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We've had a wonderfully relaxing time in this pretty Oregon beach town. It's know for its boating, fishing, clamming and crabbing, Yaquina Bay Bridge and Lighthouse, and Mo's chowder house. Today we went into town for our last bowl of chowder before we leave for Cascadia tomorrow. The weather has been sweatshirt-cool, yet sunny and breezy the whole time we've been here. We're ready for some warmer summer-like weather.
A sunny day at Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon
Foggy day at Yaquina Bay Bridge
Yaquina Bay Marina where we spent the afternoon having lunch at Mo's followed by watching a chartered fishing boat come in and unload. We caught ourselves drooling over lots of bottom fish and crab brought in by the smiling fisher-persons!
Then we headed back to our campsite with beautiful woods and "Rhodies" blooming everywhere. Each spring the wild rhododendrons bloom in the hills, fields, and forests of Oregon as they have been doing for over 1,000 years. And the white-to-pink flowers still represent the end of winter and the imminent arrival of summer.
This variety looks like giant pop-corn balls.
Absolutely stunning!
Some of these clusters are 8" in diameter.
Life is good!
I was going through my iPhoto albums and came across a picture I wanted to share on my blog, but have been so caught up with my injury and our travels to Oregon, this one slipped through the cracks.
Our morning routine, living in such a small space, is usually this. While I wash up the breakfast dishes Ken is using the other end of the rig to shower and get dressed and in the process of getting ready for his day he makes the bed (nice routine don't you think?). When it's my turn to get ready I'm often pleased to see the bed made, even after so many years of this routine. The morning we left Coarsegold, two and a half weeks ago, the routine was unchanged. And I smiled to myself as I went into the bedroom to get dressed. And something caught my eye. Part of making the bed is placing my Amish doll I call "Sarah Plain and Tall" up on my side of the head of the bed. This time something was different.
I'd like you to meet Sarah Plain and Tall, ready for the day.
Here is Sarah ready to spend some time on the Oregon Coast . . . Ken had put my flip-flops on her feet! Actually it's not the first time that Sarah was placed differently, but this time she came across pretty funny.
Life is good . . . especially being married to a man
with a sense of humor.
After nearly two weeks it's finally starting to fade. It's amazing what a bump on the forehead can produce!
It's been cool and drizzly over the last couple days in Florence, Oregon . . . unlike the triple digits on the thermometers in Coarsegold. Two days ago, after playing solitaire, reading a new magazine, and finishing up a couple of embroidered cards I got a bit anxious because this little trailer can get quite claustrophobic after a while. Then I thought of the DVDs I had packed to bring to our library in Oregon.
In the box was the brand new first season of the TV award winning show "24" we chose for our viewing pleasure. (When we go to Oregon we watch movies since have no TV reception.) 24 is a show that we never really got in to but when the set was given to Ken by our daughter and son-in-law for Christmas they said that they really liked it. Well . . . to say we liked it is not even close to our feeling after watching the first couple of episodes. We were totally hooked! Each episode ends with such a cliff hanger that one HAS to watch the next episode. So we did . . . and pretty soon it was 2 o'clock in the morning and we forced ourselves to go to bed. Since each episode takes place in a one-hour-real-time-span, it takes 24 hours (sans commercials) to watch the entire series. So we got up late the next morning, went for a nice long walk before settling in to watch the rest of the series and we were up again until 2 o'clock in the morning . . . watching it to the end. We're definitely hooked on 24 now, but I'm sure we prefer to watch it in this format rather than wait a whole week for the next episode!
Thank you S and M!
Life is Good!
Having spent five fun days in Mendocino we had to say goodbye and move on, stopping in Trinidad last night. We planned it so we could have lunch in Gold Beach and had fun reminiscing over our many fun family vacations we spent there enjoying fresh salmon nearly every night. Today we're in Florence, Oregon for a week. We got all set up and have a great camp site. Now Ken is enjoying a well-deserved nap after a long six-hour drive. As I write this all I can hear are birds singing their song and way in the distance I can hear the faint noise of dune buggies . . . Florence is famous for their sand dunes. It will be a relaxing quiet week to catch up on some reading and I think maybe I'll take some time to stitch more of those Dutch embroidery cards. Next week we'll go on up to Whaler's Rest on the Oregon coast for a week or so (we usually get anxious before the week is up) and then head over to Camp Cascadia.
I stole this picture from my friend Traveling Grammy's site. Here we are saying goodbye to our precious little buddies, C and J, after we got all hooked up to leave Mendocino. Thanks, Cecile and Gary, for a great visit.
The Oregon coast on our way to Florence.
Florence is noted for its sand dunes.
This is the view from our front door at our site in Florence, Oregon . . . beautiful secluded sites.
