It's the most wonderful time...

Marie and I made it out of our driveway after two attempts.  I dug the car out of the snow for the second time in about 12 hours.  I shoveled and shoveled while our neighbor was towed out of her driveway and then shoveled around her car.  

Marie got in the car and I told her I would push, direct, and dig.  We went backwards a little bit, but I wasn't watching close enough and Marie got stuck.  I told her to try and rock the car.  In Montana, usually the ground is usually frozen enough, that you will spin on the last layer of ice before hitting rock forever; not in oregon.  The ground was not frozen so my car tire, with the chains, dug down through the top soil and into the ground about 3 inches.  It was enough that the car could not get out.  I shoveled near both tires, and as we were stuck a police car stopped and rolled down it's window.   He instructed us to use state highways because the county roads were more sesceptible to falling trees with the freezing rain.  We thanked him and he laughed as we tried to continue with our struggle.  He left and Marie pulled forward.  I dug a little more of the snow out of the way and filled in the hole.  Marie backed out onto the road successfully and we escaped Carlton unscathed.   

On highway 99, we were following a small car, when all of a sudden both Marie and I saw a tree crack and fall in front of the small car.  He skidded and nearly hit the tree, I luckily had seen it coming and slowed down in time.  Coming toward us in the other lane, a pickup slid through the top of the tree sideways and bounced through the boughs.  We all got out of our cars and a line began to form in either lane.  Marie asked the pickup owner, who was a city worker, if he had a chainsaw.  He did and we all made short work of the tree.  Police cars showed up as we were finishing up clearing the tree and you could tell they were happy to not have to deal with this one.  They were searching for downed trees all morning.  

Marie and I made it to the train station successfully and were delayed about 3 hours before we departed.  We met up with our friend Anne and she took our car to her house.  The train ride was 25 hours long and we arrived in Havre Montana at 8:25 the next night.  We ate a late dinner and made it home after midnight.  

All my siblings made it home by Christmas Eve and it was the first Christmas with all four Eklund kids in 4 years.  

To add to it.

I dug the car out. God put a foot of new snow down. I borrowed a shovel to try and dig the car out. The hardest part of our journey today will be trying to get to the main road from our driveway and side street.


I am anxious this morning. Our train leaves at 4:45 pm (with delays).

dang.

I don't know what god I angered by mocking the panic here last week when snow started falling, but the god has struck with vengeance. I am pretty freaked out. The freezing rain sealed the deal last night. I took pictures as I tried to de-ice my car. It was basically a car-sicle. If I could have peeled the ice off carefully enough I could have rebuilt the shell of my car using 1 inch thick pieces of ice. Here are pictures of my windshield.

Tomorrow we are suppose to leave at 4:45 pm. Hope and pray for us please. Amtrak is delayed and has canceled some. Our train is suppose to still run though.

Well the weather outside is frightful...

Today Marie and I had tickets to "The Nutcracker" in Portland. We left Carlton with about 6 inches of snow on the ground and huge flakes falling. We took my car over to Napa and bought some chains before we left town. The drive to Portland was not bad, we only slipped a little on a hill. As we got downtown Portland, I was shocked at how many people were running red lights. I did get stalled right before a parking garage. I was stopped at a light and spun my tires through two cycles of the light. Two buses came up behind me, one man got out and helped Marie push and I got through the light (it was red). We walked and got lunch with a friend, and then saw the Ballet. The ballet was great.


Truly made me feel like Christmas was coming while leaving into a winter wonderland.

We then walked around town and saw pioneer place and downtown lights. The buses and max trains were packed and people were waiting everywhere for the public transport. We put chains on my car in the garage and then drove home.


It wasn't bad except right near Carlton. The road had not been cleared for a while and we were breaking trail. The snow was transitioning into freezing rain and my wipers were not effective. I drove 15-20 the last 10 miles.

When Marie and I got home, we walked to the post office. I made a snow angel in the parking lot and then rolled around three times on the way home. When we got in the door,...I realized my phone was gone. We retraced our steps and ruined all of my snow angels to try and find the phone. It was no where to be found. As soon as we walked in the door, we turned on the TV and saw that an Amtrak train has been stalled for 4 hours in portland. Hopefully this is Amtraks only "whoopsie" this year.

