Meet Alice

Getting older hopefully means that you get smarter. We immensely enjoy the "do-it-yourself" approach and also know that the right equipment makes the job oh so much easier. When it comes to the property, Dave decided that the one piece of equipment that would make our projects easier is a tractor with attachments. It will also save our backs when it comes time to dig out and shape the water channels. 

At first, he was looking at larger John Deere type tractors. I wasn't sure about it as they were big and would require the purchase of the attachments. Then he found Alice on Craig's List. It was a go!

Meet Alice. Alice is a 1968 B-110 Allis-Chalmers garden tractor. It is perfect! It comes with several attachments including a front plow, grader, disc, little wagon, and lawn mower deck (which we don't need, but came as part of the package).

 






Alice has already proven her worth with small stump pulling. Dave can then grade over the gaping holes so that cars and small children don't fall in!

You will see more of Alice as the renovations progress. 

Before and Current

We bought our house in April 2013. At that time, the grounds were not over grown. My oh my, what a difference 18 months makes! Here are a few shots of the grounds at that time of purchase or shortly thereafter. The appeal to the property, aside from a single level home, was the possibility of a clean slate.

 
Front view of the NE (left) and NW (above) view of house and front drive Notice how "clean" it looks and how small those cute little bushes are. Aside from the apparent stumps, doesn't look like much needs to be up cleared out. We can just start the landscaping. Keep reading and hold on to your hat!



Back view from the NE (left) and NW (below with nephew Michael). A few small "trees" and shrubs along with the palm trees (Dave's favorite tree, by the way).






Also notice the railroad ties. There are hundreds of them! We learned the history of the ties from our neighbor David. The former owner and neighbor David worked for a railroad. They liberally helped themselves to the ties. The landscaping was born! The ties go!



We did not ask our tenant to take care of the "yard" so literally nothing was done from the time he moved in until we moved in. When we drove up in September to park Lucille, the property looked like it had gone back to the wild. I wanted to cry. The "clean slate" had gone wild! So before we can even begin the landscaping, we are digging and pulling the over growth.

What I have learned is that all those pretty little shrubs are really trees of the fast growing kind....ones you DON'T want next to the house. The African Sumac (aka Rhus Lancias) grow over 25' tall at a rate of 24" per year. They replant themselves from seeds. The plus is that they are extremely drought tolerant. Two or three will make the cut and be allowed to live. The rest are history. To the left is the NE corner of the house in its current state (Dec 13, 2014) with the huge growth of the African Sumacs (those cute little bushes in the before pictures). 

We also have a cousin to Scotch Broom, known as Desert Broom. It is an outright weed that grows with a vengeance! Unfortunately, we got here as they were blooming and spreading their seeds. But at least the main plants are gone (the "little" bushes shown above in the right side of the frame). Vigilance will be necessary to remove them as soon they appear. Over time......

To the right is a picture from the street of the NW corner of the front of the property. In the forefront is just a glimpse of how the drive way has washed out.

The NW back corner with a ton of over growth. This is how fast the African Sumac grows and spreads! In the very front of this picture is a small Desert Broom plant. Some of them had gotten over 3' high in the front of the property. 








To the right is the NE corner of the lot. Notice that there are a few dead trees. In reality, there are a lot of dead bushes and trees all over the area that we are clearing. 

To be sure, we are not trying to clear the entire 2 acres. But we do want to clean out a nice little living space that invites birds and wonderful outdoor living.

  
To add to the fun, the monsoon season, which was heavier than usual for this year, managed to turn the front area into a river bed. From the positive perspective, I would rather know now that we have to fix the drainage rather than have the newly installed landscaping wash away. It gave us a different perspective on what needs to be done in the front. The challenge is to channel the water without flooding out our neighbors that are on the downside of our little estate. We will certainly learn about culverts and water diversion! And in the meantime be able to channel water to feed the trees and other plants. 

Long story short, in a really backhanded way, the neglect of the property is a blessing in disguise. As we are cleaning the slate, we are learning the property. It will certainly help us better design the water diversion landscaping. 

More to come!

A Different Sort of Adventure

I'm taking a few liberties to write about our adventures at "home." Justification - Tiny and Lucille both live on the property and Tiny has been very instrumental thus far in clearing out the property of dead trees and stumps. So the adventures continue, just in a little different direction. 

We were thrilled to take possession of our home on December 1, 2014. However, the trailer with the furniture was still at the terminal and would not be delivered for another few days. Thank goodness Lucille was on the property! We borrowed her bed mattress, kitchen goods, towels and other living essentials and proceeded to camp in our house. It worked.  We are no longer in a hotel!

The trailer arrived on December 3. Good grief do we have a lot of stuff to unpack! Even after selling most of our furniture and culling our clothes, we still took up 20' of the 28' trailer (9' tall, 8' wide). I felt a little better after talking with the delivery guy from Old Dominion. He has delivered as many as 2 of these trailers to a home. So in retrospect, maybe we did good almost filling just one. (If you are moving a long distance, I highly suggest checking out Old Dominion Freight Lines. You pack, they pick it up and deliver it. It beats driving a UHaul.)

The new washer/dryer and fridge arrived December 3. The bedroom set arrived a week or so later. It was so nice to get off the floor! These should be our last large furniture and appliance purchases unless the workmanship has built in obsolescence. Well, I take that back. We still need a couch or something for our family area. While we do have interim chairs (Dave's marshmallow couch and a vintage easy chair) to sit on, it provides limited seating when company comes over.

It has been a whirlwind since we moved in. Unpacking the moving trailer, unpacking boxes (more to unpack), starting the yard demolition, meeting neighbors, out of town company (already!), finding a hair stylist, learning how to use the garden tractor, yard demolition, finding the dump that takes clean green, more yard demolition....... 

Dave Does Zion....

To me, Zion is the reverse of the Grand Canyon. Instead of looking down from the ridge, one looks up and out from the valley floor. Your neck just swivels from bottom to top and side to side. It is beautiful; especially in the fall light. 


Zion is Utah's oldest national park. It began as a national monument with a much smaller footprint. It was designated as the Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909 by William Hartley Taft. The area of protection was expanded in 1918 and renamed Zion National Monument. A year later it was designated a national park by the Woodrow Wilson administration. 



Center of Springdale, UT

The last time I had been to Zion was about 18 years ago. Dave has never been to the park. The drive to the SW entry of the park was enough to whet Dave's appetite for calling it a day and getting a room for the night...or two. Springdale, UT is our home for the the next two days! The park is just a mile down the road, making an awesome backdrop for our stay.  

Giant of the Patriarchs

The most popular part of the park is fairly compact. Once in the park, you take a left and drive up the canyon. The road ends in 6 miles at Temple of Sinawava. From there is a short paved walk into the canyon along the Virgin River. Beyond that, if prepared, you can walk the Narrows for quite a ways (16 miles one way).  Prepared means rubber hiking boots, waders as the "trail" is all water and the water is cold, and other appropriate gear. We were not, so we did not wander this part of the park.



The Organ (foreground),
White Throne (left background)

Normally you must take a shuttle up the canyon as cars are not allowed during the busy season. However, the weekday shuttle stops running at the end of October (runs on the weekends through November). We lucked out and had the freedom to roam the park at will as a result. 

 

Canyon reflection in
Middle Emerald Pool

As with many parks that we visited this year, the best way to see many of the park features is to hike. There are many hiking trails in Zion that take you into various canyons that are not visible from the road. We wandered up to the Emerald Pools (lower, middle, and upper) to quite a spectacular view both into the canyon that held the pools and outwards toward the main canyon. 

Virgin River from the Emerald Pools trail

You can also drive through the south end of the park via a 1.1 mile tunnel and out the east side (Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel rout). For oversized vehicles like Tiny, it requires an escort through the tunnel and an oversize vehicle fee. We'll save that drive for another visit.

View South from Temple of Sinawava

There is another part of the park to the North that requires travel via freeway. The Kolb Canyon visitors center is off Hwy 15. A scenic road that will take you through the area and/or you can hike back into the arch area. The next visit!

We have run into many visitors from other countries that are in awe of our national park system. They are very thankful that our nation had the forethought to set aside so much land that cannot be developed but must remain as it is. I must agree. We have certainly enjoyed visiting many of those sites this year and hope to visit many more during our lifetime.



Great Big Trees! Grand Sequoias...

We started the second day of our venture into Yosemite by way of Oakhurst, which is 30 miles south of Mariposa. This entrance took us to the Mariposa Groves, which is home to some very impressive Grand Sequoias. What a beautiful area of the park! This part of the park was set aside by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, so it has been protected for quite some time. There is another grove in the park, just west of Tioga Pass, which we did not get to this time around. There is also Sequoia NP, which we will not make this trip.

The Grand Sequoias are huge by any measure, some are thicker than 25 ft  in diameter. Evidently their root systems are very sensitive to foot traffic; therefore, you cannot get close to the trees like in other forests as the trees are fenced off. The limbs are absolutely huge....like trees all onto their own. 

Grizzly (left) is just one of the many large trees protected from people. The deadwood around the tree are actually branches that have broke off over time. 

In the early years, the park included a carved a tunnel through two different trees. It was large enough for model T's to drive through; certainly, not for today's vehicles (not that you can get to this by vehicle any longer). The tree to the left is still standing. The other tree fell down in the1960's.

What a beautiful area of the park! If time had permitted we would have spent the entire day in this section hiking all of the trails and looking in awe at these grand trees. However, we had other parts of the park to see as this was our last day in the area. Another day (or 7)! At which time we will come back to Mariposa Grove, Tioga Pass Glacier Point, and the various waterfalls. Way too much to see in 1-1/2 days!

One off the Bucket List - Yosemite Park

Yosemite Park has been on the list of "must see" for a few years. Today is the day! 

We are staying in Mariposa, which is at the beginning of the middle entrance into the park.What better way to start the adventure than to take the shorter route since we were getting a late start.

This entrance brought us into the park via the Merced River valley. Along the way were incredible views from the valley floor up to the many rock formations that are part of this wonderful park. (FYI - there are two large hotels along the way for tourists to stay....bring your own groceries as there is NOTHING around for miles in the way of stores).

However, the real viewing didn't begin into we arrived in the Yosemite Valley.  The first amazing view was El Capitan. OMG! It rises over 3,000 ft from the valley floor, which is already at 5,000 ft. What an impressive monolith. This rock was first climbed in the 1950s. We didn't see climbers on this day, but they are there on a regular basis.

Not to be outdone, the famous half dome sit majestically at the end of the valley. Half dome is where hikers take a long trail to the base of the dome and then climb the dome itself. The climb is a cable route that can get quite crowded. Since I am afraid of heights at best, being in a cable track with hundreds of other people would put me over the edge! (pun intended). So no we did not hike to the base and definitely did not hike the dome.

The fall colors heightened the beauty of the area. Normally, most of the park is closed in November due to snow. However, with the extended drought the entire park has been able to stay open longer. We are so glad we came. Can't wait for tomorrow's trip into the park through the south entrance!  

Happy Birthday to.....

ME! Made it to age 62 upright, in good health, and retired. Trifecta!

Aside from jumping up and signing up for Social Security benefits (not now, thank you...), Dave wanted to know how I wanted to spend my day. Ta Da....another day in Bandon OR so that we could take in the wonderful beach and rocks. This would also be our first time on this trip to stay more than one night in one place. It feels good to not have to rush off in the next morning to a new room and location.

Penny walking the beach

Three hours walking on the beach, admiring the ocean activity, and taking pictures...that was my birthday treat. What's not to like! It was low tide, so we had lots of beach to roam and could easily walk around the multitude of rock formations that were "beached" until the tide rolled in.



 

The general rock formations in the water are known as haystacks. The general lore for this area (Indian and local) has identified the haystacks as Face Rocks. If you look closely, the Indian Maiden's can be seen. 

 




Then there is the not so obvious dog rock (looked like a wizard's hat to us). The dog's tail is in the air. Way in the lower corner is Dave standing next to the Dog's tail just to show how enormous these rocks are. 

I must admit, I will miss being close to the ocean. There is something about the thunder of the waves that puts the world back into perspective.   

The Slow Boat to Tucson

We are not in a hurry. So far, we have averaged about 150 miles a day. Kent to Cannon Beach; Cannon Beach to Yachats; Yachats to Brandon. Nope, not in a hurry at all.

This morning we started our day with a walk-about in Yachats, OR. We love this little village along Hwy 101. The town pretty much sits on the ocean. The rocks are incredible. 

After loading up the truck, we walked across the hwy and strolled along the cliff road, watching the waves crash against the rocks. At one point in our walk, we saw the waves spray up above the roof lines. We found the source.....a blow hole in the rocks right at the ledge. It's pretty weird and awesome to see all at the same time. 
 
On our way back to the truck, we visited a local bakery. They had awesome pastries and breads that are made on site. We indulged in a prosciutto and goat cheese croissant topped with a wonderful herbed salt and an apple/berry tart. There were so many good things to feast our eyes on. Great restraint was deployed to not just feast on it all!

Once on the road, we traveled a little ways (not far.... mind you we are not in a hurry) and landed in Brandon, OR. What a quaint little place! 

The old town area is on the water front, at the end of the jetty. Look what greeted Dave on the railing of the boat dock. The Pelican was definitely not afraid of people! 

One of our concerns is always where to park the motorcycle trailer at the end of the day so that it is not visible from the road. Side street, U-shaped parking lot, parking right outside the door works. 

Of course it must meet the other requirements - clean, queen bed minimum, fridge, coffee pot, close to a pub and grocery store. A breakfast in the morning is nice, but if not available we have our own breakfast foods (and lunch).  

Here is our travel survival kit. We've learned over time that rooms just don't come with enough coffee packets. Or there is no coffee at all in the room. Hence we have our own coffee pot, filters and coffee. Cereal, peanut butter, jelly and assorted other sundries and we manage quite nicely. Don't leave home without It!

New Chapter Begins!

What to do today! Hmmmm, let's walk the beach before we hit the road! Fortunately, the fog was not heavy so the beach was quite clear. Haystack Rock was very visible with the surf swirling around it. 

After walking the beach we visited the Sleepy Monk, a local coffee shop and bakery.  The bacon/blue cheese scone was to die for. (Good thing we only bought one!) This little shop bakes their own goods every day. Worth the calories! Oh, the coffee was good as well. They make their own whip cream for the coffees including chocolate whip cream!

Once on the road, we made the decision to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory. I had no idea that cheese making in this area began in the mid 1800's. There is quite a history to learn about how cheese became so prevalent in the Oregon thanks to some very enterprising and determined pioneers (yes, private businesses did create jobs even back then.....). 

Death by cheese is very possible. (Garlic white cheddar anyone?) Or maybe it is death by ice cream! Both can be accommodated in the visitors area. 

Ended our day at Yachats, a small little town along Hwy 101. A few games of cribbage at the Underground bar, a wonderful fish taco and halibut sandwhich at Luna's, and we were set for the night!

Leaving the rain......

The rain gets its last digs in as we hit the road. It had rained all night and wasn't letting up anytime soon. 

The motorcycles were getting a bath of a life time while sitting on the trailer behind Tiny. I can only imagine how dirty these bikes will be by the time we roll into Tucson!


As we headed down I-5, our sites became focused on Astoria, OR. No particular reason, just a way to navigate around Portland and over to Hwy 101. We were pleasantly greeted with sunshine as we pulled into the Astoria Safeway parking lot. 

Our destination was refined as our spirits were buoyed with the glimpse of the sun. Onward to Cannon Beach! We hoped to find reasonably priced accommodations since it is off season, but more importantly find one of those cute little mom and pop places so often found in small towns. We found the mom and pop "look" with Mc Bees. Not so sure about the reasonable price, even though we were given a discounted walk in rate (who affords these places during the tourist season??). 

With room in hand, we went in search of a beer to celebrate the first day on the road. Bill's Tavern seems to be the destination of choice for a number of people in the area. Not a bad place at all. Bill brews a variety of Ales. The Blonde Ale is quite tasty!


 

Before heading back to the room for the night, we walked to the beach and took in the sunset. God's twinkle in the sky (oops, eye) for the end of our day!

Closing an Old Chapter

We are ready to close out the chapter for living in Washington State.  To say that we are exhausted is an understatement. 

And why the exhaustion? We spent 5 days packing and loading the moving trailer. After a bit of research and pricing, we decided on working with a common trucking carrier - Old Dominion. We didn't even know they offered moving services until we tried to rent pod-type units from a company called Units. Unfortunately, Units does not have a franchise in the Puget Sound region; however, the Units rep Melissa kindly turned our focus to Old Dominion. What's cool is that you don't have to use the whole truck. You pay by the linear foot for the space actually used. Then OD boards up your portion of the trailer, back fills with a non-perishable commodity and sends the trailer to it's final destination.

On Friday (Oct 24), the 28' trailer was delivered. We had 3 business days to load up the trailer. The weekend gave us 2 bonus days. We needed every bit of those days to make it happen. Even with selling 50% of our furniture, thinning out clothes, and in general giving stuff away, we still have more stuff than either of us realized. 

Dave and I did most of the loading ourselves. Dave's son, David made a welcome appearance on Saturday to help with the heavy lifting....thank goodness. After a while that ramp up to the bed of the truck became our nemesis; especially in the rain (3 of the 5 days).

We finished on Tuesday (Oct 28) just in time for the trucking service to come pick up the goods. Talk about cutting the timing close! Finally tally, 18'. The trailer is on it's way to Tucson where it will wait for us to call and give a delivery date. I  can already tell you that I am not looking forward to unpacking this puppy.

Now we wait for the final inspection on the rental before we can leave the area. That happens tomorrow. Friday morning we are on our way to the new chapter.

Sunshine or bust!
 

Roberta's Cat House

You never know who you will meet in a campground.That includes the campground host. 

Many campgrounds have a host (or two), generally a husband/wife team, that are the hub of the campground. Since they live in the campground from mid-May until just after Labor Day, they most typically have one heck of a motor home or 5th wheel that they live in. 

 
Hosts are the folks that set out the reservation cards, clean the camp spot after campers leave and keep the bathrooms clean and orderly. They are also a source for campfire wood. For the most part they are personable.  

We got lucky at Union Creek Campground (outside of Baker City, OR) and got a down right friendly host. She lived in THE smallest trailer that we have ever seen for a campground host....ever.

Roberta is a Texas lady that is full of life. This was her first year as a campground host. She loaded up her newly purchased Casita (replacement for the one she took to Alaska) and headed north to Oregon and landed at Union Creek campground.  

Because she was going to be gone so long from her home, Roberta opted to bring her cats - Callie and Boots. After trying to keep her cats in a tent (they scratched through the tent), she found a portable chicken coop and set it up IN the tent.

She is hoping to land in Yellowstone Park for the 2015 season. We wish her luck and hope we run into her again soon!

. 

Really...No Bakery?

Dave is a bread fiend.  One of the items we needed to satisfy this bread yen was some fresh rolls.  Today's quest - find a bakery and get some rolls. 

Don't ask us why, but we thought every town had a small bakery in it.  So we headed from our cozy campground to Baker City, OR to find said bakery.  Well, we discovered that there is no said bakery in Baker City, OR.  (Safeway and Albertsons don't count.)  So we pulled out our phones and did a search for a bakery in the area.  According to the search, Kneads was open and located in La Grande, a mere 40 miles away.  What the heck, other than visiting Anthony Lakr, we had nothing else planned so off we went, via a back road. 

About 5 miles down the road, we came to Haines, a very (as in VERY) small community.  As we are driving through Haines, we notice this hand painted sign.  Dave missed it, so I had him turn around and follow the arrow and the next one three blocks down the road that pointed right.

 
Lo and behold, a bakery!   And it was open.  Bill the cat came to welcome us, taking a small break from catching moths in the garden. 

While the building didn't look like much, Brianna had some bread and other baked goods that were quite enticing....what was left.  Evidently, Friday is bread day and she only had a few loaves left.  While they were not rolls, it was fresh whole wheat bread. We also indulged in a chocolate fudge sandwhich cookie that was to die for (sorry, we ate it before thinking about taking it a picture).

We had scrumptious bread "steaks", as Dave calls thick sliced bread, for dinner.

Never under estimate the delights at the end of the hand painted sign! If ever in Haines on Friday, stop and get your fresh baked goods.  You won't be sorry. 

Fairy Falls with a Bonus

After scoping out the park, we returned to Fountain Flats Drive to hike our first full hike.  (We had done plenty of walking up to this point, just not to one destination.) 

Fairy Falls is one of the scenic falls within Yellowstone that is photographed the most. There are 2 trails in - the one less traveled and the one where the trail head looks like 5:00 p.m. traffic on I-5 and I-90, in other words packed.  We took the trail less traveled.  It added about a mile to the overall hike, but it was worth every step.  The trail is extremely level, so if you are inclined to walk 8 miles (round trip), consider this one.

Along the way were a variety of hot pools steaming up and signaling their whereabouts.  It was wonderful to walk up to the pools and geysers without a) boardwalk boundaries, and b) hoards of tourists elbowing their way past to glam for a picture (very annoying).  Around most of the pools, it is evident that the Bisons use the area as their winter home.  What first looked, at a distance, like rocks turned out to be anything but....

Onward to the falls and lunch.  Dave was pretty certain that we would be the only people at the falls.  Ha! It turns out that the trail most traveled is also the trail taken by tour guides to bring folks to the falls.  Kudos to them for making the trek.  Happy to leave them and head back to our trail less traveled!

Before we headed back to the truck, I talked Dave into taking a .6 mile detour to Imperial Geyser.  We had come this far, no sense in leaving any geysers not viewed!  OMG.  As we rounded the corner of the upper trail, we were greeted by an amazing view.  Once around the corner, the view improved.  The highlight of my day!