welcome to our amazing 2019!
YES, WE MOVED!
We thought we would make it through the girls graduating high school in Astoria, but that was not to be. In late summer of 2018, Roseburg Resources, the forest management side of Roseburg Forest Products, approached Charley about a job, and it was too good to pass up. Now he's the district forester for the Roseburg District, and that meant we had to move. Again. BUT THIS IS IT! For a very long time. LOL *crosses fingers* (BUT if we do ever move again, I am hiring people to do everything!)
We were house shopping two days after Christmas, and spent December getting the Astoria house ready for sale. Our house went on the market on Friday, January 4, and we had eight showings and five offers by Sunday night. Monday morning, January 7, Charley was already in Roseburg -- his first day at his new job -- I was in Astoria, and unfortunately, that was the morning I had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty Sandy (more on her passing below in the kitty section)... then after I left the vet, without Sandy, I had to go to the Realtor's office and sell one house so we could buy another.
BUT NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING
Charley worked during the week and came home on the weekends, we packed and were EXHAUSTED by the time we picked up the moving van on February 23. We packed on Friday, and on Saturday the 24th we headed to our new home with the first load. Unloaded everything into the shop, went inside and relaxed and ate and were excited to head back on Sunday to get the second load.
Packed on Sunday -- total nightmare. We've never had to move everything so quickly and so far. ALL of our other moves were within an hour or so, and we either had a company pack us up and move us, or we had a month of short trips to get it all done. Holy crap. We were ALL dragging by Sunday night. The house was in an uproar and we all wanted it to be over.
We'd planned on driving down that Monday, February 25, but the entirety of SW and central Oregon was hit with a FREAKING BLIZZARD that dropped over a foot everywhere. That is NOT NORMAL here and everyone was stuck everywhere. There is no equipment to deal with that -- trains, planes, automobiles -- no one was going anywhere.
We had to wait a day -- more nightmare. OMG I can barely write about it now, nearly a year later. Tuesday came and the afternoon LOOKED like temps would hold above 35 the entire drive down, so we just went for it. Insane. We were insane. I white-knuckled it in the minivan with our four cats and one hamster and watched Charley ahead in the moving van with the girls -- for five hours through the falling snow. We passed at least 10 buried cars and trucks on the side of the highway on our way down. Terrifying.
BUT WE MADE IT
I thought for sure we would get stuck on the highway. We got to our exit in Roseburg and I nearly cried, but then realized I had to drive through unplowed road because the side roads weren't plowed, and I was in a freaking minivan. But I pushed through and blasted through the stupid snow and kept going. And we did get stuck -- but at the bottom of the driveway!! WOO!!!!! WE ACTUALLY MADE IT!!!!
We had no power, but no trees had fallen on the house or the shop, and the shop was full of all our camping equipment, the house has a wood stove, the previous owners left us a pile of firewood, and the house had some food. Everything that needed to stay cold got chucked into a snowdrift outback, and we got the cats settled in their new, dark, freezing cold home. LOL
But the storm was bad -- we had no power all week, no cable or internet even longer because Spectrum was so busy we had to wait our turn for a technician. After a week, we could get to town and power was coming back ont here so we could get food.... but thousands of people in the countryside were just stuck. There was no way to plow their driveways and driveways in the country out here are LONG. Power lines were down EVERYWHERE. The snow didn't melt for three weeks, killed 80% of our bee populations, majorly hammered the agriculture -- the vineyards, the hazelnut orchards, and all of the plant nurseries lost a LOT of their inventory. It was your basic nightmare.
WELCOME TO ROSEBURG, MOYER FAMILY!!! LOL
We thought we would make it through the girls graduating high school in Astoria, but that was not to be. In late summer of 2018, Roseburg Resources, the forest management side of Roseburg Forest Products, approached Charley about a job, and it was too good to pass up. Now he's the district forester for the Roseburg District, and that meant we had to move. Again. BUT THIS IS IT! For a very long time. LOL *crosses fingers* (BUT if we do ever move again, I am hiring people to do everything!)
