Back in Pasadena.

Our journey south was a passage from green to brown, from cool to hot. We left Seal Rock with daytime highs in the low 50's; 48 hours later, we were into the high 80's outside of Stockton, back in the golden-brown dry weeds under blank washed-out blue skies. All very familiar.
Entering the L.A. basin late Saturday was a bit unnerving; after months of taking clear clean air for granted, we descended into our bowl of smoke and haze - a return to purgatory.
A couple of days ago I went over to the Rose Bowl area for a midday bike ride (nice to be wearing shorts again). As I arrived, there were 8 or 9 helicopters landing and taking off from a portion of the vast parking lots. An hour before, there had been many sirens ringing through town. My first assessment, glancing towards the mountains, was that a large grass fire was under way in the canyon near JPL. As I was getting my bike out of the car, I considered whether or not it was such a good idea to be doing heavy exercise in such polluted air.
Of course - you guessed it - there was no wildfire. The helicopters were just doing a disaster-preparation exercise. It was the normal L.A. sky.

We hit the road.

We had some very nice last days. The weather has been good, and we've been able to spend some afternoons at the ranch, hanging out and sometimes helping (to the best of our abilities) to some of the tasks at hand. We had some quality time with the animals, especially with Smartie, Jeep's foal, and the bottle-fed calves.
We got ourselves packed up and loaded into the Uhaul, and were on our way south, making it to Grant's Pass (about 100 miles to the California border).

Preparing for departure

A rainy weekend reminded us that we were still on the Oregon coast so we spent a lot of time puttering around the house and planning our return to California. Jim has a break from work this week so we've set a departure date for Thursday. Yesterday we decided to take the car in for an oil change and to have it checked out for our trip. True to our experience up here we were able to get it in on the same day. They changed our oil, looked it over, found nothing needing attention and gave us a complimentary car wash for less than $30.00. Gotta love it!

Ranch.

Went out to the ranch to visit. We passed out some carrots to the grown horses, hung out with Jeep and Smartie for a while, and were there when Paul and Quip brought the horses in for the night. The 2-year-olds got loose into a side pasture and had a romp before they were ready to come in. Nancy and I bottle-fed the orphan calves.

Columbia River Gorge

We took off on Friday for a long weekend away at the Columbia River Gorge (photos to be posted soon). This was a "must see" area on our list and we're glad we didn't miss it. The scenery is amazing. Lewis & Clark figure prominently in the area as do wind surfers and sail boarders. We stopped in Portland for the afternoon on the way home. Their Art Museum was a great pleasure for Nancy, less so for Jim (more good 20th c. art than the older stuff). Wandered back through the Willamette Valley in lovely sunshine. This state is quite spectacular when it's not raining.

An Afternoon at the Ranch.

Another beautiful day up here. It's like someone flipped the switch from rain to sun. I (Nancy) had some work and errands to do but Jim was available for ranch work so I dropped him off to help move the cows. He's been spending a lot more time with the horses than I have lately and they clearly know him now. It was time for me to play a little catch up. Fortunately for me the baby Smarty is very friendly and her mother is familiar with me now, particulary if I appear with a carrot in my hand. (Bribery can be a good thing.) Nothing like being nuzzled by baby animals with soft fur!

Out on the Bike.

The months of cloudy and cold weather had an unwelcome side effect: besides rarely getting significant exercise, there was a lot of snacking and comfort-food consumption. Mercifully, there is no scale here, but judging from my waistband, things were getting a bit out of control.
I've been getting out of the bike much more. It's not "warm" by So Cal standards -perhaps high 50's, maybe low 60's, and I have yet to ride without tights and long sleeves, but it's not bad.
The coast highway, where we are staying, is not really bike-friendly. As in many Verplaces, local governments/lobby groups have gotten road signs posted reminding motorists of bicycles, as well as various designations of bicycle routes, etc.; but that doesn't change the reality that it is a two-lane road with a gravel-littered shoulder. Signs are no protection from a vehicle going 55-plus.
I have formed a routine, however, which involves driving the bike to the intersection of the highway and a good paved inland road (Beaver Creek), which gives access to some really beautiful routes through wetland and rolling, timbered hills.
On these back roads, vehicles are relatively rare, in an hour of riding I might get passed five or six times. And out here in the country, drivers don't take the painted line in the middle of the road too seriously, and will generally completely cross over to give me wide berth.
Unlike city/suburb riding, flats are more common, and I've finally given up the sleek patch-and-CO2 cartridge in favor of a full frame pump and spare tubes. Tree branches and small rocks are continually appearing on the roadway and a pinch flat is only a moment's inattention away.
That said, I've recently had a couple of really nice rides, certainly more pleasant than most I could arrange in L.A. county.

Spring.

With continued sunshine, warmer temperatures - and a week with time off from work for me - there have been more opportunities to hang out at the ranch. Yesterday I spent some time out in the pastures taking photographs. The horses seem comfortable with my presence; my only problem lately has been getting enough distance from them to compose new shots, as one animal or another is generally coming my way to investigate. My earlier bribery with carrots is probably to blame.
Late in day, Paul and Quip let me tag along as they checked on the cow herd in the lower pastures, a couple miles down the road. There were many new calves, and a particularly bold white-faced newborn had no problem leaving its mother to check out the strangers in the field.




There is one certainty: there is an infectious tranquility in spending time with large,quiet grazing animals. It is a different experience from, say, listening to young urban males performing courtship/territory dances in 300-horsepower machines with 1000-watt sound systems.

