I had to take Anna to the vet today. She hasn’t been eating well since Sunday and we were very worried about her. After $610 worth of tests and medicine the vet believes she probably has gas! Damn. Well, at least I talked the vet out of these really cool digital x-rays!
Anna’s X-rays

Last Thursday we loaded up the camper with gear and dogs and drove up past Pinecrest to Clarks Fork Campground. It was really relaxing to spend 3 nights there and not worry about driving. Friday we hung out by the river and I practiced fly fishing with my new cheapy rod.


Saturday Erin’s aunt Debbie came up and we went for a 10 mile hike up to the meadow. On the way back Anna was in so much pain (arthritis) that I had to carry her most of the way back to camp.

We spent Saturday in the city with Joe for father’s day. We rode bicycles to Golden Gate park, went up the tower at the deYoung museum and toured the flowers and butterflies at the Conservatory of Flowers. What a fun day!

About two months ago these flowers started growing out of the bark mulch I had put down in front of the house. I thought they were weeds and began pulling them. Then, I thought that maybe they were seasonal flowers coming back, since there were so many of them and they were all over the beds. Now they have become 3′ high beautiful flower bushes all over our front yard!

After taking our 3 week digital-SLR photography course I am finding it even more fun to use my camera. Here I set my focal length to 35mm, which is equivalent to 50mm on a film camera. This focal length gives a 1:1 representation of the image being photographed. Using a fast aperture setting of f4.0 throws the background out of focus but gives good detail on the object of focus. I took the picture in RAW mode and then processed using Bibble Labs software and the PerfectlyClear plug-in.

After a nice seafood dinner at Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto in Berkeley, we stopped to snap some photographs of the sunset. Unfortunately by the time we found a decent place to view the sunset, it had already dropped behind the hills.

Here are some photos of our Memorial Day Camping trip. We went through Lassen Volcano Nat’l Park and then to the Lake Oroville area.

Well, we’ve done so many things in the past few weeks and we’ve been so busy I haven’t taken the time to update my blog. We’ve camped, partied, made an offer on a house, helped friends move, taken a photography class……..

Yesterday Erin and I rearrange our house to make it more functional to the two of us. We had purchased a queen-sized bed for our spare room when we moved in. In 6 months the room has hardly been used. We decided to toss the bed and make ourselves each an office/personal room. I get the wood-Tahoe room and Erin gets the larger room. Hopefully the extra space will give us both room to work on our personal projects. Mine include getting more familiar with my DSLR camera, designing websites for Erin’s photography business and Joe’s Design business, practicing my banjo and working with my micro-processors.

We put an offer on a house around the corner from us. The house is about to enter foreclosure, and there were lots of bids so we aren’t sure where we stand. We decided on an amount that we’re comfortable with and decided the rest was up to fate. I’ll post when we receive word one way or the other.

Since I’m at work I don’t have access to any of the numerous photographs I’ve snapped over the past few weeks. I’ll try hard this evening to get in some more updates!

We made reservations this morning for our honeymoon. We’ve been looking around, trying to find an affordable destination that offers a great, relaxing atmosphere. With all the airlines dropping out, we (I) were a little worried about booking too soon. This morning we settled on Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and the Marriott Resort. We booked airline reservations and hotel accommodations so that the next 4 months can be spent planning our activities and not worrying about the travel. The flight there is direct on Alaska Airlines, and is only 3.5 hours from San Francisco!

Here’s a picture of the thermometer on our kitchen window!