American Gothic

Apron cards!

2012-01-22T18:52:00.001-08:00

I found this template over here and knew right away I'd have to make a few - easy and fun to decorate.

Woodland theme

Cute as a button

Fancy antique

Loud and proud to be in the kitchen

Who says you can't have jewels on your apron?

Coos Bay Quest

2011-12-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well we took a little trip down to Coos Bay

and packed a lot of activity in less than 2 days

here are some highlights:

We visited our 7th of the 9 Oregon Lighthouses. The Umpqua River Lighthouse is very similar to the Heceta Head Lighthouse. Still standing is the small workroom attached to the lighthouse column. The first order Fresnel lens is red and clear, very beautiful.

Next we saw a movie in North Bend. Mike has been a fan of TinTin since childhood, guess what movie we saw in 3D???

Let's see....Next we went on an adventure of our own. We did a Quest. For those of you who don't know what a Quest is you can learn more here: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/visitor/oregon-coast-quests

Basically we were given a book with clues for educational scavenger hunts up and down the central coast. This was our first. It started at the Visitor Center and took us on a walking tour of downtown Coos Bay. We learned that the area was built on top of a marshfield and that there are tunnels under the streets to allow fish to still move up river. Cool huh?

Under this street is where two stream tunnels converge

And here is where the stream "daylights" - comes out from underground.

The quest introduced us to this city park with a large pond. There were all kinds of waterfowl! American Coots, seagulls, Eurasian Widgeon, Geese, Swan, lots of domestic ducks. And they were all VERY acquainted with humans.

The park also boasted a Japanese garden.

Okay, so this brings us to about 4pm on Monday. We were hoping to find a good pub for dinner, but there was very little to choose from, so we ended up at KFC. Next we were on to the real reason for the trip, the Holiday Lights at Shore Acres Gardens. They have tens of thousands of lights very artistically displaying all kinds of coast themed animals and plants.

A picture from their website.

So by now we are ready for sleep, but where did we stay you ask?? Our trusty Subaru Reuben of course. Sunset Bay State park is a beautiful park near Shore Acres and Cape Arago. We knew it would be raining and who willingly sets up a tent in the dark and the rain? So we planned ahead and Mike sewed curtains for the car. We laid a small mattress and some blankets down, and had a cozy little place to sleep. The best part was listening to the rain and knowing that nothing would leak!

So Tuesday morning we woke with sun (though it was rainy again) and headed out to find a geocache in the park. This one involved too much bushwacking so we gave up and decided to try another. The next was in a neighborhood and though we found where we thought it should be, there was nothing there, very sad. On our way home we stopped at some of our favorite stores (St. Vincent de Paul thrift store and Bimart). Not that exciting to those of you who have ample shopping options, but for us store deprived rural souls we had fun finding deals.

Craighead Family Visit

2011-07-30T15:30:00.001-07:00

The Craigheads Go Coastal!!

At the end of June Dad completed his 3000 miles bicycle trek and arrived at our house in one piece (though that piece was quite a bit smaller than when he started :-) Within the next day Mom and Emily arrived via visiting family in Wyoming, and we started a wonderful week long visit and tour of the area. Amongst the 5 of us we took a ton of pictures, so I'll try to share the best:

He made it to the Pacific Ocean!! Dad's route brought him through the Cascade mountain range and then over to Newport and down 101 to our home in Waldport. When the rest of the family arrived we took his bike down to the water so he could "finish"the trip at the water.

This was also Mom's first time to see the ocean!! A life long goal for her, now met 2 blocks from our home. She immediately fell in love and hopefully will have more opportunities to come back and visit.

Mike was at work this day, that is why he seems to be missing.

We had fun visiting our local beaches as well as others along the coast

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

Crabbing on the Newport Pier

Cape Meares Lighthouse

Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Just the gals at Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Sailing and Kayaking on Drift Creek (via Alsea River)

July 4th Fireworks on Waldport's beach - it was pretty chilly!

Finally got to take "Adventure" out on the lake.

It was a little too windy to sail, so we motored around the lake and enjoyed quite a ride on the whitecaps.

We visited the Cheese factory in Tillamook and had some good cheesy fun.

Thank you Mom, Dad, and Emily for taking time out of your busy lives to come see why we love Oregon so much. It means a lot to experience such natural beauty and create lasting memories with my loved ones.

Chandelier Project

2011-05-30T17:45:00.004-07:00

I'm supposed to be cleaning the house. But blogging sounds a lot more relaxing. Can I get an Amen?!

About a month ago a friend who was feeling generous and in need of clearing out some unfinished/not-yet-started projects, gave me this gorgeous chandelier. We are thinking it is bronze, but don't know how to tell for sure. It has 16 removable finial-arms and 8 main arms with lights. The entire piece has intricate carving-type details.

I immediately scrubbed each part with some soapy water and had hubby use his magic tools to see if the wiring all worked - it did. Hooray!

I started surfing the web to glean some bling ideas. I found a lot of classic chandeliers with clear crystals and crystal beaded swags and some great DIY chandeliers. I have zero experience with such sophisticated lighting options and truly felt overwhelmed by the options. But the crystals online were rather expensive and I just wasn't sure what I really wanted yet.

Enter the awesome crystal bead shop in our one-stop-light town - Yay! I wandered in on a whim just in case they could help. What I found was fantastic - walls covered in shiny crystal beads of every size and color. Tables piled with beautiful clear crystal prisms and pendants. And much of it was on sale 50% off!!! So I bought a strand of champagne beads to take home and play with. And then a few days later I went back and bought some larger beads and some tear drop shaped purple beads...I finally decided on a pleasing arrangement...and then a few days later I counted out what I would need for the entire chandelier - some 68 holes to till with beads!!

I had some blue 20 gauge wire leftover from a project in high-school (I think). That coordinated nicely. I used an idea from online to string the beads on the wire and hang it simply with an earring type hook - no jump rings needed.

And this treasure is what now hangs over my dining table:

I still need to find some socket replacements, but I think that will take some time, and I just couldn't wait to share. I'm so pleased with the outcome, especially since this is my first lighting project! All said the beads cost $80. I would not have been able to buy locally if they hadn't been on sale - but very glad they were because I do like to support local business when possible.

LOVE IT!!

A bit of spring

2011-05-21T22:21:00.007-07:00

I don't blame you if you've stopped checking this blog. BORING! I guess the fact that we're not needing to share all the time means that we are more settled here in Oregon. And we are. Oregon was our big adventure and now is a great place we call home. In conversations, "back home" still refers to Olathe and/or wherever my parents live, but home is definitely here just off US 101. My summer gig working at the Garden Center (one of the best nurseries on the Oregon Coast) which also happens to be a 1.5 minute walk from my front door- is going great. I'm enjoying my coworkers and learning a lot from their collective decades of experience gardening. There is always something more to know about how to care for plants of all kinds. I hope by the end of the summer I'll have a better handle on what will and won't grow in the salt air. I've planted some flowers and plan to put in some veggies this week. Here is a pic from today. I asked Mike to save the water from the dehumidifiers so I could recycle it - and I finally did!

In other news, we are anxiously following and awaiting the arrival of my parents and sister. July, will you please hurry up (and bring the sun with you)?! I am so excited to show my family around the coast. You can follow my dad's bicycle trip here: www.pedalingsketcher.blogspot.com

I'm am still volunteering once a week at the Aquarium. I help do early morning chores with the bird department. Keeping "my foot in the door" as they say. But I'm not too concerned about the whole job thing. God has always provided and I know He will continue to do so. We are doing our best to be good stewards of His provision, and we are SO blessed.

Mike's work continues to be challenging and rewarding. Seems as though there is plenty to keep his office busy as well.

Seems as though I don't have a lot to write about, we've been pretty relaxed lately. Here are a few pics of recent projects:

We had company a while back and knew we wouldn't all fit around our small dining room table, so we got a new one---a new table top that is. A 4x8 ft piece of plywood sits nicely on top our table and allows plenty of elbow room for all.

It was a bit of a challenge to decorate. It was kind of a last minute thing so I had one evening to figure out what to cover it with. None of my tablecloths fit, so I started rummaging through my fabric selection. I found this wonderful old bedspread. I bought it because I love off-white linens and it has a cute crochet pattern around the edges. It just fit over the new tabletop.

Here are two pictures of the table I decorated for the ladies' tea party at church. My theme was "Simply Growing." I later planted these flowers in the baskets pictured earlier. I love using things for more than one purpose, makes me feel green (the good kind of green, not green with envy or green in the face... :-)

Happy Birthday Mike!!

2011-02-28T09:07:00.008-08:00

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Hubby, Happy Birthday to you!!

