I've Been Off the Blog for Awhile But . . .

Check this out, Tengrain passed The World Famous Winlock Egg. while on the train. Don't you all wish you could see it in person too? We have a lovely guestroom waiting for you.

This is what I have been up to for the last few months:

• 1 trip to Utah for me
• 1 trip to Utah for Matt
• 2 visits from Nancy (Matt's Stepmom) to Winlock (2 road trips with a motor home filled with furniture for our new house - she did all our decorating and we are most grateful)
• 1 visit from my parents - their first to our new home and also their first time meeting Tom and Kathy. It was a really big deal for me to finally have my mom and dad meet my birthfather and his wife.
• 1 giant housewarming party
• a bunch of other stuff that a person needs to do when setting up a new home.
• reacquainting myself with the printed word. I haven't taken the time to read for pleasure in far too long! I was so thirsty that I am reading four at once: Corvus: A Life With Birds, Deerhunting with Jesus, Edgar Sawtelle and a collection of Irish Folktales. I just can't make up my mind so I am reading them all.
  

I would like to mention that everything feels right and happy and normal again now. Amazing what a little breathing room in a lovely house can do for a person.

To Utah and Back

I took a whirlwind trip to Utah this past week. I left Tuesday after the mail route and returned on Friday. The point of the trip was shopping with Nancy. She has a golden touch when it comes to decorating and so naturally she is the one we turned to now that it is time to furnish the house. The first stop was her storage units. She already has some items picked out that she thought would be right for us and she was correct. After that we hit a consignment store where I bought a rug, a coffee table and a carved deer head! In the picture it looks scary but in reality it is smiling. Tom laughed when he saw it. He says it is a composite of about 3 different animals carved into one. He would know!

Sofa and upholstery shopping followed and it is all a blur now. We managed to fit a ton of shopping into our 2 days. Kate is out of school right now so she was able to join us. She is also furnishing the house she bought with Jason so we are all on the same track right now.

Matt is flying to Utah on Friday and he and Nancy will load up her motor home with our stash and drive it to Winlock over next weekend.

My washer and dryer were delivered yesterday but we still need to hook up to the gas and water lines so I have not taken them for a spin yet.

I don't expect to post for a while because I am feathering my nest. I have so much to do in order to get ready for Nancy's arrival. My mom and Dad will be here in the early part of September. Plus, save the date: we will be having our house-warming/open house on Sunday, Sept. 20th. If you are anywhere nearby or feel like heading to the NW, stop by and say hi.

Dinner Party

On Sunday we had Tom and Kathy over for the first meal in the Sister House. When Kathy asked what to bring, my only request was dinner plates! We are not really set up for guests yet! We had salad, pot pie and cherry trifle for dessert. It was really nice to cook a meal for them for once. They have fed us regularly for years now. There will never be any way to properly thank Tom for the beautiful creation that is the Sister House but it was nice to start with an inaugural dinner.

Matt Buys Shotgun. Does Not Join NRA

Last weekend Matt went to a gunshow with Tom and Mick and came home with a 70 year old shotgun. He is in love. He took it over to Tom and Kathy's house to try it out. I am proud to report that he hit his targets on the first try. He even hit a stick that Tom threw in the air. Matt modestly claims beginner's luck but I think he is naturally a crack shot. BTW, I also shot the gun and didn't like it. I think it is too noisy. Shhh.

Slap A Star On It!! The Sister House is Done

For those of you who don't know, this star is Tom's brand. You will find it on his projects large and small. The Sister House brand is located on the top, right corner of the pantry screen door.

Never has a signature looked so beautiful!

Russell wonders why all the fuss about approval from the County when he has already given his stamp of approval.

I am sure you realize that when I say DONE, it is just according to the County and the bank. We still have a long list of things to do (backsplashes, shower rod, exterior trim paint, varnish baseboards, fence, landscaping, carport, etc.) But words fail me as I try to think how best to describe my relief. My entire world has been shrinking down to the goal of getting that signature. Now that we have it, I can see the rest of the world in full color again. Feels real good.

I have made a video walk through of the house that I wanted to post tonight but it is taking forever to load onto YouTube so I will post that tomorrow.

