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July 2006
I’ve deviated from my
normal update sent right after my doctor’s visit this
time because we didn’t come home afterward. We had
taken our camp trailer upriver to some claims just the
other side of Interstate 5 the previous week and put it
on site, and Jim did some prospecting by hand in the
area. We left the trailer there between friends Lee and
Anita’s motor home, and new friends Tom and Carol, and
the morning I had my Dr. appointment. we dropped off the
cat and perishable foods, clothing, etc., and then
headed to Medford. Afterward, we only had to drive to
the claim instead of all the way home and then back
out. We had to leave home very early, but it saved
making a 120-mile trip.
My X-Ray that day had again shown no further
improvement, so the doctor recommended that we stop the
chemo for now, and just monitor my condition.
He said he was concerned
about “cumulative side effects,” and I take that to mean
that they just don’t know what would happen, and that
was a concern. He’s scheduled me for a CT Scan at the
end of July, to serve as a baseline, and then monitor
and compare to that. If the tumor begins growing again
he will start the chemo again.
So, I guess I’m done with chemo for right now, anyway.
I am actually feeling pretty well, although I’m still
quite frail. It is really proving difficult to gain
back muscle tone and strength after the long period of
inactivity I’ve had. I continue to work at it, “pushing
the envelope,” and I do as much as I can. It will be
nice to not have to constantly fight the considerable
amount of side effects from this chemo, but this
decision also plummets us back into the indecision and
concern about what is going to happen with this
fast-growing tumor once the chemo is not keeping it in
check. We are praying about it a lot, and I hope you
will all help in these prayers. Even though I’m not
where I would like to be in terms of stamina and
strength, everyone who saw me last year says I seem much
stronger, much better than then.
Just about the only problem I’ve had, other than the
myriad of chemo side effects, is a shortness of breath
during the heat of the day. I am not using any oxygen,
and haven’t, for quite some time. However, as the day
heats up it becomes progressively more difficult to
breath, and then as it cools down it becomes easier
again. We are attributing this to the humidity located
right here where Happy Camp is. At this point in the
river, the canyon widens out quite a bit, forming a
valley that has a strong inversion layer. As the heat
increases the moisture coming off the river rises, but
the inversion layer forces it back down, or stationery,
increasing humidity. I checked the weather station
today (the nearest one is at Horse Creek, located about
35 miles upriver. This is
also in a valley, but not as large a valley) and it said
the humidity was about 85%. That means that the
humidity here is higher than that. That makes a recent
decision even more significant, and I’ll go into that.
Anyway, because this fluctuates we are assuming it is
from humidity and not from an increase of fluid, or
anything else related to the cancer. I was having some
problems with it when I saw the doctor, and there was no
indication of problem at that time.
We stayed at the camp up there about a week, and had a
really good time.
Nice people, nice visits, and for most of the week not
excessive heat. A series of storms were crossing the
mountains to the north, creating spectacular sunsets and
views of thunderstorms over the mountains some
evenings. The last two days we were there saw a return
of the very hot weather, enough to make me sick, and Jim
decided it was time to head home.
A pair of osprey (a large bird of prey, or
raptor, the size of an eagle) had built a nest almost
directly across the river on a platform erected on top
of a telephone pole, something that is common in this
area, since they feed almost exclusively on fish. They
are now feeding young, and I was amazed at how vocal and
how loud the young are. They can certainly make a
racket! They provided a lot of entertainment, however,
since previous to this I’d only seen them souring over
the river from a distance. We kept our binoculars on a
small folding table just outside the trailer so I used
them for closer views of the nest and what was going
on. One parent would hunt over the fields across the
river while the other covered the river.
There was a cattle ranch
located directly across the river from where we
were camped, and it made a pretty setting.
Scenery featured rolling hills that are still green from
all the rain last winter, with large oaks dotting the
landscape, and boulder outcroppings. The heights of the
Siskiyou Mountains are in the background, as you are
essentially looking toward the summit on Interstate 5 as
it crosses those mountains to descend into Oregon, at
Ashland. You actually can’t see the freeway from where
we were camped, but it is not far.