Saturday was Mike's 26th birthday. In order to get his gifts he had to do a custom word search that contained words related to Mike along with hints of the gifts that were hidden around the house. Here are some pictures of his gifts:

The gloves were kind of a joke because of the color, but the mitten comes off so you can use your fingers and still keep your hands warm (they were on sale of course:-)

Mike worked on a programming project most of the weekend - it is hard for me to understand doing that on my birthday, but that was exactly what he wanted to do, so I let him :-) Meanwhile I sewed on a project I found on a blog: a cover for my KitchenAid. The first was pretty rough and both ended up too big, but at least it will keep the dust off.

The fabric was leftover from some curtains and other projects. The example online had quilted/batting fabric that held a better shape. If I run into some other materials I might try another.

This weekend I also finished the new hall closet!!! This project was almost a joy to do because we only spent $4.00 on the whole project! Our landlord let us use plywood from his scrap pile and everything else was already on hand, so the only thing we had to buy was a pint of paint (on sale of course:-).

Now ALL the linens are in one place. Mike gets the old linen closet for all his engineer-y stuff and I even reorganized the storage closet in the spare room. I'm feeling very good about these updates to our organization.

Here it is with two coats of Kilz

And the finished project with 3 more coats of white paint.

In order to use the space close to the ceiling Mike came up with this shelf that tilts down. Yay for engineers!

Happy March!!

Recent Projects

2011-02-20T16:59:00.005-08:00

I have to share this cute little project I made for my secret sister. I found this adorable and reusable bag at a great price and wanted something matching to put inside. So I came up with this easy table arrangement. I haven't made very many silk arrangements but was very pleased with how this turned out. The little yellow bird made all the difference. In general I like to give practical and useful gifts. I was happy to find out that the recipient has really enjoyed the "splash of color" on her table!

Other recent projects include finishing a(nother) storage closet. This house is grrrreat on storage. There are cupboards and closets around every corner. I think that when we moved in I was overwhelmed and stuffed junk on every shelf. Now that we've [more than] settled I've been trying to reorganize and make things more efficient. Having so much storage can be a curse because it doesn't force me to organize anything, then again living with an engineer does lend itself to being organized (in order to save the marriage :-) This closet held an unused furnace when we moved in. That has now been taken to another house and so the closet is free for us to use.

Blankets and comforters are what I aim to store here. We've planned some deep shelves to accommodate these hard to store items. Hopefully I can fold each and just stack them neatly, I'll show you how it turns out.

Crochet 'puff stitch' hat

2011-02-04T16:44:00.005-08:00

I recently made this, my first crocheted hat. I chose the 'puff stitch' because the youtube video made it look cute, but I just can't decide...can you help me? I feel like the fact that it is white makes it look like a chef's hat. What do you think?

January Beach Walk

2011-02-01T09:25:00.004-08:00

On Sunday, January 30 we got out of church at noon and found the weather to be sunny and nearly 60 degrees (a.k.a agreeable to the extreme this time of year). Mike quickly made us some sandwiches which we devoured along with the sunshine on the back deck, and we headed down to the beach. We chose to journey south because we have previously walked the 2 miles north to Waldport. Along the way there are multiple (mostly shallow) creeks that spread out over the sand as they join the surf. We usually like to wear big rubber boots so that we can just walk straight through them, but due to the distance we planned to go I had to wear tennis shoes so my feet wouldn't hurt. Mike was kind enough to give me piggy back rides through the creeks to keep me from getting wet. When we got to Big Creek that plan just wasn't working. The water spreads out so wide and makes so many rivulets it is difficult to tell how deep it really is. So I took off my shoes and socks, zipped off the bottoms of my hiking pants and went wading! It was shockingly-numbingly cold. But I survived :-) Funny how I complain about being cold in the house and having to wear layers, but in the great outdoors I have no problem deliberately making myself an icicle. I guess if the purpose for shivering is experiencing God's creation then it's a condition I can accept. But if the purpose of being cold is to save a few bucks on the power bill, I'm not so inclined to acquiesce.

We were wishing we had some kind of sail car/small boat vehicle so we could explore more of the beach (there are 10 miles of sand close at hand) and also head up Big Creek. Maybe next year. Anyway, we were just so excited that the sun was out on a day we could spend outdoors together (and the fact that this is even possible in January (while our parents are in a blizzard in Missouri) makes us grin from ear to ear).

http://www.cyclorama.net/viewArticle.php?id=262

Chistmas 2010

2011-01-24T10:15:00.013-08:00

Sorry, folks, that we haven't kept up with our blog. We have another site to which pictures are automatically posted and we got out of the habit of posting here. I'll try to do better :-) Most recently we were blessed to spend two weeks with our families in Missouri. Here are some picture highlights of our time in the midwest:

Christmas night with the Craigheads in Moberly, MO. It was really special that Emily and Ethan got to be there as well, we missed you Raleigh!! Emily brought Harry and Nelly (dogs).

Dad, Mike, and I went for a wintery hike at ? Lake near Moberly. I saw a few species of woodpecker, a nuthatch, tufted titmouse, and a few deer.

Here are the boys at Dave and Buster's. It was great to meet up with Mike's college buddies and their wives.

Another "Christmas" at Mike's Grandparents. From left to right: Gammy Naomi, Papa Rick, Aunt Connie, Uncle Peter

In St. Louis, with Mike's family, we visited the Union Station.

"The Awakening" is a sculpture in the Chesterfield valley. I was scared of being caught on surveillance camera for climbing on the sculpture. Mike was not.

Is that a pain in the toe I see?

We flew back to Portland on Jan. 6, 2011 and spent the night at a B&B in Astoria. We saw some of the sights of the north coast, but since the weather was so yucky we quickly made our way home. Relating our trip to that of Louis and Clark: It is pretty cool that on the same day we can leave St. Louis, MO (7:00am) and be in Astoria, OR by 8:00pm. That's 13 hours to get the distance that took them 2 years!!

Here are some ruins from the ship "Peter Iredale"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Iredale
In the distance you can see a lighthouse on a small island/rock. This is Tillamook Rock lighthouse. The only privately owned (out of commission) lighthouse on the Oregon coast. We've now seen all of Oregon's lighthouses north of us. We are looking forward to traveling south and checking off the rest. Maybe this summer sometime.

By twilight we were at Cannon Beach catching a quick look at Haystack Rock.
We stopped for dinner at a really great brew house called Pelican Pub in Pacific City. They also have a "Haystack rock." This pic is from traveloregon.com

The trip was wonderful, but is was really great to get home. We are really enjoying the coast. Till next time, K

A Salty Smooch

2010-09-25T17:56:00.003-07:00

The Mammal department at the aquarium offers an Animal Encounter called the "Sea Lion Kiss." They have trained the pinnepeds to "kiss" a guest for a once in a lifetime photo opportunity. Well, being on staff has its perks and today I got a couple of very salty smooches. :-)

This is Boots. She is a Harbor Seal.

Kisses from Quill (California sea lion)

This is Max. He is an almost 400 lb. male sea lion. He tried to kiss me 3 times!

Jewelry Tool Box

2010-08-21T21:30:00.006-07:00

Our bathroom counter looked kind of cluttered with my jewelry out in the open. So, in an effort to tidy things up and satisfy my husband's desire for orderliness, I got to looking around the house for something to hold my collection. I looked in the craft room, in the storage closet, in the garage, and found nothing fit for the job. Finally after rummaging through the "cool stuff I want to use someday" pile I came across this $5 garage sale purchase.

Originally I thought I'd clean it up real pretty and stock it with around-the-house tools and sell it as "A Girl's Toolbox"....but like most of those ideas, that was never realized. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning how cool it would be as a jewelry box.

Tonight I wiped it down and decided I liked the rustic look and the color already matched the bath decor, so step one accomplished. Step two, line with something to protect the jewels. That gift of wallpaper sample books has really come in handy, thanks Margie. I also considered sewing some upholstery samples together to make a liner, but that would have taken more time and effort. I can do that another day.

Step Three - protect the counter top from scratches. These little stick on felt circles were found in the local junk drawer.

Now fast forward through my hubby helping me cut the dowel rod, drill holes in the ends, drill holes in the lid, and screw the rod in place. I forgot to take pictures. Here is the finished product.

Here I've filled it with all my jewelry. The necklaces lay nicely even when closed. The bracelets fit in the shelf and in the bottom of the box. Also, the drawers from the pretty little jewelry box fit to organize pendants and rings. Don't worry, Danielle, I'll find somewhere to display the ornate box you gave me.

Please notice the decoration in the background, it is one of my favorite ideas. Found the dress and shirt at antique stores and was inspired to hang them on the wall...

Best thing about this project was that it only took part of an evening and all the tools and supplies were found around the house - no trips to the hardware store for anything!!