It is now freezing rain outside and will make it pretty miserable. Hopefully we can leave on the train on time Monday! Peace and drive safely!

Snow Day

On Sunday I woke up and went to the livingroom to watch football but I was saddened to find that all the networks were showing winter storm warnings. There were reports that the wind chill was "very cold, it is about 12 degrees." There was also a woman in the snow, " I don't have a ruler but I would say at least one half inch has fallen." This was breaking news.

At around 7 pm it school was cancelled for the Monday. I walked around in the beautiful sunshine today and took some pictures. I figure my family can laugh at what cancels school in Oregon.

I will say, it is more rare for the snow to fall here and usually it is a wet snow. This is dry, exactly as we find in Montana. There aren't many snowplows or gravel trucks, and people are certainly not as skilled while driving here. I understand why they cancel school, but I feel like it is Montana weather here. I love it.

Happy St. Nick day

Marie and I have not been up to much. Thanksgiving was super relaxed because we had our large meal the Saturday before. We didn't get out of our pj's until 5pm and we went to the new bond film. We then went wine tasting on Friday.

Saturday, Marie went to Eugene to visit family and I went to the school to grade some papers. At 1pm I was called by a friend who had an extra ticket to the Beavers-Ducks Civil War Football game. The tickets had sold out very quickly and were hard to come by. I left my grading and rushed down to Corvallis. We had seats in the sixth row from the field near one of the endzones. We were next to the Duck band and fans. It wouldn't have been bad except the game was a blowout and some drunk beaver fans tried to pick fights. All I could do was laugh and smile when they talked trash,...there was nothing I could say back.

Sunday I graded for about 6 hours.

This weekend the high school had a staff holiday party and I was picked to do music for it. I did some acoustic solo stuff but I also put together a jam band of teachers and we practiced for about 3 weeks on and off. It went well.

I am surprised that we only have two weeks until Winter break and I will be going home to Montana soon. I am excited.

Thanksgiving

Marie and I enjoyed a quiet lazy Thanksgiving alone in the house. We sat in our pajamas until about 4:30. We then ate and went out to the new Bond movie.

On Friday I went to NSTA (National Science Teacher Association) conference in Portland and met up with many of my graduate school classmates. At the end we decided to go to a bar and share a drink. My mother and my aunt were also coming in from Montana at the same time. They joined us for a brief reunion and then I drove them Carlton with me.

On Saturday Marie and I prepared a Thanksgiving feast with the help of her parents, my mom and aunt as well as some friends that we invited. We had a house full, twelve people, sharing our meal and our wine. We had delicious pumpkin pie and then people drove home.

On Sunday, after a meal of leftovers, Mom, Marie, Aunt Mary and I went to a winery for a tasting and then headed to Portland for a Joan Baez concert. The concert was great and Joan sang new songs as well as Joe Hill, Swing Low, The night they drove dixie down, long black veil, Love is a four letter word, and for her encore she sang amazing grace with the help of the crowd. It was a thrill and great to spend with my mother who is a huge fan.

Marie and I had to teach on Monday and Mom and Mary left early. Marie and I then had parent teacher conferences all this week. It was a good week. I met with many parents I did not expect to meet with, but had wanted to meet with.

I hope everyone has had a blessed thanksgiving and have many things to be thankful for. I know I do. PEACE!

Obama Obama

Marie and I drove to Corvallis after school on Tuesday to watch the election results with our friends. We were in a house with fellow teachers and watched the Daily Show/Colbert Reports live coverage on Comedy Central. A giant cheer went up when they called it for Obama, then we switched it over to NBC to be sure it was legit.

It was a fun crowd. I remember in 2004 sitting at the dining center at OSU with my co-workers and having tears stream down our faces as we watched not only the president slip away but many ballot measures in many states that banned homosexual marriage.

This year was different. Instead of tears, there were cheers. We drank champaigne and watched with bated breath as Obama delivered his speech. There were children present: a baby, a toddler, and two elementary aged students. We told them how historic the night was and how exciting it is(for us) at what had happened.

We also had a weird 4-degrees of seperation from Obama tonight. Michelle Obama's brother, Craig, is the new basketball coach at OSU. His children go to school at the local public high school and there were teachers at the party tonight. So...1. Dave (teacher at CVHS) has 2. Criag's son in class...who 3. stood next to Obama on stage tonight in Chicago. We all felt a little closer!

I did not tear up tonight until the drive back. As I was driving listening to NPR, I imagined Obama as our leader and meeting with foreign heads of states. Instead of it being a hope, it was now a reality. I imagine his input at the G8 summit, where I can only think about the atrocities that BUSH and other Money hungry leaders must have come up with. Obama I truly believe will think about the little guy and the little nations.

Thank you to all who have donated time, money, energy, and prayers to the election season. It was hard fought and long deserving. I know I have goosebumps and have had them for most of the night.

God Bless America.

Mushrooms

Marie and I travelled to Yachats (pronounced Ya-Hots) to go to a Mushroom festival. We went to see a fellow teacher that went through our program. He was leading walks and teaching people how to grow their own mushrooms. Marie and I made our own bags of oyster mushrooms. We walked around the beach and enjoyed a sunny day. There was a cold breeze but it was still nice to be near a roaring ocean with the sun beaming down.
Marie and I tried to catch W., the new Oliver Stone movie, but it was not playing anywhere along our journey. We will have to find it later.

Last few weeks and random thoughts

On Sept. 30, Marie and I went to Portland and saw an Allison Kraus and Robert Plant concert. It was an incredible show that had the two singers doing all of the tunes from their joint album as well as some of each's other bands. Black Dog started on the banjo and Battle of Evermore was amazing to hear live. Allison also did "Down to the River" and a couple of other Union Station tunes.

This week our schools had inservice day. We had Thursday at school with no students and no school Friday. I did a first aid and cpr training in the morning. I have been watching lots of playoff baseball. All of my teams lost 1st round, except for the Rays. Now I am cheering for Philly and Tampa Bay. We shall see how this wraps up.

It cooled down here in Oregon. Today I started a fire in the fireplace for the first time since May. I am comfortable laying on the couch watching baseball and movies.

I started an ultimate frisbee club at the high school with another teacher. We already have more numbers and more motivated players than all of last year. I think after cross country season, we will see a lot more students come out. It will be interesting to see how many of the students stick with the club for the remainder of the year.

My pseudo band Pegasus is going to play their final, FINAL show in Corvallis this weekend. The lead guitarist for the band, Marty, moved to Milliwaukee this summer and the drummer/equipment provider, Paul, is moving to Alaska. Paul's brother David plays a mean guitar and has filled in before. We will play during the football game, so I am pretty sure it will be a small crowd, and we will mostly be playing for the sake of playing together one last time.

Grape harvest is underway and we are looking for a day to volunteer. We shall see. I hope everyone is registered to vote and paying attention to the race. Good luck Obama, Merkley and others that will bring about a hopeful and peaceful stance.

Another Busy Saturday

Marie's friend, Rose, spent Friday night with us at our house. She is pregnant and Marie is going to be the Douala at the birth. We discussed education and pregnancies for a few hours and then went to bed. On Saturday Marie and I had a race to get to at 11. We all ate breakfast together and then Rose headed to Portland and Marie and I headed to the Coast Range to participate in the Trask Mountain Assault.

The Assault is awesome. It is a cross-country race sponsored by our high school. They race middle schools, high schools and there is an open division. I ran it last year and was trying to train for it this year. There are 2 river crossings and 4 mud bogs, as well as 2 ...um...puddles is the closest word for it. The worst part is that there is a .5 mile uphill climb to the top of Trask. It is a killer. This year I walked 3/4 of it. The mud is awesome. There is a downhill which they fill with mud, and I sat on my butt and "sledded" down the hill slaloming past other runners. It saved me a lot of time. Marie did the same thing.

I am not sure times or places this week. I finished right around 30 minutes. Last year my time was around 33:30, so I knocked off about 3 minutes. Marie finished under 35 I am pretty sure.
We returned home, sore, tired and filthy. Marie hosed off our clothes, and we both took extended time on our showers.

Marie took a nap, and I decided to finish up a wine rack that was a project I started a few weeks ago. We did not have any nails or screws so I picked up some supplies this week. I made the rack out of wood in our fire wood pile. I have no idea how old it is, or when/where it came from. It is 2 old 2X6's and some tongue and groove pieces that could be from an old floor? All the tools I had were a hand saw, hammer, nails, measuring tape and I used a cordless drill to help make initial holes on some pieces. It turned out ok (better than Marie expected) but it isn't great. It will work for our needs though.