I have recently become quite fond of this pass, and have
been noticing things about it I hadn’t noticed before.
The drive over it has always been beautiful, especially
down the other side. Recently, I discovered a family
connection to the pass. When I lived here before I had
occasion to visit a veterinarian in Cave Junction, and
was surprised to find out his name was Dollarhide. Now
this is not a common name, and I knew my maternal
great-great-grandmother’s name was Dollarhide. I
mentioned this to the doctor at the time, and he said
their family had been well documented by a relative, and
he would get the information to me, but that never
happened.
Recently I did some research on the internet and I found
that the Oregon Dollarhide information is on the
internet now, and it is the same family.
Most of them left Missouri in a covered wagon and came
west. Why my Dollarhide stayed, I don’t know yet.
Anyway, after coming to Oregon, the Dollarhide family
put down roots, and purchased the land where the pass is
located, and they built a toll-road crossing the
mountains to provide access from one state to another.
The family operated this toll-road for many years, until
it was sold to the state (I think), or some agency of
the state or federal government to make a state
highway. When you think of the amount of work that must
have gone into creating a road over these rugged
mountains it is pretty mind-boggling.
Each day the cattle from the ranch across the river
would form a line and come down the bank for water and
to cool off standing in the shallows below the trees
that line the far bank.
The river is shallow here all the way across, and some
children about 9 years old tubing down the river stood
up right in the middle, with water only reaching to
their waists. There are also a lot of other birds,
including the seagulls that frequent the river, also
hunting for fish. Ducks and geese are very prevalent.
Last year there were a lot of otter in the river, but
probably because the river was
still quite high, they were
not evident this trip.
On “our” side of the river there are willows lining the
banks, along with thick stands of wild gooseberries,
grapes and blackberries. I’ll have to visit it again
next month to gather the fruits here, as they love an
area with a lot of sun, but their “feet” or roots, in
water. It makes for very large, juicy fruit.
I had pre-prepared quite a bit of food for this trip, as
I knew it would be hot and I wouldn’t feel like doing
much cooking. Early in the mornings we had banana
macadamia nut bread and cranberry walnut bread with
coffee out under our awning where everyone would gather,
and most days all we had to do was grill a bit of meat
or heat dinner quickly. That was nice. During the day
most everyone but me was out dredging somewhere within a
couple of miles, and then at evening time we all
gathered again to visit, compare finds after the guys
separated out their concentrates, and watch the sunset
and wildlife.
Jim and I were up to watch the sunrise every morning,
and some mornings I was up as early as 4:30, but I love
early mornings out camping, and so does Jim, so we never
slept late. It was warm enough every night but one to
leave the trailer door open, sleeping with just the
latched screen door closed.
Missy and I watched camp during the day, and I read or I
worked on my new neck scarf for the coming winter. It
was a very enjoyable trip, although Jim didn’t find much
gold. That wasn’t really the object at this time. He
and Lee just wanted to get started dredging, since
they’d waited so long to do so, and there were a couple
of places they could put in here to do that, but that’s
all. There were not many places on the entire river
where dredging could be done safely at that time, and a
number of inexperienced people lost or flipped dredges
during this time period. The river was still running
high and fast and only finally began dropping quickly
the last few days we were there. It has continued to
drop daily as they cut off the flow from the dam, saving
water to have for the salmon when they come upriver, and
it's now down to almost normal
depth and speed.
On our return home we continued to have a lot of
company, which was great! We have really enjoyed having
everyone here. And besides, being sick gives me an
excuse if the house is a bit mussed up, to not worry
about having to clean it all up, since I’m not able to
do that, unless I have a much larger than normal amount
of time in which to do so. It gets mussed easily when
you work on projects, and I always seem to be working on
one or more projects of some
kind.
