We went down today (May 11th)and mainly worked in the yard. Brian used the DR trimmer to cut the lawn (it looked more like a field), and I picked up rocks and lumber etc, and moved it out of the way. Also did a little bit of landscaping. Just made it look like someone lives there and cares what it looks like.
Worked inside the house moving things upstairs and organizing the office. So much to do!

Another trip down to the house to get some more stuff done. Took a few boxes of stuff too! We spent the night and worked all day Thursday tearing out walls in the bathroom. The room is now open to the new utility room. It looks funny now with the toilet sitting in the middle of the room!!! We found more old wallpaper in the bathroom. And also saw that there had been two windows in there at one time. More discoveries everyday! We also got some more cabinets torn out of the kitchen and some more of the old paneling down. The wiring is a mess and we need to get an electrician down there soon! So much to do and so little $$$ to do it with. But it will all happen in good time!

We went down to the house this morning for a few hours, and took a few more boxes down. Brian moved around some lumber while I tried clearing out a space to set up the saws and equipment inside. We are waiting for a few estimates from some well drillers, as that is the next must do on the project. The more I look at all we have to do, I am sure that our optimistic goal of having a bed and breakfast open next year is just not going to be a reality! But we will continue to strive towards that goal. If we only could manage a few days off together to be down there and accomplish something major. All our time and energy now is in trying to get the Cathlamet house spruced up to sell. We really want to put it on the market in June.

Brian went down to the house today (I had to work). He got the motion sensor light installed. That will be nice when we arrive or leave in the dark. That is one more thing to cross off the list of things to do. He also took another load of "stuff" down and worked on some other odds and ends.

We finally went down and stayed the night! Felt so good to be there! Then the next morning we tore into the bathroom and took out all the cabinets and the sink. And also opened up the door between the bedroom and bathroom. Brian worked out in the shed too, getting it organized while I went through some drawers and tore off more paneling. Brian says my nickname is "Linda the Destroyer" I will admit it is very therapeutic! I should be in really good shape mentally and physically by the time we are done with this project!

Brian and I went down to the house this morning and took some pipe and other stuff down. We worked on a few little things but it was hard to do anything as it was such a beautiful spring day. Just wanted to sit and enjoy the view. There were two deer in the yard! And later we saw a seal out in the river. When we got home I could not remember if I had turned off the stove or not, so Colleen and I went back down. It was off, but I would not have slept thinking about it! Colleen took Maliah for a walk on the beach and I tore down a few more sheets of paneling in the kitchen and some ceiling tile and paneling off the stairwell.

Oh my aching back, neck and arms! We worked from about 1pm to 8:30 pm down at the house. We were mainly in the kitchen, tearing out most of the cabinets, some of the old paneling and trim and all of the ceiling tile. Brian also worked on the fireplace area and got some wiring done to install a motion activated light out on the garage. It feels so good to spend this much time down there, and to accomplish so much!
It was also another day of discovery. The old grating vent was still in the kitchen ceiling, and behind some of the paneling we found the heights and weights of the first four grandkids. Henry thru Heather. So we can see that the paneling went up sometime after Heather was 6 months old. The summer of 1974. I am anxious to tear into more and see what other discoveries we can find.

Brian and I along with Heather, Adam and little Zach took a trip down to the house today. While Adam played with dead ladybugs and took some awesome pictures of them, Brian and I did a few things around the house. Tore down some old paneling in the kitchen, to reveal the old chimney in there. Also moved more things up into the office. Brian mowed part of the lawn and helped me measure the lower floors so I can do a blueprint of the house. Got quite a few things accomplished in a short time!

Finally got back down to the house for a few hours this morning!!!! We have been up in Seattle as Heather and Adam had their new little boy Zachary Allen Crockett! We moved a whole lot of stuff down there. Got the bed set up and some plants and a couch in the living room. Put away some books in the office too! Each day a little bit more. We may finally be able to spend a few days down there next week. Our schedules have just not worked lately!

Brian and I went down to the house and took a few more things down. We tried getting the bedroom ready for us to stay in, but forgot the bolts for the bed frame. So we just tore down the old closet and took out the carpet and cleaned a bit and found where the old closet under the stairs was, and the door into the bathroom from the bedroom!!! So it was a morning of discovery! We will wait to go down and stay until next week.

Brian and Colleen went down to the house with the other two bookcases, and a lot more boxes. Just a few more days and then we will be able to go down and stay for 3 or 4 days at a time. It will be great to be able to just keep on working on projects from one day to the next. And boy are there a lot of projects. I must start making lists!!!!!

Just got back from spending two days down at the house. We stayed in the big trailer down there. Boy did we ever accomplish a lot! I got Brian's old room all cleaned out and set up to be my office. Moved in a few desks and a bookcase, more to come! Also cleaned out the front room, (soon to be the Hummingbird Room) so it is ready to be worked on. It is down to bare walls! Then we tackled the back room and got about 3/4 of the paneling torn off. I think I must have pulled over 200 nails! It was nice to have the pool table gone and to be able to work in there. Brian also worked out in the shed, moving furniture around and setting up his new tool box. We also filled up the pickup bed with garbage and took a load to the dump! Just a little over 3 weeks now until we can move in!

Brian went down to the house today along with his friend Steve and they took the pool table out! Wow! Now we can start tearing that room apart!

Brian and Madison went down to the house and took some boxes down and Brian did some measuring in the kitchen and the cabinets and drew up some plans. We are looking forward to getting down there and tearing out the cabinets and putting them back up in a whole new design.

We went to Astoria today to pick up an OLD Murphy bed. It is all brass and we will manage to find room for it in the house somewhere. Took it down to the house and stayed for a while and worked on moving more boxes around. Found a few dead mice! Ick! Hopefully when we get all the walls torn down and the restoration work done, we will get rid of the little critters! We can hardly wait to move in!

We made a fast trip down to the house to take a pickup load down. Went to an auction last night and got a few things, an old stove and some tins, etc. Started moving boxes around to make room to set up my office in Brian's old bedroom. Today we saw an otter sunning herself out on one of the rocks in front of the house. It was fun to watch!

Went down to the house today and took our first big load of furniture and beds! Emily and John were here and helped us load and unload. Nice to have the help! We gave Judy a move in date of March 15th. Wow! It's really happening and soon!

Went down to the house and took a pick-up load of odds and ends down. Also checked out the pipes. Judy had one repaired while we were gone, but everything else looks good. We were lucky nothing else sprung a leak! A beautiful sunny cold day. Took a walk down the road to Richard's property and checked it out for him. Everything looks great. His grass is coming up just fine. He sure did a good job on the property. I hope we are able to get our grass planted this spring.

Judy e-mailed today to let us know the pipes were frozen. She is barely getting a trickle of water out of them. I hope that is all it is and that no pipes are broken! We will find out in a few days when it warms up!

Today I created this blog to attach to my website to make updating the journal a lot easier. Now if I can just figure out how to link it........we will be in business.
I would enjoy hearing from any of you looking at our web-site or blog!
I have also attached the old journal (2002-2003)

Happy New year!