Moving In Day

We moved into our town-home apartment 01 August 2012. Besides the smell of old cat pee and cigarette smoke that the poorly applied fresh layer of paint and new carpeting throughout couldn't mask, we are glad to have this place. It is walking distance from work for me (0.5 miles), really close to the Y, and is a month-to-month lease. We are now actively looking for a new home to buy, although, we would like our home in WI to sell first. When we first pulled up there were three different reactions from the children. Aedyn wanted to know how we would be able to tell which one was ours (they all look identical); Justice was thrilled to have his on 'ding dong' (doorbell), and Eliyah couldn't understand why there were so many people around us. Our farm-kids!

Westward Bound

So, we have been here in Oregon for 1.5 months and are starting to adjust. Here are some highlights from our trip out here:

Grandma Debbie and Saba Art visited us just before we left and we had tearful goodbyes. We also got to say goodbye in the last hours to our good friends the Boyarskis. Justice is obviously happy (and hot). It was stressful on the kids, and broke our hearts to see how they each dealt with feelings of loss in their own ways. We were certainly sad to leave such a beautiful place so full of great moments.

Our first day took us to Cherokee, IA, where we had a great visit with Heidi's Uncle Mark and Aunt Jill. We rested a day there, but forgot to take any pictures. Our visits with them are always so refreshing; they are wonderful hosts.

Then we left for Gering, NE to visit Heidi's folks, Aunt Jane and her Grandma Peggy. These first fotos are from one of my morning runs near the park (Scott's Bluff).

Yes, sometimes each of the children were having as much fun as you see Justice is having below:

This must be feigned happiness on the part of the children, because I don't remember these moments quite the way the fotos appear.

We were able to go with the grandparents to the local zoo, which the kids enjoyed.

After a couple of days in NE, we headed out to cross WY on our way to Jackson Hole:

Stayed the night in Jackson Hole and set out early to see some of the Grand Tetons. It really is as spectacular as Ansel Adams tried to capture.

These are what our nights usually looked like as we put them to bed. Then for the next 2-4 hours they were awake with the discontent of an unsettled journey. They were extremely sleep deprived by the time the trip was over. I think this one is in Idaho Falls after our Teton seeing.

Crossing ID the next day we stopped briefly to view Craters of the Moon National Preserve. The fotos don't do it justice:

That night we stayed in Burns, OR, and then the next morning we left for Grants Pass, arriving in the afternoon. Our wonderful family from Medford came to great us, but that's part of the next bit of the story saved for tomorrow (or next month, at my rate).

Bittersweet

Lots of sadness as we plan to leave, but having great joy visiting with friends and family we will miss. Packers come tomorrow and Movers on Friday. We will leave Sunday for our next great adventure out West. We will miss Pleasant Land Farm.

Goodbye picnic with our great neighbors, the Wrights.

Goodbye picnic with families of the ladies from Heidi's Gathering. This is E with her friend Ellie.

Our dear friends Jim, Colleen and Josie from Madison.

Boat ride with Captain (Uncle) Caleb.

On the boat with Grandma Debbie.

Christmas Cards Fav #1

Our great friend sent us this Christmas Card. It's my favorite of the year thus far:

Inside she says: "Oxfam is encouraging people to 'give a Sh*t'for the holidays . . ." The idea: "The proceeds from your gift support Oxfam America's efforts to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice . . . Organic manure increases crop yields and is cheaper, greener, and safer than chemical fertilizers. Farmers and the environment prosper." You can find out more here.

Easter Sabbath (a.k.a. Holy Saturday)

We couldn't find organic eggs that were white in the stores around here, so we had to use our brown and blue ones from our own hens. I was disappointed, until I saw the results: the colors were so deep and rich. Beautiful! What is more beautiful is my 4-year old breaking into unsolicited and out-of-the-blue shouts of "Yay for Resurrection!" before dinner this evening. Didn't get a picture of that, though.

The Rest of 2010

To catch everyone up on the rest of our 2010 I'd like to refer you to our 2010 Photo album at Shutterfly (boehmerfamilyphotos@shutterfly.com). You may email us to get the password.

July 2010

O.K., this first one is actually in WV on 29 June. We packed up that day and this is our last family photo before we left. After working my last day of residency at the free clinic on 30 June, left early afternoon, and left Huntington by 3 p.m., driving half way and staying the night in IN. We arrived in RC, WI on July 1, but wouldn't close on our house till the next morning, so we had to stay in a local hotel.

We moved in, but we only had a small trailer of items with us: The moving truck was supposed to arrive sometime in the next couple of days (that's the mattress H got to sleep on . . . I got the floor). On 6 July, the latest date it was supposed to arrive, we called the company to determine why our things hadn't arrived. Come to find out, they hadn't left WV yet and weren't sure when they might, probably in about a week and a half! Thanks to some work by the hospital (which was paying for the move), we only had to sleep on the floor for another week.

Meanwhile, GG and GG visited and stayed in their RV, allowing us to use their chairs. Grandpa G helped me with our mole problem, and we bought a card table and celebrated Ama's Birthday. The moving truck pulled in just as the great grandparents pulled out.


It was a busy month. Since I didn't start my new job until 2 August, we tried to squeeze in as much as possible. Our apricot trees that had been living in containers for the winter and spring months finally got to stretch their roots. One of the stray cats adopted us; A named him Krisagoo. Later he developed an infection and didn't pull through. Our chicks arrived. Summer heat, and ensuing enjoyments, also arrived. We were able to visit the Madison zoo.

Our pasture behind the barn was way overgrown, so we thought we needed to get our goats right away. They have done a great job on it, too. Olga (L) and Inga (R) are Nubian-Alpine mixes from good dairy stock.












We also had lots of visitors. Wayne and Kathy (from Oak Park, IL)serendipitously have settled in the same city and were able to visit after bumping in to them multiple times in town. Grandma Debbie, Uncle Nate (not pictured) and Aunt Jen also spent some time with us.