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SOS Manager's Party 2010

A few pictures taken with my phone last night at the Rogue River Lodge

Debby and Ray

Down the table: Kevin, Arron's wife Debby, Arron, Angelo & Mary

Melynie and her husband

Debby took pictures with a real camera which I hope that she shares.

It’s hard to believe (some days) that I’ve been there 17 years and counting.  Even more unbelievable is that is the shortest time of the non-family managers.

Ray’s sons Kevin and Aaron have grown up on the job and are beginning to take the reins.

Nevada City and Opal Report

As the great gray dank dampness sets upon us, I think that I'll get around to posting about last month in California when it was sunny and warm.  In fact it was very warm: around 90 ° F.

As some of you know, Huxley needed to make a trip last month to visit ICSB in Grass Valley. Yes, he did enjoy it as a matter of fact.  Nine vials worth.  Huxley is now in love with Bridgett.  We decided to make a mini-vacation of it and take the rest of the pack along.  You've already seen some of the pictures from our return trip up the coast.

And next to Grass Valley is . . . Nevada City.  Now the only thing that I really knew about Nevada City was that 1) that was where Utah Phillips lived and 2) that is where Ruth Mary and Opal live!  You know that section of the application where I make sure that you are always ok for a visit?  Sometimes we do.  I e-mailed Ruth Mary and we had it all set up to meet after Huxley's appointment.
So . . . along with the collection the requirements for exportation require a vet check and blood draw for a brucellosis test.  Conveniently located just across the street is the Brunswick Veterinary Clinic.  Huxley, Bridgett, and I walked over and were visiting with the help in front while we waited for the doctor to be free.
Receptionist: "Oh, we have a black & white puppy one of those who comes in here.  She's a real live wire!"

Me: "Uh, is she about 4 months old?"

Receptionist: "Yes, and she's just a kick.  Always so enthusiastic."

Me: "Uh, and would her name be Opal?"

Yes, we had by chance landed at the same vet that Ruth Mary uses.

When Huxley was done, we checked into the nearby Best Western for the night.  Ruth Mary was just getting done at school, then picked up Opal and headed over.  We decided to load up the dogs and take a family walk along the Gracie Ditch Trail.

Sisters Kady and Opal

It was a really long walk and it was impossible to get the dogs to cooperate for a nice family photo.

All 5 dogs.  Sort of.

Opie!

View down to Nevada City from our turn-around point.

After the walk, we cleaned up and met Ruth Mary at her house to car pool into Nevada City for dinner. We had a great meal at Sopa Thai.  As far as I am concerned, you can never go wrong with coconut and hot peppers.

We really liked Nevada City and could spend more time there.  Thank you for your hospitality!

Have I mentioned how much the dogs love "motel camping"?

 "Don't make us get up."

This week received an update on from Ruth Mary:

Opal walked quietly into her first intermediate class last Sunday! No barking. Previously she had always had to announce her arrival. Sandy took her right away and put her through her paces and pronounced her very good. Later I figured out that meant Opal had been chosen as demo dog for the class. I was totally clutched as I see my girl as a bit of an imp and did not know what she would do. She was letter perfect. She doesn't do that for me at home ! 

In his youth my father came close to becoming a professional jockey. He used to say that horses understood they were racing to win. Does Opal understand that when she is in class it is time to perform ? I think so ! What do you think? Do they do this ?

The other amusing thing is that since Sunday's class she has been much happier to get to work with me. Her down is hilarious because it is so fast. That girl hits the floor with total abandon. Come has always been good and now we are working on distance. I can't brag about stay, but she is perfect in class. 

In my bedroom I have a piece of RMax covered with flannel as a design wall for quilting. Opal has taken to tearing the foil off the foam. This morning I sprinkled cayenne in her favorite spots. I'm pretty sure she got a mouthful as she sat and snorted and licked her face over and over. But that didn't stop her for going back for more ! She is persistent. 

I saw Opal clean the cats ears twice on Saturday evening. She pins the cat to the floor and goes at it. The cat lets it happen for a while, then has enough. Cheryl will try to get a picture tomorrow when I take my band to the San Francisco Symphony.

We do need a picture of that!

Rogue Valley Autumn

A little color from the yard.

Grape vines and poison oak.

Wednesday evening rainbow as I left work.  

It looked to be a direct hit on Mom & Dad’s house.  Too bad they weren’t there to retrieve the pot of gold.

