Faux Fishing the Hood River, last day of work and fun, and our supercool neighbor

There's this little spot of the Hood River that I've always been curious about. Right as you are leaving downtown and heading to 35, if you look over, there is this river below, next to a former hydro station, where the railroad runs. Usually I see people down there, but have never made a special visit myself.

We grabbed the fishing pole M made in tracker's camp, one more bamboo pole for J, packed a lunch and headed down there. It's a quick 2 minute drive from the farm, and I would imagine a walk the kids couldn't handle yet.

M showed us her expert casting skills she learned at Tracker's camp.

J fished for a while, but decided to have a little lunch and became completely enthralled with his left hand.

Jesse decided the kids were having too much fun, so he joined in.

I was ready for some time away from the kids. They've been jumping and hanging on me a lot recently, and sometimes I just need a break.

I decided to head over to Bingen, Washington, because my neighbor Sarah told me about some cool antiques store, called Antiques & Oddities.

http://www.antiquewholesale.net/

This antique store is humongous and has a ton of knick knacks, chairs, vintage clothes and whatnot, but probably not much in the way of substantial antiques. I was about to head out, when I spotted a folding hunting knife.

I asked the lady behind the counter if I could look at it, and while I was turning it over in my hands, asked her if she thought it would help me if I were to come face to face with a bear.

After a little chuckle, she said, "you might get a little blubber with the knife, and the bear might stop to laugh for a minute, but you're not going to do any damage with that!"

OK, well, we're not going to get a gun, though you should have seen the expression on Mrs. B and the farmer's faces when we told them we weren't getting a gun. Something like, "Really? Huh." I'm starting to understand the thinking behind that expression, but not ready to buy a gun yet, either.

So I asked the lady behind the counter what kind of knife WOULD save me in a bear attack. A machete? a knife that's "this" big? a taser? mace? my dog? no definitely not MY dog. Jesse's dog, yes. So she said, "I've lived here 12 years and have never heard of a bear attack around here. Just make a bunch of noise wherever you go, and they'll leave you alone. Just don't sneak up on one or surprise one.  

This is the knife I've been carrying around:

I'm still getting a hunting knife. Maybe jesse will get me one for our anniversary. It's coming up.


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I want to share some more pictures of the house. It's a bit of a mess, but I just want you to see the progress we're making. Please excuse the pile of papers next to the orange chair. I have a little bit of a psycho paper hoarding disease.

Mom, I don't want you to have any scary flashbacks when you see this next picture, because I don't want you to be afraid of visiting. there is a perfectly good walk in shower downstairs. You do not have to psych yourself up for 2 hours to get in and out of this tub. Look familiar? A little bit too much like my first house in Portland.

Bathroom in my first house:

Now that I see the pictures next to each other, it's obvious that the farmhouse is well maintained for its age and in much better shape. The only similarities are the age and style of tub.

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I spent a big part of the morning pulling tacks out of the floors in two of the bedrooms. Pulling tacks out of the floor is extremely satisfying. It's like popping zits over and over and over again, but they always come out clean, and it doesn't hurt. I'd like to give a shout out to my dad, Henry, for introducing me to a handy little tool called the nipper. The nipper is the most effective way to pop a staple zit.

Finished with 2 of the bedrooms! Some of my progress shots:

I wanted to avoid sanding the floors upstairs, because perfect floors just lead to anxiety. But I think it's not something we'll be able to avoid. Some of the carpets pads have stuck to the floor and it's just not as clean as I hoped. Think we'll keep the carpet in the kids' room for awhile.


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Our most amazing neighbor, Mr. N came over in his very awesome motorcycle like a super bad ass and helped Jesse get that #(*%_(#*%(^#@(% credenza in the house. He basically lifted it with one finger while telling us about his personal plane flying adventures, his visitors from Spain, and his amazing family. We gave him a full tour of the house, and from the upstairs, he pointed to some areas in the cleared forest above our houses where he told us he regularly spots Elk and bear.

We gingerly walked out onto the upper front porch, and I got this stunning panoramic view. Jesse is gunning for a pimped out top front porch, but that might have to wait a while.

He gave us some great tips on what to do with the kittywompus back of the house. It's kind of stalling everything, because we need to replace the siding on the lower half of the house, but we don't really want to side it if there are things we need to change later. Actually, I don't WANT to replace the siding at all, because it's old growth cedar, and it has these charming flare-outs at the bottom. But there is a lot of rot, and it's too expensive to restore. We're keeping the upper portion cedar, because it's in good shape, and replacing the bottom with lap siding. 

From what I've read recently about classic farmhouse architecture, it's pretty common for a farmhouse to be kittywompus, because it starts as one building and is added onto as the needs grow. It's part of the charm. My head says, square it out and make it even, but Ken (Jesse's architect friend) says to think about embracing the unevenness. It's something to think about. What's the charm in cookie cutter? Is that what we're just used to?

Ken, Jesse's architect friend from San Francisco is coming next weekend to help.

I want to extend the lower back wall all the way across, and put in a more period correct balcony on the upper right hand side to balance out the left. Jesse doesn't. He just wants to pull off the balcony and have one continuous roof across the lower back. I don't know what to do with the very top. That has kind of morphed into removing the old disconnected chimney. The more we look at it, the exponentially more expensive it gets. If our budget was unlimited, I'd extend that entire right side to match up with the left. Don't look at the house. Look at the mountain. Or embrace the charm of it all.

For the size of the house, it's actually pretty efficient. We had some pretty hot days this past couple of weeks, but there is an attic fan that pulls the hot air out. Cool air comes up from the basement, and there is a central ceiling fan that circulates the air upstairs.

Mr. N had to go, but before he left, he invited me and the kids to his orchard to pick some peaches. Why yes we will! The kids loved it.

The tree is finished. What do you think? Made out with a lot of kindling and firewood on top of it, nicely stacked in the barn. Thanks, super husband! Mrs. B left us some big tires in the barn, so we will be dialing that in next weekend.

Weekend is over, and back to Portland.