Author: Michael Witbeck

Thursday, August 29th

The story of the origin of the COVID virus has become clearer in the last few years, based largely on information that has become available via Freedom of Information Act requests. M has been looking at two YouTube videos. One is an Aug. 2023 interview with Jeffrey Sachs, chairman of the Lancet COVID 19 Commission. The other is a Nov. 2022 interview with Emily Kopp, an investigative reporter for U.S. Right to Know, an organization that initiated some of the Freedom in Information Act requests. One suspects that it was Kopp herself who sifted through thousands of pages of documents in order to find evidence of what was really going on. She’s an interesting young woman. Overall, the sequence of events that Sachs and Kopp reveal makes for a fascinating story. For M–the old lit. major–it is very reminiscent of Greek tragedy.

And here’s another science news update, this one related to the two astronauts on the space station.

Friday, August 30th

We had a few people over for dinner, which consisted of paella from E, salad from B, and a flourless cake from Ma, all of which were awfully good. We had dinner inside, then dessert outside when the weather had improved. Ma and J have just returned from a year in Brasilia, where Ma was an English Language Fellow. While she kept busy teaching university classes and doing other ELF-type projects, J improved his Portuguese, did yoga, and went adventuring into the fascinating world of Brazilian visa requirements.

Saturday, August 31th

We went over to the coast again today because S invited us over to stay at a house he was renting at the beach just north of Yachats. The little house was in the “fish district” on Perch Street. We were able to walk from there to the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve and Public Footpath, where a trail through the preserve links to a trail into the Suislaw National Forest. S is a tireless walker and we also walked back to the ocean. There we followed a path along the edge of the bluffs that lie between the fish district and downtown. S told us how this route was once part of the very early coach and wagon road that provided the only access to the town of Yachats. The road led down from Waldport. The first seven miles of the road were on the beach and then, when the beach ended at the place where Salmon Street is now, it climbed up to go along the bluff. In the 1970s there was a long struggle to make the old bluff road into a walking trail. The effort was mostly successful and was only settled after the case went to the Oregon Supreme Court.

Tuesday, September 3rd

We took a drive up to Salem today and took the Ioniq 5 to the Hyundai dealership for a system update. While that was going on, we got a Lyft courtesy of the dealership and went for lunch to the Thai Beer restaurant. Thai Beer is a place that we really liked when we visited a few years ago. Was it still as good? Well…we gobbled it right up, so maybe it was. Both of us agreed, though, that everything was just a little sweet and more than a little salty.

In the evening, we watched two episodes of Dark Winds on Netflix. The series is based on the novels of Tony Hillerman that feature Navajo Tribal Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn. Leaphorn is played byZahn MacClarnon, whom you will recognize if you ever watched Longmire. Dark Winds has received lots of good reviews and we can understand why. The stories, characters, and scenery are all very absorbing.

M is also giving some attention to the Korean series Crash Landing on You. It is only occasionally absorbing–every hour and ten minute episods seems interminable. E watched one and a third episodes and then gave up, as most rational people would.

Wednesday, September 4th

We did a little garden clean-up this morning. This was prompted by the fact that one of E’s friends from her book club was coming for a tour at noon. The back yard is dry and rather dull this time of year, but it’s still interesting to us and it was nice to have someone who wanted to look at it.

Thursday, September 5th

M had an eye appointment this morning and learned that his macular swelling has receded completely. He will be tapering off his anti-inflammatory eye drops for the next few weeks, which with hopefully prevent it from coming back. While he was doing that, E went up to the Portland Airport to pick up C and Z, who have come up from California for a visit.

Friday, September 6th

We dragged C over toward the coast today, but we didn’t quite make it to the ocean. Instead we went into the mountains near Lincoln City and hiked down to the Drift Creek bridge. Naturally, once we were there, we had a picnic. In the brief video below we’ve just finished the main part of lunch and are about to have a bit of chocolate for dessert.

We had a minor emergency on the drive home when it was determined that one of our party had been too long without ice cream. We solved this with a stop at the Monmouth Burgerville.

Saturday, September 7th

E took C to the Corvallis Saturday Market. As a Farm Advisor for UC Davis, C was involved with many a farmers’ market down in Placer County, CA. So she was interested to see what was going on up here.

For lunch we went out to Gathering Together Farms, which is the only place left–as far as we know–where a person can get a decent Sunburger.

Sunday, September 8th

In the morning we went for a walk at Finley Preserve. We noticed that one section of the Woodpecker Loop has a striking number of unusual looking trees.

In the afternoon A came down from Vancouver to meet Z. She said hello to C also.

Monday, September 9th

While hiking on Mary’s Peak, we found that C has an eye for unusually formed trees, this one for example:

Tuesday, September 10th

A quieter day. E and C poked around downtown. M starting preparing for his trip the wilds of northern Nevada. Z dozed on the couch.

Wednesday, September 11th

After days and days of nice weather, we’re starting to get some rain. C and Z, both Californians, immediately headed back south.

Thursday, August 22nd

Another busy day, beginning with tertulia at 8:00 with R and J. R has just had cataract surgeries using adjustable replacement lenses. He is in the adjustment phase now and is already seeing well. Later in the morning, E had her exercise class. At 2:00 PM it was time for our estate planning session at the lawyer’s office. And because that topic was so hilarious, E had to log in to Laughter Yoga at 4:00. This was followed by a dinner meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. Two entire pies came to the meeting, but only two wedges survived, one of which was brought home for M.