I predict a night free of anxiety dreams for the first time in months.

Also, guess where Matt is tonight? That's right. Frogging. It is that time of year again. The Toledo Cheese Days frog jump is Friday night.

And do you realize that this blog began nearly 2 years ago? My first post regarding this adventure was on July 20, 2007. We moved to Winlock at the end of July '07.

As long as I am reminiscing, this is what we were up to a year ago.

His Mother's Child

Just like his Mom, Dar, Matt likes to photograph bugs. She is very professional about it her husband even had a book of her work printed (we have a copy if anyone wants to have a look). Matt is still at the point and shoot stage of bug photography. These are my favorite recent pictures.

We don't know what sort of bug is shown in the last 5 of the 6 shots but w like to call it the "pug bug".

Across the North Cascade Highway

After leaving the Methow Valley we headed west over the North Cascades Highway. It is closed during the winter between Nov & May. It was beautiful! Our destination on the other side of the mountains was Bellingham where we visted Andy. Bellingham is a really nice town (Andy is nice too :)) and we were reminded that we should get up there more often.

(This picture makes me laugh)

Winthrop, Twisp & Mazama, WA

A few weekends ago we took a little trip up north with Tom and Kathy. The idea was to visit the lumber yard from which we purchased all of our siding and interior wood. The area we went to is on the east side of the Cascades and is called the Methow Valley (FYI, it is pronounced met-how. I called it meth-ow and was corrected). This is a picture taken from our room at the Mazama Country Inn were we spent Friday night.

And this is our room. How cute is the sleeping loft? I admit this is the entire reason I picked this place after looking at a bunch on the internet.

This is NOT were we stayed although it was beautiful. It is the Sun Mountain Lodge.

A view from the SML grounds looking over the Methow Valley.

The next 2 shots were taken inside the SML wine cellar. For $150 a person can rent the room for private dinners. I'll take the seat under the polar bear.
If you don't want to add $150 to your dinner bill you can settle for eating in the dining room and this breathtaking view:
Along with the polar bear we encountered stuffed deer, javelinas, wild boar, and a bunch of other unfortunate creatures whose pictures did not make the cut.

And here is the reason for the trip:
You can get pretty much any wood you want from this place. We thought they milled the lumber on location but turns out they just source and house the lumber. When a customer calls to request something, they send it out to be milled in Tacoma. Those bays full of cedar smelled wonderful. People tell me my cedar house smells nice too but I truly can't smell it anymore!

Kathy Saves a Fawn

The other day I got a call from Kathy. "Bring your camera, there is a fawn by the side of the road that is less than a day old", she said. The mother was nowhere around and the fawn was so new and delicate that when it tried to stand the wind from passing cars blew it over. When I got there it had made its way from the edge of the road into some grasses. Wildlife services had not arrived by the time I left so we never found out what happened to it. Hopefully the mother returned and guided it to safety. That is the story I am sticking to.

Lord Have Mercy

File under: This is how we do things in the country.

People of the internet, you are going to need a backstory before viewing these pictures. Sigh. Here we go. A few weeks ago Tom and Kathy were having trouble with their chicks. Something was eating them in the night. It was determined that the culprit was a raccoon. The household was on guard and when Walker raised the alarm, Tom grabbed his shotgun and headed outside (3am with Kathy laughing hysterically from inside). The two of them treed the raccoon and it was dispatched forthwith, its tail blown clean off.

Tom delights in teasing me because I am a vegetarian and he is a blood thirsty hunter. Last night after dinner at their house Matt and I went to leave and what is tied to my antenna? That's right. The RACCOON tail. Matt referred to me as Davy Crockett's chauffer and laughed all the way home.

I Guess I Lied When I Said No Posts Until the House Was Done!

When we returned from Los Angeles we discovered that Tom had put the wraps around almost all of the windows! (Is it just me or does he seem to work much faster when I am not around to "help"?) The wood was cut on his sawmill from beams that supported the house on it's old foundation. We then planed it on Uncle Bob's planer and then stained it. FYI, if you are interetested in the stain color, we have been using Minwax Provincial in most of the house with the exception of the upstairs where we are using Driftwood and the beam in the kitchen where we used Puritan Pine. Another note, the horns on top of the windows are a recreation of what was in the house originally. We still have the original trim and are going to be putting it us use wrapping the doors and for baseboards and trim along the wood ceiling edges.

