A Rare Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

We had snow in the Portland area today!!! For a couple of hours, at least, it was snowing heavily across the whole metro region. The Oregonian says that the last time there was measurable snowfall on Christmas Day in Portland was 1937. Wow!
They say it may snow a couple of inches overnight, but we'll just wait and see.

Another rare thing on Christmas for us was that we got to be with Lani's mom (& her brother Brian's and sister Shauna's families) and later the same day with my parents too. We had a nice time opening presents in the morning with our kids, had a nice Christmas feast (shared with the Maki & Wagner families) and played cards tonight with the three grandparents all here. It was a blessed day!

Last night I sang with "Men in Black" for Christmas Eve services at Abundant Life Church (www.coolchurch.com). It was lovely. . . some acappella singing, candlelight, harp, a nice message. We also did the same thing in four services on Sunday. It made for a busy last couple of days (what with my last-minute shopping & wrapping to do to), but it was nice to be included there. Maybe we'll get to do it again sometime.

Blessings on you all!

A couple of pics from this week

Here are a couple of pictures from this week. The first is from last Saturday when we went to cut a Christmas tree (Finally! We're usually doing this on Thanksgiving weekend!)

The second is of "Tucker", the labradoodle boy puppy that we're still selling. Here he is on a red background on his 9-week birthday. He's all ready to go home with someone for Christmas!

Singing Opportunities!

Here are some fun singing opportunites I have coming up. Maybe you'd like to come hear one of these groups!

"Men in Black" just found out that we'll be singing on 104.1 "The Fish" for their Christmas show next Thursday, Dec. 20. We're the kick-off group at 6:00 a.m. (and have to be there at 5:30 -- whew!), so get up and tune in early to hear us sing. I think we get to do three songs on air!

Later that evening, we're singing a second time at the Grotto's "Festival of Lights". We got some rave reviews from our first performance there and they had an opening that they needed filled. One cool thing is that Hannah & Micah will be singing there right before us with the Gresham H.S. choirs. They sing at 8:00 p.m. and we sing at 9:00.

This weekend, Dec. 15 & 16, I'm singing with the Portland Symphonic Choir. This is our annual "Wintersong" concert and should be a great one to watch and hear (and I do have a solo in one piece!). You can get tickets at www.pschoir.org
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In other news, we sold two more puppies today and now just have one cute little guy left. He's a really nice one too, so I'll be surprised if he doesn't sell pretty quickly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are my big thanks for this year:
Caleb's healing as his cancer was discovered and is now in remission!
Celebrating 20 years of marriage to my sweetheart, Lani!!!
Lani getting a full-time job (she has a great job as a TAG teacher!).
Singing opportunites -- with Portland Symphonic Choir & Men in Black.
Healthy, blessed children.
A nice job that I love.
Blessings of good friends and extended family.
Puppies! And my running partner and now mama dog, Molly.
And for the enduring love & mercy & care of God.

Labradoodle Puppy Pictures are Up!

Check out labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com to see the pictures of my labradoodle puppies.

These puppies are Available for adoption to their new homes as soon as Dec. 7 (eight weeks old) or any time later in December including pick up on Christmas Eve!

Keywords: labradoodles, labradoodle, puppies for sale, Christmas puppies, Portland, Oregon, F1b labradoodles, labradoodle puppies

Christmas Labradoodle Puppies

Our labradoodle puppies will make great Christmas presents! If you know someone who'd like one, let us know.

I'll be posting individual pictures of the puppies this weekend. You can see them all at www.labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com

In other news. . . Hannah & Micah are in the Gresham High School production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". Opening show last night went well. Next shows are tomorrow night (Sat.) and then Sunday afternoon; next week again on Thursday & Saturday nights and again on Sunday afternoon. Hannah is a "Narrator" and gets to sing quite a few solo parts! Micah is an Ishmealite (sp?) and wears a cool costume, long beard, and glasses.

Molly had her puppies!

Our beloved labradoodle, Molly, had seven healthy puppies last Friday night!

I've started a blog about her and her puppies at labradoodlesoregon.blogspot.com

I'll be posting info there about the puppies, pictures, etc. We hope to sell several of them in December.