We’ve been having very good weather lately, a great relief from the hot dry days earlier in the summer. We’ve had cool temperatures, lots of partial clouds and even some rain now and again.

Friday, August 23rd

We zipped over to the coast today and went hiking in the area just inland from Ona Beach. The little river than enters the ocean at Ona is called Beaver Creek and to get to our hike we drove east just about a mile up Beaver Creek Road. The first part of the Beaver Creek trail crosses a large flat area that could be a beautiful meadow but which in fact is a beautiful swamp. Our guidebook warned that unless we were hiking in the dry months of August and September, we would need rubber boots to get across. As it happens, neither one of us has rubber boots at this stage of our lives, but since we were almost sure that we were in August, we thought we’d be okay. Ha-ha-ha. Yes, much of the trail was dryish, but not all of it. We almost got through it without sinking in over our shoe tops. Almost.

However, the two-mile loop trail on the other side of the swamp turned out to be great. Our route up was a narrow trail that climbed to a 300 ft. summit. It was steepish in places and hadn’t been maintained recently. The most exciting part was where it led through a large patch of blackberry onto which a big old branch had fallen. Fortunately E was in the lead at that point and demonstrated how one could get through it. The other half of the loop was on a mile-long section of long-closed road. In some ways, a long-closed road is the best possible place to hike.

Portions of the hill were homesteaded long ago. Today there is no evidence of structures, but you do see lots of grassy open spaces wherever the slope is gentle enough to make fields. These openings in the forest are gradually being filled in by alders, spruce and hemlock. Also blackberry, which our guidebook did not mention.

Saturday, August 24th

We had some delightful bread for breakfast this morning–pepper parmesan sour dough. M says that it wasn’t quite as tasty as the pecan bourbon bar that he had for lunch yesterday, but it was close. (We just happened to pass the Waldport bakery yesterday when we were trying to find Ona Beach. We get so confused.)

M has downloaded an app called onX to help him navigate in the backcountry. And no, it doesn’t help you find bakeries, but it does seem promising. First, you go online and create the map you need. Then you download the map to your phone to be used offline in conjunction with your phone’s GPS. But how exactly do you do this? M plans to make a trial run to see if he and onX are going to be able to work together.

Sunday, August 25th

And what better place for a trial run than that complicated forest area in NW Lane County? So M drove down to Monroe, continued south on the territorial highway, turned right onto Ferguson road, and headed into the unknown, planning to come out at Alsea. The test went well with only two glitches. One was when onX directed M to drive through a locked steel gate, which M flatly refused to do. The other occurred when M took a wrong turn due entirely to not paying attention.

That wrong turn yielded unexpected vistas, as they sometimes do.

Monday, August 26th

We did our usual Monday morning grocery shopping and then had an errand in Albany. While we were there, we took the Ioniq 5 to Electrify America for free electrons. And got back in time for E’s Zoom Yoga class. After dinner we watched two episodes of Dalgliesh, the British series based on the novels of P. D. James. We’re watching Series 1, which was released in 2021 and stars Bertie Carvel as the enigmatic title character. It’s a bit formulaic, but the characters are strong, Carvel creates a wonderful Dalgliesh, and it is all very well done. The stories are set in the seventies, so there’s not a cell phone in sight. There are cars, however, including a period ambulance and lots of period MG’s. Dalgliesh himself drives a dark green 1971 Jaguar V-12 2+2 E-Type, while his lazy and not so nice sergeant drives a red-orange Ford Capri 3000 GXL. Dalgliesh Series 1 is streaming on AMC+.

Tuesday, August 27th

M spent the morning helping N rebuild the workbench in her garage. N used to be a farmer and is used to tearing down and building things. Really she only needed M for some heavy lifting. Between the two of them, the job went pretty fast.

E had her BBB exercise class.

Wednesday, August 28th

After some garden chores early, we took a long hike in the OSU Forest on the Vineyard Mountain trail. It was a great day for it, cool and sunny. A bit like fall. Unfortunately, we went at lunchtime and didn’t take a lunch. That was lazy and not so nice!

Good omen of the day: E went to the Co-op to buy vegetables for paella and also found saffron.

Sunday, August 5th

There has been a spate of credit card fraud in Corvallis. Both E and her friend H have been affected. Early this morning E checked her Visa statement online and discovered that just yesterday her credentials had been used to pay a $126 check at a local restaurant. Wanting to clear this up before departing for her trip, she immediately called the fraud prevention number. To prevent further fraud, the card was blocked. Fortunately E had another card that she could use on her trip. Then E happened to examine her card more closely. What she noticed was that it wasn’t her card. In fact it was her friend H’s card. She and H had had lunch together two days before; the cards must have gotten mixed up then.

So E went over to H’s place and they exchanged cards. So that was good, and E would be able to go off on her trip knowing that the mystery was solved. But it wasn’t clear what was going to happen about the $126. Who would end up paying and what were the ramifications? Had this simply been an accident? Or had H realized immediately that she had someone else’s card, at which point she had called her family together and announced that they were all getting a free all-you-can-eat party at the Indian restaurant, whoopee?

Then, three hours later, that was a new development. E got a text from H saying that she had checked her own Visa account and found that some fraudster had been on a spending spree! There were three separate charges that came to a total of $101. Oddly enough, the three shops involved were the same three shops that E had visited when she was out shopping the previous day. What an incredible coincidence! Or maybe not.

After dinner it was time for us to start off for the Portland airport where E was to catch a redeye to Albany, NY. We are proud to report that we did remember to bring her luggage with us.

Monday, August 6th

Mrs H met E at the Albany airport. On their way north from there, they stopped over near Corinth to see JSC, who has just had a house built for himself. E says JSC is very pleased with it.

Tuesday, August 6th

Today E moved from Mrs H’s place up to JAC’s place at Lake George. (We suspect that the trip included a stop for ice cream at the Hillbilly Fun Park.) She is staying in a small loft apartment belonging to JAC’s neighbor–the perfect location.

Back in Oregon, M took the Jaguar out for a drive into the Cascades, up over Tombstone Pass and then south down Highway 126 to MacKenzie Bridge. From there he drove Highway 242 up to the top of MacKenzie Pass, which is quite a ride. The road has dozens of very tight turns as it gains 3,500 feet of elevation in just 21 miles. At first the road climbs through forests but eventually enters a vast barrens of old lava flows.

Thursday, August 8th

M had tertulia with J and R, E having skipped town. He then went on another driving expedition, this time in the truck. He went into an area of the coast range which is quite near Corvallis. His goal was to go through the town of Alpine, Oregon and continue south. This would lead him into a 100 square mile area of rather rugged terrain, the kind that is too up and down for regular farming but perfect for tree farms and also the kind of place with no through roads but lots and lots of log hauling routes. The idea was to go in on the east side and come out on the west side.

This turned out to be a struggle. M’s map was vaguely accurate but imperfect. M’s map reading ability is much the same. Once he was into the mountains, there was only one route west, but finding it remained elusive. After several false starts, M finally found what he thought was a road that would take him to a road that would take him to the right road. Things were looking up! After a bit, however, he noticed a big pile of gravel, one that he had seen before, which meant that he was somehow circling back to where he had started. Not a happy thought.

Finally, M decided he had to give up. He was going to have to drive down out of the mountains and get himself to somewhere (anywhere) with pavement and cell service. He picked a likely looking road and off he went, much downcast about his failure and curious about exactly where he would come out. After driving another half an hour or so, he started getting more and more curious and eventually came to an inescapable conclusion: he was on exactly the road that he had always intended to take. It reminded him of the old joke about the three holes. Well, well, well.

Sunday, August 11th

Eve departed the lake today as JAC took her up north to see N, D, and H in Malone. There she was presented with a cake(!) and also got to meet Bodie.

Monday, August 12th

E stayed up the north country today so that she could visit her friend S, who lives in Saranac Lake. S lives on the upper floor of a carriage house in a nice neighborhood. The classic Saranac Lake Hotel has been recently restored and luxuriously furnished.

Back in Oregon M continued his exploration of the wilds of Benton County, this time driving from Alsea through Lobster Valley and other southwesterly places. Lobster Valley is a lovely strip of mostly level land that is enclosed on all sides by forested ridges. It’s way back in the hills and was very quiet on this summer morning. Perhaps the quietest place is the Lone Fir Cemetery.

The Sapp family were among the first Europeans to homestead in Lobster Valley and it was they who donated the land for the cemetery. Sapp descendants still live in Benton County. M met a fellow named Bob Sapp back in the seventies.

Also on this trip, M found what he believes to be a new and quite excellent route from Corvallis to Yachats. More on that another time.

Tuesday, August 13th

The next morning Mrs H drove up to join E and S for breakfast. Mrs. H–the only halfway civilized member of the group–is the one wearing shoes. Later in the day E went back with her to Glens Falls. And what did she find awaiting her there? More cake! And equally delicious.

E had a wonderful time on this trip, interacting with the younger generations at the lake, then visiting with her last surviving aunt up north, and getting to talk to some of her own old friends. She might have liked to do a bit more of that, but unfortunately she was called away by a much less happy event: JSC, who had so recently moved into his new house, was in the hospital following a stroke. She was able to visit him today and be reassured by his smiling face and alert presence. The stroke was serious, resulting in paralysis of the left side of his body, but his mind and speech are fully functional. He has already regained some control of the left arm, and will soon begin intensive therapy at a rehab facility. A sobering and sad turn of events, but there is room for optimism.

Wednesday, August 14th

E’s flight left Albany at 1:00 PM, so she had plenty of time to pack up a bit of each kind of cake and put it into her carryon. At 8:00 in the evening she arrived back at the Portland airport, only to find that it had been utterly transformed during her absence! A whole new area, long under construction, had just been opened to the public–a new arrivals hall, new ticket counters, new TSA screening areas, a beautiful ceiling and even some brand new carpet in the exact same pattern as the much lamented old carpet, the one that was removed during the Great PDX Carpet Replacement Tragedy of 2015.

Tuesday, July 16th

Thursday, July 18th

Things continue to be a little strange around Corvallis in these lazy days of summer. The monthly meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society, for example, was not held in any kind of pie place. Instead, it took place at 6:00 p.m. at KH Grill. B, T, H and E were in attendance. KH Grill is a Vietnamese restaurant owned by a veteran Korean chef and staffed mostly by Hispanics. E had vegetarian spring rolls and reports that the rolls were larger but not quite as tasty as when Kim Hoa himself ran the place. She did like that peanut sauce though.

Friday, July 19th

Today E braved the heat of late morning to check out the first day of Sidewalk Sales Weekend in downtown Corvallis. The event used to be called Crazy Days. M has assumed that they changed the name to avoid the appearance of exclusionary bias against people who are not crazy, but E says that wasn’t the reason. She came home with a pair of hot weather gauzy pants, a visor for swimming in the lake and a tank top for working in the yard. What lake, you might ask. Well, E’s trip to Lake George is upcoming in just a couple of weeks.

While she was downtown, E got a call from A , who was just heading out for a camping trip. She was heading south from Vancouver and was planning a stop to charge her Leaf at the I-5 exit nearest Corvallis. We decided to go out and meet her and keep her company while the charging was going on. We talked for about 25 minutes seated around a table in one of those A&W’s that are attached to a gas station. M got himself a root beer float, of which E took a small sip.

A told us about a dog that had come in with an eye problem. The owner said that the dog had been keeping the eye firmly shut for several days and would not allow anyone to touch it. A and her assistant sedated the dog so that A could have a look. What she found were two long blades of grass, scrunched up and folded over, and pushed way back behind the eyeball. A plucked them out and when the dog woke up, the eye opened normally and the dog acted as if nothing had ever been wrong. A says it was probably the most instantaneous veterinary success she has ever had.

Saturday, July 20th

It’s not super hot here, but warm enough. Highs are around 90. We work in the yard early, but we stop around 9:00. Today E tried going out for her walk just at 9:00, but she says that by the end it wasn’t very pleasant.

Even though it was a hot day, E felt it was time to release the flamingo to the yard, rather than keeping it prisoner in the house. It is, however, contained within a little protective fence and seems to be doing well. Next step is to find a little kiddy pool for it to lounge in.

Sunday, July 21st

We went off to Bend today, traveling in the electric car. It would be our longest trip ever in the Ioniq 5. We were sure we had enough range to make it. But still, it was a new and different experience. Bend is only 140 miles away, and the car can theoretically go 260 miles on one charge. But Bend is at 3,600 feet of elevation and the trip involves crossing two 4,500 foot passes. As it happened we needn’t have worried. When we arrived , we still had a comfortable 44% of battery remaining.

Which is not to say that we did not have moments of great anguish and consternation along the way. The worst of these occurred when we were about a third of the way to our destination. We had stopped at Cascadia for a picnic lunch when we looked into the back of the car and noticed that we had forgotten to bring a few things. Had we forgotten the lunch? No, no, we had plenty of lunch. What we had forgotten was our luggage. Ouch! Say it isn’t so! Hmm. What to do. Go back and get it? No, all things considered, it was too late in the day for that. And it was only an overnight trip. We may have lacked luggage, but we were not without resources. We had phones, credit cards, sunglasses and hiking shoes. What more does a person really need? We pushed on toward Bend.

Once we had checked into our hotel, we again took stock of our situation. We now had toothbrushes courtesy of the front desk. But we lacked socks. We were planning to hike the next morning and we would want socks for that. So off we went to the Old Mill Mall and found some. And since E really didn’t want to hike in her traveling clothes, she found a few other things to accompany her new socks. M got a t-shirt so as to have another layer if one were needed.

It was 92 degrees in Bend and the weather had seemed mostly sunny. But just as we came out of the store, a sudden heavy shower came pelting down, which complicated our walk back to where we’d parked the car. The oversized raindrops soon changed to zillions of largish hailstones. At first we took shelter next to a building, but finally we just made a run for it to the car. A few minutes later it was all over, except that the parking lot was temporarily flooded.

By then it was time for dinner. Bend has a very active restaurant scene. We went to a downtown cocktail and tapas place called Bar Rio. E had a margarita and Jibaritos: fried plantains tossed in Tajín, filled with grilled yam, guacamole, and verde salsa. She liked it a lot. M had cava and a dish they called paella. It had chorizo and rice in it, but it didn’t taste like paella at all. And, in fact, calling it paella was an insult to real paellas everywhere. Once you got past that, however, it was delicious.

After dinner, we found our Electrify America station at the Bend Walmart and charged up.

Monday, July 22th

Up early and had a good breakfast at our Fairfield Inn by Marriot. Then we headed back westward to our hiking destination: the Sahalie Waterfalls Trail on the MacKenzie River. When we arrived, the weather was cool and the site uncrowded. (By the time we left, things were different.)

After our hike we headed back to Corvallis, arriving in the early afternoon with a very comfortable 58% of charge still remaining in the Ioniq’s battery. In the kitchen we found our luggage still waiting patiently for us to do something with it. We noticed that we had done quite a nice job of packing. But at that point E had to get busy and bake a cake cuz today was M’s birthday. Besides making M’s favorite cake, she also gave him presents! Altogether it was a quite wonderful day.

Tuesday, July 23rd

E was busy again today, what with a medical appointment, an exercise class and lunch with her THEPAJ group at Common Fields. M worked at home on this and that. His lunch included a piece of birthday cake.

Tuesday, July 2nd

E had lunch today with C₁ and her daughter C₂. C₂ was a childhood friend of Becca and thus is currently the age that Becca would be if she were still around. She lives in Colorado with her husband and two boys, the older of whom is starting college in the fall.

Saturday, July 6th

Jam!

