Week 9 - Oregon City - March 2 - March 8, 2026

Spring is officially here!!

I've breen working in Far West Sector and West Sector.  Betwwe the two is a spring/creek which I call Bottle Creek....because the Brunners threw years worth of trash (inclucding glass bottles).  The hillsides on each side of the creek are very steep and I find it difficult to use the trail that goes down one side and up the other.  So....I built my 13th foot bridge using the old deck cover that opened up to the hot tub plumbing.

The bridge is in place!

The other side of the bridger with bricks under the corners.

The deer saniff the new bridge and then leap over it.

I finished Holland's scarf.  Now I need to start and finish mine.

Saturday was the Opening Night for the musical that Gardiner Middle School was putting on.  Gretchen was in the chorus  It was called The Seuess Musical...or something.  Most of the singing was lacking.  But there was great enthusiam and the kids knew where and wehn to go.  It's just too bad that only two of the singers were in tune.

Dad and Logan cleaned out all of the bird houses along Brunner Road that Jim Johnson had installed over the years.  What a couple of bird lovers!!!

I finished clearing the brush in the Far West Sector!  It's not burned....that'll be another long day usin the propane burnner.  I challenged a big clob of filbert trees, holly trees, and clematis vines!!! I won!

Debris waiting for the propane....js a fraction the the burnable.

 Week 8 - Oregon City - February 23 - March 1, 1016

I spent a lot of time in the Far West Sector clearing out the fence line.  It was really hard because the blackerries were thick and most of the fenc wires had been burried about 5 inches deep.  But I prevailed.  

Now I have to clean up a huge clump of mixed holly, filberts, and clematis vines.

View facing wesr.

On Friday we went to Corvallis for a gymnastics meed 0 Beavers vs the trees of Stanford.  Sniff...the trees won.  Honestly, without Jade Carey competing - she is, indeed, a coach - there isn't much excitment......sigh.

This view is also facing west but taken from a position further to the east.

On Saturday there was a Bingo Night at the church.  I thought it'd be kinda corny, but it turned out to be fun.  I the the most unlucky card ever created.

 Week 7 - Oregon City - February 16, 2026 - February 22, 2026 

Monday, Febraury 16th ...my mother's birthday.  She would have been 110 years old!  I wish we could talk now as I have lots of questions I'd like to ask her.   I guess I'll just have to wait.

Monday was also President's Day (but I didn't celebrate Trump's birthday), and there was no school.  It was a perfect opportunit to take Eric and Jude out for their Christmas present.  They'd never been to the End of lther Oregon Trail Museum....so off we went.  Theu were real troopers and did all of the "hands on" activities.

Packing the wagon with all of the necesities for the cross the country journey.

Played a game of chess (after a hard day on the trail)

Made dolls out of scraps of fabric.  And...in the lower part of the photo you can see the two candles theyu had dipped.

We went to A&W for lunch...oops, no photo.

We had a couple of really cold nights where the temp was below freezing.  We defrosted both freezers, and one can see a bit of frost left over up on the roof.

Dad is getting the flower bed in tip-top shape.

Warren came over and helpled prune (severly prune) the cherry tree.

On Sunday, Jude gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting.