Thanks everyone!

As the year comes to an end I want to say a few words about how much I appreciate everyone who has had the confidence to make an order from me after I took over control of Llama Hardware. Even those that have not made purchases have shown support in so many ways that this year has flown by in a blur!

If it had not been for Barb spending months staying at our place the transition would have been much harder, Thanks Barb! 

While we knew that taking over Llama Hardware would be a lot of work, it has also been a great adventure. Learning the methods that Sid used when he started making the Flaming Star packs and how Barb made improvements on those has been fun, and adding my own little touches has now made them mine. 

Our return to the “llama world” has been great as well. Many old friends have came back into our lives and even more new ones have been added to the list. Thanks to our modern world we now have friends around the world that would have been nearly impossible to make even a few years ago. I have sold pack systems, and more, to countries over half a world away, in both directions.

Our move back to Oregon recently felt like coming home as well. While all the other places we have lived while I was earning my Master’s Degree in Anthropology were beautiful and I enjoyed aspects of all those places, they were never “home” to us.

I am still working on products to add to the Flaming Star line and will be adding a new line as time allows, Flaming Star Expedition Gear. This line will start out with small items like straps to hold fishing poles holders and rifle cases to the Flaming Star Pack system, and eventually move on to larger items.

To keep this from getting any longer, Thank You to everyone that has supported us in the transition to make Llama Hardware ours!

Richard

It’s a Process

Because we have purchased several houses before, we knew going it this would be a “process,” not a simple thing. Or least it never has been for us.

We thought we were pre-approved with one company, seems that no, that was not quite the case. The broker had gathered all the info and he ‘thought’ it would be fine, but had yet to actually turn over all the information to a finance company. Great, he told us this after we had made an offer on a house!

So, start the process all over again with a new company… yes, we could have stayed with that company, it was already in the process, but when someone is not telling me the truth about what they are doing, I tend to not trust them with my money, especially the amounts of money we are talking about when buying a house!

Meeting with the new person went smooth, she says it shouldn't be a problem, etc, but oh, she is leaving town early on Friday and won’t be able to get to things until at least Monday. And can we get her up-to-date bank statements, etc… I guess the others were over two whole weeks old and just wouldn't do to tell her how much money we had made over the last year???? Really?

Still working on the old farmhouse just on the edge of town here in Pendleton, but not so sure it will happen by early January like we were hoping. Oh well, so long as it still happens we will be okay. In the grand scheme of things a few more weeks is not going to make that much difference but in the short term it can sure be frustrating.  

A house with history.

The double car garage/ shop space.

Memories

Moving back to NE Oregon felt like coming home, but it was not until we made a trip to the ranch we grew up on that the memories started coming back to the forefront of my thinking.

The creek where I played and remembered being ‘Neck deep’ looks to be closer to “knee deep” to me as an adult. The “Turkey ranch” part of the place where we fed cows in the winter is still there, but the buildings that were standing then, are long gone for the most part now. The “new” horse barn that was put up while we were living there is now looking weathered and has been repaired in one corner. The corral that was so big, with fences so tall I could get above any cow is now falling down in disrepair.

On the other hand, the house we grew up in has been resided, has a new roof, and where the garden was is now an in ground swimming pool! The main house where the ranch owner lived is freshly painted and looking great.

Some of the places we rode for cattle still look familiar after all these years and I remembered many of the things that happened there. The bull that dove in the pond to avoid being loaded in the truck and then swam out and loaded himself into the truck! The fields I learned to drive tractor and the old pickup in are now in CRP and look overgrown and abandoned.

These memories were good ones, even with the changes and differences. What really hit home was that those memories I had as a kid were ones that I could only share with Lynn and James. Joe and my parents were never able to meet each other and I could never show Joe those places.

I know it’s all part of life, and that those events and memories of events are what makes us, ‘us’ but it would still be nice to share it with everyone we love.  Perhaps by sharing some of my thoughts on the subject I am able to do just that.

If any of my family or friends have stories/ memories/ etc. of things that happened on the ranch or at other times, please send them to me and I’ll include them in my list of stories I’m working on adding to my growing list that will end up being a book given some time to put them in order. 

New “temporary” quarters.

Well, we are now settled in our new, but temporary quarters. My brother-in-law has kindly let me take over his shop until we find our new house and shop. The plan is to be set up and sewing by the end of the day tomorrow, Monday.

Thanks to everyone for their patience while we have been moving and know that I will be back to work filling orders on Tuesday morning.

