October Orbs

 Last Saturday, we took a day trip to Philomath to meet our friends Bob and Mary who traveled from Salem.  The plan was to have an early lunch at a Thai restaurant, and then spend the afternoon going to some artist studios that were having open house.  We arrived early, so Gail and I went to a great pumpkin patch before meeting our friends.

 

Proud owner of a new gourd.

These are concrete wine fermentation tanks.  They are supposed to be better than stainless steel because they breathe slightly and stay cooler.

One artist's examples of natural dye sources she uses to do floral prints, which were the best Gail has ever seen.

Fungus Wow

 While riding our bikes into town this morning, I spotted this big snag with several feet of brilliant fungi cascading down the trunk.

I fought my way through the undergrowth to get a closer look. I believe this could be Conifer Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus conifericola).

Fungi are so amazing.  Without them, we would be buried in plant debris.

Fence Fun

 Yesterday, Gail and I figured out what to do with our growing pile of river teeth and other pieces of found wood.  

We mounted the pieces to the fence with the idea of evoking the flow of the river.

Hmmm, which piece shall we do next.

To me, the pieces seem like salmon swimming up the river.

It was a fun project with Daisy looking on.  This time of the year is great.  Mowing, brush clearing, and watering have mostly ended, and the weather is still good.

Bo and Ginger

 

Bo and Ginger

Happy fall, everyone!  We had several hours of fun creating these greeters for our driveway entrance.  

Napa Trip

 I drove to Napa on August 24 to stay with Nick, as Andria was visiting for several days, also.  The three of us, unfortunately, all came down with COVID after 3-4 days.  Andria recovered pretty fast, but Nick and I were hit harder and longer.  I don't recommend getting this disease.  In spite of feeling like we had bad colds, the flu, and strep throat rolled into one, we had some good times visiting and taking care of family business.   On my 11th day of COVID, I finally tested negative.  As they say, we all have a date with COVID, and I had mine.

Can you believe this 11 ft. long vivarium that Nick and Charlotte built for their Savanah Monitor Lizard named Kronos?  Although Nick and Charlotte no longer live together, they remain friends and share in the care of Kronos.

Andria with Nick's two rescue cats, Theodore and Meowgic.

Andria and I felt good enough one day to walk over to our old house about a half mile away.  She lived in this house until about the age of eight.   We talked about our memories living here, including the performance of a play she wrote from the book, Charlotte's Web.  The play was on this little front lawn and was attended by neighbors and even the mayor of Napa, who happened to be the father of one of Andria's friends.  Nick was about two when we moved, so doesn't remember much about living here.  We bought the house in 1978 for $66,000, and thought we made a killing when we sold it ten years later for $145,000.

One evening, we picked hops from Nick's hop vine.  Nick said it would be about enough for one batch of beer.

Nick has an amazing variety of plants in his vegetable garden, mainly because he has to rescue any inferior plants from where he works at a family run garden center.  His home is also a refuge for deer, hence the deer fencing.

Nick's home was his aunt's and uncle's home for many years, and Freda's yard art still remains.

This little creek, not far from Nick's, is home to several beavers.  Right between two hotels, and next to a major thoroughfare, the beavers are fighting global warming.  The rest of this creek is bone dry, but here, the beavers have backed up a pond at least 100 yards long that provides habitat for otters, herons, egrets, kingfishers, and other species.  We came back the next day and did a trash pickup of the area.

Nick has an amazing room of tropical plants, mostly rescues.  Nick's success with often difficult to grow plants is due to his caring and attention to detail.

Look at this beautiful pitcher plant!

This is a vining pitcher plant.

Nick arranged for this memorial bench to be placed in the neighborhood park that Freda used to walk through daily.  She would strike up conversations with anyone, whether they spoke English or not, and often bring them home to meet Marven.  Nick's Uncle Alfred donated the money for the bench.

Nick uses feeding time as a way of getting Kronos to exercise and stimulate his natural predatory skills.

Friends From Way Back When

 Gabriel, from Vallejo, and Bob and Mary from Salem came to stay with us from August 20 - 22.  It was a good time relaxing, feasting, and catching up.  We look forward to this summer ritual every year.

Gabriel, Mary, Daisy, Me, Bob, and Gail

We did a beach hike to Big Stump.

Beaver Creek Tour

 On August 19th, Oregon Coastal Region Manager Dennis Comfort, gave us SWIFTY members at kayak tour of Beaver Creek.  His office is at Beaver Creek, and he has been working with us to finance and advise our nest box installations there.  Even though I've paddled this creek numerous times, Dennis shared his wealth of knowledge about the plants, animals, and history of this ecologically important wetland.

That's Wally on the left and Dennis up ahead. Jim was behind me, and Marty met us back at the launch area. 

Wally, Jim, and Dennis.  We learned about beaver signs, and extermination efforts to get rid of invasive and destructive nutria.  We hope to get support in the coming year from Dennis and Oregon State Parks to establish a nesting colony of purple martins at Beaver Creek.