BarkDust

ahem.....

in her exitement, deb neglected to mention that the woodstock neighborhood is also home to the sausages of distinction at Otto's Sausage House. ..... mmm .. sausage n

posted by Deb @ 8/30/2004 09:35:00 PM 1 comments

Exciting News Flash!!!!

Thank God! After driving through many neighborhoods and touring many homes for sale, we've finally found one that meets our qualifications! It's in the Woodstock neighborhood which is just east of Westmoreland where we live right now. Because it is further east the neighborhood is not as "gentrified" yet and the houses are a little more reasonably priced. We are pleased that the house is within easy walking distance of a small shopping district--two blocks to the library, a little more to the grocery store and hardware and a few restaurants. It has three large bedrooms, a bowling alley for a living room, a nice size dining room plus an eat-in kitchen, and a partially finished basement complete with dark paneling, orange and brown shag carpet, and an orange laminate wet bar! We're not sure what we're going to do with all that space. We will certainly have room for many out-of-town guests. (So book that plane ticket, Wendy!) Hopefully the inspections and everything will go well and we'll be able to close the deal rather painlessly (except for the pain in our wallet).

posted by Deb @ 8/30/2004 09:07:00 PM 2 comments

This is the rear viewof the house. It is on a corner lot and the side street is what they euphemistically call an "unimproved roadway" in Portland. Basically that means it's rutty dirt road. Apparently, about 20% of the roads in SE Portland are unimproved. The great thing about this is it forces people to drive out on the main roads and not go speeding through the little neighborhoods. The back yard is fenced in (Yes, we can finally get a dog!) and there is an overgrown rose garden that will need some serious tending (or removal?).

posted by Deb @ 8/30/2004 09:06:00 PM 0 comments

Welcome to our house! Yay! Today our offer was accepted on this "fabulous 1925 home w/incredible curb appeal! High ceilings, large rooms, hardwoods under the carpeting, spacious kitchen, full basement, sun porch [now that's a stretch!!!] & a yard that will delight any gardener!" (Jim "The Dobber" Dobson--no really, that's what the seller's agent calls himself....I am not making this one up...promise!). 

posted by Deb @ 8/30/2004 09:02:00 PM 0 comments

Just as we got off the trail Saturday afternoon, it started raining and hasn't quit since. Sunday Nate and I went to church at Imago Dei (maybe it will be our "new" church) and then looked at some houses. We saw a couple of great houses but none of them were IT. This afternoon there was a wooden boat show down on the river bank. It was still raining a lot so not many people (or boats) were there. Anyway, we took a picture of this one because it is sort of what Nate would like to try his hand at. After seeing the wooden canoe that his uncle and cousin from Kansas built, Nate has got the bug to build his own. --deb 

posted by Deb @ 8/22/2004 06:31:00 PM 1 comments

We hiked about 7 or 8 miles along the Lewis River. It was gorgeous. It continually amazes me how the Creator can take a couple of simple elements--rocks, trees, water--and use them in endlessly fascinating permutations. This is the Lower Falls of the Lewis River. We also hiked up to the Middle and Upper Falls. 

posted by Deb @ 8/22/2004 06:29:00 PM 0 comments

After a whirlwind driving trip of the west coast, our friend Diasuke is back in Portland. We will take him to the airport on Monday to fly back to Japan. On Saturday we all went hiking up in Washington state--actually pretty close to Mt. St. Helens although it was too cloudy to see St. Helens. 

posted by Deb @ 8/22/2004 06:26:00 PM 0 comments

Here's my little baby niece, Kalvary, with her daddy Ryan. I am so excited that I will actually get to see her in person over Labor Day weekend as well as go to my best-friend-from-childhood Amy's wedding in Columbus, Ohio. I am one fortunate girl! --deb 

posted by Deb @ 8/19/2004 06:34:00 PM 0 comments

Oregon Eccentricities....