After that, Marie and I drove to Portland to see Beethoven's 9th Symphony from the Oregon Symphony. It was incredible. It is one of my favorite pieces because of the use of voice and chorus in a symphony. Also the 2nd movement is just fun. I saw a fellow Mac Teacher there and Marie ran into a friend at intermission. At the end of the show, people were leaping out of the seats to give ovations. Myself included. When the choir hit the finale and the Ode to Joy that we all know to well, I teared up and my heart was full. Incredible. Afterwards, Marie and I joined her friend, Jess and her boyfriend John, to go to a cocktail bar and had drinks and dessert. It was another big Saturday and Marie asked me which race and concert is next week. My only answer is that the Portland Marathon is next Saturday........

Habitat Run

Marie and I took part in a 4-mile run for Local Habitat for Humanity. I have been running most of September and part of August. There were 2mile, 4 mile, 9 mile and 13 mile options. I ran the 4 mile and took 4th. I ran unofficially at 27:40. I am happy with under 7 minute miles. Marie ran around 32 minutes, so she made 8 minute miles. Lots of high school students were volunteers and it was fun to see them all out on a Saturday morning. We are headed to Portland tonight to watch a fellow teacher who plays in a band.
Next weekend there is a race called Trask Mountain Assault. I ran the race last year and it includes mud bogs, a 1/2 mile climb and muddy mountain trails. It is a 5k that is awesome. I am hoping to better my time from last year and complete the whole race running. I will post pictures and official times if I get them.

Wine Bottling

Today, Marie and I volunteered to help a local winemaker bottle some of his 2007 wines. We showed up at around 8 am and they were still setting up. The Carlton wine makers are small scale, and it is not worth the money for them to invest in their own bottling equipment (~$100,000). When they want to bottle, they pay a traveling bottling trailer to help them. The winemaker purchases the bottles, labels, foil, cork, and the trailer operators help out. There were 10 volunteers there today, and only 4 had ever helped with a bottling.

After introductions, coffee and scones, we all mounted into the trailer. Marie, myself, and another OSU alum named Josh were assigned foiling. This consisted of putting aluminum caps on bottles after they are corked and before they are labeled. Our first 20 bottles we had the wrong foil caps and they had to be removed. WHOOPS!

Once we got going we cruised through lunch. We bottled Atticus Wines 2007 pinot noir and 2007 pinot select. It was monotonous, but I loved the music that was pumping through the speakers. The wife of the Atticus winemaker made a terrific lunch for the crew. We all sat in the sun and chatted. The two winemakers there invited our classes to the vineyard anytime for field trips, although I am not sure I could get the high school principal to sign onto letting sophomores go tour wine country.

After lunch, Marie helped with loading boxes of bottles and handing them to the person who put them on the beginning of the conveyor belt. We began to bottle the Raptor Ridge (a different wine maker) pinot noir from 2007. I continued with the aluminum caps. After a short break at 2, I assumed the position of putting bottles on the conveyor belt. The empty bottles come packed in a twelve-case box with one end open. I picked up the box, squeezed, and gently poured the bottles onto a table and slid them onto the belt. It was good physical labor. Marie took a position at the end of the line putting the full, labeled, corked, and foiled bottles into the boxes I had emptied. At the end, we were finished feeding bottles, but needed more empty boxes to package the full bottles and I smashed the only bottle of the day. Bummer.

We stopped at 3:30 and everyone was smiling. We bottled over 1200 cases (12 bottles a case). For our labor Marie and I walked out with 5 bottles of wine, all valued between $28-$40. Although it was assembly line work, if we can find a few weekends to volunteer and earn wine, I think we will be happy. I included a video of the pouring station. In the back right you can see the foilers putting on caps!

Open Mic

In my local town of 1000 people there is a little wine and cheese shop that does live music Friday and Saturday nights. They fill the house with fun blues and folk music.
They just recently began open mic nights on Wednesdays. I went the first week and it seemed there were only three artists that night, myself included. I played three tame comedy songs, two of which I wrote and the crowd (10? people) asked for one more. I looked at the owner and she seemed okay with pushing the line a little. I played a fourth song, but as I saw the owner's face turn red, I knew my time was up.


