A Full-time Life

The Vast Oregon Outback

We spent most of our two week vacation road-tripping in Southeastern Oregon.  The one word description of the area is "Vast".  It is large in size and small in population.  

 

 

There are many hidden treasures for  road-trip adventurers.  Places to see and things to do  -- you just have to drive a lot of miles to get to them.   I will have more information about those we visited in other posts, but today I wanted especially to remember the sense of  open space.  (And also, to be honest, I don't have the pictures  labeled yet, so it is easier to show an assortment of pictures taken at different times during the two weeks.) 

 

 

Eastern Oregon is mostly high desert country -- part of the Great Basin.   Its climate and terrain is very different from the western part of the State.    Sixty percent of the State's population lives in the Willamette Valley, the portion of western Oregon where we live.  So we get a strong sense of  being somewhere else without leaving the state.  But it's such big country -- we put 1700 miles on our car during this trip, with only about 100 of them being out of Oregon (more in another post).      For a sense of the size of our state, Oregon is the ninth largest state in area  and is, according to Wikipedia, slightly larger than the United Kingdom.   

 

 

Some of the miles we traveled were on good roads -- the Oregon Scenic Byways shown on the sign above.  But many miles were covered exploring by backroads.     (Before traveling those roads, we had unhitched the trailer at the RV Parks where we were staying.)   On some of those travel days, we would see no other cars or people at all until we returned to our "home away from home."  

 

 

One of the special places we discovered was  Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge.   There was still good spotting, even though  it was a little late for the best migrating birds.   April and May are the best months according to what we read,  but it was  cold enough in mid-June for me --  snow wasn't long gone.  I am not an avid enough birder for  winter weather watching.

 

 

Big country -- narrow winding roads.  Lots of sagebrush and big sky!

 

 

There would be space for a lot of people -- if only there were water!  What there is space for is cattle.  It is said it takes 100 acres of this sagebrush land to support one cow, but there are lots of acres.     It's open-range cattle country and that led to some interesting experiences.  

 

 

 

 Pictures down the left column  are of a roundup that came through early one morning right behind the RV Park where we were staying.  That was some alarm clock!   Middle column pictures are a "cattle jam" -- taken through the car window on a secondary highway we were driving.  These cattle were just walking down the road all by themselves to another pasture, paying no attention at all to our car.   On a different day, we were out exploring when we encountered the herd on the right.  We had just driven 20 miles and reached a locked gate across the road that was not marked on any map.  These cows were very interested in watching us turn around so we could head back over the rocky, narrow, 4-wheel drive road.    

 

There were many dry-lake areas.  Water is scarce and  geo-political battles over its allocation have been going on for years and continue.  

Shade trees are rare on the desert.   Very different from the forests around where we live.   We are fortunate to live where we can experience these contrasts -- there's a different kind of beauty in both parts of our State.  

To further highlight the contrasts, here are a couple of pictures of the places where we book-ended our  excursion:

 

 

 

This is Crescent Lake,  where we stayed the first night away from home.  Brought back lots of memories, as we  used to camp there often in our previous life. 

 

This is Crater Lake near where we stayed on the last night.  It is the deepest Lake in the US and is Oregon's only National Park.   We enjoyed visiting the high desert country of Southeastern Oregon, but it felt good to be close to home again.    

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities:  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

Planned-overs for a busy week.

Because  it's been a  busy week, we're serving "planned-overs" today.  As with many of our meals during that kind of week, I like that term better than "left-overs".  But it is the same thing.  Obviously.

We are going on a camping trip in a few days and getting ready seems to be taking up a lot of my brain cells as well as a lot of time.  In the before-Covid times, we used to get away at least once a month and  getting ready was easy, whether we were camping, boating,  or staying in hotels.   I am definitely not back into that routine yet.    So there are no new pictures, just re-worked and unused older ones (planned-overs for blogland).

 

 

The greenhouse we visited earlier this month reminded me of looking through a kaleidoscope.  I played with the pictures and made it look even more like that.  The many little pieces also remind  me of the state of my brain right now.

 

 

Bill spotted the wild turkey in a field of buttercups almost as soon as we started our walk at Hendricks Park.  Of course she immediately turned her back on us and refused to pose.  But it's such a pretty surroundings .. what turkey wouldn't want to play in  fields  of green grass and  buttercups. 

