New pictures of Dad with us kids

Today, March 15, 2009, is the 6th anniversary of Dad's death. I wanted to put some pictures of him online. I have a lot of pix of the early days that my mom sent me, so I've just posted some photos of Dad with me and possibly with Kathy when I was a baby. Here are the links:

Sheryl and Dad at the beach

Dad with Kathy and me

My first Christmas - with Dad at Grandma's house

Sheryl's new tricycle

March 14: Photos of Dad and the kids

I've just scanned a few of the older photos of Dad and us when I was young, and I've put them in this new family album. Right now I'm working on putting them on Dad's blog. It's harder, because I want to make the dates work with the blog software, and it's a work-around, sometimes confusing. I'm focusing on pictures of Dad today, because it's the date he passed away six years ago. It's hard to believe it's been six years already. This picture of me on Dad's shoulders was probably taken at the beach about 1950. We used to enjoy going down for the day or for a week in summer when we got older.

March 11: A dynamic class in marketing for difficult economic times

It's rare these days when I get up in the dark, because I've been working the other end of the day, staying up late at the computer. But CEDR (Clatsop Economic Development Resource) was putting on a free seminar with marketing guru Robert Sherk from Portland as the speaker.

Our business class teacher, Jim Entler, said that Bob knew marketing like few people do, and I have to say this class was well worth getting up for. He was very entertaining, which is not necessary, but makes it more fun, of course, and he had tons of great ideas for businesses of any size. I took lots of notes as well as taking home the hand-outs. We'll be putting a lot of the ideas to work here at Tapir and Friends. I was pleased to note that we already do some of the things he mentioned quite well. Others were good reminders, and still others were new. His suggestions were illustrated with stories. All in all, it was a great experience. If you get a chance, keep an eye out for more CEDR presentations - and you can't beat the price. No, they didn't pay me to advertise this, it was really worthwhile. I don't know when I've been up early in the last few months, but I like it. I might try getting to bed on time, though that may take some doing. I love working into the night on stuff I enjoy.

The seminar was held at the Seaside Convention Center. Coming out after the class, I wanted to take a photo of a crow in a tree over the sidewalk, but I just didn't do it. Not sure why. I guess I wanted to get home to lunch. After conscientiously avoiding the complimentary doughnuts, sweet rolls, and muffins, I was hungry.

I've finished blogging the move from Colorado to Oregon

It starts here, and there are links at the bottom of each entry to get to the next post. I also started an alphabet series (letter A and letter B) on the gift shop blog and I added a poll, which I hope a few people will take. I thought the alphabet thing would be boring when the idea first came up, but it was fun. I also added a bunch of stuff to the sidebar on this blog, and I linked from my Facebook to Twitter (which I'm just discovering), but I think there's a better way to do Facebook. I bookmarked some instructions. Lee worked on the gift shop pages today from Bend. Time for bed, and I never got around to watching a movie.

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.