R.I.P.

My new honey of a camera took a little swan dive this afternoon. I had a wrist strap on it. I never use it, and I take pictures in some precarious situations too. In fact sometimes I would curse it for getting in the way. I was investigating the shower surround in the new house, and I wanted a picture of the crack. Of course Mr. Tall Jim could get a better angle than I, so I got him to do it. Poor guy dropped the camera while the lens was out, and my camera is no more.

I'm not mad at him at all. I'm just glad he did it and not me. That way I don't feel guilty. I looked for a replacement for it tonight, and I found an awesome one - a trade up! Problem is that it is not being released until June 1. And you know I am not a patient person. So for now I am living with the old camera. Which is fine... I still love it.

We are homeowners again!

Not that I don't like the house we are in now, or not that I don't love our landlord, but there is no place like home. I got the call at 11am that it was official. Sherman and I set out for our realtor's office to pick up the key. We then headed over to the house to do some cleaning and initial picture taking. Jim and I have to get the carpet out of the 2 bedrooms so the guys can refinish the floors tuesday. Its cheaper if we get it out and remove the staples and tack strips. We got a good start tonight. The carpet was 5 or so years old so it was not too bad at all. We were nervous about what the hardwoods would look like under the carpet. We were relieved that the floors were awesome under the carpet.

Overall the house is in pretty good shape. The whole house was tidy and had been cleaned for showing, but of course it was yucky underneath. It wasn't nasty, but it had definitely been lived in. There was a film on everything. Everyone says oil heat is just fine, but when we pulled up the carpet, the area around the heat vents has a nasty, dark residue on it. There was a film on everything. It was kind creepy. Electric heat and air here we come!

Signing the Papers

So today Jim and I signed all the paperwork on the house. It was a gruelling hour of signing over and over and over. The seller is going to sign tomorrow, and we will get the key when it posts friday.

I was really nervous about it. I knew nothing was likely to go wrong... but I've had some pretty unexpected mishaps at closings. When we sold the house in Knoxville Jim gave me power of attorney so I could do all the paperwork while he drove the furniture to Indiana. I got to the closing and the buyer was not there. We were supposed to sign at the same time. The title agent and realtor called around looking for them. They had gone to the house to have a look around. I had exactly 45 minutes so I could drive to Indiana and make it to the closing on the house in Indy. They were nice enough to let me sign and leave. So I signed and started the drive to Indiana... not knowing if they really ever signed. Driving down I-75 (at responsible speeds of course mom) I got a call from the title company in Indiana telling me we had to bring $900 in money order/certified check to closing. At that point I was 200+ miles from my bank, and most ATMs lock you out of all of them after $400 or so. I called Jim and and drove around little downtown Franklin, IN hitting every ATM for the max he could get out. After hitting 3 in like 4 minutes he got the money out of our account before the transactions posted.

This time it was smooth sailing!

So it rains all the time eh?

A look down the gorge, the other way

A look down the gorge

We found a bone at the viewpoint

Lots of Little Fishies

Big Sturgeons

One of the turbines

The fish ladder is really long

The fish ladder

Warning Poster

Us in the traffic mirror

The Powerplant

The Bonneville Powerplant

The view across from the dam

I love dams!

Bonneville Dam

Splash Pool

The falls

Jim at the falls

Going to the Gorge

Jim and I set out for the Columbia River Gorge to ramble around. It was a beautiful day, and there was no way we were going to hang out at home. We drove along the old Columbia Hwy and passed along several of the waterfalls. We went by Multnomah Falls, and it was crawling with tourists. We went a bit further down and stopped at another one. It was early enough it was still cool out so the spray from the falls was really intense. After that we went to Bonneville Dam and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. I have a weakness for fish hatcheries. The dam was really cool. They even had fish ladders for the migrating fish, and an underwater viewing area which was really cool. It would have been cooler if fish had been hanging out. The hatchery was by far the best I had ever been too. They had the usual plots of babies, but they also had natural habitat pools. It was really pretty. They had salmon, sturgeon, and trout. There were lots of tourists there as well.

