Fallen Behind!

Oh My Goodness! It's halfway through March already! So much to share.....

First, following the last post, we took the kids to Mt Hood before all the snow melted and went tubing at Ski Bowl. They had a ball! I was so proud of little Ainsley; I thought for sure she would be too scared to go down the hill but she did it. She went tandem with Dad the first time, but after that she was on her own! Wow! I was impressed. We packed a lunch and had a snow fight. I recorded most of it. They grow up so fast. The sun was shining and we had an absolutely beautiful day.

The next weekend was just Tom and I on our own. We had an experience. An experience I will call....Justification. Why? I am now fully justified as to why I don't watch scary movies! Here's the story..... So we were browsing for affordable plants on Craigslist seeing as retail prices are entirely too ridiculous for a rental and found a posting for 4 to 5 foot trees for only $8. Those of you who have graced a retail nursery know what a great deal this is so Tom gave the lady a call. She was extremely pleasant on the phone and warned, however, that they were quite a ways out there past Sandy, Or. Being another beautiful day, we set out with high hopes, but looking forward to a nice drive regardless. Using GPS, we were able to find their 'home' north of Highway 26 on the way to Mt Hood. Driving in, there was a young boy around the age of 9 or 10 waving enthusiastically in front of a somewhat old and dilapidated trailer. As we were getting out, the boy said, "Hi! You're the third customer today!" Tom commented to me how cute that was. Then he ran inside to get his father who was the propietor of this illustrious business. Tom and I were looking around at the heavily treed property trying to figure out what exactly was for sale when the Dad came out with the boy and an older son of 15. Okay, has anyone seen the movie The Hills Have Eyes? That is what is running through my mind right about now as we were confronted with a man of about 45 years old and 6'3" tall. He had light orange, shaggy hair with giant chops and bottle cap glasses. To add to the overall effect, he's holding his arm crooked up and walking with a limp wearing a heavily stained white sweatshirt, jeans and work boots. At this point, I'm ready to jump in the car and race out of there; I'm seriously considering that we may not make it out.

The man introduces himself and says how he fell off a 14 foot ladder, hence the arm and limp and would we mind if his boys tag along in order to help us out. I'm thinking, sure, do you mean someone who came earlier was trying to escape and you got injured in the tussle! Then he asks if we'd like the grand tour. Like the idiots on scary movies whom we scream at, "Don't go in there!" we proceeded to follow him around his property to look at the many trees he had actually planted from seed. He told us all about the different varieties and yes, they were only $8. He could have sold them for so much more, but was just happy to get $8.

At this point we're getting a little more comfortable with him, but still a little creeped out by the oldest son who is following us silently everywhere. Then Tom asks him if he has any ferns and he says yes, maybe a few, but they're over here and starts to lead us down a path. I comment on an eagle carving he has perched on top of a log and he explains how he is an amateur carver. Then he stops at a large wooden shed. Outside is a cage with half eaten lettuce and other vegetables inside. I walk over to look and ask what's inside. They tell me rabbits. I looked quite thoroughly in that cage but there were no rabbits to be found! Then caged beside the shed was a beautiful dog. I walked over to pet him through the fence. Now, I've pet a lot of dogs in my day and I have never pet a dog who didn't move or respond to being pet in any way. He didn't wag his tail, he didn't try to sniff my hand, he didn't look at me, nothing! Creepy. Now the guy is leading Tom into the shed and I'm thinking this is it, he's going to chop us up in little pieces now. I refused to go into the shed and remained in the doorway so the son couldn't slam the door shut behind us. It turns out, the shed is wear he does all of his carving and he just wanted to show us some of his pieces. Tom told me later how creeped out by the whole shed experience. When he walked in it was pitch black and Tom hovered in the dooorway as well, waiting for the man to turn the light on.

Once we left the shed, I asked the oldest son where he went to school living way out here. Yep, you guessed, they're home schooled. No social interaction with the outside world. I ask if he uses the internet for his studies and the dad replies that they only use the internet for their business because they're too scared of all the cookies and spam you get. Ok.

Honestly, everything is seeming creepy at this point right down to the "You're the third customer today!" greeting we received from the youngest boy on our arrival and we were most assuredly ready to get out of there.

After looking at a few more trees, we made our choices and left feeling as if we had just escaped with our lives. Neither of us had said anything to the other during our visit about how we were thinking, but both were having the same exact thoughts!

The moral to this story...the family was just a little socially awkward and shame on us for watching too many scary movies and assuming bad things about people! However, the experience was one we will remember and laugh over always and we got a great bargain on some trees!

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed our story. Spring break is coming up next week so I'll keep you posted! ~Shannon