Chicken Run: Murder, Mishaps and Magic 6 Weeks House Sitting in Portland
In our longest house sit so far we suffered a few mishaps, a murder or two (chicken) and Christmas magic as we fell in love with Portland, its unique style and great food.
Laying on my back in a pile of chicken poo wasn’t my idea of fun. Chasing a runaway dog through the wood wasn’t our idea of fun. Three power cuts in less than two days, leaving us without water, heating and lighting wasn’t our idea of fun. A month of record rainfall wasn’t our idea of fun.
Despite these mishaps and the odd murder (of the chicken variety), we had a blast in Portland, loving every minute of it.
We had a secured a six-week house sit on a small farm 35 minutes from downtown Portland.
Set amongst 13 acres, this was home for Christmas. Our charges were a super cute pup called Chewy, two adorable cats, Luke & Leia and 48 chickens. Yep, Star Wars-inspired. Adding to the excitement, both daughters would be coming for a visit. It had been nine months since we had seen Lauren and Katherine. Being in touch daily helped bridge the kilometres, but seeing them in the flesh again would be a huge highlight.
We arrived three days before Kat, Anthony and eight-month-old Ethan jetting off to warmer climes.
We learned the ropes and helped to put the finishing touches to a mobile chicken coop for the young chicks.
The six older chickens were a breeze, but the young ones were a challenge! Come dusk we would have to try and catch them and put them to bed.
There had to be an easier way than scrabbling around on all fours with a large rake under the coop. It turns out there was. All we had to do was wait until it was properly dark and they take themselves off to bed. Who knew younger chicks liked to stay up later than the old hens.
The persistent rain had turned the garden into a quagmire; still, somebody needed to close up the coop.
One minute I was walking along, the next I was laid on my back in a pile of chicken poo looking at the stars. There was not one ounce of sympathy as I squelched back into the house.
On our second night, Chewy’s whimpering woke us in the early hours. Lit by moonlight, a small gang of elk munched the grass right outside our bedroom window, an eerie sight.
We walked Chewy around the back lanes with babbling streams, moss-covered woods, a small waterfall, dozens of peacocks and the distant sound of automatic gunfire. Some of the wooded areas on the roadsides had signs stating ‘no shooting, land inhabited’. Quite scary for us Kiwis.
Around 10.30 pm most evenings, we would hear coyotes howling. We had been warned by Kat not to let Chewy off the lead whilst walking. She's a bite-size snack for a couple of hungry coyotes.
Chewy often had other ideas. One particular morning whilst I was tending to the chickens, and Julie was watching Chewy answer the call of nature, there was a coyote howl in the distance, quickly followed by Chewy barking and Julie hollering.
Chewy had taken off in the direction of the howling determined to let the coyotes know who was boss.
I ran as fast as my gumboots would carry me, hurtling down the sloped long grass of the garden, through the swampy bit at the bottom and charged into the woods (all the time reciting ‘We are going on a Bear Hunt’ in my head).
Despite our frantic calling, Chewy continued on her coyote mission. Thankfully the thicket became so dense that she couldn't squeeze through and we managed to catch her before she could give those darn coyotes what for. From that moment on, Chewy's calls of nature were always at the end of a lead.
We weren't so lucky with the chickens.
There were two runs to take care of both with portable electric fences. The larger one with six adult chickens, then a smaller run with 42 teenage chicks. And may I add, not a single egg in sight.
All was going well until a local hawk decided that chicken buffet at Walkabout Farm was too good to pass up. We found one of the adult birds dead with a big rip in the side of its neck late one afternoon. Then a couple of days later, the younger birds started to be attacked.
We did run some string across the top of the small run, but that did little to act as a deterrent. After we lost the third chick in a couple of days, drastic action was needed. At this rate, there would be no chickens left when Kat and Anthony returned. With the help of Mr Google and $20 worth of deer netting, we managed to cover the whole run and bring an end to the takeaway service.
Christmas eve and right on cue the snow started to fall. Like a magical picture-perfect Christmas card, the farm was blanketed in white. Unfortunately, it didn't hang around for Christmas Day but did return with a vengeance two days later. This time we had enough snow for Katherine to build her very first snowman, and keeping us snowed in for a couple of days. We also had several power cuts.
One power cut lasted several hours, so a neighbour, Jim, kindly offered a spare generator.
At least we would be able to keep the food-laden freezers in the garage going.
