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July 18, 2021July 17, 2021

Smokey Days

Wildfires are burning all around us. This week instead of subjecting you to another appliance upgrade ‘update’, we’re just going to leave a picture of this morning’s sunrise on the AM walk. Yeah, it’s kind of smokey.

There are 600 acres burning on the eastern edge of La Pine, 4 houses were lost and a bunch of outbuildings. That blaze has a fireline around it. However, there are 6 thousand acres burning east of Sisters that still threatens homes up there. To the southeast of us is currently the largest wildfire in the western US. The Bootleg Fire is burning 220 thousand acres and remains very active.

A heat dome and the wildfires have kept us pretty much at home. Hope you’re doing better than us … though as the winds shift you don’t need to be close to a fire to still get covered with smoke.

This is an interesting web site to track not just fire activity but the smoke cover. We’ve seen a shift from good to poor air quality as the winds moved more westerly this last evening.

July 11, 2021July 10, 2021

It’s Was a Hot One

The past week was marked by record high temperatures in the PNW. As Oregon melts, we are in the middle of an appliance install project. A new laundry pair is in place. Kitchen appliances are ‘staged’ which means they exist somewhere in a wonky supply chain.

Mask wearing is only part of pandemic pain. Try buying a major appliance. We had to make choices around availability when it came to the pieces that really needed to be replaced. Even so, we are over a month on the first delivery and another 4 weeks (maybe) on the last.

Even just a LED makes laundry day a bit better.

The laundry (which is complete) was a big job as we had to repair some water-damaged dry wall. A process that evolved into pulling cabinets and a small counter off the wall which added to the repair work.

Sheetrock, mud and tape is not my strong suit but the job was small enough that we managed to end with a decent looking wall. New paint and shelves help camouflage imperfections in the patch work.

Paint was a big part but we also pulled up the vinyl flooring and put down tile. Setting floor tile is a bit more in my comfort zone. The room isn’t exactly square which made for some interesting ‘fitting’ moments, but we managed to lay down a nice new floor covering.

Now we wait on the delivery pipeline. The freezer side is more ‘just colder’ these days.

However, we did find a suitable fridge that will be here end of week. Hopefully there will be minimal melting.

The other good news is we have AC so the heat wave didn’t really hamper our efforts. With a bit more luck our home will be updated by end of summer.

July 4, 2021July 3, 2021

Home Fix-it

What started as a project to replace a washer and dryer … became so much more.

This week’s adventure is a bit closer to home … like at home. Just a few weeks ago our dryer started to take longer to dry and the start knob needed some creative fixing. So we decided it was time.

Appliance shopping post pandemic qualifies as an adventure, but to add to the complexity, we discovered a small leak where water feeds the washing machine.

Now we have the task of getting delivery on a laundry pair and repairing ruined drywall. The problem is complicated by a laundry area just wide enough to fit machine and walk-way.

The subsequent juggling of appliance delivery, plumber to cap the natural gas line and wall fix turned into a re-do on the whole room. New flooring, baseboard, paint and shelving.

New drywall in, walls prepped for priming.

The smallest detail will stall out a home improvement project. Thanks to having built a house, we have skills and no shortage of tools. However. it will take multiple trips to the hardware store before we have collected all the bits and bobs required.

Appliances get delivered the week this is posted. Presently we’re in the thick of the “mess” with any luck there be a load of laundry tumbling in a re-furbished space by weeks end.

December 31, 2020December 30, 2020

Are you ready?

Not sorry to see this year end.

We are looking forward to all new adventures in the year to come … new destinations and experiences.

We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and offer best wishes for the new year.

We don’t plan on new posts during the next few weeks. We will be busy mastering a new software package (Affinity Suite in place of Adobe Creative Cloud) and practicing in wide open spaces with our new drone (DJI Mavic Mini). Thanks Santa!

By the end of January 2021 we will begin with season three of the BDH blog … no great changes to the web site (maybe a few style shifts) just more of ‘what we did this week’ with pictures and video.

Have a good new year and hope to hear from you in 2021!

December 13, 2020December 13, 2020

Glad It’s over … nearly

This is the 60th time this year we’ve shared our week.

The blog serves as a reference point in our lives. What we did last week gets translated into words, images, and an occasional video.

Smoke from Oregon’s forest fires inundated the area making it impossible to do anything outside.

As the year comes to a close it would be easy to focus on the dumpster fire that was 2020 … maybe naively think 2021 is going to be any better.

But a blog allows us a look back at directions we took and points we hit.

Last January started with a typical Central Oregon mid-winter thaw. This presented an opportunity to explore where just a few weeks before the roads were snowed in and would be again the following week.

By April we were in the clutches of “first wave” quarantine and social distancing. We discovered that fewer people working meant crowds in the forests and on river banks. Thus we had to look for alternatives.

Time was blocked out visiting via Zoom, experimenting with recipes and creating new rituals. Cocktail hour became a new favorite. We spent time sipping and testing different whiskeys.

As Spring shifted into summer we discovered new spots to spend a day. Explorations of different roads around Summer Lake, Fort Rock and the high desert forested edges occupied our day trips.