Come for a visit to Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon

Last Thursday while we were walking with Fair at the park , she asked us to go with her to Wildlife Safari in Winston Oregon. Not very far from us. She has a yearly pass that she can take up to five people and go as often as she wishes. So she asked us to go.

We had gone walking early to beat the heat so when we got back we dropped off the dogs and took off for the park. It is an hours drive at least to see all the animals. You can only go 10 mile an hour but you can stop by the side of the road to see them longer. We wanted to get there before the heat so they weren't hiding in the shade.
I had done several collages to show most of the animals but after hours and a few days I just couldn't get it to work. so I posted a few main fun animals but the place has over 500 animals and birds in there. It is a non profit organization and those who go thru help pay for the feed and care of them. Also they have volunteers to help out.

Be sure to enlarge these photos.

You can see one of the Giraffes loose on the side of the street. we came right up to him later on the drive and the Elephant was in the building area. right in from of us was a water hole with a hippo in it. big sucker.

This is the wet lands. we just came thru the Africa's.

This is where they have an American bald eagle that was hurt in the wild and now lives here peacefully. he can go all over the island but he cant fly off.

The bears were fun to see. They are behind electric fences and they are in an area they CAN close off if need be. but there are two sets of bears in there own areas with pools and toys to play with and They feed them well.

They were so cute to watch playing in the water.

Here we came to two giraffes. this one was going to a building near by for food and the other one below decided to walk by us and go drink some water. something Fair said she has never gotten to see before. It was awesome to see him get his stance wide and slowly bend over.

Look how wide he has them

We got right up close. I had window down and you could see the muscles on those powerful legs. not spindly at all.

This was fun. This Rhea was in the Asian area. He came right up and pecked on the window. i had rolled it up in case he tried to take my camera. :))

These guys stood up all of a sudden as we came in view and started screeching. At first I thought it was my camera but as we moved on we saw they were focused on something up above us.

Her.. She was a threat to them even tho she was caged.

At the end we stopped at the village and browsed around.

There was a cool gift shop and a petting zoo and rides and a cool Restaurant that we treated Fair to lunch in.

Loved these Flamingos and yes they are real.

Of course a few pix were in order with the animals.

LOL

I couldn't get low enough to do the Zebra.

:)

End of trip.

It was soooo much fun.

We had a bit of a heat wave last week so kept low the rest of the time but we have been going out every morning doing our walking.

Hope your having a great weekend.

****

Surprise from Andrea, More flowers, A fish pond & A One year Anniversary

Try as I might I couldnt get this photo to go to the bottom so this is for the last sentence in the post. Last weekend it was Graffti Weekend and I had to get this shirt for him.

Its a One year anniversary as told below at the end.

Monday I went to my mail box not to excited. I expected to find the usual bills and junk mail.

As I am pulling out the mail on top is a LETTER to Moi from Paris France.

I grabbed it quickly and checked the return address.

Who else do I know in Paris but dear sweet Andrea De Palacio AKA Cestandrea.

I rushed into the house dumping any junk mail and bills and headed out back with a letter opener, a glass of Ice Tea.. must savor this moment you know.. and sat in the sunshine opening it very carefully.

Below is what came out of that lovely letter.

A refrigerator Magnet of the Eiffel Tower being Struck by lightning in 1902 taken by Gabriel Loppe` 1825-1943

And a post card with some of her Art work on it with a lovely letter on the back side of it.

be sure and enlarge photo.

What she didn't know was that I have been wanting something with the Eiffel Tower on it FROM Paris for a long time. I have had friends go over and never remember. And out of the blue Andrea sends me this.

I meant to take a photo of it on my Fridge door but forgot of course.

But I love it and the thought and THANK YOU SO MUCH ANDREA.

You made my Day.

I feel my Sheep painting is very happy there.

:))

Well I am still taking photos of my Flowers and others.

I love my Shasta Daisies and they seem to love this spot but I have to go out into the field and look into the yard to see the blooms.


I took this with the flash


This one with out the flash. I like both for different reasons.


So I posted both.


Which one do you like?



This hanging basket I got out at the Nursery in Glide with Fair.


Its called a Flowering Oregano. He said it will get reddish in Fall and die back completely for winter and come back in Spring. all I need to do it put it somewhere and ignore it till spring.


My kind of wintering plant.

:)

The other plant I got is called a Crocosmia. below is at a friends house of her pond and has that very Orange flowering plant I bought.


