Wintry picnic

We're back home after a great Christmas at the beach and now trying to find our winter groove.
We took a survey of the homestead on Tuesday, taking notice of winter's little details.

Hydrangeas are beautiful in every season.

Congratulations, Shorty! You've been promoted to head rooster.

Pepper peeks around the mossy tree at the chickens.

Love the red bark on this shrub (maybe a dogwood? I can't remember). Looks like someone has been munching on it, though.

Mischievous, isn't he?

After an hour or so of playing outside, I told little guy it was time to head inside for lunch.  "Mom," he said very calmly, "I don't want to go inside. I just want to stay outside all the time." We hammered out a compromise: If he came inside long enough for me to make lunch, we could have a wintry picnic outside. That's just what we did. Here we are dining al fresco in the neighboring cemetery.

Alphabets just taste better outside.

And for dessert, one of Grandma's gingerbread men. Nom nom nom.

Then it was time to run around and play!

Happy Winter!

Turkey day to noble fir

I've been distracted by a broken camera and lagging laptop lately, but I'm trying to get back in the game.
Well, first there was Thanksgiving. We were joined by our parents on both sides and our brothers. Here we're capping off a fine evening with pumpkin pie and coffee.

 And the morning after...still full!

There were bike rides in dry weather.

And bike rides in snow!

That pretty much catches us up to today when we trekked into the wilds of Washougal in search of the perfect Christmas tree. We've been loyal to the same u-cut farm for the last several years, but I heard about this fun place with a petting zoo and a miniature donkey named Elvis, so we gave it a whirl.
Ole grabbed a cart with a saw and set off single-mindedly.

It's a quiet foggy Friday, perfect for a hike through the firs. Where, oh where is the tree for us?

Oh, there it is!

Let's cut it down! Ever helpful, Ole is behind the tree trying to ram it over with the cart.

We cart it back to tree central for shaking and tying.

Then a stop in their beautiful barn to meet the animals...bunnies, pigs, goats, ducks, and chickens.

And Elvis, of course!

The lovely tree is standing bare in our living room now. Tomorrow we'll hang the lights and decorations. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Little owl

More bird excitement around here! I heard the distinctive thud of a bird hitting our large dining room windows the other evening right at dusk. It was loud enough that I walked from the other side of the house to check it out. I cringed when I realized that it was a little bird of prey crumpled in the rocks under the window, but as I stepped outside, it looked up at me. It had a very tight grip on a twig.

I picked it up, snapped this quick photo with the flash, then set the owl down on an outside table. It stood up fine, so we waited.

Ole calls it "Mad Owl."

After two or three minutes of watching and waiting, it flew off into the trees. We ran right to the bird books and I'm pretty sure it's a Northern Pygmy Owl. Interesting fact: these guys are diurnal and are also active at dawn and dusk.We figure it was hunting near our birdfeeders when it hit the glass. I'm just so happy it survived!
Here's a photo of my cute little owl. We visited a pumpkin patch just before Halloween and squeezed him into last year's costume.

Clamming

On our last trip to the beach we learned a handy new skill: how to dig for razor clams. When the clams are in season and the tide is super low, thousands of people flock to the beach to dig their limit of clams. This low tide, called a minus tide, was right at sunset. Chowder here we come!

The technique is pretty simple: look for small divot in the sand and dig straight down quickly. We used special aluminum clam guns that we borrowed from some experienced diggers. They also showed us some helpful tricks and tips.

I scored a clam on this pull. See its creepy neck (or is that the foot?) protruding from the shell in the foreground?

Ole got a big kick out of helping grandpa. As dad pulled up a tube of sand, Ole would quickly fill the hole back in with his shovel. Not the best technique if the clam's still down there, but he sure enjoyed it. See the distant masses of people?

We ultimately decided that digging for clams is much more enjoyable than actually cleaning and eating them, but it's good to know they're down there.

And here's a shot from earlier in the day to prove that the sun really does shine at the beach once in a while.

Feeling fallish

We've been enjoying beautiful dry and sunny days for weeks now as it turns from summer to fall. The pumpkins are ripe for picking, and what a wonderful crop we had this year! So much so that I've been thinking of planting the back acre all in pumpkins next year.

I do love raking up a huge pile of leaves and jumping in. It's a wonderful memory from childhood and, well, college.We rarely get the dry fall weather that is perfect for raking leaves, so we're taking full advantage of it this year. After taking a few photos, I put the camera away so I could just enjoy it. We jumped together hand in hand, buried each other in leaves, I threw him in over and over...so much fun.

Biking through the leaf pile.

Working that rake.

Watching them fall.

Perfect.

Wallowa bound

Next on the trip we hit the road toward Joseph.

We made a pit stop at Terminal Gravity Brewing in Enterprise to refuel.

Then we took a stroll up and down Main Street in Joseph. The town is known for its bronze work with many statues lining the main drag. I asked Ole to stand by the bike so I could take a picture and for THE VERY FIRST TIME EVER he did, even threw in a glance at the camera.

Oh, good morning! Our spartan motel really came through in the view department. At breakfast, I noticed people in town were a bit abuzz over the night's snowfall.

We boarded the Wallowa Lake tramway that morning for a fifteen minute gondola ride to the top of Mt Howard. Here we are getting settled at 4,450'. Ole looked so nervous and very small as we waited for the car to start its ascent.

 

But he's much happier mere seconds later as we pulled out of the terminal:

"SNOW!!!!!"

Up up up to 8,150'. I'd overheard the ticket seller say that there was a dusting of snow up top, but I did not expect to see this:

Lots and lots of beautiful snow! So we scratched our plan to hike the trails up top and instead tromped around and threw snowballs.

After a fun ride back down the mountain, we had a cozy afternoon curled up in the hotel room watching movies. O snacked on cucumbers and milk and played with his new tractor.

We were resting up for Alpenfest's biggest night. The Swiss-Bavarian festival had kicked off earlier that day with the smallest parade I've ever seen.

But everyone loves a polka band, right?!? The Polkatones were pretty great.

 I loved seeing the traditional costumes and watching the old-timers dance.

Ole had a laugh, too!