Time

As I sit here at the window of the VC, I think about time.  Or rather what a time warp this window presents.
 The view over the computer screen is of a replica of a building established by an arm of the British government in 1825, nearly two hundred years ago.  The land was not "owned" by anyone, but shared by both the United States and Great Britian.  Things changed dastically upon the signing of the Treaty of 1846 establishing the northern borders of our country at the 49th parrallel.
  Directly behind it in my line-of-sight is the Vancouver Land Bridge which was dedicated in August of 2008.  It is a land bridge that was constructed to both literally and figuratively  re-establish the connection between Fort Vancouver and the Columbia River.
   Directly behind that I see one of many trains that move up and down the river front.
   Directly behind the tracks are the trees that signal the mighty Columbia River, which was important then and is important now.
   Directly behind that is the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River with its green metal lattice work and normal heavy flow of travel in both directions.
   Finally, directly behind that in the distance are the west hills of Portland which look surprisingly pristine considering the number of residences in them.
   Above all this, the sky is filled, on a regular basis, with large planes filled with passengers heading for places distant.

   What a conglomeration of sights and sounds and time. 

Tuesday Morning

   It's after 9am and I am sitting here at the Visitor Center awaiting for someone to come through the front door so I can say "Good Morning, Welcome to Fort Vancouver".  The weather is good.  Better than the predictions, which said that it would be rainy the whole week.  They were wrong, or course.  It misted for while yesterday and, as I look out the window to south right now, I see the clouds moving off to the east and lots of blue sky to the west.
   Yesterday was the first day back in the pool after a too long, hiatus.  I felt a little stiffness in my leg last night, but it was good to be "at it" again.  Walking is good exercise, but it is not enough.  The Marshall Center here in Vancouver is a very nice facility with many activities for all ages.
   Both of us are looking forward to tomorrow when we will go into our "new" house.  Purchasing a home is an interesting event.  You spend a vast amount of time, effort, and money to buy something that you have only seen or been into for a brief period of time.  Then, after you decide to buy it, you have to wait a month or two to get to see it again.  We were good to the sellers and allowed them to rent the place for 45 days while they did the same thing in a new area.
   The end result is that after moving all of our beongings into storage in April and May, closing the sale of our house in June 14, closing the purchase of the house in Canby on July 31, we are actually going to get "possesion" of home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!    I wanted to go tonight, but R said that it would be better to go tomorrow and check everything out, see what painting we want to do, what changes we want to make, etc.   More on that coming up.

Campfires to Candlelight

Saturday Sept 14th was a special day here at FV.  Although we made a few people unhappy when they found out that the fort was closed during the day, at least 1500 visitors were thrilled by the presentation of the hundreds of volunteers, dressed in costume, and rangers who worked very hard to make it such a success. 
   The path to the fort was lined with campfires.  Each campfire signified a period of time in the life of this area. 
  The first campfire was WWII complete with tents, soldiers. Even the buffalo soldiers were represented.  I had a discussion with the owner of the Ford-branded Jeep.
   The second campfire represented WWI.  I learned about leggings at that stop. 
   The third campfire was the Civil War, complete with a demonstration of the proper way to stand the weapons with the bayonets intertwined.
   The fourth campfire gave me a chance to listen to stories of the Chinook people and see salmon baking over the fire the way it has always been done.
   The fifth fire represented the people who braved the Oregon Trail to become Oregonians.  My granddaughter was very interested in watching the young ladies in long dresses dancing together and evetually was invited to jilon them.  She was enthralled.  When the dancing waned at that location we moved on.
   The final camp represented The Village. The Village was where the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company  and their families lived.  The population of the village was perhaps close to 700-800 in the summer, but shrank to about 300 after the fur brigades left in the fall for their trapping grounds.
   The last stop was entering the fort itself and it was alive with activity.  Candles were burning everywhere.  There was activity in every building.  Food was being prepared in the kitchen.  Sea Biscuits were baking in the bakery.  Clerks were in the Counting House.  Every building had costumed volunteers interpreting.  The Fort lived again.
   If you are in the Portand/Vancouver area on the second week-end in September,  don't miss this event!

A Morning Walk

It is Sunday morning before 8am when normal people are still in bed.  But that is not in the cards for me.  Mollie thinks that it is time to go for a walk, more truthfully to go somewhere and empty for bladder.  Besides, there are many squirrels out there to see and smell.
   The ground is wet.  The fog has seen to that.  It fact it has created a heavy mist that is slowing drifting down from above.  The airport is open for I can hear the whine of large jet engines as 200 people crammed into an aluminum cylinder are hurled through the fog searching for clear air and a smooth journey to.......
   Mollie finds her spot or spots.  She gets excited about several creatures, real or imagined, and we complete our circuit for this morning.  The walk routes are never the same.  Sometmes they are long, sometimes shorter depending on my mood and the weather.  But there are always walks, always another adventure for the two of us.  

Starting our volunteer stint at FV

Today we get our keys, not to the city, but to the front door of the Visitor Center.  It's not a big deal, but at Fort Vancouver (from now on noted as FV) it will be significant.  Government units do not make quick decisions or move with any swiftness.  There are meetings and policies that need to be reviewed and followed.  We arrived Monday and here it is Thursday and we are just now getting access to the front door.  We will get another key on Monday when we move our RV into the official parking space onsite. 

Jantzen Beach RV Park is our home until then.  It is a temporary/ permanent home for 150 RVs and at least that many mobile homes.  JBRV is a residential island in the sea of shopping centers and warehouses that crowd Hayden Island on the west side of I-5.  We are literally within walking distance of Target, Home Depot, Safeway and at least one mattress store, although with the number of mattress stores, everyone is within walking distance of one of those.

Itis a good thing that we are volunteering at FV for they are low on staff members.  With tightening budgets, short staffing is always a problem in all the parks right now.  in addtion to the normal fall reduction of staff, FV has recently had two full time rangers move on to other "civilian" duties.  Rehiring will be slow ( see note above), so everyone has to double or triple up on duties.  It works, or it seems to work, but not without glitches.  Hopefully, we will help prevent some of the glitches.

Vancouver, Washington

The rig is parked in a parking lot at fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington.  We are across the Columbia River from Portland.  It is nice to be close to shopping and restaurants, and family and friends.  However, there is an adjustment necessary.  Sounds I-5 is close, the train is close, city streets are close, and the Portland airport flyway is overhead.  It will take a few days for the brain to adjust and ignore these intruders.

The August volunteers do not move on until Sept 9th so we will be in a temporary location for the time-being.  We are waiting for our supervisor to call us to let us know just where that location is.  Until then we are parked in a lot with minimal electricity and waiting.

  More later.

Leaving the Coast

We have moved on to another exotic place.  Goodbye, Oregon coast.  Goodbye, coastal breezes.  Goodbye cool temps.  Goodbye spectacular vistas.  Goodbye lighthouse.  See ya later, new-found friends.  Let's do this again some time soon

Treats from the Coast

Our last whole day at the coast was Saturday.  We work a full shift at the lighthouse, 10 - 4 and then came home to start getting things in order.  The serious stuff, satellite dish, slides, etc. could wait until Sunday morning, but I packed the big mat from in front of the door, folded the table cloth, and other small stuff. 

I took Mollie for a nice long walk and picked many handfulls of tasty coastal huckleberries.  They are just coming in season.  The first two weeks of September should be the peak picking time.  They are small so it takes some time to get a pint, but they are worth it.