Postcards from Oregon

windthrown

OK, here is a thread to post photos in from Oregon.

I hope they are all

Here is a shot of a very small part of the sheep ranch I lived on out in Skelley... the mill and town used to be in the valley behind the barn there. All that is left of the town is the old dance hall.



The barn here in the above photo is the same one that Ken Kesey got high in with the Merry Prangsters when the ranch was called the Mu Farm. Mu Farm was a hippie commune back in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were bankrolled by someone and made goat ice cream that they sold in Eugene. The milking parlor in the barn is still painted purple with yellow stars on it. Here is a web reference regarding the Kesey party days at Mu: http://www.pranksterweb.org/tribute9.htm


From John by way of IntrepidTrips.com

I Partyed with Kesey and the Pranksters at the Mu Farm in early 70's while living at Rainbow Commune. Great party. They pranked our commune, as they told us the date of party was changed to Holloween instead the day before. As Rodney ( the Fiddler who made beer throughout oregon and showed up when the beer was ready with his fiddle) was leaving Rainbow with another musician and Wally the local(redneck) hippie originally from Drain Ore., the morning before party. I asked them where they were going, they said to the Mu farm to practice for the party tomorrow. Wally had a twinkle in his eye , even visable through his Coke bottle thick glasses. I new immediately, he was lying and some thing was up! As they pulled out of the parking lot. I looked at Wayne and said lets Hitch into Drain and catch up with them at the local Diner and see what's up? We walk in to the Diner and there they were. We said, What's up? They replied Laughingly it's a prank on Rainbow the party 's today. So we arrived early with the Musicians. Bowls of the Kind Pot, Kesy with a Vile of Acid. The Mu farms Band played led by Fletcher, as Kesy, dressed as a Priest, and the Pranksters were playing feedback music at the other end of the barn. Fun nite! The rest of Rainbow came straggling into the party about 10pm some with skouls on there face and costumeless as they were caught off guard, but most of them took the prank in good spirit. and we partyed on! Did apple bobing contest , floor got wet, we were dancing , running spinning and sliding as the bands played to our movement, with Kesey on Harmonica rapping through the Harp about the many varied things happening in the barn. Wild nite! Latter 30yrs. later. It dawned on me, Being as Rainbw took the Prank in good sport, this could be why, they made Rainbow Commune backstage security at the Grateful Dead concert at Eugene country fair grounds after that. Fun time had by all. I met Jerry, he was a friendly wise big Teddy Bear kind of guy sitting in a full Lotus on the grass back stage.

Attached Thumbnails

 

windthrown

This is Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach taken from the north side in Ecola State Park. I took this photo a few years ago. I lived there when I was in the 6th grade. That was not long after the town had been wiped out by 1) by the Columbus Day Storm in 1962 and 2) the Great Alaskan Earthquake Tsunami in 1964.



Haystack Rock is the largest monolith on the Pacific West Coast of North America.

Attached Thumbnails

 

windthrown

Freak snow storm this year; was supposed to rain that day. This is the backyard... those are 120-140 foot Doug firs back there, about 32 inches DBH?

Attached Thumbnails

 

sueann

I love that first pic especially WT. That is so my kind of country.

dov

I'm with you on that Sueann. A man can breath freely in a place like that. Really great pics.

__________________

windthrown

My allergies are killing me here this year. Too much tree pollen!

windthrown

I ski patrol at 5 resorts on this mountain, called Mt Hood. Many incredible views from up there (if it is not snowing that is). To the south you can see the other cascade peaks of Jefferson, Three Sisters and Bachelor. To the north you can see St Helens, Mt Adams and Mt Reineer. My favorite view is from the rescue Center at Skibowl which has a commanding view of the Mt Hood crater, as well as the north Cascade peaks. I will be taking my camera up there next Saturday (after it gets fixed) for the anual Ski Patrol mountain party. Here are some stock photos of Mt Hood in the meantime...

From the north side with the Hood River pear orchards in the foreground:



From the south side with Trillium Lake in the froeground (and the side that we ski on):

Attached Thumbnails

   

windthrown

I patrol at Timberline the most often as it was where I learned to ski whan I was 5. Here is a view of the lodge from one of the ski runs above it:



Here is a view from one of the ski runs below it:

Attached Thumbnails

   

dov

Not so nice. Would that be the Douglas Firs causing the allergies? Hope they don't make you too unwell.