Our traveling herb garden . . . on the table from left: three new basil plants which will grow quite large at Camp Cascaadia, marjoram, Italian parsley, curly parsley, a new French tarragon plant (I hope we can keep this one living because we love the flavor it offers and the plants are hard to find), and our chives plant we've had for at least six years (we re-potted it this year and it's loving a bigger pot). And of course we have a dozen new tomato plants (on the bench) to plant in the hoop house when we get to Camp Cascadia. This year there is a sunnier spot saved for them in the deer-proof hoop house, so perhaps we'll even get some red tomatoes! Stay tuned!
Life is Good!
We were invited up for dinner last night—our last chance to be together until fall. Of course I had to check in on the new additions to the farm. And it seems as though the baby chicks have grown overnight. Only one didn't make it and we were told that sometimes that can happen. All the rest are healthy and running around and even trying to fly already—too cute, but Jen will have to make some adjustments on the brooding box!
When 22 baby chicks are in one box the sound is quite loud! I think this is a baby White Leghorn (pronounced "legurn" according to the country chicken folk around here).
This little one was hard to hold on to, she wiggled so much. These little gals will be all grown up and ready to lay eggs when we return in October.
And when PD barbecues there is always enough food to feed the whole neighborhood. I think he's happiest if the barbecue grill is full! Here is barbecue chicken (hmmmm!), rib-eye steaks, "crashed potatoes" and a beautiful green salad. And was it ever tasty!
Life is Good!
We took a break after working hard on the Chicken Coop today to enjoy some time with our daughter, SS, who came out from the midwest for a very quick spring break. Actually this was a present from her sweet husband especially to have some Sister Time with her younger sister, Jen. They've been pretty good buddies all their life, and it's hard when there is so much distance between them now. They had a nice day yesterday and today they spent some time with my mom while Ken and I worked on the Chicken Coop. We didn't quite finish it but do plan on celebrating tomorrow when it will be all done!
Three generations "Me and My Girls"
My granddaughter is taller than all of us!
Life is Good!
Today we got a whole lot done . . . so much, in fact, I think we'll be able to finish this project completely by tomorrow. Our daughter, SS, came out for a short visit and chipped in to help with the Chicken Coop project. In addition to her help, we had the help of KL all day while "the sisters" had a bit of "sister time" in town. And of course we had the entertainment of the goats chattering at us and checking in our progress from time to time . . . otherwise they were quite busy doing their job of keeping the weeds trimmed.
We usually start each day out with a Good Morning Time with the Goats. They always hear the truck come up the hill, and loudly greet us before we get to the gate.
KL and I were in charge of building the bank of nesting boxes for the hen house. We had a basic idea of what it was to look like, but no plans were written down so we basically had to wing it with Ken's guidance.
KL follows instructions to a "T" . . . you explain it once and she "gets it" the first time. I'm having a great time with her—she's so fun to work with.
She and Ken work well together too, and he's loving working with his granddaughter. He couldn't be prouder of how well she understands the building process. 
When SS and Jen got back from a day of fun, they both came up to give us a hand. SS pitched right in. Here she is measuring the wood stops to keep the eggs from rolling out of the nesting boxes.
She'd never used a saw before and we had a couple laughs over her technique, but she got the job done just fine.
She helped me carry the quite heavy bank of nesting boxes into the Hen House. It took all three of us to set it in place and Ken was able to screw it to the wall.
Cover Girl came inside the Hen House looking like the local inspector, checking out the final installation.
KL and Auntie SS carrying the ladder back to the barn. It was used while covering the window in the Hen House with chicken wire to keep out any critters. Then in the winter time a frame covered with 4 ply polyurethane will be shoved into the sashing to act as a "storm window" and keep out the cold. Gotta keep "the girls" happy so they'll lay lots of eggs!
Cover Girl and Joey love to be near us when we're working. Here they are nestled up near the air compressor. You should see them move when the compressor turns on . . . they can run pretty fast!
Taking a break after a good day's work.
Jen made a scrumptious meal of yummy enchilada casserole and tossed green salad. What a delight to have both daughters sitting at the dinner table . . . doesn't happen very often but when it does, it's just a whole lot of fun!Life is Good!
A sunny day at Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon
Foggy day at Yaquina Bay Bridge
Yaquina Bay Marina where we spent the afternoon having lunch at Mo's followed by watching a chartered fishing boat come in and unload. We caught ourselves drooling over lots of bottom fish and crab brought in by the smiling fisher-persons!
Then we headed back to our campsite with beautiful woods and "Rhodies" blooming everywhere. Each spring the wild rhododendrons bloom in the hills, fields, and forests of Oregon as they have been doing for over 1,000 years. And the white-to-pink flowers still represent the end of winter and the imminent arrival of summer. 
This variety looks like giant pop-corn balls.
Absolutely stunning!
Some of these clusters are 8" in diameter.
Life is good!