When no one was here and I had more time to think,
however, I felt tremendous concern because we had made
no progress at getting land or a place of our own, and
the summer was slipping away from us. We had
investigated having a manufactured home put on private
property here, but that was disappointing. There are a
whole lot of taxes of different kinds, expensive permits
and expenses involved in that as well as in building a
home, and these amounted to such a great deal of money
that it put our dream of having a mortgage-free home
completely out of reach for us. After that, Jim just
kind of gave up mostly, and we really hadn’t done much
about it, other than glancing at some of what was on the
market from time to time in the paper and on the
internet. Prices continued to climb rapidly on real
estate of all kinds here, building materials skyrocketed
in price… all disappointing.
So, we talked about it. I had been thinking about
rethinking the building part of it for now, because
after a time of no further back problems for Jim, as he
has become active this summer after a winter of
inactivity, the old back problems have been back; he is
just better at taking care of it rapidly, and keeping it
from becoming a longer termed problem most of the time.
Because of that, and the fact that he’ll be 64 this
year, and is developing other problems due to his age, I
told him I thought that with the problems I’ve developed
this year that we ought to “bag” the building project
for now, and concentrate on finding a place to call
home. Something we thought we could resell if we decided
to build in the future.
He liked that idea, and began immediately looking at
property. The least expensive inhabitable place we
found on the market was a property in Seiad Valley.
This will give you an idea where prices are going. On
five acres (four or more of which go straight up a
mountain), is a 1,600 sq. ft. mobile home built in
1974. Admittedly, it is the best-kept one I’ve seen,
but the inside is entirely covered in very dark, almost
black paneling, except for bathrooms, and the kitchen is
a step back into 1974, needing updating very badly.
There is also a small original cottage, built in the
30’s, that needs work. Additionally there’s a 3-car
garage/shop, and a greenhouse in disrepair. The
property includes some fruit trees. The asking price is
$220,000, and we found out that because of the age of
the mobile, the property cannot be financed, or at best,
the mobile on it can’t be financed. Any mobilehome
that’s built pre-HUD (Dept. of Housing and Urban
Development), or prior to 1976, is considered “of no
value” and no one will finance it.
People coming up from southern California with their
bankrolls from selling down there are paying cash for
these deals up here, and no matter how high the people
here set the prices, it all looks good to those coming
up from down south because prices are so high down
there.
After we looked at that place, our realtor told us she
was listing another house that day, and thought it was
right for what we wanted, so we made plans to look at it
last Saturday. It is about 30 miles
upriver from where we are. Jim isn’t crazy about
that area, but I’ve always
liked it. The canyon is narrow there, and the mountain
begins right at the river; there is no valley, so houses
are perched either below the highway, or above the
highway, depending on what side they are on. Most are
on the uphill side, and the sign there says there are 80
residents. It’s an old mining town, of course, and has
quite a few of the old mining shacks still standing,
along with the shell of the old general store, that’s
right at the edge of the highway now. If you look
carefully up through the forest you can see the old
cemetery with wrought iron enclosures and monuments,
that the forest has grown up around and through. Some
of the old places have been expanded and renovated, and
there are some nice large vacation homes that have been
built here, along with a few smaller homes. It has the
look of a small mountain community because there’s no
flat land, to speak of, other than at the resort, and
the highway is several hundred feet above the river in
most places.
The only businesses are an RV Park/Resort, and a teeny,
tiny store that has three tiny vacation cabins they
rent. The house we looked at Saturday is
near the store,
which will be convenient, since it is 30 miles to the
next one.
Prior to going, Jim told me not to get my hopes up,
because he was prepared to not like
it. I asked why we were even looking, and he
said that it still might be something we wanted, so we
were looking. We didn’t expect much, because the house
was to be listed at $158,000, which is just barely
higher than "falling down
uninhabitable cabins," which
are going at $100,000 and perhaps more, depending on the
land.
We were more than pleasantly surprised by the house.
It’s a 2 bedroom 1 bath with attached single+ garage,
(435 sq. ft., a good size). The house is 1,056 sq. ft.,
just about as small as we can go and have enough room.
