book Club

I finally made it to a book club meeting on Wednesday. My good friend Gabrielle invited me to join her book club a couple of months ago and I hadn't had a chance to attend. I had a great time and all of the members were very nice and fun to talk to and drink wine with. I like reading, but in the past I've found it hard to find the time to read and to figure out which books to read. I was hoping that the book club would force me to make time to read and to also provide ideas of what books to read. So far joining the book club has accomplished both.

For those who have the same trouble trying to figure out what books to read I thought I'd try to write about books I'm reading in my book club. The book we read last month was "Honeymoon With My Brother" by Franz Wisner. The author wrote about his experience being left by his fiance on his wedding day and then deciding to give up his house and career to travel the world with his brother. Most of the members in the book club enjoyed the book. I felt the writing was a little choppy, but the message I garnered from the book was good. Difficult things that happen to you in your life can actually force you to take steps to make your life better and more fulfilling.

I would recommend "Honeymoon With My Brother". You can find more information about this book at http://www.honeymoonwithmybrother.com/.

endangered Century Farm

I grew up on my families 500 acre (formerly 2500 acre before I was born) ranch in Roseburg Oregon, Laurel Crest Ranch. Some of my best memories are driving cattle with my grandad, having grand adventures with all of my cousins and eating my grandmothers fried venison, mashed potatoes, pies and cinnamon rolls. I feel I was one of the luckiest kids on the planet to have the experience of growing up on the family ranch. All of my experiences are ingrained in my soul and help make me who I am today.

The family ranch is now down to about 20 acres give or take. My grandmother still lives there and so does my father and my aunt and uncle, but all of the livestock and the acreage are gone. The ranch has sadly been replaced by development over the years. Taxes and the cost of running the ranch for my family just didn't make sense anymore, so over the years they sold pieces of the ranch. Now you'll find large large parcels with houses, subdivisions, a movie theater, banks, businesses, a retirement home, and a mall all where I used to ride my horse with my cousins and have picnics in large green fields under the maple trees.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against development. It's just sad for me because of all of the great memories I have. The ranch is just not the ranch anymore. I would have loved for my daughter to have experienced the family ranch like I did.

I read an article this morning in the Bend Bulletin, "This rancher and his farm earn a distinction – by staying home". It made me reminisce about my own families ranch and how much I miss it. The story was about the Reads 2300 acre ranch that has been in their family for over 100 years and how they are trying to keep it in the family. The "Century Farm" is becoming very rare in our nation today and in fact the Read Ranch is the only "Century Farm" left in the Central Oregon region. I recommend reading the article. It is a great American story and I hope the Reads are able to keep their farm in their family.

blazers Deja Vu

Wow, Greg Oden will miss most of his rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers due to a knee injury. I was shocked and very disappointed yesterday when I heard the news. Read the SI.com article. Not only for the Blazers and the fans, but for Greg Oden. He seems like a great guy and the Blazers really needed a player and leader like him after enduring years of the selfish Jail-Blazers.

Does this sound like Deja Vu? I remember the Sam Bowie fiasco back in 1984 when the Blazers passed on Michael Jordan to take Sam Bowie who ended up being injured most of his short uninspiring career? Are the Blazers cursed? Could this happen again with Greg Oden? I was so excited when I heard the Blazers won the draft lottery and were going to select Oden. I saw him lead Ohio State to the NCAA championship last year and he was amazing. I initially thought the Blazers made the correct choice selecting Oden over Kevin Durant. Now I think everyone is second guessing that decision.

It sounds like the microfracture knee injury Oden has is very difficult to recover from. The upside though is that there have been players that recovered successfully from it, one being Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire. I hope for the best for Greg Oden and and the Blazers. Oden is young and can hopefully recover and lead the Blazers back to the playoffs. I guess only time will tell.

old Family Recipe - Tacos

I love food and love to eat and one of my favorite childhood memories is pigging out on my mothers wonderful tacos. The family taco recipe originated with my great-grandmother and we believe she obtained the recipe from her housekeeper when she lived in Arizona many-many years ago.

Even though I love to eat I'm not much of a cook. I believe this is because both my grandmothers and mother were such great cooks anytime I ever cooked anything it just didn't quite taste the same. Well, the other night I decided to cook for my mom. She had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago and can't get around very well, so I thought it was my turn to cook for her. We hadn't had her tacos forever and I was craving them, so I decided to whip up a batch. They turned out great and tasted so good!! Most people probably haven't had tacos like this so I decided to place the recipe here on my blog. Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:
3 large tomatoes
1/2 large onion
oregano
salt
1/2 head of lettuce
grated cheese (I buy the pre-grated 4 cheese blend)
1 pkg of 24 corn tortillas (our family usually eats 3 to 4 tacos a piece)
2 cans sliced black olives
1 pkg of hamburger
coconut oil

Prepare ingredients for tacos. Dice tomatoes and place in a bowl. Chop onion and place in bowl with tomatoes. Add oregano and salt to taste. Mix together. Makes a salsa for the tacos. Chop up the lettuce small enough to add to tacos. If you didn't purchase pre-grated cheese then grate the cheese.

