family – Page 2 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

April Delight

Just a reminder, if you click on any of these photos, you will be taken to the SmugMug album where you can view many more scenes from Sunset House and all the gorgeous kayak views.

As often happens, I can only seem to begin writing by paying attention to what is happening right now. Get in the moment, so to speak. I started this blog a week ago, going back over my calendar, reviewing my photos, thinking and remembering what early April felt like. It seems like a VERY long time in the past. The cliché is that time flies the older we get, but I am grateful that the month of April seemed very nice and long to me.

Pansies at the front porch like the cooler weather

At the moment we are having days in the low 80’s followed by days that never manage to get to 60 degrees F. Nights are cool, but no longer frosty, and the flowers here at Sunset House are thriving. I am watching the weather today, because we are planning some outdoor activities with famous fabulous guests in town, and the skies go from blue to gray and back to blue in a matter of moments. Crater Lake awaits. Today we will do the classic round trip tour over the mountains hoping for sunlight to highlight that fabulous blue. That is another story, one that will evolve over the next week that we get to share with long time friends, Erin and Mui, from Two to Travel, who are on the road in the west for the first time in a long time.

We had time for a bit of travel ourselves this month, with a quick trip to the Oregon Coast to share a couple of days with other blogging friends, John and Carol, from Our Trip Around the Sun. They are on their way north to Alaska, and passed so close to our home that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to spend some time with them. The last time we visited, Carol and John were volunteering at Ding Darling NWR in Florida. They showed us a fabulous time with tours of the refuge, time at the beach together, and a truly fabulous dinner that lasted well into the night. Some people are just right, and laughter is often the key. We shared a lot of laughter with them. Their love of Jimmy Buffett, good margueritas, and a joyous approach to life is contagious.

We met at Harris Beach State Park, where they found a site big enough for their rig along the back row in the trees. Harris Beach is in the process of some renovations, so we weren’t able to snag a spot there, and instead Mo and I camped down on the waterfront at a private campground. I loved listening to the sound of the surf all night long, and the wind and rain on the roof lulled me to sleep.

The sun came out for our beach walk with the dogs, a rather funny time for Mattie and Jimmy who are not exactly similar in style. Mattie is crazy about the beach, runs like a wild thing in the sand, and gets very excited. Jimmy, a precious and very sweet dog, didn’t think much of Mattie’s exuberance, and learned to hide behind John’s leg when Mattie came tearing at him, trying to get him to play.

I was a bit embarrassed, because there is just no stopping Mattie when she gets like that. Play with me, NOW! I think Mo and I made a big mistake when we let her play with the huge bloodhound that used to wander over to our house for doggie visits. Mattie learned to play rough to keep up with him, and he loved it. Jimmy, not so much. In fairness, Mattie does great at the dog park, and at doggie day care she was a hit, so she isn’t mean, just very high energy.

We had dinner at the Sporthaven Grill, on the patio in the threatening rain, where the waitstaff brought us warming blankets and turned on the big propane heater. It was quite delightful. We also spent most of a rainy day in their home, with snacks and drinks and a new game called Skip-Bo. I guess it isn’t a new game, but it was new to us and created more opportunities for lots of laughter.

We came back home to spend more time fiddling around on the property here at Sunset House. Mo built a beautiful arbor for a treasured vine that I have babied and coddled along since I first bought it in 2002. She is finally happy here in the wonderful Grants Pass climate, protected from the sun and the heat on the east side of the house where she now lives with our new rhododendrons.

I have loved rhodies ever since I saw my first huge bloom at a nursery in Southern California. Yes, I even remember the moment, 1963, when my eldest was an infant and my husband and I were daydreaming about someday having a place to plant flowers. It was exciting to find the colors we wanted and to dig the holes nice and big, mulch them deeply and give them the perfect site.

I finally transplanted all the hostas, some plants that I brought from my home at Hauser Lake in Idaho back in 2002 when I moved to Klamath Falls. Others were brought over from Mo’s house in Rocky Point. We babied them through the incredibly hot summer last year and I know they are also very happy to be on the shaded east side of the house at last. Rhodies and hostas, another favorite thing of mine.

We started going through the RV shed, purging unneeded “stuff” with the help of the Facebook Marketplace. That app works great, much better than the local Craiglist. With facebook I can view the profile of anyone requesting to see our stuff and it is bit easier to be selective about giving out an address or phone number. With Craiglist, I was immediately bombarded with several fake purchasers offering to send me a check and have it clear before their “shipper” would pick up the item. A huge scam!! So glad I didn’t fall for that one.

We moved the BBQ off the back porch, finally deciding that the big black covered thing was getting in the way of our peaceful view

One of my most favorite things about Sunset House is the light. Morning sunshine streaming into the bedroom is the best part of an east facing bedroom window.

Mid month we took a few days of mini vacation time for a few days of kayaking over on the east side of the mountains, where spring is a bit later arriving, but nonetheless, we were blessed with gorgeous sunny days. We spent the nights in our little apartment, where we now have renters in all the others except the smallest, Apartment B, where I used to do all my quilting during our transition times living at the Apartments in Klamath Falls.

We have yet to find any kayaking that appeals to us here on the west side of the mountains. The Rogue River is a bit big and rowdy for us, and the few lakes are actually reservoirs with barren shorelines. Not our style. We love the refuges and birds that we find when kayaking in the Klamath Basin.

We launched our kayaks for the first time in all the years we lived in Klamath Falls on Lake Ewauna, the body of water between Upper Klamath Lake and the Link River and the Klamath River. The launch is right in town at Veteran’s Park, and is in a more populated area than we usually kayak, but nevertheless, we were treated to some fabulous birds and great views of Klamath Falls proper from a completely different perspective.

American Avocet

American White pelican, the mascot for Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls from a completely different perspective

The next day we returned to our favorite kayaking spot of all time, our very own Recreation Creek. The mountains in the distance are the ones around the rim caldera of Crater Lake, with Mt Scott on the right.

We launched at Malone Spring and traveled north to Crystal Spring, truly one of the most amazing places to enjoy in the entire Klamath Basin.

It was still early in the season for the east side, and the wocus lilies were still underwater. I have taken so many photos of blooming wocus, but this time it was completely different to see the gorgeous colors underwater. And thank you, daughter Deanna, for the polarizer lens birthday present. Without it these wonderful colors are just shadows below the water reflections.

Another beautiful view of Mt Scott where my family hiked to the top with me on one of my most memorable birthdays ever.

We began our month of course on April Fools Easter, with Daughter Deborah and Grandson Matthew joining us for all the traditional Easter goodies. I do love decorating for Easter, with the bunnies and all the energy of emerging springtime. We invited the neighbors as well, a couple who have been good friends with Deborah from the time she lived here in the cottage, and who spent a previous Easter with us back in Rocky Point a few years ago.

There is that east morning light again!

As soon as Easter was over I packed my bags for a quick solo trip to Nevada City, California where I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with Jimmy and Nickie, from the Intrepid Decrepit Traveler. They opened their home and guest room to me, took me to dinner in their charming town, and regaled me with stories of their past travels and their excitement about their upcoming trip to Peru, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon. Such excitement!

The next morning we hiked a gorgeous springtime trail along the South Yuba River where the warming sunshine had us rolling up our sleeves and pant legs. California is magnificent clothed in that flourescent springtime green, and I loved being there.

I then traveled back to Oroville for my annual girl-time visit with lifetime best friend, Maryruth. We are going on 55 years of friendship now and it is something I treasure. Maryruth loves to cook and she spent several days cooking up tons of goodies so we wouldn’t have to cook much during my visit. What a treat! We spent most of the time holed up in her craft room office making cards, a hobby we both have come to love. We spent a long time anticipating this card making retreat, and actually didn’t leave that room very much during the 3 days I was there. SO much fun.

Of course I don’t have a lot of photos of this time because I was quite busy, and every time I bring out the camera, Maryruth has a fit, but we did at least manage to get our traditional toe photo. We have done these photos for a few decades, to prove we were together, back in the days when selfies and tripods weren’t the norm and we couldn’t ever get a photo of the two of us at the same time.

Other days of the month have been filled with making a slide show for Mo’s brother Roger’s Memorial happening in late June. It was a new thing for me, and of course I had to call on my trusty friend Erin once again. If you want to get lost in some of the most amazing wildlife and travel photography ever, click on that link. Erin is always so amazing in her willingness to share and help me when I need to understand anything relating to photography and especially Lightroom. Her expertise has been invaluable to me over and over again.

I managed to get the slideshow finished, and ready for the family’s review. A big job, but also a fun one because reviewing and editing 437 pictures of Mo’s brother Roger gave me a chance to know him in ways I never did in the 15 years or so I actually knew him in real time.

02-03-2014 Home again, Gone again, and Shifting Weather

Current Location: The Cottage in Grants Pass, Oregon at 51 F and raining

For those who pay attention to this kind of thing, Mo and I have been off the road for two weeks after traveling in the SoCal area for a month. Our winter trips are usually longer than this last trip, but life is calling, things are shifting, decisions need to be made and once again, boxes packed. I wonder when we will ever be fully finished with moving.

Frost along Lakeshore Drive near Moore Park in Klamath Falls

Our 961 mile journey back to the apartments in Klamath Falls was accomplished without any major drama, in just 3 days, with an overnight at Orange Grove in Bakersfield, Flag City in Lodi, and a night at our very own Cottage in Grants Pass. In spite of the major storms crashing into the Pacific Northwest during that time, we somehow slipped into perfect weather windows between storms, and sailed over all the passes between our desert respite and home.

