A Full-time Life

Winding Down and Wrapping Up

Our season in Florida is drawing to a close.  This week we'll be getting ready to close up the house and getting the car and tiny trailer ready to head for Oregon -- and then we'll be doing exactly that.  

 

 

I didn't even get to take advantage of the last normal week at the Canal Cottage  photographically because our weather didn't cooperate.  We had a lot of rain.  And gray skies.  But we're grateful that we missed the terrible rains that hit further South.   Our area just caught the tail end of the Florida monsoon that hit last week.    

 

Red shouldered hawks, Eagles, Osprey

So none of the pictures in this post are new.   They are all from this Season however.  Even though we were busy doing a lot of non-blogging work on the Canal Cottage and didn't do nearly as much Florida exploring as we have in the past, there were still many photo opportunities.    All of these birds of prey were seen in our own neighborhood. 

 

Ibis, Little Blue Heron (immature), Tri-Color Heron, Northern Shrike, Ducks, Kildeer, Blue Jay, Red-Bellied Woodpecker,  Snowy Egret

All pictures in the collage above were taken right here on the grounds in the resort where we live or at neighborhood parks or ponds.   All were accidental sightings -- none were from special birding trips.  You never want to go anywhere here without a camera.    Normal activities like morning walks or short errand runs  frequently turn into great birding opportunities.

 

 These are frequently seen roadside birds.   Almost every time we drive anywhere we  see Egrets on the ground or in trees,  Wood storks in roadside wetlands or even in water-filled ditches,  vultures doing what vultures do, and Ibis  everywhere.    

 

Grateful for our season in the sun.  For the views, the warm winter weather, and the many accidental birding opportunities right here at home.  (But not-so-secretly hoping we'll have time for a little more Florida exploring in another season.)  

 

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

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Venice Audubon Rookery

 

May really is a pretty month here.  The moods of the sky are fascinating and every morning walk is different.   

 

Last week's morning walks at home

We stay busy indoors during the hot (and sometimes rainy) part of the day, but sometimes you've just got to get away in spite of the heat. 

So one day last week we drove about an hour North of us to visit the Venice Audubon Bird Rookery.  From their website: 

"The Rookery island’s deep lake is small enough so that from the shaded pavilion benches you hardly need binoculars for a clear view of the birds. Tangled invasive plants have been replaced by Florida-friendly vegetation so you can easily walk around the edge of the lake and watch bird activity on all sides of the island." 

 

Green Heron

May is the end of the nesting season, so there wasn't too much activity in the rookery itself.   But there were some very nice birds around the edges of that small Lake.  One of my favorites, the Green Heron was the first bird I spotted on that walk.  

 

Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron

 

 At the nests, which are on a bird island in the center of the Lake, we caught glimpses of a few big babies poking up their heads to be fed, but I think most of the nestlings had left home already.  The ones we saw (I didn't get pictures) were as big as the parents. 

There were a couple pairs of Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks on the opposite side of the Lake from the parking area.   

 

Whistling Duck

There's just something about these guys that makes me smile.  Maybe it's the pink legs?  

 

Or the Mohawk Hair cut?

 

Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks

Or their pretty eyes?  Or what seems like their curious nature.  Whatever it is, they are a joy to watch.  We've seen these ducks before, but not this close to home.

We spotted this high-density neighborhood on the edge of the Lake:

 

Purple Martin Condominium

 

And a condo tenant (Purple Martin)

 

He looks a little cranky.   Most of the residents didn't want their picture taken at all.  (The picture is highly zoomed.  I really don't think he even saw me.)

 

 Here's some more Spring color from walks in our own neighborhood:

 

More Florida Spring Flowers

 

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Total eclipse of the moon --

 -- and other news from last week. 

The bird of the week at the neighborhood pond was this Little Blue Heron.  Early in the week when it hadn't rained for a few days, the pond was almost completely dry, but then we had a few rainstorms.   It would be interesting to follow the birds to see where they go when their feeding spot dries up!   They always seem glad to be back. 

 

 

One of those storms, I think on  Wednesday,  was a literal eye-opener.  Rainstorms are common in late afternoon this time of year, but that one woke us up before dawn  with loud claps of thunder and lightning briefly turning our bedroom into broad daylight.  There's nothing like starting the day off with a bang! 

Earlier last week though the weather was good.  And on Sunday (a week ago) we were blessed with a beautiful day and  evening without a cloud in the sky.  So we stayed up late for the total lunar eclipse.   We couldn't have had better seats for the show than we did from the dock area in back of the  Canal Cottage.  

 

Lunar Eclipse, May 15, 2022

During a full eclipse, the moon passes through the darkest part of the Earth's shadow (the umbra).   According to NASA, the reddish hue happens because orange and red colors remain visible while blue and green light get scattered by dust particles in the atmosphere.  Because of the color, lunar eclipses are sometimes called Blood Moons.

Tuesday, May 17

I hardly ever stay up that late these days, so that long night meant no early morning walk happening on Monday.  But the next morning, the  moon was visible on the street side of our house -- and it still looked full.  Although certainly not as dramatic, especially with the point-and-shoot camera which is all  I carry on my normal walks. 

 

 

 

Great Egrets are common around here -- this one was standing perfectly still on a corner island in the middle of the supermarket parking lot.  For a minute, I thought the store had installed a statue.    But he was there hunting for food (just like all the rest of us).

 

In other news of the week for which I'm exceedingly grateful, we were both able to get our second COVID booster shot.  We're still masking up in public places, but the booster provides a nice margin of safety. 

 

And also (TA-DA) the bathroom project which has kept us (uh, half of us) busy all season is finished and it is beautiful.  We (both halves of us, for sure) are delighted with the way it turned out.     I'm   amazed that Bill's talented design and skill  incorporated a roomy walk-in shower, corner sink cabinet with storage,  a wall-hung toilet, and space to maneuver in an area only 7 by 8.     

 

 

 

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Good Starts

We didn't cover a lot of distance last week but there still a lot of pictures.  All taken last week on early morning walks right here in the neighborhood.   May mornings are lovely but the days heat up rapidly here in subtropical Southwest Florida.  It's good to get outside early and work on  indoor projects during the heat of the day.

 

 

It looked like an approaching storm as the sun rose, but it didn't materialize in our neighborhood anyway.   

 

 

These flowering branches look prettier in pictures than they do in real life.    The Royal Poinciana tree across the front street from our house has been neglected for a long time.  The flowering branches are up so high that most people wouldn't even notice them.    The lady who lived in that house when we first lived here was a dedicated gardener, so we know the tree is there and we look for it every year around this time.  All of the pictures were snapped within about six seconds -- it's interesting to see how the sky was changing at that hour of the morning.

 

 

It doesn't take a whole lot of water to attract wildlife  around here.  This retention pond is part of a relatively new addition to the  neighborhood.   I've enjoyed keeping an eye on it all season, but it is even more active this time of year -- partly because of the season and partly because so many human residents have already gone back to their homes "up North"  for the summer.   

 

 

I'm pretty sure these are Red-Shouldered Hawks and I'm also pretty sure there must be a nest in one of the larger trees near here, since this is the second week in a row I've spotted at least one on my morning walks.   I swear I saw this one turn its head in a complete circle.  Can that be possible?  

 

 

Back at the pond on another morning -- and I think this is an immature Little Blue Heron.  

 

 

Not a lot of water, but enough to share.

 

 

This is a different hawk -- and I know this because I could see this one and the one above at the same time.  They were perched across the street from each other.  They both look young to me and that's why I think there must be a nest somewhere nearby.  I'll keep watching (through my lens from an appropriate distance).

 

 Grateful for good starts.  

  

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At home with camera ...

 

.. and a computer on which to download its contents. Life is good.

 

This morning  ... looking East from the back-porch: 

 

SUNRISE:  Like sunset in reverse, but without the wine.

 

 Osprey seen on a hot day's drive in the Babcock-Webb wildlife area.

 

Red shouldered Hawk seen on a crack-of-dawn walk here in our neighborhood.   I guess he'd already had breakfast because he made no move  toward those little birds perched right below.   I walked around the block and hawk and (I think) mockingbirds were still perched in exactly the same place when I got back to this point. 

 

The Kildeer skittered around  leading me away from its ground nest even before I even got anywhere close.   I always wish I could tell them that I wouldn't dream of hurting their babies.

 

The bunny's defensive strategy, on the other hand, was to freeze in place also before I got anywhere close.  There is a reason why rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain.  But I always like spotting them.  This grassy area borders the wildlife walk next door to our resort and I've probably taken pretty much the exact same picture every season we've stayed here. Except of course this bunny is at least the 12th or 13th generation of wild rabbits over that number of years.    

 

Florida Spring flowers are anything but subtle.   

 

The rainy season arrived early this year.    That's good for flora and fauna.   Here in subtropical Florida, the mornings are almost always sunny --   the rains come later in the day.  They move in  fast and furious and then are completely gone for the day, with not a drizzle left.   We need more  English words for rain, because it's very different here than in our home state of Oregon.  

 

Great Blue Heron (leftover from beach trip posted last week)

It was an ordinary week and in our family we have always been grateful for ordinary days.   But when I think about how nice it is to sit at my nice new speedy computer to write these words, I can't help but think about how different an ordinary week is nowadays.    I'm glad for that because I like this way of saving our memories.   

 

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Happy to be here

 

Happy to be back from an unintended vacation from blogging.  We have been busy and well -- the time away was caused by computer failure.  My poor PC gave up the ghost!   After several trips to the "not-quite-as-Best-as-it-used-to-be" store, my new machine is finally here.  And installed and ready to go,  thanks to the in-house computer person (the one in our household who is not me).

 

 

And now all I have to do is remember how to use it.   I'm thankful to be back and to have new pictures to share.  And very grateful that my old ones were safely restored.  

 

Ruddy Turnstone

 

Except for the memory collage a little way below, the pictures in today's post were taken on Captiva Island last week.   It was our first real boating excursion in over two seasons.   

 

 

We stayed two nights (aboard our boat) at the historic Tween Waters Inn.  It is located on Captiva Island be'tween' Pine Island Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.       Click on the sign to read some of its history.  

 

 

It was kind of a bitter-sweet time because we went with good friends who have sold their winter home on the Canal and will not be back next season.  They are the ones who really helped us get to know the good places to boat here in SW Florida.  

 

Brown Pelican

 

We have had so much fun together, boating and ashore, during our twelve seasons here.  We will miss them.   

 

 

 This collage is not from last week, but is just a few memories from past boat trips with these (and other) friends.  

 

 

We didn't let the bitter over-rule the sweet on this trip and we had fun together.   By this time in our lives, we all know that change happens.   

 

Ospreys on historic Tween Waters cottage

Here's to happy times:  Past, present, and to come!

 

More  Sunset from Tween Waters Beach, Captiva Island (Pine Island Sound)

 

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Catching up

 

It has been a quiet week at the Canal Cottage.   But the weather here has been good, we have things to do,  and I am always grateful for ordinary days. One evening, we had a little  wander around at the nature area down the street from home.   It used to be the nature area next door because we could walk there along  a short path from where we live to the center of the park. 

 

 

The nature area hasn't moved and neither has the Canal Cottage, but  now there's a gate that prevents residents of our snowbird resort from using that path.   (We think it was a management decision due to insurance or legal concerns.)    It isn't safe to walk along the shoulder-less highway to the public entrance, so  now we have to drive there.  Which means we don't go as often.   It's never been the best nature park for seeing birds and animals, so if I have to get in the car anyway, it feels like we might as well go somewhere else.    

That's about it for pictures from the week, so this is a good time to serve up some planned-overs.  (Not left-0vers, because I have always meant to use these before the end of the season.)  Most of them are from our Autumn stay in Colorado, which was so picture-worthy that it is no wonder I'm still blogging about it.

 

 

On one of our mountain drives with our son, we stopped in downtown Ouray.  There is a beautiful koi pond (actually kind of a man-made canal and pond) at the town park.   It was a fun place for a rest-stop.

 

 

Ouray is a charming mountain town that looks like a toy village from the viewpoint above.  The town nestles at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, not too far away from where our son and daughter-in-law live.   

On another day we visited a city park  on land that was donated to the town of Ridgway by the family of Dennis Weaver (Chester in the long-running western series "Gunsmoke" for those old enough to remember.)  The Weaver family had a home in the area.

 

I believe the sculpture below was meant as a memorial to Dennis Weaver.   As the sign says it is a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle.  

 

The Mountain and the sky are real.  But the Eagle is NOT the real thing!  

It really is quite a nice depiction of a soaring Eagle.  And I think the pictures look like it could be a real bird taken with a good zoom lens!  It would be a sub-adult because in the bright Colorado afternoon light, the white head didn't show up well.  If  I were at all inclined to cheat, it sure would be tempting to say I'd finally taken some good flight pictures!!    (But I wouldn't do that. )    By contrast, below are the best flight shots I've ever gotten of the real thing:   

 

 These were from "our" Eagle nest (the one here in Fort Myers Florida) in 2018, the year I stopped by the nest on the very day that one of the Eaglets of that season took its final flight away from the nest.  

 

And finally, one more picture which has nothing to do with anything at all that I've blogged about recently, but that I saved just because:

 

This handsome fellow belongs to a man who helps out at the property where we store our boat while we're away.  He was keeping a close eye on us when we went to bring the boat home last Winter.     Isn't that mask great?  Unsurprisingly, his owner called him "Bandit."  Definitely one of the most interesting random cats I've ever seen!  

 

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An Eagle Adventure

 

The supermarket across the street from the Eagle Pasture isn't my favorite one, but sometimes I do our shopping there there just to have an excuse to check up on the Eagle family first.     Last week, I  stumbled on a bit of unexpected action  when I stopped by.    The picture just below, though, is actually the end of the story.
 

 

But it's a clearer picture than the action shots are, so it gets pride of place.  This is Harriet, who along with her partner has almost completed raising two eaglets this season.  The "babies" are now almost as big as their parents.  They are their 19th and 20th offspring since the SW Florida Eagle WebCam has been in place.  

 It had been a couple of weeks at least  since I'd stopped by,  so when I saw a young eagle  perched up above the nest, I  thought it was one of the two.   

(All pictures can be enlarged by double clicking on them.) 

I wasn't too surprised, because I knew from the WebCam that they had started to make short hop flights out of their nest.  

 

 

But then as I focused on the nest, I saw two heads peeking up.  What???   In the picture above are both E-19 and E-20 in the nest and the one who does not belong  perched up above.  A lady who is almost always at the nest taking pictures told me that the sub-adult visitor had flown in a little earlier.  She thought it was probably hoping to cadge something to eat when the parent eagles returned to the nest with food.  

 

 

Suddenly as I focused on the nest, one of "our" nestlings flew straight up to the branch where the visitor was perched.  There were lots of peeps from both and from the baby still in the nest!   (And some low worried murmurs  from the humans watching from below.

 

 

In the picture above you can see a little of the confrontation while the second eaglet watches from a safe spot in the nest.    The  other people there thought the brave Eaglet was E-20, the youngest of our two.   Although I have no idea how anyone could tell them apart.

  I pretty much lost the thread with the camera at that point.  

 

 

 

Actually, I am surprised I got as much of the action as I did, because usually when anything like that happens, I get excited and forget  that I'm taking pictures.   This time, it was only a few minutes and there was no violence, just a lot of noise and flapping.   The visitor apparently decided he wasn't wanted and he flew away.   E-20 flew back to the nest branch.  Job well done!

 

 

(S)he sat on the nest looking proud -- and that was when Harriet (Mom) flew in from across the pasture to land on the branch above.   I wonder if she had been keeping an eye on things from wherever she was, just to see if her youngsters could figure out how to handle an intruder by themselves.  

She did not bring any food or reward at all!  

It won't be much longer until the Eagle Pair are literally empty-nesters!

I'm pretty sure everyone  can be divided in two about my little adventure story.  Half (at least) will say "Oh, lady, get a life."  The other people will say "I probably would have enjoyed seeing that."   No doubt about it for me -- I thoroughly enjoyed my hour or so with the Eagles  and went on across the street to the supermarket feeling like it had been a very good start to the day. 

 

Sky-shots taken right here at home. 

So many reasons to be grateful.

 

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IT'S SPRING

 

Today it  is officially Spring!

 

Here in SW Florida, we don't  see the usual flowers that early Spring brings to much of this hemisphere.  Our Spring gold is not fields of daffodils but this flowering tree that blossoms beautifully for at least a few days this time of year.  (As with the flowering cherry trees elsewhere in the country, even a light wind can strip the beautiful flowers pretty quickly.)  

 

 

So far, most of the blossoms are still on the branches!  

 

Ibis in Spring breeding colors stroll around the lawn here at the Park.  I counted at least 20 on this particular evening walk.  

 

It's called either a yellow Jacaranda tree or a  yellow trumpet tree , depending on which Google Image site you believe.   

 

 

This guy stopped to stare at me on his way up the tree trunk.  

As the World Turns! 

Thursday evening I took pictures of the almost full moon from our back porch looking East across the Canal   -- the next day, early morning moonlight shining right through the window  blind woke us up.  (Our bedroom is on the West side of the house.)    We never know what will await us in the morning here.  Mocking birds, fish-crows,  mourning doves, woodpeckers, or (now) morning moonlight have all served as our alarm clock.  All of them start the day off with a smile.    So much better than the kind of alarm you have to set the night before.   

Here's a golden memory from last March, when we were in Oregon:

 

Thankful for Spring, wherever we are.  

 

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EXTRAS from the archives

We stayed at home all week  mostly working on our home improvement project (or watching others work).  The room conversion is progressing well.  On Saturday we waited through a storm warning that happily didn't amount to much at all.   The wind blew all morning  and it rained hard for a couple of hours.   Wouldn't have wanted to be out in a boat or walking in the swamp, but not a problem snuggled in the house.    Temperatures dropped last night to the mid-30s, the coldest it's been here all season.    What a strange day  -- we had the A/C on in the morning  and  heat in the evening.   All that in addition to  the time change this morning and I am no longer  even sure what day, what time, or what season it is.   

The pictures are from the archives.  Mostly last week's walk at the Bird Rookery.   I found a picture that definitely identified the Egrets we saw in the trees:

  

 

 I overlooked this picture  when I put last week's post together.  The yellow feet and yellow around the eye both show up well here.  Both are definite ID markers for the Snowy Egret.  

 

 

We spent some time trying to imagine which bird could have built this odd looking nest.  Then we  walked just a few yards further and  found a sign explaining it  was something else entirely:

 

 

Click to enlarge for the fuller explanation, but it is called a "Witches Broom" and is a tree mutation usually carried by sap-sucking insects.  

 

 

This grove had good examples of pink and white lichen.    I used to worry when I saw these spots on tree trunks, since they look like  patches of paint on the trunks.  But they are lichens -- a combination of an algae which produces food and a fungus which provides physical support.   Mostly we see white, but they can also be green, gray or pink.    They do not harm their tree and are actually an indication of a healthy forest.

 

 

Another Tri-Colored Heron at the foot of some nice old cypress trees and newer cypress knees.    Since we mostly stayed home this past week, I'm especially grateful for all the picture opportunities from our hike the week before.  You've gotta' love a walk like this one that gives you enough nature to last at least a couple of weeks for blog photos (and even longer in memories).    

Sunflowers have been much in the news lately.  Here is a bouquet from our archives:   

  HOPE

 

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Bird Rookery Swamp

We drove to the CREW Bird Rookery on a beautiful blue-sky day last week. 

 

 

We couldn't have had a better day for a nature walk.  Perfect walking temperature, not too hot, not too bright .... and lots and lots of birds.   There can never be too many birds.

 

?

There were birds in trees.  

(I would have guessed this was a snowy egret but I couldn't see the yellow feet.  So maybe an immature great blue heron?  Or ???)

 

Cormorant, snowy egret .... 

Different species shared the same branches.  I always like to see this.

 

Wood Stork

Storks shared the same trees, but the other birds gave them more room.  They're pretty big compared to everybody else.  

And then there were birds in the water:

 

Snowy Egret (I think) and Immature Ibis

 

 

And there were Great Egrets everywhere. 

Including the one in the center photo who owned that path and was not afraid to let everyone know it.  He walked back and forth several times while the humans who were using his path waited patiently on both sides.   That beautiful green color around the eye is part of the bird's  breeding plumage.

 

 Tri-colored Heron

And  there were other birds in the wetlands.   

We used to see Great Blue Herons all the time but the Tri-Colored seems to be more common this season.  I think I've seen at least one on every nature walk we've taken.    

And then there were the other guys -- more than a few sightings of wingless wildlife:  

 

Hard-shelled turtle, soft-shelled turtle, and  ... Ta-Da:

Our first Alligator of the season  (you know I have to do it!).  Doesn't he look happy?

We are grateful to CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed) Land and Water Trust for what they do to save  some spaces in our State for earth and wildlife --  and for making parts of it available for the rest of us to visit.   Click to enlarge the informational poster below:

 

 

... and then look at that map on the right.   So many places to explore.  Thank you CREW!  

 

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In the Jungle

 

In the jungle, the urban jungle ...

 

  the monster sleeps tonight 

 

 

You never know what you might find in the jungle.  But things aren't always what they seem, especially when seen through a zoom lens.  Here's the way the monster (an anole lizard) looked with the naked eye.

