The McWessels

Odie the Brave

2013-09-02T08:38:13Z

Our brave (real) dog Odie is afraid of our new (fake) Dog Bark Park Dog:

August Storm

2013-09-02T08:34:23Z

We had an intense lightning storm pass over last week. This is about 75 consecutive 5-second exposures stitched back together. I had to conver it to B/W to make it look decent as a GIF image.

Fourth of July in Clarkston

2013-07-05T06:00:00Z

After many years we finally made it back to the Clarkston fireworks for the 4th of July. We were lighting off our own at the Oshaugnessey's house and had to hurry down to the high school. Because we were late, parking was a nightmare. Colin and I went one way, while Anne and Grandma somehow met going the other. We were walking through the Parkway school when the stadium lights went out. We plopped down and I quickly set up to take some pictures. This, I think, was the best.

Fields of Yellow on the Camas Prairie

2013-07-04T20:00:00Z

After passing through the prairie four times in the last couple of weeks I finally had the chance to stop and take a photo:

Mike & Cheryl's Wedding

2013-06-16T04:00:00Z

Had a lot of fun pretending to be a wedding photographer at Mike & Chery's wedding on the beach in Salvo, NC!

2013 Summer Baseball

2013-06-12T05:13:31Z

Colin's first summer baseball game was very exciting! Although he "struck out" on his first at-bat, his second time was much better. He got a single and then scored on a triple by his pal Micah! Then on his third try, he had a strong hit and got a double. In the field he played outfield and second base. Click on the picture above to see the full set of photos on Flickr.

Moonset over Wallowa Lake

2013-06-08T04:01:18Z

After two days of crummy weather I was excited to wake up at 4AM to mostly clear skies and a mostly full moon.

I like almost everything about this, excpet for the cloud obscuring the moon and the mountain tops. I wish I'd waited in this spot for the clouds to move on, but I felt prssured to try other shots.

Reminiscing about Hiking the Wallowa Mountains

2013-05-30T07:18:06Z

Anne's planned trip to San Diego had to be unexpectedly cancelled, so the family spent a few days in Joseph Oregon for the long Memorial Day weekend. Being there brought back many good memories of trips I'd taken during high school with Mr. Dole and some other classmates. So before I post anything from our trip I wanted to share the old photos I found.

The photo above was taken on a springtime hike with Mr. Dole. I believe we were camping at Horsehoe Lake and this photo was taken near there. If my map reading skills are any good, that is most likely Pete's Point in the background.

I was not a very experienced cross country skier, especially when it game to hills. My skis were borrowed from a friend of Mr. Dole's. My boots kept slipping and coming out of the bindings. I believe at some point Mr. Dole actually tried to re-affix the bindings to the skis using his swiss army knife as a drill and screwdriver. On the last day he offered to swap skis with me and he experienced the same problems. I never knew a teacher could use so many cursewords!

The above photo was most likely taken in 1984, nearly 30 years ago. I was trying to be good at photography and this was one of my favorites. After camping overnight near Ice Lake, we are on our way to the tops of Matterhorn and/or Sacajawea peaks. Too bad I got somebody's clothing in the lower left of the frame.

Wallowa Lake Vacation

2013-05-28T04:00:00Z

We spent Memorial Day this year at Wallowa Lake. Our friends happened to have a little house/cabin for rent in Joseph, so we stayed there for two nights. On our first day we took the Tramway to the top of Mount Howard. The next morning we went for a ~4 mile hike along the Hurricane Creek trail. Then, in the afternoon we had a very nice horseback ride on some steep trails closer to Wallowa Lake. On monday we took a short hike to Falls Creek Falls, which we couldn't get too close to, unfortunately.

A little artwork to brighten your day

2013-05-02T20:00:00Z

Clouds, sun, rain, flowers, birds, a campfire... what could possibly be better than that?

Now With Glasses, Jr

2013-04-27T22:41:39Z

Just like his dad. Oh, and Mom too.

Science Fair 2013

2013-03-24T23:56:43Z

Colin's science fair project this year is "Testing Water Quality." This was something he actually wanted to do since last year, but due to poor planning on my part, he wasn't able to enter last year.

We bought a bunch of water quality testing kits and then he tested various kinds of water, including mud puddle, bottled water, rain water, and our in-house softened water before and after changing the filters. The kits test for lead, pesticide, nitrates, hardness, and more. While changing the filters we found some of them totally covered in a brown scum, so he also tested "scum water."

I tried to have him focus on the prediction (theories) aspect of doing science, but it's still a little hard to understand. I also had a hard time explaining the need and content of final conclusions. Not surprising, I hate doing that for my own work as well.

I really like the way he laid out the poster board! Good job Colin!

Harry Potter Time

2013-02-19T01:20:12Z

We seemed to have timed the introduction to Harry Potter just right. About a month before our trip to Orlando I told him that I'd read the H.P. books to him since it had been a long time since I'd read the books for him. By the second night he was off on his own. Now he reads Harry Potter during breakfast, instead of Garfiled comics.

Shortly after we left the house for our trip to Orlando (via the Spokane airport) we realized that he had only one chapter left on book #4 and had left book #5 at home. We stopped at Bruised Books in Pullman at about 6:01 -- one minute after closing time! Fortunately the very nice lady inside opened the door for us and said we could shop while she finished closing the store. We knew exactly what we needed and quickly found book #5 for our trip. whew!

I don't know what we'll do when he finishes the last book. No other books have held his attention in this manner. Any other 650-page book would've been dismissed as much too long to read.

We're making our way through the movies too, but their increasing darkness is a concern. It doesn't seem to bother him but I find them less interesting.

My Valentine

2013-02-14T15:04:51Z

I had to be in Virginia this week for a (late) "2013 kickoff" with my coworkers. I found this great valentine stuffed into my coat pocket to cheer me up! How sweet!

Cobalt Lithium Nitrogen

2013-01-27T17:54:51Z

At Disneyland we visited "the world of tomorrow" or whatever it was called. Inside was a giant Periodic Table. It dawned on me that we could transform Colin's name into chemical symbols: