First Weekend of Summer

Cliff and I did a good job of making the first weekend of summer count.

On Friday work had an event to kick off the start of summer, Summer Solstice Dash & Bash.  It is a two part event: 5K to benefit Umpqua Bank's Snack Pack Program and a free concert with food and beer vendors and community booths.  To help drum up excitement, I did two live promo spots on our local news stations. I got to be on at 6:45am on KEZI and just a few short hours later I was on KVAL.  I kinda really like doing these types of things.  It scratches a performing itch that hasn't been tended to in a long while.   The event turned out really well.  More attendees than our first time around last summer.  The weather was beautiful.  Our sponsors were happy.  What more could we ask for?   

Yesterday, we got up bright and early as I went with a friend/co-worker, Jana, down to Roseburg to pick up her new dog from their humane society!  I really enjoy driving south as the landscape changes and you feel like you are going out on an adventure.  And we were.  She has been looking for a dog for quite a while and this week found a blood-hound that was a winner.  We picked up Sheldon (Chip's new name) and drove back.  It was really a different experience from picking Rudy up from the shelter a few years ago.  Sheldon didn't eat his own poop, he didn't take 30 minutes to get into the car, and he didn't seem terrified of the new people who were driving away with him.  Also Sheldon's teeth are in so much better condition that Rudy's were when we adopted him (both dogs adopted around 7 months).  All of this is really making me realize that Rudy didn't have it so great before we found him.  Perhaps his first few months set us up for some challenges that we are still dealing with to this day.  Hum.  Oh well.  Rudy is fantastic and we wouldn't have it any other way (although better leash skills by now would be pretty great).  No matter.  Sheldon and Rudy got to play in the yard.  Rudy is far, far faster that the 65 lb. pup but it didn't matter as Sheldon seemed to be having fun running behind and using his chasing bark.  It was great.  Rudy has a new friend. In fact, he seems to get a long better with Sheldon than any other dog.  It must be a hound thing. 


After the puppy excitement, we packed up the car to go camping with another friend/co-worker and her family*.   Kerry's family got a pop-up camper and wanted to do a test run.  Cliff and I have recently completed our backpacking supplies so we wanted to do a dry run too.  Well, in the end we decided to use our car camping supplies instead of the backpacking stuff as we wanted Rudy to come with us.  He has been doing really well recently about chilling out with us (not on leash) and being less crazy around kids.  So camping was the next challenge to tackle (we aren't going to count the cross-country move camping).  So we all drove up the McKenzie River to Delta Campground.  On the way up, we realized that Rudy gets car sick.  He whines, barks, and pants a whole lot in the car.  To be honest it can be really unpleasant, loud, and stressful.  Well this trip we finally put it together that he freaks out when there are windy roads, speed bumps, and sharp turns (that is why he starts to get upset as soon as he hears the turn signal go on).   I feel bad saying this but we always thought he was just being a jerk and getting overly excited about everything.  Nope.  He wasn't feeling well.  Thankfully, it was a pretty smooth trip as we could just cruse once we got out of town. 

We mocked Kerry and Todd before we left when they mentioned bug spray.  Cliff and I insisted that we have never been bothered by bugs here as we were use to Virginia mosquitos and in comparison Oregon has nothing to complain about.  Well, that is apparently a lie.  Our campground was on an arm of the McKenzie and there were so many mosquitoes   We started a fire at 5:00pm in the hopes of smoking them out.  I almost immediatly changed out of my tank top and shorts and into long pants and multiple layers of long sleved tops in order to keep them from attacking me.  But it was too late.  They got me.  They got us all.  Todd later told us that the highlands are bad for mosquitos due to all of the snow melt.  Apparently things are better in southern Oregon.  Note to self for the next camping expedition.

Last night was a whole lot of fun.  We hung out.  We ate a really great meal of salmon, salad, and potatoes.  We made smores and sipped Fireball by the fire.  What to know the best part?  Our dog was AMAZING! Honestly, we lived our dog owner dream last night.  He happily played at the site with the girls (he didn't bowl anyone over or get someone right in the face).  We didn't freak out and bark at every kid, bird, bug, motorcycle he heard.  He was so good that we trusted him off leash.  He stayed right by us and enjoyed hanging out under the picnic table.  Plus since he is an avid fire-loving dog, we didn't have to worry about him being stupid around the campfire.  It was great.  Once it got dark he got a bit stressed out as he is kind of a weanie and doesn't like the dark.  Also, he has a pretty strict internal clock that makes him want to sleep at 9:00pm.  He was already on the downslide when our camping neighbors rolled up around 10:00pm to set up camp.  As long as he sat with his back turned towards them, between Cliff and I he was ok.  As soon as he turned around to see them he would howl.  To keep it together he sat touching both of us with one of us always petting him.  Todd and Kerry commented that it was like we were dealing with a toddler past its bed time.  On top of this, around 11:00pm it started to sprinkle.  Rudy hates being wet.  He beelined towards the tent so we called it a night.  When we let him in he was incredibly happy to lay on his bed at the foot of our super luxe Coleman air mattress.  We knew with the rain that he was going to break the seal so we broke one of our rules: we let Rudy sleep on the bed between us.  Rudy was shocked.  That dog didn't move all night as he was warm, safe, comfortable, and cuddling with us.  He was awesome.

