July is going to be busy...super busy.

Let's see, I still need to open 13 online stores, redo the inventory on all of them, release our software plug-in (ZenCart to Quicken), we have a major landscaping job that I need to organize and get the contracts ready for, the solicitations for NASA contracts comes out this month, so do the DOD solicitations and I'm selling the Z3.

Wow.

So I'll be a little busy. Just don't be offended if I don't call or update the blog much.

I think I have counted 4 different bears this year including a cute little cub. He looked like this guy but a little darker...



The fish and game guy came up on Saturday and I guess the area is just crazy with bears this year. Not a big deal, but you have to put the garbage in the garage.

At least we're only seeing black bears. Our friends the Browns' have a grizzly sow and cub near their house.

If you don't know who this guy is yet, you will.

He sang in the show Britain's Got Talent and the story, performance, and everything was something that American Idol will NEVER have.

Just watch...

PAUL POTTS

Even if you don't like opera, this clip will kick your butt -- even Simon Cowell's jaw dropped.

I even miss the little guy. He's so small you would almost think that you would just pass him over and forget about him. Just kidding, he leaves a big impression. Here's a picture of him sitting on the backhoe with Grandpa Dean this last weekend.

First I was tired, than I was sick, still am, but don't tell my wife because she has to go out of town -- and she probably won't read this until she's gone!

The real bad news though is that great-grandma Brown is nearing her end. She has stopped eating and drinking and is now slowly heading off into the sunset. Dean, Sally, Judy, Bella, and Logan are heading down there this afternoon. That leaves Anya and I here by ourselves. That should be fun though, Anya and I always have a good time. Anyway, that's why Judy is going out of town.

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Here are some pictures of our time on Whidby Island. We had a great time and the Buchbergers (our friend Celeste's family) are great people for letting us stay there. We didn't even ask, they offered - how cool is that! The house was AMAZING, right on the beach, very well kept up, and large enough that Tim and Tab were able to stay the night too. Coincidentally they were in Seattle and it worked out for them to come stay the night with us.

There are a lot more pictures in the gallery -- the link is on the right, but here are a couple of small pictures for now.

On the ferry to Whidby Island


On the beach right outside of the house.

The trip was great on all counts except for one...timing. I'm tired, but I've got a ton of pictures to post so I'll add those and more sometime today or tomorrow.

We're going on a road trip tomorrow. We'll leave right after church on Sunday and hopefully get to Seattle in the evening.

It will be a nice trip. I am going for a mini conference, but we will also get to stay on Whidby Island at our friend Celeste's parent's house (the Buchbergers). The Buchbergers are really nice people and it will be a lot of fun to stay there.

I'm really looking forward to it. It's on the beach in Puget Sound, so we'll be able to kick back and watch the orca. Very cool.

I'll post pictures.

This is a video by some former Vanguard students. Some were mine, others were not.

Either way it doesn't matter, it's stinkin hilarious. If you like The Office and the movie 300, you'll love this.

We still have not gone to sleep because we're running on a little bit of adrenalin. Not a big deal, just a little bit. We had another bear in our yard (it's been a year and a half since we photographed the last one) Nice size, not huge by any means, but not tiny.

I didn't want to scare him off at first because I wanted to video him, but after that was done I ran to the Brown apartment, got the hand gun and popped off a shot in front of him to scare him off.

Click below for the video.

A Bear in the Woods

And I almost forgot, this is the first time Judy edited video so she had lots of fun with MS Moviemaker.

Apparently my 8 year-old daughter has decided what she wants to be when she grows up (it's in her blog).

Maybe she can give me some career advice.