We were house shopping two days after Christmas, and spent December getting the Astoria house ready for sale. Our house went on the market on Friday, January 4, and we had eight showings and five offers by Sunday night. Monday morning, January 7, Charley was already in Roseburg -- his first day at his new job -- I was in Astoria, and unfortunately, that was the morning I had to say goodbye to our sweet kitty Sandy (more on her passing below in the kitty section)... then after I left the vet, without Sandy, I had to go to the Realtor's office and sell one house so we could buy another.
BUT NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING
Charley worked during the week and came home on the weekends, we packed and were EXHAUSTED by the time we picked up the moving van on February 23. We packed on Friday, and on Saturday the 24th we headed to our new home with the first load. Unloaded everything into the shop, went inside and relaxed and ate and were excited to head back on Sunday to get the second load.
Packed on Sunday -- total nightmare. We've never had to move everything so quickly and so far. ALL of our other moves were within an hour or so, and we either had a company pack us up and move us, or we had a month of short trips to get it all done. Holy crap. We were ALL dragging by Sunday night. The house was in an uproar and we all wanted it to be over.
We'd planned on driving down that Monday, February 25, but the entirety of SW and central Oregon was hit with a FREAKING BLIZZARD that dropped over a foot everywhere. That is NOT NORMAL here and everyone was stuck everywhere. There is no equipment to deal with that -- trains, planes, automobiles -- no one was going anywhere.
We had to wait a day -- more nightmare. OMG I can barely write about it now, nearly a year later. Tuesday came and the afternoon LOOKED like temps would hold above 35 the entire drive down, so we just went for it. Insane. We were insane. I white-knuckled it in the minivan with our four cats and one hamster and watched Charley ahead in the moving van with the girls -- for five hours through the falling snow. We passed at least 10 buried cars and trucks on the side of the highway on our way down. Terrifying.
BUT WE MADE IT
I thought for sure we would get stuck on the highway. We got to our exit in Roseburg and I nearly cried, but then realized I had to drive through unplowed road because the side roads weren't plowed, and I was in a freaking minivan. But I pushed through and blasted through the stupid snow and kept going. And we did get stuck -- but at the bottom of the driveway!! WOO!!!!! WE ACTUALLY MADE IT!!!!
We had no power, but no trees had fallen on the house or the shop, and the shop was full of all our camping equipment, the house has a wood stove, the previous owners left us a pile of firewood, and the house had some food. Everything that needed to stay cold got chucked into a snowdrift outback, and we got the cats settled in their new, dark, freezing cold home. LOL
But the storm was bad -- we had no power all week, no cable or internet even longer because Spectrum was so busy we had to wait our turn for a technician. After a week, we could get to town and power was coming back ont here so we could get food.... but thousands of people in the countryside were just stuck. There was no way to plow their driveways and driveways in the country out here are LONG. Power lines were down EVERYWHERE. The snow didn't melt for three weeks, killed 80% of our bee populations, majorly hammered the agriculture -- the vineyards, the hazelnut orchards, and all of the plant nurseries lost a LOT of their inventory. It was your basic nightmare.
WELCOME TO ROSEBURG, MOYER FAMILY!!! LOL
rosemary hill!
Cynthia fell in love with this house in September 2018 when she saw it online, right as she was searching homes in Roseburg, but never thought we'd be able to afford it. But, Charley's job is management, and the Astoria house actually pulled down a profit, and so now -- HERE WE ARE.
