Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #46 – Visiting With Family

 

Tuesday, August 29th, 2017…..   After checking in to see how everyone slept on their airbeds (Bill and RoyAnne on the queen in Lydia’s craft room, and Judy on the twin in my office) we got ready and I took them out to breakfast at Appletree. Penny joined us and then left for her house. We drove through Lebanon and then showed them Sweet Home and Foster Lake.  We returned to town and went over to show them Penny’s place.  We came back home and visited and Lydia drove with RoyAnne to Lowe’s in Albany to show her the sliding screen door we purchased.  She is interested and wanted to check it out.  Bill and Judy and I stayed back and visited.  Later, when the girls got back we decided to go try James Gang Pizza in town.  We had heard it was the best around but we hadn’t been yet.  It was good pizza and cold beer and the prices were reasonable. We’ll go back again – nice to find local eateries! We returned to the house and sat out on the porch and then went in to watch America’s Got Talent.  At least some of us – Penny and Judy both called it a night and headed off to their rooms to wind down and sleep off the carbs!  We watched the 12 acts and each picked our 5 to not go through.  Tomorrow we will find out who did the best.  

Wednesday, August 30th, 2017…..  The family was headed out this morning but Judy wanted to take us all out to breakfast before they left.  We went to Shari’s and all had a nice meal.  Thanks, Judy.  They bought a couple of pies to take back and after Penny said her goodbyes and headed to her house again the rest of us headed back to the house.  Both RoyAnne and Judy wanted cuttings off our star jasmine so I just dug out some smaller plants and we bagged them and packed them for the trip. We said our goodbyes and they got on their way. Sorry to say the smoke from the fires had made it a pretty nasty drive up and they were going to hit more of the same all the way back to Chico (fires were also in NoCal).  But the visit was great.  We got to know them better and they said they enjoyed the visit with us very much.  Hopefully they rest of the family can make it up here to visit in the near future.

After they left, I took off to Penny’s and did a few things (busted up a toilet and dumped it in her trash, replaced a hose bib on her outside faucet, helped paint a post in her garage, etc.) After that, I drove over to Albany to a couple of electrical supply houses in search of the elusive outdoor receptacle plate for Penny’s house (no luck finding one).  I met up with Lydia later at Penny’s and we all went to Carl’s Jr. for dinner (thanks sis!) and went home.  We all watched the AGT results show. Janie had called with her and Rick’s picks already.  Bill got 2. Lydia, RoyAnne, Janie, and Rick all got 3 and I got 4.       

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #45 – Carousel Tour and More Family!

 

Sunday, August 27th, 2017…..   Mike and Pat woke up and ate breakfast in their rig and came in about 10:30am.  We sat around and talked and Penny left for the next round of cleaning at the house. We needed to go to the store and I suggested we drive into Albany so I could check Lowe’s to get an electrical plate for her patio outlet.  We decided to continue on to downtown and hit Lowe’s and Walmart on the way out.  The newly refurbished carousel building and studio has been open since Aug. 15^th.  And it was open today so I parked and we went in.  

No admission and no charge for parking.  I’m sure glad we did!  It was really well done.  All volunteers and probably four years in the making, they did an excellent job.  Carvers take on a horse (or fish or giraffe or whatever) and work it up to paint.  Then it goes upstairs to get all the colors put on by volunteers (mostly artistic ladies!).  Then it goes out to an automobile paint shop to get layers and layers of clear coat.  This carousel (you can see it in the pictures) still has room for more animals.  

We stopped at the concession stand and got popcorn, pretzels and a drink and while we were eating, Lydia offered an extra seat at our table to an older gentleman with a cane.  Turns out he and his wife did one of the horses.  He was very nice and talked with her for 15-20 min. about his work.  Nice to get that kind of info.  Later, we visited the gift shop and the paint shop and I met another gentleman who told me about the carving shop downstairs.  So I went to the lady by the elevator who allowed us access.  We met Jack, a docent, down there who gave us even more details on the operation and the wood they use and where they get it and how it’s received (it’s basswood and comes pre-glued in made to order blocks, depending on what they are making). I took some pics of the works in progress.  

We stopped at Lowe’s and got some things (no luck on the plate) and then to Walmart for stuff for dinner.  We came back and watched the LL World Series.  Sorry to Lufkin – Japan was just too tough.  The girls fixed an excellent rib and mac and cheese dinner and after we sat and talked a while then went out for fireballs on the porch before going in for the night.     