Lots of singing!

Besides singing a lot every day with my elementary music classes, I'm also singing with the Portland Symphonic Choir and with a six-member ensemble we call "Men in Black". Monday nights it's PSC and Tuesdays it's MIB.

Last night the MIB group really started to sound like it's coming together. We're rehearsing a bunch a different stuff right now for December singing. We've got some pop, jazz, barbershop, and classical arrangements -- just a lot of variety and a lot of fun singing. So, if you're available on the Wednesday night after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), come hear us at the Grotto's Festival of Lights. We're the 6:00 p.m. group that night!

As I've mentioned on here before, you can check out the Portland Symphonic Choir (view our performance schedule, buy tickets, or even find out how to join) at www.pschoir.org

Getting into the Fall season

OK, now we're all getting settled into our back-in-school, Fall schedules.

Lani and I are both teaching full-time, two kids are in high school, two go with me to Hollydale -- everyone is back to their own school/work routine.

I'm singing in two groups this year. Still a staff singer with the Portland Symphonic Choir (see www.pschoir.org) and singing in a small group we're calling "Men in Black". My good friend, Phill Hurley, actually started up this group awhile back to sing a couple of times at church; toward the end of Summer he asked several of us if we'd be interested in singing together and so the group was resurrected. We currently have six guys singing, but may look to add a couple more. We are booked to sing at the Grotto's "Festival of Lights" at 6:00 p.m. on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

Caleb and Levi were both playing Gresham Youth Football, but Caleb had to drop out after his skin got some kind of infection/condition. His dermatologist thinks it's something different than the cancer, and is trying to clear it up with a steroid cream (and it looks WAY better since he began using the cream and stopped football about 10 days ago). Levi is working hard in his first year of tackle football, practicing three days a week and then playing games on Saturdays.

Hannah and Micah both tried out for the musical at Gresham HS. Lani and I were surprised that Micah tried out! He's coming out of his shell! Neither one got the big parts that they might have liked, but both have small roles. They'll be performing in November in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat".

So, there's a little update on our current activities!

Summer's over. . .

Summer is over for Lani and me. Today we both returned to our teaching jobs and went through inservice activities and getting our rooms ready. Lani found out that she'll teach TAG three days per week (2nd, 3rd, and a mixed 4th/5th group) and have two days to "prep" (I told her she has a GREAT job!).

Now to get used to going to bed earlier and getting up on time! Ugh. . .
Summer is definitely over.

I'm probably feeling more tired because we were awakened during the middle of the night to see the lunar eclipse (Hannah and three friends were up watching it and their voices woke both Lani and I). I got up around 3:00 and took a look. Kind of interesting, but not worth staying up most of the night to see was my thought. I noticed that two neighbors were outside across the street watching it too.

Fishing (but no catching!)

Caleb & Levi went fishing with me on Thursday. We tried several locations all over the Mt. Hood Forest, but never caught a single fish. We first headed for the Barlow Crossing campground on the White River (heading up Hwy 26, then on 35, then on Forest Service road 48). I've had some luck there in the past (years ago), but we found the water to be really murky with silt and sand and so we left and headed for Timothy Lake. However, not knowing any better, we detoured a bit and checked out Clear Lake. I'm not sure if they catch much there or not, but we had a hard time fishing from the banks (we did see two boats of fishermen out in the middle). So, on to Timothy Lake. I had read on the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife site that this is a top option for sure-fire trout fishing in the state, and they even pointed us toward the south shore and the dam. So we parked by the dam and tried our luck for a couple of hours, but again didn't ever even get a nibble. BTW, we had to pay to park anywhere near the dam too! Well, I really prefer stream fishing to lake-bank fishing, so we headed down the gravel road from Timothy, following the Oak Grove branch of the Clackamas River. Here we stopped several times to try nice-looking holes. Finally we had some action! This water was clear and cold -- coming right out of the lake -- and this should be good for trout. We found some holes where our bait finally got struck! This was fun, but yielded no catches. Either we were poor catchers or rather what I suspect is that there were a lot of little fish just striking our bait, but none big enough to gulp it down. Eventually we gave up there and headed down to where we ran into Hwy 224 and joined the main Clackamas River. We stopped at a really promising stretch of water with deep holes and put in our lines, but never had any action. So. . . lots of nice water, gorgeous scenery, but no fish! Still, you know what they say, "A day fishing -- even with no fish -- is better than a day someplace else." As we left our last spot on the Clackamas, both boys were asking if we could come right back here the next time!
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Other news:
Today is Caleb's 11th birthday! Tomorrow we're having a party for him at the Gresham HS pool. Should be a fun time with a bunch of boys!

