A Full-time Life

HAPPY FALL 2017

     

Because this is the blog's 10th Anniversary year and the picture is so appropriate for the season, here is a re-run photo used in our very first Full-Time Life post around this time of  year in 2007.    

It was taken  on  our first RV trip to the East Coast (in 2003).  So it was already old when I  used it in that first post.         (We first blogged to keep in touch with family and friends when we spent Spring 2007 in  London.  A while after we came home, I  decided to start another blog about our adventures in this country.)   

     

 

 In most parts of the USA, 'Fall' is the word for the season between Summer and Winter.   I actually prefer to use 'Autumn' .... but 'Fall' is funnier.  

 

   

 

The next two pictures are also old  because we don't have much Autumn color here yet.  The one above is in the Ozark Mountains, on a different trip.

Instead of beautiful colors, the last week of summer here in Eugene brought rain and for that we are beyond grateful.  The moisture has cleared the air of wildfire smoke that permeated the Willamette Valley for much of September.  We hope for continued rain and snow in the mountains because it is needed to  put out all of the fires completely.   I will not even think of complaining about rain this year!   

 

 

 

The marigolds and matching butterfly are also from the Vermont trip.    I could pretend it was more recent, because it could be from an Oregon flower bed -- or lots of other  places -- but we don't believe in fake news or fake pictures around here.

 

Meanwhile,  some  current pictures from here  in Oregon  --  (more current than the above pictures, but not from last week ... because ...   did I mention it's been raining?):

  

 

Out in the country while visiting  our daughter and son-in-law, I took some pictures of Parker -- their big puppy (half  McNab and half Mastiff).    (When we left for Florida in November a year ago, he was a tiny ball of fur.... now at not quite a year old and still growing it's a different story.)    

 

We are  easy to entertain --  the dog and the house birds always provide a show.       (Two different house birds here   -- a couple of house wrens and a house sparrow.)

 

And, in between showers, late summer is great in downtown Eugene:

 

 

The sculpture of Rosa Parks waiting for the bus (and for her place in history) is appropriately situated on the plaza in front  of the Lane Transit District terminal,  just a few blocks from our apartment.  People love to give her flowers -- she is almost always holding a fresh bouquet.  The pictures on the right are flowers (and a few things to eat) purchased at the Saturday Farmer's Market.  

 

 

 

 We don't have to worry about parking,  because the Market is also within very easy walking distance.

 

LINKING  this week to:  

 

OUR WORLD on Tuesday;  MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; THROUGH MY LENS; TUESDAY TREASURES; FLORAL BLISS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; SIGNS SIGNS;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS;    RATHER B' BIRDING and THE BARN COLLECTIVE.

 

 

Thank you to all of the hosts!

 

DEAN CREEK DISTRACTION

9

 Every year before we leave Fort Myers for the summer, "we" install hurricane shutters.  Here's Bill finishing up that job last June -- just before we left on our cross-country road trip back home to Oregon.  We never doubted that it was a necessary job even though  Hurricane  Irma is the first one to hit the area since we bought our 'Canal Cottage' ten years ago.   Definitely no doubts now!  

Reports from  management  are that there was no significant damage to any homes within our resort.   There is still no electricity so we are  waiting for more detailed information as soon as they are able to check further.   All of our friends who live there year-round evacuated safely and have not yet been able to return.    

It was surreal watching and waiting from all the way across the country.  Our thoughts are with all of those in Florida and the Caribbean who were harmed by this terrible storm.  

It seemed like we spent every minute for several days watching Fort Myers TV on the station's website (an odd experience watching local Florida news when we're in Oregon --through the wonders of the Internet.)     But to distract ourselves, one day we took a short drive to Dean Creek, near Elkton, to view the Roosevelt Elk herd that lives there.  

   

The Roosevelt Elk is Oregon's largest land animal.    These Elk can be found along the Pacific  Coast  from British Columbia to  northern California.  A herd of about 120 ranges along  Dean Creek.    Fall is the best time of year for viewing them.  

At first we spotted only a couple of large groups of females and young and just this one young bull who was hanging out alone and quite far away from the rest of the herd.

