Spring Break 2008

Destination? OREGON HOME!
*Please feel free to click on links or pictures to see an enlargement*

During one of the most enjoyable weather months in Southern California, the Olin family tipped off their spring break just as the NCAA did for March Madness and decided to head for their river home in Central Oregon; They were very excited to be greeted with a similarly mild spring climate once on the river.

As luck had it, however, the Oregon winter season has been just as unpredictable this year as the inevitable Davidson vs. Georgetown upset of our country's annual collegiate basketball tournament. So, instead of the rhododendrons and dogwood welcoming them in full bloom (like last year), the Olins were surprised to find that the McKenzie Bridge, OR scenery to be EXACTLY the same as they had left it in January. Snow on the ground and snow falling from the sky. And oh how this filled their hearts with glee and rosy cheeks. Looks like someone forgot to turn the heat back on (thanks Mother Nature, way to pull a fast one on us all).



Nevertheless, Mountain Man and his fair maiden Dotty decided that this two-week getaway was going to be a fruitful one, complete with visits from friends and family and, of course, by their trusty, diligently hardworking, amicable son*.
*biases aside

The first thing to tell you about is that Jon's meticulous planning resulted in a wonderful visit by his mother, Wanda, and their long-time sailing friend, Marsha Furman, both of whom had yet to see the property since the construction was completed. In fact! this was Wanda's first visit to the river since 1983 (80's reference here). The weather was partly cloudy and cool the day they arrived, yet, it snowed off and on over the course of their entire stay with the Olin family. Wanda and Marsha stayed warm and were delighted to spend a few days in a winter wonderland.

Marsha is making good use of the new fireplace!


Grandma Wanda enjoying the snow

At the dining room table

The Olin's next pair of visitors were Jon's brother, Jay, and his wife, Kris. The day they visited was sunny and beautiful. Grandma was bundled up in a down jacket and everyone took a short walk down to the river.

During the first week, Jon was able to
complete some odd jobs before the arrival of the "extra" help. The downstairs bathroom sink and granite counter top was installed and in a fury of creative carpentry and wood working zeal Jon "Mt. Man" Olin bucked up two trees and whittled himself a Illinois Illini statue in honor of his alma mater (which didn't actually make it to March Madness this year). Please feel free to come up and see this mammoth wood carving for yourself!

Moving on: By Thursday of the first week Christopher flew in from New York. After ten days of carousing around Alexandra's apartment and the rest of Manhattan, he was ready to round out his extended spring break with a little manual labor and some play in the snow. By Friday it was time for Grandma and Marsha to head back home and for the first 15 miles to the Eugene Airport it snowed heavily (see picture atop this blog). Everyone seemed to enjoy the beautiful, snowy countryside except for Dorothea, who was white knuckled and silent in the back seat (Marked improvements since our last foul weathered excursion)
Then, it was back to work. Jon and Chris began to prepare for a handful of tasks that occupied the remainder of the vacation: Finishing the yellow cedar ceiling in the Great Room (trim included), assembling and installing the ceiling fans, make a trip to the dump, installing the kitchen sink, constructing a kitchen counter top, install light fixtures in the master bedroom, spray painting the vents at the top of the chimney, clean out the gutters (which were filled with ice, leaves, and dead insects) and, finally, lay tile in the downstairs bathroom.



Olin family time management theory states that accomplishing just three of these tasks is not possible in one week. This theory, however, was utterly shattered as Jon and Chris were able to complete every single one of these tasks in six days.

During this time, Dorothea showed off her champion skills by pledging to do the following: Verathaning all the windows and doors in the house. A job likened to rearranging one's sock drawer a dozen times over (Thank you Jeff Marckese!). Dorothea also regularly cooked and prepared three delicious meals a day, did laundry, cleaned the house, washed dishes, and read. Correction: Dorothea read at night. After all her work was complete.
















Needless to say, it was a very productive and fruitful spring break in Oregon for the Olin family.

Please feel free to view more pictures of our trip here.

Oregon in January

Calvin and Hobbes. By Bill Watterson - click to enlarge

I have never shoveled more snow in my life...

By Calvin's father's logic I should be a cartoon character by now, and to be frank, this may not be far from the truth. As a Southern Californian stuck in this kind of snow, I was put in a kind of youthful and jubilant state of glee (minus the shoveling, of course). Seeing as my mother hails from New England (where snowfall and flurries are almost as common as dropped R's and broadened A's) and my father spent part of his twenties in the mid-west (where he dealt with... well... winter the mid-west), they did not interpret this abundance of snowfall in the same youthful manner as I did. My parents quite often found me in fits of excitement as I reconnected with the past of my childhood visiting the Scott and Cira families in Big Bear and the occasional snowboarding weekend with friends during high school. This kind of snow fall also allowed my father and me to develop an endless list of new ways to toy with and torture our dog, Moh, including a test of her off-road capabilities in 4ft drifts of snow.

Oregon in January

Part 2
What is all this white stuff? And why did the furnace stop working?
(Read Part 1 of this saga below)

Intrigued family member or friend:
"So, does it snow at your place in Oregon?"

