D. Brent Miller, photographer & journalist

During July, 2012 I had the good fortune to meet D.Brent Miller, photographer, journalist, blogger & motorcyclist.  I happened to be down in Oregon at our iMBC2012 Motoblogger's Convention in Hell's Canyon and I was on my way back from the Oregon Coast where I had spent a couple of days

   Lost in the wheat fields south of Corvallis, Oregon            July 2012

and I received an email from D.Brent Miller (Brent) who had just finished riding the Oregon Trail (Link here)  and he just happened to be in Sultan, WA for a day or two.  His plan was to meet up with a few "friends" on Saturday at a local Motorcycle Dealership north of Seattle.  He invited me to attend but as my plan was to head directly to Vancouver, from Corvallis, OR and be home by Friday evening,  I would miss him, so he changed his plans for me, and the new plan was to meet in Marysville, WA around the time I would be passing by.

I tried to leave Corvallis early, but I got sidetracked and got a late start.  Then I needed to use the washroom, then I needed to fuel up so I found myself wandering somewhere around Albany so I stopped at the local Golden Arches for a quick snack, then saw a Walmart where I bought a small Sony radio so after all this fiddling around 2 hours had passed before I finally got on my way.

Sorry no photos as I was just speeding down the highway at the posted speed, of course.  I only made one stop for lunch and fuel and it was just pedal to the metal until I arrived at our checkpoint within 5 minutes of our agreed time, and Brent was already there waiting with his friend

   Meet Brent,    short for D.Brent Miller

He looks exactly as his blog photo (here) .   He was easy to spot as I recognized his Yellow

    Brent's Suzuki  V-strom DL650

Vstrom

I tried to nudge close to his bike for a photo opp

We wanted to have a beverage somewhere close and grabbed a table and chatted for a while about this and that.   Amazing how fast time goes when you are talking to someone with similar interests

Wished we had more time, or perhaps I should have stayed down here another day.  I had no idea we had been chatting for nearly 2 hours.  My plan was to be home by Friday evening.  As Mrs Skoot does not ride I  try to be home for the weekends so she is not alone, not that I think she misses me.  I try not to be selfish with my time so balance bike time with together time

It was time to say our goodbyes and we started suiting up

In a few moments we will all be going our separate ways and I am very thankful for the chance for us to meet

Brent,  thank you for taking to time for us to get together, although our time was short I feel that I have met an icon.

. . .  till we meet again

If you have a chance, go and visit Brent, say Hello, and read his articles HERE 

Lately I've been thinking

about my diet.  I have a sensitive stomach so I have been doing a bit of internet reading.  I know that if I don't eat regularly my stomach complains.  Also on the weekends I tend to not eat but then I get that fatigued feeling and light headed.  Sometimes while riding I get a dizzy feeling and I know that I have to stop somewhere and have something quick to eat.  I carry emergency candies in my top case so I can get a quick sugar fix.  I must be borderline diabetic so I have cut down on sugar intake.  I use sugar in my coffee so I only have one cup a day, instead of the 6-8 cups that I used to drink.   The rest of the day I just drink boiling water.

I also know that when I eat less meat, especially red meat I tend to feel better.  I love food but I have also tried to trim down the quantities that I consume, preferring more balanced meals that include more vegetables.  I have also found that smaller, more frequent meals makes me feel less bloated

I started to read food labels more carefully.   Many years ago I took a gourmet cooking class at night school and learned a few things that I quickly forgot.  Then I got into baking as a hobby, this was when I started to accumulate OUR kitchen appliances.  You know the Cuisinart, KitchenAid, blenders and other hand accessories to make the baking task easier, like the microplaner, stainless whisks.   So in OUR kitchen we have a lot of OUR equipment to use.

It all started with Cream Puffs.   We have a well known French Bakery which we used to purchase various pastries, and I would often go there on Saturday mornings to buy their cream puffs and most often they are sold out.  Sometimes I could buy 6, and other times only 1.  I have also walked away with NONE.   The lady said to me "why don't you order them ahead of time".  I thought for a moment and said to myself "how would I know a week ahead  if I wanted a cream puff".   This put me on the quest to make them myself and for a while our family always made a point to ask me to make some for our special dinners, you know, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.  Then it expanded to cheese cakes, pound cakes and after our dinner we would set up the dessert table.