Really enjoying these pics.

__________________

windthrown

Probably not from the conifers. When I lived with the ex my allergies rarely bothered me. It is more likely one of a thousands of other plants blooming around here now. Spring is in full swing.

arborjockey

I just left Yamhill Oregon 4 days ago and Im already upset about missing some of the spring. Spent some time in Dayton oregon messn w/ that mu laid mixture. We would run 1/2 a black 5 gallon bucket with fresh, raw manure the rest hot water. Let it sit in the sun fo 2-3 days and pour it on your Tomatos!@#$% wowsers..dont circulate those pictures....Oregon rains Everyday EVERY.... day dont go there.

wheres Skelley
Im out by Barney resvoir. In the last oregon frontier

jmcg.insight.gardens

those pics are so pretty,

the only time I've seen real mountains was in New Zealand. I flew around the peak of a volcano, that was fun. It was covered in snow, we flew pretty close, it was awesome. Yep, flying around a mountain and then the thermal springs in one day, that was a great fun day.

Does it really rain everyday in Oregon?.......

Hi arbourjockey, haven't seen you for a while. Having a good time traveling? giving me itchy feet you are...........

windthrown

Skelly or Skelley (spelled both ways) is a ghost town on a logging spur road off Highway 38 between I-5 and Reedsport. I am looking at acreage out in Bull Run today. Another lost place in Oregon.

windthrown

It can, for months on end. When I was a kid it rained all summer here too. Rain, rain and more rain. Then some snow, and an ice storm or three, more snow, and then rain. Snow in the hills here again today. Snow level down to about 2500 feet. Ya'll see why I ski so much here? Otherwise I would never get outside. Of course there is also Eastern Oregon, which is a desert. It is always sunny on the other side of the Cascades from here. Western Oregon is always wet. The wet is what feeds what Ken Kesey called, "the hellish greenery". Things grow here at a pace here that you cannot believe.

jmcg.insight.gardens

Rain everday, for months, yikes.

When I lived in New Zealand the first winter it drizzled every day, yes it was lovely and green, but I felt so cooped up, cabin fever to the max.

People in Australia long for green, but they forget what makes it so green, rain, rain and more rain. Rains OK, but the wind is what got to me in the end, eventually gave me the heebie jeebies, it was always windy there.

Julie

windthrown

Aaaaaaahhhhh yes, drizzle. We get that here a lot to. I am so used to rain though. I mean, it rained today. At least I think it did. Yah, it did. I think.

sueann

You think WT?? Don't you know?

Anyway, it sounds a bit miserable, where you live. I don't think I would like it at all, if it rained every day.

jmcg.insight.gardens

rain and drizzle







Bull run looks nice though. I Googled it. I think it would be cool to see an Elk.


Julie

dov

A little bit of rain and drizzle is ok. A lot is a hole in the pocket for some people... My personal dislike is wind though. I just won't climb with winds more than 35kph.

__________________

arborjockey

If you dont work in the rain in oregon, you dont work. anything under 1-2" a day isn't considered rain just high humidity. As far as wind. The windier the better wahoo.

windthrown

Misery is a state of mind. It rains here so much that we do not even notice it, especially if it is light. Same with snow up on the mountain. We really need about 40 different names for the different types of "moisture events" that we get here. Light fog, medium fog, dense fog, you cannot see your hand in front of your face fog, mist, light drizzle, drizzle, wet drizzle, light rain, sparce rain, medium rain, raining raining (raining raining is where I start to notice that in fact, it is raining and I am getting wet), steady rain, rain showers, fat or chubby rain (big drops), heavy rain, downpours, sheets of rain, stinging rain, raining buckets, its coming down, raining small animals, monsoons, cloudburst, driving rain (45 degrees or greater sideways rain), raining large animals, flooding, and torrential flooding. Then there are the colder moisture events, including freezing rain (supercooled rain that freezes on contact with anything), snowey rain, wet snow, snow and rain mix, sleet, hard bouncey sleet, light drifty snow, breezy tree snow, light snow, medium snow, fat flakey snow, dense snow, heavy snow, its dumping big time snow, blizzard snow, wind driven snow, and you cannot see your hand in front of your face snow, also called blinding snow. Then there is hail, and an assortment of sizes associated with hailstorms from small grains to pea to marble size. We rarely get larger than marble sized hail here, but in the midwest they get hail the size of softballs or greatfruit. Baseball size hail tends to do the most damage though.

