Billboard, car dealer, $70 laptop, time lapse cam, dramatic sunsets, electronics, Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, candy, English as second language, green duct tape, aquarium work, fields of clover, Bosemani Rainbowfish, truck bike rack, home flood lights, new hat/ruined hat, Fernhill Wetlands, much green spray paint, home removal of rocks, re-potting, Arizona, people who hate white people, TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR, return to swimming, still no meat/cheese, more home work, Verboort cemetery, big green light, return to guitar, micro fluorescent fixtures, coins, coin cases, candlesticks, Dell netbook, music gear, Cornelius car wreck(s), and more.

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This Gigantic billboard truck parked in front of my business a couple of times while the driver hung out forever at restaurant next door. I tried to be patient and nice, but eventually I got tired of it blocking me and called the number on the truck. A guy answered in New Jersey or somewhere like that. He was nice and told me he would have the driver not park there any more. It did not work. The next time I talked nicely to the driver and asked him to not park there anymore. He said he would move it, but, “Somebody gets pissed no matter where I park it.” Well what does he expect?

 

For those of you keeping track, that building next door had been vacant and bright yellow since before I moved my business here. The car dealer from down the street, (actually they sell trucks almost exclusively) moved in and did a great job fixing up the place. The new paint looks great, and here they were adding more signs. Since these old photos they have made much more progress. I will try to catch up soon.

 

Laptop I bought for $70 and fixed up to use on coffee table at home so my smaller one can be in bedroom. It is scratched up on the outside and missing one key (unimportant one like left alt and still works anyway) but screen is beautiful. Hardly worked due to tons of spyware, broken files, etc. Still had recovery on drive partition so I ran it and did the 80 updates or so to catch it up. Now I have a 17″ laptop for $70 and a day of labor. Older, same age as my smaller one, but fine for web browsing.

(Update: I have been having SERIOUS problems with that damn laptop lately, even after ANOTHER windows re-install)

 

A while back on rare day off I got ladder and razorblade out to start getting paint and other stuff off outside of windows at my house. I still have much more to do. Never enough time.

 

Where I live in Clark Historic District in Forest Grove. It is beautiful and peaceful.

 

Replacement Brinno Gardenwatch Cam (time lapse) to replace one that died as soon as I got it. I WILL take more videos with it. The weather has been terrible.

 

On my way home from work one day. You must understand how rare it is to see sky here.

 

From my front porch.

 

Subs and electronics at work.

 

I think I went up to the roof of my business to get the time lapse camera down, and LOOK at the sky.

 

Algae growing strong in my aquarium a while back.

 

I took a time lapse video at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve, south of Hillsboro.

“Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve is a 725-acre wildlife preserve located within the city limits of Hillsboro, Oregon. The Preserve is a tranquil sanctuary for both people and animals. The quiet open waters, rolling meadows and upland ash and fir woods are home to thousands of ducks and geese, deer, otters, beavers, herons and eagles.”

I left the camera on a tripod way back in some bushes where it was highly unlikely anyone would go. I can’t remember why I didn’t use the resulting video. I was just learning and practicing anyway. These photos are from the day I put the camera there. I left it for 2 days.

 

Again showing the difference between letting your camera make the exposure decisions in extreme lighting situations, and doing it yourself.

 

All of those building there are for the water treatment plant (Clean Water Services). Your tax dollars at work.

 

I finally put candy back in the machines here at work. I was just thinking looking at these that I will have to find something besides M&Ms next time to avoid the milk in them. Yes, I am working on vegan. No I am not here to talk about it. Candy was gone for many months due to ants, and Mexican “parents” who let their kids leave half eaten candy all over the place in my store. Gross. Just gross.

 

Back at Jackson Bottom a couple of days later to retrieve my camera.

 

Look, a rainbow.

 

A while back I decided to print out information about the language classes they offer right down the street at the “centro cultural”, to offer people who try to talk to me but don’t know any English. One day shortly after that a middle-aged Mexican guy was getting frustrated (so was I) trying to ask me a bunch of questions. I handed him one of the print-outs. He nodded politely. Then his friend grabbed the papers, read it, and said, “What are you trying to say!? That he should learn English!?” I said, of course. He said, “FUCK YOU YOU LITTLE FAGGOT MOTHERFUCKER!!! I SHOULD BEAT YOUR FUCKING ASS DOWN RIGHT WHERE YOU STAND YOU FUCKING LITTLE COCKSUCKER!!!” After I told him I would call the police if he did not leave, he threatened to beat me to death as soon as he saw me outside of work. Welcome to a typical day in the life of Steven Morrisroe, the same guy who got all giddy about a rainbow above this section. If you wonder why I am volunteering to build a moat, wall, electric fence, great wall between here and Mexico, wonder no more.