Monday, July 8th

Well it’s definitely summer now. Corvallis temperatures have been around 100 for the last four or five days. Only the early mornings are cool. It’s very nice out before 8:00, so that’s the only time we’ve been doing much outside.

But that’s no way to live, so today we went to the ocean for an overnight break from the heat. Last night we decided to go to the area around Cape Meares and made a hotel reservation in the town of Tillamook. This morning we packed up a few things–including a lunch–and set out at around 10:00. We decided not to use the Ioniq 5 because fast charging stations are few and far between up there. Instead we drove the mighty Jaguar, but not with the top down. It was already getting hot and we’re wimpy about that.

Based on information in our favorite Oregon coast guidebook, M had planned a couple of stops. The first was the Munson State Natural Area to see Munson Falls–the highest waterfall in the Coast Range. A trail leads up toward the falls, but the upper part of the trail was destroyed during a severe storm in 1996. These days you can’t get close enough to get a really good look. But the whole place is beautiful, lots of rugged terrain covered by profuse rainforest vegetation. And there are some nice picnic tables at the parking area. And today, just as we had hoped, the temperature was twenty degrees cooler than in Corvallis.

After lunching at Munson, we went to nearby Oceanside, a tiny but now heavily developed hamlet, just one headland south of Cape Meares. We stopped to see Oceanside because of something that E found out from C₂ at their lunch last week. It turns out that C₂‘s father’s family has a long history in Oceanside, beginning in 1910 when the Rosenberg family arrived in Oregon and made a home there. By 1920 the chief property owners in the area were two brothers: Judson and Hudson Rosenberg. The brothers were both married and in fact had married two sisters. In 1922, this foursome–Judson, Hudson, Dora and Dolly–donated one acre of land to the State of Oregon for the purpose of giving public access to the Oceanside beach.

The beach is only a few hundred yards long and is blocked off at both ends by steep headlands. To the north the formation is called Maxwell Point. In 1926 the Rosenbergs dug a tunnel through Maxwell Point which gave access to another small beach, one that was otherwise inaccessible by land. In 1968 the family donated an additional 1.9 acres, which included most of Maxwell Point itself.

From Oceanside we continued up to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse. It’s a short, stubby building and almost looks like a toy light. It is perched, however, at the top of a 200 foot cliff, which gives it the highest elevation of any Oregon lighthouse.

Tuesday, July 9th

After a night in a Tillamook motel whose name we won’t mention, we started our return to Corvallis by heading east on Oregon Highway 6 toward Forest Grove. On the way we stopped at the Tillamook Forest Center, a really great place that turned out to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. But we were able to take a little hike along the Wilson River trail and get onto the suspension bridge that crosses the river at the Center’s rear entrance.

When we left, we continued on Highway 6 until eventually turning south in the direction of Yamhill, Carlton and McMinnville. By then we were back into 100 degree weather. Feeling adventurous, we had lunch at a place in Carlton called The Horse Radish. E liked her veggie sandwich and her house-made potato chips, but she loved the iced tea.

Wednesday, July 10th

Cooler today, with a high of only 90. Cool most of the morning.

Thursday, July 11th

Tomatoes!

Saturday, July 13th

Our front yard delphinium is finally blooming. Too bad it is nine days out of sync with the red and white roses that grow behind it.

Sunday, July 14th

And finally, E installed this in our back yard. The frosted glass bowl is from a thrift shop and contains half an inch of water; the purple part is from Pennsylvania. But what is it for?

Sunday, June 23rd

Wednesday, June 26th

E needed new hiking boots, so we drove up to the big REI in Tualitin. Walking into such a store is dangerous. Once E got her boots, we couldn’t help but buy four or five other little items that we suddenly seemed to need.

Today is Becca’s birthday, so on the way back to Corvallis we stopped in Salem to buy her some cake. We bought just one piece (large enough to share of course) and took it home to have after dinner.

Thursday, June 27th

M had what was supposed to be his final eye appointment following surgery. Unfortunately he has an issue that will require followup treatment. More eye drops–lots of eye drops.

Friday, June 28h

We had a walk this morning with M, L and A at Chip Ross park. L did the driving in their Subaru EV. We had meant to walk in the OSU forest on Vineyard Mountain; but as it happened, the whole forest was closed for herbicide spraying. Wanting no part of that, we went to Chip Ross Park instead and got to see that wonderful view looking out over the town. After that we made our way to Coffee Culture and had avocado bagels for lunch.

SPECIAL UPDATE ON TOMATOES IN THE SEWING KIT We have heard from three readers who say they also have sewing kit tomatoes. Adding these to H and E, we now have five tomato owners. Are they any more out there? If so, send a photo for our gallery…

Saturday, June 29th

Here’s a photo from C’s birthday party a few weeks ago.

For some crazy reason, we decided to have this same crew over for dinner today. E made trucha a la Navarra. First she got a bunch of trout and soaked them in red wine for several hours. Then the fish went into the oven and E worked on steamed potatoes and also cooked chard dressed with pomegranate molasses. During that critical final hour before the guests arrived, M was no help at all. He just got in the Jaguar and left! He made it back in time for dinner, though, having picked up C somewhere along the way. Apparently they had driven to Independence and back and had once or twice travelled at speeds in excess of the legal limit. What better way to honor C’s important birthday?

