We had a wonderful weekend at the Oregon coast! Post #1

Hubby and I took a couple of days and drove down to the coast. This was our first stop on the way down after we took a different turn and went a different way than usual (no we were not lost LOL) We stopped to use the GPS on Hubbys IPhone, lol, it has a cool GPS! We ended up going through Salem, Or., not to much out of our way, got to see a lot of pretty farmland, and new country.  I had to take a picture out front of The Hitching post, tavern. I love the tie posts all along the front of the building. We had reserved a hotel room, so we stopped at Sprit Mtn Casino, on the way down. Sadly we left a little money there LOL and after a couple of hours we headed on our way.

We finally got to the hotel, a pretty decent place, The Ester Lee, at Lincoln City. This is the view from the lobby window, which are huge oval windows. You can google the Ester Lee, they have quite the website. They are on the north side of the Inn at Spanish Head, Lincoln City, and have much better prices!

Here is Hubby going up to our room, ours is the one in the dark corner, that you can just see, second floor.

We got into the room and relaxed for awhile. This is the view out our room window.

And we watched these Crazy!! people LOL Kiteboarding, at least thats what I am calling it, I dont know what they call it. Kiteboarding, Windsailing, Boardsailing, Kitesurfing??? LOL Let me know if you know what the real name is.

There were 6-8 of them out there, some good crashes and times when the wind pulled them right off of their board! Jumping waves and sailing up and down the coast!

We walked down on the beach and I took a lot of photos, I will be sharing over the next few days. I took some really pretty sunset photos too!

This is the same rock from where we came down onto the beach. It is right in front of the hotel. The Ester Lee also has cottage rooms, they were all booked up this trip, but we want to stay in those too.

Pacific coast sand. Not the white stuff you get in Florida, but still pretty. More of a black, red, tan, volcanic sand. The foot prints of all the critters that have passed this way since the last tide was in. Low tide was at 8:10PM.

And we met Charlie the cat LOL, he greated us when we came down the road to the beach, and when we went back up. We also talked to a funny man who had rescued Charlie and given him to a woman friend who nursed him to health as a kitten, the man was staying at his friends house. We got Charlies life story(part of the guys too!) LOL LOL. Here Charlie thinks he is hiding from people and dogs LOL, he is a character of a cat! When we first met him we thought he was a little dog at first, because he ran right up to us, like a dog would.

Here is the hotel from the beach, our room is by the second chimney, second floor. It looked like all the rooms have a gas fireplace in them. Ours was one of the small rooms, but real cozy, fridge and micro. The cottages and the larger rooms have kitchenettes. We couldnt complain it was only $160. for two nights.

And turn around from that pic and this is what is there. It was really soothing to leave the window open all night and listen to the ocean waves.

Such a beautiful day there on Saturday! Warm and only a light breeze. More to share coming! Sunsets and waves and the Tillamook Air Museum.

We have been gone for a few days....

Here is a hint....

More tomorrow!

Kitchen rearrange....

Last week our old refrigerator quit. Done Kaput, so we had to go find a new fridge. Refridgerator shopping is as bad as car shopping! We went to Lowes, and Home Depot, the first day, found out we could find a small fridge to go in the hole, that the old one was in. Hubby then decided he didnt want to settle. The hole where the old fridge was, was only 33" wide, and 69" tall. Most fridges these days are 35 1/2"wide and 70" tall. (((sigh))).  So we decided to rearrange the kitchen. Making this opening by moving the pantry over where the old fridge was and taking down the small over the fridge cabinet that was there. The second day we went to Sears, Standard appliance in Portland, De Wills, Home Depot, and Lowes.  The third day we went back to Lowes and bought this one. Finally!! But it was the 3rd or 4th one we looked at, that was in stock! Not much was in stock. It would have been a month out to wait for our first choice, we didnt want to wait that long. I wanted stainless, Hubby wanted ice and water in the door. We got both! :0)

We had to empty out the old china cabinet, and move it across the room. It is really heavy, made out of solid wood. It is amazing how much crap you acumulate in 11 years!!

Hubbys dad built this cabinet to go in the kitchen for mom. Hubby has to put back the shelves up at the roof too, so I can put more crap back up LOL LOL Hubby remembers what the kitchen was like before his dad built this hutch. He was born to this house, his folks built it in 1966, and he was born in January of '67.  He has lived in this house for all but about 10 of his 43 years!

I feel like a hoarder!! Yikes LOL LOL all the stuff out of the cabinet had to go on the dining table, in the living room. What a mess! Now I have to get rid of or put back all this s t u f f  LOL.

But!!!! It is all worth it, the new fridge is so pretty!! LOL I wish we would win the lottery to redo the cabinets and the floor and .... and.... (((sigh))) you have to buy tickets first.... or you cant win. LOL So we have to live with it as it is. moving stuff around sure opened up the kitchen. I think we are going to buy a small bistro table to go here next to the fridge and two chairs (shhh maybe a rug)(. I also want to replace the old light fixtures in the kitchen there are 3, and get rid of the head banging chandelier.

