Echo Valley Natives Nursery Visit

We went on an exploratory adventure to a new-to-us nursery in Oregon City, Echo Valley Natives. It was hidden in the forest at the edge of Oregon City (18883 S. Ferguson Road Oregon City, OR 97045). It was a really beautiful setting and their prices are excellent for being so close to Portland. (Most one gallon pots are $7; we were paying more than that for 4-inch pots at the other nurseries we've been to this spring.)

If it's a native, they probably carry it; they have an extensive selection. They were out of a stock of a couple of larger shrubs we were looking for, but the helpful employee, Renee, said they'd have them back in stock later this summer, which works fine for us because we'll be buying the bulk of the natives in time to do a fall planting.

They had the plants arranged in among the trees in their natural setting. We really enjoyed walking around this nursery.

Nice woodland setting

Took a panorama to try to capture the immersion. 

Look forward to going back. 

We Bought a House!

We bought a new house in Prineville, OR. It's on the side of a hill, so this is what our backyard looks like.

The rest of the yard is flat and mostly dead.

And, if the dogs don't chase them off, it comes with deer. There were four of them there that day, resting in the shade.

We have quite the project ahead of us.

Tree Climbing

Today in my Fall Tree Care class we did our tree climbing test. 

First thing Spencer had to get a line up into the tree to get things started. 

 I got harnessed up and and tied my knots: two half hitches, a blake's hitch on the climbing line, and some figure eight stopper knots.

Climbing the tree using a double rope system.

 Made it up the tree.

 The instructor sent up a little extreme ironing for me to do while I was up there.

It was a lot easier to repel down than it was to climb up.

 Back on the ground it was time to undo all the knots.

Good day.

Portland adventure

Sharon had a meeting downtown so we decided to make an adventure of it and walked to the Max and took the Green Line to Pioneer Square. On the way we saw some navy ships docked for Fleet Week.

I hopped off early to check out the offices of Timber Press which publishes a number of books I have enjoyed and many more that I want. I asked them if I could get a discount if I bought one of each. Turns out you can get 10% off if you buy $200 or more. That would be easy do. I probably found 40 books that would be nice to have. Then I remembered the reading stack I am actively trying to work through. They are coming out with a book on Free-Range Chicken Gardens that looks really cool.

When I finally made it to Pioneer Square to meet up with Sharon there was a cool display of flowers in the form of a World Map.

We enjoyed the view as we shared a Honkin' Huge Burritto.