OREGON WHITE OAKS

Hi y’all — I’ve been working with Allison Lamplugh, of Lamplight Creatives to make some tweaks in the website she created for me. As you see, when you type in my domain name, you can now go straight to the blog, if that’s where you’re headed. Better. And we talked about the difficulties leaving a comment. I believe she’s corrected that issue, and I’d appreciate it if you’d give it a shot. Don’t worry, nothing more than just sayin’ hi. I’m unsure if the comments can be posted on the blog, but I will get them, and maybe we can go from there.

In the meantime, about those trees! I’ve been showing you photos of the clearing, of the stacks of logs and slash down on the wetland. That job has been completed, and we’re waiting to get a bid from the biochar outfit. They are currently working a job in Eugene, and tell us we can be next. As in a couple of weeks from now. Simultaneously, we’re working to see if some grant money can be on the way as well. Would like a little help!

Of course, we also need answers to some questions about air quality from Greenside Construction when their operation is in place and working. There should not be smoke, but it’s an important question, as our neighbors generally like to breathe nice clean air.

While we wait, Mom Nature has decided to jump on board . . . OMG! What? The fire ala

Obviously, I’m back, next day, Wednesday. 10/05, and all’s well. There wasn’t a fire, just one of the ceiling alarms telling us the battery has died. Not that changing the batteries is an easy fix. First, find Larry. Out in the garden? Yes, fine.

Next, get the ladder out of the orchard, haul it into the bedroom and open the device. Go to the hardware store for the correct batteries. It’s a little difficult to understand which way the battery must be inserted to line up the pos/neg poles while standing on the third rung, head craned back, reading glasses required, holding the flashlight. But there are two of us and we got the job done. Parenthetically, what was the ladder doing in the orchard? Picking the last of the Granny Smiths, most of which have been blighted by scale. Sigh.

But. Where was I? We haven’t yet connected with Greenside to learn about the air quality concerns. In the meantime, we enjoyed a terrific storm Saturday last, which brought down enough branches to crush a couple of posts in the fence along the driveway. Also took down half of the tree on which Peter and Larry worked the previous week. Some photos:

This is a cart our friend Gordon gave Larry upon the sale of his beach house. Hmm. Will it attach to our ATV?

Yes. Here’s Larry loading the cart with the slash from the broken-fence wind-fall.

Now adding to the already huge pile of slash below the oak copse, which gets us back to the original discussion of the storm and Mother Nature. Two more shots — the post-storm tree on which Peter and Larry had worked:

This one is a little too big for our boys to handle — will call Allen and get him on the calendar.

More about the trees: Phoenix Habitat has already moved some of the logs into the first stream corridor west of the house. The objective is to mitigate the power of the stream digging an ever-deeper channel, to spread the water, create check dams, all of which activity in the hope of improving the habitat for the small aquatic creatures — frogs, salamanders, and, wishful thinking, beavers.

At some point this fall, Phoenix is slated to work on the former lawn area/turned into “English country garden.” They have already hauled in some picturesque rocks, and have now nested some moss-covered lengths of tree trunks in advance of planting small greenery and paths. Maybe it sounds a bit too sweet in my description. Dunno. But I’m hoping they beat the rains of an Oregon November.

One last discovery adding to the pleasures of our new library obsession: A rack of cookbooks to check out, right in the entry hall. Yesterday, we took home two: Low & Slow, the Art and Technique of Braising, BBQ, and Slow Roasting (for Larry, obviously) and one I’m hoping to send to Andrew for Christmas — don’t tell — Copycat Cooking, IN-N-OUT burgers and sauce, and IN-N-OUT Animal Style Fries with sauce. I’ll probably try one of these myself. Love the idea of a secret sauce for our home grown burgers!

Now I hope this all gets to you easily and that you are able to comment if you’d like. We’re planning a trip to Altadena for Thanksgiving, and I’ve been working on my pumpkin pie skills as “pies” is usually my job and the family doesn’t appreciate my speciality, mincemeat. So if I don’t get back to you before . . .