A Full-time Life

Category: Birds and Wildlife

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;

June 20, 2021
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;

May 2, 2021
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.

April 25, 2021
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

April 4, 2021
IN LIKE A LAMB

If it is possible to OD on daffodils I plead guilty. I stop to admire them and take pictures on every walk. And on every country drive, in every park and almost in every yard.

It's a harmless addiction, unless you count the sudden stops made on those country roads. And anyway, there's a good excuse because this is the first time in years that we've been in daffodil country in March.

I wouldn't trade the decades of winters and springs we've spent in sunny climes for anything. But the beautiful early Spring flowers have been a gift in this year when staying home was our safer and happier option.

And the winter weather here in our part of Oregon has really not been all that hard to take. Not nearly as rainy and gray as we remember. March definitely came in like a lamb with a beautiful sunny day and only a couple of partly rainy days last week. I've read a lot about places where it came in like a lion and therefore (hopefully) will go out like a lamb. But here in the Pacific Northwest, we've always heard the opposite version of that old proverb. There's actually a fact-based reason for that.

Not my picture (I wish it were). Google public domain

Here is information from CNN Weather:

Some may be familiar with a reverse version of the proverb: "March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion."

This "reverse" of the proverb is hard to trace in its origin, but definitely makes sense if you consider those who traveled westward with the American expansion to Western states.

These western states can have incredible temperature swings this month as the polar jet stream moves from it's preferred position near Canada over the winter to a more southerly route during the spring. This tends to cause many states in the Western US to experience some of their heavier snowfalls from the end of March and into April — thus the lion (and the harsh weather it represents) coming at the end of the month.

I hope the proverb comes true for those who got the lion last week — and that it doesn't for those of us who got the lamb.

Just the usual suspects when it came to birds last week. I heard and saw a lot more species. Spring activity is picking up even here in the city, but pictures are hard to get. I've been trying to remember that just observing birds used to be enough to make me happy. Now I'm a little disappointed if I don't get a picture.

Thankful to be safe and well and enjoying this seasonal transition. It is almost a brand-new experience for us after all these years.

And thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities, where I'm linking this week:

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

March 7, 2021
THE GIFT OF FEBRUARY SUNSHINE

The weather forecast for last week called for rain and flooding, but here in our corner of the Willamette Valley we were instead blessed with sunshine and blue skies most days and very little rain.

One morning, we went for a ride through the pretty farm country west of town to the small town of Junction City and then on BLM roads through the surrounding hills down into a coastal valley.

Bill likes to drive these curvy mountain roads. We probably drove about 40 miles in this backcountry and in 4 hours did not see a single other car or person. There are a lot of places like this around our area. I do think about how easy it would be to be lost and have to admit that I checked to see if there was cell service. (There was. I guess nowadays it wouldn't be as easy.)

The drive was really a long-way round to the farm (otherwise known as our daughter and son-in-law's home.) We stopped to look at the migrating pelicans on Kirk Pond — the wild area that is within walkable distance of their house. Most of them were on the other side of the water, but these three were nice enough to swim closer to the shore.

A quick tour around their backyard on this blue-sky late February day. Spring is on the way (although the groundhog did see his shadow here, so we hedge our bets).

Tree watch, late February

Stellar Jay, Scrub Jay, and Common crow.

Three different (noisy) birds all enjoyed the same blue sky in the same winter tree.

We brought a few branches of these harbingers of Spring home. (There are pictures of the pussy willow tree in last week's post — the tree has branches to spare.)

Sunny February days are a gift here in Oregon. Thankful for blue sky days and the time to enjoy them.

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; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

February 28, 2021
BEAUTIFULLY BLUE

Blue skies are always welcome — especially in late February. And especially when much of the rest of the country and even much of our State is under severe weather watch. But in truth blue skies don't always make the most interesting pictures.

On one day last week though, the blue skies were as intriguing as they were welcome. It's rare that I can't stop taking pictures of a blue sky. It's usually just "there" and unchanging. On this day though these clouds just scudded across the sky painting pretty patterns as they traveled.

All these sky pictures were taken from one small area in the "way-back" of our daughter and son-in-laws home. It was kind of a chilly day (for here). The scrub jay didn't mind the cold. His blue color doesn't show up against the sky as much as it would on a gray day.

And I got this wonderful surprise that I almost didn't notice while sky-watching. These are the first pussy willows I've seen in years. We've spent February in warmer climates since the turn of the century* when we sold our Oregon home to travel. *(I've always wanted to use that phrase!)  And very early spring flowers don't bloom in sub-tropical climates.

It hasn't even rained hard enough to knock down the daffodils . These first-of- the-year flowers are always kind of a gamble. Way back (yup, back in the last century) when we gardened, they were my favorite flowers of all just because they are so welcome. But hard rains can decimate them quickly. We have been very very lucky in our weather this year. So far, at least. Family and friends remind me that in the past year or two (while we were away) our valley had a snowfall on the first day of Spring. We're grateful for every blue sky day!

Here in our present Oregon backyard, there are no flowers blooming yet, but the red-bellied sapsucker keeps us entertained most mornings when we're at home. (Of course I pretend to be sure it is always the same one — really, we never do see more than one.)

My bird book says that in addition to enjoying sap from the trees, these birds feed on insects extracted from the bark. And that helps to keep down the number of boring-type insects that destroy healthy trees. I hope that is true because Eugene needs trees! And this tree is right next to the one that gave up completely and fell down last year (this post from last September).

Linking this week to these 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; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

February 21, 2021
HOPE

Still in that holding pattern here and this may remain true for the foreseeable future. But there is always hope.

River Walk, January 2021

At the very least there is certainly hope that Spring is somewhere on the horizon. (And I know we are fortunate to have this kind of weather this time of year.)

This is the first time in years we've spent a Winter season here in Oregon so we may have forgotten — but it seems like the second week in January is kind of early for this flowering tree to be blossoming. I hope there isn't a February surprise to freeze its little buds.

This pair of crows was having a noisy argument. They ended up ignoring each other, but still occupying the same branch. Too much togetherness lately?

We are doing OK with our togetherness (so far) but do have hope that the Covid 19 vaccine will be available within the next month or two. Oregon seems to be lagging behind in receiving the allotment from the Federal Government, but perhaps that will improve soon. Right now our tier (old folks) is not slated to receive the first dose until February.

Skies are changeable here this time of year. We remember that from all those years we lived in Oregon (in our former life, pre-retirement). The above pictures are all from last week. If you don't like the weather, just hope for change and wait a little while — it will happen soon.

We also remember that camellias were very early bloomers. (I would have thought early February, but here they are at their prettiest last week.) One reason why we remember them is that the second winter year we lived in Oregon (in 1972 I think) we lost two beautiful bushes to a February freeze. Let us hope that this one does not meet that fate. At least it isn't our responsibility this time though — this is another beautiful flower I "stole" from the neighborhood. (via photography only of course .)

A walk to the river, January 12. 2021

It felt like Spring, it looked like Autumn, but it was a Winter Day. Since we're home a lot more with very few appointments on the calendar, it's hard sometimes to remember what day it is. And with weather like this, I'm not even sure about the season. But it's OK to be confused because I'm so grateful for every winter day that isn't freezing cold.

Peace Rose (from June 2o20, Owen Rose Garden)

We continue to hope for peace and calm for our country.

Linking this week to the following: 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;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

January 17, 2021
Holding Pattern

Last week was a terrible one here in this country. And it really does feel as if we're in a holding pattern — at least until after January 20, when, I hope, the USA will begin the return to some semblance of normality. We have a long way to go.

It's actually hard to think about anything else, but life goes on and above is a pattern of a different sort. This sapsucker (?) has been at work drilling it right here in our own backyard.

Tree watch, January 2021

And here is the black walnut tree in our son-in-law's and daughter's yard on the 9th of January. Under a cold but blue sky. I'm grateful this past week for mostly dry days in this part of Oregon. It really does help to go outside and play.

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

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

January 10, 2021
WINTER COLOR

It was almost the end of December but there was still Autumn-like weather on our last "Covid-country-drive" of the infamous year just over. Sunshine turned the willows to amber and the blue sky made a beautiful backdrop for hundreds and hundreds of Canada Geese.

And we spotted the handsome raptor below while we were admiring the fields.

My extensive research comparison with pictures on the Internet leads me to think this may be an immature Cooper's Hawk. ( It has a yellow eye.) But as always I am open to help.

I have learned so much from fellow bloggers who are real birders and I am so grateful. Back in September I posted the pictures below without any idea of what these little acrobats were. Thank you so much to all of the bloggers who told me in their comments that they were Bushtits.

Bushtits 2020, our daughters and son-in-laws' backyard.

So this was new bird for me — and one I hope to see again so that maybe I can identify it "all by myself." I'm pretty sure they were just migrating through the area when we spotted them.

Coming back now to the present day (or at least closer to it), the gray backdrop on the collage below is more typical of what our skies have been like since that day in the country at the start of this post.

All of these birds (and more) were spotted along what I call the path to the path — it's a neighborhood walkway behind our apartment complex that meets the river-bank path I show quite often. Since the trees and bushes are bare now, I see more small birds along this section — house finches, chickadees, juncos, and towhees (not pictured). And the neighborhood pair of mallards is hanging out in the back channel almost every time.

It's a different Winter season for us, but there is still a little color in our world and still some closer-to-home explorations waiting to happen. We are grateful.

LINKING 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; WILD BIRD Wednesday; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

January 3, 2021