I bet you have seen this before. You know what I am talking about. The blog post that comes once a year. I see it all the time and yet keep forgetting or not making time to post on my own blog. I blame social media.

What is new with Rob you may have not asked yourself. Well that may be another reason for not posting, because not a lot has changed. It is now March of 2012. We have been in Oregon for 4 years, our house for 2. The only big change is that Stars mom has moved to Oregon and we have been enjoying the ability to see and talk to her more. I know Ely loves it as much as we do.

The only reason I am even posting this is I have been reading stars blog. She does a great job conveying her feelings on it and it often makes me think someone is cutting onions in the house. So I come here, look at my previous posts and think “Wow, I am an idiot. No proper grammar or spelling and the words do not flow. I will fix that! But we all know I won’t because lets face it, I am not good at this. Never have been. On that note I leave you with a few pictures of the past couple months. Because hey, those are awesome.

This is florence, where the surfers hang out.

This is seal rock

This is where I hike all the time.

We just spent a week in Florida just outside of Orlando. We went to visit every Disney and universal studio attraction there was plus sea world.

First. Florida was not what I expected. It was very beautiful and reminded me a lot of Oregon with just different plant life. But there were a lot of plants. We also saw two wild crocs. One GIANT one and one small one. Both by the side of the road. The only bad thing I can say about the area is that the water needs some serious work. I had to actually hold my breath when I drank it and showring made me actually feel dirty. It has such a swampy taste and smell to it. Other then that, I loved it.

The Parks were great as well. Even when I complained about the parks I still had a good time. The Harry Potter exhibit was fantastic! Butter beer and pumpkin juice were delicious and the rides were great! I could go on and on but seriously everything was excellent and better then I expected. You can see videos and photos of the trip on our family site. that will give you a better story. We saw lots of shows, rode a lot of rides and enjoyed each others company.

A++ would do again.

If you follow me on any social media outlet, twitter or facebook, you know I kayak a lot. Well since we moved I also have re-established my need to fish. You see our neighbors are around our age, very nice and easy to get along with. So much so that I have been fishing with my new neighbor more times then I can count this summer and I have been loving it. I have also had the joy of taking Ely to Lake Powell and Fern Ridge and fished from our Kayaks. I love it!

This post isn’t more for you but for me. You see I forget things a lot and I want to remember the summer of 2010 and the awesome times I have had. Please don’t take offense. It isn’t you its me. And to be fair I think anyone who reads this blog already knows how many times I have been with random updates already posted.

So now that we have cleared the air about the real reason for this post. Let me try to list it out.

umpqua river: fishing in the drift boat. We caught over 50 small mouth Bass.
umpqua river: with Ely and Tyf. Excellent day just catching crawdads and enjoying some time with the neighbors and family
Dexter Lake: Kayaking around with family and friends. Loved it.
Fern Ridge: Ely and I fished and kayaked this lake alone a lot this year. No fish to speak of but we love just hanging out together. At least I do.
Triangle Lake Pond: Fished this lake with Brady. Caught bass, trout, bluegill and sunfish
Lake Powell: A beautiful week with the family and Stars parents. Went on the boat a lot but fished and kayaked with Ely. Caught a Pike, Channel Cats and Bass.
Deschutes River: Went with Dan and Carlos. Spent a great weekend in Hood River and went fishing each day. Caught 3 large fish, 2 steelhead and a sucker.
Some slew near Santa Clara: Some place Brady new about. Was raining but fun! Caught some bass and bluegill.
McKenzie River: Went fishing with Rob. Didn’t catch anything but saw lots of big fish swimming around. Was still nice to be out.

I also did a lot more kayaking, both in Coos Bay and in Washington.

So a few times each year someone asks me why I bother to ask questions via twitter or facebook.  Rather then just search Google or Bing.  Simple answer is I like to interact with people.  And what better way to break the ice to a conversation then asking a question?

For instance.  Eurydice found a skunk head in the woods.  It was pretty fresh so it was a recent kill.  What kills a skunk and eats it?? It’s a good question to ask locals because they will know the area better.  If I have to worry about a cougar or coyote when we are out I need to know.  Google will not provide this local information, nor will it come with a chance to meet someone new via social networking.

More and more I hear not only random people, but my friends as well complain about people who buy pure breeds rather then adopting from a pound.   Now, before I go into why I don’t buy from pounds let me also explain a couple things.

1.  I love animals, all of them, even the muts.

2. If given a valid reason, I have been known to change my beliefs on many things.  I think that’s what makes you a good person, having an open mind.  With that said, you better bring good reasoning if you expect to sway my opinion.

Ok, now that those two things are clear lets get to why I don’t buy from pounds in most cases.

