South Sister board descent

Dev, myself and Leo climbed South Sister in a 2 day trip and got the sweetest back country run ever. The pics are on my webspace but here are a few.
Classy Pabst summit photo.
Yea, we bushwacked and had to do a few stream crossings. COLD!
The heavenly summit ramp.

Car Parts

I was so stoked that I had some money saved up from this month (my bank acct is usually hovering near zero at this point in the month), but then I realized that my brakes on my car were paper thin, so I had to drop 70$ to get those fixed along with a new fuel filter which hadn't been changed in ages. During the disassembley of the front brakes, Bryan realized why my car makes a strange whirring noise; the barings are shot! crap! and a seal was broken on a ball joint in the steering, and my rear axle might be a bit loose ...basically the list kept getting bigger and bigger. Damn. Stupid cars that we can't live without. Maybe I'll just lock myself in a room with 100$ worth of top ramen and play videogames for the rest of my life. (and believe me, 100$ of ramen will last me the rest of my life)

Colleen kicks ass

I just got a call from Colleen and she got a job in Albany(20 min away) teaching! This is so huge because Oregon is one of the hardest states to get a job in as a teacher. She already has her sights set on Corvallis or Bend school districts next year but those can wait. HUGE!

And while Col is accomplishing huge things like that, I am just plodding away toward graduation and a summer job. I'll be in Corvallis for a while longer still working for the forest this summer.

6th graders are nuts

I just finished my week volunteer teaching at the Philomath 6th grade outdoor school and I gotta say, the little buggers have way too much energy. And a LOT were on ritalin, but many more needed to be on it. In all reality though, it was a ton of fun and I encourage everyone I can to volunteer for outdoor school. By the end of camp, all the staff are delerious practically. The jokes we make are just retarded sounding to anyone who hasn't been surrounded by kids and swearing is completely foreign.
I managed to learn a lot about patience in that week, but not from the kids. In my spare time I had a lot of interesting experiences with the wildlife around camp. I managed to pet a little wren after observing it for a long time and creeping closer. I followed a hummingbird to it's nest and got to look at its two baby hummingbirds which were just hours out of the egg. Each was about the size of a lima bean. Sadly I didn't have my camera handy. One of the other interesting things my kids found was a Pacific Giant Salamander that was about 10 inches long(the grow a lot bigger). I guesss they are pretty rare to see at that size.
For a few days before ODS I was at Smith climbing (cheers to no class on fridays!) and got on my hardest trad climb to date. .10a in the gorge is no small feat but I managed to get up Cruel Sister with one fall. Stoke!
After outdoor school was over I came home, repacked and went on a Mountain Club rafting trip on the Rogue river for the weekend. I can't believe it all worked out, but 34 people in seven boats and 3 kayaks made it safely down the river. The only flipped boat was Bryan's when he tried unsuccessfully to run Rainey Falls. 34 people, 10 craft, 25 gallons of beer, 3 cars, 2 nights, 0 vomits, a lot of green, and no BUIs! Woohoo!
My obligation to OMC is almost at an end, and I gotta say, I was wrong in my lamentations which began this blog in October. OMC is functioning perfectly as a community group. Through several donations we have a new library beginning, and some equipment, and soon a first aid kit. Oh, and membership for the year is at 36 currently and trips are heading out every weekend for this whole term. OMC will survive!