Boy, did we get busy!
After struggling through a very slow September where we (Hess appraisals) only managed to 'get' 6 appraisals between the 3 (4, if you count me in) of us, we got totally buried last Friday when we got 9 of them in one day!
It was a little hectic all week long but we're making it work and are not complaining, we can definitely use the money with another move coming up soon!

Since we had to measure a lot of houses, some of them rather complicated, I went with James to assist him. I usually get to measure, with a nifty laser 'tape-measurer', and James somehow translates that miraculously (to me) into a readable and correct floor-plan.

We get to see a lot of beautiful houses (as well as incredible crappy ones) like this one which had a beautiful view of the valley and the mountain range in the distance.
It's hard to see in the photo but they can see Mt Hood as well as Mt Jefferson!

Driving around Newberg to find the 'comps' (Comps, or comparables, are used to determine the value of a home by comparing it to similar properties sold in the same neighborhood) we enjoyed the beautiful, rolling hills of the area which are starting to show a little bit of fall-colors ...

That's Mt Hood there, barely visible in the middle of the blue sky.
It already had it's first snow while we've been having a whole week of rain down below here on the valley-floor.

Sometimes the appointments take a little longer than planned and we can't make it home for lunch, but fortunately there's lots of food-carts around these days for a quick bite, like this one called 'The Porch' in the teeny-weeny town of Laurel, where we enjoyed a couple of very nice sandwiches:

                                              

Later that afternoon we found ourselves in a beautiful, remote and forestry area east of Newberg.
I'd love to have a view like this:

Back at the ranch, we got a change in our interior! Our Ikea Poang chairs were starting to get rather tired-looking after 13 years of service and just by chance I came across 2 'as-good-as-new' recliners on Marketplace.
Origanally $500 each, they were bought on sale by the seller last year for $350 each, and were now offered for sale at $300 for the two of them!

 

Needless to say .. we snatched them up!
They can rock, swivel and recline and are very comfortable. I have to get used to the 'pleather' which I'm not too wild about (I might get some covers for them) and they're a little darker than I had intended (maybe a few throw pillows would lighten the look a little) but they're a lot nicer looking and more comfortable than our old ones.
Score!

Other than assisting James I've not had much time to do much else this week. I started a new puzzle which I've made before, it's an 'on-the-farm' scene with lots of animals and a big haystack and the pieces are basically all orangy, yellow and brown looking.
Starting these 1000-piece puzzles can be a little intimidating! Where to begin?

And since the weather is a lot cooler with a lot of rain, I thought it was time to make the first batch of dutch pea-soup of the season ... the first but surely not the last!
It's sooooo good ...

Due to the rain of late the work on our new RV-site has stalled for the time being, and although some parts for the utilities have arrived we're still waiting on a few.
Which is a good thing since we have so much work at the moment!
The weather is supposed to clear somewhere next week so hopefully we'll be able to resume. There's still a lot to do before we can move.

A tentative moving date has been set for the 5th of November .. we'll see ..
"Lor' willin' an' th' crick don' rise!"