Oregon City, Oregon - Week 20 - May 17 to May 23, 2021

I did do things this week besides work in the woods....but, really, mostly I worked in the woods.

Our good friends, Larry and Jenny Nilson, are moving to Nauvoo at the end of the month.  They've lived in their house for more than 30 years.  On Monday I went and helped Jenny pack up a bunch of stuff that'd been in her basement.  Then on Tuesday, with Jessica, we packed up her kitchen..............and then Tuesday evening the trailer came and took the boxes away.   We are sad, indeed.....but, because of Larry's health situation, they really needed to move to a smaller place, on flat ground....but we still have a hard time understanding why Nauvoo - except that Jenny had a good feeling about it. 

Our microwave was going on a fritz.  First the light no longer came on.  Well, really the first was that the rotating circular plate was very noisy because the floor of the microwave had rusted out over the years...I guess we spilled too many times.  Then, one day, upon opening the door the microwave turned on - that's not good.  An internet search showed that the only 2.0 cubic foot microwave in white could be ordered from Home Depot.  And so it was!  God 'ole dad is cleaning up the accumulated grime in the opening.

Ta-daah!

Then one day  I innocently remarked that I wished that someone who had been living in our house when we were in Kazakhstan hadn't burned up our George Foreman grill. So as you may expect Dad simply ordered one for us.

We had waffles for breakfast and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

I think I posted earlier that robins and built a nest in our lean-to had had laid four eggs.  They hatched!!!!  Kinda ugly little things.  The parents fly away whenever we approach, but if you go up close and listen you can hear they little cheeps.

I did work lots in the woods - in Sector 5 right where it meets the tip of Sector 4.  The area was a mess.  Lots of branches, on a steep hillside with a muddy bog at the bottom.

Two days later I had prevailed!  Perhaps my most notable achievement yet.

I also cleaned up this spot which is looking up the main creek right at the lower tip 

Sector 4.  Sector 1 is on the left.

Here is a photo of a pretty meadow of Candy Flower, Montia sibirica.  We'd never seen this before now -  because all the ivy had (mostly) been killed and now other native plants can grow instead.

On Saturday I moved my "operations' up to the top of Sector 5 along the ATV trail named Daisy Trail.  The main goal is to clean out enough area to get to the limb that fell from Mr. Majestic which is blocking everything with a massive mess.  Here is Mr.
Majestic from the downhill side

And here is Mr. Majestic's limb from the top side with Malcolm standing on it.  Steve Smith said he would come over with his three foot long chain saw and make a dent into the limb.

One evening this week we had good rainbow weather and took these photos.

We shared dinner with WWHC several times this week.  Whitney has a great method for cleaning up Copeland and his tray.

Dolores had a free Sunday evening which miraculously coincided with her birthday.  So we had a celebration.

 Oregon City, Oregon - Week 19 - May 10 - May 16, 2021

Gutters were installed this week....well, two thirds of them were.  The gutter guy came and installed the front side of the barn, the lean-to, and was working on the back side when he found some "rot" in the area where he would be pounding in long nails.  Rather than simply installing them and not telling us about the damage, the gutter guy told us and said he'd come back after we had the area repaired.  I was impressed at his integrity as he could have installed them, and we'd never  have known.  I contacted Quaid Housekeeper (the construction guy I really like) and he said "he would take care of us" and come and repair the roof at his earliest chance.  Quaid said he would do it before the rains come.....doesn't really matter all that much because he gutters on the south side of the barn have been non functional for years.  Just have to be patient now.

On Monday Jane and Ruby were over visiting and ended up "exploring" in the barn.  Guess what they found?  Yep, the hopper containing all of the Styrofoam peanuts we had used when we were shipping mums.  All children do this - they squeeze the handle and get a peanut surprise!  I wasn't angry, but they did clean up "all" of the peanuts.

I worked in Sector 2 most of the week - having the help from Jessica and Bev on Saturday really helped my progress.  I have cleaned up everything - "except" some branches at the top of the "bowl" by the corner of the barn and the area where the Vine Leaf Maple was.  Notice I said "was".  It was a beautiful Acer circinatum, right next to the creek at the bottom of Sectors 1 and 2.  The trunk is about 12 inches in diameter and the branch canopy was wide and spacious and filled up the whole sky.  That is...until.. some Big Leaf Maple branches cracked off and flattened the smaller tree into the ground.  The tree is still alive - the leaves green and growing.  But the base of the trunk was bent to ninety degrees.  I am planning to leave it as it is and hope that some shoots grow up from the base of the trunk.  In the meantime, I carefully removed all of the Big Leaf  Maple debris without damaging the Vine Maple.  Fingers crossed.