This is laid out well, except for one area, is
contractor built, and built very well. Here the houses
are mostly sitting right on bedrock, so there’s no
settling to speak of, and there are no cracks anywhere,
not even in the substantial foundation. Built in 1978,
the original owners had it until a year ago, so it’s had
very good care. It only shows its age in the bath and
kitchen, both of which need some updating, but the rest
is fine, and it doesn’t need anything done to it
immediately, we think.
We love the ceilings in this house. They are extremely
high in most of the house, with cathedral ceilings in
living room and bedrooms, which are covered in tongue
and groove pine that has a whitewashed, or “pickled”
look in very pale blue. Accent walls have small spaces
covered in the same wood; its a very nice look. There
are 8-ft. sliders out to a deck off the living/dining
room and the master bdrm. has a smaller sliding door
exiting to a small cement pad.
One reason the price is reasonable is because the lot
itself is small, less than an acre. That’s unusual for
this area. Another reason for the low price is that
there’s no well. The water source is
an open creek.
Now this is going to sound strange to most of you, but
is common for this area, and
similar situations are common in surrounding towns and
areas.
Sometimes a well is
difficult or expensive in this area. The mountain is
very rocky, and it is sometimes a long way to water, so
most people here use this water.
Even if they have a well they use the ditch for
irrigation purposes.
Other than those two things, most of it is conventional,
other than we still don’t know where we’d get mail.
Here you can have a mailbox if you’re on the highway, or
you can opt for a PO Box. There is no post office
at this community. Legally,
it probably doesn’t exist, although on
some of the real estate papers
the property is listed here.
The legal description, however, has
it in the next non-community, which is also a
legally non-existent place, since there is no post
office there either. It burned down (the post office)
in about 1995, if I remember correctly.
It's all very confusing, but we'll
get it straightened out.
Anyway, no one had seen this place but us, so we thought
about an offer on Sunday, and met the realtor early
Monday morning for another walk through, then went to
her place to write an offer. There’s a potential
problem with the roof, so we made a contingency and are
waiting for an inspection of that next Saturday, but our
offer was accepted Monday evening!!!
So, after having nothing but problems, disappointments,
and difficulties, this is happening so fast it has our
heads spinning. Jim loves the house, and in fact is
eagerly making plans to do this and that, including
adding bits of lawn here and there! I thought he’d
eagerly retire the lawn mower we just had to buy for
this rental.
Because the forest is so
thick and so near to the house the bedrooms probably
never get direct sunlight, but they both have a lot of
windows, so that compensates for it.
This house, because of the configuration of the
mountain, gets summer sunlight to the north side of the
house, and there is a terraced garden area there; small,
but sufficient, and there are a couple of other areas
that get enough sun for sun planting, too. One of the
very nice things about the property is the trees. There
are absolutely huge, old-growth cedars, one even in the
center of the circle driveway. These trees line the
west side and front of the property, and the smell from
these cedars is heavenly. And, they’re so large it’s
almost like being in the giant redwoods on the coast.
Even though the lot is small, we haven’t yet seen the
house to the east, the house to the west is screened by
all the large trees, the houses to the south are several
hundred feet away, and down the slope from the highway,
and are mostly screened by trees.
To the south, in back of the house, is a separate large
piece of land, and no houses are visible at all, just
very thick forest. There’s a long covered porch to the
front door, and a matching deck off the living room. We
plan to enlarge that deck and expand it, connecting it
to the porch. The finish on the outside of the house is
dark right now, and we want to paint and lighten it up.
It has wood siding.
The terraced front garden will also get some work.
Right now it is fenced with a brown lattice fence that
is pretty utilitarian only. The house has been rented
this last year, and the river rock terraces in this
garden have fallen into some disrepair. There are 8-10
roses doing nicely inside it, and although the fence is
only about five feet tall, there is no deer damage.
