Big Storm

Monday night, we had a very intense storm with high wind, 4.5 inches of rain, and an almost 10 hour power outage.  The winds on the coast were gusting to 79 m.p.h. on the Yaquina Bridge and 90 m.p.h. at Cape Foulweather.  They were less strong here, but howled eerily. Our river jumped several feet in depth and we had numerous red alder trees snapped or uprooted by the wind. So far we've had 26.6 inches of rain since I got my rain gauge on October 6, with 10.9 inches of that falling this month.

 Water rose to heights "the likes of which we've never seen".

 The large big leaf maple trunk and limbs that fell into the river last March are now gone - moved about 100 feet down the river.

 That broken off alder in the middle of the picture happens to project over one of our main trails. I think we'll need a professional to get that one down.

 Our lower woodshed took a beating. The tree leaning on the right side of it broke off a rafter and tore the metal roofing.

The waterfall didn't have as far to fall!

Red-breasted Sapsucker

Gail spotted this Red-breasted Sapsucker drilling on one of our spruce trees, yesterday. It allowed us to get quite close, and remained on this tree for at least a half hour.

 This sapsucker drills rows of holes that fill with sap and trap insects. The bird eats both.

Red-breasted Sapsucker at work.

Drive to Depoe Bay

Yesterday, we drove up to Depoe Bay, about a 90 minute drive north. The day was sunny, but in the forties on the coast, with a very strong offshore wind.  When we hit Yachats, we could see there was a serious swell running, 10 to 15 feet according to Surfline.  After stopping in Newport for an eye appointment, we continued north about 10 miles to The Devil's Punch Bowl.

 The scene at The Punch Bowl.  The bowl itself was not that dramatic while we were there.

Three miles up the road is The Lookout at Cape Foulweather.  Originally built as a tourist stop in the thirties, it was also used in WWII as a military observation post.

 We came into Depoe Bay when the high tide was peaking and the Spouting Horn was going off.  We got a big kick out of this for quite awhile! Spray was shooting clear onto the 101.

 Ocean swells compress water and air in a rock crevice that has a hole on top, and with the right surge and tide you get quite a geyser.

 Looking out across Depoe Bay to the headland. Those are some very big waves out there!

 That she blows!

We couldn't help ourselves - another selfie.

We went up the coast to Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area. We hiked a short trail that was unremarkable except for this very large Amanita muscaria.

Another trail led down to a little beach and Rabbit Rock.

 Rabbit Rock and surf - telephoto shot.

Not a day for tide-pooling!

 Depoe Bay Harbor is the so called "Smallest Navigable Harbor in the World".  That is the Highway 101 bridge going over the harbor entrance.

 The harbor...

...and the very sketchy looking entrance.  This is the site where McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) takes the mental patients out for a fishing trip in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  We didn't see any boats coming or going on this day.

Surfers call this type of wave a "slab break" because the swell hits a shallow ledge of rock, jacks up, and throws out to make a very hollow wave.  This wave was breaking out from and to the left of the harbor entrance.  I wonder if it is ever ridden.

Out in the bay we saw at least two gray whales feeding in the area.

Beaver Creek Trails

Yesterday, we spent several hours hiking the trails at Beaver Creek.  There are about five-plus miles of trails that skirt the marsh and circle around up a couple of hills.  The morning started out cold and clear, and then turned pleasant around noon.

A highlight of the hike was while eating our lunch at the top of Snaggy Point, we had some exciting bird sightings. Fortunately, I brought my good (and heavy) camera.

 A Red Tailed Hawk perched on an empty Osprey nest was one of our first birds of the day.

This Northern Pygmy Owl really had us excited. Somehow, Gail spotted this tiny rarely seen owl perched on top of a small fir tree. Pygmy Owls are only 6.75 inches long with a wingspan of 12 inches and a weight of 2.5 ounces - barely bigger than a House Finch.  They hunt during the day, eating birds and small mammals. They can kill and eat a squirrel twice their size.  I couldn't wait to get home and read about this owl in the excellent owl book that Sarah gave me awhile back (Owl: A Year In The Lives Of North American Owls, by Paul Bannick).

This is the back of the owls head, which is turned 180 degrees, and those are false eye-spots that deter would-be predators.

 While we were watching the owl, four Bald Eagles circled overhead.  Two of them were doing courtship antics - diving and vocalizing.

Bald Eagles circling.

At the same time, a small flock of raucous Gray Jays was having its say.

 Before leaving the area, we went to the ocean part of Brian Booth State Park.  The fog was rolling in thick and cold.  Gulls, here, taking flight from the mouth of Beaver Creek.

Photo by Gail

Eugene Weekend

Friday morning, we drove to Eugene for a two night stay at the Eugene Whiteaker International Hostel. Gail had several Halloween activities lined up for us. Eugene is a happening place, what with the University of Oregon and all that it brings.

We took separate cars as Gail was going up to Portland to see one of her old punk rock heroes, John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, lead singer of the Sex Pistols, perform in concert at a small venue on Sunday night. She reports that it was, "More than brilliant!"

We met at the natural history museum on the university campus, which is well done with knowledgeable docents on hand. From there, we checked in at the hostel in the Whiteaker district, which is home to starving artists, and in the process of trying to become a destination for restaurants and breweries.  It is still pretty rough around the edges, however.

 Whiteaker International Hostel

 "The Whit" is known for its mature street trees, side-walk damage be damned.

