Part V - A Month of Waiting Continued

We warned my parents we might need to stay with them for a few days while we looked for a place of our own.  We ended up staying with them for almost a month.  Not that it took us long to find a place.  We found a PERFECT apartment for the three of us, and signed a lease shortly after arriving in Oregon.  But the outgoing tenants wouldn't be leaving until July, and we would have to wait out the rest of June.

We had a good time, though.  Corvallis is just far enough from Portland to make daily job hunting impractical (especially with gas prices as high as they have been) so we spent our time looking for owls in the woods, watching rented movies, picking strawberries in the garden, helping keep the blackberry briars at bay, and so forth.

This is a maple tree at my parent's place that I like particularly.

We joined my family on a trip to Newport to see the ocean and eat clam chowder (at Mo's, naturally).  We spent a great weekend in Bend with my sister Ellen, her husband Pat, and their kids Anna and Ryan.  Ryan was about five weeks old at the time, and is a pretty laid-back guy.  Anna, now two years old, is quite the opposite.  We also visited my Aunt Katherine in Seaview, Washington, and returned to Kennewick for a few days sailing with Kristin's folks.  It was a little like being a character from Jane Austin, spending each day taking strolls in the countryside, and, while we enjoyed it, we felt a little removed from real life (whatever that is), and we were anxious to get things started in Portland.

Vader spent his time hunting rodents and plotting to get out of the pole barn where he spent his days.

I don't think he had ever seen so much open space in his life, and he wanted to spend every minute outside, but, with bobcats and mountain lions on the prowl, neigbors have had their pets carried off by daylight, and we were determined not to let Vader explore without us.  He was a good boy, except for the night when he escaped twice, and then caught a mouse and let it go on our bed.

It wasn't until the 6th of July that we got to move into our new apartment, and we were glad to be on our own again.  We feel pretty spoiled to be where we are, and you'll see why on the next page