Good thing we didn't let him sleep at the foot of the bed and it rained all night long.  Cliff got a really bad allergy headache sometime around 1:00am and after taking painkillers left our toiletry bag too close to the tent lining.  He broke the seal.  When we woke in the morning all of our clothes were soaked but we were happily floating above the water on our air mattress.  Rudy was less than excited about the rain and looked very weary about having to go outside to go to the bathroom and start the day.  Can you sense the internal grumbling?

After eating breakfast in the new pop-up (which was super sweet), we loaded up the car and headed home.  I stopped at the general store to get jojo's (or taters for all of us east coasters) with ranch as they are a must when we travel up river. We spend the rest of the day napping, unpacking, and doing laundry.  We even made it to Olive Garden.

Overall I think we did a pretty great job kicking off the summer.  I have my fingers crossed that we can keep this up for a little while.

*Side note: Kerry was my original office soul mate.  A few months ago Kerry got a new job in one of our different departments and that is when Jana moved in.  So far, I've really lucked out with co-workers. 

A Night In Portland

Photo by the Oregon Zoo

On Saturday Cliff and I headed to Portland.  We needed to exchange a lovely Christmas present from my mom and wanted to spend some time with Kathy and Jill.  I'm so excited that we got out of Eugene for a brief bit of time.  We have been stuck in thick fog for days.  FOR DAYS!  It hasn't burned off.  It hasn't moved.  It is just everywhere.  Driving to Portland was like driving in a thin grey tube.  We couldn't see the fields that sit close to the side of the road.  Billboards were difficult to make out until you were right on top of them.  It was crazy.  With this said, we saw 19 hawks on the drive up.  They were all right on the side of the road.  We don't know if the fog brought them closer or what but it was really fun to spot them as we drove.  We think they were red tailed hawks.  Cliff said he usually sees a few on the trip but never as many as we saw on Saturday.  (Side note: we also saw 13 on our way back down to Eugene yesterday.)

In Portland it was beautiful and sunny.  We could see Mt. Hood.  It was amazing.  I forget how different you can feel when you see sunshine.   We felt like we were on vacation.  What am I saying...we were on vacation.

Cliff got a nice razor for Christmas from this really swanky shop called The Art of Shaving.  Sadly, Cliff already has two razors that he uses and loves.  No worries.  There isn't a store in Eugene so we needed to go to Portland to exchange the items  It was really fun to be in the store.  Lisa, our helpful sale clerk, walked Cliff through the process and got him set up with some pretty cool items.  Cliff is now the proud owner of a badger hair shaving brush, shaving oil, shaving cream, and shaving lotion all made with lavender essential oil.  Nice!

After our experience at The Art of Shaving, we met Kathy and Jill at Hopworks Urban Brewery.  We had eaten there last year when we pet sit fort them and remembered them having the most amazing, fresh (and organic) food.  We went in thinking we would split a calzone and salad but we lucked out as it was almost happy hour (on a Saturday!).  We opted for a little of everything: a few beers, giant buttered pretzels with beer/cheese sauce and spicy brown mustard, jalapeño poppers, fries, pizza with lemon chicken and green chilies and caramelized onions, a house salad, and spicy southwest quinoa salad.  It was a really great affordable meal which is so awesome since all of their stuff is organic.  The quinoa salad was perfectly filling, spicy, and healthy.  I want to make it at home so Cliff and I can take it for lunch.  If you are ever in the Portland area and like good pub grub...eat there.

