Fall/winter 2004 pictures

These are some random pictures, starting September 2004. Click on any of these pictures to see larger versions.

Sunday 24-Oct-2004: John at Athan's birthday party at the ice rink.

Sunday 31-Oct-2004: Halloween, trick or treating in Los Gatos. John is supposed to be Barney, the purple dinosaur.

Saturday 4-Dec-2004: A big Madrone tree fell down on the road near Derek's house. First picture is Ralph and Derek cutting up the trunk; second picture is John and Linda helping Terry run the crown through the chipper.

Sunday 5-Dec-2004: John's first piano recital, with his class. The third and fourth picture are John's classmate Sophia.

Thursday 9-Dec-2004: Getting the Christmas tree from the forest. It was cut near our driveway. Even though it has never been trimmed or shorn, it is surprisingly dense. The second and third picture are from Friday, after it has been decorated.

Thursday 23-Dec-2004: Picnic at Agate beach on the Oregon coast:

Saturday 25-Dec-2004: Unpacking Christmas presents:

Thursday 30-Dec-2004: Overnight, we had heavy rain, and high winds (up to about 61 mph = 98 km/h). The big oak at the end of the paved parking area in front of the house fell down, and fell on the truck. Fortunately, it did not damage the water suppply pumps and tanks which are right there (a smaller branch, about 8"=20cm diameter actually hit the hydrant, but the hydrant stood up to it). We think the truck will be fixable. For scale: John is on the left edge (behind the root) of the last picture; he is 43"=1.09m tall. The two trunks of the oak are about 2'=60cm diameter, and the stump is about 5'=1.5m diameter.

For comparison, here are two old pictures of the same tree. The first one is from summer 1997, before the house construction was even started, with Byington Vineyard in the background. The second one is from October 1998, just as the house was getting finished. It is the forked tree to the right of the green port-a-potty.