october photos

Okay, so I know it is November 5th, but this post is all about October. I know I dropped off of the blogging world in my feverish attempt to stay in control with my day-to-day. Now that the travels have slowed I hope to get back to the semi-regular blog posts.

What happened in October? Well, in my last post I waxed philosophical about flying across the country. I was bound towards the Blue Ridge Mountains, about 4 hours north of the family to Blacksburg, VA. It was a great conference and a whirlwind trip, but I did get to go on a field trip and took a few pictures. I also got a chance to visit with an Oxford friend, which was an added bonus!

Less than a week after I returned, Cameron and I took a trip to the Steens Mountain area of the state. Again, we have a whole pile of pictures! There was a whole lot of driving, which wasn't so bad because it was freakin cold! We had fortunately missed the 8 inches of snow that fell the prior Sunday, but that didn't stop it from getting to 0 degree weather at night. Yikes! We camped in the cold at 8500' elevation and though with several layers of fleece and a 0 degree bag I was warm enough, Cameron didn't have enough layers. You can see several pictures of us at >9000' elevation (the top most was 9773' where we get great views across the Alvord Desert), but it was so windy that the chill cut right through you. Funny enough, way out at Kiger Gorge (the first big glacial U-shaped valley in the photos), we ran into Eugene friends! Small world!

We dropped back down to 5800' for the next night of camping which was still cold, though better. Cameron caught a nasty head cold with all that bad weather so we headed out of the Steens and down into the Catlow Basin. We drove around the south end of the Steens Mountains and crossed over into the Alvord Desert. We drove around on the playa and watched Miso try to chase a truck that was miles away, but visible. So funny!

We explored the steep side of the Steens Mountains for awhile, but Cameron's cold was dragging him down. We ended up heading home a day early and relaxing for a day at home. I promised Cameron that if we came home early I wouldn't work because we were still supposed to be on vacation. Surprisingly, I kept to my promise and we had a good day off together.

Lots of work commenced...grant deadlines, hours of meetings with landowners, organizing invasive species removal, preparing for conferences, etc. Whew! It all ended with me jumping back in a car and this time heading to a conference in Klamath Falls. A good conference and excellent introduction into the world of watershed councils in Oregon!

Cameron came to fetch me from the conference on Friday and we headed to the marshes for bird watching and Lava Beds Nat'l Monument for spelunking. Be sure to check out the photos from this trip too. Again, we had some beautiful sunny weather. This time it was a whole lot warmer and Cameron built a sleeping platform for inside the canopy. It worked alright, but we are only getting more convinced that we need a full pop-top for the back of the truck. Hmm....

Anyhow, the trip was great fun! We saw a lot of birds - several types of ducks, grebes, Canadian geese, pelicans, eagles, heron, egrets, and hawks of all sorts. We did try to i.d. the ducks - we know there were buffleheads, mallards, wood ducks, and redheaded something or others. Of course, there were probably many more. As we drove through Tule Lake the herons, egrets, hawks and eagles would flee from the roadside. We even got lucky enough to watch the big predatory birds eating their prey! The spotting scope was a great help in the bird-watching feats (thanks Anne!).

The caves were also fun, we saw ceilings full of sparkly bacteria (sorry, the pictures don't do it justice), ice floors, large caverns, and sharp rocks. Fields of lava flowed over the horizon and it was a fun contrast with the adjacent marsh. The history of this area is fascinating and extremely sad - Modoc Indians forced from their homes, battles over land, draining of the marshes....

On our way back home we stopped in Bend to visit our newest little friend - Christopher Filliponi. We had a wonderful time visiting Rob, Christy and their little one. What a happy and vocal little baby they have!

Alright, enough for now. Every 10 minutes Miso comes back in the house and nudges my arm, as if to say, "Why the bleep are you hanging out inside when we only have a few minutes of light left to play?!" Guess I should throw that ball a couple more times.

