Fort Rock.....Glimpses

Mystery Solved...and Baby Chick update

2011-01-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

Our chickens have it made. They live in the Ritz,which is an old camper which is well insulated and roomy. Every night we close them in to keep them warm and safe from night predators. They have heated water in the winter (their water container sits on a base that keeps the water from freezing) plus a heat lamp to help them get through the freezing nights. In return, we get eggs all winter when other folks complain that their chickens have quit laying. We have seven chickens and most of the time we get seven eggs each day. That is until recently.
All of a sudden we began getting only 6 eggs. We have 6 nest boxes so availability of nest boxes is never an issue. We couldn't figure out what was going on.
My husband was out cleaning the chicken house today when he came in and said "grab your camera". So off we went. Here is what he showed me.

And here is what I saw.

On a shelf that we used for storage, one of our hens decided to start a clutch of eggs. There were ten eggs!

Here is a closer look...

The sad thing is that we do not currently have a rooster. So the eggs are not fertile. Hopefully (and most likely) we will have a rooster out of our new chicks so that that will be remedied.

Now for the Chick update...

They are growing like weeds. They are getting their true feathers. It starts out on their wings and now they have them coming in at the tail and along their backbone. Check out these pics.

They've started flapping their wings and jumping as if to fly. The box looks like it's full of Jumping Beans at times as they play leap frog with each other.

I guess it must be time to put a dowel through the box for a roost. This one has decided to use the feeder for that purpose.

We are very pleased with their growth and vitality. They seem to be busy little birds and it will be wonderful to be able to freshen our flock this spring.

Stay Tuned!!

2011-01-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is an exciting day! We have been incubating eggs for the last three weeks. They are due to pop any time. I just looked through the incubator window and guess what I saw?

Is that a little tiny crack in one of the eggs? Yes! Check it out!

We will be posting updates as things progress. (as I am typing this my husband just took a peek and there are now three chicks trying to make the great escape).

FRIDAY UPDATE:

Well! Things are progressing. I had no idea that it took so long for baby chicks to hatch. I thought that once they started it would be a couple of hours and they would be hatched. Not so! It can take 24 hours or more. Here is what we saw right before we went to bed last night.

We were greatly anticipating our chicks. I woke up at 3 AM last night and here is what I saw.

There was another one that had already hatched but I couldn't get a shot of it because you are really limited by the incubator window. As of this morning, we have two baby chicks and two more egg that are pipping (that means the chick is poking holes and trying to escape). This next photo shows the two chicks cuddling in a corner. Again, it was very hard to get a decent photo due to the window limitations.

Aren't they adorable? We will continue to update so don't forget to come back!

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE:

Things are still happening. This morning we had another one hatch and we have two more eggs pipped and working on hatching. Here is a picture of the first two chicks that we put in the brooder box.

As the chicks dry we take them out of the incubator and put them in the brooder box. The red glow is due to the red heat lamp that we have suspended above the box. The temperature is supposed to be maintained at 95 to 100 degrees F.

Here is another shot of an egg being worked on from the inside.

This baby just hatched this morning.

As of this moment there are 6 chicks in the brooder. One hatched and drying in the incubator and two eggs pipped. Not too bad for our first attempt at incubation! And I won't be surprised if the remaining 3 eggs don't show some signs of hatching in the near future. Check back and see what's happening. Will post again when they are all in the brooder. This last photo shows six babies in the box.

SUNDAY EVENING UPDATE:

We are pretty certain that we are done hatching now. The final count is 9 chicks out of the dozen eggs! That's pretty good! The last egg that hatched I had given up on. Even though it had pipped, there was no further action all day yesterday and most of the night last night (I checked it at 3:45 AM). So I was pretty surprised to see a fuzzy little chick in the incubator when I got up just a few hours later. It was a bit smaller than some of the others but was pretty vigorous. We will give the remaining three eggs overnight to show any signs and then give up on them.
There is a lot of activity in the brooder. They are all eating and drinking with no problem. Here is a photo of them all in the brooder box.

It's pretty hilarious. When they sleep they kind of spread out and flatten out and stretch out their head with their beak on the ground. They can go from sleeping like that to darting across the box in two seconds flat. I am mystified what triggers them. It must be the sounds of the other siblings running around. It is rarely quiet. Here they are at the feeder. They are getting to be little chow hounds.

Here they are a little closer, all crowded around the feeder.

And closer still....

All in all we are very pleased with how things have gone. In case you are wondering, these chicks are all Plymouth Barred Rock. I will post once in a while as they grow so you can see how they change.

Winter Solstice - Moonset Over Fort Rock Cave

2010-12-21T19:22:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to have good clear skies last night that allowed me to view the lunar eclipse. That was fantastic enough. This morning though, I woke to a very sweet pink sunrise. And nestled within that beautiful vista was the setting moon.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, the Fort Rock Cave is where sagebrush sandals were unearthed that have been carbon dated to approximately 9,500 years ago. I have a couple of older posts on this. In this photo the cave is off to the left, just west of the more noticeable butte. Just thought I would share what I felt to be a captured moment of time at an important site. Enjoy!

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Who Is Living There?!!

2010-12-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and dreary day...

I'd been in a funk for days. This winter started out with a bang early on and we'd been getting snow, upon snow, upon snow. True, it hadn't been piling up because it would snow, then melt, and repeat. I would guess that I was in the early stages of cabin fever.

My Rotttie Drago, had been pestering me that morning for a "walk". He knows just how to get my attention. He stand right in front of me and stares, and I mean STARES at you until you acknowledge him and figure out what he wants. When he knows he has your attention then he runs to the door. Now, if this is a normal potty request, he runs out the door as soon as you open it, but when he wants you to come with him as soon as you close the door he scratches at the door. Okay....so then you open the door and he stares at you and doesn't come in. All right, all right, let me get my coat.

So off we went. He's happy as a clam. I'm grumbling cos' it's cold and windy and snowy outside. Off he runs as he catches sight of a jack rabbit. This happens countless times every time we go for a walk. It must be like the arcades for him. I hear him barking in the distance. He's staring at me again as I trudge toward him, almost as if to say "would you please hurry it up"!

He hasn't run off yet as I move toward him. When I arrive I see this.

He's found someone's home! Looks like a badger hole and one that has been recently used.

Okay Drago. Good boy! You found something interesting. Now let's leave it alone because I don't think you would really like to meet the occupant. They are notoriously grumpy and formidable. Maybe we can find a fuzzy bunny for you to chase! (He never catches them. Jack Rabbits are extremely fast and make such quick turns that he can never turn that fast and loses them. But it's fun trying!)

By that time, my mood had changed. It wasn't so bad out there. I had bundled up and wasn't feeling miserable and it was really quite beautiful in that snowy quiet world. Thank you Drago! You knew just what I needed!

I leave you all with a photo I took the following morning. If I don't post again before Christmas I wish you all a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

Wednesday Potluck - It Tastes Like Chicken!

2010-10-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

After we bagged our shaggy manes on our last mushroom adventure it was prep time for our meal. We shook of the excess dirt and cinder and then took a brush to them, carefully brushing off the excess. Here they are after that operation.

Not too appetizing huh? Luckily I had some help. My son Simeon had never had these delectables so he was eagerly participating in the process.

Here they are squeaky clean after a thorough bath.

My favorite way of preparing them is to dip them in whipped egg, then into cracker crumbs and them finally into a hot pan with olive oil in it.

I must say, I love cooking in cast iron. It browns so evenly and nicely.

Here is the finished product in all its' glory. It was definitely the star component to our dinner that evening. Everything else paled in comparison.

A pleasant end to a pleasant day ... (see prior post "A Mushroom Adventure")

BIG RED

2010-10-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

For about three weeks I had been keeping my eye on one particular large tomato in our greenhouse. I kept waiting for it to get to that perfect shade of red for full flavor. Finally it looked just right and I bent over to pluck it when....What is THAT?! Hidden in the greenery I spied another large tomato that was larger yet, and ready to pick. I could barely wrap my hand around it.

So of course I had to run and grab my camera and pose it in front of Fort Rock (to prove that even in Fort Rock you can grow tomatoes if you work at it. Yes, it does help to have a greenhouse).

Without a doubt I knew that this was the biggest tomato we had ever raised. Time to get the kitchen scale out. The black part of the scale measures 4 and a half inches across. That's about 11.4 centimeters for anyone outside the U.S.

So what was the weight? It was a hair shy of 1 pound or,.....451 grams. Wow! We were impressed.

There was only one thing left to do. Yes....Taste test!

I don't know if I have ever made a sandwich that required just one slice of tomato to cover the whole thing. That was a first for me.
Oh yes, the taste. It was great. Juicy and full of flavor they way home grown tomatoes are supposed to taste.

ANOTHER MUSHROOM ADVENTURE...

2010-10-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Conditions were right. We'd had a little rain a couple of days before and there had been several hard frosts. Time to get out in the woods and start searching for one of our favorite fungi. Shaggy Manes!! We started at one of our favorite spots and we did find some, but a kindly hunter gave us directions to an even better spot. We only got a couple of miles down the road when we ran into an unexpected patch. Here is a photo of one just emerging.

Normally we see them on the red cinder roads, but this patch was in normal gravel. You can see that they grow very close to the road in the compacted soil.

Nice huh?

Here is a close up of what they look like when they get too old to eat. These are in the "Inky Cap" genus and as you can see, when they mature, the cap flares and turns inky and gooey.

After harvesting a few here we decided to continue on to the "jackpot" that the hunter had described. His description was spot on! Slowly we traveled the road and found our treasure. I especially liked this little clump. It looked like eggs in a nest.

This was a prime clump. I could almost taste them at this point. Such delectable goodness!

A little later on, after we had bagged enough for a meal (you have to eat these mushrooms right away, they will not "keep"), we were traveling adjacent to a river. Our map told us it was the Sycan River and since we had not ever seen it up close we got out of the vehicle and peered over the edge of the drainage. Beautiful! We were on the edge of a bunch of large boulders and spied some bones down below. They are in the center of this photo.

We had to investigate... We decided they were either cow or elk bones because they were so large. It did look like mountain lion country.

Well,...since we were down that far we figured we would check out the river. What a wonderful spot!

I will leave you with this final photo. The Sycan is truly a beautiful little river.

Wednesday Potluck - Oregon's Largest Juniper Tree

2010-09-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

I've seen it on the map for years and it was not very far away. "Oregon's Largest Juniper Tree". The location is to the north of the Devil's Gardens. It wasn't until the other day when we happened to be out in that neck of the woods that we finally got to see it. I thought the fence around the base was a nice touch.

I had to step back quite a distance to get the whole tree in the photo. But, that does not give you a feel for how large this tree is. The next two photos help with that.

I wished that I had a diameter tape with me so that I could measure it. But I didn't so does anyone know? Or have any good guesses on what the diameter might be?

It really felt more like one of the large cedars I have seen, which is juniper's larger cousin. Truly a magnificent specimen, it looked healthy and happy. Barring any future fires it should still be here for a long time to come.

Devils Gardens Revisited

2010-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun the last time we went out to the Devil's Gardens that we went back in about a week ago. This time we were accompanied by my son, Simeon.

We went by an old homestead site that we have visited numerous times. I actually saw this place when it was still standing, about ten years ago.

This remnant building was just a little further down the road.

We drove out toward one of the unnamed buttes in the area and took the road that circles the base.

After hiking to the top we were rewarded with this spectacular view! You can see Cougar Mountain off in the distance, beyond the lava flow. And to the right, even further away is Tablerock, aptly named.

We continued our exploration through some of the little rock canyons.

After several hours we had to head back to the truck...The shadows were getting long and it was time to return home. But we'll be back!! To be continued....

Summer Lake from Winter Rim

2010-08-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite haunts. You have to travel to the top of Winter Rim to catch this view but you can see that it is stupendous! I spent the summer of 2001 doing botany surveys on 10,000 acres below Winter Rim. That is when I discovered this spot. It's actually an official hang gliding spot on the Fremont Winema National Forest. You can see that Summer Lake is actually a pretty shallow lake that is mostly dry as of the last few years. More often than not you will see dust devils winding their way across the lake as you drive by on Hwy. 31.

Note: After publishing, I noticed that the template did not allow for the full width of the panorama to show. Sorry... I will work on that.

Is That a Bird? Or???

2010-08-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

For several years now I have looked forward to August, and the return of the White Lined Sphinx Hummingbird moth (Hyles lineata). The first time I saw one I was certain that it was a small hummingbird. It flitted quickly through the flowers and had the distinctive hum of the wings.

These moths are not nearly as flighty as hummingbirds. They seem to ignore you when you approach with camera in hand. Of course they may just be more concerned with slurping up all that wonderful nectar that they are finding.

This year they seem to particularly like the flowers on my sage plants. They are also partial to my petunias that are hanging in baskets. I see them mostly in the evenings, but sometimes midday too. They are definitely striking in appearance and fun to watch.

Backyard Visitors

2010-07-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days we have had some unexpected, but very welcome visitors to our backyard. Yesterday I was walking past the window that looks out into our backyard and saw movement. This is what I saw.

Quail! I love quail. And I have often wished they would visit our yard. It has been rare and fleeting when they have. So we watched quietly and as unobtrusively as possible. These birds are very wary and will take flight at the least noise or movement. Almost always there is one adult bird that perches up high and acts as the sentinel. Here is this groups appointed"watcher".

It appeared to be a group of 4 adults and a passel of babies. I tried counting but it was difficult because there are constantly running to and fro. As near as I could tell it was approximately 14 babies.

I've looked in my birdbook and I believe these are California Quail. It was a little hard to tell because the picture in my book showed them looking a bit more brown. The quail in my yard seemed more gray in color. See what you think if you have a bird book handy. This guy was very suspicious. He knew something was amiss and kept looking my direction as I stealthily poked my cameras lens out the window. He never saw me though or he would have sounded the alarm.

Here you can see some of the babies hunting for insects (ants I think) under these rocks. More power to them!! I did go online to see what they normally eat and it seems that they like seeds and insects.

They wandered around our yard for about three hours. I could see them relax a bit and enjoy their little oasis in the desert. Then at some unknown signal, they all flew to the top of the fence and then back out into the sage. They must have enjoyed their stay because they were back again today and stayed another couple hours. They even took a dust bath in my herb garden! I'll cross my fingers that they decide to come often.

The Devils Gardens

2010-07-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Located on the northern edge of the Fort Rock Valley, The Devils Gardens is a unique area to visit. This basalt lava flow is a collection of pahoehoe lava flows that originated from two vent areas. One of the vents is locally known as the "blowouts" and it is located on the northeast edge of the Devils Gardens. The first time I visited this area was in the 1970's. I have since been back many times as it is one of my favorite places to explore.
This picture is a shot of the "road" going into the area.

The road continues, going up and over part of the lava flow.

Having a background in botany, I love to see what is growing in all the little flowerpots in this area. This little beauty is a pink monkeyflower, Mimulus nanus, and it is tiny. You could fit three flowers on a dime. In this photo, those are not pebbles that you see, but grains of sand and pumice. This flower seems to thrive in the hot pumice soils of central Oregon. It is not uncommon at all but is one that I appreciate.

I do however, run into quite a few plants in the Devils Gardens that I never see anywhere else in the Fort Rock Valley. This shrub, Chamaebatiaria millefolium, (thank you Li'l Ned) is very aromatic. The common name is Fern-bush, or Desert Sweet. Appropriately named I would say.

The following picture shows one of the many fissures that is occupied by plant life.

If you venture off the road, there are many caves to explore.

This particular one you couldn't stand up in, but I can imagine that it could be shelter from a storm if need be.

The landscape is very convoluted, as you would imagine. As a result, I believe it has created many different microsites that are conducive to unique plant growth. Far different than in the rest of the Fort Rock Valley. Flower pots if you will. This photo is an example of that.

We found this flower in a crevice near that last photo. I am uncertain of what it is but I think it may be a Phacelia. Again, if anyone knows, let me know! I have never seen this one anywhere else. Ever. And I did not want to pluck it to try to ID it since it was the only one I saw.

Every where we turned there were flowers taking advantage of any spot of soil they could find. I loved the rock background in this photo.

You may run into an occasional old homestead. It's always fun to try to imagine who would have lived there and what life may have been like.

We spent about 3 hours out in the gardens that day before we decided to head back home. I think a picnic and a few more hours is in order for next time!

Welcome Summer!!!!

2010-06-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let this day go by without offering an official welcome to Summer. To me, this flower epitomizes summertime for me. I only wish that you could smell it. It has the sweetest, most exquisite scent with just a hint of lemon. If only someone could capture it in a bottle! But that is probably part of its' charm. You must search for it and are rewarded when you find it. It blooms here in the High Desert from late May into early July. There's still time to find it...

Sunrise Service at Fort Rock

2010-03-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for something different to do for Easter this year, and you live in Central Oregon...you may want to attend the Sunrise Service at Fort Rock. It is a tradition that started way back before World War II and has continued to this time.

You have to arrive early to beat the sun. People come from all directions and the parking lot fills up fast. But not to worry...there's always room on the side of the road. A shuttle to the gathering spot is provided for those that can't make the trek up the short hill.

A big bonfire is started, pre-dawn to guide participants and warm cold noses and toes.

Every year it draws a fairly large crowd and we have people that have actually travelled from adjoining states to attend. All are welcome. The more the merrier!

After the sun officially comes up we sing songs together...

And then the pastor from the local community church gives a sermon about why we are celebrating this day together. He lives! Halaleujah, He lives!

Following the service there is always a big breakfast served at the Fort Rock Grange. So if you like ham, eggs, pancakes, hash browns and coffee, etc., etc. plan on partaking with the local residents. There's plenty to be had.

So this year, Easter is on April 4th. Won't you consider joining us? Hope to see you there!

That LOVE Thing

2010-02-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day around the corner I have been contemplating Love. So, what is it anyway? A feeling yes, an experience yes,...and yet I have often thought of it as an action verb. It is nice to feel loved but really, I think we get more out of it when we are active participants in others' lives. It's those shared moments that become milestones in our lives. It is my personal belief that the only lasting thing we can take with us when we leave this life is our relationships. That is why it is so important to treasure times shared with our loved ones.

Like shared projects with a friend and father...

Or a father demonstrating tool use to a son...

Love is seen in the eyes of some very tired, but happy parents just a couple of days after the birth of a son...

And in the proud, loving gaze of a grandfather with his first grandchild...

Love is shared by siblings who are awed by the wonder of a new brother...

Love is seen in the contented smile of a grandfather as his grandson lies sleeping after some vigorous play.

It is also seen in the loving hands of a father holding his child as he gazes into his eyes...

We see it in the comraderie of friends, spending time together...

And in the eyes of a grandma with a handwoven blanket for her newest grandbaby...

Yes, it is also seen in the community sense, as people gather together to share an Easter sunrise service on a cold spring morning...

It is amazing where, and how often you will find love if you will only open the eyes of your heart. I wish you many happy roads to travel, filled with many loving memories. Happy Valentines Day to all of you!

Good bye 2009

2009-12-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Another year draws to a close. Like so many other people I have been caught up in the holiday scramble of trying to get things organized for Christmas. Shopping, shopping and more shopping and wrapping gifts and going to the post office...and it goes on and on. Okay,...take a deep breath and try to spend a few minutes just savoring the season. Put on some Christmas music and dream of past Christmas mornings. Sweet, sweet moments that bring loved ones close in your heart.
Here is a photo of a project I just finished. Three table runners that I have been weaving on for some time, in between many other projects. This pattern is called "Primrose in Diamonds" and is one of my favorite patterns. I thought I would show them side by side, draped over my loom.

The one on the left I sent to one of my dear sweet sisters for her birthday, but also especially because she is going through a very difficult time. Cancer has reared its ugly head again. I hope it gives her a little bright spot in the coming months. The one on the right I sent to my daughter Amber. She is so talented and last year for my Christmas gift she painted a beautiful painting of a Fort Rock sunset. This runner made me think of the colors she chose for the sunset sky. Thank you Amber. The one in the middle I am keeping for myself. I have woven so many of these runners and have yet to keep one for myself.
Here is a close up of the design.

This has been a busy year and a lot has happened during it's span. Some good and some disappointing and not so good. But such is life and the important thing to remember is that family and friends are what makes this life so precious and interesting. I am hopeful that this next year will bring new and exciting opportunities and and lots of shared experiences that build good, rewarding memories. So, as this year draws to a close I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have the best New Year ever!

Dutch Oven Marathon

2009-11-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

It never fails. When my husband and I take up a new hobby it is with gusto! We don't dabble our feet in to test the waters, we dive in head first! So it is with our newest hobby...dutch oven cooking. I've had those cast iron dutch ovens in the past and didn't know what all the hoorah was over. So,...you stick it in your oven and cook in it. Big deal. What I had never tried was the actual campfire cookery over coals. Now that's a world of difference!

Since my hubby is the local scoutmaster he is always looking for ways to interest his troop in outdoor stuff. This includes cooking outdoors. So...he bought a new little dutch oven. The kind that has that cool lid with the lip on it that you can stick coals on when you are baking in it. By the way, that lid was invented by Paul Revere, so the literature said.

He also bought a scouting cookbook, a lid lifter, briquette tongs and the cooking stand that you see here. Told ya' that we don't do test the waters. We figure "in for a penny, in for a pound".

So we tried it out the night before we brought the scouts over so that we would have some experience with it. Ta Da!

Here is the finished product.

It was a combination of turkey burger, beans, corn, black olives, spices, onions, and had a topping of cornbread and cheese. Yumm!

We were ready!!

Next day the scouts arrived after school and we fixed a dinner. The fun part though was the dessert. Baked apples. And not just any old baked apples. These were filled with chopped almonds and brown sugar and cinnamon and we poured orange juice and a drizzle of honey over it all.

A little bit of whipped cream made it great.

Here is a shot of the boys. Armed and dangerous.

They really got into it.

The next day they arrived at our house about mid morning and we worked on Pow Wow Lasagna.

It turned out great and they had also whipped up a batch of biscuits to go along with the meal. Each of them took a turn at mixing, rolling out the dough and cutting out the biscuits prior to putting them in the oven.

The crowning glory though was this Pumpkin Enchantment.

It was wonderful. Had a crust on the bottom, a pumpkin filling and a crumb sort of topping that baked wonderfully in the dutch oven. Wow! A marathon indeed but loads of fun.

Vision Quest, or ??

2009-11-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

I have come upon what this photo shows many times before. Quite often actually, when I worked for the Forest Service. It always gives me pause as I ponder who left it there and why? It definitely looks like a landmark of some sort and I know that people even in this day and age go on their own personal "vision quests", so to speak. It's interesting.

My husband and I were out exploring our local area as we often do. I enjoy sharing with you some of the beautiful and interesting things that we see...if we only take time to really look. Like this beautiful lichen encrusted rock and stump.

I love lichens. They are so colorful. I have seen some incredible colors of yarn that were dyed with lichens. They are sun-activated dyes. In other words, the color only changes when you take the yarn out of the dye pot and put it in the sun. I have never done this kind of dyeing, I just know about it and hope to try it someday.

This messy looking affair is actually someones home. A Packrat! They seem to be busy sort of creatures and oftentimes you can find strange objects that they have hauled back to their nest. Like shotgun shells, pieces of aluminum foil, chunks of plastic. All treasures to them.

This nest was not as big as some I have seen. Packrats seem to continuously make their nest bigger. I have seen some that were well over my head in height.

Eventually, we returned to our faithful steed and headed home...

Crisp Fall Apples

2009-10-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

It's apple season here in the Pacific Northwest. And if you're like me, you are always looking for new ways to use fresh fruit in season. Today I am posting my very favorite recipe for apples. It's called Apple Crisp, it is VERY easy to make and is so delicious you will want to double the recipe. This recipe comes from "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook". It is my all time, tried and true cookbook. If I was on a desert (or dessert hee hee) island and could only have one cookbook I would choose this cookbook...no contest. And no,...this is not a paid advertisement for them.
Here is what the finished product looks like.

Interested? Here is the recipe:

APPLE CRISP

Topping:
6 Tbsp. All purpose flour
¼ Cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
¼ tsp. Salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and softened (NOT melted!)
¾ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Filling:
3 lbs. Apples (6 to 8) peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest

Topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, gran. Sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. Add the butter and toss to coat. Pinch the butter chunks and dry mixture between your fingertips until the mixture looks like crumbly wet sand. Add the nuts and toss to incorporate. Refrigerate the topping for at least 15 minutes before baking.

Filling: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the apples, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together and place in an 8 inch square (2 quart) glass or ceramic baking dish or 9 inch deep-dish pie plate. Distribute the chilled topping evenly over the fruit.

Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before serving.

My note: It is important NOT to melt the butter. It changes the consistency of the topping. Also, I have used just plain sugar in place of the brown sugar when I didn't have any on hand with no problems. I think I also tend to put a little more of the nutmeg in because it is so yummy in this recipe.

It is also best served warm, with a dollop of whipped cream.

Thrice Warmed

2009-10-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

They say that when you gather firewood you are warmed three times. Once, when you cut and load it, twice when you split and stack it, and the third time when you burn it in your wood stove. It's true!

Today we went out, for the second day in a row, to get a load of firewood. It was a nice drive, with some nice scenery.

You can see that there were a few patches of snow left from a recent snowfall.

We arrived at our wood gettin' spot, which is in an area where there was a forest fire a few years back. Lots of dead trees and you can stay in one spot and get a full load. Here is my husband doing his job.

And here is my job. I have to get this...

Over there,... into the trailer.

So, we worked for about two and a half hours...

Until we had our load of wood.

There's me. I'm tired. I'm smiling because we are done for the day and ready to leave!

Here is our pile back at home after it is unloaded.

Okay,... that is once...

We Don't Get An Autumn?!!!

2009-10-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Grumble, grumble... Last week I was in shorts because it was in the 80' and 90's. Oh sure, we had a few cooler nights and for the last couple of days I did notice that the Aspens were turning and some of the bushes were losing leaves. But this afternoon this happened!

That's "corn snow" on our hot tub. The kind of snow that comes down in little round balls...not flakes. No it wasn't hail. Of that I am sure. That was at about 4:30 PM.

At 5:30 I glanced out the window and saw big flakes coming down. Here is a photo of the snow marching across the desert floor as I looked toward the "Rock". Those little blurry looking smears you see? They are actually pretty large flakes of snow.

Geez...I don't know if I am ready for this yet. We just now got our firewood permit and were planning our first expedition this coming week. Where we go is about 1500 foot elevation higher than here. The weather man is predicting an inch of snow tonight and another inch tomorrow night. I'm starting to panic here. Tell me it ain't soooooo!

Mmm...mmm goooood!

2009-09-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Finally! I accomplished something I've been putting off for a while. You see, our greenhouse is overflowing with tomatoes right now. We can't possibly eat them as fast as they ripen because they are so abundant. And yes, we have been giving them away to neighbors and friends. So today I went out and picked a whole colander full of them.

Mind you, these are "vine ripened" tomatoes. None of those flavorless, mealy tomatoes that I have too often purchased. These are mouth watering, exploding with flavor tomatoes.
So I brought them into my kitchen, washed them and threw them into my food processor. I was gonna make tomato sauce! I poured the processed tomatoes into my biggest stainless steel pot.

Next I added: dried basil from our greenhouse that I had dried earlier this summer, some sliced dried garlic and some powdered onions.

Right now it is all happily simmering on my stove and turning into a nice thick sauce. Which I will then (after it is cool of course) pour into my freezer bags that I use with my food saver...for storing in the freezer. This winter when I want a taste of summer, I will pull one of these bags and make a scrumptious dish, or pizza, or?.....

As an added bonus, I picked some Dahlias from the corner of my greenhouse. I forgot the name of this one.

But this beauty is called "Arabian Nights".

I leave you all with a soft, evening sunset. One of the many that I feel blessed to enjoy.

The Yuck Factor

2009-09-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Warning...if you are a real squeamish person, you may not want to view the photo with this post. I need some help in identifying a bird, and more specifically, an owl. Somehow or other my bird book has grown legs and has run off somewhere.
A few days ago my husband came in from checking the greenhouses and told me to come out because he found a dead owl near our greenhouse. Since I don't have a bird book now I can't ID it and I really want to know what kind of owl it is. Anybody know this one?

I know great horned and spotted owls when I see them, but this one I don't know. We have no idea how it died, although for the last few nights I've heard a great horned owl in the evening, somewhere nearby. Do they attack other owls?
Sorry that you couldn't see the eyes, but I was not about to try to pry those peepers open! If you can help with this, thanks!

Whirligigs, Tomatoes and Backyards

2009-09-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

I know some of you may think I dropped off the face of the earth because it's been so long since I blogged. Things have been somewhat complicated in my personal life for a while so I was dealing with that. But I'm back!

I recently made a quick trip up into Washington state which meant that I had to cross the Columbia River. As my husband and I got near the river we started seeing a multitude of wind generators marching across the landscape, capturing all the wind power that is so prevalent in that area.

I was fascinated with these towers. It had been some time since I had passed through that area and the towers had not been installed at that time. It was one thing to see them from a distance, but when I got up close I was flabbergasted to see how gigantic they were!! Here is a photo from the Washington side of the river.

I made my husband pull over so I could get a few photos close up. I cropped this last photo so that you could see the size comparison of the towers to the earth moving equipment that was working on roads at the base of the towers. All I could think of was, "how in the heck did they stand those towers up?!"

Back home we've been eating the fruit of our labors from the greenhouse. We've got tomatoes coming out of our ears!

It's such a bumper crop right now that I am shortly going to be making tomato sauce to freeze and I may experiment with drying tomatoes. For now, it is still a luxury to go pick a tomato right off the vine, cut it into wedges, add a little salt (or not) and indulge. I love the heirloom tomatoes. They have such tremendous flavor.

Another exotic from our greenhouse that has graced us has been some Oriental Lilly's. I planted these in the corner of the greenhouse about 6 years ago and every year they fill the greenhouse with the most exquisite fragrance! Here is a recent bloom.

Other than that, we've had a lot of backyard time with barbecues. Here's some Teriyaki chicken.

It was always fun to hang out with the grandchildren and the dogs.

But now? We've been noticing a hint of fall coming on. The nights are getting cooler. It was down to the mid 30's here this morning though it quickly went up to 70 and then 80. Still, that's still better than it was for a while. It's actually been quite nice during the day. The dogs are getting friskier with the cooler days. Not hiding out in the shade all day like they've been.

I'd say it's just about time to think about getting in the firewood for the winter...

FUN IN THE SUN!

2009-07-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been hot here...95 degrees in the shade for several days now. This past Wednesday and Thursday I accompanied my husband, who is a Scoutmaster, on a Boy Scout camping trip to Paulina Lake. It's a small troop and this is the first year that they have been doing any camping, so the excitement is high. Here they are at the very top of Paulina Peak, which sits at almost 8,000 feet.

Paulina Lake is a volcanic lake, and actually, there are two lakes up there. Here is Paulina Lake.

And here is a shot of part of Paulina Lake and East Lake which is further away. Also note the edge of the Obsidian lava flow.

After we went to the peak, we went back down the mountain to the Obsidian lava flow. It is a huge area full of obsidian rock. That is a glass like rock that was used in the past by Native Americans and Paleo-Indians to make arrowheads and knives and tools. Here the troop is walking up the trail into the flow.

And here is a shot of the edge of the flow.

After that it was time for the boys to do a little water work. Most of the boys were working on their swimming requirements. Somehow it didn't quite look like work.

They all had to cook their own dinner.

I left right about the time they all started getting organized for dinner. Someone had to be home to feed dogs and take care of our chickens. :) I didn't get to sleep in a tent and endure the cold mountain air that the troop did that night. I had to sleep in my boring, soft, warm bed.
But! I got up early the next morning and drove back up the mountain to join them right after breakfast for a hike around the lake. Here is the group, right before the hike.

The rest of these photos are from varying spots as we traversed the perimeter of Paulina Lake.

The portion of the lake that we hiked was a little over 5 miles. It was a first hike for most of the boys. They did really well in that 90 degree heat. We were all glad to see the vehicles though. After a trip down the hill and a stop for an ice cream we headed home. Needless to say, it was a quiet drive home with all the boys in my car asleep.

POKER RIDE 2009

2009-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

At long last, here are some photos from the 2009 Poker Ride here in Fort Rock.

Cute huh? I love the boots.

The way this thing works is this: Participants must all start at the starting point, pick up their first card, and ride to consecutive stations to get their full Poker hand. Then after the ride is completed, the best hands are determined and prizes are given out.

There's lots of prizes:

and lots of participants:

As I was wandering around I spied these wild socks on someone and just had to take a photo. Wow!

There were ponies pulling carts. This little guy was just prancing around, shaking his mane and really showing off. He was a studly little stallion. And he knew it!

The pony tied onto the cart in the rear must have been "back up".

This little cutey had to tilt his head to see which way the riders were going.

It was a nice gathering. A beautiful day and everyone had a great time.

The yearly poker ride happens right around Mother's Day each year. So next year, if you are looking for something fun to do on that weekend, come on out to Fort Rock and join us at the Poker Ride!

Wherever You Are...

2009-07-04T17:23:00.000-07:00

I wish you a Happy 4th of July with family and friends.

Ahhhhh...Moments

2009-06-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

I love the wildflowers of spring and summer (and for that matter fall). Oftentimes my husband and I are just out walking the dogs and we come upon these beautiful gems. That is what I call my ahhh moments. Moments when you just have to stop and drink in the beauty, or splendor or sweetness. Here are some of my most recent ahhhh moments.
This is Phacelia linearis, or Threadleaf Phacelia.

This next one is Camissonia tanacetifolia or Tansy leaved evening primrose. It seems to like disturbance. I found it growing in the middle of many country roads this spring,...by the hundreds.

Recently my husband and my granddaugter were out in the forest and we went to a meadow where I hoped to find some wild shooting star flowers. We were too early for them but we found this gorgeous gem. It's Geum trifolium or Old Man's Whiskers.

This next flower is one of my all time favorites. I search for it every spring. The scent is so exquisite that I yearn for it. It's called Oenothera caespetosa or Stemless evening primrose, fragrant evening primrose, Desert rose or even locally I've heard it called Desert Dollars.

It isn't just flowers though that give us those ahhhh moments. Recently my husband took the local boy scout troop out camping and at the end of the camp out I joined him and we climbed a local butte called Flat Top. Here was part of the group at the edge of the cliff at the top.

And this is what they were looking at.

I leave you with a photo that my granddaughter pulled me outside for just a few days ago.

Ahhhh.....

Is Honesty the Best Policy?

2009-06-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

I've been mulling this over for a little while. I was the recent recipient of the Honest Scrap Blog Award. My daughter, Amber, of "Care and Feeding of Wild Things" bestowed the award on me. I am honored and grateful to have received it. According to the rules, I am to share ten honest things about myself and then pass the award to "a fellow blogger whose blogs' content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”
So I got to thinking about this thing called honesty. We all present a certain face to the world. Even to those close to us. I believe that sometimes we even fool ourselves at times. So my question is this, ...is honesty really always the best? I say Yes! In spite of the fact that at times we may leave ourselves vulnerable, how can we truly have relationship with others unless we do share our heartfelt feelings. That doesn't mean we leave discretion behind.
I have really come to appreciate the world of blogging. I have a list of people that I consider to be my blogging buddies. Have never met them in my life, but I appreciate them so much through the things they have decided to share with the world. They have become a part of my everyday life.
So here goes:

* I am not a very gregarious outgoing person. I think most people think that I am fairly quiet. In social settings I tend to stay on the periphery and may or may not participate. (that is unless it is just family or close friends)

* I feel lucky that I have married a man that is the opposite of me in the above named respect. My husband can talk to ANYONE. And that's a fact. He always has interesting things to say and can bring a smile to anyones face. I have often appreciated this in him.

* My children and grandchildren mean the world to me. Life would be so empty and boring if we didn't have others to share with.

* I wish I could have been a grandparent before being a parent. You learn so much along the way. I could have used some experience when I became a parent. It's hard. As a parent you are juggling so many things that it seems you sometimes don't have time to do it all right. It takes diligence and fortitude and tons of love.

* I love where I live. I know I have said that in my blog, but I've lived in enough places that have not felt like home to know the difference. My heart truly is here.

* I procrastinate too much. I've really gotten better at not procrastinating over my lifetime. But it is too easy for me to do.

* I love blogging. It's been a wonderful way to share and a good outlet for me. Though sometimes I do feel guilty when I feel like I'm not blogging often enough.

* I hate TV. Don't get me wrong. I do watch a few shows. Jon Stewart and the Daily Show and The Colbert Report for the most part and for a few laughs, but as for the rest... it is a bunch of drivel and a time waster. Mind Rot. For the most part I think that the media and Hollywood have talked down to the American public for so long that it has raised a lot of shallow, empty, sad people. TV does a lot of social programming and it's ugly out there folks. Yes, I know there are some good programs, but you sure have to search through a ton of garbage.

* I want to weave more. That's my fault. That gets back to procrastination. There is too much time between my weaving projects. I love to weave because I feel creative and get into a good flow that just feels good. And at the end of the project you have something beautiful or interesting or useful.

* Lastly, and most importantly, I have a faith that sustains me. God has been real and present in my life for a long time. That is what truly gives meaning to life. Without God it would all be meaningless. Oh, don't get me wrong...there are ebbs and flows to how I relate to my God and things learned and slip-ups and mishaps. But I learn, in spite of myself. What has become more concrete for me is God's incredibly deep, constant love towards us.

So there. Now you know a little bit more about me. That didn't hurt too badly. :)

I would like to bestow this award on:

Titania, of "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow in My Garden"

and:

Mo, of "Green Desert"

Exploration - NE Lake County

2009-06-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

Country roads have taken me to many new places recently.

This particular road made me very sad. It was at least 30 miles of this ripped up road. When I finally had my husband stop so I could take a picture it was at a this spot, which was really not as bad as some places. Yeah, it is a BLM road that has been getting ripped up by a group that is using it during some of the wet times of year. In particular, this is the 6121 rd out to the east of the Lost Forest. From what I have been told, the user group camps out there at all times of the year and when the road is wet it gets ripped up. It'll cost a bundle to get fixed...if it ever gets fixed.

At least it wasn't all bad. We also saw this...

It's a flower commonly known as Indian Paintbrush (Castelleja). I'm not sure which one. And then there was also this...

This one is a Phlox. It was blooming abundantly out in that sagebrush sea.

Then we also came across this teepee.

It was way out in the middle of nowhere, on a quiet side road. Nice setting don't ya think?

Towards the end of the day though, we were on a road out near Glass Butte when we ran into this stone structure that was just awesome! It looked like a cattle trough made out of stones, but it was huge compared to any other troughs that I have seen. If anyone knows what it was for sure, I would like to know. I thought about all the work that went into putting this thing together. I guess you gotta do something with all those rocks!

My guestimate was that it was about 35 feet in diameter. In fact, in this photo you can see one of those round metal troughs that you can buy today, inside of this structure.

Here is my husband, standing on the rim.

And this last photo shows the curve. Nicely done don't you think?

It was a great day, and we covered a lot of country. Lake County is big, and has lots of open spaces. It is one of the least populated counties in Oregon. I will have more photos taken during our travels in one of my next posts.

GREEN MOUNTAIN LOOK-OUT

2009-05-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

I've still been out in the "back forty" of the Oregon Outback. My work has taken me to some rather unusual places. Like up on mountain tops! Here is a photo of the Green Mountain Look-out. It is of course on the top of Green Mountain which is about twenty miles from my house. Here is what the Look-out looks like.

It is a working Look-Out. Used by the Bureau of Land Management in the summers to look for any wildfires that may pop up. In fact, I worked there for a couple of weeks in 1984 as the Look-Out until I took a better paying job elsewhere. It was interesting to learn how to do the work, but extremely boring to sit up there for long days when nothing was happening. I mean, you don't want fires...but my goodness,...the days are long when everything is quiet. I actually took a box of mending up there and got it all done in a couple of days (by hand). Here is a shot of the view.

What you see in the distance is actually a pretty good sized lava flow. In the center are two cinder cones. Here's another view.

In this last photo you see Paulina mountain in the distance. It has snow on it. It is located to the northwest of Green Mtn.

I hadn't been up here for some time and was happy that it was a clear day. I climbed the somewhat rickety stairs to the tower so that I could get some photos from higher up. It was quite stinky in the look-out. And I heard some scurrying around inside, but of course it was all boarded up for the winter so I couldn't see what was making all the noise. Should be an interesting chore for the BLM fire crew to clean up and get ready for this season.

HOME, HOME ON THE RANGE

2009-05-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Where the deer...

and the antelope play....

Yeah, I know. I need a bigger lens for my camera. It's very hard to get close to antelope especially. As soon as they know you are slowing down, they start moving.

I've recently been working for the census. Getting things mapped for next year. I've put a lot of miles on and often see deer and antelope in this rural area. It's been pretty pleasant. I've been down many roads that I was thankful I had a 4 WD truck to navigate in.

I haven't seen any fawns or kids yet with the herds. But soon. The Fort Rock Valley is part of the winter refuge area for herds of deer. Many of our roads are closed from November through March so that the deer are left alone. Sure seems to me that the numbers are dwindling though. I remember when I would literally see a hundred deer or more, quite often. Not anymore. There is a lot of hunting pressure and Fish and Game seems to be giving out a large number of deer tags.

The dog bite? Well, the dog is out of quarantine (didn't have current rabies shots), and my leg is healing nicely. Alls well that ends well.

Fort Rock Cave

2009-05-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

Seeing it from a distance you would never have guessed the significance of this landmark.

No,...I'm not talking about that butte that you first notice in this photo. Look off to the left. Do you see that little subtle bump? Is that a cave? At the time that Dr. Cressman came out to try to find some archaeological history, that is exactly what he saw. It was know by the local homesteaders as "Cow Cave" since oftentimes cows liked to shelter there in bad weather. The Cave was created by wave action from the ancient pluvial lake that existed at the time. The Earliest occupation of the cave is said to be approximately 13,000 years ago. Dr. Cressman acutally came out to excavate twice. The first time was in 1938. The second in 1966. The 1938 excavation yielded many intricately woven sagebrush sandals. These were made from shredded bark that had been twisted into ropelike strands. The sandals had been buried under the ash from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Mazama which had erupted about 7,600 years ago. (this eruption formed what is now known as Crater Lake) Though it was unknown at the time of the excavation, these sandals were later radiocarbon dated to approximately 10,000 years ago! Here are a couple of photos of replicas of the sandals. These were made by someone from Sisters, Oregon. This is the top side of the sandal.

Here is the sole.

This photo was taken from the cave, looking out into the Fort Rock Valley toward the Connley Hills.

With the warmer weather, we will be seeing more people arrive here in the Oregon Outback. The Homestead Museum will be opening on Memorial Day weekend and besides the museum, many will be interested in seeing the cave. The cave tour is only available by appointment, but that can be arranged by contacting the Oregon State Parks. They are very accomodating. This next photo is a shot from the entrance toward the rear of the cave.

The tour is really quite interesting and takes about two hours. A lot is covered. Geology, ecology, history, and some other "fun" stuff. It's well worth the time spent.

This last photo is one of Dr. Cressman at a nearby, smaller cave. This photo was taken by John Atherton in 1966. Mr. Atherton was there with Dr. Cressman and Mr. Bedwell for further excavation, and exploration of potential, nearby sites. Thank you Mr. Atherton for correcting me on the location of this photo!

Woeful Wednesday - Ouch!!

2009-04-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is not the post I wanted to do, but this was my day today. I have recently been doing some work for the Census Bureau. Mapping of residences. This is what happened at my last stop of the day.

Yup...I got dog bit. I have run into lots of dogs at peoples houses, most of them eager to get petted, but this one wanted a piece of me. Yikes! He nailed me right on the calf of my leg. Now I know how the postman feels. Sigh.... I know this story is not over.

Wednesday Potluck - A Prize!

2009-04-22T07:47:00.000-07:00

I entered a drawing for a prize on a blog that was celebrating 100 posts, and a year in existence. The prize was to be some products from the sunny southwest. Guess what arrived about a week ago?

Here's what was inside!

It was so cool to check out each item! We have tried a couple too. My husband says to tell you Linda, that the lemon olive oil is amazing. I am absolutely hooked on the Jalapeno jelly. I love it with cream cheese on a bagel. Anyway, it will be wonderful to try everything out. A big thank you to Linda from "Iced Tea for Me".

Wednesday Potluck - Defenders of the Green!

2009-04-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

I know you all will think I'm pretty silly, but I ran across these photos the other day and I have to share. My daughter and two of my grandsons had moved to Italy a few years ago. They had spent a lot of time at our place and many of their things had been left behind. One day my husband and I ran into a box with a bunch of GI Joe dolls and Power Rangers. We sorely missed the grandkids, and so we took these action figures and put them in various poses in our greenhouse.

I told you it was silly. But it really brought a smile to our faces. We took photos to send to our grandsons. Hence, the photos you see here.

We called them our Greenhouse Defenders when any visitors to our greenhouse gave us that quizzical "look".

For some reason though I never did get the impression that the ants and stinkbugs were too intimidated...

Happy Resurrection Day!

2009-04-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

One of the more memorable days that I spent in Italy was with my daughter, her husband and little babe. We went to see the Shroud of Turin. We didn't get to see the real shroud because it was being kept in a specially controlled environment while the Bascilica of the Shroud was being renovated after a fire. Here is a photo of the church.

Actually there are two churches in Torino that have housed the Shroud. The other one, which I don't have a photo for, originally housed it when it first came to Torino. Then for some reason it was moved to the current location a long, long time ago.

We also went to the Museum of the Shroud which was very interesting. They have an exact replica of the Shroud. No flash is allowed of course so my pictures are a little dark. This first one is the whole shroud from a distance.

Then I took two photos, at a closer spot. This one is the left portion.

And here is the right side.

I was just reading an article about the shroud in which a Hungarian trained particle physicist named Dame Isabel Piczek believes she has uncovered hard, scientific evidence that Jesus Christ did rise from the dead. She studied the shroud whose bloodstained surface is marked with a negative image of the undistorted front and back sides of a naked man who has obviously been severely beaten and crucified. The reason this physicist was interested was because there is a total absence of distortion. Her work strongly suggests that the image of Jesus was projected as a quantum hologram as His body underwent the process of Resurrection. The article really goes into detail and explains the physics behind how it would have worked. It's way over my head and I know I can't explain it properly...but I was impressed.
Whether you are a believer or not, it is fascinating stuff. And for me, seeing what I saw in person was very wonderful. The museum had wonderful displays and information available. If you go to Torino (Turin) it is well worth the time spent.
So,...Happy Easter to you all. I wish you a pleasant day!

Wednesday Potluck - Birds Eye View

2009-04-08T16:13:00.000-07:00

The year was 2003. My husband was invited to fly over our area by a friend who owns a private plane. Of course I sent our camera with him so he could capture a few pictures of our home town. This first one is a view of Fort Rock itself, taken thru the cockpit window. The picture was taken from a slightly northwest position from the rock.

This next photo is a shot of our little town with the Conneley Hills in the background. You can see that the town is surrounded by a sea of sagebrush.

At the time the photos was taken it was February and of course we had a layer of snow. Right now, luckily the snow is gone and the soil is slowly warming up. We even saw our first Desert Horned Toad the other day. They are waking up and looking for their first spring meal of ants.

Wednesday Potluck - How About a Hug?

2009-04-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs a hug once in a while. You've heard the term "tree hugger"? Well, I have to admit, I've succumbed to the temptation a time or two. It just seems right. On a vacation to the Oregon coast a few years ago, my husband and I went on a hike to see a "giant spruce". I think it was in the vicinity of Florence, Oregon. It was well worth the hike.

I don't remember how tall this tree was but, it was very tall. The base was big as you can see from the above photo. I would have loved to know how old it was. Certainly at least as old as the United States I would venture to guess. At any rate, it was a nice hug and it was fun to contemplate the many events that must have transpired during it's lifetime.

How 'bout you? Have you ever hugged a tree? Or are you a closet tree hugger?

Wednesday Potluck - The Webster Cabin

2009-03-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

This week I am showcasing one of the buildings in the Fort Rock Homestead Museum. It is the Webster Cabin. Here is a photo of the inside.

This is one of the old cabins that was built in the Fort Rock valley during the homestead days. It was willed to the museum in 1985. The last occupant was Carl Webster, son of Glenn and Britt Webster. Carl was a skilled trapper and the contents reflect that. The nice thing about this museum is that people are allowed to go inside all the buildings and they are filled with furniture and household goods from that time period. I cover this in more depth in my photo book "Fort Rock - Past and Present" which I have featured in my sidebar. (you can click on the badge and it will take you to the site that published my book where you can see the first 15 pages).

This photo is a shot of the cabin from the outside, as it looks today.

The museum will be opening for the season soon. It generally runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day, but oftentimes it is manned at other times if there is a large group that makes a request in advance. It's a great way to spend a sunny afternoon in the Oregon Outback!

Happy Spring!...from "The Rock"

2009-03-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

I couldn't let this day go by without welcoming Spring. This photo was taken last year, and we really won't start seeing this plant until probably May. It is called a Sand Lily. Leucocrinum montanum to be exact. When it starts blooming it will be everywhere scattered through sage country.

It is officially Spring, but we won't know it here for probably another month. Fort Rock sits at 4300 ft. elevation and we had snow just a few days ago. But I have the promise of warmer weather and I am looking forward to digging in the soil and seeing the wildflowers spreading their color everywhere.

Wednesday Potluck - Cook in Italy

2009-03-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Federico saw my post that showed our cooking lessons with him. He very kindly sent me a photo of his new (2 years old) kitchen in Torino. What a beautiful, roomy kitchen. But I still haven't been able to figure out how Federico is in two places at once! Hmmmm....

Play Day in Fort Rock

2009-03-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

When my kids were young, we used to have "Play Days" in Fort Rock. These were days when local kids would bring their horses and compete at the local arena. There were quite a few activities and they would do things like barrel racing, goat tying, sheep and goat riding, etc. It was great fun and the whole community would turn out and cheer everyone on. Throughout the summer there were Play Days, usually monthly.
Eventually, over time this ceased, which was sad because there are precious few activities out here that bring people together. In the last couple of years there has been a resurgence of interest in getting this going again and so the old spot has been fenced off from the truck scale which is right next door and preparation was made for the first Play Day in years. This happened last June. It was great fun!

We had riders...

And bystanders:

I have to say though that my very favorite thing to watch were the littlest contestants. Oh my gosh they were cute...and serious. And talented!

I know I couldn't have thrown a rope so well!!

They must have practiced for hours.

Then it was time for goat tying.

And goat riding...which was VERY exciting!

And even sheep riding...

The last photo demands closer scrutiny. Look at that pure determination! That girl is holding on tight. She's holding on with all she's got! Great ride!

I bet there were some tired happy kids at the end of that day, as well as some tired happy parents and grandparents. I'm looking forward to this next season of Play Days. I believe that they will be happening on a monthly basis starting in May or June and should go through October, weather permitting. Maybe we'll see ya there!

Wednesday Potluck - Bodie, California

2009-03-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

I realize that I am committing myself here, but I want to start a weekly post called "Wednesday Potluck". It will be greatly varied posts about anything and everything. This week my theme is Bodie California. I took these photos in the mid 1990's. '94 or '95 I think. Back in the days when I used a 35 mm camera. Our friend Dudley, my husband and my oldest son and I had gone to Death Valley, in JULY mind you! On our return to Truckee, where we lived at the time, we went to Bodie, California. Bodie is an old ghost town that was booming in the late 1800's after the discovery of gold.

I took these photos, like I said, with my old 35 mm. What I didn't know at the time was that I had a malfunction with my camera and so the quality of the exposures was not crisp and clear. It gave all my photos a very old fashioned kind of look. Recently I have gotten one of those little techno gadgets that can convert negatives and slides to digital photos. So of course I had to try it on these photos. So I am sharing some of them with you, my readers!

I've done a little reading about Bodie and I understand that there were 5,000 to 7,000 people in the town which is a goodly amount for that time period. There were shoot-outs and tavern brawls and every other wild west scenario.

Much of the town stores and houses look like they were just abandoned. You still see furniture and goods in them when you look through the windows. This last photo is the old schoolhouse. It looks quite large.

If you are still interested you can do a search on Bodie and all kinds of information pops up. It is a fun and interesting place to visit and I guess about 200,000 visitors come each year. It is adminstered by the State Parks. You may see a pistol packin' Ranger walking around but visitors are pretty much free to wander and take photos. It's very high elevation so bring a coat. Even in July!

Cooking Lessons in Torino

2009-03-09T15:17:00.000-07:00

Federico Crova. Master chef at the Cook in Italy school located in Torino (Turin, for you non-Italian types) Italy.

The year was 2006. My daughter and son-in-law had given us a spectacular Christmas present. Cooking lessons in Italy!! Of course it helped that my daughter lived in Italy,...Torino to be exact. We arranged for lessons during the time that we had planned a three week stay with them. Federico was great. Very accomodating to us in every way. He even picked us up for lessons and dropped us off when we were finished. We had three fun-filled days and learned a lot. If you ever have the opportunity to do something like this. Don't hesitate!

The following photos are from the day that we made the Italian pie. In reality, each day we would cook a full course meal and follow it up with dessert. I'm just showing the dessert in this post.

Here I am with Federico (giving instruction on the fine art of rolling pastry dough) and assistant, Marina.

My turn to try it.

Then it was my husbands turn. He had lots of good help also.

Nicely done!

We made two kinds of pies that day. I made the one with the berry jam.

And my husband made the one with fresh, sliced pears on top.

Mmmmmm...yum! Here is one of the pies right out of the oven.

And we all tried a slice of each. Divine!

So really, if you ever get the opportunity to travel in Italy and have a couple of days with nothing planned, consider cooking lessons. Don't worry if you don't consider yourself an accomplished cook. You will finish the lessons and wow your friends when you go back home. This school teaches traditional recipes. Cooking like Italians really cook. There's nothing like it. And the instructors make it so much fun.

I Should Have Known Better

2009-03-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been visiting other blogs and just in the last week there have been so many people talking about spring. And I also visit a lovely blog in Australia where it is summer and my thoughts turn to gardening and the outdoors and warm weather. It kind of lulled me into actually thinking that spring was possibly here. Yes, I should have known better. After all, I've heard Fort Rock called "the refrigerator of Oregon" . (though I think there are numerous places that make that claim). And yes, the high desert does tend to be cold, after all, we are sitting at 4300 feet above sea level. That's what makes hot august nights so wonderful around here. It always cools down at night, making summer sleeping bearable. Heck, I've even seen it snow in July! No it didn't last, it was gone in a couple of hours, but that is life here in the Oregon Outback. But anyway, I lost sight of reality there for a while. I deluded myself into thinking that maybe this year we would get a jump start on planting and gardening and enjoying spring. Then this happened!

I took these photos about two hours ago. Okay...so I will cool my jets. I will curl up on my sofa in front of our toasty wood stove, with my seed catalogs and my gardening magazines and dream of warmer days. But it can't be too long 'til spring can it? After all this is March. Spring has to be around the corner! I'm beginning to hear the steady drip, drip of melting snow from my roof even this soon after the snowfall. That's got to be a sure indicator. Early spring snows that don't stick around. Hmm...maybe I will throw on a coat and head out to the garden shed and get my tools ready.

This Is NOT a Cooking Blog!!

2009-02-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

That's my disclaimer. And really, this isn't a cooking blog although I do enjoy cooking. I'm a pretty fair to middlin' cook if I do say so myself. The other day I decided to make a dessert that I had made many times before with success. It's pictured in the next to the last post that I have posted. It is called an "Italian Pie", even though it is not like the traditional pie we have here in America. It is more of a pastry with a thickened fruit sauce or jam (as they often use) on top. It is really yummy....when it is done right. I love the flaky, light, lemony flavored crust. It is great with either blueberries, or marionberry sauce. I have yet to try it with a fresh peach sauce, but I think it would be dynamite! Anyway, the other day I had a DISASTER! I had wanted to blog this particular dessert because it is yummy, and so I was complaining to my daughter about it when it flopped. She said, "Mom, blog about it anyway. Don't you think other people have had disasters in their kitchen? They can relate"! So after days of pouting about it I have decided to share my frailties and my non-perfection with my readers. Mind you, I will have a scowl on my face the whole time that I am typing this.
Okay, so I started with the Marionberries. I love these. This bag is right out of the freezer. We get the fruit fresh, in season and bag it up and use our "Food Sucker" as my husband calls it. It is actually a vacuum sealer that sucks the air out of the bag and then seals it. Your food keeps much longer and tastes better when you do this.

I put this in a pan with some sugar and a little bit of water and brought it to a simmer.

To thicken the sauce I used cornstarch and a little bit of water to make kind of a slurry. This I added and then quickly stirred in. It gets thick really fast so you have to watch it.

So the sauce was done. Tasted good too!

So here's where it all fell apart...the evil crust! It should have been simple, like I said, every time I made it before it was awesome. I had all the ingredients on hand. Our own chickens contributed the fresh cackleberries (eggs).

I got to use my cool egg separator. If you don't have one of these things, you NEED one.

I measured the flour on my scale, just like Federico taught me in our cooking class.

Mixed the softened butter in quickly as I was taught...

Got the "zest" from the lemon...

Then I added the sugar, egg, zest, and vanilla and quickly mixed that.

That is when I knew something was WRONG! It did not act right. The dough did not come together. Way too dry and crumbly and it would not ever really come together into a smooth ball. I had to actually pile it into a cone shape on this plate.

The next directions were to refrigerate it for at least a half an hour. I waited 45 minutes. It was still dry and crumbly and did not act right. Uh, oh. So what did I do? I added a little bit of water...then a little bit more, even though Federico had said to never, never, NEVER add water. It still didn't feel right even though it finally came together. What are ya' gonna do? Toss it in the trash can? I'd invested time and ingredients into this dang dessert and I was determined to continue on. I muscled the crust into the pan. Cooked it for 15 minutes and then plastered the marionberry sauce on.

Then I popped it into the oven. It looked good.

But looks aren't everything. It tasted like lemon flavored cardboard. Pretty chewy. Not nice at all. Even whipped cream didn't help. We eventually tossed it to the chickens.
So there...I've posted my disaster. How about you? Have you ever experienced this? Federico, if you read this post. Help! What did I do wrong?

Good Morning Sunshine!

2009-02-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Feasting on Shaggy Manes!

2009-02-22T15:04:00.000-08:00

So our friends convinced us to go back to our Shaggy Mane spot. Here are our partners in crime, Hank and Mark. (actually we were quite legal, with permits in hand) This photo was taken before we climbed in elevation very much. Don't know why we stopped. It may have been a snack break.

Our "spot" was quite a few miles further and definitely higher. Guess what we found?

Yep, the white stuff. That didn't deter us though because, we knew what was hiding under that blanket of snow and where to look.

Success!! Time to haul our treasure home and whip something up!

Every good meal deserves a nice desert though. That evening I made a pastry that I had learned how to make in Italy. They call it a "pie", but here we would call it a pastry. It has lemon in the pastry crust and is lightly sweet. I made a thick marionberry sauce to go on top. And oh my gosh! It is so good served with a nice Moscato wine.

Oh! But I'm getting side-tracked. The main attraction of course was the Shaggy Manes. Here I have cleaned them, scrubbed them. I know some folks would say you just have to use a brush on them, but not me! These shrooms come up thru crushed cinder on the edge of the road and they are loaded with cinder. So here they are...squeaky clean.

Next I dip them, whole, in beaten egg.

Then they are rolled in crushed soda crackers that I have seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder.

Plop them in a pan with heated olive oil (I rarely cook with anything else) and cook until golden brown.

Divine! And you know what? They taste like chicken!

In Search of the Shaggy Mane

2009-02-21T16:55:00.000-08:00

In my last episode, we had collected some Matsutakes. That was October. In late October my husband and I took a run up into the woods where we knew there had been some Shaggy Mane mushrooms the year before. It was a gorgeous fall day!

We were a little early. After a lot of walking around we found this. Can you find the mushrooms?

They are hard to see, but they are in the center of the photo, just emerging. At any rate, we knew we were a bit early so we waited...

Knowing that this particular mushroom does not really do well until there has been a hard frost or two, we waited....

Back out to the same area, Eureka! Do I look like a happy mushroom picker or what!

Here's what I have in my bag.

I know they look gross and dirty. And it is a lot of work to clean them because I do NOT like to eat grit, but they are so wonderful when cooked up. We had a feast that night and shared a little with some jealous friends. They begged us to take them up to our picking spot. So a couple of weeks later we did. Stay tuned... I will have another sequel that shows that excursion and how I cooked these delectables!

Mushroom Hunting

2009-02-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I enjoy the most is to go mushroom hunting. I used to work for the Forest Service on a Fungi Crew, doing surveys and looking for rare mushrooms. I found a few too! But better than finding rare mushrooms is finding and EATING edible mushrooms! Yummmm. I didn't get to go this past fall, but the year before we had a lot of fun. In the following two photos you will see the proper way to stalk these wild edibles. You must move slowly....

In this next photo you see some of the "bagged" critters. These particular ones are Matsutakes. And oh yes, we did have a permit to hunt them. You can get permits at your local Forest Service headquarters. Oftentimes they are free permits for personal use, with daily limits.

Matsutakes (maht-soo-tok-eez) are considered by many to be a true delicacy. Personally, I think they are okay, but they are not my favorite. Some years I have heard of them going for over 400 dollars a pound picked commercially. That is a wild time when the pickers come in to make money. There have literally been turf wars.

Ahem....so in this next photo you can see some of our "bagged" creatures. And what better way to display them than on the hood of a pick-up? Here I am showing off some of the bounty.

After a wonderful stroll through the woods, and a successful hunt, there's nothing I like more than to spend the evening making a wonderful soup and sharing it.

One word of caution: Unless you absolutely KNOW your mushrooms, I don't advocate going out, even with a picture book and collecting for food. It is better to take a class, or go with someone that is an expert at identification. At least until you feel confident. A good rule of thumb is: If you don't know for sure....don't eat it. The rewards are great though if you learn to identify these delectable edibles. There is another world beneath our feet that few come to know.

Poker Ride

2009-02-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Every year, right around Mothers Day, we have an event in our little town called the "Poker Ride". People come from all over and bring their families and horses and enter in hopes of winning a prize...and having a lot of fun. Basically, here is how it goes. The entrants begin their ride and get one card for their poker hand. They must then ride to the next station to get another card and then ride to the next and the next, picking up cards until they get a full hand. Then after everyone arrives back at the beginning point the winner is determined by the best hand. Actually, there are a lot of winners because I sure saw a lot of prizes last year.

The starting point was the "Waterin' Hole Tavern".

What I like, is that it seems to bring a lot of people out, all doing something together and having a bit of fun with their families. In a rural community it can be hard to get people to come together. People tend to be very independent and self-contained. Our town is usually quiet, but on this day the pick-ups and trailers start rolling in really early.

Which way to the starting point boys!

It was fun to watch the kids...

And everyone seemed to be enjoying each others' company....

Here are some children, checking out the prizes... Did they win?

Everyone was hungry after the ride so it was time to break out the burgers and all the other goodies!

And then it was time for some awesome and unexpected music!

I love this photo.

Well, Mothers Day will shortly be around the corner. I for one know where I will be this year!

A Sweet Homestead Museum

2009-02-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

In one of my last posts I mentioned that I would do a post on our local museum. As you come into the town of Fort Rock from the west you will see this sign on your right. You cannot miss the museum, it's very obvious. It is basically a collection of buildings from the homestead area that have been relocated to the museum townsite. Most, if not all buildings have been donated from the area.

The museum is open friday through sunday from Memorial day week-end through Labor day (and sometimes earlier or later in the year depending upon volunteer availability). The museum also will do special tours on other days for groups for a pretty nominal fee. At any rate it is well worth the time that it takes to go thru the buildings. Yes! You get to walk through the buildings and they are all furnished with stuff from the homestead era. People have come from all over the U.S. and from many other countries. You can either go with a volunteer guide, or do a self-guided tour.

This photo shows the "working" windmill that is a fairly recent addition. In the background you can see the St. Rose Catholic Church. It is really awesome to view. There have been several weddings held there in recent years.

In this photo you see the interior of the "Stratton Cabin".

Quite the washing machine huh? It was really high tech in it's time. Definitely beat a scrub board in the tub though.

One of my favorite buildings at the museum is the Menkenmeier cabin shown in this last photo. A one room, log cabin affair. It just has a homey feel to it.
Anyway, this is just a taste. There many more things to see including a two-seater outhouse a chuckwagon and a schoolhouse.
A constantly growing museum, the most recent addition is the original Fort Rock Store. Just relocated to the museum this winter, it is currently undergoing renovation. Hopefully it will be stocked and ready for visitors this next season.
So if you are in the Central Oregon area and are looking for a fun afternoon, consider spending some time at this sweet little museum in the Oregon Outback in the town of Fort Rock.

Hide and Seek

2009-01-31T14:32:00.000-08:00

Years ago when I was raising my first rottweiler puppy I learned that all pups go through what they call a "fear period". This happens right around ten weeks old and your pup will get insecure and not want you out of their sight. They tell you to use this period to train your dog to constantly look to you.

So what you can do is this: When you are on an off leash walk in a safe place, the minute you notice that your dog is wandering off and not paying attention, try to find a place to hide from them so that they notice you missing after a while. Make sure that you can watch them just in case they go running off in the opposite direction. You will find that you can tell, the moment they realize that you are not around. They go into full alert and start looking around for you. Let them panic just a little bit. They will start sniffing and running to and fro where they think they saw you last. Most of the time they will find you and you can give them lots of love and praise. If they have a hard time finding you, you can make little noises to give them clues. That almost always works. This kind of a routine serves to program them to keep an eye on you and check back often to make sure that you are still there. After a time or two it turns into a game that they love!

I still do this with my current rottie, Drago. He's two and a half and when we go walking I occasionally duck behind a sagebrush when he is off and running elsewhere. As soon as he notices me "missing", he starts hunting for me. I can hear him run towards where he last saw me. Then he will pause and sniff and listen and when he figures out where I am he comes running. What fun for him!! Here is a picture from todays' walk. Can you see the joy!?

One Rainy Day

2009-01-26T16:01:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I was reading about a rainy day on one of my favorite blogs, "Under Western Skies." I have a link here on my blog if you are curious. Anyway, it made me recall a rainy day from a few years back. My daughter had just gotten married to her Italian honey and we all (kids and both sets of in-laws and my daughter's grandma) went to Rome for their honeymoon. Yup...that's a different kind of honeymoon. After a couple of days, my husband and I got brave enough to wander around a little on our own so we went down to the Forum to check out the ruins.

It was a hot, humid day in June. Very typical of what you would expect in the Mediterranean. We slowly made our way through the ruins, taking a million pictures as we went.

We finally ended up on a hill overlooking most of the Forum. It was very green and shady and much cooler so we spent quite a bit of time on that high spot. We did notice that the sky was beginning to get dark. But we kept wandering.... What we didn't know is that sometimes the rains come in fast with no warning. I'm used to a few warning raindrops. The rains came and oh my! It came down in buckets. We tried to hide out under a tree but soon realized that it was not going to shelter us at all. We ran toward the lower part of the Forum. There was a stairway and it looked to be potential shelter so we ran for it! Whew!
Just when you thought it couldn't come down any harder, it did! Yikes
It came down in torrents. Just like a small river coming down these steps. Soon we were joined by a multitude of other tourists seeking shelter.

Then, just as quickly as it started...it was over. We all made our way back out into the sunshine. The ruins all looked so clean and fresh. It was kind of surreal.

We were thoroughly soaked, having brought no umbrella with us. So we decided we needed to find someplace close by to warm up a little and maybe get a coffee. We found this sweet little place, maybe 3 or 4 blocks from the Forum, ordered and sat down to enjoy.
Ah!...That was MUCH better.

Fort Rock Turns 100 Years Old!

2009-01-23T19:21:00.001-08:00

My little town held its Centennial Celebration last September. It was a big deal for us. The town came into being during the last of the homesteading days. And 2008 is the year it turned 100 years old. So this year the locals spent months preparing for a big bash during the Homesteader Days that happens every year in September. Hundreds of people came through the local Homestead Museum that consists of a collection of buildings from the homestead era. All are furnished with stuff from that period. It's really cool and we have had folks from all over the world check it out. I will do a post on the museum sometime in the near future.

So....we had a parade. Locals from Fort Rock, Christmas Valley and Silver Lake participated. And I think a few other interested people that were not so local. We even had the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service join our parade.

Our local law enforcement was on hand to stop traffic during the parade.

The crowds lined the streets.

There was a Blacksmith and assistant on hand at the Museum.

Homestead families were represented.

Local Boy Scouts.....

Cool old cars...........

Other methods of travel too.

The Christmas Valley boosters had Santa and the Easter Bunny on their float.

The museum had an extensive collection of quilts on display. It was fun going through the museum buildings and viewing them all. What a lot of work.

This one was one of my favorites.

Anyway, it was a very busy weekend. Food, fun and dancing at the Grange.

Precious Bundle of Joy!

2009-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce Tayler Jo to you. Her grandmother Kathy, has graciously provided me with a few photos recently taken. Tayler was born December 10th and she is the recipient of two blankets handwoven by me. For anyone that has been following my blog, I have posted several times about the weaving process while weaving the blanket pictured here. I am thrilled to have these photos of Tayler with her blankets. Thank you Christy, (Tayler's Mom) for allowing me to share.

This tiny baby is new. But, she is not the only "new" person in this family.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. You are forever changed.

Yes, there are many new experiences when you first become a parent. Cherish and savor them all.

People who say they sleep like a baby don't usually have one. Leo J. Burke

This last photo is the first blanket I did. The colors match Tayler's "Safari" nursery theme. Lucky girl!

Finally, here's a little thing Christy, that you might want to try as a way of practicing for feeding the baby.

Practice feeding a 9 month old baby:

Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. Now get a bowl of gooey oatmeal and attempt to spoon it into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. Continue until half of the oatmeal is gone. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure that a lot of it falls on the floor.

That should do it!

The Moment of Truth

2009-01-11T17:12:00.000-08:00

This is the exciting moment for all weavers. You've finished your project and it's time to cut it off the loom. Up until this time you have not seen your weaving in its entirety because as you weave, you are constantly winding the woven part onto the front beam. You hold your breath... will it look the way you intended? Is there a hidden mistake that you didn't catch? You won't know until you unroll it off the front beam and view the whole thing, front and back.

Relief! No mistakes and it looks great. Here is the baby blanket I have been working on, draped over my folded loom.

Since it is a baby blanket I looked around the house for a toy that I could photograph it with. Bummer...no rubber duckies. But I did find this very precious beany baby that belongs to my oldest grandson. Dear little "Tutu" the dragon. A much loved creature that has been with him since he was about a year and a half or two. That was just the right touch! Thanks grandson!

Winter Daydreaming

2009-01-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

It's cold, it's windy,...thank goodness the snow has gone for now, but I find myself daydreaming of warmer times. Here it is January with several more cold months and my mind keeps bringing up warmer places and times. I thought of Degarmo Canyon the other day and dug up my old photos. My husband and I were ready for an excursion after winter in 2006. A friend told us to check out Degarmo canyon out of Plush, Oregon. Things were still melting out in the highlands so we thought, "yeah, an early season desert excursion." We didn't know what a treat it was going to be. Degarmo canyon is situated just northeast of the town of plush and east of the Warner lake wetlands, a hoppin' spot for birdwatchers. The canyon is a drainage that comes down off Hart mountain rim. Hart mountain is part of the Hart mountain antelope refuge. Yes, the deer and the antelope still play here.

We knew we found it when we were greeted by this sign.

There isn't a "parking lot" per se, but we drove in a short distance on the dirt road and found a wide spot to leave our vehicle. The canyon is pretty narrow, there isn't a real trail, so you just climb one side or the other up the canyon. One of the first sights that we saw was a really sweet waterfall.

There were many interesting caves and rock formations along the way...

We were pleasantly surprised as we came around a bend to see this waterfall. By this time we had covered a pretty good distance and were hot and tired. It was a refreshing sight to see.

Here is a much closer view.

We spent some time resting there and my husband, being the adventurer that he is, wanted to hike up to the top of the waterfall. I opted to stay behind and stay in the cool spray from the waterfall. After a few minutes I saw movement on the other side of the canyon. It was a rattler! ...and darned if he wasn't crawling along the rocks towards my side of the canyon! He actually went behind the waterfall and came over to my side. Good sized snake too. Looked to be about 5 feet long and I could see the distinctive patterns on him. I was armed only with my walking stick so I backed out of there and scrambled up the side of the canyon to an area that was mostly rock scree and waited for my husband. He showed up pretty soon and showed me some of the pictures he had taken from on top. We decided that that was enough for one day and headed back down the canyon to our waiting car. Here are some photos from our downward trek.

An unusual shade of Indian Paintbrush flowers.

Lichen encrusted rock formation.

This was a stunning site. You can see the wetlands below and the Warner mountains in the distance.

Our boy....Drago!

2009-01-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

It's about time that I introduce our boy to you all. He is a two and a half year old Rottweiler named Drago. That is Italian for dragon. I just like the sound of it. We got him back in September of 2006. We purchased him from the Von Sarco kennels. They are located on Sauvie Island up around Portland, Oregon. They are wonderful people that have done a great job on raising good rotties. I have a link here on my page if you'd like to see their dogs.

Most of these pictures are Drago's baby pics. This is one at my sisters house right after we picked him up. He is ten weeks old.

Here I am with him in our backyard. Awwww...doesn't he have a cute face?

He learned a lot that first year. How to take life easy.

How to be good company for our wood cuttin' buddies.

How to do his first "Sit" and "Stay"

He enjoyed learning how to play with his big "sister".

...and playing soccer with "Dad"

Just try and take this from me!

This was one of his favorite toys...til he chewed it up.

Here he plays tug of war with his "cousin"

Here's a close up at about 4 months.

Production time

2009-01-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, this post is really about my currrent weaving project, but I couldn't help myself. This morning my hubby and I were drinking our first cup of coffee when I glanced out the window, slammed my mug down and said "Oh my gosh" as I ran for my camera. I've learned over the years that if the lighting is right you MUST take the photo then. You can't wait. It changes so quickly. I've seen a good photo opportunity fade in a matter of seconds. Anyway, here is a photo of Fort Rock on January 2nd 2009. Enjoy.

Ahem....where were we? Oh yes, weaving. This next photo is right at the beginning of the weaving. I'm looking at the loom from the side.

This picture shows the shuttle, (which is the "thingymabobby" that holds the thread) passing through the "shed". The shed is the open kind of mouth that is created when you raise some of the threads and the others stay lowered. You'll see in the next photo.

Here is the shed shown from the side as the shuttle enters and is about to pass through to the other side.

Here's me, yesterday, as I was weaving. Don't I look excited?

Here's a close up of the area that has just been woven, and the shuttle.

And this next photo is a close up of the pattern that is being created. It's a traditional pattern called "Rambler Rose". Hope that baby girl likes it.

Ready to Roll!

2008-12-31T16:32:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here's my second post showing the process of weaving. In this first photo, you can see that I have tied all the threads to the apron rod of the back beam. On the right side is the warp, wound on the front of the loom and going thru the reed and thru the heddles . You can't really see the reed or the heddles in this photo. Just take my word for it.

This next photo is just a shot from the front of the loom, before I start winding it all onto the back beam.

Here's another side view of the loom as I am winding it onto the back beam.

This is another photo from the front. Now you can actually see the heddles. They are the metal things in the center of the loom. Each thread goes thru its own heddle in a particular order. In this weaving there are 600 threads across. The pattern is created bythe sequence in which these heddles are raised in the shafts. I'll show this later as I'm weaving. The shafts are the wooden frames that the heddles are suspended in.

This is just another shot as I am beaming the warp.

All right! This last photo shows everything ready to go. The majority of the warp is on the back beam, and I have it tied onto the front now. It won't be long and I will be weaving the baby blanket for that brand new baby. I saw a picture of the little babe yesterday when I met her grandma at the post office. She will soon be snuggled in this soft cotton blanket. More to come!

Ancient Footwear

2008-12-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

Comfy looking sandals? They were probably cutting edge back in their day. These are actually replicas in the photo. The originals were dated at approximately 9500 years ago. Where were these found? Right here in Fort Rock. In a small cave to the west of Fort Rock itself (not the town, the landmark). When I first came out to this area (in the 70's) to visit, a friend took me out to the cave which at that time was called "Cow cave" by the locals. Didn't look like much to me. Just a small cave with cowpies in it. It was owned by a local rancher and his cows still used the area around the cave for grazing. So the cave was a nice place for them to shelter from the sun, rain or wind.
The sandals were found by Dr. Luther S. Cressman in 1938 during an excavation and it wasn't until years later that they realized how significant the find was when the sandals were carbon dated to almost 10,000 years ago! There were numerous other artifacts found also.
Dr. Cressman was married to Margaret Mead the famous cultural anthropologist, for a very short time in the 20's. I thought that was an interesting tidbit.

This is a picture of the cave as it looks today.

Now the cave is owned by the state park system and is off limits to people except by tour which can be arranged by contacting Oregon State Parks. This is actually pretty recent. The land was given to the state in the year 2000.

Here's a view of Fort Rock from the cave.
So the people that made those sandals are termed "Paleo-Indians". They are the ancients of North America. Anyway, it's all pretty interesting and we get a lot of people coming through during the spring, summer and fall to view this site and to play at Fort Rock. Now a desert, this was a vast lake a long time ago. In fact, Fort Rock itself was formed as it came up through moisture. But that's another story...

Cabin Fever

2008-12-18T18:08:00.001-08:00

It's too early for cabin fever. Even so, I think I'm coming down with it. It snowed all day so I didn't even think about taking the dog out for a walk which he would have loved. His goal in life is to catch a jackrabbit. He doesn't even get close, but it's fun trying. My boy is a rottweiler and he is about 120 pounds so it takes a while for him to get that mass moving. And jackrabbits are phenomenally fast. By the time he gets up to speed they are long gone. It's fun to see him bouncing over the sagebrush though.
I've been threading the heddles on my loom. It's almost done, but gets a bit tedious. It was a nice break to go out to the chicken coop and check for eggs. I got my boots on and heavy coat with a hood and ventured out. Not a hen was out in the yard. Nothin' doing! They weren't crazy. They were all hanging out on the roosts and under the heat light. When I opened the door though I found about 30 Starlings that had moved in with the chickens! I chased them all out. It was interesting, ...one of the starlings was actually on the back of one of the hens! Probably trying to get it's feet warm. I picked up all the eggs and went back into the house and told my husband about the starlings. He said, "Oh that's why the food is going down so fast lately!" Here's a picture or two of our chicken coop which is really a refurbished camper. It's kind of the ritz for our chickens. Nothing but the best for our hens. Of course the pictures with this post are from May. There's about 6 or 7 inches of snow in the chicken yard now. I wonder if chickens get Cabin Fever?

Winter Vista

2008-12-16T09:40:00.001-08:00

I was serious when I said that I have a fantastic view from my house. How many people can guess where this landmark is? Every morning when I wake up I check to see if it is a photo opportunity. Many times it is. This is pretty much what it looks like now, even though this particular photo was taken in March of 07. There is a lot of history associated with this landmark. I will be sharing some in later posts. In fact, some of the history goes back 9500 years or so. Curious?

Looks like a mess?

2008-12-15T15:48:00.001-08:00

Yes, I agree, it does look messy. But everything has a beginning and this is the start of my current project. A baby blanket (toddler sized) for a new baby girl. What I was working on in this picture was "sleying the reed". This is a weaving term for putting each thread thru a slot in the stainless steel reed. It creates order and keeps the threads organized. This is just the first step in getting it on the loom. More to come............

Resolutions - A Jump Start on a New Year

2008-12-14T19:14:00.001-08:00

Well, I started this blog two years ago and promptly ignored it. I've recently decided I was going to continue with this blog. Weaving does really hold my interest and I've made quite a few things since the beginning of this blog. However, I am expanding my scope to include anything I want to blog about! So,...this blog may well include weaving, photographs, gardening, my family, and the many faces of small town, rural America. Heck, I may even throw in a good recipe or two. I have quite a few of those.
At any rate, my resolution, which I am starting before the New Year, is to blog as often as I can. This blog is for family, and friends (including some I haven't met yet) or anyone else that is interested.
In case you're curious, the project I was weaving in the photograph was a table runner and set of placemats. I love to weave using some of the old traditional patterns, and this particular one was called "Sun, Moon and Stars".
Lately, I seem to be doing baby blankets for folks. I will include some photos of a few in my next post, and will also do some progressive posts on the one that I am currently working on for a baby girl born two days ago. I tend to use cotton in my baby blankets because it is so washable and seems to get softer with time. Two of my grandsons would agree.

Weaving Is My Art!

2006-12-16T17:26:00.001-08:00

I love what I do! Weaving for me, has been a passion that began the moment that I first saw a weaver in action....creating beautiful material right before my eyes. I had never before even wondered how woven items were made. That first moment that I saw a weaver at the loom, it struck a chord in my heart that has continued to impact my life.
I couldn't rest until I learned how to weave, bought myself a loom (or two,three or four!) and started creating on my own. I'm still very excited about the whole process and it is so satisfying to create beautiful art, or beautiful household items.
So that's what this blog is all about. Sharing my journey of weaving. The things I've learned, the wonderful people I've met and of course some things that I have made and/or are in the process of making. It should be fun!