Category Archives: Uncategorized

Milly and Oscar singing happy birthday to Grandma. Milly watching the Red Wings game when a goal was scored. Monroe Park, waiting for Milly’s karate lesson. The street trees in Eugene are quite large and always a pleasure for me to see. As ere the patches of rosemary in the park, available for anybody toContinue reading “Oregon – fun with grandkids”

Oregon white oak is a common tree that can be a dominant tree in many parks where conifers are not typically found. It was nice being able to get a photo of the leaf, terminal bud and a small acorn. Usually, these are quite high overhead. Additionally, the trunk and branches are sometimes home toContinue reading “Oregon – natural history”

We have seen quite a few loons on the coast, most have been Pacific Loons. A treat at the Visitors Center at Yaquina were two Townsend’s Warblers with a bunch of chickadees. The birds were moving non-stop in a feeding frenzy. There must have been a lot of little critters in the bark and needles.Continue reading “Oregon – Birds and more”

For Susan spending her birthday with Alexis, Milly and Oscar was the perfect day. Scanning the beach at Fogerty Creek State Park during low tide, and looking for birds on the rocks. Breakfast at Gracie’s Sea Hag in Depoe Bay, Oregon. Looking for the best views of Sea Lions. Waiting for dinner to arrive atContinue reading “Oregon – a special day”

Our day started at the port in Newport where we were looking for sea lions, but as usual were distracted by everything, such as the above Chestnut-backed Chickadee. We were, however successful in finding hundreds of sea lions. After leaving Newport we headed south and stopped at Beaver Creek State Park, where there were aContinue reading “Oregon – Newport to Florence”

I love mosses, but I need references to identify what we have found. Unfortunately my moss books are back in Michigan. I do have one small reference with me. But most of these will go unidentified until we are home. While the first two pictures look almost identical they are different species one is NeckeraContinue reading “Oregon-mosses and more”

Yesterday we spent low tide on Cobble Beach at Yaquina Park, in Newport. You never know what you will find. This post will be mostly about some of the various kelp and other algae that we found. It was a “high” low tide, so none of the tidal pools were accessible. We are working atContinue reading “Oregon – low tide discoveries”

Yesterday there were several news reports on a new strain of SARS-CoV-2 discovered in South Africa. The new strain is B.1.1.529. Last week in South Africa numbers rose from 200 cases a day to almost 2500 yesterday. Travelers have already spread it to Botswana and Hong Kong. I am sure that the WHO (which alreadyContinue reading “Oregon birds (part-1) and the latest on Covid”

I am sitting on Thanksgiving morning writing about our adventures yesterday. I hope that everybody is having a great start to the day. Now, on to ferns and lichens. Licorice fern on a moss-covered tree limb. Western sword fern, a common understory plant. Now, some lichens. Without any references (we packed light for the plane),Continue reading “Oregon – lichens and more”

On the plane, heading to Seattle, then down to Eugene, after a few days on the coast. Good morning Seattle. A late breakfast, south of Seattle. We didn’t want to stop at a fast food place, so tried this place, which was a great choice. The only minor inconvenience was that their computer was down,Continue reading “On the road again”