Meanwhile, Back on the Farm...

The day after Johnny's return from California, friends from Maryland arrived. Suue and I were high school horse-crazy pals, then roommates at college. We married forestry majors in college, but Suue parted company with her partner, went through several others until settling on her forever mate, Kit. (Not all of us get it right the first time.) It was wonderful having them here... just wish it could have been for longer and hope they come again soon! (Like us, they have to get an animal sitter if both of them leave at the same time.)

From Road's End park, Johnny (my forestry major and forever partner) is pointing out "The Thumb" in the distance where I hike weekly. Johnny and I rendezvoused with Suue and Kit in Lincoln City at Jasmine Thai restaurant for supper, then showed them the ocean. ...Although Suue had missed the turn to our house and had already taken them to the ocean by Pacific City and Cape Lookout! A road trip with Suue (aka Sue) is always interesting...

 At the farm, finally... Kit and Suue holding the newest goat kids.

Here is the kid that Kit was holding... a week later with his mom. He is a naturally polled (hornless) kid who will be a herd sire for another goat farm friend.

This photo that Johnny took startled me because the gray-haired woman on the left looks just like my mother... but it's me.

Kit up close and personal with the llamas. 

Johnny took this photo of some old gray-haired lady in my overgrown garden.

This was a ceremonial picking of the first ripe tomato... in mid July. (Same old gray-haired lady.) We cut it into 4 pieces and shared it with Suue and Kit.

The garden (with help from the chickens) supplies daily, colorful salads. Johnny took a photo of this one.

Every week, (when I'm not home watering garden, etc., trying to keep things alive in this dry weather), I still climb The Thumb to check on the BLOY nesting on the seastack at the left of this photo. Tough job, but somebody's got to do it... in the lovely sunshine and comfortable 60s while the farm is usually smoldering in 90 plus heat...

I took this photo on my way to The Thumb... on the right... where I sit and watch BLOY... and eat lunch... and enjoy the view.

 The South Rock, where the BLOY nest. None of the other nest sites I monitor were successful this year.

 And here's the guard BLOY, with the nesting mate out of sight. They change places about every 50 minutes. One of these trips, they'll have chicks, hopefully. They lost their first nest and had to start over. It's a good thing these birds can live 40 years because they sure don't successfully fledge chicks very often.

This early morning, friend Michael took me on a hike to Cliff Creek Falls. It is not a falls that should be hiked to. We survived and it is beautiful. But I'll not do it again.

Here is the view from the beach where that waterfall is hidden from all (or almost all) except those who come by sea. A lovely scene and why I keep going back to the coast. It nourishes my soul.

Meanwhile, back on the farm... I finally have enough milk to drink, make ice cream, custard and mozzerella cheese. I love mozzerella. It was originally made from water buffalo milk but I use goat milk, not having any water buffalo... yet...