SURF'S UP!

Tomorrow will kick off February.  Recent weather indicates that we are well into Spring at this point in the year.  But, reality is, it's February which generally brings our stormiest weather.  Note this post's pix.  That was taken at Shore Acres State Park in Coos County last February.  Maybe we will get a repeat performance this year.  Hope, hope!  Standing there on the cliff face, you can actually feel the Earth move under your feet (sounds like a familiar song) as the waves bounce sky high.  If you are in a position to visit during high tide and booming surf, don't miss it.

February is also the "kick off" for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl this Sunday.  Super-Bowl Sunday!  What a treat!  A holiday with no preparation, guilt, expectations...except for your favorite team of course.  It's like a "freebe" where holidays are concerned.  You can jump and shout, run about, and maybe claim victory.  Either way, the TV Ads are fun, the game is usually fun, and it all comes to us without strings attached.  So I say let's enjoy the heck out of it.

It's still winter and we are not out of the winter weather woods yet.   The spring bulbs are poking their heads out of the ground, fully expecting to meet with frosty resistance before budding and giving us their sunny blooms. So, February, bring it on!  We are waiting with empty water cisterns, empty ponds, minimal snow pack, and hearts full of love for February rain.

WHERE'S THE RAIN?

For those of us who live on the western side of the Cascade Mountains here in Oregon, we historically experience a blast of winter rain.  It washes our lives crispy clean.  It provides fresh water in puddles that reflect naked trees.  It cleanses our gutters and ditches.  That refreshing rain gives us a reason to break out the "wellies" and umbrellas.  Most of us love it, love to gripe about it, love to splash in it.

But this year it has gone missing.  Really, missing! We have had about a third of the rain we normally get during this rainy season.  What it means is not only dirty birds, but parched farm lands come summer.  There is no snow pack to water this bread basket called the Willamette Valley.  So, the weather service is calling for some sprinkles this week.  Revel in each drop!

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

When I look at this pix I think of Robert Frost with his Road Less Traveled.  Then again, there was the song our grade school choir teacher persisted with:  You take the high road, I'll take the low road, I'll get to Scotland afore ye.

So whether you are taking the road less traveled or opting for a high/low road while traveling in the Coast Range be aware that historically the forest service has numbered roads with large plastic yellow signs with the road number inked large and nailed high onto a tree trunk. These markers alerted "dingle riders" as to their location in any given place.  Since most places, ridge after ridge, canyon after canyon look like the one just passed, it has been a tremendous assist.  For some odd reason, some of these road number markers have gone missing.  As you can see, or rather, not see, there is no road marker here in my pix.

Sadly, it can leave some folks wandering about, trying to find their way.  While most seasoned back-woods travelers can find their way, there will be those who count on the road numbers to lead them out. I hope whoever is responsible for removing these numbers will reconsider that particular form of vandalism.

On another note, it is a lovely place.  High on a ridge overlooking canyons in the Coast Range, numerous species of plants and animals call this place home.  The fragrance of the air as it rises up the canyon is fresh, crisp and filled with hints of lower streams and riparian vegetation.

A talk with a plate tectonic geologist recently informed me of the origins of the Coast Range.  Simply put (if there is such a thing in plate tectonics) where the Juan de Fuca Plate drops beneath the North American Plate the debris shaved off pushes up to create the Coast Range.  Well! It also creates the Cascadia Subduction Zone subject to remarkable earthquake events.  We all have our disasters waiting to occur, be they flooding, wild fires, volcanos, etc.  At least we live in a beautiful place while we wait.

And on a housekeeping note:  I think I have the subscription feature to this blog software ironed out.  Please resubscribe if you have time.  This has made my hair white.  I will cease to wear a hat, thereby reflecting the sun's rays back and giving the globe a cooling assist.  With the decrease of ice blankets around the globe, I suggest all of us "whitties" consider doing our bit for climate change.  Leave your hat at home. Let that white hair deflect the sun's heat, keep cool.

NEW BEGINNINGS

While it is only January, the sun is out and spring is right around the corner.  Give some thought to trails you would like to walk down, vistas you would like to rest your eyes upon and sounds you want to listen to.  Sounds of birdsong, rustling of branches, whisper of grass growing.  Watch the robin tilt his head to listen for a worm crawling. I would like to hear the sounds of a new fern shoot unfurling.

My hope is that you will break out the hiking shoes and head out while it is still winter enough to encounter naked trees, bare bushes, and morning fog. For those of you who enjoy catching the dawning sun, hit the trail early enough to see the first light of day through the fog.  Watch the flitting birds search for a breakfast bug.  Be thankful for toast.