We decided to get a movie and stay in since Toby, their dog, wasn't feeling all that well.  They took us to a  movie store called Movie Madness.  Their goal is to "maintain the largest and most comprehensive collection of movies available to rent on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Video."  It was really fun to be in an actual movie store.  They have movie memorabilia all over the place (note the photo of a Drew Barrymore outfit from Never Been Kissed).  It was like a mini Planet Hollywood.  I won't lie.  I was overwhelmed with their stock so I was happy when Kathy suggested Point Break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.  We all knew about the movie but surprisingly non of us had seen it except for Cliff (and he was happy to watch it as it meant that we weren't going to have to watch something he hates).  Victory for all!

Since we were all still pretty full from happy hour, we opted for an ice cream dinner from a food cart.  I got a pumpkin ice cream dipped in dark chocolate (it was the $2 special), Kathy got a cake batter sundae, Jill got a chocolate chip banana and Oregon hazelnut hot fudge sundae, and Cliff got one scoop of chocolate chip banana and one scoop of green coconut curry.  I know what you might be thinking.  Green coconut curry ice cream?  I know as I thought it to.  Cliff thought it was delicious while I thought it was a little weird.  It seriously tasted like a sweet curry and had a spicy aftertaste.  Cliff was especially proud of his pairing as the chocolate chip banana went really well with the curry.  It was cold outside (30 degrees) so we all huddled near a heater in the make-shift food-cart food-court.  I would like to eat at more food carts.  They are really popular in Portland (probably also every other city/big town in America).  They all have decent menus.  Vietnamese food.  Thai food.  Mexican food.  Pizza.  Burgers.  Kathy and Jill complained that food cart food is no longer as affordable as it once was.  I mean there are apparently now two carts where you can get artisan cheese plates.  How Portland.

What would a trip to Portland be without a trip to Ikea?  I wanted to get a few frames so that I can finally hang stuff on my office walls.  We got free coffee (since we joined the Ikea family program), looked through the sample rooms, ate meatballs for lunch, shopped in the market place and then ended with a celebratory ice cream (it's tradition).  Kathy and Cliff played with stuffed animals for a while as they all are kinda odd and creepy this time around.  We also sampled a traditional Swedish drink that is consumed around the holidays.  It is a soda that is flavored with hops and malt syrup.  Really good at the first sip but then we found it hard to make our way through the rest of our serving.  All in all, it was a successful ikea trip.

Afterwards we left sunny Portland and headed south.  About 45 minutes down the road we were greeted by the fog again.   Apparently we will have it until Tuesday afternoon.  Oh well.  We have hunkered down at the cottage.  We have a fire going and we are roasting our Cinderella pumpkin so that we can make pie, soup, and freeze a bunch for future meals.  Cinderella pumpkins smell really good when they are roasting  Better than other squash in my opinion.  They smell buttery and delicious.

Lyddanes in Oregon

Two weeks ago the Lyddanes landed in Oregon for a week long vacation.  We tried to jam pack every day with all of the things we love about this place.  As a result, we ate a whole lot, traveled to the mountains and to the coast, picked fruit, listened to live music, hiked, swam, got up early and stayed up late, and generally just had the most amazing time.  Five flew back after a week and Stephen stayed out an additional week to hang out.  This resulted in more hiking, swimming, picking fruit, baking, canning and pickling, and generally just frolicking around town.  Because it would be hard to put everything into words I am going to have to rely on photos.

After we picked the family up from the airport we went to a Lebanese restaurant to meet Brie.  It was so nice for everyone to visit.  The food was really great.  Look at those happy faces!

 

The meeting also gave us an excuse to take the first of many group photos to come. 

The next day we went climbing at the climbing wall, ate at Sonic (a must anytime you see one) and then went to Detering Orchards to pick peaches, cherries, and other goodies.  It look a bit of team work to get some of the choice fruit but it paid off.  Sadly we were there late in the day so we missed the time to pick rhubarb and blueberries.

The next day we went to the coast as Stephen and Nicole had never seen the Pacific Ocean.  Everyone was a little shocked at how cold the water was.  The Oregon Coast is a far cry from East Coast beaches: not as developed, fewer people, colder water, etc.  The coast is so beautiful and we were excited to show it off.

Second opportunity for a group shot.  The lady who took the photo complimented us for wearing complimentary colors.  She asked if we planned our outfits.  We did not.   Oh, little did she know that we do have matching outfits and that we were going to unleash Team Lyddane t-shirts later in the week.

On Tuesday night we went to a Yanni concert.  That's right.  A Yanni concert.  Actually, Mr. and Mrs. Lyddane went to the Yanni concert and the rest of us set up shop outside of the amphitheater to listen to the music, play board games, and relax.  Everyone was excited.  The Lyddane children grew up with Yanni so Andrea and Nicole just couldn't contain themselves when their favorite songs came on.  They just had to dance.  It was very free spirited.  It was impressive.  It was hilarious.  All in all a very good night.