Roses are just about the favorite food of deer in these
parts, and a six-ft. or higher fence is usually needed
to keep them at bay. No one has been living in the
house for the past month, and they still have not eaten
the blooming roses, so that’s great. There are a few
other plants in there, but not much else, and we have
big plans for that area, as well as a couple of others
outside that will greatly enhance the place.
This photo shows more of the cedar trees, although the
larger ones are all on the western edge of the lot, and
are not shown. This is a small knoll, with a parking
pad leading off to the left, and the driveway in the
front, or foreground right-hand corner of the photo.
This is one of the areas that Jim would like to plant
with grass.
Jim wants to put a couple of windows in the east wall of
the living room.
This faces east, and they will give us morning sun in
that room, which will be nice. It will also visually
expand the inside area, also a good thing.
The kitchen is small as it is now, just 10x12, and since
both of us like to cook, that could be a problem. We
are thinking about expanding it, and including some area
across a hallway that adjoins the kitchen, but are
waiting until after we move in to decide if we really
want to do that. Even left at its present size, the
kitchen needs work. The range needs replaced, there is
no dishwasher, and and the cabinets are, for the most
part, the smallest, dinkiest cabinets I’ve ever seen.
All that can be fixed, however, and we’ll have it
looking like it stepped out of a magazine, I’m sure. We
both like and want a nice kitchen, and will only be
limited by our budget.
Across the hall from the kitchen,
presently, is an alcove facing another hall that holds
the washer/dryer, then a walk-in pantry, and then an
open, no-purpose small room that only holds the hot
water heater, but it is about 8x10 or so. At the back
of this room is the entry to the garage. Across the
hall, and between the garage wall and the kitchen is an
entry hall.
The bathroom is small, only 5 feet wide, and not any
deeper than they needed, so there’s little space to work
with. However, the bath is between the two bedrooms,
and it could be expanded by taking a few feet from the
guest bedroom, which is fairly good-sized, about 13 x 14
or so. And, that odd little room (across from the
kitchen) could be made into a second bath if we decided
not to expand the kitchen for some reason.
The living room is 16 feet square. However, if we don’t
expand the kitchen, our dining table has to go in
there. And, for those of you who haven’t seen it, our
computer setup is quite lengthy, and it has to go in
there. We want it in our living area, and we want it
with a view out windows. Preferably, we position it in
view of nearby bird feeders so we can watch all the
wildlife from there.
It takes up, at a minimum, 10 feet of wall space, and
consists of two pine computer desks (we each have a
desktop computer), a 2 ft. printer table that matches,
and in most cases includes a small oak library table
I’ve had a long time that is the same depth (20”), and
about three feet long. This piece allows us to go
around a corner with the setup, if necessary.
The main heat source at this house is
different. It’s a nice small stove that
looks identical to the woodstoves so prevalent here, but
it burns oil, not wood. It sits on a 4 ft. cement pad,
with a four ft. section of brick climbing to the
ceiling, high above, directly behind. If we put two
windows on that wall as Jim suggests, one on each side
of the brick, we’d have a nice view on that wall, too,
so both computers would have a view.
By my calculations, however, it could possibly be too
near the stove pad to be comfortable in winter,
depending on the heat this stove puts out, whether it
has a fan, which we don’t know yet, and it will take
some maneuvering once we get the furniture there to know
if that will work.
Although it is in good condition, the carpet will be
going from this room right away, because we’re going to
have a wood floor there and in the hallways right away,
in deference to allergies. I’m hesitant to remove the
carpet from the bedrooms until we’ve lived there a
winter, and we see just how cold and damp the bedrooms
are with this heat source. The carpet in the bedrooms
is in very good condition, and is pleasing to the eye,
so we’ll leave that for now, and just keep it
scrupulously clean.
We will also have to cover the pad the stove sits on in
the living room, most likely with brick facing to match
the wall, but I plan to paint it, as it is different
shades of orange. First, if it is not real brick (we
don’t know yet), it may be a problem to paint, and in
that case we’ll cover it with some wood, or MDF, or
beaded board, or something, as I intend to put a mantel
on that wall anyway, behind the stove. I like a mantel,
and it would look very well in this situation. Jim is
really good at doing mitered cuts in moldings, so he can
build a mantel very easily.
If there’s a problem painting the brick, I don’t
know what we’ll do for the area right behind the stove,
as it can’t be covered in wood, and neither can the pad
it sits on, but we’ll figure it out.
The reason I suggested beaded board is because we both
like it, and I plan to use some of it in the kitchen and
bath, and the area across the hall from the kitchen,
whether it becomes part of the kitchen or not. We’ll
probably use it for backsplash in the kitchen, too. We
did that in La Pine, and it stood up very well to it,
and cleaned excellently with the finish Jim used,
whatever it was.
If all goes well with the escrow this should close
sometime between mid-August to September 1st. I’ll try
to keep you informed, but it is a busy time for us.
Sandwiched in-between all
this activity, and visiting with guests, Jim has been
working on some modifications to his equipment. To make
it easier to launch and remove his dredge, he had
already cut off the entire top of
our utility trailer so the sides were just about
15 inches tall. He put a frame here to hold the dredge,
all in one piece, and all the extra equipment could fit
underneath. It was still very awkward for one person to
get back on the trailer, however, so he decided to put
wheels on the dredge, so that if he couldn’t get near
the water he could simply roll it in many cases, drop
the wheels after he launched it, and then add them again
when ready to leave, and roll it back up to the
trailer. He worked on it all week when he had time, and
then the next week, too. He ordered some ramps to help
get it on the trailer, and bought a small hand winch
(like they use for boats), and can simply winch it up
the ramps and into place.
Jim is in town today, but not at the house. He’s down
on the river with a friend, Harley, just below Elk
Creek. He’s testing an area he’s been interested in, to
see if it is shallow enough to work with his dredge, and
to see if the river holds gold there. It’s nice to have
him nearby. Harley and his wife Mickey just arrived in
town day before yesterday, and they spent most of
yesterday here, although Jim and Harley went to the
river yesterday afternoon to get the dredge into the
water and start dredging.
This was his first test of his wheels, and he’s found
that they are not too easy to use in heavy sand, but
that’s not the case in most situations here.
He also reports that the river is very clear, the
clearest he’s ever seen it, although his past dredging
here was done when it was not clear at all. It’s nice
to see the river looking more normal, with all the usual
rocks showing again, instead of like a wild torrent of
chocolate mud roaring madly down to the sea.
Our thermometer says it is 99.9 out there right now, and
without air conditioning it is 81 degrees (F) inside,
and quite comfortable, and the humidity is down today.
The heat is climbing again, and there is an extreme
weather advisory out for Saturday, when the temperature
is supposed to break records in this area. Medford is
predicted to be 110, Yreka 106, and Redding 116! I just
checked our weather page, and it says it is 101.5 in
Horse Creek. Our temperature is already dropping quite
quickly here, and in the last hour has dropped down to
96.
That is approaching the warmest day I’ve ever seen
here. Before I ever lived here, when we were dredging
on Beaver Creek we came up one year (I think this was in
1980 or 81), and the first day we traveled was miserably
hot. The radio kept talking about the warmest day in
decades. We stopped below Sacramento for the night, it
was just too warm. Leaving there early the next morning
was more of the same, and by the time we approached
Redding we had a huge bulge in one of the tires of the
small trailer we pulled behind our motorhome. It was
123 in Redding! We collapsed in a motel room, and kept
cool, leaving early the next morning. By the time we
reached Yreka (3 hrs. later, and still morning) it was
already 110. We stopped there for groceries, and it was
even warmer when we left. It was another 20 miles or so
to Beaver Creek, but we only made it halfway when the
other tire on the trailer blew. It was so hot when you
touched metal you sizzled and burned. My ex-husband
somehow got the tire changed, and we finally made it up
to camp on Beaver Creek that afternoon. Thankfully it
was cooler there, and we had the cold creek to cool off
in, which we did.
