Wouldn't It Be Nice - 5/23/15

Or: Taking Life Easy

And that's the secret to being retired, isn't it? To take life easy. To ease back on the throttle and not necessarily coast, but not race the engine day in and day out.

Hahaha, I can't tell you how many times, (OK, I can, maybe 5 or 6 times) I was warned that retirement wouldn't be the heaven and bliss I was expecting. Well, I've been at it for nearly two years now and I can honestly say, they were all wrong!! It's been both heaven and bliss PLUS so, so, so much more!!

It's been a lot fun. Oh. So. Much. Fun!!

I can remember people telling me that my Dad wouldn't live long after he retired. They said he'd just sorta dry up and die without something to do every day. He definitely proved them wrong. And so I'm picking up the challenge from him and I'm going to do my best to prove all my naysayers wrong, too. 

Bottom line, I strongly recommend, in the most vigorous terms, retirement. Everyone should try it. I just deeply and sincerely regret not having retired earlier.

Hahaha, I'm lovin' it.

Haha, y'know, I never thought I'd ever be old enough to retire. It was just so unthinkable when I was young. I think that's the way it is for everyone of a certain age. 

Seriously, think about the lyrics from the Beach Boys in their 1966 song, Wouldn't It Be Nice, from their album Pet Sounds.

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older?

Then we wouldn't have to wait so long

And wouldn't it be nice to live together

In the kind of world where we belong

Hahaha, is that really true!?! Was there ever a time we couldn't wait to get older?As for the second part, I guess it's a subjective thing, your decision as to whether or not you ended up in the kind of world where you belong.

And that leads us into this gentle jaunt.  The past couple days  have been uneventful and quiet. We took a couple walks to the market and went to check out a beach. And that's it. Gentle and easy and just right. These things got us out a bit and put us on our feet and we talk and we walk and we see. And we enjoy. And it's a good thing. A very good thing. And it's fun.

So let's get this thing started, shall we? First off,  a couple days ago we needed a treat just because and so we were off. Walking and talking and seeing. And taking pictures.

And as we walk along, we take in the sights. Like these. There's plenty of flowers out and about but you've got to put in some time to get to them. They're not as numerous as they were in Seattle, but they're here. 

Yeah, they're here, you just have to work at it a bit more.

Some of the streets here in LCO are, well, rustic. This is NW 35th Place just around the corner from us. Doesn't look like much but it does run from NW Jetty all the way to The 101. 

Another neat thing about this road is that you can find these stands of mature evergreens scattered here and there. It's like being in the mountains but, you know, you're down near the beach.

And, remember, we're not all that far from Cutler City, the Rhododendron Capital of the World. The Rhodies are all over the place and they've been blooming for a week or more. And looking good!!

Hahaha, it's so easy to get a good picture of a Rhodie. The trick is to get a great one though. There's the challenge. I'm still working on it.

Oh! Big news!! I finally purchased a User's Manual for the SX60 and I've been learning a lot the past week about all the neat features in this camera. It's got a built-in level, people!! A built-in level!! 

Then I finally learned the difference between the 'P' setting and the 'A' setting. Hahaha, it's gonna help. Baby steps, y'all, baby steps. 

And some fuchsia. Always a delight.

Looking at 35th Place as it travels across The 101. Hahaha, no street runs straight for very long in LCO.

And since there is a Mickey D's just a half-mile away, it's the logical place for us to head to for our treat. 

You deserve a break today!

So get up and get away!

To McDonald's! McDonald's! McDonald's! 

Fun Facts: 'You deserve a break today' was first used in 1971 in a TV commercial that featured, among others, actor John Amos - later the father on Good Times - dancing away with a broom and a brush. The song sounds logical when you consider Ray Kroc was a real stickler for cleanliness. 

If you enjoy a little nostalgia, check out their original commercial. Note that it is racially diverse but, strangely, no women worked in McDonald's at this time. 

 - Cut 'N Paste -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKR1ScQUpcA

John Amos cleaning up

You deserve a break today ... At McDonald's

Oh, and this commercial song was rated by Ad Age as the top advertising jingle of the 20th Century.

Hahaha, we are a simple and frugal people and, besides, an ice cream cone goes with everything.

But it's our Mickey and it's got a playground!! 

Plus some awfully loud and aggressive decor.

But you always know what you're gonna get. That's the thing going to a McDonald's, it feels like you're coming home. It's familiar and comfortable. The floor plan may change and the location always changes but the heart of it remains the same ... a quarter pounder IS still a quarter pounder no matter what state you're in.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a big fan of Mickey D's.

And then we walk back a different way.

Here's the road down to the beach. We stopped so I could take a picture looking down NW 40th Street toward the ocean. That's the RV parking lot for the Chinook Winds Casino there on the right. They let the RVs park there for free while they gamble. There are no hook-ups so you have to provide electricity, water, etc.

And that was our big excitement for that day. 

Now let's segue to today. We were relaxing at home when the sun suddenly appeared to our great surprise. It was an unexpected treat.

And since we hate to waste any sunshine here in this rain-soaked and cloudy land, we decided to get out and enjoy what little sun there might be. And we were off.

Today, we headed out to the beach in the Taft Neighborhood. Taft sits at the southern end of LCO. It's the end of the 7.5 miles of LCO beach and, I think, where they hold the kite-flying contests.

It's also the place where you can easily see some harbor seals lounging about.

And so we were off.

Parking was thin today but we did find a place near the beach. The traffic down to the Taft Neighborhood was thick and the parking was, as I mentioned, thin. And it's only gonna get worse. But, finally, we were on the path to the beach.

To get to the beach, you have to walk through a lot of beach grass ... and then a lot of driftwood. Oh, rest easy, I didn't take any pictures of driftwood today. Now that I think about it, it is odd. 

Hmmmm ...

And Siletz Bay. 

Fun Facts: Siletz Bay is a National Wildlife Refuge. It was created to protect salt marshes, brackish marshes, tidal sloughs, mudflats and coniferous and deciduous forestland. The Bay and the refuge provides nursery grounds for coho and chinook salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout. The goal for the refuge is to allow the salt marsh to return to its natural tidally influenced state.

LCO's beaches end where Siletz Bay begins. It was busy on the beach today. The busiest I've ever seen a beach here ... so far.

There's a sand bar that stretches to the north that gives the Bay a natural boundary separating the Bay from the ocean. And right where the beach is there is an inlet into the bay. You can just make it out through the beach grass.

Directly across, maybe 150 yards or less is the shoreline of that sandbar where the seals and sea lions like to come up and lie in the sun. And this was  a small group today. We've been here before and seen pods of seals two and three times larger than the one we saw today.

On the Taft side of the inlet there were two or three times more people than we'd ever seen before. There were folks who were picnicking and some were crabbing. There were also men doing some fly fishing along the shore, too. In other words, it were busy today.

I tell ya, it wuz crowded!!

And there were even people across the inlet watching the seals up close. We both wondered how close you can get to a pod of seals. Federal marine mammal regulations prohibit harassing seals on shore to reduce human disturbance. They ask that you give the animal space and stay back 100 yards if possible and that you respect nature - don't touch, handle or feed seals found on the shore.

Agreed.

Evidently gulls and seals like to rest up next to each other. I suppose the gulls get a lot of left-over food from the seals.

There was some activity with the seals today. Hahaha, these are the most ungainly and clumsy looking creatures I think I've ever seen. On land.

But we enjoy it when we get to see them even though there isn't much to them when they're on land.

It was hard for me to tell exactly what I was shooting today. Hand held with a long zoom lens is not a good recipe for taking pictures and, mostly, I just aim and hope something reasonable comes out. Hahaha, ever the artist. But I did catch, barely, this seal pup cuddling up to her mother while another pup plays in the water.

There were some beefy burritos lying about today. Seems the only ones in the water were the younger ones.

Hahahaha, digging holes, lounging in the beach tents and standing around talking while the kids are playing. Oh, and the guy on the right? He's got on his overshoes because he was crabbing. They were tossing out their crab cages like throwing out a life-saver. They'd wave it around in a circle and then, POW, let it fly out into the water. They had the cages tied to a rope and so I guess they let the trap lie for a while and then tow it back in to see if they'd caught anything. I heard one guy say, in response to a question, that he'd caught six crabs so far. Depending on the type of crab you catch you can take either 12 (Dungeness) or 24 (Red Rock Crab) each day.

