A Full-time Life

Category: Oregon homes

What happened last month?

Happy October!

Oregon October 2022

What in the world happened to September? I missed a couple of weeks here in blog land for no particular reason – we were busy with appointments and family. And we read books and watched TV and ate good meals and went for walks in places that I've already blogged about a million times. So not-exactly-boring….just nothing much that seemed blog worthy. And then of course there was this past week …

Please note: (This may be a confusing post because the pictures are all from last week here in Oregon, even though all the rest of the words are about Florida.)

Oregon — October 2022

We spent a lot of time last week watching Hurricane Ian destroy much of the area where our winter home is located. I prefer not-exactly-boring any time.   Our winter home is all the way across the country but we mostly watched local Fort Myers TV while sitting here in our Oregon living room. It gave us a slightly better picture than national news.

McDowell Park, Linn County Oregon October 1, 2022

We have been notified that our Florida Canal Cottage is still standing, but don't really have detailed news about its condition yet. The problem will probably be storm surge damage (water, mold etc.). There is still no electricity or water for the houses along the canal. Neighbors who live in our resort year-round were under evacuation orders and have been told not to return yet. (The majority of the residents are snow-birds like us.)

Majestic Falls, McDowell Park

No matter what we learn, we are fortunate to be where we are (and to have another place — out of the hurricane zone — to call home). As everyone knows by now, many people in the Fort Myers area were not so lucky.

Majestic Falls

Many homes and businesses in Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach were destroyed. The beach front as we knew it is pretty much gone. Two of our favorite places to visit when we're living in Florida, Sanibel Island and Matlacha on Pine Island, have also suffered devastating damage. From what we've seen, it is hard to imagine exactly how they will ever be the same.

McDowell Park

So right now it's a waiting game. Waiting to hear from Florida, waiting to see when we will go back to Florida, waiting to see what the damages are, waiting to see what we can or should do about it all. But while we're waiting we are here and safe and Autumn is a beautiful season here in Oregon.

End of September Eugene Oregon 2022

However, right now at the beginning of October it still feels like late summer here in Eugene. It hasn't been cold enough to add much color and in fact most trees in our neighborhood are still fully-leaved and green. No doubt we'll still be here to get pictures when they turn.

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

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS

October 2, 2022
September Days

Country Road – Benton County Oregon

We took a backroad drive one day last week with no particular destination. We're still having hot summer days and walks have been limited so it was good to get outside. There's some smoke in our valley from fires in the hills up the Willamette River (not dangerously close to us). Summer means fire season here in the west — more than ever nowadays.

Pied-Billed Grebe

Like magic, our unplanned destination turned out to be the Finley Wildlife Refuge. (But really because the person driving the car knew where he was going all along.) We arrived in early afternoon, not the optimal time for birding, but we saw a few in the Marsh.

Great Egret

That's a fish at the Egret's feet. He must have already eaten his fill.

It's good to see green especially at the end of a summer that's been hot and dry in most of our area.

September is my month to feel nostalgic. Probably because our life revolved around the school year for so long, it really seems more like a New Year to me this month than does January. So with nostalgia in mind, this week's collage is a look-back at early September days from a few past years:

The top two photos are from roadtrips in 2019 — Fall color in Portland Oregon and the hawk at Arcata Marsh California. 2021 and 22 were the Covid years — we did some self-isolated camping during that time, but we were home in Oregon in September of both years. I photographed the bushtits in our daughter's yard in 2020; it was a new bird for me (I had ID help from wonderful bloggers when I first posted about them). The other two photos in the bottom row are from our grandson's backyard at a family gathering last year. The center photo is California Redwoods in the mist — another road trip to the state south of us in September 2018.

And back to the present (well, last week anyway):

Just a beautiful blue sky with a few fluffy clouds for interest — on the way home from our weekday drive last week. September really does start a new year for our older great-grands and their parents (several of the grandchildren teach as well as parenting) and for our daughter and son-in-law who are helping out with their not-old-enough-for-school grandbabies. For us, there's really no regular schedule to keep, but it still feels like new.

September mornings still can make me feel this way!

Links this week with thanks:

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; SATURDAY CRITTERS and RATHER B' BIRDING

September 4, 2022
River Walk, August

What is as rare as a perfect day … in August!

We had a couple of 75 degree afternoons last week. Even a walk along a city sidewalk looked good. But it's even better when that street leads to the River Path .

It's hard to realize walking along the river that I'm actually only a few blocks away from home. We've been busy with appointments and routine so I feel lucky to be close to this nearby-nature getaway. Especially on a perfect August day.

I'm seeing more dragonflies than birds these days. Guess I need to work on my identification skills.

Here are a few more. They love the River too.

Perfection found in a tiny wildflower.

Linking to the following with thanks to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

August 14, 2022
We’re having a heat wave

We have been living under a heat dome lately. So hot! But it is supposed to be moderating a bit this week. I took the screen shot below from Thursday's local paper:

The line under the icons reads: Thursday Sunny and Hot; Friday Very Hot; Saturday Very Hot; Sunday Colder; Monday a shower……

Temperatures over 100 are definitely not summer normal here in western Oregon (or at least they haven't been up until the last couple of years. ) But I laughed at the five-day outlook when I noticed that under the icon for Sunday it says "Colder" (with a temperature range of 89/62). I don't think that's quite the right way to describe a day where the high is expected to be 89! (I'm writing this on Sunday morning and it is more pleasant outside than it has been, but I'm not wearing winter clothes just yet thank you.)

Because of the heat, we didn't get outside to play much at all last week. We've spent some quality time with our Oregon family and loved it, but somehow the camera never remembers to come out of hiding on those days.

Geoff's picture from their Colorado backyard

So this week I'm blogging a a few Oregon pictures from earlier this month and interspersing those with some lovely (and cooling) pictures from our Colorado family. Colorado is our "third State."

Lisa's picture from Colorado

Above is Lisa's picture of Geoff with Max the big white dog on an early summer hike. Morning or evening, Colorado skies are beautiful.

The pictures in the next mosaic are mine from a week ago Saturday before it got so hot here:

Just some random people showing some of the ways to enjoy the beautiful South Willamette River Trail (and on that river as viewed from the trail). Walking, kayaking, bicycling, walking with the dogs, tending plots in the two community gardens along the path, fishing, and just chilling in the park and along the water's edge. The trail offers something for everyone on a perfect summer's day. I'm pretty sure we'll have more good days before summer's end.

Green Heron

This is also my picture but from three years ago. A couple of weeks ago I showed a distant shot of another green heron and then I remembered this old picture. It's the best one I think I've ever taken of this particular species of heron even though we see them often both here and in Florida. Like the more recent picture, this one was also seen at the Delta Ponds and also in July.

We've been watching this big apartment complex going up along one of the streets on our way to the River paths. It's interesting to watch the progress. At this stage, the buildings didn't look like they were ever going to be finished, but now they look more like people will be able to live in them someday soon. The already finished building is, I think, going to be the office.

And here's one more Colorado picture:

Geoff's picture

And it's another one taken from their deck. They have magical views from their new home.

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

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

July 31, 2022
ROSES, 2022

We should have visited the Owen Rose Garden last month because June is the height of the season for these beautiful flowers. But even in mid-July and with all the hot days we've had, there were still some perfect blossoms on view last week.

The gardens are well cared for and beautifully designed — a peaceful place. It's not far from where we live here in Eugene. Just a tiny bit out of hot-day walking range to get there.

So I drove a couple of miles to park at Valley River Center, our area's primary shopping mall. From there it's a short walk across a pedestrian bridge to the South Bank Trail (on the Willamette River).

Then the walk to the Gardens is less than a mile along the trail. The pictures in the collage above were taken from the bridge.

Eugene has a great trail system. Most of my walks along the river are from our house — no driving. I love being able to "go outside to play" with no driving (or very little) even though we live in a metropolitan area.

The Cherry Tree in the mosaic below has been growing in this spot from the mid-1800s. It's on the edge of the rose gardens. Because it lies within the original land claim of Eugene Skinner, the founder of our fair city, it is believed that it was planted by Skinner himself.

Whoever dug the hole, the tree is beautiful and I'm thankful for the arborists and volunteers who work hard to keep this living bit of history in prime condition.

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities: Thanks to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; TUESDAY TREASURES;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; FRIDAY BLISS; and SATURDAY CRITTERS

July 24, 2022
Home Again

It's been five weeks since my last blog post and it's good to be back.

Morning Sky on our last day at the Canal Cottage

One busy week to close up the Canal Cottage and prep for our cross-country trip.

The Mississippi looking not so mighty from our RV Parked on the River

Two weeks of travel with the tiny trailer – 3500 miles (a night or two in ten different states).

Oregon summer flowers

And now it's almost two weeks since we arrived here in Eugene. It's just beginning to feel like we're home! Seems like it takes a little longer to get "Oregon-ized" than it used to. I might be getting older.

The "street" in an RV Park where we stayed somewhere in Missouri or Kansas. No storms while we were there thankfully.

What with the price of gasoline these days, we could have flown home for less money, but we already had the tiny trailer in Florida. And of course there are problems with air travel these days too. So it was the best choice this time.

Rawlins Wyoming — a rainy day

I didn't take many more pictures on this trip than I would have if we had flown. We did only incidental sight-seeing as we drove or in the RV Parks where we stayed… no touristy stuff this time. We wanted to be home by the first week in July.

Glenn's Ferry Idaho

Fortunately we like road trips — it's fun to think about what's different and what's the same in the different places we pass through.

Terrible "through the window" shot, but I always like to document the first mountains we see as we travel west from the flatlands.

We always get away later than we plan to, so the first night we stayed in Ocala Florida. Then somewhere in Georgia (lost the name of the town); Montgomery Alabama; West Memphis Arkansas; Cuba Missouri (in the Meremac Valley); Marshall Missouri; Salina Kansas; Oberlin Kansas; Kimball Nebraska; Cheyenne Wyoming; Rawlins Wyoming; Brigham City Utah; Burns Oregon; and Blue River Oregon.

The McKenzie River — just a couple of hours from home

For people who drive more than five or six hours a day, both the last two places are within a day's drive of home. But we have always preferred to take our time. The last day of the trip we stayed in Blue River, less than two hours from home. Both because we enjoy being on the beautiful River in this sweet little park AND because we don't like getting home when we're tired from traveling all day.

It's good to be home again.

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

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

July 10, 2022
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.

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

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



March 20, 2022
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

November 14, 2021
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

September 12, 2021
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;

September 5, 2021