How was your week?

I'm having a bad hair day. (I think he is smiling at us.)

Taking a mini break from the house building project, we visited an Alpaca farm down the street from where we are renting. Alpacas are members of the camel family and come from the Andean mountains of South America. They sell anywhere from $10k o $250k+ for exceptional animals. We have considered raising alpacas but our acreage is very hilly. That is not a problem for an alpaca but we aren't getting any younger!




This little guy is less than a month old.

From last weeks post I mentioned that we spent most of a weekend seeding our hillside and spreading straw on it to help keep it moist while it germinates. Two days later a storm blew in and the straw we put down ended up getting blown all over the place. So this weekend we spent time cleaning up the mess.

Lesson # 1: Check the weather forecast before you spread your seed and straw!

A neighbor below us had some cement tiles blown off his roof.

We are not sure how much seed is left because, in addtion to the storm, our freshly seeded hillside is being attacked by a mass of turkeys who peck their way all over the lot. They swing by at least twice a day for a feast. Just wait till Thanksgiving!!! What do you think? How about a twenty pounder?

Lesson #2: Turkeys like grass seed.

Home of Gary's recent $12 haircut.
40+ years ago it cost 75 cents.

Lesson # 3: Cheaper is sometimes better. Gary said it was one of the best haircuts he has ever had although a little short (sorry David). A bit shorter but now that we are in retirement it should go a little longer. It looks a little bit better than the Alpaca's in the first photo.

The house is moving right along. Most of this week the framer, Graham, spent time drawing everything out on the sub floor, including the roof lines (hips and valleys), room dimensions, and window specs. Towards the end of the week they started to put some of the vertical walls up. If you look close you can see see outline of the arches for our dining room.

We also hired an interior designer to help with the vast amount of decisions that still need to be made. She has already been very helpful and we are glad we found her. We have made a couple of changes but nothing drastic.

See you next week.

Kiss me!

Powerball Winner

Not! The $340 Million Powerball ticket was sold in Jacksonville, OR at Ray's Market where we also purchased 3 tickets. Our numbers didn't match so we will not have the opportunity to share all the riches with our friends and family. It was funny seeing the news truck in our sleepy little town with wandering cameramen and news guys looking for that lucky winner. Gary was tempted to have some fun with them, by going into the store and having his tickets checked, but our house project called with lots of things to get done. (The news reporters were still hanging around 4 days later)

This week the steel beam was installed. What do you think? Do you think it's straight? The beam is at the corner of the patio roof and serves as overall structural support. We had to do this for earthquake requirements. The hole was roughly 4x4x4, filled with concrete and steel bars. A crane was used to install the beam against the backdrop of a foggy valley.

It cleared by noon and we had temperatures again in the high 70's. We have been told that the dense fog is no longer the problem it was back in the 60's and 70's.

Gary's dad told him a story of a lady on the east side who got lost going out to her garbage can years ago. If it gets that foggy we will be sure and tie a long string to the door so we can find our way back. I wonder what she had been drinking.

200 years from now, the house and all the rest of us will be gone, but the beam will still be standing.

They did the final grading of the site to prepare for winter. Everyone gets involved in the process. This boy is 10 years old. He is the son of one of the back hoe guys. Gary is going to have a discussion with our general contractor this week about his liability insurance.

The guys operating the cats are amazing. Gary heard a clanging when the cat was on the steepest slow and looked up to see it tipped on one of its tracks. We may hire this guy later to complete some other work for us. He can work magic on our slopes.

The site supervisor, Chunky. This dog is a blue healer. (Maybe he can heal the blisters on our feet as we have worked our ----- off this weekend. A very smart dog who loves to play fetch. He never quits.

The subfloor is finished and the framer, Graham is laying out the rooms and building specs. For those of you who have never built a house before this isn't the basement or a second floor. We still have a single level house.

By the way this Graham guy is really good. All measurements have been within 1/8 of an inch. In case you didn't notice he is also a Duck. I think we will get along fine.

The next photo is a stitch, not something Michelle did sewing.

Seeding the hillside to help prevent erosion. BTW - It is October 23rd-notice the shorts and t-shirts. Gotta love this weather!

This is a hell of a work out. (Maybe I will go back to running)

If you try this at home, stand upwind unless you like lots of tiny straw pieces stuck to your skin or in your mouth, eyes, nose and ears as well as other places. Actually, we are getting ready for halloween! A heard of turkeys, about 12 or so with a couple of big Toms, came by last night to check out what we were doin. They approved!

We have arrived!

5 years ago we bought 20 acres in a forest development on Johns Peak near Jacksonville, Oregon. We have 180 degree view of the Rogue River Valley.

We spent many hours dreaming and planning for the day we could unplug from our corporate jobs and relocate. We are finally here.

The mountain in the background in Mt. McLoughlin (also know as Mt. Pitt) which is 9,492 feet. We hope to hike the mountain next summer.

We broke ground on our home in September '05. The 'footprint' of our single level home is quickly taking shape.

We are renting a home near Jacksonville while we build our home. We hope to have our house completed by next August or September. As of 10/14 the sub flooring is in. Next week, more excavation and steel post setting.

The rental house is a comfortable single level home with plenty of storage. Southern Oregon has critters we are not used to seeing in Portland. One day I went out to the mailbox to check the mail. There was a lot of mail from the previous resident mixed in with ours so I gathered the lot and got into the car to sort it out. At the bottom of the pile was the following note:

Caution - Big black widow in rear of your mailbox. Carol

You can only image my extreme distress as I looked down on my lap and saw 'something' fall from the papers. Needless to say I was out of the car quicker than you can scream (insert favorite swear word!) . Luckily it was nothing. However, now I approach the mailbox with caution and have a whole new appreciation for the USPS.

We have also seen praying mantis, deer, fox, wild turkey, eagles, hawks, black widow spider (in a can), lots of bear poop and some cat poop as well. There is abundent rode kill, mostly skunk and possem. The other night a pack of coyotes were near the house. Their howling woke us up. Good thing the kitties were inside.

Gunnar and Karl are settling in just fine. They seem to be content to hang out on the deck. We are reluctant to let them go out much further given the animal life, so we blocked the deck. They don't seem to care much. As is typical for cats, they sleep most of time anyway.

The weather here is absolutely fabulous. Clear and warm during the day with evening temperatures a bit cooler than PDX. We do get some blustery weather. Last night a small storm blew in and almost blew the BBQ off the deck. No kidding. We were sitting in the kitchen and heard a rumbling noise outside. Gary looked out on the deck and didn't see his barbecue as it had rolled sideways. Good thing the block we put up for Gunnar & Karl works for BBQ's, too.

The sunsets are pretty nice, too.