Drive on the Coast.

We all caravanned down the coast towards Florence: for the general scenery, but more specifically to visit the "Sea Lion Caves", a privately-owned roadside attraction that opened in the 1930’s. This involved a elevator trip down through the rocky cliff to visit a huge grotto which is a “hauling-out” area for a large colony of sea lions. The view from the chain-link enclosed ledge was quite remarkable, and one might imagine that a large crowd would fix themselves there to study these remarkable creatures at some length - thus creating a serious traffic flow problem. However, nature itself has created a solution in anticipation of this potential snafu by sending up a horrific stench which pervades the entire cavern, forcing all but but the most ardent pinnaped lovers back to the elevators.
Good times.

Out of the barn.

Sue, the ranch owner, has come up for the week and brought Springtime with her. Also in town are Nancy's father , stepmother and stepbrother, so we are all grateful for this string of sunny days.
Jeep and her foal (anticipated to be given the barn name "Smarty") are far enough along to be outside in a small pasture next to the horse barn, where they can have some room to move around, and where the rest of the horses in the adjacent pasture can come to the fenceline to socialize a bit.





The horses seem to be enjoying the sun as much as we are, after so many weeks of grey skies.

Chores.

Paul and Quip, who work on the ranch, repair a pump in preparation for going out to spray (pesticide) via ATV.

A Horse Gone.

In the interest of completeness, it is only fair to let our readers know that the white foal had to be put down last week. It had become clear that he was completely or nearly blind, as a birth defect, and after consultation with vets and eye doctors that a successful treatment could not be assured, and in any case would be very expensive.
Of course everyone involved was very saddened, tempered by the realization that some animals on any ranching operation of size are likely to be lost in any give year. In fact, several cows and calves on the ranch did not survive the winter.

A Break in the Weather.

Tuesday we had a rare sunny day, one in which there no threat of rain. I took a mountain bike ride out the ranch and into the forest a bit. It was a bit breezy and cool at the beach, but a mile or so inland it was a perfect spring day, blue skies over Beaver Creek and happy cows and horses grazing in bright green pastures. I rode 3 or 4 miles beyond the paved road stopped to eat my trail mix in a sunny spot in the road beside a particularly attractive section of North Beaver Creek. It almost felt like summer.
Mind you, I'm still wearing a long-sleeved jersey, tights and full fingered gloves when I ride. And we have not had a high temperature much above 55 (13C) degrees as yet. -Jim

Work, and a bit more wild weather.

After the calm of the recent weekend of bike and horseback riding, this past week was a storm of frantic work for one of my clients, doing full days and quite a bit of overtime. There may be a PR in there.
A couple of nights ago we had a reprise of Jamuary weather, an overnight storm with heavy hail and thunder and lightning.

Tractor Outing.

We got out of the house early enough to pay a visit to the ranch. Paul was just returning from picking up several pallets of fertilizer from valley, and we went along while he took some of the load to some neighbors. Jim got a quick briefing on driving the big tractor so he could follow the truck and trailer down the road a few miles (sensibly, Paul handled the machine for the tricky part, the actual pallet unloading).
Driving four miles down a road at 8 mph shouldn't have been much fun, but of course, it was.

Riding on the Beach.

This was our second outing at the C&M stables near Florence. It rained a good bit of the drive down there, but by ride time it had mainly cleared up and was cool but not cold. We got down to the sand this time, which was fun especially because on the beach we had a chance to leave our trail formation (a line behind the guide) for a while.

A Freak of Nature.

Although the weather up here this winter/spring has not been the best, I can at least take some comfort in the realization that I, personally, have a great deal of control over the local climate.
I have recognized a correlation between my activities and the weather within 2 hours drive of where I am; specifically, I have observed that if I commit myself to working indoors all day, there is a very high probability that there will as a result be little or no rain on that day, and at least some periods of sunshine. Conversely, if I plan deliberately to take take off from work for purposes of a bike ride or hike in the woods, it is very nearly the equivalent of the Coast Guard issuing a small-craft advisory - that is, there almost certainly will be high winds, and probably extended periods of rain.
I am not sure, as yet, why this is so, but it seemed worthwhile to send a note to the Oregon Central Coastal Tourism Board, as they are in the best position to take advantage of this anomaly.

The Harbor.

Once again I was duped by "Accu-weather" into believing that this was to be a sunny afternoon: getting my work done early by long hours in in the previous days, I was rewarded instead by another dimly-lit cloudy day (the clouds broke about 6:30 pm, thank you SO very much). Nevertheless, I visited the commercial piers in Newport for some photography.

Not Raining. Not even Cloudy.

Uh-huh. That's right. Better weather than Los Angeles freaking California.
Nancy and I drove up to Seal Rock State Park at lunchtime for a walk on the beach. In the sunshine.

Shoveling Poo.

With most of the day free I went out to the ranch to offer help with chores -especially as Paul is soldiering on while nursing a bit of a cold. I was privileged to help him muck out the cow barn, using a combination of the tractor's scoop and hand shovels. Poo, and plenty of it. The smell stopped being much of an issue after a little while at work, but I discovered that cycling has done little to prepare my middle-aged upper body for the task of lifting heavy, wet cow dung with a shovel. I got a turn driving the tractor (for the easier part), and Paul was kind enough to say that I actually helped, which made it all worthwhile.
Nancy brought us lunch after a while, chicken soft tacos from the really good place in Newport (La Roca). -Jim

Visitors from Home.

