Many thanks to Sir Van Morrison for the quote used for the title to this blog. I was feeling a wistful kind of melancholia, a small bit of gloom tinged by a nostalgia for a younger day. And, that was that. Mood over now let's kickstart this Bad Boy, shall we!?!
What we have today is a wrap-up of the past four days. Why!?! Why, you may, rightfully, ask. Why go back four days!! Hahaha, tough toenails, y'all!! I'm going back because the first day I just plain didn't feel a blog with that day, which was an early morning beach walk. The second day there wasn't enough meat to hang a blog on. The third day, was short and sweet and not much to say about it. Today was a fun day, also short and sweet but worth a blog. So I decided, since I had all these days just hanging there, to kind of wrap up the whole four days in one stupendous, glorious, amazing, astounding, astonishing, extraordinary, remarkable, staggering and breathtaking blog.
But, I am being too modest. This blog today is just an easy way for us to share our days. A fun way for us to chronicle our small adventures and our zest for life. Our élan in playing out our days. And so, it begins, as most stories do, at the beginning. A day like others before it...a day made for a walk on the beach.
August 1, 2015
We had a Blue Moon the other day. That's a fancy way of saying we had another Full Moon. And, as we know, these New Moons have a decisive effect on the ocean.
Fun Facts: The alternating pattern of rising and falling sea level in relation to land is what we know as the tides. Because the tides are influenced by both the Moon and the Sun, it's easy to see that when the Sun lines up with the Moon and the Earth, as happens during a New Moon or Full Moon, the tidal effect is greatly increased. These are know as Spring Tides, named not for the season but for the fact that the water 'springs' higher than normal.
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| Blue Moon...You saw me standing alone...Without a dream in my heart...Without a love of my own. |
More Fun Facts: When the Sun and the Moon are 90 degrees apart, as in the First Quarter Moon or Third Quarter Moon, sometimes called half-moons, the tides are not as high as they would normally be. This is because the Sun's gravitational force on the ocean negates the effects of the Moon's pull. This phenomenon of lower high tides is called a Neap Tide.
I mention all this to let you know that at around 0830, the low tide was going to be way out because of the Blue Moon. It was going to be a real Spring Tide and that meant it was a perfect time to get out and visit the tidal pools along our stretch of beach.
And it is also a great time to be able to see more of the sea life that lives along our coastal beaches. Sea life we would not normally be privy to.
Like this guy who was, for some odd reason, lying in a shallow pool of water by a rock formation. I say odd because most other starfishes I've seen have been in the rock formations.
Fun Facts: Starfish, or Sea Stars, are amazing creatures. First off, they have no brain or blood. Hmmmm, are they Democrats, then? They can be really heavy. Some sea stars can weigh up to 11 pounds.
More on these fascinating creatures later.
And we can also get a great view of these Giant Green Anemones.
Fun Facts: They're found in the lowest tide zone where they are rarely out of water. They can grow to ten inches in diameter and live for over 100 years.
Sea Anemones are named after the Anemone Flower. This is why they're sometimes referred to as the 'Flower of the Sea.'
Speaking of Tidal Pools, here's one of the larger ones we encountered. Easy to wade into and get up close and personal with the wee creatures. To get pictures of because we'd never mess with them.
Some barnacles mixed in with the mussels.
Fun Facts: Juvenile barnacles are actually free floating until they decide to attach themselves to something nearby, such as a rock, whale or boat. They have to choose wisely though, since they will remain in that spot for the rest of their lives.
These are the guys the gulls like to munch on. These and the mussels. Starfish generally prefer mussels but some suggest they might enjoy a goose barnacle now and then.
Even though it was relatively early in the day, there were plenty of folks out and about on the beach.
It was the beginning of a pleasant day. There's the Cascade head in the distance and, to the right, is the Dreaded Knoll.
You can kinda see the attraction kids would have for these rocks at low tide.
And, let's see it from the other side. So easy to find starfish, etc., here. So. Doggone. Easy.
Hahaha, I've seen too many Scary pictures growing up. Looking at those Goose Barnacles makes me uneasy. Ugly little buggers.
#buttugly
It's a good thing they're so small.
More anemones.
My guess is that these barnacles can survive, for a while, out of water. I say that because they appear to be thriving on these rocks and said rocks see the light of day at least once a day. This also makes them an easy target for a rapaciously hungry gull.
