Trip to Beach

 My Lebanon friend who gets so carsick, said she was going to the coast yesterday, did I want to go too.

Of course I did.  She has to drive and drive her truck, because even when she drives she gets carsick.  She has to stop often.  Can't drive crooked roads either.

Consequently she doesn't go anywhere far really ever.  The coast road to Newport however has been straightened and its actually a fast drive now, from here to there, on very good road.  So now and then, she'll brave that route.

We left about noon and were back by 6:00 p.m.

We stopped by Olalla Reservoir.  My neighbors have gone there a couple times.   Its owned and kept up by Georgia Pacific.   Its a few miles off the highway, up a narrow two laner.   

It's beautiful forest surrounded but very small, about the size of Cheadle Lake, the old mill pond usually water weed and algae clogged, outside Lebanon.  Only this small reservoir is not water weed clogged.  There's a nice beach and picnic area, but its not big enough to be somewhere I'd drive almost an hour to kayak there unless with a picnic group.

We drove into Newport then and south across the Yaquina Bay bridge to Ona Beach.  At Ona Beach, you park, then walk a trail, maybe a quarter mile, cross Beaver Creek, to the ocean.   The beach is broad and flat.  Beaver Creek meanders into the ocean to the right.   

There was a lot of wind and the wind picked up sand and was scouring my face, hair, clothes, teeth. It was supposed to get up to 61 on the coast and maybe it did.  It was sunny but that wind!   I'd brought my kite and flew it for awhile.  I've had the kite for a decade at least.  

Then I just sat against a log on the sand and watched other people arrive and leave.  Very few other people braved the wind to be on the beach.  The sand was full of long dead jelly fish velella velalla, or wind sailors.  They'd been dead long enough to no longer stink at all and were dried up.

Ona Beach looking north

Ona Beach looking south

But one older man walked by us, said he was going to fly his kite.  He'd locked his electric bike up on the bridge.  He had a stunt kite, two hand controls, lots of strings.  He could bring that kite to inches off the sand, stand it on end there, swoop it back up.   It was fun to watch.   Electric bikes are becoming common to see.  They're great for hilly areas and for older folk or anyone really but they are also terribly expensive.

After we left Ona Beach we drove south a couple more miles to Seal Rock.  Much of the area was fenced now, to keep the destructive useless vandals from destroying more and from harrassing wildlife, but the viewpoints of the rocks, where sea birds nest and harbor seals haul out, were great.  I had my binoculars and could see seal covered rocks out beyond the closer chain of larger rocks.  When the wind was just right, I could hear them too.  

That flat rock farther out is where the seal action was going down.  It was covered in seals.

The little town area named Seal Rock is one of those artsy clever name places.

After we left Seal Rock, we drove back to Newport then on home.   

The Park

 I went to the park yesterday with my friend.  I was aching for human contact.  She goes every day and so I left my car at her place and rode with her there.  It's only a few miles from her place.

There's drama going on there.  What else is new?

First the Loop B camp hosts were fired.  Fired is a loose term.  Camp hosts aren't paid.  They are given a site to live in with the RV or trailer and expected, in return, to do work there, like restroom cleaning, mowing, campsite cleaning, all that.  Its a good deal really, given the cost of housing now, and finding somewhere you can park an RV or trailer legally is near impossible.  Campsites there cost a lot per night too, or anywhere now.   So if you have a trailer and nowhere to park it and its your place to live, its really a good option.  

I don't know why the Loop B hosts were fired.   None of my business.  They'd been there a long time.  They had two cats I got fixed for them.  One of them was Starla who they couldn't get contained before they had to be out.  So I loaned the trap and she was caught and returned to them.  I'd seen that black male for the first time, when setting the trap for Starla.  The next time I saw him he was in the trap meant for Starla, so I took him to be fixed.  The vet said he had a healing sliced tongue.  I knew what that meant.  Someone had been feeding him by plopping down an open cat food can.  The edge inside, where the aluminum top meets, is razor sharp.  I don't know why people try to feed cats by just plopping down an open can of cat food without emptying it out onto something.   Not only can they slice their tongues on that sharp inner edge, but their whiskers are sensitive detection organs and trying to force their face down into a cat food can irritates their whiskers. It's a pet peeve of mine.

Anyhow, now the Loop A hosts, also long timers, are being told they have to move to another park to host there, out at the Reservoir.  But, they said, there's no cell service there and they'd be located by the boat ramp parking lot which is crazy busy in summer and be responsible for policing the public, in following rules.   The campsite they'd have would require they get their big trailer up and over a curb to get in.  They're older with health issues but he still works in Lebanon and that would mean a long commute to work besides the other work at the campground.