Rosemary Hill is named after the girls, Emily Rose and Mary Pearl, and it sits at the base of one of the Umpqua Valley gumdrop hills, and so that's how it got its name. The house is huge -- 3,000 sf, five bedrooms, HUGE living room, big kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and even a LIBRARY. WHAT. The master bedroom is huge and has a master bath, and where the garage used to be is now Mary's huge bedroom, a huge rec room we call the art room, and then the craft room, which is a narrow room with floor-to-ceiling shelves where all of our art supplies and sewing and crafting stuff is. Mary is in there a lot. LOL This is all new for us, because most of our houses in our lives have been between 1,000 and 1,500 sf, so we did not downsize -- we finally upsized. The living room came with their old couch and our old couch, and they both fit, and there's still room for a table and four chairs for games, or like right now -- our Christmas tree (the table has been moved to the library). It's nice to have some elbow room for once!
The shop is about 1,500sf, and has a huge cold-storage pantry, a guest bedroom, and a bathroom. The house and shop are connected by a covered walkway and double carport, and so we don't have a second story or basement, but we love living on one level! The driveway is circular, a tear-drop shape and we measured -- 0.17 of a mile. We have our own walking track! But the house sits on a rural road, and we only have five neighbors on this road -- everyone is on 5 acres -- and so we have more room to walk than just our driveway.
The front yard has ginormous druid stones and we have THIRTEEN palm trees. WHAT
Outside, the previous owners established a HUGE fenced garden that is irrigated with a sprinkler system from the private well. So we don't have to use the house water to water anything, which is awesome! The sprinkler system also irrigates the grounds around the house, and down below at the main street is an orchard with about ten fruit trees in it, which also has irrigation. So this house had so much already going on, plus the location, the views, and everything else -- we knew it was the house for us.
Rosemary Hill is named after the girls, Emily Rose and Mary Pearl, and it sits at the base of one of the Umpqua Valley gumdrop hills, and so that's how it got its name. The house is huge -- 3,000 sf, five bedrooms, HUGE living room, big kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and even a LIBRARY. WHAT. The master bedroom is huge and has a master bath, and where the garage used to be is now Mary's huge bedroom, a huge rec room we call the art room, and then the craft room, which is a narrow room with floor-to-ceiling shelves where all of our art supplies and sewing and crafting stuff is. Mary is in there a lot. LOL This is all new for us, because most of our houses in our lives have been between 1,000 and 1,500 sf, so we did not downsize -- we finally upsized. The living room came with their old couch and our old couch, and they both fit, and there's still room for a table and four chairs for games, or like right now -- our Christmas tree (the table has been moved to the library). It's nice to have some elbow room for once!
The shop is about 1,500sf, and has a huge cold-storage pantry, a guest bedroom, and a bathroom. The house and shop are connected by a covered walkway and double carport, and so we don't have a second story or basement, but we love living on one level! The driveway is circular, a tear-drop shape and we measured -- 0.17 of a mile. We have our own walking track! But the house sits on a rural road, and we only have five neighbors on this road -- everyone is on 5 acres -- and so we have more room to walk than just our driveway.
The front yard has ginormous druid stones and we have THIRTEEN palm trees. WHAT
Outside, the previous owners established a HUGE fenced garden that is irrigated with a sprinkler system from the private well. So we don't have to use the house water to water anything, which is awesome! The sprinkler system also irrigates the grounds around the house, and down below at the main street is an orchard with about ten fruit trees in it, which also has irrigation. So this house had so much already going on, plus the location, the views, and everything else -- we knew it was the house for us.
yes, druid stones.
Some glacier was kind enough to leave these honking huge, gorgeous rocks behind. When it does finally rain here, they turn green with dozens of kinds of moss and teeny, weeny plants. (Oh, and we have a little greenhouse now too.)
and then the chickens came!
Ever since we lived in Knappa, Oregon, ten years ago, we have wanted chickens again, and boy, do we have chickens now! LOL Moving to almost 5 acres in the country meant we'd need a chicken coop and little fluffy, feathery butts to fill it. We placed our order for 21 chicks with Murray McMurray Hatchery in Ohio, and our chicks were hatched on Monday, July 8, and arrived Wednesday morning, July 10th, before 7 a.m., resulting in one very frantic early-morning drive to town! The box they were in was SO SMALL -- Cynthia waited until she was home before opening the box, there's always a chance one doesn't make the flight, but they all made it! In fact, there were 23 chicks in the box, not 21!