Here is a  mosaic collection that is more restful than the first one:

 

These trees are all on our children's country property.  You may recognize the one in the center because I have taken and posted about a hundred or so pictures of it .  But there are at least that many other trees on the property.  I keep meaning to ask my son-in-law if  he has a count.  

The next three pictures are two of their flowering trees.   

 

Smoke Tree

I walk around the property when everybody else is busy or away.    Later, or on a different day, when everybody is home and we all sit  down to chat I forget all about the questions I had while I was walking by myself.

 

Photinia

We will take the tiny travel trailer on our camping trip.  It is stored in the barn on the kids' property and while I'm taking pictures of trees Bill has been working on it.   He has added more storage by  redesigning  a cupboard under the sofa and has also made some necessary repairs.    It really is a blessing to have this space to work and play, while still enjoying our easy to maintain small home lifestyle.  We are grateful.  

 

Smoke Tree

We have owned quite a few RVs over time and lived in a much-larger one for over ten years.  No  matter what size or configuration, they all need maintenance and repairs, just like owning a home.     We love the RV life though, fulltime or part time, so it's all worth it.  And we're looking forward to this trip.

We'll be heading to the Eastern part of the state (Oregon's outback) so no post next week.  But I hope I'll  be out taking pictures for next time .    

 

LINKING to the following sharing opportunities:  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

MAY Flowers -- and Showers

We went to see the rhododendrons at Hendricks Park Friday.  Most of last week was colder and wet and so we jumped at the chance to get out when the morning looked at least partly sunny. I have to laugh at myself because last week I wrote  about things getting back to normal after the "Covid Year" and here we are doing the same thing we did around this time last year -- oohing and aahing about May's beautiful rhodies.    But this time, now that we're vaccinated,  we weren't wearing a mask as we walked around the park!   

 

 

Last year, we visited at the exact right time -- it seemed like every bush in the park was in full bloom.  We were a trifle late this time, but there were still many many perfect flowers.  It's very hard to stop taking pictures -- rhododendrons are so photogenic.  Above is in one of  my favorite colors.

 

 

The colorful flowering bushes show up as soon as you turn into the park and surround the parking areas.  But Hendricks is way more than a rhododendron showplace.   It's a gorgeous woodland as well.

 

 

Once you get away from the cars, it is easy to forget that you are within Eugene's City limits.  It's  in the South hills -- the other side of town from where we live, but if it were my neighborhood park I would visit frequently.  (I'm happy to live where I can walk to the River paths however.)   We are lucky in natural surroundings in this corner of Oregon. 

 

 

 

 There are lots of hidden wonders in the park  and I remembered to take pictures of some of them rather than  duplicate the pictures   from last year.

 

 

This Rufous-Sided Towhee showed off his pretty eye.  (Red eyes are attractive on this bird.)  Below is one more shot of perfection:

 

 

Pretty in Pink!

All the pictures in today's post are actually from last week, except for the one just below.  The greenhouse is one of several at the flower farm we visited a couple weeks ago:

 

Johnson Brothers Nursery

I'm still a little uncomfortable shopping, so I didn't take anywhere near as many pictures as I usually do at nurseries or flower shops.      (Sometimes I have been surprised that they don't charge a photography fee.)    And this time we were actually there to buy something.  

 

 

Above are the two hanging flower baskets we brought home that day.    We usually aren't at home in Eugene at prime plant shopping time so we've never had our own flowers at the apartment home where we live now  -- of course last year we were here, but we certainly weren't doing any shopping.    

 You know it's been wet when the neighborhood mallards take up residence in the  backyard:

 

We don't even have a pond or fountain  in the complex where we live -- the grass is just a bit saturated.    Ducks and squirrels were steps away from our back door when I went out to take pictures of the baskets.  The squirrels are a bit confused -- they seem to think it is Springtime.  

 

Hendricks Park

We do need the rain and I'm thankful for it, but also grateful for a blue sky day in between showers.   It was a good week.

 

Linking this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

Archival Wandering

It was a good week -- life is slowly coming back to normal.   But not many pictures, so it's archive-mining again -- from earlier this month, a year ago, and a few years (too many) ago.    

 

 

'To see we must forget the name of the thing

we are looking at."  Claude Monet

 

Wonder if it counts if you never knew the name in the first place.  I am fond of yellow flowers, even when I don't know what they are.  

