Phil Down Under

We have a huge crawl space under our house. It is about 700 square feet and is about to get a makeover. Most Oregonians don't use their garages because they use them for storage as there are very few basements - it is just too wet in the winter months. But we like to use our garage and want it clutter free - especially since we didn't have one for over 18 years. Thus the makeover of the crawl space.
So, this is the entry way to the "down under" area. Right now you have to use a step ladder to get in and out as it is a pretty big drop once you open the door.

Phil is working on putting headers around the cement part so that we can build a "deck" there to store our stuff.

He is trying to explain to me what is going on. As you can see, it is pretty deep, long and wide.

This is some of the boards that we recently got at an estate sale. They were selling things pretty cheap but we went during the half off sale and got it at a steal. Some nice long boards, 4x4's and lots of shelving..

There are about 16 - 8' x 16" x 3/4" boards that Phil has his stuff on top of, that we will use for flooring of the deck as well as shelves of what is left over. Will make a pretty nice size for all the stuff we don't use but once in a while. We now have my Escape in the garage and Phil's Honda stays outside, but maybe we can fit both in during the winter months. We will see once the storage gets built. Stay tuned for updates. BTW - yes, that is one of Phil's home brews (St. Kev #2) on the boards.

Blueberry picking

It was a beautiful day in Sandy, normal temps, sunny, not a cloud in the crystal clear blue sky. A fine day to go blueberry picking. I didn't have the camera for pics of the bushes - but bushes are bushes. I headed to the bluest of bushes and began picking. They were little but plentiful, oh so very yummy and 7 pounds later I headed for home.
Doesn't look like much but there is actually 7 pounds here. I am just glad that I didn't have to get weighed - I had to check out each of the bushes to make sure that the berries were good. Some had tough skins on them so we didn't want too many of those. So, yes, I got the best ones. :-)

Like I said, they were small. But sweet - better than the ones I bought at the market yesterday.

So I washed them, laid them out on a towel covered cookie sheet and put them in the freezer to freeze as individual fruits. Then I packaged them into freezer bags to stack once they are completely frozen. I will end up with 5 full quart bags and will enjoy them in the winter when fresh blueberries are $5 per 1/2 pint. Of course I will need to stop eating them now or I won't have 5 full quart bags. :-) I just may have to go get some vanilla ice cream and have a treat tonight. ummmmm.

Peas are blooming

Every morning I go out and sit on the back deck with my breakfast. I usually check the garden just to see how it is doing. This morning I noticed that my peas are blossoming. It will be great to have snap peas for dinner and in salads with my spinach. Now we just need some tomatoes to go along with it.

Greg's Visit

Greg came to Oregon to attend a wedding with his friend, Erin and was with us for a week. They went white water rafting on Deschutes River, attended the wedding, went to Multnomah Falls and the Vista House before Erin left on Monday afternoon. Erin has all those pictures as my camera seemed to be tired and stayed at home. But before Greg left yesterday, we did some other things and I did remember the camera for our day excursion around Mt. Hood on Tuesday.
This is Mt. Hood near The Meadows ski resort. There isn't much snow left but the view was beautiful anyway. Aren't those two men handsome??? :-)

There was a great waterfall on a side road that we stopped to see. Very calming and peaceful.

We got great pictures of the Gorge on the road back toward Portland.

We stopped at Bonneville Dam to see the fish that were still trying to swim up the Columbia River. Phil is looking at one of the old propellers from the Dam Powerhouse.

There is a fish hatchery next door with a 10 foot sturgeon there. He was huge!!!

The rainbow trout ponds were fun to watch. Some little kids were feeding them so they looked pretty healthy.

Before returning home, we stopped at Salty's - a great seafood place on the Columbia River. We sat outside and shared very tasty dinners . A great visit with Greg and wonderful memories to remember.

Garden Growth

I went out to check my garden today after our trip to Michigan. WOW!!! Things grew while we were gone.
Here are my peas and the first batch of radishes.

