Snow today in Dallas

OK, OK, you people on the east coast and in Indiana, don't laugh...we had some snow today. Yes, on 1/11/11 we had (have) snow falling and sticking...kinda.

Earlier in the day, the sun was out, so I decided it was time to take Sadie out for some exercise. She fired right up; although, I am embarrassed to say, it has been since October 23rd that her engine last ran. There has just been so much to do, getting into our new home, that Sadie has been a bit neglected. She sits, cozy, in her garage; no need for winterizing, because the garage is insulated.

Part of my motivation was that we received a ten cents a gallon discount coupon for gas at Safeway. With Gas currently at $3.119 per gallon, ten cents off seemed like a good time to fill up. We disconnected Sadie's various umbilici, gingerly drove her out of the garage and down the hill to fill up. It turns out the discount is only good for the first 30 gallons, which means we saved $3.00; not a fortune, but enough for a caramel machiato, one of these days.

The gas station attendants were very kind and washed Sadie's dirty windshield while we were there. When we were finished (40.7 gallons later), we headed for the countryside to give the old girl some exercise. We had a lovely drive out to Perrydale, a little farming community a bit north of Dallas. The countryside was gorgeous, Sadie purred, and Jill and I reveled in being on the road. In fact, we determined it is time to plan the first camping trip of 2011.

While we were on the road, I started the Onan generator for a little exercise and ran the electric heater in the coach. It ran like a top...the generator, that is...well, the heater did fine, too. We returned home, parked our venerable lady and went in to have lunch.

That's when the snow began to fall. I felt pretty smug. I got Sadie gassed up at a discount, gave her some exercise, enjoyed a drive in the country with my best girl, and got home before the snow began to fall.

It is odd how a particular day or occurrence affects one's soul. I told Jill after we got home that, somehow, taking Sadie out for a drive made me feel that we are finally settled at home in Dallas. She told me that, whenever she is feeling grumpy or having cravings, all I need to do is take her for a ride in Sadie...or give her some chocolate...or, ahem.

So, yes, we had some snow in Dallas today. I am not exactly regretting that I gave away my skis before we moved, but we had snow today in Dallas.

A little Christmas fun

I think Laura had more fun with this crazy cat toy than anything else this Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. We are spending Christmas in San Diego with our two daughters, son-in-law and two grandsons. The weather is sunny and 65 degrees; no white Christmas for us, but being with the family is better than all the snow in the world.

The only thing missing is having our son and daughter-in-law with us. I can't complain too loudly, though, because they are baby-sitting our pooch, while we are away. Thanks, Pat and Katie.

We are off to Christmas Eve worship this afternoon and then to some friends' for a Christmas Eve gathering and dinner. Thank you, Father God, for this wonderful time of the year, but thank you most of all for sending your Son to be born in a lowly manger and grow up to pay the ransom for my sins and everyone-else's!

Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year!

Another milestone

Here I am with my beautiful bride.

Bob and Angela live just four blocks from us.

Chuck is the discussion leader for our Life Group.
Here he is with wife Darlene. Dottie is on the right.

Dottie looks on as Ursula snuggles up to hubby, Eric.

This evening we marked another milestone in our transition to life in Dallas and our new home. Up until today, our only dinner guests had been family. We had 9 guests for a potluck dinner this evening. The group is our Life Group from church. Unfortunately, there were several who were unable to attend. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful time.

The menu included glazed ham, tossed salad, a layered salad with nuts and berries, a wonderful dish that was reminiscent of scalloped potatoes but included French fried onions, some delicious Chinese-style stir-fried green beans, a fruit salad, dinner rolls, and pumpkin cheesecake pie. Beverages included ice water, coffee and hot spiced cider. There was no lack of things to eat, and no one went hungry.

We had some lovely conversation, before, during and after dinner. It was fun to show off the house we have been telling the group about for the last three months.

As has been our usual experience when entertaining, we had the house cleaned up and back in order before all of the guests had made it home. I don't know about our guests, but Jill and I had a marvelous time.

Big news!!

Oh, happy day! Our son, Patrick, called this afternoon to tell us that his wife, Katie, is expecting a baby come next August. We are thrilled for them...and for us.

I must admit that I was unsure how to react, at first. It was my understanding that the kids were planning to be pregnant at this time next year, after Pat has finished his masters degree. I am afraid I didn't gush enough, when he told me the news.

What was really fun is the fact that I had planned to go to Patrick's school to watch him coach basketball this evening. After we got the great news, and Pat told us that Katie would be at the game, Jill decided to go with me. That was a great thing, because Katie was bubbling over with excitement and needed a woman to share with. I would have been a woefully inadequate, although sympathetic ear for her.

So, that's the big news. We will continue to offer updates as things develop.

A little history...

This view is looking down from the park
overlook to the area where Fort Hoskins once stood.

As we were leaving the overlook, I spotted this wild
strawberry blossom. It is about the diameter of a quarter.
I was very impressed to see such a beautiful flower only a
couple of days after the first snow of the season dusted our area.

On a sunny Saturday, following Thanksgiving, we took Mom for a ride out the King's Valley Highway. This is a two lane country road that stretches from the Willamina-Salem highway near Dallas to the little village of Wren, OR.