 

After the first time in the field (literally) I decided the tripod needed some camouflage, and also jumped at the chance to play with a bunch of duct tape. I had a lot of fun doing that. I figured it was then ready to go with just one last piece over the orange power button.

 

My tank with too much algae and very dirty gravel and glass.

 

After a gravel vacuuming and some manual algae removal. That was my last time dealing with those old plants. The plastic had decayed over last few years and all were falling apart at the same time. I had to replace them all soon after.

 

I was getting the time lapse camera ready for a different wetlands where I didn’t need the tripod. The camera comes with a stake that comes apart in sections. Of course THAT needed to be green too. More tape.

 

In spring here there are fields all over the place here that look like that. It is gorgeous. I think it is some kind of clover. If someone actually knows, please correct me.

 

Somewhere around the edge of town here.

 

Why these extra tank photos, I do not know. They were just there.

 

It was the day i got the new Bosemani Rainbowfish. I got 3 pairs, 3 male 3 female. As usual the males are gorgeous and the females not so much. Seen here they were stressed and very young, hence almost no color. Even the next day they were looking beautiful. They have already grown quite a bit since then.

 

When the males are mature they will look like this:

 

I have wanted a nice trailer hitch bike rack for my truck since last summer, but never have the money for it. That one came from our other shop where they got it used for very not much money. Thanks to my dad for bringing it over. It does a better job of holding bikes (well, just mine for now until i find someone to ride with) than my old one. It also tilts away to let me open the tailgate and used a threaded bolt instead of a pin so the rack is not loose.

 

At home where I park it was always pitch black at night. I finally put some motion floods up. It is way better now and will hopefully also deter thieves.

 

A new bracelet rack for work.

 

My new adventure (sun) hat that almost was. I spent a long time picking it out online. I took it in my backpack, rolled up once, but hadn’t worn it yet. BECAUSE THE SUN NEVER CAME OUT. When I took it out it was kind of smashed so I put it in the dryer to “fluff it up and make it pliable”. DO NOT put hats like that in a dryer, I found out. It was totally ruined. The brim shrunk up and the hat now looks like a wadded up piece of paper. It is ok though, eventually I got a better hat anyway, which I will be very careful with.

 

Out at Fernhill Wetlands a while back at the temporary (dries up in summer) little side pond where I did another time lapse test video. The camera worked fine, but the birds have been few and late this year so the video was boring. I erased it.

 

While I was there retrieving my camera, I took some time to appreciate the grass and birds. I like grasses. I had to crouch in the grass in those spots a very long time holding the camera before the parent birds would come back. It took patience. It was very peaceful and beautiful there.

 

That is some biologically rich water. Back then there were millions of minnow in there in big swirling schools. At certain time of year the adults (large carp or something) are rolling around in the grass at the edges of the big pond laying eggs and fertilizing them.

 

Back again to my temporary obsession with getting the correct color of green for camera camouflage. In the photos with the can you can see the two previous colors I did not like, and the one I changed to.

 

While I was out there, I took these of the big bush my the dumpster here. There is great beauty anywhere biology is active. Also, my trusty Panasonic LX3 takes great macro shots.

 

 

Yard work on a Sunday long ago. I hardly get any time off, so I did all I could that day. I worked outside ALL day without stopping and still only got a start on what needed to be done. I REALLY need some help in my life.

 

Scraping and diggin all those lawnmower destroying rocks out of the ground was not fun, but I suppose it was good exercise. It took a WHILE.

 

I also pulled all the plastic out from under the bark dust around the recent trees and plants (plants mostly killed by extra long winter) and put the bark back. The plastic was done improperly, was showing all over, and looked like hell. I will get that are replanted and looking good.

 

And then there is my little side yard. This is a while back and believe it or not, when I got to it again more recently the grass and weeds were WAY taller than you see here. After the day in these photos when I just carved out around a few things a little, it rained for weeks thereafter and things grew like crazy. A week or two ago when I finally cut it all down (took half a day) the weeds were all at least 4 feet tall and vines had grown all up onto the house and under siding. Not good. One plant was 7-8 feet tall. Things grow VERY well here in north Oregon.

 

That day I also repotted a few of my container plants. it was overdue. I did more recently and have more left to go.

 

A different day I had tried to bend a piece of warped plastic fence back in place (because someone is a cheap bastard and didn’t buy some WOOD -not me) and it broke off. Lame. So I thought I would be clever and use epoxy to put it back. I got it back in place, BUT the epoxy is all over and obvious. Now I must either find a piece of that crap recycled plastic crap or paint the whole fence.

 

That jade plant started out ad a fallen off little twig of a branch from my giant indoor jade plant. I planted it in that pot and took care of it for a while. That day it was ready to give to my friend Jonna. Plants are cool like that.

 

Repotting… or Re-potting as spell check always tries to make me.

