Update

I've been neglecting my blog. So today is an update on many things to catch you all up.

Fishing. We have taken up fishing. We started out fishing on the Wilson River for steelhead. The Wilson is good for many kinds of fish during the whole year. We haven't caught anything but we have fun trying. We combine the fishing trip with a trip to the ocean. We "catch" lunch at one of the local small restaurants on the coast. I suppose if we actually catch a fish that we can take home and not release-we will be heading home instead of going out to lunch. We've gone fishing with my grandson too. It was great fun.
                      


Snow. January was warm and February was cold. Cold enough to snow. Mind you we don't get a lot of snow but it is fun to see and the grandkids love it! I even got to drive for the first time in the snow and ice to go horseback riding.
                    


Retreat. I went on a woman's retreat put on by our church. It was nice to get away and meet some new people. It was a great time of personal refreshment and reflection. A very good way to start a new year-it was in February but close enough! There's something awesome about reflecting on who I am in Christ and how much he loves me. That changes my perspective on the world and balances my priorities. And I got to go running on the beach. I've taken up running again and ran my first 5K here in Oregon on the beach at the retreat.


Planting. I'm continuing to try to start some plants for my garden. The first plants failed. The grow light didn't seem to help, it just made them very tall and leggy. If I put the plants closer to the light their leaves started to burn. Then they got some fungus. I gave up on those plants and I'll have to buy them from the nursery. But I still got some other ones starting and I have a different method of starting them. No grow light for these ones. I made a small portable "green house" for them. Every day I take them outside and bring them in at night. Night time is often freezing or below. So far this method is working. I currently have basil, coleus, and onions coming up. I have other seeds planted waiting for them to come up. We will see.


Taekwondo. My 6 year old grandson is in Taekwondo and is currently a yellow belt. Portland was hosting the National Taekwondo Tournament. He was allowed to compete in form. He got 2nd place in his age group! He got the highest score out of all of the yellow belts tho. He came home with a silver metal. (Grandma bragging here)


I have more to write but those subjects each be a blog. Hopefully I won't wait so long to write again.

Birds

We have many varieties of birds around here. I've noticed them while on walks and in the parks. So making some bird feeders seemed like a good idea. Not wanting to spend a lot of money on this project, I did some research and came up with this bird feeder.


    

I needed to buy some things for this project. The two bowls and tray came from Goodwill. I went a few days after Christmas and got them for 75% off-of Goodwill prices! I spent a dollar at that store. We also need something to go down the middle to hold it all together. Mr UAW said we needed something called "all thread" at the hardware store. Along with the nuts and eye screw we spent a about $3.70. The wire was something that the previous home owners left behind. We also had some paracord on hand to hang it from the tree. So now I've spent $4.70 on the feeder itself. The cheapest way to buy black oil sunflower seeds was in a 40 lb bag-$19.99. The bag will hopefully last a while. We hung it up and waited...for the squirrels! Not wanting to feed squirrels we did some adjustments. First we had it too close to the tree trunk-move it out. Then they found a branch to help them hop on to it-cut off the branch. Then they discovered they could climb down the paracord. The dome lid did nothing to deter them. So...more research. We came up with 1" PVC pipe. If cut in about 10 inch lengths, the paracord threaded thru them, and shortening wiped on the outside of them-the squirrels were deterred. It was just too wobbly for the squirrels to climb down. So add another $1.58 to the cost for a total of $6.28 for the feeder itself, still cheaper than the stores.

I also bought some Nyjer seed. This seed attracts the smaller birds-Finches (4 different varieties in our area) and Pine Siskins.

Then I decided to make suet feeders. I could easily make them from wire that was left here by the previous home owners. I used our staple gun for attaching the scrapes of wood to the sides. There is a flap at the top of each of these that I can open to insert the suet. Making the suet was an easy process and cheaper than the store. I didn't break down the cost for this post.

   

Now I need it be able to identify the birds that come. We went to a local bird store and we checked out bird sites on the internet for our area. So far we have seen Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, California Scrub-Jays, Stellar's Jays, and Varied Thrush. During last summer I saw Robins and Hummingbirds. I have a hummingbird feeder and hope to attract some this summer. That's in addition to the squirrels. I think we just have Eastern Gray Squirrels and Eastern Fox Squirrels.

I'd like to get pictures of these birds. I'll have to work on that and keep you all posted on how this turns out.

Sewing projects for Christmas

I started sewing for Christmas in early November and I could not post my projects until after Christmas as I did not want to spoil the surprise for the recipients. So now that Christmas is over I can share.

I made some hats for the grandkids. Mr. Bear got the privilege of modeling the hats and then I got pictures of the grandkids with their hats.

        

Zeke had 2 hats, a mohawk fleece hat and a "ninja" fleece hat. He loved both of them. Fleece hats are easy to make but the added mohawk would have been a challenge for my old machine. I still have it, it's an old Kenmore that I bought in the '80's. My new machine, a Juki, handles lots of layers with no problems. My Juki is an industrial machine, it only does a straight stitch and does it really well. With the mohawk seam I ended up sewing thru 6 layers of fabric. The "ninja" hat is just like a ski mask. It has a trim around the face opening and bottom that is "Fold-Over Elastic". I found that I love working with this elastic. It has a (for lack of better words) line down the middle of it that makes it really easy to fold over the edges of something. I used my Kenmore to sew this part. I needed a very small zig-zag stitch and my Juki couldn't do that one. In fact I could not use the regular zig-zag stitch on my Kenmore. I ended up using part of the button hole stitch in order to get a very small zig-zag. The face part can be pulled down from the nose to sit under the chin in case someone wants to eat or drink something.

      

Again Mr. Bear was my model for this hat before Christmas. It is Micaela's favorite color lately. And I made her a t-shirt dress. I had left over material from her rabbit purse that I made her for her birthday. It worked great for this t-shirt dress. T-shirt dresses are easy to make, the shirt was a $4.47 Walmart purchase and went really well with the rabbit material-and it's her favorite color. Both of these projects were done on my Juki.

One of my projects was a challenge. There was no pattern, only an old tool roll from a 1969 Land Cruiser. When I was in California for Thanksgiving I got a chance to take measurements of the old one in order to make a new one for my son-in-law, Ryan. The old one was in fragile condition and Dani had some fabric and trim for me to use.




The fabric is waxed canvas. I'd never sewn on waxed canvas before. Ryan likes vintage items and this item seemed like it was from WWII. They had bought the fabric and trim from an army supply store but Dani's machine was not able to sew on it, too thick. It wasn't too thick for my Juki tho. The thickest part was 6 layers thick counting the trim. I put some tools in it just to make sure it could hold them okay. I was not able to find a buckle like the old one but had a wider one in my stash and a vinyl strap that worked to finish it off. I was surprised at how well it came out and the project got me to thinking about sewing more tool rolls for these types of projects and other occupations as well.

I got to sew a new bag for Dani.



I started out making her a lunch bag, but my original lunch bag was too small. I made one that looked just like a paper bag, it was cute but not good for a lunch-maybe a snack. Anyway I pulled out a book  that Dani let me borrow and made this for her. I had not sewn with zippers in ages but the directions in this book made it easy. I picked up this fabric at the thrift store. It was curtains that were in great shape. It had contrasting fabric plus an off white lining that I used for the inside of this bag. I'm pretty sure she can fit her lunch or whatever she wants in this one.

And I had more than enough curtain fabric to make another purse, this one for Jeni.



I had made Jeni one of these over the shoulder purses before and she still uses it but it is falling apart. The fabric is worn thru and it has holes in it. So I thought a new one was in order. It's a great purse to use when your hands are full with a couple of kids and all their "stuff". For this project I used the same fabric for the outside and the lining. It does have the contrasting stripe across the front and it has a 3 section pocket inside. Both Dani and Jeni's projects were sewn on my Juki.

I had great fun sewing for Christmas. I was very glad to have my Juki and I had taken some thread and needle classes at the sewing store. The information I learned was very helpful with all of these projects. I'm looking forward to sewing more in the future. Keep you all posted on future projects.

Whole-food plant-based diet/vegan 98%

My diet has changed to whole-food plant-based diet/vegan.

How did I get here, what made me want to change? It all started with my cholesterol levels. In 2015 it was 225, in 2016 it was 236. My health care provider in CA didn't get upset at those numbers-they get excited when it gets above 240. I thought that was odd because I thought the "magic" number to stay below was 200. So here is it 2017 and I'm sure that if I don't change anything my numbers will be above 240. And now that I have a different health care provider, I'm sure the normal number will be closer to 200. What to do...change my diet. My decision to become vegan is based on my health. I didn't want to take medication to control my cholesterol so I decided to change my diet. For me, being a vegan is a dietary decision, I'm not out to make an ethical or environmental statement. I'm just trying to eat healthy for me. About 98% of the time I eat vegan. I find when I eat out, especially at a restaurant, it is harder to stay vegan.

