Hello, my name is TJ Ruggiero. Welcome to my blog page!
I’m a fifty-something database support engineer who’s worked in the IT field for over 23 years. Prior to that, I worked for an aerospace company designing rocket parts, which was my first job out of graduate school. Sherri and I have been married for over 30 years, and we have long shared a common dream about making a life on a large lakefront property. This blog details some of our experiences making that life. Boat-access only properties are not for everyone, but to us getting to live in a vacation-like setting every day is worth it. The summers in particular are glorious.
I hope you enjoy my meanderings. Comments are welcome!
Snails and slugs are ubiquitous on the property, though they are careful to stay out of the light and in damp places in the summer. One of the more notable snail species is the Pacific Sideband Snail. They can have striking banded shells, or somewhat plain ones. When we’re on walks, I’m always on the
Spring is my favorite season on the lake. Not only have the long, soaking rains of winter ended and we are flooded with long, sunny days, but everything starts waking up and blooming with the promise of new life. Frogs are croaking in our little bay, and strings of ducklings and goslings follow their parents
The Tenmile Lakes watershed covers approximately 98 square miles, and includes four large lakes. There’s also many smaller lakes in the area, mostly caught behind the dunes near the ocean. The majority of the watershed feeds into North and South Tenmile Lakes, and from there drains into the Pacific via Tenmile Creek (which drains almost
Our home, while beautiful and still fairly new, had been somewhat neglected in terms of taming the verdant growth that was trying to reclaim it. The Trailing Pacific Blackberry (see the ‘Shrubs and Plants’ tab here) in particular has spread unchecked around the house, and is proving difficult to get under control. The home sits
We went shopping on Friday. We try to go grocery shopping once every two weeks to minimize the back and forth in the boat, so we buy quite a bit of food. It’s a multistage process to get the food to the house – load the truck at the store, drive to the marina, move
With the high humidity and copious winter rain we experience here, dealing with the various non-animal life that grows on man-made structures is a way of life. The things we’ve noticed growing are: When we moved in, we saw that it had been quite some time since any serious measures to battle the encroaching temperate
Yesterday while working outside I heard the distinctive call of an Osprey. Looking up, I saw a pair circling overhead. They’ve been gone for the winter (they migrate south, sometimes all the way to South America, sometimes closer like California or Florida) and yesterday is the first I’ve noticed them back. In the past two
When we finally moved into our lake villa in March 2022, it was a chaotic time. Due to unforeseen complications with our prospective lender, when we left our previous home, we did not own the Oregon property. We had sold our home in Arizona, and stalled leaving that home as long as possible (even paying
This is going to be short today. It’s a gorgeous day outside and since my job involves me sitting in front of a computer for 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week, I want to be outside as much as possible. We have more rain coming midweek. Today I’m working on installing a nestcam
We have two areas of our property where water runs year round, roughly in the areas marked in blue: These are not raging torrents. I’ve attempted to measure their flow at what I judged was the peak time of the year, using a PVC pipe, a 5 gallon bucket, and a stopwatch. By channeling all
On North Tenmile Lake, living surrounded by and interacting with wildlife is a given. In our view, they were here before us and so we try to live with them as harmoniously as possible. However, we have our limits when it comes to how animals and plants encroach upon our living space. Our boathouse is
In June of 2023, I was working outside and noticed some activity on the north side of the house – some Steller’s Jays were making a racket and it didn’t seem to be stopping. Upon investigation, their attention seemed to be directed at the ground in some bushes close to our deck. After searching, I
We have a slowly expanding network of trails on our 6 acres. The undergrowth is so dense in many areas that the trails are necessary to be able to access all areas of the property. One such trail predated our arrival here, and is almost a road – it was made with some sort of
Life has a way of…well, happening. That’s got to be one of the most ridiculously obvious statements ever, but it’s my only defense for not keeping up on this. (Many) other things got in the way. Living on a boat-access-only property tends to keep you busy. On the plus side, I have much to share
We recently surpassed two months at our beautiful new home, and three months as residents of Oregon! Coming from a place such as Arizona (where temperatures are already in the triple digits and fire season is in full swing), this lush green paradise is just what we yearned for. It’s starting to feel like the
We’ve been in our home for 37 days now, and it’s starting to feel more normal. It’s been quite a shift from Arizona in many ways, and there’s been many ‘less fun’ things to do with getting ourselves established, such as getting permits, securing a boat and a place to moor it when we go
Sherri and I fell in love with the Tenmile Lake House property from the first time we saw it. The elegant design of the main house nestled in the beauty and grace of the towering fir trees with North Tenmile Lake lapping at the shores – well, it was made to order for us. The
