It's 2023! 

From Linda Traxler this morning:

1/1/23
The radio had a segment “What I remember about Grandma” on it.   Of course, it got me to thinking.  So let me reflect.  Growing up in the Aims area, on the homestead, allowed me to be able to spend quite a bit of time with our Gramma B (as she was called).  I’ve always called it a “commune”. There were many days spent in her home, playing with cousins, watching and helping her bake.  Sneaking candies and cookies from the jars.  There were some years where she raised chickens, so us cousins got to hold those little ones.  We had a playhouse in the front yard (the old gas house) to play in.  There was a small orchard with apples, and the prune (I call them prunes-some call them plums) tree outside her side door.  That was also the “climbing tree”.   There was a dairy farm to work on:  gathering eggs, milking dairy cattle, herding beef cattle, tractor driving, hay gathering and stacking, playing in the barn and silo (both are still standing).  There was a garden as well and then the chickens had to be prepared for eating once they grew up!  We had many years of being together with all the families that were living around the property.  Holiday parties, birthday parties, harvest gatherings were on the calendars.  If I think deeply- the best was Gramma Bs maple bars she always made for Halloween.   Hopefully some of the family can think of their own memories and we will be able to continue with our own grandchildren on the “farm!”
Happy New Year
Linda Traxler

 

Jim Rhodes, a much loved family member has passed on. His son Mike has given us this lovely tribute to him:

With a heavy heart, my dad James Rhodes quietly passed away Saturday morning, June 18th at age 92, from complications after contracting Covid four weeks prior. He was born and raised in Bridal Veil, the Columbia River was his playground. In childhood he worked by milking cows for Fred Lusher, learned commercial gill net fishing on the Columbia and working at the Bridal Veil sawmill.

He graduated from Corbett High School and married his high school sweetheart, Jean Kerslake in 1951. During high school he learned to fly, soloing at Seaside airport after 5 1/2 hrs of instruction when he was 16 and earned his Private Pilot’s license on his 17th birthday at the Division St airport, which is now long gone.

After high school he belonged to the Oregon Air National Guard, which was activated in 1951 and was sent to O’Hare Air Force Base in Chicago during the Korean War. After discharge in 1952 he worked at the Portland Braley & Graham Buick dealership in the Parts department. He was eventually offered the Parts Dept Manager position at their new dealership in Sacramento to which he said there was no way he was moving to Sacramento.

In the mid-60’s he started work for the Multnomah County Road Dept as a truck driver, then became the east county district supervisor. He was proud there wasn’t a road in east county he didn’t have a hand in making wider and clearer. He’d much rather ask his supervision “in town” for forgiveness than permission.

He often told the story about widening Palmer Mill road from Larch Mountain to Bridal Veil. There were a number of trees and stumps that needed to be removed, so he had the county “Powder Monkey” come out to move some stumps out of the way. He said by the time they were done with the road, they’d gone through 75 cases of dynamite. He chuckled saying it looked like a war zone. He didn’t ask for permission on that project either, though it did raise a few eyebrows “in town” when they got wind of all the dynamite. He really enjoyed the autonomy that east county afforded him to get a lot of work done with the minimum of hassle from his management.

His last 4 yrs with the county was as the oiling crew supervisor. He planned and executed all the paving and road rebuilding throughout Multnomah County, retiring in 1986. Believe me…. County roads have only gone downhill since then.

Dad served on the Corbett School Board from the late 60’s to early 70’s, preserving the Corbett schools during a time when there was pressure to close the schools and move the high school students to Sam Barlow. He served 20+ yrs on the Corbett District 14 Fire Dept board. The grading of the parking lot around the Corbett Fire Station was surveyed and hand calculated by him for the asphalt contractor to use. He was also Boy Scout Troop 272 Scout Master in Corbett for many years. During his time as Scout Master he was focused on Corbett’s kids getting the most out of their scouting experiences. The troop produced more Eagle Scouts than any other troop in the Council during his time.

His entire life was devoted to his family and community. He is survived by his two sons Mike (Prineville) and John (Crescent City), 3 grandsons Thomas (Corbett), David (Santa Barbara) & Jason (Corbett) and 4 great grandsons, Wyatt, Cole, Austin & Dylan. His legacy in east county is now part of history and marks the end of an era. You are missed more than you can know. We are who are because of you and you made our community better than you found it.

God’s Speed on your next journey, as you slip the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.

 Good morning friends and family. I've been doing a bit of research the past few months on one of my favorite things. This is a spearhead that Grandpa (Louie) Baker found while clearing the land behind where the barn is now. He always said there were so many fallen trees a person could walk on them to the other side of the canyon without ever stepping on the ground. It was 1920 and he had just received the homestead and probably had the cabin that became the house. I don't remember exactly when he gave it to me. I think I was a teenager. No one paid a lot of attention to it...but I've managed to not lose it. I assumed it was a couple hundred years old. I've found out I was wrong. It's thousands of years old and probably was made in a time period before the bows and arrows...and when the ice age had just ended. There's evidence that the top 1/3 has been resharpened so it was used for a good amount of time without breaking. My imagination says it might have taken down a woolly mamouth or two. No way of knowing. I'm putting a chart in the comments that seems to be the closest identifying possibility. It's prehistoric...so lots of gray areas. I hope y'all enjoy lettin your imaginations take you back in time thousands of years.

 

Banded WoollyBear caterpillars                                Linda Traxler, October 5, 2021

 

I want to solve the “old wives tale” about the black and orange caterpillars.  I am volunteering at the Sandy Library- Friends of the Library now.   My job is to clean children’s books and ready them for sale.  Imagine that, being a lover of children’s books, the books might make the shelf or will I be bringing home more great books for the collection?  I am trying to keep my “hands in my pockets”.   However, my very first time at the job I found a wonderful illustrated book, “Fun with Nature: take-along guide”.  Needless to say, my first purchase, $2.00. 

