Pete & Teri’s Next Big Adventure

In response to those who have asked to see photos of the INSIDE of our little cottage, this one’s for you. Keep in mind that there’s a lot of work to be done – many rooms even have multiple colors on the walls, where previous tenants have either been unable to make up their minds or have simply tired of the task of painting soon after starting.

However, we find it charming (we’ve even gotten used to the multiple wall colors), and are very much looking forward to all of the “home renovation” projects we have scheduled for this summer.

Our living room, complete with wood stove:

“The boys” napping in the bedroom:

Looking into the bedroom, from the living room:

Corner of the living room, with ladder to the loft:

Babycat enjoying the loft (our future bedroom, once it’s fixed up):

“The room between the rooms” (not really a room, but connecting the living room to the kitchen):

Our cool old-fashioned windows open into the room:

Our wonderful spacious kitchen:

Our very cool 1950s stove:

And the spices and herbs above it:

Pretty tiles in the bathroom – made by one of the hippies that used to live here:

And from the outside, the very back room (with the open door) is our mud room/laundry room:

Cherries and strawberries and blackberries, oh my! ‘Course, the critters seem to get first dibs, and by the time they’re done, there’s just a handful left for us. We’ve learned to started picking them when they’re nearly ripe, and allow them to finish ripening indoors (though it took an entire cherry tree full of pits for us to learn this lesson – glad someone’s getting fat and happy off of our fruit!)

But despite having to share our bounty, it’s incredibly gratifying to have a snack plucked fresh from our trees, or a salad made from greens grown in our garden. Who knew this would be so much fun?

Yes, that’s Peter, shoveling horsesh*t. (I particularly like the cigarette dangling from his mouth – adds an authentic redneck touch…)

Yesterday, we had 2 firsts for our life here in Oregon. We joined our first CSA – for those who don’t know, that stands for Community Supported Agriculture – individuals buy shares of a farm’s seasonal harvest, receiving a weekly goody-box of fresh-as-can-be produce, while in turn supporting the farm and sharing the risk that goes along with growing crops. We went to the farm for our first pick-up, met the owners of the farm and this season’s apprentices – all of whom were lovely and warm – and picked up our first box, including: spinach, cilantro, 2 varieties of lettuce, a big bag of mixed salad greens, radishes, scallions, broccoli, and something called garlic whistles:

I don’t know, my garlic greens have never looked like that! The flavor, however, was fantastic. And, we both agreed that we’re quite happy to know that these are the people who will be raising our food for the next few months.

In the evening, we made a visit to a lady with a horse. Or rather, a horse with some sh*t. The soil in our garden seems to be rather hit or miss, and we just weren’t making compost fast enough. So yes, we shoveled a truckload-full into the big red monster (I mean truck), and drove it home – where our landlord was properly horrified at our unloading of a pile (and I mean a BIG pile) into the yard. (Well, 1/2 of it went into the compost pile – the other half went to an undisclosed location in the “back 40,” to mature.)

And now…she got front too!

It seems it’s something of a fashion statement to remove the bumpers from old bugs; I guess some people think it looks more streamlined or cool or something. Given that I’m a newbie at driving stick, finding (year-appropriate) bumpers for my little green bug became something of a high priority. A while ago, Peter was able to snag the rear bumper, but that still left us in need of one in front, along with an assortment of other missing or needing-to-be-replaced parts.

Well, someone else’s misfortune turned out to be our good fortune. Peter responded to a Craigslist ad for a 1974 Super Beetle (correct year AND make!) that was being parted out. Turned out someone had smashed into the driver’s side, leaving problems that were too expensive to repair. So not only did Peter come home with a new (used) front bumper, he also scored a complete set of seats – front and back (my car currently has no back seats, and the front ones need some help!), a set of seatbelts in better condition than mine, and various other goodies.

Doesn’t she look purdy all dressed up and ready to go?

On another note, we finally made a drive to the coast last weekend. It’s only about an hour away, so last Saturday we packed up some munchies and drove out to see the Sea Lion Caves. The Oregon Coast is every bit as stunning as we’ve been told, and the sea lions were out in droves.

Here’s some eye candy for ya (and yes, those are piles of sea lions sunning themselves at the bottom of the cliff):

And last but not least, a warm welcome to the blogosphere to my girl Jen and her friend Shelly, otherwise known as Girls for Glaciers – a great blog about how they’re getting green and learning to reduce their carbon footprint, one baby step at a time. In their words: Two gals in big cities on opposite coasts try to go green and save some glaciers without turning their lives upside down. Stop by for some green inspiration!

Peter on a John Deere clearing a field…Teri baking bread…and now Ceili is becoming a local, too:

Yesterday on my way home from work, I looked up and saw an enormous eagle chasing a smaller hawk which was carrying some small, unlucky rodent in its talons. An amazing sight. The hawk dove, turned, climbed, but the eagle was right on his butt just a few feet behind. I guess I witnessed a rural mugging.

Later in the day, an 18″ black snake slithered across my path in the orchard, where the Queen Anne cherries are now edible but not fully ripe and the apple trees are loaded with 1 1/2″ baby apples.

That’s all well and good, but I hadn’t had a real bagel in a looooong time. Today I tried Bagel Sphere, and it’s the closest I’ve had since NYC. A good everything bagel (not one of those giant, bread garbage things) with CC, lox, capers, and onions – YUM! Now if only they had pizza out here…I think we’re gonna start experimenting with making it ourselves…