We were invite to a BBQ at their home on Tuesday night and they have the coolest Fish pond. She has Gold fish in it. I had to take some photos of it of course.

she has some plant that floats on the top called Duck feathers... or goose feathers I forget now. It is to protect them from the sun and predators, She parted it to feed and let me see them better. It is a water fountain too and sounds so good.

This one blurred on me

That round thing is a filter and every day she empties it out into a wheel barrow and mixes water in it and leaves it over night to let the chlorine filter out and then feeds her plants with the water. She has very healthily looking plants too.

Another view

This is the sides of it. They live on hilly property and we were on the patio under a summer tent.

Around her yard she has her husbands old shoes filled with plants. I loved them so much I photographed them.

These boots are done with Walkin'

****

On the Eleventh of July it was the one year anniversary of when Con cut up his hand pretty bad on the table saw. On the 18th he had his Surgery so really his healing started with the Surgery.

We were talking with someone today about it and we all realized how far Con has come in that years time of healing. I am sure there will be even more healing but he really is doing good now.

He even finds humor in things to do with his half missing finger these days. Yes he has done his fair share of grumbling but for the most part his attitude about it has amazed me at how well he has dealt with it all.

See first picture on post of Con

A trip to Colliding Rivers & more flowers in the Garden

View of Colliding Rivers from standing Bridge in Glide Oregon. It is more active in Winter and less so right now. But it was pretty.

Fair and I took a trip back out to the cute little Nursery Con and I went to a couple weeks or so ago. She had never been there and it isn't easy to find from the HWY. We just went to look but we did buy. We got something called Croscosmia. It has light orange freesia like Flowers on it. It will spread which is what both of us wanted. We wanted the Lucifer color but he didn't have any. I fact he ordered it and got the light orange in. I got a hanging basket plant which I forgot to photograph so I will have to post it another time. it is a flowering Oregano plant. has green and purple flowers on it. very subtle. smell lovely too.

She decided to take me to see Colliding rivers since I had never seen it. It wasn't a very far drive from where we were. The sign

What it tells about it.
This River is called the North Umpqua once it all comes into this basin and leaves. This goes thru the northern part of our Town. We have TWO rivers that run thru out Town. this one is cold and the one that runs by and around us is warmer.

I walked around taking photos. It was so pretty and I love the sound of running water.

Another view

One off to the left. We walked thru a little path of greens to get this angle.

These wild Sweet peas were all over.

Close up of them

This is from Fairs yard. I love these flowers. Its such an old fashion plant.

She has a full bush of them.

A wild sunflower seed sprouted and grew around her Bird feeder.

This is from my Hydrangea bush. I love the blue in the center.

***

I have been having problems with my computer lately.

I tired and tried to post something yesterday but it would let me. my computer on AOL kept freezing on me. I couldn't even comment much. so please forgive me for slacking off lately.

I have been in the garden more and walking more and enjoying summer but I am also fighting my computer.

***

We had a nice thunder shower yesterday and it watered everything nicely. We got out in the yard and did a lot of dead heading and trimming back certain things like Blackberries that try to take over. we left a few so Con could have some berries to eat. We hand just finished planting a couple things we had waiting to be planted, when all of a sudden we heard a loud clap of thunder and it let go and poured. Good timing I would say.

Today it is a perfect day.

We even got out and gave Annie a bath.

oops I said a nasty word.
LOL.

She didn't like it but she sure is going to smell better, that is until she finds something nasty to roll in.

And you can bet on it being soon.

:O
Oops. I forgot a couple pix I posted.

below is my view from my Kitchen window right now.

I didn't know that Roses could get so tall.

This bush rallied around and bloomed pretty quick right after the first bloom of spring. I am still l waiting on the others.

***

A little of this and a little of that

I don't really have many new photos to post but found a few I have taken over the last couple weeks that I decided to post. This one was taken while taking a drive around the country side a couple weeks ago. Everyone has been haying their fields and bailing it. I love how these are rolled instead of in squares.

I also loved the old truck they are on.

Be sure and enlarge them.

Things are pretty quiet at the Duck pond these days. Not much going on. All the babies are grown up even tho you can still tell the young ones from the Adults by the size and colors. This is the white duck that had the pin feathers that I posted walking across the parking lot with its Canadian goose friend a few posts back. The are still together but this was feeding time and begging is done alone you know.

:)

A little boy was tossing out bread. I loved the look on his/her face.
MAY I HAVE SOME BREAD PRETTY PLEASE ?