 

 

 Points if you can identify the acrobatic bird in the first picture (or if you can even tell it IS a bird).  More points if you even see the bird in the center picture.  (Against the jungle background, the anhinga's wings look disembodied.)  

                  
                         

 The same heron as in the collage above -- in a more normal (and more attractive) pose.

 

 

Waterways wind through the jungle.

 

Common Galllinule (Moorhen)

There were several moorhens, but they all refused to turn around for me.   I did like this picture because it shows its weird feet.  I've heard a lot of people call this bird a "duck", but  those feet prove otherwise.      Yes, it's a swimming bird.   But not a duck!   Things are not always what they seem.

 

 

And this whole post is really not what it seems ... this jungle is really part of a County Park, within the city limits of Fort Myers.  And within sight of these condo towers.  All pictures were taken on a walk at Lakes Park -- another  nature fix on a run-of-the-mill errand day.  

 

 

Ending with another beautiful SW Florida sunrise (from our backdoor).  Grateful for the daily reminder that every day is a new beginning.

 

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

 

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

 

Nearby Nature

 

 

 

It's a pretty sure bet that everyone who sees this post already believes, as I do,  that spending time in nature pays huge benefits.   But it's always nice to know that the experts agree with us!  So I loved seeing this beautiful BBC Earth video and wanted to share it.   Even better,  studies show that just watching nature on a screen will significantly boost your happiness.  Here's the link to our happy place video:

"Appreciate the outdoors!  Studies show that spending time in nature--or even just watching it on a screen -- will significantly boost your happiness. (Click here to learn more)"

Watching it on a screen might be the only option for those of you "up North" as we Floridians say.       Our weather is of course Florida good, but for other reasons we haven't gotten too far away from home lately.  It is OK though, because we are lucky to be able to spend time in real-life nature right here in our neighborhood and we're grateful.  (But I still enjoyed that video!)

 

 

Above is from my latest grocery-trip stop at the Eagle pasture.  The two eaglets have reached the awkward pre-teen sort of phrase -- they are getting big (and, to be honest, are no longer baby cute).  Harriet and her partner continue to teach them the many skills they will need.  I caught one of  the "babies"  peeking over the edge of the nest, perhaps thinking about the big wide world out there beyond home.    (The more you watch this family, the more difficult it becomes not to anthropomorphize.)

One day last week I walked a path  behind our Library and a County recreation center, not too far down the street from where the eagles live.    There's a small retention pond -- very small compared to all the watery places in this area -- but big enough for this Tri-Colored Heron:

 

 At least that is what I think hope am fairly sure that this  is.   But more than willing to learn differently if I'm wrong.  

 

 

The pond is just sitting there behind a Frisbee Golf Course and near the tennis and pickleball court.   The Rec Center doesn't even advertise nature walking, my favorite leisure activity.  But the possibilities are there anyway.

 

I  stood there for quite a while waiting to see if any other birds would appear.  They didn't, but this one kept busy and on the move.  

 

 

There were several very large turtles on the other side of the pond.  Something apparently scared them and they all slid into the water at once.   (Or maybe it was just bath time.)  

 

Most of them climbed back out while I was still watching.

Last Sunday morning, we drove a few miles up the highway for a friend's birthday luncheon.  We were too early, so we went a ways further -- that particular stretch of the highway is one where we always see birds and on this day we even found a couple of safe places to pull off.   

 

Wood Storks

It's not a very scenic place to hang out, but these Wood Storks didn't seem to mind.  I couldn't see it, but there must have been some water in that ditch.  It worries me a little that the birds  would choose a place like this when there are better spots to live.  But who knows how storks think?  (There were about ten storks hanging out in the general area.)  We must also have seen at least a hundred cattle egrets in the pastures as we drove.  Then, a little further up the road, we spotted the large clean-up crew seen below.  These guys do a good job of what they are supposed to do, so I took a picture or two, even though they are even less beautiful than the storks: 

 

Black Vultures

I don't really want to know what else was down there in that part of the roadside ditch.  That's really all I have for this post, but I can't end on this note, so here is  a little more natural beauty taken from the end of our canal (right here at home): 

 

Grateful for ordinary days!

 

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

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Beautiful Beginning

 

Here's a look at last week's sunrise  from our dock:

 

 We had a couple weeks of "Winter weather" in Florida, but it seems to be over for now.    Days are warm and sunny.

 

 

On the same morning, just a few steps away from the Cottage, this red-bellied woodpecker was doing his best to make sure the neighborhood was awake.    Next is a picture of what's keeping us close to home these days.

 

The multi-talented travel planner in the family is wearing another hat these days as he adds a new bathroom to a corner of the Cottage.  Photographs are to show him where the infrastructure is located when he needs to know after the walls are finished.  I'm including just this one picture for our own memories.   The rest of these pictures are follow-up from a nature walk the week before last.

 Hickey Creek Park is a mitigation park originally established to protect the endangered Florida Gopher Tortoise.   

 

 

Environmental mitigation is an attempt to offset the detrimental impacts of development on native plants and animals.  The land for this park was purchased through a conservation trust.  Usually, a walk in this park  is a serene almost jungle-like experience (but with established trails).  And indeed, most of the time last week it was exactly that.   Except for a while during the first portion.

 

I knew there had been a prescribed burn early in November.  This sign at the entrance explained the benefits of the burn.  One section says that the burn reduces overgrown vegetation, resulting in a more open landscape, including for keystone species like the gopher tortoise.  It says the burn will increase soil fertility and vegetation re-growth.    Controlled burns also reduce wildfire danger by reducing overgrown vegetation.  Controlled burns mimic the natural process that existed  before population growth required them to be suppressed.    I understand all this and I'm glad it happened.  But even so  ...

 

 

 

 ...   I almost turned around and gave up on my walk before it really even started, because this is what it still looked like almost three months after the burn.   I was glad to read that the fire had been monitored closely by trained burn professionals, because it is scary to think of it being out of control.    

It seemed like longer than it was as I walked past the burned area before again seeing the beautiful woodsy landscapes that I remembered from other years.

 

Here's one more beautiful morning from our dock:  

 Winter morning, Florida style.   

Thankful for good weather and beautiful views, even when we don't really go anywhere.

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An Errand Day walkabout

 I  headed off for the Farmer's Market one day last week because I was missing a couple of ingredients for a recipe.

 

 

It was  sunny but not too hot.  A good day for a walk-about and it was early enough.   So I drove right past the Farmer's Market and  on to Hickey Creek  Park. 

 

 

This county park has over 800 acres of preserved land and includes pine and scrub flatwoods, marshes, swamps, and  palm and oak forests.   Even staying on the walking paths, it feels like hiking in a jungle.   Hickey Creek Park is less well-known and much quieter than some of the other nature parks in this area.  I like it that way.     I walked an hour or so.

 

 

As I turned the car around I realized that while I'd enjoyed the quiet jungle, I hadn't been able to photograph any birds.  So I decided to stop at Franklin Locks Park, where I'd be sure to see at least the usual suspects.   And that was all I did get pictures of -- nothing special, but fun to watch on an ordinary errand day.    Next stop finally was the Farmer's Market -- the  real reason I was out and about.

 

There's an enclosure for a few farm animals.   There to entertain children and photographers.  What is it about goats?   Especially miniature ones.   I can't walk past them without taking a few pictures.   This mama didn't look old enough for all that responsibility.   

 

 

 

 The Market sells a few starters and potted plants -- almost as good as visiting a nursery for photo ops.   And then it was inside the barn-like structure for the whole reason I was out and about on that lovely day:**

 

 

On that day, I really wanted to make a watermelon/cherry tomato salad.  Both of those major ingredients are in season here right  now.   I swear we go through a ton of these little beauties a week.      

The walk was great, I got some pictures, dinner was delicious.  We are grateful.  

 

**  These pictures were all taken  Wednesday.  Friday and Saturday nights our temperatures dipped into the mid-30s, so I have to hope that flowers and fruit (and birds and beasts) all survived the Florida winter weather.  (Which I don't even like to complain about, because it's so much better than so many places.  And the sun is still shining.)

 

LINKING to the following, with thanks 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;

 

CYPRESS DOME TRAIL

 

 

 

Real  moon and fake stars (fairy lights) from our screen porch

(Last Sunday)

It was cooler last week with some rainy days, but no more bad storms.   There are home improvement projects going on here so the rain is OK and so is the cooler (for here) weather.

But we chose a sunny day on Friday for a short hike  on the Cypress Dome Trail, part of the CREW Watershed.   It's a few miles from home, well out of my comfort zone for driving through city traffic, so I was happy that Bill (who is  the one actually doing the home-improving)  was willing to take the time.

 

 

The particular trail we walked was part of the CREW Caracara Preserve.    It was an interesting area --   a mixture of palms, palmettos, and hardwoods surrounding prairie-type lands.  

 

 

 

It was a perfect day for being outside. We saw a couple of woodpeckers and  spent a few minutes watching a murder of crows chasing a couple of much larger hawks, but no Caracaras.    So no good sightings of the bird the preserve is named for,  but also no sightings of the Florida Panthers or bears for which this is also a habitat.          

 

 

 

We did see panther tracks though!!  You could see where the big cat had been bounding along the trail we were on.   I would really love to see a panther in the wild, but would just as soon be in a car or shelter of some kind when I do.   

 

 

CREW stands for Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed  and the CREW Land and Water Trust is a private non-profit conservation organization dedicated to preserving wildlife as well as the watershed.   The organization maintains public trails and some camp spots in several different areas in Collier County.   We hope to visit more of them this season.

Although we didn't see Caracaras on this day, we have seen them a few times in other places in Florida.  Here is one of my archived photos:

 

The Crested Caracara is Mexico's national bird.  (Some people call it the Mexican Eagle.)  It is a raptor with a face that looks like a parrot.  In the USA it is seen only near the Mexican border and in Florida. 

 

Grateful for the work of CREW and happy that they open the trails to the public.    

 

Linking this week 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;

 

Winter in the (not always) sun

 

Sunny Saturday -- 75 degrees F in the neighborhood and hardly a cloud in the blue sky.    But then  on Sunday ....  We were actually under a tornado alert for a couple of hours.  The picture on the right was taken this morning from our covered porch after it was safe to go outside.     Our phones buzzed the warning at 8 a.m. and continued every half hour until 9:30.    We had no damages in our immediate neighborhood  -- just a dark morning with lots of wind and hard rain.   Other parts of our area were not as lucky, but as of right now I don't believe there were any fatalities or serious injuries.

 

Harriet guarding her home

 

I stopped by the Eagle Pasture on Saturday.    Our neighborhood pair are raising two eaglets this season.   As always,  the very popular SW Florida Eagles nest cams shows way more than any picture from the ground can.    But I like to stop by a few times during the season just for fun and maybe for bragging rights.   The pasture is really close to our Cottage and just off the main road we travel for everyday errands.   It's fun to know that people from all over the world are watching the nest and we can easily be there in person.     I just checked the webcam and Harriet is feeding her babies.  The rain and wind obviously didn't bother them a bit.  And besides that the sun is shining again now.  Weather is changeable here.