 

 

Make that usually fond.  Not of this one.    This eye-catching bush is Scotch Broom, an invasive plant here in this part of Oregon.  And one that is highly allergenic.  (Eye-catching in the case of this plant means that our eyes will water as we sneeze.  It is nobody's favorite around here.)    Both the above pictures are from this month, this year.  The collage below is really mining the archives -- it is from 2014.

 

 

We spent that whole summer (May through September  2014) in Alaska.  Wonderful memories.  These are some of my favorite critter pictures from that beautiful State.  Sea Otters, Puffin, Mother Moose with very new and wobbly baby, Eagle and gulls, and one bird I'm not sure of.  I'm trying to label old pictures but it is slow work.  However, that  project was the impetus for this trip down memory lane, so it is  always worth the time even if I never complete it.  

 

 

This  is from a couple of weeks ago, but I blogged a different picture of the same tree last year and from bloggers who know things I learned that it is a Laburnum Tree.  We have always called it by it's nickname: Golden Chain.   

I always appreciate learning. 

 

 

 And here is my picture from May a year ago.  We saw this ring around the sun while social distancing in our daughter and son-in-law's yard last year.   It's called a sun halo and is caused by sunlight passing through ice crystals within the Earth's atmosphere.     That information was shared by blogger friend Mary Beth who recently saw a similar halo from her yard in Stanwood Washington.  Her post reminded me of this one!    Thank you Mary Beth.  (Her blog is here.)

 

Thank you to all the bloggers who share the beauties of nature and of just plain living life from so many places all over the world.  I am grateful.    Thank you all for wandering through these memories today.  And special thanks to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

UPPER FALL CREEK

 

The mini-roadtrip of the week was to Upper Fall Creek, SE of home  about 40 miles.       This particular loop wasn't as familiar to us as some of the other areas up the McKenzie or Willamette Rivers.

 

Upper Fall Creek

 

It was a perfect Spring Day.  We  did a little light exploring of the area, including checking out several camping spots for possible longer getaways later in the season.

 

And we found this little bit of magic .  This pretty  almost hidden gem didn't even have a name.   I love waterfalls.

 

 

 

The wildflower color scheme was definitely green and white, with the tiniest touches of pink.    Wild Dogwood was in full and beautiful bloom, but  my favorite find was patches of the one below:  

 

 

I think I'm going to have to become a wildflower watcher instead of a birdwatcher -- they are certainly easier to photograph.   But I'm not much better at  knowing their names.  I have been reading about plant identification apps and I think I'll try one,   although I didn't find the bird ID one worked too well for me.   Anyone have suggestions for either plant or bird ID apps?   (You never know, one of these times a bird may again sit still long enough for me to photograph.)

 

Meanwhile, back closer to home, the color scheme for tame flowers was strongly on the lavender/purple spectrum:

 

 

This perfect iris is from our daughter and son-in-laws' acreage. 

 

 So is this iris and the wisteria.  I don't know what the big leafed plant in the lower panel is, and I'm not sure about the flowering tree below.

 

 

But I won't need an app to identify these -- I'll just ask the gardeners when I see them next!   

 

 Closing  with just one more virtual photo album page from the Fall Creek trip:

 

 

Grateful to live here in Eugene where we can choose to go to the mountains or to the ocean,  to the rivers or to lakes  -- and still be back home in time for dinner!     (Still,  as the weather warms up and now that we are vaccinated, we are looking forward to some longer roadtrips.)  

 

LINKING this week to the following:  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS; 

SIUSLAW BAY DAY-TRIP

 I'm having computer problems, so this will be a post of few words.   Updates (unasked for) caused me to lose all my links and bookmarks.  I wish all these computer people could just leave well-enough-alone!  I have also been unable to leave comments on many blogs  but I think as of this morning I have that one figured out and I will catch up.    Apologies to anyone  who got "test" messages while I was trying. 

 

Here are some pictures from a spur-of-the-moment drive  one day last week.  It was great to get out of town and away from thinking about computer problems.    

 

 

This is Siuslaw Bay on the outskirts of the coastal town of Florence and the iconic art-deco style bridge over the Siuslaw River.  

