Fourth of July fell on a Friday this year, so a lot of people were enjoying a long weekend, but since Mike and I are enjoying a year-long weekend, we were willing to get back to work on July 5. Lots to do around the house in Depoe Bay. In fact, I’ve been busy enough that I’m not getting around to writing about our adventures every week—I’m writing this about three weeks out.
One of the first tasks Cy took on since we arrived was
clearing out, fixing up, and organizing the shed. A big job, but he tackles
projects with a vengeance, and before long he had it emptied, clad inside in
plywood, and with vinyl flooring laid down. Then it was time to start getting tools
and other things arranged to make the rest of the projects go a little more smoothly.
One thing he realized was that the shed was not big enough for all his tools
and workbenches plus fishing gear, crabbing equipment, and garden tools, so
there are also plans for another shed of some type on the other side of the
house.
Cy fixing up his shed
Another big project was replacing most of the interior doors
with the new doors that we got in Salem on Fourth of July. And we’d also found
some nice folding doors to replace the ones that weren’t in good shape on the
hall closet. So, as is becoming a regular thing, we watched some instructional
videos about hanging doors while we ate breakfast. We had already researched
hanging doors vs. replacing the whole door, frame and all, and the decision was
made to hang new doors in the existing frames. As it turned out, the hall
closet folding doors needed some planing to fit properly, but Cy has a lot of
tools, so the planing did not take long. I think it was the next day that the
Project du Jour was hanging the interior doors, three in one day. It looked to
me like ripping the old trim off was the fun part; hanging the doors did get
easier as the day progressed, though. The first one was hard, the second one
had some hiccups, and the third one was a breeze.
A well-hung door
There is a Big List of projects to accomplish, but I’ve also
found that when Cy and Amanda find something at an estate sale (there are lots
of “estate sales” around here) or at one of their favorite Habitat for Humanity
resale stores, suddenly priorities shift and a new project takes over for
awhile. So, they found a cool red carpet at an estate sale down the street, and
so the Home Theatre Makeover took center stage. Because every theatre needs a
red carpet, right?
The red carpet really
ties the room together
We had ordered some movie screen fabric, and Cy bought some
2 x 2s, so when the fabric arrived, he put together a frame with all-important
triangle braces on the corner (something that was the major lesson I learned
helping to build community theatre sets). Then Cy and I stretched the fabric over
the frame, and it turned out great. I found a blackout screen for the window at
Wal-Mart, and the kids have been collecting recliners and beanbag chairs at resale
shops for seating. At the time of this writing, they have three recliners and
two huge beanbags so there’s a selection of comfortable seating. With the
inherited projector, the room was ready for screening movies every night after
we have a late dinner and then collapse from the work of the day. Yes, the
movie room is a big hit!
The big screen is 8' x 4.5', the same aspect ratio
as a screen at a movie theatre, very cool!
We had a nice distraction from the work around the house at the
end of the week; our friend Robert and his friend Lisa came down from
Washington to visit. We went to the interesting nearby sights on the coast,
including Whale Cove, Boiler Bay, Otter Rock, and the Devil’s Punchbowl—a weird
big hole in the rock that creates a swirling cauldron of water within.
The Devil’s Punchbowl on the Oregon coast
We made a stop at Yaquina Head to see the lighthouse and the
gift shop—where I purchased a banana slug finger puppet that I like very much.
I think Robert got some magnets, and we saw a rock covered with pigeon
guillemots, a kind of shore bird I had not encountered before. It was windy and
cold at Yaquina, so we did not stay long. We also walked down to South Fogarty Beach,
which was also foggy and chilly, but hey, it’s still a nice beach.
The lighthouse at
Yaquina Head,
near Newport
Lisa and Robert made a great dinner of salmon and vegetables,
with an apple pie for dessert, at the Air BnB where they were staying, and Cy
and Amanda came down to join us for dinner. Our friends were due to leave the
next morning, and Mike joined them for breakfast down at the bay, at Gracie’s
Sea Hag. Meanwhile, I was on my way to Salem for the start of another
adventure.
I was meeting up with my sister Amy and my niece Jesse in
Salem to continue on to Sisters, in the Cascades, for the famous Sisters Outdoor
Quilt Show. About 10 miles east of Lincoln City, however, I came upon a road
block—Route 18 was closed. And that’s the road over the coastal range, so there
are no alternate routes to speak of. In fact, I had to drive back to Lincoln
City, then drive 25 miles north on US 101 to the next road over the coastal
mountains, Oregon 22. I took that all the way into Salem, but it added a bit
more than an hour to my drive. Once in Salem, Jesse handed me a lovely cup of
coffee, Amy packed some cookies for the road, and we were on our way to Sisters
by 11:30. Later than we’d hoped, but we still got to Sisters by about 1:30,
found a parking space a lot easier than I expected, and headed out to see the
quilts.
There were at least a thousand quilts, most hanging on the porches
and walls of the shops and buildings in town, but a scattering of them in the
shops, too. It was scorching hot, so going into the air-conditioned stores was
a way to cool off. Every shop had a big dispenser of ice water, which also
helped.
A display of small quilts
by the Sisters Quilt Guild
We had a nice lunch and then continued on around town to see
more quilts. We took hundreds of photos, so rather than clog up the blog with a
bunch of photos, I’ll add this link to a slideshow I made of all the quilts we
saw and admired. A great day, if a bit hot—it was 101 degrees when we left
about 4:30, heading back to Salem, where my nephew-in-law and brother-in-law had
a grand dinner waiting for us. I stayed overnight, hoping the easier road to
the coast would be reopened by the next day.
Or you can click this photo to see the whole slide show
On Sunday, we went out to breakfast at Sylvia’s Omelets in
Salem; it was delicious, and we were also celebrating my brother-in-law Rob’s
birthday the next day. Then I headed back to Depoe Bay (Oregon 18 was open,
thankfully) and went from temperatures in the 90s to about 80 at a stop around
halfway back. Finally, I stopped at the grocery store in Lincoln City, where it
was 64 degrees. Wild to experience such a change in weather on a 60-mile drive.
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