Now, Jim had a 4x4 in his drive but insisted that we take the owners' Prius down his snow-covered driveway to collect the generator.
Well, it went down the drive OK, but….. Let's just say a 2-minute job took the best part of 40 minutes and needed the help of Jim's tractor (he had been hiding it in the garage) to tow me backwards up the drive and across the road.
One of the great things about having the girls over was that we got to explore Portland’s funky neighbourhoods.
Like Hawthorne with its collection of vintage clothes shops, the favourite being House of Vintage.
In Mississippi, we stopped by to see two guys we met at Burning Man, both working at the chilled Stormbreaker Brewery. A fantastic vegan bakery at NE Alberta caught our taste-buds with to-die-for apple pies.
The upmarket Pearl District is home to Salt & Straw with the best ice cream flavours we had ever tasted. Pearl is also home to the second-largest bookstore in the world. Powell’s Books covers an entire city block with close to a million books over three floors. The girls managed to spend hours sifting through the shelves. For somebody travelling light, Julie came out with an armful of books.
In Old Town, Lauren was in heaven at a store dedicated to all things horse riding. The top floor dedicated to saddles of all shapes and sizes. Around the corner is Voodoo Doughnuts, a sugary institution in Portland, with its creative array of doughnuts.
Something was needed to burn off the calories from the doughnuts and ice creams. Donning our hiking boots, we set off to tackle the ‘4 T’s’ walk, Trail, Tram, Trolley and Train. This 2.5-mile walk (we doubled it by not starting at the right place, doh) takes you past the zoo, through a wood, up to the highest point in Portland and then down to the riverside courtesy of a quick 3-minute aerial tram ride.
Portland is a food and beer mecca. There are 58 breweries, with Stormbreaker, Deschutes and Rogue three top choices. The city also boxes above its weight with an array of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, Harlow and Prasad being top-notch. And then, there’s the food carts, literally hundreds of them covering all types of cuisine.
But not everybody in Oregon is lucky enough to know where their next meal is coming from. Close to 270,000 people, including 92,000 children, need the help of emergency food boxes. To give back to the community, we volunteered for several shifts at the Oregon Food Bank. The shifts ranged from sorting food donated at food drives, to bagging 2lb bags of oats, bagging frozen veggies and sorting through perishable items donated by supermarkets.
We also crammed in another visit to Columbia River Gorge with friends Rick, Paul and Lauren, a visit to the Catholic Christmas Grotto, another great catch up with Chester at Oswego Grill, the Winter Lights Festival, a visit to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, a nose around the 18th century Pittock Mansion and a Patti Smith concert with Katherine. Busy busy.
Even with our mishaps, we had a fantastic time in Portland. It’s a vibrant, bustling city with so much to offer.
Having the girls over to share in our experiences was the perfect Christmas present. Miss them so much, the only downside to long term travel.
Taking care of Kat and Anthony’s small farm was a blast, all the animals left a huge impression on us. They also gave us food for thought on what we could do when we hang up our travelling boots.
Apart from a couple of days in snowy Boston on route to Europe, our time in the USA had come to end. We met some inspirational people during the last six months and shared some fabulous experiences, especially in the National Parks. But, it was a new year and time for a new continent.
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Seattle Nirvana: Great Stuff to Do in Seattle
We hit Seattle's finest tourist spots, Chihuly's famous glass garden, the Space Needle, EMP museum and Pike's Market in a fun-filled winter weekend.
After our wild and wet Oregon road trip, the city lights of Seattle were calling.
Like, proper tourists, we opted for the scenic route oblivious of the weather forecast.
After driving for a couple of hours, very light snow started to fall. Thirty minutes later, the snow was coming down by the bucket load, and the road was beginning to look like a ski field.
Without 4WD or snow chains, we started to get concerned about how we would get over the Snoqualmie Pass, the highest point between Seattle and Hood River.
Concern turned to panic when we saw trucks and cars pulling over to chain up. The overhead signs were flashing stern warnings, 'chains or 4WD only'. I was concerned we wouldn't have enough traction to get up the hill. Julie was worried we wouldn't be able to keep control going down the hill. We tucked ourselves in behind a couple of snowploughs and prayed to the weather gods.
Ten miles later we both started to breathe a little easier, and I loosened my vice-like grip on the steering wheel as the lights of Seattle came into view and the snow turned to sleet. Phew
We stayed three nights at another Air BnB gem. A new-looking shared house in one of the trendier parts of town. The only other occupants were a couple of shy Finnish girls.