Aviary

2010-07-21T16:12:00.005-07:00

So you might say I live and breathe birds at the moment. I have birds on the brain. I even dream about birds after being around them all day :-) Here are some photos of me giving the afternoon "keeper talk" at the aquarium. Public speaking is not my forte but I've learned my version of the "speech" and am comfortable sharing my appreciation for these fine feathered friends. Some of the pics show me hand feeding. These birds are not trained to do this. They are accustomed to the routine and comfortable enough to approach the keepers though. It helps that they allow us close enough so that we can evaluate their health, but we only touch them when medically necessary.

Diving Sea birds of Oregon Coast Aquarium

2010-06-09T11:08:00.008-07:00

As many of you know, I have started a summer internship at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. This is the job experience I have been looking for since graduation and I am so excited to be working with the bird husbandry department.

The aquarium houses about 80 diving seabirds, 2 black oystercatchers (shorebirds), and 2 turkey vultures. Below you will see pictures of each species. The 4 species of diving seabirds belong to the Auk family. They live most of the year on the open ocean miles and miles from shore. Although they can and do fly, they are built for swimming. Under water they use their wings for propulsion. In late spring they come to the rocky coastal areas to breed and raise their young. Then they go back to sea.

The pigeon guillemot is the smaller of the species we house. They nest in cracks and crevices and are often seen fishing in bays and close to shore. They lay 2 eggs each year. In our aviary they are the strongest fliers. They sound like squeaky toys.

Here is the largest of our seabirds-the common murre. These are colonial nesting birds that colonize the tops of offshore rocks in numbers too great to easily count. They lay one egg each year. Their eggs are twice the size of a chicken egg and shaped almost like a pear. If the egg is knocked it will roll in a circle instead of off the cliff - God is so smart! Many people think these are penguins, but they are not even related.

The darling of the aviary during breeding plumage is the Tufted Puffin. These birds dig a tunnel/burrow and lay one egg underground. As with all these birds the male and female look alike and both share incubation and chick rearing responsibilities.

The rhinoceros auklet has much smaller eyebrow feathers and whiskers and has a rhino like horn on its beak. Our rhinos have a lot of personality and are brave enough to take fish from our hands. If I had to have a favorite, I might pick these guys.

Our pair of oystercatchers are currently incubating 3 eggs. These shorebirds can pry mussel and oyster shells apart with their strong pointed beaks. Their nest is directly above the keeper stairs and hose. I have been attacked (nothing harmful) and squaked at numerous times for being too near the nest.

Across the aquarium in the vulture exhibit live Ichabod and Olive. They are sibling 2 year old vultures orphaned in Wisconsin. They came to live with us because they imprinted on humans and cannot be released. They are a great addition since vultures naturally live and scavenge along our coastline. I have held each on glove and hope to interact more as the summer progresses.

I am so blessed to have this great learning opportunity and I hope to share what I learn so that others can grow in appreciation for the diverse creatures God has created. Until next time...

The guest bedroom

2010-06-09T10:34:00.005-07:00

For a few months Mike and I have been discussing how to finish the guest bedroom. What we had to offer guests at the time was a queen size air mattress and a twin bed. These two options just didn't seem to be appropriate, especially since we have a decent sized bedroom that is not used. So we started brainstorming how to economically furnish this room that won't be used all that often. In the midst of our indecision I found 4 FREE headboards at a flea market (hot dog!) The headboards are of the "colonial" style and were from a hotel remodel. Mike was gracious and offered to build a frame for the pieces, he even had the idea to make bunkbeds, since I was overzealous and brought home 4 of the things. Well, Mike worked very hard for a few weekends and built this amazing full size bed frame. He decided to wait on the bunkbeds.

The bedroom already has white woodwork and textured wallpaper painted over with sky blue paint. Since we are renting I didn't want to change the walls. The best complimentary colors I could come up with (that would work for male and female guests) was charcoal and black. While we were in MO visiting my folks, I scavenged some of Dad's old sketches and paintings with which to decorate. The black and white sketches go great with the charcoal curtains I bought from IKEA (portland) and the comforter set from FredMeyer in Newport. I really wanted more luxurious bedding, but the room needed done asap since Ethan and his buddies were coming soon. I painted the frame and the nightstand glossy black and we moved the frame inside on Memorial Day. On Tuesday afternoon Sears delivered the mattress, and on Tuesday night Ethan and his buddies arrived. Shew, that was close :-)

All told we probably spent more than our budget, but I think the room looks great. And I know over time I'll add other decorations to make it look even better.

Hello June

2010-06-07T20:19:00.004-07:00

Hi, this is Mike. It sure has been a while. A lot happened in May. But, it went by so fast that I don't remember much of it. My brother-in-law came out to visit starting at the beginning of June. It's been great having someone young around for a change.

We bought a new camera. The old one decided to quit. So we drove up to Lincoln City on a recommendation from a friend for a camera shop. We bought the Olympus Stylus Tough 3000. It is supposed to be waterproof and shock proof and all these other great things. It'll be good enough for me if it's rain-proof and salt-spray proof. It's not too bad so far. It did try to upload its software on my PC and caused my desktop to go bad, which I fixed after much consternation. I think it takes pretty good pictures.

I'm in the process of fixing the hole in the bottom of the sailboat. When I bought it, it came with a "drain plug" hole in the cockpit. But a boat that size does not need a drain plug. Just flip it over ya lazy bum.

I don't want to have a bump in the bottom of the boat, and I don't want it accidentally coming out, so I decided to fiberglass over it. This is the first time I've done anything like this, but internet instructionals have emboldened me. I think it's going fairly well. However, I plan on taking a bailing bucket with me just in case ;-).

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

2010-04-14T08:05:00.011-07:00

Besides all the other great surprises Mike has given me recently, he also wanted to take me on a weekend get-a-way for my birthday/anniversary. He did tell me his plans ahead of time, so I could have input as well. His plans were great and we made the necessary reservations about a month ago. The destination was Malheur NWR south of Burns, OR. Only about an 8 hour drive from our comfy home on the beach ;-).

View Larger Map

We left at a reasonable time Friday morning (this is supposed to be a vacation you know) and enjoyed the scenery across the great state of Oregon. Our destination happens to be in the 9th largest county in the country, Harney County, and has on avearge less than one person per square mile of land. This area is the high desert, mostly sagebrush and dirt at about 3000 ft. elevation.

Here we are at Tombstone pass. Thankfully we didn't have to use chains at any point on our trip. I forgot that April is still considered winter at elevations such as this.

We made it to camp before 5pm and set up our new deluxe tent. The Narrows was a great place. Clean facilities and well maintained camping areas. This old washer made a clever burn barrel. Mike balanced our dinner so everything cooked evenly.

After a bitterly cold night (23º F) and slightly windy conditions we enjoyed some hot drinks and ate our bagel sandwiches in the shelter of the car. (tip: we cooked our eggs at home, put them in the cooler, and then just built and warmed up the sandwiches for breakfast). The water we left out was completely frozen solid!!

We were on the road around 8 am headed for the Refuge visitor center. We learned that the lakes haven't filled up yet because the snow hasn't melted in the surrounding mountains...so what we thought would be large expanses of water, were actually large flat areas of grass or marsh habitat. This area, like many wildlife refuges, is an important stop over for birds traveling on the Pacific flyway during their annual migrations. The land is managed and protected so that the birds will always have a safe place to rest and quality food to eat as they store energy for their long flights. Some even decide to nest at the refuge instead of continuing on their journey.

The sandhill cranes are famous in this area.

Mike was such a great chauffeur and stopped for every bird. He even videotaped most of them so I can confirm their identification. We'll post some of those videos as we sort through them.

This round barn was built by a rancher in the 1880s. Still has original working gates.

For dinner on Saturday I planned this yummy pork recipe for the dutch oven. It went great with green beans.

For the trip home, we took the southernly route and tried to visit the Newbery National Volcanic monument south of Bend, OR. Well we drove 15 miles into the park only to find out that the rest of the way was closed due to snow this time of year. Darn, if only we had skis. Nuvi, was a little clueless as to what kind of road we were traveling.

Beautiful Odell lake. This is the pull off where we saw the Red crossbill pair.

Photo courtesy of birding.in

The crossbills are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name. They are specialist feeders on conifer cones, particularly the various spruce species but also some populations (different species?) in Douglas-fir and various pine species, and the unusual bill shape is an adaptation to assist the extraction of the seeds from the cone. - wikipedia

Final Bird list:

Yellowheaded Black bird

northern flicker

franklin's gull

redhead (m/f)

Sandhill crane

spotted towhee

american coot

gadwall (m/f)

great blue heron

double crested cormorant

blackbilled magpie

western meadowlark

northern harrier (m/f)

common merganser

cinnamon teal (m/f)

northern shoveler (m)

red tail hawk

tree swallow

great horned owl

yellow rumped warbler

cedar waxwing

ferruginous hawk

willow flycather

red crossbill

white pelican

belted kingfisher

common raven

also pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs

more to come later, I hope...

Anniversius Unium

2010-04-05T21:40:00.005-07:00

Hehehe. I was sneaky. I contacted the lady that built our wedding cake and contracted her to build us a miniature version of the top tier of our wedding cake for Katie's and my first anniversary. See, we didn't get much cake at our wedding because we had over 150 of our closest friends in town for 3 hours only. So we spent as much time as possible catching up with everyone we had not seen for a long time. This left no time for cake-eating.

This left my bride, rightfully, miffed. So when our first anniversary was approaching, the tradition of eating the top tier and the fact that Katie wanted more of that wonderful cake made choosing a gift fall-off-a-log simple. The cake lady was more than helpful in sending the cake halfway across the country. I misjudged the speed of the USPS, so it arrived a day after rather than a day before our anniversary. But I think really it was more a lesson in competing with Easter, which we will have to do forever.

Weekend warriors

2010-03-28T21:19:00.006-07:00

Last weekend I got around to removing the large palm-tree-like plant that was in the lower back yard. Instead of cutting it off at ground level, I dug down around the root ball of the thing to make sure it was gone never to come back. I ended up with a hole at least 2 ft deep and about 3 ft in diameter. This was on one of the steepest parts of the lawn and seeing the hole there gave me the idea to build a wall there. It would eliminate the awful slope on which we mowed last year and would add character to an otherwise plain part of the yard.

It is so nice to rent from the owners of the garden center. All we did was go up to the garden center, find our landlord and tell him that we've got an idea to build a wall. He took us to the "bone yard" of stones and we picked out a partial palate of wall stones. I got to drive the forklift and to pick them up and drive them to our house! I was extra careful, being that this was my first time operating a forklift, and it was a Toyota - so I made sure to not let it run away on me.

After it was all said and done, I think the wall looks pretty good. Katie still has to add some plants in her new flowerbed.

Then, this weekend we added some new teacup arms to Katie's bird feeder. She had this idea a few weeks ago to put teacups of birdseed on a pole in the back yard. I finally got around to building the supports for it and already we have avian and mammalian visitors.

New Views

2010-02-19T10:44:00.006-08:00

We've been visiting some new places recently. Here we are at Stonefield Beach south of Yachats, Oregon: Behind us is the Ten Mile [creek] bridge

Here I am studying courting mergansers in the water (ducks). I forgot my binoculars and was quite put out that I couldn't see what was going on up close.

After shopping in Florence we drove out to Heceta Beach and walked halfway out on the jetty. The waves were crashing on both sides. Harbor seals and grebes were fishing near the jetty.
Yesterday (Thursday Feb 18) Mike rearranged his schedule so we could enjoy the beautiful sunshine and take a hike. We chose to hike up Cape Perpetua. (Sorry honey, we should have taken another pic here:-)This is classified as a moderately difficult hike because in 2.2 miles you gain 800 feet of elevation. I've always been a slow climber and yesterday was the same. Here I am taking a breather on the switchbacks. I'm afraid I'll never be one of those cute female hikers. My scarf is in disarray and my pockets are bulging.We made it to the top in a bit less than an hour.

And the view is most definitely worth the huffing and puffing. (Actually, you can drive to the top, which we have done, but the hike makes me appreciate the view just a bit more.) This photo is of the southern coast. Mike saw the car way down there by the building.

We are so blessed to live in such a dynamic part of creation. The ocean and beaches change everyday and we have the privilege to enjoy that beauty and appreciate it as the handiwork of an infinitely creative, and intimately personal God. Praise Him, for the beauty of His earth.

Valentine Party

2010-02-10T14:44:00.003-08:00

Here are some quick snapshots of the Ladies Valentine party I hosted. I had lots of fun collecting decorations and making my house presentable (okay shopping and decorating were fun, the cleaning not so much). I think every one enjoyed themselves. The best part was that they brought the food, which for me, would have been the most stressful part of the deal--Thanks ladies for a wonderful evening.

When I started planning the party I looked for used tablecloths but never found the right colors. So the red fabric is just leftover from other projects, the brown is a curtain and the lace was leftover as well. I made the cake stand by super-glueing the plate and base (a candle holder). I also made the hearts from scraps.
The party favor idea finally came after much consternation. Some were unused office supplies that I painted, and others are "dragon eyes" that I glued magnets to and painted. They turned out pretty well I think.

This is the door prize registration.

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Also I added some decorations to the master bath. I found this cute vintage dress while visiting Olathe over Thanksgiving and just knew I could find a place for it somewhere in my house. I was inspired to hang it in the master bath, but then it needed balanced out by something masculine...so I thought I'd find a men's suit vest or something. Well I ran across this Navy shirt at a great antique place in Newport called "Cheap Frills." I love the way it turned out. Total cost for both= $17.

2010-02-05T16:41:00.007-08:00

Laundry Room Remodel

Since the wallpaper in the laundry room was out of date I decided to tear it out and paint the walls. I chose a fresh off white that will brighten up the space. The landlord wanted to keep the green cabinets and trim because it has enamel paint which is still in decent shape. So white was the best option to compliment hunter green and the adjoining kitchen.

Being a manufactured house this was not as straightforward as painting sheet rock. Most of the wallpaper came down very easily, but the leftover bits and the crusty glue took a lot of effort to remove. Under the green wallpaper is a vinyl-ish wall covering pressed into the wallboard, it doesn't come off so easily. So I taped all the trim (and there was lots of it) and put three coats of primer to cover the awful flower print underneath.

The wall behind the washer and dryer had been previously cut into and was left very ugly, so Mike did an excellent and time consuming job of gluing and mudding the wall back together.
Two coats of "chashmere white" gave the room a much needed update.The utility closet also got a face lift and now neatly houses all the cleaning equipment.You may be wondering why I post such hum-drum pictures as the inside of the broom closet. Well, other than the fact that my sweet mother asks for pictures of my projects, I hope to inspire someone to tidy up their space as well. Day to day housework is a necessary evil but no one said it had to be ugly and frustrating. I may still go on laundry and cleaning strikes occasionally, but having a room that reflects my taste and is uplifting to work in certainly makes the hum-drum much more pleasant (and presentable!).

Music!

2010-01-24T15:07:00.004-08:00

Katie and I have been playing music at church for a few weeks. This morning we sang and I played the guitar for one of my favorite hymns, "Oh love that wilt not let me go." I've got a recording of the live and practice versions.

Couch Slipcover

2010-01-16T16:43:00.011-08:00

When we moved to Oregon we donated our couch and love seat to some needy folks in hopes of finding more up-to-date furniture for our new house. Mainly, I've always hated Mike's furniture (he bought it in college very used) and finally had an excuse to see it go bye-bye. It was a good thing too, because we both agree it wouldn't have fit in the moving truck :-)

Well, that left us seat-less in our new home (minus dining chairs). We browsed (okay I browsed) some furniture stores but found everything very expensive. So I tried to be patient and look for other ways to furnish the house. Craigslist and flea markets are my chosen venues. Constantly on the look I did find a love seat and a nice armchair, but no couch. One day I was shopping in Newport at my usual second hand stores. One place had blank couch cushions for $5 each, I mentally noted those for future use. I also found a great slipcover idea in a magazine...but still no couch.

Finally while I was cruising Craigslist I found this couch for sale. It looked similar to the armchair I purchased earlier and they were only asking $25. So Mike hooked up the trailer to Reuben and we drove a few miles down the road to see the couch. The couch was in a side storage room that was a pigsty and there was evidence of cats everywhere...not generally a situation I want to purchase from, but I have wanted a couch since we moved here and this one was the right price. Seeing potential in this sorry excuse for furniture, I payed the $25 and we loaded it, cat hair and all. The thing stunk so bad we put it in the hoop-house so I could scrub it down.

After buying the couch I rushed home and leafed through magazines till I found the picture, ripped it out and stuck it in my day-timer for inspiration.

I also remembered the blank cushions. I returned to the store the next week and lo and behold they still had them!!

After rubbing every square inch with warm water and carpet cleaner it smelled a lot better but was still stained. That's okay though I had plans to sew a slipcover (first on my list...learn to sew :-) I'm sure Mike had his doubts, but he didn't let on. He just let me do my thing and was very patient about it.

Fabric for upholstery can be very pricey. I looked at wholesale canvas sites but wasn't impressed. I've seen painter's drop cloths used as slipcovers...so I found some at Bi-mart (cross between K-mart and Sams....a lot more K-mart than Sams) Two cloths measuring 12 feet by 9 feet each, cost about $40 total...that brings my total so far to $85.

After much planning on graph paper and much consternation over whether I could really do this project or not...I finally bought heavy-duty thread ($7) and started cutting fabric...

I've worked on this project for most of 5 days. I learned how to (and not to) install a zipper, that the seam-ripper is my friend, and that a sharp kitchen knife will cut foam. I finished a couple hours ago and am sick of thinking about it. Here are the final picks, if you want more info let me know :-)

Table setting

2010-01-11T10:00:00.005-08:00

Here are some pictures of the table I set for our company on Sunday. The tablecloth and napkins were a wedding gift, the runner (actually a curtain) and place-mats (actually fabric napkins) I picked up at a thrift store. I thought it all worked together. At first Mike chuckled and said it looked like something a Grandma would set out, then later he changed his mind and said it looked like a picture from a magazine. I agree it has a retro touch, but isn't retro coming back? I'm not sure which is true. But I'm learning not to ask his opinion on decorating, and he is learning not to ask my opinion on things like wiring and home repairs ;-) Anyway, I thought it looked cute.

Christmas Bird Count

2010-01-04T11:37:00.010-08:00

On January 2 I participated in the central coast Christmas Bird Count. This citizen scientist project is headed by the Audubon society. http://www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/
For 110 years local birdwatchers have teamed up to count and record every species and individual in their region. Data is sorted by the Audubon society and research is done to evaluate the health of those populations. With some prompting from Barb (who gave me an awesome custom bird journal and log for Christmas) I found when the CBC was taking place near my home. I met up with my assigned team, 4 retired gentlemen who know A LOT about bird identification, and we spent about 10 hours sorting and naming waterfowl and quite a few land species. Everything is done by sight and ear. I have decent binoculars but these guys have nice scopes that enable you to see birds at a much closer range. The scopes were really helpful when it came to differentiating between similar species that were in the middle of the bay (horned and eared grebes...) Our assigned territory was the Upper Yaquina bay and river. We IDed about 50 species along the 11 miles of river and the 3 miles of Hidden Valley near Toledo, OR. Basically we drove along Yaquina Bay Road and where it was safe set up scopes along the road. I listed about 45 species that I can confidently identify after these guys kind instruction and teaching. Here are some internet pics of some of the birds we saw:
Horned Grebe
Eurasian WigeonPeregrine Falcon
Common Goldeneye (male)Hooded Merganser (male and female)
Western Sandpiper

Can't wait to do some more bird watching!!!

Cello Stand

2010-01-04T11:29:00.004-08:00

Mike's dad built this cello stand so I can safely display my instrument in the house. I think it is so beautiful, and it makes me want to play more. The instrument is cradled in the custom molded foam; and there is even a pocket for the bow! (Don't worry we don't use that door :-)

Sewing projects

2010-01-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

In preparation for making a couch cover I've been designing some chair covers. Here are my first two. They may have taken 10 hours or more to create, but they aren't too bad for my first try...I didn't have any templates so I just started pinning the fabric on the chair and adjusting where needed. The pleats were much easier to make right on the machine rather than ironing and pinning (that attempt led to insanity). The cheap cotton fabric from Wal-mart is good for experimenting, but doesn't lend much structure to the piece. Next time I'll use something heavier.

I really like the lace on the second one. The print on the fabric is much more appealing as well. I picked up the lace at a thrift store, not knowing what to do with it.
I think the piping adds a "professional" touch to this one, and it wasn't that difficult to do.
So here is the fabric for the couch cover: I've seen a couch cover made out of this drop-cloth at a friend's beach house, so we'll see what I can come up with.

New Light

2010-01-02T10:36:00.005-08:00

Sometimes when I have time off I don't feel nearly as productive as when I'm at work. So like every other middle class American, I occupy myself with home improvement. I found two pendant light fixtures at one of Katie's favorite thrift stores. She liked them, I liked them and I liked the $4 price tag. So we got them even though we had no specific place for them in mind.

After we got home, it became obvious that the lack of light over the kitchen sink was unacceptable. The fixture that was there was broken. We were warned by the landlords that there was something goofy in the wiring for the over-the-sink light fixture. The switch was taped in one position. I shut off the breaker and used the multi-tester to carefully map out exactly what was going on. It turns out that someone wired the main kitchen light switch in series with the over-the-sink switch. This means that the over-the-sink light had to be on in order for the main lights to work. So the previous solution? Tape the switch in the on position and never fix the over-the-sink fixture when it broke. Lame. So I rewired it using a technique called "the right way."

After considering many options for hanging our new pendant lights, I settled on using a piece of driftwood. I drilled holes for the electric cords through the wood and screwed the new fixture to the ceiling. You can't really see the driftwood because it is recessed. It's just as well though because this is my first attempt at making something like this and it's not perfectly refined.

Incidentally, if you'd like your own Oregon coast driftwood light fixture made by a local home accent artist and installed by a local handyman, I think he would go through all that again for $200.
~Mike

A festivus miracle?

2009-12-26T18:04:00.007-08:00

So an inconvenient miracle happened on Festivus. I was driving to work on Wednesday and it was pretty slick outside. I slipped a little on my way walking to the garage, so I was aware that it was icy outside. As I was driving down 101, I felt the rear of the car slide sideways. I hadn't seen anything in the road that indicated this would happen. So, I assumed it was because I hit a tiny patch of black ice and RWD is inherently unstable. So I disengaged the cruise control and reduced my speed from the speed limit (55) down to 50. As I was to find out soon enough, this was a step in the right direction, but it wasn't far enough.

A half mile down the road I hit another little patch of black ice. Only this time, I was going up the slightest bit of an incline, so the effect of swinging the rear of the car around was more pronounced. In fact, it caused me to start sliding sideways down my lane. I tried to not over-correct, but it's really hard to tell what to do in situations like these. The rear of the car swung to the right, then the left, then the right, then I spun completely around to the left and started going backwards in the opposite lane. I went across the other lane and hit a steep hill of dirt on the opposite side of the road from my lane. Then I spun back around, got back in my lane and pulled off the road at a convenient pull-out area. I've included some paint-art to the left that illustrates the position of my car (green) in time.

When I hit the hill going backwards at ~30 mph, it scratched up the front and back passenger quarter-panels. The rear bumper got bent in and a tiny spot just behind the front tire was pushed in as well. Both passenger rims got all scratched up and there are sticks and pine needles stabbed between my wheels and tires that I can't get out. I was able to drive to work after it happened and the only issue I noticed was that I think the wheels are out of alignment.

When I drove back by the place it happened on my way back from work, I realized just how lucky I was. On both sides of the hill I hit there is a ditch that I could have gone in just as easily. And, there was no oncoming traffic the whole time I was in the other lane. Plus, after the collision, there was a convenient place to pull over and un-freak-out. So even though it happened on Festivus, it wasn't a Festivus miracle. The only explanation for the fortuitous sequence of events that kept me out of the ditch and let me not hit another car is that God was watching out for me. I just want to be sure I give credit where credit is due so that this doesn't happen :-P.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T08:31:00.012-08:00

Well it's been a Merry Christmas season here on the Oregon Coast. This Christmas morning is pretty chilly outside (37F - brrrr). Katie and I really appreciate all the cards and packages we received. It makes it seem like we're not so far away.

Aunt Jan sent us a box with my favorite Christmas cookie - Anise. There was also a tin with gingerbread men and other goodies too. However, the postal service was not good to the package, so several of the gingerbread men were statistics even before they got eaten.

We sent some fresh pacific Dungeness crab to my folks for Christmas. A crabber friend of the guys at work called me from the ocean as he was coming back to port and asked me how many I'd like. We had some friends show us how to clean them (it involves an axe). Then that night we cooked all 6 and packaged up 4 to ship.

A few months ago, we had eaten some crab from the bay near here, and they were quite a bit smaller. The ocean crab we got this time were much more rewarding to eat because you get so much more meat for your effort. Some parts of them had chunks so big I call them crab "steaks". However, the larger crab's shell is noticeably harder to break.

We went to the beach on Christmas Eve. Things have changed there. The winter storms make the ocean more violent, so it washes a lot of sand back out to sea. It has exposed more of the big stump on our beach. I tried my hand at artistically combining two pictures of us. If you don't like it - well, you just don't understand my art.

We got a package from my family last night, so we decided to make a new Christmas tradition (first annual) and open one present on Christmas Eve. I strategically chose the package from them because I figured it was full of stuff. Boy was I right. Look at all our loot!

And we thank everyone that sent the universal gift certificate. Once we save up enough of those, we're going to buy a mac mini.

Midwest Thanksgiving

2009-12-05T22:07:00.015-08:00

We enjoyed a 10 day trip to the Midwest for Thanksgiving. Our trip started 6:00am Sunday morning with Reuben (Katie's Subaru) refusing to start (I guess he needed a vacation too) But have no fear it was Ronnie (Mike's car) to the rescue. Katie's luggage barely fit and we were off to SeaPort, a commuter airline company with reasonably priced flights to Portland. This really was a highlight of our trip. The plane held 8 passengers and turned a 3 hour drive into a 30 minute flight. Mike was pretty excited when they started the plane and he saw a "Garmin" light up in the cockpit! We watched the sunrise from 11000 feet and ate breakfast during our layover at Portland International.

We spent 5 days in Olathe with the Craighead clan (we missed you Raleigh). As is Craighead tradition, those who wanted went on a Thanksgiving morning hike with Dad. Only 4 takers this year (Mike is the photographer).
We also went ice skating at Crown Center.

After a great Craighead turkey dinner and stopping by Moberly to see Mom and Dad's new house, we motored toward the Ellebrechts in St. Louis. We stopped in Warrenton to join the guys' shooting afternoon.

Mike shot Uncle Dan's .270 and made his mark in a fire extinguisher.

We stuffed ourselves silly with two more Thanksgiving celebrations in St. Louis and even had time to tour the World Bird Sanctuary.

God's Gifts

2009-10-14T11:12:00.007-07:00

This little guy surprised me at the window the other day. It looks to be a yearling on its own this fall. It was very curious of me but only a little shy. I took lots of pictures and then lots of video when he/she moved to the lower yard!

Many gardeners do whatever they can to keep deer out of their plants, but this one didn't hang around too long, and I saw it more of a blessing than a nuisance. It added some wonder to my housework :-) Thanks God for sending me furry, wide-eyed "thinking of you" card.

Adding to the family...

2009-10-10T11:31:00.005-07:00

Katie and I are doing well here on the coast. It's getting cooler at night and raining a tad more frequently, but altogether the weather is wonderful (much better than Denver where I hear they're canceling playoff games due to snow and cold.) Since we moved out west, there has been something missing from our family. On Thursday we got the chance to add a new family member. We brought the little one home and are taking good care of her. We still haven't come up with a name yet, but that will come naturally once we get to know her a little better.

I'm referring to, of course, our "new" '78 AMF Sunfish sailboat! She's 14 feet long and 4 feet wide. This means my car is no longer the skinniest vehicle I own, but it is still the shortest :).

I found her on craigslist. She belonged to a lady nearby that has had her for quite a while. The boat hasn't been registered since '94, so after a little elbow grease and TLC over the winter, hopefully she'll get back out on the water in the spring. The sail is in fairly good condition, especially for being 31 years old. I'll probably spend a little time doing some preventative maintenance on the high stress areas.

Who knows? Maybe we'll go fishing or crabbing from her?

Fishing, Celebrations, and Ribs

2009-10-07T10:12:00.017-07:00

Awhile back I was invited to go fishing with a friend and her friend, Roger. It was my first experience fishing for salmon.

Here is Roger's boat. We fished in the Yaquina bay/river.

I caught this coho salmon. It was the only keeper fish on my line for the 24 hours I was on Roger's boat (3 days). But that's okay. To buy salmon in the store is expensive, so a $12/day fishing license was worth it. Not to mention the relaxing time I spent on the river and the new friends made.
Later that week Mike and I both went fishing with Roger and caught nothing, but he sent us home with 3 crabs from his crab pots. One of our friends here calls them bugs, and they do kinda look like the spider of the sea, but they taste great.As you can see by Mike's enthusiasm.

We recently celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary. We had kinda planned to find some trails near church and go for an afternoon hike, but my research online came up short. After church we went for a drive instead (so I thought). We ended up way back in the woods and hills of the coastal range on some one lane fire road. Mike seemed to be enjoying the drive so I kept my concerns about trespassing to a minimum. When we pulled over he opened the trunk and revealed a large pack and picnic blanket! He even packed my hiking socks and shoes. After my surprise, we started up the hill. Soon Mike produced the GPS and said, "It might just have a geocache for you to find." We proceeded with me following the directions to the geocache location. After a little ways I realized that he had planned all this in advance while I was in town training for the aquarium the day before. Boy did I feel sheepish. Here I thought he bummed around the house all day (doing laundry and such) when he had been driving around the countryside planning a special date for me!! Here is a picture with his artwork in the background, before I realized he had this all set up.
There is a heart made of sticks on the road beyond us. So we made it to the top of the hill and there was this amazing view of our city. You can see the ocean and the bay and the Alsea Bridge.
Mike was the one to locate the geocache, it was well hidden. We then ate the lunch he had prepared. He said he walked around the store and bought stuff that reminded him of me, he also bought us a Waldport, OR sweatshirt! Isn't he the sweetest!!

Last but not least here is Mike's first attempt at smoking ribs. We were aching for some Kansas City BBQ so we took a stab at it ourselves. In the end he decided that to smoke ribs properly it should be an all day effort. So maybe next time we'll get it right.

We are happy to be getting acquainted with a local church and making new friends there. It is nice to have "family" in that way. Until next time, Katie

Couch!!

2009-09-18T11:58:00.018-07:00

I finally found a couch I like - well it is a love seat but it will work for now. I found it on craigslist and when I went to the people's house I recognized it as a couch I had seen previously in a flea market in town. I had considered buying it at the flea market, but thought it was too expensive. So I bought it at half the price from these folks - haha. It took some major cleaning before it could be let in the house - but I think it looks pretty good - and it is comfy.

So yesterday we had 14 people over for pizza - homemade pizza. It was a little nuts, but everyone enjoyed the evening. (We had Mike's coworkers and their families) Unfortunately it was so nuts we didn't take any pictures - but we do have leftover pizza to prove it ;-)

Here are some of the projects we've accomplished recently:

Mike hung the wedding gift we got from his brother, John, above the garage. Pretty impressive looking. Thanks, John.

Here is the awesome basil plant that Merrilee gave us, it is time to make more pesto.

I painted the door and cabinet in the greenhouse bright yellow so that I can have sunshine year-round. Hey Dad, recognize that sign??? :-) Love you.

Last weekend Mike worked on the patio and garden stairs. The brick patio had sunk down pretty badly and the stairs were no longer usable. We harvested these concrete blocks from the Garden Center's refuse pile. Mike got his "creative on" and designed the pattern. Hopefully the ivy will take root and keep the soil in place.

Here is a full view of the family room. We snagged two director chairs from a garage sale and I made the red canvas covers. They're not perfect, but I'm learning how fun sewing can be - at the expense of 3 broken needles so far :-)

Here are some before and after pictures of the footstool I recovered. I'm trying to sell it, but if it doesn't go, I'll be happy to keep it.

On Labor Day I went with some gals to the SWAN ISLAND DAHLIA farm in Canby, OR. They have over 40 acres of dahlias - in bloom!! It was their annual dahlia festival - amazing sight. Dahlias grow very well in our climate, I'm planning on ordering some for next spring.

Lastly, we celebrated our 5 month wedding anniversary with a picnic on the beach:

We are healthy and happy and blessed. I'll be attending Volunteer Training for the Aquarium in Newport. Seven Saturdays of class 9am-5pm!! They are serious - but they say it is the best way to get a foot in the door toward a job. So I'll do it willingly. Can't think of much else save that I'm a touch homesick for family and friends. But that is to be expected - Love you all! Katie and Mike

Kraftswoman Katie

2009-09-03T20:33:00.017-07:00

So here of some of the projects on which I've been working. First is the "Pallet chair." We got some pallets from Garmin for free. Two of them were made from decent wood that was in really good shape. After some internet research I decided they would make good deck furniture. Mike helped me talk through the design and build a model from legos, but that was it. I wanted this to be "my" project. While he was at work one day I got to play with power tools!! (don't worry I still have all my fingers and I only broke one drill bit)So after much deliberation and hesitation I worked up the guts to actually start cutting and drilling. While a chair is great I decided this piece should be multi-functional. It "unfolds" into a bench! Am I brilliant or what?! It is still kind of a rough design, but with a little more work and some more pallets we'll have budget friendly deck furniture.

#2 Here are some products from my kitchen: Made from scratch blackberry pie. Blackberries grow like weeds. We have a ton in our side yard. Terrible thorns - yummy fruit.

Mike and Katie's famous pizza.

All the fixin's for......

PESTO!
Now if only our sourdough starter would shape up!

Let's see, what else have I been up to....Decorating! We had company spend the night so I had fun cleaning and rearrange and purchasing a few new-to-us furniture.

The new and improved master suite. Lamps and bench courtesy of craigslist. Curtain rod from trees I chopped down. :-)

Check out those hydrangeas - gorgeous.

My flea market chair - gotta love Louis XV! (style of chair)

Here is my before and after bookshelf:

I'm worn out from all this blogging, until next time, Katie

This just in...

2009-08-30T19:16:00.010-07:00

We've been entirely too lazy, uh, I mean, busy to blog. This past weekend was pretty full. Mike learned that hooch is cheaper in California, and since Cali is a short 4.5 hours away we decided to take a trip. We took off Friday after work and camped at Sunset Bay State Park near Coos Bay, Oregon. We got there in time to go for a hike and found this secluded overlook.

On the starboard side of the picture you can see the Coquille River Lighthouse (not currently in use). With Mike's superior camera balancing abilities we got this shot with us.

I of course had my binoculars for bird watching and Mike spotted what we think was a tugboat pulling a submarine in the very distant fog - the pic didn't really turn out- but he was excited.

After a chilling night camping we silently broke camp and were on the road by 5:30am. It was very foggy most of the morning. We got to the state line and drove on down to the Redwoods. This leg of the trip wasn't really planned so we didn't actually go into the park, but took a great hike on the Coastal Trail. The coast down there is very different from central Oregon. It is amazing the variety of formations the powerful oceans create. We took the trail to "Hidden Beach"

Someone had built this awesome shelter between some boulders. I have never seen so much drift wood in one place. We collected some interesting pieces as souvenirs and headed back north to All Star Liquor outlet.

Along the way we crossed this bridge claiming to be the tallest in Oregon. There was a parking area that pointed to a trail to a viewpoint of the bridge so we thought we'd take a peek. Well the path was not well marked and ended up being about 10 paths. Mike found the way to the bridge but not without some interesting routing.

Well we finally made it to All Star where Mike stocked up on everything he might need for the next few years. Amazingly enough the liquor cabinet isn't full. Whoever built this house must have been a true sailor.

Lastly, we ate lunch in Port Orford on the way home. This is a small town with little to see, but we were told to try a restaurant called "The Crazy Norwegian." True to their claim they sure do have the best fish and chips on the coast (so far). I hesitate to publish such a terrible picture. The sun and wind are not in my favor, but here goes...;-(

Oregon Daze

2009-08-12T14:32:00.021-07:00

I think the point of a blog is to log activities and thoughts on a daily basis - well that is too much for me, so I'm going to give you a week's worth in one dose, hope it doesn't make you sick...

In an effort to furnish our home I've been doing some second hand shopping. For two reasons mostly - first, there is such a thrill in hunting and (hopefully) finding that perfect piece and second to keep within our budget. There must be balance between knowing when you've found the right thing and striking a buy and the tempting purchase because it is close to what you want and an okay deal. Usually those don't work out and then you've wasted money on something that is going to donated back to which it came--goodwill.

So here are some items I've snatched recently: The blue doorish thing in the back and the wooden chair in front are acquisitions from the neighbors fire pit - with permission of course. The pallets are free from Mike's office and the end tables hail from a local thrift shop. I should have bought a larger can of primer 'cause I have a lot to paint :0)

Yesterday I determined it was time to really make this place home and bake some chocolate chip cookies. Oh yeah, that reminds me of these great pics from last week when I cleaned the oven - who cooks in something like that? Let me be a commercial and say that this Oven cleaner (and some elbow grease) really did the trick. So now the cookies..I mixed everything and baked the first couple pans worth - and they were flat! Don't you hate it when you spend all that time in the kitchen just to have cookies you could use as saucers! Arg! So I looked up online and found some of the reasons for flat cookies - over mixing (guilty), butter too runny (guilty), old ingredients (not guilty - we just restocked on everything). So now I know that, but I still have a batch that will be flat and completely un-presentable as gifts for the neighbors. So I got out the muffin pan and corralled those soupy cookies so they couldn't spread all over the pan...
Tah-Dah!!! Cookie pucks.
Now with these little creations you could add a chocolate candy or something else sweet in the center. I just frosted a little and they were delicious. Take that Betty Crocker. Okay, so I'm kinda proud of myself for salvaging my efforts. Go ahead take a bite

Let's see what else...This lovely fella greeted me in the yard one morning.It's a banana slug, they are numerous and large in these parts. This one is only a little guy.

I'll end with some fun pics from the beach. There was something going on with the jelly fish last week. They were dying and/or becoming stranded on the beach - they were huge and ushy-squishy!

We found our first sand dollar, this one is only worth 50 cents though ;-)

Here are some shorebirds they have really long curved bills for finding insects in the sand. I'm unsure what species of godwit or whimbrel they might be. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Marbled_Godwit/videos. But they are interesting.

(not my pictures)

Here is a view of the beachhomes on the southern side of our beach access point. I prefer living in the trees rather than having to shovel sand.

Locals call this "Big Stump" beach, can't understand why.
Until next time...I'm Katie Marie, signing off.

Oregon home

2009-08-02T20:42:00.017-07:00

So we made it the whole month of July without posting once. We didn't intend to do that, however we were a little preoccupied with moving. That's right, we no longer live in Kansas. We are now Oregonians (Or uhg own ee inns), specifically "Coastals." We spent a good portion of July packing, then spent a week traveling across the country. We stopped to see friends and family to break up the trip and catch up with people we never get to see.

Once we arrived at the Oregon coast, we checked into a motel and went house hunting. The plan was to pick the best out of what we saw, rent it, and move in. We looked at a couple houses that were managed by the local real estate company (akin to Investment Realty for all you Rolla people). The houses we saw all had floors, 4 walls and a roof, but they were nothing to write home about. Some weren't fit to house your dog. However, we had decided on a house managed by the real estate company that met all our criteria. However, before signing the contract, we had a meeting with some people that were renting out a house on craigslist.

Very few times in our lives have we had a major plan and called an audible at the last minute. However, after seeing the house we now live at, its obvious that God knew all along what we needed/wanted. All we had to do was stumble into His plan and accept it. It took us about 2 hours from the time we saw the house to sign the lease. This is the front of our new home.

We live behind the Oregon Coast Garden Center south of Waldport OR. Our landlords own the garden center and like us to keep the lawn neat. To me, it looks like we live in a botanical garden. I'm not great with plants, but I'm sure that living here will cause me to learn a lot. This is our back yard.

We knew within 10 minutes of touring the house that it was the "one." The only problem was that the current renters were not going to be out until Friday afternoon. Our plan was to unload on Thursday so that we could return the truck with no extra fees on Friday morning. Well, the landlord and tenant agreed they could help us out by letting us unload all our stuff in the garage on Thursday, while they finished packing the house Thursday and Friday. It worked out great, they even helped us unload our truck and we got to help them load theirs. So now the place is ours and we are getting settled. The front room has so many windows, we call it the conservatory.

Mike has his own "Captian's" bar complete with sink and mini-fridge.

I can watch the birds out back while I wash dishes.

The walk through kitchen looks into the family room with propane stove.

Here is the laundry/mudroom off the kitchen.

A view of the back deck and house. The hut tub is not staying :-(

The lower lawn has lots of hydrangea and rhododendron bushes.

Here is a view from the conservatory of the osprey nest.

Float Trip

2009-06-28T08:04:00.006-07:00

A while ago Mike and I had this great idea to go on a canoe trip before we move. So I did some research and invited our small group for the outing. Only one couple was able to come so they brought 6 of their friends and joined my family for the float.
We decided on a 13 mile canoe trip down the Little Niangua River in central Missouri. The day was hot but the spring fed river kept us cool. My family (Mike, Dad, Raleigh, Ethan, and Emily) drove to the canoe outfitter early Saturday morning, while the half of the group decided to make a weekend of it and camp near the river.

We piled in the van and rode to the put-in sight. The area had recently flooded and the outfitters couldn't tell us what condition the river was in. So we headed off downstream into the unknown...
There were lots of trees down in the water. Much of the morning consisted of lifting the canoes up and over tree trunks or dragging them through shallow areas. There were a few places that caused some of our group trouble, but for the most part it was just tiring to drag the canoe (and gear) so much.

Raleigh and Ethan were bent on being the river clowns and made us all laugh with their antics.

Around 1pm my family roped our canoes together and shared lunch under the shade of the large sycamores growing along the river. The water was deep and partially clear and we spotted many fish and other reptiles throughout the day.

A float trip would not be complete without a rope swing so we were happy to find one a few miles from the take-out. Kelly started things off with a very graceful swing and jump. In general it went downhill from there ;-) Dustin had his turn and then the Craighead/Ellebrechts tried their rope swinging skills.

Ethan had some trouble getting up the tree...and with the knot at the end of the rope.

Mike did pretty well as did Raleigh and Dad.

By then I decided I wanted to try and after much hesitation, I finally leaped. I didn't anticipate such a jolt and couldn't hold on to the rope long enough. I slid down the rope and landed hard in the water. All was well though, except some persistent water in my right ear.