Fry the tacos. Heat coconut oil about 1/8" in a large frying pan. Take a small handful of hamburger and squish it on half of a corn tortilla so the tortilla can still be folded in half. Do not fold tortilla until you are ready to place in the frying pan because they tear easily. When ready to fry, hold each edge of the tortilla and place the middle where the tortilla will crease in the oil until it folds easily. Then sit the taco in the oil on one side to cook. Use tongs to flip the taco to the other side to finish cooking. Remove taco from the frying pan and place in a large rectangle baking dish lined with paper towels. Do this for each taco.

Filling tacos. Once all tacos are fried, fill each taco with tomato salsa mixed earlier, lettuce, cheese and olives. You can add hot taco sauce also. Yummy! Now I'm hungry :)

Enjoy the tacos! We sure did.

mt. Bachelor’s Price Increases

I'm going to date myself here, but I've been skiing at Mt. Bachelor since 1977. Back then an adult day ticket was $12 and a child day ticket was $9. I consider Mt. Bachelor home and I am happy I'm able to give my 7 year old daughter the same skiing opportunities I had growing up on my home mountain.

I’ve got to say though that I’m extremely disappointed with the season pass price increases. First of all what’s up with a youth's 10-day pass costing more than a youth season pass? Just curious! Also $929, for an adult season pass if you buy before Oct 1^st, even after the sharp decline in customer service on the mountain over the past couple of years.

Since Powder Corp. took ownership a few years back the quality of Mt Bachelor has been in steep decline. The brand new lifts break down frequently; the ticket turn-stiles don’t function half of the time; the lift attendants don’t pay close enough attention to safety; the food is horrible (an expensive hamburger that tastes like cardboard and is put together with the cheapest quality ingredients Mt. Bachelor can buy); the runs aren’t groomed at the level they were during Mt. Bachelor’s great days; and finally the parking lot is not plowed when you arrive in the morning to ski.

Maybe I was just spoiled all of those grand years skiing on a great, well maintained mountain BPC (before Powder Corp.). I just find it interesting that Mt. Bachelor is asking us to fork over even more money when we continue to see declines in the quality of Mt. Bachelor’s services. They have not proved to me that by increasing their fees they are going to increase our customer service. So far it has proved to be the opposite.

Because I still love skiing and I want to see if Matt Janney will be able to return Mt Bachelor’s great image and high quality services, I will be paying the increased fees for season passes for my daughter and me. I know Matt Janney remembers the good old days and wants Mt. Bachelor to be a high class skiing destination. I guess all I can do at this point is have faith that he can do that.

Mt Bachelor 2007-2008 Season Pass Prices

Related Bend Bulletin articles:
A history in Bend, a future at Bachelor
Mt. Bachelor raises its prices

As a side note, does anyone remember the warm homemade donuts Mt Bachelor used to provide at the main lodge? I think Matt Janney should bring them back :)

frazier Museum

While on our Wildhorse Resort & Casino weekend trip we found ourselves near the town of Milton-Freewater which just happened to be where my grandmother and great-grandfather's family was from. While in Milton-Freewater we found and visited the Frazier Museum. I had been told about the Frazier Museum by my cousin's wife, Charlotte, who has been a great source of our family genealogical research. The museum contains quite a bit of information about my family's history. While at the museum we talked to the director at length and had a great time learning of my family history. We were able to view a large collection of pictures and documents about my great-great grandmother, Eva Alvina Beardsley, and all of her descendants including my father, grandmother, aunts and uncle, etc. I was even able to view information about my great-great grandfather, Ralph Maxon Wood, who married Eva. He was the first baby born in Fort Walla Walla and one of my distant cousins still has the silver baby cup he received from the General of the fort at the time.

I would have to say one of the most fascinating things I saw at the museum was a collection of letters written by a great...great?? uncle during the civil war to his sister. He did not live through the civil war due to a shot to the knee, but the letters he wrote were very beautiful and eloquent. It is amazing what our ancestors had to endure. We are so fortunate!

Frazier Farmstead Museum, Milton-Freewater

wildhorse Weekend

We have such great friends! This past weekend we were lucky enough to tag along with them on their RV / golf trip to the Wildhorse Resort and Casino outside Pendleton, OR. We had a wonderful time eating, golfing, eating, swimming, eating, visiting and did I say eating. I've got to say the new restaurant, Plateau, located in the casino is excellent. The 10 of us showed up Friday evening and were escorted to the private dining room where we enjoyed a wonderful meal including drinks and dessert at very reasonable prices. The service was top notch! Betty, our server, you rock and my husband, Scot, thinks you make the best Gibson on the planet. The dessert was so good we returned Saturday evening to partake in a sweet feast once again. My daughter felt that the hot chocolate lava cake was the best. The bananas with rum sauce smothered over the hot chocolate lava cake were my favorite. A few of our friends had the special on Friday evening. A baked peach that was supposedly to die for. The only disappointment I heard the whole time was when we returned Saturday and they did not have the baked peach available for dessert. I thought my friend was going to cry.