 

This is one of the other residents of the Eagle Pasture -- one that you won't see on the Eagle Cam.   There are always at least half a dozen horses within camera range and they are often followed around by  cattle egrets. 

 

 

I always like to include an un-zoomed picture of the Eagle tree,  just to show how far away the fence is.  The eagle family is safe. 

  

Here is a link to the webcam.  You have to put up with some ads but after clicking on the video they go away.

 

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

NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;   SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

 

 

 

Winter in the Sun

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Counting our blessings as we enjoy Winter in the sunshine.

 

 White Pelicans, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel

Unlike these pelicans, we're still trying to maintain some social distancing, which is a little harder to do here than at home in Oregon.  But fortunately the real Florida -- the natural places -- are easy to access and they feel safe.    These pictures are from some we've visited over the past couple of weeks.

 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Ding Darling 

Sanibel is a little bit of a distance from the Canal Cottage, but it's a lovely island and the Wildlife Refuge alone is well worth it.   There is a one-way wildlife drive with places to park and some walking paths.  We also saw a lot of birds we didn't get pictures of  including Roseate Spoonbills, shorebirds, ospreys, and the usual egrets and herons.   

 

Ibis under Cypress Tree, Franklin Locks Park

Franklin Locks is an easy neighborhood drive.  The park is well-maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers  with paths and views of the Caloosahatchie River and boat lock.  It's less "wild" than some of the other places I like to walk,  but the ease of access makes it worthwhile.    Traffic in this area this time of year is very heavy and access to Franklin Locks is along  familiar and relatively lightly traveled streets, so it is a comfortable fit.

 

Sky Reflections (Six Mile Cypress and Manatee Park)

Watching the sky by looking down is almost a Zen thing for me.   But you can do that just about anywhere around here.  You only need  water, blue sky and fluffy clouds --   all are in good supply.

 

Florida Snow (Richardia grandiflora) seen everywhere here 

This feels a bit like rubbing it in while everybody everywhere else is dealing with the real white stuff.  But that really is what this tiny little wildflower/weed  is called.  It blooms here in late Fall and early winter and blankets just about every grassy area.  (I think it's probably called a weed by anyone who wants a perfect lawn, but a pretty little wildflower by the rest of us.)  

 

Manatee Park, Fort Myers (with an old photo at the lower right)

 

Manatee Park is another neighborhood destination.  As  the name implies it is a hangout for these awe-inspiring water-dwelling mammals.   When the water in the Gulf is too cold, they hang out here because the water is warmed by a nearby power plant.   Their closest living relative is the elephant and they can get just about as big as one.  But it is very hard to get a good picture because they only surface for a few seconds every five or six minutes.  And of course when one does surface it will be nowhere near where it was first spotted.    So I threw in the bottom right photo from a long time ago (and from a different place in SW Florida) because it is the only one I've ever taken that actually shows its face.

 

Babcock Ranch  

 

Grateful for wildlife, sky, water,  winter color -- and warm toes.

 

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; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

Bonus Week

 

The days between Christmas and New Year's have always seemed like a bonus at the end of the year.    And especially so when that week starts on a Sunday. 

 

 

So I'll be using the bonus either to catch up or to relax completely -- one or the other.  Haven't decided which.  Back next year! 

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Welcome Back to the Slough

 I missed visiting Six-Mile Cypress Slough last year.  It's one of my favorite natural places.  Follow along on my first walk of this season.  

 

 

Sometimes I wish this sign were portable so that I could take it with me wherever I go.   Not always -- but sometimes.

 

 

It's the end of the rainy season here and there was still water in the slough.  And beautiful greens as a result.    

 

 

Dozens of songbirds flitted around on one branch of the trail -- they were loving the berries or seed pods on these trees  in particular.   I sat on a bench for a while and watched the feeding frenzy.  Most of my pictures are of places where the birds used to be. But there's a glimpse or two of a downy woodpecker.   

 

 

I don't know what this little one is, but it did stop long enough to show a  face.    (The photo is highly cropped -- I really wasn't close at all.)  Addendum:  My knowledgeable blog friend Sondra (her blog is here) identified my bird:  It is a female Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.  Thank you Sondra. 

 

 

Cypress trees love the water -- they literally grow in it.   Hard to tell which are the trees and which are the reflections.

 

 

Creatures of the slough.  (Cypress knees.)

 

 

Six-Mile is a good place to sky watch --  looking down or up.

 

 

 

Grateful for beautiful walks....   

 

and for the magic of the rainy season.

 

LINKING this week to these 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;

 

 

 

CROSS-COUNTRY ROADTRIP, part 2

 

Going back in time today (not even quite two months, but it seems longer).  Here's a collage to set the mood:

 

ROAD-TRIP!!

Yes, finishing up our cross-country road-trip from Oregon to Florida.        The pictures above are all from the car window shots  (some are from the first part of the trip, before our stop in Colorado.)    The one at the top left was on the back of a  truck that we had to follow for miles  in spite of the instruction not to do so!   It doesn't take a lot to make me laugh when we're road-tripping, but I thought that was funny.     We were waiting for a pilot car to take us through a construction zone convoy and this truck was right in front of us the whole time, while we waited and while we drove the gauntlet.       

You can scroll back  a few posts to see more about the first part of our journey and about our stay in Colorado, where we spent the most time with the nicest people and where we saw the best Fall scenery.  The collage below  shows the difference in terrain between Colorado and neighboring New Mexico.   

 

 

We like to stay off the freeways as much as possible and for almost the entire trip we were able to do that.  We like to think about the people who live in the small  towns we pass through and wonder what their lives are like.   The terrain and landscapes along the way are different and every town is unique in some way -- not at all like off-the-freeway stops which are the same everywhere.  

Once out of Colorado we spent a couple of nights in western New Mexico without unhooking the tiny trailer -- The first night we stayed in Bloomfield New Mexico which is near or perhaps on the Apache Reservation.   We have explored this history-rich area on previous trips.   

 

Then we spent a few days near Socorro NM, hoping to see the Autumn flyover of snow geese and cranes.    We have been there to see this twice in previous years but sadly this time we were too early and barely saw a bird.      

 

 

There was good sky-watching and good eating.  Even though we cooked almost all of our meals in the trailer, we did venture out to a nearby restaurant that is famous for its green chile burgers, because it wouldn't be a visit to the area without that.  

  Without the birds  though there really isn't a whole lot to see  so we moved on down the road.   

  

 

But we took a little New Mexico with us!   Green Chile sauce was the most common condiment in grocery stores here.   I include this unpaid advertising because it shows how much you can learn about an area by shopping for groceries.  For us that's one of the fun parts of RV travel.   

Mostly as a memory aid for myself, I am including the names of all of the places where we spent a night on this trip.   We spent two more nights in New Mexico after leaving Socorro.  We travel in a leisurely fashion!  In New Mexico, we stayed in Bloomfield, Pie Town, Socorro, Fort Sumnter, and Clovis.  

 

We drove right through Texas (well this part of it anyway ) with our only stop being to grab a few pictures  of this small town's signs which I loved.   We were driving through cotton country.   This was the only state we drove in without spending at least one night (and without spending any money at all).   We were in Oklahoma by our first night after New Mexico. 

 

By the Lake RV Park Ardmore Oklahoma 

We stopped for groceries  at  the Choctaw Country Market in Clayton Oklahoma.    We had been driving through the Choctaw Reservation which we found so interesting.   At the top the receipt from the store says "Halito ((Hi).  I'm Ashley" ... and at the bottom "Yakoke (Thank you) for Shopping With Us."    So now we know two words in the Choctaw language.     Tribal Nations are sovereign governments, so as we traveled without leaving the United States, we had actually also been in a couple of different Nations within the last few days.   (The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Apache Nation in New Mexico).  

In Oklahoma, we stayed in Altus, Ardmore, and Clayton.

 

Eastern Bluebird

We spent a couple of nights in Arkansas and I finally got a picture of a bird!    I really took very few pictures on this whole part of the trip -- partly because we were still on a scenery high from our Colorado Autumn (and nothing is as picture-worthy) and partly because after Socorro we didn't spend a lot of time exploring outside of the RV Parks where we stayed.  

In Arkansas, we stayed at Mena and Lake Village. 

Mena Arkansas

 I'm not sure what  the RV Park manager meant to convey with the Truth sign on this decorated pickup but by this point in the trip, our truth was that we were eager to get back to the Canal Cottage.  We had three more days on the road after Arkansas, but we arrived home with four more days of October to spare.     

We stayed in Marion Mississippi, Dothan Alabama, and Alachua near the center of Florida

 

It was good to be home.

We are thankful that we both enjoy traveling by RV and that we have the time to travel in a leisurely fashion.  We were happy to find good RV Parks all along the way (no bad experiences at all), and grateful that people we saw in those parks and almost everywhere we stopped to buy food and fuel were following Covid-safe common-sense precautions.    (And grateful that the same thing is true here at home in Florida).  

 

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

 

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;

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING AROUND at the Canal Cottage ... and elsewhere

 

This one is elsewhere -- seen on one of the Colorado backroads we recently explored with our kids:

 

 

I can get lost in a large closet, so I love my GPS.  But I  would know better than to use it on a backroad.  And better yet, I know smart people who do have a good sense of direction who are happy to take me along when they drive them!   

Here are a couple of places where even I don't need a GPS:

 

Morning on the Canal

 

Rise and Shine

Both the above pictures were taken  across the Canal from the Cottage on my morning walk.   I've taken similar pictures for years, but this great start to the day never gets old.

And below, a little further away from home, are pictures from  Franklin Locks Park  where I walked one day last week.    This park is just a bit past our current favorite Farmer's Market,  so the car pretty much knows the way all by itself!

 

 

Ibis along the edge of the river, taken from the pedestrian bridge at the Lock.  And below is my Bird of the Week, the Northern Shrike,  perched on a fence at the edge of the Park:  

 

 

At least that's what I hope it is as it seems to match the description in my books.   Even if I'm wrong he is still my bird of the week just because he posed so politely for me.    

 

Grateful for ordinary days!  

 

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;

 

LAST WEEK AROUND THE CANAL COTTAGE ...

 

 

Florida Blues (in late November!) including my nemesis bird, the Kingfisher.  We see these birds fairly often, but  they usually  fly away as soon as I even think "camera".   So I'll take their picture any way I can, even this one, a too-far away shot through the car window.  

 

 The only other living creature I got a picture of last week.  (Well, two pictures -- one after he had enough posing).  We stopped in the road to let this guy cross to a runoff canal beside the road.  

Here are some of my better efforts:  

 We made a photo gallery wall in the Canal Cottage from pictures I've taken over several years.    The idea was Geoff's and the framed pictures were a gift from him and Lisa.

Bill hung them (I told him we should never move, because this wall is perfect.)   It's really just one long wall with the burrowing owl in the center.   I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole wall in one shot.  

 

If they look the least bit crooked, it is because of the pictures I took of the wall.  They really do look perfect in real life.

 

Grateful for the memories and hopeful (almost certain) that we will get some more good birding opportunities this season.

 

Thank you 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;

 

 

FLOR-ORADO - two favorite places

Here's the nature walk of the week here in Florida.   These pictures are from Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford,  in the Northeast corner of Collier County.     We  had some rain last week, but on this day, the sky was blue and it was shirt-sleeve weather.

 

Lake Trafford

Lake Trafford is about a 45 minute drive from home and we had to drive about half that distance in order to return a couple of  packages.  When we got to the UPS facility, we found that the Internet in that part of Fort Myers was down and  we were unable to make our returns that day.  So we did some accidental birding -- something that's not at all hard to do around here.    Little Blue Herons and Ibis are both fairly ordinary birds here, but these are the first ones of the season.  Actually of two seasons, since we weren't here last year  and neither of these guys hang out in the Pacific Northwest.                                                     

Like its title, this post is a mashup of two of our favorite scenic states.  The following pictures are from last month's visit to Colorado.

 

 

Aspen trees make wonderful photo ops, whether a picture is a golden stand in the distance or a close-up showing the thin white outer bark, so different from other deciduous trees.   And they are a fascinating tree.     "One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism.   A stand or group of aspen trees is considered a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system."  This Source article is well worth reading :  National Forest Service Tree Profile.

 

Debbie's Meadow and Chimney Rock

We went along for Max's walk at Debbie's Meadow one day.   We had a good view of Chimney Rock.  Scenes from the original "True Grit'" movie were filmed here.  And  although I'm not much of a John Wayne fan, of course now I want to watch the movie again because I don't remember any of this. 

  

 

On another day Geoff drove us over a Jeep trail to the ski resort city of Telluride.  It was a beautiful drive and not anywhere near as scary as the sign makes it sound.   We trusted our driver!   It was on this drive where I took many of the scenic pictures from the past couple of posts.  We  enjoyed a good lunch and a walk around Telluride, which wasn't too busy during this off-season time of the year.  (I don't imagine we would have been driving that back road if it had been ski season.)

 

It was almost impossible to stop taking pictures of Colorado gold!   We were so lucky to be there at just the right time.   But November is a pretty nice time to be in Florida and we're glad to be home.   The picture below was taken a couple nights ago from our back porch. It's not the best moon shot ever, not even the best one I've ever taken.  But like the birds in the top photo, it's the first one of the season.  And we don't have  good moon views from our porch in Oregon.

 

                    

We are grateful.

 

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;  WANDERING CAMERA ; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS

THE ROADTRIP, Part 1

People often ask how long it takes us to drive across the country and it's  hard to answer.  We tend to wander and stop whenever we feel like it.  This time, we covered 4,680 miles and the trip took us almost exactly a month.  About one fourth of that mileage was "side-trips" when the trailer was unhooked and parked in an RV Park.  But we didn't do as much of that as we used to.  Almost all of our day-trip explorations were while we stayed in Colorado -- and we didn't use our car there one single time because our hosts drove everywhere.  

We left our Oregon home the last week in September.   The pictures in the mosaic below are from the week or two before we left.  The top row pictures are from a walk we took along the middle fork of the Willamette River.  That  Juvenile Robin  looks more like Spring than it does the end of September.

 

 

 

The weather was still like summer even though our favorite farm market was displaying the requisite Autumn pumpkins.   And the blue sky was taken in back of our daughter's a few days before we left -- we were packing up the trailer getting ready to go.  (Well, somebody was.  I was taking pictures obviously).     October's usually beautiful in our part of Oregon too and so part of me felt like it was kind of early to leave.   But of course on the day we were actually ready to  hook that trailer up and hit the road it began to rain, and it didn't stop all morning.

 

It was too wet to take pictures, but here's a quick one that encompasses both the sad and happy reasons to head South.   Our daughter and her youngest grand-child (and our youngest great-grand) braved the rain to run out to the barn for one last good-bye.  (Miss Harper was unimpressed with us, but apparently happy to be warm and dry inside Grandma's barn-coat.)  Harper's older brother, who is two, cried when we said goodbye earlier.  All summer, he had enjoyed watching  his Great-Grandpa work  whenever they happened to be at Cyndi and Jeff's house at the same time.    We will miss everyone ..  that is the downside to our love of travel.  

But rain or shine and after all the goodbyes, we did finally get on the road again.  

 

 

It's a long lonesome road to Burns in Eastern Oregon  -- way out yonder pardner.  Those signs are from the RV Park where we stayed .  It took us a couple of days to get out of our home State -- we don't rush things.

More of the same on the next couple of days as we traveled through Nevada --  except not even any interesting RV Park pictures.  We stayed in Winnemucca and Ely.    But the scenery definitely improved soon after we crossed the Stateline into Utah.

  

On the first of October, we spent the night in Green River State Park .  The picture above and in the collage below are from that day's drive.  It was a stunning scenic tour of a day.

 

 

We were getting anxious to get to Colorado to see our family there and so we didn't spend as much time in the Green River area as it deserved.  But there were quite a few quick photo-stops. 

We already knew we'd have beautiful scenery in the next State too, plus good company!    We were both so happy to get to  Ridgway the next day.    Below is a picture of our Colorado family (although it was taken days later, not the minute we arrived):

 

 

And another shot  in (or near) their new "backyard":

 

 

 Colorado wasn't actually halfway on our roadtrip -- it was only the end of the shorter half!  But it was our first and only planned stop.  As we'd hoped, we arrived  at exactly the right time for its famous Autumn color.    Beautiful Fall and no snow yet.  That's perfection.   

More beautiful Colorado scenery and the longer half of the roadtrip still to come along with some getting reaquainted with Florida shots.

Thankful for family and safe and scenic travels.

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to all of 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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE ARE STILL HERE!

In Blogland, we've been away for awhile  ...

 

 

 but in real life we're still here on earth.  

Happily, we're now at home, getting re-acquainted with our little corner of the world here on the Caloosahatchie River in Florida.    But that's  not where I took the above photo.  I did the familiar "stop,  gotta get a picture" yell as we passed through Earth, Texas -- really just a rather run-down wide spot in the road  -- on the second leg of our cross-country trip.  (The sign was the only photo-worthy part of the town.)    

All of the rest of the pictures in today's post are from Colorado -- our favorite stop on our trip.   

 

The Autumn color was a feast for the eyes and the company was wonderful as always in beautiful Colorado.  We visited our son and daughter-in-law in a  part of the state that was new to us -- Lisa and Geoff  had moved into a brand-new home, on the Western side of the Rockies, just a couple of months earlier.     We really enjoyed our stay -- we always have such a good visit and it was fun to explore new territory.     The gorgeous scenery was a huge bonus -- the State really lives up to the motto "colorful Colorado" this time of year.  

 

 

I'm not ready to post about the whole trip in any kind of chronological order yet  (pictures to label and sort and real-life getting organized still going on here).  Above are some more Colorado pictures featuring blue skies and more golden Aspens.  (And our youngest son getting very close to the edge of a cliff.)  By this time in my life, he didn't even scare me too much.     

 

Gunnison Sage Grouse

 

 An "accidental  sighting " on one of our exploring days.   I wasn't even looking for birds, but this one practically asked me to take its picture.

 

Ouray County, Colorado

More to come from Oregon, Colorado, Florida and points in between.   

 

 

  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;

 

 

 

 

OLD FAVORITES

It's kind of in-between seasons here in the Eugene area.  Too late for summer and too early for Fall color.  And no wildlife sightings.  I took not a single outdoor picture last week.   In fact, I took no pictures at all anywhere.   That really doesn't happen too often in our world!  But thankfully there are memories to share as we get ready to make some new ones.

 

Autumn Flyover - Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes  - New Mexico, 2006

This was our second visit to the amazing Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

 

Last week,  I didn't have any pictures to link to Skywatch Friday nor anything to link to Saturday Critters,  so this post is definitely trying to make up for those omissions.   As always I appreciate the hosts of all the sharing opportunities.

 

Immature Little Blue Heron and Roseate Spoonbill

Corkscrew Audubon Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Corkscrew is just enough out-of-the-way from our Florida Canal Cottage that we don't go there regularly, but it is always a joy when we do.    It's definitely on the list for next time.

 

Colorado

Feeding Moose, Mountain Goat, and Elk in or near Rocky Mountain National Park

Pictures are from three different visits.  Our Colorado family has moved to another area of that beautiful state and we are excited to see them and learn more about the new area.    I'm sure the camera will come out of hiding there if not before!  

So yes, we are  planning to hitch up soon and head off for a (still) socially-distanced and masked road-trip.   We always enjoy the journey but  also look forward to visits with other people we know are vaccinated.     I'll be taking a break from posting for a little while.  But I will be reading and catching up with other blogger's adventures as we travel.    When the tiny trailer is parked for the night and it's too  early to go to bed, our IPads are the source of the evening's entertainment.  Your posts are far more entertaining than the TV set that we took out of the trailer so that we'd have more storage space.  I haven't missed it at all.

 

Grateful for everyone who visits and comments here at Full-Time Life.  Thanks for  your interesting posts and a special thank you to those who host the sharing opportunities where I link.  This week, these:  

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

Last of the Summer Color

 

These pictures are from yesterday afternoon's get-together at the home of our grandson and granddaughter-in-law.     Even now, at the end of the season, their backyard is colorful and comfortable.   

 

Somehow, when each of our children bought their first home and made it their own, it didn't surprise me.  I was (and am) proud of them, but buying a house and settling in was just the normal progression in life. But it utterly  amazes me that our grandchildren could have, somehow, reached that stage of life.  How on earth could we be old enough for that to happen?  (Rhetorical question -- I do know the answer!)   

 

 

There were familiar plants in their garden and a couple that were new to me.   Top left is an elderberry (our granddaughter-in-law made jelly from it earlier).  The one at the lower right corner is a ground cherry which I don't remember ever seeing before.  We ate a handful and they are quite interesting .  I thought they had a nut-like taste, but nobody else came up with the same description.  Our 18 month old great-grandson loved them!   (More familiar ones are  scarlet runner beans and a tomato -- and the non-food-item hen and chicks in the center.

As usual, I didn't take people pictures this time, but I did find a few from family gathering earlier this summer .

 

The great-grandson whose home we visited yesterday is on the left and that's his older cousin on the right.   Both of them have grown a lot in the last couple of months, as people do at those ages!  

