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My college roommate Jim Crystal worked in summers as a river guide.  We would hear great stories of his adventures over the years, but I did find the time to go until I was 50.  Jim has the opportunity to save the company he worked for from closure by buying it a decade ago, so he did.  Its called OTT (Orange Torpedo Trips)

My partner Brad Mehl, who grew up on the Rogue River rafting with his dad and brother, joined Patrick Lumber around the time Jim bought OTT.  Brad had guided for OTT in college too and was a big fan of the Rogue River.  After we all worked ourselves out of the depths of the great recession we began to find bigger trips for our trading group to use as bonding experiences.  Brad suggested the Rogue Lodge trip OOT offered, and we booked our first trip in 2014.  Patrick or portions of the group have been on the river every year since.

Last summer after a good friend Jimmy Mac passed away a group of us did the lower Salmon river 4 days camping.  A few from Patrick came, but most were OSU Beavers.  Jimmy’s son came along and we were able to share good memories and build some new ones.  This was in the summer of 2017, and six of us did the Salmon right after the Rogue.  Jim calls this the “Hostage Crisis”, being on the river 7 days straight.  I did not really understand or have perspective of the name until on day 6 when Cris Schureman told be “at least in jail you get a phone call”.  Its true, no phones work in that canyon and you have to go with the gang.

This summer I took my boys Nick, Jack and Zack down the Rogue.  I think they loved it as much as me, its wonderful to see them develop a strong relationship with each other.  Another fantastic trip, good food, super water conditions and great company.  One notable point is that Jim, Brad and Cris have been on every trip with me, its a great way to strengthen your bond.  Thank you my friends!

 

 

 

 

Friday the 20th of July 2018 we attended the celebration of life for John Jayne. He was my boss at Disdero Lumber from 1986 to 1997.  A good mentor and great golfer John, Dave Menkens and I frequently paired with a fourth in industry golf tournaments. John carried a 2 handicap and we won many events. I remember a 10 year stretch where we won at least one trophy each year. Lots of good times on the course.

John was very personable and he was an asset in developing relationships.  Disdero grew from a Northwest company into a much larger base under his watch. He brought in Lockdeck with Gunner Brink, added distribution yards in Washington and California and found profitable lines to promote. We was generous in dividing the pie and always was upright and fair.

John gave me a long leash at a young age. When he became GM I was part of his executive committee along with Perry, Loren and Coop. These were good years and we had a lot of fun.

My run at Disdero ended in 1997 after I pushed too hard for quantitative compensation for some of the employees. The ultimate last straw though was a book that I had shared with the Seattle branch manager. Gunner described it like this in a speach given in December 2017  “He was also strong willed, confident, and didn’t always agree with management. Young, aggressive, and not yet politically savvy, he pushed things a little too far… he loved books, and he loved to share them with others, but when he gave the president of the company a book titled, “How to fire your boss”… one chapter ended and another was about to begin.”

I will always remember John for his good natured personality and great golf game.

My grandfather McPherson who was one of the founding partners of Tumac Lumber in Portland in 1959 died in 1994.  I was close to him and spent many evenings in my 20’s playing a few holes of golf or barbequeing with him. Sometimes we would just sip screwdrivers on his back patio overlooking his rose patch and hole#3 on the Charbeanu green nine.

When he passed away my uncle Tom and my Mom set up a small family business with some of the inheritance we received, money built on the trading business of Tumac.  There were 7 or 8 of us and we called it MAC Clan Investments.  Originally we invested in stocks like Willamette industries.

A few years later there was an opportunity to roll that money into a family farm in Colusa that my dad’s uncle Bill had run for over fifty years. It was an old prune orchard which was still producing. We all agreed to reinvest the funds and grandpas old Tumac money went to work for Sunsweet prunes.

Several years later a federal farm bill came along with an incentive which allowed us to remove the prune orchard and pay off our loan. After the prunes were gone we crop shared row crops with a local farmer.   Lima beans were our primary go to crop. The great recession hit in 2008 and Colusa milling could not get a reasonable price for our dried and bagged beans. We held them in storage. Same was true in 2009 and our pile grew.

Later that year my dad called to share that finally we had a buyer. When the receipt came through it showed Tumac as the broker. Yes the same Tumac that my grandfather started 50 years prior. And that is how money comes back around to work, I think my grandfather would have liked that!

