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Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

I have been coming here a lot lately. The admission fee is $3 but Tuesday's and Wednesday's it's free. The park is on SE 28th Ave & Woodstock Blvd, right by Reed College and the Eastmoreland Golf Course.



This is the entrance, it really is a beautiful park.



You can bring your dog too, it just has to be on a leash. We've brought Bob Barker up lots of times, but I can't find a picture of him.



Here are some pictures of the flowers.



The best time to come is late April to early May. The flowers will be I full bloom.






The lake at Eastmoreland Golf Course creates two ponds here and is a great places to see warer fowl.

Fun at the Oregon Zoo

It's spring time and I thought it would be a good time to check out the Oregon Zoo. Every second Tuesday of the month the admission charged is just $2. If you ride the MAX, it's $1.50 off, so it's just $.50, it's a hell of a deal and we went in April and May. This stuffed bear was in front of the gift shop. My mother gave it a hug.





The elephants were great as always. There's some programs where the elephants paint, and they sell the painting for fundrasing.





We have a baby elephant too, I think the Oregon Zoo has some of the highest birth rates among elephants.






The cats were great. The lions were not with the other cats. They have really made some changes as for as the landscaping at the zoo. Much more humane. There were also two females.





A tiger, african I believe.




Leopard I think.




The chimpanzees habitat is very nice. They have both indoors and outdoors.




Two zebra's; one with energy...





and one without.




Two hippos, them were taking it easy too.




A rhino, we came pretty early, and I think the animals are more likely to be up before lunch.




This giraffe has a hurt leg, so it was indoors.




This black bear is something new. There was a hole section of the zoo which I have never seen before. It's the Pacific Northwest section.




We came at this sea lion feeding. He is fed three times a day and averages about 40 pounds of food per day.





He's is doing tricks.

Firefighter Exam Completed

I took the firefighter written exam last Thursday, it was pretty crazy.
There were probably 3,000 people there, we were supposed to start
at 9 am but didn't start till after 10 am because all the folk had to fit
into one room.

The convention center is pretty big, I guess I hadn't been there in a while.
The exam was nothing like I thought it was going to be. I got the books and
I studying them, I even got an exam book. When I took the United States Postal Service exam, it was just like the exam book and I did really good.

There was very little practical knowledge. I won't go over the questions because I signed some type confidentiality agreement. The reading exam was short, like 30 questions. That was the only thing out of the book. There was a math section which I did well on. Then there was the video section. I don't know how I did on that, it was the majority of the test. They wanted to know how I would react to living in the firehouse, and different situations involving my co-workers. I really don't know how I did, I'll have to wait tell them mail me back in a month.

Jig-Saw Puzzles 2

We had a couple puzzles with some pieces missing. This one had some interested shaped pieces; a heart, a bottle, a nazi symbol, and one missing piece.

This one was made in Portland, Oregon by the West Coast Picture Corporation. It's is only local one I've seen. It's missing three pieces.



Here is the last puzzle I showed to notice the different shapes of pieces, its completed.

Firefighter Exam

I've been studying for the Portland Firefighter written exam for about a month. The exam is on the 18th of February and 2,500 appilicants. I got on just in time for this one, and they offer it again in the Summer.

I went to the library and got Firefighters Handbook: Basic Essentials of Firefighting: Basic Edition. It's pretty in depth and it's 750 pgs; I got 200 more pgs. to go. I also have the Firefighters Handbook-Workbook which I purchased from amazon and the Exam Preparation Firefighter 1 & 2 which I checked out.

Then the physical examination.

After the exam the take like 40 people with the highest scores and send them to Firefighter Trainee, which is a paid earn as you learn program.

Jig-Saw Puzzles

Since I got out of the hospital my folks tired different puzzles to get my mind working again. This was I believe the second. The first still isn't done. We bought these, but the rest our from Barry's collection.



Here are some of Barry antique puzzles. They were cut differently than today jig-saw puzzles. With non interlocking pieces so it makes putting them together more difficult. This is from the 1940's I believe. It is made be the Saalfield Publishing Co., Akron, Ohio. It's is a 500 pieces Victory Series quality picture puzzle called Defenders of Liberty. This one gave as trouble because the picture on the box didn't incorporate the whole puzzle.






This 1938 puzzle was manufactured by the Hollywood Paper Box Corporation. This
"Western" doesn't have a photograph to work with. In the 1920's and 1930's they hadn't thought of that yet. This one is called "Onate Enters New Mexico"




This puzzle was made in the 1960's or 1970's. It is fully interlocking but the pieces are much different than today's pieces. It was big, 625 pieces and made a real life Monopoly board.



This Perfect Double Puzzle from the 1940's I believe. The box gives your half the photograph but not the other half. 275 pieces "Heart of the Home" and "Sweethearts" both encompassed in the same puzzle.



Just to show what I mean, here is a puzzle not yet fished; just to show you the different shapes pieces make is quite different that today puzzles.