It's here. "Extreme Makeover"

Set your DVRs right now. ABC 8-10pm.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is airing its Southern Oregon episode. It's a 2-hour special featuring a local family who's given much of their time and energy and love for others. Now, they're getting back some of that devotion.

With cheers and tears, it was a moving moment when they "moved that bus."

It's a two hour special focusing on Sparrow Clubs and Autism. You'll enjoy it.

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Do you live in Southern Oregon? Set it for 6:30pm, too.

We're broadcasting a 30-minute special looking back at the all the work, all the businesses, and the deserving family.

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It was an incredibly special experience to be a (minor) part of the whole thing. It'll be something I remember forever. More on this later.

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Set your DVR.

One Day 'til "Extreme"

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" in Southern Oregon.

Tomorrow (Friday) our 30-minutes special and the two-hour ABC program will air.

Very exciting for a lot reasons.

Yesterday, I posted a link to all of the reports we had covering the "Extreme" build. Today, I'll post a couple of my favorites.

Quick recap of what happens. A lucky and deserving family is nominated and selected to recieve a beautiful, new home. Local companies and builders volunteer time and supplies to do it all in 130 hours. The family is whisked away to a lovely vacation where they have no idea about what's going on. The cameras get in place, Ty Pennington talks with the family, The Bus pulls away and the family sees their home for the first time.

We cut into our normal programming to carry The Reveal live on the air. I was the lucky one who was able to be live on scene, narrating the moment for everyone at home.

Meet the McPhails -- the lucky, deserving recipient

Behind the scenes of the ABC cameras

A look at the work about two days into the five and a half day build.

Talking with the McPhails after moving in.

It was a stellar experience for a lot of reasons. More on that tomorrow.

Set you DVRs: ABC, Friday, 8-10p. You won't regret it.

Extreme Makeover in Southern Oregon

Last month, ABC's show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" was shooting an episode in Medford. If you've never seen the show, it's magical. ABC brings its stars and designers into town to rally the community to build a new home for a deserving family. Just about everything comes from local businesses and individuals. Supplies, labor, design skills, food-- it's all given.

I've always believed Southern Oregon is a community, and the coming together for Extreme Makeover, was proof.

In two days, what happened here will be shown on your TV.

Friday from 8-10, a two hours special featuring Southern Oregon.

If you're in the Rogue Valley, NewsWatch 12 is airing a half-hour special starting at 6:30.

But right now, you can see some of that magic (our news stories) on your computer screen.

Check out that site, click around, and watch some of our stories. Thursday, I'll feature more of the best stories. Friday, I'll remind you to set your DVRs.

Stay tuned.

Tim Tebow, Converter of the Passes

I've lauded the website Grantland.com before. It's a site blending sports, pop culture, and a bit of scholarly academia. I read its columns, articles, and blogs and watch videos just about everyday. Some are good, some are great, some are outstanding. "Tim Tebow, Converter of the Passes" is one of them.

Tim Tebow is a lot of things. "Other religious players are religious individuals; Tebow is a whole culture."

This article looks at what Tebow means, or doesn't mean, as a Christian icon in the sports world. "Tebow scoring a two-point conversion on an off-tackle power play *could* prove that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, or it could, well, not."

Does rooting for Tebow mean rooting for Christianity? Or God? Or not? "Since no one really knows whether the universe is meaningless or not, things rapidly grow confusing."

Great article.

Pumpkin Pickin

If you don't go to a pumpkin patch in Autumn, then there's something wrong with you. Or you're probably doing other things. It's probably the latter.

Saturday, friends and I made the rounds to one of the nearby patches-- Seven Oak Farms. There were rumbling hay rides, goats to feed and pet, U-Pick pumpkins, gourds galore.

Top of Table Rock

Southern Oregon is beautiful all the time, but it's gorgeous this time of year.

Biting cold mornings give way to warm-but-not-hot days. Hillsides ablaze with yellow, orange, red leaves. People enjoying the sun and warmth before La Niña steals it away.

Last Saturday, I took advantage with two coworkers, Sarah and Jessica. We hiked Lower Table Rock. What is Table Rock? Does "Lower" mean that there's an Upper? Was the hike awesome? How about the view?

Old lava. Yes. Very much so. Inspiring, empowering, and peaceful.

The hike to the top takes about 45 minutes of climbing switchbacks, under a tunnel of dying trees, and by dried creek beds and waterfalls. The path spits you out on top of the rock, but on the complete opposite side from the city. In order to get the views you've gotta walk. The flat land on top of Lower TR is 300 acres. It's not a short walk.

But it's a beautiful walk.

The flat top of the TR is a pretty special place geologically and biologically. The rock has not eroded because it's andesitic lava rock and is impermeable. Rain and snow collects in vernal pools, doesn't seep into the ground, eventually evaporating in the Spring. Those pools are home to some crazy flowers and tiny animals. In April and May, wild grasses and flowers bloom, but they dry and turn brown. It looks like an African savannah up there. You half expect to see antelope leaping in the distance. In other areas the lava rock prevails and looks like the surface of the moon (debatable, but I stand by my comparison).

At the far end of the TR is a vantage point of the Rogue Valley-- half a dozen cities, orchards and irrigation ponds, roads cutting through the anti-metropolis, and the meandering Rogue River lazily rolling on. Sublime.

We sat on the edge of the cliff-face and talked and marveled for well over an hour and a half. Talk of work, winter adventures to come, guesses at how the TRs were formed. There was a quiet buzz from the roads below us and the occasional series of cracks from the shooting range.

And there were quiet moments of reflection.

I felt on top of the world. I think we all did.

Friday -- Blue Whale

Kayaker spots a blue whale next to him, and dives in for a crystal clear, underwater picture. Producer Jessica saw and called dibs on this great video earlier this week.