Home - This Must be the Place

I'm just an animal looking for a home

Share the same space for a minute or two...

Home - is where i want to be
But i guess i'm already there...

                                David Byrne and The Talking Heads

I came across this old song tonight and it seems so perfect in a David Byrne sort of way.

E - Found It – a home that is

I thought I would recognize it when I saw it and I did.  What I hadn’t anticipated is how thoroughly captivating an experience it would prove to be.  So much so that I haven’t taken the time to properly reflect upon it until now.  Sometimes I get so caught up in living life that I don’t pause to reflect upon it.  That is the big thing this blog does for me.  It encourages me to pause and take a look at my life with something more than the immediate perspective.  A lot has happened in my life since I retired, some amazing things and a very few not-so-good things.  Good or bad, it’s how we react to our experiences that makes all the difference.  I think it was Socrates who said; "The unexamined life is not worth living."  I whole heartedly agree with him about that. 

So, back to my home, I found the place last January.  It took four months to finish the deal.  The house was a bank owned property (foreclosure) and dealing with Fannie Mae proved arduous at best but it was well worth the effort. 

It was the garage that caught my attention at first. 

A huge 30x50’ steel sided structure with two large 14x14’ doors.  What a woodshop that would make.  The place was a little further from the center of town that I was hoping for (8 miles), but it has so much else going for it that I had to look closer. The house itself was an unremarkable 60s vintage split level ranch.  Not my favorite architectural style but this one was neatly done with some beautiful, mature trees thriving on a very nice, one-acre yard.  All set very near Mount Pisgah Arboretum which itself lays within the 2400 acre Buford Park.

It was funny how it turned out.  I was looking for a great home with a shop attached and found a great shop with nice home all set in a beautiful part Eugene.

The deal clincher for me was the views plus it was located near Mt Pisgah, a gem of a butte that feels like a natural and ancient power spot. 

The above photo and the following six were all taken from my back porch.  A view that is ever changing, which fascinates and delights me to no end.

The late afternoon light is just divine here.

A glorious sunrise.

The night sky, oh my.

Not just beautiful but moody too.

Oh wow, a rainbow.  But what does it mean? ;-)

To aid in my search I had made a list of things I was hoping to find in a home and this place met most of them:

• Must be bright, lots of natural light
• Not too big
• Space for a woodshop
• Fire pit
• A location that invites & encourages walks
• Good biking
• Space for a garden
• Safe location
• Guest room
• View of sky

The last item, a sky view, was the most recent added to my list.  My apartment didn’t have much of a sky view because of the butte right behind me and lots of tall trees all around.  I love watching the sky change throughout the day and this new place is a wonderful spot to celebrate the ever-changing sky.  But first I had to make it habitable. 

Being a foreclosed property, it was a bit distressed and was sold “as is”.  The first thing that needed doing was to mow the lawn. 

It hadn’t been mowed in a couple of months and was quite the beast to tame.  Once that was done the next thing was to get the well running, as the house had no water. 

Before:

A new presser tank, plumbing hookup and filtration system took care of that.

After:

Once the water was running I learned that all the drainage plumbing under the kitchen sink leaked.  Every joint below the sink wept when the water ran. I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Every joint had been wrapped in electrical tape, which did little to stem the flow.  I replace all the sink plumbing to achieve a dripless drainage system.  That didn’t take long but it took me another two weeks with the open cabinet doors and a fan blowing to dry out the space. 

Next up was a new hot water heater as the existing one was completely shot.

That was followed by re-plumbing both toilets and the sink in one of the bathrooms.  Then the front door was replaced for security reasons.  Then the electrical service was brought up to date.  It took a month of 10 to 12 hour days to make the place habitable enough to move in and then the real fun began.

This is the part where I started to make the house into my home.  A process that for me involves affecting the living space, bending it in a way that supports and enhances the way I want to live.  Oddly enough the first step in that direction for me was to rig a clothesline.  To me clotheslines are amazingly simple and a robust solar clothes dryer that combines the delights of kite flying with the practicality of supreme domestic efficiency.

So I took down a ridiculous 30’ lamppost that was in the side yard.

I cut the pole in half and use it to make a sturdy clothesline.

I love hanging clothes.  Outside, barefoot in the grass, sun on my face, cool moist blades of grass between my toes.  Yummm.  And then there is the warm feel and delicious smell of sun dried cloth afterwards.  Household chores don’t get much better that that.

Next was the entranceway.  I think entranceways are important to a house.  They greet us and our guests every time we arrive home and send us on our way when we go out into the world.  This one could use some improvement and the front window seemed out of place too.  It crowded the door, throwing the wall visually out of balance both inside and out. 

So I replaced the door with a nice fur one and moved the widow over, converting it into a bay window with a seat while I was at it.

I practically had to take the whole front of the house off in the process. 

While I was at it, I decided to gut the whole first floor, replace all the old aluminum framed, single pane windows and super insulate the walls.

The kitchen was dark and narrow so the next thing was to open that up.

Some walls had to come out.

So out they came.

I picked up a Sawzall for the occasion.   I’d never owned one before.  What an amazing tool.  The perfect instrument for house deconstruction.

I made a box beam out of CGV fir to cover the structural beam I put in to carry the roof load.

Taking out those walls did a lot to lighten the kitchen and make more a friendly and usable space. 

I started building all new cabinets for the kitchen.   I’ve always wanted to build a whole set of cabinets, just never had enough time for a project of that magnitude.  Now I do and what a pleasure it’s been.

I had fun searching for beach cobbles to use for door pulls.

At this point I’ve got two upper cabinets made and am working on the first base unit.

