Before I moved to Oregon, I had never seen a warning sign saying “sunken grade”. In fact, the first few times I saw one I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.  (Trust me, those grades weren’t very sunken, otherwise I would have figured it out much sooner.)  Even Yahoo Answers doesn’t have the exact right definition of a sunken grade.

A sunken grade is a place where the road literally sunk down, either into some sort of sink hole or because the underlying ground has shifted.  Around here, we call them “blue clay slips”.  It’s where the roadbed has a layer of blue clay under it and when the clay gets waterlogged it turns liquid, and slips … often taking all or part of the road with it.  That’s what we had  ….

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Recently I attended (and presided over) the Coos Curry Small Woodlands Annual Meeting and Dinner.  We have them every year in February.  It’s a great time to have an evening out and meet up with other small woodland owners, most of whom I see just this one time each year.

Packed room at the dinner

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Recently I was awoken by our new kitty, George, racing through the bedroom and bathroom.  The pounding of his little feet on the wood and tile floors sounded like a herd of elephants rather than the patter of kitten paws.  On the bed, under the bed, onto the dresser, into the bathroom, back on the bed.  Round and round he went, galumphing with extreme intensity and purpose.

As I lay there, wondering, “What in the world?!?” I heard the angry chitter of a chipmunk (called “timber tigers” around here).  Apparently while we had been fast asleep, George had gone out and caught the little critter, bringing it into the bedroom to play with.  All I wanted, at that point, was for him to kill it and be done with it.

Was I bad for wanting the creature dead?  Should I get up and rescue it? Continue reading →

Barn Mushrooms (and an egg for comparison)

Went up to the barn recently and found an amazing thing pushing up under the empty grain bags… gigantic mushrooms, 6 of them in a big clump.  They were so strong that they pushed the grain bags aside in the rise from the underworld.

Just to get an idea of the size, I placed an egg from the chickens next to them (and this is an extra-large egg, mind you!).  It gives a feel for the size.  The front mushroom is well over a foot across and the ones behind range from 6 to 10 inches.

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First Snow of the Year

Last night we got the first snow of the season. Not much, but enough to stay on the ground for a little while, and it snowed off and on all day.  It’s early this year – I don’t ever remember there being snow in November.  Usually it’s late December or January when we get the first snow, and many years there’s no snow at all.

It’s supposed to get very cold tonight and tomorrow – down below freezing, which is fairly unusual around here.  I hope this isn’t a sign that and extraordinarily cold winter is coming.

Today was the day for inspecting the culverts that were recently installed on the Barn Road. I went with Coven, my 4-year-old grandson and Tom Purvis, from the local office of the NRCS (National Resource Conservation Service, part of the USDA).

Cove Inspecting a Culvert

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It’s not often that one gets the opportunity to set fire to 25 acres of grass, brush and slash, but that’s what we got to do yesterday.  “Why?” you might ask.  Well …

An Oak Savannah is an area that typically has about 20 – 30 mature oaks per acre, with grass underneath.  Untouched by humans, they generally burn every several years, reducing the grasses, encroaching evergreens and brush.  The grass grows back, giving good cover and providing food sources for the wildlife.  Once people enter the scene, the natural burns are reduced allowing the brush and evergreens to grow up, gradually crowding and ultimately destroying the oaks (and the habitat they provide).  Oak Savannahs are also lost due to urban development or conversion to forestland.

Oak Savannah

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