Time Marches On

I'm sorry I haven't updated you for a couple of weeks but we've been busy and I've been lame, sorry Devin . . .

Since I last wrote we've closed the deal on our refinance. We managed to land 5.25% fixed rate for 30 years. We set ourselves up with bi-weekly payments though and that will cut 8-9 years of the life of the loan. It was quite an ordeal getting the loan put together. It took about a month the close.

Also, we bought a car to drive while the GMC is broke down (wrecked). I have the pickup in the frame shop this week to get that bent frame rail straightened out. We replace the bent fender, hood, bumper and grille and then repaint the entire pickup. It was in need of a paint job anyway so now is a good time to do it. The car we bought is a black 1996 Mustang GT with 85,000 miles on it. The car is in premium condition so even with that many miles it should be a good car for many years. After all the '89 Mustang now has 250,000 miles on it and it's finally ready for an overhaul. I posted a photo of the '96 on flickr if you want to take a look at it.

This weekend I rented a tractor and did some work around the place. I leveled a spot to the west of the our existing horse shelter so we can add a couple more stalls on to it. Also I rototilled the round pen and got it into shape to use now that we are getting fewer days with rain and I rototilled the garden spot so Anna can plant her vegetables this spring. It will be nice to have small garden again. We even got some popcorn seeds! Devin and Tara you may remember the home grown popcorn from our gardens in Central Point. I love home grown popcorn, it's so much better than the corn you get from the store.

Today we played hooky from church and stayed home and worked around the place. It was stake conference this weekend and we can never get there in time to get a decent place to set. We're usually way in the back and have to watch the speakers on the monitor that doesn't really work that well. Anyway I managed to get the tall grass knocked down around here and it looks a lot better, not the mention it makes it safer around here. Also, we worked with Maverick, our rescue horse, and took several new photos of him. I posted some of them on flickr for you all to see. He is certainly making progress and is actually growing hair now. We think he is going to have some black hair mixed in with his sorrel color. He is starting to fill in, but he still has a long way to go to be in fit condition. Of course we a getting attached to him . . .

The EWP business is still very slow right now. We are going to take next week down which will make the second week in April with no production at the plant. The sales forecast has us taking another week down in May. So far we've been able to keep the maintenance crews working as we have an extensive list of work that needs to be done. In a way we are lucky to have the time with the machines down to get the work done. Eventually we will get caught up and then if we are still struggling with sales we'll have to take time off. We currently have four millwrights on lay-off but fortunately for them, they are all working. Three of them still with RFP and the other on a big construction job in Eastern Oregon.

I hope your week went well and I hope everyone is well and happy . . .

Parking Lesson

Okay, so this is only funny if it doesn't happen to you. When parking on an incline always remember and never forget to put the parking brake on. If you don't this may happen to you -


It was raining really hard and it was cold and I had an arm load of stuff to get out and take in the house so I was distracted and in a big hurry to get out of the rain. I had all my stuff in my arms and had just unlocked the front door when I caught the movement out the corner of my eye. When I looked around there went the jimmy, right down the driveway. I couldn't move quick enough to stop it so I could just watch. Now I have some work to do.

Rescue Horse

We took on a new project this week (as if we don't have enough to do already), a rescue horse from a neglected herd of horses in Burns, Oregon. The herd included 60 horses on the ranch and by the time the humane society got to them there were only 11 still alive. We volunteered to foster one of them and feed him back up into adoptable condition. We will probably come up with a name for him at some point but for now he is rescue horse and this is what he looks like:

As you can see his hooves are in desperate need of trimming and he is very rough. We hope to have him up into condition in 4 to 6 months. There are still nails in his hooves from his last shoeing. We'll have the farrier up soon to get them taken care of and for now we are feeding him alfalfa hay to put some meat on his bones. He's been under control of the humane society for the last 3 weeks and has been eased into the alfalfa and is ready for regular feeding. I'll post a couple more pictures of him on my flickr page if you would like to seen more.

Wish us luck in our endeavor to help one horse . . .