And check this out!

Our cabinet maker, Warren Tilley, started our kitchen install yesterday. It looks fantastic! If you are in Washington and looking for custom cabinetry we can recommend him with highest marks.

He also built our master bathroom vanity. I tried to find an antique to adapt for use here but was unable to come up with anything that was the right size. I did find an antique commode to use in the guest bathroom. I will take a pic of that when it is installed.

One Mini-Cement Truck Coming Up

As a former city dweller there are things that never crossed my mind. A few months ago we found ourselves in need of a small amount of cement to pour pads for the deck and porch stairs and the propane tank pad. I am thinking that we will need to hire someone to bring the cement to us but Tom had other ideas. We got in his truck and drove to Longview to the rental yard where we hooked up this little mixer to his truck and got our own cement. How cute is that little thing?

Welcome to Our Back Porch

Isn't it inviting? I LOVE it. Maybe even as much as I love my window seat. The house has reached a point on the timeline of completion where it has ceased to be an abstract in some distant future and is beginning to become a reality in the present. I truly cannot believe that I am going to live in this beautiful creation.

It is not possible to understate the depths of our naivete at the beginning of this project. The trip from then to now has been one giant learning experience. And, strangely (at least to me), not so much about learning physical activities. It has been more about learning my limitations of spirit and confidence. I spend way too much time analyzing the mess going on in my head and in doing so have learned what activities I instinctively turn to when I need to refocus myself. I have learned that when I don't have the access or the will to engage in these activities, my self confidence to tackle and relate to everything around me spirals downward. And once the downward spiral begins it is a matter of riding it to the bottom in order to bounce and head back up again. The usual response when I mention this cycle is, "well, why don't you just (insert refocusing activity here)?" and get yourself out of it. It sure seems like a "well, duh!!" solution doesn't it? And I guess all I can say to that is this just might be the layman's description of the difference between depression and a garden variety bad mood.

My first lengthy depression hit in high school. There is a period that I recall as simply black and foggy. I have had two or three in the 20 years since then (Matt might say there have been more but that is all I can remember). Self analysis is not always such a bad thing. Over the years I have been able to recognize the onset of a depressive period for what it is and, more often than not, have been able to keep myself from falling in. If I don't catch it before it really gets going then I must ride it out with apologies to those around me.

I know it freaks some of my family members out when I write about personal stuff, especially shortcomings. But, here's the thing: I was raised in a community in which households went to great lengths to project perfect facades. It drove me crazy. At best, the most perfect families were held up as examples to live by. At worst, when problems in those families came to light they were subject to the gossip mill with a little more glee than was seemly and also, it felt like being lied to. I guess my tendency to engage in what some may call over-sharing is a knee jerk reaction to past annoyances.

If you haven't heard enough of my internal workings here today, come for a visit. I will give you a lemonade, sit you down on the back porch and we can self diagnose for hours! Sound like fun?

Beam Me Up, Matty (Ugh. Sorry bout that one)

Here we are putting in the post and beams that divide the living room from the kitchen. Tom and Kathy's friend Mick was also here to help but I somehow managed to crop him out of every shot! Sorry Mick!

Sorry about all the fairy dust in the picture. We had sawdust floating everywhere.

Douglas Charles Conrow

Most people who read this blog are already aware that Matt's dad passed away on Dec 17. We just finished writing the obituary so I thought it would be a good idea to post it here. Thank you for all your kind messages. I will be returning to WA on Christmas Day and returning to UT for the service on Jan 3. Matt will be staying in UT until after the service. I don't have much time to spend on the computer here in UT so I will write more about the experience once I am home.