Then there are the two befuddling types of rain and snow, which seem to come from nowhere. No clouds in sight, but it is snowing or raining wherever you are. Seemingly it is condensation near the dew point or frost point. This is common on Mt Hood with snow that just appears above the tree tops. Also it occurs if there is a storm off a ways and the rain or snow is drifting in the wind. Also Mt Hood makes its own weather. There are times when I get on the Magic Mile chairlift and go through all kinds of changes. At the bottom its raining, then the sun comes out, then it starts snowing half way up, and then there is dense fog at the top. Or it is raining at the bottom, turns to snow midway, and it is clear and sunny at the top. There is also the marsh fog that appears in meadows around here. I have seen it mostly when I am out cutting firewood and tree falling. At some point the dew point is reached, and the fog forms near the ground. Its really cool.

I am sure that I missed some terms for moisture events here... there are so many.

windthrown

Rarely do you see just one elk. I never have anyway. At the sheep ranch we had whole herds of elk (20-30 at a time) come through in winter. Usually at about 6am. They are silent movers, and they are HUGE! They do enormous damage to crops, vineyards, newly planted tree stands, and even older tree stands. Nothing stops them, even metal wire cyclone fences. So I usually got the dog and chased them off the porperty whenever they showed up. They are also good eating, way better than venison. Hard part about elk hunting is getting them out of the woods. They are over 300 pounds! Jeeps with winches are prized here for that purpose, as are ATVs.

Funny, there are so many hunters around here wanting to find elk, turkeys, phesants, and deer. Hell, all I had to do was open the window of the house at the ranch and there they were, not 50 feet from me. I could have pulled out the 30-30, .22 or shotgun and fired away. With 40 acres or more in this state you can get a tag for hunting on your own property. You can also do an 'emergency hunt' for cougar, bear and deer that are doing livestock and/or property damage. We usually just looked at them passing through though.

windthrown

Elk photos from the Elk Creek/Umpqua River area, Oregon

Attached Thumbnails

     

jmcg.insight.gardens

That's a fairly extensive list of different rain event's, we get a lot of them as well, it's just that we have dry periods in between, sometimes substantial ones.

Here people do not want to have a gardener in when it's raining unless your a full-time employee, contractors that combine lawn mowing and gardening can be out of pocket during periods of rain. In winter the whole pace slows down start of Autumn as people lose interest in theirs gardens over winter until spring, never could understand why interest is lost in Autumn, it's the best time to get out there, not too hot. I actually like working in light rain, it's the best time to plant. Just rain in general means less funds.

The Elk look cool, they sound pretty large, that's a bit of weight. I've seen large buck deer feral here, they were pretty large. I was driving home a while back and saw two does in the bush on the side of the road, just quietly standing there, I doubt any one would have spotted them though, they blended in pretty well.You wouldn't expect to see them here though, probably some escapees.

I think Elk look a bit more regal an animal.

I like venison, well hung it's a good meat.

sueann

They're beautiful pics WT. Lovely countryside you have there so all those variations of rain, snow, and fog must be doing some good!

I don't think drought does much good for gardeners and lawn mowing people either Julie, a couple I know went broke about 3 years ago when we didn't get rain for months. The grass doesn't grow and just burns off, the garden you can work on with seasol and additives like that but it still doesn't beat that lovely rain.

jmcg.insight.gardens

I in agreement there Sueann,

the drought busted a lot of people, lawn mowing and gardening contractors, a lot of plant nurseries went under. It was sad to watch,

work dropped for me as well. I'm not against rain you know. I was just mucking around a bit, can't be too serious all the time

Julie

arborjockey

Stop putting all those pic. on here. Theirs so many idiots from california here already the place is in liberal ascent. why dont you tell them theirs no sales tax either.and beers freeand the fishings great, trees are huge, and the surf is clean and big. All is true other then free beer its $1.00.

jmcg.insight.gardens

Yeah Yeah, rub it in, so your having a good time huh? I thought it was too wet huh

Stop giving me itchy feet, not fair you know.

No sales tax, sounds good, and the Aussie dollar is up too, added value for money, hmm.

I'd agree to that, it's rare for me to be unhappy. Life is too short to get caught up in that. Day's not long enough, either....