I'll try to have more soon. There's lots going on - looking for homes/property, knitting with the ladies, preserving food, and as always, the list goes on! We hope you enjoy the pictures!

flying

6:15 a.m. flight - Eugene to San Francisco
foggy, but the sky is starting to lighten. the ground is lights and shadows.

7:00 a.m. - over northern California coast
i view towards west and can watch the coastline pass below. the forests are thick and green
i view towards east and see the dry tops of mountains

7:25 a.m. - circling San Francisco
early, we take a tour over the city. we follow the coastline towards the bay. the rugged coastline green with trees and devoid of structures. to the west homes dot the landscape...roads...bridges.
closer now, the change is abrupt. city streets. homes one on top of the other. stacked up the hillslopes.

sinuous rivers enter the bay, untamed in their final stretch to open water. networks multiply as each molecule finds a path through the vast laid tracks of sand and silt.


bonus
cross-country flight clear and sunny! chatty pilots.
lake tahoe, yosemite, colorado springs, tennesee river, appalachian mts!

swifts

We are having some beautiful fall weather - perfect for picking a spot at Agate Hall and watching the swifts return to their chimney roost for the night. Before dusk, the swifts circle around in the sky, diving and turning, their numbers growing by the minute.


In a sudden whoosh of wings, the flock separated into two. A sharp-shinned hawk alighted atop her chimney perch - the best seat in the house for dinner. She hung out on the far side for awhile, then appeared to simply hop over to face us.


We had our binoculars so we could see what she was up to. In that little "hop" she had acquired a prize and we could see her pulling her kill apart. Since she was distracted, the swifts began their descent into the chimney (which was enough to drive the hawk away to finish up her meal).


Lovely weather, a colorful orange and pink sunset, and a whoosh and flutter of wings above... an excellent way to spend a Saturday evening!

fall

It's the first official day of fall - happy fall equinox!

In the Willamette Valley we are celebrating fall with some 90+ degree weather. Up here at the 'ole homestead we don't get much of that. The sun has already dropped below the trees so we only get diffused sun through the canopy. I guess it is days like this that we can appreciate it.

Another consequence of our weather - there are very fine ashes drifting down from the sky. You can see a light layer on the cars and tables, but otherwise it is imperceptible. This warm weather comes from California and sweeps across the Ashland/Medford area on its way here. Right now there are a couple of large fires in the Ashland area and I guess that is the ash falling on our lawn right now. Small world.

i'd rather be camping

Our little trip to Matthieu Lakes gave us the bug...more outdoor adventures, please! Early last week Cameron posed the question, "Do you have time for Steens?" For those who don't know, Steens is a7+ hour long trip to south-central Oregon. More importantly, it is spectacular in the fall - the best time to go, in my opinion.

We hemmed and hawed and considered our options. By Thursday, we had more or less convinced ourselves that we would go. I even was thinking about bringing my laptop with me to work on the trip (which is absolutely insane for a 4 day trip, especially when you know that I get too carsick to work on the drive there and 2 days would be spent in the car!). By Friday, we scrapped the trip and thought we might substitute an overnight backpacking trip...something close that wouldn't take us 2 full days for the whole deal. By Saturday, all trips were scrapped. Realism set in and we recognized that there was too much to do.

Knowing that we've only gotten out to the Oregon woods one time this year is a disappointment. However, I should not complain! We've had quite the number of adventures this year (see the past blog posts if you don't believe me) and there are more on the schedule before the year ends. Also, there are many reasons to be at home and enjoy the little joys around us. Like the critters that emerge when it rains...


... found right between the barn and the house... or the zombie invasion emerging from Larry and Ann's front yard (aka dead man's foot or dog turd fungus; no picture - but check it out!).

Also, staying at home gives us time to visit with friends, finish projects, and keep me from stressing out about how I really should be working instead of walking through the woods.

And really, if I was camping I wouldn't get to muck out the chicken run at 7 a.m.! ;-D