Starting fresh in Salem

October 13, 2014

Gracie Straus, 7, moves her tower for her feeding tube and oxygen around the living room so she can set up a board game in her family’s home in Dallas, Ore., on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. Gracie lives with an undiagnosed disease that the family is working to get managed by doctors and hospitals all over the country.

Apparently, I’m the worst at blogging, because I’ve been working full-time in Salem, at the Statesman Journal, for more than a month now, and still nothing. Sorry I suck at this.

But Oregon has been wonderful so far. It is a gorgeous state filled with caring and involved people. Mike and I are truly liking living here and making new friends here.

Wayne Geiger feeds Helen Keller, a blind bison, at the Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in Scio, Ore., on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. She was moved to the farm after living 14 years with her previous owner.

Firefighters work the scene of a house fire on the 1100 block of Madison St. NE in Salem on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014.

I can’t wait to become more invested in Salem and be able to tell more stories of awesome people.

Here’s a bit of what I have photographed in the last month and a half or so.

Leslie Venti, left, leads a hot yoga class at Yoga Revolution in Salem on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014.

Luke Holmes, 1, of Salem, crawls all over his star-speckled ball in the grass at Riverfront City Park in Salem on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014.

Army veteran Daniel Service, center, works with Team Depot volunteers Jennifer Mitchell, left, and Mary Hill, right, as they and others work to improve his home as a part of Home Depot’s fourth annual Celebration of Service campaign in Salem on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014.

From left, Taylor Lambert, 20, Javier Chavelas, 19, and Aaron Martin, 20, work in there stations in the recently renovated welding center at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn on Friday, Sept. 12, 2014.

Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a multiple vehicle accident on I-5 southbound near Portland Rd., in Salem on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. At least one person was confirmed dead at the scene, with others transferred to Salem Hospital.

Ajani Evans, 18, reads a magazine in his bunk at the Marion County Work Release Center in Salem on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014.

The North Salem vs. Forest Grove football game at Forest Grove High School on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014. Forest Grove leads 17-0 at the half.

Forest Grove’s Tanner Heikes (29) stiff arms McNary defenders in the first half of the Forest Grove vs. McNary homecoming football game at McNary High School in Keizer on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014. McNary won the game 32-10.

Sisters Izzy, 5, left, and Gracie Straus, 7, play in their bedroom in Dallas, Ore., on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. Gracie lives with an undiagnosed disease that the family is working to get managed by doctors and hospitals all over the country.

Gracie Straus, 7, plays in her family’s home in Dallas, Ore., on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014. Gracie lives with an undiagnosed disease that the family is working to get managed by doctors and hospitals all over the country.