Caleb's lightbox treatments continue to be going well, as far as we know. We're looking forward to meeting with his doctor on Sept. 6.

Caleb & Levi are both playing football for the first time. They're working hard (four practices a week for 2+ hours each time). Both are linemen, of course!

Lani & I are counting the last few days of our Summer vacations. We both officially report back on Tuesday, Aug. 29 (though I'm sure we'll be in our rooms before then).

Cool Computers

Have you seen the new iMac? Yesterday Apple announced their latest iMac models and a very-nicely revised set of applications called "iLife '08" I've been taking tech classes all this week (offered free through my school district) and so there was quite a buzz there as these products were announced by Steve Jobs in Cupertino yesterday.

I've taken classes in digital storytelling/portfolios, an overview of the iLife package, a class in "web authoring", and today 8 hours of iMovie. Tomorrow I take an Excell class. The coolest thing is that not only are these offered free by my district's tech department, but they also offer incentive points based on how many classes you take; these points can then be redeemed for cool products like digital cameras, DV recorders, iPods, projectors, SmartBoards, etc. I'm going to have enough points to get a video iPod!

Levi and Caleb are in their second week of football conditioning/practice. Tomorrow and Friday they find out which team they are on (and whether they are on the same team with any friends!). They're some of the biggest guys in their age groups, but not very aggressive -- yet!

Caleb's UV treatments are still going, of course. We don't see the doctor again until Sept. 6, but we think things are progressing well. After that appointment we may know if it seems to be in "remission", whether we continue three-times-a-week treatments, etc. Thanks for all the prayers on his behalf.

End of July update

Wow, it's hard to believe that July is nearly over! Of course, this means that Summer is 2/3 over too!

Caleb's UV treatments seem to be going well. Dr. Kang is encouraged that the spots appear to be responding and is optimistic that the cancer will be in remission by the time school starts. PTL!

Caleb and Levi went to "Rip City Basketball Camp" last week at Concordia University. It's run by Brad Barbarick, Concordia's head coach and someone I played college ball with. They had a good week. This week they have swimming lessons and start football conditioning camp on Wednesday.

Hannah and Micah are at Houseboats Camp all week down in Northern California on Lake Shasta. It sounds like a great experience!

And I'm building a deck for a guy this week. It's going to be a nice, TimberTech (composite) deck going around a hot tub. Not huge (18x20), but made with really nice materials.

Caleb update & more of life

Here's a picture of Caleb (in the foreground) along with Levi & Micah and some of his cousins. This was taken on our recent trip to Glacier Park in Montana.

So, last week he started his UV light treatments. He is treated three times per week. The treatments themselves are really quick! He started at about 30 seconds of exposure and they've upped it a few seconds each time; I think by the end it may get up to 10 minutes or more. It takes alot longer to get ready (strip down, rub on a skin lotion EVERYWHERE, put sunblock on his face, put on goggles, etc.) than the actual treatments. They also did some blood work this week to establish a baseline of where he's at with the mycosis fungoides.

Thanks for all the prayers offered in Caleb's behalf. We trust God to be at work through all this and have already seen His blessings.

