David couldn't take the pong any longer - it was giving both of us headaches. So he went into machine mode and ripped up all of it - and the underlay.
Here it is piled in a stinking heap on the porch.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Carpet
David couldn't take the pong any longer - it was giving both of us headaches. So he went into machine mode and ripped up all of it - and the underlay.
Here it is piled in a stinking heap on the porch.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
The Mailbox
The intrepid Mr MacGyver sawing off the old, rickety mailbox with a flappy door. Much swearing involved.
What's left of the old mailbox.
Off comes the newspaper box. We live in the internet age.
Triumph! The old is now new. The post still needs replacing as the box is held on with a whisper. Oh goody. Another job!
Cat Piss Carpet
OHG Really?
OK the place smelled old and like they had cats, BUT...
We have been working in the house with the terrible smell waiting for the flooring guys to pull out the carpet.
Previously, while pulling the baseboard trim, I have notice a wet area on a corner of the hallway. I cut the carpet away to have a better look - well not good. I guess their cat had been pissing there and there was some rotten wood. Shit! I got into a panic and pulled up all the carpet in the hallway and on the other side of the wall. LUCKILY, the other side of the wall was dry, so now water leaks from the roof. I found and area along the hallway about 6 foot long where the *^$#*(&^$^* cat had been pissing and the (&(^ owners let it do so.
Some of the subfloor is rotted, but only on the surface. Poking the footer of the wall showed it was sound. As you can see from the photo of the hallway there are little pee spots all over. So we are off to get Anti-Cat-Urine stuff to kill the smell. I only found one other small pee spot damaged area in the house.
So, I ended up pulling removing all the carpets and foam padding myself. Hurled it all outside. Man that stuff is heavy, I'm still sore.
OK the place smelled old and like they had cats, BUT...
We have been working in the house with the terrible smell waiting for the flooring guys to pull out the carpet.
Previously, while pulling the baseboard trim, I have notice a wet area on a corner of the hallway. I cut the carpet away to have a better look - well not good. I guess their cat had been pissing there and there was some rotten wood. Shit! I got into a panic and pulled up all the carpet in the hallway and on the other side of the wall. LUCKILY, the other side of the wall was dry, so now water leaks from the roof. I found and area along the hallway about 6 foot long where the *^$#*(&^$^* cat had been pissing and the (&(^ owners let it do so.
Some of the subfloor is rotted, but only on the surface. Poking the footer of the wall showed it was sound. As you can see from the photo of the hallway there are little pee spots all over. So we are off to get Anti-Cat-Urine stuff to kill the smell. I only found one other small pee spot damaged area in the house.
So, I ended up pulling removing all the carpets and foam padding myself. Hurled it all outside. Man that stuff is heavy, I'm still sore.
Doors, Trim, & Shelving Off
The work begins. I have removed all the doors, baseboard trim, and closet shelves. They are stacked in the garage (nice to have one) where later I'll sand them down and paint them white.
Last weekend I cleaned the garage and decreased the floor, so we can use it as a staging area for the move. As this will become our "business" area with inventory, packing table, packing supplies, my fly rod building table, and fly tying table, we are going to paint it all so it is more like another room.
All the paint in the house and garage will be white to brighten up the house. It is cloudy here in the North West for many months, so the brighter the house the better. We are offsetting the white with some rugs over a stone colored laminate floor. We didn't want wood, but needed something durable, and as inexpensive as we could get - to a point.
Last weekend I cleaned the garage and decreased the floor, so we can use it as a staging area for the move. As this will become our "business" area with inventory, packing table, packing supplies, my fly rod building table, and fly tying table, we are going to paint it all so it is more like another room.
All the paint in the house and garage will be white to brighten up the house. It is cloudy here in the North West for many months, so the brighter the house the better. We are offsetting the white with some rugs over a stone colored laminate floor. We didn't want wood, but needed something durable, and as inexpensive as we could get - to a point.
Picking up the Keys - Water Main Break!
As we rolled up to the house to pickup the keys from our Realtor - the fantastic John McKay, we noticed a plumbing van in the driveway, "Oh, this can't be good".
Turns out our agent called the selling agent about a water hissing we heard during the walk through. She called the seller about it. The city also called the seller about a large water bill. Turns out the water main to the house had broken. They got it fixed and the seller turned up and paid the plumber.
Turns out our agent called the selling agent about a water hissing we heard during the walk through. She called the seller about it. The city also called the seller about a large water bill. Turns out the water main to the house had broken. They got it fixed and the seller turned up and paid the plumber.
Neighbourhood
On our right - already met the couple living there.
On our right - a young couple with a little girl.
Opposite - we've already met the lady who owns the rose garden. And her two dogs.
Right opposite our house - a very pretty garden. Haven't met them yet.
The kitchen and living room
Living room. Note the brown shag carpet - you can image how much cats loved this. And so did the little dog. Dear God - what a stink. There's a very nice gas fire which will be welcoming in the cold weather. The windows are aluminium and need upgrading but will do for now.
Solid builders grade kitchen. Lurve those oak cabinets - not. Will think about how to deal with this later on down the road. The fridge is new and probably the biggest we've ever had. Definitely a keeper. The electric cooker is kaput - only one ring works. When we can scrape up enough pennies we'll replace it with a nice new gas cooker. Don't know whether the dishwasher works but we'll find out. At least I haven't forgotten how to wash dishes by hand. The sink looks out onto the side garden and on the right hand side of the fridge is the door to the garage. Lovely - I can take our groceries straight from the car to the kitchen. Really living the American dream here!
Oh - and there's a pantry and utility room behind the wall on the left hand side. Never had a pantry before. Heavens!
Garden
Paved back yard with raised beds. Unfortunately the wood forms are made with treated wood so who knows what poisons have leaked into the soil. There are feral cats in the woods which have been using the beds for litter trays and there were little dogs running around. So.... Master Gardeners here we come - with our little box of earth samples. Quite a bit of soil amendment required. I know some horse owners ...........
This is what we look out onto. A green space. Filled with oak, fir, hydrangeas, hellebore, roses and other stuff we can't even see. Lots of cutting and pruning and I think we'll have another garden on the other side. What a lovely view - and very private.
Covered back porch. Oh boy - we are going to have fun with this. It's basically another room and with some kind of patio heater could be stretched out for most of the year. I see lots of supper parties going on here. (The picnic table has to go - it's falling to pieces).
30 years ago someone planted this redwood tree. We think it is a coastal redwood which doesn't naturally grow this far inland or this low down. They need fog to grow and we do get it but not as much as by the ocean. However, this little fellow has managed a trunk circumference of 14ft and a height of probably 40 to 50 ft. Not bad for a baby.
The side path. Quite wide with lots of sun. Things can be done here - I have plans!
Front of house
The front door and covered porch. To the right you can see through the open garage door into the kitchen.
We have a nice sloped area in the front of the garage, and to the right is another whole section we can turn into - a rose garden - a private garden room - another veggie garden - who knows, but it's a great space.
Mrs Bean parked outside the front by the wobbly and rotten mail box. We have a gorgeous Japanese maple tree.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Christopher & Brad Visit Portland
Solid rain for seven days.
Click images to zoom...
Click images to zoom...
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| Cannon Beach, OR Stormy Day |
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| As the bumper sticker says "We got VD in Portland" (Voodoo Doughnuts) |
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| Multnomah Falls along Waterfall Row. |
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| Portland Saturday Farmer's Market |
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Start of Winter Fly Fishing
Here we go, those of us crazy enough (about fly fishing and in general) to get our warm gear on and hit the rivers - freezing weather, rain, snow - Ya baby!
I'm in the throes of tying flies for the winter. I have no idea what I am doing, but that has never stopped me before. I'm working on flies for Steelhead (returning sea run Rainbow Trout) that will start their winter run up in the rivers in December. I'm working on tying some of Dec Hogan's Steelhead flies.
Friday afternoon, I could not see the computer anymore to write code, so I split for the Clackamas River to practice a bit. Too early, really, for any Steelhead, but this is a different kind of fly fishing for me, so there are things to work out - like not freezing to death while standing outside in 40 deg weather and up to your waist in freezing water. Well, I did OK. My 15 year old waders leaked, so after 2 hours in the river I could not feel my feet any more and upon returning to "Mrs. Bean The Fishing Machine", my feet were soaking wet and blue. Off to Orivs Fly Shop today to get new waders today.
Below is a picture I took of the Clackamas River in the summer. The water level Friday, was closer to the trees and really moving! I could walk about a mile up the river and around the bend to the left in the picture. I didn't see any fish on the walk up, but again, too early. Around the bend was a nice riffle (washboard type rapids) running a hundred yards. Wow, the water was really moving. I tried wading out to the edge of the drop-off to cast, but even in just 24" of water, my feet were being carried off the bottom. I did have on my ID bracelet for easy body identification should I end up face down floating down river. But, I'm not as young as I once was, so backed up to safer wading.
What a trip, just like the videos! I could really get the hang of this swinging a fly. I had the usual trouble of the trees behind me, so I had to get creative with my casting. Most Steelheaders use two handed Spay Rods, and use a spay casting technique. I don't have that gear, yet, so I played around with different casts and did just fine. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time casting in high winds on the Florida grass flats, so I can cast left, or right handed. In high winds, this lets you cast on your downwind side, helping you keep the fly from catching your ear as it goes by at 100 mph on the cast. In the river it helps you get more distance from the trees. There are other cool techniques where you can setup your cast in one direction and have it 'hook' around to another spot, that really helps, too.
This trip was really about practicing and sorting out my equipment, and flies.
There are a few ways to fish for Steelhead and one is Swinging Flies. The idea is to cast 45 degs across and down river, then let your fly swing in the current moving from the middle of the river across the deep section up into the shallow section near the bank. Steelhead and Salmon will be resting behind the rocks in the slower current waiting to push on up river and here comes your fly right in front of them. The rhythm is cast, then walk down river 5 feet, then cast, and so on... That way you cover each 5ft. section of the river.
I'm not used to it, so that is way I wanted some river practice. I used both sinking tip and a floating line (where the current was less).
All in all my practice day went much better than I expected. I came back with some equipment and technique changes I need to make. I found some likely holding spots for fish, which I'll concentrate on next time.
People often ask why fish in bad weather. Easy, because you will be the only one on the river. I didn't see another person the whole time. Great!
I would like to be called a "Steelheader"; we'll see maybe by the end of the winter I will be.
I'm in the throes of tying flies for the winter. I have no idea what I am doing, but that has never stopped me before. I'm working on flies for Steelhead (returning sea run Rainbow Trout) that will start their winter run up in the rivers in December. I'm working on tying some of Dec Hogan's Steelhead flies.
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My Fly Tying Bench |
Friday afternoon, I could not see the computer anymore to write code, so I split for the Clackamas River to practice a bit. Too early, really, for any Steelhead, but this is a different kind of fly fishing for me, so there are things to work out - like not freezing to death while standing outside in 40 deg weather and up to your waist in freezing water. Well, I did OK. My 15 year old waders leaked, so after 2 hours in the river I could not feel my feet any more and upon returning to "Mrs. Bean The Fishing Machine", my feet were soaking wet and blue. Off to Orivs Fly Shop today to get new waders today.
Below is a picture I took of the Clackamas River in the summer. The water level Friday, was closer to the trees and really moving! I could walk about a mile up the river and around the bend to the left in the picture. I didn't see any fish on the walk up, but again, too early. Around the bend was a nice riffle (washboard type rapids) running a hundred yards. Wow, the water was really moving. I tried wading out to the edge of the drop-off to cast, but even in just 24" of water, my feet were being carried off the bottom. I did have on my ID bracelet for easy body identification should I end up face down floating down river. But, I'm not as young as I once was, so backed up to safer wading.
What a trip, just like the videos! I could really get the hang of this swinging a fly. I had the usual trouble of the trees behind me, so I had to get creative with my casting. Most Steelheaders use two handed Spay Rods, and use a spay casting technique. I don't have that gear, yet, so I played around with different casts and did just fine. Thankfully, I spent a lot of time casting in high winds on the Florida grass flats, so I can cast left, or right handed. In high winds, this lets you cast on your downwind side, helping you keep the fly from catching your ear as it goes by at 100 mph on the cast. In the river it helps you get more distance from the trees. There are other cool techniques where you can setup your cast in one direction and have it 'hook' around to another spot, that really helps, too.
This trip was really about practicing and sorting out my equipment, and flies.
There are a few ways to fish for Steelhead and one is Swinging Flies. The idea is to cast 45 degs across and down river, then let your fly swing in the current moving from the middle of the river across the deep section up into the shallow section near the bank. Steelhead and Salmon will be resting behind the rocks in the slower current waiting to push on up river and here comes your fly right in front of them. The rhythm is cast, then walk down river 5 feet, then cast, and so on... That way you cover each 5ft. section of the river.
I'm not used to it, so that is way I wanted some river practice. I used both sinking tip and a floating line (where the current was less).
All in all my practice day went much better than I expected. I came back with some equipment and technique changes I need to make. I found some likely holding spots for fish, which I'll concentrate on next time.
People often ask why fish in bad weather. Easy, because you will be the only one on the river. I didn't see another person the whole time. Great!
I would like to be called a "Steelheader"; we'll see maybe by the end of the winter I will be.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Portland - 1 Year Aniversery!
As Rose always says, "First it will be 6 minutes, then 6 days, then 6 years...".
We decided on this raining fall day to go back to Sasquatch Brewery (just a block walk), as this is where we celebrated our Portland arrival last year. Great Beer!
Over the past week, we were rethinking our 7 day cross country drive FL to OR, remembering the legs and where we stayed each night. Good thing we wrote a blog to look back on!
I was watching the weather through the week and that lady truck driver we chatted to on the way over was right. We were lucky with the weather on our trip. The worst of the route is Interstate 80 across the plains. We had high winds, but the route can get close for winds and snow. If we had made the trip this year, we would have also had snow and wind through several states.
So far, it has all been a great experience. We have a nice place to live, the public transportation is amazing, there are a billion activities to choose from, farmers markets to die for, food and beer are fantastic, and the people in Oregon are very nice. OMG, the coastline and rivers take your breath away. We are both involved with groups and have made some very nice friends.
On to year #2. We have more exploring and lots more fly fishing to do.
We decided on this raining fall day to go back to Sasquatch Brewery (just a block walk), as this is where we celebrated our Portland arrival last year. Great Beer!
Over the past week, we were rethinking our 7 day cross country drive FL to OR, remembering the legs and where we stayed each night. Good thing we wrote a blog to look back on!
I was watching the weather through the week and that lady truck driver we chatted to on the way over was right. We were lucky with the weather on our trip. The worst of the route is Interstate 80 across the plains. We had high winds, but the route can get close for winds and snow. If we had made the trip this year, we would have also had snow and wind through several states.
So far, it has all been a great experience. We have a nice place to live, the public transportation is amazing, there are a billion activities to choose from, farmers markets to die for, food and beer are fantastic, and the people in Oregon are very nice. OMG, the coastline and rivers take your breath away. We are both involved with groups and have made some very nice friends.
On to year #2. We have more exploring and lots more fly fishing to do.
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| Sasquatch Brewery Light of Great Portland Beer |
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Gales Creek Fall Photo
Rose is having a "Beading Weekend", so I went fishing today.
I was up at Gales Creek to see if any Cutthroat Trout were still around.
This is the last week of Trout fishing in Oregon.
I took several photos with two different cameras and they all came out rather weird.
Like, how did this happen between two separate cameras - I wonder.
Is Gales Creek in some sort of alternate dimension?
Click for larger image...
I was up at Gales Creek to see if any Cutthroat Trout were still around.
This is the last week of Trout fishing in Oregon.
I took several photos with two different cameras and they all came out rather weird.
Like, how did this happen between two separate cameras - I wonder.
Is Gales Creek in some sort of alternate dimension?
Click for larger image...
Saturday, October 10, 2015
20th Wedding Aniversery!
We made it - 20 years of marriage!
We took some time off to celebrate and recall the time we have been together.
Starting out with My Morning Jacket in concert here in Portland. Wow! what a great show. We took the bus into town and had dinner and beer (Portland you have to have beer, it is required to live here, which is why the bus service is so good here). We ate at the Laughing Planet, which is where we had dinner / beer (even the same table) as on our Portland recon trip two years ago.
It had been a while since our last concert. It was in a small'ish theater and was really great. People of all ages!
Note: you can click any image to get a larger version...
Next we were off the coast for four days of exploring and mainly R&R. Cannon Beach & Netarts / Oceanside.
We are very lucky here in Portland, in that the coast, or the mountains are only about an hour and a half drive. Driving to the coast you quickly leave the city, then through wine country, and over the coastal range of winding roads through forests of Douglas Fir trees.
We stuffed Mrs. Bean to the brim with fishing gear, food, champagne, music, and clothes. We usually travel with our picnic basket, but both places we were staying had kitchens. It still would have been nice to have our own picnic basket, but I have to figure out how to stuff that into our Smart Car with all our other gear. Here is Mrs. Bean in Miami on a previous adventure. I just needed to get a pic in here of her.
We took some time off to celebrate and recall the time we have been together.
Starting out with My Morning Jacket in concert here in Portland. Wow! what a great show. We took the bus into town and had dinner and beer (Portland you have to have beer, it is required to live here, which is why the bus service is so good here). We ate at the Laughing Planet, which is where we had dinner / beer (even the same table) as on our Portland recon trip two years ago.
It had been a while since our last concert. It was in a small'ish theater and was really great. People of all ages!
Note: you can click any image to get a larger version...
Next we were off the coast for four days of exploring and mainly R&R. Cannon Beach & Netarts / Oceanside.
We are very lucky here in Portland, in that the coast, or the mountains are only about an hour and a half drive. Driving to the coast you quickly leave the city, then through wine country, and over the coastal range of winding roads through forests of Douglas Fir trees.