Trying to shoot into the light to capture those icy diamonds. Almost got it, but not quite

Most of the time, we chose to travel I-5 between Bakersfield and Lodi, but after that last extremely bumpy and very crowded trip south, we decided to take Route 99 from Bakersfield back north. When we left Bakersfield, on a quiet Monday morning, we had not a lick of traffic all the way north to Lodi. Most of the highway was resurfaced and smooth, albeit a bit narrow in places. Turned out to be a great choice. Checking google maps shows a difference of less than 10 miles between the two routes.

Once back in Klamath Falls, We had a day to unload, an evening to enjoy my grandson’s opening night of “Superman, the Musical”, a weekend to catch up on laundry and get things put away, and it was time for me to head to the office for a week of soil survey work. I have no idea where the days go. As soon as I signed off on Friday afternoon and turned in my timesheet, we started loading up for another drive to Grants Pass.

Mountain Lakes Wilderness and Harriman Peak on the far side of Klamath Lake

We knew we might be in for another storm over the mountains, but last Saturday morning when we left Klamath Falls we were treated to one of the delights of living in snow country. The skies were crystal clear, the snow covered hills were sparkling with diamond dust, and the hoarfrost coated every tree and shrub along our route beside Klamath Lake.

Of course, I had to stop and take photos. I knew from the weather forecasts that we were leaving behind the snow and ice and traveling west over the mountain into warmer but cloudy and foggy weather. I need light, I need sunshine, but I also need to be able to walk, and ice isn’t my favorite thing. I talked myself into being ready for the cold, wet fog that blankets the Rogue Valley during this time of year. I soaked up that sunshine, running around shooting photos and trying to somehow capture that diamond dust sparkle. I still have no idea how a photographer might do that.

From all that blue and crystal to this, but at least there isn’t snow on the ground in Grants Pass

During the week, we had a few more conversations with our builder and his foreman. Little details were ironed out, and at last a price was agreed upon. There was some touch and go for a bit, with Mo and I spending a few sleepless nights wondering if the project was going to actually happen, if we would have to start all over again from scratch, and how in the world that might look. Thankfully, that isn’t going to happen, and the build is now officially on the schedule.

Still chilly at 37 F, but that didn’t keep these two from working long hours every day

March 20th is the big day, when the bulldozer and loader will arrive to knock down the sweet little cottage. We still have quite a bit to do before that day, including Mo’s big project of getting the oldest part of her workshop down. The people who lived on this place since the early 60’s believed in salvage building, and just added and added more and more stuff to the existing buildings. Mo wanted the main part of the building, but not all those extra roofs and sheds and walls that were a crazy mess.

I wasn’t quick enough to catch the crash after they pulled the framing down with a rope

Mo did a lot of that demolition herself, with a bit a help from me, but I was incredibly grateful that her brother, Dan, once again offered to come and help with the hardest part, getting that roof off. Dan showed up on Sunday, and spent 3 days here helping, and the two of them managed to get it all undone. There was a bit of a scary moment, when Mo fell through the ladder, scraping up her legs and banging her chin, but thank goodness she was OK. We all know ladders are scary things. She knows better than to do ladder work with no one around, at least.

These two (Mo and Dan) are quite the team when they work together FYI, we have no idea how we are going to get the debris off the top of the MoHo shed behind the little shop. No ladder big enough around here

After Dan left, Mo and I spent a few more days hauling all the wood debris to the dump, and metal to the salvage yard. Thank goodness once again for trailers and a truck to haul them. In between rain storms, I even managed to get some of the fall leaves from the lower part of the acre raked into piles, ready to load into the trailers, once the debris was dumped.

I won’t say how old she is, but my oldest daughter Deborah was born in 1963

The weekend was also a time for me to catch up with my daughter Deborah, who had a birthday last week while I was working in Klamath. Deb came over to the cottage and we spent the afternoon shopping for crafts, visiting, drinking coffee and talking some more before we picked up her son Matthew to join us for a birthday dinner at the Horny Goat. Daughter Deb and Grandson Matthew

The food was fun, rather crazy pub food, with lots of creativity. I couldn’t make up the sandwich the kids had, with some kind of mile high French toast smothered with cheese and ham, and drowned in maple syrup that was filled with bacon and serrano chilies. My Dragon Breath chicken was a bit more traditional, but incredibly tasty and also nice and spicy.

During our first few days here at the cottage, the skies were cold, foggy, and gray. The forecast called for 50 degree temperatures, but with the foggy inversion, the temps never got above 37. I was very happy to be working inside the cottage, packing up the few things we have used here during the last four years.

Then one afternoon, the skies opened up, and the sun burst forth in all her glory. January was miserable, and on February 1st, it was like a huge shift. The colors brightened, the grass seemed greener, and the 50 degree temperatures felt like tee shirt weather, at least for a couple of hours.

That night it poured all night, and the morning dawned rainy and drizzly again, but the foggy inversion was gone. I think those inversions are my least favorite kind of weather, but I keep reminding myself that it may be foggy, but I can walk without crashing on some icy walkway. At home at the apartments I can’t even manage to get across the road to the mailbox!

