Oregon Living 2022 – Blog #3 – A Run Up the Mountain & Buying A Shed

 

Saturday, January 15^th., 2022…… No rains today but it’s still really cold. We went out to walk the dogs and it wasn’t too bad. But later, after we got back from Kevin’s, it was chilly out there!  We marked off the spot where we want the new building to go (no, we haven’t got one yet) but we didn’t stay out too long because it was really nippy!  So, most of the rest of the day was spent in the house. I worked on the blog and Cathye worked in her office. We also spent some time prepping for her meeting with the wedding venue (Boulder Falls Inn). We have some decisions to make and wanted to talk about it before she goes. I watched some football and then we settled in later to watch some taped shows. We decided to take the doggies out for a drive tomorrow (weather permitting) and talked about that before calling it a night.

Sunday, January 16^th., 2022…… Today was such a nice day – ok, maybe not compared to SoCal! – so we decided to take a Sunday drive. We loaded up the pups and headed off to Mary’s Peak. This is one of the higher points in our immediate area. It’s part of the Coastal range so we headed west toward Corvallis and a few miles past Philomath we headed up Hwy 34 before taking the turn up to Mary’s Peak. You can see it in the distance.  

Because the last horrific windstorm had downed many trees, the roads were just barely accessible. We had the Acadia so we were ok but not able to use 4-wheel drive. As you can see from the pics below, we ran into snow! 

We got through most of it (about 10 miles) and even got past the ‘road closed’ sign and went about a mile father then found the deeper snow and had to back out and turn around. Oh well, it was still fun!  We parked and got the doggos out for a little run. Rylee loves the snow! Jama not so much…

Once we got back to the car and had paws and shoes wiped down, we headed back home to rest for the day. I watched football playoff games while Cathye watched Hallmark. It was a fun day!  

Monday, January 17^th., 2022…… Weather is cloudy and cold, but no rain today. We had Princess and Butthead out for their walk and got them and us fed breakfast.  Today we needed to go to Albany to check in on Jamie. We first went by the trailer to check on it and grab some stuff for the house.  We went and dropped off Jamie’s money and then drove south of town to look at a couple of shed businesses. If you know me, you know I like to compare product and won’t buy the first thing I see. We had already looked at three other places to get an idea of quality and craftsmanship and bang for the buck, so we kind of knew what we wanted and didn’t want. We found one lot that had two used sheds and that opened my eye a bit. Besides financing these sheds, I guess they can also rent-to-own them as well and they get repos from time to time. We found two of them which didn’t look too bad. The one I liked was already insulated (we assumed) and drywalled and was wired for power. No one was on the lot (MLK day) so we moved on. The second place also rented U-Haul trailers and the guy was busy with a truck rental but gave us the master key to look around. We were excited to see that his prices were much lower on this brand. We would come back later because we had an appointment with the vet for Jama’s shots, plus I wanted to go see the guy Cathye knew in Sweet Home before we decided. Turns out he was not there either but his sheds were unlocked. Same manufacturer as the first company so we already knew prices.  I called and left a message about the used sheds and the guy called back. Turns out the one we were interested in was more expensive than an original because it was drywalled and had electrical installed. And it was bigger than we needed. But because it was older, we thought it would be cheaper. Guess not but it gave me cause to think about it.  We knew we needed to go back by there tomorrow anyway because we needed to go to Albany to get Jama’s license renewed.   