The Wildhorse golf course was pretty nice. I couldn't hit my irons worth a darn, so I lost a couple of balls in the lakes with my perfect left hook. My husband, daughter and I played best ball though so the score did not reflect how badly I played because my family kept bailing me out. We were able to see our friends that moved to Milton Freewater a couple of years ago. He is an awesome golfer who just this last year hit two hole-in-ones during the same game with the same ball. How awesome is that?

Scot on 2nd hole Wildhorse golf course Pendleton, OR.
The hole-in-one guru Wildhorse golf course Pendleton, OR.

360Flex Seattle

I just returned from the 360Flex Conference in Seattle. It was fun and I learned a few things. A couple of the main themes in the sessions were teaching developers how to be designers and how'd they do that? I would have to say my two favorite sessions were Programmatic Visualization by Andrew Trice where he had great examples of using the drawing API inside Flex and Flex and Ruby by Simeon Bateman where he demonstrated how to set up a Ruby on Rails dataset and access it using RemoteObject in Flex. You can find more information from these two great presenters on their blogs: Andrew Trice and Simeon Bateman - The simFluence.

I plan to use the Flex drawing API in my new reporting / mapping application where I need to develop a measuring tool for my map. I also plan to learn Ruby on Rails as soon as I can because it seems like a great, easy tool to set up datasets for use inside Flex.

The one topic I really would have liked to see a session about was how to develop an application in AIR for use offline. Maybe using some SQLLite examples, XML examples, etc. This is a topic I'm extremely interested in and there doesn't seem to be many examples out there yet, so I was hoping there would be a presentation at the conference on this.

Finally I also was able to fit in a few fun things while I was visiting Seattle. It was my first stay in Seattle even though I'm a native Northwesterner. I wish I would have traveled there before because it is a really fun city to visit. I highly recommend seeing a Mariners game in Safeco field. It is a beautiful field and there's nothing better than a baseball game (except maybe a Packers game in Lambeau field). We went to the Monday night game where they beat the Minnesota Twins in the bottom of the 9th with a homerun. Awesome!!!

I also did a few touristy trips, such as visiting Pikes Place Market. Seattle is celebrating the markets 100th birthday with Centennial days. I took a couple hours to visit Seattle Center where I saw the Space Needle and visited the Experience Music Project (EMP) and the Science Fiction Museum. I loved the Northwest section of the EMP where there were music items from the grunge era in the 1990's. The song writings by Kurt Cobain for a Nirvana song were very cool! If you're a sci-fi fan like I am you'll enjoy the Science Fiction Museum with all of it's cool movie costumes and props including the wicked witches hat from the Wizard of Oz, Arnold Schwarzenegger's leather jacket from Terminator, Darth Vader's costume from the Star Wars movies and all the Star Trek props and costumes you could imagine. It was all a lot of fun!

the Modern Day Treasure Hunt

Have you heard of geocaching? According to www.geocaching.com the definition of geocaching is...
" Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache."
In other words geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt. I've got to say that I'm becoming increasingly addicted to it. I went on a geocache last summer with some friends and my daughter and instantly fell in love with this activity. Every camping trip we've been on this summer I've been geocaching. I've found caches in Ocean Shores WA, Metolius OR, Crescent Lake OR and Paulina Lake OR. I'm planning on placing my first cache in the Dry Canyon in Redmond soon. There are also hundreds of caches around town ready to be found.

It is a great way to get my 7 year old daughter interested in hiking and the outdoors and my new westie puppy loves the chance to get out on long walks. I highly recommend it! To find out more visit www.geocaching.com. You can search for the location of geocaches all over the world. Have fun, I am!
As a side note I'm trying to find a local geocache group here in Central Oregon. From what I've heard there is only an informal group. If anyone knows how to contact them, please let me know.

basic Blogging

I have now entered the realm of blogging. I thought about it before. I just never took the plunge.

Why the Bald Blog? Well because I am bald which is pretty unusual for a woman. I began losing my hair just over 2 years ago due to an autoimmune system disease called alopecia areata. It started with a bald patch on the back of my head and has continued to spread where I have now lost all of the hair on my head including my eyebrows and eyelashes (alopecia totallis). You can find out more information about this disease from the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. Because I'm a woman without any hair I've had to learn not to be so vain. So I decided that having a blog is a little bit like having a naked head out in public. Instead of my bald head being exposed, now my thoughts will be exposed.

This is a little bit scary, yet also very exciting. So welcome!