Going "Buggie"

I have been so restless since December 30.  That was when Christmas was officially over for us.  The last of the relatives had been visited with, the last of the presents distributed, and the ham was almost gone.  Now it seems all I can think about is getting that Lazy Daze finished and getting into Therapy.   I know I still have plenty to do to get ready but the wait is starting to drive me "buggie".  So in honor of that I dug out some of my bug pictures to share.

Normally I HATE bugs of any kind, especially spiders.  But when I started looking at them through the lens of a camera, I found something fascinating.  Now I still don't like them in the house, but if they stay outside and off me, I love taking their photos.  Most of these were taken in my yard, unless identified otherwise.


It may seem cruel but it is simply the way of nature. 



Just a lowly and common blue bottle fly, but look how beautiful the colors are.
This was taken at a wonderful place on the Oregon coast called Shore Acres Park.

 

I love taking pictures of bees.  They really are beautiful if you take the time to look.

This little fella loved the lupine and I am guessing that is a load of pollen he's carrying.
I don't know much about insects, so I could be wrong.

I think dragonflies are pretty cool.  They are so colorful.  This one loved sitting atop this
garden stake.  At one point, as I snapped photo after photo, I swear he was watching me
as much as I was watching him.

The spider has long since abandoned his lair, but his handiwork lives on to capture
the frost of a cold morning and turn it into a delicate display of wonder. 
How do they DO that?

The butterfly photos were taken by Russ in Crescent City, CA this past September
on our way back from our trip to Montclair to order the Lazy Daze.  I think they're
pretty good photos.

Okay, I'll try not to bug you too much in the next few weeks.  I still have stories and photos to post of sights around Oregon and I will try and keep it travel related.  But with me, you just never know when I will get a bee in my bonnet and write something totally unexpected!  Happy Travels!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and we are going to go out and enjoy it while it lasts.  Of course we will be well bundled up as the current temp is 27 degrees!  So we're going to load up the dogs and the cameras and see if we can find adventure...or at least something interesting to shoot.  See ya'll later.

Couldn't get out of the driveway without getting a shot of the frozen leaves.  The Sweet Gum tree is the last to leaf out in the spring and bedevils us with dropped leaves well into January.  But at least the frost made for an interesting shot.

First stop was breakfast.  Ye Olde Pancake House has been in Eugene longer than I have - and I've been here for 40 years.  It's a gathering place for many locals and shows its team spirit by supporting the University of Oregon Ducks.  The food is plentiful (too much so!) but the breakfast is tasty and they know how to make the hash browns CRISPY.  Although it is a pancake house, I prefer the pancakes at the Original Pancake House across town (sense a little competition here?).  The pancakes at Ye Olde seem to be a little "flat" in their taste, like there is not quite enough baking powder or ???  Anyway we had a good breakfast to start the day.


One thing I like about Ye Olde is you get your own coffee pot.  No waiting for refills.



Russ got today's special, country sausage and eggs.  Note the CRISPY hash browns,
but you have to ask for them that way.

Ye Olde sits right on West 11th, one of the town's main east/west streets.  This street
begins on the east end of town at the University and becomes Hwy 126 west of town.
It continues as Hwy. 126 clear to Florence on the coast.

One thing about Eugene is that everyone has an opinion and no one is afraid to express it.  The NO Build sign you see is in reference to the city's desire to put in a dedicated high speed bus lane right in the middle of West 11th.  This would be the death knell for many businesses along this route and almost all oppose such a measure.  When I see so many half- empty buses chugging around Eugene, I have to wonder....

Now that breakfast is over, we are off to Orchard Point Park on Fern Ridge Reservoir.  Fern Ridge (or Fern Ditch as some locals refer to it) was built by the Army Corp of Engineers for flood control of the Long Tom River.  It is a large shallow body of water that is great for boating and especially for sail boating.  Many people swim in it but I wouldn't put in so much as a toe!  Have you ever heard of giardia?  You don't want to get it and you're taking your chances if you swim in Fern Ridge.  Yet it is a great place to walk and just enjoy the beauty.  Currently, the lake has been drawn way down for flood control and so walkers and dogs are all one sees at the parks.  Since the sun was out today, the park was crowded with at least 6 cars in the parking lot!  We purchase a season Lane County Parks pass each year for the scandalous sum of $15 (with a Golden Age passport).  The regular price for younger folks is $30.  This gets us into any Lane County Park day use area for an entire year.  The regular day use fee is $3.00 per visit.  If you are in Eugene for any length of time, it is a REALLY good deal.

