Yogi hurt his leg. I don’t know how it happened but lately he’s been whimpering a lot and he doesn’t jump onto the couch or bed as he usually does. We took him to the vet but his fear of the vet caused so much adrenaline such that his leg pain does not show. At home, when I try to touch his leg he would shake with fear and whimper. At the vet office, the vet bend his knee, touch it, shave it, and Yogi showed no sign of pain. So now he’s on doggie aspirin and we’ll see how his leg doing in the next few days. My poor pooch….
June 11, 2009
April 29, 2009
Old news = new news
We have been really lazy in posting updates on this blog. It’s not like we haven’t been doing anything, it’s just that we are so lazy. Anyway, here are some old news, things that happened since the last post.
First thing first, my mum finally went home. She spent almost 6 months in US with us. I’ve gotten so used to her being around, making me breakfast, lunch, dinner and keeping things tidy. It’s going to take a while to adjust being just 2 of us again. She made it home to Malaysia safely even though sounded like it was a big adventure because she never travel alone before.
Zach visited us a few weeks before and we took both him and my mum to Leavenworth, Washington.
Here is Zach climbing in bare feet.
And since we were in a Bavarian town, we got to have some pig feet.
And Yogi of course get a taste of it too.
Here is Matt climbing some crazy slab route.
Ahhh…aren’t they cute…
Last weekend we went to Index. We heard so much good thing about it so we figure we might as well check it out before the close the access to the Lower Town wall. The routes are all great and fun. Camping is pretty horrible because we literally sleep next to the train track and the train goes by at least 8 times the whole night. Thanks to Eric, we have a few good pics of Toxic Shock. We mostly we just climb and not take any pics at all.
This is me braving through the crux, resisting the urge to pull on my purple camelot. I was so glad when I got to the thank god hold.
This is me top-roping after I bailed before the cross-over to the splitter, my mental crux. The move is pretty easy on top-rope but the fall factor is too great for me to risk.
March 27, 2009
Matt Vs. Birds
So over the last years, birds have slowly found their way into our attic. Before our trip I remember hearing animals up there from time to time but it was never that big of a deal. Well, recently, it’s become a big deal. It sounds like there’s an entire flock up there, squeaking away. And I can hear some of them pecking away at the wood. Grrrr…that was the last straw.
After poking around outside, it became pretty obvious how the birds were getting in…
We have more than a dozen of these vents along the roof of our house. Upon closer inspection, I could see about 2/3 of them had holes in them, giving birds easy access. Judging by the poop streaks on the side of the house and the insulation on the ground, they were enjoying their new home.
Now I wanted to serve these birds with an eviction notice immediately but these vents are 20 feet off the ground so I needed a ladder. I’ll keep this short: Amazon had the best pricing by $100 but my ladder got back ordered. 6 weeks after ordering, I finally received the ladder (today). But they sent me the wrong ladder (way too short). Apparently, some other guy in Hillsboro had ordered a ladder and they had got them mixed up. They were clever enough to figure it out and came two hours later to give me the right ladder. Fortunately, the birds haven’t had any babies yet so I don’t feel too bad about kicking them out.
This ladder will take me anywhere…if I can work up the nerve to get on it. I’ve never been on a tall ladder before and maybe this is normal but this one is not particularly stable. I donned my climbing helmet, grabbed the staple gun (and camera) and slowly climbed up, the ladder trembling beneath my feet. The thought passed though my head that I’d feel more comfortable rock climbing without a rope. Well, somehow I managed to get up under the roof. I awkwardly snapped a picture and then sealed up the vent. Alright, just 9 more vents to go!
Here’s the finished job. It’s not really perfect but it should slow the birds down: it just needs to last until we sell this house.
March 6, 2009
Bookmark this!