Tuesday, January 18^th., 2022…… Forecast was little or no expected rain today. It was dry when we walked the dogs, but still pretty cold and a little windy.  This morning Cathye had scheduled Corey to come back and dig out the stump and plant the blue spruce we had bought before Christmas. It was still in the pot and needed to go into the ground asap. She worked on getting him started and I headed off to Wilco to get an axe because I couldn’t find mine. Imagine that! Once we got him equipped, we left him to his task and headed off to get breakfast and then on to Albany to the animal control office. Canine registration for senior pet owners is only $15.00 in OR. I think I remember it being the same in Calif too. We got that done and stopped at the place that had the used shed. The guy I spoke to on the phone yesterday was there today and we got to meet him. We took a close look at the shed and discussed its pros and cons. We are looking for a 10x12 and this one was 8x16. I had done the math, and drywall and electrical would run big bucks. We didn’t plan on doing anything more than running a cord out to it for light and maybe for a space heater, but complete wiring was a bonus. It was weathered and would need paint and some other tlc and the price made the cons outweigh the pros, so we passed and went up the road to the second place. The guy was there and we seriously looked at the models. The good thing was that each of these were for sale now so there would be no wait time. We signed the deal and bought this 10x16 for about the same price as the 10x12 at the other yard(s).

We will need to measure now to see if it will fit where we planned or if I need to get more gravel fill. When we came back home, Corey had the stump out and the tree planted!  Yaay! Funny, it looked a lot bigger sitting on the back porch!  

Wednesday, January 19^th., 2022…… Today, Cathye headed off to SHEM (Sweet Home Emergency Ministries) for her volunteer work at their food bank.  We had slept later than usual so I got dog walking duties while she got ready to leave. After she left, I started laundry and worked on that for most of the morning. When she got back, we started researching door lock assemblies for her Shasta trailer. Back in July, at the camping weekend in Brownsville, she got locked out of the trailer and a guy next door drilled out the lockset. Well, it is now toast so we have the task to find another 1964 door/latch assembly!  There are several vintage trailer hobbyists and businesses around the country, and she had some old contact info, so she started calling. Meanwhile, I started searching eBay for old parts and assemblies. Wow, these things are few and far between!  Plus, they cost an arm and a leg! Now we wish we would have just broken a window which would have been way cheaper!  More on this as it develops…

Thursday, January 20^th., 2022…… The weather is still gloomy. We have hours when the sun is out and it looks like it will warm up (but never does) and then it gets cloudy and misty or we get sprinkles. On a positive note – the grass never looked greener!  Since it was more sun and less gloom today, we decided to spend it working outside. I have it in my head to install an iron pipe across one end of the potting shed so she can use it for hanging pots and such. I figured out what I needed and took some measurements and headed off to Lowes where I had previously seen what I needed.  I had a piece of ¾ in. iron gas pipe cut and threaded so I could install the bracket plates on the ends and then mount it on the wall as one piece. My measuring and his cutting/threading were spot on and the piece went up with no problem! Next up was water!  We are lucky that Walt had installed water and power out there. I connected a water line and hose and ran it over to her new bench so that will make it easy when she starts working out there in a month or so. While I was doing all of this, Cathye went through the boxes and boxes that Corey had brought over from the sheds in the trailer. She sorted them into three piles: house, storage, and yard sale. She only got three or four done before we called it a day.      

Friday, January 21^st., 2022…… Another project we are working on is the inside of the Shasta trailer.

We are booked for the Vintage RV Rally in July. She has this idea that we can enlarge the fold down dinette with a bolster that will help me fit in there better. I’ve never slept in that bed because it’s so tiny, but if this works that would be great!  I have a bed extension very similar to it in the motorhome that I use when the bedroom slides are out to make another 8-10 inches of leg extension on the rv queen bed. That works well, so we found an upholstery shop in Albany and took the piece to him. He was only 6 months out to make the piece!  Not!  There are other places around and we are thinking that if we can just get the foam cut to size, that she can cover it with fabric.   We also took our bags of cans and bottles to the recycle center. I think we got over $60.00 this time! When we got back and rested for a bit, Cathye got herself an appointment for a pedicure later that afternoon so she headed off for that. My job was to pick out a place to go for dinner when she got back. I chose The Depot. It’s about 18 miles away in Albany but it is always worth the drive!  Plus, I was craving scallops (which were delicious as usual!). We got back home and settled in and relaxed and watched tv until bedtime.