india

I just returned from what is probably my favorite place in the world other than here. India is magical. With generous and beautiful people, a tropical yet arid landscape, a diverse, spiritual and colorful culture and endearing friends I couldn't ask for more in the partnership I have with Harvest India. I am blessed among men.

Click here for a slideshow of my favorite images from this year's time.

Click here to link to our team's blog for stories and more photographs.

God is very, very good.

traveler IQ challenge

I'm leaving for India in exactly 2 weeks. I'll be sitting on a plane in San Francisco getting ready for a 16 hour flight to Singapore which will then deliver me and our River Church team to India. After a short night's sleep in Hyderabad we'll get on a bus and head to our final destination about 4 hours away. After many hours of travel we will be with the children of the Kallurigudem Orphanage...literally in the middle of nowhere. India is a wonderful place like that.

In honor of exploring God's amazing earth check out this site and take the "traveler IQ challenge". Anything over 90 is pretty darn good. Anything less and you'd better brush up on your geography.

Traveler's IQ Challenge

cruising Andromeda

I took a short flight this weekend to tweak in the weaponry and booster strength of my new, custom spaceship. It was a beautiful trip but much too short. I plan to go back soon and take in the sights of the many planets and stars that are not so unlike those of our own galaxy. Sometimes when I'm out there I pass the time by pondering questions like: Is there such thing as a space wolf and if so, would it travel in space packs? or.. What would happen if I run into a dead astronaut? and.. Do comets have feelings? To tell the truth I don't much care. But isn't my spaceship cool?

hike

Bro-in-law and I went out for a quick hike the other afternoon. It was raining, cold and the perfect afternoon to get outside and enjoy a good, short climb in the local hills. We headed out to the falls and went south rather than NW to the falls themselves. We followed single track for a couple miles. Jon got in front of me for the last 3/4 of a mile and pushed us to the top where we rested for a while and took in the quiet and the view while night began to move in on us. We ended up about 500 feet above the valley floor on a little mountain - 6000 feet in the air.

Here is Jon preparing some tea in his super hi-tech, miniature stove that can boil water at altitude in 2.5 minutes flat. Yummy.

chubby baby

boy stuff

We've been enjoying a beautiful fall here in Central Oregon. Lately Eli and I have ventured out in search of some good old fashioned adventure. We've gone on hikes, tromped through unfinished houses, thrown rocks in the river, chased cats, watched hawks soar through the sky in search of food, had lightsaber duels in the middle of the living room and other good boy stuff. A couple times Poppi and Grandma Great joined us for a hike. Good times.

growing bird list

Last weekend my father-in-law was here with us. He is an avid birder and has an uncanny sense for the identification of birds whether it be while in flight, on a perch, listening for unique calls or simple behavioral tendencies. I've even seen him ID a bird from its silhouette while in flight - pretty cool.

My yard list is up to 26 now and 2 of those came with his help last weekend. Here are a few feathered friends that are most common to my yard and feeder.

Cassin's Finch in my Ponderosa Pine

Mountain Chickadee on the copper feeder

Pygmy Nuthatch eyeing the feeder from his Pine perch

Pygmy with Pine Siskins

[ Thanks for the photos, Floyd. ]

blessing

from the past

squirt guns & birds

this is a fine synopsis of our sunday afternoon. eli took great delight in riding his tricycle around the back patio whilst shooting with his squirt gun, the trees, birds, flys, ants and anything else that moved. at times he would switch to a squirt bottle for its increased capacity. this meant, in short, more shooting time and less filling time. makes sense.













i also added 2 new species of birds to my yard list. this is quite a feat considering that my list is only at 19. i positively ID'd a pair of Cassin's Finches and a pair of Red-Winged Blackbirds. then there were many many of the blackbirds in conjunction with Brewer's. they attacked the feeders, scared the smaller birds away and ate until they were content or scared away themselves by larger birds overhead such as turkey vultures or hawks of some sort. i had previously thought that I'd seen the Cassin's Finch but now I know that I hadn't. they are a beautiful bird - both male & female. and the Red-Winged are awesome as well. their red wing bar with yellow spot below is really cool while they're in flight.

finally, the afternoon brought an acrobatic squirrel who leapt from our large ponderosa pine to the copper feeder. and there were even more birds - at one point I counted 7 species at one time. for the day, the tally was at 9 total species. what a blessing to live here and have such varied wildlife in my own backyard.