Christmas Shenanigans

 Gail and I had our own version of pandemic Christmas that gave us some laughs during these weird times.  A highlight was a Christmas Eve Zoom get together with Andria's family, Nick, and Nana.  Andria and the kids showed off their musical talents on trombone, trumpet, and xylophone.  It was good fun to see everyone, even if it was on a computer.

On Christmas Eve Day, I took Daisy to the beach where it was remarkably warmer than up river at our house (around 15 to 20 degrees warmer).  Gail was cooking up a storm back at River Song.

On the way down and back there was a herd of elk grazing, about a mile from our house.

Gail found a surprise gift in the mailbox from the Adlers, who spotted her doing road cleanup.  Gail, single-handedly, walked the whole road to town and back picking up trash and bagging it along the way.  That was 16 miles of walking in one day!  

Local hero!

Yesterday, Christmas, we kept the fire burning, roasted a free 19 pound turkey from Fred Meyer, and played our go to game, Hugger Mugger.  This is a good game that combines luck and skill of general knowledge, spelling, unscrambling letters, etc.  We each won a game, although my win is questionable as I accidentally played Gail's game piece in one of my turns - a Pinot or senior moment, or both.

What is this, you ask?  When it got dark, we had some fun doing a little long exposure photography.  That is Daisy wearing her glow collar, walking past the wood stove.

A little longer exposure (2' 43") with Yummy and Daisy briefly lit up.

We never get tired of looking at the big leaf maple across the river.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

December: Pandemic Edition

 This has been a dark and damp December, mostly.  Small events have taken on new importance and excitement as we wearily go through this pandemic routine.  This blog post illustrates that fact with pictures of flowing water, dead fish, and lost dogs.  Can't wait for the vaccine!

On December 2nd, Gail ran up to the house saying there was a big fish dying in the river.  It was getting dark so the cell phone picture is not clear.  You can see its white tail and then to the right, its body stretches all the way to the white stem in the foreground - you can barely make out its head.  It was a salmon, close to 3 feet long that apparently had spawned and was dying like they do afterwards.

On December 18th, while 2 miles up our local forest service road (the 5300), we encountered these two dogs without collars.  There was no one around, and the smaller one ran ahead of us all the way back to our house.  The Pyrenees disappeared.  We spent the next 4 hours calling neighbors, posting a found notice on Craig's List, and then driving to various homes in the area.  A man named Dave, who recognized Dahlia, led us to the owner, probably about 3 miles from our house.  The Pyrenees, Fluffy, was there waiting for us.  We met some interesting new neighbors in the process, and hope to see a couple of them again in better times.

We have had a warm fall, and consequently a long chanterelle season.  We were surprised to find these on the 19th on Full Moon Trail (our name), right across the road from us.

This has been a rainy month, and the night of December 19th rained 5.2 inches.  This is the river the next morning, about as high as we've ever seen it here.  It has rained 100.1 inches since January 1st (40.8 inches since September 1st).

The height of the river makes our waterfall look shorter!

The river in motion.

The summer swimming hole not looking very enticing.

On her early morning walk with Daisy, Gail spotted the tail of a large fish protruding from the silt in shallow water.  We found two salmon lodged in some underwater sticks and partially buried by the silt stirred up by the high river flow the past two days.  I measured this salmon at 35 inches!  The smaller one was more decomposed.  

Spawning salmon go through some extreme changes to their mouths and bodies.  I would not want to be bitten by this fish when it was alive!

The smaller salmon looks like a different species or maybe it wasn't spawning.  I don't know.

We've learned on several occasions this year that salmon and steelhead definitely inhabit our river.

Mushrooms, Agate, and More!

 Not more mushrooms, you say. Sorry, but they're something we get excited about due to their never ending variety and surprise appearances. I think you will be amazed, however,  by a huge agate that Gail found.  

As we pulled into the parking lot on November 20, at Ocean Beach, Gail remarked  that she had a strong feeling she was going to find a big agate.  We joked about it and I teased her that she probably jinxed herself.

About 20 minutes later she screamed and went running to this agate that was quite visible on a large slab of rock.  Good thing we were almost the first people on the beach!

On the drive home, we named it The Premonition Agate.

Later in the morning, we drove down to Florence and hiked across the dunes to the long beach there. This is the beach where in 1970 the highway department blew up a dead whale with dynamite, showering people and cars with large chunks of blubber over 800 feet away.  There are several YouTube videos of the debacle.

Back to the agate.  You can appreciate its translucence by back lighting it with a flashlight in the dark.

Most agates form inside of pockets in lava.  Sometimes the agate forming minerals run out before the pocket is filled, leaving a hollow center like a geode.

Below are some fungi photos taken over the past month.

This is not a fungi photo, but Gail deep cleaning behind the stove.  We have been painting the interior of the house this past month, and have now finished the living room, dining room, and kitchen.  This project keeps opening a new can of worms with every new wall we paint.  We got rid of four satellite stereo speakers that looked dorky, and I ran new cable under the house to the living room wall cabinets where I put in new bookshelf speakers.  The sound quality is much improved!

Amanita muscaria or fly agaric is beautiful, but toxic.

This is a developing one, before its cap spreads out.

This is foam churned up during a storm the previous night.  November 26.

There were a number of these little worm like animals on the sand.  I'm waiting to see if anyone on iNaturalist can identify it.  

Note: I just got an iNaturalist suggestion of sea cucumber.  I think that is correct after looking at other images.

The big leaf maple as seen from our back deck.  We love its form and its changes through the seasons. It is an old tree, and lost its largest trunk just a few weeks after we moved in.  We hope the rest remains for many more years.

Heading Towards Winter

 November started out with some glorious fall days, sunny, with splashes of yellow and red foliage.  That has shifted dramatically to barren trees and rainy days.  We are taking advantage of the pandemic and wet weather to paint the inside (of course) of our home.  The following are some photos of the transition (ooh, that's a loaded word these days!)

Looking up the river from our big spruce tree on November 2nd.

Looking through our blueberry bushes.

On October 28, we waded across the river, climbed the steep bank, and hiked up the mountainside that is quite inaccessible.  Our goal was to explore and hopefully find some chanterelles. These delicate mushrooms are not chanterelles.

The mountainside was quite steep.  We followed an elk trail most of the way.

 

Looking at the back of our home from the other side of the river.

We did find numerous patches of chanterelles, and picked enough for a couple meals.

 

Daisy likes to play keep-away with a tennis ball.  October 29.

She also sleeps on her bed in this amusing position.

Here are some of our curious neighbors.

In October, I remade these three elevated planter boxes out of cedar.  I replanted dozens of daffodil bulbs, and will find some other flowering plants to put in in the spring.

What is this, you may ask?  Well, Gail wanted a picture holder for her Denali art piece. I modified a rake, welded on some supports, and sprayed it black to come up with this.

Voila!

November 13, after a night of 4 inches of rain.  We have had over 12 inches of rain so far this month.  The nice thing about rainy weather is that it is usually a lot warmer at night than when it is clear.

The mighty Yachats awakens.

You don't want to be walking in the woods when it's windy around here.  This is on our almost daily 5300 hike from the house.

Our pandemic project is underway. We have completed painting the living room, and have moved onto the dining and kitchen area.  The color is from my brother Sherwin's collection and is called hopsack. I read that paint sales are way up due to the pandemic.  

Well, that brings us up to date.  I hope everyone is well, both physically and emotionally. I sincerely wish that we all live to see the fall of Trumpism.