Wintering Orchid Cactus a Crisis Now.

One of the several major ways I have missed the greenhouse since it burned down concerns the wintering of my Orchid Cactus plants. Fortunately, these treasures were still inside the garage and had not yet been moved to the greenhouse when fire day came. Now the increase since is crowding me into a problem. You can see there are several pots sitting at the right for which wintering space is a real problem. They like the 40 to 60 degree range and must not become much cooler for fear of tissue damage. They also need some light, although I've only used a minimum over the past three winters.


I can probably house most of the hanging gems, but I am looking for someone who has a little protected space - greenhouse, lighted and enclosed garage or basement, or such - and who would be interested in lending/renting that space to me until the danger of frost is past (early March?). I thought I would start here among friends and network this request. Maybe you know someone who could help out. I'd rather not have to sell these youngsters off if I can find another solution. If I can not, they may have to go on Craigslist or to a specialty nursery, for without protection they will perish. Two dozen pots need a temporary home. I've only a week or so to solve this one. Can you help?

Ahhhhhhhhhh!

That's better. My sidebar is back in place. Feels good.

Feels like a really good scratching of a nagging itch. Ahhhhhhh!.

(And thanks again to the one who told me where and how to scratch.)

How About a Little Help?

Does anyone know why my sidebar (About Me, Links, etc.) which should be at the immediate right of this entry is instead way down at the bottom of all my recent postings? (You'll have to scroll way down to find them.) How do I repair this problem?

Bravo! Author!! Author!!!

After decades of dreaming and three years or so of writing, the first copy of Betty's book arrived. Hallelujah indeed! I am soooooo proud of her. This copy is technically the "galley" and will be sacrificed to the final proofreading process (three final editors taking turns), but then - orders will be placed for the initial scores of copies a host of friends and family are eagerly awaiting. You are going to fascinated by our friend "Jessie" as her intriguing story is revealed page after page. I may be the hubby, but I think it is a good read which is going to have broad and lasting appeal. Watch out Alaska! You have a new contender for best regional reading material.

Fathers and Sons and the FJ-3.

In response to David's last blog http://pirep.blogspot.com/ , here a tiny "rest of the story" on the special aircraft pictured above. Now I recall most of these FJ-3 fighter jets painted in a deep Navy Blue, and indeed they were primarily an aircraft carrier version of the land-based F-86. Both versions won acclaim during the Korean Conflict for their many successes against the Mig 15s and 17s. The guides at the Evergreen Aviation Museum pointed out, however, that the difference was because of the superiority of the well-trained and experienced American pilots against ill prepared Chinese rookies.

The airplane entered my life because of my Dad. Let me pause here to honor him for a long career with North American Aviation as a tool design engineer working on their products from the P-51 prop driven fighter (1940s) through many famous and important airplanes and all the way up to the Saturn V rocket and even a bit of the Shuttle. In the early 1950s we moved from California to Columbus, Ohio, where my dad was involved in producing the FJ-3 as a leading fighter of the day. I spent a lot of time out at the airport next to the plant and much of my interest in flying comes from that era and the frequent static air shows where I used my brownie box camera.

Thanks for the memories, Dad. Thanks for the memories, David. It's nice to be between your blessings, and it's nice that we share these common interests.

Covered Bridges

Although we went out to the annual church campout at Ft. Stephens again this year, we also had to drive all the way back into Portland on Saturday to attend the annual OHSU/PCO Symposium, which is always a worthwhile event. That 200+ mile round trip took a major chunk out of the activities at the beach, but we benefited from hearing current PD information on a broad range of symptoms, mood/memory, sensory input and sleep problems, and a look at some of the current research being done - some of it by our own doctors.

One result of cramming so much into too few days was the loss of daylight hours for campsite photos. Imagine all the families having great fun visiting each other, kids whirrling about on bikes and other wheeled devices, huddling around the campfires sharing food, funny stories, s'mores, and fellowship. Got the picture? OK.

What we did have a little time to enjoy, both coming and going, is this old covered bridge at Gray's River just a little way off of Washington State Highway 4 along the north side of the lower Columbia River. We are becoming fond of this "rest stop" because it is a particularly quiet place hidden away off the main road. It is on the list of National Historic Places, as signs and plaques explain, but it is still in use and there is a nicely shaded pullout at the south end from which this shot was taken. Visiting now and then with local folk yields interesting background and now we know about a festival - games and music and food and celebration - also held annually. If you had been with us yesterday, I would have made extra Greek salad to share with you as we contemplated the bridge and it's purposes over the years.