Near the beginning of this I mentioned my shortness of
breath in the heat. After thinking about this, it
appears to me that because the canyon widens out a lot
at Happy Camp, the considerable moisture rising from the
river creates additional humidity because the
configuration of the valley also creates a strong
inversion layer, something that became very apparent in
the large fire here we had in 1987. It took six weeks
to beat that fire to submission because the smoke hung
around so thick that the sun couldn’t get through,
temperatures dropped into the 50’s in late August,
street lights stayed on all day, and they were helpless
to fight the fire. It became so damp they couldn’t get
a backfire to work, and the layer was so thick the fire
couldn’t even be seen by air, so it couldn’t be fought
with planes.
In winter, a layer of woodsmoke hangs over the entire
valley in town. So, this must
be the reason there is so much humidity here, as opposed
to other places along the river.
Since the canyon at the place we're
buying is very narrow, there is no inversion
layer there, and the difference in the air is easily
noted at this time of year. It should be easier to
breathe there than it is here.
This is also the area in which
the Redbud trees grow most profusely, and where we took
the photos we sent to friends
this spring. I
Speaking of growing, our tomato plants out on the deck
are amazing. Everyone who sees them is surprised, since
they are now more than six feet tall, and loaded with
green tomatoes. The tomatoes I grew in southern
California also grew this tall, and I’m now wondering if
perhaps they don’t get that large in other areas of the
country??? Anyway, all my fears that these would not
get enough sun to bear fruit were unfounded, and we’re
looking forward to having a lot of nice, fresh tomatoes
before we move.
We’re afraid that the plants won’t survive the move, so
that may be the end of them.
I remember when we moved from one house to another here
in Happy Camp years ago. I had nursed a ficus tree for
two years after it lost a lot of leaves when we moved it
to the house. When we left that house, my ex-husband
put it into an open trailer upright (I was busy packing
inside and didn’t see it), and when I arrived at the new
house it was to find my tree had 3 leaves left! That
was the end of that tree, of course.
We see the hand of God in the finding of this
new home. My sudden urge to
find something to get us started at this time, and the
finding of it so quickly after the frustration of not
being able to find anything even remotely affordable for
us for such a long time before this, while this one pops
up just now, and in very good condition, is
mind-boggling. There are other indications as well. We
were concerned, and so was the realtor, that it would be
very difficult and expensive to find a roofing
contractor who would even do an inspection of the roof
at this time. They have to be brought in from Medford,
and at this busy time of year for them, that’s not
easy. When the offer was presented to the seller,
however, he said that one neighbor is a roofing
contractor from Sacramento who has a vacation home here,
and when they called him he said he was coming up next
week and would gladly do the inspection! Then, we had
concerns about the water source, of course, and it turns
out that we'll just get a filtering
system if the water fails a test. The house
is just the size we needed and no more, and while we’d
like a bit more land, this amount makes the price
affordable, and is as much as we really need. More land
would just be more to take care of.
At our age we really don’t need that. And, even
though the quantity is small, it affords all the privacy
we need.
People tell me all the time I should not get excited
about a place that hasn’t closed escrow yet, and I
understand perfectly. It just doesn’t help. This is a
personal failing of mine, and there are few homes I see
for the first time that I don’t think about what I would
do to it if they were mine. I
fully realize that the sale could fall out of escrow for
one reason or another. If it does, I will feel that the
Lord did not want us here in this house, at this time.
This has happened before, and I survived
it. I also have the memories of the excitement of
planning what I’d do to the house, that will stay with
me, so just shake your head at me and don’t worry about
it, it is fun for me to do this.
Having spent this time at this rental house I also now
have a good idea of many of the things that do well in
this area in the shade. Prior to this I had only sun to
deal with, so this will allow me to plant in any of the
areas at this new house, with shade gardens for shady
areas. I want, in particular to plant on the east side
of the house, and make a small garden outside the
sliding door in the master bedroom.
Well I am sure that is more than
enough news for all of you. Thank you all again
for your continued support and prayers, you sustain me.
Marcie
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