This is me trying to help the community spreading the word, reminding everybody to be concern about climate change. March 28, 2009 at 8.30 pm is Earth Hour event. I don’t think it will take me much effort to turn off my light for 1 hour and if it helps making a global statement, I am willing to do so. Feel free to check out the main website at:
http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php
February 16, 2009
Nothing much new…
As you might have guessed by the huge gap in posts, nothing new is going on here in Oregon. Yogi’s hair has grown out a little bit so that he no longer looks as…odd…
The weather has continued to be a bit strange this year – colder than usual with very little rain. It’s nice to have a winter without the constant rain we usually get but it would also be nice to have a little more snow up in the mountains! Meanwhile, we’re starting to get excited about Spring – looking forward to the longer days and more reasonable climbing conditions! Here’s a couple (two) pictures from the last month(!).
I think gingerbread houses are more of a Christmas thing but we made ours at the end of January!
This might be proof that we are going crazy inside the house. Joanne took the time to transform one of our old climbing ropes into this welcome mat. She got the idea off of the internet – I thought it looks pretty neat and it’s turned an old rope into a work of art!
January 20, 2009
Yogi’s Haircut
OK, so after we took Yogi with us to go skiing a few times, his shaggy hair started developing the craziest mats I’ve ever seen. They were getting to the point where it was impossible to comb them out so we had to take him to get a haircut. He always looks incredibly strange after a haircut but this time they cut him really short. We both agree that he looks like one of those hairless cats so every time I see him now I go “Meoooow”. Anyway, here’s the before and after shots!
That’s an awful lot of toys for one small dog…
I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed walking him around the neighborhood looking like this. Maybe we’ll just take him out for a walk at night…Poor dog!
January 19, 2009
D’oh!
So when we went to Malaysia in September, we left a bunch of our climbing gear in Michigan. Somehow, though, this gear never made it back to Oregon and my Mom can’t find it in Michigan. What’s missing in action? 14 cams (including the BIG ones *sob sob*), 30-40 carabiners, 1 pair of down booties, 1 sleeping bag, 1 down jacket. The cams alone would cost $600-700 to replace. It would be nice to have some idea what happened to all this stuff but it would appear some kind of evil gnomes may have made off with it.
January 5, 2009
Winter in the Wallowas
Looks like we’ve gotten a little lazy lately in keeping our page updated. Although, to be honest, we haven’t really done a whole lot other than watching the snow fall in our backyard. It’s been three weeks since snow started falling in Hillsboro and looking out the window, I can still see a few patches here and there. So we’ve almost had a “real” winter here!
We did manage to escape the city for New Years and took a trip over to Northeast Oregon and the Wallowa Mountains. We were there two years ago and had a good time so we decided a return trip was worthwhile.
The snow ended up being absolutely incredible. Without skis we were sinking up to our waist in powder.
It’s not hard to find untouched trails in the Wallowas where you can set out and blaze your own trail through snow covered pines with magnificent views on the surrounding mountains.
Yogi had to follow our ski tracks to avoid sinking over his head in the snow.
Yogi is a snow dog but in this kind of powder he wore himself out quickly. After just an hour of skiing he was getting exhausted so we took him back to the car to warm up and rest.
More pictures to come later (once I find our other camera!)
December 23, 2008
Snow In Hillsboro
I remember a post from a couple years ago where I got so excited by a few inches of snow in our backyard that I rolled all the snow up and dug out a little snow cave. Well, this year has been a bit crazier: I finally went out and measured the snow in our backyard…14 inches! (12/24 Update: A couple more inches fell early this morning!) Apparently Portland hasn’t seen this kind of snowfall in 40 years…woah!
Of course, the city isn’t really equipped to deal with this (minimal number of snow plows, no salt, etc.) so it’s been a bit crazy out on the road (chains required). We’ve mostly stayed near the house. Yesterday Joanne tried to get to work by taking the train to the bus station. But when she got to the bus station she learned her bus was stuck in snow an hour away and wasn’t going to arrive anytime soon. So we got to hang out at home all day!
Our home!
