Something funny

We were not intending to stray much away away from our adventures and experiences for the purposes of this blog, but since we know most of the people reading it are animal lovers, we thought you would all get a kick out of this, not to mention these things are made and sold right in Portland Oregon!

No joke, they sell Holiday Butt Covers for your pet in several themes including a holly one... you put them over your pet's tail and they hang in front of their butt to block the view of their... ahem.... business end.

Click Here to See or Purchase the BUTT COVERS

Snow fall

It's hard to explain how I feel about snow. The very first time I saw it, it was snowing and I thought it was gorgeous. It was literally a winter wonderland. I was excited and so overwhelmed. All I wanted to do was play in it. On our recent hike on the PCT, the trail was heavily covered in snow. To the left and to the right of the trail, the terrain was hard to discern because it was white all around. . .in every direction. The trees were enormous. You could tilt your head all the way back and still not see the tops of them.  Only the two of us were out in the forest it seemed. It was quiet and even though I wore a bight orange warning vest to be visible to hunters, we didn't hear a single shot. We hiked upwards through the snow and over streams. Every step was an effort. Our boots kept sinking into the snow and to take the next step was intentional. We didn't make it all the way to the top because unfortunately the sun sets faster when you are having fun. It didn't matter though, the few miles we saw had 360 views of awesome. I wanted to stay there forever. That hike was pivotal for me. I am a logical, rational person. I don't drift easily into imagination or magic. I could never sit through Christmas stories as a child because I didn't understand the foundations they were built on. It sounds crazy, but seeing snow, touching it, feeling it, and hiking through it helped me believe in the intangible: hope. It's such a simple feeling. To answer the age old question, if nobody is in the forest and a tree falls I believe it still makes a sound.

-Ashley

Snow shoes anyone?

Today we hiked another part of the PCT (pacific crest trail). We had to drive out past Carson and Stabler Hemlock about 20 minutes away from the house. Such a pretty drive. The snow got thicker and thicker the higher we drove, peoples roofs and cars were completely covered. We saw horses in their winter blankets and smoke rising from the chimneys on houses. This part of the trail we hiked today looked much different than the other part we explored a couple weeks ago, more than likely due to the fact that it was covered in snow! Ash and I agreed it was the most snow we'd ever seen. Some parts appeared 2-3 ft deep. We were told about this trail by a lovely woman who works at Angus' lodge. She has hiked all the trails in the region and this one came highly recommended. She told us at the top was the most spectacular vista in the area. It is a 4 mile hike up to it but unfortunately since it starts to get dark so early here (4:30pm) we only made it half way. No matter though, we still saw plenty of stunning scenery. This hike is a quiet one, with only the sound of running water in certain parts, and snow dripping off tree branches the rest of the time. The light reflects off the snow giving a very interesting blue quality to the light. The trees are huge to begin with but are made to look even larger when covered in snow. Everything looks and feels different, majestic, the stuff oil paintings are made of. You can see which direction you need to walk but the actual pathway was covered in snow so periodically along the edges you could see where other hikers had clipped ribbons and strings to branches to mark the trail. The only way to find the start of the trail was looking for an unmarked wooden bridge off the side of the road. We were unsure if we'd found the correct bridge but after we hiked in a ways we came to a stream intersecting the path that we had to ford across. We'd been told about this so we knew we had the right place. A ways in further was yet another stream but luckily the park rangers were nice enough to have built a small bridge over it. Initially Ash and I had bundled up in our heaviest cold weather gear but as we hiked along we started to get overheated, so off came the scarves, gloves, and hoods, jackets became unzipped and at one point ash was just down to a t-shirt and jeans. We would have continued to be warm but parts of us had gotten wet from stream crossing and melting snow so we eventually had to put our hats and jackets back on. When we realized our time was up we quickly ate the lunch we'd packed and trolloped back down the mountain. As we descended all I could think of was how incredibly small I felt. Most of the time I go through my life being a bit self centered but I really enjoy the times when it's all put into perspective for me. Being surrounded but trees 50 times taller than me and vast expanses of forest all around can really remind you of your insignificance in the scheme of things. I kind of feel the same way when I'm star gazing. So much out there that very few people actually take notice of. I continued to ponder life all the way back to the bridge. When we first arrived ash and i had played in the snow and made snow sculptures on the bridge railing, they were still there when we left. We plan on going back and giving ourselves more time to see that vista at the end of the trail.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE HIKING PICS

Make sure you click on each photo on the photo bucket page to enlarge it for better viewing!