I’m learning a lot about woodworking, making cabinets and myself in the process.  I think that thoughtful woodworking is like having an intimate conversation with the wood.  In that process it’s important to know when to speak and when & how to listen.  There in lies my lessons and like most good conversations, the richness lies in the nuances. 

So I gained a home but lost a girlfriend in the process.  Betty and I had been going together for over a year when I bought the house.  She moved in with me but we only lasted a couple of months in the new place.  I’m still not sure what happened to our relationship.  Communication was not good.  When I tried to talk with her about what was going on, I felt like I talking to Bill Clinton about the meaning of “is”. Once communication is lost I think all hope follows it out the door.

I wish her luck and hope that she finds what she’s looking for.  In the mean time, I’ve been enjoying the longest period of celibacy I’ve experienced in my adult life and that’s been interesting too. 

So what does one do when living like a carpenter monk?  It’s been pretty mellow.  I watch the grass grow and blow in the wind...

...and watch the blossoms bloom.

I planted a small garden and it’s been surprisingly satisfying watching the little plants sprout.  I also planted a couple of cherry trees.

And I continue to seek balance and simple beauty in my every day experiences.

E - A Prison Inside

So I got arrested.  58 years old and I’ve never been arrested before.   First time in my life that’s ever happened.  I’ve been lucky so far and that hasn’t changed.   It happened at the Free Speech plaza in downtown Eugene.  I was with 20 other SLEEPS activists protesting for the rights of unhoused citizens in our community when the police told us to leave the plaza.  We refused, intent on standing up for our first amendment rights to peacefully assemble and our right to free speech.  That’s how I ended up in jail and I couldn’t think of a better reason to go to jail other than standing up for the rights of the unhoused and for all our constitutional rights. 

I have to tell you that I got a lot more that I expected, I learned something.  What I learned is that a prison is a dark, sad and ugly place to house human souls.  A place full of unhappy, suffering people and I’m just not talking about the prisoners.  The saddest people in there were the staff.  The prisoners will all get out of there, most sooner than later, but for the poor staff; their sentence is typically much longer.  And saddest of all is that for the staff it's a self-imprisonment.  What could be more depressing than voluntary prison time. 

"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

~ Mahatma Ghandi

That quote has been one of rationales that I’ve used when trying to convince others in my community to consider and care about the plight of the unhoused.  I now think that it also applies to our prisons.  We can do better.  Those unfortunate souls locked in those dark places deserve better.  We would all be better off, if they were treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.  I just spent a night and a day in there.  That was more that enough. 

The good news is that there are several outstanding attorneys working our behalf.  We will have our day in court. 

E - Less Than a Home

One of the things that struck me about Eugene when I first arrived was the large number of people standing on street corners holding signs, pleading for help.  Looking into that I discovered that this beautiful state has been hit hard by the recession, harder that any other state in our nation.  A crash in the timber market combined with 3 local RV manufactures going out of business produced a devastating effect on the local economy causing an incredible 17% rate of unemployment.  Before coming here I had traversed the whole country by land and water; Key West to Vermont and Connecticut to Oregon.  Just before that I had traveled through the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Central America and by far Oregon was showing signs of the most desperate poverty anywhere in my travels.  

I wanted to help in some way.  The first initiative I joined was the remarkable street theater project (Street Code Theater) that encourage and enabled unhoused folks to tell their stories.  

After several months of workshops & rehearsals, that project culminated in an amazing performance at the Wildish Theater.   The unhoused shared their incredible stories of loss and survival with the general public.  Inspiring stories of desperate people facing unimaginable adversity.  I felt a deep respect and kinship with these unhoused folks.  They were accepting and honest and we were all looking for a home.  After the project was over I was left with poignant stories and a strong desire to do more to help the unhoused in our community. 

I use the term unhoused instead of the more common "homeless" because of an encounter I had with Ibrahim Mubarak.  Ibrahim found Right to Dream Too, a self-managed, tent community in Portland for the unhoused.  He was visiting Eugene in an effort to help us get a village for the unhoused started in our community.   In his introduction, Ibrahim said that he was three things you don’t want to be in America today; a black man, a Muslim and homeless.  He doesn’t like to refer to himself as homeless.  He believes that ones home is where their heart is, so while it’s true that he doesn’t have a house, he does in fact have a heart, a big, beautiful heart and that’s where his home is.   Very inspirational. 

Next I volunteered at the Egan emergency warming shelter that provides unhoused folks with a warm, safe place to sleep, but only on the few, coldest nights of the year.  Then I joined the staff and volunteers who serve food to the unhoused folks in our community, an average of 275 diners a night, all served with dignity in a family restaurant atmosphere. 

I’ve been volunteering at the Dining Room for the past two years.  It's a wonderful place that does great work but unfortunately it functions in a “sustaining” capacity only.  It’s does nothing to house folks and little to help move them out of poverty.  So I joined the SLEEPS movement in town.  SLEEPS' mission is to establish and maintain Safe, Legally Entitled, Emergency Places to Sleep for the unhoused and they’ve been actively fighting for the unhoused in our community for the past year.  Right now SLEEPS' is pushing two big initiatives; Opportunity Village Eugene, a self run community for unhoused folks and the suspension of the city camping ban.  Right now, if you don’t have a home and get caught sleeping within Eugene, you are subject to a $200 fine for “camping” and a $500 fine for a second offense.  We’re asking the city; if you can’t do more to help the unhoused, can you at least stop prosecuting them?  It’s been a much harder fight than it’s should be but at least it feels like there is some movement in the right direction.