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This last week was really busy for all of us. My good friend, Paul McDonald, reroofed his house and I ended up helping him nearly every day. First we did a complete tear-off of three layers and then put new tar-paper and composition shingles. Of course, we had the hottest week of the year with record highs twice and temps cracking 100 two or three times! Whew!!! My nephews, Orion and Jaden Maki, were over here all week from Montana and so we had extra kids and activities all week. Then my folks came over from Meridian, Idaho on Wednesday. We had a memorial service and family dinner on Friday for my great aunt, Louetta Humble. Lani's mom came over from Missoula on Thursday and went back home today (with Orion and Jaden). Oh yeah, we also bought a new (to us, anyway) fridge on Craigslist and then moved it one hot afternoon; Saturday I spent several hours - with help from my dad - running a line for the ice-maker (working up in my hot attic!). Today. . . I rested. Church, lunch at Chevy's, and then just taking it easy the rest of the day.

There you have it. Just a busy summer week!
This next week we have VBS at church. It's "Avalanche Ranch", a popular one all over this year. Our church is planning for about about 1000 kids and Lani & I are just two of over 450 volunteers! I'm also helping my brother paint his house and Micah is at band camp.

Oh, I almost forgot another blessing! Lani got offered another 1/2 time TAG job, so now she is a full-time TAG teacher for this coming year!

Snowballs in July!

Today I had snowballs thrown at me by Levi & Caleb! In July!!!

We are in Montana for the 4th of July week and went up to visit Glacier National Park -- see their website here. What beautiful country we saw today! It was fantastic weather (just a few fluffy clouds here and there and highs up in the mountains just over 70) and it was the first full day that the "Going to the Sun Highway" through Glacier was fully open. We saw one scenic vista after another and at the top of the pass we walked up a mile or so on a trail and were actually on glacial snow and ice.

We went with Lani's mom and her brother, Brian, and his two boys, Orion and Jaden (we also have my nephew, Cole Wagner, with us too). We got six disposable cameras and gave my three boys plus the three nephews each a camera to photograph whatever they wanted. That was fun! Besides snowy peaks, glacial valleys, pristine lakes, and cascading rivers, we saw a bunch of deer, several mountain goats, chipmunks, and even one badger!
We'll have to post some pictures later!
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Here are some pics I'm adding the next day. For a bunch more photos from our trip, click on my flickr.com photo bar on the right side of my blog.

Here is a shot I took in the clearing above the Logan Pass Visitors' Center.

And this is Lani in that same beautiful clearing.
And here is our family group at a scenic viewpoint along the way.

Check out the rest of the pictures; there are some awesome scenes.

Mycosis Fungoides

Unless you know someone with this condition, you're probably thinking, "What???"

Yesterday we learned that our son, Caleb (who is 10), has a rare cancer called "mycosis fungoides". He's had skin irritation, rash, and occasional infections for 2-3 years, but only now has a doctor figured out what it is. He will begin ultraviolet light treatments 3x-a-week starting on July 9 and they hope to have it in "remission" before school starts.

Here are some praises to go with this prayer request:
First, the median time from first skin symptoms until diagnosis is six years. While we could be frustrated that our pediatricians over the last 2-3 years never figured out what this was, the dermatologist we're working with now, Dr. Kang, told us that most pediatricians would never see a case of this in children and it would be normal to just treat the symptoms. So, we're thankful that this was identified in less than half the typical time.

How did they find it? Well, that's another praise. We were blessed to get referred to Dr. Kang, a dermatologist with Kaiser Permanente, who also participates one day a week with a group of doctors at Oregon Health Sciences University. After Dr. Kang did a biopsy from a patch on Caleb's back and then wasn't sure about the test results, he set us up to bring Caleb to OHSU to a weekly consultation/study group in which he participates. Caleb (and Lani) went there last Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. and had about 40 doctors and specialists examine him in groups of about four at a time. Out of that collaboration came the diagnosis. This is not only a rare cancer, but is exceedingly rare in children. So again, we're thankful that this has now been identified and treatment can begin.

Dr. Kang warned us to be careful about reading about mycosis fungoides on the web because he knew that it sounds very dire out there. He is quite hopeful that with this early detection and with Caleb's age, that this can be quickly put in remission. Still, there is a lot that we don't know about it yet. We've written out a bunch of questions to ask the doctors when we do our "orientation" appointment week after next.

Here are some sites that provide information about mycosis fungoides. Be warned that this sounds really bad. We don't know yet what all this means in Caleb's case.
rarediseases.about.com/od/rarediseases1/a/101004.htm
emedicine.com/med/topic1541.htm
answers.com/topic/mycosis-fungoides?cat+health
webbmd.com (search results for "mycosis fungoides")
clfoundation.org

Please lift us all up in your prayers. I feel like we just started a journey down a long and unknown road. I know God will be with us all the way, but I just don't know where we're going! (Isn't that true about all of life!)

Bike Riding Family

We live really near this awesome trail, the "Springwater Trail Corridor", but we've hardly ridden our bikes on it since moving here last August. I love to take Molly for runs on it, but we just hadn't biked. . . until now.

This last week, now that we're all on Summer break, we started getting bikes and equipment all ready for our family to ride. I picked up a pair of mountain bikes on Craigslist for a great price and then fixed flat tires on two bikes this week, got a super-soft seat for Lani, a new helmet for Micah, and lubed and adjusted all the bikes to fit our current sizes. I'm still watching for a different bike for Hannah because one of the Schwinns that we've had for awhile is a little under-sized and also in need of lots of adjusting to really run well.

Last night and then again tonight, we all took a ride on the trail. So far, it's been fun and a good family thing. We went east last night and west tonight on the trail and got to see a little more of it in each direction than any of us had seen on walks or runs. We've seen scores of rabbits (and mosquitos!), several deer, and lots of beautiful scenery. I'll have to take some pictures and post them in the near future.

A new first for me

Last night I sang two Beethoven works with the Portland Symphonic Choir (along with the Portland Chamber Orchestra). We did his "Choral Fantasy" and then the infamous "Symphony No. 9" It's almost embarrassing to admit as a chorister that I had never done the 9th Symphony before (seems like most of my fellow choir members had done it three or four times). Anyway, now I can say that I've had that experience! It went quite well with the audience giving us a long, rousing, standing ovation. And when the maestro extended his hand toward the choir for our acknowledgement, it was like a huge surge of cheers and applause, so we must have done well (we'll have to see what the critics write in the local papers -- probably coming out tomorrow). It was difficult to sing because of the high range and loud dynamics, but it sure was exciting. And now it won't be long until the next time I sing it because our choir is scheduled to do it with the Bend Chamber Orchestra in Bend on August 25.

You can always check out the Portland Symphonic Choir at www.pschoir.org

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Only four more days with students this school year (and then two work days). Summer is nearly here!!!

Memorial Day

Just a few end of the day thoughts. . .

I don't personally know many people who have served in the military -- whether living now or passed on -- but I know today was special for many touched by the loss of a loved one who served as a soldier. Today I did reflect on some of those I love who have already passed on; mostly I recall with fondness my grandparents on the Dalzell side. I do miss them a lot.

Today I went fishing with my boys and a good friend, Paul. And that's all it was for most of us: fishing. Not catching. Paul did catch one small trout, but none of the rest of us got anything (except wet feet, smelly hand, and sunburns!). But, it was nice to be out casting a line on a beautiful day here. There was an hour -- or probably more like 40 minutes -- where a guy not twenty feet from us on the bank pulled out his limit of five fish (all decent, plump trout too!). It's hard to figure how that happens. He was catching fish while folks on both sides of him got nothing. There's a special skill or one of life's mysteries there or something.

I also was thinking this holiday weekend about how a year ago at this time our kids had just finished the school year, we were packing things up for a move, and we were pretty unsettled about jobs, where to live, etc. I feel blessed to be where I am today! I'm also praying for a blessing on friends far and near who stood by us, supported us, prayed for us, helped move us, and so much more. May God bless you all as you have blessed us.