I am a hobbyist, whether it be remote controlled cars, remote control airplanes or developing photos in a wet darkroom with enlargers and chemicals . . . to me it is the challenge of learning how to do things and understand the procedures.

Last week I was looking at some recipes that I wanted to try out and I had no idea where I would be able to find the ingredients I needed.   Last Saturday I made my way to this store and spent some time wandering around the aisles, looking at labels and seeing what was available.  It's amazing !   Stuff that I never knew existed.

I'm still a bit confused as to what is actually Vegan, and whether Organic is Vegan or not and how gluten-free relates to all of this.  I was hoping that one day I could get some first hand advice from someone who knows.

I decided to take a simple recipe and produce a batch of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.   I purchased Earth Balance Vegan Margarine, a package of Whole Spelt Flour, and a box of Ener-G non-dairy eggs with Carob chips.

Then disaster . . .

The head release on OUR KitchenAid Mixer would not release so I couldn't swing the head UP.  I didn't want to force it too much but I was getting a bit frustrated, so I dug out my screwdriver and took it apart

The lever on the right is attached to that cam with that wire connector and it wouldn't move, so I used the screwdriver to gently nudge it

You have to move the head UP to attach the stainless bowl to the mixing stand, and also to change the mixer attachments

That's better, now I can proceed to mix my ingredients

I'm hoping that the brown & white sugar is Vegan.  I cut down the sugar content a bit to make the cookies less sweet.  I have made the non-Vegan version many times.   When I first try any recipe I follow the quantities precisely, then I modify it to my preferences.

This is the first time I have tried Spelt flour

The texture of the batter seems a bit drier than what I am used to, perhaps because I normally use butter instead of Earth Balance

I didn't want to mix the spelt too much but I nearly forgot to add the carobs

I wasn't sure how high it would rise so I used an ice cream scooper, made little balls and just spaced them out on my cookie sheet

I normally don't "stack" my cookies on different levels but this oven is convection so I thought that the air would be fan circulated

8 minutes later at 350°F and they looked ready

They were too delicate to remove so I had to let them air cool for a while

and later I was able to use my metal spatula to place them on my cooling racks

Mmmm, my first attempt at Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies  . . .

Broken Wrist and 12 hours in Emergency

No, not my wrist but Mrs Skoot had a mishap on Saturday night.

It was Saturday night, we left home and headed out to Langley, BC which is a city about 1 hour east of Vancouver.  It took us nearly and hour and a half to go about 50 kms because of the heavy rain and horrendous traffic and also the closure of Hwy10.  

It was our annual Christmas dinner and awards banquent for our Club.   We arrived a bit late but soon our Buffet ham and turkey dinner was served, one table at a time.

I had a couple of helpings and then a few plates of dessert.  Soon the tables were cleared and the DJ was getting the turntables ready and the dancing started.   We were dancing the night away with our friends and Mrs Skoot lost her balance and fell.   Someone caught her head so it didn't hit the wall, but when she put her hand down to break her fall, it must have been on the wrong angle . . .

We were on the East side of Langley and the closest Hospital was the Langley Memorial on Fraser Highway near 222nd Street.  We waited and waited and eventually we got a bed and a nice nurse.  They took X-rays and sure enough her right wrist was broken.   The decided to do the procedure right away and put her under sedation.   They had to assemble their crew of 4 and a new magnetic scanner C arm machine (whatever they called it)  

I'm squeemish so I stayed out of their way across the hallway.  I imagine this procedure is painful so they put the patients "out".   This machine is like a sort of x-ray machine and you can see your bones on the laptop monitor.   The Doctor can move the bones back into position by looking at the screen and when finished they put your cast on, to keep the bones in place.

