Ochoco Creek walk

 

One of the ways to make yourself go for a walk is to go someplace that you want to spend time at and walk. Walking around a block you see everyday gets boring. There are so many places that are interesting to walk. My doctor said that unless you find something you enjoy doing the exercise daily will not work for long.

For each individual person this varies. I hate shopping with a passion but some love it with a passion so go for a walk in the malls and look at things if you like that. Go to museums if that is your thing. There are so many bird protected areas with walking paths.

If you are a dog lover, go to dog shows and walk, agility trails, anything that has dogs at it that will encourage you to walk.

If you love exotic animals go to the zoo and walk around, there is lots of walking at the zoo.

The nice thing is that you can go somewhere different every day. Go to the zoo one day, go up and walk the trail on the Columbia one day. Search for unusual places to tell your friends about and stimulate their minds like the carousel museum in Hood River or an actual still working carousel in Salem.

The main thing is getting out of the house and moving around, take a line dancing class at the community center, take up clogging, yoga. Just make sure it is something you really enjoy. Team things work really well as when you don't feel like going you don't want to disappoint them.  They will encourage you to keep at it the days you are sore, help each other.  If you are elderly and are having problems let your friends shove you in a wheel chair and only get out of it once in a while. Remember one day it will be there turn to ride. In fact you can take turns riding that same day. You will be surprised at how far you get on your walk. You might also buy one of those walkers that have a seat where you can rest.

My mom loves to go to museums, a friend loves to find 2nd hand stores and look for treasures as many don't know what they turned in or found. Maybe you will be the next one that finds something really value, almost like gold hunting. Speaking of gold hunting, a friend of mine took that up as a hobby and finds just enough to make him smile but hasn't got rich but the lure of maybe finding the big one is a great thing to keep him going.

Getting your friends involved makes it more fun and it is also so good for their mental health and physical health.  Start small and work your way up. If shopping is your bag start at BiMart and work your way up to a WalMart super store, they will for sure wear you out by the time you get through it.

One of the funnest days I had was something I never would have done if it wasn't for pressure from my friends. We lived in Ketchikan, Alaska and snow does not usually last long on the coast, a day or two or even an hour or two. One winter of the 5 we lived there it snowed and I mean snowed up to the windows of the car, the roads were slick and they stayed that way for 3 weeks and all the girls were getting cabin fever as they did not drive in the snow. There was a steep hill to get out of our housing development so I took them to the grocery store once a week. After 3 weeks and cabin fever they wanted me to take them shopping for the day. I HATE shopping but I felt sorry for them so off we went. We went to this wig store and they wanted to go in and try on wigs. I went in under protest but it was their day so I went. WE had an absolute blast trying on different colors, styles. If I was rich I would have bought several. I have always wanted straight hair that fell down my back with just curls at the end and they had one to die for but it was also $350.00...Oh I wanted that wig. We spent hours there and two of the women got wigs. We went home with a smile on our face, good company for an afternoon and shared memories.

Enough for today, get out and go somewhere even if it is a block away to the carpet store or the local park to watch the flowers and listen to the birds or plan an exercise group with 6 friends and everyday one of the members chooses what they will do that day and everyone has to go even if they don't want to because their turn will come and people might not want to go. You will find many new interests if you keep an open mind.

Champoeg State Park Museum

 Every time I see an old barn I wish it could tell me it's history. One of my favorite things is when I go for a drive and find an old barn.  I wish I was rich and I would travel the US and find old barns to take photos of.

I loved his discovery but not sure what it is. I have been told when I posted it to Facebook that it is an old ice house, an old food storage, an old pump house and on and on.  It is located in Central Oregon. Who knows maybe at one time it has been used for all of it. Please comment if you know or have heard anything or know any stories about this?

This is the old house that is now a museum at Champoeg state park.  I know until I sure did not know the history that Champoeg had in our state. It is a fun place to camp too, has disc golf, lots of bike and walking trails, lots of meadows and some fishing too.  It isn't far from I5 so stop in some time.

Champoeg comes from the Kalapuyan word referring to an edible root. They had the Provisional Government of Oregon meeting on May 2, 1843. The park also has the Butterville store which was founded by a French Candadian Francis Xavier Matthieu and it also rents bikes.

All these are easily accessed by car so easy for elderly to go and enjoy.

 

Farming on the West side of Mt. Hood

 Mt Hood is a staple to look at no matter where you farm. Each area has its own crops. On the south side they grown peppermint, wheat, alfalfa, potatoes and now lots of seed crops.  On the east side they grow a lot of fruit, apples, cherries, and lots of other food crops like squashes etc.  On the west side they grown a lot of Christmas trees, shrubs, flowers. I think almost anything is grown somewhere in Oregon. It is a diverse state from farming to ranching to recreation.  If you like it you can find it in Oregon.  A lot of people don't even know that we have geysers in SE Oregon. Many people travel outside of their area or state and don't even realize what it right outside their doors. I remember once posting a photo of some caves and people were saying, "wow, those are so neat, where are they?". Well they were right outside of their home town by 2 miles.

There is no reason why you can't travel and enjoy our state when you are elderly, you can drive or even take a wheel chair to many nature places, see animals, see historical places.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday of some farming on the west side of the state near Portland. Portland is big but right out of town not even 20 miles you will find a lot of farm ground.

We don't grow hot weather crops like cotton but are starting to grow a lot of hemp and wine grapes. 

Seagulls in Eastern Oregon

 Many people think of seagulls as being a coastal bird and not an inland bird. Many birds of all kinds frequent and live in the waterways of Central and Eastern Oregon. Chickahominy Reservoir in Eastern Oregon is on the migrating route for birds and you will find many unusual birds during migration times. But many birds thought of as ocean birds live there year around. The same with The Cove (Round Butte) and Pelton reservoirs in Central Oregon.  When I was growing up you did not see them on that side of the mountain but when they started building reservoirs the birds started moving in.

 This gull is at Chickahominy reservoir just west of Burns.  Oregon has become a birders paradise in many ways.

Vista House at Crown Point on Columbia River Scenic highway

 Everyone should try and get to the Vista House sometime in their life as it is a beautiful place and is in the National Historic Register. It has been important to our area way before white men ever entered the area as it is a great lookout.  You should google it and find out all about it. It was built in 1016 through 1918 and remodeled in 2000.  It was designed by the architect Edgar M Lazarus.  It has stained glass windows and marble floors.  It was not a popular thing to spend money on due to it being during world war II.  

It was built as a rest area for the Columbia Highway and was said to have 20 bathrooms. It is now a museum but is not open now due to COVID 19 but you can still walk around it outside and the views of the Columbia River area is beautiful.

  It has so much history with natives, English and the French. It is a 55 ft tall building and the entrance to the gorge. If you are coming to Vista House from the west it is the gateway to 8 waterfalls.

If you have any interest in Oregon History this museum is a must see and plan on spending some time reading the columns  Take time to go into the basement which now has an elevator to use and where the 20 bathrooms were located. 

It is noted for the winds that hit it and are some of the highest in Oregon. I am sure you have seen on the news people getting blown all around including news people and camera men. They put up a wind gauge once but as you can guess it got blown down.

During winter it is closed except on weekends and almost impossible to get to when there is snow or black ice.  The road I took up was like 10% grade. I can't even imagine trying to get up and down it in snow or black ice but you will find many houses built in the area.

Be sure and stop just before you get to it at the woman's Forum state park for some great views also and some walking trails.

Take the time to do some research on this if you like history because this place has a lot of it.  I can't wait to go back when it is open. I have not been there since the 60's and I wasn't interested in history at that time, just enjoyed the view and off I went. I plan on spending a whole day up there as soon as possible.

 My new home

Here are some reasons you will see why I love living in Estacada and how Mt. Hood is still a prominent part of my life and makes me feel at home.

 I used to drive out to the boonies to listen to the birds and relax, now I step out my back door and see these views and set and listen to the birds.  We have so many birds up here.  So I might be homebound because of COVID 19 I still have a great view that changes a little each day. I never get tired of looking at the view and you will see many photos of my back yard.

Welcome to the beautiful area of Estacada, Oregon and the Clackamas River which runs right below our house. McIver Park is right below us to the south and we live right on the cliff which scares me sometimes as I don't like heights at all.

Time away

 I have not worked on my blog for a few years as they found a brain tumor in my mom and I took care of her until the last.  I have lost her now and finally am getting on with my life after 3 years without her. It was really hard as she lived with me for 26 years and most were happy years.

I went back to 911 after she passed but finally retired again for the fourth time. My daughter asked me to move in with her as she got a place with a mother in law suite at the south end of the house. She said I would never retire if I kept living in Madras as they would continue to talk me into working.  I had agreed to work 2 days a week but ended up working full time with over time every week.

To make a long story short I moved to Estacada, Oregon with my daughter and was enjoying being around family and doing family get to gathers and then COVID hit and been pretty much home bound since. My family worries because of my age. I go for a drive once in a while but I live in such a beautiful place with an amazing view and a big yard with lots of birds and squirrels and an occasional deer or coyote.  I can still see my beloved Mt. Hood so I feel at home.

I brought my three dogs with me.

My little "Paco"  dog, the love of my life right now, his snuggles helped me through the past few years and I hate that he is getting so old. He is a Chug, a cross between a pug and a chihuahua.

My sweet "Cara", a wheaten terrier, Wheatens are amazing dogs and have a special clip but I clip her all down since I spend so much time outdoors. They are hypoallergic and don't shed. She is the oldest of all my dogs and already at the high end of her expected life span but we keep hoping. She acts like a puppy most of the time and runs and plays but some days her arthritis gets to her and she is slow moving.

The youngest of the bunch my "Sassy" dog, a red and white border colllie.  A dear friend gave her to me when I lost my beloved Hank dog, an aussie and the best dog I ever had.  Sassy earned her name as when we first got her we called her Penny because of her color and a copper colored circle she had.  After about 2 or 3 weeks I said, mom I think we should have called her Sassy. As soon as I said Sassy her ears perked up and she came flying to me and Sassy she became.  She has tons of energy and thinks her biggest job in life is to be attached to my leg or my daughters now too. My daughter hates it as she gets hair on her when she is dressed in her work clothes.

Now on to the adventures of the 4 of us.  I bought a 4 door Jeep Unlimited and a small utility trailer I put a bed and ice box and porta potty in.

Now on to catching up with our adventures.