The skies can change in minutes from sunshine to rain this time of year

In between packing, raking and hauling, I have enjoyed some quiet moments reading my favorite blogs. Erin is on a Round the World Tour, and it is a kick reading about her adventures without having to endure the wild seas of the Pacific Ocean. It also has been great reading all about Nicki’s trip to Australia and New Zealand without having to get on 13 different flights. Armchair travel leaves a lot to be desired, but on cold foggy days, it is pretty darn nice.

A mystery: why haven’t the roses that I moved to Grants Pass from Klamath Falls not lost their leaves?

The primroses I moved from Rocky Point think it must be spring already

Our life is very focused right now. I am working alternate weeks, and will be at the apartments while working. We will spend the alternate weeks at the cottage, finalizing the clearing out of the cottage, taking what we can salvage before the demolition, and making sure all is ready to go. So it will be a week at home, working soil survey, and a week at the cottage, working at whatever. At least for the next few weeks. After that….and on forward, it will be a week at home working and a week at the property, minus the Cottage, and staying in the MoHo, making sure the house build is progressing as planned!

If the daffodils are emerging, it must be spring, right?!

The MoHo will have to come out of her home in the big RV shed for a time, while we store all our “stuff” inside during the building process. I am going to miss our cozy little cottage getaway, but it is all for a good purpose, and eventually our new home on a similar but larger footprint should still have some of that cozy cottage energy that we have enjoyed so much for the last 4 years.

April 19 to 23 A Short Week at Newport and South Beach State Park Oregon

Current Location: Old Fort Road apartment Klamath Falls Oregon

Tuesday April 19

It’s a wonderful day to be driving north on I-5. Traffic is light, no rain for the moment, soft sunshine on leaves that are still in that springtime stage of lime green gorgeousness. Mo is doing most of the driving, giving me time to play around with the new phone. I switched to Verizon from AT&T and so far am incredibly impressed with my reception, at least in my part of Oregon. I was able to talk to my daughter all the way around Klamath Lake and over High Lakes Pass. No more cut off goodbyes!

We left around 10:30 this morning from Grants Pass. The last few days have been really warm with temperatures almost to 90 in Grants Pass yesterday. It felt wonderful after the long cold winter and chilly spring we’ve had. It’s supposed to get up to at least 68 degrees in Newport today and then it’ll start cooling down again but the predictions for rain are only about 20%. We couldn’t ask for much better on the Oregon coast especially in Newport, a bit farther north than our usual haunt in Brookings.

Looks like our route north was a LOT longer than our route south

We decided to try out a different route this time, thinking the drive straight north to Corvallis and west to Newport would be a bit repetitive. Instead, we decided to get off the Interstate new Drain, and take the Territorial Highway through Eugene and on north to intercept Highway 20 toward the west, entering Newport from the northern edge. We were winding and wandering all over the place from the Territorial Highway first to the Applegate Trail and then around on some other back roads until we hit 99 northwest of Vaneta. All the leaves are bursting with spring, and both the wild and domestic dogwoods are especially beautiful.

We thought it might be fun to take a different route to see something new, but realize that were on most of these roads when we did our covered bridges trip in 2012. Although it was a nice break from the interstate, we decided that we won’t take this route back home. It is a simple thing to buzz over from Newport to the freeway at Corvallis and head south on I-5 getting us home in a lot less time.

We stopped in Philomath, west of Corvallis, with a hot dog craving, but we were not successful. Philomath is a really cute little Oregon town but there are not many places to eat. I did find a small donut shop where I asked directions and discovered some good pastries, soups and salads, but that wasn’t right for our mood and we continued west. We didn’t spend much time walking around the town, since it was over 80 degrees when we stopped. With the air on in the MoHo we had no clue it was that warm out.

While driving along, we entertained ourselves trying to figure out what the difference was between a wine cellar and a winery. We did know that a vineyard is where they grow the grapes, and that most wineries don’t grow their own grapes. Then we saw a sign for a wine cellar and that question entered the mix. I had a good time saying “OK GOOGLE” what is the difference…etc. In no time we had the answers.

It took a bit more than five hours to get from Grants Pass to Newport, where just a mile or so east of town, the bright warm sunshine turned to chilly fog. Ahh, the beach.

The family wagons were all close to each other near the trail to the beach, with reservations handled well by brother Dan, who often spends time at South Beach.

Mo’s youngest brother Don and wife Wynn. Double camera from the Galaxy Note 5

Mo’s next younger brother Dan and wife ChereMo’s oldest younger brother Roger and wife Nancy

Each family was responsible for a single dinner, with the option of spending a night eating out in Newport. It was unanimous when someone suggested this first night was a great time for fish and chips. Dan and Chere knew a great place in the small old town of Nye Beach, on the west side of Highway 101. In all the times Mo and I have visited Newport, we never discovered Nye Beach. Not only are there some sweet little shops there, the beach is wide and dog friendly and our supper at the Chowder Bowl was wonderful. Fish and chips and chowder were good but I had the special, chipotle shrimp tacos! ohmygoodness!!! Heaven in a tortilla for sure.

Wednesday April 20

“Well I’m tired tonight and as usual when I’m tired I have a hard time writing so I’m wondering if I’ll have his herd of time talking as I do trying to write put him tired. But most said you’re better make a list you better make no what did you say mom said you better make your notes tonight so you don’t forget what you did today”

Did you understand that? Me either, but it is what was transcribed by my handy phone assistant as I attempted to verbally write the blog.

We had a great day today. It began early with a beach walk on a cloudy but windless morning. As much as we love Harris Beach and Brookings, the sandy beach at South Beach is long and unbroken by the wild Oregon sea stacks that make the views so spectacular. I love being able to walk long and steady on firm sand without having to turn around until I feel like it. Lots more photos are here.

Mattie had a great time running wildly in the sand. Just south of the trail to the beach, the southern boundary of the state park is marked and we no longer have to keep her on a leash. She bounded and ran, but still really isn’t too happy about the waves if they get too close. She can swim, but really isn’t interested in it.

After our walk, we spent some quality time relaxing and reading at our site until the rest of the crew returned from their town shopping excursion. A kayak afternoon was planned with Mo’s brother Don, and we had researched local kayak locations, deciding on the gentle inland waters of Beaver Creek, about five miles south of the state park.

The put-in was easy, with a nice boat launch and a gentle incline into the silky water. There is a bit of tide current, but it is light, and the current of the stream is light as well, so you can kayak both upstream and downstream without a lot of effort.

We saw some great blue herons, some river otters, and a mama duck with a brood of a dozen babies. We saw a single eagle. I didn’t pack a camera, and used the phone for the photos that I took. It is great for landscapes, but I had a terrible time trying to catch the birds as they flew in the screen.

I think if you click on any of the photos for a larger image, it will take you to my smugmug gallery and you can see the rest of the photos for the kayak trip.

I thought about Direction of our Dreams Sherry a lot on the trip, realizing that she would have kayaked that river in at least twice the time that we spent. Instead, we did and up and down thing, without a lot of time for dawdling. It was my night for dinner, and I was feeling a little stressed.

There was absolutely no reason to feel stressed because everybody is just easy to please they’re not hard to please at all. I had marinated the chicken and made the salad before we left for the kayak, and everything turned out just fine. Best part about taking over one full meal is that I won’t have to cook again! Chere brought a watermelon and Wynn brought a raspberry cake that was yummy. Perfect preamble for lots of laughter as we sat around the fire.

Thursday April 21

While Mo and I were walking and the women were shopping yesterday, Dan and Don and Roger went crabbing. They were out several hours, but our planned crab salad dinner was postponed in favor of my chicken because they didn’t get any crabs big enough to keep.

Mo and I began our day once again on the beach, only this time the sun was shining and the skies were gorgeous. There was no wind to speak of, which seems unheard of on the coast, and I was grateful. We did notice that Mattie was a little bit less wild and crazy on the beach than she was the first day out. She only ran wildly half of the time instead of 100% of the time. We also found some fun things on the beach to look at. There was a truly amazing log that was covered with some kind of shells, each one hanging individually from a long string. They were waving in the wind and sounded like a shell windchime as they bumped against each other.

By 10:30 it was time to go out with Don and Dan to see if we would have better luck at crabbing than they had the day before.

We haven’t been crabbing before, and I was looking forward to seeing what it was like.

We were really lucky because the sun was shining when we left, and even though it was a bit chilly for me, we didn’t have rain or bad weather. It was my first time out crabbing. It was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll ever have to do it again. The little crabs when they’re caught or all crawly and wild and look kind of scary. The guys have to get them out of the rings without getting pinched. The worst part of the whole thing was the bait. Normally they use turkey legs which isn’t too bad. The other options are fish heads which the seals eat. The disturbing option was mink. I had no idea that meant little actual frozen mink bodies. That was extremely creepy. However the crabs really seem to like the mink which eventually became unfrozen and we’re even more disgusting than you could possibly imagine. The gulls were also incredibly interested in both the crabs we threw back and the bait as well. Funny, I had never seen crabs actually swimming in the water. Creepy.

It is the same reason I don’t really like fishing, the bait thing! Even fishing for trout with spinners and no bait requires actually killing the fish, which I couldn’t do very well. I’m not very good when it comes to fishing or crabbing or hunting. Totally hypocritical I know because I do eat meat and I love fish.

Still, I was very happy to have had the experience of going crabbing at least once in my life. We got lots of crabs, but they were all too small. Dinner once again was not crab salad, but some rather fantastic tacos made by Brother Don’s wife Wynn.

We had been so very lucky with no rain, but as we all gathered at Don’s place for dinner the rain started pouring down. Mo and I realized that we hadn’t put the covers on the kayaks, and for once we were really happy to have lots of brother help around to take the kayaks down, get the covers on, and hoist them back on top of the Tracker.

Friday April 22

Our last full day at the beach was again supposed to be a rainy one. The women had planned a trip north to the Outlet Mall at Lincoln City. I originally opted out, with mall shopping not big on my list of favorite things to do. But with the predicted rain, I thought better of my choice to stay home and by 9:30 we were on the road north.

It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day, with brilliant sunshine and blue skies. I changed my mind about mall shopping when I discovered that there was a Harry and David store (one of my favorites originally from Medford) and a Chico’s. I introduced the women to Chico’s, which they loved, and I think before the day ended I had as many packages as anyone. So much for not liking mall shopping!

When we got back home, with plans for relaxing before dinner bike ride, I was greeted by a very unhappy Mo. Seems as though something had happened in the MoHo and there was water everywhere. All the towels and rugs were spread all over the picnic table and her brothers were attempting to find out why water was pouring out from underneath the rig.

Turns out it was something easy. They had worked on our kitchen faucet, turning off the main water, and then when the water was turned back on, a faucet was open and flooded the bathroom sink and overflowed under the rig. In the process, it filled up the black tank which was also completely full. We unhooked, drove down to the dump, and after dumping all the tanks, everything seemed to be just fine. No more mishaps, in the MoHo at least. We did have a very big carload of wet stuff to haul home to Grants Pass for a full day of laundry when we got there.

Dinner was great, with chicken on the grill and a fabulous salad from Chere and Dan. The campfire was once again ringing with fun and laughter. As you can see, Mattie is a cold blooded little thing, with her southern California puppy roots showing every time there is a chill in the air. We had to be sure she didn’t catch her fur on fire!

The next morning, Don offered to make omelettes with the leftovers from the tacos, and for the first time on the trip, we had to retreat to the shelter of Don’s awning as the rain started to come down in earnest. Couldn’t have asked for better timing, and we didn’t complain at all about having to drive home in the rain. It isn’t often that April yields up 4 sunny days in a row on the Oregon Coast.

Now, as I have finally completed the translation process from verbally dictated posts to something written, I have decided that maybe that whole process isn’t worth the effort. Reading, I can see that I seem to write a LOT better than I talk! LOL Maybe something in the writing causes me to think more clearly. That might be why I have always kept a journal, a way to keep my thoughts in order. My off the cuff speaking thoughts are really crazy and very repetitive! So much for that. Next blog post will go back to my usual method of typing as I think rather than depending on the phone to figure it out.

Mid April: Taking a Break with a trip to the Coast

Current Location: Old Fort Road Apartment in Klamath Falls

Spring time in the Klamath Basin is completely unpredictable. I guess it is like that in many places, but still hard to imagine 80 degrees and snow in the same 24 hour time frame. The last couple of days have been frigid, with morning temps down to 24 degrees F. Cold. The weather people aren’t doing too well with the predictions this year, with dire forecasts for rain and snow that come and go and then repeatedly get bumped up 24 hours or so, often not showing up at all. Today we had snow and rain and thunderstorms predicted all day, and the skies are right now gorgeous, with big puffy whites blowing overhead and not a speck of either snow or rain.

Just over two weeks ago, the Rocky Point house officially went on the market. Zillow shows a good amount of traffic, and we have had a few showings with some possible interest. It is somewhat exciting, and still a bit like standing in front of a slot machine, or buying a lottery ticket. We could get a buyer any minute or next week, or next year. Good thing we don’t really have to worry about selling as quickly as possible.

Of course, the sooner it sells, the sooner we can move forward on the Grants Pass house. In the mean time, we are trying to schedule our lives such that we can have a bit of fun and some relaxation now and then in the midst of mowing lawns. Yes, once again it seems our summer will be spent doing lots of mowing, with only three places to keep up instead of four, that is still two too many!Family at South Beach State Park (from the left) Dan, Wynn, Don, Mo, Chere, Nancy, and Roger.

I am not sure if we would have taken time out of all the fixing, selling, mowing, and packing to go on a trip without a bit of a boost, but that boost came along with a family trip planned for the Oregon Coast. We were not about to miss out on that one, with Mo’s three brothers and their wives converging on South Beach State Park for a few days of camping and crabbing.

I love the long expanse of unbroken sand at South Beach State Park

We managed to sandwich our beach time in the middle of Rocky Point time and Grants Pass time. We returned here to the apartment on Monday afternoon and it is all a blur. The few days relaxing at the beach were almost lost in the shuffle.

Before we left I got a new phone, finally deciding that I would try out an Android, after having iPhones for many years. It has been interesting, fun, and a bit challenging. Still, I really like my new Samsung Galaxy Note 5, especially the stylus, and the “voice to text” part. Instead of Siri, I now have “OK Google”, not quite the same, but it seems to do the trick. This blog post comes to you by way of that nifty little voice thing, and I definitely have to thank Take to the Highway, Suzanne, for the tip. She read a goofy email from me that said sorry, I am typing on the iPhone, and proceeded to teach me about Siri. Why did I avoid Siri all these years?!?!

This time, while we were traveling, during the day I would open an email to myself and proceed to talk about what was happening, about my day. Some of the translations were seriously funny, but hopefully as I continue to work on this post and edit my emails accordingly, I’ll eliminate anything that makes no sense.

My favorite was “having dinner at Donna’s Dance Place”, which was supposed to have been “having dinner at Dan’s place”. Mo and I entertained ourselves for some time reading back the transcribed posts. Good for a great laugh at least. I decided that learning new technology is good for an old brain, will it keep me young?

We left the apartment on Saturday the 16^th after checking out my daughter Melody’s brand new to her 2014 Subaru! Finally, she will be able to navigate snowy roads without worry. I am tickled for her. It was a week for new cars I think with grandchild Axel purchasing a nifty 2014 Ford Focus. One less worry for me. At 23 years old, it is a first big step and I am a proud grandma.

After a couple of days mowing and yard work and making the house pretty for showings, we drove to Grants Pass where we discovered that three weeks was much too long to be away from the lawn and the pasture.

Warm spring rains really make that grass grow fast. We spent the rest of the day mowing, and were ready for our builder to show up with his plans for the new house.

By the next morning, when we left for the beach, we were definitely ready for a break.

FYI, this is a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 photo. I am very impressed with that little camera.

Once again, the weather gods were with us. The predictions were dire for the coast, with the entire week inundated by rain and weather watches. It never happened! We had a few cloudy skies, but the rain held off until the following Saturday morning as we packed up the rigs and returned home.

Next Post: Playing at the beach, kayaking, and crabbinf in Newport

September Transitions, and some Fabulous Visits from Fabulous Folks

Current Location: Rocky Point, Oregon with blue bird skies and 41 Degrees F at 10AM

Deer in the back yard here in Rocky Point. Good thing I have a deer repellent that works.

It has been an interesting year for me. A time of decisions, transitions, changes, and progress. When my birthday rolls around, I like to take a few moments to re-evaluate. Turning 70 is a milestone, one that seemed an anti-climax after thinking I was “almost” 70 for so long that when it happened, it didn’t seem all that different.

I had a great birthday, made more so my social media, Facebook of all things. I love getting birthday cards, but the plethora of greetings that come my way from all over the country and even far parts of the world really add a celebratory air to the day, even one spent doing errands. Of course, the errands in town were topped by a celebratory cocktail at the luxe Basin Martini Bar right in Klamath Falls, and tasty tapas for supper. Lots of cards, fabulous presents, phone calls, a wonderful day. Lucky me.

More is on the agenda in the coming two weeks, but that story will come later. For now, my big job is to try to track what has happened and where we have been during the last few weeks since I last had time to write. Thank goodness for calendars and photos, or I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.

After our visit with Judy early in August, we spent much of the month working in earnest at the apartments and in Grants Pass. It seemed as though every day we were driving one place or the other with tight schedules, deadlines, meeting contractors and realtors.

The realtor part was a bit tiresome, because in spite of the fact that I sold my house on Painter in 11 days, the closing hasn’t been so timely. Once again we were delayed by the big California lender, with more requests showing up even after I had signed my part of the closing. After the last snafu, where we all decided to start over with a new lender and a closing date in December, some details shifted, and once again closing is imminent. We will see. Getting close to being done (16 of 35)

The rest of the projects were incredibly successful. The apartment painting project is at last completed, and looks great. Did the final walk around this week with our contractor, who does great work if always a bit behind schedule. The flooring project was completed through Home Depot, a process that entailed repeated trips to the store in town, myriad phone calls between shippers, installers, coordinator, schedulers and such. What a process! Still, the contractor also did a great job and we love the results.

The apartment is at last completed and ready for us to begin moving in some of our furniture. We have tentatively planned to have it habitable by November.

The Grants Pass cottage was also part of our projects. With the high heat and low water well numbers, we make it a point to return at least every week or ten days to spend 2 or 3 nights there. My biggest job is moving the single water hose, attempting to keep the few plants alive and healthy. The grass is doing fine with the daily watering at 2GPM that I have set up on a timer.

Exciting forthcoming project for the cottage is the installation of a new water holding cistern, scheduled in mid October. Once that is completed, we will be able to set up timers and sprinklers for more areas on the property without worrying about running the well dry. Grants Pass water is notorious for salts and iron, but we won’t bother setting up filtration systems until we have a new house to protect once we move there for good.

In the mean time, Mo is working on all sorts of projects, including clearing out the main part of the old building she plans to use as a workshop. She tore out the old windows to make more storage space, re-worked and removed a bunch of old cabinets to build a workbench, and managed to install a nice window air conditioner that Melody gave to us when she moved out of the Painter Street house. Yay!

On an earlier visit we cleared out all the old stacked carpets in the mud room, cleaned up and painted it, and Mo fashioned new frames for the door and window from some old wood she had on hand. Looks great. Every project we do at the cottage must be tested against our willingness to see it come crashing down when it is time to raze the cottage and build the new house.

Lots of wood working stuff over there to keep Mo happy for years to come!

I haven’t quilted a thing. The sewing machine managed to come out for a few days while I worked on my first quilted clothing project, a jacket I plan to use for traveling. It was so much fun, but oh my, don’t let anyone look at it too closely. So many mistakes, and I learned so very much about what NOT to do when making a quilted jacket. Photos of this little project will probably show up in the next posts which will be sometime after early October.

MoHo traveling has been on hold as well, with our last trip to Waldo Lake the last time we tucked away in our cozy rolling home. Both of us are getting serious hitch-itch, day dreaming about the time when we will get that baby rolling again for something longer than the trip back and forth to Grants Pass now and then.

With all the work we were doing, Mo and I still managed some fun times during August. Melody and her clan, along with the new guy in her life came out for a great family day/BBQ with us and we laughed ourselves silly playing Bocci ball on the very sloping lawn. Mo and I took a break to chase down the SuperMoon rising over the boat launch in Rocky Point, a quiet and lovely moment in the midst of all the busy days.

I spent a lot of time walking Mattie, who seems to think that our long walks are the perfect time to find the biggest thing possible to carry home. She carried this bone for more than 3 miles, and it was worth it, because I think two weeks later there are still remnants of it lying around the house.

Daughter Melody is one of the lead stars in the play Chicago, put on by our Klamath Falls Linkville Theater. I have tickets for the closing show in October, but decided that I had to see it before then, so I’ll be in the audience tonight, in the front row. I have heard my daughter sing “All That Jazz” for years, but never starring as Velma on the stage. I am thrilled!

As the month of September continued, however, all work stopped. For some reason, all our friends who had promised visits seemed to converge at once on Rocky Point in the first week of September. We knew Phil and Joanne were coming, and I had scheduled Jeanne’s visit for months. But suddenly Jimmy and Nickie were heading our way and I was not about to miss time with them. To add to the fun, an old friend from my working days in the 80’s in Idaho retired, and called to say she would like to stop in and say Hi. I hadn’t seen Marti in 40 years maybe? so of course I wasn’t going to say no.

Scheduling all worked out perfectly, in the long run, with one set of folks replaced by another set within hours, and sometimes overlapping.

First to join us were Phil and Joanne from Eugene. Our history goes way way back, to 1977, with some gaps in between, but you know how that can be with old friends. They came down on Labor Day weekend, and settled into the cabin before we had a make it yourself lunch of vegetarian wraps and fruit.

Our destination that first afternoon was a six mile round trip hike on the southeast side of Fourmile Lake, just west of Rocky Point near the Cascade crest and into the Sky Lakes Wilderness. We had a wonderful time on a lovely hike that meandered around Fourmile Lake with views of Mt McLoughlin, and a final destination of Badger Lake.

We earned our supper, and enjoyed the planked salmon, zuchinni rice ( a new recipe I love with shredded uncooked zukes added to hot rice, corn, black beans, and peppers), cole slaw from an ancient recipe Joanne remembers from the 80s, and my favorite dessert to make, a French Apple Gallette.

The next day was supposed to be hot, so we planned to get out on the water early. Phillip is a great cook, and I remember the days when we shared working weeks at the Forest Service work center and Phil would make huge breakfasts, eating three times what I ate and staying skinny forever. He is still pretty darn slim, but maybe the marathons have something to do with it. Hartwig making eggs before we left (1 of 1)

I made the potatoes but Phil scrambled the eggs with leftover salmon, cilantro and who knows what else. They were so good and I don’t even like eggs.

We decided to kayak from the main dock in Rocky Point, traveling southward toward Harriman Springs so that they could get used to paddling on flat water and not be out too terribly long.

We were treated to lots of pelicans and smooth silky water and Joanne, unused to all that shoulder work, did just fine. As often happens when we introduce folks to paddling, by the time we were done they were asking about kayaks. Of course, Joanne is hoping for a tandem kayak so she can ride in the back and Phil won’t know when she isn’t paddling.

Melody and Robert drove out from Klamath Falls just in time to see Phil and Joanne and take a little paddle of their own on the bay. Joanne and Melody figured out that they hadn’t seen each other since Melody was just 16!

That evening we decided to try out the Harriman Resort for dinner. The resort is still trying to get it’s sea legs and still doesn’t have a liquor license. Instead we shared a great bottle of wine before we left, and trundled down the few hundred yards to the restaurant.

It was an interesting experience. The restaurant is beautiful, and we all ordered halibut, which was quite tasty. However, Phil and Joanne are fish only people and the garlic mashed potatoes came smothered in a rich, dark beef gravy!! Now what chef puts beef gravy on a fish plate! The waitress was quick and accommodating and the offending gravy was gone when the fresh plates were quickly replaced.

We rounded out the evening with our favorite Racehorse dominoes before everyone crashed happy, tired and satiated from too much food and laughter.

I think I’ll continue the rest of the story in the next blog since this just keeps on going and I want to share all the photos.

Next: Jeanne arrives from Vermont and Nickie and Jimmy arrive from points north