Black Feather

One of our favorite rabbits. He is probably going to be our next house rabbit. The nice thing is he does not chew things up. JACK!

"You're So Weird". And your point is?

Mutts

Here are a couple mutts at the Bonnie Hayes Animal Shelter in Hillsboro, Oregon. It's not easy trying to be a boxer.

Trying out a Cheshire Cat smile. OK, I need a lot of work on it. This is a mural at the Bonnie Hayes Animal Shelter in Hillsboro, Oregon. Very "folk artish".

This was our Muddy Face. Sometimes there's a "one-of-a-kind" pet which is what he was. He was such a funny rabbit and made a wonderful pet for all of us. He overcame a lot of adversity to survive as long as he did which may have made him even more special. It is true with people too, of course.

This is one of my favorite Rabbit-Human photos with Carla and our giant rescue rabbit, Augustina. She would jump like a dog when she saw us coming to pet her. We had her for a couple years after being rescued from the Fernhill Wetlands where someone apparently dumped her. She had a litter which produced two bunnies that looked like her and one a pure black with flecks of white. We kept him and Carla named him Black Feather. We lost Augustina without warning during the first heat wave this year. It was a very sad day when we came home from work and discovered she had died. The other 4 rabbits, Black Feather, Po, Annabelle, and Jack are doing fine. We will always miss our favorites: Athens, Pinky, Heather, Augustina, and everyone's favorite, Muddy Face. They have been great pets. The list will grow.

Jack Rabbit, a house rabbit who gets to explore out in the backyard occasionally seen here on a hot July weekend. He is under the holly tree considering his next move like a chess player, trying to avoid the inevitable capture. He is 98% flee and 2% fight, like most rabbits.

Jack Rabbit bounding through the backyard on a hot July day. How sweet freedom is. If only it and July could last forever.

Here's our Jack Rabbit (not a real Jackrabbit) making a hasty retreat from his master who has no carrot to offer. I'd hop away too.

A tree is an awesome assemblage of splinters held together with a will to survive and striving to grow up to reach the sun, to grow out to touch its neighbor trees and plants, and grow old to carry the weight of its many branches, to teach us humans the mighty strength of patience and holding your ground and support one another to stand as a forest yet alone as a tree.

A dance scene from the 2009 Scandinavian Mid-Summer Festival in Astoria, Oregon

A NPCW card I did for 2009 of one of the many Oregon National Guard families making the sacrifice for our Freedom.

The other "book end" NPCW card from 2008 with Jim standing in front of the oversize portrait of Lincoln in front of the Oregon History Museum in Portland's South Park Blocks. Jim looked a little more like "Honest Abe" with his beard that has since fallen by the wayside.

A 2008 NPCW card. Jim and I took turns posing in front of Mr. Lincoln at the OHS Museum.

A NPCW card I made for 2008 from a photo a tourist took for us while on a half day excursion.

A WWII era captain on a bicycle stopping for a photo in the Ross Hollywood District Veterans Day Parade in Portland, Oregon. November 11, 2008.

Here's a recent postcard I made using an image I captured in Washington DC last year. It was taken from the World War II Memorial on the Mall looking towards the Washington Monument. What I will always remember about visiting this monument for the first time that 23rd day of September with Carla is it was my father's 85th birthday and he is a veteran of the Pacific Theater of that war. We are all very proud of his service to the Nation and hopefully one day he can make a visit to see this very beautiful memorial he always wanted to see built.

Cecelia and Julie with their cousin, Jesse, Spring 2009 in Aloha, OR

Even when my twin brother doesn't seem to be around he seems to show up.

Here we are wishing nephew Jesse Staub (second from left) bon voyage for his scandinavian summer mostly in Norway where he is to throw the javlin and discus and other objects recognized by the Olympic committee as valid forms of sport (beer kegs still not quite there yet). His parents, friend, brother, brother's girl friend, aunt, uncle, brother's dog Bill, and Homer the Caribou are also included for your amusement and information.

This is the forest floor in the middle of the Tualtin Hills Nature Park. A very cool place to walk.

Here's Julie with her new pet rabbit that it seems does not have an official name. She just calls her "Bunny Girl" or "Terror". They are both fearless. Somehow she got her to hold still long enough for this shot.