Summer Fun and Work

We have settled in nicely to Jenn and John's place while they are off gallivanting in Europe. After some adjustment Wiley and Gracie have settled into their routine of ignoring each other but also constantly aware of the other's presence. Shortly after settling in, we took off for a week vacation to Gig Harbor to hang out with my family. Both my brothers and their significant others were coming as well which is a rare thing as we have spread out nicely (Oregon, Utah and Colorado) and are all pretty busy. So mom was excited to say the least.

We started off our visit realizing the tides were low. Being from landlocked Utah, Paul and Heidi were quite interested in going out to do some clamming. We went to a public beach close to some waterfront property that my parents own, and wandered down the beach towards their section of land. Along the way, we mucked through the sand,


Found funny creatures,






and dug for funny creatures with funny names (geoducks). We quickly realized that the beach we were on was not good for the traditional butter clam-digging that my brothers and I grew up doing. But it was rich in geoducks, so we gave it a go despite the fact that we didn't have a license. We had to be very discreet and when we got to my parents' stretch of land, had to stash the ones we got into the woods fearing the boat patrols. Geoducks are really big clams with even bigger necks that burrow way down into the sand and therefore can be hard to get when all you have is a shovel and your bare hands.




We were able to get one that first day, and after Keith fried it up in some butter and garlic until it tasted like candy, Paul insisted that we go back the next day for more. So we did. Day two was spent digging up many more of those not-so-pretty creatures. Of course we went overboard and after all of the hard prep work and cooking back at home, we were all pretty much sick at the thought of more. Ah well, the process was sure entertaining.

Heidi is quite proud of her tenderizing efforts. The rest in the photo don't look nearly as thrilled.


Speaking of geoducks, they are planning a geoduck farm right there on the water at my parents' property edge. Dad is not very excited.


The next major item on the agenda was to complete a project Carl started a while back. Actually it started a few years back when dad was visiting Paul in Utah and picked up three missile boxes (boxes that house missiles) at a ridiculous surplus store by Paul's house. He carted those three huge things all the way back to Gig Harbor, and there they have sat, just waiting to be used. Then a storm came and ruined the float that sits out in the water at my parents' lake property. Finally, a use for the missile boxes. Use them to make a new float! Who wouldn't have thought of that? So the goal while all the kids were home was to complete the float. Before we got there, dad diligently packed each box tight with styrofoam (don't ask where he gets his styrofoam). Then we transported them out to the lake.


Then they had to think for a while about what to do next.


Closer to the water...


Always under the watchful eye of The Supervisor. It doesn't matter how old we get, some things never change.


Guiding it into place...and directing dad to something....probably his coffee.


Well done guys!


My good friend Amy and her darling boy, Jacob, came out one of the days to watch the antics and get some nice R&R lake time.




Other activities at the ranch included highly skilled games of badminton, blackberry syrup making, lots of good eating, and of course some Boggle.




Thanks for having us up, and thanks everyone for making the trip! It was great as always to all be together!


Back in Eugene....
We're moving right along on our house. Keith just finished getting in leveled. Now he just has to re-support it. I take for granted all the things Keith is able to figure out and accomplish. I mean seriously, he just leveled our house! I wouldn't even dream of trying to attempt that. And he did it with car jacks! What does it look like to level a house? I'm glad you asked.




Of course the bulk of the work happens in the hot, spider-webby, insulation-covered crawlspace. This is what Keith looks like when he goes down there. He comes up quite a bit sweatier and probably a few pounds lighter. My excuse for not going down and helping? Oh don't worry, I have plenty.


The dogs are always very interested to know where he is going....


Meanwhile, I tore out the master bathroom. Here is an almost-complete before picture. You get the general idea. Yellow. And a yellow tinted window (which I can't get a picture of because the room is so small) to further accent the yellow.


We used our 10% Home Depot coupon yesterday. Most of it was spent on tile. To tile this house and one Keith is working on in the Corvallis area. Have you ever tried to pick out tile for two kitchens and three bathrooms in one shopping trip? More exhausting than ripping a bathroom out, I swear. We walked out of there with three carts fully loaded and lots of sympathetic glances that said, "Thank God it's not me that has to do all that work!".

We do try for fun once in a while too. We ventured out on our first(!) backpacking trip of the year....so sad, we had plans to do so many more. Where has the summer gone? We set out to do the Erma Bell hike up by Waldo Lake that was recommended by a friend. However, we took the wrong car (we won't talk about whose fault that was), and couldn't get to the trailhead in our silly little Honda, so we had to settle for a different hike. It was all right. Most of it was through a burned area, but it was close to the lake, which is truly a stunning lake with crystal clear water, so we got a couple nice swims in. We had Wiley the Pug with us as well, and we didn't know how many backpacking or camping trips he had been on, so we took things a little easy given his propensity to overheat. We found a beautiful camping spot kind of early on, so we decided to stick with the "keeping it easy" theme and set up camp and had a nice relaxing evening around camp. Wiley was hilarious at night. Not so used to tents so a bit restless, and the moon was full, so he spent a good couple hours sitting up at the foot of the tent staring out the window at the moon. Completely mesmerized.

Our camp looking out towards the lake.


Camp from the other direction (lake is behind me). Not bad, eh?


Whew. Long entry with lots of photos. Until next time!

Ladies' Hike

The first wedding I was ever in, I was also the maid of honor. We were just finishing college, and I knew nothing of the rules that come with the job except that I was supposed to organize a bachelorette party. I also knew that Amy (nor any of us that hung around together) were really overly excited about a night of crazy drinking and penis cakes. So instead, I organized a bachelorette backpacking trip. It was a huge success (and we did throw in some fun things to make it sort of "traditional".....pasties, 'special' lollipops), and we have done our darnedest to keep the tradition going with hikes for those getting married, and now just a yearly girls hike.

