Week 47 - Oregon City, November 21- November 27, 2022

Ahhhhhh...Thanksgiving Week and full of activity.

This was also the week for choosing our Secret Santa name.  I made up a list for adults and for kid, put them in Rubbermaid container and had people draw a name.

Clara was very proactive and had her "want list" already made out so the sibling or cousin who drew her name would be well informed.

I spent most of the week learning how to use the new photo scanner we bought.  Well - almost new.   Got it slightly used on eBay.

I even built new lathe and cardboard shelves on my desk to seat the scanner and put other container "photo stuff".

 

Ivan was so patient with me. He taught me -over and over- the step necessary to scan a photo and then save it to a file.  We discussed how to organize and describe files so we can find them later.  He seems to have infinite patience with dummkopfs.  But at the end of the week I can do all the steps and get enhanced photos saved and sent!

One evening we went to Corner 14 for dinner at food trucks.  I got a savory waffle - wish I'd gotten a rice/salad bowl.

On evening Renee organized a "reading and Crafts Night" for the little kids.  They loved it!

Ivan showed us his new Zippo handwarmers.  I think I want to get some.  This photo, however, shows him starting my little alcohol stove.

Thursday was the big dat - it was our turn to go to Nancy's  almost everyone was there....no Travis and family, Alex's kids weren't there, and Jeremy and fam weren't there.  Gary and Darlo Scott also came.  Unbelievably delicious food.

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing....."

On Saturday we went to a Watch Party that Warren organized.  It's part of the OSU Alumni Association's plans to advertise Beaver football games.  This one was at the Twilight Room which is clear in to North Portland - Warren thought the location would attract more people than if he had one in Oregon City.  It was nice.....but kind of annoying to have Duck fans in the same room as us cheering when we were crying.

Good food.

By halftime we were behind 21 points....it was depressing.....and we were the only ones there for the official Watch Party.  So we headed home.  Got home, turned on the game, and we were winning!!!!  IT WAS AMAZING.  WE WON 38 TO 34.  The only thing better than beating the Ducks at Corvallis would be to beat them in Eugene.

By Sunday two nationwide polos placed Oregon at #13 and OSU at #16. 

We had a great time with Ivan and his family.  I am so glad he came!!!

To end the week we celebrated Gretchen's tenth birthday

Week 46- Oregon City - November 14 -November 20, 2022

Some people may say that I post too many photos of the woods and trees and logs and burn fires etc.  But.....here are more.

Last spring I pulled up a lot of branches that I had gathered summer of 2021.  I have been waiting until the perfect day to take on the project of cutting them up and tossing the pieces into the basement.  On Monday afternoon, Dad helped me complete the task.

Done and gone!

On Wednesday we had an unwanted visitor......Fishers Supply from Canby.  Our water stopped running again...just like last week....and, yep, we needed a new pump.  The workers pulled up 200 feet of old pipe and determined that the bearing had worn out in the pump.  A new pump was installed along with newer/better modern plastic pipe.  Only cost $5,000!

I attacked another big project in the area of Bottle Creek and Bottle spring which was formerly know as Log Creek.  I changed the name because I have dug up uncountable numbers of intact bottles which had been thrown into this "dump" back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's.  Dad cut this massive fallen maple into smaller pieces which I was able to pull up out of the creek bed with the ATV.

Yep, that's what I do.  There still is a BIG chunk left that still has too much mud and bottles under it which precludes using the chainsaw.  I will have to work on that!

I ordered and received a fancy photo scanner to begin my new project of organizing a lifetime worth of photos.  I also ordered an external hard drive.  I sounds like I did the ordering....but really it was Ivan, my IT Specialist, who was doing all the thinking.

Ray ordered trim for the back door.  I painted it.

Val came down and installed it.

I still have a lot of touch up painting to do, and the screen door needs to be installed again.

Warren visited one morin and brought a new brownie creation he made  delicious!

 Week 45 - Oregon City - November 7 - November 13, 2022

At Activity Days we had Brother Moffat come and talk to the kids.  He is a professional illustrator.  He showed us some of his work and answered a lot of questions.  It was a very interesting event.

It was, finally, the week that I finished cleaning up in the basement after all of the work on the windows was finished.

Here is a really big, and old, abandoned mouse nest I found under the white cabinets which I burned because I didn't want them anymore - and they were very poorly constructed.

Then I immediately made a new, but organized mess, when I pulled off the shelves and from boxes, all of the photos I had gotten after my mom and dad died.  They are all over the pool table now.

The reason I got all the photographs out was because my brother, Jan, and niece, Breda, were coming to visit for the weekend.  Jan brough all of his old photographs and letters, and we perused through all of them.  My work is now in front of me.......I am going to use a photo scanner i recently purchased, and will organize them all and save them in an external hard drive and will also post pertinent photographs on FamilySearch. 

Friday night we had a "bring your own take out pot luck dinner".

Saturday  Travis came over and he and Jan and some grand sons shot rifles.

Saturday night we had a big family turkey dinner. And we celebrated Breda's birthday (which was in August but Warren wanted to make a flamingo cake) and Travis' 42nd birthday.

My brother and I - people say we look alike and sound alike.

And the cousins

 Week 44 - Oregon City, Oregon - October 31 - November 6, 2022

Monday was the "real" Halloween, and the weather did not disappoint -  there was torrential rain in the evening.....at least Trunk or Treat from last week was rainless.  We only had one group of Trick or Treaters visit our house.

Paul did not disappoint!

I have enjoyed helping Jude practice every morning.  Of course, I can barely play the piano myself, but I do know how to practice.

I continued to work on the basement painting activity.  Here is a photo showing the color of the paint which was here in 1977 when we moved in.  With my knife I carved off a small piece of molding at took it to Miller paint to have it color matched.  Took about two hours for the whole process as the employee added just one drop of color at a time.  I paid over $21 for just a quart.

The night before I had painted one coat of white primer on the spot.

After getting the new paint.....which I thought was yellow....but it looks beige-ish in the can, and the paint store named it Gray Tan...I painted the area.  When it dried.....I discovered that the two coats of paint were too thick and the door would, once again, not open the whole way.  So, now I am waiting for Malcolm to find the time to hold the sander over his head and grind away a sixteenth of an inch of paint and wood..

Then I focused my energy to the windows on the south side of the basement.  I needed to fill in the holes made by the counter sunk nails used to install each window.  I had to remove the shelving before starting the time consuming job - it took me about 2-3 hours.

My goal for the next week is to reorganize all of the stuff that was on the shelves, throw a lot out, take stuff to the DI, remove and burn two flimsy white particle board cupboards, and start over again.  who knows, we may even be able to use the pool table as a pool table rather than only as a project table.

And here is an amazing 10- volume set of a 1937 Oxford Dictionary.  I am intending to sell it and become momentarily rich.

Periodically, Holland finds something she wants to buy....usually a the Dollar Twenty-five store or Fred Meyer.  Warren and Holland try to find a job she can do to make money.  On Saturday she came to the Manor and, with Warren, helped trim hydrangea bushes.