In the summer the water goes more than mid-way up the concrete sides.  In the
fall when the lake is first drawn down, the lake bed is a popular place for metal detecting.

This photo was taken in the fall shortly after the water was drawn down in early October.

There is a campground at Richardson Point but it closes in the winter.  This is the
restroom and shower building.  The campground is very wooded and right on the lake.
There are picnic shelters, playgounds, day use area, and boat ramp at Richardson.



Entrance to the campground at Armitage

 Another nice place to camp in Eugene Is Armitage Park.  It is right on the McKenzie River
and only about two miles from Costco!  You would never guess you were so close to town.
This is a Lane County park so the parks pass is good for the day use area.  The camping fee is $25 and includes full hook-ups, including cable.  There is a boat ramp, large picnic areas and a large, fenced off-leash dog park. 

When the puddles are dry and the leaves are gone, this is a wonderful picnic area.

The boat ramp at Armitage.  As cold as it was today, there were at least a dozen boat trailers in the lot.

This photo was taken last fall from atop Skinner's Butte.  I include it here simply
because it gives a nice overview of this city I love so much.

Eugene - A day in the Country

Oregon is such a beautiful place, and to us Eugene is one of the best places in Oregon.  We are an hour from the coast, an hour from the mountains, and two hours from the high desert.  We are surrounded by rivers and lakes and ponds and countryside and all manner of natural beauty.  Sometimes we just go for a ride to see what we can see.  These photos are the result of one such ride and were all taken within a 30 minute drive from our home.  If you ever get to Eugene, OR these are some of the sights you might see.

I liked the look of this barn, kinda old (like me) but still with some life left in her.
And besides, we had the perfect sky!

There is something about a cow lazying about in a field that makes me feel peaceful.
Notice the tongue - don't know if she's enjoying her cud or flicking a fly!!

And, since I look at photos as a suggestion and not an absolute, I can't resist
playing with them.  It's all in fun and it's not any different from an artist painting
cows in a field when they weren't really there - not that I consider myself an artist!!

I just liked the color and shape of this bloom and I have no idea what it is.  It's just pretty.

Yes, that is a photo of moss.  We have LOTS of it growing on trees  - and roofs and
sidewalks and driveways and....  But I did like the shape and color of this bit.

Although I love Oregon, I do get tired of the cold and the rain and I am still anxious to get into Therapy and hit the road.  The Southwest is first on our list.  We love some places in Arizona that we have visited and we hope to make our first visit to New Mexico early on in our travels.  Come on Lazy Daze, we're ready for you.

A New Year - Old Adventures

By now you know that we are waiting for our dream home (motor type) to be completed.  While we are waiting we are doing what we can to get ready for our next big adventure.  But in the meantime, we aren't doing much traveling.  We do however, have many beautiful adventure points right here in our own backyard.  I hope we never take these beautiful natural surrounding for granted just because we live here.  So while I can't post right now about our travels, I can share with you some of the beauty of Eugene, Oregon and the surrounding areas.  I hope you enjoy these armchair travels.

Very near the heart of the city is an area called the Delta Ponds.  This area is being developed by the city of Eugene to make the ponds more accessible to the public.  One of our favorite trails is within sight of the largest shopping center in the area, yet it feels very much like being in the wilderness surrounded by nature.  If you are ever in Eugene, please visit the Delta Ponds, and if you are not in Eugene, enjoy these pictures.




The Delta Ponds Trail head

You will find these creatures anywhere there is a little water.  Spring babies are always fun.

The trail along the ponds with lupine in bloom

It's hard to believe a major shopping center is within view just beyond those trees.



Peace in the city



Although Blue Heron are almost as numerous as geese, I never fail to enjoy seeing one.

Western Pond Turtles enjoying the sun (somewhat rare in Eugene).



These turtles are not roosting in the tree...it only looks like that as I took this shot through the trees from a high bank.



One last view of the lupine - one of my favorite flowers.

Happy New Year

2010 is about to come to a close.  Like all years, we have wrung every minute out of her and left her limp.  Every moment that has passed is gone forever and can never been recaptured.  Time is funny that way.  A couple of lines from a poem I once wrote go like this:

...you cannot go back to a happier moment
You cannot recapture a day
For time passes by us and then it is over
Relentlessly going its way.