Monday, August 28th, 2017…..  This morning we got up a bit later than usual.  Mike and Pat got up and got ready to hit the road.  They plotted out their trip today and put it into their gps.  They are going to head back south via the coast. We said our goodbyes and they hit the hwy. It was really nice to spend time with them.  I then left to go to Albany to run some errands.  I wanted to go to Habitat for Humanity to see what new cabinets they had received and to see if my mower was still there.  Nope! I also checked on the electrical plate for my sister’s patio. Nope.  After that, I stopped by Lowe’s and ordered our new front screen.  We really like the sliding screens and have had them on our home for years so Lydia previously had picked out the one at Lowe’s so I went back today to set it up.  I had put the others on but Lowe’s has free installation (the door is marked up higher than Home Depot’s!)  so they will be calling me to set up a date. Meanwhile, Lydia’s sister, Judy, and her brother, Bill and his wife made the drive from their homes in Chico, CA to come up and visit for a few days.  They pulled in and got the outside tour pretty quickly because the smoke from all of the Oregon fires is getting really thick! I set up the blowup beds while they visited.  My sister came back from the DMV where she took her test and got her driver’s license plus plates for her car. I stayed away from the family visit and watched my taped NASCAR race and went on hold with the CA Franchise Tax Board so I could change my address.  Seems they already have it on file.  I’m not quite sure and she wouldn’t say but I’m thinking the CA DMV must tie in to their database somehow. But that’s done. Just the Feds to deal with now. Later, Penny and Lydia cooked and we all had a nice yummy meal. Once it cooled down in the evening we all sat out and talked before turning in for the night.  

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #44 – Lawn Mowing and Return Visitors

Friday, August 25th, 2017…..   We got a call yesterday that Mike and Pat were close to getting their rig fixed and would like to come stay with us a few days. No worries.  We knew where to park Rick and Janie and Mike and Pat’s motorhome will fit right there as well!  They are coming Saturday so I needed to go get a connector from Camping World to repair my 30 amp electrical cord I used for Rick and Janie’s coach. I also want to mow the lawn today but it’s too wet in the mornings so Lydia and I headed down toward Eugene with the idea we would stop in Brownsville for breakfast.  Meanwhile, Penny stayed behind and made calls for insurance, financial planning, etc. while we were gone. We didn’t see anything open for breakfast in Brownsville so we went on to Camping World and I got my connector and then we continued on into Eugene where we stopped at Elmer’s for breakfast. We returned home and I set out to get the lawn mowed. I tried out Penny’s lawnmower for the rain ditch out by the street (sweet and better than string trimming!) and then got out the tractor and did the yard. Meanwhile, Penny and Lydia went into Albany to Home Depot to check out carpeting for her bedrooms. They got back and Penny went back to her house and we ran some errands and stopped at Jack in the Box and got dinner. I went out to the shop and put the electrical cord together and then came in and we watched tv for a while and then called it a night.    

Saturday, August 26th, 2017…..  I did some bill paying this morning and then got the house ready for vacuuming.  I really like the built-in system we have here.  And we have setups for carpet as well as for the hardwood floors. It makes short work of that chore! Afterward, I went out to the workshop and cut up some more cardboard for the recycle bin. With all the shelving and stuff we have purchased, we sure do have a lot of cardboard and Styrofoam to recycle!  With the plastics and recycles from the house, I cut up the cardboard and break up the Styrofoam to fill up the container before trash day.  After I finished the cardboard, I started cutting up branches I trimmed the other day so they would fit in the trash container.  Right as I was finishing that up, Mike and Pat Myers pulled up in their rv.  I got them backed in and hooked up and we visited for a while.  My sister had already left for her house.  While she is waiting for the work to be done (painting and carpeting and before the pod is ordered up) she wants to go in and do a heavy cleaning of the cabinets, cupboards, fridge, etc. when everything is empty.  We decided to go over and harass and/or help her.  Mike and I fixed a window adjuster and I added a doorstop plus put in some bulbs in the patio lights.  We hung around for a while and talked then came back to the house to drop off her car and then we headed out to Sweet Home to the Skyline Diner for dinner.  We hadn’t been there before so why not try it now!  It was good.  I got the liver and onions (not bad) and Lydia got prime rib which she said was good as well.  We will go back again. We drove them up to and around Foster Lake before returning home.  Mike and I watched the playoff games.  Lufkin Texas goes up against Japan tomorrow. It will be a tough game for Texas but we’ll see.    

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #43 – Working on Falcon Crest and Saying Goodbye

 

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017…..   This morning we all got up pretty early.  Penny drove her car and Rick and I followed her to her house in the truck.  I didn’t mention this before but her house is on Falcon Ct. so Lydia started calling it Falcon Crest.  Pretty fair because Penny calls our house South Fork! We took stock of the next items we needed for the day and then took off to Lowe’s in Albany.  Among other things, she ended up purchasing her new washer and dryer there.  Luckily Rick’s military discount got her 10% off, even for the washer and dryer! She set up delivery for later down the road, after painting is done. We made a few other stops and picked up more items plus stopped by to see Aimee at ReMax to drop off the lock box and pick up a letter faxed to Lydia by her doctor. She needed it to send it for our health care transition to up here. Her and Janie stopped by Subway and picked up lunch and met us at the house.  We made pretty quick work of the tasks today and we headed home.  Penny stayed and cleaned a few cabinets and made a list for her next tasks.  She is having a contractor come by to give her a bid for painting and other repairs/improvements around the house.  She is also having Kirk come over to get a look at her yard for that upcoming work.  Later, after all of us were home and had rested a bit, we headed off to Ma’s for Chinese.  Thanks Rick and Janie for picking up the bill!  After dinner, we headed back home and settled in for the night, watching both AGT shows.  We again chose our picks for those who should leave and I got all five right this time!    

Thursday, August 24th, 2017…..  This morning was sad.  Penny said her goodbyes to Rick and Janie and went over to the house.  We hung around for the morning while they prepped the rig for their return trip.  They ended up pulling out about 9:30am.  It was nice to have them here with us and sad to see them go.  They are great friends and we’re glad they could come up and spend some time with us. 

 After they left, we did some weed pulling and then kicked back and rested and had lunch. Later, we took some tools over to my sister’s house, including my tall ladder.  She wanted to get to the stuff stored in her attach that someone in the house, either the original owner or one of the tenants, had left.  There was nothing of any real value.  We ended up with a lighted sled and reindeer (for our porch) for our Christmas display. She gave a box of toys/books to her neighbor for their little girl and/or goodwill donation. We also spent some time with John, another neighbor, who gave us a little history about her neighborhood. Turns out the one HUGE house in her area was once owned by the founder of her development. Later, we returned home and had leftovers and watched little league (me) and taped shows (Lydia) and Penny went to bed.

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #42 – Eclipse Day Plus a New House

Monday, August 21st, 2017…..   Today is Eclipse Day! We got up early, showered, and prepped for the day.  Ok, we went out to the porch about 9:00am! We had listened to all of the hype on the news – we had our eclipse glasses – we were ready!  The whole area up here was in to eclipse frenzy and they expected hundreds of thousands of folks to flock here. We watched the news stations and saw eclipse parties all over the viewing path. They told us that as it got darker we could expect the cattle and sheep to head back to the barn.  Birds would land in the trees for the night. Dogs and cats would get nervous as it got closer. Owls and night predators would come out. Really! Everyone was ready for this! But I was expecting something rather boring.  Not true!  Turns out it was spectacular. It was really pretty cool!  We had excellent weather – clear skies and a clear view. 

The sky got progressively darker and our porch lights even came on! With our eclipse glasses we could see the partial starting. 

The temp really dropped and had Janie running for her jacket and blankets! After about 45 minutes it went totally into a corona!  They say it lasted for 2 ½ minutes but it seemed shorter than that to us.  

Afterward, we came back in and watched the news about other folks’ reactions.  Those people in stadiums and amphitheaters and parks were starting to head home and the roads got clogged up pretty quickly.  They made it to be a big deal but it looked like just another day of rush hour traffic in SoCal! No biggie.  But we stayed put and didn’t have any worries.  Later in the day, we decided to skip lunch and have linner.  Penny was waiting for the call that her bank had funded the payment and she could get her keys so we wanted to be ready.  They fixed chili dogs and a few minutes later she got the call.  The house was hers! We headed over in two cars and got to work.  She had already figured out we needed two locksets and three deadbolts. We also needed door stops and weather stripping for the doors so Rick and I headed to Home Depot/Lowe’s for that.  The girls went to Walmart for cleaning supplies.  We returned and I got the locks changed.  Tomorrow we will bring chairs and ladders and more stuff to get things started.

Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017…..  Rick and Janie were figuring out their trip back home.  They are debating whether to cross over and hit the coast and head that way, or go back down I5.  But they are here today so they helped us at the house again.  Penny had to go get the city office to get the water turned back on and in her name.  Lydia took the car and I loaded the stuff in my truck and we all left together and met at Kevin’s Café for breakfast. Afterward, we went to Home Depot and to Costco and picked up stuff, including two new toilets. We decided to have linner so we all drove to Ixtapa and had a nice meal.  Then we all met back at the house and started in. It was a busy day but we got the toilets in, light bulbs replaced, vent covers installed, a sink drain replaced, and more. In total, a lot of stuff done.  

We returned home and watched Master Chef and went to bed after a long day.  

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #41 – Workshop Cabinets and Inspections

(New pics added to last post! Check it out.)

Saturday, August 19th, 2017…..   Another day and another trip to Albany!  I still wanted those workshop cabinets and they were on sale today only so off we went again!  I bought one cabinet and two racks plus I picked up a lawnmower for my sister’s yard. Hey – everything was 50% off!

Once back and unloaded, we had a relaxing day of doing very little. Later in the afternoon, Penny got a call that she had been waiting for – the house was done and ready for the walk through!  We ate and she headed over.  We cleaned up a bit and then followed in our car.  The house was indeed empty but we all found things that needed to be addressed before closing.  Aimee will convey all of that to the seller’s agent to be addressed.   

Sunday, August 20th, 2017…..  This morning we all slept in and then took off for breakfast about 10:00am.  We went to Applewoods, one of the larger local restaurants in Lebanon.  The eclipse crowd has made it to Oregon to be in the viewing belt and we’ve been told that everything will be crowded.  There were folks in there but it was a Sunday morning-after church-meal day for most so we got a table right away.  After a good meal, we did a drive-by Penny’s house.  There was activity but we didn’t stop. But it looks like they’re at least working on getting it done.  The seller wants to close too!  We left there and then drove out Hwy 20 to Sweet Home (15 miles west of us) to see that area and Foster Lake.  Even that area was pretty quiet.  There is a local area here on Hwy 20 where they have festivals and fairs and concerts and such and they have opened it to campers for the eclipse.  That area was pretty full but still not too much traffic and the lake wasn’t crowded.  We got back home and chilled out for the day with nothing on the agenda.  Penny got a text that the house was again ready.  She and the girls went to check it out. Rick and I watched little league games out in my motorhome.  The girls got back (the house was good to go!) and later, they called us in for dinner.  They fixed Janie’s chicken casserole, with rice-a-roni as a side and blackberry cobbler or lemon cake for dessert.  Very good! We watched some taped programs while Penny talked on her phone to her friends about the events today.  Tomorrow is eclipse day so we made plans – get up, go outside and relax on the porch – and wait! Total eclipse is a little after 10:00am.    

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #40 – Even More Visitors

 

Thursday, August 17th, 2017…..   This morning Rick and I went into Albany, stopped at Elmer’s for breakfast (yummy!) and then went on to Harbor Freight.  I wanted to pick up a central vacuum collection system to replace the one that Walt sold.  There are various locations in the shop that has connections that run under the floor to the collection system.  It vacuums sawdust from each of the tools hooked in the system.  Even though I am not a master woodworker by any sort, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to improve the tools I do have.  It will come in handy in the future when I get more stuff in there!  We got home and put the assembly together and got it installed. Meanwhile, the girls went into Corvallis to go shopping and exploring.  Later, Mike and Pat drove up from their rv, parked in Eugene, to visit.  We gave them the tour and visited for a while.  Mike, Rick and I watched the little league world series games I had taped earlier today while the girls prepared dinner.  We ate bbq pork, mac and cheese, salad, and corn, with blueberries and lemon cake for dessert. Extra yummy! 

Afterward, I installed the housewarming gift that Mike & Pat gave us! Thanks, guys!

We went out and sat on the front porch and had a few drinks and visited for a while and enjoyed the evening.

It was like a mini campout with our rv friends! Penny got to know Pat and Mike and Pat shared photos of her craftwork with her and pics of her house with the art work our friend Brenda painted on her kitchen and entry walls. Both Pat and Brenda are really talented.

Afterward, Pat and Mike got back on the road and we settled in to watch our tape of the results show for America’s Got Talent. We all made our choices for who should be eliminated in this round.  I was the worst with my picks.        

Friday, August 18th, 2017…..  Rick and I headed back to Albany this morning to pick up one of two cabinets I want for my workshop. I have been to Habitat For Humanity a few times looking at their stock of recycled kitchen cabinets which I want to install out there. Yesterday the truck was loaded so today we went back to buy the first of two I want. But when we got there we saw on their calendar that Saturday everything in the store would be 50% off (pre eclipse sale!) so we will go back again tomorrow.  Today was another day for sprinklers!  Abel came back out, with his crew this time, and they laid 300 feet of lines out on the driveway side of the front yard, plus moved two lawn sprinkler heads/lines to allow for an rv pad to be put down in the future.  They were there most of the day and got everything done.  But this is only phase one of at least three to get everything on the property in working order.  This line will help all of the recently added new plants get their water.   We’ll be calling them back out soon for more work.  Afterwards, we took off to Coburg Pizza, for dinner.  Rick and Janie said they really liked the food there so it was worth the drive. We came back and Rick and I watched little league games and Lydia and the girls watched the CMA awards show for a bit before going to bed.   

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #39 – Planting and New Visitors

 

Tuesday, August 15th, 2017…..     Not much happening today. We drove by Penny’s house and saw not much in the way of them moving yet.  They are supposed to be out by the end of today. She is talking with Aimee, who is in contact with his realtor and they are supposed to be on track. We’ll see… I worked on cleaning up my grapevines today.  Walt planted blueberries plants, apple trees, and grapevines seriously close together.  The grapevines are growing up into the apple trees and hooking on to them with their vines.  I’m not sure if that will affect both fruits but I thinned out ½ of them so we’ll see in September when the grapes ripen. We’re still waiting on the apples, which we still don’t know what species they are, to ripen.  Lydia talked with a fellow at the local farmer's market last week and he says to bring one in and maybe he can help.   

Wednesday, August 16th, 2017…..  Busy day today!  Kirk is coming with more plants!  He showed up about 10:00am with a young fellow to help him today.  He had another truckload of plants.  I asked him to park in front of our garage because Rick and Janie were due in anytime.  He unloaded and got to work.  Today they moved our large lavender bush from the back of the house to the side.  We want to develop the back yard and have a plan in place for the patio cover and two gazebos and the lavender was in the way.  Kirk and Lydia got all of today’s plants layed out and he and Caleb started in.  Meanwhile, Rick and Janie pulled up.  He unhooked his tow car and I backed him in place and got water and power to their coach.  He got his satellite dish up and going and the air going for the dogs and then we gave them the big tour.

 I’m not sure how they saw all of the property but they looked amazed.  I am still amazed too! But we are starting to get things under control at least what we want to accomplish.  The yard is starting to look good and will get even better when Kirk gets the mulch in.  The sprinkler guy is due this week to start on phase one of three to get things fixed and added to.  We hung around and visited with Rick & Janie a bit and then set out to show them the town and then go have linner.  We drove by Penny’s house.  Looks like a different car is there now so she’s hoping that it’s the owner and he’s starting to get his agreed work done before close of escrow next Monday.  We drove through our ‘old town’ and then went over to Corvallis to The Spaghetti Factory for dinner. It was good once we finally got seated. We got back home and I watered the new plants

and we sat out on the front porch and had wine and relaxed until we came in to watch our tape of America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.   

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #38 – Rain and Chinese Food!

 

Sunday, August 13th, 2017…..  We woke up to rain today!  It hasn’t rained here since the end of May!  We didn’t get a downpour, just a drizzle but it lasted most of the morning and then later in the afternoon. That meant that the plants we just put in plus the lawns and the fields all got watered!  Yaaay!  I am still work-in-progress in my workshop so today I decided to spend some time in there.  Not too much as it is Sunday, but I did spend a few hours out there.  Lydia and Penny watched tv and I went out to the motorhome to watch a few taped shows before coming in to watch Nascar in my office. Nice lazy day watching it rain!   

Monday, August 14th, 2017…..  The weather is nice today.  The mornings always start off cooler (today it was 49° about 6:30am) but no rain and it got warmer as the day went on.  Penny asked me if I minded if she tackled the potting shed.  She had decided to try to clean it up and she really did! She killed a lot of spiders and got rid of a lot of junk.  Now it looks great!  Meanwhile I started loading the shelving units in the garage and got most of that done before the Safelite repair person showed up.  Maryanne got a rock chip on the way up and I had scheduled the insurance folks to come fix it. That was today. Heather showed up and got that wrapped up in about ½ an hour.  Looks good! Penny wanted to take us out to Chinese tonight so we headed to Ma’s.  We learned that they are closed on Mondays so Lydia remembered Sum Yan closer to old town so we drove there.  Their food was very good.  Thanks Penny! I should be paying you for the work you’re doing here!  Afterward, we returned and relaxed and watched tv before going to bed.  

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #37 – Workshop and Little League

Friday, August 11th, 2017…..  Today was another plan-as-you-go day.  I worked a bit on my workshop and watched Little League Regionals a bit.   I have been following little league since my kids played.  We have been to Williamsport to see the LL World Series, which was awesome!  This year I am watching the Oregon team, as well as Rancho Santa Margarita.  The Oregon kids won their first round and play tomorrow to see who goes to Williamsport.  Rancho also won their first round and will play on Saturday. Lydia worked on the craft room now that it’s empty of visitors.  We both went out to water the new flowers before coming in for the night.   

Saturday, August 12th, 2017…..  We fixed pancakes for breakfast.  Penny already ate and it turns out that Lydia only had enough batter for 4-5 small pancakes so I ate and she fixed cereal.  We need a trip to the store! I went out to repair loose fluorescent fixtures in the workshop and Penny came out and helped.  We ended up taking them all down to repair (as needed) and wash.  I have 6 in the smaller shop and those are done.  I have 7 in the larger storage shop.  I fixed one of those but I still need to move items around on the floor so I can get a ladder up to work on the others.  We went out to Ixtapa for a nice meal and then to Walmart to get a few things.  We returned and watered again and came in to watch baseball (Oregon lost but Calif. won) and Nascar races I had taped.   

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #36 – Pizza, Plane Flights, and Planting!

 

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017…..  This morning the girls decided to go shopping and explore downtown Corvallis. I stayed home and put one of the two shelving units together for the office.  I also worked on my check book Yuuuck! Once they returned and rested a bit it was off to tour the homes we had looked at prior to buying this one.  We showed them the Leaburg home then drove over to Fir Butte and then on to Veneta to show them those as well.  We ended up at Coburg Pizza for dinner. Both Penny and Maryanne liked both the pizza and the desert pizza we ordered.  On the way home we stopped by our old campground.  We found Mike and Pat’s rig and knocked on their door and visited with them for a while before heading home and crashing from the pizza and desert!  But we did get some nice shots of the sunset from our back porch!   

Wednesday, August 9th, 2017…..  Last day for Maryanne in the great Northwest!  She had booked her 3:30pm flight for today out of Portland.  So she gathered up her stuff and we spent the morning just talking about her time here.  I think she gets what we are doing up here.  Not everyone will understand why we made such a life changing move. Sometimes we question it ourselves, but we always end up thinking we made the right choice. She gets that.

Today was also when our sprinkler guy was coming back to work on the drip systems for our flower beds.  We hoped he would show up early enough so we could get him going on all of the work while we took off to the airport. He did and we were all able to make the trek to Portland.  We drove for a while (about 60 miles) and then stopped in Wilsonville for lunch and then made our way through Portland traffic (sure don’t miss that!) and we got her there with plenty of time to check in. We said our goodbyes and headed back through more traffic until we got well clear of the outskirts. Once we got home we rested and then the girls went to Taco Bell and brought back dinner while I stayed home and cut up most of the cardboard boxes that I have accumulated from all the cabinets we have bought recently.  Our trash pickup is on Thursdays so I wanted to pack the container as full as I could and get it out tonight.  

Thursday, August 10th, 2017…..  Lydia had a hair cut appointment this morning and Penny went off to lunch with Aimee so I took off and went to Habitat for Humanity to look for bolts for the floor standing bedroom oak mirror.  We seem to have lost them in the move and they are ornamental so I don’t want to use just any as replacements.  No luck at any of the places I checked.  I guess I just have to look closer in the boxes I have left in the workshop!  Today was also landscaping day.  Make that planting day! Kirk made his trip to the nursery and brought a truckload of plants and got them all in the ground today!

We are still waiting for the irrigation guy to schedule the drip lines and sprinkler repair/install.  But since we have 75% of the plants in now he can go from there.

Lydia gave them a good watering

and we’ll see tomorrow what the existing sprinklers will hit and where we need to add lines. Once we were done, we came back in and rested and watched America’s Got Talent that we had taped a few days ago.            

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #35 – More Family Time!

Saturday, August 5th, 2017…..  This morning we got up early and got ready to go to the Corvallis Farmer’s Market.  Penny hadn’t been and we wanted to go get some more yummy pupusas!  We walked the whole place once and saw many food vendors, but those guys weren’t there!  We found out from our friends at OSU Organic Growers Club (we bought some of their blackberries) that they are only here on Wednesdays. Bummer!  We found a booth serving burritos and tried those.  Ok, but not what we wanted.  We did buy some veggies plus some local honey before heading home.  The weather broke today.  It was only in the 80s when we got back.  Lydia and I walked the yard, rethinking our plant placements, and she decided the grass was dry enough to mow.  So guess who got out the tractor! At least I would get to do the mowing. Hey, the weather was nice today! I found out later that I have to put sunscreen on my neck and ears. 

I decided to divide the property in thirds – 1) the front and back lawns, 2) the south field directly behind the house and workshop, and 3) the west ‘40’.  I will definitely mow the lawns but I thought that I should also mow the south field and I’ll leave the back 40 to the lawn service!  That would save me some money! But after spending about 2 hours on the lawn and field, I’m rethinking that again. I may just have him do all of the ‘field’ mowing, and I’ll do the lawns.  About 2/3rds in, Penny wanted to mow.  So I gave her a quick tutorial and off she went.  Just like Lydia – my day was over!  She finished up the field.  I took a few pictures of her plus the ‘creek’ and wild blackberries at the back of the field and headed in. 

The lawn is irrigated but the field is not so it's really dry and brown!

I waited for her in the shop with wet and dry towels and we cleaned up and put away the tractor and we were done!  We came in and rested.  I actually took a nap which I hardly ever do during the day.  We got a text that Maryanne was just crossing into Oregon and would be here in a few hours.  Lydia has pork in the crockpot for dinner so the timing may work to have her eat with us.  Ok, update, we ate without her.  She showed up later and we unloaded my car and she put her stuff away plus Penny’s overflow that she also brought up. We gave her a tour of the house and everything else and she settled in and relaxed from the day.  

 

Sunday, August 6th, 2017…..  I read in the local paper yesterday that the Sweet Home Elks Lodge was doing a breakfast this morning so we made plans last night to get up early and go.  The Lebanon Elks Lodge closed a few years ago and this one is the closest for me to transfer to.  So we wanted to go check it out.  We got everyone up and running and drove the 12 miles and found the lodge. We managed to find the right door and were welcomed by the folks manning the food stations.  Maryanne paid for breakfast!  Than you sweetie! We had pancakes, cook to order eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, coffee and orange and tomato juices.  All you can eat for $7. All of it was very good. Bloody Marys were available for $4.00 if you so chose. One of the directors (Bob) told me he lives in Lebanon and used to live in Orange County.  He transferred from the Garden Grove Elks. My lodge! So later, when I was asking transferring my membership, I was introduced to Charley, the Exalted Ruler.  SHE was very nice!  Her husband has been an ER and he said it was her turn!  Anyway, I will go back some upcoming Wednesday for meeting night and get the paperwork started. It’s a fifteen minute drive so that would be about the same as Garden Grove for me. Afterward, we drove out to Foster Lake and then back through Lebanon and to Penny’s house to show Maryanne.  Penny got excited to see that they have actually started thinning out the garage.  They are supposed to be out by Aug. 14^th. We drove back through the town and then headed home so Maryanne could rest and catch up on her sleep schedule. We all rested too! Later, the girls took off to Walmart and picked up stuff for the week. I watched the NASCAR race and Mecum auctions off the dvr. Mostly a kick back day.    

Monday, August 7th, 2017…..     This morning we all split up.  Lydia worked on the very last box for the bathroom.  I installed the wall mounted hair dryers in the master bath then took off to Albany to Walmart for two more shelving units for my office and then to Costco to buy the other three steel racks units for the workshop.  Penny and Maryanne took off to explore the Santiam River.  Since it runs right behind her new house, she wanted to check out access.  They got back a while later and said they did find a nice spot and stuck their feet in the water and cooled off a bit.  Through many breaks and lunch I worked on getting all of the metal racks built and tied together. Lots of sweat but they look great.  

Now I have to work on getting everything up and on them!  Since it was such a broken up day, we didn’t fix a meal – each of us ate leftovers or snacks for dinner and each of us turned in when we got tired.      

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #34 – More Work and More Visitors!

Thursday, August 3rd, 2017…..  Even though it’s been hot up here this week, the mornings always start out nice – in the 50s. So I put on long pants and boots and headed out early to the back of the property to weed whack some of the area on the other side of the creek.  The ‘creek’ is really just an empty gully that you can step over right now but we’re told it can fill up pretty full come rainy season. I did about 100 feet and said that was enough for the day.  My sister finished up her weeding project in the blueberry cage.  It looks great now!  I changed back to shorts and sandals and cut up cardboard for the recycle bin when the DirecTV guy came.  I pretty much had the living room tv all hooked up.  Ken ran cable to my office, the guest room, our bedroom, and the craft room.  I had a new dish on the install order so since the house already had one, I had him put it on the workshop plus wire it for a tv out there.  I still have one box in the motorhome and I will keep it in there until I get everything watched and then will use it in the workshop plus it will go back and forth to the rig when we travel. The box in Lydia’s craft room will be used in the rig as well. All of that work took the better part of the morning and even though I didn’t do any of it, I was tired! Hey, supervising is hard work! As Oregon residents now, we have the Portland feed via DirecTV and can see the news here now instead of the feed from LA that we had been getting. Later in the day, Gina and Paula came to visit. Paula is Penny’s ex sister-in-law. Her and Gina retired from SoCal (police and fire depts.) and moved up to Bend.  They, and their dog Morgan, were on a mini trip to the beach at Newport for a few days and stopped by on their way home. We showed them our place and we visited for a while. Then Penny took them by her place before they headed back over the Cascades.  Meanwhile, we are pretty much staying in the a/c in the house! I worked on the last of the boxes for the office while Lydia put away things in the master bedroom and closet.  I did go out to the rig for a bit to take a break.  The coach has a/c but it was so hot in there that running it now wouldn’t do any good.  I just turned on a couple of fans and kicked back and watched tv for a couple of hours.  Lydia fixed a teriyaki pork roast for dinner and we kicked back for the evening. She did go out and add 5 more flags for the new flower bed plan.  We’re up to 55 now! 

