganberries, Marionberries and Blackberries are still around and sweet as can be. Yummy!
May 30, 2009: Coming home to a huge shock.
This morning, we packed our bags, said good bye to the apartment and the ocean and drove back home. But what a shock when we arrived at Catopia: George had escaped (!) over night and was still missing. You can imagine how scared we were. Luckily, we found him under a tool 
shed and were able to get him out and back to safety. He has a little scratch on his ear, but is otherwise fine. Thank goodness, we’re so glad he’s ok. He seems to be happy, too, now that he’s back home: He’s purring and cuddling with us all the time. Poor bugger has lost a few ounces, too. I am surprised that Abby was still in their condo and did not escape, just as George did. At first, it seemed as if it took her a moment to recognize us, then she graciously greeted us, just to play hard to get again until we got home. Guess she wanted to show us what she thought of that whole experience ;).
Anyway, we’re happy to be united with out kitties again.
May 29, 2009: A day on the beach.
Our last day. As the weather was beautiful - a whooping 72 degree F! - we decided to spend most of the day on the beach. We found a cute little corner right next to the cliff where we settled down for a while. In the evening lots of fog was rolling in from the ocean, so we spent big chunks of it playing Khet & co. All in all, a great vacation! :)May 28, 2009: "There she blows!"
Finally! We saw whales! Not from our apartment, though, but from the “Discovery”, a boat that took us out into the ocean near Newport. The whales were pretty far away, and we only caught a glimpse of them (i.e. mainly their spout), but they were there, alright! It seems we’ve picked a bad time for whale watching, as most of the migrating whales have already passed through, and the residents are not here yet.May 27, 2009: Hiking the Cascade Head Trail.
Both of us got up very early this morning (around 5:30am), and we headed straight for the Cascade Head trail, which is slightly north of Lincoln City. It’s a beautiful 4.5 mile hike that starts in a forest and continues over meadows overlooking the gorgeous Oregon coast. The view was breathtaking. We made it up to the upper viewpoint (elevation of about 1200 feet) and then headed back to the car. The trail continues past the upper viewpoint but is closed at this time of year to protect a rare butterfly that lives in that area. After all that exercise, we decided we deserve a really good lunch. As several people had recommended the Tidal Raves restaurant (a “restaurant with a view”), we decided to give it a shot. We were not disappointed. The food was good (although not extraordinary), and the cake for dessert as “dark and rich” as the menu promised! We even saw a couple otters - the only marine wild life so far!
Oh yes - still no whales.
May 26, 2009: Tide Pooling.
This morning we headed back to Otter Rock, but this time went to the beach slightly north of Devil’s Punchbowl to look for tide pools. Tide pools form in rocky areas near the shore when the tide is low and water pools remain in deeper areas. They can contain 
all sorts of plant and animal life. We saw several sea stars, lots of kelp and sea grass, anemones, and other unidentified objects. We also ventured back into Devil’s punchbowl and took a picture from the inside out. After a good hour of roaming the beach, we went for our morning jog (*pant, pant*).
Unfortunately, it got quite cloudy and misty afterwards, so we decided to spend the rest of the day in our apartment reading, playing scrabble (guess who won ;)), and relaxing.
May 25, 2009: Jogging on the beach and shopping.
This morning, we headed to Otter Rock Beach to go for a little run. The air was fantastic and the ocean impressive. Although it felt as if we *almost* made it to the Newport lighthouse, we *actually* only covered about a fourth of the distance. Hehe.
We also discovered a message in a bottle, the first for both of us. It contained messages for loved ones who had passed away (as today is Memorial Day), which was probably thrown into the ocean near Depoe Bay the day before. At around lunch time we headed back to Depoe Bay to do some shopping. Shopping is probably a way too big word for the shops that Depoe Bay has to offer, which have mostly touristy stuff. We did get a good selection of post cards and our obligatory fridge magnet.
After a quick game of pool - each of us won once as both of us sucked about equally ;) - we headed for another swim in the pool. Life’s good!
Oh - still no whales.
May 24, 2009: Exploring the area.
We’ve spent most of the day walking around and taking pictures of the beach, the ocean, and the rocks near the shore. We’ll upload lots of pictures when we get back home.We’ve also had a look at Depoe Bay’s harbor (the smallest harbor in the world!). It is... well... small :).
The clubhouse here has a pool, and we decided to give it a shot. Neither of us has swum in a looooong time, and yes, we felt that! It was good fun nevertheless, and we’ll do it again. As our apartment has an electric grill, we decided to put it to good use tonight. Yummy! Jan had steak, I had shrimps. As Jan doesn’t like shrimps and we thus don’t have them very often, that was an unusual treat for me!
Still no whales.
May 23, 2009: Arrival in Depot Bay.
Vacation time!
After dropping our furry friends off at Catopia (*sniffle*), we made our way to Depoe Bay, where we’ll spend the next week. Needless to say, our domicile is a tad bit more luxurious than theirs ;). Our apartment is as beautiful as the website promised, and we have a breathtaking view of the ocean from our living room. As Depoe Bay is the “Whale watching capital of the Oregon coast”, we will keep our eyes open for some whales. It’s a bit cloudy today, but the forecast promises sunshine for the next days. We’ll see!
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