13 Sep 10 – 26 Sep 10

We are now home owners in Gold Beach, OR. Anybody who wants to come and enjoy the great weather, scenery, and small town atmosphere are welcome. We moved the furniture in this past week. We loaded the truck in Grants Pass on Thursday with the help on a couple of people we went to church with years ago and unloaded with some great help from people at the church we are attending in Gold Beach. Everything is not in place, but the waterbed has water and the table has chairs and we still empty boxes. We are finding that small house living has some challenges, but we will adjust as we now have three times the room we had in the RV. The biggest challenge is in the kitchen as we do not have all the cabinet or counter space we had in Braceville. We also love the fact there is not as much to try and keep up with. I will have something growing in the next week or two if it is only salad greens and onions. No big huge garden here, but I hope to be able to supply our wants and needs for vegetables except corn and a couple of things that require more space.

I plan on continuing this method of keeping you posted on the happenings in Gold Beach, but will only post on a monthly basis unless something of importance arises. I will try and post pictures twice a month to show the beauty of the area. I already have places in mind for picture taking, but I need to be there early in the morning and I have more pressing things to do. Even as I write today we have a landscape person cutting the hedge back to enhance our view of the ocean. He will also cut what grass is left after I make garden. I will NOT own a lawnmower or weed-eater here. I will post pictures of our view in the next post that will give you a better idea of why we both love this house.

We are already seeing birds migrating and using the river as a place to refuel. A lot of the birds of Ohio do not appear on the west coast so we are in a learning phase of those birds calling this area home.
We have pasture behind us so can go look at the cows if I need the fix.

Pictures:
The view from the living room used in the listing on line.
The front of the house used in the listing on line.
The waves breaking over the jetty – we had really high surf this past week. The fog horn is the structure you see.
Our neighbor – I call her Thanksgiving dinner. She was on the side of the garage on Saturday.

waiting

6 Sep 10 – 12 Sep 10

If nothing goes awry we should own a house next week Friday. All the paperwork is done – all the money is spent – all we do is wait. Miriam is ready to get out of the RV, but I on the other hand do not need to land yet. It is NOT spring and nothing will grow now so why do you need to have a house?

We haven't done much this week, but sit and watch paint dry. NO NO NO we are not painting – just a figure of speech to say not doing much. We go to the jetty and watch the birds – watch the sea lions – walk on the jetty and do both or watch the fishing. We have only seen a couple of 15 – 20 pounders caught. Everyone I talk to says the fishing is spotty. Miriam goes and watches the 'gun' boat. It is a boat funded by a local fisherman's organization using firecrackers and underwater percussion devices to keep the lea lions out of the fishing areas. They wreak havoc on fish and equipment when someone has a fish on the line.

No pictures as I didn't take any this week. We are both fine and looking forward to having a house.

We have not found a church home for sure, but we think we will be Baptists again for a while.

Another week in Orygun

30 Aug 10 – 5 Sep 10

What goes BLAAAAA for 3 seconds out of every 30 seconds? Why the green cylinder they call the fog horn on the north jetty at GB, of course. I think we have acclimated to it so it is not as obvious as it was at the start.

I can tell you a RV is not the place to try and make jam! We picked about a gallon and a half of blackberries up the river – ended up with them in 2 pans as the stove isn't big enough to use a large pan on. Started everything boiling with all the ingredients and had another problem – how do you heat jars and lids while you are using both burners? Needless to say – we coped, but it was a chore in very limited space. We have 5 pints of blackberry syrup as we used honey instead of sugar as the sweetener. We have already started using it in oatmeal and it tastes great.

We are just waiting for everything to happen on the house. I guess no news is good news as they say. We have done all the preliminary work on our end and we wait for the appraisal then all the money they want. It looks like it will be a couple of weeks yet at the earliest.

We are still trying to find a Church home and seeing the sights. We both are in great health and intend to stay that way.

Yesterday is History
Tomorrow is a Mystery
Today is a gift from God

How are you using your day?

Pictures:
Fish Hawk aka Osprey - I didn't get wet in that last dive, did I?
Steller's Jay – this is our Blue Jay
Surfing – one wind surfing and one kite surfing – they are dark because they have on a wetsuit