Jon "Mountain Man" Olin
"Yea, but it usually is only a few inches every so often and it melts after a few days, anyway."
*Please feel free to click on links or pictures to see an enlargement*



Mother:
"This is why I left the east coast in the first place Jon! To avoid all this snow! Next time I'm staying home and you and Chris and Moh can go together."

OK, I exaggerated a little. My parents were in high spirits during our stay on the McKenzie, but this was not without a few challenges. We arrived on the McKenzie Monday, Jan 28, 2008 and got to work right away. In the event that the weather would hinder us, Dad listed the following as what was most important to get done during this trip:

1) Finish the ceiling in the Great Room.
2) Move everything from the U-Haul trailer into the house

Seeing as the trailer was stuck and frozen five houses away from us we saw priority number two slide up to the number one spot and simultaneously disappear from the list altogether. You see, the Toyota 4-Runner we own IS NOT four-wheel-drive. And believe me, there were ample situations where this was demonstrated (about two-dozen times). I can now say, with confidence, that I am handy at putting on tire chains, and then putting them on again, and then again, and again, and again.

Monday was spent un-packing things from the 4-Runner (parked next to the house), having Dale and David tow our U-Haul trailer off the road (see Oregon in Jan - Part 1) as well as shuttling/trudging some items from the U-Haul to a neighbors house and all the way to our house (see Dorothea below - Terry, this is where you laugh and make a joke)



Tuesday, Jon and Christopher began working on the ceiling. They were both confident about not only finishing in the Great Room and but also being able to start in the master bed room. High up, on the scaffolding they picked up where they left on in August '07, whistling while they worked and singing to Dylan, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and some strange, funky ethno-music stuff Chris decided to play. They bonded, joked, discussed, and enjoyed really good lunches made by a fantastic chef all while watching snow fall silently outside
Video


The Olins also had some extra company in the house for a few days as Dale and David worked on installing the railing, banister, and staircase. All parts of the staircase were built by hand and installed by the crew who have put so much care, hard work, laughter, and design into our home. And, as promised, we will showcase our superior foreman to you here (He really deserves A LOT of credit)




Speaking of snowing and the outdoors, here are some pictures of what if looked like down the road a little as well as just outside our windows:

On Tuesday morning, the Olins quickly found out that, with all this snowfall (A foot and a half the previous weekend and 2ft. more during the four days we were there), much of it had fallen off the roof and onto the ground below. And what was on the ground below? Ah yes, the heating pump, which by now was running on “emergency” mode because it was literally buried.

Chris decided to enthusiastically dig it out

He did quite well and was very happy about his accomplishment…

until it snowed over night.

On Wednesday, Dale showed up to tell us about the weather forecast for the rest of the week: more snowfall as well as the impending concern of leaving when we have the chance. Therefore, a need to empty the rest of our U-Haul became top priority and, boy, did we hop to it. The rest of the day was spent shuttling furniture and a half-a-ton of granite and tile from the trailer to the house via our 4-Runner where more digging and chain-re-application was prevalent:



One fine Thursday morning at 6am the electricity went out. The only chipper person in the house was Mountain Man Olin because, to him, this proved to be an adventure! So, with no power to run the compressor or the other tools to complete the final 3 in. of unfinished ceiling or to run the heat pump, Mt. Man turned his attention toward the U-Haul trailer, now a solid, frozen fixture as good as any lawn ornament in front of Roger Best's house.

Electricity returned to the inhabitants of Drury Lane around midnight on Feb. 1st, Eighteen hours after the power had gone out (see the cause here). One text message to friends had read, "Snowed in, no electricity for at least 12 hours, house at 50 degrees and dropping... Donner party style." Nevertheless, the Olin family survived without eating their dog and headed back to Southern California on a gorgeous Friday morning and made it home safe, sound, and as one happy family.

For more, wild pictures of the forest, please follow this link.

Oregon in January

Part 1
The Sojourn (a.k.a The Interminable)
*Please feel free to click on links or pictures to see an enlargement*

Ah yes, the point was argued and discussed many times over between the last throws of 2007 and well into the infancy of 2008. Making a trip up to Oregon during the final week of January proved to require a great deal of speculation before our departure. What kind of speculation you might ask? Well, the kind of speculation that Dorothea and Jon are destined to disagree upon; (Jon) Do we take the quick and easy Interstate 5 during the winter months and chance poor weather and snow-covered roads? or (Dorothea) enjoy a much lengthier, scenic Highway 101 and avoid the stress of assembling tire chains for use on martini chilled roads? All this while pulling a U-Haul trailer filled to the gills with odds, ends, and nearly a half-a-ton of granite and tile (yes... half of a ton).

The strategy-anchored banter between Mr. and Mrs. Olin became a regular form of entertainment during the month of January and, in the end, we were blessed with the outcome of both previously discussed possibilities: The promise of snow covered roads and icy-dicey driving conditions with a twenty-three hour/3-day trek on highway 101 (side note: this driving event was later dubbed, unanimously, "The Interminable" by all the passengers, human and canine).