FYI:  there are lots of people living in trailers, cars, basically homeless, who work full time but still cannot afford rent.  It's common around here.

They're pretty desperate over it all, panicked more like it.  I feel for them.  It's a lot of work to up and move, even if you just live in a trailer.  Then to adjust to new responsibilities, new place, and not have cell service for emergencies or just to use the internet, to stay connected and entertained.  That campground, day use area is also known for some rowdy vile behavior.    We can't visit them after they move either, because of the rules there.You have to fork out bucks now, to even go past the little entrance booth.  I tried to show my neighbor the camping area last summer and we were told to turn around, we couldn't even go look at the camping area without paying.   

Anyhow, she came over to talk to us when we were there, for a couple minutes and warned us a cougar was seen near the lower boat ramp and campground Saturday or maybe it was Friday night.   She said she wasn't sure if the cougar didn't get one of the park cats because she'd heard a ruckus and some strange animal noises early in the morning.

We went walking into the woods the area she said it came from and found nothing.  Its dense brush mostly though.   M said, 'you realize if there was a cougar it could be hiding in the brush out here.'  "Yup," I said.  The story hadn't quite jived with me though.   The sound she imitated hearing was raccoon.   She said the camper who saw the cougar said it was up in a tree.  There was only one tree in that area that might support an adult cougar's weight.  Cougars usually don't go up trees unless threatened or chased.   So the "verify" light in my brain was blinking rapidly.   All kinds of animals fight during mating season and the sounds can be horrific, including cat fights, coon fights, you name it, the boys fight.  

Anyhow, don't know what went on. It's quite possible a cougar came through.  A dog got killed a week ago in Sweet Home by a cougar.   State trapper said he found evidence of two male cougars near their house.   It's prime area around there and right now, not too many campers although the park is highly used by frisbee golf people and dog walkers.  She said she'd try to trap the one true park cat left--Cumi, if he's still alive, before she leaves.  I said "thanks" although I don't know where he could go.  He's an old boy now, was born in that park, and does deserve an easier time of it.   

I went and checked a shelter out there, placed almost ten years ago, by a different group, when there were dozens of cats there.   It's unbelievable its still there and hasn't fallen apart from age.  Anyhow, inside it I found a long deceased possum.  Last time I checked that was last fall, maybe October, changed out the straw bedding.   So we took it, dumped out the remains, and last night I cleaned it, repainted the outside, reinsulated it and the park lady will put it back tomorrow.   That had been the one last park cats favorite sleeper. 

 They need some cats there, because the park's over run in ground squirrels.  Cumi is a fantastic ground squirrel hunter.  So was Starla, when she was there.    When we were young, we called them Gray Diggers.   

Last real park cat--Cumi

FCCO Trip on Half Decent Day

 Yesterday, early morning, I headed to FCCO with ten cats from the Scravel colony.   I don't get any records with the FCCO.  They are sent by email to the colony caretaker.   There were four who were not orange tabby and whites.  Of those four, I know three are girls, the dilute torbi, dilute torti and the classic torti.   Many maybe all of the orange and whites also are girls, but I don't know for sure how many of those six were girls or boys.

Muted torbi

Muted torti

Gray tabby

Bad photo of the classic torti

I don't like wearing long pants or shoes, especially if it might be nice.  So I wore peddle pushers, as we used to call them.  Now they're not called that.  I wore sandals with socks, something we get kidded about doing in Oregon.  But I intended to take the socks off later, when it got warm.  It was cold yesterday morning, down to freezing in the night.  I thought later, after I dropped off the cats, and had to put on a coat, what an idiot I was, to wear warm weather clothing.

After I got to the clinic and dropped off the ten cats, I went to Winco and got a salad and sandwich, for lunch/breakfast.   They're really affordable there.  Makes for an affordable way to "eat out" while on the road.

Then I just drove back to the rest area, where I ate and then read a book then climbed into the back of my car for a nap.  Problem was, in my rush out that morning, I forgot to put in my sleeping blankets and pillow.  Shoot.

But I was so sleepy I decided to just stretch out in the back on the plywood board.   The plywood board lays over the laid down backseat and the entire back of the car behind the two front seats.  I have it a plastic black floor mat atop the board.   This protects it a little when I carry cats, although I add pee pads under the cats too.   

I had no pillow so I wadded up newspapers I had, for lining traps, and stuck them inside a reusable grocery bag, to create a pillow.   Strangely, I ended up sleeping nearly three hours.  At first I found it hard to get comfortable on the hard surface, but that didn't seem to matter much.  I fell asleep anyhow.

I woke up with an hour left before I needed to pick up the cats.  Perfect.

I picked the cats up and endured some rush hour congestion, not as much as usual however, then, once back near my town, I returned the cats to their caretakers, who said they could overnight recuperate them.   This made me happy, to not have to set them up at home another night.   

Here's a boring dash cam congestion traffic video from yesterday although I didn't turn it on til already through the worst of it.

Got home, kicked back, went to bed early.   So not a bad trip with cats, didn't have to do any of the trapping either.  Just loaned out my traps, then overnighted the cats here prior to surgery, drove them up and back.

Today's our second day of sunshine, so I hope to enjoy it, before it may rain again over the weekend.   We'll be back in the mid to low 60's for days but today it could get to 70, so need to take advantage of a sunny day.

I returned Tumilo to the Sweet Home colony Wednesday.   For some reason, it took me most of the day to get up there then back home.   Well I stopped a few places on the way back.

Ten Extras

 I have ten extra cats in my garage.

Nine are in traps, just brought over from the Scravel colony.   

They are almost all orange tabbies, with bits of white here and there.  These are going to the FCCO to be fixed Thursday along with anymore he can catch.  I already took 14 of the cats from the colony to be fixed in Salem.   

They have 15 at least spots for Thursday.  I hope they can get any left.

In addition, I haven't returned Tumilo yet to Sweet Home.  It's a long drive over and back and I just didn't have it in me today.  So he's been in a cage recuperating.  I mean, its really comfortable, litter box, bed, lounging shelf, all the wet food he can eat.  So I'm not worried about when to get him back.   He has a broken canine and I tried to find somewhere he could have that pulled that isn't two months out on appoinments and where it wouldn't cost a small fortune (almost everywhere).  But the coast clinic hasn't responded and they're about the only ones who might work him in fast and not cost a fortune.

Anyhow, he'll have to go back without the tooth pulled most likely.

I imagine it will fall out soon enough anyway.

When the guy arrived late with the nine, all the while we unloaded them, the neighbors dogs barked only a few feet away, from behind my fence, their yard.  Those dogs are so darned annoying with the barking whenever they're out in the yard.  the neighbors don't even try to train them or stop them when they bark their heads off like that.  They drown out my TV and I become the curmudgeon, yelling from inside "shut up".    That can drive a person nuts though--constant barking.

I'm going to order a hanging anti bark thing.  I'm not sure they work, but will try.

Am really fed up.

Five More Cats

 I took five cats up to be fixed yesterday.   

I went Sunday morning back up to the Sweet Home 7-11 colony.   I was there by 7:00 a.m. and didn't get home til 3:00.  That's 8 hours and I caught only one of the unfixed ones and wouldn't you know, one I didn't know was even there.

He's a black tux boy, younger and smaller than four of the big massive scary boys around there.  Two of them are fixed now, but the other two I was after, along with two others who are girls and likely pregnant by now.

8 hours, one cat.

Tumilo from 7-11 colony

My friend who checks on cat dumping spots, found two more tame kitties, obviously brothers. They came running out of brush at a pullout on a rural road to her.  Both cats have short crooked tails.  Which is a sure sign of inbreeding.   I took both of them up to be fixed yesterday.  I imagine she will try to get them in, one at a time, to the only shelter around these parts, but it costs money to relinquish a cat to them.  Also, it helps get them in if they're already fixed.

Twisted Mister

Zigzag

The other two fixed were both girls.  The Lebanon girl Jane, well a Lebanon rescue took in her kittens, but she still needed fixed so now Jane is fixed.  She's so tiny!   And the other cat is a girl from Albany.  She came to the family asking for help during the ice storm.  They let her in and she promptly gave birth.  But kittens are eating on their own now so Princess Mamba could be fixed.

Jane from Lebanon

Princess Mamba from Albany

There's a big ta do in Lebanon right now.  Some claimed it was a movie being filmed over not far from my Lebanon friends' place.  Instead, its an episode of Hoarders--Buried Alive.  Yup.   That crew could stay in this area for two years filming episodes, I swear.   Anyhow, only in Lebanon would a hoarder house episode filming become a big circus like event.  Whomever the hoarder is will probably become a local celebrity.

Anyhow, while I was up those long hours in Sweet Home after 7-11 cats, I took a break and went to the reservoir.   It's super low, but another lawsuit by fish people dictates they can't fill it til mid May.   Who knows if we'll have a reservoir to enjoy this summer or not.

