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Tag Archives: dogs

Another Day, Another Park

For the second half of our camping trip, we went to Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon. It is also at the mouth of the Columbia River but on the south side. It is an enormous park with lots and lots of paved bike trails and miles and miles of beach. Much of the beach is open to driving which decreases the wild nature of the place but there weren’t too many cars on the sand while we were there. The tracks were evident though.

The campground is a long ways from the beaches so we drove to them with the dogs. Some beaches are much less popular due to a high dune to cross to access the water. And the campgrounds cram a lot of people into a small space so they were noisy and crowded. We probably won’t go back to Fort Stevens. Oregon has lots of other nice state parks on the coast. This park is good for families and people that bring their bicycles.

Part of the famous Astoria bridge that crosses the Columbia. It is over four miles long!
Container ships waiting to go into Portland. Someone said they were there for months, waiting.
See that white head poking out from behind the dead seal?
This Bald Eagle did not go far and it was not disturbed by the presence of people, dogs or cars.
A kite surfer
Luna wanted to meet the kite surfer
But then she changed her mind.
Sunset at the south jetty
Jellyfish at sunset
Dog at sunset
Ken’s brother Carl joined us for our first night at Fort Stevens.

Beach Dogs

The dogs had fun at the beach.

Andy doesn’t look like it but he sure does howl like a hound.
Luna was skeptical of Andy
This chocolate lab really wanted to meet Sky and her big stick.
Sky did a lot of this.

Two Dogs and a Stick

Our friend Wyatt Ann came to visit earlier in the month. She’s a sweet dog but she does like to tell Sky how things are going to be. Sky is easy going so she generally doesn’t mind much. One way Wyatt shows her control is to get something that Sky likes. Like a stick.

My stick
Not anymore
Well now, wait a minute
She won’t notice
My stick
Darn

Not Yet Spring

The hills are still covered with snow. And the floors in the house are covered with grit. My car is covered with mud. Yesterday it was almost sixty degrees, Fahrenheit. And there is snow in this week’s forecast. Spring officially, is only one week away. This is Mud Season.

The girls and I try to get out and walk early when the snow is hard enough to support our weight. Sometimes it supports them but not me. If we are late, then we only have muddy, and in shady places icy, roads to walk on. Yesterday we ran into our friends Frida, Quincy and Mary Ann, also hoping to find a good place to walk. It is a challenge this time of year.

Migratory birds are arriving everyday. One person has already seen a hummingbird in the valley so I put out a feeder. Both bluebirds, Say’s Phoebes, American Robins, Violet-green Swallows and other migrants are already here. They certainly think it’s spring.

Isabella’s
Mount Robinson and Goat Peak
Mountain Bluebird
Shadows
Luna loves the hard snow
aspens
Quincy keeps chasing snowballs he never catches.
Frida tiptoes through the mud puddles
Two male Hairy Woodpeckers
Violet-green Swallows
yarrow
Sky watches
A valentine from my sweetie.

Days at the Beach

We went out to the Washington Coast to dig razor clams at the end of last month. Clamming was good the first three nights (yes, clam digging at night, in January) but then it slowed down for us. Still we managed to eat lots of them. I even made razor clam ceviche for the first time (yummers!) and we brought some home for the freezer. It was a good time.

During the day, we enjoyed long walks on the beach and Ken did some fishing for surf perch. The first two days we had some sunshine and a little bit of rain and then the last two days, it just rained. Oh well. It was January on the coast. We tried to see the Blue Moon Lunar Eclipse but a thin and then a thick overcast mostly obscured it.

She has two balls in her mouth.
Luna gets her ball and then gives it to Sky to return to be thrown again.
I found it. You throw it.
Despite warnings of landslide danger, they keep building on the bluffs.
The tiny town of Pacific Beach in the distance
Razor clam shell
Kelp
This dead bird was small, robin-sized and had blue webbed feet. It might be a Cassin’s Auklet but I don’t know for sure.
Washed up on the beach
Crossing the creek
A splash of color on the beach
Young Bald Eagle scavenges on the beach with some crows in the rain.
limpet
I love this rock