No rest for the wicked around here. Since our last post all sorts of things have happened. Cricket got to star in an OutsideOnline  story (live now!) which is doubling as a Nissan truck ad. Let us know if you see any of the ads for Nissan or our earlier Carhartt shoot. Such silly things we get paid to do.

That’s just one thing jammed between Cricket and Glade’s busy river schedule. Meanwhile Brad has been puttering in the yard–finishing rock walls, installing drip irrigation, tending the gardens, and finishing up the 40-year project of paving beneath the house with basalt stones (which, if you were wondering, are 10% heavier than granite).

 

An improved rack system for our boat problem. Cricket says the number of boats one should have is x plus one, x being the number of boats you already have.

Turns out aluminum boats aren’t that economical to repair after high magnitude crashes. But they make good asparagus gardens. (Wood boats can recover from such grievous wounds, over and over again. And they do. Go wood!)

Sunrise on the herb garden

In organizing the chaos of yard tools we’ve been tripping over forever, it occured to Brad that Arlo Guthrie had come up with the perfect tool categories in Alice’s Restaurant sixty years ago:

Shovels (and other stompy pushy tools), Rakes (and other pully draggy tools) and Implements of Destruction (swingy smashy tools). It makes Brad smile even if no one else gets the joke.

Marieke brought Betty Boop, her restored 1967 Keith Steele dory, in for a tune-up.

But Oregon was calling. We drove north and spent three days running the Klamath with Cricket’s extended eccentric family. The McKenziacs were a blast. Here’s Glade teaching young Reanne to row. The young ‘uns need corrupting.

Then on to the McKenzie River where we camped at Olallie Creek for a couple days and tried to do something we’re not that good at–relaxing.

But back to work. We taught two courses for the McKenzie River Discovery Center, basing out of Shelly Pruitt’s shop on the hills overlooking the McKenzie. The first week we built two McKenziacs.

We were supervied by Shelly’s old horse Skeezix. He doesn’t seem to like apples, but he’s fond of dinner salads and pillows.

Friday launch at Leaburg Lake.

We asked students to find some wood for bow and stern trim. Be careful what you ask for.

After a weekend visit to Pacific City (see next post) we built an open Chub with our next group.

A Saturday morning celebratory float. So sweet.

Before leaving we tried to sneak a couple local souveniers onto our trailer–Gene’s truck and Jon’s 1800s barn–but the owners said nope.

With three new boats having been birthed, it was down the coast to Gold Beach to pick up a load of Port Orford cedar. Although a root blight killed a lot of the cedar in the valley floors many years ago, there’s little flat ground around these parts and the majority of Port Orford cedar grows like mad on the mountainous slopes. We buy from Metcalf Sawmill Products, and were lucky to meet Mark, the retired founder, who stopped by to check on things.

Mark’s son Matt now runs the business with his son Scott. They cut quality lumber.

Princess, our trusty 2007 4-Runner, got to haul a full ton of wood, all our tools, and four McKenziacs back home. She’s so good–like an old mule, she just goes.

Before the long haul home we spent one last Oregon night at the mouth of the Rogue.