Every November I get my blood work done so I wanted to start on this diet at least 2 months before my lab appointment. In August I started changing over my breakfasts. That wasn't very hard because I usually have just oatmeal for breakfast. Then I started on my lunches. That wasn't too hard either. Dinners were more of a challenge. It has been a fun challenge. My resources have been plentiful: blogs and cookbooks. It doesn't sound like much but there is so much information out there. Some of my books are Forks Over Knives and America's Test Kitchen's Vegetarian Cookbook. Blogs include kitchentreaty.com, cearaskitchen.com. Now I know that in this paragraph I've mentioned 3 different diets, vegan, vegetarian, and whole-food plant-based diet. My aim is whole-food plant-based diet. Every once in a while I'll use oil in something or butter or put a sprinkle of cheese on something. But for the most part I stay away from dairy, oils and processed foods.

My cholesterol numbers for this November's blood work came back with better numbers. It was 219-on it's way down!!! And I feel better too. I don't have that "bloaty" feeling, my head is clearer, my arthritis in my hands is better. In addition to changing my diet I need to keep up on my physical activities. The combination is important to keeping the cholesterol numbers down. I find that I need to plan my physical activity more now that I'm retired. So I'm working on that too...subject for another blog. In 2+ months my cholesterol numbers were down, next year with a whole years worth of dietary change and workouts I'm hoping that my numbers will be below 200. By the way, my protein numbers and calcium numbers were more that fine.

I'm sure some of you are wondering how Mr WAU is handling this. He has been a very supportive spouse. He eats what he wants for breakfast and lunch. Dinners are meatless. We like to try new recipes a few times a week. Some of them are so-so, only a few have been bad. Most of them are pretty good. There are times that I just have to break out the chicken for him, but he bravely tries all that I set before him. We now have our favorite recipes. I'm getting more confident in my abilities and are willing to share with family and friends now.

So if you have any favorite sites for recipes let me know and I'm sure I'll be sharing more here as time goes on.

Tualatin Wildlife Refuge

The Tualatin Wildlife Refuge is only 4.5 miles away from our house, it takes about 10 minutes to get there. We started going there when we first moved to Oregon, when we were living with my daughter and son-in-law and grandkids. It's even closer to their house. It's one of 10 urban refuges in the USA. It is 1,856 acres of wetlands and lowland sanctuary or about 200 bird species and more than 70 other animal species. Five miles of trails enable you to see many different animals. I'm not very good at identifying my birds, but I'm learning to get better. On this day there were a bunch of Cackling Geese, these are smaller than the Canadian Goose. We also saw 2 Bald Eagles, a mating pair that has lived at the refuge for many years.

   This is the wetlands, so many birds use this place.


This is at the far end of the trail where you can look out over the wetlands.

   We found a tree frog.

 Some of the trails        

   A poor picture of a raccoon from the viewing platform on the Tualatin River

   A view of the viewing platform over the river when we were kayaking last summer

  Park Rangers are more that happy to show you the "critters" living in the water.

This is a good place to go to get away from the hustle of the city, the trails are easy, the grandkids can do it, and it doesn't take all day.

Christmas Decorating

We came home from our Thanksgiving visit to California and started decorating for Christmas. That is usually early for me but I knew that it would take time to put everything where I wanted it. Being in a new house means everything, including Christmas decorations, get to find a new home.

  It was nice to be able to use the red hutch for decorating this year. Previously the hutch lived in my bedroom and there was no sense in decorating it there. So now it makes a nice place to put up our nativity set. And it's at eye level for the grandkids to see.

   We weren't sure where we wanted to put the tree. For this year it will sit here and as time goes on I'm getting used to it. I love putting up the tree. Each ornament has a story connected with it so it's a good reminder of past experiences. Some of the ornaments have a joyous remembrance and some of them are more melancholy. I continue to put them all up there because for me one of the things about Christmas is celebrating how God redeems things. Those ornaments that make me think of past sadness reminds me to leave the person or situation in God's hands and that brings a peace to me. And peace is one of the things this season is about.

   We have a tradition that we hide these little elves in the main room(s) of the house. There are 10 of them. I let the grandkids hide most of them while Grandpa is out of the room. They have so much fun watching Grandpa trying to find all 10 of them. And I get to hide 1 of them and they all have to find it. This tradition started when I was a little girl. In grade school we would have Christmas parties and every year there would be cupcakes and on the top of the cupcakes was a small Christmas decoration. Some years it was a snowman, a present, a Santa, etc. Well my mom saved them and my dad started hiding them in the main room of the house every Christmas. Every year it was a challenge trying to find all of them. Fast forward to when my kids were little and my dad bought me a set of these little elves to continue the tradition. So now we hide them with the grandkids.

   We've started a new tradition, Gingerbread Pancakes. They were so good. The recipe can be found at kitchentreaty.com  And yes, in the background is our Gingerbread house that I do with the grandkids every year. It's in "progress", put on hold due to the flu. So a post will be coming with that decorating adventure.

