Spring weather

We had a "mini" tornado leaping through our neighborhood yesterday.You could see where it touched down- pockets of destruction and where nothing happened. Unfortunately one of the touch downs happened in my garden. Our small green house, weighted down with about 70 lbs of pots, plants and a bag of steer manure was yanked around and dumped on its face. Lost the flat of lettuce seedlings but other plants appear to be salvageable. This has given us a heads up on placement of the bigger green house. It's going to be anchored to the back fence!

Two crockpots on the counter this morning. One with homegrown, home canned spaghetti sauce and one with homemade baked beans. It's going to smell really good in here by evening. Have to mix up some sour dough bread, write and article and get busy. Reflexology clients this morning and music (me) and photography students (Eric) this afternoon.

Fall Is Here-It's DIY Time to Get Ready For Winter

Have you heard about Habitat ReStore? http://pdxrestore.org/
" Habitat for Humanity ReStores are open to the public and sell a variety of good quality building materials, appliances, furniture and other home improvement products at a fraction of retail prices.
All our merchandise is donated by businesses and individuals and we get new things daily. Follow us on twitter for the latest great deals.

The ReStore Mission

Our ReStores raise funds to help Habitat for Humanity build affordable homes in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan areas. And, we keep usable materials out of the waste stream and into home building, remodeling, and creative arts projects.

In just the past two years we have raised over $275,000 for our affiliates and kept over 1,800 tons of materials out of the landfill.

Get Involved

Donate: Individuals and businesses can donate new and gently used materials to our stores. We accept donations both large and small.
Shop: We have two locations, one in Portland, OR and one in Vancouver, WA. Come visit us. New goods daily. Treasures are waiting.
Volunteer: The Portland and Vancouver ReStores need the help of volunteers like you. We have plenty of opportunities for both individuals and groups. Find out more on our Volunteer page."

Our local Habitat Restore is doing a series of free workshops on weatherization and home improvement. Since the cooler weather is here we may as well be doing something interesting inside.

Clark County Habitat ReStore

5000 E 4th Plain Blvd

Vancouver, WA

 

Saturdays at 1 pm.

October 2, 2010: Session 1 will focus on exterior weatherization. Topics will include window and door installation, exterior trim install, correct caulking, sealing and house-wrap installation.
1pm - 3pm

October 16, 2010: Session 2 will focus on sheetrock installation and correct taping and mudding procedures. 1pm - 3pm

October 30, 2010: Session 3 topics will include interior painting processes and baseboard and trim installation. 1pm - 3pm

All sessions will be taught by awesome trade professionals! Our lead instructor will be John Schwager, a local contractor and Restore customer. John is a great guy and we’re sure you will learn lots from him.