 

 

Our Florence  is about 60 miles west of us.   We liked this signpost at one of the town's several sweet little pocket parks and we've been in a few of these Florences.  When we were full-time RVers  it was always fun to pass through a town with a familiar name even if it was miles away from home.    Our home town here in Oregon was Springfield and I'm pretty sure every state has one of those.   

 

 

We weren't really planning to visit anybody on this quick trip, but the Martin couple were at home at #5,  so of course we had to pay our respects and stay a while.

 

 

We saw a few of their neighbors too -- it was a busy apartment complex.   

 

 Purple Martins are amusing to watch and I'm thankful for the people who build the nest houses that help them to thrive.

 

Meanwhile back at home, my love affair with Oregon's Spring flowers continues.   Here is a virtual May basket picked from last week's neighborhood walks:  

 

 

Grateful to be here enjoying this colorful month.

 

  

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities, where I am linking this week:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

SMILES -- REARRANGED

 

Nothing much new under the sun this week.  Or actually under the rain and gray clouds.   Rain is definitely needed, so I'm not feeling sad about it at all.  And besides there are photo-worthy skies in the archives.  Here are a few I re-arranged:

 

 

These six pictures are from four of our favorite states.  Can you guess which?   There's a hint (and an answer) at the end of this post.   

 

 

 

No hint  at the end about the above plant, but information from any experts is always welcome.  It's fascinating that it has green flowers!   There's a whole bed of them in a neighborhood garden I walked past last week.  

 

Random soft color from a neighborhood walk before it started to rain. 

   

When I said nothing much new happened last week, I meant in a blog-worthy way  -- the camera didn't get much of a workout.  But things happened.  We read, we walked, we ordered groceries, we cooked, "we" worked on getting our tiny trailer ready for some future trips ... 

 And, as usual these days, we got a delivery or two. Now honestly, does every photo-blogger have a mental list of  things they wish they'd snapped a picture of?  My long list now includes the new mattress FedEx delivered last week. It arrived  vacuum packed and rolled in a box light enough for the two of us to carry from the porch.  Then we watched it magically inflate to a lovely 14"- thick queen-size as soon as the tight wrapping was removed.  I wish I'd taken a picture of that!  It's kind of amazing -- sure beats the old way when a mattress purchase took two furniture store delivery persons . (Of course this time we had to move the old one ourselves -- that was the harder part.) 

 

 

One of these "wildflowers" is not like the other.  Can you find it?   Oh wow it's another puzzle.  Every open space along the walking path is covered with these little jewels, in about the same proportion seen here.  All so spring-like and pretty.  I refuse to call them weeds.

 

 

 

This collection may help with the sky photo locations.  These animals and birds are from the same four states as in the sky photo  -- re-arranged in the same order.   (* see below link ups)

Thankful this week for the rain (but also kind of glad the sun has peeked through occasionally); for the new mattress that feels almost like it was custom-made for us; and for travel -- both memories and future trips now in the early planning stages. 

 

Linking this week to the following:  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;    TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS     

 

Top row L-R:   Colorado, Florida, Oregon.   Bottom row:  Oregon, Colorado, Washington.

 

THE COLORS OF APRIL

 It's a  real feast for the eyes around home this month.

 

From the flamboyant ... 

 

to the delicate.

 

 

From the brightest colors, 

 

 

To the  softest pastels

 

 

 

All arrayed under clear blue April skies.   

 It's Springtime in Oregon.

 

We are grateful to have received our second dose of the Covid vaccine last week.  It feels like we are on our way to almost normal.  I am looking forward to a little travel,  but a walk along the river reminds me to be patient.   Good things come to those who wait.

 

 

 

Sometimes it is best just to relax and drift along.  

 

 

 

One more smile for the week -- this picture texted to us from our son who is in Florida right now.  That is their big beautiful dog Max (whom we haven't yet met) meeting a feral parakeet of some kind.      Geoff said the bird flew down and almost landed on the dog's nose.  I am sure the  bird is an escapee, but it  will probably do just fine in that sub-tropical climate.    (I am reminded of the movie and book "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.)  

 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  and SATURDAY CRITTERS 

A COVID-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

The eleventh of April marks an anniversary of sorts for us.  One year ago on this date we arrived at home after an earlier-than-planned trip back to Oregon from Florida.  (Due to Covid, Oregon felt like a safer place to be.)   While Oregon is our home, both officially and in our hearts, we have been fortunate to call the Florida Canal Cottage our snowbird-season home for the past dozen years.  

