Bordeaux, WA

Bordeaux, WA was a logging and sawmill town that was located in present day Capitol Forest just south of Olympia, WA. The town was abandoned circa 1942.

Olympia Paranormal Research Group took a trip there today. We braved the slightly chilly and drizzly weather to investigate and locate this town.

All that is left of this once bustling logging town is bits and pieces of concrete structures, some foundations, and a broken and rusty railroad line.

What we believe to be one of the town's vaults. This is just off of the road in plain sight.

Isaac

On the opposite side of the road, we found two trail heads that led us to what we think is the mill site.

This chute leads to the top of this concrete structure and there is one on the other side as well. Yes, we did climb to the top.

This is in the same concrete structure as the chutes.



This is underneath the concrete structure as well.

Joshua, Amber, Isaac and Michelle

These concrete blocks were all over the creek.

This is visible from the road, and marks the beginning of the trail head.

A remnant of a concrete structure.

Railroad spike next to the trail.

This is definitely a place we want to come to again. Next time we won't go in September!

Shoulder surgery

In December of 2010, I totaled my car. Well, let's be clear, I didn't total it...the idiot who wasn't paying attention did.

I was stopped and the car in front of me was turning. It turned and before I could start to move, I heard screeching tires. All I could think of was "Oh crap, I know this is me" and WHAM! I was hit from behind. I was braced for impact and let out a sigh of relief when I was hit a second time. Yep, I was the front of a three car pile up.

Long story short, I have suffered with shoulder pain since the accident nine months ago. I'm not responding to traditional treatment so after consulting my Orthopedist and getting a second opinion, I have decided on surgery. I hate to say it but I have a countdown...I'm ready to get this done!

Homeowner Woes

We moved into our house on Christmas of 2009. We had an agreement to rent it for up to a year and then purchase it. We bought our house in November of 2010.

In August, I walked into our half bath and noticed a lovely puddle on the floor (can you sense my sarcasm?), and after careful inspection, Roger stuck his finger through the sheetrock. I came unglued. Turns out the spicket (sp?) that we replaced a few months ago started to leak about two weeks before we found the leak. We had some plumbers come out and they repaired the leak but then gave me some BS story about the piping and wanted $900 to replace it. Yeah, not happening buddy.


So after not having about five walls for the last couple of weeks, Roger is going to help us take the floor out of that room and let it dry for about a week. Then a friend of a friend, who is a contractor, is coming to basically "remodel" my bathroom. He wants to move the sink (okay by me!) and replace the sheetrock and flooring. His estimate was so good, I'm calling him for all my projects in the future!

How I am loved...

You say that you are proud of me, I don't think I've done enough.
You say you love me, I wonder why.
You say you can't imagine your life without me, I know you would do just fine.
You say you appreciate all that I do, I am never satisfied with my progress.
You say that I'm beautiful, I think you need your eyes checked.
You say I'm perfect the way I am, but I know there are things I could make better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You say I need to lose weight, I am heartbroken.
You twist my words and make me into the bad guy every time, and all I want to do is cry.
You curse, yell, and are just plain rude to me, but I am always there for you.
You say you are there for me, yet you judge me, my thoughts, my feelings and my actions.
You assume things and never let me explain myself, and yet I keep trying.
You say you are proud of me, yet I know the look in your eyes says something different.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You say you were sorry for not being there, and I know you mean it.
You welcome me every time with open arms, and I am so happy.
You listen, observe, and inquire about my thoughts, dreams, and feelings and all my walls crash down.
You stay up late with me to talk, and it warms my heart.
You call me just to see how I am, and I've never felt more loved.
You never judge me, and I never have to defend myself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These reflect 3 people on my life. I find it interesting...

My familiy

Hello all.

My good friend just started on Blogger and started with an about me blog...so I guess since I haven't done that and I've been a "blogger" since 2008 (even though I think you need more than just 4-5 blogs to be a "blogger") I will properly introduce myself and my family.

My name is Vennessa and I was born, raised and never left Olympia, WA. I have an ATA in Auto Tech and I work in an office. (Great choice of education, eh? lol)

In 2007 I found myself at a crossroads in life. Let's just say the day I chose to go back to school would prove to change my life. In a good way.

My first class was a forensics one and who knew that in that class I would meet my future husband. (I can't believe I get to say, I met my husband in college, hehehehe) Of course, I went to school to further my education, my future husband (at the time) had gone back because he was dared to by some co-workers. Funny how fate works, eh?

We shared some lingering looks at each other and after poking around and finding out his name, I looked him up on MySpace (back when it was bigger than Facebook) and saw he was single. So I approached him and mentioned his tiny hometown to hopefully start up a convo. Needless to say, he told everyone he had a stalker. I still haven't lived that one down....

We talked on the phone and decided to go on a date...which happened to be on his birthday. The rest was history...well it's a history in the making. ;)

Here we are almost 4 years later (holy crap). We were married in March of 2009 when he came home on leave from deployment in Iraq. Yes, I'm a military wife. We were married at Millersylvania State Park. It was a cold but sunny day (the only sunny day that March) and we celebrated with our family and ice cream cake. Yep, 34 degrees and I wanted ice cream cake.

We have six furry children. Boston (will be 4 in December) is our Sheltie, Bailey (will be 1 in December) is our Black Lab, and cats Tougher and Harlow (brothers, will be 4 in March), Kami (who will be 2 in October) and Scout (who will be 1 in September).

We bought our first house last November and are slowly doing some painting and upgrades. It's taking me longer than I would like as I was in a car accident in December and the injuries are still being treated.

But that's us in a nutshell. Keep a lookout as there is always more to come!

Married for a month

So today is the day I have been officially married for one month. So far so good! They say that the first year is the hardest, well I'm 1/12 of the way through that and things look good from here.

Everyone says the main fight of married couples is money. Well, I think we may be good to go there. I mean by no means do we have enough, but my husband knows I'm better with money than he is.

Hmmm...one month. Seems so trivial at this point. Guess we'll see in time won't we!

Holiday "Blahs"

So here it is, December already. Can you believe it? I can't.

It seems like just yesterday Josh left for training. And that was in August! So a small chunk has been taken out of the deployment. Can't complain there. I have sent him a few packages so far but it hardly feels like enough. I can't seem to sit myself down long enough to write a decent length email or our phone conversations just don't seem to last long enough.

Thanksgiving was nice at my grandmother's house. Most of the family was there. Last year everyone was there (except me for the first time). Oh well, everyone has their own lives. Just don't think I'm there for you if you want to snub me like that. (Did that really sound that bad???)

This year, Christmas is going to be kind of nice. I mean on the "present" front. I am so far, halfway done with my shopping. Which is exciting for me. I usually go shopping with minimal money a week before or even a few days before. This year I feel like I have started extremely early! Unfortunately for me, I have SO many places to be within a couple days! I have Christmases with my mom, my dad's side of the family, my mom's side of the family, and Josh's family. I'm still waiting for everyone's schedules so I can figure out what the hell I am doing.

I am the worst person for plans. In that I mean that I like to have my plans set in stone as far ahead of time as possible. Terrible way to live, let me tell ya.

So this year, I actually thought of about 20 different things that I want. Made giving my gift list out a little easier. Phew!