My Rant Against Gas & Oil Companies

Outrageous! Unbelievable! Gas prices are out of control and nothing seems to be getting any better. Gas is now $3.38 a gallon in Oregon and rising. The price has gone up .88 cents per gallon since the beginning of the year! Hmm. . . no natural disasters, no oil fields blown up, no pipelines shut down. What's up???? Here are my main reasons why I think something is wrong here:

Lack of competition. Our free-market, capitalist system is not operating correctly; supply and demand are not regulating prices. Why? We have too much of a monopoly in the oil business. If this wasn't true then why wouldn't some company say, "hey, we are willing to ONLY make a couple billion dollars this quarter, so we'll undersell these other greedy companies that are making multiple billions." There just isn't any competition to lower prices (or any incentive by the few big companies left -- heck, their boards & CEOs are happy to be raking in the billions and billions). I think that the huge oil companies need to be broken up.

Lack of new refineries. Some may point to supply issues, but I think the big companies keep manipulating prices by claiming they have a lack of refinery capacity. So, they rotate shutting down refineries for "maintenence" and claim that they always have supply problems when doing the annual switching over between summer and winter blends. This is all bogus, of course. They know every year exactly when they'll have to switch blends and they know just when they'll need to do any maintenence. Also, though it really is going to be difficult (read "expensive") with new environmental regulations to open any new refineries, you can't tell me that with all the billions and billions coming in as profits in each of the last several quarters that they don't have the capital to make some new refineries a reality! (Back to my first argument though; with no real competition why should they? They're making way more now than ever before!)

Greed. Simply put: big oil is making lots of money and they don't want to back down. They want to make more and more. Greed. They don't care that the average American is getting killed on their gas and oil expenses. They don't care that companies that have big travel or transportation costs are either going out of business or else having to hike up their prices to all the rest of us. They don't care that these costs are starting to have a huge effect on our economy and on individual families financial well-being. They have tasted big profits and they just want more and more and more. . . My rant is not just against the big boys here either; many of the suppliers and local station owners are profiting too as prices seem to jump up overnight, but never seem to go back down. I heard a commentator a few months back saying that OPEC had set some goals (this would have been 2-3 years ago) for supply levels that they would be happy with if oil was only in the $30-something per barrel cost. So, when the market went crazy and climbed rapidly up into the 50s, 60s, and higher per barrel, their original price expectations and production levels were all shook up. Now, would OPEC be willing to sell oil at only $30 a barrel? Would American and other world suppliers ever go for those old prices? They could still make lots of money, but greed keeps them from ever lowering the prices back down once it has come up. There may have been some reasons (hurricanes, for example) that caused some (though certainly not ALL) of the price hikes a couple of years ago; but once these causes were gone, the prices just don't ever go back down. Greed!

Futures trading. This is actually just more greed. There are people that are making money by playing the market and they want prices to go up. And stay up. And go higher. This is not in the best interest of anyone except those making money trading. More greed.

Is there anything wrong with a company making money? Nope. A well-managed company that supplies a quality product or delivers good service should make a profit. But what we have going on right now is unconscionable (sp?) and perhaps could be criminal; at the least it seems to be based on low ethical and moral standards. Are we -- the average American people -- outraged enough yet? We have a system where we are all trapped by our reliance on fossil-fuels for personal and commerce transportation, for heating, and for much electrical energy production. How can our big suppliers with any small measure of conscience keep raising the prices for all of us and then quarter after quarter declare record profits? We're being robbed!!! I guess we either have to have a revolt or the government has to step in.

I'm sure I could think of some more arguements, but that's probably enough for now. Still, I'm burning about this issue a little bit every day. Especially when almost every night there's a story about new record prices. We've paid over $80 the last two times we filled our Yukon XL (yes, it's a big gas-guzzling SUV, but I don't have the capital to switch vehicles right now and need something to travel in as a family of six); even our Toyota Camry is killing us as it topped 50 bucks for a fill the other day. You know, if gas prices go up by just .01 cent a gallon and you multiply that out by the gallons sold across the country on a given day, that's a HUGE profit jump. So, what's happening when prices are jumping 5, 6, 7, or 8 cents a gallon on a given day? Unreal!

I walk to work every day and I've told my two oldest kids to look for summer jobs at nearby business places that they can ride their bikes to. When electric cars get more common, efficient, and affordable, I'm right there! I wish I had one now. We're going to have to quit paying these oil bandits by weaning ourselves off of their products. But since that won't happen overnight, something's going to have to change now to bring relief.