Douglas Charles Conrow
Park City, UT

Doug was born January 26th 1936 in Big Timber, MT the son of John Moore and Ruth Ryan Conrow. He was raised in Butte MT and attended the Universities of Montana and Utah where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1964 he graduated with honors from the masters program in social work at the University of Utah and then returned to Montana to provide public welfare services and receive a promotion to the state director of training for the Department of Public Welfare. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) his career led him to working with families of the Shoshone and Bannock tribes on the Ft. Hall, ID Indian reservation where he founded the Ft. Hall Boy’s Club and left a piece of his heart with the people there. In 1969 he was recruited as Assistant Director to help found Weber County Mental Health Center in Ogden. In 1977 he became the Executive Director and for the next 11 years Doug was respected for his innovative programs, creative problem solving, and dynamic work environment. He was selected to be one of 25 mental health administrators (from 2000 applicants) to participate in an advanced training program offered by the National Institute of Mental Health. He held the title Diplomat in Clinical Social Work. In 1990 he moved with his family to Salt Lake City, UT where he continued his mental health calling through private practice psychotherapy and the development of programs at Valley Mental Health and the Utah State Department of Corrections. He was especially effective as a counselor in the mental health and women’s facilities at the Draper Prison. The common thread throughout his professional career was his belief in leveling the playing field and honoring the value of all humanity. In 1998 he retired to enjoy his family and friends as a resident of Park City, UT.

Doug’s way of divining the contents of a person’s heart and the careful and compassionate wisdom he offered as a mentor will be sorely missed by each and every person who knew him. Rare was the encounter with Doug that did not include his quick wit, easy laugh and generous hug. He had a great passion for lively discussions with friends and family and held to the belief that everything is better when complemented by unusual food and exotic creatures.

Doug was a restless and eternal questioner who delighted in the process of critical thought and in continually challenging conventional wisdom. He retained a sense of wonder and excitement at the world around him until the very end.

Doug passed away gently in his sleep at his home in Park City on the morning of Wednesday, Dec 17 2008. He was surrounded by family who sent him on his way filled with love.

A lively, old-fashioned, Irish wake was held at the family home on Saturday, Dec 20. He was well attended by family and friends, gathered to celebrate his life.

Doug leaves behind his wife, Nancy, three sons, John Conrow (Big Fork, MT), Mark (Jovita) Conrow (Ogden, UT), Matthew (Michelle) Conrow (Winlock, WA), and daughter Kate Conrow (Salt Lake City, UT), grandchildren, Tairah, Ashlee, Jace, Paige, Bryan, Damon, Chandler, Javier, Omar, Lance and Austin, and 5 great grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister Linda (Pat) McKissick and brother Steve Hancock, esteemed family member Dar (Win) Jensen, a circle of lifelong friends and his special feline companion Bronwyn. Doug is preceded in death by his parents.

The family would like to give special recognition to all the people who gave such extraordinary care and attention to Doug during his years of unexplained illness and his final battle with pancreatic cancer.

A memorial service will be held e on Saturday, January 03, 2009 at 12 noon at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4595 North Silver Springs Drive, Park City, UT 84098

In lieu of flowers, and to honor Doug’s commitment to research and helping others. the family requests any donations be made to Huntsman Cancer Institute www.huntsmancancer.org

It was the little things in life that made him larger than life.

Good Riddance 2008

I am going to go on record as saying that 2008 was not the best year for me. Sure wonderful, new, interesting experiences were had but, as the year draws to a close, I feel worn out and thin. As I write this Matt is in Utah with his dad who was overtaken with an incredibly fast moving pancreatic cancer. It was discovered the week after Thanksgiving and we are all fearful that he doesn't have much time left. And by not much time I am speaking mere days. So, between Grandpa's passing, Doug's failing health and some other things I don't feel like sharing, the last quarter of 2008 blows. I guess it is coloring my mental review of the whole year. I should go back and read the blog from earlier days to remember that there were jollier times. I plan to fly to Utah in the next day or two, weather permitting.

Here is a video that makes me laugh. I am going to be reciting the following over and over: I am the penguin. I am the penguin.

Thanksgiving in Toledo

Walker waits.

The family waits.

Our hosts, Tom and Kathy, slaving away.

I did not take any other photos of the day! It was exactly as a Thanksgiving should be: family and friends visiting while lovely aromas drift from the kitchen. This was our first Thanksgiving in Washington. The last 3 we were in Utah. I hope all our Utah families had a wonderful holiday. You were missed and loved.