One of the few fish we saw in the fish ladder

The progress next door

The actual house is one lot over. You can't really see much, but its coming right along.

A view of a bridge, from a bridge

The draw bridge is up!

A cool building on St Helen's Road

McMenamin's Kitchen

At the St John's Pub you can sit upstairs and overlook the kitchen. It was actually pretty cool, but made me wonder about kids (or demented adults) spitting over the rail.

Up to St Johns

Jim and I went up to our soon to be new 'hood today. Mom and Dad had gone by the house a few days ago and said they had made some progress on the house they are building on the lot next door. So we went over to check it out. I'm kinda nervous about it, but it should be okay. I can't picture how close it is to our property line. It has to be very close. Last time I was up there they had only pushed some dirt around. Today they had finished the foundation, put in the duct work for the HVAC, and had a cute little porta-pot out front. It is pretty close to the property line. Good thing we have a large lot, its also good that it is on the garage side of our house.

Heading home from Council Crest

Just About Ready for Another Round

Happy, Happy, Happy

Muldoone Commandeered the Blanket

Pretty Girl

Mattie at Council Crest

A Happy, Tired Dog

Muldoone and Sherman at Council Crest

Mt Hood from Council Crest

Home Again

Well I made it back from Chicago in one peice. I'm a little road weary, but happy to take advantage of the gorgeous weekend. We took the dogs to Council Crest (the highest point in Portland). It was so nice and warm. We took lots of tennis balls, water, and a blanket. We wore the dogs out throwing the balls. It was hysterical watching Sherman and Muldoone tear up and down the hill. Sherman looks SO funny when he runs at full tilt. Mattie was so cute loping around and trying to steal the treats that someone else had brought for their dog... sneaky girl! After they were all tuckered out we spread out the blanket and let them cool off whicle Jim and I basked in the sun.

I think I'll be home until the end of April, but that could change at any time. Which is okay with me.

We officially close on the house on the 30th, but we sign the paperwork on the 27th. I can't wait to pick up the key! Our landlord is sad we are moving out, she's afraid she will get horrible tennants like the ones before us. Good luck to her... we are your regular run of the mill renters.

Flower in a Bowl at the Hotel

Eating Italian Leftovers with Chopstix

The last night in Chicago, Kynthia and I had food delivered to add to our leftovers. She had Italian leftovers and Thai soup.

Firkin Pub all decked out for St Patrick's Day

Old Fire Alarm

Old Fire Extinguisher

Exhaust Tube

They have installed this system to suck out the exhaust when the start the trucks in the garage. It was pretty cool.

Recycling Bin

Safety Cone

Homer's Ice Cream

One of the guys that works in Chicago, Bill, brought us to this restaurant. It is owned by his family. He and I had talked about Graeter's ice cream. They don't have it in Chicago, but he said he would take me to Homer's instead. We didn't have time for a tour, but hopefully next time we are in town.

Geese on the frozen pond

They would sit, stand and walk on top of the ice.

Me in the Showercap

I love hotel shower caps. You can find past pictures of me in hotel shower caps in this blog. I missed out. I should have worked somewhere that I could have worn one.

Ahhhh Chicago

We had a good trip to Chicago. It was very productive and very tiring. We went to a bunch of fire stations in the Chicago area, and we showed the guys (and gals) the project we have been working on. They showed us around the stations, and we got to see all of the cool fireman toys and got to sit in the ambulances.

A couple of weeks ago I was complaining about the lack of good ol' American-Italian food in Portland. Well I will complain no more, well at least for awhile. Between Baltimore and Chicago I have had alot of Italian. And I mean alot.

Old Shears

Old Rail

One of Jim's Worksites

What's left of a tile floor.

Walkway to the Dock