It is a very quiet morning in the visitor center at Fort Vancouver. Nine visitors in two hours. I would much prefer being busy to this. That is one reason why we are going to move the trailer to our driveway in Canby this week. Our new house has so many tasks on its "to do" list that we need to spend more time there in order to get them accomplished.
That being said, this is a good place to work. The work is easy. The set-up for the volunteer is close by and all needs are there; 30amp service, water, sewer, and garbage. Free laundry facilites are provided as well. It is a metropolitan area so shopping is unlimited here in Vancouver, as well as in Portland acrtoss the river. This area is a treasure trove for exploration, whether it is the coast of Oregon or Washington, the mountains of the Cascades, the Columbia Gorge, or the deserts on the eastern parts of both states. If you have thought about being a VIP (Volunteer In the Parks) this would be a good place to start.
http://www.nps.gov/fova/index.htm
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday Morning at the Fort
After a rainy Sunday morning, today dawned clear and cool. This is the view looking Southwest out the window of the Visitor Center here at Fort Vancouver. If you look carefully, you can see the actual fort in the distance with the I-5 bridge connecting Washington and Oregon is behind it. This is our last week here with tomorrow, Tuesday, being the last workday. We will still be volunteering for the Lantern Tours which happen on Saturday nights. A time for some living history funT
Thursday, October 24, 2013
a Trip around Mt Hood
We enjoyed colorful trees, good roads, local fruit, tall mountains. The day was great.
Autumn
It's here. The nights are cool. Days are shorter. School is going at full steam. Football is in the air. The trees are decorating the area with reds, yellows and oranges and littering the ground under them. Mollie and I are enjoying walks at the fort, scuffing through the fallen leaves kicking them aside as we pass.
Monday, October 14, 2013
How's the "Move In' coming?
It's coming along, but thanks for asking. The guest bedroom is finished and made up, ready for guests. (That makes my wife happy.) We decided to paint it the same color, Yellow, as the guest room in our Eugene house. It is a bright and cheery color that we both like.
Today I donated our desk to the Kiwanas Retail store. It was a nice one, but way too big and clunky for our small bedroom/den. Our new house has a small built-in desk in the kitchen area so we will be using it a lot. Speaking of our new house, it's getting there. The two bedrooms are done, the den is mostly done. ( Too many books) The family room and living room are closer to being done. The big question is how to arrange the furniture/ where to put things. Some of our furniture will fit nicely, others will be more a challenge. My wife is a sentimentalist so getting rid of anything is difficult. " Aunt Mary gave this to me when I was five." or some such thing. Memories are attached to many items we possess for no other reason.
I put an add on Craigslist to give away moving boxes and the telephone rang in less than 15 minutes. Craigslist is an amazing tool. Atfer they have been loaded we are headed to Costco to purchase some shelving for the garage so that we can empty the storage unit. That will be another milestone.
Today I donated our desk to the Kiwanas Retail store. It was a nice one, but way too big and clunky for our small bedroom/den. Our new house has a small built-in desk in the kitchen area so we will be using it a lot. Speaking of our new house, it's getting there. The two bedrooms are done, the den is mostly done. ( Too many books) The family room and living room are closer to being done. The big question is how to arrange the furniture/ where to put things. Some of our furniture will fit nicely, others will be more a challenge. My wife is a sentimentalist so getting rid of anything is difficult. " Aunt Mary gave this to me when I was five." or some such thing. Memories are attached to many items we possess for no other reason.
I put an add on Craigslist to give away moving boxes and the telephone rang in less than 15 minutes. Craigslist is an amazing tool. Atfer they have been loaded we are headed to Costco to purchase some shelving for the garage so that we can empty the storage unit. That will be another milestone.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
October
Well, I'm back on. Where have I been? Three things.
1) We have been busy emptying the two storage units. The smaller one we emptied first and were out as of the end of September. The bigger one is nearly empty. "Nearly" meaning that we could get it cleaned out in a day if we had the floor space in the garage. All of the heavy furniture is in the house, thanks to a friend with a pickup with a liftgate. What a great thing! The unpacking continues......
2) The government shutdown has changed our schedule. In September we worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, which gave us four days to do other chores. However we didn't get possession of the house until the middle of the month. The first thing we did, while the house was empty, was paint. I painted the laundry room, our bedroom, and the third bedroom (the den). I am working on the guest bedroom right now as well, with more painting to come. It's not my favorite activity, but the results are worth it. New paint makes it our place. Colors? sunflower, beige, beige, yellow, in that order. I'm using Craigslist to get rid of the boxes.
3) We lost our long time best friend last week. We had known Mac since 1980 when we lived in Roseburg. He had been in increasingly poor health, but had gone to the doctor with chest pains on Monday and died in Veterans Hospital the following Tuesday. The last straw was Luekemia. Services were last Saturday.
Good Bye, Mac. You will be missed.
1) We have been busy emptying the two storage units. The smaller one we emptied first and were out as of the end of September. The bigger one is nearly empty. "Nearly" meaning that we could get it cleaned out in a day if we had the floor space in the garage. All of the heavy furniture is in the house, thanks to a friend with a pickup with a liftgate. What a great thing! The unpacking continues......
2) The government shutdown has changed our schedule. In September we worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, which gave us four days to do other chores. However we didn't get possession of the house until the middle of the month. The first thing we did, while the house was empty, was paint. I painted the laundry room, our bedroom, and the third bedroom (the den). I am working on the guest bedroom right now as well, with more painting to come. It's not my favorite activity, but the results are worth it. New paint makes it our place. Colors? sunflower, beige, beige, yellow, in that order. I'm using Craigslist to get rid of the boxes.
3) We lost our long time best friend last week. We had known Mac since 1980 when we lived in Roseburg. He had been in increasingly poor health, but had gone to the doctor with chest pains on Monday and died in Veterans Hospital the following Tuesday. The last straw was Luekemia. Services were last Saturday.
Good Bye, Mac. You will be missed.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
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.
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.
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