Another day, another drama

And then there was the story about our vehicles. Jay and I have both been pretty lucky with our cars over time. This is saying a lot when you consider that Jay went through a phase of wanting to have a bio-diesel-consuming rig and set himself up with a 1978 VW Rabbit Pickup - top speed: 55 mph...downhill...in good weather. But for the last 5 years or so Jay has had his blue Subaru wagon, which has travelled the I-5 corridor a few times, braving snow and rain, high waters and a shredded undercarriage thanks to someone's wheel-containing tire falling into the road during a dark and rainy night.  
As for me, I still drive my trusty Sentra, the wonderful 16th birthday gift that has kept on giving, faithfully transporting me from point A to point Z.  Two trips from Corvallis to Salt Lake City.  A trip from Corvallis to San Francisco.  Drives from Davis to Hells Canyon Dam, numerous holiday treks between Oregon and California, and even a trip to British Columbia.  Not to mention my daily commute, which adds 150 miles a week.  
The day after Christmas, as we made our way back to Corvallis from a fun-and family-filled few days in Portland, the Subaru stalled on I-5 about 30 minutes from home.  Thankfully traffic was at a painful crawl due to an earlier accident and we (and by "we" I mean Jay) were easily able to get to the left shoulder and out of traffic.  About 30 minutes into our wait for the tow truck we had a visit from an Incident Response truck wanting to move us across all three lanes of traffic and up the nearest off-ramp.  We proceeded to be bumped and pushed up the next exit with sirens and lights blaring behind us.  We were perched atop the off-ramp in a nice gravel bed to wait out the next 15 minutes.  We had some very nice passersby stop and offer the use of their cell phone, though fortunately we did not need their services.  
We made it home after the Subaru was loaded onto the flat bed truck (All Wheel Drive has some disadvantages if you ever need to be towed) and the next morning made arrangements for a re-tow to the mechanic shop of our choosing.  As I said my goodbyes to Jay and my Mom, who came down to visit for a few days during school break, I hopped in the Sentra to drive to work and was met with a car that wouldn't start.  Seriously?  Is it really possible to have 2 cars that aren't working at the exact same time?  What are the odds!??!  A quick call to AAA and a tow truck was on its way for the Sentra.  My awesome Mom agreed to drive me to work (oh High School days, how I love to relive thee) while my awesome Jay saw to the Sentra's delivery to another mechanic shop in Corvallis.  
By Tuesday we had the Subaru back, a minor issue that was easily repaired at a friendly price...something about a spark plug?  By Wednesday we learned that the Sentra being due for a major service was no joke, so 4 times the sticker price of the Subaru's repairs later and my up-til-now trusty steed was back in business.
  Fast forward to a week and a half later.  On my way to work, NPR filling the Sentra's cabin, my car starts bucking like a pony at the Hermiston Rodeo.  Engine light flashes...more bucking...not sure what to do my only solution is to forge ahead, slowing down, crossing my fingers, and turning off the radio and heater (because of course that will be the difference between continuing and stalling....) Envisioning a frightening scenario of being stuck on the side of highway 34 (I realize this isn't the worst thing to happen, but I have a vivid imagination) I immediately call AAA when I get to work, asking for a tow back to Corvallis because I fear not being able to make it home that night.  
2 days later we learn that all of this drama was caused by a simple issue of an injector connector cap not being seated properly...right.  So again life continues.  UNTIL....dun dun DUNNNNNN:  Last Tuesday, driving home from work, Jay is busy putting in his 10th of 12 hours worked that day (that's a whole other post) and it happens...maybe 7 miles from work all of a sudden the Check Engine light flashes and the tachometer lets go.  From my (unnecessarily high but going with the flow) speed of 65 mph I ride out the momentum until I come to a stop about 100 feet from a meat market.  This time I call the mechanic shop and manage to reach the owner right before closing time.  He sends out a tow truck, which arrives in about 20 minutes.  Now I have to admit that having my car die on the highway was not nearly as theatrical as I had imagined - no dark figures lurking alongside the road or jumping out from behind the meat market sign.   And while I hope it never happens again I now know that I can be a big girl about it.  We get to the mechanic shop in enough time for my stewing to lessen a bit, though I now have exhausted all 4 of my annual allotment of car tows from AAA- all in less than one month's time between both cars.  I greet the shop owner with some sarcasm about how awesome my night is going, thinking to myself, and to borrow a line from the great phrase ruiner G.W. Bush, "Fool me once - shame on me...Fool me twice?  You can't fool me twice!"  This time I better have a good reason for all of this car not working nonsense.  
  Two more days pass and the Sentra has been running fine for the mechanics, of course.  They really earn my admiration for not charging us for the two days of trying to get the car to fail again with no luck.  All they can tell me is that the car will fail again...it's just a matter of when.  Could it really be over?  Have my "Crystal Cruiser" days really come to an end?  If this was a movie we would now cut to a montage of the my life with the Sentra, "Memories" playing as you see me test driving the car two months before my birthday, then the day it shows up in the driveway and we are destined to be together forever, my first drive to college as I cry about leaving the comfort of my hometown, my first major road trip to Canada with friends when I got rear-ended in bumper-to-bumper holiday traffic, then longer journeys to visit Jay in Utah and CA, the Sentra happily packed to the gills for my move to Davis and subsequent move back to Corvallis...then me watching the Sentra sit alone in a dark driveway, cold from not being driven, both of us with a tear in our eye/headlight...oh how I love to anthropomorphize everything.  
My little Sentra buddy sits, for now, in front of the house, relegated to back up vehicle around town until we decide what to do.  Should I become brave enough to drive it and be met with a stalled car the mechanics have given me contact numbers so they can come diagnose the problem as soon as possible.  But compared to the value we can get from the Sentra, any major repairs may just never happen.  Time will tell what happens!  For now I am thankful that we at least have the Subaru, in working condition - knock on wood, for me to get to and from work while Jay happily rides his bike around town, rain or shine.  