More Fun Facts About Starfish: Wow, the average lifespan of a starfish is about 35 years. That's a long time to be eating mussels. The starfish is actually not a fish. They're more closely related to Sand Dollars and Sea Urchins.
They usually have only five arms but there are, of the 2,000+ species, some with less than and more than the regular five. Oh, and they can only live in salt water. No fresh water for these critters. When they capture their prey they use tiny suction cups to grab hold of their food. Then their stomach exits their mouth to digest the food, reentering the body when they're done eating.
Uh, ugh!!
Fun Facts: Anemones are most often found living below mussel beds because they're opportunistic and eat the mussels that become dislodged by the surf. In addition to mussels, Giant Green Anemones eat crabs and sea urchins.
This last is for my Grandkids. When you come visit, we'll head to the beach at low tide with some raw fish or shrimp and when we find a Giant Green Anemone with its tentacles outstretched, like in the picture below, we'll put a piece of bait on one of the tentacles and then watch to see how fast the anemone will maneuver the food into its mouth.
Keen fun, eh!?!
Look at all these people on MY beach!! Ah, summer, you bring so many touristas.
Just because. No other reason so don't bother asking. I don't know.
I had never thought of actually feeding an anemone.
I wonder if this guy cleaned out the mussel and left the shell above him. Could have.
More Fun Facts: Similar to their jellyfish relatives, sea anemones use their tentacles to sting and retrieve prey. Small fish, open snails and other intertidal animals are caught by the tentacles, pulled into the mouth and eaten.
An anemone with tentacles tucked inside while underwater is probably eating; an anemone with tentacles tucked inside when out of the water is probably protecting its tentacles and mouth from drying out.
Go away!! Get off my beach you interlopers!!
Hahaha, no, I know it's not my beach. Honest!! Still, I prefer it less crowded, y'know.
And the tide began coming back in.
The beach is just a naturally good place to take a long, contemplative walk. It lends itself to a real good thinking session.
And see yourself a starfish, goose barnacles and mussels all sitting together.
Along with some Giant Green Anemones.
Here's a new addition...a Chiton.
(You knew this was coming, didn't you!?!) Fun Facts: The Chiton is a Marine Mollusk.
Chitons are also called sea cradles, or coat-of-mail shells. The chiton is a mollusk with about 1,000 known species ranging in size form .25 to about 14 inches. Uh, I don't want to see one of these things over a foot long. Nope.
They have a hard shell and a hard raspy tongue that they use to scrape food from the surfaces of their underwater habitats. Their tongues are like a cat's tongue, just rougher. The tongue, or rather the teeth on the tongue, literally scrapes the food from the rocks and coral.
In fact, the Eastern Beaded Chiton (the one below is a Black Leather Chiton), has the hardest teeth known to exist in nature!! Although their teeth are hard, they are not brittle, and research scientists are studying this material to see if they can reproduce it so that it can be used elsewhere. They scrap the algae right off the rock for food.
An interesting pattern made by barnacles.
Hahaha, you didn't honestly think I'd be at the beach and not get at least one picture of a gull, did you. Silly person. Actually, I took a bunch of them but I'm only going to treat you to this one.
You're welcome.
See!! It's like a scene out of Alien.
Creepy.
Farther to the south on the beach, where there are few accessible rocks to take a gander at during low tide, there were also fewer people.
Later that same day, we went to the store and saw this family of four Ospreys having a Family Meeting. Maybe about how it's time for the kids to start thinking of building a nest of their own. You can't live in the basement forever, Man.
Fun Facts: Ospreys live on every continent except Antarctica. Seriously, who would want to live there, right!?! Ospreys, like owls, have reversible toes and, this is wild, they have closable nostrils. I guess for diving for fish which make up over 95% of their diet. Oh, they also mate for life.
After a male osprey reaches the age of three, when he returns to his natal resting area, he will stake a claim to a spot and then begin performing an elaborate flight ritual to attract a mate. A female responds by landing at the nesting spot and eating the fish he supplies to her. Afterward, they begin building a nest together out of sticks, twigs, seaweed and other materials. Once bonded. the pair reunites every mating season for the rest of their lives (on average, they live about 30 years), only searching out other mates if one of the birds dies.
Uh!! Wow!!
The really big news that day was that our Kayaks had arrived on the First. We'd ordered them through Sears and they sent them to the Local HomeTown Sears Store for pick-up. Both handy and dandy.
