Seven Days In August - 8/12-18/15

Or: TW3

 August 12, 2015 

It's been an interesting week. Seems like nothing got done but, as I reflect on That Was The Week That Was (TW3), I realize there was a lot happening. Maybe not all earth-shattering and important like what body part the latest Kardashian is showing to the public. Still, it is part and parcel of life for us and so....here goes the TW3....

And it begins, gently enough, with a walk. A "Let's get out and stretch our legs" kinda walk. No particular place in mind and no agenda to be completed. It was, simply, an opportunity to stretch the muscles and expand, possibly, the mind. And see some new sights, too.

So we headed up 34th towards The 101. And, naturally, I had my camera with me. Always. I can only think of one instance where I left the house without a camera. I regretted it. I left with the little camera because I didn't think I'd be doing much shooting. I was wrong.

Just up 34th Street is the Connie Hansen Garden and it is a logical place to walk through when you're just out and about with no particular place in mind. And, therein lies this segment of the tale.

So we were headed up 34th and there, right on the corner of 34th and Jetty is this beautiful garden with a small stream running through it. And there were loads of these Orange-In-the-Wind.

And a close-up. These flowers are rampant around this area now. It was like they suddenly popped up just a few weeks ago and now they're everywhere.

And so, we began our walk and then turned into the Hansen Garden. I'll step out now and just let you skim through the pictures from the garden...

Every so often, I capture some bug or another in one of my pictures. Mostly it is by accident. Like this one...that's a Yellow Underwing Moth there on the right side of this picture. When this bad boy is a caterpillar, he's a real thug with some serious street creds.  Known by his gang name, cutworm, he is a bad-ass pest of tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, strawberry, grapes, onions, spinach, mustard and grass.

Bad boy!!

Pretty neat, eh? It is, as I have said before, like shooting Nerds in a barrel. Just super easy to get these pleasing shots of the flowers.

And, finally, we were out of the garden. And onto this whimsical character. 

Gotta say, he's right. He is absolutely right.

Surf's up, Kahuna-Dude.

We were walking up The 101 when I saw this sign on a truck and, what the heck, I wanted a picture of it. I talked, briefly, to the guy driving the truck. For an older guy with a kinda similar background to me, he was definitely not friendly. 

Modern times.

And these were on The 101. Beauty is, literally, everywhere. It's all in the attitude. What is it that you want to see? I imagine if I wanted to see ugly, I'd be able to do that. It reminds me of when I was a young Sergeant First Class in Germany and I would work with the IG Team on their inspections. 

I was going in there and finding crap left and right until the Sergeant Major pulled me over to the side and told me that anyone can find the bad, but he'd rather I look for what they were doing good and then, after that, ways they could improve. 

When I changed my priorities, a lot of things changed. Units actually did improve in the area I inspected and things got better. First time a Sergeant Major was good for something besides being an excuse for a NCO call at the Club. 

And a selfie in front of the Dorchester House.

Always looking for a chance to check out the local pubs, I use any excuse to drop in to one of the local Beer Houses and take a gander while I sip a brew. And so it was that this time I guided our steps into a small juice joint on The 101, The Old Oregon Tavern.

I quickly decided that the owners were definitely on the other side of the political and cultural spectrum from me back in the 60s. Hahaha, neither of us grew out of that phase, obviously.

Just another neighborhood bar with the obligatory pool table. As I think on it, I never really enjoyed shooting pool. A big part of that reason was that, on the whole, I sucked at it. Sucked like a huge Jet Engine on take-off.  Really, really bad. And, because of that, I lost a lot of money there. And pride.

Oregon has a thing for these cheesy video games of chance. I guess that's what they are but, honestly, I stay away from them. Far away.

Hahaha, some more ceiling cover. 

Hey, hey, LBJ!! How many kids did you kill today!?!

Fun times.

And it is a beach community so you got to have the surfer angle covered. Although I have yet to see a surfer along my section of the beach. Nary a one.

And, back again, Peace, Love...

Hell No, We Won't Go!!

Make Love, Not War!!

And, finally, this one which I borrowed from the Internet. Joan Baez and her two sisters raising some money for the Draft Resistance. Ah, they were turbulent times, weren't they. 

I just realized that I'd already decided I won't be going back to this bar. I just came to that awareness. Hmmmm, am I growing? Hahaha, other than around my waist the answer to that question is NO. I just don't care for it all that much.

  August 13, 2015  

It has been a long week and a busy one. Besides the usual business of 'just living', I've had actual responsibilities to perform this week; duties to be done; chores to be covered; burdens to be borne; engagements to be executed; charges to be completed and pledges to be performed. And, being a man of my word, more or less, I was duty-bound to carry all of them out to the best of my meager abilities.

