Wow! So, as my last blog said, we made it to Oregon! We are doing another work stay program on someone’s property, only about 30 minutes from where our jobs will be this winter! The couple we are staying with are named Arehn and Jim, and so far we can’t complain about it at all! They own 13 acres of old growth forest here in Sandy, OR, and staying and working on this property has been a dream.

Their forest is beautiful, with trails running through the property that are great to explore. We get to take Sunny on a walk every morning, which will make the vet happy next time we see her, and gives Sunny a lot of enrichment. Getting Sunny enough time to explore is definitely hard living in such a small space. It is such a dense forest that is rich with so many types of plants and mosses. Every time we walk around in it there is something new I see.

Our work here is definitely manual labor, but it is very clear what needs to get done, which makes it mentally easy. We are mostly clearing downed logs in the forest to be chipped. This helps with fire mitigation if there were ever a wildfire to come through here. We are also pulling up Holly, which we learned is one of the only invasive plants they have here. Arehn and Jim make it easy for us, clearly telling us what they need from us, and giving us indoor jobs when it’s been raining a lot.

We have slowly been starting to feel like we’re part of the family here, as well. We eat dinner in the house with Arehn and Jim about once a week, and it has been so great. Arehn always cooks something delicious, that tastes like it’s made for rainy cottage in the woods weather, and then we sit and play games. They have taught us a couple games, and there are plans for us to learn a couple more. Arehn also has recently taught me how to knit, and my first scarf is coming up soon!

Besides working on the property, we haven’t started work yet, as we are just waiting on snow. Government Camp is getting a good amount of snow this weekend and we are gearing up to start work next week! We have both attended orientation and are excited to get out on the mountain!

Besides working on the property we’ve been trying to do some other stuff. We’ve been able to have a couple campfires in their beautiful outdoor fire pit. We’ve had lots of s’mores, and even cooked hot dogs and grilled cheese over the fire. There’s been a lot of rainy days, so we’ve spent a lot of rainy days in the camper. We’ve been reading books, watching movies, baking sweet treats, playing games, and just hanging out. We’ve also spent some time at the Sandy skatepark, which is new and way more fun than I was expecting.

We feel like we haven’t done much, but we have gotten ourselves set up for full time camper living with two. We’ve gotten used to all the updates in the camper, found out where we’ll go to dump for the next few months, and overall just been getting settled in. Being stationary is great, and we definitely get used to not moving really quickly. It’ll be a transition when we hit the road again. We love it here and this one might be a hard place to leave!

Week 1 at Marmot House

Merry Christmas!

We Made it West!