And we went and picked them up. I was so excited, I forgot to get any pictures at the Home Town Sears Store.
The only problem is, they don't fit. Yet. Give Carol a little while and she'll make'em fit.
Our back room is getting filled up, fast. I do need a garage.
And thus ended another day.
August 2, 2015
It was a drab, overcast and dreary day and we were ready for some more fun on this Sunday so we went on over to the Farmers Market. OK, I had an ulterior motive for going, well, several actually.
I had thought it all a bad dream but when El Señor Presidente, Señor Jack handed me a set of business cards proclaiming me as the Vice-President of the Audubon Society of Lincoln City I had to admit that it was real. My gosh!! Whoda thunk!?!
And so, trying not to be a totally useless tool, I tried to do something semi-positive for the Society, I thought I'd try to help gin up some new members. So I got the semi-bright idea to set up a booth at the local Farmers Market and give folks the opportunity to support their local Chapter of the Audubon Society.
I had sent the paperwork in over a week ago and hadn't heard anything. Concerned, I called them yesterday and was told to come today and talk to the Main Honcho.
And so we did.
Turns out we're good to go. They have a space for non-profits. They rotate them through a cycle so everyone gets a chance. So maybe next week and possibly, for sure, maybe, the weekend of the 23rd.
Carol and I will put up a table and pass out information and membership applications to any interested folks. Maybe get one or two to join. Who knows?
And so it goes. It'll be interesting being at the Market all day long. Oh, and Carol went to talk to a lady who does knitting and conducts classes at the Cultural Center. She wants a name placed on a Christmas Stocking. It's a Schubert Family Tradition. We're going back Wednesday evening to see if we can get it done.
And that day was over.
August 3, 2015
A really do-nothing day. I went for a walk and got some pictures. You know, I never leave home without a camera. I've got three of them...one really small and comfortable Point & Shoot (P&S). Another one bigger than the first with more bells and whistles and, finally, the big one. The one with the really long lens and a lot more bells, whistles, gee-gaws and doohickeys. So I always have something available and choose the one for what I'm doing.
Going for a walk? Usually I take the intermediate, or middle size camera, but today I didn't wear my Safari Vest and so I opted for the small one. It fits better into the pockets of my shorts while I am walking.
I don't know about you, but I'm really enjoying these street scenes taken around the city.
From the open road to an old-time favorite, the Sunflower. The State Flower of the State of Kansas AND the National Flower of Russia.
Hahaha, not too many flowers can lay claim to BOTH of those titles....State and National Flower!!
But this Bad Boy deserves it.
Fun Facts: Sunflowers are prolific and versatile. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter substitute called Sunbutter. In Germany, sunflowers seeds are mixed with rye flour to make a type of bread called Sonnenblumenkembrot.
The Sunflower is native to the America's and was used extensively by Native American Indians for food, as oil, in bread, medical ointments, dyes and body paints.
Hah!! In your face, Roses!!
And another street scene.
Deal with it.
It wasn't much of a walk and, strangely, I wasn't really in a mood to take a lot of pictures. I think that may have influenced my choice of cameras, too.
But that day was done and now we move onto....
August 4, 2015
And the big news today was that, after we'd washed the Mini, we were heading on over to Devils Lake to baptize our new kayaks. Their maiden voyage, so to speak. But, first, we had to load up the Mini for fun....
....and we did. Loaded it up to the gills!!
Hahaha, I know, you're thinking "Doesn't that Old Fool know he has some perfectly good roof racks on top of that Van?" The answer is, yes, I do. However, I'm not too keen on lifting that much weight up over my head. Not keen on it at all.
Oh, and remember I told you Carol would find a way to get them all the way into the van?
She did!!
And sure as Bob's your uncle, we were at Devils Lake and preparing for our first adventure afloat!!
We got our life jackets on and put the paddles together and then, gracefully, ever so gracefully, we got into the Kayaks and headed out to the open lake.
(I say gracefully because, the way I figure it, if I can get into the doggone thing without ending up in the lake then I've accomplished something, gracefully.)
And we were off!!
In more ways than one!!
I had brought the small camera again. I figured if I was going to end up in the drink then I'd rather lose the smallest camera rather than either of his larger cousins. For the most part it rested, uneasily, in a zip-loc bag somewhere either in my lap or on the floor of the kayak.
