So, Where is Spring Anyway?

I thought I saw Spring a couple Saturdays ago but I

must have been mistaken. Then, on my way home last evening, I spotted a little bit of her again. It had rained, hailed and then the sun sun came out. As I drove along Highway 30 I seemed to be staying parallel with the north end of a rainbow. It was between me and the railroad tracks and foliage a the side of the road. It turned the flowers and trees beautiful colors as it kept pace with me. When I turned off on Old Portland Road I stopped and snapped some photos of my favorite Oak tree and it's accompanying cattle. There were also hundreds of geese, each with a black & white head, white rump and a personal shadow. The light was beautiful!

This morning brought Winter back again. The snow level will again descend to 500', although Mike had snow at home this morning and that's a lot lower than 500'. Of course, the extreme and all-knowing wisdom of the Oregon DMV dictated that we remove our studded tires on April 1st. Never mind that we have gotten snow in the surrounding hills and mountains almost every day or night since. The folks are still skiing and driving unsafely in "winter" weather.

Obviously, I cannot see Mike this weekend and cannot work in my garden either. So I decided to go into the office this morning to meet Lynette and get a few more of the old windows we are replacing. Driving back I drove into a snow and ice storm that lasted from the Industrial area on Yeon to Rocky Point in Scappoose! While reading the paper in the afternoon I heard a rather odd sound outside. Even Cuddles looked up to see what it was. It was a hail storm! It lasted about 30 minutes and I feared it would flatten the tulips that are trying to bloom around my rose garden. They seemed to have survived but ceratinly haven't opened any further.

The one thing (besides laundry) that I did accomplish today was to repot my lovely little maple tree. It is a baby of the beautiful, and now damaged, Japanese Maple at Mike's. It had outgrown it's original pot at the end of last Fall. Our gigantic new Ace Hardware opend today and I found a large pot on sale. So my little (and growing) maple has a new home on the deck and is beginning to put out leaves. I guess the maple is hoping for Spring as well.

Shamrock Run

Today was the 30th anniversary of the Shamrock Run in Portland. Today was Rachel's and my first time in the run. I signed up for the 5K Run and Rachel for the 5K Stride.

We had agreed to meet, as we did for our last race, at the Sunset Transit Center and ride the MAX to the race start. When I arrived at Sunset (10 minutes late at 6:55am) Rachel had already purchased our tickets. Good thing too, since there was a huge line and one broken ticket machine! 7:05 found us Eastbound on the train and sitting by a heater. We were spared the rain but not the cold.

Since I had picked up my race packet and T-shirt the day before at Lincoln High School, all I needed to do was find the Port-a-potty line and wait for the start. Rachel stopped by will-call and got her bib. The 5K started at 8:05 and the Stride at 8:20, but on different courses. We
snapped photos of each other and shivered while we waited for my start. I have never run this particular course in Portland before and soon realized that it was basically the reverse of the Race for the Cure. In other words, the course goes UP Broadway..................all the way up to Harrison! WOW! Then is when I realized why there were very few other "gray-hairs" on the course. This was truly a younger person's race.

I finished significantly before Rachel was due to complete her walk and went to claim my bowl of clam chowder included in the price of the run. Something hot felt very good in the cold, misty air and my soaking wet running shirt. The beer looked good too, but I was way too cold to imbibe. You know I was cold to turn down a free beer!

I anticipated that Rachel would finish between 9:25 and 9:30am. I made my way to her finish line and immediately spotted her 20' from me. My watch said 9:27am. Good guess! I snapped her photo and we made our way back to the MAX stop, boarded the train and were back a Sunset Transit before 10:00am. What a way to travel in the city!

Our next race/walk is April 6th: The Race for the Roses. More photos then.

We Begin to Begin Again

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Because I rarely take time off work, I managed to max-out my PTO. We are allowed to accrue only 240 hours (that's 30 days!) and we stop accruing until time is taken. So, I decided to take 3 days off in the hope that I could work in my yard. I must have guessed correctly because yesterday and today were just beautiful. Sunshine and mild temperatures allowed me to be outside all day.

