Snapshots

 The following are snapshots from the past couple months.  We have gone from variable weather to almost unvarying rain.  Here is a little taste of what's been going on:

Jim and Wally came up one afternoon to cut cedar for nest boxes.  Jim has been kindly sharing tips on photography with me.

Amanita muscaria or fly agaric is an hallucinogenic and deadly poisonous mushroom.  Kind of Christmasy looking, I think!

Marty Bray, Brent Butler, and I spent a morning planning for the installation of approximately 15 new Tree Swallow boxes at the Oregon State Hatfield Marine Science Center up in Newport.  Marty is the newest member of SWIFTY, is a retired USFS biologist, and is currently spending two months traveling in South America with his wife.  Brent is a grounds maintenance manager for the sprawling complex and has been very helpful in working with us.

We were marking potential nest box sites with flags.

At home we have been seeing Ensatina oregonensis salamanders in the wet weather.

We finally took the plunge and will be getting a new full sized counter depth refrigerator for our kitchen.  We had to remove four feet of cabinets, a heartbreaker, to do it, but there will be no more having to go down steps to our utility room to get things from the frig.  Like most things in rural Oregon, this project will take time.  We have a cabinetmaker who is making cabinets to match and surround the new refrig. Our go to carpenter helped with the cabinet removal, we had another guy put in the electrical, and someone else do the water valve and line for the ice maker.

 

We've had all the Chanterelle mushrooms we wanted this fall.

I represented SWIFTY at the Lincoln County Audubon Society Christmas party up in Lincoln. City.  We donated three nest boxes for the fundraising raffle.  This woman won one of our chickadee boxes.  She also was the author of Best Little Book of Birds: the Oregon Coast,  and guest speaker. 

This gentleman won one of our Tree Swallow boxes.  He went home and brought back 4 nest cameras to donate to SWIFTY - very kind of him!  I happened to win the prize everyone wanted; a used Bushnel spotting scope and Manfrotto tripod!  I almost felt sheepish about it, being kind of an outsider.  However, I had joined the organization, and did buy a number of raffle tickets.

We had some very cold days in early December where it didn't get above freezing for several days.  The ice and hail built up in all the shady areas.

Our fence took on a new look.

Gail is standing in the middle of our driveway after a big storm blew through the night before.

The wind was strong enough to snap the Douglas fir that fell on the driveway.  We cut an escape route, as our cars were blocked in.  Always keep your chainsaw ready in Oregon!

I made our first three Purple Martin boxes from plans that Wally brought up.  They stack on a vertical 2x4.  Purple Martins are the largest swallows and migrate to South America each fall.  They are mostly dependent on manmade nest boxes with specific sized openings to keep out invasive Starlings.  East of the Rockies, they only nest in boxes provided by humans.  We are planning to establish breeding colonies at Beaver Creek and in Waldport.  It could take several years to succeed.

It looks simple, but the design has a number of thought out considerations.

We did a holiday lantern walk in Florence one evening. 

We walked along the waterfront with about 30 others carrying lanterns.  It was a little strange to feel like you were marching, but without a cause.

I was all set to spend a week in Colorado Springs with Andria and family.  The night before I left on the normally two hour drive to the Eugene airport, there had been a significant ice storm.  It took almost three hours, the highway was spookily empty, and I passed a car on its roof, and several others slid off the road.  It got even worse the last few miles in Eugene, as the ice had not been treated or graveled.  It was black ice, with numerous cars in ditches, and one very bad looking head-on collision.  At that point, I got a text that my flight had been canceled.  No way was I driving back to Yachats, so I got a motel room after spending several hours at the airport trying to rebook.  I drove home the next day in much better conditions.  Interestingly, when I requested a total refund from United customer service, they would only give me the refund if I paid a $250 fee.  At home, I read that federal regulations require airlines to give a full refund when requested for canceled flights.  I contacted my credit card bank, BofA, and today see they got me my $250.  I was sad to miss the family get together in Colorado, but have decided to return in February for my grandson's birthday.  Hopefully, it will be smoother sailing.

A rare moment of sunshine.  Gail grabbed my phone to take this shot one early morning.

Well, that about does it.  We are still waiting for a non rain day to clean up the tree mess and debris all over the property.  It will feel good to do some physical work once again.

Happy New Year!