Sharp shinned Hawk

This was out sitting on our back fence a few mornings ago. I took this photo before shooing it off. I am not sure if it was eyeing a bird or the bird bath. It was a rather warm day when I got this.

We went to walk on Sunday at the Park and heard a Band playing and it was about 7:45 AM. I had to go peek. It was a Christian band practicing for some event. I got to see the new half shell that was recently delivered to replace the one that got ruined in the bad storm.

Sure is pretty.
I did feel sorry for the Senior Citizens that live in the Senior housing just across the River in back of the half dome tho.

Sunday in the Park.

A little music, a little sun, some reading. What more can one ask for?

I tried to get a close up picture of this gal walking her corgi, for Cathy at Cleavelandgirlie, in the park but she was really hoofing it. We did get stopped by some nice lady who flipped over Annie. She said she too had a Red Border Collie and had to show her to us on her phone. She was a lighter red and she said she loved Annie's darker Red and could she take a pix to show her husband. I said sure.

She said she was up visiting her Mother From Las Vegas. I said, Aha SHE was the one who brought the heat up last week. :)

She got down on her haunches to pet Annie and so I told Annie to shake hands and she did then I told her to give her a high Five and she did that too. She was rewarded with lots of sweet talk and petting.

We have so much fun walking in the park. We interact with so many people and thier dogs.

We have been managing to walk almost every day for an hour or at least over 35 to 40 minutes. The more we do the more 'Annie' wants to do.

LOL

Our Veggie garden is growing taller daily but we are being bombarded by little yellow beetles that look like red ladybugs with the black dots on the back. They are eating up everything like locus. They are getting Fairs figs now. they can strip a leaf in no time. We are trying to hand pick them off and squish them so as not to have to spray and kill bees or birds, but I'm not sure we're winning.

So this years crop might be a wash out if we cant get rid of them soon.
Fair was really discouraged this morning. Its not been a good year for our flowers, trees and crops so far. We've been plagued by mildew, snails and worms and now these yellow flying beetles.

close up view.

And last but not least,

My Daisies seemed to be doing well and blooming bug free.

Thats something at least.

*****

Lynns visit..Short but Sweet

I have put the cart before the horse here.

I am putting the presents before the Guests I fear.

Lynn came to visit Saturday baring gifts.

She came with her DH who spent time with con while I showed Lynn around.

We had a great time.

It was as if it wasn't one year ago almost exactly that we had first met and last seen each other.

Big hugs started off the Visit and a little show and tell and then she brought out some gifts she had made for me. I found a place in my studio right away to hang her gifts. I love hearts and she made this big Art piece in my colors with lots of hearts and a how does your garden Grow pin.

I also love Tea pots so she did this in my colors

Tea four U

And on my Art board I put her other Heart piece she made me.

We finally got the print

(I got from Oregon Art Guy some time ago )

framed and hung in my studio

I had started adding to this wall but it was sadly lacking in warmth and Lynn's Art quits added that warmth.

Thank you so much Lynn

I spent some time cleaning up messes before she got here so I decided to photograph where I sit and email. This room is also my dressing room since our closets are so dinky Con has our bedroom closet so I got this one and my dresser.. Which was my parents and I painted all to match in here.

I made all the curtains in this house too and the pillow I sit on.

OK I digress... On with Lynn's Visit

We sat outside since it was to nice to be inside.
Lynn taking pictures of our birds.

Lynn asked me to make a cherry cobbler when she came so I did.

I also invited them to come for lunch since they would be here about that time.

So we had a nice visit and fixed some sandwiches, ate outside and the had some cherry cobbler inside.

For some reason my photos wont move for me now. so I am stuck where they land.

Is anyone else having that problem?

My second cobbler came out much better.

Annie found a friend and decided He would throw ball for her. An honor for Fred.

LOL

She spent most of her time getting attention.

After eating Fred showed us some of the fish fossils they had found. Really cool in person.

Then it was time for them to leave and go on to visit with their long time Friend a town away and our visit was over.

Lynn showed me how much room she had in the car while sitting and doing some car art.

Not very much.

:))

All to soon we were waving good bye.

We enjoyed every minute of it.

Bye till next year. Please come again.

***

Check out Lynns blog on her take of our visit.

http://lynn-nonameblog.blogspot.com/

Nursery's and Walks in park during Concerts

I always am so happy when this plant stand opens in April.

