coyotecreekranch.com Family Blog

Ruairí is a member of the Hillsboro Community Youth Choir, a non-profit community youth choir whose mission is “committed to promoting excellence in choral music and is dedicated to enriching the lives of youth by instilling a life-long love of music through performance and education.”  During the week of 5 February, 2012, members of the Choir performed the play “Hillsboro to the MAX“, an entertaining musical journey through local history. Ruairí played David Hill, an early pioneer and founder of the city of Hillsboro. 

The choir did three performances, including the first in the restored Venetian Theatre, a local favorite in downtown Hillsboro.  Here’s a video of Ruairí doing a solo performance of Stephen Foster’s Oh! Susanna, during the third performance at West Union Elementary School:

In mid-November, Beth, Barry and Ruairí travelled to New Jersey for Barry’s Mom’s surprise 80th  birthday party 

Beth made this video with some of the footage she recorded during the visit; enjoy!

Thumbnails of pics we snapped during the trip.  Click on any one for a full-size image:

Warning: Shameless Boast Ahead

Hi this is Barry.  This is a shot of the scale on my weekly weigh-in on November 17, 2011.  It notable as this is the first time it’s been below 197 lbs.  This means my BMI score was below 30; in other words I waslonger clinically obese.   I’m still classified as “overweight”, but this is big change from 8 months ago, when I had a score of 43, “Class III” obesity on the WHO scale, also referred to as “morbid obesity”.  That was 90 pounds ago, when I was forced to see a doctor due to my tendon rupture, and I found out what bad shape I had gotten into. 

I put on my old pants for this photo. No wonder fitting in restaurant booths was sometimes a challenge.

My sisters found this photo of me in ~1986. Looks like I got a ways to go.

This was the January 27, 2012 weigh-in.  More than 100 pounds down from where I started (102 to be exact).  The following chart shows the results of  a large epidemiological study, and how my predicted health risk has changed as a result:

Body Mass Index vs. All-Causes Mortality*

* From: Berrington de Gonzalez A, Hartge P, Cerhan JR, et al. (December 2010). “Body-Mass Index and Mortality among 1.46 Million White Adults”. N. Engl. J. Med. 363 (23): 2211–9.

Some shots of our 90 gallon discus tank.

End Grain (“Butcher Block”) Cutting Boards

This year’s family presents are end grain cutting boards made from Eastern Hard Maple and Padauk.  End grain boards make superior cutting surfaces, as they are very hard and the knife edges tend to go between the wood fibers rather than severing them.  We intended thse boards to be used.  They are assembled with a waterproof, FDA-approved glue, and finished with food-grade walnut oil.  While the glue is waterproof, when cleaning they should just be rinsed and at most only briefly immersed in water.  The oil finish will need to be replenished occasionally to maintain it (the walnut oil we used was obtained at Whole Foods).  

Research at UC Davis has shown that wooden cutting boards actually discourage bacterial growth better than plastic boards. Apparently, once plastic boards are used a bit, they develop deep scratches that tend to harbor bacteria. 

We took a few photos during the project. 

Ruairí with the raw material at Crosscut Hardwoods in Portland

Beth's old Subaru does the hauling duty (before it was repaired after its fender-bender).

Pieces milled and cut to length acclimate in the house

Pieces cut into strips before the first glue-up

Boards after the first glue-up, still in the clamps

After the first glue-up, boards are cut into strips again at a 90 degree angle to the first. Alternating strips are then flipped to make the "checkerboard" pattern. Lastly, every board is rotated 90 degrees before glue-up to reveal the end grain surface.

A pile of boards ready to be sanded smooth. Since the end grain surface is so hard, sanding each one was quite of bit of work. Beth and Erin took care of much of it.

Barry and Ruairí apply the walnut oil finish

Beth made a little video while the guys were applying finish:

On the afternoon of November 21, 2011 we visited The Metropolitan Mueseum of Art in New York, one of the world’s great museums.  They have a small collection of Blacker House furniture on display: an armchair, a library table, and a chandelier.  Shown below are a few snapshots we took of the pieces.  Hopefully the closeups will be of interest to readers, and maybe even some use to fellow furnituremakers. 

Most Greene and Greene afficionados are aware that Japanese tsubas (sword guards) were very influential in the Greene brothers’ work.  Near the museum’s G&G collection, in the Armor and Weapons section, was a wonderful display of tsubas.  Snapshots of most of them are below.  Note the intricate inlay and texturing on some of them. 

Click on a picture to download a full-size image.   These snapshots were taken with Barry’s iPhone camera, so please forgive any marginal quality pictures. 

Barry by the Greene & Greeene display. These are the first examples that he's seen "in person"!

On August 26, 2011, Beth, Ruairí and Barry hiked the 7½ mile Lakeshore Trail around Paulina Lake. Paulina and East Lakes are located in the Newberry Caldera about 20 miles southeast of Sunriver in Central Oregon.  Afterwards we drove to the top of Paulina Peak (at 8000′ elevation) for a birds’ eye view of the lake and the surrounding countryside. 

As usual, click on any picture for a full-resolution copy. 

Ruairí and Barry at the trailhead at the Day Use parking lot

Ruairí and Beth at the start of the hike. Those walking sticks we bought in France 10 years ago came in handy!

Ruairí taking a photo of Paulina Peak from the western shore

Ruairí's photo

 

 

Ruairí and Beth at the Paulina Peak Overlook parking lot, with the lake we just hiked around in the background

Paulina Lake from the summit. Note the obsidian flow on the right

On the right is the famous "highest public restroom in Oregon"

Ruairí and Barry at the very top of the summit, above the parking lot

USGS benchmark at the peak. Note stamped elevation of 8009'

Some Pictures (and a video!) from this Saturday’s Car Wash fundraiser.  Click on any photo to download the full resolution version.

Finally, a video of the Car Wash Special Vehicle Operations crew (i.e., the guys out back), doing their stuff:

Some photos from the 08/02/11 National Night Out event in Banks.  Ruairí’s Boy Scout troop participated.  Click on any pic to download the full-size version.

I saw my surgeon for what was probably the last time yesterday.  While I was there I snapped a picture of the X-rays that were taken a couple of months ago, about a week and a half after the surgery.  Even the doc said this was “a pretty cool picture”.  You can clearly see the hole that was drilled in the radial tuberosity on the radius bone, into which the end of the tendon was attached.  At the same spot you can see the “endobutton”, a small piece of titanium that the tendon was sutured to.  The endobutton was then passed through the hole in the bone and rotated, fastening the tendon in place.  The four small other pieces of metal are clips placed on small veins to control bleeding during surgery.  The veins eventually regnerate around them.

And no, this small amount of metal doesn’t affect airport metal detectors.