My little house is built on what is basically a basalt mesa. Whatever top soil I have is mostly either black, sticky clay or mulch that has clearly been imported. Dig 6" down and the shovel hits bedrock. I have wanted to add depth to my vegetable and flower beds since the first time my shovel clanked against basalt. Yesterday I pounded some shakes into the ground along the border so the area could hold more soil. I looked at them overnight and decided they were way too high. So, this morning I took them all out, set up my Skil saw and sawed 8" off the thin ends. They look much better at this height. I like the way the shingles seem to be a reflection of my fence. It fits well with the already weathered look. Plus, I used the sawed-off portions of the shingles to edge another area as well as to enclose my potato bed. I even planted my potatos!

Even though it will likely rain next week (and water the potatos & sweet peas I planted) it looks like Spring in upon us. My plum tree has a billion little buds on the branches and the daffodils are blooming in the front planter. Now, if I could just keep the deer from eating my tulips before they bloom, I would have many lovely blossoms to see.

Late this afternoon I had a furry visitor to my backyard. I have seen this kitty walking on my fence before, but I have never seen him/her actually in my yard. The kitty strolled around for awhile and didn't really run from me, but also wouldn't come to be petted. I retreated to my kitchen and looked out the window a few minutes later to see him/her curled up on top of a shell covered pot. I snapped this photo thru my kitchen window. This does not bode well for growing flowers in that pot this summer. The photo, however, will make a lovely greeting card.

The weather finally was warm and dry enough for Mike to come to St. Helens again..........at last. The snow and ice are mine to negotiate with my studded tires and intrepid mind set. Mike had built a beautiful mantle and side panels for my woodstove tile and he was able to install them this weekend. It finished off the tile like it had always been there. I need now to figure out what I want to put on the mantle and above it. It will be a challange becuase of the stove pipe in the middle. I am thinking that I would like two verticle photos on either side of the stove pipe, perhaps the ones I took of some old, gray shingles several years ago. The shingles would fit with the woodstove nicely.

Although Saturday began with sun, the middle of the day was cloudy and cold. The sun finally reappeared about 4pm. We took advantage of that and went for a walk. The marina was beautiful and the light was great. I had the "little" Canon that I use to ski, bike and run with. What a marvelous little camera that is. The photos included here are all with that little gem.

We found a trail up a hill by the far end of the marina that we had not noticed before. It is obviously a way to monitor the city sewer system, but it is also a wonderful place to watch the river, Sand Island and the traffic from the marina. Great view of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams as well. I think I'll probably include this little trail in my running path as well. Since I have committed myself to running the 5K of the Shamrock Run on March 16th, Id' better get going!

The Klondike resturant is, once again, what it used to be. The Mongolia Grill didn't make it here

(we are NOT the Pearl) . It is again a nice place to have a beer (cold and fresh) and great Fish and Chips. We enjoyed our dinner there and came home far too full.

Sunday dawned a sunny day as promised. We took a walk through the Clackstar Nature Trail at Scappoose Bay and watched folks fish, launch boats and Kayaks. I really want to kayak again. It looks so peaceful and quiet. Probably a great way to take photos too.

Our trip to Home Depot was fun and I now know what kind of a back door should replace the green monster that lives in my kitchen now. I swear that door is painted with automotive paint........something that Henry Ford may have used to paint his first cars. Or maybe John Deer's first tractor. Anyway, it's waaaaaaaay too green for me and way to shiny as well.

Great weekend!! This coming week I need to refine the portraits I have taken of all the Docs where I work. I'll put them on CDs for each and let them choose which photo they want. What an adventure that has been. But, more on that for a later BLOG.

Really Lazy Blogger!

I, admittedly, have been remiss in keeping my BLOG updated. I will attempt, over the next few days, to bring this missive up to date.

