OREGON BOUND
Last summer I made a commitment to house sit this year in
Oregon while in-laws, Dennis and Darlene, went to Europe. Time to go play farm!
SEATTLE
Routed through Seattle, I got to visit Courtney, my Great niece.
Court (her pups visible in left window) as we headed downtown
Hudson and Ripley
Since Court and Jen were working, I bused downtown. After visiting the tattoo shop's new location, I went on to the waterfront.
Crosswalk between new tattoo shop on corner (Court is manager) and University
Fountain at one of my bus stops, beautiful
Cities are so much fun to visit. I was headed to the Seattle Aquarium to see the octopus exhibit. Getting there involved the Pike St. hill climb (down to the waterfront and, yes, back up), 163 stairs with landings offering various shopping/sights.
One of the landings
The
Pike Street Market, at the top, is always fun although I didn’t hang around for
the fish tossing. I tasted chocolate
pasta, nice dipping sauces, etc. The veggies
were beautiful, especially liked the “easter egg” radishes. Not in cooking mode, I moved along. The fish stalls reminded me of Venice a
little, but the octopus here were a little disheartening when I really wanted
to see the live ones.
Veggies at Pike Street Market
The middle pic is an octopus on top of a huge halibut; the last one has a salmon, mouth agape behind a golden trout (plus a smaller octopus) and sea bream below.
Finally
made it, beautiful location on the waterfront.
Starving, I had a lovely salmon salad and then went fishy sightseeing.
Waterfront
Back side, cycling sea water
I
just finished a book called The Soul of
an Octopus that two different friends sent me to read. The story based in an East coast aquarium
mentioned the Seattle one. So here I am.
The real octo (from
reading, red coloration indicates contentment)
This tank was like snorkeling at home (except for
the BIG grouper). Yippee!
Hard to see this kind
of detail when in the water, unbelievable creatures
Diana this one is for
you, Stripeys and a Yellow band Coris, so cool
This guy is in the
same family as our Hawaiian humu fishes, but from Indo Pacific, he’s called a
Clown Trigger fish
The outdoor exhibits were fun too, familiar birds, seals,
otters. This little guy was nostalgic
for me as I had seen one in the wild when I worked on a salmon boat off
Vancouver Island in the 70s. They are so
unique.
Puffin
THE CASCADE ARC
The flight from Seattle, WA to Medford, OR was in a small
prop jet and for once, I took a window seat.
I’ve seen the monumental Mount Rainier each visit to Washington but this
time it was followed by the others that form the Volcanic Arc of the Cascades –
all part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. It
is just ironic that mountains continue to surprise me in terms of their scale –
these were breathtaking.
Mt Rainier (14,411')
Above: Mt. Saint Helens with Mt.
Adams behind left (8,366' & 12,280')
Below: Mt. Saint Helens with Mt Hood right upper corner (11,250')
CRATER LAKE
Fascinated by the Ring of Fire and the Cascade Arc of
mountains included, I decided to visit Crater Lake National Park. The crater is the former site of Mount Mazama, that stood at 12,000’ before it blew almost 8000 years ago.
The pristine water of the lake looks fake!
Deepest lake in the US, the amazing part is
that the volcano under water is not
dormant. Living on a volcanic island,
this info shouldn’t surprise me, but these mainland stats boggle me. It was 100 times greater than the eruption of
Mt. Saint Helen’s in 1980 leaving the crater rather than just knocking the top
off.
Crater lake viewing station at left
Spectacular with snow in July
CRITTER SITTING
I arrive several days before D&D leave to learn the
routine. Their son can handle the
business in Ashland, but the animals and garden require heart felt attention
here. Darlene gets stressed leaving for
just a few days; I jumped in so she could enjoy going. Gil to join me three weeks later.
