Dean family update

Well…Emma did give herself a haircut- on one side- but she has such thick curly hair- it wasn’t real noticeable.  I need to take her in for another “real” hair cut here soon.  Our trip to Neskowin turned out to be a disaster- with a rude salesman, bird poop in their pool and no beach access- so I asked my husband to pick up camp- and we headed out the next morning.  We found a great campsite called Sea and Sand- near Lincoln City- thanks to Mom and Dad’s guide to camping in the Pacific Northwest book.  We plan to spend the summer checking out these sites rated 9 and 10’s in their book (actually I”ve ordered the newer version- and will return your book mom and dad when I see you again).  We are scheduled to return to Sea and Sand June 23rd and 24th.  We are then going to try out Cape Disappointment that following weekend.  Its pretty amazing how fast the state parks fill up- so I’m trying to book ahead.

Sea Haven looks and sounds great- the Dean family is excited…it sounds perfect for lots of small kids.  I’m counting down the days to school being out- I just wrote my biology and forensic science finals.  I’m still waiting to hear back on two other grants I wrote.  Kalena is keeping us busy- her height and advanced climbing skills- keep us from sitting down and relaxing much.  Her big sister likes to let her escape to the outdoors- so that’s also been a challenge lately.  Brian has been busy with work and fixing the truck.  He’s told me all about the mechanical details- but as my family knows- most of this makes very little sense to me- so I would not be able to repeat the problem- but I did hear the words brake pads and rotors- often.  Brian’s parents have a new filly- their pregnant mare gave birth a few weeks ago- so we are headed down to Creswell to celebrate his grandparents 70th wedding anniversary and to see the new baby.  I’m going to take lots of pictures.  Well I need to get back to work- it never ends.  Take care.  Oh- Porter children- my community ed class is July 10th to the 14th if you would like to attend? Its from 2-4 pm- science camp in my classroom. 

they're back...

I have been on hummingbird duty the last couple of days. They go through about 3 refills a day so I have to make up a batch of sugar water every morning to keep the three feeders from going dry. I tried to get a good picture of them but this is the most I could get. There are about 6 in this picture. I have seen 8-10 at one time so there must be a bunch of them out there. I braved the rain for a bit today to go cut off all the old lilac blooms. I will try to get the rhody's done tomorrow.

I was in Olympia for the last part of the week at a training for writing WADOT BAs. A BA (biological assessment) is written whenever a federally funded or sponsored activity is planned to address the actions of the project on threatened and endangered species. They had a very hard test at the end of it to qualify for writing these assessment and I am not sure if I passed or not. I went with my new manager and he is positive he didn't pass. So we may be having some more study sessions before the next testing session in a couple of months. I also have a new project at work to go down and help with wetland delineation in the La Grande area and then do some GIS work for that. I also have another wetland delineation to assist with for a new waterpipe project in Washougal that is going to be built across the Washougal River. I am feeling a little happier with the new possibilities arising in my job.

I am sick of this rain. Isn't it supposed to be summer soon?

-Mel

What's new with me?

We just had a new office open in Vancouver made out of 5 people that left another local firm to join Normandeau. Because I don't have much work going on in my office, I have been shuffled over to help in the Vancouver office for awhile. They do policy work instead of the science. They write biological opinions (BAs) for transportation projects. So I am going to a training in Olympia this week followed by an exam on Friday to be qualified to work on these BAs. The test is supposed to be hard and you are supposed to already know all about BA before starting the class. Since I know relatively little about BAs, I spent a lot of time studying this weekend. So it feels almost like I have started a new job.

Well it was quite the thunder, lightning and rain show last night. It had the neighbor dogs barking. Oh, on the subject of noise.... the rooster is no longer a problem (we'll leave it at that). And the goose pen was knocked down and the goose was missing when we got home last weekend so that pet is gone as well. The garden is doing well however.

That is my tidbit,
Mel

beach trip

So, when are we planning this wonderful beach trip?? And financially how much should we contribute...we'll bring lots of food, but would like to help with the rental fees since we're wanting to stay the full time since it's such a big trip.

FW: a need for a babysitter for children July 17-21st

Ok- the blog won’t let me send an attached picture.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dean, Jennifer
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 7:55 AM
To: melsharp.thesharps@blogger.com
Subject: a need for a babysitter for children July 17-21st

I just got my acceptance on a workshop application- so now I need to find someone willing to spend some time with 2 sweet little girls- the Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri of the week listed in the subject line.  If none of my family can- or only the first or second half of the week let me know- then I’ll give Brian’s parents a call.  Well I have a field trip today to see the monkey’s in Beaverton- got to run.  Love. Jenn.  P.S. the Newport trip was AMAZING- beautiful views from the Embarcadaro, we saw sea lions  with their pups at the tide pools- within 20 feet of us- just laying in the sun ignoring us, and maybe the best of all lots of whale sightings- very close to the boat.  I took some pictures and video. 

Weird Science

Jennifer just had a great article come out in the local Camas-Washougal Post-Record paper talking about her forensics class. Here is a link leading to just the first part of the story:
http://www.camaspostrecord.com/cprhometown.cfm
I have the rest of the article that I will try to bring down with me this weekend. She is going from 8 students to 88!! I would call that a huge success. Congrats Jenn
-Mel

horton hears a hooka

At Tom's birthday, someone actually brought a hooka, which is a large community waterpipe (with multiple hoses for a simultaneous draw) that basically cools, and filters smoke to something that more or less tastes good. This was with apricot flavored tobacco. To my disappointment, there was no buzz. Why bother, you say? exactly. It did taste good though. I like the pic, taken by my talented wife.

Garden's in

For Cinco de Mayo we drank margaritas while we finished the garden. We did one more pass with the rototiller and then planted all sorts of things. We ran short on corn and will have to pick some more of that up. It has been a good spring with the sun out, flowers blooming and the birds a chiping. Today we had evening grosbeaks fly in along with the first goldfinch of the season. The bats are back in the chimney. The goose seems to get bigger every day. Still no feathers, just a big fluffball.

We are thinking about making it down to Sweet Home for mother's day. I would require a bed however.
-Mel