A Full-time Life

FINLEY WILDLIFE REFUGE

 

We took a "not-a-Sunday Drive"  to Finley Wildlife Refuge one day last week.   I think it was Tuesday -- or Wednesday --- who knows these days?   They do all tend to blend together.

 

 

The Finley is a diverse natural area originally created to provide winter habitat for Dusky Canada Geese.  The refuge also protects habitats of the Willamette Valley, including wet prairie, white oak savannah, bottomland creeks, old growth forest, and native prairie.

 

(click to enlarge)

 We've visited Finley in other years, but never really paid attention to this sign.  Who knew that there were so many subspecies of Canada Geese?  Unlike the rest, Duskies have limited ranges.  They nest in Alaska on the Copper River and winter almost exclusively here in Oregon's Willamette Valley.   

 

 

 We saw this  old shed along the back country road we drove to get to the Refuge.

 

 

 This modern version of a barn sign was just a little further along River Road.  At this point we were still in Lane County, where we live.  The Wildlife Refuge is near the town of Corvallis in Benton County, Oregon.      

 

(Addendum:  It's a Juvenile  Western (probably)  Grebe.  Thank you to all the *real* birders who helped.)

I can't identify this guy that we saw in a river channel.     But at this point in my life, I  take a picture of pretty much any bird I see.   And blog them, even if they aren't very good.   Especially if it is the bird in the pictures below:

 

 

I could not believe I spotted a Kingfisher out in the middle of this prairie area.   Nor that it sat still long enough for me to take a bunch of pictures.  They never do that for me!  Usually if I spot one, it will fly the minute I point the binoculars or camera.     

 

 

It was a good day-trip on a beautiful blue-sky day.   We learned something new, got some fresh air and a little outdoor exercise,  and a few pictures.  For all of that, I am grateful.  

 

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

 

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

A FOUR-GENERATION VISIT IN THE COUNTRY

 

Bill keeps a shop out in the country at our daughter and son-in-law's and our  travel vehicles are stored there, so sometimes when we go from our city apartment out to the country, it is because  one of us has a goal in mind, besides the chance to say hello.    There is always something involving vehicles and/or tools that needs to be done .

 

 

In other years, I've said that I've said facetiously that I only go along to take pictures.   But of course the main reason was always the chance to say hello.  I still take lots of pictures out in the country.   This year, we both agree that "saying hello" to family is no longer to be taken for granted.  

 

 

 

It is a joy that many people in our age demographic are not able to experience at this time.     Last week, our visit to the country was a planned one -- we got to meet our youngest great-grandson and see his parents in person for the first time this season.    It was a socially distant visit for four generations.  (Social distance is easier to maintain when the weather is beautiful and where there is lots of outdoor  space.)

 

 

An even-more-joyful reason to visit.   

 

 

The  petunia pictures were taken on a stop at our favorite Farm Market after this visit.  The market isn't  exactly on the way home from our daughter's but we pretend it is.  Whatever produce we don't take home from our son-in-law's garden, we pick up there.   (I'll just say that the last couple of weeks we definitely didn't need to buy zuchinni.  Or blueberries!)  Kidding aside, we are grateful to have both sources of farm-fresh food.   

 

 

The above mosaic  is a left-over from last month.   This is one of the fields we drive past on our way to visit family.  In May and June, it looked like an ocean of white flowers.   In other years, these fields were  planted in grass (grass seed is major crop in this area)  but this year they are  in clover.   We wondered then whether it was being grown  as a ground cover or for seed.    Last week, the fields have almost all already gone to seed, so I guess that is the answer.  

 

 

So some summer crops are already at an end -- and there were already a couple of color spots like the above in the yard.   Just a couple of reminders to  make the most of the rest of the summer -- it never lasts as long as we think it will.   Grateful to be here to enjoy it.    

 

LINKING to the following this week:  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; and  FRIDAY  BLISS; 

 

LOOPY ?

Actually, this post is really about walking the loop trails near our Eugene home.   It's one way of not going loopy during the time of Covid 19.  

