End-of-the-week blog dump

The sun has come out for the first time in...what, two weeks? Yesterday, though, was probably the last Saturday Market of the year. What few veggie merchants showed up had decidedly end-of-the-year wares that didn't look all that appetizing. I will give Moscow this, during the summer, they've got a top-notch farmer's market. Most Friday's, some fish merchants come into the Co-op to sell just-caught-that-morning fresh fish, and I'd usually pick up some halibut or salmon for dinner that night (as Cheryl would request, "get some fish-fish," in our curious pidgin language).

Friday morning, Bruce Ellis, Cheryl's boss at the Forest Service, stopped by to pick bits of USFS property that I still had, and to drop off an album that the crew down in Orofino had put together of Cheryl. Very nice and greatly appreciated.

Also, Mia sent me a CD of the pictures Cheryl had taken on their vacation in Norway a few years ago. Cheryl had thought those pictures had been lost when her computer crashed a while back, and I still have the journal notes of what picture was taken where.

Vanessa came over last night to watch a little football and we tried my new huckleberry-infused vodka - pretty tasty stuff. Wonder if there might be a market for an independent distiller of infused spirits...Oregon is currently the biggest source of start-up distilleries, much like the microbrew boom of 20 years ago. Yes, we Oregonians like our hooch, but we like quality hooch.

Speaking of football, good heavens, it looks like the OSU Beavers have a very real chance of making the Rose Bowl! Whodathunkit? Next week's Arizona game will probably be the last real roadblock, as I just don't see Oregon posing much of a challenge during the Civil War (cue foreshadowing music)

At present, I've got my laptop back (huzzah), watching the NFL and keeping track of my fantasy
football team, which is miraculously back from the dead (my first pick this year was Tom Brady, that should give you a hint of how much I sucked), thanks to judicious trades and gleaning the waiver wire. Might even make the playoffs this year.

Vanessa, her brother and I might be getting into the Moscow curling league. Curling! Whenever it's on the late night Olympics coverage, I'll stay up until 2 a.m. watching it, and I have always wanted to try it. Hey, it'll get me out of the house once in a while, at the very least. And the ice rink is just across the street from me, so I won't have far to go.

Talked to my boss last Friday - he's only been here a few months, but he seems like a pretty cool cat - and told him my plans were to stay in the area at least through the end of the term, but after that, I'm putting some feelers out, but promised that I'd give him plenty of notice and make sure the department was going smoothly before I bugged out. He told me he understood, and while he'd like me to stay, if I was to quit mid-term, he'd understand.

I've had bosses who would have fired me for making that statement, so his understanding and empathy is greatly appreciated.

I will say this, the job has improved greatly since he took over. Well, we have moved into new digs, so we're not stuck in a 105-year-old twice-condemned asbestos-filled craphole. That helps. And my boss is pretty hands off and trusts me to do my job, which is my preffered management style.

No word on that one job in Redmond I've got my fingers crossed for. It's a governmental agency, and we all know how fast they move - talk about glacial.

Right now, the Stinkus is tearing around the place like she's got ants in the pants, and Pearl has reverted to her deep hibernation cycle.

I think that's about everything for now.