I have to figure out a better way of carrying cameras. Either that or become a semi-proficient kayaker so I don't tip the boat over. I see me getting a good bag for the cameras before I become a better boater, brother.
But, on this inaugural voyage, I wasn't too worried about great pictures...I was shooting more as a documentary today. And trying not to capsize.
We rounded the shore and headed towards the large part of the lake when we spotted these guys. They were out hunting on the lake today and we got to watch them dancing in the sky for most of our trip today.
Carol thinks Mom or Dad is teaching the kids to hunt.
Now you know what she's looking at.
We went up and around this small point and....
...over here, too. Oh, that post there in the water. It says "Don't Make Waves". Sound advice on water and on land.
And there he is, the Salty Old Dog!!
I'm gonna check on the legal (?) necessity to have to wear that doggone vest. Not comfortable. Not very stylish, either. And you know I'm all about style.
Here she is!! We were all over the place today, having fun.
Hahaha, look familiar?
I was just trying to include the kayak in the picture so you'd know I was really and truly out there on the lake paddling my humongous heiney around.
They'll get better. I hope.
Whup!!
There's our buddy again. What a treat it was to just sit and drift and watch their flight. They could hover in one place for like 10-15 seconds neither going forward nor back.
I got lucky today with this shot. These birds can have a nearly six-foot wing span.
That's one big, beautiful bird, Bubba.
We were done. My back was singing to me and the wind was picking up. I know this will come as no surprise to you but, doggone it, it's difficult paddling against the wind.
Not only was the water getting choppy, but the wind was moving the surface water in the wrong doggone direction from me and pushing us back. Plus, I had to paddle this enormous weight against the wind and the water.
Phew!!
And we got back.
I knew we'd have some small difficulty getting the kayaks beached and actually getting out of them without either going for a swim or hurting ourselves.
Well, things were going along well until the weight displacement was centered in the kayak when Carol drew her feet up under her to get out. Then, as she tried to get one foot out, the weight started to lean towards one side and...
Ker-Splash!!
She honestly sat there, in the lake, for nearly a minute laughing. OK, I was laughing too. But not for long.
When it was my turn, I was determined not to repeat Carol's mistake. I decided to put one foot over the side and then try the other.
Hahahaha, what you're looking at in this picture is where I think my sunglasses are now residing.
I'm pretty sure I dropped them there, in the water, when I went ass-over-teakettle.
Kayaks - Two ..... Jack and Carol - Zero.
Adios, sunglasses.
Hola, wet guy!!
Needless to say, we both shipped a lot of water with our little oopsies. It took a while and some solid cursing before we found the rubber plug to open the drain. Hahaha, we got most of the water out.
Well, these kayaks have been throughly wetted down now. We're veteran boaters. Tomorrow, maybe, we'll take'em over to the Salmon River.
Who knows!?! Life is an adventure, ist es nicht?
Hahaha, hey!! They both fit AND we got the rear hatch closed.
Win-Win, y'all!!
We figured we deserved a treat because, well, because we survived and, other than a good dunking in the lake and the tragic loss of a great pair of sunglasses, nothing was broken or injured.
So we headed over to the local, small-town DQ.
Unfortunately, this one was being manned by a new guy. And he was having more than a bit of trouble figuring out the electronics. After a couple minutes taking the order from the same guy, I got impatient and so we left and went on over to Plan B.
McDonald's.
Hahaha, they got us the ice cream and DC most ricky-tic!!
Treated, it was now a matter of going back, unloading the Mini, washing the Kayaks and storing them away until the next adventure.
Check, check, check and check!!!
It was fun. It was good exercise and it was fun. Who knows what adventures await us on Oregon's rivers and lakes!! Oh, yeah, we had to, in addition to buying all that other stuff, purchase an Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Permit (AISPP) to take our kayaks out on the lake. No training, no nothing but, doggone it, we better be sure we had the AISPP with us. Ah, well, it is suppose to help. Concentrate on that, Jackie. It's suppose to help.
We had a great day and we're looking forward to more of them.
Life is good!!
Hooah!!
P.S. We hit the 'Net and learned about the proper method for getting into and out of the kayak. I predict we will cut down on our spills by at least 50% in the future. I hope.
P.S. We hit the 'Net and learned about the proper method for getting into and out of the kayak. I predict we will cut down on our spills by at least 50% in the future. I hope.
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