I came back this week at the request of some friends and when I walked in, the owner was gone and only the wine pourer, a server and the open mic host were there. Marie, myself and one friend were the only others there. The gentlemen asked me to play my more questionable tunes, so I obliged. I played 5 songs, of all levels of rudeness and then finished with the Last Saskatchewan Pirate. As I finished a couple with homemade wooden flutes and a conga drum showed up. They were very fun to listen to. I feel bad that the open mic nights are not better attended, but then again I can play some dirty songs that I wrote.

My set list for next week:
Amurika (my song about our great country)
Rippy the Gator (Arrogant Worms)
Carrot Juice is Murder (Arrogant Worms)
Coffee Shop love song (AKA bavarian creme donut)
Rock Hair Song (the true story of my hair)

School

School started this week and Marie and I are back in our classrooms. I am teaching 6 classes of sophomore general physical science, and Marie is teaching 6th and 7th grade science. This week went way better than our first week of last year. We both feel like we have set our classrooms up for success, and that our students are responding better. I think it is because we have a year under our belt, but I also feel that the students are more receptive.

Life is good. We are getting back into the routine of things and dealing with unpleasantness. I hope everyone is having a great start to their Septembers.

Books I read this summer

As summer is winding down, I am sad that my fun reading will be lessened. This summer while on my journey I read:

Waking up in Jamaica - Stephen Foehr
Siddartha - Hesse Herman
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Hidden Messages in Water - Masaru Emoto

We also listened to the Audiobook of:
When you are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

Before leaving I read:
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
Courage and Misfortune- Mountaineers Anthology Series 2

Since then I have read:
Stiff - Mary Roach,

I have started:
Endurance: Shackleton's voyage- Alfred Lansing
Guns, Germs & Steel- Jared Diamond
The Year of Living Biblically - A. J. Jacobs
Digging Dinosaurs - John Horner

I should finish three of these books by the time school starts. We shall see.

Some Math

Marie and I were curious how many different ways we traveled and what distances.

Using Google Earth and websites, these are the estimated distances I think we traveled:

Airplanes: 4, 332 miles
Train : 3,200 miles
Buses: 320 miles
Car: 900 miles
Mass/Public: 200 miles (includes Jamaica Buses)
Cabs: 20 miles
Foot: 200 miles

Total distance: ~ 9,172

Earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. We went approximately 36% the distance.
We traveled through 17 states, 2 countries.
We stayed on 4 futons and fold out couches and 7 beds in 10 people's houses, apartments, and 1 hermitage at a monastery.
I was gone for 43 days, including the entire month of July.

It was a great Journey.

August 8

The best part of the rain was that the bugs went away as it rained. Marie and I stayed dry and slept fairly well through the shower. When it stopped, the little biters came back in swarms. I mummified myself inside my sleeping bag and was not bothered, but Marie could not get back to sleep. At first light, Marie decided she was getting up and it was time to get out of there. She told me she was going to take down the tent and I groaned my ok. I slept for a little while longer with no covering.


We ate our breakfast and packed up while waving and slapping at pests. We started on the trail earlier than I usually do and found respite from the bugs about a mile down trail.
At that point we found a place where lots of trees had blown down in a storm. We walked along and Marie took it upon herself as our leader to clear trail. She did a great job of moving anything about 6 inches in diameter or less. Teamwork was required for a few logs, but if any of you plan to go down the Crag Creek Trail, know that it is more passable because of Marie.

When then came down a ridge and found that our trail was over grown with lots of little shrubs and plants. It became the Crag Creek "path of least resistance" instead of a trail. We marched on while the rain soaked leaves happily transferred the liquid into our clothing. We were soaked to our chests and then found a river crossing. The trail had eroded. We less than a mile to hike, but a river was between us and our car, so we bushwhacked for a half an hour or more along the bank trying to find a place to cross. There was a place where the trail crossed the river on the map, but if a bridge was there, it was washed or crushed long before we got there.
We then decided to find a shallow spot and wade across. I chose a tree to cross on, but the women moved through the wet cold river up to their belly buttons, wow. We then decided to just walk straight north, knowing that we would hit the road or trail. As we found a clearing we stopped for a break and then followed what looked like an old trail for bit. We then cut through more brush and came out EXACTLY AT THE PARKING LOT!
Bobbi had packed beer in her trunk for us. We all took off the wet clothing and packs and laid articles out on the warm rocks. We then enjoyed a beer relaxed. We got to the car just after 10am and headed back to Carlton after a long while. Marie and I got home at around 1:30 and quickly did laundry and cleaned the house to host her Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle that evening. We cooked a great dinner and went out to listen to music. Needless to say, I am home but I am still moving around.