The patient (Ms Skoot) is put on intravenous to "put you out" and when finished they allow and hour or two  to "wake up".   Then when you are awake, they take another X-ray to make sure all is well.   So we left our party early, arrived at the hospital just after 9pm and we were released around 2:30 am in the morning, plus another hour drive back to Vancouver, so it was a very late night.  I didn't get to close my eyes until after 4 am.

The next morning (this morning, Sunday) came early.  I got up around 8am but didn't get up until 11.   The first order of the day was to get our pain killer prescription filled and have a quick bite to eat.   Mrs Skoot was on pain killers but her hand didn't look good.  It was badly swollen and black and blue looking.   After lunch we decided to go to Emergency again.   This time we chose UBC: University of BC, Urgent Care Facility.   We arrived around 2pm and were told there was a 2 hour waiting line. 

After waiting for around 4 hours we finally got to see Dr Merkel, who was also the one who saw our Grand daughter last Friday afternoon when she got her cast for a fractured arm whilst playing soccer

It seems that Mrs Skoot's wrist had swollen inside the cast which didn't expand causing a blood constriction.  They had to remove the cast, do another X-ray and then put on a shorter splint type cast in case of swelling

It's amazing how hard it is to remove the cast.   He needed a hand saw and these special scissors, and that spreader tool

Eventually he got it off

We had to sit around for another hour or so to let the swelling go down.  And also to have them take another  X-ray to make sure all was in alignment.   Eventually we were allowed to go home

We arrived just after 2pm and got home just after 8pm, so over two days we had been in two different Hospitals for a total of around 12 hours.

Without the use of her right hand guess who has to: cook the meals, wash the dishes, tie her shoe laces ?   The thought of doing all this just overwhelms me . . .

Granddaughter like Grandmother . . .  must run in the family

Memories from July, 2010

I was looking through some of my hard drives and I came across some snapshots from my previous trip to Oregon during July 2010 .  Nothing fancy, just memories of good times . . .

Mr Conchscooter (Michael) from Key West Florida meeting Richard from Fairbanks Alaska
in Bend, Oregon        July, 2010          (notice Richard's Crocs©)

Troubadour (Brad) and Trobairitz (Brandy), notice their previous bikes
Triumph America and Suzuki TU250

Trobairitz (Brandy) at Mt Washington viewpoint

Troubadour's Triumph America

Trobairitz'  Suzuki TU250

Sonja, Brandy, Brad, Kari, Ron & Bob           Part of the iMBC2010  blogger's convention Bend, Oregon

(Click their names for links to their Blogs)

Before I could park my car

I had to move my bikes out of my teeny weenie garage

I normally have to park my bike outside but during construction I was able to squeeze them into this tight space.  This is usually where I park my 'Vette during the Winter.  I had to move them somewhere else before I could get my car into this space and I have very little maneuvering room

I could not park them in my back yard due to the muddy sand but I had to move them somewhere out of the way to make room.  Here is my Vstrom, I have already moved Nu2Me to a temporary parking spot.  The only other alternative was to move them out onto the street where they would have to sit in the rain for a day.

With my bikes out of the way, I spent another couple of hours cleaning the space up to make room.  There is little margin of error.  It is a narrow space and I only have an extra inch on both sides of the mirrors

I had wanted to lower the top but it was still wet from the day before, but I loosened the header to take the stress off the rubber seals

Older houses have narrow parking spots.  This area is not heated but attached to the main house, so there is no danger of freezing.   I store the car with a battery maintainer connected.  I have to make sure I approach the entrance at the correct angle and hug the right side so I can get out of the car

Another successful parking operation.   The car is parked here within an alarmed environment for half the year.   It is driven out in the Spring and insured for the summer months.  It is returned to hibernation in the Fall, usually October.   In the summer while insured it remains parked outside under the carport

On Saturday I moved my bikes over to our project house where they remained until Sunday.  After I parked the 'Vette I had to move them back to the carport

I moved Nu2Me first, then my Vstrom over the slippery sandy ground

Phase two is completed.  My 'Vette is parked for the Winter, and my bikes are here under the carport and both are plugged into their own battery tenders.

I'm so happy I'm clicking my heels . . .