New time zone? Game Day & Pisgah

Posted on October 14, 2024

This weekend I think I moved to Eastern Standard Time as Jonah and I got up at 2:00 am to get to ESPN’s “College Game Day” broadcast, which was held on the UO campus. Then the next day, I got up early again to head back to Mt. Pisgah for my long run. Yes, I am tired.

Game Day in the early hours

That is the band way back there near the Lillis College of Business.

We were near the front of one of the side-stages. Here they are talking with the UO head coach, Dan Lanning. We both found it fascinating to watch how everything was coordinated and timed. The segments shown on TV gave the people a break and the support staff all kept things rolling along.

A couple of Duck fans.

On Sunday I ran up to the top of Mt. Pisgah, then looped down the back side and finally went back to the top before going down again. It was a beautiful Fall morning! This is from the summit, looking west back towards town.

Work has been done to improve the trails on the back side of the park, including this section I was on for the first time. The new sections are nice and smooth which makes it easy for anyone to walk, which is always nice.

An orange sunrise due to wildfire smoke from the east. We still have not had good rainfall for several days yet. I’m pining for it as it feeds me. Plus this might be one of the latest years in which this has happened, too.

This is heading back up to the top.

Categories: campus, current events, eugene, fall, running, seasons

Something old, something new

Posted on October 9, 2024

An old photo of my mom, Clara Josephine Roach, from probably 1945 or so. She was a beautiful young woman. I’ve been helping out Nora’s softball team lately by selling tickets to other sporting events at the high school and leaves are changing ’round here. Lovely in all the best ways.

Mom, on my work bulletin board.

Ticket sales. When folks ask what constitutes a “Senior Citizen,” my response is that the answer lies in the hair color. It gets a laugh and they get in free to boot. 😉

One of my favorite campus trees, outside of Friendly Hall. Autumn is a stunner.

Categories: campus, fall, family, nora, softball

An early October Sunday

Posted on October 8, 2024

Spent the morning running out at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, one of my favorite places. I ran 8.2 miles with 2100 feet of elevation gain (and loss) over two hours. There was fog in the lowlands starting before dark, but the top was clear, and the sunrise was beautiful. I did a “double summit,” where I ran down the backside and back up to the top before finally descending to the car. Then Jonah and I went to a free U of O exhibition baseball game: nice day and a lovely Fall.

Headlamp in the fog

Sunrise with the Oregon Cascade range in the distance.

A bit later, heading down the back side of Mt. Pisgah. It was a quiet, cool, and beautiful morning to be out.

Heading back up to the top with the sunrise turning the hill side salmon pink.

The light and shadows were lovely.

Second summit. The obelisk at the top is a 3-dimensional map of the mountains to the east. The smily face is from the 70s. Just kidding.

We heard one of my favorite national athems at the exhibition game, the Canadian National Anthem. The team is a travel team that comes down to play several games with colleges in the northwest.

With the change in conferences this year, the baseballs now have the Big Ten logo rather than the Pac-12 one they once had.

Categories: baseball, eugene, running, uo

West of the sunrise & Leading Lines

Posted on October 4, 2024

Here are a few photos from this morning . . .I stopped by the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact to grab a coffee on my way to work and decided to take the sky bridge from the Knight Campus to the main campus. The sun was rising and the light was lovely. Plus a memory from high school photography: leading lines.

West of the sunrise, looking east from the skybridge. Knight Campus is the glass building on the left and Franklin Boulevard is below.

The giant oak tree sits on the north edge of campus with the University of Oregon sign near one of the entrances.

Looking back towards Knight Campus from the sky bridge. Yep, leading lines. As I took this photo, a host of memories came back. . .

Categories: campus, oregon, uo

Felling and bucking

Posted on September 27, 2024

Last weekend, I went to my friend Tom’s place to fell and buck up a Douglas Fir tree that he needed to have taken down on his property in the Coast Range. It was tough work. We figured out that the tree was about 35 to 40 years old. The wood will be used to create its second warmth after the physical labor created the first warming of our bodies.

Preparations are underway

It’s down. Tom’s cutting rounds out that we’ll roll down the hill and then we’ll take care of the limbs

Heavy rounds. But they roll. 🙂

Limbs are coming off. We loaded a bunch up and hauled them off to the woods.

Not quite done, but done for the day. A beer was had on the porch after this. Always good to spend time with Tom . . .

Categories: current events, fall, friends, nature, oregon