The Sauvie Island Bridge has been outdated and inadequate for a long time. Sauvie Island has many farms and much industry, the products of which need to be transported to the mainland and beyond. The old bridge was narrow and no longer had the structural strength to withstand the truck traffic necessary for commerce. A new bridge has been under construction since I have been in Oregon. The span for the new bridge was constructed here in Portland and designed by the same engineer that designed the large and lovely Fremont Bridge. The engineer reportedly was brought out of retirement to design this span. It was constructed on the waterfront near Terminal 2. A special, large barge was brought from Alaska to tow the span from T2 to Sauvie Island. Though the towing date was postponed 2-3 times due to weather, on December 28th the towing began at about 7:45am.

The day dawned cold and cloudy but without wind. I arose early, donned jeans, boots, a down jacket, hat, gloves, my camera and made my way to Cathedral Park beneath the St. Johns Bridge. This was, reportedly, the best venue for photographing this event. I was not present for the construction for any other of the beautiful bridges in this city and greatly wanted to be a part of this one. I entertained myself while waiting by taking other photos, one of which is displayed here, of the very, very beautiful St. Johns Bridge which has been deemed, even by it's designer, as the most beautiful bridge in the world. I must agree with that.

In any event, the new Sauvie Island span began it's journey down the Multnomah Channel at about 8:45, coming under the raised railroad bridge. Looking from a distance, we were all convinced that it could not possibly fit beneath. But fit it did and progressed down the river preceded by a fire boat, pulled by a large tug and pushed by two other tugs. Even the clearance under the height of the St. Johns bridge was awe inspiring to those of standing there on the boat docks at Cathedral Park.

I am so very glad that I was able to record this event. I arrived at work about 10am with mud nearly up to my knees on the (allowable for work) black jeans I wore. Thankfully, I had worn boots to photograph and had brought nice shoes for work. The "photo of the day", however, was the picture I took of the St. Johns Bridge through the trees as I awaited the "event" I came to document. You just never know when that one, special shot will present itself to be taken.

Broken Forests

Rain is not a stranger to Oregon, nor is wind. We expect and even welcome our winter rains. They bring the green, lush beauty we so treausre here. The winds have blown for eons in the Pacific Northwest and will continue long after we are all gone. But also all gone are too many of our forests to the insatiable, unsustainable greed of the logging industry. Clear cuts abound until our beautiful woods appear to have contracted a bad case of mange. The scabs appear unbroken except for the tender and fragile growth of newly planted and very young "tree farms." This winter our land and our people began to pay the price for this insatiable "need" to harvest our forests. The rain had nothing to stop its flow long enough to soak into the soil. It could do nothing but bring the loose mud down the slopes and into the towns and homes in its path. The wind had nothing to sway and slow its terrible force until that force broke the forest into little shards and pieces to fall sadly on the soil that had nurtered it and given it height and breadth. Our forests are broken along with our hearts as we look at the damage.

It will be many years before this damage will no longer be so obvious. Storms have always been a part of this land and they have always been destructive. A mentor of mine had a saying that applied to another subject, but I think it applies here as well. She used to say "It's not nice to mess with Mother Nature." I think we have messed with Mother Nature a little too much here. We need to rethink what our needs really are and not continue to destroy everything in our path.

There was a Spot......

...on my camera. Or rather on all my photos. I feared it was on the CMOS (a mysterious internal portion) of the digital recording piece. But, on the off chance that it was something more simple, I cleaned all the available and relatively "safe" portions of the lens and mirror. Lo and behold, I do believe the spot may be gone!!

As an experiment I took a photo of my Christmas Cactus that has spontaneously bloomed in my bathroom. It was a purchase from last year at this time. My mother and grandmother always had these Zygocacti that required being placed into a dark closet at a certain time of the year, withdrawn at another time to be exposed to the winter light, at which time they bloomed for "Christmas." I have never pampered mine in this fashion and thus only occasionally have been rewarded with blooms. However, for a number of years after my mother passed on, I had her Zygocactus and it bloomed faithfully every year........for Thanksgiving! It seems I have accidentally acquired a relative of that plant! I gave this wonderful specimen no greater attention than to place it (him/her) in my rather cold bathroom window, water it and occasionally feed it (Orchid food) and look what I have! It is beautiful and I am enjoying the display.

