We live in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. We are also above 1000′ elevation. Our weather patterns differ from what happens in the valley. We average about 6° colder than our closest city and get more wind & rain.

Rain. That’s what I want to know. How much rain do we get. It seems like a lot. Some days it totally bums me out, but I love how lush and green the forest we call home is, so I’ll tolerate it.

Portland receives an average of 35″ – 40″ of rain annually. Temperate rain forests receive 55″ or more of rain. I’m going to take a wild guess and say we typically reach those 55″. A few hours north of us is the Olympic National Park in Washington. They get 140″+ of rain annually. I’m also going to take a guess and say we don’t get quite that much. My guesstimate is we will get somewhere between 60″ and 80″ of rain in 2017.

Farmer John put up a new weather station the evening of December 31st, so we were ready to start the new year collecting data. Woop, woop!

Here is what we have so far:

2017 Rainfall

2017 Rain Total: 154.63″

January: 12.12″ ( +22.5″ snow)
February: 30.18″ (+12.75″ snow)
March: 28.49″ (+7.5″ snow)
April: 15.45″
May: 7.16″
June: 3.28″
July: 0.01″
August: 0.34″
September: 5.02″
October: 15.06″
November: 25.54″
December: 11.98″ (+2.5″ snow)

January 2018 update: Apparently I was off on my guesstimate – by nearly half. We ended up with 154″ of rain in 2017. I knew we got a lot, but I didn’t know it would be that much. Maybe it was a really wet year? I will be keeping track in 2018 to compare.

Save

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Who knew I was going to become a runner? I certainly didn’t.

However, I found that it works for my lifestyle.

I don’t love the training, but I really enjoy the run events.

I’m not fast, but I finish.

It is rewarding. I feel good. I feel accomplished.

Somewhere around the beginning of my running adventure I learned about the Tinker Bell Half Marathon in Disneyland. Goal.

That became my goal and sole purpose for hitting the pavement multiple times a week.

Finishing the half marathon was the end result, but there many events leading up to it. I want to remember it all. So, I created a photo book.

DESIGNING THE PAGES

The various photo book company’s have software to design a book. The ones I have used work just fine. However, you are limited to their designs and clip art. I much prefer the freedom of designing the pages in Photoshop with  design elements I choose.

I create a page in Photoshop the exact size my printed photo book pages will be. For example, this is a 12″x12″ book, so I made my pages 12″x12″. When designing the page, I keep a 1/2″ border around all edges blank to allow for printing and trimming variances.

The finished page is saved as a .jpg. I upload all the jpegs to the photo book company website just as you would any photo. Then when I set up the pages in their software I’m only adding one “photo” per page.

I use Shutterfly most often when making photo books. I choose their hard cover option because I love having my own special photo fill the entire front of the book.

The basics of my layouts:
• Background color spread across both pages
• Two complimentary colors shown as torn paper on both pages
• Chevron border along the bottom
• Event and distance tags at upper left
• One rectangle frame & one square frame on left
• Collage of photos to fill in the rest of the left page
• Stats recorded on the right page
• If there was a medal given, a photo of the medal is placed on the far right
• Blank space left to place bib once the book is printed

I made a Bib & Bling Board awhile ago, but I didn’t realize how quickly it would fill up. The hooks holding the bibs are almost full. So, when designing this book I purposely left blank spaces to attach the bibs right into the book. That freed up space on those hooks and adds a special touch to the book. I used photo tape to adhere the bibs.

2 Computer Designed Images Saved as JPG’s

Printed Version of the Pages with Bib Attached

For this book, I used my own design elements – most are available on Etsy.

Something to be aware of:
When you receive your printed book it is bound so it lays nice and flat. Adding the race bibs to the pages creates thickness that the binding hasn’t accounted for. In my case, it’s not a huge difference and I’m not worried about it. However, it is something to keep in mind and you definitely don’t want to add more to your pages than is necessary.

GALLERY OF PAGES

Cover Page

My first race event: The Hippie Chick Quarter Marathon

The Color Vibe was my first color run. I loved it because it was just plain fun, but also because I did it with my sister & my very best friends.

My first night run: the Neon Run. I didn’t do another night run until over two years later in Vegas. I’ll admit, I’m more of a morning run type of person.

The Shamrock Run was special because the hubby and I did it together. Getting out just the two of us is a rare treat.

I did talk him into doing the Warrior Dash with me, too. That’s the last event we have done together. I had intentions of doing the Star Wars 5K with him and the kids. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out.

The big event: my first half marathon!