 

It was really sweet watching the cousins playing together as the two-year old showed the "baby" how his firetruck worked.

 

Lesson learned.   

Fun for them, built-in-entertainment for the rest of us.   

Thankful that the smoke cleared out yesterday and it wasn't too hot outside.  And especially grateful  that  family  older than these two are vaccinated so that we can happily and safely enjoy time together.  

 

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

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

WILD MEMORIES

 

Sticking close to home this week  doing some fun stuff that I don't document well with photographs.   You know, like cooking, eating, reading, walking, visiting with local family.   Of course I do take pictures sometimes when I do the latter two things, but photo-worthy nature subjects are hard to find around here on hot, dry August days.    I might have to teach myself to take decent pictures of food and people at least during the height of summer.   

 We are also hopefully planning some not-too-distant travel (and I think everyone knows by now what I mean by "we"  in this context.)   I am grateful to the Travel Planner.     I am also glad our weather here in Oregon seems to be cooling down some and I look forward to a few more good photo walks here.     Meanwhile, while the other half of us is planning for the future, I'm collecting memories from the past.    Obviously, I've also been trying to sort through a million or so digital photos.  

 I do better making family portraits of birds and animals than I do of human ones.  Here are a few:   

 

Top row:  hungry baby Great Blue Heron and mom - Wakodahatchee Nature Center Florida;  Pie-Billed Grebe family, Fern Ridge Lake Oregon; Swan Family, Germany River Cruise

Middle:  Sandhill crane family, Upriver RV Resort Florida; Wood stork with baby in nest, Wakodahatchee; Whistling Ducks,     Florida.  

Bottom row:  Burrowing Owl family, Cape Coral Florida;  Stork Family, Wakodahatchee; Ospreys, Florida Keys

 

Pronghorn Antelope, Hart Mountain Refuge Oregon

The above is not my best or favorite animal picture by far but it is from the one and only place I didn't post about after our July trip to Eastern Oregon so it gets a separate picture.      Below are some pictures  that really are candidates for favorite animals  -- and favorite places visited.    

 

Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado; Bison, British Columbia; Brown Bears, Alaska; 

Moose, Rocky Mountain NP; Mountain Sheep, Colorado;   Musk Ox, Prudhoe Bay Alaska

Mother and Baby Moose, Cook Inlet Alaska; Stone Sheep, British Columbia;  Caribou, Alaska 

 

Virtual nature viewing  is almost as much fun as the real thing!  I love the way digital cameras make it possible to capture all these memories.    Here's a fly-in memory shot from another trip:  

 

 

Happy September everyone.

 

Don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit on Wednesday.

Addendum from Wikipedia:  "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words "rabbit", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.  The origin of the superstition is unknown.

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

 

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

GOING COASTAL

We enjoyed a lovely three-day getaway to the beautiful Oregon Coast last week.    

 

 

It is always a joy to be at the ocean and I never tire of the Pacific coast.   An added benefit this time was getting out of the heat  in our valley.  

 

 

These pictures are all from Yachats State Park, one of the best places to view this wild coast.   We had a  a perfect day for it.

 

 

 

 This is such a good place to play outside!   There is a walking trail  and when the tide is right those rocks are great for climbing and exploring.  (Although we don't do as much of that as we used to!)    There was one thing marring the day's perfection.    We spotted a  fin, which could have been a joyful occurrence,  but instead turned out to be very sad. 

 

 

This poor baby Blue whale died and washed up in this cove.   Every year, thousands of whales migrate along our coast and sometimes they don't make it.  The baby may have been killed by an orca or died of natural causes.  It is all a part of nature, but for whatever reason whales are one of those  animals with which we bond  emotionally, so it was sad to see. 

  

 

We joke sometimes that over the years we've stayed in every hotel,  vacation rental, and campground along the Oregon coast.   That's not quite true, but  the above rental duplex just across the street from the beach above is one where we have stayed a few times in the past. Not this time though -- instead, we took the tiny trailer and we were camped about 45 minutes south of Yachats at one of the coastal lakes between Florence and Reedsport.

 

Woahink Lake

This lake access  across the highway from the RV Park where we stayed was a nice place for an evening walk.

 

Beaver, Egrets, and ducks on Siltcoos Lake.  

We drove around the lake one day taking a long detour as we  headed further south to explore Coos Bay.   Somehow, I forgot to take any more pictures but it was a very pleasant day with different  views and some positive changes to this familiar coastal town that were fun to see.   We ate a delicious seafood dinner at a new restaurant with a lovely bay view  (and  Covid-protocol observing staff and patrons).  Eating out is certainly a far rarer occurrence for us these days than it used to be!   On the way back to Eugene the next day, we stopped at Winchester Bay and brought home oysters which Bill grilled.     And that meal was even better.  

 

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;  WANDERING CAMERA; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS 

New Pine Creek memories

This is a mostly a repeat memory post with some added thoughts and all new pictures.  On our summer camping trip in June we drove through New Pine Creek, the tiny (not-quite-a) town that straddles the Oregon-California border.    We lived  in that out-of-the-way place for two years very early in our life together.   

 

Goose Lake State Park, Oregon

That was in the early 1960s.  Back then, Goose Lake wasn't yet a State Park but it was a 20+ mile long shallow Lake.   Now it is a large field of grass.  Not a drop of water.  

 

We'd last driven through this area  twelve years ago during a cross-country RV trip.     I posted then  about the memories the town evoked, but because even that visit was so long ago, I thought the post was worth a repeat.    (Thoughts I added this time are in bold.)

 

MEMORIES IN A TUMBLE-DOWN TOWN

We've been married just about forever (I wrote that twelve years ago and we're still here!) and sometime back at the dawning of civilization*, we lived for a couple of years in New Pine Creek.  We went to see it last week when we were in Southeast Oregon.  It's a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of place that straddles the Oregon-California border on Highway 395. 

(Definitely not the prettiest entry-way into California)

This little farm community is twenty miles south of Lakeview Oregon and 50 miles north of Alturas California, with nothing much else in between.  It's the outback of the outback.  Back then (*it really was 1959 through 1961), we thought we were so lucky to get to move there.  Bill had just graduated from a two-year program at a Teacher's College in  Lewiston Idaho (across the Snake River from our home town of Clarkston Washington).  He got a position as teacher/principal (and janitor) at New Pine Creek Elementary, a one-room school on the California side of the border.  California!  It paid more than Idaho, where most of his fellow graduates went.  I think he made about $4,500 that year.   

We had a one-year old son and a baby on the way.  (Our daughter was born in Lakeview in February 1960. The Dr. and hospital were 20 miles away from home.)  This is the house where we lived -- as you can see, it is  about a foot from the highway.  The house actually looks better now than it did then; we didn't have siding or a fence. (Ugh, it's a junk shop now -- so this time, it looked even worse than it did in 1960.)   It snowed a lot in the Winters we were there. The snowplow would come past several times a day and plow the snow into drifts that blocked the house in.  Those winter days were long!

This is the  old school building where Bill taught.  Someone was living in it last time we were here, but It looked completely abandoned now -- the school closed years ago.    It was about the length of two blocks straight up the highway from our house.  It is funny to realize that the eighth-graders Bill taught were actually only six or seven years younger than he was then.    

It was a very small village even when we lived there.  But there were a couple of grocery stores, a good butcher, a barbershop, a service station right next door owned by the sweet couple who were our landlords,  and a Grange Hall that had an active social schedule. Now the buildings all look like something straight out of a ghost story. (Even worse this time.)    Junk shops are the last dying gasps of a small town. 

After our two years there, we moved back to Eastern Washington.  Living there again, we had two more sons, bought our first house, worked a bunch of various jobs between us, and, eventually, Bill went back to college and completed his degrees.   It remains my fond hope that someday I will get around to scanning some old pictures and writing some memory posts about those years!  In 1971, we moved to Lane County, Oregon -- the opposite side of the State of Oregon from NPC, in every possible definition.

 

Random Roadside pictures as we drove around Oregon's outback in 2021 

(altered with Picasa to look like a 1960s scrapbook page.)

We've long since lost track of the people we knew during the short time we lived in New Pine Creek.     But we'll always remember our two years there -- we did a lot of growing up and had a lot of fun too.  (Looking back from over half a century later my mind is boggled thinking about how young we were then .) I wonder if there will be anything left of the town if we ever drive through again.   (So obviously we did drive through again and found the town in even worse condition.  I don't think we'll do that again!    But we treasure our memories and are  thankful that we've survived all the ensuing years in slightly better shape ourselves.  

 

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

 

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

 

Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Central Oregon

 

Central Oregon has a fiery past and Newberry, the largest volcano in the Cascade Range, is a good place to learn about it.  This volcano began erupting 500,000 years ago.  It created massive lava flows that covered 1,200 square miles.  

 

 Paulina Lake in the Newberry Caldera.

The last eruption occurred (only!) 1,300 years ago.

 

 

But it is still active and will certainly erupt again.   The eruption could be either passive with lava flows or explosive  with ash and pumice.   There are nine monitoring stations to detect any early and subtle signs of it reawakening.  

 

Paulina Peak is the highest point on the caldera rim.  It is 7,984 feet above sea level and 1,652 feet above Paulina Lake.  

 

The Big Obsidian Flow is the youngest lava flow at Newberry.  Volcanic ash from the eruption 1,300 years ago reached as far as the State of Idaho.

 

  

(The Park Service has a sense of humor).

 

We stayed a few nights in Central Oregon before heading further into the Eastern part of our State.    During the years we lived, worked, and raised our family in Lane County, this area was a great getaway -- not too far away but quite a contrast to home.  We did a little cross-country skiing near Newberry back then  (when we were much younger) and  the area was a frequent destination for Scout troops our boys were involved with.  It was fun to explore the area again.  Our visit brought back good memories and we learned (or re-learned) a lot.  As we always do when we travel, whether the destination is close to home or farther away.

 

 

This is one of the things we did not know.  In the town of LaPine, where we stayed during this part of our trip, we saw a sign that simply said "Big Tree."  We followed the signs to the State Park to find  the largest Ponderosa Pine ever recorded.  This Oregon Heritage tree was a giant way before  Oregon was a State   -- it has  endured centuries of fire, disease, insects, and human impact.   We can only hope it continues to do so.

   

 

We enjoyed the  time in Central Oregon.  It's a beautiful area and a nice transition when traveling between the vastly different Western and Eastern parts of our State.  Oregon really is a land of contrast.  We are grateful to be able to explore it all.

 

LINKING this week to these 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;  and FRIDAY  BLISS;  

Petroglyphs and Sunstones

… both found in Oregon, way in the back of beyond.

 

Behind where our trailer was parked in Adel

Far away from the population centers of the State of Oregon, we spent four nights in the town of Adel.    Not so sure you could even call it a small town -- the population is only 201.  There's a restaurant/bar with a post office next door .  We parked in one of the four or five RV sites behind those buildings.    There is really nothing much else there except sagebrush and cows.    (This is where we were staying when we woke up to the cattle drive passing right behind us.) 

