Timberline Lodge

Timberline Lodge is located in Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. It was dedicated in September 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt "as a monument to the skilled and faithful performance of workers on the roll of the Works Progress Administration" (usually referred to as WPA).

A park service summer volunteer told us 500 workers built the lodge in 18 months. Unskilled labor was paid 5o cents per hour and skilled masons from Italy were paid 75 cents per hour. Scaffolding and pulleys were used to hoist the large timbers into position. The wood used to construct the lodge is equivalent to the wood volume needed to build 300 3-bedroom homes.

Architects for the U. S. Park Service designed the lodge.

Skiing takes place year round at elevations above the lodge on the glacier snow and ice which is visible in the picture below. During winter, snow drifts pile deep against and around the lodge. We were told two climbers missing and assumed dead since early 2007 still haven't been found.

The next picture below shows a carving on the top of a post on a stairs hand rail.

The grueling annual relay run called Hood to Coast begins at this lodge and ends 197 miles on the Pacific coast at Portland.

My wife and I visited this majestic mountain and historic lodge while vacationing in Portland earlier this month.

Have a good week!

Team Sports

Swimmers...Take Your Mark!

Participation in sports is a wonderful way for young people to learn about their physical abilities, compare themselves to others, observe performance improvement through practice, and learn how to become a contributing member on a team. These discoveries within one's self are enhanced through parental support, good coaches, and encouragement from teammates.

These qualities became clearer and clearer to me as I grew older and lived through stages of development within myself and observed growth and outcomes in others over time. It is interesting to realize how organized sports are designed to improve people in our society as well as to entertain.

As children grow in families, some parents view involvement in sports like swimming, baseball, football, running, cheerleaders and the myriad of other opportunities for young people as a burden, unnecessary, expensive, and difficult to fit into time.

I recently attended a seminar where the reading material presented the concept of "inertia of culture". This concept states that generations become no better than their parents unless the they are exposed to school, books, friends, movies, television, sports, and travel. If a child is exposed to these activities and responds to them appropriately, there should be culture improvement from one generation to the next. Of course, the quality of those activities can vary greatly and effect the outcome.

The pictures here are of my six year old granddaughter participating on a swim team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has learned to compete in swim events of free-style and back stroke. I am amazed at the confidence and growth in this little girl in one year. Many factors go into this type growth such as parenting skills, school, opportunity, and sports involvement.

I hope you will think about the concept of "inertia of culture" and continually weigh your family's participation in sports opportunities so generational advancement becomes more likely.

Have a good week!

Okra

The picture above shows grilled okra ready to eat. See a previous blog post about how to cook okra on a grill. planting okra

The below pictures show okra cooking on an outdoor charcoal grill, a bucket of the harvested okra, and actual plants.

The plants grow to over six feet tall and bear edible pods for several weeks. A daily harvest is required to keep the pods from growing too big and tough.

I hope you're summer is going well.

Have a good week!

Tweetsie

Not us in top picture, see Tweetsie train.

My wife and I kept our six-year-old granddaughter nine days in two segments this summer. Our daughter-in-law refers to this time as "Grandpa and Grandma Camp".

We took our granddaughter to swim at Tanglewood Park Pool, visited Tweetsie RR near Boone, North Carolina, looked inside a bird's nest at babies, flew a kite, played card and board games, solved puzzles, read books, visited the public library, and made cookies.

The days were filled with quality family time. The pictures shown here were taken during the four and one-hours hours we spent inside the Tweetsie theme park.

Have a quality filled week!