We stuffed Mrs. Bean to the brim with fishing gear, food, champagne, music, and clothes. We usually travel with our picnic basket, but both places we were staying had kitchens. It still would have been nice to have our own picnic basket, but I have to figure out how to stuff that into our Smart Car with all our other gear. Here is Mrs. Bean in Miami on a previous adventure. I just needed to get a pic in here of her.
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Mrs. Bean in Miami for Christmas now 3,400 miles away.FishingI did bring my fishing gear, not really sure I was going to fish, but ya just got to bring it. Actually, we did stop on the way out to Cannon Beach at the Fish Hatchery. I managed to catch a couple of Cutthroat Trout while Rose sat reading along the river.Cannon BeachWe stayed at The Waves for a few days while in Cannon Beach. Really nice rooms; ours was right on the river and beach where we could see everything. We spent one evening just watching the tide go out and the people walking the beach. We brought some night music, champagne, so it was really nice with a cool breeze blowing through the windows.
He had another nice lunch at the owner / chef's Seasons Cafe'. We highly recommend this place. Reasonably priced, even for a resort beach town. Really nice food and selections of beer and wine. An added note, is that it is across the street from one of the candy stores. We did go out to breakfast a couple times, but nothing to write home about.
As per usual for us, it was 'Picnic in the Hotel' for dinner. There is a good independent medium sized grocery store The Mariner Market that has most of the goodies you swore you would never eat! Hell, I'm on vacation, lead me to the ice cream sandwiches! Don't forget the candy stores, too!
Here are a couple views from our hotel room at The Waves.
    
At sunset one evening I saw what looked like a horse cross the river way down by those sand dunes. Strange looking horse, I thought, until a heard of them came down the sand dune, swam the river.
A heard of Caribou!
Beach Walk
The Oregon Coast is very 'Beachy'. Huge tide range here and when the tide is out the beach is huge. As one would expect, it is a great beach to walk, so everyone does.
Rose likes the beach. We found some sand sculptures along our walk.
    Netarts & OceansideNext, we were off down the coast driving through Nehalem, Garibaldi, and Tillamook to Netarts.Part of this trip was to check out some close by seaside towns for a quick (hopefully cheap) weekends break. Part of that was checking out some rental Cabins in some of these towns. The cabins I saw online were vastly cheaper than hotels, but we needed to check out if they were nice enough. Yes, I would save we had a good experience with the cabin. Here is the Edgewater Bay & Ocean cabin in Netarts we stayed. Only $90 / night instead of many hotels that are closer to $300 / night. Nice views!   Cape Meares Lighthouse. 300 year old Octopus Tree.I think it was a spruce tree that no one really knows why it grew that way. I suspect it got "topped" by a storm, lost its central leader, and grew limbs out from the base. You'd have to ask an Indian who was around if they knew. Anyway, us humans think we are sooooo great, yet there are many living things around that are hundreds, if not, thousands of years old. OceansideJust up the coast is Oceanside, another small town right on the beach. We had a really great breakfast at the Blue Agate Cafe. Visitors and locals alike seem to love this little family operated small cafe. I think this is a very good reason to stay in Oceanside, as we heard the lunches are to die for.Being on the lookout for cheap rooms we checked out the Ocean Front Cabins. Hey, right next to the Blue Agate Cafe, which is a good start. People were busily packing up for their next hop down the coast, so we had a change to peer inside a couple cabins and chat to a visitor. Again, very rustic (code for if your wife need a makeup table this is not the place for you), but adequate with kitchens which we like. The beach is just across the street. Off season, (Portlanders like to stay at the beach in cold bad weather storm watching - it is just a thing out here) you can get a cabin for like $50 / night. Being only 1.5 hours drive through beautiful Douglas Fir tree lined forest along the amazing Wilson River and your stress just falls off on the drive out, just in time for champagne and a walk on the beach! Tillamook Forest CenterThe drive from the coast back to Portlandia passes the Tillamook Forest Center. This is a must stop site. There website does not have a lot of good pictures, but worth checking out. They have an amazing wooden suspension bridge across the Wilson River; and a really really good exhibition of the history and logging in the Tillamook Forest. OK, and bathrooms, which at about the half way point on the trip is another good reason to stop - just being real about it.ThoughtsWe really enjoyed out 20th Honeymoon and exploring the coast. I think we found some really good weekend spots to relax, and to fish. The OR coast is just so beautiful. As Portlanders we are already looking forward to our 1st winter storm stay on the beach. Hold On! |
Friday, October 9, 2015
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