Week 8 - Oregon City, Oregon - February 21- February 27, 2022

This has been quite a week --because Russia has invaded Ukraine.  It's hard to believe that a member of the United Nations (with it's ambassador being the president of the UN Security council), would so blatantly invade another UN member country.  There will be books written about this....but here we are.

Ukraine has done very well with warding off the Russians; probably better than anyone thought they would.  The Ukraine ambassador to the UN has been eloquent.

At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York Wednesday night, Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya held up his smartphone and shook it toward his Russian counterpart, demanding he put an end the invasion right then and there. 

"Call Putin, call [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov to stop aggression," Kyslytsya implored in his speech fully in English. And at the end of his address, he warned: "There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell, Ambassador."

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/24/1082806285/ukraine-ambassador-russia-security-council 

In a speech a day later the Ukraine ambassador ended by asking for a moment of silence to remember "those who have recently died....those who may die....and, I suggest, to the Russian Ambassador that he pray for redemption".

The whole mess is a bit frightening because Putin has put his determent (nuclear weapons) on standby - - and the thus the unspeakable may actually happen to us.

Photo on tic-tok showing Russians demonstrating - at the risk of going to jail.

It was super cold this week - in the 20's and 30's, which would be a joke in Kazakhstan.  Spring, however, keeps coming 

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Holland went to the dentist, and I went along to help wrangle little kids.

My drawings for the week

Next week I hope I can relate that the Russians have returned to their own country.

 Week 7 - Oregon City, Oregon, February 14- February 20, 2022

Started the week with a Monday holiday - don't know what the holiday was.  A bunch of kids came over.

Ruby has perfected the umbrella style tent

Daffodils are blooming all through the woods

Here is an Osmaronia cerasiformis all in bloom.  The flowers are so small!

The big event of the week was the arrival of our "built for an ATV" off road trailer.  Dad was a master at assembling it.

We had our first drawing class this week.  We practiced drawing different shapes.  Mostly we practiced doing shading.  Honestly, I've never thought about shading before.  Here is my first try - a pencil sharpener - pretty lame.

I've done two more at home.

The water pitcher needed more work on shading, so I edited it the next day.  Better

Riding my bike, coming back from Jessica's, on a foggy morning.

Maybe I'll try some watercolors someday.

 Week 6 - Oregon City, Oregon - February 7- February 14, 2022

Monday evening we celebrated Holland fourth birthday.  There was a big crowd at Warren's,  Holland was so excited, squealing with delight when she got a perfect toy.

Warren had made a perfect cake for a little girl - rainbow, unicorn, suckers...and ordered lots of pizza for adults

Weather was warmish and sunnyish all week long.   The Indian Peach is continuing to develop.

Daffodils growing in the woods are bursting.

Dad trimmed fruit trees.  Warren and Whitney helped him a lot.

I cleaned out the gutters on the barn (pretty awful job on top of a ladder)

gutter of the lea-to

I cleaned out the area behind the barn - that hadn't been done for forever.

One afternoon, Janie walked in the woods with me.

On Activity Day we continued our experience with tying a square knot and using the not to tie up a box and also pirate hats.

We also practiced wrapping up a box with wrapping paper..which was challenging.

I am now the proud owner of a Benchmade knife called the Station Knife.  It is the ultimate kitchen knife - -very expensive and so new on the market that even Paul cant get one at a discount.  but, Dan Yates, who is an engineer at Benchmade and who had developed the knife, had a few pre-production knives "around", and he gave me one!!

Bev go her very own Vermont Garden Cart.

On Saturday I worked on a maple tree that is right on the edge of the big Canyon.  The poot tree is covered with mounds of hanging clematis, which is a nasty invasive plant.  I prove my point.

Is clematis invasive in Oregon?

Threat: Like English ivy, it is one of the largest invasive species threat to trees • Blankets shrubs and trees, eventually causing them to collapse • Grows along ground in layers that are several feet thick, preventing growth of native vegetation • Spreads quickly along river margins, but will establish in any area 

But how to remove it present a problem.  I tied my long rope to a filbert stump cluster, thres the rope over the edge, climbed down the steep incline, and used my hand clippers to cut off the vines at ground level and then a few feet higher.  It was very satisfying.

Before

And after

Went to the second to the last gymnastic meet in Corvallis.  Against U of Wash.  OSH won handily.  The best thing was that Jade Carey scored a 10 in the Floor.  It was amazing!!!!

She did not win all four rotations...which was sad...but two other OSU women did...and that is really good for the "team effort".

Here Jade is, on the side line again practicing before her beam routine.

Next week the meet with be against Utah at Utah.....sigh.  They are rated #4 and OSU is rated #13.  but, I bet we will win!

 

Week 5 - Oregon City, Oregon - January 31 - February 6, 2022

I've done a bit more work on the living room windows.  Removed all eight panes of glass (only broke six of them).  Now I need to sand and paint.

One day, when I walked in the woods, I used the Map My Walk app which shows all the trails in one color.  And in this one, I only walked on the paths - I didn't try to separate each, each time I walked on it.  This one is really more accurate than the one I did on GAIA with all the different colors.

We got more craft kits from the library.  This one was for making a collage.  Here is Abby with hers - it's a copy of a painting that I have.

This is mine.

I had a bit of a shock on one of my walks - I discovered that someone (turned out to be Malcolm) had built a earthen dam across the creek close to the big bridge.  Honestly, I was horrified....the pristine woods which had received such care had been spoiled.  I immediately asked Malcolm to restore the area, which he did.  And then I refined his work and brought the area back to its original state.

After

After

After

Years ago we planted the Ponderosa Pines along the hay field next to the road.  We also planted several along the edge of the woods.  Only two have survived.  They were ruined by deer - and probably shade, and maybe falling branches.  We pounded in posts and tied them up and gave them our apologies and asked them to grow straight and tall.

We went to Corvallis for another gymnastics meet.  The campus is wonderful.

Oregon State won the meet again.  And Jade Carey was wonderful againnnnnnn.  She took first in all of the rotations and even got a 10 on the bars routine.

Before the beam, she stood on the sidelines concentrating (I assume on her upcoming routine) and then practiced her flips...on the mat.

Here she is talking with Madi Dagen

Sunday night there was a pot luck "reception" for Jenny and Larry who were in town for the weekend.  You know, some people move away, and then they're gone. Others move and you remember and miss them.  That's how I feel about Jenny (sitting in chair).

Warren and Holland enjoying the tortilla.