We finished the day strong and were glad to get some fast food and get on toward home. We drove through some thunderstorms and pulled in around 10pm.

I was still having trouble with my right ear so Mike dropped some vinegar/rubbing alcohol down my ear canal. A few drops of this mixture is said to break up the water stuck in your ear and clear it out. Well the mixture caused severe pain to my inner ear and I instantly dropped to the floor sobbing. When I recovered, with a still hurting ear, we did some internet research (not recommended for this sort of stuff) and found that lots of people use this remedy with success. So, for some reason we tried a couple more times with the same terrifying result. Mike was beside himself to know how to help me, but he was very kind. Finally I decided that a visit to the ER was in order and at 11:55pm we headed across town.

After being questioned about the home remedy and explaining the rope swing event the doctor looked in my ear and saw that I had indeed ruptured my ear drum. I don't recall the loud pop that usually accompanies such an injury, but I know I hit the water very hard and the picture shows my right ear hit with full force. So they sent me home with antibiotics and pain killer and we fell into bed after being up for almost 24 hours. In conclusion my ear should heal in about a month, and I don't plan on jumping out of trees into rivers anytime soon.

First time ever sailing in a thunderstorm

2009-06-25T20:08:00.003-07:00

Last night I went sailing out at Olathe Lake. I'm letting a friend of mine from work babysit my boat while we're in Oregon, so last night was the first "how to" session with him and his new boat. It was in the high nineties when we left work at 4ish. We got out on the water probably by 5:30 - 5:45. I don't know how long we were out, but the clouds started rolling in while I wasn't watching. I looked up and noticed that a little black rain cloud had settled in on top of us. I told the guys on the boat that at the first sound of thunder or sight of lightening, we were heading back. Well, we heard the first faint roll of thunder, so we turned towards the boat ramp. I should have noticed that we were downwind of the ramp, but I didn't. It's amazing how far away the shore suddenly feels when you're going upwind to get out of a lightening storm on a boat with a 26' aluminum mast. We had about 4 minutes from the time we turned toward shore until it started raining on us. By the time we reached the dock, it was pouring. We dropped the sails and Katie backed the trailer down the ramp in record time.

Once the boat was out of the water, we went and visited with the Olathe Parks Sailing Center class that was meeting at the time. We figured we'd mess with lowering the mast once the electric storm had passed. We met Captain Flint, their parrot mascot and watched kids and their parents study/make lake maps. The sailing class was hopeful that the weather would blow over and they could still get out on the water. I was hopeful that we could get the boat packed up before it got zapped or it started pouring again. As it turns out - I was right. Just about the time we got packed up, the wind had picked up again. The storm cell that had just blown from the south to the north of us, was actually being blown back south again. When we were on the water the winds were out of the south at 5-7mph. As we were leaving there were ~1ft wind waves being blown from the north on the 172 acre lake. That was crazy looking. I don't think they sent the little kiddies out in the chop, but if they had, it would have certainly given them some respect for the sea.

2009-06-21T19:41:00.003-07:00

Tonight we decided to go out to Prairie Center Nature Center to go fishing. We wanted to celebrate the longest day of the year by going to a place that closes at dusk on the night that dusk is the latest. Fishing was slow, but I did catch a (one) bluegill. There was plenty of wildlife out though, thanks in part to the fact that there weren't any other people there and we were fairly quiet. I think the other major reason was that we forgot the camera. Figures. We saw a huge snapping turtle. He (or she) was walking down the path toward the lake. It was at least a foot in diameter if not more, and 6 inches tall. We also saw a land turtle of some sort on the walk back to the car. Katie picked her up and discovered that she was sitting on a nest of eggs. There were also bullfrogs, cats, worms, and ticks. Katie was miffed that there were no raptors out, but c'est la vie.

Uberstix

2009-06-13T20:43:00.009-07:00

We received a wedding present from some friends of mine (Mike's) at my parent's church. It contained scientific toys. We got a human powered light bulb that you can hold while scooting around on the carpet in your wool socks and light up with static electricity. We got a hand held microscope thing for looking at bugs and the wood grain in the kitchen table. Finally (and most importantly) we got a model sailboat. It is constructed out of Uberstix.

I convinced Katie to have a nerd date night on Friday (after a romantic picnic by the lake). We spent most of the evening building the boat. Katie did the constructing, and I gave some pointers here and there while working on another model. More on that later I'm sure. She completed the whole thing - rigging and all.

I noticed that the design didn't have a centerboard or rudder. So I got to work on making that part. I have been studying boat controls and ran across the concept of self steering. So I decided to build a servo paddle device for the boat to keep it aligned with the wind. I also added a keel to help keep the boat tracking straight.

We still didn't have soda bottles for the boat to float on yet. We decided to go to the recycling center and raid their stash for good pontoons. When we got to the recycling center, an unforeseen obstacle presented itself. The bins with plastic in them contained the bottles I wanted, but they were almost empty so there was no way I could just reach in and pick out my bottle. I could have jumped up on top of the dumpster and reached in to grab the bottle, but there's no telling what is in those things. Besides - I could have fallen in doing that sort of thing and there would be no way Katie would let me live that down : ). So I improvised. I got the fishing pole out of the car and made a snare out of the line and went fishing in the dumpster for 2 liter pop bottles. After catching 2, we were ready to go to the lake.

I attached the fishing line to the boat so I could retrieve it after it had sailed away. After trimming the sail and adjusting the rudder control mechanism, I pushed it out to sea. It needed a little tuning, but it went pretty good. I took off the rudder and tried it later - and it didn't go nearly as straight, so the automatic control system was a success!

After a while we got tired of watching the boat sail itself - after all, it's much more fun to _be_ sailing, rather than watch someone else sail. So we started fishing. We didn't catch anything. But we had a great time enjoying the park, nature, and being out of the house.

Camping/Fishing/Sailing Trip

2009-06-10T20:12:00.010-07:00

This past weekend we went camping, fishing, and sailing at Hillsdale State Park / lake. Friday night we went fishing with the new trolling motor rig. It works great on beautiful dead-calm nights. However, it's not so great on rough seas. Saturday they were predicting high winds, so we reefed the main sail before heading out on the lake. Well, you can't reef a Hobie 16 enough for 20kt winds if you don't want to be strapped into a trapeeze harness and one false move or gust away from swimming. We barely made it across the lake to the windsurfer beach afloat.

This was the first time I ever thought we could have dumped the boat. I think right when we were out in the middle of the lake was when I realized that I don't have a hobie bob at the top of the mast. So if it went over, it was going to go turtle like these poor folks.

Before we got to the beach, there was a time that I thought we might pitchpole. Unlike the guy in this picture though, Katie and I were on the bar at the back of the boat holding it down so it didn't go over. We had a cooler, a tackle box, a trolling motor and battery, and a dry bag full of everything but the kitchen sink on the wooden shelf just fore of the trampoline. Everything got wet.

The boat stayed up on the water (thank God). When we beached, we were running with the wind full speed up onto the land. We tried to turn the boat around so that it was facing into the wind in order to put less stress on the sails, but in the process, a gust caught the sail broadside and dumped the whole thing over. We should have just taken the sails down, but I was being lazy and didn't want to. So the wind decided to teach me a lesson in respect. Notice that the wooden shelf I built to hold the trolling motor and all our gear stayed right where I put it. Now that's quality engineering!

Just before we had "put out to sea", a few buddies of mine from work had called and asked if they could come out for a sailboat ride. Not knowing the wind was so heavy, I told them to come on out. So when they got there, we had to tell them that we weren't going out again in the heavy winds. So we hung out and swam for a few hours. My plan was to wait until the wind died down and sail back to camp. Well, the wind didn't die down. So around 4pm I got another buddy from work who was out on the lake as well to tow me back to camp with his PWC. I then got the car and came back to pick up Katie and all the useless junk we had brought across the lake.

That evening we made a chili-cornbread dutch oven bake. It was pretty good. The next morning, we went to the lake chapel service put on by College Church there at the state park. Afterwards, we checked the winds. There were no whitecaps this time. It was still blowing pretty good, but not as heavy as Saturday. So we decided to go for it, but we had a plan this time. We headed upwind to the marina where we met up with some more people from work. We gave them an overview of the boat, then a slow safe boat ride in the wind shadow of the dam. By slow and safe I mean all parts of the bottom of the boat were in contact with the water at all times and at no time were any parts of the top of the boat submerged : ).

Our first blog!

2009-05-28T13:49:00.001-07:00

So Mike and I have decided that since we are moving to the west coast it would helpful to start a blog. This way our friends and family in the midwest can keep track of what we are up to in Oregon. We look forward to sharing the events of our summer in KC and our move to Oregon with you.

Katie and Mike