Denny & Darlene: shrimp and chard tacos
A
horse, a pony, 16 hens, 1 rooster, 7 domestic ducks, 5 wild mallard chicks
ready to fledge, 2 old faithful dogs, 3 cats plus the mysterious barn cat all eat twice a day. In addition, three does likely live on/near
the property, one with two fawns and numerous birds including a flock of big jays
that try to run the show. They get
peanuts in the morning and then steal the cat’s food.
The wild ducks with
three of the domestics
Doe and fawns
Stellar Jays arguing
over who has the best peanut
Curious deer at gate
He who wakes me every
morning
HOWARD PRAIRIE LAKE
Personal life consists of pockets of time between moving
and feeding the cast of characters.
While the town of Ashland, 10 miles down the hill, is quite charming –
really a very pretty university town, the getaway is more often Howard Prairie
Lake – further up the mountain, where D&D have a boat.
Marina
The
late afternoon boat ride is really fun on its own, but looking for eagles is
the highlight; we are not disappointed. Of
course, D&D know every nest on the six mile long lake.
A huge nest is up ahead (see yellow arrow)
Parent is on
the lookout in nearby tree as an osprey thinks twice about challenging.
The nest itself is huge (they can be 10 feet deep and weigh 2000 pounds) but nothing visible until a fish
is dropped in and then we see heads of two large chicks! They take turns with popping up or flapping,
once the parent had decided they were safe.
Very exciting stuff, we let them settle down and then have our own
on-board dinner picnic.
One, two!
Next
morning, Darlene and I are up at 5am, feed critters, and head back to the lake
with kayaks. We spend our time at one
end, rather like an estuary. Though it
is 4th of July weekend, most campers are still napping and we have
it to ourselves other than a few quiet fishermen.
Early sun creates steam on water
From a distance, Darlene
thought this might be one of her favorite Sand Hill Cranes that like these fields, but it turned out to
be a Great Blue Heron.
The Canada Geese outsize
the ducks but the Pelicans dwarf the geese, pretty fun to share their morning
Mt. McLoughlin (9495')
dominates the landscape (another in the Cascade Volcanic Arc)
OK! time for Darlene to
get back and finish packing. She may not
see many birds in England.
Finally on their journey, I concentrated on my tasks and
figuring out where everything was, etc. then headed back to the lake for a hike
in the forest on my own. The trail
basically goes all the way around and is dotted with camp sites having nice
facilities.
Loved the forest,
pine smell, different perspective
A good reminder that
even the mighty fall
Couple of characters
12 Spotted Skimmer (but to me it is the "polka dot dragonfly" of the
woods)
Vivid Dancer, I would see literally, hundreds of these little guys
I may set an alarm for 6am or later, but five-ish rolls
around and the dawn wakes the animals and birds. I don’t stand a chance of sleeping in.
Dandy and Sugar (the pony), both have fly masks on.
Kitties: Blue, Danny, Pugsly
Old pups, Maggie and Molly behind
I was here years ago when Maggie was a small pup and carried her all over the place she was so adorable. She still wants to climb in my lap.
I cut greens from the garden for myself and the poultry (then I eat the eggs and neighbors buy them).
Rooster - thinks he's in charge
The deer continue to visit and delight, sometimes just hang out.
Yummy
Breakfast, lunch and
dinner
Garden – sunflowers
overlook Ashland below
Lillies are opening all
over the property
Pears – cherries, apples
Thunder moon – literally
kept me awake till I closed the blinds then the dog howled, answering the
coyotes. It was amazing.
I did get caught up with chores enough to go back to the
lake for another kayak venture to the NW tip.
Similar sightings, lots of swallows soaring, fish jumping, etc. but the
highlight of the day was an otter. I saw
him swimming and it took a moment to figure out what it was but then I saw it
go down and pop up again and again. As I
paddled back toward the launch area, I came around the corner and he was on
land. He thought he had lost me!
Otter
OK Phase One complete of
my Oregon animal encounter and life of solitude as Gil due to arrive and
family prepares to return from England.