I am too old for resolutions...I know they are but an exercise in futility.  But I am not too old for hope.  My hope for the coming year is that I not squander one moment.  That when 2011 ticks its last moment away, I will have spent each one wisely.  I hope that rather than just wring empty moments from this year, that I explode with moments of joy and love and laughter.  I hope that I realize and accept that I CANNOT fix everything for everybody - some things are just not fixable.  I hope I realize there is a time for me and my husband and that it is okay for that time to take precedence over other concerns.  I hope that life is gentle with my children and grandchildren and that they will accept me with all my foibles, as I accept them.

AND I HOPE THAT OUR MOTOR HOME GETS FINISHED SOON 'CUZ WE ARE READY TO HIT THE ROAD!  I can only imagine the adventure that awaits two old geezers who have the desire and the will to not let 2011 pass them by.  We will not grow old gracefully - we will grow old squeezing all the life and joy we can from each and every moment.

I suppose I am thinking about time not only because we are about to embark upon a new year, but also because in four days, I will be another year older.  My husband ordered a book for my birthday and it was delivered today.  He wanted me to open it RIGHT NOW (he can never keep a secret) and so I did.  Since I opened the book, he also wanted me to open the card.  It was a singing card and really pretty funny.  But there was no writing from him anywhere on the card or envelope.  I asked him why and he explained:  "It's such a funny card, I thought you might want to re-use it."  That's my Russ - but he is awfully sweet.

On a different note...we had a simple New year's supper.  Not only was it filling and warming on a cold winter's day, it also used up most of the left-over Christmas ham.  YUMM!

Good ole navy beans and ham.  Since I was too lazy to make
bread, we had warm flour tortillas with this.  Very tasty.

Looking Good!

Still more progress on Therapy.  It seems like it has been a long time since we ordered her back in September.  But the time is passing quickly.  We have accomplished quite a bit while we have been waiting and there is still more to do.  We have a pile of provisions ready to load in as soon as we get her home.  We have blankets and dishes and pans and glasses and knives, and even an itty bitty toaster oven.  We don't have everything together yet but we have made a good start.

One thing I have been working on is an emergency handbook.  I will make three copies of this book; one will go in the motor home with us, one in our toad, and one will stay at home with a relative, to be opened only in case of emergency.  In this notebook I will list all of our bills which must be paid monthly, our bank accounts and passwords, our online sites and passwords, our medical information, insurance information, list of who to notify in case of emergency, a copy of our will, and our medical directives.  If the worst should happen and we are both incapacitated in an accident, it will be so much easier on the family if this information is at their fingertips.  Of course, you want to make sure you leave this information with a trustworthy individual!!  Just think what would happen if your were in the hospital for an extended period and you had bills that were due every month.  How would your family know what was due and to whom and how would they pay these items?  Something to think about.

Now, back to Therapy.  More pictures arrived by email and we can see that it is coming together nicely.  We were promised delivery by mid-February but this looks like it could be sooner.  One can only hope.

The windows are in - YIPPEE

Beginning to look like a Lazy Daze!

Thank God for Building Permits

Oh my goodness, where would we be without the city government to protect us (which is what they assert is the purpose of building permits)?  The ongoing saga of our RV shelter has yet another chapter.  First they charge us a substantial permit fee to put up a pre-fab metal shelter that will house nothing but an RV.  They base that fee on what they perceive the value of the shelter to be and charge us accordingly.  The permitting office valued our shelter at more than twice what we actually paid for it.

Now comes the REAL reason for issuing permits...the county tax assessor paid us a visit today.  Seems the value of our property is greatly enhanced by having a large metal shed in the middle of our driveway.  Guess it doesn't matter that the shed actually decreases the use of the formerly large and open driveway.  Yeah, it bugs me but I have a feeling we will be contesting our tax bill next November.  In Oregon, property taxes are supposedly limited to a certain percentage of the tax assessed value and that percentage cannot be increased.  That is all well and good except the taxes just keep going up because the value of the property keeps going up - even in a VERY DOWN market.  If I could get someone to pay me what is listed as the value of my home on my tax bill, I would sell this place today.

Okay, enough of the rant.  What I really need is to get out of here and see some new sights and quit fretting about taxes!  Someday soon, Therapy will be finished and we will hit the road.  I can hardly wait.


Before



After