More Adventures With Ice and Company

It's been snowing on and off, melting away then accumulating again. We've had some good fun with it, and learned some new lessons about life in snow. See Exhibit 1- why you should always give yourself 30 extra minutes to get anywhere in the morning after a snow: (we've learned how to put videos in the blog, so thankfully no more having to go to you-tube! Just press play below.)

Scraping off the snow and ice without a scraper and warming up the car.

(we will be investing in a scraper soon!)

See Exhibit 2- Things are only temporary in the snow:

We have had some experience now with driving in the snow, and we've learned that up here they don't put salt on the roads due to environmental concerns. The salt would melt with the ice and runoff into the river affecting the natural habitat. To help with the traction on the roads they spread this reddish material called scree, which is ground up volcanic rock. Happy to say it works quite well, we haven't had any slipping or sliding at all while driving.

All in all for the little annoyances snow and ice bring, their positives make them welcome in our lives anytime!

Was your Tofurkey Turkey day good?

Ours was! We relaxed and got to video chat with family members which was really nice. It doesn't take the place of being there with them, but it sure beats a regular phone call. After that I cleaned the house and Ash cooked up a storm laying out a delicious spread of Tofurkey stuffed with wild rice stuffing, roasted veggies,  fresh rosemary buttermilk mashed potatoes, almond herb gravy, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce.

We noshed, laid around for a bit trying to recover from the post food coma, loved on our furry cat children, and then some friends came over and we visited and relaxed for a while. I believe this was our first holiday away from "home"... and while it was a little sad, we still felt a great sense of accomplishment that we are starting to make our own traditions and our own new sense of home.

Winter Wonderland

It started to snow all around us last week, and then it descended upon Stevenson a few days ago. The landscape was transformed from colorful reds, oranges, and golds, to white! I'd only ever experienced small amounts of snow in the past, nothing like what we're seeing now. Not that it's been a blizzard, bu there's definitely been enough to play about. We'd hiked up the hill behind us last week and Ash got to see snow for the very first time. It was like another world up there. Soft fluffy snow drifted slowly from the sky and landed silently all around us. I was amazed at how quiet it was. All the tree limbs were weighed down heavy with the stuff too. We crunched around in it, threw it around, and generally made a fool of ourselves like little kids. I'm sure to people from the north we looked out of our minds but to us it was like we'd landed on another planet. What made it more unusual seeming was that at the time there was no snow at our house. It was hardly even cold, yet less than 10 minutes away we were being covered in the stuff. I'd forgotten how wet snow is. You see it and it just looks like the powder flakes used in movies, but playing out in it results in looking like you've gone swimming in your clothes. We had to make ourselves a coat rack to hang our jackets on to dry. I also invested in a pair of the long john type thermal underwear because in snow, jeans just don't keep you dry. strangely enough the air doesn't feel cold enough to warrant all this white stuff, and as you will see in the video ash was quite comfy tromping around in it with a t-shirt. In addition to snow we have had icicles, which I actually find more amusing than snow. I just get giddy when I can break an icicle off a roof or object and lick it or chase people around with it like it's a dagger.. I know, I just turned 5 again.. but it is loads of fun seriously, try it some time. There was also a frozen puddle in the driveway that looked like a wee frozen lake. I stared at it and imagined tiny people ice skating across it's surface. Then I tried stepping on it. Apparently it was only frozen on a top layer because it cracked and I could see bubbles and liquid sloshing around underneath the surface. I know what you're thinking, and don't worry, I would never actually try to walk on a real frozen lake in this way, I have watched TV you know...  Today there was enough snow and ice on our little road beside the house to get the idea to try sledding down it. We only had a lid from a huge rubbermaid storage container but we tried our best. I wouldn't have called it a success necessarily, but it was a heck of a fun time. I threw all the snow drenched video clips together in a montage of silliness for your enjoyment:

CLICK HERE TO SEE FOOLS ON ICE

The Simple Things

We arrived here to an empty house that we have steadily been turning into a welcoming home. The staggering beauty of our natural surroundings outside has kept us mostly occupied but we've made time every day to work on projects inside and they are all starting to come together now. It started with a coffee table and an end table, then a couch and dining table, now book shelves and a tv stand. Throw those together with some paint, elbow grease and patience and you start to see something really rewarding. For only a few bucks and a little creativity we are ending up with a living space that looks like it would have cost an arm and not one, but two legs. It's still a work in progress but we're getting close. I have been all warm and fuzzy with feelings of accomplishment and pride over what we are creating for ourselves. Here's a sneek peek at some inside features of our house as it's being completed (video tour coming soon):

 

 This was an old brown table from the goodwill outlet bought for $10.
Now it's a chic modern nod to 80's and early 90's music culture.



























