Sunny Weekend

Astoria, Oregon ~ October 6, 2013

It's super nice out today after last weekend when we were doused with an epic rainstorm, where we got 9.7 inches in three days (or 10.1; see below). Here on the river it didn't seem much different from any other heavy rain. It poured at times, but not all the time, and the River Walk didn't seem any soggier than usual. At least not where I was. We did have some thunder, which is unusual. One loud burst came within a mile. I love storms. 

Here is the scoop: "Astoria recorded 10.1 inches during the same period, the most since records were started in 1890 and a drastic increase from the city's 'climatological normal' of 2.14 inches for the month of September, according to the weather service."

My Web Page: Tapirback.com

Getting the Word Out about Parathyroid Disease - A Curable, Silently-disabling Epidemic

Astoria, Oregon ~ December 17, 2012

The photo is simply a scene near my home, since I am not getting out much yet. I posted the text and link below on Facebook last night after several of the discussions in my FB parathyroid groups centered on how poorly-recognized this devastating condition is and how many are not getting diagnosed, and are not even getting treated when their calcium labs come back high. Primary hyperparathyroidism is common, can easily be found and treated if the doctors want to. This disease is a silent epidemic, especially among women, and is actually masked by its many general symptoms. The article and my post are below. 

Link to an article in the Telegraph:

Is this why you're tired all the time?

My Facebook status from last night:

I am finally BEGINNING to recover. Friends . . . women in particular. Women need to get blood calcium levels checked, especially if you feel tired, depressed, anxious, have fibromyalgia, osteopoenia, osteoporosis, aching muscles, cancer, or a host of other conditions. Fatigue (highlighted in the attached article) is only one of the symptoms. This condition is treatable IF you or your doctor can read a number on a test. Mine had no clue 8 years ago, and I was only diagnosed in 2012, after long years of wondering what was wrong and years of being sick and disabled, especially the last 2 1/2 years. It's worth a blood test. This article gives a brief description. Maybe 1 in 250 women have this disease by the age of 50, and 90% may go undiagnosed. For me, diagnosis took 10 years. This condition is NOT as rare as your doctor may tell you. And don't be surprised if you have a high calcium and they don't take you seriously. There is no such thing as calcium being "a little bit high." The list of symptoms is HUGE, and you don't have to have them all. See also parathyroid.com. Men can get the disease as well, but women get it much more often. A simple number on a standard blood test can put you on the road to recovery before you lose years of your life to this debilitating and expensive disease. If your calcium is over 10.1 and your doc doesn't take this seriously, have him or her google hyperparathyroidism or get another opinion. I'm sorry if this sounds like an ad. It's not. I'm trying to come back out of my seclusion, and this is what it's been about. Reply or message me if you have questions.

I wish everyone a happy and HEALTHY 2013.

~ Sheryl

My Web Page: Tapirback.com.

Boats and Rain

This morning the tugboat Betsy-L passed by my deck in good lighting for a photo that shows some detail, if it's not dramatic. She's the same tug that posed in this dramatic lighting and ended up on my Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo blog.

Six minutes later, at 12:13, the storm had come in.

After work, I drove over to Warrenton to Starbucks and sat in the parking lot for awhile talking on the phone. I became interested in the way the rain on the windshield broke up the sign pole into jagged fragments.

I also especially liked the shape of the bare, damaged tree to the left of the pole and the way the street rippled.

It wasn't all that long before there was blue sky again.

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

July 18, Astoria: I'm still here

As I write this, I haven't posted on this blog since June 30. I have lots of photos, and may get a chance to catch up somewhat. Everyone I talk to has been getting to hear about the fantastic new shopping cart that's been added to our online gift shop. It IS fantastic. It does what we want and need it to do (it's custom made!) but in the process, since it's one of a kind and the test environment doesn't allow Daryl to completely test before a new tweak goes live, it's been quite a process. In the meantime, the credit card processing company had a fire that kicked them offline and injected some chaos into our days, we also had to get a new printer, which shut down KKEE Radio by accident when we plugged it in, and - you know - just some of the usual stuff that happens day to day. We transferred banks, and we're very happy about that, but with credit card processing accounts and a few little glitches, it's kept me so busy that all I want to do at the end of the day . . . wait! I'm not sure I've been having ends of the day lately.

