Endemic Diary — May 23 to June 5, 2022

Monday, May 23, 2022

E did Zoom yoga today and followed it up with an hour or so of weeding flowerbeds. She reports that yoga and weeding are not completely compatible, spiritually or physically. It might be better to do the weeding first.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

It took two of us, but the long-delayed weeding of the raspberry patch got done today. It had been years. We are both exhausted. Meanwhile, flowers are popping out everywhere. 

   

(Camas lily video 5332, originally scheduled for this space, is currently on back order with delivery expected by June 11.)

Wednesday, May 25, 2022 

Today is our anniversary. To celebrate we went off for a two-day stay at the coast. Our plans for the first day included a dock tour, a nice dinner, and the opening of a new box of Burst’s chocolates, preferably in that order.

Our tour took us to Newport’s Dock #5. Our guide was Angee Doerr, an OSU Extension Marine Fisheries Specialist. Dock #5 is the commercial fishing dock at Newport. In terms of total catch, Newport ranks third among Oregon’s four commercial fishing ports. It ranks second, however, in terms of catch value. Doerr took us around the docks and showed us how the various boats were rigged for different kinds of fishing. We saw examples of rigging for tuna, halibut, hake, rockfish, crab, shrimp, squid, hagfish…and probably some more we don’t remember. Doerr also explained how several fisheries at Newport have achieved sustainable fishery certification. In addition to controls on how many fish of each species can be taken in each season, certification also requires the reduction or elimination of “by-catch.” By-catch occurs when non-target species are caught by accident in the nets or other equipment that fishermen are using. By-catch is an especially serious problem in tuna and shrimp fisheries. In some traditional shrimp fisheries, for example, the total catch is about 10% shrimp and 90% other species. Doerr showed us how the Newport fisheries, working with researchers at OSU’s Marine Science Center, have addressed the by-catch problem for both the tuna and shrimp fisheries. Newport was the first shrimp fishery in the U.S. to be certified sustainable.

It was interesting to the hear about hagfish, which are also known as slime eels. They are very weird creatures and are considered a great delicacy in Korea. Newport has an active hagfish fishery which involves catching them in special barrels and also keeping them alive for shipment to Korean kitchens. In 2017 a truck carrying live hagfish from Newport overturned on the Pacific Coast Highway. The result was a sliming of epic proportions. 

After the tour, it was time for lunch. We walked over to Mo’s Annex on the bay front and had ourselves some chowder. Mo’s has been a Newport fixture since 1946 and is very much thriving under the management of the founder’s granddaughter. It is a wonderful place whose menu still reflects its working class origins.

Later on we went to dinner at Local Ocean. M had Moqueca De Peixe, a Brazilian fish stew with rockfish, scallops, wild prawns, and Dungeness crab (all obtained hyper fresh from Dock #5 across the street) plus mushroom, bell pepper, tomato, onion, and cilantro in a coconut milk broth. Stunning. E had grilled hoisin black cod (also from Dock #5), which came with asparagus, green beans, fresh orange, shiitake mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper, yakisoba noodles and sesame seeds. She liked it very much. The owner of Local Ocean comes from a local fishing family and has an MS in Marine Resource Management from OSU. 

We seriously doubt that Mo Niemi (founder of Mo’s restaurant) had a master’s degree in anything, and yet the two businesses seem to be part of the same tradition of being deeply rooted in the local community and very committed to the well-being of that community.

Here’s the view from our table on the second floor of Local Ocean, showing the dock area that we toured earlier. If we had taken good notes, we would able to tell you what kind of fish each of those boats is rigged for. Alas, we’re past that now. We’re still good at eating, though. 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

In the morning we drove from Newport down past Waldport and Yachats to Heceta Head and went hiking–not to the lighthouse but inland up to a little valley called China Creek. Vegetation is lush in these parts.

At a certain point on the trail, we came to a sign hanging from a rope stretched across the trail. China Creek Trail Closed, it said, Due to Bridge Damage. M wanted to just keep going and see what sort of bridge damage it was. E wasn’t so sure. “What if it’s not really bridge damage at all?” she said. “Huh?” replied M. “They’ve probably been spraying toxic chemicals and they don’t want anyone to know,” E explained. M thought that seemed unlikely. We ended up going around the sign and continuing up the trail. The area turned out to be quite beautiful, rather like a city park with a think layer of moss instead of grass. After we had walked a half a mile or so past the closed sign, we started wondering when, if ever, we would come to the supposedly damaged bridge. At this point E suggested another possibility. Maybe the CIA had established a top secret facility higher up in the China Creek valley. Hmm. After another half a mile or so, we finally came to a damaged bridge. So that was a relief. But wait, what if it was just a decoy? What if someone had deliberately damaged the bridge just to have a plausible excuse to close the trail?! Maybe a flying saucer had crashed up there and the government was trying to keep it quiet. Yeah, that could be it…

After the hike, we ate our lunch at Washbourne State Park, then took a walk on the beach.

Friday, May 27, 2022

Drove back to Corvallis, arriving around noon, just in time to get some takeout tacos from La Rockita.

Saturday, May 28, 2022

E spent the middle of the day volunteering at a Get Outdoors Day event designed to familiarize pre-school and elementary school age children with the natural environment. Normally this event is held at the OSU Research Forest but this year was held in a city park. Turnout was very good, despite a continuous cold rain all day. The kids seemed to really enjoy the various learning activities such as making crowns out of leaves and name tags out of “tree cookies.” There was also an exhibit of animal pelts, one of which was a werewolf according to one enthusiastic little boy.

Sunday, May 29, 2022

We were invited to K and J’s for a barbecue today, so off we went to Salem. K was a college friend of Becca. C, another friend of Becca’s, was also there. It’s so nice for us to be able to keep in touch with them.

Friday, June 3, 2022

We went down to Eugene today. E’s pal S was having a birthday party. Since it was one of those birthdays when your age has a zero in it, and since at our age, you don’t know how many more of those you’re going to have, she put on quite a spread: rack of lamb, lots of salmon, vegetarian ravioli and more. We got to talk to a bunch of Univ. of Oregon people that we don’t get to see often. It was nice to catch up. 

Saturday, June 4, 2022

M was wiped out today, all groaning and lethargic in the aftermath of his fourth Covid shot the day before. So he did nothing. E, though, went to see a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Oregon State Parks system. The event was held at a state park just twenty miles north of us. The reason it was held there is that the park is named for Sarah Helmick, a pioneer woman who in 1922 donated six acres to the State of Oregon for the purpose of providing a wayside park for travelers going up and down the Willamette Valley. It was the first such donation in state history and became the first state park in Oregon. It was noted that Sarah herself did not attend the park’s opening ceremony in 1922 because she was 101 years old at the time.

There were a number of information booths and also a number of cupcakes being given away. There was also a cake. E has provided us with a photo of the event, again focusing on issues of greatest significance.

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Spent the day today packing for a road trip to the wilds of north central Nevada. There are about 2.6 million people in Nevada. Two million live in Las Vegas and a half million live in Reno, so the rest of the state is pretty empty. We’re planning to tour some of the empty part. M made us chocolate chip cookies to take along in case we get lost miles from anywhere and are forced to go into survival mode.