It was a great Labor Day Weekend here in Graham WA. Saturday we stayed home and watched Alabama open their season against Virginia Tech on ESPN. Bama is trying for their third consecutive BCS championship…but has some holes to fill from last year’s squad. On the defensive side of the ball they had a few graduations but mostly just reloaded with new folks…with the exception of a single play where the linebacker was out of position (and with the help of an outstanding block by the Tech right guard and tackle) where the running back scooted for a 70something yard score they were the typical Alabama defense with Tech punting on 10 possessions. The special teams opened the scoring with a punt return TD only a minute something into the game and the same return man added a kickoff return TD after a Tech field goal…he also added a TD pass on the Tide’s only sustained long drive of the night.
The offense on the other hand…still needs some work. After losing 3 members of last year’s line to the NFL they were decent but not the usual terrific run blockers that we’re used to seeing. Lots of missed assignments but I’m sure they’ll get things sorted out pretty quickly. You’re in pretty good shape when you win 35-10 with only one decent offensive drive; the remaining scores were a pick six by the defense and a short drive after a lousy Tech punt. Texas A&M is up next on the 14th and they’ll need to more consistent line play to success against an offense better than Tch’s.
Dinner Saturday was some Italian Sausage sandwiches with onions and peppers on hoagie rolls…we added a strawberry/coconut/blueberry yogurt combo that went pretty well with it.
Sunday we went to mass then ran by Walmart to pick up a few things we forgot to get the other day. Came home and watched football on TV…I don’t think there are any NFL games this weekend so we had college football both last night and some more tonight on Monday night. Dinner sunday was a pork tenderloin…marinated in lemon juice, EVOO, and Italian spices then grilled with a glaze of BBQ sauce, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. It was pretty yummy…we had some delish roasted Rosemary Potato Wedges and fruit salad to go with it; apples, craisins, mayo and grated sharp cheddar.
The weather all weekend has been great; 70s and low humidity…today Connie is working a couple hours since she can’t work Thursday due to her upcoming procedure and will likely be feeling poorly on Friday. We got some fresh corn on the cob from the veggie stand last week and are having grilled corn (topped by Tabasco/lime/maple butter) and burgers…and we’ve got a little peach pie in the freezer that we’ll bake and have with ice cream for dessert. Probably watch some football as well and maybe the end of the golf tourney as well.
I’m not sure if I ever posted a picture of our RV sign once we put it outside; I know I had one of it sitting on the couch but here’s where we have it mounted. Neil got a metal stake hanger for it as well but we don’t’ have enough space here to use that…hanging on the king pin is our alternate location.
He also got a couple more nice shots of the mountain Saturday when there wasn’t much haze…I faded one out to almost a black and white mood for the textural contrast.
I kinda like that last one…rather than looking completely naturally colored it’s more of a texture and study in details. The large white spot in the summit saddle heading down to the right is one of 20something glaciers on the mountain. We googled a few weeks back to find out the difference between a glacier and a snow/ice pack…the difference is that a glacier flows and an ice pack doesn’t. Connie thought it had to do with the whether it survived the summer or not and Neil had no real idea but now ya’ know. This is amazingly detailed for a shot taken from almost 30 miles away, isn’t it.
I think we’re heading down to Mount Saint Helens on Wednesday…it’s 40% rain tomorrow morning and only 10% on Wednesday…the pictures we took on our Columbia River Gorge trip were from the south side and the park observatory is on the north side about 8 or 10 miles away. This means you can see mostly into the interior of what used to be the central lava dome before it blew up, taking most of the north side of the summit away and sending downstream into the Spirit Lake area north and slightly east of the peak. We’re not sure how much you can really see from there…but it will be a nice day trip. Next week after Connie recovers we’re planning on making a trip down to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park right on the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River (about 40 miles downstream from Portland) then continue up the coast highway for some photos and then heading back home. We are looking at some short hikes along the way…Connie found one at the Willapa NWR we’ll be passing…the Lewis and Clark NWR near the Historic Park is larger and looks more scenic but it’s almost all islands and hence not explorable unless we wanted to kayak and since it’s right in the Columbia River we’re thinking we don’t want to battle those currents.
Cyas.
Travels with Gunther and Kara 
i like the b/w shot too – kinda has an ansel adams vibe to it – lack of color seems to augment the perception of cold and crisp… yer dead-on ’bout the tide – need to fill some big holes in the o-line asap – we got the talent, just a matter of putting the pieces in the right places… nussmeyer’s play-calling will have to develop quick as well – way too much running back talent to not find a way… watch out for darrick henry – not a stellar intro (2 carries, -5 yds), but da youngun is a stud – just google his HS stats – 12,000 yds+, out of tulee, fl, potential heisman written all over him… the future looks good… no future for that jackass aggie… even holtz and may think his own team will turn on him sooner rather than later. kirby smart will have a plan in place to absolutely knock the taste outa his mouth – just ask the honey badger… hope c is good, we’ll keep her on the P-list… hope yer foot is comin’ along as well… yall be good.
I expect Manziel to get his bell hit pretty hard in a coupla weeks. Fair but hard. Sabah will also get the line sorted out I believe, the commentators all thought it was just not jelling yet as its clearly not a lack of talent. The O lone coach is new too.
I left just pthe barest hint of color in the almost B&W shot, it looked better with about 10% saturation in the color than with 0. All of Adams’s shots were processed, back in the darkroom days monkeying with the prints was just how you did it. You pretty much had to because of the limitations of the film, development, and printing processes they had. It’s better now in the digital days but the sensors still aren’t as good as eyes are. Besides, I’m not entering any contests with these so it don’t matter anyway; I jus’ want them to look purdy.
neil
The three kinds of stress…nuclear, cooking and a&&hole. Jello is the key to the relationship.
Agree w/all of the above, and ❤ your sign!!