I hope your Christmas is full of peace and that you all have a grand new year.

A new horse life

Horses had been a big part of my life while we lived in California. I have been wondering for quite some time if they would be part of my life here in Oregon. When we decided to retire and move, we knew we could not take the horses with us. On a retirement income we would not be able to afford it. Mr UAW and I both brought in an income and we could afford the horses board. I worked off some of the boarding costs by volunteering my time at the barn and got an enormous discount on veterinary costs by working at an equine hospital. Our family originally had three horses. We sold one, Sky-an Arab gelding, a few years before deciding to retire. So we had two horses when we knew retirement was coming soon, a mother/daughter pair, Skippy-a Quarter/Arab and Zoe-a Quarter/Arab/Fox Trotter.  Zoe was my personal horse. About two years before moving, we decided to place them with our boarding barn, Knicker Knob Stable. The owner took them on as lesson horses and they quickly settled into their new "jobs".  Giving up the horses was difficult but I knew they would be happiest staying together at the barn, the lesson program was easy, and the care they would receive would be good. And I thought I'd be able to visit them a few times a year once we had moved. Seven months after giving them up, Zoe died due to complications from Temporohyoid Osteoarthropathy with secondary vestibular disease. Because I still lived and worked close to the barn and still volunteered at the barn, I was involved with Zoe. I raised her up from birth and I made the decision to put her down. It was one of the hardest periods of my life and to this day it is difficult to speak of that time. Zoe was my partner, we were a team, and we learned to depend on each other as the years went on. I've never felt a connection to any animal as I did with Zoe. The relationship is difficult to explain. We depended on each other, especially out on the trail-she watched my back, took care of me many times and I paid attention to her needs and took care of her. We watched over each other. It's a relationship that I will always treasure and never forget. Zoe died 20 months before we actually moved. Since then, Skippy has found other horse friends at the barn and continues to give lessons to this day. I did not do much riding once Zoe died. It was difficult to ride, I needed time to grieve and move on,  and the pressures of setting up things for retirement and moving took up much of my spare time. But I always wondered...would I ride again?

Fast forward to September 2017, we have retired and moved...and I began thinking...I have a skill that I've worked on for many years and I'd like to use it again. All that "horse knowledge" just doesn't go away. It follows me everywhere I go and I still use it. Things like keeping your focus, keep your eyes on where you want to go, pay attention to the little things, acknowledge the little tries in life, so many things that I learned and that had become a part of me- are still with me today. I wanted to use my knowledge of horses again, but did not want to own a horse again. Mr UAW and I talked it over and agreed that volunteering at a horse facility would be a good thing. So I began to pray. After coming to this decision, I met a woman at our church who volunteers at Trillium Creek Training and Rehabilitation Coalition (TCTC), you can find them at www.tctchorsecare.org. It's a non-profit with 10 acres of woods, trails, barns and about 12 horses who have been healed from previous injuries or neglect. The horses have been retrained to safely have new jobs:  giving lessons, driving carriages, or just retiring as they age. I called the owner, we met and my riding skills are now used to exercise and help train horses at her place. The teaching/training philosophy at TCTC is very similar to what I've experienced at Knicker Knob Stable. We have gone on trail rides at one of the local equestrian parks and I ride in her arena. I feel like I'm at home at her place. I'm not sure where this journey will take me. We've talked about taking and giving lessons at her place and on the trails, me helping out with their summer camps for kids, she will teach me to drive horses with a carriage, there are so many opportunities there and I'm excited about it. Prayers have been answered and I guess there is more to come on this adventure. By the way, Zoe's name means life in Greek and even tho she is not physically with me anymore and because of my experiences with her I can grow and participate in the horse community and continue on my journey on this unexplored trail of a horse life.

Lucky-was an eventer, stadium jumper, cross country jumper until a suspensory injury changed  her "job" and now she has a new life at TCTC. A very nice horse to ride.

On the trail with Lucky 

               

Willow-an Argentine Thoroughbred. She was a polo pony and a school horse for eventers. Neglected and with a stifle injury her "job" changed to a new one at TCTC. She's a great horse to ride. 

On the trail with Willow 

                               

Katie was a Montana cow pony when she foundered. After recovering she was ridden English and did jumping, was a school horse and did 3-day eventing. Due to changing circumstances in the owners life, Katie came to live at TCTC. With her arthritis and swayed back she now takes on riders under 75 pounds-and my grandson, Zeke enjoyed his ride on this wonderful mare. 

Bobby is a nice miniature horse. He teaches people how to drive and loves to work. I'm told he can jump as high as he is tall when in good condition. Zeke is enjoying a horse that is his size.