This month, so far, has been rainy with 12.7 inches of rain since the 1st. We've taken advantage of a few windows in the weather to get out. Here are a few memories of the past 3 weeks.
We have come full circle and are enjoying seeing the cycle of plants and animals making their seasonal appearances again. Above is Trillium ovatum.
I came upon my first garter snake of the year on April 2.
Our pear tree is in full bloom (4-8-19). Please, bears, leave us a few more this year!
With heavy rain early in the month, the waterfall was roaring! (4-8-19)
Our frogs are now out and about. The big one we call Brutus. We see him (?) every day at the edge of the goldfish pond. These are Oregon Spotted Frogs. We love our amphibians!
One rainy day, April 11, we went bowling at Olde Line Lanes and Kitchen in Lincoln City. I amazed us both by making three spares in my first three frames, but it was all downhill after that. The right side gutter had some kind of magnetism or wind suck.
Gail was amazing, rolling the ball straight down the middle time after time.
Doing her happy dance after her first strike!
This place is the real deal, basically right out of the fifties it seems.
The next day we had a pleasant afternoon at our new favorite beach, Strawberry Hill, hunting for agates, interesting driftwood, and surprise artifacts.
It's a low tide only beach.
Today, we explored a new area a few miles north of Florence. After driving along scenic Mercer Lake we came to the trailhead at Enchanted Valley. The sun came out, and a few minutes up the trail I spotted a bear running away about 50 yards from us.
A mile or so later, Gail spotted this bear track on the trail. There was a lot of bobcat scat along most of the trail. This would be a great place to put my trail cam!
Enchanted Valley used to be part of a homestead, but now it is being returned to it's natural state.
Fungi aren't as common as in the fall, but there were a few. Oyster mushrooms?
Bear scat with Gail scale.
We saw numerous young Oregon Spotted Frogs. Water was oozing out of the hills.
We didn't see another person the whole afternoon.
This big leaf maple was glowing in the sun. We hiked about 5 miles round trip. Our turnaround point was a sunny meadow up on a ridge. We are definitely coming back to this area!
