coyotecreekranch.com Family Blog

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

On the afternoon of November 21, 2011 we visited The Metropolitan Mueseum of Art in New York, one of the world’s great museums.  They have a small collection of Blacker House furniture on display: an armchair, a library table, and a chandelier.  Shown below are a few snapshots we took of the pieces.  Hopefully the closeups will be of interest to readers, and maybe even some use to fellow furnituremakers. 

Most Greene and Greene afficionados are aware that Japanese tsubas (sword guards) were very influential in the Greene brothers’ work.  Near the museum’s G&G collection, in the Armor and Weapons section, was a wonderful display of tsubas.  Snapshots of most of them are below.  Note the intricate inlay and texturing on some of them. 

Click on a picture to download a full-size image.   These snapshots were taken with Barry’s iPhone camera, so please forgive any marginal quality pictures. 

Barry by the Greene & Greeene display. These are the first examples that he's seen "in person"!

On August 26, 2011, Beth, Ruairí and Barry hiked the 7½ mile Lakeshore Trail around Paulina Lake. Paulina and East Lakes are located in the Newberry Caldera about 20 miles southeast of Sunriver in Central Oregon.  Afterwards we drove to the top of Paulina Peak (at 8000′ elevation) for a birds’ eye view of the lake and the surrounding countryside. 

As usual, click on any picture for a full-resolution copy. 

Ruairí and Barry at the trailhead at the Day Use parking lot

Ruairí and Beth at the start of the hike. Those walking sticks we bought in France 10 years ago came in handy!

Ruairí taking a photo of Paulina Peak from the western shore

Ruairí's photo

 

 

Ruairí and Beth at the Paulina Peak Overlook parking lot, with the lake we just hiked around in the background

Paulina Lake from the summit. Note the obsidian flow on the right

On the right is the famous "highest public restroom in Oregon"

Ruairí and Barry at the very top of the summit, above the parking lot

USGS benchmark at the peak. Note stamped elevation of 8009'

Some Pictures (and a video!) from this Saturday’s Car Wash fundraiser.  Click on any photo to download the full resolution version.

Finally, a video of the Car Wash Special Vehicle Operations crew (i.e., the guys out back), doing their stuff:

Some photos from the 08/02/11 National Night Out event in Banks.  Ruairí’s Boy Scout troop participated.  Click on any pic to download the full-size version.

I saw my surgeon for what was probably the last time yesterday.  While I was there I snapped a picture of the X-rays that were taken a couple of months ago, about a week and a half after the surgery.  Even the doc said this was “a pretty cool picture”.  You can clearly see the hole that was drilled in the radial tuberosity on the radius bone, into which the end of the tendon was attached.  At the same spot you can see the “endobutton”, a small piece of titanium that the tendon was sutured to.  The endobutton was then passed through the hole in the bone and rotated, fastening the tendon in place.  The four small other pieces of metal are clips placed on small veins to control bleeding during surgery.  The veins eventually regnerate around them.

And no, this small amount of metal doesn’t affect airport metal detectors.  😉

A video of a performance of the Banks Honor Band from January 2011, in the wonderful Sappoose High School Auditorium.  Ruairí is playing the tuba.

For the past month my arm has been spending alot of time in a removable splint.  Kinda a pain, but a lot better than the non-removable I had the first month after surgery.  At least I didn’t have to sleep in this one.  I was instructed to do  gradual stretches several times a day in order to get back my range of motion so that I’d be able to completely straighten my arm:

This week I saw my surgeon, and I don't need the splint anymore, yea!

Close-up of the incision, and a bicep where it's supposed to be (not all rolled up near the shoulder)

Recently, our family has been searching for a new family dog. A few weeks ago, our 12 year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Ceri, passed away and our other corgi, Gwen, had been a little lonely. While on vacation, we fortunately stumbled across the perfect match in a Humane Society shelter in Redmond, Oregon. His name is Rosco, and he’s a Chihuahua mix (what he’s mixed with is somewhat of a mystery) that has found his way into our family. He had just been returned the day before for “not getting along with children” and “hating men.” As far as we can see, he is a perfectly social, lovable, well behaved and as cute as ever! We made sure to wear him out on a hike up Pilot Butte in Bend, but not without a wardrobe update!

It’s so far, so good with the new member of our family, and we have yet to see how he’ll do on the farm. For now, though, we all feel especially fortunate to have found the little guy!

Top of Pilot Butte with the O'Mahony dogs.

Ruairi with Rosco, the Chihuahua mix that has found his way into our family.

Here’s proof that we can dress up fancy when we need to.  Beth and I travelled down to San Francisco May 13 & 14 for the Intel Achievement Award banquet at the historic Westin St. Francis Hotel.  Friday evening we had a nice dinner in Fishermen’s Wharf, and Saturday we visited the Cable Car Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.  We had a great time!  I even had a “formal” black arm sling. 😉

For many years we had a small, misshapen Asian Plum tree in the middle of the lawn. It finally succumbed a few years ago and we removed it. We missed having a tree in that location, and this Spring decided to do something about it. But we didn’t just want to get the typical little starter “stick” nursery tree that would take years to grow big enough to provide any shade. So a few weeks ago we went to Big Trees Today and picked out a nice Emerald Queen Maple. They delivered and planted it this past Friday, and we’re thrilled with how it looks. It’s leafed out quite a bit since when we saw it, and looks bigger and nicer now that it’s away from the other trees at the tree farm. As you can see in the picture, Ruairí’s a fairly tall guy, and it towers over him.