This is Lake Billy Chinook, north of Sisters.
In 1968 I bought a lot on a lark. My father thought I was crazy, buying property in the desert. Finally by the early seventies he told my mom that he decided to go up and look at it and maybe help me build a summer home up there. He died shortly after and never had a chance to see it.
My best memories of my father as a child were working in his woodshop building my first pencil box and a bookshelf. He taught me how to use the table saw, how to do electrical wiring without getting shocked, and how to rub stain into wood.
Through the seventies I built the cabin, and always felt my father over my shoulder as the years went by. When I had a particular problem to work out, I would reflect back on those early lessons. I mixed the cement in the same wheelbarrow that he used to teach me how to mix cement. Some of his tools are in the shop up there, the leveling jacks, and tape measure, chisel, etc.
Both of my daughters spent their summers up there, and now my grandchildren are spending their summers up there. My daughter met her first boyfriend up there during a summer, and my granddaughter has done the same....
My daughter, Heidi owns the cabin now and I go up there a lot during the summer. Last trip I showed my grandson how to mix cement in that same wheelbarrow....
The wall overlooking the lake where I placed the stone is a memorial wall. Property owners who pass away can have a brass plaque attached to that wall. That's where my ashes will go someday....
Guy Swanson
May 31, 2010
Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon
