Oregon Summer

We have been keeping busy these past weeks. I became a bit of a recluse for the last couple of months as I have had to study for my job certfication exams. The Forest Service requires the Timber Sale Officer to certify prior to assigning authority to manage timber sales. So I have been in the books and burning the midnight oil in preparation for the test. The good news is I took the 6 hour exam on May 22 and passed. Next step in the process is my field certification.

The other day I was on the timber sale out near Ashland. As I was leaving the area a call on the CB radio alerted me that a loaded log truck had slid off the road and was blocking my way out. I told the drive to hold on. I located the work crew and we decided to bring a cat dozer down to the truck with some chain. I took the photo of the cat pulling the truck back on the road. Lucky for the driver he got stopped before he slid off over the edge of the road. The road was greasy as some snow recently melted. I figured he would have gone about 100 feet straight down the mountain.

Since last Thursday I have been enjoying my new freedoms and "extra spare time" as I actually plan to visit the library to check out a book or two, and have been generally enjoying life. I'm not sure I will read the books I check out, but just check them out, so I can exercise that choice of my use of time. Ginger is enjoying having her husband back.

Ginger is working hard to bring her and Lacey's dog agility skills up to the highest of standards. They have competed in 2 agility events this spring. The first was in the Medford area at the county fair grounds. We enjoyed the area and took advantage of going out to dinner at the local Red Lobster as we don't have that on the coast. We also took a walk through the shopping malls. The second was in the town of Roseberg. The weather was perfect at this event and we celebrated a night out at the local Sizzler restaurant. Ginger and Lacey make a great team and won several qualifications during the events.

Last weekend we headed south on Highway 101 to hike to a secluded beach called China Beach. We parked along the highway and hiked down through the coastal forest of Sitka Spruce and Shore Pine to a deserted ocean beach. Tons of beauiful drift wood is piled from our winter storms and Ginger found many beautiful sand dollars in the sand. Lacey was able to run and play. Our foot prints were ours alone as no one had been there for a couple of days. We ended the day with dining at the local Mexican restaurant in Brookings and a walk through the Azalea Park to see all the flowers in bloom.