The Oregon trip- Painted Hills Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds

I am back from my Oregon trip.  It was very helpful.  I was supposed to be figuring out if it was feasible for me to do consulting work in Oregon from my home in Washington.  I am not sure I answered that... but I had a blast.

Also, I found the most amazing re-use stores in Portland.  I felt like I was all starry-eyed and in Disneyland for old house owners. So many doors, reclaimed wood, detailed woodwork, everything.  Normal behavior for me nowadays - an employee gave me his cell phone number so I could call him personally with fir flooring dimensions and base molding lengths that I was looking for.  I am just going to roll with this stuff and call it spring fever. 

Habitat for Humanity - training

I have written before about my extreme love for the re-use building supply store. And craigslist. The reason I basically have close to $7000 worth of never installed bathroom materials sitting in the garage waiting to go in my "new" bathroom, and what did I pay? Kohler, Restoration Hardware, American Standard...ah yes, I paid just around $900.
There was an article in the paper yesterday about training for women on construction basics with then the ability to help build a house nearby. I am going for it. I am master at painting, but construction has me looking to the kids dad, friends or neighbors. It would be nice to know how to do it. Way way in my faraway youth I was trained on what I consider huge equipment for art school.... which had a masterful shop, but I recall none of that. Other than the saw was really big. And would take your finger tips off lickitysplit. And that the art piece I produced got good reviews and a killer story from a classmate at 4 in the morning the night before it was shown.
Such a long time ago. But I still remember that story!

Key Things and new Neighborhoods

Here it is an amazingly beautiful day. The snow is heavy on the trees, the sun is trying to peek through. Maybe this will be a forced dramatic pruning of our many fruit trees. The poor things have not been pruned in a while. I say that is jest, I don't want the branches to be breaking off those giants. The birds are getting fed chicken feed, since I ran out of birdseed. They don't seem to mind. It is better than bread. My house is a mess, I feel like we will never quite move-in. The garbage and recycle have not been picked up in two weeks, my garage is the waiting room for all the extra. I am such a well-trained recycler I could not even imagine throwing away a piece of paper. Neighbors and I would joke that when we went camping or traveling to somewhere that did not recycle, we would pack and take home our recycling. That is just crazy to me. But, we do it. What a strange and non-reckless life we lead here in the NW. When going against the grain is (HORROR) not recycling. I should not make light of this, our little neighborhood friend told us where the meth house used to be and what boys beat up what other boys. It has been such a long time, and I have been so citified(cityfied?) the thought of boys beating each other up seems antiquated. Where is that bully curriculum when you need it? I am thinkin' these kids missed that crucial lesson, or their parents believe otherwise. The meth house is another thing altogether. That is an issue that our society will be dealing with for a long time. It can absolutely destroy people.