On Wednesday, we were all over the place on a "do your own thing" day.  Cliff and I had long days at work.  Mr. and Mrs. Lyddane drove to Crater Lake. Andrea, Joe, Stephen, and Nicole hiked, went to wineries, visited chocolate shops, and went climbing again.  We all ended the day at 9:30pm with some delicious Track Town pizza.

Thursday was our trip to the mountains day.  We started the day off right with a trip to Dutch Brothers.  With so many different sugary coffee options to choose from everyone was a little overwhelmed looking at the menu.   It took us a little while to get our order straight. Everywhere we went people made comments about how we were having a party in the mini van.  It might have been because we were all sporting our matching Team Lyddane t-shirts. 

Our first official stop on the mountain tour was Terwilliger Hot Springs.  Cliff and I love going to the hot springs so we really wanted to take the family.  When we got there we found that they were not open yet as the pools were being drained and the rocks were being cleaned (who knew that happened?).  No worries.  We made our way down to the reservoir.  Cliff, Andrea, Joe, Stephen, and Nicole swam to a little island in the middle.  Apparently it was really cold but really awesome. 

After about an hour the hot springs opened up.  I love going there.  It is so relaxing.  The hot water, the minerals, the sound of water falling from one pool to another.  We were all riding on a relaxing, hot springs high when we got back in the mini van and headed up McKenzie Pass.  

  

The hot springs high did not last long as McKenzie pass is long and really windy.  Two of us get car sick so we sat up front.  Even sitting in the front seat my stomach wasn't happy.  Andrea and Nicole were in the back and kept yelling as they thought they were going to fall over the cliff edges as we went back and forth up slow switchbacks.  It was a stressful (yet pretty ride) to Sisters, Oregon.  We stopped at the lava fields for another group photo.  

I think this is a great time to talk about the matching t-shirts.  They were a surprise.  An awesome surprise. They had made Oregon 2012 team Lyddane t-shirts.  On the front was a color version of a Lyddane drawing where a cartoon rabbit exchanges carrots with a cartoon squirrel who is offering acorns.  Adorable.  On the back is your number that corresponds with when you entered the Lyddane family (ex: Mr. Lyddane 01, Mrs. Lyddane 02, Andrea, 03, Cliff 04, Stephen 05, Nicole, 06, me 07, Joe 08).  They are awesome.  We sported them with pride all over central Oregon.  It was amazing.  Seriously.  Cheesy amazingness.

We stopped at a watch tower at the summit of the pass.  It was so beautiful.  You could see the north sister and the middle sister, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, Black Butte, and several other peaks.  Andrea's camera has our group shots from the tower.  You bet we took a great photo of all of us showing off our numbers.  The Lyddanes were in central Oregon and everyone knew it.  After the photos, we ate lunch in Sisters and headed back home.

On the way home we stopped at Sahalie Falls.  I have a hard time explaining how beautiful it is.  As you walk down to see the falls you feel the cool mist, the sound gets louder, and you can't help but be in awe of mother nature.  Honestly, so much water falls every minute of ever day.  It's spectacular.

Sahalie Falls gave us one final opportunity for a group photo.  Our green shirts help us blend in with our natural surroundings. 

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning (4:00am) to take the crew back up to the Portland Airport.  It was so sad to see them go.  We had such a great time.  I hope they all did too.

Saturday started Cliff and Stephen's fantastic adventure.  We stopped at the Danner boot factory so they they could try on shoes (in preparation for their big labor day sale).   Back in one of our first posts, we mentioned that Cliff got over a $300 pair of boots for $50 at their labor day sale.  He loves them and wears them all the time.  When we go back up this year we will be on the lookout for some boots to send home as now we know sizes.   Look at those two!  Honestly it is pretty ridiculous how alike Cliff and Stephen ended up.  They could sit all day and talk about boots, orchards, gardens, dog training, bird specifies, and pretty much anything else.  They even wear matching colors without planning.  Really, its pretty funny.

I talked them into taking a "quick" drive down the coast.  I wanted to go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, Rouge Brewing, and see if we could find one of those cool outdoor  fireplaces that are shaped like animals (I'm on the lookout for one for our house and they have them in Newport!).  We stopped at the Tillamook Forest Center and learned how the Tillamook Forest burned down several times and how tree planters are responsible for every single beautiful tree that we see today.  It was a really nice center with pretty impressive interactive, kid-friendly exhibits.  Nice work Tillamook Forest folks!