We quizzed the owner about dinner options and followed up on his top recommendation, a buzzy Mexican restaurant called The Matador. We raised a glass to thank the weather gods. And here’s something you won’t hear too often, the Brussel sprouts were to die for.
The AirBnB was a 20-minute bus ride into the centre of downtown. We mooched through a couple of department stores then wandered the Public Market, including the world-famous Pike’s Fish Market. Here, the fish fly through the air from the front of the stall to be snaffled and wrapped by the bearded trendy dudes standing behind the counter.
At the base of Seattle’s Space Needle is Chihuly Gardens.
We were aware that Chihuly had created the fantastic glass petal sculpture that is part of the ceiling at the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas. Other than that, we had no idea what to expect from this visit.
Our jaws dropped as soon as we walked into the first exhibit hall, a mind-blowing gallery of techno-coloured glass sculptures. Vivid colours popped before our eyes from indoor and outdoor exhibits. A demonstration of glass blowing techniques showed how some of the exquisite works of art are created.
Julie’s favourite was the floor to ceiling seascape. A vibrant collection of blues and white with the odd golden sea creature thrown in. Mine was the very first sculpture, a forest of neon blue and pink glass tubes.
breakages need to be paid for
noen forest
A visit up the Space Needle provides incredible views of Seattle. They have this neat smartphone application that shows 3D animated holograms when you point your phone at pictures on the floor.
At the nearby Museum of Pop Culture, we were undecided whether to pay the $25 each admission fee when a lady offered us a free ticket. Clearly, a sign that we should see what this funky looking building had to offer.
Dedicated to pop culture, this museum is very different from any other we had visited. The first exhibition is dedicated to local indie rock legends Nirvana. Other exhibits included Hello Kitty, Jimi Hendrix and video gaming history.
The centrepiece of the main walkway is a two-storey high guitar sculpture.
On the top floor, you can release your inner musician with sound booths fitted out with a drum set, bass guitar, lead guitar and keyboards, hours of fun. On the drums, Julie did her best Animal (from the Muppets) impression; she should probably not give up her day job. Oops too late.
A giant two-storey iMax screened iconic music videos and documentaries. The full Michael Jackson’s Thriller video was playing when we arrived. I offered to show our funky moves learnt at Burning Man, but they were having none of it.
So that was our whirlwind trip to Seattle. A perfect weekend getaway. We managed to cram quite a bit into just two full days. The Chihuly Garden and Glass is one of the favourite things we have done so far. But, now it was time to head back to Portland to start our 6-week housesit.
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North By Northwest: Wintery Oregon Days Housesitting & Exploring
As winter approaches we cosy up in Eugene for a house sit before hitting the road to explore Oregon's wet and wild coast and the equally soggy Columbia River Gorge.
November 2015
My heart was pounding louder than a big bass drum. I stepped up to the counter positive the immigration officer could hear the THUD THUD. We had arrived in Dallas on route to Portland and this was the moment of truth. We had used 87 days of our 90 day visa allowance on our first stay in the USA. Would three weeks in Costa Rica be enough to reset the clock? We had heard horror stories of people being held or denied access. It wasn’t the thought of not being in the US that had us so nervous, but the fact that we would be letting people down.
Julie waved her passport at the automatic machines and was granted instant access. Trembling with fear, I stood in front of the nicest, most charming immigration officer we had met. Welcome to the USA and Happy Thanksgiving. YES!
sunset over the vines
The north west of the USA would be home for the next two and half months. After a bus ride from Portland, first stop a house sit in Eugene, Oregon. A week long stint looking after several rescue animals. To be precise - 2 dogs, 4 cats, 1 very old parrot, 2 rams and several chickens. Our host, Barbara, lives on an 8 acre vineyard. On our first afternoon Barbara took us for tastings at two of the vineyards she has supplied grapes to. A great start to the week.
Barbara’s home is full of books, puzzles, DVDs and a running machine. No getting bored here. For a birthday treat for yours truly, we booked tickets to watch the local college basketball team, Oregon Ducks v Fresno State. Not quite a full house but still plenty of atmosphere helped by the energetic cheerleaders and marching bands. The Ducks hung on to win 78-73, the crowd went quackers.