I started playing a new zoo-building game on Facebook to wind down a little, and I've been posting the Astoria, Oregon, Daily Photo blog every day, then posting it to Facebook and Twitter. It's fun, but most of the time it actually takes longer to post the one photo to that blog than several to this one. It's got a growing audience, and while that is validating, it's also a little daunting to think about. I'm also enjoying networking (visiting and reading the blogs) with the other City Daily Photo people. It takes a lot of time, but it's a great way to see the world, learn a few things, make friends, and bring traffic back to my blog, which helps Google placement for the business. Cool, huh?

Today I also got back to the N.C. Hudson book for awhile. I did more posting than writing, but this is how I wanted to start the project, so I feel good about it. I hope to develop some interest in the book while I keep tabs on the project. I feel today like I got through some of the preliminaries. There are three posts for July 18.

The photo above is just another of the same old wonderful view. I could probably take one 365 days of the year and they'd never be the same.

Tomorrow Lee gets back to Portland from fishing in Canada, and I'll go there for at least part of the day, trying to get back here early on Monday morning. I'd hoped the techno issues would be over with, but that didn't happen by the end of last week, so I should be here. It should settle down soon. It's clear that the shopping cart itself is allowing more people to place orders, and that's fantastic. I still have a bunch of HTML coding to do on some of the pages because the new cart uses a more precise system than the old one and some of the old coding doesn't translate. I like the results, but it will still take some time to get it all done. For instance, since I needed a separate order button for each plastic cup color of each animal, you can now see how each of the colors goes with each animal - you don't have to guess using the drop-down list.

Until the past few weeks, I'd been walking a lot. At the moment, I'm still getting used to taking my first yoga class. It's making me feel good about myself and helping my back, but I gotta tell you that at my age and with fibromyalgia, it's a lot harder on the old bod than a 5-mile hike. My muscles are very slow to adjust to the new stresses, and I've been relying on Torch more than ever to put me back together and keep moving forward. I feel that this week I may be able to do the yoga four times a week and take walks again, too. I'm looking forward to that!

May 30, Astoria: Ships, Logs, and Love on the Prairie (I revive a writing project and start a new blog)

I'm always interested in the different-looking ships that come by. This one belongs to a German company called BBC Chartering. It has nothing to do with the broadcasting company, but it is fitted with super-heavy-duty cranes for lifting super-heavy cargo that can't be broken down into smaller packets that could be lifted by lighter-duty cranes. The parts are for wind turbines assembled in Denmark. (Thanks for the info, Lee!)

A close-up. The cranes and cargo are both squeaky-clean looking. And look how flat the water is. It's been like this for a few days.

Here's anaother pic of the flat water. I enjoy the patterns the water makes as it slips over the foundation of the radio tower in different conditions.

It's lucky for us that the water HAS been flat, because the monster log is still here at the foot of the deck.

Another pic with the shadow of the catwalk.

It was 9:02 p.m. when I took this photo. I love the way the river reflects the sky so late into the evening when it's clear. I had grabbed the pike pole and once again tried to shove that sucker into the current, but it headed for the dual obstacles of the tower and a piling, and in awhile floated back to us. The current was pretty lazy anyway. I couldn't get it to grab.

I've been thinking about how to re-start my Hudson-Joy writing/history/biography project in a new direction, and I've finally figured it out - at least enough to start. I believe that what I need to do is the part that most interests me right now anyway. It makes sense from many angles. See the new blog for details!

The Plover Arrow and the Glorious Express

I've been spending a lot of nice days inside working. Mostly it can't be helped right now, but I am going to make a vow to get out more. I'm lucky, though, because what passes outside the window is pretty interesting, even when I'm stuck a the desk. All of the wood is soaking wet, although we have sun today.

It's always fun to learn the names of the ships. Some seem pretty strange, like the Plover Arrow. What the heck is that?

I have to use the camera's zoom to see this close up. It's interesting to see how tall the ladder is on the various ships. This one is pretty short, and there isn't too much of a climb for the pilots. The shapes and colors are always interesting, too. I'm never tired of watching the ships. One might wonder about pollution. Our air looks clean here, and I didn't think that much about it at first. But yes, they are highly polluting, and I'll write more about that later.

The Columbia River doesn't get the huge ships that go through the Panama Canal, but we do get some big ones. They come in various sizes. You might think that a ship like the Plover Arrow is big until one of these comes along!

Here's another set-up for letting the pilots on board.

Clouds and blue sky. It looks like it's going to rain again.

A touch of snow

The weather report said it might snow down to sea level. We got just a touch of snow last night. Here are the remains of it on the catwalk this morning. It's been cold and overcast and not very inviting for walking, but this morning it's beautiful out. Darn, I got a smudge on the lens. I sometimes pick up the camera without thinking about anything except getting a shot, and I must have had hand lotion on or something. I didn't notice the smudge right away, either. Note to self: Um, check the lens :)

Later in the day, here come the clouds.

Activity on the Columbia River, Astoria

I don't know what was going on out on the river today, but there was a lot of activity within the space of a few minutes (and a lot of color!). I looked up from my desk and the beautifully bright orange Al Jabirah was passing quickly upriver with the pilot boat alongside like a mother and calf.

There goes the Al Jabirah. The smaller red and gray Aurora Ace has been anchored there for a couple of days.

I like this photo, so I left it in. I was actually trying to get a shot of the ship's name. It was a happy accident, I think, with the colors and textures.

There's the Al Jabirah again. It's rare that I get the wheelhouse exposed right without messing up the rest of the picture, because it's usually white or cream against the darker colors. This time the house was in-your-face central to the image, and the exposure is OK. You can see more details than usual.

Next came a couple of Coast Guard helicopters. It's just a coincidence that they matched the ship.

Here's another Coast Guard boat - small and farther out in the river.

Here's the Aurora Ace again.

. . . and again. This time you can read the name if you click on the photo.

The radio tower and clouds. We're supposed to be in for a storm this weekend with winds up to 70 mph, and then very cold weather for a few more days. Highs not above 20 degrees, and probably ice on the roads from the storm. Last year we had the huge storm in December, and people are still nervous from that. We also don't get a lot of days with snow and ice, and Astoria is built on a hill, reminding people of San Francisco, so we'll see. You can usually get around here one way or another, although we're not used to anything but pretty mild winters. We don't have the sand trucks at the ready, and most people and buildings are not prepared for super cold weather. We had a freeze in 2004, and have not been as cold since that one. Barbara said she remembered it, but it must not have affected me that much because I can't recall what happened. I do know that's the December I stayed at the computer all month day and night fixing our web site after some disastrous things happened to it, so I probably wouldn't have noticed five hurricanes in a row. It's ironic, though, because this place used to freeze such that horses and teams (and later, cars) could drive right onto the river. Now we don't even get an edging of ice in the Columbia. I said I'd try to find some pictures of the old-style winters. I'm still looking.

Next the Oregon Responder charged downriver, maybe heading back to its mooring. I don't know if everyone was out on drills and exercise, or what.

Radio tower on the water

It was a beautiful day, with the sky so intensely blue at about 11:30 in the morning. I was leaning on the rail of the back deck as I often do, and then I looked into the water. . . .

I don't remember ever seeing the tower reflected like this. Sometimes the river is fairly calm, but maybe not as much like glass as it was today. For whatever the reason, the conditions conspired to create a remarkable image. I'll watch for it again, but I honestly don't know that I've ever seen it like this. Note the bird flying into the photo in the air above me, also reflected in the water's calm surface. I have a couple of pix where the tower appears more tangled and they look interesting, but I liked this one with the bird.

The three photos were each taken one minute apart, so the day was not completely calm. I assume the cloud indicated a bit of a storm and rougher waters coming, but as I'm posting this in January, I don't remember :)