Finished up the Care-a-vanner work.

Here is our crew of Care-a-Vanners. The gentleman on the right is Steve Zeman, who is the building supervisor. Similar to my last post I can list a batch of new construction experiences. The last 4 days we worked on siding at a new home. 

The outer white "stuff" on the window is called "J channel". I had the task of fitting and installing it on all of the windows of the house. It's purpose is to hide all of the ends and edges of the vinyl siding. When I finished with that, kind of a solo task, I worked with others putting the siding on. 

Dan attaching siding. 

The last few days of work flew by with several fun feasts. Carmen, who is the future owner of the home where we did the siding work, made 2 meals for us. She brought tacos for lunch Saturday and delivered pesole with toppings to us for dinner. Friday evening Steve invited us and a couple of his key local volunteers and their wives to his home for barbecue. We all brought side dishes and Steve cooked chicken, pork and brats. Mmmmm! They have an awesome yard and garden including ripe raspberries we picked to add to dessert! It was a fun evening getting to visit & get to know about each other's non-work life. Those conversations are when the "small world" discoveries happen. I think Tommie (one of the Care-a-Vanners) went to jr high with a guy who explored caves in Mexico with Steve back in the 70's. I discovered Rick, one of the local volunteers, has a nephew at Regis High in Stayton, Oregon, where my brother is the new principal. Yes it's a small small world. 

So anyway, it was a fun and satisfying couple weeks. Now we setting off to see the  country. Today we are traveling SE of IF along the Snake River. We are encountering several bicyclists on the road. I am pretty sure they are the crew of Bike and Builders who will spend the next couple days painting with Steve. We hope to find a cool mountain camp site within a couple hours of driving. Our destination tomorrow will be Lava Hot Springs. 

So long for now reader. jb

Working Hard for Habitat in Idaho Falls

We arrived in Idaho Falls on Monday the 7th and settled in at the Shady Rest Campground. We have the camper off of the truck so camp stays put while we use the truck around town. We are here under an umbrella organization called Care-a-Vanners. We are a sort of subset of Habitat for Humanity. There are two other couples one from Arizona and one from California also here to volunteer for a couple weeks. 

We are often asked what we usually do when we work for Habitat. But, there just does not seem to be a "usual". Our first day we shoveled gravel and did some minor repairs at a couple finished and lived in homes. I painted sandy tread paint on a ramp for 8 yr old twins who are wheel chair bound. Dan painted stain on the handrails of their neighbor's house. 

Here is where we are probably working the rest of our time here. We are helping rehab a 1940's home. Most of the gutting was done but there was one room which had been left in touched that needed quite a bit of work. It is an old carport that was turned into a garage that was turned into a bedroom. The next few pictures are from our work in there. 

This morning before the heat set in Dan and I got harnessed up and helped tear off the roof on a little back room on the house. 

This evening we are going out to dinner with our fellow workers. We will try a Mexican restaurant called Lupita's, it was recommended by the locals. In the mean time I am going to get my sewing machine out and get a bit of quilting done. 

I am feeling the good kind of tired. I hope whatever you have done with your week brings satisfaction to you. jb

A Wheely & Thready Day

Saturday was a wonderfully normal day. In the morning I got out my feather weight sewing machine and sewed and trimmed about 50 sub-units of a quilt. 

Next activity was a little bike ride with the Sawtooth Mountains as a back drop. Followed by a scenic drive back to camp. 

We then cleaned up in our handy outdoor shower. Clean does feel great! 

Next task was playing barber...

Afterwards I got back to another batch of quilt squares. Dan was chef for the night, so the day finished with popcorn dinner. I read a couple chapters in my book and before it was even dark I was so tuckered out, I went to sleep. 

Today we traveled part way to Idaho Fallls. We are staying tonight below the beautiful Mt Borah and the Lost Mountains. Tomorrow we catch up with some other "Care--Vanners" to work on some Habitat for Humanity projects for a couple weeks. More about that in another post. 

Blessings to you reader...isn't it grand when just normal is just wonderful?!

Popping up in Stanley ID

Evening view from our camp on the Salmon Ruver near Stanley. There is no service there so not much of a post. Heading off to raft on Independence Day. 

Settling in to Road Life

Yesterday we traveled to the Deshutes River Recreation Area. Really just a campground off of I84, where the Deschutes River meets the Columbia. We spent several pleasant hours relaxing, napping, reading & quilting in the shade of some large poplar trees near the river. 

One of my expectations for this trip is to connect with some of our roots and family heritage. This morning I realized part of the time I will just need to open my eyes and unlock some memories. 

This bit of the Columbia Gorge holds some family legacy. In the 50s, around the time of my birth my father, H. Scott Coulter, had a significant hand in the design of this section of the freeway. The challenges were many. They needed to squeeze a freeway, a secondary highway and 2 railroads in where a lake was soon to bury a huge waterfall on the mighty Columbia. The fishing folk of Celilo got the short straw in this event along with all of us who will never see those falls. Of course Dad did not have anything to do with the decision to build the dam. His role was to make a safe and esthetic highway. 

Here are the falls we won't ever see, borrowed from somewhere on the www. 

We took a little bike ride trying to do better with the fitness "stuff". A beautiful heron watched us pass. 

Happy journeys everyone, even if just to your own back yard. jb

Thrown Some Lemons

Well some times life just takes some unexpected turns. On my last post I was proudly expounding on the slow pace of the beginning of our journey. We went to the Bonneville Hotsprings Resort on Wednesday and enjoyed a couples hot soak, wrap, and massage. In the evening we had a tasty dinner; I had the half rack of lamb and Dan enjoyed salmon. My favorite dish was a starter of saucey mushrooms served with buttery toasted slices of baguette. 

The phone coverage was very weak for our AT&T phones so it wasn't until about 6 Thursday morning that the message came through that we had trouble back home. Our house had been burglarized about 3:30 in the morning. Most of our near neighbors were awakened by the very loud siren of our security system. I have sometimes wondered how I would personally react to being robbed & I was about to find out. I am not going to go into any great details. Suffice it to say the bad guys got some "stuff" and that is all it is is "stuff". We have insurance for that. As I was putting things back in order I was thinking these poor guys have no idea what real treasure is...treasure is memories of your child's first teddy bear and other toys, photos of days gone by. 

These are the things they tossed aside & that I was grateful to find safe. Treasures are friends and neighbors who stood out in the cold rain worrying and watching as police and their canine unit searched our house. Apparently one of those neighbors said "Boy Jean makes a mean berry cobbler I think she is going to owe us one for going through this experience!"  When I heard that I thought "absolutely!" So when life throws you lemons...make berry cobbler!

Sweet to treats to you dear reader, remember the things that matter are not things. 

P.S. I keep imagining punishing my bad guys by making them sit with me while I re-sort the photos they tossed and explain to them the memory attached to each and every one, until they are bored to tears. 

A Little Finishing on the Beginning

I Today is the first day of a new journey. The plan is for it to be our longest trip so far. Long both in distance and duration. It will be great if the pace we have today is typical of the rest of the trip. 

We closed the house and pulled out just before noon. We drove across town and had lunch with our good friends Cathy, Janice & Larry. After a leisurely visit we drove north to Portland then 35 miles east to Ainsworth State Park. We were already parked for the night by 3:30. 

The "finishing" I am doing is on a little lap quilt I started during last fall's trek. I am calling it "9 on the Rails". Each 9 patch has five squares from one shirt, which I picked up at a thrift store in Rapid City, SD. The piecing was complete by February, then it was at my favorite LAQ (that is long arm quilter's) while we traveled this spring. 

I saved this final bit of hand work for the road. I think the quilt will be a nice car sized comfy to have along.

 

To whomever finds these words I wish for them the pleasure of birdsong summer breezes and good company. 

jb