We returned from our scouting trip to California, and for a few days we were busy with work; late Wednesday we welcomed Chris and Nancy, our friends/neighbors from Bungalow Heaven who were on a "spring break" to drive the coastline. We had a very pleasant day with them giving a quick tour of the ranch and a sampling of the local sights. We've had the appropriate mix of Oregon weather: some rain, mostly cloudy, a few "sun breaks." Everyone here is more than ready for Spring to commence.

More rain, more work.

We got back Monday morning after an exhausting weekend down south looking for a place to live. It's amazing to us that California is so far behind Oregon in providing high speed internet beyond the borders of larger cities. Both of have been working since we got home but hope to get out tomorrow. They say the whales migrate up the coast this time of year right in front of the house. Haven't seen any yet.

California

This morning finds us in Grass Valley, California. We came down here yesterday to take another pass at the area where we think it most likely that we'll move to later this year. It was sunny all afternoon and it's sunny today! It will be interesting to see how small town Oregon compares to small town northern California.

Nice weekend, rainy week.

We had a beautiful weekend. Saturday we helped move cows at the ranch (see photos below). A couple of baby cows have lost their mothers and need to be bottle fed. Baby horses are doing fine; the oldest one now nuzzles our hand when we visit. Is this because we've bribed the mom the carrots? Sunday we took a spectacular ride through the dunes along the coast at Forence - on horseback! Monday and Tuesday it's been raining and we've been working.

A Nice Saturday.

Do Horses Like Carrots?

Apparently, yes they do. Very much so. Unless, possibly, they are young horses who have not tried carrots, in which case they may just prefer to stick with hay or alfalfa.
Also a donkey will enjoy a carrot, when it can get one.

Rain and Work.

It's been raining and we've been working for the past two days. You can tell things are getting kinda dull when the highlight of your day is grocery shopping. Tomorrow we promise ourselves we'll get over to the ranch to check on those baby horses. For those of you who are asking about them, they are the only baby horses expected this year. There will be more baby cows though.

Accuprecisoweather.

After griping for the past several days about having to fit to everyone else's schedule - I find myself with a free day but no plan on how to use it. I ended up giving myself over to BBC America: home fix-up shows, auction shows, Benny Hill shows and Bush-bashing newscasts. At midday I made a valiant effort at a bike ride, determined to brave the cold and the wind chill; 15 minutes into the ride an un-predicted rain shower began, that was just too much, and I packed it in.
The system software on our Macintosh computer links by default to "AccuWeather.com," and we check it several times a day, most days. It is quite intensive, offers quite a bit of detail, is very localized, and offers forecasts 15 days ahead, and predictions at 2-hour intervals three days ahead. Quite impressive.
But why 2-hour intervals? Why not 15-minute intervals? Why not make predictions minute-to-minute, as it implies more precision, and since they're all going to be wrong anyway?
The day was not a total loss. While I was out, I determined to go to the pharmacy and get some of that Gold Bold Medicated Body Powder I've been hearing about.
Always trying new things.

Sun, Otters, Beer.

We were taken up by the rare sunny day and we went to Newport to visit of the prime tourist destinations on this part of the coast, the Oregon Coast Aquarium. And a very nice one it was - although it is worth noting that one of the more popular exhibits is the California sea otter tank (sea otters no longer exist in the wild in Oregon, the last one having been killed just northo of town, circa 1905). Afterwards we stumbled into the factory/bar/restaurant of the Rogue Brewery, just down the road. Here we had a wonderful lunch, and were enticed by friendly folks to buy more beer than we are likely to comsume anytime soon.
We stopped by the ranch late in the day to say goodbye to Joe, who tomorrow is going south to attend graduate school in California.

Snow and a new horse.

It's been a wild time. Yesterday there was a good deal of hail at the beach house and snow nearby. Six miles inland at the Ranch there was a significant snowfall Thursday night, much of which stayed on the ground, and more snow was falling late in the day Friday when we went by for visit. All the cows came to the barn for feed, the grass in the pastures being largely covered over with snow.
Another horse delivered a baby late last night, a very big tawny-colored colt. Both were doing well when we went for a visit late today.
Here's a little movie of the new colt: click here

Hail - 4 times!

Rain and hail on and off all day. It was a work day for us but Jim finished early just as there was a break in the weather so he headed over to the ranch to see what was going on. Paul took him along to help treat a sick cow who had fallen into the creek and is having trouble walking. There's another horse getting ready to deliver a foal. Looks like we'll be on baby watch again tomorrow night!

Baby Horse, Driving Rain, etc.

Nancy and I both had the day "off" and on our way into Newport we stopped by the ranch to see how things were going. Apparently they had a pretty awful time of it yesterday: several cows got into the creek (which runs in a very steep-sided channel through the property) and got stuck in the mud. Joe and Paul and some of their neighbors were out with tractors and straps all day trying get the cows loose.
When we stopped by at midday they were still doing the dirty work of cleaning mud off equipment, and this in a driving rainstorm. It's a level of resolve that we have to admire, one that's rarely called for in the suburbs of Los Angeles (well, there was that one year we had the puddles in the side yard).
Of course we stopped by the horse barn to check on Jeep and her baby. Mom didn't seem to mind our being there so much today. Nancy took a couple of video shots. See them at Baby Horse II.

A Long Weekend.

We effectively had a three-day weekend, because we were not working Monday. After a fairly pleasant Sunday, a storm came in Monday and we had rain and some hail on and off throughout the day. Feeling a bit of cabin fever, we got out last (Monday) night and went into Newport for some minor shopping, picking up some bargains at Walmart and at the Feed Store - I got a barn coat marked down from $80 to $40 (how is that even possible?) so I was happy.

