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Hi this is Barry. I’m sitting on the couch typing this one-handed, a bit loopy from Percocet, because sometimes at least, Mick was right. 😉

As some of may have heard from Beth, I sustained a serious arm injury a few weeks ago, while doing something simple and commonplace. Our new big screen TV had an early failure on one of its boards, and I was at home with the TV repairman watching him fix the set. Once he was done, I picked up one end of the stand to swing it back into place closer to the wall. As it got near its final position, there wasn’t enough room to hold it with both arms, so I switched to holding it with just my right arm. Mistake. When I did that, I felt brief but intense pain, and heard a “pop” that was loud enough for the TV repair guy to hear it, too.

As I found out later, that pop was the sound of my bicep tendon detaching from my forearm bone. I had surgery yesterday to re-attach it. My surgeon said the surgery went really well, with a good, clean attachment. It should heal up good as new if I let it heal properly, which I fully intend to do.

I had never heard of this type of injury, and would not have really thought it was possible. You’d think the bicep would complain way before you reached the rupture point of the tendon. I found out that this typically happens to men 40-60 years old, usually when lifting something heavy. My surgeon, who says he repairs these all the time, says I’m a “textbook case”. I was swinging one end of a 215 lb. piece of furniture, which I guess is heavy enough to do some damage.

Beth took this picture last night, a few hours after surgery and still feeling pretty out of it:

This video is a good overview of the injury; I thought it described what I felt to a “T”:

Some snapshots and a short video from last Fall’s Family Weekend at Erin’s college.  ‘lots of fun, and interesting seminars!

Erin, Ruairi and Beth

Erin and Blitz

Barry and Blitz

Blitz joins Erin and the other cheerleaders to cheer on the team!

For family gifts this year we made some bowls out of Oregon Walnut, red Padauk, and European Beech. It was a fun project and we hope the recipients enjoy them. They look great in the “group shot”:

The following pics show some of the steps along the way. As usual, you can click on one of the thumbnails below to see a full-size image.

This past weekend (11/6-11/7) Nissan brought their roadshow for the Leaf electric car to Hillsboro, giving the public a chance to test drive their new vehicle.  Appropriately enough, the event was held in the parking lot of Solarworld, the largest solar panel factory in the U.S.  The event was exceptionally well-organized and did an excellent job of acquainting those in attendance with the car’s technology, and in addressing attendees’ questions and concerns.  Plus, we got to go on a test drive!

Pictures I took in Geneva this week. Most of them were taken with my cellphone camera, so the quality may not be the greatest. Lots of smart car photos for linking on the smart car forum.  Click on thumbnail for a bigger pic.

Back in 1995 the now long-running Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) series Oregon Field Guide ran a segment on sheep dogs that was largely filmed on our ranch, and at the Banks Sheep Dog Trial we helped organize that year. Our friend Stuart Milne brought his dogs over to our place for the filming, and used our sheep. OPB has been updating their web-accessible video archive and this segment can now be viewed online. I’m sure you’ll recognize the big blue barn in the background.

Recently Beth, Ruairí, and Barry took an “end of summer” long weekend trip to visit Seattle and a few places on the Olympic Peninsula, including the Hoh Rain Forest.  Big old-growth Sikta Spruce, Western Hemlock, and Douglas Fir trees are are dime a dozen in that spectacular setting.  But even so, this 12½ foot diameter, 270 foot tall, 500-550 year old giant Spruce stands out as a “Monarch of the Forest” (as the sign nearby puts it):

On the way and back we drove through Forks, Washington.  Sorta the Washington version of Vernonia.  No, we didn’t spot any vampires (not even young, good-looking ones ;)).

On June 30, Beth, Ruairí, and Barry went out to the Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, about 75 miles east of Bend.   We had lunch and hiked several short trails, for a total of 4½ miles.  We saved the toughest, the 1½ mile (round trip) Carroll Rim Trail, for last (400′ elevation climb).   We even spotted a group of pronghorn antelope just off the roadway (see picture that Ruairí took of them below).  Click on a thumbnail for a full-size picture.  Enjoy!

Here’s a scan of a photo I recently found in a stack, from October 1995.  They certainly look different now, don’t they? 😉

Erin decided that she wanted to learn to make sushi — here she is preparing the rice (with Ruairi working the fan).

Fanning the rice

Ready to eat

The sushi chef and her assistant

The results were delicious!