The Latest

It's been a while since we've posted a log here. And as I sit here, I'm trying to figure out what we did with July! Not much except plow away on the deck, I guess. Speaking of, I'm sure the throngs that visit this site have been waiting with bated breath to see how it's coming. Well, wait no longer. We are getting very close to being done with the whole darn thing. There aren't many in between pictures from the last one we posted, so here is what it looks like as of today. The floorplan is done, all boards screwed down and stained:



We've been enjoying some lovely late evening dinners on the deck as the weather has been fabulous. Almost too nice - considering the deck (i.e. our site of work) sees quite a bit of the day's sun. Here is another look from a different angle. Note Keith sitting there comtemplating the best strategy for creating the stairs.



Emily's folks just left after a nice long visit. As usual we got lots of work out of The Parents. Henry helped Keith with some vital construction on the back side of the deck, and Neena was invaluable in helping to keep the place clean for potential home buyers, cooking wonderful meals, prepping deck boards and keeping everyone on task and in line! We did allow them some R&R. We spent one morning canoeing a stretch of the Santiam right here through Lebanon and another day up in the Cascades mountain biking a stretch of the McKenzie River trail. Some pics from the bike ride:

Stopping along the way - we did this frequently as we Gracie needed the cool down. For the limited amount of activity we have given our dog (and ourselves) lately, we were nicely impressed with how well Gracie did along the entire 10 mile stretch.




She even had energy towards the end to do some high flying, log walking tricks:


Keith and I rode the entire stretch from North to South. Emily's folks started from the South and rode South to North about five miles to where we all met up at this cute little hot spring right along the river. It was a perfect way to end the day.