First and most importantly I need to know what my dogs needs are.  I need to know what energy level they are, what their temperament is, what their exercise needs are, etc.  When I buy a dog, I do a lot of research in what will fit in my family.  I spend weeks discussing what we want from our new companion because we aren’t buying some animal to cage up or lock outside, we are buying a member of our family.  Someone who is going to go everywhere with us and live with us in our house.  We can not just pick some mutt from the pound and hope that the breed it looks like the most is how its going to act.  I also can not guess at its history and what it’s needs will be.

Second breeding has saved many breeds of dogs that would now be extinct.  You may think thats a good thing, but I do not.   Breeding has produced some of the most productive members of our society.  From seeing eye dogs to rescue dogs to K9 cops.  This is made possible by breeding a dog for a specific task.

Third good breeders care for their dog and make sure they go to a good home.  They don’t sell to people who aren’t ready and don’t understand what they are getting into.   Pounds make a feeble attempt  to monitor who adopts, but in the end they want them out.  This creates a cycle of bad owners who don’t know what they are getting into.  The owner finally gives up and lets their dog run free and we all know what happens then.  More dogs in the pound.  Did you know a good breeder has in the contract that you must spay or neuter the dog unless you spend a very large amount to gain rights to breed the dog?

These 3 reasons are the top reasons I own 3 pure breed dogs.  Obviously there are more, but these are my top.  So before you bad mouth the next person who has a pure breed think about these things.  Don’t agree with these?  Want to show me the error of my ways?  Post a comment and let me know, I am nothing if not open minded.

I decided I needed to at least have a year end blog post.  If you haven’t noticed, I slowed down on my random postings, mostly because to be honest, the world doesn’t need or want to know every detail of my life, I really only wanted this blog to let me friends keep in touch, but with the addition of twitter, facebook and various other social media outlets the blog is not really needed.  With that said, its still a good thing to have to look back on later in life, because unlike those social media apps, this is mine and won’t go away unless I allow it too.

What this year has brought me.

My first Christmas in Oregon, we did not travel back to Utah this year, despite still living in an apartment (2 yrs now folks) we thought it best to stay in Oregon since our co-workers let us take it off last year.  It was fun, but really made me want to own a home.

A new home.  Ok this year didnt really provide the new home, however we did purchase it, and have seen it being built, as of today it as the first level walls up!

School.  Yup, I am finally actually taking classes, all paid for and they start Jan 4th, so I guess officialy school starts next year, but like the home the fondation for it all started this year.

Kayaking.  Since my first year in Oregon was spent couch and bed ridden due to a broken foot for 9 months, I was unable to enjoy the outdoors, but this year I have been on the McKenzie, The Willamatte, Fern Ridge, Coyote Creek, Dexter lake and the Delta Ponds on my kayak and boat, and have enjoyed a lot of fishing time with the daughter and my wife.  It has been awesome to say the least.

Weight loss and management.  Ok, I gained a few pounds over the years and when I say few I mean 40lbs to much.  But Star motivated me by joining weight watchers for herself, and making huge changes (she looks fantastic )  and showed me maybe my weight isn’t just stuck on there.  A lot of you know, I work out a lot, I go to the gym at least 3 times a week, but could never lose weight.  What was the big secret?  Simple, learn what to eat and how much of it.  It sounds simple, but it really takes a lot of knowledge and self control to do it.  I can say I am now at 200 lbs, and my ideal weight ( I took a nice body index test at the gym ) is 190lbs, so I dropped a good 30lbs in my first 4 months and have held steady at 200 lbs due to the holidays, but I am sure by next summer I should be at my ideal weight and I feel much better about myself.

New Projects.   I have always enjoyed technology and I use it a lot for my own personal amusment, but I am now investing some time and doing trade work for our builder to allow us to have some nice additions to the new home that we wouldn’t be able to have otherwise.  These projects challenge me and allow me to build my skill set.

OK, this is getting pretty lengthy, so lets just call it good from here shall we?  To all my new and old friends, thank you for all the memories this year, life isn’t much without you in it.  To all of my family, and by this I mean my wife and daughter and my wife’s family, thank you for all your support and for being there for me, putting up with how odd I can be.

Thank you to everyone for making this past year a really good one full of new adventurers and found memories.

Ok, I am not going to lie to you, it has been BUSY!  Once the 9 was out of school I shipped her and Tyfanie to Utah to visit their extended family, while Ryan came down to Oregon so we could go on a road trip to Canada.  Needless to say Canada was AMAZING!!  We went sea kayaking, which I love, I was mesmerized by the waves going over the bow of the yak, and the view reminded you of why we are alive.  We also stayed with an old friend from the U of U, and Ryan’s current boss, they have a beautiful place in Salt Springs which has a fantastic view of the bay, and lots of land.  We chopped wood and I even was able to cut down my first tree.   I drank coffee in the morning while watching deer walk along the property and ate the most delicious vegetarian food that his wife made daily, and before you ask, NO I still love tasty meat, but I can appreciate any style of good food.