The trout was very good and so was the dessert contributed by J–a coconut meringue lime pie from the British Baking Show. We had dinner inside then had dessert out on the patio.

Sunday, June 30th

On a few occasions in the past we have mentioned having things like chocolate croissants, maple donuts, or syrup-soaked waffles for breakfast. It strikes us that we may have given the impression that those are our usual breakfast foods. Nothing could be further from the truth! Normally we have very frugal breakfasts, something like a handful of unsalted nuts or a quarter of an apple. Here’s an example, just fifteen tiny raisins and nothing more.

Wednesday, June 12th

In the morning we met M, L and A at Coffee Culture. The three of them (and especially the two humans) are electric car veterans, having owned a Leaf before recently getting a Subaru Solterra. L seems to be doing well. He was telling us that before too long the world’s electricity will be provided by small, self-contained nuclear plants. These plants will be about the size of a house and each one will provide enough power for a medium sized city. We may not see them ourselves, he says, but our children and grandchildren will.

Thursday, June 13th

Went out to dinner with P at the new(ish) Corazon wine bar. We’ve been there twice now and liked it very much both times.. Corazon is Spanish themed in a way, but they have their own particular cooking style. And they are very good at it. Lots of vegetarian items on the menu.

Friday, June 14th

E had a medical appointment and then rewarded herself by picking up some shoes that had just come in for her down at Footwise. Then she proceeded to Ants on a Log for a lunch of avocado toast.

We’ve been watching TV every night these days, but we’re finding it hard to find anything to settle down to after Extraordinary Attorney Wu. We tried another Korean series–Crash Landing on You–and it’s kind of interesting but it’s a slow mover. So we searched the India section of Netflix and ended up watching a movie called Laapataa Ladies. It was good and left a pleasant aftertaste. The plot was a little hard to get into at first but got better in the second half. It’s set in a rural area and provides a wonderful sense of place in addition to its gentle but insistent messaging about women’s place in society.

Saturday, June 15th

H came over so that she and E could do more sewing. Today they took on the task of altering a pair of tapered leg pants. Along the way, they celebrated the fact that they both have tomatoes in their sewing kits.

Does everyone have a tomato in their sewing kit? Inquiring editors want to know.

Meanwhile M took the truck up into the Cascades, where he drove around for a couple of hours trying to find a particular route which at first seemed to exist only in the imagination of the people who publish maps–online or printed. In the end he found evidence that indeed at one time there had been a route just where the maps said there was. But it looked like it had been closed for quite some time. That was disappointing, but it was good to have found an answer to the mystery. It was a pretty day up there in the Cascades between Upper Soda and Sheep Creek, with rain showers alternating with sunshine, seemingly every five minutes.

Sunday, June 16t

It was another cool, damp day here. This is the time of the year when we feel like summer has arrived everywhere in the country except Oregon. The weather is not bad, but you have to bundle up to go for a walk. Today we drove up to Tampico Road and walked in Dunn Forest. Along the way we came upon a snail in the middle of the path. M tried to take a video of it, but soon realized that a good snail video would require a major investment of time–both in the making and in the viewing. So here’s E’s photo of it instead.

A few minutes later we saw something strange at the old stream crossing.

Later in the day it rained pretty hard for a while. Nice for the garden.

Monday, June 17th

It was raining again this morning and the temperature at 5:30 was 38 degrees! Things improved a little as the day went on and we got to a high of 65.

Tuesday, June 18th

We did some yard work today, spreading wood chips and digging up grass. E also had a repair project. A few days ago she got out her step stool so as to be high enough to take the cover off of our rather ridiculous patio umbrella, an annual ritual at around this time. This year, when she examined the cover, she found that it was coming apart at the top. Unable to resist a mending challenge, today she got down to repairing it. This took a long time and involved a certain amount of muttering about the quality of the mending tape that the person at Ace Hardware had assured her would be just the ticket.

We also had a Ziply installer working here for much of the day on a new internet connection. We’re saying goodbye to Comcast/Xfinity. Ziply is a new provider that uses fiber optic cables rather than copper wires. For the installer, the first challenge was to find the nearest Ziply node, which was down the block several houses away. Then he had to string new fiber optic wires from there to our backyard utility pole and thence to our house. As he was doing that, M decided to clean things up a little by removing the old land line junction box from the side of the house and removing some less than sightly old wires.

Once the new fiber line was connected to the house, the process went quickly. First M disconnected the Xfinity cable and removed its outlet hardware. Then the Ziply installer–a very competent guy named Stanley–put in a Ziply outlet where the old Xfinity outlet had been. M unhooked our old cable modem and found an ethernet cable long enough to connect the Ziply outlet directly to our router. Stanley then called in an activation request and told us to wait ten minutes. After that we just powered up and gave it a try. Perfect.

Wednesday, June 19th

Our friend J came over for dinner, so we got to catch up on what’s going on with her. She’s planning a summertime trip back to the east coast to visit relatives. While she’s there, she and three of her sisters are going to help a fourth sister travel down to Atlanta to visit her daughter. They’ll be traveling by car from Delaware to Atlanta, a twelve hour drive that they plan to make in one day. J is a brave woman.

Thursday, June 20th

In honor of the Solstice, our weather has turned hottish, with clear skies and highs in the mid eighties.

We got to go to a birthday party today as C celebrated reaching another year ending in zero. The party was held at The Vue and it was quite the occasion. A nice treat for us. C is angling for a ride in the Jaguar as a birthday gift. A plan is in the works.

