A watched pot never boils ...

The old adage seems to be holding true for me at this point in my life. Day after day I keep hoping to hear that Texas has set a release date now that the paperwork has made it's way through the pipeline of the bureaucratic nightmare that is the TDCJ. The last word I had was that they had to do another review and that it would be 1 to 3 weeks. It seems to me that it has been much longer than that and I'm sure that for DeJ the same is multiplied my thousands. So, to another adage, "Patience is a virtue". I hope that DeJ and I are both becoming more virtuous every day.

Ask, knock, etc ...

It happened just the way is should. Yesterday I was poised, ready for action in case nothing happened. Today, it happened. The house passed, paperwork is on it's way back to Texas via Salem and DeJ should be here in less than two weeks. Relief is the only word I can think of at the moment.

Did you ever have that feeling, that something just wasn't right?

Something just doesn't feel right and I'm just not sure what it is. Everything is set and ready for the first domino to fall but yet I feel that there is something holding everything back, like a dam, and I can't figure out who is in charge of the flood gate. It's not just about me. It's about my nephew first and foremost. And it's about his mom too. And it's about me and my future. If I don't hear something tomorrow I'm going down to the office in Oregon City and make my presence known so they can't ignore me and the situation at hand.

If it was just about me I could be patient and wait it out. But this has gone on way too long and if it is not resolved soon DeJ might have to wait another year ... and that would mean that I would too.

So, now that I have put that out into the universe we will see what comes of it. In the words of Ren Hoak "Maybe something good, maybe something bad."

Small product photography

The last few weeks I have been having fun with my camera, working on small product photography. It is great, having a good camera, lights and a place to set it all up. It is also nice to have some fresh roses to work with as they always seem to photograph well. I have also picked up a few items at the local thrift stores that work well for the setup. I also found some fun stuff at Ikea that has inspired me and fired up my creative juices. Just one more item is needed but that will come along when everything else is ready.

Das Boot ...

I finally put my little pontoon fishing boat into the water up on the Clackamas River at North Fork Reservoir. I rowed around for awhile and then made my way to a small inlet where there was less traffic and then rowed back to the launch site. It was about 2 lazy hours at the oars and then took a walk along the river on the old access road (about 2 miles). All in all it was a very nice day.

One little thing leads to another ...

It was a beautiful morning and I decided it was a good time to survey the estate, so, with coffee in hand I walked the perimeter and found, blooming in the garden, another perfect pink rose. "Time for a photograph." I said to myself and headed inside to get my camera. I'm not sure what it was that made me look up but, there, on the corner of the house, in the rain gutter, grew a weed.

That weed told me that it was time to clean out the gutters whether I wanted to or not. So after taking the photo of the rose I got out the ladder and headed up on the roof. The corner over the guest bedroom was blocked by overhanging tree limbs so I went back down to get the long handled clippers and set to work cutting away the offending branches. I got to work cleaning out the gutters on both sides of the house and went back down to clean up the branches I had just cut away.

By the time I was finished I had also cleared away some more ivy and "woodsy debris" from the far corner. I'm glad that I got the work done but see what happens when you get distracted by something out of the corner of your eye?

While I'm waiting ....

Over the last few days I have set up an area in the living room for small product photography, what some call "table top photography".   It is fun and creative and it keeps me busy.  There's not really much to it, just having a good camera and lights that can be controlled ... and time.