We Did It!
Ernie wanted to go to Coquille for his birthday, Dec. 10th, but I wasn't comfortable leaving town without first finding a place to move him by the deadline of the 15th.

But... it turns our our potential ride to Coquille, Matt, also just had some housemates move out...
...and he has room at his place only 2-3 miles from Grandma's ...
... and there's a garden...
... two cats ...
... and a fireplace....
... and he's part of a group called Shift[to Bicycles], ...
...and they organize people to Move By Bike.

Here's how a Move By Bike works:
We wrote, and Matt posted, our appeal for help on the SHIFT list. (http://calendar.shifttobikes.org/index.cgi?detail=22167&start=1165914344&group=34)
Matt also fielded inquiries, like "how long and hilly is the route?"

This afternoon, at 3pm, bicyclists with trailers and weird cargo adaptations began to appear in the cul-de-sac in front of the house. (It helps that we're next-door condo-neighbors with another Shift organizer, so we only needed a few friends-of-friends to build a substantial group. There were about 8 of us for the ride itself, plus Ernie cooking like mad up at Matt's house.)
I offered hot tea, small snacks, and indicated where Ernie's chattels lay, bound and boxed, in a corner.

At 4pm, everyone had loaded their trailers, strapped paint tarps or shower curtains over the loads to protect them from rain, and attached multiple blinky lights on various corners. Three or four of us had "Move by Bike" written on cardboard signs, for the curious. I handed out some red holiday ribbon for anyone who needed an "oversize load" flag, and we were off.
Matt led the ride, since he had scoped out level routes with bike lanes. The eight of us took up a full lane when necessary, going single-file to allow cars to pass where possible.

We got to the new house by around 5:00 pm, a 4-5 mile ride which felt pretty fast -- we waited a couple of times for stragglers at lights. It turns out a trailer full of momentum keeps you going pretty good on level ground.

We arrived, unloaded, and then Ernie presented the food: oyster chowder, vegan French onion soup, a selection of beers (a staple bribe for Move-By-Bicyclers, we were told -- though not much of it actually dissappeared). Ernie also made a salad for the one person whose special diet didn't even include beer.

We had an animated discussion about the unavailability of electric cars, alternative fuels in general, and other such topics of mutual interest. One bicyclist was contemplating using a bike-powered blender to sell smoothies, if she could work out the health codes, and was trying to figure out how to work self-powered fresh coffee into the operation. (We sent her home with a copy of Ernie's "Pocket Rocket" emergency stove diagram)

And yes, for those who were curious, we went down to Coquille for Ernie's birthday. That was where we got the oysters. We also decked their halls with holly, and collected some fragrant myrtle for packing our own gifts. Unfortunately, the hills (and temptation to do things like split wood, pull nails, shift bricks, etc) are still too much for his leg. It's been swelling off and on the past few days. I really hope it gets better for real after the next set of surgeries.

He'll be going in around 6am on Friday the 15th for surgery. He's scheduled first of the day, operation will probably start around 9 am. Since the main bone hasn't healed together yet, they'll be taking out the rod, checking for infection, and meanwhile give him some preventative antibiotics and stabilize it somehow. (cast, another rod, or possibly both.) Then next Friday, the 22nd, we go back in for a second operation, where they'll use one of several options based on the results of the lab cultures. I'm really hoping Ernie will be released in time to spend Christmas with me at my Mom's house.

While he's recuperating, I'll be biking back and forth from there to Grandma's, and trying to keep up with several other projects. Such as mailing out the walnut-free walnut babies, fantabulous snowflakes, and other Christmas crafties that you all so eagerly requested.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Love,
Erica

p.s.
our new address is:
4611 N Kerby
Portland, OR 97217
Write it down, 'cause I may not want to leave it up online forever.
For now, my cell phone is the best way to reach either of us:
503-758-1093