Ground Hog Day!

December 2018 - February 2019

You are probably wondering why I would title this Ground Hog Day? Well no special reason other than it has come and gone and I am just now getting around to updating you about SIT’s happenings.

Christmas was nice as it was the first time we were in our home for the holidays since December 2012. We had Steve’s Dad and a close family friend over for Christmas dinner. It was nice to have them here and we got to enjoy their company a few times over the rest of the holiday season.

A Nice Evening Out

We have been busy with doing small projects at home and even getting a round of golf in once in a while this winter. For the most part it has been very mild so we have been able to keep the waterfall going.

It is nice as we are about the only spot with running water in the neighborhood so we are getting a lot of bird activity. I think I have counted 5 different species splashing around at one time.

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath

Doves Staying Warm

One day this guy decided to take a rest and hung out for at least 10 minutes. I had to leave so I don’t know how long he had the lace to himself.

Coopers Hawk Takes Over!

Speaking of birds, Steve has been busy rebuilding a couple of the birdhouses we have and he built a new one. He is quite crafty and learning more about what birds like for their homes. He might create a B and B for them!!

 Brand New Creation by Steve

Refreshed

 Ready for Occupancy

Bird house makeover!

My most recent project was giving an old nightstand a makeover. Steve sanded off all of the varnish and paint on the top and the drawer front but decided it wasn’t worth doing the rest of it. That didn’t matter to me as I had a vision for the furniture piece. It now sits in our upstairs and will be my partner in doing my artwork.

 Getting Ready For a Change

 In Progress

Much Better

 
Done!

February has also brought some winter weather but Izzy still gets her run most days. It really is more about Steve being able to bundle up enough to ride the motorcycle. He is a trooper!

We have a few other things up our sleeves and as always I will share when the time is right! Oh and don’t worry, Izzy has been keeping an eye on us as we hang out in Idaho!

Where are we?

I am simply astonished I have not written since October. Well not really as I have put my energies into a few other things besides sitting at the computer.

Last you heard from SIT, we were busy with having some fun in the summer. Well it is now the Fall season and we continued to have fun. Well some of you may not think it is fun but we sort-of do!

We had a couple of trees die at our rental properties so we tackled the cutting down and removal of the trees. That part went pretty smooth. The tough part was getting the stumps out since we were going to plant new trees in the same spots. I definitely didn’t need to work out for a few days with this project going on.

I need to keep this short so here goes. We decided to do a little bit of makeover to the house, well the bathroom and kitchen counters that is. We were able to make a decision on the granite countertops we wanted. The demolition was tackled by us, with Izzy supervising. She seems to be pretty good at that job.

The professionals installed the counters for us and then our jobs started again. We took care of the plumbing and then I set out on finding the backsplashes for the kitchen and bathrooms. We decided to take it up to the bottom of the cabinets in the kitchen so I had a bit more tile work to do. While I was busy with the tiling project, Steve tackled rebuilding the back gate he had made in 2008 and refurbishing the garden area.

Hopefully you can see by the pictures that we both completed our projects. Oh and Izzy supervised.

 Before

After

Island before

 After

Hall Bath

Master Bath

Supervision at it's finest

The End Result

I made a trip to southern California to visit my brothers, meet some cousins I had never met before, and surprise my niece at her baby shower. The weather was great and so was the company. It was wonderful to meet Levi Bailey and his family. Rod, Mary and I spent several hours visiting, looking at pictures and getting to know Levi (2nd cousin) and his Aunt Laura (our cousin) and her husband. Pretty sure we will connect in person again.

The visit was short but unfortunately it was at the time when the massive fires were occurring. I felt bad for everybody impacted by them and as I drove from one brother’s to the other.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it is time for the SIT Christmas letter. Oh and where are we? Still in Idaho that’s where we are and will be for the winter!

Amazing! So as I usually write, stay tuned!

Quick Trips Are Worth It

Besides Steve having a few adventures on his new motorcycle, I managed an adventure to spend some time with one of my nephews.

Kevin and Annie, married August 1, were able to break away from Corvallis and spend time with their Aunt Tory in Lincoln City.

My drive over there was nice as the scenery was gorgeous. I also saw how much more Bend Oregon has grown since the last time I was through that area.

We spent a few days walking on the beach, eating way too much, drinking nice wine, and playing games. Annie’s Mom came and spent Saturday with us which was very nice.

 

I returned Kevin and Annie to Corvallis on Monday and headed north to visit my dear friends that live in Gig Harbor Washington. Had a great visit and again ate too much and drank nice wine. Seems there is a theme going here doesn’t it?

Kathy and Joel have a wonderful property so I wandered around and took a few pictures of the flowers that hang out there.

The entire trip went extremely fast but I was glad I could get a chance to see them. Izzy stayed with Steve up in Cascade so I know she had a blast.

Now we will be tackling some projects and pretty sure Izzy will be supervising unless she is trying to nap.

Trying Not To Fall Asleep

Stay tuned as I am pretty sure we will have an adventure in the future, if not before the end of the year most likely early in 2019.

Dog Days of Summer

 June-September

Seems summer is going by faster than the tumbleweeds would when I was growing up in the desert.

It is hard to say what we have been doing so far but I do know we have been spending some time playing, hanging out in Cascade, fly fishing, golfing, walking Izzy, running Izzy, and everything in between!

 Walk observations

 Golf Course Residents

Ready for my Walk

Steve decided to sell his motorcycle that traveled all over the country and Canada with us and upgrade to a little bigger one that is more of an adventure bike. He has been having fun outfitting it so he can do short overnight trips in the back country. So far he managed to forget his tent on his maiden camping trip! Quite a bit different than traveling around in the fifth wheel!

Ready to Load

I think I have Everything

 Ready to Load

Not Too Shabby

We did make it northern Idaho to visit family friends of Steve’s. We were in Kingston and Kellogg for several days and I got to meet the guy who hooked Steve on fishing. Randy was fun to meet and his wife Carol and they enjoyed catching up. Marilyn, Randy’s Mom, lives at the place where Steve went when he was a little boy for vacations during the summer. I can see why the family moved from Riverside California to here as it is gorgeous country.

 Randy and Steve

 Steve and his Dad

The View from our ATV Ride

We managed to get in one float trip to dust off our fly fishing rods. The day was bright and sunny and fishing a bit slow, although Steve did manage to catch several fish along with George. I decided to simply practice my casting until we were almost done. I proceeded to catch the biggest fish of the day. Granted it was the only fish I caught!

We have played golf a couple of times and took in a car show. Some pretty cool looking cars and a motorcycle caught our attention. Of course it would have been hard to choose which car to take home so we decided to not buy any of the ones for sale!

 1939 Lincoln Zephyr

 Classy

 This beauty goes up and down

Now it is October! Fall colors are all around us and the weather has certainly turned from the dog days of summer to the cooler temperatures at night. We did sell our beach bungalow in Florida so we will see if we can manage to stick out the colder weather as the season progresses to winter.

We have a few projects planned to keep our skills refreshed. I won’t go into details here as that would ruin the surprise of the next update from SIT! So you better stay tuned!