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

Little Goose Dam and the Paddleboat

There are four dams along the Snake River in Washington State. On Thursday June 2nd we took a drive to one of them, Little Goose Dam. There is a fair amount of controversy about removing the dams to enhance fish passage and restore the salmon runs along the Snake River. At this point in time the dams provide navigation passage for boats, transportation of commodities, and generation of hydroelectric power.

We will not get into whether they should be removed, rather just enjoy the trip for the day.

This image shows a map of the four dams along the Snake River. Ice Harbor - Lower Monumental - Little Goose - Lower Granite.

The Snake River originates in Wyoming and arcs across southern Idaho before turning north along the Idaho-Oregon border. The river then enters Washington and flows west to the Columbia River. The Snake River is about 1,078 miles in length.

This Google Map shows our driving route, the blue line, to Little Goose Dam, or destination. It is about 55 miles from our home here in Walla Walla out through beautiful rolling wheat country.

This overhead image of Little Goose dam shows the lock on the right hand side that allows large boats to pass the dam and shows the fish ladder that fish can use to circumvent the dam (it is the long pipe looking structure going across the image). It also shows the discharge of the water flowing out of the dam generating electricity.

As we were driving from Starbuck along the river towards the dam we saw this large sternwheeler or paddleboat going upriver toward the dam. The boat is named "American Pride". It seemed to us to be quite large, five separate decks high. We thought it would be interesting to see it go through the lock and continue it’s journey upriver to Clarkston, Washington,

Here is a look at the paddlewheel working on the boat. As we will see later, it appears that this is not the only propulsion system for the boat.

Here is just a closer look at the paddlewheel. Interesting and fascinating method of propulsion.

We can see the bridge being raised in preparation for the paddleboats passage. There is a road that crosses this lower portion of the dam providing vehicular access to various areas and this obviously needs to be raised to provide access to the lock for the boat.

Here the boat is approaching the lock. The bridge is raised and the lock is open. In the background, you can see the water flowing out of the damn generating power and the fish ladder is winding across parts of the facility.

The large paddlewheel on the back of the boat is not moving yet the poat is positioning itself to move into the lock, hence there must be other propulsion systems besides the paddlewheel.

The boat is entering the lock. The lock is about 86 feet wide, 100 feet high, and 668 feet long. The American Pride is 295 feet long and 46 feet wide and has capacity for 150 passengers. It does not have a problem fitting in the lock.

The boat is entering the lock.

The boat is fully in the lock and the bridge is being lowered. As big as the boat seemed to us going up the river it is dwarfed by the size of the lock.

As we can see in this image the lock has swallowed the boat and the massive doors are closing. The water will next fill the lock and raise the large boat to the upriver level.

Here we have relocated to the up river side of the dam and lock. There is another roadway bridge that provides access across the dam and it is being raised to allow boat traffic to pass out of the lock.

We were surprised to see another barge in the lock. Where the heck did that come from?

The barge is being pushed by a tug boat. The barge is used to transport small salmon called smolts around the dams. The smolts are trapped above Lover Granite, the first dam, upriver, and transported below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River where they are released to continue their journey to the ocean..

The tug boat and fish carrying barge are heading up the river, clear of the lock.

Now we get a look at the paddleboat cruise ship, American Pride. It is coming out of the lock.

It took about 45 minutes from when the lock was closing to fill the lock and allow the boat to continue upstream.

Here is a closeup of the front of the boat. It seems that the dark object on the front is a gangplank device that provides for the passengers to get off at various ports of call.

It appeared to us that there were very few passengers on the paddlewheeler. The cost of the 8 day excursion from Astoria to Clarkston is from $4,600 to more than $6,700 depending on the accommodations you have. There are several stops along the way and excursions you can take from these stops.

The cruise ship is continuing its journey towards Lower Granite Dam about 37 miles up stream and then onto Clarkston. It will need to go through the lock at Lower Granite as it was seen doing here. at Little Goose.

We hope you enjoyed this look at Little Goose dam and the paddlewheeler called American Pride. It was fun to watch it traverse the lock and continue on it’s journey.

Let us know if you have any questions regarding this post.

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