Back Cover

I’m thrilled with the way this book turned out.

Up next: Road to a Marathon. That’s right – I signed up for my first marathon in October. Eek! I’m excited and feel this is the right time to go for it. However, I’m so scared I just want to cry.

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About one year ago I came up with the idea to open an etsy shop selling digital graphics. Near the end of summer, fears set aside, I opened the shop. Six months later I get to celebrate 100 sales in my shop. Amazing! And, thank you!

I have been a stay at home mom for the past 13 years. Last year, for the first time, all 3 of my kids went to public school, giving me a few hours each day to myself. It was time to put that graphic design degree I earned to work. Doing something I enjoy outside of mom stuff has been wonderful. And, earning a few bucks is rewarding in its own way. So, thanks again to everyone for supporting my small business.

Photo Booth Props

My etsy shop primarily sells photo booth props at the moment, which I love. We live in a stressful world, and I love that people can let loose and enjoy their friends & family using props made to celebrate life’s milestone’s. Click here to download snowman props for free.

Thank You Freebie

My other favorite type of item at Ridgetop Digital Shop are tags. They come with a digital png file for digital scrapbooking or journaling and also a printable sheet for other crafting or party needs.

As a thank you for a great first 6 months here is a printable sheet of my Fresh Eggs tags. They are primarily used for placing on egg cartons when selling your own eggs, but also look great added to spring craft projects.

Thank You Coupon Code

As another thank you here is a coupon code good for $2.00 off anything more than $2.50 in my shop.

————————————————————————

coupon code:
CELEBRATING100
expires March 31, 2016

————————————————————————

How to Apply Coupon Code:
1. Once you add an item to your cart, click apply shop coupon code above Item total.
2. Enter CELEBRATING100 and click Apply
3. The coupon discount will adjust your order total

Etsy Affiliate Link

If you have been wanting to open an etsy shop, here is an incentive to do so. Clicking this link and opening your shop will earn us both 40 free listings.

Here’s to another hundred sales!

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The weather forecast is getting predictable. Rain. Followed by rain. And more rain.

This December is officially the wettest month in 75 years. That’s sayin’ a lot since we live in Oregon. And, the month isn’t even over yet. We still have over a week left in December.

After such a dry summer, a little rain is nice. But, we’ve had enough now. I’d like at least a day or two of feeding the critters without coming back in looking and feeling like a drowned rat.

I took a screen shot of the forecast pinpointed at our house about a week into the rainy days. Some days the rain has been accentuated with wind. Lots of wind. Thankfully, our power has only gone out once during this crazy weather.

We’ve had numerous flood watches and warnings, as well. It’s been rough for many people due to flooding. Our friend’s driveway had water knee deep. Since we are near the top of a ridge, flooding at our home isn’t a problem. Our only issue is getting to town sometimes when there is flooding across the road in the lower areas coming off our hill.

For three weeks now this has been the view out our kitchen window.

The little birds search for food even in the downpours.
Left: Dark-eyed Junco
Right: Song Sparrow

The rain hasn’t seemed to bother the ducks much. But, I wonder if they’ve had to spend more time preening to stay dry. Ducks have a gland that produces oil. They rub the oil over their feathers for a waterproof effect.

Our ducks have spent a lot of time lately preening, bathing and drinking the water collecting on our new patio.

Tonight’s forecast includes a Winter Storm Warning. We’re in an iffy zone weather wise. We could get 1 – 2 feet of snow, or we could get nothin’. It would be awesome, though, if it actually did snow on Christmas. We don’t get many white Christmas’s around here.

I’m not really complaining about all the exciting weather we’ve been having. Thankfully, we’ve had very few problems. I’m simply getting tired of the wet gloominess day after day.

The post Dreary December 2015 appeared first on .

I have a couple friends that I’ve been friends with since high school. This year, two of them have daughters graduating high school. High school! That just seems impossible.

One of the girls is really active in FFA. After State Fair, when her animals were looking their best, she asked me to take photos of her and her 4 legged friends. She shows sheep, goats & dairy cows.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I love that in this high tech world she has a passion for agriculture & animals. I know she’s going to go on to do great things.

The post 2015 Senior Pictures appeared first on .

Most of August was warm, dry & uneventful. However, one night there was a fantastic lightning show that I really could have enjoyed had I not been so nervous about the trees around our house catching on fire. Here in the PNW we get thunder & lightning. But no real great show. It lasts a few minutes and moves on. This time it went on strike after strike for a couple hours straight. I spent those couple hours in awe of nature’s wonders, but also running through my mind the course of events that needed to happen when/if I notice something catch fire. Thankfully, there wasn’t a fire.

The post Summer Lightning appeared first on .

I didn’t name this winter weather event. The media has dubbed these last few days as Snowpocalypse 2014. Geesh.

Why? Because throughout the Willamette Valley down to Salem, and even parts of the coast got 6+ inches of snow & freezing rain. That’s rare. We will get that much at our house usually a couple times a year. But, we are at a higher elevation. All the schools were closed on Friday. An alert was sent out to people’s phones this morning about not driving because of the icy conditions. And, most schools are staying closed tomorrow. I have heard the roads have been treacherous. Personally, I haven’t gone anywhere to find out for myself. All our weekend activities were canceled, so we’ve been chillin’ at home. And, I’m loving it!

Thursday morning started like this:

Saturday afternoon looked like this.
Although this is plenty of snow, it’s not as much as I would have expected for it snowing most of the last 3 days. We ended up with a little over a foot. We were getting itty-bitty snowflakes. This made for fabulously powdery snow that didn’t accumulate too fast. Our high on Thursday was 16°. I’m guessing the colder weather caused smaller snowflakes.

Left: Our chocolate lab didn’t seem to mind the snow.
Right: Looking out a downstairs window. I dumped bird seed on our front porch railing. There have been 20-30 birds hanging out here most of the weekend.

Feeding ducks & chickens needs done in snow, too.

Top Left: The coops all nestled in their blanket of snow.
Top Right: The chickens staying as far away from the white stuff as they can.
Middle Left: Friday’s eggs. I’m happy the cold hasn’t turned off their egg production.
Bottom Right: The ducks didn’t seem to mind the snow.

Chicken coops at the break of dawn this morning.

It got above freezing this afternoon & the snow started to melt. It slid off the coop roof in such a cool way. Somehow it stayed in this curved position all by itself.

Left: Of course we played in the snow.
Right: Only on good snow days do we sled down this hill. We went both yesterday & today. The sledding was great!

Left: I asked my daughter if she wanted to dress up, wear makeup & I’d take her picture. She said yes, both today & yesterday. This girl likes dressing up, looks for any excuse to wear makeup & is a ham for the camera. This group of photos was her as a fairy under the alder arches Farmer John made a couple years ago.
Right: Another group of pics was her in my wedding dress out in the snow.

Warmer weather is here to stay, so the snow should melt fairly quickly & we will have to resume our never ending duties of work, school & kid activities.

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I’ve had my DSLR camera for over a year & haven’t tried taking star pics. A few nights in the last couple weeks I finally gave it a shot. I’m not sure I got exactly what I was looking for, but I did learn a few things. The most important thing I learned is that star photography is tricky. The shutter needs to be open awhile to let in enough light for the stars to show up. Yet, if you leave the shutter open longer than 10 – 15 seconds the stars are no longer round objects, but start to get streaky. And, not the cool streaky look from extremely long exposures, but an out of focus, not pretty photo. I took moon pics, too, & found them to be my fav’s.

I probably should have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning waiting for the moon to go down, so I could get the stars in complete darkness. I’ll have to try that next time.

Even if I didn’t get the shot I was looking for, the night sky has been beautiful this month.

The post August Night Sky appeared first on .

On June 5th, Venus crossed between the Sun & Earth for the last time in our lifetime. I was home that afternoon & was determined to snap a few pics. It turned out to be a huge pain. I thought ahead to pick up solar glasses so we could look at it, but I didn’t think about a way to photograph it. So, I googled it & found out I could use a No. 14 welders glass filter. Farmer John has a welders mask & he gave me the glass – although, it wasn’t quite a No. 14. It didn’t work great, but was better than nothing. I also tried holding the solar glasses up to the lens & trying out a variety of other items as filters. These pics are a mix-match of a variety of make shift filters & using both my cameras. I wish the sun was not just a bright white circle in the photos, but at least I can see the tiny black dot that is Venus.

THE SUN & VENUS

Top Left: 4:40 pm. This was the first photo where I was able to work out all the kinks & actually see Venus.
Top Right: 5:10 pm
Middle Left: 6:15 pm
Middle Right: 6:32 pm
Bottom Left: 8:38pm. Not only is Venus about to go passed the sun, the sun is about to go behind the mountain.
Bottom Right: 8:40 pm. The sun & Venus have now gone behind the trees. Show’s over.

MORE SKY PICS FROM THAT DAY

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