I AM STILL HERE ON THE BLOG
Eeek! It's been a few weeks since I posted anything here. I have been remiss, won't take so long next time!
Here are some pictures from the past several weeks.
Ichiro enjoyed climbing in the Christmas tree when we went to take it down.
This is the "before" picture.
This is "after"!
And Phinney doesn't know what to think of my "new look"...
Mrs. Snave and I enjoyed watching "Coraline" in 3-D on our Blu-Ray player.
One of my favorite teachers of all time, Erros Osterloh, passed away in early January. She taught Earth Science classes at La Grande High School, and was legendary to anyone associated with her. She had a true enthusiasm for learning and for life itself, and took large groups of us on amazing field trips. My best memories of high school are of her class and of those fieldtrips. In the above picture are two of my classmates, her son Doug Osterloh (L) and Mark Kester (R) at the Osterloh's house the night before Mrs. O's memorial service.
Mark visited at our house that evening, and he and Ichiro took a real liking to each other!
The memorial service was Monday, January 18. Here I am that evening, taking a nap on the couch with Ichiro and Zeva:
Our band had a good show at the Mt. Emily Ale House here in La Grande last night. The first couple of times we played there we drew about 30 people, then only about 20. Last night we had roughly 50-55 people! Lots of fun. I am playing the keyboard while standing now, and it's a blast. I have better breath support for singing, I can move around more, and I have more energy and confidence. Last night was our first job with me doing it that way. All of us played well, and I believe everyone who came out to hear us had a good time! Our next show there will be March 6.
Other stuff coming up includes a family trip to the Elton John-Billy Joel concert in Portland on Feb. 10, a trip by me to Eugene for an Oregon Ducks basketball game in February, and then possibly another trip for a speech seminar either in Portland or Eugene around March 18 or 19.
Work is very busy-fying. May be able to retire from the schools in about 5 1/2 years, need to start investigating that option. Working with the kids in the schools is still fun, but with continuous cuts in funding, the workload keeps increasing each year... besides, I find I am having lots less patience these days with cranky parents who expect more service when we have fewer people to provide it than we did a few years ago. This can lead to school administrators getting cranky, and sometimes to teachers getting cranky. Time to look into what it will take to retire on a pension, and then work with adults part-time at the hospital, at the nursing home, as a traveler for an on-call agency, and maybe to offer my services at the local VA clinic. I want to retire from school work, but I don't want to completely quit working! 8-)
I get a spring break, but have no plans made for it at this time.
The Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge Amphitheater is coming up on Memorial Day Weekend in May, and I have my tickets for that.
A number of us on Facebook have been talking about some outdoor adventures in the Wallowa Mountains this summer. I am working on getting my legs and back in better shape so I can handle some hiking. I need to take off 10+ pounds and build up some muscle tone. Have to be careful with my surgically-repaired spine, so will mostly do aerobic stuff with light lifting at the hospital gym, go for more walks, and eat a more healthy diet.
So I'm starting at 194 pounds. Goal? Let's try 180-183. I will keep you posted on that!
I won't take so long to put up a blogpost for next time!
Here are some pictures from the past several weeks.
Ichiro enjoyed climbing in the Christmas tree when we went to take it down.
This is the "before" picture.
This is "after"!
And Phinney doesn't know what to think of my "new look"...
Mrs. Snave and I enjoyed watching "Coraline" in 3-D on our Blu-Ray player.
One of my favorite teachers of all time, Erros Osterloh, passed away in early January. She taught Earth Science classes at La Grande High School, and was legendary to anyone associated with her. She had a true enthusiasm for learning and for life itself, and took large groups of us on amazing field trips. My best memories of high school are of her class and of those fieldtrips. In the above picture are two of my classmates, her son Doug Osterloh (L) and Mark Kester (R) at the Osterloh's house the night before Mrs. O's memorial service.
Mark visited at our house that evening, and he and Ichiro took a real liking to each other!The memorial service was Monday, January 18. Here I am that evening, taking a nap on the couch with Ichiro and Zeva:
Our band had a good show at the Mt. Emily Ale House here in La Grande last night. The first couple of times we played there we drew about 30 people, then only about 20. Last night we had roughly 50-55 people! Lots of fun. I am playing the keyboard while standing now, and it's a blast. I have better breath support for singing, I can move around more, and I have more energy and confidence. Last night was our first job with me doing it that way. All of us played well, and I believe everyone who came out to hear us had a good time! Our next show there will be March 6.
Other stuff coming up includes a family trip to the Elton John-Billy Joel concert in Portland on Feb. 10, a trip by me to Eugene for an Oregon Ducks basketball game in February, and then possibly another trip for a speech seminar either in Portland or Eugene around March 18 or 19.
Work is very busy-fying. May be able to retire from the schools in about 5 1/2 years, need to start investigating that option. Working with the kids in the schools is still fun, but with continuous cuts in funding, the workload keeps increasing each year... besides, I find I am having lots less patience these days with cranky parents who expect more service when we have fewer people to provide it than we did a few years ago. This can lead to school administrators getting cranky, and sometimes to teachers getting cranky. Time to look into what it will take to retire on a pension, and then work with adults part-time at the hospital, at the nursing home, as a traveler for an on-call agency, and maybe to offer my services at the local VA clinic. I want to retire from school work, but I don't want to completely quit working! 8-)
I get a spring break, but have no plans made for it at this time.
The Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge Amphitheater is coming up on Memorial Day Weekend in May, and I have my tickets for that.
A number of us on Facebook have been talking about some outdoor adventures in the Wallowa Mountains this summer. I am working on getting my legs and back in better shape so I can handle some hiking. I need to take off 10+ pounds and build up some muscle tone. Have to be careful with my surgically-repaired spine, so will mostly do aerobic stuff with light lifting at the hospital gym, go for more walks, and eat a more healthy diet.
So I'm starting at 194 pounds. Goal? Let's try 180-183. I will keep you posted on that!
I won't take so long to put up a blogpost for next time!
7 Comments:
Glad you're still posting. Nice pictures. Oh, and thanks for the Facebook invitation.
Well, screw it, I might shave too. For the first time in the many decades that I have had a beard, I have dandruff in my beard! I had never even heard of such a thing, so I guess it's either a shave or else a bottle of "Face and Shoulders."
Love the pics! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I just nominated you for a Creative Blogger award over at my blog.
Where you been man? Missed you out in the blogosphere
Hi Snave, I've been neglecting the blog world myself recently so am just catching up with you here. Enjoyed your pictures and your update, sorry to hear of the loss of your favorite teacher.
Loved Coraline! But then, I love just about anything Neil Gaiman :)
You know, taking the beard off took 15 years off, too - good lookin'!
Thanks much for your comments!
I haven't been in the blogosphere because I have become immersed in Facebook. I keep tellin myself to post more stuff here at the blog, but I keep forgetting! 8-)
I will try and to a better job.
I have found that getting away from worrying so much about politics has been good for me. But not all the blogs I like to visit are all about politics, and the ones that are, are, well... right on!
Things are going pretty well here. Have a CAT scan of my abdomen tomorrow, hope they don't find anything bad, and doubt they will. However it goes, I will let people know.
Also, I went to the Elton John and Billy Joel concert last week and took a slew of pictures. I will pick out some of the best ones and post them here during the next few days!
Post a Comment
<< Home