A Week of Projects

A lot going on here in Oregon with Nic and his family getting ready to move into the Lodge (now renamed the Tree House by Kennedy), and progress on the Farm House. In addition, Mike (see last post) has been working on the last panel for the Farm House deck railing. We even have irrigation going down around the pool and behind the Farm House. Pretty exciting stuff! Just hope we don't run out of money. I keep thinking of the scripture that makes fun of the guy who doesn't count the cost before he starts building his house.


Terry, our very multi talented home teacher and now full time project manager is helping us to keep this project on task. He seems to know how to do just about any job on the site. Nate and I and on Friday Kevin all worked with him on the rock for the front of the house.


Nate was actually pretty fast at applying the rock, and even Terry was surprised how much we got done.


Mike has been dreaming about and working on the last panel to fill out the railing on the deck for the last several weeks. It is a very meaningful piece, not yet finished, but it will be really descriptive of the family. I will save the meaning for when it is done. But it has been fun to hear him describe the story he has been wanting to tell.






Even though it is not yet finished, he brought it up to install before the final inserts are made. I am really excited about how it is going to help us to tell the story of the house and the family.


Garth Jasperson has been working around the place for the last couple of months, and with Nate really has the place looking nice. He rototilled the hillside last week, and the irrigation is starting to go in now.


Meanwhile across the yard, the Tree House is getting a makeover in anticipation of yet another Vial family moving in.


But first, the mystery critter for this post is another bird. This was taken just up the road from the Rainbow house while I was on my morning walk. The clue for this one is the dead skunk lying in the road nearby.


But let's cut back to the Tree House and the preparations being made. The weather has been great, so many of the projects are taking place in the yard outside, like the painting of the twins new bunk beds.


Hard to tell which had more paint the kids or the beds. By the way the new color is the red.





Actually, although I don't have a picture of it, they get this (the idea that you get more on you than on the project you are working on) from their dad, and their Grandma Paula. But Nic really did do a great job of putting new tile in the laundry room and bathroom downstairs.


You know what though, Paula really is looking awfully hot these days. In fact, her pants are starting to fall off!!!!!!

Nathaniel and Mike

Down the street lives Mike Welch. I have talked about him before, as the artist responsible for the wood panels in our Rainbow yard. See the blog posts Summer Fun in August 2009, and more recently, Mother's Day and Surrounds, June 2010. He has done yet another project for us, this time for the Farm House Inn.


In case you haven't been following the progress on the Farm House, we have decided to do all the deck railings with tempered glass, but we were anxious to have some of Mike's art in the home, and using it as part of the deck railing seemed like a natural thing to do. The first panel as you enter the deck will be a full panel, but in the meantime, Mike has done a small panel to fill a space in the first part of the second bay.


This panel is a Red Tail Hawk. The interior side of the panel is the male, and the exterior side is the female. There is a very subtle difference. Look carefully at the light spot on the breast. In the first picture (male) there is a slight marking. Look at the next photo, (the female) and you won't see the mark on the breast.


Our friend and documentary film maker Nathaniel Hansen (www.nathanielhansen.com) has been travelling cross country filming in his latest project on Elderly Americans. He took the time to interview Mike, and it was very interesting.




I don't want to upstage Nathaniel's production, but it was amazing to hear of this Viet Nam vet, who had had a serious stroke just a few years ago, and who has reinvented himself as a story teller through his art. He said that the most important part of the stories is that it helps us all realize that we are essentially the same. Stories tell us all that our failures are just as important as our successes in learning the lessons we need to in this life.

Stay tuned. This ought to be a great documentary.

Here is the mystery critter. This post is the clue!

Paula's Family Project

A number of years ago when we were winding down in showing cattle, Paula and Nic came up with the idea of selling Hawaiian Shave Ice at the county fair. We had always enjoyed Matsumoto's on the North Shore in Hawaii, and Nic sourced the machines that would shave the ice just like they do in Hawaii. Thus was born Tutu's. It is a great place for teenagers to learn how to work and how to handle money. Here was this years crew. Caitlin was in charge of putting this together.


Our friend James tried a new product this year, the Hula Cookie.


Tucker took a little gas over the weird 'stach, but was a great sport!


Grandma was calm as a cucumber!


Kennedy was a real trooper, and with Vivian and Lyann really provided key help.


Next door to the booth was the kid tractor pull. The twinkies and CC were awesome.



There were usually about a hundred kids hanging around, and the only way to keep them under control was to tell them that no shave ice unless they sat still. Usually worked for about 5 minutes.



Another really fun year at the fair!