Hanging with the Horses.

Well, it looked like the sun might make a showing, however briefly, so we got out to the ranch to take some pictures this morning. The new horse baby is putting on weight fast; she is curious about visitors -- her mom is quite a bit more wary of having strange humans nearby. We spent some time out in the near pasture with some of the other horses, and I ran off almost a hundred shots before the sun went away.
I've posted a small quicktime movie (about 2 megs) for those of you who can't get enough (and have a broadband connection). Go to: Baby Horse
This is a snippet Nancy took within hours of the birth.

What, another Thursday?

Just another day of desk-based work, 'though Nancy got out a bit to go shopping. I attempted a bike day at midday, but only managed to complete my mission to take mail to the post office (about 3 miles away) before I aborted due to rain. I do admire myself for the effort, however.

Animals and work.

After breakfast we headed over to the ranch to check on the new arrival. Jim got to help administer medication to the foal. He then took off on the 4-wheelers with Quip and Paul to help them move the cows from one pasture to another - apparantly great fun. We then had to return home for an afternoon of work. By this evening it was raining again.

It's a girl!

We got no phone call in the middle of the night and we'd been told that most mares deliver at night, so Jim accepted an offer of work for the day. I had work to do including writing paychecks for the ranch, so I headed over there mid afternoon to hand them out and go over a number of things with Sue. She and I noticed that the horses who were outside were all clustered around the barn looking in the windows - possibly an indication that something was going on. We crept inside to see and low and behold there was a baby! She must have been no more than an hour or two old. The vet arrived soon after and pronounced everyone healthy. Jim was quite disappointed to have missed it. The good news is that another mare is pregnant and due probably within a week. Photos tomorrow, I promise.

Baby Watch.

We've been on baby watch since last night, horse baby, that is. Jeep, the favorite horse at the ranch is about to deliver and everyone is waiting. (Sue is up from Pasadena and Joe has been sleeping in the barn in case she (Jeep) needs help.) Meanwhile it's been raining on and off, mostly on and is supposed to continue to do so for the next ten days. Jim has been working on Bungalow Heaven Home Tour research from afar and I've been getting ready for our taxes. On a more positive note, I've also been putting together a chart comparing the various climates of the places we're considering moving to: sunshine, rainfall and average temperatures by month. Northern California keeps looking better and better. Did I mention it's still raining?

Ona Beach.

The weather was cloudy with increasing rain, and it would have been easy to stay inside, but we got out in the afternoon and drove a couple of miles up the highway to Ona Beach, where Beaver Creek meets the sea. It was raining slightly and there were only a few other folks poking around, but we were geared up with our mud boots and gore-tex jackets, so we walked around for an hour or so. The rain started coming down in earnest after we got back to the car. We ran by a couple of the drive-thru expresso stands on the way back to the house, but as it was Sunday everyone had gone home early.

Lunch in Town.

We did some work inside in the morning; at midday we cut loose from the computers and met Sue in Newport for lunch at the little "French" cafe - actually a small hollowed-out bungalow. The serving counter seems to be an amalgam of cabinetry from the original house: the built-in buffet cabinet sandwiched between the bookcases from the mantle wall (or so I would guess). Good sandwiches!

The Market.

It was a work day for both of us and I had to go into Newport to do some banking and grocery shopping. It was clear that something was up when I had to wait for ten cars to go past before I could pull out of our driveway. Once on the road there were even more cars, not enough to slow the speed of traffic, just more company on the road than we're used to. Then I saw the signs. The Newport Seafood and Wine Festival started today. As I pulled into town there were flashing signs warning of congestion ahead, though no traffic jam materialized. After banking I went to the market. The parking lot was two-thirds full! Once inside I had to share isles with other people and even had to wait for another customer to finish checking out before it was my turn - in spite of the fact that there were four checkers working! When I was finished the girl who had bagged my gorceries insisted on walking my cart out to the car and loading the bags inside. She explained that the owners of the market were insistent upon good customer service, that this was "part of my job." This, in spite of the sudden swell in population for the weekend. If we drive around enough we may actually have to wait for more than one cycle of traffic lights! On the practical side though, it gives us a taste of what these coastal towns are like in the summer: more crowded for sure, but still nothing like standard Southern CA traffic.

Exploring Rural Oregon.

We completed our short tour, returning to Seal Rock by way of Eugene. We took different routes on the way back, always on the lookout for some fair valley or stretch of country road, one filled with handsome homes and barns nicely spaced on larger plots of land. Unfortunately, this circumstance is exists in far lower frequency than daydreaming city-bred folk such as ourselves might have imagined. In reality, most of these groupings of small properties seem to be a mix of retiree ranchettes (at many levels of prosperity) and plots occupied by the working (or not working) rural poor. So, yes, one could find a 5-10 acre property with a house, one that would seem affordable by southern Californian standards; but the odds of being in close proximity to a neighbor who collects dead cars in their yard would be very, very high.
These forays into the countryside always leave me mentally exhausted. My mind fills with questions. How long did take for that creeping vine to engulf that 78 Buick? How many old travel trailers is too many on a two-acre lot? When your front door is only 30 feet from a busy 2-lane highway, what inspires you to erect a miniature split-rail fence and faux wishing-well in your front yard?
Are we just thin-skinned? Is this just the way it is, where land is counted by acres rather than square feet? It is likely we will have to adjust our expectations of rural life.