In 2016 Patrick lumber negotiated the purchase of a lumber processing facility in Philomath Oregon just a few miles west of Corvallis. To insure we gave the facility proper attention my partners agreed to rent a house in Corvallis to use as an office during the start up. As an afterthought Brad Mehl and I decided to further embed ourselves in the community with Beaver season tickets to baseball. We had been fans since the 2005 run to Omaha and many of our new employees shared our passion.

We had a blast going to regional and supers in Corvallis so we renewed our tickets for 2018. Over the Christmas holidays my sister relayed her house was again available from February through June and we quickly committed. At that time I said “if the Beavs make it to Omaha I am going”  they did and what a ride it was!

The first half of my trip was Sunday through Thursday with Jack.  We had gone to a Super Regionals together, and while I had committed to Omaha months prior, it was alone.  Jack was able and willing, Jake my nephew and Chris my brother in law also were going so it was fitting to have Jack too.  We flew out Saturday night and back Thursday morning, an error in scheduling since we missed the Beavers first game (a loss).  So Monday we went to the first elimination game vs Washington, the Beavers got behind, it was tense.  What would we do in Omaha through Thursday if they lost?  There was a 4-1/2 hour rain delay where we spent our time tasting local brews, afterwards back at the game we saw the Beavers erupt for 8 runs in 2 innings and take the game.  Washington was out.  Lucky for us the second elimination game was Wednesday, a perfect set up for our tickets.

We played North Carolina, again we got behind.  And again we pulled off a win, Omaha knows how to host.  What a blast in and around the stadium with all the fans, Beavers and other teams all celebrating College athletics.  We stayed out late and celebrated Jacks birthday at midnight.  On our walk back to the hotel the music was still pumping at the open venue, our flight at 6AM made for a short night.  We watched the Beavs with two more elimination games at home over Miss St.  The first one a blowout 12-2, the second one not so much but no matter, we were on to play the Razorbacks in the finals and this time Jan was going.

We flew in Sunday for the Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday finals.  Our flight home Thursday morning.  Monday pregame started at the Beaver official site and we enjoyed meeting up with past and present friends, sipping vodka cranberry’s and enjoying the building excitement for game 1 at 6PM.  Around 430 we moved closer to the stadium to Blatts and continued the party.  Vleet was there, as were many others, his text at 5:36PM “Epping get your ass over to the BLATT.  We are upstairs too many names to mention”.  Its true, several dozen old friends from the 80’s @ OSU.  Every time you turned around there was someone else.  Rain delay, yes but no one seemed to care.  The game was canceled around 7PM. Around 9PM we took off to dinner, Epping had reserved us a room for 12.  Great steak, good company and oh…both Pat Casey and Wayne tinkle stopped in to say HI!

Tuesday game 1 delayed a day, my first experience of a loss @ Omaha, good tight game, but Beavs made too many errors on field, in pitching and on base-paths to win.  Not elimination game though, so they still had life, we took it easy that night ad did all Beavers while Arkansas Wooo Pig SOOhii chant reverberated all across town.

Wednesday was: EPIC.  Unreal experience, game flipped back and forth over the 9 innings, very entertaining and tense.  Jan and I elected to stand on the concourse rail with a group of beavers, here is how I described the last 15 minutes… 9th inning 2 outs: “Oh, and I was there, standing at top of the section by 1^st base.  We were just wondering if their first blunder would lead to anything.  A few pitches later we tie the game, its bedlam.  Next batter up home-run line shot, now we are up 5-3 and its euphoric!  All beaver fans are going nuts.  The 30 or so Beavs we watched the game with are jumping up and down like maniacs.  Our pitcher lets the first guy on base in the bottom of the 9^th.  We bring in our closer.  He strikes out the next guy.  Then he fields a grounder and it’s a 1-4-3 double play.  O S U chant for 30 minutes.  Hog fans told me later that night it was over, we had it won.  They were right….ripped the little piggy’s heart right out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Our flight home Thursday morning was early again, but we were able to watch the finals with the boys.  The hogs fans were right, series was over as the Beavs won 5-0 behind brilliant pitching form our freshman Kevin Able.  National Champs.

It is amazing to have picked a winner so early in the season and commit to the trips.  Feels like ESP.  Absolutely amazing experience.

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