Photo updates on activities from early 2006


Pat & Vera had their new home decorated to the hilt for Christmas.	Pat getting ready to blow the train horn to ring in the New Year (from one of Rayonier's diesel locomotives on the Crane Creek line)	Too loud for Kathy	A January get together of all the McGuires.

Nice set of teeth.	Becky and Wally enjoy Vera's "Big Chair", and are remarkably patient around our group of really old people (all over 50, anyway).	Portrait of the City Hall Finance Department crew, just prior to Kathryn's departure. Mo misses her good friend! And Kathryn left Hoquiam for ABERDEEN, of all places!	Celebrating Pat's birthday at Mallard's Bistro in Aberdeen.

Mom and Dad were down in February. We enjoyed a short hike at Lake Quinault.	Mom is showing me how to make an Angel Food cake using the stand mixer Mo got me for Christmas.	Mom's checking on the egg whites. Our first attempt tasted pretty good, but needed a little more air in the egg whites. We'll try it again with more beating....	Dad helped me take pictures of the area along Highway 101 that I'd like to have Rayonier employees volunteer to clean up. This is Rayonier's Promised Land Park, at MP 112.

Goldie and I took time out to swim for a few tennis balls at Promised Land.	Here's the Rayonier cleanup crew on our first day out.	DOT erected signs showing that Rayonier is doing the cleanup on this two mile stretch (MP 111 to 113).	Mo and high school classmates Angela, Patty, and Sandy get together at Sandy's home in the Portland area.

The same group thirty-some years ago. Seems like it was just yesterday....	My retirement luncheon. I'm doing a little show and tell. That's my "Umbrella of Silence", crafted after the old TV series Get Smart and the Cone of Silence (you have to be old to remember that).	I gave Kevin a toolkit on my departure. I had to mention the domestic content - 60% Team USA, 40% Other Guys. I wished I could have gotten the Team USA percentage higher....	Mom, me, and Marilyn Parker at the luncheon. I first worked with Marilyn at the Pulp Mill.

Bob Martin, me, and Bill Merrill. Bob and Bill are ex-Rayonier employees. Bob would still be working for Uncle Ray if the Pulp Mill hadn't closed down. And Bill would likely have been the IT Manager in Hoquiam except for a few cruel twists of fate.	Easter at Pat and Vera's. My boss Sue Ranger joined us.	Bob and Betsy joined us for a Mystery Dinner on the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train. Sue Ranger gave Mo and me tickets to celebrate my retirement.

This is Mo before dessert.	This is Mo after dessert.	On our way North from Renton to Woodinville, the train hit this tree that had fallen across the tracks. No serious damage - the crew took about 15 minutes to clear the tree away from the train.	Betsy hob-nobbed with one of the "characters" from our Mystery Dinner while we enjoyed a stopover at the Columbia Crest Winery in Woodinville.

The police detective from our story finds one of the suspects "dead" in the Winery.	Returning home from Renton, we stopped at the Weyerhauser Rhododendron Gardens in Federal Way.	Interesting organism covers the surface of this pond.	This is a close-up of the pond surface. It reminded me of the color granules that make up Armstrong Solarian floor covering.

Our favorite bird feeder. The only one we've found in 30 years that keeps the seed dry. It was made by AkroMills (in Akron, Ohio). Unfortunately, they no longer make any bird feeders. I keep scanning eBay hoping that somebody will find a pile of these in the corner of a warehouse somewhere....	Our own Rhodies and Azaleas love the moist weather.		This is just for your consideration. Interesting that such a product would exist. There's a market for everything, I guess.