 

 April 2020

So it's been a long time since we have lived in one place for an entire twelve month period.    A year ago, we arrived home to see Spring flowers we haven't seen blooming for years.     The first picture I took when we arrived  was of the tulip garden under our daughter's and son-in-law's black walnut tree.  We parked our travel trailer on their property, said a quick and masked hello (hard not to hug) and went home to our Oregon apartment to self-isolate for the prescribed two weeks.   

 

May, June, July 

 

Watching the seasons change has been one of the year's simple pleasures.   Because we wouldn't be traveling this year,  it was a good one  for a "tree watch" -- observing the same tree every month (even if the year started in April and ended in March).    It's been interesting to notice seasonal changes in many of the different trees we see on walks and drives, but I chose the Black Walnut both because it was the first picture I took on our return and because it is such a magnificent tree. 

 

August

 

It has been twenty-four years since we've spent a whole year in one place.  Before we bought the Canal Cottage in Florida, we were full-time RV travelers for almost another twelve years.      Here is a link to our page that tells a little about our full-time life.   I just now looked at that page myself for the first time in  years  -- it  needs to be updated.  Our Canal Cottage looks much better in real life now -- we have extensively remodeled and improved it.  And also, for some odd reason, Bill and I look many years younger in the picture on that page.  

 

 

September, October, and early November 

 

We have spent at least part of the Summer/Fall seasons in Oregon during all of those two dozen years.   And before that of course it  is here where we owned our home and raised our family.  (I sometimes refer to those years as our previous life.)      So the walnut tree's Fall changes are more familiar to us.   Not   as dramatic as in some other Autumn foliage here, but obvious .   

 

Late November

 

From late Spring through most of the Fall, we enjoyed socially-distanced family visits under the walnut tree. I didn't take many  pictures during those gatherings.    But our great-grandson gave us this photo op that was way too good to miss.        

 

December  and January

 

Social distancing was more difficult when the weather turned too chilly to sit outside.  And of course it was during these months when we would normally  have left for sunny climates.    Our memories (from that former life, before we retired) were of chilly, rainy, gray days every day all day for months.   But this year we had some blue sky days and most weeks we were able to get outdoors at least once.   (It is possible our memories are faulty -- maybe in our former life we were at work during the pleasant winter days -- maybe it was only on the weekends when it rained all day.) 

 

February 2021

So we made it through the winter.  Although it certainly wasn't as warm and sunny as we'd gotten used to lately,  we knew all the time that we had made the right decision for us when we hurried home in the previous March.

 

March 2021

 

It has truly been a joy to be here for the arrival of Spring  -- we had almost forgotten how lovely the season is here in Oregon.    Though we know challenges remain, we  are  grateful  to have made it through this Covid Year safely and more pleasantly than we had thought possible a year ago.      We continue try to remember to treasure every day of every month --  no matter where we call home. 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities with thanks to the hosts:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS;  

A WALK ON THE WILDER SIDE

 

Really not very wild at all, but the path where I took a long walk last week is about as wild as we get these days.  The area around this section of the river  path is a little less-developed than the part closer to our home.    

 

 

I drove about a mile and a half to a parking lot to start this walk .  So  it is really sort of within walking distance, but then I'd be too tired to actually do the nature  part by the time I got there.    Which would definitely spoil the purpose.   

 

 

 

The path goes along the Willamette River and some of the ponds created when old gravel pits were reclaimed by the City.  The river bike/walk path system and the Delta Ponds are definitely two of the best things about Eugene.

 

 

The usual ducks -- and lots of them.  But for some reason they didn't want to swim very close to the people path.

 

Great Blue Heron

 

 

Western Pond Turtles

 

So many turtles!   They were everywhere.  I counted over twenty on one log.  

 

 

American Coot

 

The weather has been lovely.  March went out just the way it came in -- like a lamb.   We are thankful for that!  In the "tamer" neighborhoods around home,  more Spring flowers bloom every day.  We continue to enjoy our first real Spring-like Spring in many years.  (Because we've been in Florida and Florida is different.) 

 

 

Tulip Magnolia

(This one is at our daughter's and son-in-law's home.) 

 

 

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following sharing opportunities:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS;    and RATHER B' BIRDING