The lake looks so small when its as low as it is, because the surface area is currently so small.  Its gotta be down 40 feet at least from full pool.   Boat ramps high and dry.  I don't like to see it this low, but I had to find a bathroom and public restrooms are hard to find.  I knew there's a vault toilet at Calkins.  I didn't want to drive home and come back later in the evening when trapping is easier either, because the cost of gas is edging toward $5 a gallon and there's just hardly any way to survive anymore with prices the way they are.  Not just gas and utilities, but food prices are beyond real.

When these groups decide to sue, like they did over the reservoirs, they seem to target poor areas, where the people who live there don't have money or clout to fight them and I think they see us as people who just don't matter.   Their elitism was exposed when one fish group lady said in response to a reporter asking about loss of business and somewhere to recreate for locals, that they (us) could travel to other Oregon lakes.  Like we all have that kind of money.   I shouldn't think about that, just hope they get filled and the rich people who live in other places and even other states, leave us be.

I don't usually say this publicly, but the COVID years were the best years of my life financially speaking.   Those relief checks the government sent out let me get my car fixed (twice) and also buy my beloved sit on top kayak.  I know that's terrible to say when so many thousands died all over the world, and health care providers were stressed to the max.  I know its very selfish to say it.

I took this photo and the next from a pullout along highway 20 across from The Point restaurant.  You can look across to see Gedney Creek boat ramp high and dry.

This photo looks down toward the arm where Calkins boat ramp is.  Again it looks so diminished when so low.  You can see the bridge that crosses that arm if you look closely, but there's almost no water in that arm right now.

Then I went to Calkins boat ramp to find it ridiculously waterless.  I'm sitting on the dock between the two boat ramps past the concrete ends of the boat ramps looking way down to the tiny bit of water in that arm.  I've never seen it this low before.

From the top of the ramps.  The docks float when the water level is normal.  Right now there's almost no water in this arm.  We kayakers and rafters prefer calkins boat ramp because its not extremely steep and long like Gedney Creek and Sunnyside.

Muck, yuck and almost no water in this arm.

We're still mired in overcast, rain and gloom weatherwise here.

The Wolverine Visits Linn County

 I don't know if its the same Oregon touring wandering wolverine that was seen yesterday outside Lebanon on Golden Valley road.  

The wandering wolverine was last seen in the south hills of Eugene.  To get to Lebanon, where he was seen if its the same wolverine, he would have had to cross the Willamette River and I5, then the Calapooia River and also the S. Santiam.  All these crossings, no big deal for a wolverine I suppose.  But how'd he get so smart as to dodge all the cars, trucks, big rigs and the shoot anything gun nuts from where he or she started, in the Cascades, then along the Columbia River Gorge to the coast,  to now?  

I'm not buying its the same wolverine, but in true Wandering Wolverine state touring fashion, the Lebanon sighted wolverine was seen and photographed in broad daylight near a house.   So is it or isn't it the one and only WW?

I mean why wouldn't a wolverine visit our county?   Lots of chickens and ducks everywhere and roadkill, which is the preferred diet of wolverines--already dead things.

Here's the link but I think it will only work if you have a facebook account.

Ok, here's the video off Crystal Perry's post above, for those without facebook.

Night Cats

 I saw a new cat briefly in my backyard a couple days ago.  

 

So I set up my game cam that night, to see who is coming through. I haven't seen Bob in awhile.  I wondered if he would show.

Next morning, its exciting to go get the game cam and download the contents of the card.  No wandering wolverines, thank goodness.

The black tux new cat was on it.   He'd also shown up atop my cat yard yesterday, running the permimeter.  I have no idea where he came from or if he belongs to someone.  Looks fat and healthy though, so I am guessing a neighbor has a new cat.

Cisco appeared on the game cam off and on half the night.   He's well fed by neighbors and I took him to be fixed a few weeks back.  

I made a video with imovie, an iphone app.  It's so fun to use.  My game cam, given to me by a Lacomb lady, is also great fun.  

Fritter too appeared.  Fritter's the boy who has had it rough.  First abandoned by his people in the apartments.  Then the man at the end took him in and cared for him, only to die falling in his garage.  His family members asked the family who bought the house then, to care for him.  They did, until they split and he moved out and sold the house recently.  Now there are new people living in that house, Fritters house really, and I don't know who they are or what they are like but several other neighbors take care of him, includiing me.  He's an old man cat now.

Lastly, I was surprised to see a skinny raccoon on the game cam.  He drank water and was quickly gone and did not appear again on the camera.   I haven't seen a raccoon around here for ages.  I'm glad I sealed up the cat door to the garage that Gigi had been using.  I'll put out the cam again to see if he's routinely coming through.  I don't have food out he could get to but he may come just for the water.

Here's to night stalkers and the unknown.