The Morel of the Story

Every season we learn new things about our new hometown, Bend, that will make next year even more awesome. For example, I found out too late last year that this orchard down the street has 100%-totally-free apple picking. This fall, you can be sure I'll be all up on that, and we'll be canning apple sauce, apple butter, and making apple fruit leather for weeks.

This spring, we've been learning about morel and bolete mushroom locations. I've started keeping a list, and maybe next year we'll find enough to share! 

If you're interested in mushroom hunting, I strongly advise you join up with a local mycology club, rather than buy a slew of mushroom books or apps. Trust me, we did both. It's just SO MUCH EASIER to have a bunch of nerds show you what to look for. They've already made all the mistakes, and also, seeing the right and the wrong mushrooms in person makes more sense when you can touch them, smell them, cut them open, etc.

a peek at Wickiup Reservoir through the trees.

The leaders of the forays are dedicated. They scout out locations the night before, so that we're pretty much guaranteed to find something the next day. They brought us near Wickiup Reservoir, one of the many lakes off the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. 

A cool thing about mushroom hunting is that you are generally in a beautiful spot, enjoying a nice long walk through the trees. So whether or not you find something, it's still a winning situation.

I was standing at the actual spring that feeds the reservoir.

I sort of spent the first 30 minutes just wandering, because I'm more of a lucky mushroom hunter, not a good one. Mike is much better at actually spotting them. I rely on the stumbling method, as in, I sure hope I stumble into one. 

And stumble I did! I was the first in our whole group to find a morel. Once you find a mushroom, you're supposed to stop and look around carefully. Mushrooms are social and like to hang in groups. 

My first sighting! Looks sort of like a blonde pinecone, so they're hard to spot.

Sure enough, there was a second right nearby. Mike ran over and we found about 5 more.

a second one!

Mike picking a morel, coral mushroom, and amanita mushrooms.

I felt a little guilty leaving at the end of the day, because you usually do a potluck after a foray, and share all your findings. But since this foray was in Bend and we live here, we just headed home with our goodies...

Beginner's Luck!

We found more than the whole group that day. Go team! Did you know these suckers are like $40/pound? 

An added bonus - we learned how to find and identify boletes, another mushroom that is prolific in this area and very popular with those in the know. I cooked one up for us and although it was tasty, it tasted just like a regular mushroom. The morels, though - they were tasty. It might have been the butter.

King Boletes. According to the book, they are "edible, and choice."

The true test will be next spring, if we can find morels all on our own. If we're successful, I know a bunch of foodie friends (and relatives) who are going to be super happy!

Water, Water, Everywhere....and Beer

It's close to impossible to find a couple where all four of you get along amazingly well - and not just the girls getting along, and the guys getting along, but where you get along with the other person's spouse, and they get along with yours. 

That's why we know that we're lucky, because Bernice and Josh (you met them in our Tokyo posts here, here, and here) are that couple for us. They are our favorite travel buddies, hiking buddies, and just-sit-around buddies. We know their personality quirks and food preferences, how late they'll want to sleep in and what they'll want to see. They adore our fur babies and we have the same vices. Planning for their visit was less about "what should we do?" and more about "how much can we cram in?"

They arrived late night on a Wednesday, and we picked them up and headed right out to Deschutes Brewery. Mike and I hadn't been there yet (shameful, I know!), despite living here for a year. So it was cool to discover that the breweries here have some pretty good food!

Josh and Bernice. We were there til closing - a good start!

They brought us an awesome housewarming gift, too...A few years ago, I had asked Josh if it was possible to recreate this chandelier I loved from this designer, which was an insane amount of money (especially for our humble abode). Well, he was able to weld something very similar, and schlepped it up to Bend in his luggage. So we now have light in our dining area!

Please excuse the crappy pic and unfinished trim on our sliding glass doors!

The next morning, we hit the trails. We started off local, on the Deschutes River Trail and got in a few good miles.

Josh slipped and fell...just kidding!

The next day, we took a lap around Todd Lake, usually one of our favorite spots. Right now, however, it's still got snow and the normally gorgeous wildflower field was super muddy and swampy. We all got serious wet sock, except Josh, who was only one who wore proper footwear. After the wet field, we had to tramp through knee deep snow on the shady side of the lake, so as you can imagine, our wet feet were frozen solid by the time we got back to the car. 

Bernice and I searching for the driest route through the field.

So for the next hike, we decided to do something with a clear cut trail. We took them to Sahalie Falls, one of our favorite spots. It's easy to get to, just off Route 126, and clearly marked with signs. 

This time, we hiked further down, rather than just hanging around by the waterfall. The trail was beautiful! You feel so far away from civilization.

Bernice and Josh on the trail!

A shot of the McKenzie River from the middle of a bridge.

The trail leads you past Koosah Falls, which I think is even more impressive than Sahalie Falls. It's not one raging fall like Sahalie, but more intricate. While Bernice and I were taking pictures, Josh disappeared down the ravine. 

Koosah Falls

We all scuttled down after him, grabbing tree branches and crab-walking the steep hillside.