 

Here’s the thing, (I think I have talked of this before) my Gramma B. told us kids that the caterpillar tells us of the possible winters.  Now I see this quote from the book:  “some people say the woollybear can forecast the weather.   The more black it has, legend says, the colder the winter will be.  But scientists say it grows less black as it gets older.  So a woollybear with more black is really just a younger caterpillar.”

I drew a picture of it in my journal last year with the size of the black and orange and I don’t think we had any colder of a winter.  So I might agree with the scientists. 

 

However, as I am walking through our yard these days I am seeing soooooo many of them that I am leaning on the possible that there will be a change of some kind.  I am going to make note in my journal and watch the weather and winter unfold.  You never know, maybe it is the thought that they are saving up for some kind of different winter.   And just so you know, I also save them on the road.  When I am walking I continue to rescue them from the hard surface and toss them into the grasses!  Just my thing.  I know I am strange.  “Gotta love me!” Don’t ask me about the worms in the spring!

 

I do continue to get my walks in and am enjoying the fall season.  Larry and I are fishing- not catching so much- but are on the river anyway.  Tomorrow I am going to the local grands to make applesauce with them.   I am heading to Everett on Thursday to spend some days with two of our grands there.  I will be taking the train and I know this is a good time for the fall to be showing its colors on the track.  Sunday we may have our 6^th granddaughter visiting us.  I will get my fix in with our joys.  All our family is doing well, working too hard but hey, someone has to do it.

Hope this finds you well and please know I think of you often.

 

 Linda Traxler on May 24, 2021

 Twice last week I was able to share where I live.  It is always a joy to be able to share my family and circumstances coming from generations of growing up in the same place all my life. One of the persons I was sharing with said, “So you really have some roots!” 

So where is that?  Our grandparents settled in the Aims area in 1920, close to Corbett, on the bluffs above the Sandy River. They built their home, raised their children, enjoyed their grandchildren and eventually great grandchildren.  They had a dairy farm, community garden, chickens, a logging company and much more.  

There is so much I am grateful for, getting to stay on this place.  I remember the great times we had growing up and only hope that our grands will continue to enjoy the homestead.  I think of stories I can share and have written some of them down. There were 4 biological children plus three foster children, 18 grandchildren. Seven grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren, and 4 great great grandchildren are currently livning on "the hill".  

Pretty great legacy!  We are truly blessed.   I love hiking the back property and driving the tractor to clear the old logging roads, keeping the stickers/scotch bloom down (that will be an “always” chore!).

 

Submitted for the blog by Linda

(this is what I am doing during this pandemic: reading journals!

Oct 8, 1994

 

“Grandma B has been moved in with Aunt Katy for some months now.  That was okay for her and the rest of us.  After all, she’s 97 years old.  The plan now is to burn her house down.  That isn’t necessarily all right with all of us even though we realize it will be done (right now the fire dept is using it for smoke training- we haven’t had enough rain to be okay to set it).  Pat decided we should have a parting picnic so this day those that could, gathered and remembered the old house.  It was good for us to be able to say good bye- I’ll still probably cry when it actually happens as I’ve already been doing that and feel like it now as I write this.

 

What I remember:  the spots we picked for hiding- all the cupboards in the house, the great playhouse in the front yard (floors soaked with gas and diesel!), sliding down the cellar door and getting a huge sliver in my backside and the prune tree (Larry would call it a plum).  Others remember the candy Grandpa Baker had in his pockets.  I remember him rolling his cigarettes with tobacco and sheets of paper.  (I didn’t mention that at the party!).  Sarah remembered the game “No Bears out Tonight!”  It must have been our own made up one. (it was tag).  We remembered all the haying, the silage and molasses, silo, the picking berries and the family.  We don’t really realize the uniqueness of our heritage until we sit and talk about it.  I hope I’ll be able to convey to our boys just how important family is.”

 A Christmas note from Linda

As I consider writing a Christmas letter, I have to take into account the year is 2020.  What can we say?  I know I’ve had lots of time to reflect- I found my journals from 1980 and on.  I wrote notes to our 3 sons for each year, so far to 1994.  Whether they liked the notes or not, I know I had some good laughs and great memories.

 

I could write about what we’ve missed.  I love volunteering with many organizations - that ended in March.  We love birthday parties with our grandkids-that didn’t happen.  On the positive side- Larry and I have had lots of time together.  We got to do some fishing and caught some salmon.  We had some beach vacations including time with some of our kids.  We celebrated our 47^th anniversary- that’s an accomplishment!  We remain healthy according to our annual Doctor check-ups.

 

We had our share of small mishaps that didn’t really come close to what some of our friends and church families have gone through…2020!!! Prayers continue to go up.  Larry spent a week fighting a wildfire in the Springfield area.  That was a very grueling task.  Recovery for all is hard. More prayers.

 

I try to walk everyday and my path takes me by our Homestead barn that has the “1920 Century Farm” sign on it.  The Baker Family has been waiting for that achievement for some time- thinking after 100 years celebrations would be in order, but then 2020!  I truly feel blessed living on “the hill” my whole life.  I have thankful thoughts and gratitude to our grandparents and parents for their insightfulness to have a Homestead starting in 1920.  Our kids and grandkids can roam and run for years to come.  Our kids are healthy and still working.  More blessings!

 

We will trust our Lord to continue to take care of us and look forward to 2021.  How bad can it be??   That’s probably a good question NOT TO ASK!!!

May God Bless you

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Love to you

 

Larry and Linda xoxoxoxo