home sweet harvey: October 2014

It is October and the rain has begun. Living on the coast means more rain than I became accustomed to in Portland. Not ideal: the car I bought has a sunroof that is not completely water tight. While this has made for a few soggy and grumpy mornings, overall Nick and I are well and happy.

The last couple of weeks we had our final days of sun, and we soaked it up. I was off work last week, which meant a few days into Portland for work at Sorenson, a mechanic visit, and vet visit for mister Scout. Scout had 15 teeth pulled (!) and the remaining ones cleaned. His breath is fresh (a HUGE deal if you have ever spent any time with him.) Previous nicknames: "death breath," "little baby rotten tooth," and because he was in pain from said rotten teeth, "little baby grumps a lot." Now: "sweet teeth," "little baby pearly whites," "little baby grumps no more." It was crazy expensive, but about four years overdue and completely worth it. He's a new doggie!

We've also been kayaking a lot. We brought Nick's boat out with us from New York and found me one on Craig's List for a steal. Unfortunately, my boat came without a seat so I hadn't been out until last week. Nick however, has made fast friends with my old friend and roommate Goose and they've been paddling a half a dozen times and are actually on their second three day trip now. Goose's wife Amy was in town last week (she lives in Boston. It's complicated.) so they came out and we did a day trip last Monday and we had a great time.

Nick has been fishing up a storm and has caught TWO delicious salmon. So cool! Never tasted anything so good as fish caught the same day. He's fished both from the shore and from his kayak, and I believe he prefers the latter. In his kayak he can get to little pockets away from shore, but that big power boats can't reach. He figures he's got to catch about 15 fish to make up for all the accessories he's bought, but I don't even care because he's just so doggone happy doing it.

We had a little mini vacation in Eugene for the weekend at a lovely AirBnB yurt by the Willamette. I hadn't spent any time in Eugene previously, and while we had a great weekend, driving through Corvallis on either end of the trip was really my favorite. We have talked about both of those towns as maybe forever places, and after this weekend, Corvallis is at the top of the list for me. It's a good deal smaller and feels more college town-y, while Eugene feels like a smaller Portland but without as much good food and other amenities. At this point, it's anybody's guess where we'll end up, which is fine by me.

I have a lot of free time on my hands because of only working during the school day. I'm trying to get back into running and yoga-ing because it makes me feel happier and clear headed. Some weeks I'm better at it than others. Before the rain, I was running at the beach, which was wonderful, but unless I can find a nicely wooded route soon, I think I'm just going to join the local YMCA. I'm also knitting again! With so much down time during the school day, I am so happy to be spending my time creating instead of just being a drone on my iPad.