I saw some other Zygocacti for sale just recently and I am wondering if the little bathroom window could hold more. Probably not, but it was a thought.

What Can I Say....?

I have been absent for over a month. It has not been an idle month at all. Fall is ending in this part of Oregon and Winter inches ever closer. With Winter comes the shorts days. Daylight savings time ended later this year but it always brings the reality that our winter days are very short. We arise in the dark and return home in the dark. Somehow our energy ebbs and we don't have the same ability to continue our productive hours as long as before. I guess we too are creatures of the Mother Earth just like bears. We tend to need more sleep this time of year just as the animals do. Of course, we are animals too!

Fall is a beautiful time here in the Pacific Northwest. As I drive to Cannon Beach by way of Hwy 30 I am inspired to stop along the way to snap a photo or two. Trojan Park is a favorite of mine and the trees were very beautiful as I passed by. I stopped to take a few pictures and have included one here. Some of the time this fall I have gone through Vernonia to Hwy 26 to reach the coast. That is a most beautiful drive and I have taken several photos there as well.

Last weekend, as Mike & I drove into town, there were Aminitas mushrooms in a yard on Sunset. Usually there are just one or two, but here were many. They are very beautiful and also very deadly! But, they make beautiful photos and here are two. The other photo is of Mike & Riley on the beach. What a surprise, lovely day we had on November 10th. It was supposed to rain and blow, but we had sunshine and calm. We allowed Riley a ride in the bed of my truck and a walk on the beach. I think we wore him out but not before I was able to snap this photo of Mike and Riley in the coming sunset. Riley was so tired that he stayed in my truck while we enjoyed happy hour at the Cookie Company with Cherri and Pete. Of course, I should mention that, when I introduced Cherri to Riley, he accepted her petting and then tried to bite her hand. Good grief!!! Now she will likely never walk up to Capper Mountain again.

Another Run

Sunday October 14th was the annual Great Columbia Crossing 10K Run. This is better known in Astoria/Cannon Beach as "The Bridge Run." I had never done this before but Jody Lampi, a member of our HTC team, suggested that I try it. 10K is not my thing, but, what the heck, so I did it. What a beautiful race this is! It begins on the Washington State side at Dismal Nitch, crosses the Megler Bridge continuing to end at Astoria High School. Elisha Garry, also a member of our Hood to Coast team, ran as well. She has won this race in the previous 3 years, but this year had run the Portland Marathon the previous Sunday. She ran that (her first marathon!) in 3:47!!!!! So, this year Elisha "only" took 3rd among the women with an average of 7:44 minute miles. So sad!!! Jody Lampi, who also had run the marathon ( in 4:11) ran and posted a 4th in her age category with an average of 8:06 minute miles! Great runners both of these ladies.

I managed to take just a few photos on this run. There were about 4000 runners and walkers in total. The day was perfect. It was cool but sunny and, thankfully, no wind. I think everyone was grateful for the conditions. Last year it rained for this race, but it was still well attended. Of course the best part is the clam chowder feed at the end! At Astoria High School everyone was given a bowl of delicious clam chowder, a roll, butter, salad if you liked and a drink. It was delicious!!! I don't know who makes the chowder, but it's quite possibly the best I have ever had!! I believe I will do this run again next year.

Yesterday, October 17th, was "the day" to register for the 2008 Hood to Coast race. I delivered the application to the St. Helens post office at 8:00am on my way to work. We can only think positive thoughts that we will, once again, be chosen to participate in next years relay. I will keep you posted.

A Golden Morning

Today was one of those golden mornings that, if you have any sensibilities at all, make you grateful to live in NW Oregon.

As I drive to work in the morning I usually listen to my radio, either to KINK or 105.9. Both stations were sounding like "blah, blah, blah" this morning, so I turned to 89.9 All Classical. Chopin's Violin Concerto #1 was playing. As I looked East (to my left) I saw a beautiful sunrise. Mt. Hood was silhouetted against an orange sky. There is very little opportunity to pull over, but when I arrived at Scappoose I made a U-Turn and parked. I could not resist the photo opportunity. I could not begin to capture the beauty of the moment but I have included here my feeble attempts.

