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.