But mostly folks were just out walking the beach, taking the air and collecting rocks.

It twer a cloudy day.

But the lack of clear sunshine didn't bother these Bad Boys a bit.

The sand at this beach was grittier, larger than the sand at our beach. I could feel the grit with my bare feet as I walked along the shore.

Hahaha, the gulls know how to play the game. This guy was crabbing and when he'd pull his cage up onto the shore, the gulls would swoop in and actually go at the cage trying to get the crabs before the guy could get them out.

They know where the food is.

The waves on shore inside the Bay were manageable, just my size. 

Haha, I am sooooo old.

This guy took his boat to the center of the inlet and anchored there for some serious fishing. Adventurous fellow, I think I'd rather fish from the shore. 

Ah, this is more like it for me. The beach goes towards the ocean before it turns at the mouth of the Bay and then it turns north, towards where we live. 

And there were some breaks in the clouds. Depended on which way you looked. And right then, I was up near the mouth of the inlet looking north.

The tide was coming in. Looking back towards where we started. The Bay is to the right and you can see where the foothills and then, beyond that, the Siuslaw National Forest start. Same spot as above but looking due east.

And, same spot, looking west. Hahaha, I'm liking this close access to the beaches. 

My goal was to walk up to the mouth of the Bay and look north towards where we live. And I did. Carol's goal was to find some more agate for her collection. And she did.

Remember, I've mentioned that the Lincoln City (LCO) beaches stretched a total of 7.5 miles from north to south. That takes it from Cascade Head, to the north, down here to the inlet into Siletz Bay, to the south.

Someday, I'd like to walk the whole beach but for now, here's a picture looking north from the very southernmost end of LCO's beaches. You can see Cascade Head to the left there. 

And here's the mouth of the Bay.

Out this way the human traffic thins out dramatically. For a Memorial Day Weekend, there weren't a lot of people out here.

Some pictures to give you an idea of the beauty we are privileged to enjoy and the gritty beach.

And the beautiful scenes we get every day.

And then we were heading back.

And one of the last things we saw as we were leaving the beach was a formation of Canada Geese flying north. We saw several of these formations while we were out on the beach.

We enjoyed our time at the beach but like all good things, it had to end. Even I can get tired of walking on the beach. 

OK, so we went back home and, after a while, we got to thinking about dinner for tomorrow and so we headed up to the store, just like a couple days ago, to get some dried beans to mix up with the ham that we have left over. 

And while we were heading up 35th Place, these boys flew by overhead. Looks familiar, doesn't it? I guess it's migration time back north for these geese. But, y'know, after looking at them waddling around on the ground, I still feel a sense of amazement when I actually see them in flight.

We walked up the same way we took before, past the tall stands of evergreens. And we got to see this guy along the way. He was brassy for a robin and flew over to a branch about 10 feet off the ground and posed for me for a good while. Most times I see a robin they're either on the ground or in flight.

It wasn't much of a walk and really, it was just to the store and back, but we did get to see what we could and that included some flowers. 

Another easy day. A small trip down to the beach to see a part of it we hadn't seen before and then a nice walk through the neighborhood. 

Hahaha, not a lot of excitement to the day but a good amount of satisfaction.

And a kind of a fitting end to this easy day. Things just sorta fell together for us and we got to enjoy ourselves. Like this little guy below who could easily fit onto a nickel. Being retired I got plenty of time to stop and see things. And it was a pretty good way to end the day.

And that's it, another day done. No great excitement, no grand adventures, just an easy way to go about life. See what there is to be seen and relax. Hahaha, I can do it. We got our beans and now we have something to look forward to for tomorrow. We are a simple folk.

So here it was. We eased back on the throttle and didn't race the engine none, but we enjoyed the day. Who wouldn't when you could take a walk on a beach, listen to the waves pounding the shore, feeling the sand between your toes and feel the cool breeze on your face. Then, to top it off, you get to take a walk and then stop and smell the flowers. We're coasting down that highway and enjoying life.

Life is good.

     Hooah!!