A "paintable" vista.


30 degrees of view away: a decaying (and engine-less) powerboat, 2 decrepit fifth-wheel trailers in a metal shed, misc. retired farm equipment and dead appliances. Not an egregious example by any means.


Hmm, this could be nice. Can this reward be honestly earned by an ordinary man in one lifetime?

Road Trip.

This evening finds us in Bend, Oregon, enjoying a little get-away after some five weeks almost entirely within twenty miles of Seal Rock. We headed east over the coastal range into the Willamette Valley, then over the Cascades to Bend. The west side of the mountains was wet and mossy, the passes deep in winter snow; here on the east side we are still among trees, but in a much drier ecosystem (not unlike the area around Bishop).
We are here sightseeing, and checking the area as a potential place to live. It seems fairly nice, but seems not much different, from many places in California. Surprisingly, real estate prices are not all that low, either.

Hanging Out.

Sunday was beautifully sunny but cold, in the 40's. We did a little driving around with our friends from Seattle and took a sunset walk on the beach, but mostly sat around and ate and talked and talked and talked.

Monday we went into Newport for breakfast with Nate and Cyndi at a great little place that's just open for breakfast and lunch. It has wonderful pastries, omlettes, and sandwiches and very good coffee. After breakfast we said "goodbye" and they headed back up north. By then the clouds were drifting in and Jim had a little work to do. Nancy managed to take a nap and waste most of the day.

Today seems to be a mixture of patches of sun and showers. We're both back to the work routine.

Nancy's BD.

A beautiful clear day - and a little warmer - in honor of Nancy's birthday. Nancy opened her prizes in the morning, and in the afternoon we welcomed our first visitors to the house, our friends Nate and Cyndi, who live outside of Seattle. We had a nice dinner at home with a good bottle of wine and good conversation.

Cold.

Well, cold is relative, but 32(F) is pretty cold for us. Apparently it's considered fairly cold for here too, since it seemed to be the topic of the day everywhere we went.
Nancy wanted today to be considered her "pre-birthday" since tomorrow is her actual birthday. For several years she has been trying to sell the idea of a "birthday week," although that hasn't caught on yet.
In celebration of the pseudo-occasion we went into Newport for lunch at our new favorite Mexican restaurant (we think it tops most anything in Pasadena) and a little shopping. We got a couple of clothing items at the feed store and the nice lady there explained how we (Nancy) could mend my ripped leather gloves with a "baseball stitch" to avoid having to buy new ones.
If the car looks unusually clean, it's because it has been washed. We didn't do it, of course. But Nancy took the Pathfinder in for the repair of a broken door latch (the tab, about $60, the time, about an hour) and the dealership threw in a free shine-up. Nice.

Routine

We seem to have slipped into a routine. Jim works most week days standard hours. I work Tuesday and Thursday for somewhat shorter hours and for a few hours on Wednesdays. Trips into town are made every other day, more or less. We can usually eke out one workday a week for non work related exploration. We get cable up here from the same company that provides ours in Pasadena but with slightly different channels. This is a good thing as we've found a new science channel that has very interesting programming, at least so far. The weather had been beautiful lately, sunny, though suddenly unseasonably cold (so they say). Today it stayed in the 40's. Yes, we know it's been consistently over 75 in Pasadena since our departure. See, we really are trying to sample a different climate!

Video chat.

Today was mostly an inside, working day. We did have a long (45 min?) video chat with my parents over iChat (Mac). It was my mother's birthday.
It's surprising, really, how quickly everyone can adapt to the experience: the "okay" sound and the fairly poor video - and just engage in the conversation. The greatest distraction, I have come to believe, is the small window on the video which shows YOU (the image you are sending). We need to get that turned off.
It's an amazing technology, I guess, considering how long it took to get here. I was promised videophones at the GE attraction at Disneyland in 1963. Now there are several competing avenues for free (for now) communications over the net. Most of them work most of the time. None of them work all the time. My cousins Roland and Vivienne in Italy use Skype, which works beautifully for sound, but Skype does not offer video for their Mac version. We use (or TRY to use) iChat for everyone else here in the States, but it often fails to work beyond text messaging, especially when PCs are involved.

Milk and Coffee.

A work day fo both us; a bit lighter for me (Jim), just tying some loose ends. Nancy sent me to deliver the paychecks to the ranch ( yes, in a very small way, we have a part to play here - Nancy is the bookkeeper for the ranch ) and I ran some errands while I had the truck. The weather was changing all afternoon, and driving back and forth on PCH I passed through episodes of fog, then sunshine, then hail, then back to sunshine. Good Fun.
I stopped into Waldport for a sandwich at the Grocery Deli and got some coffee on the way out - I confused the lady at the counter by asking for "Cafe Latte" instead of just of "Latte"; we are now so far from Italy that the word for "milk" ONLY refers to a coffee.
Nice folks though.

A Trip to the Market.

Today was rather routine: a work day for Jim, but not for me, so I split my day between cooking and art making. We needed supplies so I wandered into the grocery store in Waldport, the town nearest to us, population 2,050. As usual, I was spotted as someone new in town. The butcher came up to me while I was on my second pass by the meat counter and asked if he could help me, saying "you look like you're cruising the Hollywood Freeway, is there something I can help you find?" As usual, that developed into a very friendly 10 minute conversation including a rundown on why Jim and I are here, his relocation from California, locations and career paths of family members, benefits and drawbacks of living in Oregon, and the weather (unusually wet and stormy). It has become clear that up here when anyone, regardless of whether or not you've ever met, asks "how's you day?" they expect more than a "fine" and rush to the door. If you see someone you know on the road they pull over, turn off their engine and expect to have a real conversation for 5 to 10 minutes. It's one aspect of small town life we're liking.