Jefferson Park

The next day we woke up early, ate our breakfast and picked the driest clothing to put on. We then packed up and headed to Jefferson Park, right under Mt. Jefferson. About a half an hour into hiking we ran into a small amount of snow off trail. As we kept hiking, eventually our whole trail was covered by snow.

There were beautiful waterfalls made from small snowfield runoffs, and amazing views of the mountain as we climbed. Once we made it to the ridge, we worked our way down into a gorgeous meadow filled with wild flowers, snow and a wide stream. Our trail disappeared and we crossed where we could with helpful rocks.

Our final goal was a set of alpine lakes that should have filled our valley. We found the trail and kept hiking until it was clear we had gone too far. We looked at our map and decided to just bushwhack through the snow fields in the direction we knew the lakes to be. About 10 minutes later we found one. We are pretty sure it was Scout Lake be we are not 100% on that. We stopped and ate lunch. Bobbi and I each took our turns splashing in the cold water and then we relaxed and dried out the rest of our gear in beautiful sunshine. We debated putting up camp, but seeing that we wanted to leave early the next day and the bugs would be atrocious at the lake, we decided we should move on.


We made our way to the Pacific Crest Trail and followed it for a bit. We lost the trail and at that moment, a woman looking for the trail going the other way appeared, and then a gentleman following us also appeared. We all hiked around the snow looking for old footprints. The trail was finally located and we each went our separate ways. The woman we found was leaving notes and signs of the trail for people following her, so it was easy to make it through the rest of the snow. We ran into a few other groups of hikers and had another creek crossing. We finally found a nice campsite and decided to make camp. As the sun went down the bugs came out in swarms and attacked any exposed skin. Marie and I had packed light and only brought a tent footprint and a rain fly. This left the bottom of our tent open to the elements, mainly MOSQUITOES!!! As we hung our food and brushed our teeth we started to see lightening light up the sky. We covered most everything we had and went to bed.

Backpacking

I arrived back in Oregon mid-morning Monday. I promptly slept most of the day and relaxed at home. I was happy to be back in Oregon and not having to move at the end of the summer. It is my first time in 6 years that I have not moved twice or more during the summer.

Tuesday I spent all day sorting mail, doing laundry, and general organizing of life. That night Marie and our friend Bobbi sat down to discuss backpacking plans to the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. I was back and forth on whether or not I would go, and when they invited me, I decided I would kick myself if I didn't.

We left Wednesday at around 2:30. Bobbi drove Marie and I out of town and toward the little town of Detroit.
We did not get on the trail until 5:26 pm. It was a late start, and we had about 5 miles in mind for the night. We started to hike an unrelenting uphill climb, when we heard some thunder. The mountain was hidden by some clouds, and as the clouds came overhead, it began to sprinkle. We decided to keep going until it was a soaking rain. The rain came not too much later. We ducked under a large tree for cover. Marie was the only one with a pack guard, although she has never used it before. I do not own one, and Bobbi laughed at her husband when he tried to lay one out for her. The storm began to pour a little harder, and then we noticed pea sized hail coming down. We starting laughing, thinking of hiking in the rain and hail when the sky broke loose with marble sized hail. It pelted us through the limbs of the trees. I was leaned over to protect my head with the top of my pack. The hail lasted no more then 10 minutes and the rain stopped soon after. The trail we were hiking on was a dirt trail that turned into a raging current flowing against us.
We had to straddle the trail as we hiked up the hill. Hail on the sides of the trail was 6 inches deep and the stream kept going until we decided to quit. We were wet, cold, tired of the uphill, and the sun was going down. We stopped by a large rock and decided to make camp. The sky cleared beautifully that night and we were able to steal about an hour of sunlight to try and dry out some gear. We made some pasta and hit the hay.




The stream going by here is the trail and I picked up all hail with a little dirt. The hail was deep!