CRUNCH TIME!

 The trailer is coming out.  Here is the first round of photos.  I will do a second post with 1 or 2 videos that were pretty unbelievable.  

DAY 1
Dakota and I got to do the first crunch.  Crazy how much power this little machine has....

The began at the north end of the trailer with the CRUNCHER and just began taking big bites out of the structure.

 One of the first things they did was take out all the windows and any glass so they did not leave any big shards in the dirt when they were done.  That is thinking ahead.

They began at the south end of the structure on the roof, disassembling by hand the roof and the trusses.  Usually they would just crunch the whole thing but because of the 2 structures close to the trailer, they chose to do the roof by hand. 

Amazing power of a dump truck to haul while having no power to get out of the garden dirt .  The little mini excavator (AKA the CRUNCHER) had to pull the dump truck out of the garden.  

 Continuing the crunch.

 After they got through the first third, they came in with this crazy gas powered circular saw and cut through the metal frame with sparks flying.  I noticed that the boss delivered a fire extinguisher when he delivered this tool.  That made me feel like I had chosen my contractor well.

Here is a view from the inside of the trailer looking north with the kitchen gone.

 This is a slightly confusing photo without seeing the video first.  So go to the next post, watch the video and then come back to see the roof structure on the ground.

 We are about half way through at this point.

 Beginning to see what our view out the front of the house will be.

 The pile accumulating to get put in the truck.  One of the limiting factors of this process is the distance to the landfill.  I think we got 4 loads out today.  Here the excavator is loading the dump truck. 

 Bigger Pile.

 I gave Dakota the camera and here are some of his impressions of the day.

Around 3pm, I needed to head home to get connected with Wren.  This is the only part that was left standing.  I think they probably crunched it too and just left the floor and the big pile for tomorrow.
These guys are amazing to watch.  Very thorough and they do their job well.

Fall Compilation

Time to get the garlic in so it can overwinter and sprout and grow in the spring.  We planted 6 rows.  While digging the rows, we found another bucket of potatoes to add to the 40+ pounds we have already harvested.

Here is the garlic laying in the rows, ready to cover.

 And the potatoes we found these made a yummy dinner of potato leek soup.

Additionally we have trimmed back all the raspberry plants.  This is a view of our fall garden from the spot where our kitchen windows will be.

We got permission to take Dakota to the Whitman climbing gym during closed hours.  Here are Wren and Dakota climbing the wall together. They were having so much fun and Dakota made it all the way to the top!  He was so proud and then a bit scared about the coming down part.  But he made it with hardly any tears.  Having his brother there was a great big help.

Back to news on the property.  The sewer project is finally complete!  Here is a view of our new 1/2 of the road.  It looks so nice and will be a great place for skate board and bike and such.  Lucky for a nice quiet street.

Yesterday Dakota and I raked leaves for a while.  They were so beautiful, I had a hard time raking.  I just wanted to take in the beauty of it all.

Welcoming the Snow

The beginning of winter is upon us here in Walla Walla.  This past weekend, our mountains got dusted with their first snow.  From town we can see the tops of the mountains and the whole family began to think about ski season.  

To celebrate the first snow, we loaded up the car with warm layers, sleds (hopeful thinking) and hot chocolate and headed to the Umatilla Rim. Before we left as Stuart and I were getting the last minute details together, the boys put together this wonderful gift, made from 2 colors of rose petals and some very red leaves.

 The Umatilla Rim is a beautiful area about 50 minutes into the mountains from our house that we are just beginning to explore.  As we got near the summit pass, the dusting of snow turned to about 1/2 an inch saved by the shade of the trees.  As soon as we parked the boys were out headed for the first snowball fight of the year. 

Here is a short video clip of the snowball fight.

The trail was amazing.  One we had not visited before this hike.  And one we will certainly take future visitors to see.   The first thing to notice is that here in the west there is a deciduous conifer, the western larch also known as the tamarac tree. In this photo you can see it's fall color change contrasted by the evergreen next to it.  This made the stunning views all the more spectacular.  Note in the upcoming photos the stark contrast in the forest landscapes.

Wren hiking up the hill from an off-trail explore down to see where the "edge" of the canyon was.  Dakota really wanted to through his stick off the "edge" so we followed his lead and hiked down for a while all the time looking for the "edge" that we could not find.  The "edge" just kept rolling away. 

 Here is the stick Dakota wanted to throw off the "edge."