The view from the bottom was stunning. Super misty and ethereal, and on a sunny day, I'm sure there's rainbows. The moss covered rocks and vegetation make it feel so lush! You could even see the spring, where the water comes up from the underground aquifers. The water here is so crisp and clear, it's turquoise in places.

to the left of the waterfall is the tiny spring, pouring from the lava rock.

On the walk back, we got viewpoints we missed on the way there, which were well worth a photo op.

The best part about Oregon is that you're never more than an hour away from a good beer and a good meal. After gorgeous scenery like that, all we had to do was drive about 30 minutes back to Sisters, Oregon, where we stopped in at the Three Creeks Brewery and had ourselves a snack!

a root beer float the size of Josh's head.

Bernice tasting all the brews on tap that day. The chocolate porter was my favorite!

It was a short but packed visit, and we miss them already. But we'll be keeping busy this summer, exploring more and more of the area...our new goal is to complete every hike in this new book we bought. It might take us a couple years, so wish us luck!

The Scourge of the Neighborhood

You know that neighbor with the overgrown yard, peeling paint, and crumbling front porch? The one that's a total eyesore and is dragging down property values? 

Well, hello! That's us. While we've been busy prettifying the insides of our so-very-humble abode, the outsides have been a bit neglected. 

It's not entirely our fault, since the former owner never laid eyes on the place or took care of it. And I'll ask for a little leeway since we did just move in, in January. But now it's May, and everything is in bloom, including our lovely dandelions, which we are growing for market. You didn't think we were just letting random weeds grow in the yard, did you?

Here's where I post some embarrassing pictures of our yard:

Those two fir trees on the left are just the worst - half dead, and I'm pretty sure the 25+ years of dog pee that they've experienced hasn't helped anything. The birch (white trunks), while pretty, has a trunk that is leaning into our roof and needs to go. And that tree in the foreground? It's dead. Yep. We figured that out after it refused to blossom this spring.

Our side yard is just as awful, if not worse:

The fence is from the 90s, part of it blew down in a recent storm (where you can see the neighbors trashy - pun intended - temporary "fencing"), and we have a disgusting mixture of old gravel and random weeds growing out of the ground. But you know what this is? A blank slate! I'm imagining a sitting area, strawberry beds, and a fire pit...

I found an arborist doing work at the house next door, and scheduled them for the following week. For $400.00 they cut down no less than 7 trees in our yard and hauled them away. For another $75.00 they came back and dug up the stumps. Worth every penny.

the arborists at work and a glimpse of our crappy backyard.

The front of our house now looks so much better...you can actually see the house now! 

Before

After

See that crazy storm cloud in the "After" picture? Mike had to hurry and get our roof patched up - it's been leaking in the garage. We're planning on replacing the entire roof, but probably it'll happen later this summer. In the meantime, my super handy husband took care of it himself:

A house is definitely a labor of love. It's never-ending, and while rewarding, it's also exhausting. I'm happier than ever that we bought a small house. Less to maintain, less to clean, less place to store useless "stuff." Less is more, for sure.

While we'll continue our daily mini-projects and figure out how to haul away all our yard debris, it's time to take a break. We're excited for this upcoming summer, and we've got lots of hikes and local vacations planned, starting this weekend. More to come!

Every Day I'm Hustlin'

OK, so we're not hustlin' as hard as Rick Ross, but making that "To Do" list on the last post really made us accountable for our actions. I highly suggest stating publicly (or on Facebook, because that's practically the same thing) what you're going to do, because wow, is it motivating. 

I'm still learning how to do new things with the remodel, and on this particular day, it was electrical wiring of our outlets. My boss, who is an electrician, told me it'd be simple - just pull out the old outlet and look at how things are wired, then just pull out the wires and plug them into the new receptacle the same way. Sounds easy enough...

I pulled out the outlets (after turning off the breaker - that is the most important step!), and there were yucky cobwebs in some, the wires require some muscle to get out and push in, and there would be any number of wires, from 3 to 7, that might be connected to any particular outlet. I managed, with a lot of help from Mike, to figure out how to do it, but it took me about 2 hours to finish six receptacles. I also electrocuted myself because I forgot to test the outlet before touching it, and it was wired to a different breaker. I am officially the worst electrician ever.

My electrical outlet progress and Mike installing the trim.

Mike worked on the trim all afternoon, and got the living room mostly completed (minus wood putty and paint). It got difficult around the bullnose corners, but we'll figure that out another day. For now, it's enough that we're making progress.

I also got some seeds started for our "garden" this summer. Our yard looks like...well, it looks like the yard of a house that's been a rental for 25 years. So it needs a lot of back-breaking work. Since we're already toiling away on the interior, with a guest bathroom, roof, and siding to finish this summer, we're putting off the yard until next spring (which, if climate change continues on this path, may be even earlier next year). This year, I'm growing food in pots, which will give me an opportunity to work on my atrocious gardening skills. 

you can see my successful regrown green onions at the end of the sill.

I repurposed some old egg cartons for the seeds and planted lettuces, mâche, yellow strawberries, eggplants, and little Mexican cucumbers. Everything is specifically for this climate and ordered from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. We'll see what sprouts and what I can keep alive! If all goes well, I'll be able to transplant these babies into pots in a few weeks.

In preparation for our DIY landscaping, we've been checking out garden centers around town. This one, Tumalo Garden Market, was so unbelievably cute! They had greenhouse kits, beehives, tons of fruit trees, and even a mini "canyon" you could walk through, to get ideas for your yard.

this place was like a garden amusement center - loved it!

I'm hoping we'll keep up the hustlin' into this upcoming week. But today, we're headed to the movies! Fast and Furious 7...and I'm bringing a box of tissues.

A New Tradition

On April 10th, we were reminded that it had been one year since we first set foot in Bend. I was so excited about our new hometown that I took this picture and posted it:

April 10, 2014

We decided to start a new tradition for our new town, and we went back down to Drake Park and took the exact same picture:

April 10, 2015

While it was a bit overcast, and the pond looks a little murky without all that gorgeous blue sky reflected in it, it was still a crisp spring day, and a great way to mark the passage of one sporadically frenzied, life-changing year. And thus, a new tradition is born!

We've definitely been doing a lot more wandering since it's been warm lately. It's just so refreshing and beautiful outside. Everyone seems to have fruit trees, and the streets are popping with color.

our plum tree in full bloom

We took Morty out for a little spin, down some farm roads, with no particular destination in mind. The sun was shining, we passed sheep and cows, horses and goats, a few llamas, and finally ended up at Tumalo Reservoir. You can just barely see the Cascade mountains peeking out in the background. They're still completely snow covered, but this year our snow pack was only about 30% as deep as normal. This means it will melt off too quickly - the trout and salmon will suffer, because the rivers won't be as cold, which equals less oxygen. A hot, dry summer is in the forecast.

Morty at Tumalo Reservoir

Note to self - shooting into the sun sucks.

It's getting harder and harder to stay inside and finish fixing up the house, but like homework, it hangs over our heads every day. Some days, I just unpack a box or two (we're close to done, only about 10 boxes left) and consider that "remodeling." It does help, though! This day, we got two art boxes unpacked and hung up some of our Audrey Kawasaki favorites on the living room wall.

maybe the art will distract from the fact the trim's not done...

And while the kitchen cabinets are still a pain to open since I didn't put the handles on yet, the kitchen is fully functional and I've been cooking up a storm! I made butter poached, local wild caught rockfish with saffron sauce, a deconstructed pastichio (it's sort of a Greek eggplant lasagna), consommé, and completely-from-scratch-pierogis. I also made stuff Mike could eat, like chili. Ha! 

not all cooking goes right! eggplant explosion on the grill.

Life has been quieter these last couple weeks, as we've gotten into a groove of just living here in Bend. It's a nice thing to enjoy, since looking down the summer pipeline, we've got a lot of plans. Time to get motivated to finish our list! While there's tons more to do, if we could only get this stuff done, we could relax for a bit. Let's see if writing it here helps us get it done before the next post (wishful thinking...).

Things to Do:

finish replacing all electric receptacles

finish trim

hook up kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans

reframe all windows and kitchen sliding glass door

hook up hallway pendant light

hook up office light

install bathroom door

paint office

finish unpacking/storing away all boxes

Our First Visitor!

Having a visitor was one of the best things to happen to our house, because we now have a mostly completed guest...bed. I hesitate to say the bedroom itself is done, because it's still pretty bare. We didn't get to put up any art or decor yet, and we still need window treatments. But the window is framed out, and believe me, that was a pretty big accomplishment.

we did gouge the paint a bit while putting up that window...add that to the punch list.

The first day in town, it was too warm to go snowboarding, so we took a walk along the river, and saw a group of deer having breakfast! This is one thing that Mike and I miss from our old rental. There are a lot more deer on the west side of town, because there's less fencing between properties. Fences suck!

We christened the new kitchen and I taught Mike's niece to cook a few things. We made steak, teriyaki salmon, baked potatoes, brussels sprouts with pancetta, and a creamy mushroom sauce (with our foraged chanterelles from last fall).

cooking in the new kitchen!

caramelizing the brussels sprouts with pancetta

It got up to 73 degrees here in Bend! So the next day, we headed to Tumalo Falls, where we discovered that the road was closed. What would normally be a half mile hike to the falls, ended up being an 8 mile hike, but at least it was a gorgeous day. 

Still a tiny bit of snow on the ground.

Since we weren't planning on a long hike, we didn't bring water or snacks with us. But we made it there and back without too much trouble, and it was nice to know that we're not entirely out of shape - we weren't even sore the next day.

Tumalo Falls

After our visitor left, we got sort of lazy around the house. I mean, it's livable, although a little chaotic and haphazard. So after about 10 days of not remodeling a thing, we got back into the groove. 

Our new resolution is to do one remodel activity every day, even if it's a small thing. This way, we'll keep moving forward, even if it's sloooowly.

Got a door handle put on...still need to fill those nail holes in the trim, though!

Mike putting on the kitchen receptacle covers. No chore is too small!

Sometimes it seems endless, but we're just going to keep chugging along, and little by little, we'll get it done!