Piling up on the picnic table…
The best part has been the skiing: we’ve been able to get out and ski 4 or 5 times already. And there’s a nice trail through the woods just a block from our house. With all this snow it’s turned into the perfect cross-country ski route.
Yogi has two favorite places: the beach and anywhere with snow! So he’s been having a great time!
So we’ve had a bit of extra time indoors the last few days. Joanne was ambitious enough to reupholster one of our couches to add a splash of color to the room. I don’t have any “before” pictures but we bought this couch a few years ago for $30 or so: it was a dark green and had a broken arm (which Joanne fixed during the reupholstering).
How’s it look? And in case you don’t notice, those are roosters all over the couch. Yes…roosters…We sort of bought the fabric as a bit of a joke but we thought it turned out pretty well. So who knows what’s next? Rooster curtains? Rooster wall paper? In fact, Joanne already sewed roosters as patches onto a pair of my pants!
Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!!!!!
December 19, 2008
ACTUAL Cost of Our Roadtrip!
OK, in our last post I just kind of estimated what our trip costs were but Joanne thought it made more sense to figure out exactly what it cost us. If you don’t like numbers, this post might not be for you. But if you want to know exactly what this trip cost us, check out this mind-numbing table!
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Total | Annual (12 months) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food (includes eating out) | $356.68 | $491.44 | $369.56 | $401.99 | $336.86 | $298.79 | $528.83 | $553.45 | $3337.60 | $5006.40 |
| Gas | $1001.97 | $205.53 | $592.83 | $349.00 | $426.60 | $464.46 | $203.13 | $277.57 | $3521.09 | $5281.64 |
| Campgrounds | $207.00 | $74.00 | $229.00 | $208.00 | $0.00 | $40.00 | $87.88 | $39.44 | $885.32 | $1327.98 |
| Health Insurance | $260.46 | $260.46 | $260.46 | $260.46 | $260.46 | $201.00 | $201.00 | $121.55 | $1825.85 | $2738.78 |
| Cellphone | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $10.00 | $0.00 | $110.00 | $0.00 | $120.00 | $180.00 |
| Climbing Gear | $0.00 | $0.00 | $426.58 | $316.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $35.85 | $461.79 | $1240.22 | $1860.33 |
| Car Insurance | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $416.00 | $624.00 |
| Yogi (Dog Stuff) | $62.99 | $4.11 | $1.49 | $55.00 | $234.68 | $298.60 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $656.87 | $985.30 |
| Vehicle Maintenance | $0.00 | $0.00 | $693.81 | $0.00 | $150.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $843.81 | $1265.72 |
| Propane | $16.72 | $0.00 | $16.00 | $30.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $62.72 | $94.08 |
| Misc. Spending | $214.24 | $126.62 | $155.85 | $594.50 | $141.44 | $360.00 | $61.56 | $0.00 | $1654.21 | $2481.32 |
| Totals | $2,172.06 | $1,214.16 | $2,797.58 | $2,266.95 | $1,612.04 | $1,714.85 | $1,280.25 | $1,505.80 | $14,563.69 | $21,845.54 |
And here’s a little graph making it a little more obvious where all the money went!
So there you have it, $21,845 for the ultimate year-long roadtrip around the U.S for TWO! Doesn’t seem too bad at all…guess we better start saving for our next trip! Maybe next time we’ll make it through the whole year. 
Some anomalies – the $1000 for gas in January was a result of driving the motor home from Oregon to Arizona – Yikes! $693 in March on car maintenance went towards towing and 2 very expensive motor home tires. The car insurance numbers are for the Civic, though surprisingly, I don’t think the motor home cost much more. The misc spending category is for costs that didn’t fit into other categories or for purchases for which we lost receipts.
Also, I’ve only included the period from Jan-Aug since we didn’t really track our spendings in Malaysia very closely. But the annual cost column extrapolates the first 8 months of the year to get an annual cost. And I should probably note that this doesn’t really include the cost of paying our mortgage: in an ideal world we would have sold our home and would still be traveling