I, on the other hand headed down to the water. I made it quite a ways down the beach to a cluster of enormous rocks where there are reported to be tide pools. They must be a bit further down. By this time I had misjudged the surf once or twice so that I was slogging around in water-filled rubber boots. Next sunny day: tide pools.

hmmm...Sunday.

I did some work until midday, then the (relatively) rare sunny weather obliged me to try for a bike ride.
We had procured a local Forest Service map of the area, and I thought I had identified a fire-road loop near the house. I found the entrance off PCH, next to a swamp, and headed down the gravel road. I had only gone a half mile and decided better of it: the local residents, mostly living in older trailers, did not seem to appreciate my passing, or be impressed my nifty mountain bike or my Team Italia bib tights. Their dogs didn't seem to like me, either.
Remembering the regional reputation for meth labs, I left and found another route into the hills, this time with more success. Once away from the highway, I was climbing up fairly steep hills among very young fir trees. This area had obviously been cleared some time ago, and it seems that developers are gradually extending the small community of homes around Seal Rock.
Eventually I found the ridgeline, and on it, a small cemetery. I spent some time there, looking for the oldest markers (1890's?) and trying to remember some of the names so that I could look them up in the online databases when I got back.

A Quiet Saturday.

We should have taken a bike ride, or a hike, or gone out to the ranch to shovel s--t; but we didn't do any of those things. Nancy went into town for a bit to do small errands, but mainly we stayed inside. I played at learning an art program on the computer, Nancy gazed out the window. Just before sunset I overcame my inertia and climbed down the stairs for a walk on the beach. The atmosphere was so pervasively purple and pink that it was a bit spooky. I watched some shore birds working the water's edge, and took some snaps; suddenly all of the little ones took flight en masse, even though I had not moved closer. Twenty seconds later I realized the reason: the tide had turned, and it was coming in fast. Dinner was done.

Beach walk

Another spectacular day weather wise. Jim worked all day, but I was off so I got started doing "art stuff". After a late lunch the weather was so perfect that the sun and the water were screaming my name. The climb down to the beach is much easier when the path has had several consecutive days to dry out. It was low tide (obviously) and I shared the entire beach with just a small flock of gulls. It was as lovely as it looks. And the forecasters are promising more sun!

A Ride in the Woods.

I took the mountain bike off in the direction of our mountain exploration (truck and hike) the other day; most of this road is paved, though covered with so much tree debris from recent storms that a skinny-tired road bike wouldn't have made it too far. The climbs were much steeper than they appeared from the windows of Joe's truck (funny how that works) and my body's still in winter hibernation mode. Still, the scenery made it all worthwhile.

Visiting Florence.

Florence, Oregon is the next "large" coastal town south of us, about 40 miles away. Many people are familiar with it because it is on the coast adjacent to Eugene (in the Valley) where there is a large university. We had passed through Florence before- but after sundown - and in the darkness we had not actually been able to see the dramatic coastline near there.
We met more friendly folks there, in the bike store (always need something) and at the bar/restaurant down in the Florence's old town / harbor area. All in all a very pleasant day for us, with good weather: sunny with pockets of fog along the sea.

Another work day

Today began with clear blue skies and lots of fishing boats offshore. Sadly it was a work day for both of us, but be found time to go outside on the deck and soak it all up for a few minutes at a time. By mid afternoon the fog began to roll in. The long term forecast promises entire days of sunshine, so we're not giving up. We may even go a full week without real rain!

Four Wheeling.

More fun at the ranch today: Jim got friendly with some horses, the donkey and a rather tame bull that's more of a pet than anything else. (There are other bulls around for the normal bull duties.) He also helped wrangle the bull Joe bought last week at the cattle auction in Red Bluff that needed shots among other things. We then took a pasture tour on four wheelers - that was REALLY fun! Everyone came back to the beach house later for an elk steak dinner. Beautiful weather all day.

A Hike in the Woods

A beautiful sunny day! We put on our new mud boots and met up at the cow barn to help feed the cows and check on the newborn calves. After tramping around muddy fields (more fun than it probably sounds) we jumped in the pick-up (Sue, Joe, Jim and I) with a picnic lunch and Joe's 3 dogs for a hike in the woods. It's a rain forest up here really: enormously tall trees, mostly hemlock, a few fir, with a carpet of ferns below and a wide variety of moss growing on everything. The sunlight filtering through the canopy was spectacular. Not another soul around (although we heard a few gun shots in the distance.) We got back to the ranch in time to test drive a few 4-wheelers; that's going to be really fun! Tomorrow: more sun and more fun with animals.

Wet Cows.

We were told to expect very high winds last night (gusts 75 mph plus) but the worst never materialized, and the blow was less severe than last week-end. Our friend/host/homeowner Sue joined us for the evening and overnight, which was very pleasant and a welcome break from our routine. Today she took us back out to the ranch, and we had more opportunity to look around, and for me to begin taking photos in earnest. Cows, bulls, dogs, horses and the occasionally donkey were available for our consideration, and we were briefed on the particulars of more of the outbuildings and of the new main house, now under construction. Apparently a couple of ducks were lost overnight to predators, and later this afternoon a bald eagle was spotted with one of the unfortunates.
We have bought new rubber boots this evening in anticipation of muddy adventures on the ranch tomorrow. Sounds like fun.

