New Kayak!

Our new kayak came in just in time for our five day weekend! The shipping on this item had been estimated to take five weeks or more, so it was a welcome surprise to see it on our porch after only a week or so. We bought it with our credit card reward points; it was the first time I had attempted to purchase something with reward points, but it went super smooth and easy!

Here it is!!!
So off we went! For the maiden voyage we decided to go down the street into the slough across from our house. It was a little stinky for a Friday (I have noticed the mill smell seems to creep up the water ways sometimes) but it was a beautiful ride. The tide was going out, but the wind was blowing us up stream, so it was a perfect mix so we wouldn't have to paddle too hard either way.

And there was a sheep through the bushes!

And an alligator?? Creepy.

One of the most beautiful barns (and houses) ever! It is too bad there are like 20 aerator ponds (of pulp water from the mill) just across the way from this beautiful scenery. So we'll just say it looks better than it smells :).

Thought this was a nest at first, but after closer investigation we decided that it was not.

I do love the trains! We hear them almost every day, and I don't mind it one bit!

We went under this train bridge and out into the Yaquina River. We paddled up stream for a few minutes, then drifted back down to the slough.

It was a wonderful first trip!! The new kayak rocks! It is two inches longer than the other kayak that we had last year, so even more room to stretch out!

Compost it up!

We began our cheap and easy compost by hosing out one of our garbage cans. We purchased the can less than a year ago when we moved to Siletz, but it had a small share of disgusting garbage in it. I wouldn't think you would need to start a compost with a clean can, but it is nice to start any new project free of old dog poop residue.
Next, we used a razor blade to cut out the bottom of the can.

Then drilled a couple dozen holes around the top of the can.

The shovel will be used later.......

This is the spot.....right next to the pile of wood chips.

Looks good!!? It is right behind the wood shed.

The hole exposed some rich soil, and only a few rocks. There is quite the variety of soils on this property!

We buried it a little over a foot down.

We filled the bottom with loose dirt and leaf clippings. We used small screen to cover up the holes. It took a little bit to figure out how to attach the screen to the can. We finally decided on zip ties, and it turned out great!

And who could forget about the worms!! We threw in some extra that we cultivated from the raised beds, but there is plenty to go around.

A bungee cord on the top, and it is good to go. It was super easy, and cheap (less than $20 if you had to buy everything) and we should have some great compost before we know it.

More Beavers At Work

Daisy and I were walking around my office around lunch time, when we came across a little tree that appeared to have been attacked by a beaver the previous night. There are many trees surrounding this one that have been nibbled on here and there, but this one looked like it was nibbled in determination.

This was the tree Wednesday, March 10th.
I went back to check on it on Thursday (even though it was pouring down rain) and it looked like there was a little bit of activity.

Friday afternoon (below) we went back to check it again. This time I thought it may be the last time; I expected the tree down on the ground (or drug away by beavers) by Monday. I was pretty excited that I got to capture this beaver at work.

We were pleasantly surprised when we went to check on it Monday!!!!

The beaver must have chewed and chewed with all of his might. Unfortunately, once the beaver got through the tree, the top of the tree hung up in the surrounding branches from other trees. All of that work..........and the tree didn't fall.

The picture below is from a different angle, you can really see how thin the connections are!

As of this afternoon, the tree still hasn't fallen down. I can only assume that the beaver has moved on to another tree.....but I am sure not very far.

Just another reason why I have the best office ever!!

Another happy ending with a hand-me-down dresser!

This dresser was graciously given to us by my mom. Before that, it was my dad's dad's piece of furniture. Not sure when it was painted, but the light teal had to go.

We learned from the wood flooring experience, that paint stripper can be wonderful if you use it right. So we thought first we would try that.

It worked pretty good. The plastic scrapper on the top left is the best thing ever. The plastic is better at being gentle with the wood. The edges of the scraper also keep from spilling the scrapped paint. I like it a lot better than putty knives, which is what we used during the flooring project.

The wood on the actual drawers didn't turn out to be the prettiest (plywood looking). So instead of spending a ton of time sanding each speck of paint off only to have average looking finished wood underneath, we decided to paint it.

We got new knobs at wal mart, and we decided on a round style to match the other dresser in our room. The color we matched with our window trim.

I am very happy with the way it turned out!

Strawberry Hill

Today we took a break from typical housework and went to the beach! It had been a long time...and the agates sure missed us!
We stopped south of Cape Perpetua at Strawberry Hill. There were seals lounging on the rocks, and people playing on the sand.

Not the most friendly beach access we have seen, but nothing we couldn't handle, even Daisy.

Jered started finding agates as soon as we hit the beach.

We found a beach with agates and tidepools, it doesn't get much better than this!

Found some crazy red rock.

Daisy was wet!

Daisy had to stop for break on the way back up.

Seals were still there when we left.

It was a really nice day to take a break from the house project. We found a chunky bag full of agates, and that seemed like a project in itself!