Albeit a beautiful and scenic route on the 101, it was definitely a test of the bonds connecting the three of us (as Doodah and Meg were not present in the flesh). Jon and Christopher glanced at gorgeous panoramic expanses of dark blue ocean, deep green rock, and a spectacular Kodachrome sunset near Crescent City, CA for mere seconds before returning our surgically precise attention back to the slippery road that lay before us.

Dorothea?... well, Mother doesn't recall any of this due to the fact that she lay in the back seat, white knuckled, eyes shut, whispering, "slow down, slow down, slow... down!" to us. After all, we were speeding at a dangerous 35 mph (I've just been smacked across the back of my head).

For those of you who are not too familiar with driving times up to Oregon, allow me orient you: It takes the Olin family, on average, 14 hours to drive from Burbank to McKenzie Bridge via the Interstate 5 freeway (done in two days). We estimated that it would take us and additional 3 hours if we drove on the 101 from Meg and Mark's house in Oakley (East Bay) in order to avoid the partially closed and snow-covered I-5 in S. Oregon. From the coast near Napa Valley to the border (Crescent City) it took the Olin family 7 hours to traverse. Normally this would have taken two and a half. It too, was covered in snow:

Despite our chagrin of The Interminable, we did arrive at our destination with no emergencies, accidents, falling-outs, or divorces (although Christopher did threaten to "TURN THIS CAR AROUND AND DRIVE BACK TO BURBANK IF YOU DON'T STOP TELLING ME HOW TO DRIVE!"). The drive was filled with lots of talk, listening to music and books on tape, and gazing, wide-eyed, at the allurement of an Oregon winter wonderland:


Shortly after turning onto our beautiful, snow-white road, Drury Lane, we got our trailer stuck and our wonderment was quickly usurped by a much stronger emotion, that of frustration and, possibly, anger. Good thing we had some company on the river to help us solve our problem. Ray Maurer show up to help us unload some of the contents of our trailer into a neighbor's house as Dale and David, who were working on our staircase (see Oregon in Jan - Part 2), used a pickup truck equipped with chains to pull our U-Haul to a safe spot off the road... where it would sit... become covered in snow and ice... the entire time we were there:



After some laughs and warm greetings the Olins settled in at Olinthewoods and quickly came to the conclusion that this winter trip may not go entirely as planned.

Oregon in August

Well, our summer has come to a nice end and we decided to celebrate with another trip up to Oregon to enjoy the serenity, the nice weather, and the endless list of things to accomplish while we are there.


Since I, Christopher, have recently finished my studies at UC Santa Barbara and am currently on the market for a job, my parents have elected me to write the next installment of the ever-long saga of Mountain Man Olin, his beautiful, blonde chef/accountant/manager/interior designer wife and their Olin The Woods.

Our two week stint to McKenzie Bridge was a great conclusion to a great summer. We accomplished a lot, had time to enjoy Labor Day weekend and visited with neighbors on the river. In addition to this we also enjoyed perfect weather every single day we were away from Burbank. Unfortunately Southern California had the pleasure of enduring a heat wave that reached temperatures of 112 F. We felt badly knowing heat like that probably made a lot of Angelenos uncomfortable (including students and teachers returning to the classroom where air-conditioning is not always available), but we also were glad we skipped out on it in exchange for more shade and clean oxygen.



The house is coming along quite nicely. Dad and I have now finished putting up the yellow cedar ceiling in the loft and nearly all of the great room. This includes all moulding and finish work and we only have about a third more to do before we move on to other things.







Despite the some times cramped and awkward work areas and height, rickety scaffolding, putting up the ceiling has been both a challenge and a rewarding experience. Our neighbor, Ray, came over a few times to help us out by cutting ceiling boards. Mom either had good things to say or yelled words of caution at us whenever we would perform tricky, unsafe maneuvers twenty feet up.

Mom working on the
Roman shades.

Dad and I putting up ceiling over the loft.

Labor Day was spent on the coast of Oregon on Ten Mile Lake, just north of Coos Bay.

Every year the Coos Bay yacht club has a Labor Day regatta. Since the majority of the Geary-18 fleet are members of this club we thought dropping by for the weekend to get some R and R was in order. We were in luck! Flattie sailor, George Cardas, loaned us his boat, otherwise known as Furious II, for the weekend so that Dad and I could race in the regatta. The weather and winds were excellent and, despite a few hang ups here and there, we raced a great regatta. Mom also enjoyed the weekend spending her time walking, relaxing on the beach and visiting with friends. She even scored the recipe for the yacht club's dynamite grilled salmon dinner that they put on every summer; it is arguably one of the best salmon dinners I've ever had.


We returned to the river for another week before driving back to Los Angeles on September 6. In that time were able to finish what we wanted with the ceiling and prepare the house for our next trip up - presumably near the end of October!

More shots of the ceiling - this one looking out from the loft onto the great room.

Ceiling over loft near master suite and stair case.

From the kitchen/dinning area looking across great room.

Thank you for checking in with our on-going progress! If you are interested in viewing more pictures of our last two weeks you can check them our HERE.