And so my week continued on from way back on Thursday with yet another walk downtown to dine in fine style at Punk-n-Barry's Restaurant. We've seen this many times and wanted to stop in for lunch for a while now and so, today, we did.

Unfortunately, it was closed. 

Wha....!?!

We couldn't figure it out so we stopped at the clothing store next door to ask if they knew anything about it and they said that there were times when Ol' Punk 'n Barry just didn't come to work. And, apparently, this was one of those days.

Hahaha, we sorta figured the guys that run this place are Old Hippies, (they are prolific here in LCO) and their work ethic sorta supports that view. Disappointed but not discouraged, we simply found another place to eat and turned our eyes and our stomachs towards....

Maxwell's Restaurant

Conveniently placed right across the street.

This has been on my list for a while, too. Actually, since the first day we arrived in LCO. You see, I have a Little Maxwell in the family. He's in California but, maybe, someday he'll come visit me here and I thought I'd take him to his restaurant.

So, after being rebuffed by Puff, we turned to the west and went to Maxwell's.

And we were all intrigued by this interesting and unusual claim.

Open 21 HRS. FRI.-SUN.

Hahaha, I've never seen that claim before. Oh, I've seen 24/7s all over but never a 21 hour claim. I figured someone so interested in being exactly correct must have some good food, right? So off we went....

....and it was OK. Actually, kinda mediocre for the prices they charged.

Sorry, Max, but we were unimpressed. Maybe next time it will be better!! 

 August 14-16, 2015 

And now to my primary task this week. Amy is renting her house up in Seattle and so I volunteered to go up and show it for her during the weekend.  What the heck, it'd be a change of pace and help out a bit and, besides, it would be a fun road trip.

Hahaha, the fun ended shortly after a stop at the local Mickey D's for some coffee and a couple of Sausage Biscuits. It should have been a five hour trip needed to cover the 270 miles up to Seattle. Should have been. Emphasis is on the word should. 

It weren't. It was Hell beginning in Dayton, OR, about 34 miles southwest of Portland, OR and lasting until I got to Kelso, WA, it was a traffic nightmare. Hah!! Traffic!! I use that term loosely as we didn't manage to get along much at all. ARGH!!

And then the traffic cleared and my spirits rose, the figurative clouds lifted and I felt better....

....until I got near the southern end of Olympia. ARGH X 2!!!

This traffic jam lasted from south of Oly until I pulled off the freeway in Kent. I was ready to eat lead and spit bullets. I was wound tighter than a two dollar watch!!

What should have been a pleasant 5-hour journey turned into a six and a half hour ordeal. Ah, these were, truly, the times to try this man's soul. 

But for a while, as you can see in this picture, the roads, they were open and the traffic she was fast!! For a short while.

I got in Friday and was so exhausted that I just grabbed some bad food at BK and then hit the sack at the motel. Because I had an early morning get-together with this guy....

Hahahaha, I got to meet my newest grandson, Oliver. He is a bright, cheerful and easy-going sorta fella....kinda like another balding, fat guy that we all know....maybe wearing a Seahawks hat.

I rousted Tom, Bon and Anthony out of bed for an early morning breakfast so I could meet this guy.

And what a sweet-natured and affable guy he is, too. Haha, he was, at least while I was there, very low-maintenance...my kinda baby.

It was a special treat to get to meet him.

Then we said our good-byes as I had to drive on over to Amy's place and get ready. But I had time to stop by the old park by the Renton Airfield. Things have not changed much.

The eagle tree, there in the background, was bereft of eagles. But the Trailer Park Marina was full of boats!!

And then I saw this as I motored on up to Amy's. 

The Stone House!! It's finally open!! Last year, Carol and I stopped by because it is such a cool building. Built in the '20s it was originally a gas station. We met the owner and got a tour of the inside of the home. It was being converted into a restaurant with the bakery going in the house and the restaurant and kitchen going in the redesigned garage. 

The poor guy was having trouble getting it finished...government. First this and then that. While we were there he was dealing with having to shore up the sides of the hills around the house. Mind you, the house has been there for over 80 years and now, just now, they're concerned with the hills sliding down and....

Well, obviously, he has solved his problem and now the place is open. This is Seattle so you know they're going to have al fresco dining and sure enough, they were out on the patio being served.

Hahaha, Congrats, Stone House!! We'll be up to see you someday!!

And from the corner gas station to the corner market. It's still there. The memorial to the young man murdered New Year's Day has been taken down. But the store is still there and, for some inexplicable reason no one in the universe can figure out, they still don't sell Diet Coke in a 20-oz bottle there.

Seriously, what's up with that!?!

And I drove by Boo Radley's house. It caught on fire and the second floor was pretty much destroyed. An abandoned house, it is now scheduled to be razed and a six unit apartment building is going to replace it. Progress and the continuing war against single-family dwellings march on in Seattle. Oh, and a little capitalistic opportunism, too.

And here's Amy's place. Looking good but the yard needs a little TLC. Well, the yard needs a lot of TLC. And elbow grease.

But, soon enough, the days of sitting outside on the front steps waiting for folks to drop by to see the house were over. It was time to head home and so, at 1745, I hit the (hopefully) open roads heading south to the beach.

And it was pretty clear all the way. It did take me just the five hours to get back and that includes a stop for gas and a gut check at a McDonald's. 

In fact, I hit only one snag and that was south of Oly before I got to Vancouver. There was an accident on the northbound side of the freeway. Mind you, I am going south....nothing happened on the south side to affect the traffic....except the Lookee-Lous.  There was about a two-mile back-up that miraculously ended just feet after passed the fender-bender on the north side of the freeway.

Un. Be. Live. A. Ble.

Here I am creeping up the unobstructed south side of the freeway at a whopping 5.1 miles an hour. And still so far away I couldn't see what the hang-up was.

Idiots.

But I made it back. It was around 2245 but I was back and that was all that counted. Plus, I showed the house and, hopefully, Amy will get someone to rent the place now. 

Cross your fingers, please.

Ah, but I'm back in LCO now. And feeling my Inner Pirate.

Did you hear about the new Pirate movie coming out soon?

It's rated ARGHHHHH...

Hahahaha, I love that joke. I have several old favorites that I carry around with me and, doggone it, every time I dust them off and trot them out I still laugh. Great fun!!

 August 17, 2015 

This morning Carol was signed up for a class on drawing birds. It was held over at the LCCC, (Lincoln City Cultural Center as opposed to the Lincoln City Community Center). Damned confusing, that.

Anyway, here's the Happy Girl getting ready to go to class. 

The class was held in the Chessman Art Gallery. They do make some good use of this space. We've been to two of their art shows here. Very good.

And so Carol got signed in for the class.

Ah, School's Out for the Summer!!

And here's her Class Project...a Winter Wren.

Not bad, eh?

She got a lot of compliments on her eyes. Hahaha, I try to shoot them and she's tries to draw them.

What a combo!!!

And when we got home, I got my newest toy. Hahaha, it's an All Weather camera. Waterproof up to 100 feet!!

I needed a camera that I wouldn't have to worry about when out on the kayak. It's tough trying to stay above water for me AND a camera. One of the two of us would be going in sooner or later. Rather than continue to worry about it or, and this is, truly, inconceivable, not take a camera with me, I shopped around and got one that won't mind the inevitable dunking it's going to get.

So now I have a camera that will shoot underwater. 

And...

....it doesn't do a bad job above the water line, too.

Right away, well, after I opened the box, we made plans to go kayaking the next morning. We're spontaneous like that. Woo, woo!! Crazy Old Retired People Swinging!! (CORPS)

After all that work I did over the weekend, I definitely needed a treat. And so our eyes turned, once again, to Punk 'N Barry's, Round Two!! Hey, why not? After the class, we stopped at Punk 'N Barry's. 

And it was OPEN!!

Oh, Huzzah!!

And the inside was just as exciting, fun, unusual and unique as the outside promised it would be.

Hahaha, for some reason, this Hippie House was OK. Hey, I don't claim to understand much of anything let alone my own feelings.

But it was fun and it was divided into three distinct categories.

#1 - Coca-Cola and all things Coca-Cola.

#2 - (Don't ask why, I don't know) Campbell's Soup.

#3 - Disney and Winnie-the-Pooh

Disclaimer: I'm a big fan of Coke and I like Campbell's and so I got a lot of pictures of them. For some strange reason, I only have one of Winnie and that is, really, in passing. Go figure.

It's not a big shop but they've got a lot packed into it. A LOT!!

All kinds of Coca-Cola paraphernalia.

I couldn't picture it all.

Just loads of Coca-Cola.

That was the front end of the restaurant. Towards the rear, there was the Campbell Soup shrine.

And, y'know, soup's OK. 

But Coca-Cola is tastier!!

There she is, patiently waiting.

And here is the only place you'll see Winnie-the-Pooh. There he is on the right. That wall, by the door, is given to all things Poohish.

Hahaha, they're better with a skillet and soup than they are with their English Phraseology.

Coca-Cola Salt 'N Pepper Shakers!!

Carol got the Fish 'N Chips. They were....OK. These were out of a box. Bummer, Dude.

I got....The Reuben. 

It was tasty. I liked that they didn't ruin the taste with too much dressing. Coulda been bigger and I'd rather have fries than a bag of air with a couple potato chips thrown in for the aroma.

And after dinner, we deserved a treat. The Punk 'N Berry has a good selection of ice cream. Carol had Mint Chocolate Chip and I had Bubble Gum. And mine had real pieces of gum in it.

Mmmmmmm....

Hahaha, they're International!! With Coca-Cola.

Here's where the two worlds collide. Coke on the left and Campbell on the right.

OH, HEY!! I just saw another WTP!! There he is down in the right corner of the picture. And there is Tigger, too!! Down in the lower left corner. 

Woo, Woo!!

  August 18, 2015 

Whew, this is a longie, ain't it!?!

Another selfie as we prepared to head out on the river, looking for adventure.

We used our loading skills to skillfully place the kayaks in the Mini.

Safe and comfortable, too!!

And headed out on this funky, foggy morning.

Down The 101, we turned left onto the Siletz Highway that runs from the Siletz Bay alongside the Siletz River. And it is pronounced CEIL-lets, not suh-LETS.

Cheez, I got it!! Hahaha, I get corrected, a lot.

Just about like every other road here along the Oregon Coast, it was scenic, cool and beautiful. Just not necessarily in that order.

And before you could say, Bob's your uncle, we were at the Ichwhit Park.

And there it is, right there just right of center. 

And getting ready to launch our kayaks.

In short order, we were on our way. I decided we'd paddle upstream so that we could, once we were tired, just drift back downstream. Hahaha, always thinking!!

The river was calm and quiet. In fact, the only noises we heard, other than the birds, was the whining of the cars and trucks pulling along on the Siletz Highway. 

Bummer.

Still, the river was looking good. Just right for a couple of CORPS in kayaks.

But we weren't alone. This Bad Boy was preening himself on the top of a dead tree. Turkey Vultures are seemingly everywhere in the Beaver State. Haven't seen a beaver yet, but Turkey Vultures? By the dozens!!

And, no, I do not, as it has been suggested by others, think this guy was just there waiting for me to keel over from the exertion of paddling my double-wide derriere up the river. 

It was a bit difficult working our way up river. We're still novices and trying to work out all the kinks from our rowing regimen. 

And we were having to stop every so often to get pictures. Seriously, this was great.

That's Carol way back there. Oh, this camera has a pretty good wide-angle, a 24mm, and so she isn't as far back as it appears. Honest.

Either direction you looked.

When we got as far as my back would let us go, we stopped and sampled the drift...and found it were good. Very, very good.

And this one was enjoying it.

And so was I. There's something about drifting along on a river taking in the sun that sings to my soul. 

Makes me smile.

Meanwhile, back on the S.S. Minnow....

Neither of us can figure out what the pilings were for. We did note that these pilings were all along the north side of the river as we drove up the Siletz Hwy.

We saw a lot of Kingfishers and swallows along with the buzzard and, then, we spotted this appropriately named, Spotted Sandpiper. He had a partner somewhere nearby but here I was chasing him along the bank. I was in the kayak. He was messing with me, leading me along.

And, then, the trip was over. Fun was had by all and the sun was getting higher and the temp was going up along with it. Good time to be getting out.

Oh, hey, neither of us fell into the water upon entry or exit of the kayaks.

Ah, the faithful Mini. Waiting patiently, ready to do my bidding.

And as we were loading up, we met Ray and Harriet. They're from DC and are traveling down the Oregon Coast for the day. They were looking for the Drift Creek Suspension Bridge and Waterfall. And, by golly, they were only about 12 to 15 miles past where they should have been.

Tomorrow they're heading to Eugene and then Crater Lake. Finally, they're taking a paddle-wheel cruise up the Columbia River.  And today they were wandering around near the Siletz, taking pictures of the flowers along the road.

What a week. We got a lot of living done. Even got some semi-work done in there, too. All in all, a successful and productive week.

It was nice having a purpose...a reason to be somewhere. Nice but, y'know, not really necessary. Hahaha, don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying the heck out of this thing called retirement. A lot.

Tomorrow's a bird walk and then tomorrow evening a BSA Committee Meeting. Gotta see if I made it as a Merit Badge Counselor.

We're keeping busy and enjoying. It's good. It's fun. 

Life is good!!

     Hooah!!