4th July 2009

Happy 4th of July to those south of me. And happy birthday to M.R.

I just spent almost 2 weeks down in Oregon shopping for a house. After looking
at several houses during that time, I finally put an offer in on a 1920's
farmhouse on acreage with wonderful trees and completely fenced and crossfenced
in chainlink. Whoo Hoo! Horse proof from leaning on the fence!! I would not be
able to see any of my neighbors from that home, so it is nice and secluded.

Photo Above: Standing in the pasture of the house I put a bid on on.

The problem is that I don't know if my bid has been accepted or not until two
days after I am moving *L*. Yeah.. I may be turning into a gypsy for a bit.

The house will require a bit of help, as I always buy fixers. The whole
subflooring in the living room and one bedroom will need to be replaced, I would
like to get rid of the 1970's carpet (which if I remember right is orange) and
remodel the whole kitchen, as currently the stove is in not in the kitchen
itself. Something which I feel needs to be remedied, as I don't know about you
guys, but I rather like my fridge and oven/stove in the kitchen. Just call me
silly for thinking that ;op

I also want to take out the gas furnace and put in a woodstove. But the house
has a wonderful large solarium on it. Which will probably be my bedroom and
living area while the rest of the house is being re-done. While the floor is
ripped up, I also want to put a couple outside water taps and electrical boxes
in. It will be much easier to do it them, than crawling through the crawlspace
later.

It has a 2 bay shop for being able to hold a truck and a trailer on each side, a
barn and a chicken house. Fruit trees, including pears which may be from the
1920's as well. Lots of bulb plants, a grape arbor and a HUGE Rhododendron
which must be 25-30 feet tall.

This all depends on if indeed my offer is accepted of course... please cross
your fingers for me and wee one. It will be a good place to raise him/her I
think. But if it is not that house, it means there is a better one put there
somewhere waiting for me to come along. But I have a good chance at getting it,
as this house has to be a cash sale.

What blew me away was the surrounding properties have 75 gallons per minute
wells and one even has a 300 gallons per minute well. That is like a geyser!!
There is no well log for the house I am interested in as it is too old
apparently. But it ought be in the same range as the majority of them.

While I was still down there, I took a couple days off from house hunting after
I put my offer in and went to the Oregon Lavender Festival. I talked
to Ivan alot and grilled him about the lavender production. He actually used to
be a brewer at one of the local microbreweries before he was the farm manager
there.

Photo Above: Me at the 2009 Oregon Lavender Festival. Six months pregnant.

The next day I went to visit Angelia and her family. Her father put on an
excellent BBQ which I would have eaten more of, but I had an obligation to have
dinner at mom's as well. I met Angelia's three horses and her young son gave me
a wonderful smelling honeysuckle flower which I kept in my truck until yesterday
when I believe it blew out the window due to it being very sundried by that
time.

On my way back north, I stopped at my friend's house for the night, as I was
invited to watch my friend's performance and go to a BBQ for Canada Day.
Actually it was a much needed break before it got all crazy with moving again.

Today I went and bought lumber to make a truck rack for my vehicle prior to
moving day. I borrowed my friend's 12 year old son to be an extra pair of hands,
as it is a pain to try to hold up both ends of the board at the same time when
you no longer have C-clamps. We got it done in the 80F (in the shade) weather
and had to take a few breaks when we were overheating from being out in the sun.
We got it all done in 3 hours time and it looks pretty darn good, all square and
very strong. For not really having a plan on how to build it, I actually got
enough lumber and even get to return three 2x4's to the lumberyard tomorrow. I
had 3 screws left over so I guessed rightly there as well. I will varathane it
when I am down in Oregon as I do not have the time between now and then. It is
definitely better than the other truck rack which was made of scrap. This one
will last many years barring any accidents.

Photo Above: A very UNglamous shot of me sweaty and pregnant working on building the truck rack

Tomorrow new brakes are being put on my truck. I got good use out of the old
ones as they are the originals from 9 years ago and I am told most brakes last
about 4 years. But they are down to 5% so it is time for me to get new ones. A
friend who is a mechanic is putting them on in the driveway, so that saves shop
fees. But driving 1,100-some miles over and over and over, I decided new ones
were in order and a necessary expense.