Yummy spinach for dinner tonight.

Tomatoes are huge but no tomatoes on them. I have one big one that you cannot see but it is still green. Hopefully there will be some soon. Can't wait to have a good tomato to eat.

Project at Moms

Before we left for Michigan, my Mom said that she had a project for Phil to do. At first she didn't want to tell us what it was but I convinced her that it would be best that we bring the right clothing and tools if needed. So, she wanted Phil to work on her upstairs windows - re-glazing them so that they don't fall out. They are about 40 years old, the glaze sparse and the paint pretty much gone. So Phil cleaned them up, stripped out the old glaze, re-glazed, primed and painted the four sets of upstairs windows.

Phil priming the windows at the back of the house.

My sister, Ginny, her husband, Tom and their granddaughter, Macy came over to help. Macy had her favorite Wall-E shirt on and posed pretty for us. While Macy was in with us, her Grandpa Tom was out cutting a few low limbs off of Gramma G's trees so she doesn't get hit while mowing her grass.

While Tom was up on the ladder discussing the next project to do, they noticed that the flashing on the bay window was bad and probably the reason for occasional water leaks in her dining room. So, they fixed that as well as a few shingles on the front of the house.

I had another chance to do a little more cleaning and organized a couple of cupboards for her. We also recycled a few boxes of jars that she had in her basement. Thanks Tom and Ginny for your help with this project. Just wait until we return for the next one. :-)

A visit to Chicago and meeting Bill

After the wedding festivities, Phil and I decided to spend a little more time with Kevin and Kerry so we went to Chicago on Saturday. We had not yet met the new dog addition to the family, Bill McGill, so it was a must to meet the pooch. However, we not be asked back again. We went to dinner on Saturday evening and the air conditioning was not working when we got back. :-/ Then on Sunday, although it was extremely hot and humid (95 with 95% humidity), we tried our best to stay cool with the fans. We went out to dinner again so that we could all get cool. Upon our arrival back, we stopped to visit the neighbors and the transformer in the back alley blew - thus no electricity for even the fans. :-{ Yes it was hot, and kinda miserable with the weather, BUT we had a great time hanging out with and enjoyed our stay with Kevin and Kerry. :-)
Here is Bill looking out the window with Kevin for his visitors.

It was hot, but that didn't stop Bill from flopping on my lap to get up close and personal with the Mom.

Patterson is as handsome as ever and was very excited to see us as well. However, he has bad hips and it was so sad to see him struggle to sit down.

While there, even though it was roughly 105 degrees on the back porch, Kevin and Phil needed to brew a batch together. (See the LaVoy Boys Brewing Blog for the update on this brew) This is a turkey cooker that Kevin has fixed to do his boiling so he doesn't heat up (or stink up) the kitchen.

Lollapalozza was in town (a huge concert of many different bands in Grants Park and thousands of people) so a few of Kevin's friends from high school came by to take a load off their feet. (Eric, Lori, Brian, Kerry, Kevin)

Brian and Eric were giving Kevin and Phil moral support while they stirred the pot.

Kevin is mixing up his brew into the yeast from the last brew - he uses a screwdriver with a special stirrer - does a great job and you don't have to lift the bottle up and shake it. Yep - a new tool that Phil will probably have to get.

Kerry has this really neat quilt from her Nana that the doggies have loved a little too much. I took pictures to see if it is feasible to try my hand at a second one.

Kerry really has a green thumb in the gardens. This is the front garden from the top of the stairs.

Phil is out inspecting Kerry's garden in the back, taken from the back porch. They have put in as many boxes as possible in a small area as well as some containers and they are all thriving - including the radishes that Bill loves to sneak.

The back garden from the parking pad.

The front garden from the front walkway.

We had to leave and get back to Grams to help her with a special project she had for Phil to do (see next blog for the update on that one). So Bill watched us leave from the front window. See you soon, Bill.