I haven't been on one in ages, and Danielle has graciously (many a year ago) taken over the organizing of it each year. This year I was able to go, and despite my hellacious luck with roads and traffic, had a wonderful time. We always try to meet in the middle as we have spread out over the years, but I was pretty much odd man out this year, as everyone else was coming from the greater Seattle area. So we settled on a hike on the east side of Mt Rainier. I was running about a half hour late, but after 5 and a half hours of driving, I was 10 miles from the meeting point. Then I saw the sign. "Hwy 123 closed from Hwy 12 to Chinook Pass". Yep, I was heading to Chinook Pass. I refused to believe the sign (What does 'closed' really mean, anyway? How closed?), and drove to the nearest ranger station along that road and got the confirmation I was dreading. So after a 100 mile detour, and 2 hours later, I met up with my dear friends who were all smiles and patience despite waiting for me for 3 hours.

Here is the traditional 'before' pose.


It was a great hike. Nice and level, crossing lots of creeks and rivers, keeping the hounds cool (5 people and 3 dogs this year). Not a particularly dramatic hike, but well shaded, and at the end, very nice views of a waterfall and the giant herself, Mt Rainier. The hike was along the American River and our destination was Dewey Lakes where we camped right on the water's edge. It might have been a slightly illegal campsite as the area around it was 'closed for restoration', but Danielle had found out that the rangers don't work on Saturday (what? isn't that when everyone hikes?), and the only legal campsite left was so infiltrated with mosquitoes that if we had camped there, we would have had to have lit an illegal fire. So pick your poison. We'd rather trample a few plants, than risk burning down the forest.

You can see our tents on the edge of the lake, and Rainier in the distance. We were also treated to some nice meteor showers at night.


Morning light on Rainier:


Goofy girls at camp.


Thanks to my delayed arrival, we got to camp right as the sun was setting, and while beating away at the mosquitoes and bathing in DEET cooked up dinner which, thanks to Katherine, was accompanied by a nice red Zinfindel! We've carried up bottles of champagne, and even some hard liquor, but no one has yet had the foresight to leave the glass bottle at home and dump the contents in a collapsible boda bag. Nice.


We awoke to a beautiful day and gorgeous morning light on Mt Rainier. We had a lazy breakfast, I took a quick swim (I could only get Amy to join me and she only made it up to her knees), then we packed up and trekked back. It was a longer hike than any of us remembered from the day before, so we were all happy to see our cars. On the way home, I was making nice time on I-5, until I hit the remnants of a major traffic jam that set me back another hour. I was so happy, because do you know how much I love that I-5 drive anyway? Spending that extra hour basking the beauty around Chehalis was fabulous.

Despite the fact that Gracie has been limping a lot lately, she fought through the pain, and had a gay ol time carrying rocks down the trail and stealing other dog's balls.


In other news....(I've got to learn to write more frequently so I don't have to type so much in one sitting!)....we spent two days with our good friends Chris and Tami at their family retreat in Black Butte (east of the cascades from Eugene). We spent the time visiting, playing tennis, riding bikes, and getting to know their two precious girls better. The weather was kind of chilly, but it was a great and very relaxing couple of days.

Keith and the girls.


We accidentally kicked the girls' soccer ball out into the lake. Keith was too chicken to ask to borrow a kayak for a rescue operation, so I did. He wanted to wait until it floated to the other side....never mind that you can't walk around to the other side. Men.


Then we got invited to go golfing with Jenn and John at the Eugene Country Club's 'Hit and Giggle'. It was a fun time, but after hitting some decent balls in the fields of the local high school as a warm up, I was sorely disappointed in my performance. I was lucky to even hit the ball let alone get it up in the air. Ah well, it was a beautiful day and a beautiful coarse and great company.

Jenn and John getting ready to golf. These two bums are kicking around Munich right now and soon to be heading to Spain! Can't wait to read their blog! (Hint, hint).


More photos from our day trying to golf (I should actually say that Keith did quite well, it was Jenn and I that didn't contribute a whole heck of a lot in the hitting department. The drinking and giggling? We did just fine.)






And then we got to work on that house we bought. The fence is now done. Looks good. Except our neighbors on one side apparently got restless and decided to do their stretch themselves. Keith showed up one day and it was in progress and almost done. Of course Keith and I have both grown up with construction perfectionists for fathers, so we were putting a lot of attention to detail in the fence. The neighbors did a fine job, but there are things we would have done differently to make it look better and be more sturdy. But you can hardly complain when they are doing the work for you! The neighbor who shares the back side is not able to pay us for half the materials, but she is a licensed massage therapist, so we'll be getting paid in massages. I'll take it.

In this picture you can see the stretch our neighbors did and how it doesn't quite match.


Looking the other way.


Keith has been doing an amazing job raising the house up. He is literally using car jacks and beams and slowly lifting the whole darn thing up in order to level it out. I think he's got at least an inch by now on one side.

And for this past week, we have been officially taking care of 3 houses. Our lease is up the end of this month, so we've still got the rental. We bought that other house, so we've got that one. And our dear friends Jenn and John have left on a three month European vacation (bums), and we are housesitting and pugsitting while they are gone, so we have moved ourselves into their very comfortable home until they get back. In the meantime, our landlord found tenants to move in early, and we're leaving this weekend to spend a week at my parents, so that left us with the last three days to move everything out of the rental and get it clean. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about everything that we've had to get done this last week, because, oh yeah, I have to go to work sometimes too. One more full day of cleaning and nursing and we'll be off crossing the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge (for a price....it's not a free trip to GH anymore!) to go see the Bauer clan reunited in good ol Gig Harbor.