Happy BirthdayBen

Hope you are having a great day. Fifteen is a big one.

We will see you in two weeks.  This is what you will find, except for the bulldozer.

Latest on the lake

We're home after a very nice visit to Austin Tx for Nicole's birthday.  We remembered very little from our semester there 50 years ago.  We did find where we lived, only the Texas shaped pool isn't there any more and the apartments were either expanded or replaced because they are now 5 stories high.

We went to the lake from the airport and found another 2-3 feet of land gone.  The pear tree is still up  but it's close.

Drop in the bucket (I mean lake)

This is sandbag #63 out of 130.  We are trying to protect the swale so we don't lose the pear tree with the adult swing.  Not sure if it will work or if they will just get washed away.

Spring Break in Central Oregon

 This area is aptly called the Painted Hills.

  The red represents a time when central Oregon was tropical, and the home of an incredible diversity of mammals and plant life.

 

 One paleontologist commented that in this area, a scientist is rewarded with a fossil every outing!

 Huge diversity of plant life. We have split shale, and found fossilized leaves in the past, but this time got on the wrong road which turned a 6 hour drive into a 10 hour one. When we got to the town of Fossil it was snowing, and the boys were just ready to get somewhere out of the car. I kept telling them "it is the journey, not the destination...." to no avail. Fossil hunting will wait for yet another trip.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hope you are enjoying your time in Spain.  Have a great day.