I am hopeful that Spring is really here and it is getting time to plant for spring and summer even tho it is a tad cool yet. Fair and I buy lots of our plants here during the three months it is here. Its only about five minutes from us in the parking lot of our very tiny mall.

These plants come from two nurseries in towns not far from us but a ways away.

I always feel so sad when it closes up around the 4th of July. That means planting time is really late after this, and we must go further out to find plants if we want any more.

I love the beauty of all the flowers in here.

BE SURE TO ENLARGE PHOTOS.

This is the last week for this year.

Fair and Con and I are still walking. we go when we can. Evening or early morning or afternoon.
What ever works. but now it is getting hotter it will probably be early mornings like today.
Last Tuesday we went about seven pm and it is concert night every Tuesday in the park.
Parking is all over where we walk. Parking is crazy but we are now parking at the duck pond instead of the park and no one has figured that out yet.

Last Tuesday it wasn't bad at seven and it was Reggae night.
Since I had never been there during concerts I had to walk around a bit to see how crowded it was.

We usually have a half Shell but it got torn during that bad rain and wind storm a few weeks ago. It is on order but they are using the curtain for now. Since it is called Music on the Half shell it loses something with a curtain. :))

I think this shot is showing the River that is behind the curtains. It is the very same River that goes by our house. Last night we went again and it was some Rock group. but we didn't go check it out.

Fair decided last week that she wanted some Ice Cream. We have the best Ice cream here.

by Umpqua. also name of the Rivers that flow thru our town. North and South Umpqua.

I got a kick out of this shot of Con and Annie. This was the first time Annie had been in any kind of a crowd and she didn't know what to make of it. She went up and put her cold nose on the back of this girls leg and con was pulling on her but look at that grin.

We all succumbed to an Ice cream cone. Con and Fair got Raspberry swirl and I got my favorite, Chocolate Thunder Brownie. OMG It is GOOD.

Last night we got NOTHING. . . just kept walking.

:)

This morning we got out there walking at seven. We knew it was going to be 90 today or close to it.

**

Last week we took a drive out to a cute nursery that was about 25 minutes away and on the North Umpqua River. We have bought things from Dan at the Farmers Market since we have been here and went there once when we first moved here. I had forgotten house neat a Nursery it was. I wanted another Fairy rose for my front Arbor that had that American Beauty Rose on it. Every year that Rose would bloom and look beautiful for a couple weeks and then get black spot and lose all it leaves the rest of the summer. so we replace it with another Fairy rose that does so well on our other Arbor.

Dan and his wife Moved up from So Cal 20 some years ago to open a Nursery and bought a house with land and made it their home and a wonderful Nursery. I wish I had asked him If I could take pictures sooner then I did as I missed some great shots of Cherry trees full of cherries.
This shot of there sign is across the street on the River but it is there land.

Peeking over the front fence. Have to deer proof things.
It looks like a jungle in there.

Going in the gate.

They have a friend that did this and another mural in there. I loved it and finally asked if he minded me taking pictures. Why am I always so chicken to ask?

This is on our way out. He has plants sitting all over. not every thing is in one spot. its like he decorates a spot with his plants.

We got a five gallon Fairy rose as he is the only one who carries them around here and we got a photinia bush for our back side fence. and some plant food he says is fantastic for getting roses and other things to bloom over and over. I will see if it works.

I hope to go back there soon. Fair wants to go check it out so I will be sure and take my camera and get some better photos.

****

Three more days till Lynn gets here some time Saturday morning. She will be only staying a couple hours as she is heading the stay over night with a very good friend of there's out past this nursery. I am looking forward to their short but sweet visit.

Sure is nice having motivation to get things done we have been procrastinating about.

:))

Our not so Secret Garden, Geese story

I was asked to post this sheep when Con got the curls popped out.

Well here it is. Funny thing happened when he popped them out, it made the sheep look round and it isn't. Cool affect.

Be sure to enlarge photos.

We have been working in the back yard for a few days now trying to get it looking good for Lynn's Visit. I went to Big lots and found a new colorful plastic table cloth to add some color outside. They were out of the florals so I got fruit motif.

We went to Home depot for some white Lattice to put on the chain link fence and gate to hid the carport mess. Trash cans etc. makes it much more charming. I also painted a black rooster white with orange head piece. So I have been doing some painting. Just not on canvas. :)

Our walk way out one side of our sun room is looking pretty right now too with the Daisy's blooming.

Bird bath I painted was put in the shade garden and on bricks so we can see the birds taking a bath from every angle. So far no birds have discovered it yet. But give them time. The pigeons and Starlings are now gone.

We also move the picnic table down to a shadier more sheltered area where I have my Shasta daisies. They didn't used to be in the shady area but still somehow get enough sun to bloom for now. So I planted some Salvia in here for color. It has become so windy here lately. It never used to be windy every day. So I am hoping I can paint out here still this summer.

You can see the table peeking out from where we put it. It also was in the way of us trying to water the lawn.

I took this shot this morning. It doesn't show up how pretty it was but that's all dandelions out there blooming. Tomorrow Con will mow them all down again.

Our Veggie garden is growing fast now too. This was taken last week. It is further along now.

We have the Pole beans growing up the net and two kinds of tomatoes. Sunflowers again and zineas in here.

These started as a couple I got at a garage sale and now look at them. Chickens and hens or Hens and chickens they are called. It is after all Cactus Monday. :)

My Fairy Roses are starting to fade out now. I was hoping they would still be in full bloom when Lynn gets here on the 4th. but not sure they will be.

Our Grapes took off this year and if the birds don't get them we will be making jelly again this year. Concord grapes here. Annie is looking behind where Con is planting a photinia along the fence behind here. We are making a hedge for privacy as they aren't watering the fairy roses much and are dying out. We need to keep the deer out and they would be able to hop over without anything there.

Well This is the end of the photos for now.

***

We took off this morning early with Fair and Anabelle to walk in the park before it got hot. We have been doing pretty good getting out most days. We did miss Sunday. We will be going as early as we can to beat the heat from now on as it is going to be getting to warm for the dogs later.

We saw the geese this morning and I didn't have my camera so I missed a couple choice shots. They were in a large group walking across the parking lot to a grassy area across from the pond two by two. We were a ways back from them but could see them pretty well, but as we got closer they all of a sudden came running and half flying back across to the pond. Something had scared them and the babies, now young adults, that weren't moving fast enough were being bawled out by one of the parents and boy did they move fast after that. Lucy was there too and we were cracking up as it was so funny to see.

****

Art Festival 2009

Been so busy lately I just haven't had the energy to download the photos I have been taking much less blog. But I finally found some time to get these on my blog.

This was taking at the Art Festival we went to on Friday.

We have a Three day weekend Festival every year.

Its on the Grounds of the Art Center here.

On about the same grounds where we walk in the park and around.

Be sure and enlarge the photos.

I forgot the get the main sigh photo.

We walked in and didn't get very far before I found Julie Peterson's Oil paintings and prints.

I fell instantly in love with her work and colors.
Guess they remind me of what I love to paint.
I bought a cute little print of one of her garden paintings.
Shown last here. I had to get her photo and photos of her booth to share with you.

She is a delightful person. Not to much younger then me.
She is self taught and prints her own prints too.
Her Husband is now retired and they make the circuit of Festivals and Art shows in many states.
She is from Washington.


we walked back by when we were leaving and she had lots looking at her works and she was selling too.
We yakked some more. I really liked her as well as her work.
She uses such lovely colors that on her web site she said she slowly layers colors.
She said to email her.


Making a sale.

The grounds were spread out with lots of booths from woodworking to iron works.

There weren't to many painters this year.

But you can go into the Art center building and there are Artists inside showing off their work.

This is our favorite booth. I took two photos but it is hard to get a good shot of all her stuff.

Every year we have bought something from Teresa G.

Last year it was the egret and this year we got the sheep with the bird on its back we wanted last year. It turns out it was their last one too.

After walking an hour and half we were tired.

Here's the sheep we bought. I am missing my sheep in the back field so had to get it.

It isn't easy to get photos in here due to all the big old trees and shade the make.

Here's a better shot of it. We are to pop out the curls on it to catch the light to make it look like sheep's wool. Haven't had time to do that yet.

This was the print I got. A small one and it doesn't show the colors well.

I didn't have much cash with me and so I was limited to smaller ones and also I don't have a lot of wall spaces.

Her Website to look up her work is,

http://www.juliepeterson.net/
***

We have been planting more flowers. I keep saying no more but then I find a space for some more summer color annuals. Our plant stand is going to close down soon so I wanted to make sure I have what I want for the summer.

I was looking at pictures of our yard when we moved in over five years ago and even two years ago and what a difference from then to now. Our back yard is now how I always envisioned a back yard. Cozy, private, peaceful, usable with flowering beauty and water fountains and birds and bird baths.

I will post some soon.

Have a great weekend

****