As I continued toward Portland another very beautiful scene unfolded that was not attainable to my camera due to highway construction. The Multnomah channel was calm and reflective in the morning light. As I gained Sauvie Island bridge, not only were the golden Fall trees reflected in the still waters, but so was Mt. Hood. Oh, to have had the room to turn around and park!!! But, I took in the scene in my mind's camera and enjoyed the music to match as I drove. I doubt I will ever forget what I saw.

I have been here almost five years now and I still marvel at what I see on a daily basis. This must be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I feel so privileged to be living here. I enjoy my drive to work each day. That must be, I am sure, something that not everyone can boast. I truly appreciate the beauty here. I only wish I had the talent to record it accurately with my humble camera lens.

One Bird, Two Birds, How Many Birds???!!!

No photos tonight, just an update. At last look when I came in the door this evening I had three, possibly four little birdie tenants. Each has claimed his/her own little section of my rafters and watches me come & go through my front door. None of them have made a move to leave, even when I climbed up on the chair to see if that was a fourth little head I saw. I couldn't tell for sure, but I think it was.

It's surely a season of birds. The sound I heard coming in from my truck was the call of many, many geese flying overhead. I'm sorry it was dark and I wasn't able to see them, but I love the sound they make calling to one another as they fly. Thankfully the birds that chose my porch are not that big!

Avian Update

Sooooo, this evening, after I attended a really fun party at the office, drove home, fed the kitties and talked to Mike, I thought to check on my wee bird tenant. As I looked around the rafters on my porch I espied my bird and then....another bird! Hmmmmm. I think my birdie has invited a friend to stay the night. I cannot discern which of these is my "original" bird, but one is in the far right and one towards the left. I guess my porch roof is a good shelter for these feathered guests.

Perhaps you and I will grow bored of these avian updates, but for now it is fun to see how this will evolve. I wonder how many feathered guests I will collect for the winter. I suppose it may depend on my supply of birdseed and suet. For now I am enjoying the presence of the birds. I have never hosted these guests before. I love creatures and perhaps will enjoy continuing my avian hotel.

Wee Critter Still Here

Well, the jury is still out on what kind of bird my new resident is. Mike and I still think he/she could be an immature owl and Rachel is thinking it could be a fat house sparrow. But whatever it is, he/she returned this evening.

The bird has chosen the opposite corner of my porch roof this evening and is in the NW corner where it is even more protected from the elements. When I checked, at about 8:45pm, the little bird was active and aware. The NW corner seemed to be a nice refuge. Right now, at 10:40 the bird is quiet and resting. Perhaps I have a new "roofmate" for my porch. That would be fine with me, especially if this avian creature would do away with the ever larger spiders that seem to inhabit the upper regions of my porch roof. I know that many birds feed upon insects and that would be a great symbiosis as far as I am concerned. I am totally willing to feed and clean up after birds in exchange for the demise of the insect population explosion. Especially the arachnids!! They should live and be well outside, but they can't seem to stay outside.

I will update the residency of my bird as it happens. And I hope it continues to happen.

A Critter

Late this evening I went out to put a load of laundry in the wash. It was raining lightly and as I came back up my front steps I noticed a wee small face peering at me from under the eaves of my front porch. I looked closer-my porch light was on-but I couldn't tell if the face belonged to a small, fuzzy bird or to something that looked like a very furry hamster. Not wanting to disturb the little beast, I went for my camera with a telephoto lens. I figured that I could enlarge a photo and perhaps see what he/she was.

I have looked at the pictures and enlarged them. It is clearly a bird. I am wondering if it could possibly be a baby owl. We have owls across the street that I hear at different times of the year. What ever this is, it remains still on my porch. It seems to be awake and watch me when I come & go, but has made no attempt to move. I hope it is well and comfy and does not present a problem. It would be really cool if this was actually an owl. Perhaps someone at work or Mike will recognize the little face. I wonder what it would like to eat?