 

 

 

There was some light coastal mist and not much color in the sky -- but the air was fresh and clean along this coastal creek.  It was good to be away from the Willamette Valley where the air still smelled smoky (it is a bit better this week).  And of course it was good to think about something besides our Florida house. 

 

 

 

After a few minutes of watching we spotted this magnificent bull -- obviously the Alpha male of the herd.    He was taking it easy as his harem grazed, until that smaller bull started to move toward the females.   

 

Then he let the youngster know who was boss. 

 The young bull wisely turned around and went the other way -- so (happily) we didn't see a fight.

 

 

 

 

The bull then began herding his cows and calves into a tighter group, but he stopped for this tender moment!  This young one didn't seem to want to get up and move, so he got a few gentle nudges from his pop until he got up and joined the rest of the herd.

 

 

Our visit to Dean Creek was a happy distraction from what turned out to be not such bad news as we had feared. 

 

Linking   to SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; OUR WORLD on Tuesday; ALL SEASONS; and THROUGH MY LENS.

 

Thank you to all of the hosts.

SMOKE and MEMORIES

 

The picture below is an un-edited photo of the sun near our apartment last Tuesday evening  -- around 6 p.m.   While it makes a rather pretty sky picture,  the reason  is not at all good because the dramatic tones are due to smoke from wildfires... and it has severely socked in our valley.  

 

 

According to an article in our local paper (The Register-Guard, Thursday, August 31), wildfires in Oregon are burning an area equivalent to half the State of Rhode Island, affecting air quality throughout the state.  There are two dozen fires in southern, eastern, and central parts of the state that have scorched a total of 571 square miles.  

Because of the bad air quality, we have done no playing outside this week --  the rest of today's pictures are 'look-backs' and memories.

Our  weather/climate problems are of course as nothing compared to last week's devastating hurricane and unending heavy rains on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast.    Damages are horrendous and the aftermath continues.     

During our RV travel years, we spent several winter seasons in that part of Texas.  The collage below shows just a few of our memories of those stays: 

 

 

We stayed twice in Port Aransas and once in Fulton/Rockport, where Hurricane Harvey first made landfall.  (The coastal towns are on opposite shores of  North Padre Island, near Corpus Christie.)    From what we have seen and read, it looks as if both  are completely devastated and will take years to rebuild.

 

 

Our traveling home at Water's Edge RV Park, Fulton Texas, Winter 2006-07

 

As full-time RVers, whenever we stayed in an area for three or four months, we always considered ourselves to be residents.  Of course, it isn't the same as it is for people who have spent their whole lives in an area, but it was long enough that we  would felt at home and get to know the community far better than one would just passing through.   North Padre  was one of our all-time favorite areas and we have wonderful memories of both towns.  

Travel certainly taught us a lot about our country and brought  much joy  -- but it also makes losses such as the one from this horrible storm more vivid as we recognize places  being destroyed and remember them and the people we met.    

Our thoughts are with all those in the affected area.    

   Our current road-trip vehicle

 

The bird below is a more recent memory, but was also on the Gulf Coast -- of Alabama .  We saw this bird on our road trip home to Oregon this past June.    I included it then in a collage of pictures from an evening walk we took where we stayed (Gulf Shores State Park).  And I didn't even try to ID it ... but Eileen, our Saturday Critters host and my (blogland) resident bird expert  told me in a comment on that post that it was a shrike!    Thank you Eileen.   (Most will know already, but Eileen's blog is VIEWING NATURE and it is HERE.) 

 

Loggerhead shrike

 

Many years ago on a camping trip  Bill showed me  evidence of the way shrikes impale their prey, and I probably saw the bird too -- but that was long before I became really interested in birding -- so I'm definitely calling this sighting a first.  

 

 

The flowers below came from a walk around  town that we took when my sister and brother-in-law were visiting last week (after Eclipse Day)... they're part of a wall of hanging baskets in front of a Nursery.

 

 

We are hoping for more dramatic flowers and fewer dramatic smoky skies in September.    

 

 

Thank you for visiting --  and special thanks to the hosts of 

 the following sharing opportunities:

 LINKING THIS WEEK TO:   SATURDAY CRITTERS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;   NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; FLORAL BLISS; WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY.