Diversity is Oregon's middle name

I was driving down the road and found this old round up corral out in the middle of no where in Central Oregon and when I went to put the camera out the window to get a photo for reference for painting I saw the snow covered mountain in the mirror and thought, yep that is Oregon, everywhere you look is a different view.

Oregon has it all, snow covered mountains year around, history, ghost towns,desert,ocean,big cities. Our people are as diverse as our landscape. Even our weather is diverse. People think of rain when they think of Oregon, well this side of the mountain gets about 12" a year.  We have rainy areas, dry areas and everything in between.

Whatever you are looking for you can find it in Oregon, the most beautiful state in the union. I love Oregon and so proud of it roots and its people.

Old Barns and homesteads

I am headed out to take my daughters dogs back home but wanted to post some photos as I try hard to post every day. These are a bunch more old homesteads houses and barns. I love all the old buildings in Oregon

Cloud burst

This happened in just 3 minutes. It was raining so hard my dog and myself looked like we had been thrown in the lake by the time we ran to the Jeep. The road was flat where the next to the last and last photo were taken. It was quite an interesting experience, this is the high desert, where the sky opened up and a waterfall to earth developed.

Deschutes River and Trout Creek near Gateway, Oregon

When I was small no one even knew where Trout Creek was except the locals. The road down to Trout Creek was rough and could not be done in a car, you had to take the pickup or truck and many times we went on the trailer behind the tractor.

When we were haying we would unload the hay off the trailer and go to the house and get the cooler and picnic and fishing stuff and off to the river we would go. Us kids loved laying on that trailer staring at the sky as we bounced our way to the river.

My dad was one of the hardest working men I have ever known and he would get so tired but instead of resting when he had time he would take us fishing. When we got there he would throw his fishing line out in the river and then take off his shoe and wrap the line around his big toe and lay back and go to sleep while mom fixed the picnic and fished and us kids ran and fished.  He was really good at jerking that leg up in the air when he had a bite and he caught a lot of fish that way.

One day we had left over watermelon and on the way home all us kids got in a big watermelon fight on the trailer and had to stop at the bridge and jump in the creek and wash off.

One of my most favorite places in the world, partly because of the beauty and partly from all the memories of the  place.

It is selfish of me but I hated it when the city people found Trout Creek as now during the fishing season there is a big campground and sometimes 200 people will be there. No longer our private little play ground for local farmers.

Ring Necked Pheasant

My dad always called them a China Pheasant. They were imported as a game bird from Asia and love the farmers field. A pheasant spends most of its time on the ground so I was so excited to find this one on the fence.

The pheasant stays on the ground and runs or hides in heavy brush until he has to fly and when he does take off he is not anywhere then BOOM he is in flight with a noise like nothing else and it is so quick.  That caused me to get dumped off my horse more then once loping down through the brush and a pheasant flies up and the horse startles and since I rode bareback there I went.  Once I was riding this little mare an the pheasant flew upright under her jaw, she never even moved a muscle, we went from a run into bucking with no warning at all except the bird. I really went flying then right over her head in pursuit of the pheasant. The only problem was I landed long before the pheasant did  and with a lot less grace.  This was after I was older and I was lucky enough to have a saddle on that day cause this  old rule of get back on the horse was hard, it was a crawl, pull, drag myself back onto the horse and it was no longer funny as I ache for days and decided I was to old to get bucked off.

They are a beautiful bird and another one of the birds that is making a big comeback in Central Oregon. For years this was a pheasant hunters delight then they were almost gone and now they care coming back along with the Hawks, Eagles and Buzzards.

I love the pheasant as long as they don't startle me. I was raised with them, we had a lot on our place and even if you are walking and one flies up it about gives you heart failure but they are such a beautiful bird.  My heart was in my throat when I found these two at dawn. I wish it was later where I could have got a better shot but they did not stick around long enough to pose for me.

Oregon is such a beautiful state in so many ways. Our population is diverse, our wildlife is diverse and our country is diverse. Oregon has it all, the high desert, the mountains, the ocean, the cities and everything in between.

Antique Combine

#1...I love this scene, so peaceful and I am sure that is why this is an old homestead. The new house is across the draw from here.

#2...is the old house and combine sitting in a field. How life has changed, now they have enclosed self propelled combines that have air conditioning. Combining always came during the hottest part of summer and was miserably hot and all that cheat flying around stuck to your sweat and made you itch.

#3... across the road is this little valley and for some reason it also just struck a place of peace in my heart, showing the new power line that runs across the top of the draw.

#4...shows the flowers are abloom in the high desert of Central Oregon

Antique paradise

This is the neatest little place to drive by. Someday I am going to stop and find out just what it is. I was on the way to take my mom to the doctor and could not stop. It is located just West of Redmond on Hwy 20 headed towards Sisters on the South side of the road. I would love to spend some time there and just look at things up close. It might be a museum, I just don't know, every time I have been there I have been in a hurry, I am going to just drive over there someday and find out and see if he will just let me wonder around and think. The stories these things could tell would be amazing.

Go see it and let me know what if it is open to the  public....Well worth the drive.

Ochocco Creek, Crook County, Oregon

Oregon has so much beauty no matter where you go.  I take photos of places that people drive all the time like the caves and they ask where they are. When I was in Arizona I took a photo of this rock and people who have lived there for ages had never seen it and it was on the main highway. We get so busy and so destination minded that we forget to, pardon the pun, stop and smell the roses. We are so determined to  get where we want to go we forget to enjoy the trip getting there.

You see deer among cattle all the time but you usually don't see deer among horses. In fact some advise you to put a strip of horse manure around your property to keep deer away. Well here is proof that deer hang with wild horses too.  These horses and deer, there is another one behind the horses, were right off the main road and cars went by and never even saw them. When I got out with my camera they noticed me and stopped and watched

Have you ever did that? Zooming down the road and see someone with a camera or stopped and looking at something so you slow down and look and see something cool?

I was in the Tetons one morning and found a big moose with frost all over his hair on a foggy morning and no one was even slowing down, once I stopped about 20 cars stopped.

If we slow down we are safer and we will see more things. I hate freeways unless I am in a hurry as you can't see anything and you are going so fast you would never get a picture of it even if you could get stopped because by then you would be way past it.  Sometimes there just isn't a place to pull over safely but most times I can get off county roads to get a good photo or just sit and watch.

Buying meat at the store

A cow is a cow, right?  They are very distinctive in their looks and their personalities. You can recognize a cow after you get to know them for others in the herd and very easy to name. When I was growing up dad would not let me name any except the females we were keeping as they were my pets once they were named and I did not want them ate.

I really laugh at people who put hunters down, saying why can't they be like everyone else and go to the store and buy their meat where no animals are hurt. Well these beautiful animals are killed. If we eat meat an animal dies, chicken, fish,pigs,cows,buffalo,deer,elk, veal...The meat section is full of animals that died. Hunters sometimes kill them more humanly then the slaughter houses do. Face it, we eat meat and animals will always die because of that.

Madras, Airport

The sun came out and the mountains were beautiful and the airport was grand central station. One plane after another waiting in line to take off or land, I could have taken photos all day of different planes. The crew at the Madras airport were hopping and they did not mess around strolling they were jogging around working.  I am amazed at the difference in the airport since Rob Berg took over as manager. His whole life has became that airport and it sure shows.  It is clean, improvements everywhere, hard working crew, even the gas truck was spotless and bright. I was impressed by all of it and so proud of our little airport.

One of my favorite memories of my one grandpa was when he took us to the airport in California and let us watch the airplanes coming and going and have pancakes with lots of different types of syrup. Up at the Madras airport had more action then that day and a variety of different shaped, colored and sounding airplanes.  Now all I needed was pancakes to eat while I watched.  Great place, great crew..stop by and say "hi" to Rob and his crew.

Our airport now has something to be proud of, a big asset to the community.