Above the Clouds

No, our place isn't burning up. There is lots of fog in the valley this week. It usually doesn't get up to the property, which is roughly at 2,106.87 Ft.

We see lots of interesting cloud formations .

The inside framing started this week. This is the view looking into the kitchen. The kitchen bar framing is in the middle.
The living room wall. The 2x4's shown at an angle hold the wall up so they can get it straight before putting on the roof beams. They are also good head bonkers. Master bedroom from the outside.
We recently found this footprint at the house site. No, it is not a big rat, BIGFOOT, Gunnar or Karl. The tracks went right through the house.

...and we don't think this guy made them! Venture a guess?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Right after Thanksgiving the Christmas lights go up in JVille.

Great accommodations can be had at the Jacksonville Inn on the top right. Click on photo for an expanded view. We have spent many nights here the last 6 years. Our friend Jerry and his staff have provided the best customer service and great food. You gotta try the Bistro Bar. The town shuts down after 10:30 P.M. but so does "M" so it doesn't matter.

Even the Tavern looks festive although a bit smoky.

See you next week.

What goes up...

...must come down and in this case go even higher!

After numerous discussions with our contractor, framer, and designer we decided to take the view blocking beam down and raise the support 2 feet in order to ensure the view isn't blocked.


Next week the beam will go back into place and should not be in the middle of the window.
It won't look exactly like this but the bottom of the beam should be near the top of the transom window.















Here is what the house looks like today. This is the view from back to front. (You can click on the photo for a larger view.)
Here is the view looking from front to back. The mountain on the left side is McLoughlin. Just to the left of the mountain we can now see the snow on Crater Lake rim.
This is what I call manual labor! Gary is hauling tree seedlings from from one side of the property to the other. Since the turkeys ate all the grass we thought it would try some hardier organic material. Maybe the deer or bear will get in the act.
On the other hand, I think a nice hike in the Jacksonville hills is in order. (Michelle standing in front of a Giant Sequoia originally planted by Peter Britt, a famous dude who left his mark in Jacksonville)

After a full week of house related activities we decided to take a break and go to the beach. The weather in Brookings was fantastic. About 63 degrees.

Our trip to the beach wasn't without a little bit of excitement though. At the border, the California fruit patrol asked me if we had any fruit. I leaned over and referred the Q to M, all but knowing we had 3 juicy satsumi oranges and 2 big apples in the back. I knew they would be gone. But M answered all the questions truthfully and he let us go about our way. She told me later she was really nervous. (And yes she did tell him she had the fruit but she and the cop determined the fruit originated in California, so therefore not illegal. ) I thought I had seen the last of the fruit cops as it had been a decade since I crossed the border in a car. The patrolman told me he had been a fruit cop for 17 years. That is tough duty. We carried on and were thankful to this cop for his fruitful gesture.

Here are some sunset shots and more animal life.

Here are some photos from Whaleshead Beach. We found a great deal at Whaleshead Lodge.

Mystery photo. What town was this shot taken in?

Hint: There is a clue somewhere in the Blog.

The first one to figure this out will receive a free roll of TP that you can use in case of an emergency.

Gary felt like he was on the old movie set of "Dragnet" for those of you who were around then.

daaaa-da-da-daaa

On the way home we drove through the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and saw some HUGE redwood trees. Some are 360 ft tall and as you can see wider than our car. These photos don't do it justice. (By the way, where is our car?) This is a must see for those of you who can come down for a visit.

I would hate to get lost in the woods here, as some of the ferns are as tall as M.

Looking straight up through the kaleidoscope of trees.


we found it (the car).





see you next week.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

They installed some of the large roof beams this week. One is 26 Ft long. Great crane operator! Gary wants to apply for that job. Watch out!

Looks like a praying mantis.These guys just think they are strong!

Looks like a storm is brewing.'Tapping' the beams into place. Our head framer. We hope he doesn't fall off! After all he is a year older than Gary.

Our first big issue. Notice the big beam? It is right in front of the window. It doesn't feel right. I think there is a change order coming.

The view from the bathtub.

This week started out nice an sunny. You can now see our house from about 1.5 miles down the road. The house is just to the left of the top of the telephone pole. To see a large view of this photo (or any others in the Blog) click on the photo to enlarge.

We installed a water storage tank this week to have reserve water at the pad because our well is about 300 yards down the hill from the house and 650' deep.
Caught in the act! The daily turkey feast on our newly seeded hillside. Luckily some of the grass is starting to grow amongst numerous bald patches. There are other strange creatures roaming the property. Jacksonville is not without its share of social concerns and political strife. Here are some local protesters expressing their concerns about not getting a local skate park.And then there is Gunnar and Karl. They haven't changed.

See you next week.

"Burn Baby Burn"

One of our ongoing projects is stacking and burning wood to reduce fire danger.

The Pyromaniac... with a propane fuel starter, which is very effective in wet weather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I just can't stop when my spark gets hot. "

Being safety conscious we only burn about 8 piles a day. It also gives us time to pile more wood on that is close by. The first day out we scared some local animal life out from under the wood. A big fat rat - yuck! Sorry no photo available as the photographer was running the other way. We didn't know rats lived in the woods.

The Photographer.

Yes, Liz. It is raining, but it's a warm rain. Nothing like being out in the great outdoors.

Where did the rat go?

Maybe if I blow on it, the fire will burn faster.

"Burn baby burn! - Disco inferno! Burn baby burn! - Burn that mother down, yoh! Burn baby burn!"

This week they started getting the
walls ready. The 2x4's sticking up are for the windows.

Here is the frame of the window looking east towards a foggy Rogue River Valley.

The square frame in front of the arch is the entrance to the great room. It will eventually have an arch.

Rain or shine the framer is always on the job. He is still working in his shorts so it must not be winter yet. Graham is a happy guy this week because the ducks won.

The great room wall with a fireplace with shelves on both sides.

View from the back of the house looking towards the entrance.

More walls.

Did I mention that it does rain in Southern Oregon?...

...and that we are going to have a conversation with our Contractor about drainage?...

..... and that we cancelled our slide and flood insurance?

Yes, we do get rain in Southern Oregon. Somewhere between 3" and 5 " in the last 2 days.

On a more unusual note...(this comes from G)

A little fall color mixed in with some bear droppings about 40 yards from our house. He must have been down the road eating someone's fruit. (Or maybe it was that big rat M saw?)

Every day is a new experience! Life really is a journey!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And to close out this week...

Remember our problem with the turkeys eating all of our grass seed?

Click on this link to discover our most recent strategy. (thanks to Tracy.)
http://www.msn.americangreetings.com/view.pd?i=382219626&m=1652&rr=y&sou