Our hens are: 2 Ameraucanas, 2 barred rocks, 1 white Wyandotte, 3 silver laced Wyandottes, 2 Columbian Wyandottes, 4 buff orpingtons, 1 blue laced red Wyandotte, 2 Welsummers, 2 buttercups, and 1 silver laced Cochin. We also had three roosters in the mix -- we'd paid extra for hens, but nothing is perfect. Two blue laced red Wyandottes and one white Wyandotte roosters have now moved onto two other farms where they are more appreciated. We're not interested in raising chicks, so Barry Allen and Joe West (our BLRWs) will now be introduced to a small flock of BLRW hens next year to make lots of babies with, and the WW, Sukie-roo, is with a family who lost their beloved white Leghorn -- and Sukie-roo looks just like their other rooster -- everyone's happy.
The chicks hung out in our little clubhouse for a few months while we built the chicken coop. It turned into quite the project, but it's amazing. We underestimated the amount of roosts we'd need, but now everyone has room at night. LOL We got our first egg on December 5, and since then we were getting two eggs a day -- one light brown and one pale pink -- and those are coming from the two buttercups, the smallest breed out there. Not sure why one is pinkish, since they're supposed to lay brown, but she's still young, and things may change. (Update -- the buttercups lay white eggs, so we have no idea who's laying the other tiny brown egg! And on Monday, December 16, someone laid a GIANT brown egg!)
We love having chickens again -- their are like living yard art and so even though it makes it hard to leave the house for too many hours (or overnight), we'll eventually find someone we trust to help watch them when we need to head out for whatever reason. And all the eggs we'll be getting?? They will be available for $5 a dozen -- plus shipping if you're really wanting some Rosemary Hill Gardens Cackle Berries. (If they aren't refrigerated after being laid, they can stay unrefrigerated and can therefore be mailed! Woop!
Our hens are: 2 Ameraucanas, 2 barred rocks, 1 white Wyandotte, 3 silver laced Wyandottes, 2 Columbian Wyandottes, 4 buff orpingtons, 1 blue laced red Wyandotte, 2 Welsummers, 2 buttercups, and 1 silver laced Cochin. We also had three roosters in the mix -- we'd paid extra for hens, but nothing is perfect. Two blue laced red Wyandottes and one white Wyandotte roosters have now moved onto two other farms where they are more appreciated. We're not interested in raising chicks, so Barry Allen and Joe West (our BLRWs) will now be introduced to a small flock of BLRW hens next year to make lots of babies with, and the WW, Sukie-roo, is with a family who lost their beloved white Leghorn -- and Sukie-roo looks just like their other rooster -- everyone's happy.
The chicks hung out in our little clubhouse for a few months while we built the chicken coop. It turned into quite the project, but it's amazing. We underestimated the amount of roosts we'd need, but now everyone has room at night. LOL We got our first egg on December 5, and since then we were getting two eggs a day -- one light brown and one pale pink -- and those are coming from the two buttercups, the smallest breed out there. Not sure why one is pinkish, since they're supposed to lay brown, but she's still young, and things may change. (Update -- the buttercups lay white eggs, so we have no idea who's laying the other tiny brown egg! And on Monday, December 16, someone laid a GIANT brown egg!)