Sunday, June 23rd

Another chapter in Mite Wars took place today. E went out in the cool of the morning to hang cardboard cards full of Green Lacewing eggs on the rose bushes. She took care to not to cluster them together, however, since the manufacturer issued a warning that larvae can be carnivorous and may eat each other instead of the offensive mites.

Tonight we watched a movie called Miracle Club on Netflix. It features two great actors: Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates. Five stars.

Monday, June 24th

Another busy Monday. E went shopping at the Co-op. As usual, got herself there on foot and then called her car service for a ride home. When her ride arrived, she wondered what had become of her usual driver, the one who wore glasses. Apparently the old driver developed cataracts and the company had to let him go. The new driver was squinting a little, but seemed to know the route.

Saturday, June 1st

Every year in early June OSU’s Peavy Arboretum celebrates National Get Outdoors Day by hosting a variety of family-centric activities in the research forest. The goal is to get people outside, with a focus on encouraging the participation of families who may not be familiar with the recreational opportunities available in these state-owned forest lands. As the web page puts it: Durante este evento, el bosque está lleno de actividades bilingües, familias, y grupos comunitarios, todos unidos con el objetivo de salir, disfrutar con la comunidad, y con suerte aprender algo nuevo.

E has been a bilingual volunteer in the event for a couple of years now. This year she was assigned to the cookie table. Now we know what you’re probably thinking: What an ideal choice on the part of the organizers in terms of matching a specific worker to a specific job! But actually, they weren’t that kind of cookies. E’s job was to help kids decorate wooden “cookie” medallions to wear during the events and to have as a souvenir.

E was delighted to meet parents and their offspring from a variety of Spanish speaking countries, as well as people from Turkey, Korea, Japan and Iran. They all seemed to really enjoy the activity.

Thursday, June 6th

Today we went on a tour put on by the Greenbelt Land Trust. The site was a 1600 acre parcel of wooded hillside called CBow Ridge. This was once a privately owned property which has recently been converted to a permanent conservation easement to be managed by GLT. The tract is about forty-five minutes south of Corvallis, just north of the Eugene Springfield area. As the map shows, it is located just a few miles east of I-5 near the town of Coburg. What the map does not show is that the property climbs the west face of the ridge, rising from the 400 ft elevation of the valley floor to 1500 feet at the top.

It is a very beautiful piece of land. In the past, the property owners had for a time tried to use the hillside to run cattle. But although there are a number of grassy meadows here and there, the soil is rocky and produced relatively low quality forage. There was also some logging in the area, but this was apparently limited to selective cutting of a few high value trees. Consequently there is no sign whatever of old clearcuts or plantation style replantings. Instead, the area retains much of its natural character, which includes large swathes of oak savannah and an unusually large variety of tree and shrub species. In recent years the owners made only recreational use of the property–trail rides and camp-outs.

The trees and shrubs were the focus of the tour, which was led by  Ed Jensen, Oregon State University Professor Emeritus and author of Shrubs to Know in Pacific Northwest Forests, along with David Zahler, Greenbelt Board Member and former faculty member of OSU College of Forestry. We were able to practice using a shrub identification manual, which reminded M of his long-ago Field Botany class in college. We were excited to hear about several shrubs/trees that we already have in our somewhat out of control, falling-into-wilderness yard.

Friday, June 7th

Lots of garden work today. E weeded the coreopsis colony while M spread wood chips around.

Saturday, June 8th

M has embarked on another backyard project. He’s plans to dig up about 50 square feet of grass and merge Hummock Project #2 with Hummock Project #3. “Less lawn!” is his rallying cry.

E has been doing long range planning. Today she walked over to the Patissier and bought four pain au chocolate and two almond paste croissants. Thus we have been provided with three (!) Sunday breakfasts. We’ve saved out two pain au chocolate for tomorrow and frozen the rest.

That done, she hauled out an aluminum ladder and spent an hour or so thinning apples. We cut our best tree way back last fall, so now pretty much all of it is ladder accessible. Then she did more weeding and again made war on the mites with her deadly water cannon.

Sunday, June 9th

M went out to continue working on his project. He wanted to get at least some of the basic prep work done before his upcoming enforced idleness.

E managed her usual flurry of Sunday tasks. This included a walk in the OSU forest, where she found a really beautiful day. There were lots of people about but there were also an unusually high number of bird species warbling away and also some very noisy bullfrogs at the lake.

E also claims to have seen a turtle–a very rare sight around here. She has no photographic evidence but is sticking to her story.

Monday, June 10th

M had another surgery, the right eye this time. That will be the end of it as he’s only having two eyes done. Apparently there is no surgery yet available to improve cloudiness of vision in the Third Eye.

Thursday May 16th

Yikes! A distinguished visitor has come to Oregon and is staying with us! What are we going to do? Well, today was tertulia day, so we invited her to come along for morning coffee with J and R. Then, at lunchtime, she accompanied E to a meeting of the Lemon Meringue Pie Society. The meeting was held at Gathering Together Farms, where the food is delicious, but the menu does not include lemon meringue pie. This might seem odd. Our guest, however, whom we will refer to as Mrs. H, had some previous knowledge of the unpredictable and occasionally raucous nature of LMPS, so she was probably not too surprised. After lunch E took Mrs H for her first visit ever to Burst’s chocolate shop.

