Winter has hit big time here in Oregon, as it has in much of the country. I have been busy with work and coping with the weather, both of which have been taking much more energy than I thought they would. So, I am sorry I haven’t been posting regularly (or at all, really) lately, but I managed to get home a little early tonight, cut some more firewood, and take some time to write a post because I am feeling very blessed this holiday season.
So, I wanted to say “Thank you” to all my family and friends who have supported me this past year and helped me get started up here. I feel truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, even if I have been too busy with day-to-day survival lately to express those feelings. It is not an easy life I have now, in some ways, but it is a much healthier and more active life and I am feeling much better emotionally and physically on average these days. The constant muscle aches and pains of my first months here have given way to generally better physical strength and energy. I have a job that can be really rough some days (or weeks) and doesn’t pay much but gives me much more satisfaction than Technical Writing ever did. Of course, I don’t have anywhere near as much time as I’d like for all of the things I’d like to be doing, but that’s okay too, for now at least.
My work on the cabin progresses, but slowly. You can see here the scaffolding I put up in the area between the living room and the kitchen where I had to reach a very high vaulted ceiling to put up the sheetrock. All the sheetrock is up in that area but I still haven’t finished sanding, spackling, or painting it so I have left the scaffolding up for now, which makes for an interesting obstacle course walking around the ground floor. Mostly I have been avoiding the sanding because the dust gets everywhere, but I will probably finish it up at the end of next week and get the scaffolding down.
Here you can see a better view of the slanted portion of the ceiling above that portion of the living area and above the scaffolding. I had to stand on top of the wood stove to get this picture and it was taken over a month ago when I had just put the first coat of spackling on. Since then I have been finishing up wiring upstairs on a couple new lighting fixtures so that I can seal up the ceiling upstairs and get the sheetrock installed up there too. But all of that has been on hold for a couple weeks because work has been a little crazy and the weather has made it more of a challenge too.
Last year I only had to use my tire chains 2-3 times and that was in January or February. This year I have used them at least 10 times already. The snow has been coming every few days and, while it does melt some in-between times, the dirt/gravel road leading to the house and the driveway have been several inches deep in ice and snow almost continuously for several weeks. I have to get up earlier to put the chains on the tires and then take them off again when I reach the main roads.
Work has been challenging too. Most shifts are not just 8 hours because we have to document everything that happens with every kid in the group homes during each shift and, if there are any “interventions” (physical restraints) then the paperwork can double or triple, so 10 hour days are not unusual. Plus, I have been getting trained to hand out medications, take the kids on trips, etc., so that can add to how busy I am on any given day (and, therefore, how much time I have during the shift to enter notes). It has been challenging, but interesting too and I work with some really interesting, intelligent, and great people, which helps a lot. Of course, it is mostly helping the kids that makes it worth it, even if sometimes you wonder how much good you are doing. Over time you do see changes, and some kids get discharged and move on. I’ll try to write more about that another time, but I just wanted to give some sense here tonight of what has been keeping me so busy lately.
So, I hope you are all having a great holiday and cherishing your family and friends. I certainly cherish all of you and think of you often, even if I haven’t managed to motivate myself to boot up my computer and keep you updated lately. The truth is, I hardly ever turn this thing on anymore. I haven’t been playing computer games and I really only use the thing to pay bills now — I’d feel guilty wasting time playing computer games. Most nights I get the wood stove going, watch the news, eat something, maybe watch a movie or read a book and then just crash — and even that leaves me feeling guilty about everything I am not getting done. But it is all good. Life is better, and I have all of you, my family and friends, to thank for so much of it. So, Happy Holidays and love from me to you and yours. Take a moment to appreciate all that you have. Considering everything else going on in this country and the world, I believe we are truly blessed. 
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