Posted about the car because I just wanted to put something happy up…not that there’s any shortage of happy around here; we’re both feeling incredibly lucky that we get to be out here among the fir trees and hummingbirds and each other. What else are we up to? I (Peter) am still commuting into Eugene to get high-speed internet so I can work…hopefully there’ll be an end to that in June, when our satellite internet is supposed to kick in. When not making websites, I can usually be found working (my term) or puttering (Teri’s term) around the house/land. I revived a half-dead riding mower the landlord has and have been riding it around the field and orchard. Every week more and more land is turning from brambly field of hay to pleasant, walkable lawn. Whenever I clear the blackberries, scotch broom, and other invasive species from another area, there’s some kind of cool little garden or artwork or magical grove I’d never even noticed. The garden has expanded a bit and is doing nicely, but I think Teri’s about to post about that. A friend showed me a place up the logging roads with a 50+ mile view in three directions, and today I discovered that my cellmodem works up there. Now I can work about 10-15 minutes from home when I don’t feel like dealing with the noise of coffeehouses. All my best friends have just had babies, or are about to…well, it seems like it. None of that for Teri and I, but we have been talking about getting some chickens at some point. Already have the chicken coop out back behind the workshop/woodshed, after all! Then again, maybe that’s dangerous thinking because there’s also a stable and all the grass an equine could desire. As far as people…well, Teri and I have made one good friend here, and a few nice acquaintances, but we haven’t really been out socializing much. We have good friends living just a few hours away who we haven’t even visited yet (Sorry, we’ll make it to Portland eventually!) Sundown rarely finds us anywhere but home. I like to go sit down by the river then and watch the brachiate details slowly fade from emerald and umber to shades of gray as the moths and bats start their day. Mature growth firs towering over me, springy moss beneath my feet, the Long Tom river offering a free ride to Veneta, just grab an inner tube. A hundred types of plant clustered in every square foot of earth until you look closer and realize there’s a whole ‘nother layer; a hundred is too conservative. Closer again, and there’s yet another level of flora and insecta, and symbiotic or parasitic life clinging to many of those. By then you smell the soil, some of the richest in the country. After that your nose gets poked by a stick you didn’t notice lying there and the poetic moment is over, but it’s still freakin’ beautiful. We’ll have more pictures soon =)

This post may bore or mystify some, but I know a couple of guys who’ll appreciate it… Teri’s Beetle: too much play in the steering wheel, klunking when reversing direction, shaking when cornering. Tied a rope to the steering wheel and went underneath with a flashlight. Pulled the rope, and found the play – steering box. Motion goes in, but it don’t come out (until the ‘klunk’ happens) Googled super beetle steering box. Rebuilt $200, NOS $300+, used maybe good $75. Dang. And what fun it’ll be to get to it. Checked my favorite VW site and found out that it’s adjustable as it wears! Loosened a locknut, tightened a screw, checked wheel (repeat repeat) and torqued the locknut back down. No more excessive play, no more shaking, no more klunking; drives like a sports car now on these twisty mountain roads =) * Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was the designer of the original VW Beetle.