Nick Visits

 On July 7, I picked up Nick at the Eugene airport for a 5 day stay with us.  It was great to see Nick, do fun stuff, and take a break from working around the house. 

The weather was about perfect for his whole stay.  We stopped at Haceta Head Lighthouse on the way to Yachats.

Nick here, looking for one of his unique angles on things.

The next day we hiked at Cape Perpetua and spotted several clusters of Indian Pipe.  This plant lacks chlorophyll so gets its nutrients by parasitizing certain fungi.

Where's Nick?

We learned that Nick is quite the pole vaulter!

We went to Strawberry Hill Beach on another day where Nick found this whale sculpture.

Gail spotted three river otters making their way along a cliff towards the ocean.  Nick was able to get some good video on his cell phone shooting through our binoculars.  On my phone, this is the best I could do.  The parent otter in the center of this picture had just found a large crab in no time at all and took it up the rocks where it shared it with the two youngsters.  We watched them for around 15 minutes or so.

Just hangin' around.

It turned out that there were a couple otters in our swimming hole back home.  Nick and I had a nice float in our tubes.  Later in the afternoon on Nick's last day, Lorie and Brian came down to see Nick and have a patio dinner with us.

Daisy instantly recognized Nick on his arrival, and welcomed him back to the pack.

We had a pleasant dinner at the Drift Inn.  (Notice that my hands continue to grow, unlike the rest of me.)

We miss you Nick!

Cards and Things

 Thank you Nick and Andria!  For Father's Day, Andria gave me a cool set of wooden "hummingbird houses", and Nick drew me a card, as well as a card for Gail for her birthday.  

Gail's birthday card.  This card, and the one below, Nick drew after being inspired by photos of cat owners in a book.

My Father's Day card.

Two of the three houses hanging in our little tulip tree.  It will be interesting to see what takes up residence in them.  Andria definitely keyed into my passion for making animal dwellings.  Thank you my awesome children!

La De Da Parade

 I have a backlog of  posting to do, but here goes.  

On July 4th, SWIFTY (swallows in flight to Yachats) had an entry in the annual Yachats La De Da Parade.  We drafted Lorie and Brian to join us on vintage bikes, and Jim enlisted several kids and adults to wave pole kites of swallows.  A friend of Jim's sewed up some feathered cloaks for a few people, too.

Here I am giving my bike a test ride sans costume.  I had Bluetooth speakers inside the box and a playlist of 4 bird themed songs.  Unfortunately, at the parade site, Bluetooth wouldn't work.  It worked perfectly when I got back home.  The rig was pretty shaky and hard to balance at parade speed.  The bike was bought new in 1953 by Aunt Freda and she rode it well into her 70's.  It is a Raleigh.

Jim carried the sign and did a great job of running from side to side and explaining to folks what SWIFTY was about.  Gail and Lorie are on bikes entering the parade route on the right.

Since Wally is such a big part of the Trails Committee, he couldn't be with SWIFTY.  That's Wally on the left.

Gail in all her glory!  She made the smaller signs, the swallows in the bike spokes, and polished up four of our vintage bikes while I was in Colorado.

That's me and the swallow box mobile.  Lorie is in blue wig.

Our swallow kites circling the sky.  At about this point I noticed a whale spouting close to shore.  I heard that there were several gray whales and orcas putting on a show.  It was a perfect day.

Three of our parade bikes which Gail decorated and polished up.  The yellow bike is one of a matched pair that my parents bought in 1974 (Schwinn Collegiates).

Selfie time!  Someone yelled "Rod Stewart" as I passed by.

Later in the day, we went to Brian's retirement party barbecue.  They recently left on a two month road trip around the country in their newly acquired RV.

Well, look for more posts soon, as I'm determined to catch up now that the yard is coming under control.  

Bear Returns

 On July 3, "the bear" came through again at 9:24 AM.  About an hour later we were walking Daisy down Yachats River Rd., and we heard a crashing sound in the brush and the breaking of branches.  We thought it was a bear, but hadn't seen the camera video yet.  It looks like the same bear that came through in June.

Birds In Our Houses

 The birds that nest in our boxes have finally set up housekeeping. It was a late start here due to the wet, cool, weather we've had this spring -  67.26" of rain since January 1.  

A Northern Flicker and Oregon Junco sharing some seeds at our feeder.

I put up 2 chickadee boxes this year, and one of them has a family of Chestnut-backed Chickadees.

Feeding a baby.

Carrying out a fecal sac to keep the nest clean and possibly remove predator attracting scent.

There is a pair of Tree Swallows in this box with nestlings.  

A pair of Violet-green Swallows is also tending nestlings in this hanging box.

And in this new box is another family of Tree Swallows.  Of 6 swallow boxes, 3 are occupied

Colorado Trip

 A few days ago I returned from a nine day trip to Colorado to visit with Andria, Dave, and the kids, (Nora, Soren, and Susanna).  They had a fun Father's Day celebration for me and Dave.  I also joined Dave and the kids for a backpack trip to The Great Sand Dunes National Park. Thanks, Dave, for doing the planning on that one, and inviting me along! There was also plenty of time for long dog walks with Yukon the dog, and Andria and Nora.  Susanna challenged me in Mario Kart over several days which culminated in a much anticipated championship.  Fortunately, Soren was banned from the championship because he would have easily won.  I must say, also, that Andria went way out of her way to see that I had all my favorite foods, snacks, and libations.  Thanks Johansons!

Below are some photos of the good times that were had.  

Father's Day BBQ with burgers and brats (the food, not the kids) - what indulgence!  L to R: Soren, Nora, Dave, me, and Susanna.

Me and my daughter - aah!

Father's Day feast.

Nora gave me a demonstration playing her marching tuba, or more precisely, a contrabass bugle.  This instrument is heavy, and she marches in the Colorado heat!  

Soren has been excelling in his drum skills, and I was hoping to see him perform in a concert that, unfortunately, had to be cancelled due to a family emergency the teacher had.

The backpack trip over the dunes begins.  Part way up I started to doubt I would make it.  We had to hike over North America's tallest sand dunes, 750 feet high, and descend part way down the other side to find a sheltered campsite. 

The starting elevation was 7,500 feet.  My pack was about 40 pounds due to all the water we had to carry.

One of my "Uh, oh, what was I thinking!" moments.  If you ever had to carry a load up soft sand at the angle of repose, you know what I'm writing about.

The energy the kids had was mind blowing.  Here they take a side trip up to the highest point just for the fun of it.  

The joys of youth!  Susanna has been taking gymnastics classes this year and is a real standout.

We reached the top.  At this point I was glad I didn't bail.

After setting up camp and eating some dinner, we climbed to a ridgetop to watch the sunset.

Those are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background of which nearby Blanca Peak's elevation is 14,351 feet.

Our campsite.  Dave and Nora decided to sleep  without tents.  Because of the brisk wind blowing, Susanna, Soren, and I opted for our tents.  Sand still permeated everything.

I love the dunes at sunset and sunrise when the shadows accent all the contours and ripples.

The End

Black Bear at First Beach

 Wednesday evening, this young appearing black bear made an appearance on our trail cam at first beach.  It looks like it could be the one we saw in May up on Bear Scratch trail across the road.