 

I carved out around my giant sequoias a bit. At least two of them are finally going to get planted.

 

I don’t know what that plant on the left is, but it eventually got to be at least 7 feet tall. That grass next to it got as tall as me.

 

I haven’t decided if I will put that rhododendron in a half barrel or the ground.

 

That satellite dish on my roof bugs me. I have since pulled all the cables off the house for it, but need a taller ladder to get on the roof. I have one here at work.

 

Back out front. Sorry for the blurry photos. It was getting dim out. I ran out of time to remove all those rocks. They stayed there for a week, until the next Sunday I had off. I am sure people in the neighborhood loved that. Hi, kitty. The cat has not been coming around lately. I miss it. It is around though, someone saw it.

 

One day at work I decided to find a HIGH resolution American flag online and print it out, because there are too many people in Cornelius who hate white people, and this country and want this to be the new Mexico. I want to go to the local La Raza festivities about as much as blacks to a Clan rally. People need to chill out with the racial pride crap and start practicing some HUMAN pride instead.

Anyway, in the process of printing that flag I realized photo paper goes into an HP printer the opposite side up as my Canon. Here you see the result of a ton of expensive ink on the wrong side of paper. I tried very hard to avoid saying “Apparently these colors DO run” but I was unsuccessful.

 

These photos make me sigh every time I see them. These are from MAY. LOOK how hard it was raining. That is a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR. You really must see the photos full size to appreciate how hard it was raining in LATE SPRING.

 

Look at the water gushing UP from the drains. But at least it was a WARM rain, right? NOPE.

 

My newly medium greened-up time lapse camera watching snails swarm around in my tank. Gotta keep myself busy while stuck in here alone for eternity, especially when with biblical rain outside.

 

I printed those myself. I was proud as they came out pretty good. I have since removed the fairus.org one because I printed something I like more and put it in a different window. The “Support Arizona” sign probably pissed off a few people, but only one person said anything and he has an IQ near that of my scrotum so I was not concerned. Many of the people you might think would be offended, are in fact illiterate, not to mention ignorant of current events, and so have no idea.

 

This boring looking photo makes me smile, as it represents my return to SWIMMING LAPS FOR FITNESS for the first time since somewhere around 6th grade. Hooray for me. I LOVE the water. I canceled my gym membership and switched to SHARC in Hillsboro. They have weight machines, treadmills, and classes just like my gym, but the cost is way lower, the hours longer, and they have POOLS. I can swim laps any day of week before work. I could not be happier about that.

 

One day I decided to bring that grill home from work, just because it was there. I used it once. That is not meat, and the white and yellow are not cheese.

 

More glass pendants. They are selling pretty well.

 

Healthy breakfast. I am eating better than ever in my life.

 

The first iPhone ever in my store.

 

The next Sunday I finally got all those thousands of rocks off the sidewalk.

 

Swirly piece of glass, meant to be a pendant but hangs crooked. Now it is here in front of me with other tiny happy glass things.

 

A cemetery near here, over by Verboort. I like to explore.

 

Notice almost end of may and all the photos are still cloudy.

 

I bought a cheap happy cozy paper light thing for over my breakfast nook table. It is really the color as seen in the dark photos, you just can’t take a balanced photo with something bright like that.

 

Here is another big thing for me lately. I am working on learning to play guitar after giving it up ages ago. I have one at work and one at home (I sell them so it cost me nothing).

 

Game systems at work. (or really just resting on the shelves)

 

I finally bought micro fluorescent fixtures for the oak display case. Now I just need the money to buy a new top sheet of glass for it.

 

I bought a TON of proof and mint sets from a couple people and also lots of miscellaneous coins. I still have many more to get out. Also, quite a few of those sets have since sold.

 

Putting coins in the air-tite cases I bought for them.

 

I really liked those clear/blue candlesticks, and took them home. Can’t beat nice items like that for $10.

 

Another nice Dell netbook I bought, restored, sold. I had a major roadblock for a while but I figured it out eventually.

 

Some things I have sold, large DJ speakers, drums, guitars… and a surround system going out for sale.

 

A pre-police-arrival car wreck I saw one day when I went to the ATM one day here in Cornelius. There was all SORTS of stupidity going on there. I would not know where to begin. Let’s just say you should not feel safe with people like them on the road.

 

And finally, the box arrived with new currency and coin holders because putting those others out I realized I needed way more and more sizes. Ok. Now that I have almost finished this post from MAY and it is now JULY and I have 5 other posts to do I will move on. This post took ages. Thanks for looking.

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< OK, so I misplaced these photos from May in the wrong folder until after the post was finished. These were all taken on about the last day in May around Forest Grove, Oregon, where I live. I thought you might like to see how beautiful it is here, coming into June. Some (many) places are not so lush and gorgeous.