I finished cleaning up Sector 2 just in time!!!  Because Travis showed up about 4:00 Friday afternoon with his camping gear and three children and drove his Lexus down the hill and set up camp.  Ended up that all the Louthan kids came over and all the Scott kids - five tents in all.  They had a great time and ended up staying until Saturday afternoon playing in the woods the whole time.  My plans and vision have come to fruition.

On the weekend, I switched back to working in Sector 1 with the goal to clear out to Malcolm's Bridge so that the ATV trail is reestablished.  I was successful!  I had hoped to clean out more of the area on the edges but need to concentrate on recovering the trails.  Here is a photo of a double bundle of branches.  Double the fun and enhanced efficiency.

Bev bought more caterpillars and they are doing their metamorphosis thing!

This was Ruby's last week of Home School with me.  The topic was 'money".

We celebrated both Ruby's and Jane's birthday Sunday night - one is on the 25th and the other on the 26th.  Warren made a "Under the Sea" themed cake.

Next week my plan is to cross Malcolm's Bridge and work at the bottom of Sectors 4 and 5 with the ultimate goal of working up the hill to where Mr Majestic dropped his massive branch on top of the ATV trail.  Who am I going to get to use a big chain saw and cut that massive chunk of branch so a pathway can be made through to the other side?

 Oregon City, Oregon - Week18- May 3 to May 9, 2021

The decision was finally made - we have chosen the gutter installer who will come next week and put up 125 feet of new continuous aluminum gutters and a gutter guard too!  After making a lot of calls and having two guys come out and look and give us a bid, we have chosen Cliffy's Continuous Gutters.  

We do need new gutters in a big way!!  Our vinyl ones, that were put up  20+ years ago are trashed.

Before Cliffy comes I had to paint the part of the lean-to that will be covered by the gutters (the walls can wait until another time),  I came up with quite a miss-match of boards to get a functional ladder on uneven grounds.

By the time I got to the second coat of brown, I had figured out a better ladder support system and felt much safer.

We're still cutting and stacking wood nearly every night...this method uses a big worthless log rather than a concrete block.

The last time Dad mowed the lawn, the mower did a terrible job!!  We needed to take off the three blades and sharpen them and also to scrape off the caked (cemented in) mass of grass clippings.  It was an awful job.....bits of grass and dirt dropping into your face.

I worked down in Sector 2 all week cleaning up where the top of a cedar tree crashed down around a nearly dead alder tree.  All gone now!

Jessica and Bev texted me asking if, for Mother's Day, I wanted to go on a hike or go out to breakfast or maybe out to lunch......I replied that I'd love a work party in the woods.  So, on Saturday morning, Jess and Bev and Clara-Jude-Ruby-Jane-Abby, and Paul came over as my wonderful gift.  

Bev and Jess were magnificent - it's like seeing myself and all of my energy 40 years ago.  Jessica went right down to the creek and started grabbing branches and hucking them up to Bev who, in turn hucked them up to me.  It was pure beauty to my eyes.

The grandkids - well, they did pick up sticks and throw a few on the fire, and Jude played in one of the creeks, but they did witness a great deal of work done by their moms.

Paul saw a ladder leaning up against the barn and asked what it was for.  I told him I was going to climb it and then use a brush to pull off whatever debris I could.  Bless his heart....he proceeded to clean off the whole roof of the barn - saved me a lot of stress and time by doing that.

Clara's birthday is tomorrow; she will be ten.  Her birthday was celebrated Sunday.  She chose a Harry Potter theme.

Warren made the cake with a bunch of golden sniches adorning the cake.

A robin has built a nest in the lean-to - look up at the top to the right.  Whenever one walks close to the opening, the momma bird flutters noisily away so we obviously know where she and the nest are.

Ruby created art work on the porch.  There was a lot of chalk footprints in the living room.

Next week - the gutters are installed and there will be more cleaning in Sectors 1 and 2.