Friday evening, we had tickets for Dracula at The Very Little Theater. It was a surprisingly polished performance - nice theater, great set, and classy performances.

 Saturday, we did a walk along the Willamette River, passing through the Owen Rose Garden.

 In the garden is this Black Tartarian Cherry Tree that is approximately 170 years old.  In 1977, it measured 15 ft. 10 in. in circumference, 60 feet tall, and 80 feet wide.

The farmers market is about the best I've ever seen - great produce at great prices.

After the farmers market, it was onto the the first annual casket race.  Some of the entries got a little squirrelly coming down the hill. 

 There were 40 entries, with some of the casket chassis offered as kits, like these two racers.

Just as this casket passed us, it collapsed a wheel, and it veered sharply into a hay bale. Unfortunately, some kids were standing on the wrong side of the bale and a little girl was hit. She was wheeled off for medical attention.  We do think the event needs to tighten up its safety protocols.

 We toured the pit area. Some of these casket cars had some engineering going on.

 This ship casket had automotive type suspension and steering.

 This iron and steel beast was really fast by the time it got down to the bottom of the hill.  With all its weight, however, we thought it could be lethal if it got off track.

 A real art piece, this one.

After watching for awhile, we headed up the road to see the venue of the evening's performance we'd be attending.

 The Shelton McMurphey Johnson House is now a museum of sorts.

There were displays of unusual caskets, funerary items like ice boards for keeping a body cold, and books of photos of families posing with their dead members posed and dressed to look alive, apparently a fad in the 1800's.

 Then it was back to the festivities at the casket races.  The races were over, but there was live music, pumpkin carving, and getting cider or beer at nearby WildCraft Cider Works.

We started noticing that a lot of the costumes were zombies, and they were coming out of nowhere. Suddenly, Michael Jackson's Thriller started playing as a flash mob of dancers gelled and started the famous dance of the Thriller video.

Gail was particularly elated, as she had been a performer in a similar event in Southern California about 8 years ago, and knew all the moves.

A portion of Thriller in Eugene

Squatting on a stool as if riding the old horse and being chased by The Headless Horseman.

Saturday night, we went back to the SMJ House for an incredible unabridged dramatic recitation of Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Oregon actor Alastair Morley Jacques.  This was about 90 minutes of rapid recitation totally from memory. Shoot, I have trouble remembering my own license plate.  It was quite a private performance, with only about 15 of us in the little foyer of the Victorian house.

Nick Visits!

Last Friday, I picked up Nick at the Eugene airport just in time for the 19th annual Yachats Mushroom Festival. He was with us until Tuesday, when we had to drive him back to Eugene. It was a mushroom themed visit - educational and fun!

Friday night was the Fun-Guys and Fun-Gals Feast. It was rather a low key affair with buffet servings from the local restaurants.  Saturday was our action packed day with two guided walks and perusing the mushroom exhibit at the Lion's Hall.

David Pilz, forest mycologist and author of the novel Bog Maiden, led us on our first tour. He pointed out various fungi and answered questions along the way. He even took a bite out of a big Russula to see if it was an edible species. Apparently it wasn't, as he spit it out forcefully.

We had a little time to kill, so we showed Nick the view from the top of Cape Perpetua.  Our walks were down below.

 Our next guided walk, a fast two hours, was with Susie Holmes, biology professor at Laine Community College.  She did an excellent job of being informative and humorous.


The couple on the left and their friend came all the way from Oklahoma, I believe, for this event.

Susie brought a collection of fungi from a hike she did the day before. It has been an unusually dry fall, so far, so she wasn't taking any chances.

This fungi is called an artist's conk, because if you scratch it, it turns a very dark color.  She demonstrated on this one.

 Off to the Lion's Club hall for tables of mushroom displays.  They were labeled by name and edibility.  There was a large table of unknown mushrooms.

A large bolete mushroom.


Sunday, Nick and I went hiking most of the day in the forest above the Carson Cemetery, a couple miles down the road.

 A corral mushroom.

 Amanita, muscaria, the psychoactive and toxic mushroom also known as Fly Agaric.

 A russula, possibly a shrimp russula, as it smelled like shrimp. We could even smell some of these before we saw them.

 We noticed this cluster of saprophytic mushrooms and upon going up a slope to examine them, we came upon a scattering of  chanterelles - a delicious musharoom that cannot be easily confused with other mushrooms.

Chanterelle mushroom.  We picked nearly a paper lunch bag full before stopping.

 This is the slope we found them on.

Another amanita with its tell-tale warts.

 When we got home, Gail had done some of her own mushroom hunting on our property.

 Nick brushed the chanterelles clean, and then sauteed a few. We decided to just eat a small amount each out of an abundance of caution to make sure none of us had a sensitivity to them.

We had the bug now! Monday, Nick and I headed for Cape Perpetua to do the Cummins Creek/Gwynn Creek loop trail. 

 After awhile, we just had to go up a slope to see if we culd find any more chanterelles. Bingo!  We collected another bag full.

 We had lunch on this overlook.

 By the time we made the loop, it was after 5:00 PM and the fog had rolled in .

Flipping over fungi.

The Gatherers

Gail made some amazing spore prints by covering upside down mushroom caps.  After a few hours or 24 hours, the spores fall from the gills leaving radiating patterns.  This is done usually to check the color of the spores for identification purposes.  Gail, though, is excited by the art possibilities.  More to come!