2010 Recap

2010 has been quite a rollercoaster year for us.  We've had highs with our engagement and wedding and lows with the passing of two family members.  We have managed to make a few home improvements, with more to come in 2011, and to refinance our little house, better enabling us to make said improvements.  We have had blows to our ego with a job cut and then a much deserved ego boost from a second job.  We've been accepted to grad school and have become a certified Assisted Living Administrator (only in title, not in position....yet!).  We biked many miles and weaved yards of yarn into various accessories.  We became the big reason for our families to get together this year and hope that 2011 will bring about more family gatherings.
We know that we are very fortunate to be employed, healthy and sheltered in our home and look forward to whatever 2011 has in store for us, which will of course only be positive and fun.  Like the Hawaii trip we are taking in February!  Get jealous!
  Happy New Year!
Love,
Crystal and Jay

The holiday

Jay and I were lucky enough to get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice - on the actual holiday evening with Brynn and Robert, and then on the following Saturday with my family in Newberg.  On the drive to Newberg we stopped in McMinnville at the Evergreen Aviation Museum and met up with my family for a tour.  Larry was a volunteer at this museum for a few years, though Jay didn't have the chance to visit until now.  We had a great time reading the signs and walking through a history of air travel.  
When we came to the Spruce Goose Jay and I went into the belly of the wooden beast and found that the cockpit has been blocked off, only to be accessed by those who made an additional purchase.  As luck would have it, a gentleman was heading into the restricted area with a museum volunteer when he announced that 5 are allowed into the cockpit though he was a party of 1.  We jumped on the chance and headed up the little spiral staircase.  What a great experience!  We spent about 15 minutes in the large cockpit and got to sit in the pilot and co-pilot seats!  The photo where I am looking out the windows shows a section of the plane where the wood paneling was removed and the windows added later.  We were told that the cockpit used to be open to the public for viewing at all times until enough items were stolen and graffiti added to the walls that the Goose's access had to be restricted.  We felt very special to get to see this space. 
  We finished up with the Spruce Goose and took in as much as we could of the other planes in the building, though we could have easily spent another 2 hours learning from the amazing volunteer docents.  We then walked over to the Space section of the museum, housed in an identical building.  Jay and I will need to take another trip up to the museum and dedicate more time as we eventually had to tear ourselves away.  The museum is working on securing a space shuttle to add to their collection - we will definitely have to see that!!

Saturday Jay and I visited Larry for most of the morning and stopped to see Grandma Liz before heading back to Newberg for turkey dinner #2.  

Before and during dinner Karsyn entertained us all with her black olive finger tricks!  Then we finished the night with pie and a viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Which then sparked a whole conversation and research project on the many variations of Lime Jell-o (people actually put tuna in their jello dishes...yipes!).  The rest of the weekend we kept pretty entertained by Karsyn (except for Shep...Shep was not amused) and a stroll around my sister's neighborhood before heading home.  Enjoy some photos!

In the News!

I wanted to share an article from my hometown newspaper about a health study that my mom is working on.  My mom, Ramona, is the School Resource Nurse for the Hermiston School District in Eastern Oregon.  This isn't the first time she's been featured in the paper for her hard work.  Pretty cool to know someone famous!

Earlier this year Jay and I visited my mom in Hermiston. It happened to have recently been School Nurse Day.  As we were driving to breakfast we happened upon a Thank You sign to my mom at my old grade school!

Make like a leaf..

..and fall all over our yard!  Our beautiful and full trees are in the process of shedding their leaves all over the yard.  While this has posed as a huge burden to us in the prior two years of homeownership, this year the leaves are quite welcome!  Since the yard project is on hold for the winter we are counting on the leaves to create a nice barrier between us and the mud pit that otherwise would be our yard. In an effort to help the leaves break down over time to provide more of a mulch, we picked up a lead shredder/blower/vacuum and Jay excitedly got to work.  Turns out the little machine can't really handle the massive amount of leaves we produce and wet leaves are a definite no go!  So back to the store went the little machine (minus the stylish canvas bag Jay is modeling...that didn't make it back in the box. Whoopsy!)

Thanks to Craigslist we picked up a gently used chopper that can macerate branches up to 2" in diameter.  We look forward to trying that bad boy out when the conditions are a little dryer in about, oh, 5 months or so.  

So now we have a few bare trees and those dang Sweet Gums that just won't stop torturing us - please drop your leaves!!  Enjoy the gallery below.  

The making of a yard (another part of many!)

Our lofty leaf collection

On Saturday, after finishing my last blog post, I zipped outside to tidy up the yard while Jay was at a Salmon Watch training (how could I pass that up for my Saturday morning, you ask.  It was pretty easy....)  I raked up what leaves we had - for the time of year things are looking pretty good.

I ran into (literally) this creepy spider web while raking.  It's the perfect spooky web for Halloween and I couldn't bring myself to knock it down.  That, and I was afraid of it...

At 5 pm that afternoon we had 20
yards of eco-bark (that's ecoNOMY/budget friendly....not ecoLOGICALLY friendly) delivered to our driveway.  The delivery man tried to tell us we would need machinery to move our bark mulch pile...so we showed him our big guns!! (Oh no she didn't!!)

So we suited up and got to work!  Shovel into pile, dump into wheelbarrow or garden cart, drag said barrow/cart to staked off portion of yard, dump, return, repeat.  And on we went for a good 90 minutes. The sunset made us quit for the night, but we were back at it Sunday morning.  By 2 pm all of the areas had been covered and the bark spread.  It was looking amazing!
We then organized the garbage/recycling/ trash bins behind the fence and out of sight.


Our next project was to plan out our back and front yard path, to be filled in on Monday.  Once we felt comfortable with that, we moved on to cleaning up the porch area.

Our little bench, happily nestled in the new bark

Shep needed a nap after all of OUR hard work!

For the path we decided on wood chips and Monday morning Jay got to work laying down weed barrier along our staked pathway.  We chose to add stepping stones leading to the front door and opted for another wallet-friendly choice, I believe Home Depot calls them "16" squares of boring heaviness" and they look great!!  In the afternoon we had 4 yards of wood chips delivered and when I got home from work I helped finish hand spreading the chips around the house.  What a difference mixed wood products make!

Front pathway, pre-wood chip

Post wood chip! So inviting!  Let's go to the right....

...and we return to the front!

..and around the back...

Next steps

One day before our one month anniversary and it's time for an update!  In the time since our party we have been keeping very busy!

• Jay interviewed for a graduate school program and we are waiting to hear the good news of his acceptance (of course he's going to get in!!)
• In other exciting Jay news, he will be starting a part time job with a local-turned-global engineering firm working on bioassays for water quality.  He'll be going back to his research roots but working on different processes than he most recently used at UC Davis.  
• I have officially changed my name! New social security card, new drivers license (though it looks like laser beams are shooting out of my eyes....the guy told me it would click on the count of 5 but it clicked on 4!), new business cards on their way.  No longer will I get funny looks at the Safeway checkout when they read my receipt and no more "You can just call me Crystal" to avoid the disaster of mispronunciation!
• We are in the process of refinancing the house and are very hopeful that we will be successful in saving a few bucks a month to put toward more home improvement.  Our goal for a long time has been to live roommate-free and after a whole summer of having the house to ourselves we hope to keep things that way.  We did take a look at Room Wanted ads on Craigslist just to see what's out there - with record enrollment at OSU this fall there is a shortage of housing in Corvallis - but we're just not ready to share our home!  With Jay's additional working hours coming up and my anticipated 30 cent raise for cost of living (try not to be jealous!!) we anticipate retaining the office and spare room/guest room as is.  
• In yard news - today is an exciting day!  The weeds are finally knocked out, for the most part, and we are ready to move forward!  This afternoon we will have 20 yards of Eco-Bark (the cheapest kind!) delivered and we will start spreading it out in paths that we marked off last night.  Hooray!
• The chilly mornings have begun and that means the pellet stove has been fired up!  We had a little incident the other morning, though - the stove was full of pellets from a bag that we opened last season.  With a little moisture, then drying out, we had a substantial amount of crumbled pellets and pellet dust, which clogged up the auger.  Having small hands came in handy at 7 am on Wednesday when I needed to dig out as many handfuls of sawdust as I could grab from the inside of the stove.  Then Jay sucked out the remaining debris with the shop-vac.  An evening of sifting dust out of the remaining pellets (frugality = odd jobs sometimes) and we are back in business with a beautiful, warm fire in the stove.  
• The ants came back....perhaps the rain drove them back into our dry house? They really love our wireless internet router... We reallocated our ant traps around the house and we're seeing some improvement.  
• The flower garden went crazy and everything bloomed!  We even have lettuce growing in there from some free seeds we got in the mail.  
• Jay uploaded his Septembeerfest pictures - see below!!  

Jordan and I enjoying beer samples

Jay, after a beer...or two...or three

Our beautiful flower garden!

The ants go marching....to
the internet router!

The 2010 pint glass - we're
starting a collection!

Jay watches as pellet dust ignites!