Grandbaby & Graduate!

Wilder with his Nana and Papa

 Finally!  Sam and I both got to go and meet the beautiful grandbaby whose birth I missed by hours in early May.  His name is Wilder James Delmore Redding and he is just wonderful.

Since my last post, we have been busy on the farm.  Not as busy as we would like to be because we have had excess amounts of rain, which has kept us from cutting and baling hay and getting to work on replacing bridges that were washed out in last month's flood.  Sam should have done hay a month ago, but it is still standing in the field as we need at least 3 consecutive dry days in a row in order to have the hay dry properly and that still has not happened.  At this point Sam is debating whether to try to bale it or just cut it and let it lay.  That does not bode well for the second cutting.  

Unfortunately, the day before we left for Oregon we lost one of our 2 remaining alpacas.  Sadly she was the last of our original stock, and probably my favorite of all of them, Peg.  She came to us in 2000 from a farm on the Oregon coast and had many crias for us.  I think most of my photos from her are on old flash drives and I need to go through and find some to memorialize her with.  That will have to wait for my next post.  Peg would have turned 19 this week. We have only one alpaca left, Truffels, who will be 14 this fall.  She and Apples and Star are all that are left in the alpaca barn.
  

Jethro Tull in the rain with my boys

Our trip to Oregon commenced with flight delays, as usual, which got us into Portland a good 2 hours late.  We stayed in Portland that night and the next as we were attending a Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary concert on Saturday with both our sons.  I picked up younger son, Sam/Zac/Satchmo at the airport Saturday morning and when I got back to the hotel, Ian and Michelle and baby Wilder were there to meet us.  

The next day we went to Corvallis after checking in to our airbnb accommodations near Independence, OR, about 20 minutes from Corvallis.  It was hard to find a place to stay in the Corvallis area because most of the hotels were booked due to the Oregon State commencement which we were there to attend.  We lucked out with the place we stayed.  It was built as a wildlife observatory on a hilltop on 50 acres and had spectacular views in all directions.  The owners were great and while we were there they were putting up 3 tipis that they are also going to rent through airbnb.  We could see them from our place.

We also watched a pair of owls hunting in the field below us and sheep being herded in another field a little ways  away.  The sunsets were spectacular and there was a hot tub on the roof so you could really enjoy them if that was what you wanted to do.  We made use of it only one evening and it wasn't the best sunset evening.  We will definitely stay here again if Ian and his family stay in Corvallis.

 
On Monday I had to drive younger son Sam back to the airport for his flight back to California because he had to work that night.  We were just glad he was able to come and attend the concert and meet his nephew.  We are so seldom all together as a family anymore.

Then on Tuesday evening, I had to go back to the airport yet again and pick up my mom, who would be with us the rest of the trip.


Very close to the Observatory was the Rogue Hop Farm and tasting room.  It was way out in the country and there were acres and acres and acres of hops.  We went there one day for lunch and some craft beer and to check out the hops, as Sam is an avid home brewer and also a hop grower.  It was a really fun place, though on a Thursday afternoon there was almost no one there.

We had a good week. We did some hiking, went out to a really nice dinner at a farm to table restaurant (and Ian cooked for us one night), and then Friday was the commencement dinner for the College of Forestry, which appropriately was held in a tent in the college's research forest.  



 

Ian and my Mom

I am proud to say Ian was awarded "Outstanding Senior" in his major, Recreation Resource Management.  I am a proud mom, indeed.

Graduation was the next day.  It was held in the football stadium and was a huge event, lasting about 3 hours. Ian and Michelle and Wilder came over to our place for a cookout later that afternoon.   It was a really nice day and I am so glad we were able to be there.

 I think I have mentioned in past posts that I had been working on a "secret" project.  That project was my very first quilt.  I saw a quilt kit that made me think of Ian and just had to buy it and give it a try.  I am very pleased with  how it came out.

It has a woodland theme and one of the fabrics is a topographical map.  The lumberjack applique even looks like Ian.  It was fun to make and I like how it turned out.  I don't know that I will become a quilter, but now I know I can do it if I want to.  

That was pretty much our trip in a nutshell.  We are enthralled with little Wilder and look forward very much to spending more time with him as he grows.  It would be nice if there were not so many miles between us, but at least we are in a place in life where we can go visit when we want to.  Ian has yet to find a job, and maybe his career will bring them a little closer to us, though they would really prefer to stay in the Pacific northwest.  However, they are willing to move if need be.  

My brother Larry and his two sons stayed here on the farm while we were away.  This was truly a twofold blessing as I think the stress of conventional boarding would be extremely detrimental to Rowdy's health  His special diet also requires a bit of preparation at mealtimes.  I felt so much better leaving him in his own home.  And Larry also got to spend quality time with his two sons.  So the animals were well cared for, my mind was at peace and Larry and the boys had a great time. 


We are home and have no big travel plans in the foreseeable future.  I do have some agility trials upcoming, but the soonest is mid-July.  Sam will be going to the Dayton area in a couple weeks to help my brother Larry with a rather large home-improvement project and right now he is trying to get bridges across the creek replaced.   Sam is using the I-beams that used to support the larger bridge to replace the foot bridge and he plans to use culvert and cement for the "drive-across" bridge.  It would help to get all this work done if it would just stop raining.  But I am afraid that when it stops, it will really stop and we will be dry until fall.  I would really like a good garden harvest this year.  Last year was too cool and wet resulting in a poor tomato and corn crop.  I am hoping for better this year.  Time will tell.