 After a while, we headed back up the steep hill.

 This was the view pretty much the whole way, looking out across the ancient basalt lava beds now uplifted and covered with conifers and open meadows. 

As we explored, we wondered if this might be bear country.  And then we noticed some bear sign.  This first tree has clear bear size claw marks.  

 And this next one is clearly bear hair.  We think this must be a good back scratching tree.

Near the end of the hike we got to pass through some wonderful forests where the snow was again captured by the shade.  

 Dakota captures his brother hiking along the snowing trail  using my iPhone.  Dakota really likes taking pictures. 

Grape Juice with the help of the Magic Steamer

Grape Juice is made in many different ways I am sure.  Through pure luck, I think I have stumbled on an amazingly easy way to get the yummiest grape juice ever. 

First comes the picking.  At our new property, we have about 30 feet of healthy concord grape vines that produced an amazingly abundant crop of grapes this year. 

This is what they look like coming off the vine.  It takes about an hour to fill up my trusty basket with grapes.

I get them home and begin to process.  This means washing them and picking off all the green grapes.  Here is the bowl at home full of grapes.

Then comes the magic steamer.  This contraption is amazing.  So I load the top layer with grapes.  This layer is like a giant collander.  The second layer with the hose coming off the bottom is like a bundt pan with a cone in the middle for directing the steam up into the grapes.  The space around the cone collects the juice that gets steamed out of the grapes. The bottom layer is the water bath where the steam comes from.   When the middle layer gets filled with juice, I just drain it off through the tube into a sterilized jar and put a canning ring on and VOILA! I have canned grape juice. 

Here the final product sitting next to an amazing dahlia.  It is so concentrated, you can't even see that it is purple.  YUM YUM YUM. 

Wren: Middle School

Wren has started middle school and loves it!  Here he is at open house by his locker.   We are very proud of him.  He tested into the Explorer's Program (Walla Walla's version of the gifted program).  And this has been great for him.  Part of this program puts him in 7th grade math which he is excelling in and puts him on track for AP Calculus his senior year. (The school had a big meeting about this and showed us a flow chart through senior year...WHOA!   The other big part is that he gets a double block period with Mr. Calzaretta, a truly inspired teacher.  He thinks outside the box and puts big questions out there for the students to contemplate.  This double block covers both language arts and social studies.  They have started by reading The Giver.  Their integrated "Utopia" project is to create a research based podcast on an intentional community.    Mr. Calzaretta wrote a grant to have ipads for every student in his class.  He is teaching them how to do research online, develop a script, record a script and then edit for final product.  Amazing!  When the finished product is available, I will share it will all of you.  Later in the year they will learn how to produce their own movies. 

He is also still playing piano where he has just recently passed into the wonderful zone of loving his lessons and really enjoying his practice.  He wanted to join the 6th grade band so we are seeing how trumpet fits into his life as well.  So far he is really liking it.  The video below shows Wren playing a piece of music he heard this summer when George was here playing the accordion.  Wren remembered the music and then was able to recreate it with emotion. 

Wren is playing soccer again this fall and really enjoying his time.  Here are some great photos of his most recent game where he played goalie for the first half and blocked many goals.  Second half he played forward and made 2 goals. 

Breaking Ground: Sewer

 So we bought a piece of property here in Walla Walla sometime in March.  We have been moving slowly toward the goal of building a home.  After much work, we have finally come to the first big step.  Putting in a sewer main.  We gathered our neighbors together to see if they wanted to do a joint project and put in a sewer main.  We were able to come to an agreement and all put our share of the cost in an escrow account and today the contractor we hired broke ground. 

He closed the street.

Here he is setting the first two pipes. Using a laser level adjusted for 1/2% grade and then siting the grade manually as well they were working on getting it right when Dakota and I visited.  We were happy to see their diligent attention to detail because water flows downhill so if the pipe is not angled down hill, it won't do it's job. 

 Here is the dirt they pulled out of the trench.  If the city deems it okay for backfill, we will be happy because it could save us a bunch of money.  So we have our fingers crossed. 

 Dakota is really into taking his own pictures with my phone.  Here is a great one of him reflected in the tail gate of one of the big trucks.  You can also see one of the backhoes in the reflection.

 This is a picture of the inside of the pipe.  Artist: Dakota

 Here is our contractor, Gary, a Walla Walla local who knows what he is doing.  We appreciate his attention to detail and ability to work with a good attitude.