This was a sweet IKEA craigslist find for $10. It actually didn't need any work at all.

 Another $10 treasure from the goodwill outlet. This tv stand just needed some paint touch ups.

This is my favorite $10 find also from the goodwill outlet, the swanky blue swivel chair! Miguel the stuffed sheep really likes it too.

The couch was a $15 craigslist score which I painted.. yes painted... the grey/blue color. It was originally the color of the pillows but had some discoloration and cat scratch damage. You can't tell now though!  The coffee table and side table were also craigslist finds, a "splurge" at $30 for the pair lol. Well worth every penny! They weren't the right color though so they got sanded and repainted. You probably noticed too the wall mural. That is really the focal point of the room I think. It was a culmination of on sale and abandoned leftover paint from the shed, 3 days of work, and a roll of masking tape.

 

This is a little informal sitting area we placed across from the dining nook. We already had the papasan chairs and the steamer trunk from before, but we scored the red IKEA rug (actually 2 of them) for $6 at the goodwill outlet, and the pet bed from CVS at $4.99.

 Last night Ash and I were hand sewing two curtains for the kitchen from cute fabric I found on sale. 

I had never sewn anything of substance before. It was simple yet so rewarding. I'm currently working sewing a curtain for the bathroom out of different fabric too.

 Yesterday I made a cheeze-tastic and tasteless bird feeder out of an empty cat litter jug and some recycled craft supplies I salvaged from other projects. While the concept of a strip club for birds is somewhat unsavory, I couldn't pass up the opportunity for puns and double entendres.

Being self sustaining and hands on is truly a feeling like no other. Day before yesterday Ash and I went down to the apple tree, this time with our ladder. We picked about a dozen of them and Ash cooked them up into a delicious warm apple crisp. She also baked from scratch organic chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. We shared it all with our new friends who have been so generous and kind to us. They have been inviting us down to the pubs in town to chat and meet other locals. The pubs/bars here are nothing like back in FL. These are well lit, usually serve food, and you can't smoke inside. They seem to be designed for conversations and they don't play their music too loud, a nice change. Last night one of the bartenders had her cute little Pomeranian in there and everyone was playing with it. Socializing has been a blast as everyone we've met has been intelligent, interesting, and friendly. They all seem to know each other too and that makes for a very open and relaxed atmosphere. So far we have chatted with a groovy political science professor, a local resort lodge owner who is a long distance kayaker, a  professional photographer from Poland who has traveled all over the world and who hand built a gorgeous wood house down the street from ours, a slightly mysterious and elusive but sweet government employee who works in the sustainability department, an eccentric local coffee roaster/distributor, a woman who works with birds of prey and belly-dances on the side, a sprightly bar tender from a local award winning microbrewery called "the walking man", and many other local business owners and colorful characters that make up the residents of Stevenson.

 

On a closing note for this long blog, it snowed all around us a few days ago, and you could see it on the mountain tops. How pretty is that??!!! We were just thrilled! They are predicting a little snow later this week in town, hard to believe since it really has not seemed cold enough for that. I can't wait, it's gonna be so fun! The locals told us they close the roads in town when it snows any appreciable amount (which very rarely happens they say) and they go sledding down the streets and snowboard to their jobs in town whatnot. We got such a kick out of that. The locals are really excited about the prospect of it snowing here, listening to them talk about it reminds me of hearing people in florida talk about the rare times it snowed there, its like an excuse for a play day. 

Stay tuned!