WALK IN A WINTER'S WOOD

Don't you just love a walk in the Winter's Wood with the semi-naked trees clothed only in their mossy lingerie? Generally you would be accompanied by fog and briskly cold air.  Well, I took just such a walk recently with our local branch of Audubon folks.  We walked through a river-bound park filled with ponds, fields and woods.  On the walk over 60 species of birds were spotted.  Among these was a gorgeous white-headed Bald Eagle.  There were ducks of a numerous variety, geese winter here too.  One thing about trees this time of year, while they provide perches, they do not cover the birds well and allow us curious humans a glance.  From the parking lot we witnessed a flock of tiny bush tits flitting around in the dawning sun.  They are sooooo small, but always in a large enough flock that as a group they catch the eye.

Take some time out, bundle up, wear "sensible" shoes and head out into the woods.  You just don't know what awaits.  Walk quietly and keep your eyes on the branches overhead.  Listen, listen for the woodpeckers.  They are very busy and you will hear them before you see them.  But, a glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker is worth the walk, to say nothing of spotting a Flicker or two.

SOFTWARE MELT DOWN

Starting this blog was a no-brainer since I was looking for a format with which to interface with my book readers regarding their travels.  While I am not a complete novice when it comes to computer "stuff" I have never engaged in the blog-world before.  What I know would fit on the head of a pin.  What I am learning is that hooking up the back-door software which hooks subscribers to my new posts is easier said than done.  I know it may be easy for some, but for me...NOT.  If any of you out there in the ether are up to speed on this particular aspect of blogging, please help. The Blogger software provided by Google is pretty simple and easy to use.  However, the attached FeedBurner software makes my head hurt.  My brain feels like the pix I am including here.  You can reach me through the comments here.  While I have been learning the vernacular associated with blog software, I still have a lot to learn.

If any of you have previously subscribed and did not get a notification of this post, please do so again.  I will keep at it until it works.  Thanks for your patience.  Hope we don't all just go to seed and blow away.

CROSS EVERY BRIDGE YOU COME TO

You have always heard "don't cross that bridge until you come to it".  Well, I think the better advise is:  Plan to cross every bridge you come to.  You never know what lies beyond.  The Pacific Northwest is covered with a network of roads all "filled in" with bridges.  Bridges, some no larger than a culvert and  others span more than a mile.  Cross them all, stop and go under them, walk across them and feel how different the air is while standing there.  Fish from them. Take your camera and snap away from the center of them.  Some of my favorite pix are from under bridges.  They are mini cathedrals.   Check out the way the water swirls, flows around the feet of your bridge.

While taking pix of the John Day River in the middle of a bridge, I had to duck the dive-bombing swallows who thought I was invading their territory.  And, I was.  But I was not there to hurt them, just to observe them. The underside of that bridge was a veritable condominium for  hundreds of swallows.  Just think how many mosquitoes they ate each evening!

The bridge in this posts pix is the McCullough Bridge crossing Coos Bay going into North Bend and is part of the Highway 101 system.

WHERE ROCKS COME FROM

So...Happy New Year to you all.  I wonder how many of you have started a blog.  I thought it would be easy.  Wrong!  It seems the software used here, created by Google, has many twists and turns (to say nothing of the here-to-fore unknown vernacular) that must be learned as you go along.  Nothing is apparent.  You don't know what you don't know.  Boy, talk about deep!  Well one thing I have learned about the "subscribe" element:  It is not automatic.  I think I have it set up correctly now so if you have subscribed previously, please re-subscribe.  If you have not subscribed, you may do so by clicking on the "comments" at the bottom of the post and enter your email address.  That way you will not miss a post.  Each time I post, you will be notified.  I hope...

Another interesting aspect of this blog is the color of my page.  It has a "back" color of yellow with light blue text that is apparently a built-in part of the format.  This is immediately filled in with the correct colors...usually,  but not always.  Now what's that all about?  I have checked with different servers and different browsers, different devices, different everything...mostly it shows up correctly.  Not always.  So if you have this color problem, please let me know.

You probably wonder why all this whining, well...building this blog has been a bit like my pix on this post--like giving birth to a large boulder.  I love this pix.  It is like so much we encounter in our lives, difficult, but if we preserver we will overcome.  The tree is growing tall and straight.  I say we approach 2014 with the same verve and determination.

I am making my travel list for Summer 2014 starting with a rather long road trip to Utah.  I want to visit the Canyonlands, Arches, Zion, and Bryce  Canyon
Parks.  Can't wait.  Where do you plan to go?  Let's talk!