After spending so much time in warmer climates, the cold of Oregon took its toll. I spent a couple of days in bed with a severe case of man flu. I did manage to drag myself out for lunch at Papas Soul Food Kitchen, who serve up good wholesome southern fare. Instead of a birthday cake, Julie baked a delicious blueberry pie. Went down a treat with a scoop of the local ice cream.
Unfortunately, on Barbara’s return, we found a hole in the roof of the chicken coop. Some chickens and a duck had fallen prey to local wildlife. We were gutted.
Next, time to explore with a road trip. With record-breaking rainfall in the area, we skimmed down the Oregon coast, back up the freeway to Portland and along the magnificent Columbia River Gorge.
Our first stop was the charming town of Astoria. Decked in all its winter finery. We checked into the resplendent Commodore Hotel and were offered a turntable and some vinyl for the room. Politely declining, we did take them up on the offer of a free beer tasting.
chic digs
In need of refreshment, we wandered the streets until we found Himani Indian Cuisine. A cavernous venue with just one waitress (it was a quiet night), complete with a baby strapped to her back. The tasty curries were just what the doctor ordered.
After dinner, our next stop was purely for research purposes. We popped into one of the new kind of stores that have opened up throughout Oregon. After completing a simple questionnaire and providing proof of ID, we were granted entry to the back store, an Aladdin’s cave. Hundreds of sweetie jars filled the shelves full of pot with groovy names such as Dr. Who and Lamb’s Breath. Pot or weed or ganga or grass or broccoli (yes broccoli) has been legal for personal use in Oregon since July 2015. It’s legal to buy, carry and use, all within strict limits and if you are over 21. Washington, the neighbouring state has raised more taxes through legal sales of marijuana than it knows what to do with. Research completed, we giggled and weaved our way back to the hotel.
We had only the one night in Astoria, but it’s certainly somewhere we could happily return to. The rain dampened our desire to climb up the Astoria Column.
The following day we hugged the coast or what we could see of it through the driving rain, passing through several super cute seaside towns. We stopped to dive out between showers to take a few snaps of some rusting Kombis at the side of the road.
We arrived at Lincoln City and found a nice motel style lodge, Coho Oceanfront Lodge. The best rate was only available online. So I stood in the reception jumped on booking.com and then showed the receptionist the booking confirmation. This is the modern world. Our room offered impressive views of the wild coast. Not much to do other than watch the waves pound the beach.
wild pacific coast
Heading further south we stopped at Depoe Bay. This is the centre for whale watching in the area. From mid-December through to late January, thousands of whales migrate from the cold waters of Alaska down to warmer climes of Mexico. Given the weather, all that was on offer was the waves crashing through blowholes in the rocks.
We could not head any further south as the road was closed due to a shooting. Only in America. So we headed inland and up to Lake Oswego, just south of Portland, to catch up with a fellow New England Patriot nut. Becoming buddies through a Patriots Facebook page, we met up with Chester who runs the Oswego Grill. We had a blast, talking football and enjoying a delicious meal. We were blown away when Chester picked up the bill. A very generous gesture.
we have 4 Super Bowls, looking for a fifth
The wild weather continued as we headed through the Columbia River Gorge, keeping away all but the hardiest of hikers. We jumped on the historic highway 30 and made our way to Hood River, stopping at Latourell Falls to complete the two-mile loop walk. The scenery is simply breathtaking; moss covered trees and waterfalls at every turn. The low cloud seeped through the valley creating an eerie atmosphere. There is little wonder that the gorge is the number one thing to do when in Portland.
Hood River is another charming town glistening with winter lights. Dinner was at a funky pizza restaurant called Solstice; most likely the best pizza we have had in a year.
Day two in the gorge, we set off to tackle the Eagle Creek trail. A ten kilometre walk through lush forest. The torrential rain had created hundreds of small waterfalls, with water cascading over our heads as we trekked up a narrow path. Soaked through and with squelching boots we decided to turn around halfway at Punch Bowl waterfall. A nice warm soak in the bath beckoned.
wet and wild
river runs through it
At the Columbia Gorge Discovery Centre, we learned about the two guys that feature on most of the road signs. Lewis and Clark explored this region on behalf of President Jefferson in the early 1800’s. By chance, we also enjoyed a live raptor display with several rescued disabled hawks and an owl.
It's a hoot in here
Oregon is an interesting and diverse state. Rugged coast-line, fantastic forests, gob-smacking scenery, great tasting wines, laid back locals and enough rain to fill an ocean. As modern day explorers, we loved retracing some of the steps that Lewis and Clark took.
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