Eighteen miles away on a secondary highway is the even smaller "unincorporated rural area" of Plush.  Around 50 hearty souls live there.  We had already driven through Plush on that fairly decent highway  as we were out exploring.    But  the travel planner/driver was tired of good roads.  After all, we were on vacation -- why drive roads as good as those at home?  (Normal people would answer that differently from dyed-in-the-wool road warriors.)   Our maps showed a  country road that would eventually also emerge at Plush.    

So we took "the road less traveled."    And that road was unpaved and narrow and winding with very little to see along most of it but sagebrush and the remnants of abandoned dreams.   And we loved it!      

 

 

 Before too many miles, the road got narrower and more winding with rocks and boulders to navigate around.    Bill knows how to drive them and I trust him -- mostly.   There was the one time I had to get out  to direct us around a huge boulder in the middle of the road.  It was on a rise that we couldn't see over.   We rocked over that one, but the road gradually got worse and worse.  We talked about finding a turn-around place, but there really wasn't a good one.   It was then that we came to a fence and rusty wire cattle gate that looked like it hadn't been opened for years.   But "we" managed to open and then shut it behind us. The road continued to deteriorate and shortly our car was straddling two-foot deep ruts that we were afraid we'd slide into.  (Did I mention that we hadn't seen another living soul all day?)   It was definitely time to give up.    But at least there was a good place to turn around.  

One of us thinks that a reason to use four-wheel drive makes any trip worthwhile.  And the other one of us likes to take pictures of abandoned buildings and big skies.   But before we realized we would need to turn around we had already made a wonderful discovery (new to us anyway) that would have made the trip worthwhile in itself.     We found petroglyphs!   

 

Greaser Canyon Petroglyph Site

(Click to enlarge, but there are close-up shots below)

There was no sign along the road pointing to this historical site which is quite a ways back from the road.  And, in fact, we had  driven past by the time I really realized what I'd seen from the window.  After the well-known "STOP" screech,  Bill was able to back up (a good trick, because see above).   This  site is on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) property and there is a small sign at the base of the rock wall. It said there had been some archeological reconstruction due to vandalism.   I assume the rocks were moved from the ground to protect them somehow although they were not fenced at all.   The sign also warns that altering the designs in any way is a violation of federal law.  It is horrible to think that anyone could take time to get to this remote place and then try to destroy  such treasures from our past.   (But it is very remote -- once  again on this whole day of exploration we  did not see another person or car.  I don't know if that makes it good or bad for the  safety of this site.)

    

These photos are enhanced.   I don't have a fancy editing tool, but I used Picassa  Boost  to bring out   the shapes of the petroglyphs.  

 We didn't know a single thing about these petroglyphs before stumbling on them and had seen nothing in any of the visitor guides we looked at, but later found  a bit of information on the web.  The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Archeologists believe the designs were scraped into the boulders around 12,000 years ago.   Back then lakes filled many of the high desert basins and the people who occupied the land camped and hunted near those waters.  The meaning  of the marks they left behind has been lost over time.  As with most petroglyphs and pictographs, no one knows exactly why they were made or what they represented.    It is poignant and almost incomprehensible to think about the people from so long ago who once walked right where we were walking.  And to wonder ...   

 

 

People have disappeared from this area in more recent  times too for reasons it is easier to comprehend.   Here's an illustration just waiting for a sad story to be written.   We saw this abandoned home before we turned around to back-track to our home away from home.   The picture is zoomed in -- the house was pretty far from the (very poor) road!    It felt so remote and  lonely.      

The next picture was taken on a a different day, along the highway between Adel and Plush (the good road).  

 

 

We saw these sweet babies run to the fence every time we drove that road.  It seemed almost like whenever they heard a car these donkeys thought they would be getting a treat.    We didn't stop  but I  hope their owners did so frequently.

 

And here's a sign at the gas station letting us know  that Plush is "a small quiet drinking town with a cattle problem."   I wouldn't doubt any of that except that I'm pretty sure that a  population of around 50 doesn't actually make it a town at all.   And then we saw this other sign on the fence around the station:

 

We had read that sunstones could be found somewhere in this area -- and this sign told us that a dig was located 24 miles from Plush.  Just past a Dust Devil?  Plush itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere and now you can drive 24 more miles to see some stones you know nothing about?  And the collection area might be hard to find because who knows exactly where the dust devil would be!  We thought the sign was a joke (dust devils are what we here in the West call those little mini-storms of soil  that the wind sometimes whirls  on arid lands and fallow farm fields).      But the trip even further into the back of beyond sounded like just the kind of thing we loved.  So off we went -- and when we got there we learned that the sign wasn't a joke after all.  Dust Devil is actually the name of a commercial Sunstone Mine.

 

And this is it!  The Dust Devil Mine.   It's open to the public to sort through the conveyor belt  (for a fee)  and there is also a free BLM dig area where people can camp and dig for the stones.    It  looked like paying for a lot of hot and dusty work!  So we decided  to  collect information, but not gems.  After seeing so few people while we'd been exploring the area, it was amazing to see quite a few campers and gem hunters at this commercial mine and at the other campground.  

 

from the Web public domain

 

I was still a little freaked out talking to people and didn't take many pictures because this was back in early June and we seemed to be about  the only people there still wearing Covid masks.  But everyone we spoke with was friendly and we did learn  quite a bit about the sunstone  which is the official Oregon state gem.   (I didn't even know we had one.)  One lady showed us a few she had found and some jewelry she had made earlier.  And people who helped out at the mine told us a bit about the operation.    For anyone who is more of a jewelry person that I am, there are several websites and people sell their sunstone creations on Etsy.     But we were just happy to have found the site and to learn something new about our home State.

 

 

We saw a pair of sandhill cranes along the road on the way back to Adel after that interesting day.  Every day really was an adventure during our time in Southeastern Oregon -- we were happy and grateful to get to travel again and to see and learn all we did.    

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing sites:  

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CRATER LAKE COOL DOWN

 

It used to be kind of boring to talk about the weather -- not so much anymore, sadly.  A massive heat dome is expected to cover most of the country this week, bringing yet another round of extremely hot summertime temperatures.  Meanwhile, the Bootleg Fire in SE Oregon has surpassed 400,000 acres and is burning toward Summer Lake, the area I blogged about last week (where we visited the Wildlife Refuge in early June.).         I am afraid catastrophic weather events (fire, flooding, extreme heat) are the future barring a miracle and I hope for that miracle for everywhere. 

But meanwhile I'm tapping into my inner Pollyanna (thinking only happy thoughts ) by posting pictures that may bring some cooling thoughts  ... most of them are from last month.

 

 

June in Oregon (but not the part of the State where we live).   

We stopped at Crater Lake National Park near the end of our early June trip.  The above picture is on the highway between Crater   and Diamond Lakes.     There was still quite a bit of snow  and some of the roads inside the park were not yet open.  

This was the first time we'd visited Crater Lake since 2009.  So long ago! The mosaic below is from that earlier visit, which was in late July of that year.   That's usually a better time to visit, but I am very glad we were there earlier this year.

 

Crater Lake NP, July 2009

Top: View from the rim; Wizard Island; Phantom Ship.   Bottom Row (all views we were unable to get to this year) :  The Pinnacles; Vidae Falls; Pumice Castle.  

You can see there was still a little snow even then, but all of the roads were open by  that time, so this shows some of the Park's attractions that we were unable to visit this year.      

The rest of this post is from last month's trip.  Information about the Lake (in bold) is taken from the Crater Lake Visitor Guide given to us as we entered the Park.   (We always take and read those newspaper-format handouts when we visit any National Park -- they are an invaluable resource.)  

 

Crater Lake from the rim of the caldera -- with a view of Wizard Island

Crater Lake National Park is dedicated to protect the deepest lake in the United States.  The Lake is located inside a caldera formed 7,700 years ago when a 12,000 foot volcano collapsed after a major eruption.   Wizard Island is a cinder cone that erupted out of the Lake around 7300 years ago.    Now the slopes of the volcano are covered by old-growth forests that are home to birds, mammals, and hundreds of native plant species.  The Park is a central part of the cultural traditions of local American Indian tribes, whose ancestors witnessed the lake's formation.

Clark's Nutcracker

A pair of  Clark's Nutcrackers were having a loud argument in the trees that edge the Lake at one of the best viewpoints.   A good bird photo op can distract my camera from anything.   Update:   Thank you to Sondra (see here) for correctly identifying this bird.  

   

Phantom Ship Island

I'm using that distraction as an excuse for this poorly focused picture of the Phantom Ship.  This island is as tall as a 16-story building.  Made of erosion-resistant lava that is 400,000 old, it is the oldest exposed rock within the caldera.  

 

 

All of the  pictures are straight out of the camera.  Crater Lake is this blue year-round because it is so clear.   And it stays clear because there are almost no nutrients in the lake to support things like algae. There are no streams or rivers to bring nutrients and sediments into the lake.   Click here for an article from Oregon Public Broadcasting about true blue lakes in the Pacific Northwest.  I found the explanation very interesting when I read it shortly after our visit. 

 

 

Grateful that we've been able to visit many of our country's beautiful National Parks and thankful for all that the dedicated NPS employees do  to protect and share these national treasures.  

 

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts:

 

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SUMMER LAKE AND DERRICK CAVE

All is well in our little corner of the world.  It's too hot and dry here just as it is in pretty much the entire western part of the United States and Canada.  We've  had a few smoky mornings from the fires south and east of us but so far nothing is burning in the county where we live.  

 

Summer Lake Wildlife Area

I'm still posting about our June trip to the other side of Oregon, an area that has not been so fortunate.   When we visited, southeastern Oregon was dry with warm days and cool nights.  This month it is hotter and drier and wildfires threaten some of the places we visited.   One  is burning near  Summer Lake, where we visited  the Wildlife Area. 

 

American Avocet in Breeding Plumage

This wildlife area was established in 1944 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife "to protect and improve waterfowl habitat and to provide a public hunting area."     I wish they could alter that to add something like "public birdwatching area."  I really do believe  that is more important to many people these days than hunting.

 

 

Black-necked Stilt

We didn't really see a lot of game birds when we were there.  Hunting is never allowed for shore birds and wading birds like the ones pictured here.

 

Avocets

 

Summer Lake is a real oasis for wildlife (and wildlife watchers) in the middle of this rather arid, desert-like part of our state.   We can only hope that it will not be permanently harmed by these fires.  

 

Summer Lake

Now on to another day's destination during this trip.    (If I don't combine places, I will still be blogging about this trip when we're ready to start another one!)

