Catching Up...

Bird surveys have taken up most of February so far. Again, it has been challenging to find days when it's not raining or foggy. One non-rainy day I took photos of some of the birds that come outside the milk room for feed every morning. I post "incidental" lists on e-bird of the birds I can see from the milk room windows while milking and feeding goats. Here are some of them:

California Quail by the score...

Mourning Dove

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Steller's Jay

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

 

Fox Sparrow

 

 I don't know how to do anything with my wonderful camera but point and shoot, so that's what I do. Birds manage to come out recognizable even in the rain through dirty milk room windows. 

Today, Feb. 29, 2024, a new bird for the year appeared outside that window while I was milking... a Great Blue Heron. It flew from the pond and perched high in a tree far away, but my camera was up to the challenge.

 

And the Red-winged Blackbird that visits daily sang and showed off his bright red wing spots.
 

 

 

 

Those were the happy events of the month. There was also much sadness when good friend Blythe, who introduced us to Qi Gong and did Ren Yuan with us every Sunday she was able, fell into a coma and died ten days later, on Feb. 28. Over twenty years of chemotherapy for her lymphoma dampened her immune system and made her vulnerable. Blythe was a vibrant, kind, giving person, the sort of person who makes everyone around her feel good. May her beautiful spirit remain with us forever.

 

 

 

 

 

Wacky Weather

 Our last Christmas Bird Count of the season was on the last day of December. The weather was reasonably good but cold and foggy... which is better than pouring rain. We had a hard time figuring out what some of the birds we saw were so I took photos and sent them to the compiler, Paul Sullivan, who identified them for me. I'll bet he's glad most of his team can identify their own birds! 

My bird id photos are not blog worthy, but here is one of a pretty stream in our sector of the count. This is one stream where we have seen Dippers in the past but they eluded us this year.

  

Then it was January and the weather did not improve. It was challenging to get raptor surveys and beach surveys done in this wacky weather. I do not go to the beach for a survey when there are huge waves and high tides, which is most of the time these days, it seems. I hit one good day for tides and weather on January 3rd. But the ocean had left its mark and I hurried through my beached bird survey while nervously eyeing the ocean and the dune that the ocean had carved back considerably since my last visit.

As can be seen by the foam clear up to the dune, the ocean had only recently retreated. If a wave had come while I was on the beach and carved that dune as it did before I arrived, I would have been washed back into the ocean along with all the wood and wrack that was probably there before the waves reclaimed them. I hope February is kinder for my beached bird survey.

The next day the weather was still moderate so we did our Grand Ronde raptor survey. Again, I took lots of photos so I could stare at them on the computer later and try to figure out what we saw. The eagles I could tell without a photo so I didn't take any. Too bad because the other photos are crummy. 

On the 9th with icy weather threatening, we drove to Portland to help a recently widowed friend winterize her pipes. She had already moved nearly all her hundreds of cacti and succulents from their huge greenhouse into her house to keep them from freezing. Every place indoors was lined with plants... on tables, along hallways, up the stairs. It was beautiful! I told her she should give tours. Johnny made a list of all the things she needs his help with and has been getting materials together ever since. We'll go back up as soon as the weather allows.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... a preliminary ice storm had downed a dead trunk of the hybrid poplar in our front yard, completely blocking the front path. 

 

 But inside the greenhouse, orchids were... and are... blooming. I moved one into the house. 

A jade is blooming in the greenhouse, too.

Outdoors, the winter-blooming jasmine had climbed along the top of the wood door, annoying Johnny who has to bring the wood into the house through that door, but looking pretty in the sunshine.

Down in the woods, Agency Creek was running high and muddy.

 Then came the real ice storm. Temperature dipped to 17 degrees. Kitchen sink drain froze, making the washing machine and dishwasher also unusable. We kept the woodstove going day and night, burning through a lot of that wood Johnny had filled the woodshed with this fall. Now he spent a lot of time thawing water for the goats. An electric space heater in the milk room kept that water from freezing. With the ground covered first with snow and then ice on top, the goats stayed inside the barn. I put on Johnny's old forestry boots with spikes on the bottom to keep from falling on my way to and from the horse/dog shed and goat barn.

On January 15, the sun shone so I walked to the creek and took photos of tracks in the snow. I think this is a Gray Fox print.

I was hoping for some pretty farm-in-the-snow photos, but it wasn't particularly pretty... just cold!

 

Finally, on Friday the 19th, we were able to get out the driveway to do our North Santiam raptor survey. Snow and ice were along the roads all the way to Salem, and then it was like a miracle... roads were clear, and just a little ways eastward where our route took us, there was no snow alongside the road. There was even some sunshine! And unfrozen water!!

Weather was a little warmer for Johnny's 81st birthday on January 21st. The driveway was slushy enough for friend Mary to join us to do Ren Yuan, eat a birthday lunch, and watch a nature documentary. Later that day Johnny had happy birthday calls from friends and kids, so it was a good day.

Today, the 22nd, we woke to 50 degree weather and nearly all the snow and ice gone!! Rain didn't start until early afternoon so I managed to get manure (some of it still frozen) spread on the field... finally... while Johnny sawed up the tree still down across the front path. We hauled off the limbs and all the greenery the tree had taken down with it... to the burn pile in the lower field, where the seasonal pond is full to overflowing and no longer iced over.

The forecast is for rain for the rest of January but that's better than freezing rain and below freezing temperatures. The rest of the country is suffering with cold now but maybe they will warm up, too. Or maybe we will all just have to get accustomed to wacky weather.

December in Photos

In early December, we had heavy rains. So heavy our "bayou" filled up to overflowing. The flood apparently was a bit much for Matilda, the alligator. Her tail flipped upside down.

 

 

 

 

 

 But eventually,  the rain stopped, water went down, and Matilda was repaired. 

We had many bird surveys to fit into the few dry days. And one CoastWatch survey that is not a bird survey... but naturally, I took photos of birds anyway. A Belted Kingfisher was fishing over the ocean from a tidal rock, something I've never seen before. Johnny saw it kiting over the ocean. Such high hopes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Of course, I had to take a photo of a Black Oystercatcher, who is supposed to be on rocky shorelines, feeding on shellfish.

 

On the way home, we stopped at Gunaldo Falls, our traditional stop. Thanks to all the rain, it was visible through the trees. In the summer, it disappears.

Then came the Upper Nestucca Christmas Bird Count on the Solstice. The weather was decent if you don't mind fog; the Forest Service roads were very good; but the birds were silent and few on this the shortest day of the year. I got no photos of birds. So I took one of a spider web catching the sunlight in a spot that happened to have some.

Here Mary and Johnny trudge up the Forest Service trail in one of our areas that we call Raven Hill. We saw four ravens flying across the top when we got there. That unit seems to be on their flyway. Those were the only ravens we saw all day.

 

With few birds to be seen and none willing to be photographed, I took a photo of a rock wall along the road I was hiking. It was in the sun during one of the rare moments when there was sun.

In spite of the lack of birds in our sector, some of the sectors had plenty and we all (or most of us) got together in the evening for food and stories of the day in a local restaurant in Willamina.   

We have one more Christmas Bird Count to go... that one on New Year's Eve day.  

 

But first will come Christmas Day... with the unwrapping of the beautifully wrapped gifts from Jessica (and family, but she does the wrapping). What else we will do is anyone's guess, since it depends on this completely undependable weather.

Happy Holidaze anyway!

 

Thanksgiving Day

 It seems I have not written a single blog entry in December. That shows how busy this cold and rainy month has been here. When it rained, I made wreaths to send to family and friends... in November and December... until they were finally all distributed or mailed.

 

On Thanksgiving Day (which did not make it into my November in Photos blog post), we were visited by a bobcat in a field surrounded by Johnny's new very high fencing. Friends told me that bobcats are "cats" and fences are things to climb, like trees.

 

Before the bobcat arrived, we had driven up Agency to look for Dippers, our standard holiday excursion. The first thing I saw was this strange and magical structure in the woods alongside the road. It wasn't until we drove back that I saw it from the backside... and realized what it was. I won't spoil the surprise yet.
 

We did finally find a Dipper that consented to having its photo taken.

All along the way there were Bald Eagles perched near Agency Creek.                                  

 

When we looked down over one bridge, we discovered why. The tribe gets spawned-out salmon from hatcheries and throws the dead fish into the creek wherever there is a bridge to throw from. The eagles come for salmon dinners. But enough of the carcass escapes into the water to help replenish the nutrients needed to support salmon fry.