King's Valley is named for the King family, who homesteaded there in 1846. On a historical marker in the Hoskins Overlook Park there is a quotation from a letter written by one of the Kings. It says words to the effect that "you can raise as many cattle as you want and it won't cost you a cent, because the grass is green even through the winter."

There is a park in the valley called Fort Hoskins Historic County Park. We drove up a very steep drive at the park entrance and were rewarded with a panoramic view of the valley, with the Luckiamute river running through it. The overlook is above the site of an Army Fort, which was established in 1856 to protect and oversee the Indian reservation in the valley.

There are no longer any buildings of the fort, but there is a lovely path and walking tour, complete with historical markers. The path was, alas, closed on the day we visited, but it would make a good destination for a picnic in warmer weather.

On our way to King's Valley, we had passed one of Oregon's famous covered bridges. On our way back to town, we stopped to investigate the bridge. Below are some photos we took there.

Ritner Creek Bridge, built 1926

The Ritner Creek bridge was built in 1926 at a cost of

$6,963.78. It was moved to its current location in 1975-76 at a cost of $26,031!

Looking out one of the "windows" of the bridge
there is a gorgeous view of the river below.

The bridge itself has apparently been made
into a kind of park, complete with picnic tables.

Can you imagine driving across this beautiful
bridge in your brand new 1926 Model T Ford?

Following our visit to King's Valley, we headed back to Dallas. Dallas is situated in the middle of the thriving Willamette Valley wine country. We had found an ad, before our tour, for Illahe Vineyards and Winery. Ordinarily, this winery is not open to the public, but on this particular weekend, they were open for wine tasting. Not only that, but they were also serving locally made breads and cheeses. Yum!

We had an opportunity to taste some of the best Oregon Pinot Noir it has been my pleasure to enjoy. In addition, there was an assortment of breads from the "Bread Board" bakery in Falls City, a few miles to the west and some cheeses made by Willamette Valley Cheese Factory in Perrydale, a few miles north. Perhaps, the best offering, though, was a salmon cheesecake made by the owner's wife. We left our email address, on the promise that the recipe will be forwarded to us.

We had an opportunity to chat with the owner of the vineyards and winery. He is retired from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, where he was an administrator and taught in the department of oenology. When he learned that we have been part of a wine club in Clackamas, he made sure we were identified as "volunteers." It seems Illahe has a wine club of its own. Members get involved in the wine making process and receive wine in return. We will definitely look into that option!

When we returned home, we all (Jill and Mom and I) agreed that it was a day long to be remembered. We look forward to more opportunities to explore our new home county.

And can it be...

...that I haven't posted since October 24th? Where does the time go?

We are now living in our new home in Dallas, OR. We actually moved in on October 30th. That was almost comical. Duane had promised we could move in within 120 days of starting the building process, so he told us to order our PODS and move in on the 30th. The PODS were delivered Saturday morning, while the carpet layer was furiously working to get the carpet in place.

As Victor finished a room with brand new carpet, we started piling furniture, boxes and miscellaneous stuff in the room. Where did all this stuff come from? Why didn't we leave it behind? Why did we pay to have it stored? The questions one asks oneself at a time like this.

It has been two weeks now, and the place is coming together. It actually feels like home. It is amazing how I flit from one room to another, doing a little here and a little there and never finishing the "set-up" of one room before moving on to another. In part, that is because I get to a certain point of setting up, and then I need something that we haven't unboxed yet. We know it is in the house, just not its exact location.

Jill is in San Diego visiting the kids and grandkids, so I have had several days to concentrate on the moving in process. We now have two functional guest rooms (come on down for a visit!), but the office (i.e., computer network) is not yet functional.

We still have our 3G network internet, but not the new cable internet service we ordered. The installer showed up the day before yesterday, only to find that the cable company has not pulled the cable as far as our lot yet! He put in an order for that to be done on Monday.

It took umpteen phone calls to get the satellite TV installed... and then the installer arrived and said most of what we wanted wasn't on his work order. In the end, he installed everything just as we wanted it, including an antenna feed to the RV garage, so we can have TV in the motor home, which makes it a viable guest suite, complete with TV. (The automatic satellite dish on the roof of the motor home doesn't work very well indoors. Go figure.)

Duane and the boys have been around a lot during these first two weeks, finishing up the fireplace and the exterior trim. Friday, they came by and got the last of their tools and debris. Alberto spent a good deal of the day pressure washing the driveway, sidewalks and street.

Duane will be back this week to install a "clean-out" for the plumbing system. This will double as a place to dump the holding tanks on the motor home. Hence, we will have a fully functional hook up for Sadie (refer to paragraph 7 above.)

Yesterday, I took the 84" drapery panel, which matches the guest room comforter set but is too short for our 96" high windows, and transformed it into a Roman shade for the guest room window. It turned out pretty well and will serve the purpose of providing privacy with a consistent decor motif.

So, as I tell people, when they ask if we are moved in, "We are moved in, but we are not put away yet." Everyday, brings us a step closer to being fully settled. That is when the fun begins...landscaping the yard!

Stay tuned for some pictures of the Waughs at home in Dallas.