We love having chickens again -- their are like living yard art and so even though it makes it hard to leave the house for too many hours (or overnight), we'll eventually find someone we trust to help watch them when we need to head out for whatever reason. And all the eggs we'll be getting?? They will be available for $5 a dozen -- plus shipping if you're really wanting some Rosemary Hill Gardens Cackle Berries. (If they aren't refrigerated after being laid, they can stay unrefrigerated and can therefore be mailed! Woop!
the chickens are here!
so we had to build a coop!
what charley ALSO did this summer
With his new position at Roseburg Forest Resources, he doesn't get sent out to wildland fires, but he is in charge of any fires that pop up or move onto our land, but he did do some fire duty this summer -- and grabbed some pretty awesome photos. Another big part of his job is to visit the seedling nurseries to make sure the next round of trees are healthy and ready to go when planting season comes around again. Oh, and rainbows.
mary's amazing photography
Soooo..... Mary has a knack for taking photos. Especially flowers. She could seriously go somewhere with this, and so I encourage her to shoot loads of photos, and maybe someday she'll be a photographer? The world is open to her, because I know she can do whatever she puts her mind to.
checking in with the moyer kitties
2019 was a little tumultuous in the Moyer Kitty World -- after 19.5 years of a very full life, our sweet Sandy just couldn't go on anymore. We still miss her -- she was older than both of our girls, and so they've never known our home without her! But time is the enemy here, and on January 7, 2019, Mama had to take her in and let her go. But she's with Moosie, Max, Madeleine, Bob, Jillian, Danielle, and all of Cynthia's cats she had growing up. It's a party in the Great Cat Meadow on the sky.
We had a scare in October with Loki -- he had a severe blockage and almost died. Mary and Mama drove to the emergency vet in Springfield, Oregon, (over an hour north) and were there for hours while they worked on him, but his surgery was a team effort between ALL of Loki's fans and our beloved friends online. Thank you again for ALL of your donations -- all of Loki's Guardian Angels are getting a piece of art from Rosemary Hill in the spring! We love you all, and we know all of you love Loki too! There are photos of him in the slideshow below being hugged by Mary and Mama after he finally got to come home all groggy from three days in the hospital. *WHEW*
AND PLOT TWIST --- Rosemary Hill came with its own kitties! When we bought Rosemary Hill, the previous owners asked if we could take their outside kitties (since they wouldn't want to be cooped up in a neighborhood in Texas), and of course we said yes. Wilson (tuxedo male) and Kelly (dark tabby female) became Moyers as soon as we signed the papers. WOO! And now there are six.
We had a scare in October with Loki -- he had a severe blockage and almost died. Mary and Mama drove to the emergency vet in Springfield, Oregon, (over an hour north) and were there for hours while they worked on him, but his surgery was a team effort between ALL of Loki's fans and our beloved friends online. Thank you again for ALL of your donations -- all of Loki's Guardian Angels are getting a piece of art from Rosemary Hill in the spring! We love you all, and we know all of you love Loki too! There are photos of him in the slideshow below being hugged by Mary and Mama after he finally got to come home all groggy from three days in the hospital. *WHEW*
AND PLOT TWIST --- Rosemary Hill came with its own kitties! When we bought Rosemary Hill, the previous owners asked if we could take their outside kitties (since they wouldn't want to be cooped up in a neighborhood in Texas), and of course we said yes. Wilson (tuxedo male) and Kelly (dark tabby female) became Moyers as soon as we signed the papers. WOO! And now there are six.
life on rosemary hill
What a year --- this is a BIG slideshow with everything from birthdays to selfies to kitties to new truck (I need pics of the new-to-us car! where did those go? LOL) and everything in between. Enjoy!
living in sw oregon
Crater Lake, Growing Miracles Lavender farm, Wildlife Safari, The Lighthouse Bakery..... some of our favorite places.
heading to crater lake
wildlife safari in winston, oregon
our new coffee shop
what's in store for 2020
2020 will bring even more changes to our lives at Rosemary Hill. The plan is to add BEES to the lineup, and so we'll keep you posted about that -- and the GARDENS. OMG THE GARDENS. We have the Territorial Seed catalog, but we also just received the HUGE: The Whole Seed Catalog from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. AMAZING. So many plans....