Moving required four trips with a friend’s 24’ enclosed car hauler, one for the 5^th wheel trailer we are living in and the last one with a very overloaded pickup and a U-haul trailer. At just over 5700 miles and all of our belongings I had a friend tell me I was nearly qualified at a Teamster! Ha! Oh, and add in towing a newly purchased 5^th wheel for my nephew and I’m probably pushing the 6,000 mile range in the last 6 weeks! No wonder I’m tired of driving! Good thing I Love my pickup and have a good supply of podcasts on the I pod to listen to! Great company and good conversations with my son helped pass the time as well, so it was not all bad.

The weather held off until we were about 100 miles from Pendleton and greeted us with varying amounts of snow and ice for the last little bit into town. Cars in the ditch to the right of us and cars in the ditch to the left of us, but we kept trundling along until we made it in!

Lynn had her first day of work on Saturday, and thinks her new route will be an Okay route. For those that know Pendleton, her route is on the north hill, above the high school. Not the steepest hill in town perhaps, but not flat by any means. The next week will see things smooth out and soon she will have the routine down.

I’ll try to get back to my normal routine of updating my blog once a week now and keep everyone up to date on how things are progressing on the house hunt. 

On the Move!

            Well, it is finally a fact, we are moving once again! A transfer to Pendleton means we are headed to our home area of NE Oregon. We have just under 30 days to have our stuff out of here and moved into storage there. It would be nice if we could move it from one house to another but we want to buy and know that it is going to take some time.

            Home for a few weeks will be our 5^th wheel trailer and I’m taking over my Brother-in-laws shop until we find our perfect shop and living space.

            If any of you have a desire to help, just let me know and we will let you know when we will be where and how you can help!

            The Llama Hardware business will be the last thing packed and the first thing unpacked so I will not lose more than a few days of production during the move. Don’t let the move deter you from making an order I will continue to make all the items as long as I can before we move.

            Once we have a new address I’ll make updates to the web pages and let everyone know via all the different ways we can now with social media. All the phone numbers and email will work for now and any of the addresses that end in @rockrabbitenterprises.com or @llamahardware.com will work no matter where we move, those will not change. 

What does “home” mean to you?

We went back to NE Oregon for a couple days on personal business and slipped in a little real business at the same time. While we were there, visiting with some family and wishing we could visit with all our family and friends I got to thinking about what made NE Oregon “home” to us.

Is it the fact that most of our family lives there? Well, maybe, but it’s not just that. Is it because we grew up in the area and, like a salmon going back to its home waters, we are drawn to the area by some unseen and unknown element? Again, I don’t think that’s it either. Perhaps a combination of those things?

It might be one of the things we will never explain. Still, there is something about our moods, our sense of well being, our overall feeling when we are in that part of Oregon.(examples below)

West Eagle Meadows

Main Eagle Creek

The Elkhorn Mountains

The Eagle Cap Wilderness

The Grande Round Valley

I know that where we are living is beautiful, there are mountain all around us, lots of lakes, rivers, and other things that have, and continue to capture our attention, but it just does not feel like home in the same way that NE Oregon does.

Perhaps one of these days we will find a way to get back there, only time will tell, and then we will once again be “home.”

What does “home” mean to you? Is it a location, the place where you live, or is it where your family and friends are located? How would you express what “home” is to you? 

Opposite of Boredom

            Lately I have had several people tell me they are bored. It was always different circumstances, and they were a range of ages. When I asked them what they did for hobbies, or for fun, they were all able to give me several things that they did.

            Several days have passed now and it just dawned on me that they were not really bored, they were just unhappy with the time it was taking them to accomplish certain things in their lives.

            Most of us think of “bored” as having a lack of things to do. Or at least I will say that has always been the definition I have heard. Here is just one example I pulled off a Google search. “Feeling weary because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity.”

            I guess that might explain my sometimes overwhelming number of things I like to do. If I find that I don’t feel like working on one thing, I can move on to something else for a bit. Or change directions completely. Going from wood working to blacksmithing, or writing to carving a golf ball. Sometimes I even fall off the deep end and spend time reading a book.

Slabs in the process of becoming wall sculptures or clocks. 

            Because I’m a “list” person I have white boards in my shop with sectioned off lists of various projects that I “want” to do along with a few I “need” to get done. When I find that I’m unhappy with what I’m doing I look at something on the list that required a change in direction from what I’m doing, and start down that path.

My "Bassinet" bowl made from a Walnut limb.

            The down side to that is I have many projects that are in various stages of completion. My project this weekend was to clean up my shop, make the “flat surfaces” flat again and take inventory of the projects that are near completion so I can work them into the schedule soon and get them off the list they are on… Some it will only take a few minutes of dedicated work; others will take several weeks of working on them after my “day job” at Llama Hardware.

            Oh, and Christmas is coming up, that adds a whole new list of projects that will need finished up in time to ship to family and friends… Yep, I can feel boredom coming up Real fast!