.....or what we've learned in the last couple of weeks... 1. Step off the curb at any corner and just walk, no matter what the traffic situation is. In Portland, pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way. The driver's manual says that "there is a crosswalk at every corner--marked or unmarked." 2. If something is a little expensive you say it is "spendy". As in, "Cha Cha Cha has great Mexican food and it's not spendy." 3. Dogs are permitted everywhere. Cats on leashes apparently are too, but we did overhear one woman complaining that Hollywood Video wouldn't let her bring her cat in. Restaurants that have sidewalk seating often have a bucket of water sitting by the curb for the pooches. 4. Bikes are a valid form of transportation. Every major road has a bike lane. There's even a city program where you can donate your old polluting car and get $500 for a bike (anyone got an old VW diesel Rabbit laying around that you'd sell me for $100?). 5. If you do drive a gas-burning vehicle you should liberally cover it with stickers that represent your personal political or sexual identity..."When Clinton lied, nobody died"..."Jesus was a hippy" and lots of unoriginal Phish and Grateful Dead stickers. We've thought about carrying our digital camera with us 24/7 just to photograph all the whacked out bumper sticker messages.

posted by Deb @ 8/19/2004 05:43:00 PM 1 comments

Us obscuring the view of the Pacific Ocean...the bone-numbingly cold Pacific Ocean. Nate was standing like a stork on one foot so he could keep the other one warm :)

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 10:00:00 PM 0 comments

The breeze on the coast made a great place for Nate to practice flying his stunt kite. He's getting pretty good at it! 

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 09:59:00 PM 0 comments

It was a beautiful day so we drove to the coast. Now Diasuke can truly say he has driven from sea to shining sea--Maine to Oregon!  

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 09:58:00 PM 0 comments

On Sunday morning, Nate and I road the Providence Bridge Pedal. They close off lanes on 6 of the bridges over the Willamette (causing grief for tons of drivers, I'm sure) for this bike ride. There were over 15,000 riders--organized chaos. 

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 09:57:00 PM 0 comments

Guess where we made Diasuke go with us?!? The Japanese Gardens. We're such terrible hosts! 

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 09:55:00 PM 0 comments

Our friend, Diasuke, drove into town on Saturday. Diasuke lived with my mom and dad for a couple of months as an exchange teacher at the small Christian school that my mom works at. Now he's driving across the country before going home to Japan. 

posted by Deb @ 8/08/2004 09:53:00 PM 0 comments

Oh yeah....I meant to add...

...that today it is raining for the first time since we got to Portland. We had a sprinkle or two in the middle of the night but this is the first rainy day. #1 misconception that Portlanders want to maintain: Portland is such a rainy dreary city that you would never want to live here. The truth: Summers are dazzlingly beautiful and there are about the same number of "grey" days here as there are in northern Indiana.

posted by Deb @ 8/06/2004 10:40:00 AM 1 comments

A tiny update

We did put an offer on a house this week. Just to show you how hot the real estate market is in the part of town we would ideally like to live in---we offered more than $20,000 OVER the asking price and we got outbid. We were just a little disappointed but not surprised. We knew the house was underpriced but it needed a lot of work... so we didn't want to bid so much that we wouldn't have any money left over to fix it up. The good thing about that house was that it made us get in gear and get pre-approved for a mortgage and get a realtor. So now we're in good hands to continue the house search. It may take a little while though. We would really like to stay close-in enough for Nate to continue to bicycle to work. This eliminates the need to buy a second car. We also want a house with enough space for our hobbies and for a guest room so all of our friends and fam can feel welcome to our home. Our house in Mishawaka is scheduled to close on Monday. Our realtor, Mary Jo Shively, has been just excellent working with us long distance. I recommend her to anyone wanting to buy or sell a house in St. Joe county. --deb

posted by Deb @ 8/06/2004 10:31:00 AM 0 comments

Sunday in the park (down the bluff by the Willamette River). Nate's office is about right above his head. And that's downtown Portland in the background to the right. 

posted by Deb @ 8/02/2004 10:04:00 AM 0 comments

Sundae in the Park.... note the bagpipers under the trees.... 

posted by Deb @ 8/02/2004 10:02:00 AM 0 comments

Saturday at the DMV, Sunday in the Park

We spent this weekend making ourselves "real" Oregonians. Most of Saturday morning was spent at the DMV getting Oregon driver's licenses and getting our car registered here. Portland requires that all vehicles pass an emissions test. Fortunately our car passed with flying colors so we didn't have to spend additional time and money to get a tune-up and all that jazz. Sunday afternoon we went to "Sundae in the Park"--a community celebration where an ice cream cone only costs 25 cents (sundaes are more expensive--35). We also have started to look for houses. We found one that may actually be a good possibility (stay tuned for further details) so we spent the rest of the day calling realtors and mortgage brokers and filling out a mortgage application. We are learning in this tight real estate market that things move very quickly! Hopefully, we can keep up! We would love to be in a new old house of our own.

posted by Deb @ 8/02/2004 09:53:00 AM 0 comments