 

At the visitor center at Fort Rock Historical Park we had seen "Derrick Cave" listed on "things to do in the Fort Rock area"  so one day we set out to find it.     As with everything on that side of Oregon, "this area" encompasses a lot more miles and acres than you might think.  And rougher roads than you might expect.  Wikipedia says "The road to Derrick Cave is very rough and there are no facilities at the site."   Wikipedia does not lie!  Bill drove in four-wheel drive for part of the way and, on our way out, in trying to make the drive a circle, we encountered the first dead-end road we found on this trip (but not the last).  We backtracked often.

 

 

 

The cave is on Bureau of Land Management property and open to the public.  However, we contented ourselves with the adventure of driving there and hiking in to view the cave once we finally arrived at the nearly unmarked location.   They don't work real hard over there to make things easy for travelers.  (Which is kind of nice in a way.  We didn't see another soul on that day's journey and I'm not even sure we saw another car. ) 

 

There are eons of history connected to this hole in the ground!  The  tubular cave was created by lava flowing from a vent north of the cave.  The exact age of the eruption  is not determined but based on lava fields on the surface area is known to be between 6,845 years and 13,000 years ago.

 

 

Quite a bit more recently, but still quite a while ago, the cave was used by Fort Rock homesteaders as a summer recreation site -- those pioneer families used ice formed in the cave.  Then, during World War II, area residents planned to use the cave as an air-raid shelter, but it was never needed.  In 1963, Derrick Cave was designated as a nuclear fallout shelter.  Supplies of food and water for up to 1200 people were stored behind a locked steel door in the cave.  Fortunately, the cave was never needed for this purpose.  By 1970, all of the Civil Defense supplies had been stolen by vandals or removed by authorities.     

 

 

  Grateful for all the roads we take whether rough or smooth and all we learn from wherever they take us.

 

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

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AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL 2021

 

To celebrate Independence Day, July 4 2021.   

Pike's Peak, Colorado

 

I wish "America the Beautiful" were our National Anthem.  With all respect to Francis Scott Key, the words of Katherine Lee Bates better express what we  celebrate about our country.  Here are a few of her words and a few of our archived pictures from places we have been fortunate to visit in our travels:  

 

Oh Beautiful for spacious skies

 

Colorado Front Range

 

For Amber Waves of Grain 

 

Palouse Country, Washington State 

 

For Purple Mountain Majesty 

Mt. Rainier, Washington

 

Above the Fruited Plain

(why have I never taken a picture of a fruited plain?)

...

And Crown Thy Good With Brotherhood,

Oregon - Central Pacific Coast 

 

From Sea to Shining Sea

 

Atlantic Ocean - from Acadia National Park, Maine

 

 

We are grateful.   Happy Fourth of July!  

 

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; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS;  

Fort Rock Basin

End of June and it is HOT HOT HOT.  Hard to believe  that here in Western Oregon we are staying indoors because of heat and not rain.  Grateful we have air-conditioning.  Because of our usual moderate climate, many people do not.  Happy too that we traveled to the other part of our State earlier this month when the weather was still more moderate.  I would still be blogging about that trip anyway because we saw and learned so much, but it is especially good not to have to dig into the photo archives, because we're sure not outside getting new pictures this week.    

 

 

Today is about the Fort Rock basin,  the first area we explored along Oregon's National Outback Scenic Highway.  We stayed (and parked our travel trailer) in an RV Park in LaPine for the first three days of our trip.  

 

 

Fort Rock was created during the last ice age when  magma exploded beneath a prehistoric Lake. Back then, immense lakes covered much of this region.

 

 

Today, the hills and valleys of Oregon's Outback are austere and dry.  But during the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago), the interior northwest received more precipitation than it does now.    As the climate dried, the lakes evaporated.  Lake beds have evolved into broad, flat deserts and sand dunes.    (A million years ago, this picture would have been a Lake -- or maybe underwater. )

 

 

The Fort Rock Basin is one of most significant Pleistocene fossil sites in North America.

Paleontologists have found  bones from small animals and fish from that era.  Among their finds have been giant beavers (over 7 feet in length), North American camels, giant sloths, and wooly mammoths.    Those species are long gone, but some species. such as chipmunks and jays. survived the transition from wet to dry climate.

 

(click to enlarge this portion of informational sign)

Archeologists have found evidence of  thousands of years of Native American settlement.  For at least 13,000 years Paiute, Klamath, and Modoc people and their ancestors lived and camped along the area's lakeshores and rivers.  Many of their traditional gathering places are visible along the Byway.   On a later day, we found petroglyphs while exploring a backroad (future post).   

Much, much later -- in the 19th Century --  an expedition led by explorer John C. Fremont brought changes to the Great Basin. 

 

 

 In the Fort Rock area, as in the rest of the Basin, the expedition marked the beginning of transformation from desert, grassland and forest to ranch land, farms, sawmills and towns. 

We visited the Fort Rock Homestead Village, where  a schoolhouse, church, several homes, and various artifacts such as the water well drilling rig (above)  have been gathered in one place to preserve the history and legacy of these more recent pioneers in this area.  

 

 

The little homes look quite lonely out there in the desert as they are now, but when people actually lived here, their homes would have been miles and miles apart rather than within walking distance of each other.   I'm glad the town of Fort Rock has preserved these remaining structures -- had they been left in situ, they would have disintegrated with very few people ever getting this glimpse of what their lives were like back then.

This was kind of a long post -- but after all it was covering over a million years of history.  I hope that writing about our visit will help me to remember some of it.   Information about the Fort Rock monument was taken from National and State Park signs in the area -- any errors are my mis-interpretation.  I'm 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; TUESDAY TREASURES;    MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and  FRIDAY  BLISS.

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.

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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

 

OFFICIALLY SPRING

We've been enjoying Spring-like weather for at least a couple of weeks. but the season officially started on March 20.    Here's what the first week of Spring looked like around here:

 

 

In our neighborhood on the paths to the river, trees are beginning to bud out, forsythia and Oregon grape are spots of sunshine, and early rhododendrons are blossoming.   We can pretend this is the first robin of spring -- even though these birds never leave this area, so they really aren't a reliable sign of the season.

 

Common Merganser

 

And on the river on one perfect afternoon last week there was what seemed like a convention of ducks.  I've never seen this many different species in one small part of the Willamette.

 

Lesser Scaup

 

There was a small rapids area and a river island near where they all were -- and honestly it seemed like all the different ducks were floating around in perfect harmony -- just enjoying the beautiful day.  

 

 

There were at least two additional species I didn't get a picture of and the usual Canada geese in there too.  Gotta' love it when everybody can just get along!

On another lovely day we went for one of our favorite kind of  mini-roadtrips:

 

Yup, narrow winding roads are the most fun.  We've been on lots  that were narrower and windier, but whoever it is that decides drivers need constant reminding was vigilant on this one  -- the same sign kept appearing every two miles for about fifteen of them!  

 

You don't have to go too far to get away from the city in this area and there are lots of country roads to explore.  That's something to be grateful for in our opinion.                                                                  

 

 

Daffodils are lasting longer than they do some years since we've had no heavy rains.  I  remember from a long time ago that they sometimes would be  gone before the season really officially began.   I'm glad this is a good year  and I'm grateful for all the signs of Spring.  (Except maybe the pollen.  Achoo.   Our covid masks do double duty on some days.) 

 

Linking to the following sharing opportunities:  Thank you to all of the hosts.

 

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

PANDEMIC, SEASON 2

A year ago this week I wrote about the first day of Spring and how it was different in Florida.  

 

 

 This is a mixed bouquet of Florida and Oregon Spring flowers.  Mostly Oregon.  I really do miss seeing the usual Spring beauties when we're in subtropical Florida and so this was much the same thing I've mentioned every year since we've spent the season  away from the Pacific Northwest.    I’m grateful to get to see them again.   In that first-of-Spring post last year, I  mentioned worry about Covid but the news still didn't seem quite real.    

 

 

But just a week later, my post talked about how we were going to head home to Oregon immediately, much earlier than we'd planned.   We had begun to understand how serious the threat was and we felt we'd be safer there.  Things moved fast.

 

 

It was a long way back to Oregon, but we were fortunate to be able to travel in the safest way possible.   

 

 

 We both enjoy road-trips so even under less than ideal conditions the first couple of weeks of "Pandemic:  Season One" were interesting and actually kind of fun.   We made the  3100+ mile trip faster than we have ever driven cross-country.  

 

 

We were grateful to be home and safe and we  still feel we  made the right decision.   

 

 

 

But it's  been a year now and Pandemic is getting just a little tiresome.     We hope it gets cancelled for good before this season is over.

 

 

Meanwhile, we are looking forward to enjoying more of our first Oregon Spring in many years.  And to a beautiful Oregon summer  -- a season we have always spent in Oregon.  I hope this one is more like normal summers here (before last year).  

 

 

LINKING TO the following with thanks 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;  

MARCHING ON

 Not a lot of pictures from last week, but much to be thankful for.  I'm glad for the return to Daylight Savings Time and look forward to late afternoon and evening walking time.

 

 

East Bank Willamette River Walk, March  2021

 

Our weather stays mild with little rain (that may not be entirely a good thing, but it is hard not to appreciate beautiful days).  

 

 

I managed this too-far-away-shot of what I think are Greater Scaup.  I know at least that they are different ducks from the usual Mallards.  So that was definitely a good thing.

 

Neighborhood path to the river

We have stayed pretty close to  home lately because we wanted to be able to jump quickly on any Covid vaccine appointment that came up through the County's  pre-registration list.   We will be able to cancel our names from that long wait-list, because Bill put his talents to work and found us appointments as soon as the vaccine became available to area pharmacies.   One down last week, one more this week and then our two second doses in a couple of weeks.   Closer-to-normal is on the horizon and I am grateful, in so many ways.   

Meanwhile, I am thankful for life-as-usual, which is really not so bad at all, except without travel pictures.

 

There are quite a few ways to walk to the River from where we live.  The last picture above this collage is one of those.  That path  winds through a lovely neighborhood.   The collage is the not-so-lovely view from a different path.  Not so pretty, but   the quickest way to get there.  The highway construction project pictured includes the building of a sound wall.   Whenever I walk this way, I see  birds and wildlife in the weedy area along the bank between the  path and the wall construction.   It's been kind of interesting to watch the   project move along but the better part is always seeing birds.   They don't seem to be bothered by the construction noise.   I'm thankful for that.  And also thankful that our home is not along the path.  I'm sure the people who do live there will be grateful when the wall is completed.

 

Not an alligator

I may have been thinking about Florida as I walked because this fallen log reminded me of a sleeping alligator.   Something we won't ever see here in Oregon.   I don't exactly miss alligators, but I am glad I've had the chance to live where they do.    But for this year during this pandemic -- and for many reasons -- I'm quite happy to be here in alligator-free Oregon.  

 

LINKING this week to the following:   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;