 

 

We live on a Loop Street -- the above flowers are from yards on that half circle. This loop, all on city sidewalks, is about a two-mile walk.  Last week, the photo-ops were all about the lilies.

 

 

Sidewalk artists have been at work. 

 

 

About a quarter of the way around the big loop there's a path to one of the trails along the Willamette River Banks.  On another day last week I walked this trail to the Owosso Bridge.  Then I looped  through a different path back into our neighborhood for a slightly longer walk.  

  

 

I see songbirds and butterflies along the river often, but only the ducks cooperate for pictures.  Partly this is because I'm still not  comfortable stopping for very long.      People I see are almost all wearing masks and careful about distancing, but somehow it feels like staying still in one place would be risky.    I didn't  used to be so paranoid ... in fact, I quite miss chatting with perfect strangers.   But I don't want to invite that now.  Times have changed, at least for now.  

 

 

There's another loop walk that starts behind our apartment community.  It is a straight, shady paved path that ends directly at the river.   On the other side, this path is bordered by overgrown blackberry bushes and weeds  ...  dozens of squirrels and songbirds make their home in those tangles.  Beyond that a busy highway is visible (and audible).   Plans are for a noise barrier wall to be built eventually.    I suppose I'd  be glad for such a wall if our home bordered the path (we are on the other side of the complex) but right now I hope it takes a while for the plans to be completed.    At the river, I  walk as far along the trail as I feel like going before looping back through a neighborhood path.  

 

These young chalk artists had the right idea.

 

And then of course one of my favorite loop walks isn't in our neighborhood at all --  the one around our son-in-law's and daughter's backyard:

 

Suddenly Blueberries!

 

In one week, their blueberries went from not ripe to Ready! Right! Now!  Apples are ripening and tiny green grapes are just starting to peep out among the leaves.   

 

 

Grateful to be able to walk outside -- in the city or the country.

 

And grateful for the Zoom family reunion we had yesterday  -- all of our "kids" (including the ones who joined the family as grown-ups!) some of our grands, one great-grandson, four dogs, and one cat -- all  together right here on our IPAD screens.   Good to know that great-grandparents can still learn new tricks and so much fun to see everybody all at once.   Thanks to our youngest  who set it all up and to everyone who arranged their schedules.   

 

 

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

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

 

TO HONOR OUR AMERICA ...

 

... as our America should be.

 

 

One of quite a few yards in our area displaying this sign
 

(A helicopter would have been necessary to get the full effect of this mural in one picture)

 

While we were downtown  last month we went to see the Black Lives Matter street mural.  With the City's blessing, it was painted   the day after a peaceful protest march.   The next night  some idiot skidded  his car  across the still-wet paint (the street had been temporarily closed and barricaded).  The artists were able to rescue their work by painting multi-colored hand-prints on the skid marks, making them a part of the sign.   

Not too far from where the mural is, there is a dedicated Historical Site which was the home of Mr and Mrs Mims, Eugene pioneers in an age when institutionalized discrimination  was an accepted part of life.

 

 

This historical site was dedicated in 2016.    That was already years late to acknowledge the past history and express regret.  And yet  we are still fighting the same battles. 

 

 

We first moved to Eugene in 1971 and I really didn't understand, until we visited this site shortly after the dedication, that such discrimination existed here in Eugene up until the 1960s.          

 

 

This sign  and the dedication stones on the path (enlarged in the mosaic above)  provide a good overview of the history.

 

 

The restored Mims home is now designated as a Eugene Historical Site and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

 

Peace Rose, Owen Garden

 

For us as for many others, and for many reasons,  this was not the best year to celebrate America's July 4 birthday.    I am thankful we still (so far) live where we can say that.  And I remain hopeful that our country will someday soon learn to remember history and yet be willing to move forward. 

 

LINKING  this week to the following with thanks to all of the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY ;   THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  TUESDAY TREASURES;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  and  FRIDAY  BLISS