Nancy and Sue in the Tack Room.

Storm Tonight?

Trying to finish up computer work in case of another power failure; we've stocked up on flashlights and firewood just in case.

Another day with no reason to shave.

Yes, well, another grey day with occasional showers; but no matter, we had plenty of computer-type work to occupy us inside. We're realizing, I think, that it's not the rain, but high winds that tend to keep us inside. There's just not a lot to be said for going outside when it's blowing hard. Certainly it is not biking weather. We are adapting, though: already I find myself wearing one less layer of clothing than when we first arrived. It's not warm here, but really, 45 isn't that cold either.
We did receive an unusual number of phone calls from other states today - mostly friends - so that was nice. Also we at had a video-iChat with my parents, who are headed up to Mammoth to play in the snow for a few days.
For whatever reason, we seem to be reading more here, the TV seems too frantic in relation to the surroundings. I've got a couple of history books going, and I found a geometry textbook in the garage which I been having a look at - I used to know this stuff, it's kind of nostalgic to see what bits of it are still rattling around in therre.

More showers

Showers on and off today. Both of us worked all day so we watched patches of blue sky move by overhead. At quitting time we decided to run into Newport for some essentials. We're between two small towns: Newport to the north about 12 miles, population just under 10,000 and Waldport to the south about 5 miles, population about 2,000. Newport is large enough to have a historic town center as well as a section of town that has seen better days. We discovered that good Mexican food can be had in the tired part of town! We're also congratulating ourselves (or more accurately, we're congratulating Jim) on correctly diagnosing and repairing the problem we've been having with the main computer we brought from home. (Fortunately we brought more than one.) Patience, thorough research and deductive reasoning pay off!

Blackout.

Nancy's turn again tonight. We woke up to rain this morning; what a surprise. The storm grew slowly but steadily in intensity all day culminating in high wind warnings for late afternoon and evening. Fortunately for Jim, he was hard at work all day. So was I, but mine also involved two quick trips into town, one under quite blustery conditions. Then about 6:00 the power went out. So we lit a fire in the fireplace and what candles we could find and were grateful no lightning was involved to make us panic about computer damage. After a couple of hours about the time we were going to give up and make peanut butter sandwiches for dinner the lights came back on. Maybe a generator is in order for those living full time up here.

A Break in The Weather.

Some rain for a couple hours at midday, but the wind has relented, and that's a relief. Lot of folks with minor property damage after the winds last night, and a few trees and branches in the roadways. Joe H. at the ranch had a top of his (metal) chimney blown off, and the horse arena roof lost some metal. The storm noise at the beach was so loud it kept waking us up; after at while I made up my mind to stop worrying about it - I put in my earplugs so I could get some sleep. Things settled down in the late afternoon, folks were out front on the beach, walking and searching the sand: looking for agates, we presume.

Sightseeing in a Gale

It's Sunday and we thought we should get out a see a bit more of the surroundings. Steady wind-driven rain seemed to preclude just about every activity expect a driving tour: we headed north of Newport to check out together the Yaquina Head Lighthouse that I had been by yesterday on the bike ride. It was wild! At the lighthouse itself the wind was steady at 40mph, gusting to 65. Even at the visitors center, back a half mile in the shelter of a hill, the wind was still so fierce that everyone inside the building was preoccupied with the noise of the weather battering the roof. Further north, we stopped for lunch (Nancy had some very good chowder) and then on to Lincoln City, the next town of size (7,000) north of Newport, where we stumbled into a substantial outlet mall. Some light shopping later, we headed home.



I boosted this image off the web. It was nothing like this when we saw it. We would have taken our own photo, but we were afraid that if we opened the car doors the wind would tear them off.

After a Big Storm.

A really remarkable storm last night: high winds, lightning and thunder, and an intense hail storm. Small piles of hail were still to be seen at noontime, while I was off on a fairly arduous bike ride with a few of the local riders (boy, I'm really not in shape in January!). After my second puncture of the day on a highway covered with storm debris, I called for Nancy to come and pick me up with the Pathfinder. I was only a mile or so short of our finish, but I was too tired to change another tire just for that short distance, and I didn't want the others to have to wait for me again. I'm still learning the ropes of local riding, wearing more layers and sporting more foul weather gear than I've ever used before; new today: neoprene over-booties that cover the entire shoe and ankle, and clip-one plastic fenders that prevent water from spraying one's legs and backside. Good times.
Much of the coast is really beautiful, not unlike Big Sur or the rocky coast near San Simeon. It sure has been cold and windy, though, perhaps better suited to gazing out a picture window than riding a road bike.

Rain and coffee.

Nancy's posting for the first time today.
It rained on and off today until late afternoon when a more serious storm rolled in. Between showers we managed to get on our mountain bikes and ride a couple of miles down the road for lunch and coffee and escape home before it started really pouring. Sorry, no photos.
A few of my observations about life up here:
1. Oregonians are very serious about coffee while being quite independent about it. Even the smallest hamlet has at least 2 or 3 drive-thru espresso stands. The vast majority are privately owned. We only have one Starbucks within 10 miles, but probably have 20 espresso places of various types, most have drive-thru capabilities. We haven't had a bad cup yet.
2. Oregonians are also very serious about wine. We stopped the other day at a very rural roadside market. The shelves offered the basic necessities, a few frozen dinners and quite an extensive wine selection, mostly local, oh, and of course, espresso.
3. I thought I would miss big city grocery stores. Both local markets have my Pasadena Von's beat by a mile! Up here they have twice the selection of tortillas and greater variety of fresh produce not to mention other things, oh, and of course, espresso. So much for my preconceptions.

