Heading up

For the first time we are building up instead of digging down. These are the forms for the footings. The good news is that this means that all the soil issues are taken care of and blessed by the inspectors.



Today they poured the footings. Because everything is being built on a steep hill, we need a concrete pump to get the concrete in.



The next step should be putting up the firms for the walls. Progress!

Visit to Portland

Julie and I did a quick visit up to Portland to see the nieces before school started. It was a great visit. We started with some tickets to an LPGA golf tournament. Marty got them because GM was a sponsor.

This is us at the Portland Zoo. Kelly was with a friend celebrating a birthday, so she didn't make the picture.



Why they had farm stuff at the zoo, I don't know.



The special exhibit was butterflies. You got to walk in an area that was full of them, flying around you and sometimes landing on you.



Another big outing was a Sunday Brunch river cruise downtown. It was a nice two-hour cruise with decent food. Something different to do.

Mucking about

The picture is kind of crappy because the only camera I had was my phone. Beats nothing I guess.

I have been doing some work with the Swaner Nature Preserve. East Canyon Creek is part of the preserve but has been suffering some erosion problems. Every winter, the local high school does a fund raising activity where they will come haul off your dead Christmas tree for a few bucks. Then they give the dead Christmas trees to Swaner. Then people like me wade into the creek and anchor the trees to the bank where there is erosion, most commonly the outside of a curve. If anchored and tied correctly, they should withstand the spring floods. Eventually the tree become a place where sediment is deposited and we can go back and plant willows as a better long-term solution.

I was in the creek in shorts. Trust me, even in August the mountain streams are a bit brisk.

First we dig, now we fill

You can talk about digging a hole for the new house, but you just don't get perspective without something to compare the size to. I had Jasper (53 pounds) sit to show how much they have dug out of the hill. The problem is all the white "dirt" you see. It is volcanic ash from days gone by. We have dug enough of it out and tomorrow they should start to fill part of it back in with 6" rock. Bummer. We have lost at least two weeks to the "ash hole".

Moose Visitor

I know there have been a number of moose visits blogged, but it is just too incredible to see these huge animals wandering through the yard with little or no concern of humans, dogs, or cars.

This youngster came wandering through the yard this morning. The Aspen trees are one of the things that draws them in. They like the leaves, but have trouble getting to them on more mature trees. Our newly planted landscaping is just dandy.



This is what a moose looks like charging down the hill at a dog who seemed to want to go up and sniff the moose's butt to say "howdy". The dog wasn't barking, just curious. The moose was having none of it.



Just the same, it appears that this moose has been given some hunting dog training and knows how to go on point. Not sure how you take him hunting with you though.




I was telling the moose a joke I had read about Mel Gibson and Jews. The moose thought it was great!



After a tasty meal of Steve's Aspen leaves, you need a drink. Seems the only little pools of water were those on our hot tub. I have it covered under a tarp and covered with rocks to keep it from blowing away in our high winds. It was a lot of work for just a little water, so I went ahead and put a big bowl out for him. Perhaps he will come back and enjoy it.


Our neighbors saw a HUGE bull moose near our house the other morning, but we missed it. She said it was as big as she had ever seen. I will definitely try getting some pictures of him.