Newport Oregon (2 posts)

Jackie and I walked around the docks in Newport looking at the fishing boats. This is the 1st time I have really looked close at these type of boats. Not much creature comfort on them all business. Crab, tuna, salmon, shrimp and halibut are the main fish they go out after. There are charter boats that will take you fishing or whale watching. Newport was where the whale from the movie Free Willie kept before he was released. Little know fact Willie was harpooned shortly after his release by the Japanese. Nah, just made that up to scare the kids. We were going to stay in Newport but the rv parks were either full or they wanted $780 per month to park plus electricity. We found a place in Waldport on a bay (inlet) for $400 per month. It is 15 miles south of Newport. We are about 1 mile from the ocean. Waldport is a small town with 1 store and some shops. But it is quiet and now crowded. We were suprised in the last 2 rv parks our electricity has been cheap. In Arizona we were paying 18 cents per kilowatt but here it is 7-8 cent. So our electricity bill has gone from $70-80 per month to $30-35. As I said we will be here for a couple more week then we are working our way down the coast of Oregon to Eureka Ca. Going to stay near the coast until it cools off some.

More pics from Newport area

At the dock area in Newport we found this fresh fish boat. Kinda hard to see the prices but tuna was $2.75 per pound for whole tuna. We are enjoying looking at the small fishing towns along the coast. We are in Waldport and only small boats fish here. Newport dredges the bay so larger boats can get in and out. So commercial fishermen work out of Newport. Weather has been nice. Low 60's lite breeze. Still in tee shirts and shorts. Taking Pepper to the beach tomorrow, not sure if I need to rent a surf board for her. I know I am crazy but I told her I would take to the beach when we left Nevada and this is the first chance we have had.

American Carousel (two posts)

We visited the Denzel American Carousel Museum in Albany yesterday. They are restoring an carousel and making new animals for the ride. It was built in 1909 by the Danzel family. The process for making these works of art take about 2000 manhours each. There is an artist who creates a drawing, then volunteers carve the wood. There are 6 wood carvers with one lead carver and 60 volunteers who also help. It takes 1000 to 1200 hrs to carve and then 400 hrs to paint. After they are painted there is a 5-6 month drying time before they put the clear coat on. They use basswood which has a very tight grain and glue pieces together. They use what they call a coffin style of piecing it together, the one pictures shows how it is hollow in the middle to make them lighter. So far they have 24 done and the carousel will have 56 when done. The building they are in will be tore down in a few years and a new building will be built to house the carousel. The next post shows how much work goes into these.

more carousel pics

The horse is one of the original animals from the carousel, it was made in the late 1800's. The picture of the carousel is the carousel that they are restoring. The other 3 pictures are some of the work the volunteers have done. The frog has been painted but no clear coat has been put on it yet.

We weren't quite done !!

Thought we were done working in the basement but found an area next to the chimney that had dry rot and mold. So we had to remove some drywall on both sides of the wall and cut out the 2x4's. We had to put a masonry sealer on the brick. Replaced the drywall and taped and textured. The pictures below is some of the work we did. Replaced the wood around his garage door due to dry rot, relocated the 3" sewer line and raised it up about 7". By the time we were finished we used about a dozen tubes of caulk, two tubs of drywall mud and a lot of moaning and groaning. We finished yesterday (Tuesday) and we are moving to the coast tomorrow (Thursday). I have been accused of whining by someone who I won't name ( John... Jackie's brother) but we got it done and it was hard work. Plus I like to bitch and moan.

Well, we did it. After 9 days working in the basement the house is now on the market. Pat and Carol want to sell and move to Medfort Oregon area. Albany averages around 45 inches of rain per year, where Medfort is around 15. They are tired of the clouds and rain. For those who don't know I have known Pat since 1961. Next to my sister he is the person I have known the longest. He and I were in grammar school together, then high school. Wednesday we took a day off and drove to the coast. We went to Newport to sight see and look for our next rv park. We are moving there about the 6th of July. The Oregon coast is beautiful and I will be posting more on the area later. We were surprised that the rv parks didn't have any spaces for us to stay a month. A few had spaces for a week. We went to 4 or 5 parks and nothing was available. Plus their monthly rate was averaging $780 plus electricity per month. Holy $#@*!!! The weekly rate was about $200 per week. So we went 12 miles south to Waldport and found a place and they are $400 per month. So it looks like we will become Waldportains. Weather has improved the past few days, sunny and warm, around 80. The forecast for the week is mid to high 70's. Perfect weather. Pepper got a haircut and is doing ok. She trips and falls but has her good days. Oh, today is Sunday but tomorrow I go back to work. Pat has a list of projects. I am beginning to think he is going to work me so hard I won't come back. I keep threatening to hook-up the trailer and leave in the middle of the night. It is funny, I was in Yuma a few months ago and did some drywall work for a friend, then move north to Albany and did drywall work. I am scared to head east, Jackie and I have a lot of relatives that direction.

Some loose ends

Sorry for the lack of posting the past month, as I said it was hard to come up with something when we were just parked at the daughters. We are back on the road and now in Oregon. But 1st some catch up to do. The picture of the beautiful young lady is our #2 granddaughter, it was taken the day of her prom. She did great in high school, 4 yrs band, 4 yrs playing 2 sports (track and tennis) and won 25 medals, 4 yrs FFA as an officer, 4 yrs CSF and a 3.5 gpa. She is off to Humbolt State in August. We attended a Memorial Day service where the high school band played. The cemetery placed the flags which made a nice background for the ceremony.

The picture of the small set of mountains is the Sutter Buttes, which is located near Yuba City Ca. where we were. It is the smallest mountain range in the world. The peak is 2130 feet and it is 10 miles long. The other mountain is Mount Shasta, we took it on the way to Oregon. Ok, caught up. We arrived in Albany on a Thursday and went to work on Friday! We are here visiting an old friend and he is prepping his house to sell. It is an old Victorian and has a full basement. We had to get the basement ready to paint. It has 2 bedrooms and a bath which are done but the rest was in bad need of repair. Spent the next 7 days working down there, everything from plumbing repairs to drywall work. Done. But it about killed us, 2 old men out of shape almost bit off more than we could chew. We are heading to the coast on Wednesday to look around Newport. We plan on heading there around the 8th of July, so we want to look at RV parks. Weather has been damp and cloudy most of our stay but the temp has been around 70 degrees. Not to bad really.