There is more smoking in the Frankfurt airport than in any place in the States. There are smoking areas but they are inside. I didn't find the smoke oppresive but it was definitely more than most Americans are used to these days.

There didn't seem to be a lot of that anal security that we're getting in the States. I had my passport checked once in Frankfurt (and that was to get into the security area and not getting on the plane) and I didn't see a single armed soldger type hanging around. In Frankfurt, air travel is pretty much the way it used to be before 9/11.

I mentioned that I drive to spend one night with my family between jaunts out of town. This morning, I left Black Butte at 10am to get to the airport for my flight.

Black Butte is one of those holiday resorts where the lower upper -class go to play. We're talking homes that cost more than good homes in the big city. My parents ended up with a condo there because my father organized their bridge group to go together and buy a condo there when it was just being built. Prices have risen enough to where we couldn't afford to buy the condo today.

I had to go a different way to get to Portland because the usual highway was closed because of fires. In fact, Black Butte Ranch was on Phase 2 pre-evaculation status so my family had everything packed so they could throw everything into the car and be off at any moment.

This meant the area was full of smoke, also. Normally, from the Ranch you can see several snow covered mountain peaks set against blue sky, but this week you were lucky to see the trees on the other side of the golf course.

So the drive back to the big city smelled of smoke and the views were limited. I drove over to Redmond, up through Madras, through the Hot Springs Indian Reservation (and past a few casinos, of course), through Government Camp and past Timberline Lodge and finally down to the big city.

The next week or so will be on the road. This week I'm in Santa Clara, California doing business work. I get back to Portland on Friday but, rather than stay at home, I'm driving to Black Butte Ranch to spend one night with my family. Then on Saturday, I'll drive back to Portland and get on a plane to Helsinki, Finland to attend a conference. I hope to put up some pictures before I come back -- it's a computer conference so I'll have connectivity. Conference on Monday and Tuesday, then I get one day to see the city before getting on the plane back home.

No, not really home, because I immediatly drive to central Oregon to spend two nights looking at the stars at the Oregon Star Party.

Maybe I'll get to recover on Labor Day.

I haven't been updating this much. Work has been keeping me very busy and I don't feel like sitting down and playing on my home computer after slaving over a hot computer all day. And I've been working a lot on the remodel . I've finally updated the construction pictures although I still need to add some commentary.

I've been doing a lot of the finishing work -- painting, trim addition, cleanup and running errands for the contractors. I don't need to pay someone else $35 an hour to do that.

But I have some more entires to put up here -- I've been taking pictures and have some to blog.

And, just as I update this, I have to hit the road for work. First a few days in Santa Clara, California. Then a night at Black Butte Ranch before flying to Helsinki, Finland . I'll have connectivity in Finland so I'll be able to upload pictures from there. Stay tuned.

A thunderstorm comes over, rain pours down and the roof leaks. Normal companies would put a bucket under the drip, but a large ISO9000 compliant company will put out a specially labeled container to do the job.