Friday May 17th

Today we made a trip over to the Coast. For the first leg of the trip we took Highway 34. Our guest was very impressed by the number of sharp curves on our route, remarking that it might be the curviest road she had ever experienced. E was quick to assure her that although the route was slow and tortuous, it had the advantage of leading directly to one of the best bakeries in the area. And sure enough, we eventually reached Waldport and were able to stock up on bread and treats at Pacific Sourdough. In the parking lot we also found a food truck specializing in coffee. This gave Mrs H another new experience. It was the first time she had ever been charged $6.75(!) for a coffee drink. The coffee truck was created from a 1955 Olson Kurbside step van. The chassis and drivetrain were supplied by Chevrolet; the all-aluminum body was made by Grumman-Olson.

From Waldport we drove up the coast and stopped for a two and half mile beach walk on the south side of Yaquina Bay. Mrs H is an inveterate walker and at no point during this activity did she accuse E of trying to kill her. After the walk, we made the short drive over to Local Ocean for lunch. Once fed, we went across the street and walked around the fishing boat docks. There wasn’t too much human activity there at two in the afternoon, but we did run across a bunch of noisy animals.

Saturday May 18th

In the morning E and Mrs H walked over to Le Pattissier, so that our guest could see this important Corvallis institution. It would have been impolite to just drop in and look around, so they felt they really had to buy something, i.e., some pain au chocolate for tomorrow’s breakfast. For today’s lunch we provided a Spanish sort of meal with jamon serrano, manchego cheese, and anchoa-stuffed olives, all accompanied by slices of pepper parmesan bread that we had brought back from the coast. After lunch E and Mrs H went downtown to do some shopping. This included a return visit to Burst’s Chocolate.

In the evening we all watched Episode 1 of The Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a Korean series now showing on Netflix. We all loved it.

Sunday May 19th

Today we took a long walk around the OSU campus. We saw a quite tidy-looking pro-Palestinian “encampment” in one corner of the Memorial union quad. But what we mainly came to see were the very large Rhododendron trees in the oldest parts of the campus. It’s prime season for Rhodie blossoms.

For lunch we ordered a couple of sandwiches to be delivered by robot to the OSU Library main entrance.

Monday May 20th

Today we went up to see the Alsea Falls…

… and also made a quick stop at nearby Hubert McBee Memorial Park. McBee is the site of the oldest local version of the “world’s longest picnic table.” It dates from the 1960’s and is dilapidated now: some of the roof has fallen away, sections of bench are missing, and the many of the concrete supports for the table are leaning and about to fall. But the main table surface is still quite intact. It’s a single piece of fir a hundred feet long, three feet wide, and three inches thick, .

On the way home we stopped and ate our lunch at Bellfountain County Park, where there is a very similar table, this one newer and in excellent condition. It seats 120.

Tuesday May 21st

After a week of very nice Spring weather, it was suddenly cloudy and cool this morning. This was to be Mrs H’s last day in Oregon and our plan was to leave Corvallis before noon and head north to the Portland area, stopping for a picnic lunch along the way. Once there, we’d take Mrs. H for a short excursion up the Columbia Gorge to see the sights. Then we’d go back to Portland and have dinner before dropping her off at the Portland airport to catch her flight home. And that’s what we did, sort of.

We left on schedule, bur after just forty-five minutes on the road, it started raining. And the farther north we got, the harder it rained. We ended up picnicking in the car, stopping in a public park in the town of Hubbard, OR. Hubbard is home to the annual Hops Festival, but is otherwise decidedly unremarkable. (It has a nice park though.)

Once we got to the Gorge, the rain was really coming down so we decided to cut the excursion short and just visit Multnomah falls. Viewing a waterfall in the pouring rain is not ideal, you might say, but the falls didn’t suffer for it and it was still a beautiful scene.

We did not linger but instead headed back toward Portland somewhat earlier than we had planned. That was fortunate as it turned out that traffic was so heavy that it took an hour or so to go twenty miles. But we still made an on-time arrival at the Heathman Lodge where we were meeting the Andees for dinner. After that it was a short hop over to the airport and time to say our goodbyes. It was quite a wonderful visit.

Thursday May 23rd

E had her exercise class in the morning and Laughter Yoga late in the late afternoon. Between times, she drove M to and from his cataract surgery.

Friday May 24th

M had his post-op appointment. The new lens is in the left eye, so we had them pop the left lens out of his primary glasses. M is wondering if he’ll look weird going around with one lens missing from his glasses, but E told him not to worry–he doesn’t look any weirder than he did before.

E had time to go for a forest walk and then make a trip to the nursery. She bought a gaura to replace one that did not survive the winter. She also got two new Japanese anemones–because our old ones are pathetic.

Saturday May 25th

E planted her gaura and weeded the bed that it went into. And then she was tired. But she revived in time for our anniversary dinner at Sybaris.

Sunday May 26th

The celebration continued with almond croissants for breakfast. So buttery! Then E had to plant her new anemones. M has been told not to do any heavy work and, above all, not to bend over to tie his shoes. He is annoyed. But he managed to direct E to perform some simple garden tasks that he is forbidden to do..

Our solar panels have produced 379 kilowatt hours of power so far. As far as we can tell, that’s roughly 33% more than our usage over the same period. But we’ll have to see what our next bill says…