~Kris

Ash & Kris go off-roading in the Dodge Avenger

We are always ones for adventure, though I must say this one was a little nail biting even for me. Ash wanted to take me to the "secret" mushroom hunting spot Bill had taken her to the day before just up the road from our house. I was warned that the roads were a little *rough* but since Bill was able to navigate them on 2 wheel drive mode I was assured our rental car would make it just fine. These logging roads are dirt and gravel and have some very steep (on the edge of your seat) hills, and to my shock and amazement the dodge actually did quite well. I'd say it actually fared better than I did LOL. We did eventually make it back through the maze of one car wide paths to the spot and found ourselves a huge patch of juicy chanterelles. We tried not to pick too many since we had tons at home but it was hard to resist since they were so beautiful and huge. After we filled our bag we had brought we headed back down the mountain and while we were driving around we sought out to find this waterfall Bill had mentioned to Ash on their foray. She didn't know exactly where it was so we just drove in the general direction on roads that didn't register on the GPS. Just when we though we had gone the wrong way we came upon it, a gushing waterfall with a car bridge in front of it. It was copiously pumping out thousands of gallons of sparkling clean, ice cold mountain water. I was refreshed just looking at it. On our trip back home we passed a couple of other tiny little waterfalls too.
~kris

Click for waterfall pics!

Panther Creek Hike

We were driving around looking for trailheads to explore and  happened upon part of the pacific northwest trail. To get there we had to pass through Carson WA, a little town that reminded me of a mini Arcadia in a way. We saw signs for a mushroom buyer at a gas station there so we know where to take our excess bounty next time! Just past carson was wind river valley and this area is full of trails. It was honestly hard to pick one, so we settled on one that had easily accessible parking. The section of the PNW trail we hiked winds down through old growth forest to Panther Creek. The light coming down through the leaves made everything seem like a fantasy painting. It was colder the closer we got to the water but it was worth being chilly to see the wonderful sights of the creek and the adorable bridge that crossed it.

 Panther creek Photos click here!

First time up Beacon Rock

We stopped by it before, this time we decided to take it all the way to the top, literally! Its a one mile hike up to the summit of this volcanic "neck" (the hardened lava core of a prehistoric volcano) and even though it's rated as "easy", for two out of shapers like us it was a challenge. We took it slow and made a few stops to catch our breath but we did eventually get there. We were put to shame by several 60 and 70 somethings who were going up and down the trail face like it was a cake walk! The views of the gorge were so spectacular. I couldn't believe how windy it got higher up the rock, my hat got knocked off at one point but luckily I was able to catch it. Since we went in the middle of the week there weren't very many people in the park, in fact we were alone when we reached the summit so it felt extra special.

 Click here to see pics of the hike

Video of the half way point

video of the summit!

video of how windy the summit was

Ash Goes Mushroom Hunting!

The wonderful gentleman who gave us the chanterelle mushrooms offered to take ash and i out to pick some more with he and his son. I had to work but ash took photos of her adventure and will post a blog below about it too:

View the pics!


Ash's Blog: I got up early and went mushroom hunting with our internet guy and his step-son. His son's name was Johnny and he was the cutest little red headed child I had ever seen in my life and smart as a whip. I was immediately given a bright orange vest to wear as it is hunting season here. We drove just up the road from our house and traversed some really rocky, steep roads, but all in 2wd. Bill was searching deep within the forest from the road trying to spot those beautiful pumpkin colored tops. After about ten minutes he saw some and we stopped the car and went out hunting. We were accompanied by their dog shadow who couldn't wait to step all over the mushrooms. Bill said "where there is some, there's more." We didn't have to search far and we came across several pods of them all clustered together. Johnny and I dashed to retrieve them, falling onto our hands and knees and crawling under and over brush to get to some of them. This sequence of events happened several times, until eventually all of our bags were full and we couldn't carry any more. . .about 15 pounds worth. Johnny and I were completely covered from head to toe in forest foliage and we couldn't have been happier. We even found a salamander! I couldn't wait to come home and show Kris all I had gathered and to take her the next day.

Hike Down to Beach Park

We have had a few beautiful clear days in a row so we have taken the opportunity to get out and about the neighborhood and revisit some of the places we saw last week. This time we crossed the street down past the apple tree to the little river beach. It was raining last time we went there so we took the opportunity to explore more while the weather was clear. There was a whole slew of trails and little scenic spots we'd missed before, as well as being able to see much farther down the gorge. While we were hiking around the trails we saw tons of wild mushrooms, an italian plum tree, and lots of wild flowers. I took video of the view from the beach too!

 Click Here to see the pics!