I saw Oraca pods and even saw them jump out of the water as well as hunt salmon right next to our boat.  We also visited a couple islands and took numerous ferry’s.  By the time 5 days had went by we were exhausted and ready to go back.

When Ryan went home and Star returned we did things that we have been wanting to do but couldn’t.  Which included a 4 mile hike to see a very pretty body of water, watched a lot of horror movies as well as played numerous horror games, spent a lot of time with Bob and Angie, went horseback riding on the beach, visited the coast a fair amount and took a midnight stroll on the river walkway.

The 9 will be home in a little over a week, and we are out almost every night looking at houses and hoping that our house closes the first week of august in Utah so that we can purchase and close on a house in Eugene by the end of August.

*sigh*  So I think I missed a lot of what we did, but I have tons of pictures, have updated all my little social networks and randomly speak to most of you.  What an awesome month this has been.

So my volunteering with ODFW is coming along, it gives me some good real world experience for what I would love to do as well as gets me outside doing the things I love to do, see and study animals!!

I went and did some fish sampling, which consisted of walking up a stream with a backpack electrical charger, where the biologist would shock the water and as the fish float up or try to swim away I would net them and put them in a bucket, once we had enough we would count and measure them.  We did this at Ceder Creek which is a run off of the Mckenzie.  Took about 4 hours to do all the sampling but it was amazing!

This is a male shiner in his breeding colors, beauitful fish

and this is a 16 inch cutthroat trout

Fish sampling is really important as it gives us an idea of how well the native fish population is doing compared with farm raised fish.  In Oregon we only have about 20 percent of Native Trout and Salmon in our rivers (according to the biologist I worked with).  That’s pretty bleak.

Doing these types of things really enforces my desire to get into this field so I can help….but thats where the bad news comes in.  The biologist I worked with gave me some grim details about the workforce, there are no new jobs being created, but lots of people trying to get in the field, so its very difficult.  With that knowledge I am not going to really pursue getting a job with ODFW on a permenant basis, however I do plan on making volunteering for them a hobbie of mine, something I can do to assist our enviorment even if it’s not full time.

I was a little sad about this decision, but volunteering is so much fun and teaches me a lot and I am helping as much as they allow.

Ohh also, I GOT A BOAT!! Granted it’s just an 11′ inflatable with a small electric motor, but its perfect for what we need right now, and allows us to really enjoy the water and fishing.

So there is my update for this month…and I want to say Thank you to my friends and family who always encourage me to do the things I love, without you I wouldn’t ever think I could!

Thanks!!!

So, you all know I am a gamer right?  RIGHT??  but did you also know I read a lot?  And when I say a lot, I mean I read 2 books a week if I like them, and have read all the good Anita Blake books, all A. Lee Martinez books (I love his books!) and I am currently on “Dead as a Doornail” in the Sookie Stackhouse books.  Also reading women of the underworld, which is great.

So, you can see a trend in the books I read yes?  I like horror/sci-fi books, and I love the Sookie Stackhouse books and loved the first season of “True Blood”  so given all this, you can see why this video gets me all sorts of excited for the second season of “True Blood”  not only do I already know the story, but now I get to see it on our T.V.

Alright, really the only thing I accomplished is applying for school, sending all my transcripts from my high school and the U of U and getting more involved in the ODFW. Soon I hope to start classes and be on my way to getting a degree in Marine Biology, where as Alana informed me, I can look forward to a great career in teaching. (seriously after she said that I looked around and sure enough, most people who get the degree end up teaching due to how hard it is to get work in the field)

Yeah I don’t want to teach but I did speak to ODFW and this is a starting point, once I get that I can do some work that gets me in the door. On top of that I have been fishing a lot more, the 9 has even joined me and Star will come and read, it’s awesome! I expect fishing to take up more of my time, but also gives me the chance to watch the local wildlife and pick up on their behavior, which is a great interest to me.

Our house will go back on the market in a month or two, depending on if the person who currently wants to buy it is able to or not, if it sells it will be such a relief and we can finally put some roots down, everything feels so temporary when you’re living in an apartment and I refuse to do certain things because of it.

My job still feels temporary, even though its good, it pays well and I like my co-workers. I am not sure why it does but it does.

The next few months will be busy, Ryan and I are going to Canada for July 1st, ( I applied for my passport ), We are going to Bend for Fathers day for the weekend, Sept Miguel is getting married and I will be in Utah for that week, August Stars parents will be in Oregon for 2 weeks, and in between all this we have camping, fishing trips and random outings to attend. It still feels so odd to live here, but it accomplished what we wanted, life doesn’t seem to be just passing us by and it feels like there just isn’t enough days to get everything we want to do done…life is good.