Some Signs - A Few Bugs - Some Scenery

Here is a post that is a collection of disjointed images. We thought it might be fun to put some unrelated, interesting and sometimes humorous images together

This sign was in a restaurant where we stopped for lunch. It was not the Red Dog Saloon as the sign might indicate so the owners of the not-to-be-named establishment must have bought, borrowed, replicated, or absconded with the sign. The food and service were much better than the sign would indicate, we did not have to lower our standards but who knows our standards might already be pretty low.

We have in earlier blog posts mentioned Palouse Falls. It is a state park in Washington that is about 75 miles from our home. It is a fascinating location. This geography was scoured out by the Missoula Floods of many years ago, a quite fascinating geological event.

This is an interesting panoramic image looking from Palouse Falls on the left down the river. In case you are interested, an individual went over the falls in a kayak, intentionally. We think there is a you tube video of his adventure.

This image is one of two representing a test. As mentioned it is about 75 miles and some amount of coffee from where we live to Palouse Falls. Hence when we arrive, we need to use the facilities. Thankfully there are lots of options since it can be very busy with us tourists at different times during the year. The question becomes obvious as you look at the next image.

Here is the truck to service the facilities. They have a business named ''Kings Throne". The test or question arises as you ask yourself "Äre they here to clean them or take them away and if I am inside will I be notified prior to them loading the one I am in on the truck". Certainly impetus to be quick with your business.

Along the Snake River downstream from Little Goose dam there is a small vegetation filled draw. It is along a solid rock hillside. In that vegetation we saw about 45-63 spiders. They appeared to be all Western Spotted Orb Weavers. There were lots of them in a fairly small area.

For all of you who know how big a dairy cow is this sign should hold significant meaning. Be sure and practice safe distancing by staying that far away from other folks in designated environments and appropriate situations. Also for those of you who know dairy cows be sure and stand at the front end of the cow, the safer end.

We have seen several Praying Mantis in various locations this fall.

This big brown one was on the side of the workshop and we relocated it to some plants. They are wonderful to have in the garden as they can consume a lot of insects and bugs

We found this green Praying Mantis in the street and relocated it to some foliage nearby. It is a pregnant female as can be seen by the oversized abdomen.

It appears that some Praying Mantis species can change color, not fast like a chameleon, but gradually over time. Temperature, humidity, and light intensity of their habitat all play a role in mantis’s color adaptations.

There are a great many Elderberry Trees in this area. The berries are ripe now in late September and the birds and other critters love them. We have a good friend, David, who harvests the berries and makes a syrup out of them. The syrup he makes is quite good over ice cream but so are many, many other condiments.

Just riding down the river - much easier than flying. We were just above Little Goose Dam, along the Snake River, the water was not moving too fast and this Great Blue Heron was just aimlessly floating along on the log, just checking out the countryside.

This is a small pond called Rainbow Pond that is east of Dayton Washington. We are at the southern end of the pond looking north. At the north end of the pond just out of our view is a fish hatchery. Rainbow Pond is for put and take fishing. The hatchery puts the fish in the pond and the fishermen take the fish out by catching them. It certainly is a pretty spot.

These birds are called Red Crossbills, named for the obvious bill structure. They use the bill for opening pine cones to get the seeds. The males are the reddish color while the females are more drab in coloration. Here we see them in a camp fire pit getting the ash and minerals from the burnt logs and charred surfaces. There was a flock of about 23 some of which would fly down from the large fir trees and into the fire pit and back and forth. Fun to watch.

We might have to call this a Swiss Cheese Fir tree because of all the holes in the tree. Quite a variation in the size of openings.

The color from the bark, light green moss, and tree surface is quite fascinating.

This is an image of a location along Summit Road in Oregon called Quarry Pond. Summit Road is in the Blue Mountains and about 45 miles east of where we live in Walla Walla. It is about 4,800 feet in elevation and early in the year has a lot of great birds and wildflowers. We found the tree in the image above and the Red Crossbill near this pond. It is a neat, quiet place. There are campsites here but it is very rustic, no water other than what you see in the pond and no bathroom facilities.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at some signs, a few bugs, and some scenery. We think It is a fun, interesting, and diverse collection of images and information.

Let us know if you have any questions.
All the best - Be Well - Happy October - George & Deanna

Clyde School and Wheat Chaff

To the north of Walla Walla is a small community named Clyde. There is not much there now, just a few scattered farm houses and some agricultural support activities. It is wide open, rolling terrain, wheat country. Here is a map that gives you a perspective of Clyde in relation to Walla Walla. Clyde is about 30 miles north

We had mentioned the wheat country. Here the field has been harvested and the wheat chaff has been baled for further uses. Bailing the chaff keeps the farmer from burning all of it or tilling it back into the soil. The bails are quite large weighing 650-800 lbs and that is dry wheat chaff.

Here is the very old Clyde School. Deanna, years ago, was raised outside of Clyde and went to this school when it looked much better and was functioning. It was a 1 room schoolhouse and had several grades all taught by the one teacher. The home, the teacher lived in, is the small attached building on the left in this image.

This is just a view a little further to the right and you can see all the windows. A family was supposed to take care of and restore the old school but as you can see that did not happen. It appears to be well beyond repairable at this point.

When the wheat is harvested it is taken to any number of terminals and storage facilities scattered around the county. This terminal is along the Snake River and has large storage elevators. Additionally the large pyramid shaped pile under the white canvas is all wheat waiting to be shipped down river on barges. A lot of wheat is harvested in this area.

When the wheat is harvested there is residual chaff left behind. As seen in the earlier image it is baled and used in a variety of other processes. Some for cattle bedding. Here we can see lots of large bales stacked in the field.

Another potential use for the wheat chaff can be found at Columbia Pulp a small production facility near Starbuck, WA. Columbia Pulp is North America’s first alternative fiber market pulp mill, using wheat farmers’ waste straw to create pulp for paper products as well as bio-polymers for a variety of industrial uses.

Unfortunately Columbia Pulp encountered various production issues and marketing problems and has not been able, yet, to get up to full production.

The wheat keeps growing and the bales keep getting created year after year but the pulp plant cannot process any of them. They claim they are going to get started as soon as some issues are worked out but that remains to be seen.

There are lots and lot of bales stored at a variety of locations. Many were purchased by Columbia Pulp and now just sit in storage, deteriorating. How long it will be before the mill starts up and the bales are used seems to be anyone's guess at this point.

Here we can see some of the deterioration. It is not clear how useable these bales could be. They are really not bales any longer so beside of the issue as to what to do with them there is the huge problem of handling and tranporting them in this deteriorated state.

The pulp plant with promises and big dreams remains in idle limbo. There is a skeleton crew working there to keep the place functional but not enough staff to actually run full production. It remains to be seen if or when it actually gets going and the wheat chaff is processes.

This was a brief look at the growing number of wheat chaff bales. As you drive around you can see a lot of these bales stacked and waiting, just waiting. Some will be used for livestock fodder and bedding in dairys but a lot will just wait stored in a field.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at wheat chaff and the old school.

Let us know if you have any questions.
All the best - Be Well - George & Deanna

Swainson's Hawks and Alfalfa Seed

In this post we will look at some Swainson's Hawks in and around Alfalfa fields.

The map gives a perspective of the area with the alfalfa and raptors. It is about about 14 miles west from our home in Walla Walla and off McDonald Road south of Lowden. In this area they grow alfalfa and harvest a lot of alfalfa seed.

In early to mid September the fields are dry and the seed is harvested. It also happens to be the same time of year when the Swainson's Hawks are gathering to head south for the winter. The hawks can form very large groups called Kettles, by the birding folks, as they head south to Argentina, Brazil, and other warmer winter climates.

This is an image of a green, growing alfalfa field. The alfalfa is used for livestock feed along with a variety of other uses. Alfalfa means “father of all foods” in Arabic. Us humans even consume some of the alfalfa though just a small amount compared to the pigs, horses, goats, and dairy cows that devour it in large quantities.

Now the fields are dry and the seeds ready to harvest. Here is a large piece of equipment called a combine, it is essentially mowing the dried alfalfa and separating out the seed. The same piece of equipment is used for harvesting wheat.

Here is a Swainson's Hawk sitting on a power pole. This is fairly typical color markings for a Swainson's Hawk though as we will see they can come in a wide variety of coloration.

This image is of a dark morph Swainson's hawk sitting on a power pole. There are some number of poles in the area and they are great perches to watch for rodents moving away from the harvested seeds.

This image shows a Red-tail hawk. When they are soaring, such as here, you can easily tell the difference between the Red-tail and the Swainson's. The leading edge on the wing is called the patagial stripe, and on Red-tail hawks it is usually dark as in this image.

On the other hand this soaring Swainson's Hawk does not have such a marking and the front edge of the wings is not dark at all.

This is a young Swainson's Hawk as evidenced by the coloration. It will most likely change into a dark morph with the entire breast area appearing darker as seen in the earlier hawk image.

Another adult Swainson's Hawk. Typical in it's coloration though as we have seen there can be a lot of variety. The juveniles are often much lighter in coloration. In addition to the patagial stripe the Swainsón's has longer wings than the Red-tail and the Red-tail has different chest markings though in Red-tail hawks there can also be wide variations in coloration.

The harvesters are working the field to get the seeds while the raptors are busy harvesting the mice and other critters that are scurrying about. We counted about 63 hawks in a relatively small area and that was probably a low count. Lots of food is available and they will need it for the long journey south.

So with the dust kicking up and the seeds being harvested and all the raptors soaring around we decided to leave this magical, wonderful place. We are outta here.

We hope you enjoyed this look around at the raptors and the alfalfa seed harvest. It happens every year about the middle of September and is quite a treat to watch.

Let us know if you have any questions and stay safe
All best - George & Deanna

Fun Images - Just Looking Around

This is just a fun collection of somewhat disjointed images. Some colorful and others showing different locations. Maybe something will bring a smile to your face.

This is a deceptive decoration in front of a home in our neighborhood. We have in our travels seen a myriad of stacked, somewhat flat and balanced rocks. We chatted with the owner about this arrangement and he told us there was a hole drilled down through the center of the rocks and a metal bar inserted there to hold the stack together. He also went on to explain that the round ball object on top was actually a bowling ball that he had glued the smaller rocks onto. Interesting albeit deceptive arrangement

We were walking through the neighborhood one morning and found this large turkey just walking the streets. It is a rather imposing bird. Later we chatted with a lady who had been trying to get into her car and the turkey kept chasing her around the vehicle. She finally got in and drove off. Glad he is up at the other end of the community. Turkeys can do an incredible amount of damage to your garden and flowers.

One day while driving on a back road up at higher elevation we saw this squirrel. This is a Douglas Squirrel sometimes called a Chickaree which is a collective name for the Pine Squirrel, Douglas Squirrel and American Red Squirrel. It sure has worked over the pine cone and did not seem the least bothered by our presence.

While walking through the neighborhood one morning we noticed this arrangement. Not sure if it was intentional or if the flowers and branches just happened. It seemed an interesting image to us.

The next three images were taken in Ukiah, Oregon. We were out for a drive just to look around one day and have lunch at “The Thicket”, a restaurant/bar there that we have been to before and like. In Ukiah there is a motel/hotel called Antlers Inn, a friend of ours, Patty Lynch, had stayed here one night when caught in a blizzard while out traveling. This is the front of the establishment and it is for sale in case anyone wants to get into the hotel business. Keep in mind that Ukiah is a small town and the winters can be harsh but if you want, go for it.

Unfortunately “The Thicket” was closed on the day we were there but a lady in the grocery store mentioned “Penny’s” in the park was open. Penny’s is this food trailer that serves a variety of hamburgers and sandwiches of various kinds. The food was quite good. “Penny’s” even had available Wi-Fi which surprised us. Great option for lunch.

While we sat eating our blue cheese burger a fellow pulled up on his John Deere to mow some of the grass area in the little park. The dog rode on the front of the mower staying in the same position the entire time he mowed in the park. It must have been a fun ride for the dog.

This is a peony flower. Very colorful and extremely intricate. There are a lot of peony here and we are always surprised how beautiful they are and how short their life span is. They seem to die off rather quickly but wonderful while they last.

We are told this is a Chinese Peony. It is quite a different looking plant than the regular peony.

Here is a closeup view of the Chinese Peony, certainly lovely to look at.

There are a lot of roses here. This is a really pretty lavender rose, very large blossoms.

Can you see the small spider? It is really well camouflaged. A bee was buzzing around the flower and the spider would move off and then come back to this position. Fascinating to watch.

Just in case you could not find the little spider it is here, circled in red. We said it was very well camouflaged.

We will jump momentarily to fill in an item regarding the Bluebird Box adventure from a previous post. Here is a tree swallow that we had mentioned before. They use some of the Bluebird Nest Boxes that were intended for Bluebirds. That is fine, they need to live too and they eat a lot of bugs. We will just put up a few more boxes.

For reference here is a tree swallow in flight, very aerobatic.

This shows a nest box that has been utilized by tree swallows. Note the feathers used to partially line the inside. Bluebirds do not use feathers. It is fascinating to ponder, where do they get the feathers? Most interesting.

Shifting subjects a bit, actually quite a bit, here is an Iris we saw in the neighborhood. It is an almost black iriis. Quite striking in its unusual color.

Another Iris also somewhat unusual in color and very beautiful. No we do not walk around the neighborhood cuttng flowers for our table we just like to see and enjoy the color and the beauty.

Two American White Pelicans just resting on a pond in the bright sunlight. Their posture and the reflection just presented a peaceful image for us.

We hope you enjoyed this disjointed look around at various subjects and images.

Let us know if you have any questions or comments.

All the best - Stay safe - Be Well - George & Deanna