When we got to the Tillamook Cheese Factory it was packed.  It was overwhelming so we quickly walked through, got our ice cream, and headed outside to escape the crowds.  We headed south on the coast for hours and finally ended up in Newport.  We visited the Rogue Brewery, their new distillery (Cliff got fancy spruce gin) and saw lots of fisherman cleaning and gutting huge fish.  Let me tell you, it was smelly by Rogue because of all of the fish cleaning.  I tried breathing only through my mouth and it still didn't work.  The smell infiltrated my senses.  I couldn't walk fast enough to get away from it.  Besides the smell, Newport is pretty solid. 

Cliff and Stephen spent the next week hanging out all day and doing fun stuff (climbing, hiking, picking fruit, etc.)  Because of their efforts I got to eat three different crisps/cobblers over the last five days (peach and rhubarb and two blackberries varieties).  We also now have canned Oregon blackberry jam, refrigerator pickles, and blackberry infused whiskey.  We will have a little bit of summer each time we open one up this winter.  It's exciting.

We dropped off Stephen yesterday morning (another 4:00am day), ate breakfast with Kathy and Jill (to catch up on the wedding) and then drove home to take a nap.   We had a really great time with family.  I hope this is just one of many trips to Oregon.

Shines Like Silver

For the past few days we have been experiencing some pretty intense fog.  Like today some areas will be experiencing less than 1/4 mile visibility all day.  Since we are up in the hills you bet that we are seeing the fog and not seeing much else.  

The past day or so we have seen some pretty cold temperatures at night.  Last night got down into the high 20s.  When we woke up this morning not only did we see the normal frost on the ground but everything else frosted over as well (hoar frost Cliff tells me).  Everything looks like silver.  The spider webs.  The chicken coop fencing.  The trees.  It is so pretty!  Cliff got really excited this morning when he opened up the curtains and saw it.   We just wanted to share.  Oh the little things....

Wildlife and Wood

 

 The other day Kim and I hiked up Mount Pisgah and walked through part of the arboretum. We’d always meant to walk through the arboretum but hadn’t. It was exciting to see some of the trees that I’ve been reading about in my new book The Sibley Guide to Trees. David Allen Sibley, well known for his bird guides, has written a guide to American trees. I really like how it breaks trees into families and subgenera and talks about the commonalities between these different groups. It makes it more readable than many field guides.

We didn’t take any photos in the arboretum, but here are some photos of tree branches from our back yard. To the right are some Western Hemlock stems. I included cones (about three quarters of an inch in length) still on the stem, cones that have recently fallen, and old cones. Notice how the length of the needles alternates between long and short as you go down the stem. The underleaf has two bright white lines (it's kind of hard to see the thin green line separating them in this photo. The Western Hemlock is the state tree of Washington.

To the right are some leaves from a Port Orford-cedar (the hyphen indicates that it is not a true cedar). Instead of needles it has scale like leaves. Our tree also has these beautiful blue round cones. Like with the hemlock I have included the top and bottom of the leaves and pictures of the cones at different stages. It is difficult to see on this photo but there are white x's on the underside of the leaves that are one of the characteristics that differentiate the Port Orford-cedar from Alaska-cedar.

 

 These are Douglas-fir stems and a cone. The Douglas fir is a very important tree to the forestry industry out here. It is the state tree of Oregon. Most of the forest regrowth is Douglas-fir. Older forests have less Douglas-fir and more of other species of trees as Douglas-fir does not grow well in shade. Notice how the three-pointed bracts project far past the ends of the scales.

Continuing the tree theme yesterday Kim and I spent a good part of the day moving wood. We moved a woodpile closer to the house and out of the way of a future fence, and we moved a pile of split oak closer to the cottage. I’m hoping that the increased surface area from splitting the oak will help it to dry out more before we burn it.

I went back outside to check the mail after we finished and saw turkeys scratching in the dirt on the hill near our car. I went back inside to get the camera. As I walked towards the turkeys three deer walked down the sidewalk and across one of the terraces. So I snapped pictures of the deer before I got close enough to get good photos of the turkeys. I'm not sure I did get close enough. I guess I need to work on my turkey stalking.

 Once I was back inside I checked about the turkeys. The turkeys in this part of Oregon are the Rio Grande subspecies, the same species that the pilgrims brought to the new world with them not knowing that there were already turkeys (and larger turkeys at that) in the eastern woodlands. Did you know that the turkeys we eat every thanksgiving have world-traveler ancestors?