Mountains of Fire, Beaches of Ice

One of the weird things about northwest Oregon is that on a hot August day, it is generally much warmer and more "summery" up in the mountains that it is at the ocean beaches. The Oregon coast has very cold water all year long, and is often chilly, windy, and cloudy even in summer. It is hard to overcome the psychological association of beaches with summer and mountains with cold, but once you do, Mt. Hood makes a great summer destination.

I spent this weekend at the mountain, and one of place I went was Trillium Lake. I took this picture on Saturday. On Sunday I went back with my inflatable raft and floated around.

While taking this picture, I was crouched down by the water's edge, trying to get both the ducks and the mountain in the frame. The ducks came right over to me, expecting to be fed. After a few minutes, when they figured out I wasn't going to feed them, they started purposely splashing me! I guess they wanted something in return for posing for the picture.

Me And My Shadow

Two Seasons

Portland, Oregon only has two seasons: Rain and Road Construction. Road Construction lasts from July through September, and Rain lasts the rest of the year. Ironically, Road Construction, the only part of the year with good enough weather that you want to go out and enjoy the outdoors, is also the season when you can't actually get to where you want to go because of all the road closures and detours.

Inverted Apple

Today at the grocery store, I spotted this apple sauce jar with an inverted label. Remembering the story of the rare "Inverted Jenny" stamp, I figured that this jar might be a collector's item that I could someday sell for a huge profit. Or if not, it would at least be more interesting to have than the normal jars.

What's for dinner?

Her: Do you know what else we have besides watermelon?

Me: Fire-melon? Earth-melon? Air-melon?

Her: Um, no.

Me: Too bad, fire-melon sounded great.

View from Cape Mears, looking South along the Oregon coast. 

Inversion

Somehow this plant reminds me of a radar dish.

Why We Are Not Advice Columnists

Her: [Well-to-do friend] just called. He's upset because he has put on weight, and now he thinks the ladies won't be so interested in him.

Me: Aw, you should have told him that no matter what he looks like on the outside, the ladies will still like him for his bank account.

Her: It's funny that you say that, because that's exactly what I did tell him.

Me: Oh. Was he cheered up?

Her: No, he said I was being a bitch.

We Need A Filthy War

DJ Earworm has created a fantastic mashup called We Need A Filthy War. Listen to it here.