 

Here Johnny looks for Dippers off Asinine Bridge, so named because as you may be able to tell by the curve around the cliff on the left, beyond Johnny, the bridge was built in reverse to the curve of the cliffs so it had to blast the cliff out of the way as it made an S to get over the creek. Someone read their blueprints wrong, if they had any.

 

An adult Bald Eagle is up high with a juvenile lower, maybe digesting eagle remains.

 

Johnny wore out while I was hiking and took a little rest by the road.

 

One of the many small waterfalls on Agency Creek.

 

...And "The Chutes" where the water squeezes through a narrow passageway...

 

On the way back home, we stopped at the strange structure I'd seen on the way up. I got out to take photos and get closer. Believe it or not, it was the roots of a tree that had fallen. I prefer to think of it as a woodland fairy home.

 

  And then we drove home and shortly after, saw the bobcat. I went out to take a photo. It did not see me or if it did, it paid no mind. But when I looked away and looked back, it was gone. It must have gone over the fence in that few seconds as it was no longer in the field. 

                                                          A magical Thanksgiving Day.

One Week in November

For once, I have no photos of this past exhausting week. Instead I'll copy excerpts of what I sent to a friend in explanation for my long silence...

Sorry we missed the Art Tour. Ian and Kellin had only that weekend to visit. Ian had not been here for a year... not since Johnny's bday in January last year. He is very busy with school and job. I had hoped to take them to the Art Tour... Kellin is an artist. But to my surprise they arrived Friday with Kevin! Turns out it was a surprise birthday/thanksgiving weekend. They brought a ton of food: some desserts from Jessica and a huge turkey with all the trimmings. They cooked spaghetti Friday night and then the turkey dinner on Saturday. We have lots of food frozen from all the leftovers. It was great to see them all. They left Sunday morning to drive back home. 

(I did take photos when Kevin and Ian were here so will insert those in this blog post...)

Monday we drove to Gates to pick up 2 1/2 tons of hay from friends who bought Mom and Dad's ranch. We did not get enough hay put up this dry summer to last the winter. We had no trouble getting there and back home in Dad's pickup pulling the flatbed trailer he had built. Tuesday we unloaded the hay into the shed behind the shop where we store the horse hay now. That was a chore as the bales weigh 85# each. All I can do is roll them to the open door and push them in to Johnny. But we did it.

Wednesday it still wasn't raining here but looked iffy in Gates so we did our Grand Ronde Raptor survey. 

(I took photos on the survey so will insert a couple here...)

 

 We had another 2 1/2 tons of hay to pick up in Gates when the weather looked safe. It did on Thursday so we went up and they loaded the hay onto Dad's trailer. All went well until we were at the stop light on 22 by I5. One tank of gas ran out so Johnny switched to the other tank but the pickup would not start, and no lights or anything else worked. We could not get out because we were in the middle lane with cars whizzing past on both sides of us. I called our insurance company but they were out to lunch or something so I called 911. Very nice lady took all the info and called the police. Eventually a trooper arrived, assessed the situation, directed traffic around us (although I think by that time everyone had figured out we weren't able to go anywhere) and called a towing company. Two tow trucks arrived. One pulled our truck onto his bed, the other hooked to our hay trailer and both went to the towing company yard by the airport. Then came a very long wait while the nice lady at the towing company negotiated with our insurance company (State Farm) and finally got the go ahead to have us towed home. So both tow trucks got us and our pickup and trailer with hay back home. Long, stressful day.

Still nice weather on Friday so we unloaded the 60 bales into the loft of the goat barn... with great difficulty. I waltzed the bales to the hay elevator (hope you can visualize what I mean) and Johnny had a wheeled gizmo that the bales dropped onto and he wheeled to where he stacked them no more than 2 high because they are so blessed heavy!

Today, as you know, Johnny went to town to do errands. I stayed home to do chores, clear a fence-line to keep our blasted dog where she belongs, washed my hair and fell asleep in my chair... was still asleep when Johnny got home. I woke up in time to do chores and eat supper. And now I'm going to bed.

So that's what our life has been like recently. Hope it settles down now.  ...... I figure my back will recover in a week or so. I'm still not back up to 100# and wrestling 85+ pound bales was a bit much. But we did it!

Looked like from the papers that the art show was a great success. Sorry I missed it.

Linda