Shiney.... oooooo LOL LOL, lets hope this one lasts 20 years! Buying the bigger fridge was actually cheaper that buying the small one, by almost $500, go figure. We did finally decide on this one at Lowes, with free delivery and haul off of the old one. We saved enough that we finally bought a new microwave too! We had been borrowing one of my bother in laws small ones. This one is the first micro we could find that is 2cu ft, and 1200 wats! (at Lowes too, and it was only $169. !!!) Which is what our last one was. so now the only appliance that needs to be switched to stainless is the dishwasher! Almost there LOL LOL (to a matching kitchen)
Now I just have to put all the crap back and clean and throw away or garage sale s t u f f.

Black and white to color.... and friends....

Here is that same little Runny Babbit from yesterdays post. It was so funny, when I stopped to look at it, it froze, and didnt move until I was 20-30 feet away again LOL.

Zoom in on it some more. Kind of funny how the grass blade on its right almost looks like the other ear! LOL

And zoomed in as far as I could get. You can see the other ear now, I took a couple steps forward. It still didnt move, at this point it was only about 8 feet away from me. Silly rabbit, LOL LOL. It still held on to the blade of grass it was eating.

Easy and Mickey grooming each other, these two have been together the best part of 16+ years.  My  Dad bought Easy when she was four, he gave her to Sara for her 15th birthday, and I bought Mickey when she was two, they are 25 and 21.

Emma lies down in her poop at night and always has green on her hip (((sigh))) You can still see some of the water in the field, we are breaking all the rain records the weather folks keep saying!

Sunday Stills....Black and White

This little critter was out by the barn when I fed the other morning. I didnt see it when I went out, but it caught my eye when I headed back to the house. I love the texture in the pic, and the rabbit thinking its invisable, frozen with a piece of grass in its mouth and one ear up LOL It let me take a few pics of it then I headed back in the house. I see it out there most mornings as it runs off, this is the first time I caught it sitting still, at maybe 10 feet away.

For more Sunday stills take the link, there are some good ones!

Noah's Ark....Horses with flippers and gills??

Ok I have ordered the lumber and the animal fodder, anyone want to help build an Ark???

It is so wet here, the weather says we will have an inch and a half of rain, in 24 hrs, before it slacks off....yes slacks off doesnt quit, this afternoon! (((sigh))) My poor horses are going to have to grow flippers and gills pretty soon! Check out the lower pasture this morning.

Wet, wet, wet, the lower pasture is part of a drainage that goes, through the neighbors and under the road, to the river, at least it stays down there! there is probably a 10-12 foot drop, or more, from the house down to the lower pasture, so glad!

This is my morning greater, her and Emma talk to me when I am walking out to the barn.

They were a little mad at me for taking pictures instead of feeding them, LOL, Mickey was talking real quiet here to me, come on Mom we are hungary! I love Easy's snotty look, she acts tough when she is in her own stall LOL, she is the bottom of the totem pole.

Ah, breakfast, silly old mare, hasnt much lower teeth, she drops half her grain, as you can see. Wet or dry she dribbles it all over. I usually try to get her hay around the grain pan so that it falls on the hay,(although I didnt get it so close this AM) so maybe she can eat more of it when she eats her hay. She looks great! Fat and sassy, she only gets 4 cups of Equine Sr., AM and PM, and one flake of hay, which she usually doesnt clean up. She is the messyist horse! She is one that has a race track in her stall, round and round, mixes her hay and poop, there is an acutal trail in her stall every morning.

Breakfast finally! LOL impatient old mare LOL Mickey is boss mare, she is always this shiney. I always feed them on the ground. I believe its healthier, its the way they were meant to eat.

And Emma was out in the field when I went out, whinnying to me as I am walking out.

This is the quagmire she has to go through to get in her stall. If you live somewhere dry, enjoy it!!! For 5-6 months out of the year we have pure unadulterated MUD. It is about a foot deep, as you can see by Emmas mud socks in a later picture. When the rain stops it does dry out fairly quickly, but in the mean time all the water sits on top of the ground. I have been lucky and they havnt had bad thrush problems at all, clean dry stalls over night, help with that and the rainrot, which only Easy has had a little of, but it is gone now. I used a little MTG and it cleared the rainrot right up.

Emma is so silly, the flash on the camera scares her and she jumps every time I snap a picture.

This shows that Appy eye though LOL

And she runs for the door, goofball. See the water running down her head.

I love her color, she isnt to much lighter this year than she was last year, she has been progressively getting whiter over the years.

OK I will settle down and eat my breakfast. Like her mud socks, she goes in and out all night, I dont leave her locked in, they all seem to be happier that way, Mickey has a run and Easy the pen, Emma has the whole pasture. I really cut back on thier hay now that the grass has come on. Because of all the water our pasture is really rich, dispite the weeds LOL I cant even get out there to mow and cut weeds!

Welcome to our soggy soggy world.  Now back to working on that Ark.
Sometime soon it has to dry out so I can ride again, right? Now you can see why I havnt been riding. I could haul out to an indoor arena, but I havnt.

Sunday stills....company and corporate logos

For more Sunday stills Take the link.

Our, almost, every Saturday morning trip LOL if its summer or good sales we garage sale too!

I dont drink coffee, So I usually get a Tall, Soy Chai Tea Latte. LOL

Hubby gets a Vente Peppermint Moca,

and Megs gets a Peppermint Moca too.

I tried a long time ago to drink coffe, but it tastes horrible to me! I put everything under the sun into it too! couldnt make it taste any better.

Dublin loves going into Starbucks too! And they dont mind at all, we always get folks asking about him.

I had to add this sign. It will soon be gone. Hubby and I went here a lot when we dated 21 years ago!

This restaurant was closed for 15 years and opened up again for 2-3 years and folded again. They keep trying to put a fancy expensive restaurant here, it is not a fit. It has sold again, the new one will be called something like the Black Pearl on the Columbia, another 4-5 star restaurant, I can tell them right now it wont fly, sad. We need something like McMenimens, upscale burgers, fries, and other stuff, beer, and good prices! (google McMenimens, it is a really cool comapany with lots of location here in the NW, eclectic art and hand painted decoration, in most locations. Our favorite Edgefields, is in an old Poor farm, has a hostel, winery, brewery, and rose garden, and smoking shack for the cigar crowd, also a 5 star restaurant in addition to the regular restaurant, cool history, and according to Hubby good beer too! I dont drink beer either LOL)

This isnt a company logo, just a dead company.
You cant quite read the Parker House sign.

So with the new owners, this old building, built in 1950, having structural problems, will be torn down in the next couple of months. I am glad something new is going in, and I do hope that they make a go of it! This little town needs it! There is now a hotel across the parking lot from this location too. To the right, west, is the Marina, it is an awesome location! In High School we had Proms here too.  So say goodbye to this old building with lots of history in this comunity. Just not so much in the last 20 years.

Friday funny....

I know this isnt an approved toy for Guide Dogs. Dublin had so much fun playing with it, and we were laughing so hard, it was hard to make him stop!

I will tell you, he deffinately is NOT afraid of balloons! LOL LOL

We went to Home Depot the other day and when we were walking up front a balloon popped and he didnt even react!

But he really is a light hearted silly little soul LOL LOL....

He was so funny, the string had a large 4" diameter plastic disk as a weight, and that is what he carried around, and around and around LOL

This little dog has a good mind and not much fazes him. He stops playing with things when we tell him to, you can put your hand in his food dish and he does not care. I love his personality, he will make a good seeing eye dog. Or if he doesnt make it, he will be a much loved pet! Maybe some therepy work? hmmm we will have to wait and see.

But for the meantime he can still be a goofball puppy once and awhile LOL

Sunday stills....Landscapes

I deciced to use some shots from my walk on Thursday, for this challenge....

Fort Vancouver

Gateway to a grassy lane and Fort Vancouver and Pearson Airfield in the background. There are a lot of wild roses along the right here.

And one of my favorite pictures I took that day, the West tower of Fort Vancouver.

For more Sunday Stills take the link!

Take a walk with the puppies, part 2....

A walk with the puppies, Dublin and I took up the tail end, because I was taking pictures, plus I am slow LOL I am sore and stiff today from the walk!

This is the view West from that viewing platform.

The view East, up river, you can see the corner of the platform.

And back to the land bridge, this is the south side, it really is a neat place. To the left of the wall is

Hwy 14.

This fence along the trail is cool, the organic shapes, instead of straight iron bars.

There are big photo graphs along the wall with historical information.

All of the seating areas had Native American Tribe names, all around the outside, and the petroglyphs in the center. The shadow is really cool with the glyphs showing. I bet you could get some neat photos at different times of the day.

One of the seating areas, there are two covered ones and one that is not.

A close up of the inside, it had the cut our glyph and a small orange painted one, there wasnt anything I seen that explained the glyphs, I would like to go back for a slower stroll and see if there is more info.

This area is directly across the Columbia River from the Portland Airport. Lots of planes were landing and taking off in the time we were there.

Back on the North side, the seating area on the right is the one that isnt covered, it had all the tribe names around the outside.

A neat tribute to the Native Americans.

The trail back to where we were parked, me and Dublin way in the back LOL they did wait for us up around the corner.

A few years back I remember visiting a period costume campout in this area, I think they do it every Summer.

The rain held off while we were walking! It was because I carried my umbrella, had to be, LOL LOL We could see this storm coming down the Gorge though on our way back. Ft. Vancouver on the left and Pearson Airport on the right.

Shadow pic LOL, Dublin and me.

Wildflowers along the fence.

And on the way back, one of the club members was looking for a Geocache on our walk, and found it on the way back. There were all kinds of trinkets inside the box. She said she has found 800 and some, Geocaches. I want to start doing this, Hubby bought the Caching ap for his IPhone, LOL. You can take and item if you put something back in, sometimes there are items that you can take that need to go to another cache, and travel all over the world that way. Go and google Geocache, its a whole world of its own!! and looks like great fun.

This photo looks like a postcard to me, the west tower of Fort Vancouver.

And Pearson Air field, I took this as I was pulling out to head home.

That was our walk over the Land Bridge, pretty cool huh!

Here is a link to the website about the bridge, neat pics too!

Land Bridge