Friday, August 4th, 2017…..   Today I set out to do more weed whacking.  I got out to the workshop and started straightening things up and stayed there instead. I put some of my saw tables back together and moved some things out of boxes.  Still a lot of work to do in there! The steel shelving unit that I put together yesterday got moved into place. 

 It’s one of four I plan to assemble across the south wall.  Unfortunately since it’s got beams that attach to the previous upright I can’t load anything until I get the other ones bought and installed.  All I need is money!  But no hurry right now.  Penny worked on cleaning up dead grass in the flower beds and I picked up all of the stuff she cleared out of the blueberry enclosure.  Then it got hot!  I was planning on mowing this morning but I couldn’t because the grass was still wet (sprinklers go off at 4:00am).  I’ll probably have to learn to turn them off the night before!  While we were outside, Lydia worked on the last of the master bedroom boxes so that is now done. We also did work on hanging pictures. I had one bracket that needed a little trimming so the hanger could go over it.  I actually had to use a dremel tool to cut It.  

But soon we were done.  It  is starting to now look like a home!  

Later, I watched Mecum auctions I taped this morning and also talked a bit to Treasa who is in Ohio, visiting their kids and grandson.  They will hit the road pretty soon to make their way back to Calif.  I said goodbye as Lydia called me into dinner.  She fixed bbq pork ribs, w/baked potato and string beans.  Yummy! Afterwards, I went back to work breaking down Lydia’s empty boxes and also unpacked a few more in the shop before coming in for the night.       

Oregon Living 2017 – Blog #33 – Working On the Yard

Tuesday, August 1st, 2017…..  We slept in until 6:30am and got ready for the day.  Today’s plan was to put in reinforcement brackets on the hanging clothes bars in the master closet.  I had picked up some the other day at Lowes and within an hour had those in and now we can load up on the hangers in there! 

The weather here is taking a turn to the hot side!  Its 95° today and it’s supposed to hit 100° tomorrow thru Saturday. I did go outside for a while and work out by the workshop and fruit trees and bushes.  Walt had a planting bed out there that was framed in old wood.  It’s not been used for a long, long time and had gone to weeds so I cleared the junk and removed the wood.  

Now I can mow over it not worry about hitting obstacles.  I also fixed a drip line that was running out to the blueberries.  They’re in a caged area to protect them from animals and they are still looking good even though they were getting no water. The grapes and the apples are looking good as well. Grapes should be ripe by Sept/Oct. Not sure what kind they are – guess we’ll find out!  Also not sure yet about the apples so we’ll keep an eye on everything.  Penny did go in and pick a bunch of blueberries for breakfast and they are really sweet!  

She and Lydia also went out to the back corner of the property to check on the blackberries.  Some are turning now so we need to be prepared to go back in a few days and check again. We know we’ll get stuck on the sharp thorns so we’ll see how much pain they are worth!  Before I was done outside, Lydia and Penny went to get their mani/pedis. Once it got too hot I shifted back to work inside. I’m still working on unpacking the many boxes I filled for the office (/Quincy’s temporary bedroom!).  It’s coming along.  Thursday the DirecTV guy comes and sets up the cables in the house, including my office/den and the workshop. I finished up and rested. The girls got back and Lydia and I fixed tacos for a quick and tasty dinner. Earlier today, I got a call from Mike Myers.  He and Pat are in Florence, on the coast about 50 miles from Eugene.  They need repair on their motorhome’s slideout and they asked about REV.  REV is the company that is in Coburg that does repair work on Monaco and now Fleetwood products.  Hopefully they can come visit while they’re this close.    

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2017…..  Today Lydia and Penny went off to the nursery in Corvallis to meet with Kirk to pick out some plants for the yard.  They took pictures of several bushes, shrubs, and flowers that she wants to use.  

It’s in triple digits today (just made 105° a little after noon) so Kirk only did about four hours of bed clearing. He and Lydia walked the property and marked with little flags where the plants will be going.  He bought 50 flags and they used them all.  Boy, this is gonna cost me! I took off and went to the DMV and got new Oregon plates for the truck.  They told me to space it out since the tags on the other two vehicles are still good. We figure one in July, one in Aug. one in Sept. and one in Oct.  At least they are good for two years here for registrations! I left there and went and got gas in the truck and headed to Costco to pick up another storage unit for the office and a shelving system for the workshop.  I got those both assembled and the office was done.  I still have to move things around in the workshop plus get three more units.  I’ll take pictures when they are done and the stuff is on the shelves. Later, we went out to Ma’s Chinese, and my sister treated us to dinner.  Thank you!  We then went back to Costco and I bought a new tv for the office. I think I’ve figured out now which rooms the DirecTV boxes will go in.  We were all tired for the days errands so we relaxed and watched tv before turning in.