Rain. And a movie.

Another day inside working, and it was blowing pretty good outside at times. Cousins Roland and Vivienne called on Skype (free internet phone) from Italy, and we all had a long chat. Isn't technology amazing? Doesn't it just make you feel good to be alive?
As an extra bonus today, those of you with a DSL/Cable connection (or with dial-up and a little patience)) can check out the Quicktime movie I made today - go to

Our Little Rain Movie

It's about 750K.

The rain returns.

We both worked on computers inside all today ('though Nancy made a run to the bank). A mild storm came in, and there was rain a good part of the time, occasionally turning to hail. A good day to stay inside. Fedex and UPS have both proven themselves at this point, I got some bike rain gear from Colorado, Nancy received an overnight package of documents from Los Angeles. One of the older computers flipped out evernight, but fortunately we weren't really depending on it (we hadn't trusted it to store data for some time). We'll see if it can be fixed. My nearly-new Mac G5 tower is doing well after a main processor transplant that it received just a short time before we left town. It was under warranty, but jeez, the hoops I had to jump through with Apple support!
Thanks to everyone for your emails of support. Feel free to leave comments on the pages if you are so inclined - click on the word "comments."

Visit to the Ranch.

Nancy and I were both working today, but we were invited at lunchtime to go out to the Hitselberger Ranch for a quick look-see. The place is owned by our hosts and run day-to-day by their youngest son Joe, who showed us around today. The ranch is located a few miles from the beach house up one of the local canyons. The scenes in these small valleys are beautiful; few folks have homes back there, there might be more barns than homes, really. The low areas between the pine-covered hills are mostly used as pastureland for cattle and horses; some have some sheep or goats. It may be a couple of weeks before we have another day as nice as today, and I'm looking forward to going out in search of paintable compostions.

Exploring.

An absolutely clear sunny day on the coast. We decided to take advantage of it by checking out the town of Corvallis, due inland from us; a tactical error on our part, as that inland valley was completely socked in with low clouds and with temperatures significantly lower, in the middle 30's. In the end, we weren't even sure if we found the pertinent part of Corvallis for a good "read" on the place:. We found their "old town": several blocks of 1880-1930 commercial buildings with a high concentration of bicycle stores and coffee bars. It was okay, but with the cold and the gray we didn't quite get our bearings before it was time to head back to the coast. The coastal range of hills, by the way, was quite striking, a dense pine forest with small ranches in the valleys. The whole layout is a bit like the relationship between Malibu and Thousand Oaks, at least in terms of population and shopping options. But with many, many more trees.

No Rain.

Yes, our first full day here with no rain, and our first day to climb down the slippery wooden steps to the beach. The beach is broad and long, but the high tides mean that there is essentially no dry sand, at least not now. Occasional individuals and couples walk the beach, usually accompanied by one or more large, friendly dogs (always running free and having a great time). Apparently the early risers among the beachcombers are in search of agate stones, which wash up daily.

Riding in the cold and wet.

We visited the only bike shop in Newport (Bike Newport) yesterday, and I was encouraged to join a local ride today. I wasn't especially looking forward to it - in Pasadena we call 45 degrees and probable rain a day to stay inside - but I felt obliged to give it a go. Five of us showed up (mercifully, at noon) for a mostly flat 28-miler around the bay. I followed the locals' advice on layering clothing, and surprisingly, I was not terribly miserable despite our going through frequent heavy showers on the 2-hour outing (yes, do the math, we weren't going too fast). Lessons learned: cyclists in Oregon own waterproof over-booties and gloves, and some will even clip a rear fender on a road bike; soaked gloves and shoes on a short ride won't kill you, but they do make things a bit unpleasant.
Nancy stayed home and surfed the web in an easy chair.

Nancy at work in the den.

Woof.

Settling In

Our first "normal" day here; Nancy and I both working at our normal computer-based tasks, "telecommuting" with clients in Los Angeles. Although our location seems fairly remote, our DSL connection is very good, downloading testing as somewhat slower than our service in Pasadena, but actually uploading at a FASTER rate. We've been using iChat video without any problem, which is a good sign. Really, functionally, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful difference.
I'm not sure why there is good DSL here (my parents still can't get DSL in the Trancas area of Malibu) but I suspect that it has to do with the many small hotels along this part of the coast; or perhaps it is part of a program to lure tech industry to the area. Interestingly, there is cable TV here (Charter) but they don't offer high-speed internet as part of that service, the needed equipment has not been installed yet.
Our view of the ocean and sky changes dramatically almost minute by minute – we could have posted a long series of photos just on this evening's sunset. The colors are unlike those in the Southland sunsets, with stronger contrasts between warm and cool tones. Interesting.

Not bad.

Snow in Yreka, just before entering Oregon

Well, it was a long drive, but we're finally here. The little Uhaul trailer we were pulling kept us below 60 mph most of the time; in the mountains we kept company with the big rigs. We ran into some snow in the passes between California and Oregon, just long enough to put the chains on and almost immediately take them off again.
The house that our friends have so graciously lent us is wonderful, right on the beach with picture windows facing the raging winter surf. We've spend the first day here getting the computers set up for work, and putting in some supplies. It rained hard last night, but today just a little heavy drizzle in the morning and a dramatically clouded sky in the afternoon.