Raving Amicks

I convinced mom and dad to get out of their comfort zones and take a cross country ski class with me on Mount Hood. I’m still shocked that they actually agreed to do it, but in the end we all had a lot of fun. The class was only 2 hours long but we managed to take away quite a bit of knowledge. We even journeyed out by ourselves after finishing our beginner’s class exploring a few different trails.

Neal Creek is almost frozen over and Hood River is like 99% frozen over. My grapefruit trees are in the garage loving the space heater. When it’s the coldest, it’s probably like 35 degrees aroud the trees.

My apple trees are full of apples. Most are blemish and bug free, even though they are organic. One is a Braeburn and the other is a Fuji (although I can’t tell which is which).

My peach tree finally came in. After Brewster ate all the low-hanging peaches, we are finally eating peaches. They are really good, but they give you the runs!

Nice peach pie your Mom made, too!

Was at the Hood River Saturday market awhile ago and a lady was selling (among other things) some gigantic pine cones.   Turns out they are from a Coulter pine (native to a few small areas in So. California).   Her grandfather or great-grandfather brought some seeds back from  a trip and planted some in Hood River.   One of the trees survived to maturity.   Anyway, I bought one of the pine cones for $1   (great centerpiece) and found a few remaining seeds in the pine cone.   You guessed it – I planted some and one has come up.  Here’s a picture of the pine cone and the sprout.   The cone is 8″ long, but they get bigger.    Loggers called them widowmakers ’cause if one fell from a tree and hit you on the head – you’re a goner!

Got the pool table delivered. It came on a pallet and the three heaviest pieces were the three pieces of slate – each about 150 lbs. Your Mom and I unloaded the pallet and loaded the stuff into the back of the Jeep and hauled it up the hill to the house, where we carried it in. Several trips as you can imagine! Had a guy come out from Portland to install it.  Your Mom kicked my butt in our first game of 8-ball, but I got her on the next.