Oregon City, Oregon Week 18 - May 2 - May 10, 2020

Guess what we did this week.........right....more ivy, blackberry and holly removal.  Boring, actually, but the results are exciting.

Here we are cleaning up at Goodin Acres



Before and after photos of trees that were being strangled by ivy and blackberries -now free.





The tree above must have had a bird nest in the blackberry brambles, because, the next day I found a nest on the ground with three _ _ _ _ birds...I',m sorry little birds.





Malcolm helping us cut up a stump in the ground





Dad is digging up and around a big piece of metal that is embedded in the earth



This is what the area just to the south of the barn looks like





This is where we've been throwing down, into the canyon, biodegradable plants for a long time



We're going to hire Don Lutz and his brush cutting/chewing up/smashing down machine to come and clear the field (blackberry field, right now) to the west of the bridge trail.  One morning I walked along the fence line and put up bamboo sticks with pink surveyors tape to mark where the fence is.



and a corner post



Dad is enjoying working on his tractors in the newly re-purposed cooler-side of the barn.



We got another Find A Grave request for a photo of a monument at the Clackamas Pioneer Cemetery.  I'd never heard of the place, but it is right in between I 205 and the Milw By-pass.  Kinda sad - it probably used to be in a lovely place but now it is an industrial backwater.  Turned out that there was no monument for the deceased person so we were only able to take a picture of the names on a list of those graves without monuments.



We celebrated Clara's ninth birthday  by having a pool party at the Isom's.  It was the first time that we'd been in a "large" gathering since the beginning of self-isolation.

Warren made the cake - an LOL doll head......I don't understand what it is, but little girls do.









A great pinata whacking and some chocolate candies that got too warm inside the star



Mother's Day - - a great breakfast brought over the night before by Jessica



Lovely card from Dad



Here are my brush tools nicely hanging on the barn wall



And a Mother's Day pizza dinner ---plus--a group gift from my children....a fold up hammock chair.  Nice!!  Also some candy and a double hammock to snuggle in whenever the weather turns into summer.





The big news of the day - week - month - is that Clay and Natalie are engaged!  To make the day memorable, they went to Crown Point for the big question, but the road was blocked off because we need to social distance...so  she got the ring in the parking lot with a view of the river behind them.



Getting ready for , hopefully, some hiking this summer