Sunset during the drive.

Sometimes it’s the weather that is “Rogue”.  After the rain comes the fog.

Hello darkness my old friend.  7:15 a.m. Thursday morning.

The drive to work on Thursday.

Not shown: first truck  of the season off the road and into the ditch just south of here.   I didn’t get a picture as I was too busy turning on my blinkers and trying to maneuver around while holding my breath that a) nobody rear-ended me and b) nobody was coming the other way without their lights on.  This will be my 18th winter of making this commute.

The drive was better Friday morning, as it was raining again:

 

Pear orchard neighbor.

Trees along Wheeler Creek.

From Seven Oaks Farm:

Pumpkin display.  Happy Halloween!

 

Big Tree

Highway 1

Lunch at Noyo Harbor. Excellent fish tacos at Herons.

Deer at MacKerricher State Park. A park full of many memories.

Beach north of Westport just before heading inland

Mendocino

How I've missed you.

The Rogue

     

Some days I love it here.

September 11 Update

The play was absolutely fantastic.  We were lucky to get tickets as every performance has been sold out - probably it was a cancellation that lead to Tom's picking a pair up.

In the director's words:

“The idea which has stayed with the piece is looking at these people who at the darkest times in American history have poured light, who have shown good about America during times that are very bad about America,” says Jo Bonney, the play’s Australian-born director, who was sworn in as a U.S. citizen four days after Barack Obama was sworn in as president.

Read more at http://cultureclash.com/.  I wish everybody in the county could see it, especially people in Arizona.  Though I have to say that my favorite character was the 15-year-old Sacajawea (Saca-chihuahua?).

Also today, filed under "Things that I wish I had written":

Read Michael Moore's If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America

Another Year . . .

. . . closer to Medicare. They sure better not raise the age any more before I get there. Following Leo N's lead yesterday, today I am 3A, which leaves just 7 years to go.  (I'm not sure that "3A" works as well as "35", being more obviously in hex.)

This afternoon, we're heading to Ashland to see:

Then maybe we'll wander the streets of Ashland and have an early dinner. I'm thinking

Sounds pretty good today.

There is a sidewalk sale going on at

So much yarn, so little time . . .

It's not always about the dogs

“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.  No, in fact I think that it was about four years later.

Interviews and articles this week pertaining to the 50^th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird have led me to musing about the first time I heard the book.

Yes, heard rather than read.  In fact, our fourth grade teacher read it aloud to us in class.  The year would have been 1962, so the book was still young.  I debate that it is appropriately a children’s book even though written from the point of view of a little girl.  Then again, it was perhaps the correct time to be introduced to the concepts of prejudice, unfairness, and equality.  Growing up as we did in a community in northern California with little racial diversity, it was a window to a different world.

Perhaps today I would like to know the kind of teacher who would think the book important for a group of 9- and 10-year-old children to be exposed to.  What I remember most about the teacher, Mrs. Carson, is that she was a firm believer in corporal punishment who wielded the receiving end of a paddle-ball.  My own palm was the victim only once during the school year.  I don’t remember why, but I’m sure that it was a minor transgression.  I was a shy child and avoided drawing attention to myself whenever possible.  The humiliation of the punishment far outweighed the physical sting.

I have recently finished reading three books by Temple Grandin: Animals make us Human, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, and Thinking in Pictures.  While I now think hearing words in my mind, perhaps most of us “think in pictures” before we have full verbal ability.  I know that my memories up through fourth grade are predominantly snapshots inside my head, and not on a linear timescale. Paging through the scenes of fourth grade I see:

The dreaded lessons in writing “cursive”.  The big thick green pen.  I was on the young end of the class, with a September birthday, and lacked the fine motor skills to copy the letters as well as I should have or desired.

An earthquake while we were in the classroom.  This was in a very ancient or poorly constructed building so fortunately it was not a big shake.  The rest of the year we practiced “duck and cover” under our desks, not in fear of “the bomb” but of a larger quake.

Sitting at my grandma’s dining table after school one day, with arithmetic homework that had to be done.  I remember my mom setting a timer.  I remember hating it.  But it must have worked.

I don’t remember recesses that year except for one: when Regina Karpinski broke Kay Randall’s arm.