View movie number 1

View Movie number 2

All backed up

Hey everyone, Im sorry to have kept you waiting, I know its been a few days since we updated but it's been incredibly busy around here! We have lots to share so we will break it down into several blogs to make it easier to navigate. First thing's first, Our stuff arrived safe and sound! Our moving company came through and all in all I'd say it was a satisfactory experience, we would recommend them to anyone in need of good movers. Here's the mover guy that unloaded our stuff, he was nice enough to let us take his picture:

Everything came through safe and sound with the exception of two plates and ash's wood chest that she's had since she was a baby. We got some wood glue and she thinks she can repair it so all should be well with that. I'd say that considering the long distance and many hands our belongings passed through I'm surprised more stuff didn't get damaged. We were really scared when we saw our TV's box, it was all beat up as smooshed, but thankfully I'd packed it really well so it was fine inside (thanks again leanne for the great packing materials!):

After living in an empty house for a week it was strange to have our belongings back again, we just loaded them into our 2nd bedroom and will be slowly unpacking it all over the next week or so.:

Our first furniture in the new house are the papasan chairs, as you can see our cat Remus really likes them:

and since I can't let the moment pass, here's another kitty photo, this time it's Blythe looking out the same window that's behind Remus in the pic above:

Ok enough gratuitous kitty moments, There's more exciting things to see!

Stevenson and such

We are still getting settled in and have been really busy but have still managed to sneak in some time to see sights here and there. Every day I discover new things that make me stop and stare in awe. I've been cleaning, shopping, doing laundry, you know all those mundane normal activities, but now that I have such beautiful scenery around me I don't mind it nearly as much lol. The people in stevenson have all been so nice and friendly... they have no problem stopping to chat with you for however long you want. people don't seem to be in any big hurry, i have been told everyone that's here wants to be here, most of them are from all over the place and have moved to stevenson to enjoy its natural wonders, so they are all generally happy folks. Our little grocery store down the street is really cute and the folks who work there are very helpful. We went in on Halloween and the staff were all in costume, passing out snacks to kids who were in costume. Our neighbor who had just met us invited us to come over to her pumpkin carving party, unfortunately ash and I were vacuuming and shampooing the carpet that evening so we couldn't make it but we though it really nice for the invite. Today I drove to portland to pick up this really awesome mid century modern coffee table and end table for the living room. They are very unique and I will be sure to post pics of them in our living room once we get it painted and furnished. When I got back ash made us breakfast and then we went for a walk across the street to this little place the internet install tech told us about (the one who gave us 5lbs of chanterelle mushrooms he'd picked from the forest close by). If you cross the street and follow this tiny street down you come to a tunnel then a bridge that winds over a cute little creek. Along the path were more blackberry bushes than you could ever harvest and a wild apple tree that ash and I picked two sweet delicious apples from and ate right there under the tree. We walked all the way down to the river "beach" and played on the river shore. It was drizzling but we didn't care, it was so much fun. I still cant believe how many interesting things there are to do so close to our house. here's some pics from yesterday and today: CLICK HERE

~kris

PS: thanks for the vacuum mom!!!

My impressions

Okay so my impressions will be a lot shorter as Kris said pretty much everything. I just want to add some things here and there. First I want to extend the thank you to my parents. Dad and Glenda thank you for taking in and accepting my partner as if she were your own. You allowed us to stay with you rent free, utility free and even cooked most of our meals for us. Without you this move would've been near impossible to do as soon as we did. You took us in when no one else would. Glenda you love and patience saved me from my hatred as a child and without you I would be a totally different person. Dad, I will always be a daddy's girl. We have been through a lot together, and even when we had nothing you still gave it all to me. You taught me invaluable life lessons, spent countless amounts of time with me, and have always been there for me.  I want to thank you for being the kind of people that I look up to: honest, caring to a fault, generous to a fault and non-judgmental. I appreciate you and love you more than I could put into words.
Now, my impressions on Stevenson, WA. It is so awesome here. The people are so nice. I had to walk 100ft from  my car to the post office and back the other day and by the time I left 4 people had said hello to me. People look you in the eye here. They have crows the size of chihuahuas and a squash in the visitor's center that is almost 5 feet tall. Even the drive to the recycling/transfer station is scenic. We are not exaggerating when we say that there is not a single ugly thing about this town. If you go to their website you can view the live cams  http://www.cityofstevenson.com/index1.html

Make sure to check out all of the pictures. They really don't do the majesty of this place any justice, but at least you can get an idea. ~ash