Central Oregon Vacaton: Best part of camping

Clearly the best part of camping is the food.  Rather than go for the usual Sun Chips, bratwurst and smores, we took it up a notch.  In fact, we probably ate more gourmet at the campsite than we usually do at home.

We started off with chicken in a creamy white-wine sauce, topped with our own kale.

Don't forget the Parmesan.

For breakfast: fresh fruit and a variety of bagels.

We grilled pork chops on the fire on our second night

Dinner complete with a salad, black bean side and a bottle of Dad's finest red.

Central Oregon Vacaton: Metolius River (Sisters OR)

Sandi and I took advantage of 3 nights off and headed to Sisters, OR for a quick vacation.  We camped along the Metolius River.  It's a fly-fishing meca, so we came armed with books and food.

Spring Planting

Our planter boxes were a bit shallow last year - might explain why our carrots stopped growing after 4 inches.  This year we decided to go bigger.

 

I built these two boxes out of cedar fence posts.  I'm hoping the rough-cut finish will add to the homestead look instead of indicting me of lazyness.  We want them to last so I covered the outside with a good water treatment. 

It was a long day that invovled getting a yard of soil, filling the boxes and buying the seedlings.  By the end of the day, we have the new vegitable garden. 

Bush beans and green onions

 

3 varieties of leaf lettice, more green onions and 3 varieties of kale.

 

We had enough soil left over to plant our peppers, and tomatoes.  I can't wait for the salsa!

Spring Unveiling

Cannon Beach hosts a spring unveiling in their art galleries.  Basically, artists who display their work are invited to create a work specifically to unveil during one weekend.  You get a schedule and then wander through the galleries every half-hour to see the new work.  The best part of it is the reception at 5:00 where you go back to eat savory hors d'oeuvres - we stuffed ourselves!  Sandi and I made a day-trip out of it a couple Saturdays ago. 

Apparently, Sandi and I have a gift for picking the best days to visit the beach.

Cannon Beach: a gallery hub on the coast.

Lousy picture, but it's our favorite gallery.  Jeffry Hull paints primary water color (but some oils) featuring the beach.  He is by far the most successful artist in Cannon Beach based on the the shear size of his gallery.  If you ever have a chance, stop by and enjoy.

We were the youngest couple looking at art. 

Just 'cause it's Cannon Beach we saw a row of bright red Fararies.

 

A perfect end to a fun day...

Making butter

 

Sandi and I had cream that wasn't doing anything so we decided to try our hand at butter.

 

Isn't she cute!

 

A handmixer really doesn't work all that well - it splatters cream all over and it takes a long time.  we couldn't imagine doing it the old-fashioned way with a butter churn.

 

A Kitchen Aid is much better.

 

It worked!

 

 

We put our homemade butter next to store-bought butter and were impressed with the similarities.  The only difference we could tell was ours was a little harder to spread.  Next time, we'll add salt and see if that helps it spread easier.

Early spring

Spring is here and its time to plant the garden.  Last year, we had 3 small planter boxes along the side of the house.  This year, we decided to combine the 3 into 1 large box and create two more (the cedar is still drying in the garage; stay tuned). 

 

At the Beaverton Farmer's Market, we got sage, thyme, dill, and cilantro and planted them with the rosemary, oregano and chives.  We need a few more herbs to complete the set, but its a good start.

 

 

Mom and Dad, the rasberrys and rubarb look promising.  They may not be as full as last year, but certainly promising. 

 

The blueberries are looking good too!

 

 

We love how our backyard is turning out.  If you are in the neighborhood, we'll have to have a bonfire.

The woes and trials of a utility sink

 

Sandi mentioned to me one day that she would love a utility sink in the garage.  I think it had less to do with her desire for a sink in the garage and more to do with her desire for me (and my paint brushes) to clean up before I came into the house.  I completely agreed with her but warned that if we were really serious, it might take a plumber. 

 

I was poking around in the garage and came across a plug in the wall.  Curious, I removed it and discovered it was the part of the draining system used by the washing machine.  If I tapped into the hot and cold water at the washing machine, we'd be in business. 

 

 

drain and faucets already in place

If the plumbing is already in place and the location between the water heater and washing machine pre-determined, then all I need is a sink.  Restore, the Goodwill of home improvement came into play with a $10 used sink and $2 used hoses. 

With plenty of scrap wood at my disposal the cabinet was fairly easy to assemble and made for an interesting Saturday afternoon. 

 

Though we tried, we couldn't find a suitable faucet at Restore, so we splurged at Fred Myer and bought a new set - nothing but the finest for our garage.  It even had a sprayer attached.  The coolest part of it was when I was looking through my cabinets and found an un-opened soap dispenser designed for integration with the counter.  Again, nothing but the finest for our garage. 

 

The bummer about working on plumbing projects is the unfortunate reality of plumbing.  What I hoped would be a couple hour project attaching the water hoses to sink and then instaling the drain turned into a weekend fiasco. "How cheap can I make this project" turned into "how much do I have to spend in order to not call a plumber."  Everything that could go wrong did: I snapped brass fitting in half trying to stop a leak; I bought all the incorrect size pipes and joints, I took at least 4 trips to Home Depot and I had a splitting headache by the end of the day.   

 

Determined not to be beat, I took another trip to Home Depot on Sunday afternoon hoping to solve it.  Within a couple hours, everything seemed to fall into place. I was actually home free with water entering the facuet and leaving the sink with no leaks. 

 

We are both pleased with the end result - it does everything we want it to do including storing our laundry soap.

 

I have every intention of never doing another plumbing project in my life.