Most of all I can picture the little blue bookmobile that came to school on a regular schedule.   The first real books I read came primarily from the dusty shelves of that little bus.  I can still see right where my favorites were: on an upper shelf on the driver’s side toward the front of the bus.  The Black Stallion and every other horse book I could find.  Albert Payson Terhune (Grey Dawn was a favorite) and other dog books.  Then one day when I couldn’t find anything new to read I moved just a little to the left and picked up a different kind of book. The jacket bore a stylized drawing in green, white, and dark blue of The Misty Mountains.  The book was, of course, The Hobbit. Fourth grade was a pivotal year.  It was the year I discovered the magic of living mult

Black Sheep Gathering

I can't help it: I like sheep. I like the way they feel, I like the way they smell . . . I like the pretty things that you can make out of them. Yesterday I drove up to Eugene for the day for a really good sheep-fix. I have brought back pictures, as well as wool. Some were taken with my camera, most with my phone. It does make a difference so while I love my phone, I will continue to use the camera.

Shannon (of Kenleigh Acres) in a little stock-dog demo.

A couple of Shannon's Jacob sheep.

Wool judging: the finals of the colored wool

Best in show (left) and reserve.

I found the wool judging very interesting.  Much as in livestock judging, the judge has a microphone and discusses each fleece while making her choice.  She picks up the fleece to see its weight, checks cleanliness, and pulls out locks to check length and quality.  The winner and reserve were both colored Lincoln from the same farm.  The judge, who was from the UK, told us that while we might not know it in the PNW where they are fairly common, the Lincoln is nearly extinct in its original home and is classified as a rare breed.  My first ram was a Lincoln.  Big sheep.  Wonderful, glossy wool.

Blue Faced Leicester, as I was visiting with Garrett.

Just look at these fleeces

The hay is always greener on the other side of the fence.

In the alpaca barn, you could walk them through an agility course.

Some how I didn't manage to bring home any pictures of Shetland sheep. I'm not sure how that happened.  There was a little moorit ewe lamb that I loved.  I don't think she was for sale.  I spent some time talking about the breed with a young man from Thunderhead Shetlands in Monroe, who was ready to put some diapers on them and load them in the Prius.  Yes, I could easily have brought back 3 or 4: they're that small.

Here's what I did bring back:

Died rovings

Yes there was yarn too . . .

These will become a couple of pairs of colorful socks

But it was the rovings that caught my eye and made my fingers itch.  I'll be bringing out my wheel to spin some lovely yarn. The rovings came from Dayspring Farm.

So, no new pasture ornaments yet.  But as I was washing dishes last night I raised my head to the window and saw a young doe looking back at me.

I managed to get outside and take a shot as she made her exit.

Then I got a shot of our beautiful evening sky.

Useful Projects

One of the (few) things that has annoyed me about our trailer is that there is no nightstand on my side of the bed. So, some five years later I have remedied that shortcoming. I knitted this last fall, but only put it to use last weekend when we pulled the trailer out of its winter respite.

Pockets for cellphone, glasses, current reading material, and even holds earrings and other personal decor. And I had yarn in my stash that coordinated well with the blue-and-beige trailer decor. Proof that sometimes you don't need a pattern to accomplish something. Just hold it in your mind's eye and do it. I'm hoping to start taking the trailer on our winter vacation as well.

Where have all the turtles gone

Long time passing,

Where have all the shrimpers gone

Long time ago.

Where have all the fishes gone?

Gone to oil slicks every one.

When will we ever learn?

When will we ever learn?

Answer: perhaps when we have killed all of the life in the oceans.

In a WTF moment this morning, I saw one of my FB "friends" had "liked" 1,000,000 strong for offshore drilling! On a positive note, when I went to the page I noted that there were only 396 people who had liked it.   Ah, I get it: it's like  Fox News reporting, where 396 attendees can swell to a million. For those who have missed the videos from bpoilslick.blogspot.com:



I'm debating which is the best course of action: to continue to "unfriend" some people, or to keep them in a probably futile effort to make them stop and think.

Dog Show Respite

Saturday afternoon I begged off stewarding puppy groups so that I could "go play with my husband."  We took a short drive down to the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge for a little birding and photography.  Credit Tom and his Nikon for the shots: my contribution was driving the truck.  Note: the Prius is a much better (i.e. quieter) vehicle for birding than is the Nissan Titan.   Vroom.

 I wish that I had video of the terns as they dove straight down into the water.