We have all used bridges of various sorts at the junctions of our lives. In fact, preacher-folk are quite fond of "build-a-bridge" or "use-this-bridge" metaphors in sermon applications. We took a little time sitting there in the shade to consider some of our upcoming "bridges" as we look ahead to options we need to be exploring. Perhaps the first decision will be about a trip in October combining a few days at the World Missions Workshop in Lubbock, Texas, with a little personal family business. Of course, as we look for bridges to use we have to negotiate the forks in the roads, the destinations we need to choose, the purposes for going and doing here and there. For example, we are feeling the need to move off of this huge property and find more appropriate housing. What - and where and when - should that be? Hmmmmm. Any ideas?

Finally, the maps are willing to show themselves.

This is a portion of a FAA Sectional map for this region showing the Portland-Vancouver area metroplex and a little south and southwest of Portland. Sectionals show location and length of area airports and landing strips, indicate vital information about radio and navagation frequencies, and scores of other critical and essential safety information. Just inside the larger circle around Portland Airport (PDX) on the right side above the river is a small strip named "Grove". That was our starting point. Over at the lower left of the map and SW of Portland is the city of McMinnville where we were going. That is where the Air Museum is located. You can tell somewhat how complex the sectional is and how important it is for your pilots to be thoroughly familiar with the details it contains.

The second map is a modified image from Google Earth which has our route overlaid on just about the same area as the other map represents. The overall length of hte trip shows in statute miles although most pilots do their planning in nautical miles which are a bit longer. We flew the 50 or so miles averaging about 45 minutes each way. At each of the major angles, we overflew another airport since that is often the safest way to avoid other aircraft in their landing and takeoff patterns. Most of our flight was between 1200 and 1500 feet which is a wonderful height from which to view the surface. I like the water features: ponds, lakes, rivers, and such for the colors they display. This trip I was somewhat stunned at the large areas of development scraping away trees and farmland and completely altering the formerly quiet and pastoral countryside. How many subdivisions and strip malls do we need anyway?. One more note: David is a good pilot and I am completely comfortable with him at the controls. What a fine way to spend a day. (TNX, DMW. You are special!)

Flying with David

If you follow all of my families blogs, you may recognize this picture as being virtually identical to David's current entry. He was there very recently, and I don't think he got enough of this awesome aircraft museum because he proposed that we visit it together on Labor Day, and we did. He flew his Cessna 150 over here to a small airstrip in Camas on Sunday, and early Monday morning we flew on down to McMinnville, Oregon where the Evergreen Air Museum is located just across the highway from the airport.
The major feature is the gigantic flying boat built by Howard Hughes which is commonly called the Spruce Goose although it is actually made of laminated birch. This fairly new facility not only houses (barely) that monster which dominates the entire cavernous building, but dozens of other famous airplanes of every sort. The trend is toward miitary aircraft - fighters and bombers mostly - but many important early airplanes are also represented. A tour of general features can take up to two hours, but a thorough look at everything would take all day if you actually read all of the comprehensive display boards which every display features. It was especially fun to identify several of the airplanes (including the FJ3, a carrier based version of the F-86 made famous during the Korea conflict) that I knew that my dad had worked on during his career at North American Aviation.

Part of the fun of the flight to and from McMinville was in the planning of route, and waypoints, and the radio frequencies we would need to monitor enroute to pass over two airports and keep ourselves clear of the Portland Airport and it's sprawling airspace. Some of the research for such a trip comes directly off of FAA published maps, but a lot of the information needed is more easily accessed on-line.

Well right here the blog site was supposed to insert a couple of map pictures to illustrate our route and show how complicated an aviation map can be. Alas, after a couple of attempts, I must be content to claim the reach but not the grasp. Should they show up later I will edit these remarks to fit. (And later they still would not upload. Sorry)

Most of the fun of such a day, of course, is in spending time with my son David, a fine young man of whom I am extremely proud, and that would be enough even without flying or museums full of exotic airplanes. This became a most memorial Labor Day holiday, and I will treasure it as long as my memory lasts. I had a great time all day long. Who could ask for more?