Relic River Ranch (2025)

02/01/2025

[chels here] we’ve had a lot of rain in a short period of time and the creek behind our house is so high!

It’s hard to tell in this picture, but the water is pretty close to where Jus is standing. Normally, there’s a bunch of blackberry bushes and tall grass and some other unknown plants that line the bank before sloping down to the creek and on this side, that’s all under water.

I wish it was like this into summer! How cool would that be to play in!

29/12/2024

[chels here] I have no idea how to use a broiler and after having vintage stoves for at least the last 10 years, you’d think I’d learn to use one. Let’s say I did learn, it still wouldn’t serve me as well as another oven.

Well folks, now I have two broilers lol and TWO OVENS!

SO DREAMY.

You guys, better than ovens, I have the best husband.

Not only is my wall oven white, but it’s also gas and has a porthole and is a Western Holly like my other and maybe you don’t understand what that means, but know it was a lot of work to find it and I’m so lucky to have the best husband.

Jus doesn’t understand my need for two ovens, but he made my dream come true!

26/11/2024

[Justin here] this was quite awhile ago but I just found the photos. Our friends took us up in their plane and we were able to fly over the property. How cool is that?

[chels] such a wonderful experience we got to have! It was so cool to see the valley and river from up above and then to fly over our house! SO cool! And then shortly after Ellie fell asleep and didn’t wake up until after we landed and were taking her out of the plane. Lol

21/11/2024

[Justin here] so funny story that we’ve mentioned before. When we moved to Roseburg we didn’t know we had roots here. My grandpa Randy (trailer picture on the right) and grandma Darlene used to spend a month in Roseburg every spring visiting my great grandpa Cecil who lived in Glide. The more pictures and history I learn about my family the more I see how genetics aren’t just physical but cultural dna as well!

1) My grandpa Randy in front of the shult trailer him and his brothers crossed the country and lived in.

2) My great grandma Mae standing next to the car Cecil raced in one race and won, back in the 1920s.

3) Great grandpa Cecil with his catches

4&5) Great grandpa Cecil in front of his auto shop

6) Great grandpa Cecil while flying the kit plane he built and learned to fly for no reason and sold after learning.

14/11/2024

[chels here] we thought about putting up a baby gate so the little one couldn’t go up the stairs, but instead of installing something, Jus took a board and covered it in cute fabric to match the living room and it slides behind our couch and its worked perfect for us!

And also, how cute is the little one waiting for daddy to come down the stairs! And even more funny is Bo joining in waiting for Jus too lol.

08/11/2024

[Justin here] The back north corner of our property is now the “adventure corner.” We have a second tire swing, a sunken boat to play in, climbing trees, a primitive tree house (we’ll be building out next summer) and now it has a “secret” gnome garden!

The funny thing is when I was putting the climbing posts into the treehouse tree, there was some rotten boards wedged into the fork of the tree. When we met the girl who grew up here in the 80s she asked if we found her tree house, which turned out was the same tree!

05/11/2024

[chels here] cooler temps mean that I finally bought a rug for the bedroom! I love it, Ellie thinks it makes our room look like a hotel and Jus hates it.

I knew he wasn’t going to like it (at first, though maybe still?) and so I brought it upstairs and moved the furniture and laid it down myself without asking him to help. It’s much easier to get him to like things and adjust to things once they’re already done Lolol

30/10/2024

[justin here] Do you know how many bulbs this stinking house has? I don’t either, but I gradually switched all of em out for soft light. And man was it worth it. When you turn the road to our house it looks so cozy nestled inbetween our pastures and the railroad track.

27/10/2024

[chels here] I’m excited for some colder weather to finally start happening, but I think I will miss this quite a bit (that is, me hanging out outside in the sun) but I don’t think rain and cold weather will stop the girls much from playing.

Chalk paint > regular chalk

24/10/2024

[justin here] So I’ve become a sucker for old wooden picture frames and fake plants. I think I’m getting old.

22/10/2024

[Justin here] This picture was the oldest driveway picture we could find and that’s a previous owners 57 ford flatbed in the drive. Had to recreate it now with our new 59 ford flatbed. So cool to honor history while moving forward. Also those fantastic trees were rotted out stumps by the time we took over the property- what a shame.

19/10/2024

[chels here] it’s definitely fall in Oregon now! About dang time too! Finally have made the switch to cooler temps and orange trees and leaves everywhere and pumpkins.

Not much rain yet, just getting chilly and I love it! Time to get out the boots and jackets!

17/10/2024

[justin here] I’ll never get over how awesome our sky is here.

[chels] I can’t believe how many stars we can see from just walking out on our porch at night nor that an iphone can kind of capture it! So thankful for this beautiful place and the bats flying around.

15/10/2024

[justin here] Our Carport has a permanent screen and projector and it’s so fun to have a drive in movie with friends. We even roll in the hot rod in for the kids to watch and snack from there and back the Travelall in for us to lay down. We even have vintage drive in speakers that I fit with Bluetooth speakers inside!

[chels] this is something that has been so stressful every single time we do it with cords and cables and projectors, but I think we’ve got it dialed in now! Despite all the stress that is has been, it’s been something with great reward. How fun is it to have your own drive in movie!!

10/10/2024

[Justin here] I decided to make a Wilbur sign and historical marker because why not? This picture was taken in 1908 and has our home as well as 3 others that are still standing in it!

09/10/2024

[chels here] I remember when the cordless phone came out and I got one for my birthday that had a headset and the other end could clip to my belt and it had terrible sound but I could be in my room and talk on the phone without being in the kitchen for all the house to hear.

Sorry kiddo, you’re a long way from ever having a “cordless” phone. Though I don’t think she cares, look how happy she is to be talking on a phone! Swipe to see her getting comfortable on the cat tree hahaha

Anyone else have a landline they use??

03/10/2024

[Justin here] This is one of my favorite corners in the house. It feels like chelsea to me. Soft and classic. Beautiful and full of sunshine and life. And also with a plant stand that has been waiting for a plant for 2 years.

[chels] that makes me laugh so hard and also cry a little on the inside because unfinished things is 100% my life. I don’t know where I would be without Justin to finish all the things for me. His comment also makes me laugh because it’s probably the only thing that he hasn’t “finished” for me lol.

22/08/2024

[Justin here!] Ok so, long story but our barn is super cool and super huge and made of a collection of random wood that’s all very old and a lot is painted very old green. From talking to people I was told it actually isn’t as old as we thought. It wasn’t here in 1950 when our neighbor Al owned it. And we thought it was built in 76-77 by the man who lived here. He did construction and demo and we were told he collected the wood until he had enough and built it from that!

But it gets cooler. I recently sold a trailer to a lady who grew up in our house in the 80s. She said her grandpa built it and that was all mostly true except that most of the wood came from one source. Her grandpa had been hired to demo the Big Camas ranger station near diamond lake and took all the wood and rebuilt it here!

So we have a ranger station for a shop. How cool is that?!

I reached out to the forest service and they had a few very early pictures of it and a location where it sat. I can’t find “our barn” in them but all the buildings are very peaked like ours and the wood timetable is correct. I’m thinking he redesigned around the walls and made it taller and higher or there was more buildings not pictured. But there is definitely a bunch of forest service green paint all throughout our barn now that I know what it is! SO STINKIN COOL!

(First photo from ranger station, second from when we first moved in here in 2020 - peep sweet lil’ Ellie)

Relic River Ranch