The Cats in the Hats --
March 1, 2001
 Two
black cats with tall red-and-white hats, floppy red bows,
and long tails were observed roaming the halls of Glide
Elementary School on the first of March. No one knew where
they came from, but they would pop into classrooms and do
dramatic readings of "Flossie and the Fox," "Wiley and the
Hairy Man," or "The Cat in the Hat." They were also
observed waving at kids in the halls and occasionally being
ambushed around the knees by a pair of tiny arms.
That evening they showed up
again at the high school gym for the community-wide Book
Exchange, willing to pose for pictures with anyone, a la
pictures-with- Santa- Claus. Rumor has it that two cats
minus hats spent the next two days lying on sofas at Long
Shadows, purring. |
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Catching the
Civet Cat
| February 21, 2001
Dianne got up first. Nancy
was still snoozing until she heard the cry from the
bathroom: "We caught it!!!" That catapulted her out of
bed!
We've sent countless e-mails
about our attempts to catch first the civet cat and now the
possum. We've seen the trap ignored, sprung, robbed of
bait, mauled. The elusive marauder, recently dubbed Hairy
Houdini, had slipped through our clutches (figuratively
speaking) again and again. Now we had him! But what did we
have?
To recap: The civet cat
(a.k.a. spotted skunk) moved under the house, eliminating
the mouse problem but causing another one. We tried and
tried to live-trap the civet cat, unsuccessfully. Then the
smell faded away and we saw the foxes, so we deduced that
they had eliminated the civet cat problem. Recently, that
was confirmed with the mouse problem returning. Meanwhile,
the possum continued to raid bird feeders, and the
strawberry patch, and the compost bin, and anything else
animal or vegetable. They're really not cute little fellas,
either, and the thought of a pouchful of baby possums with
developing appetites was not a pleasant thought. So it's
really the possum we've been after lately.
What did we have this
morning? You guessed it: a civet cat! Unfortunately, this
posed great problems of its own. When we were TRYING to
catch him, the live trap was rigged with handling ropes and
release ropes, all devised to keep us a long way from his
business end while we dealt with him. Now we're using a
larger, stronger, more secure, borrowed live trap. You
guessed it again: no ropes. As we threw on our clothes
(clothes we wouldn't mind burning if necessary) we wondered
how on earth we were going to handle this guy.
 He
was NOT a happy camper. We don't know how long he'd been in
there, but long enough to scrape a 6" mound of sand into the
cage, in his frantic clawing to dig his way out. He was
still busily at it.
Forget about breakfast.
Forget about the planned morning run. We headed to the
woodshed, hitched the box trailer to the car, and brought it
back to the house. We collected an assortment of weaponry:
rake, hoe, huge plastic bags, long sticks, dowels, clamps,
bungee cords. The most effective tools proved to be the old
broom handles, to the ends of which we attached cup hooks.
Those and the big plastic bags saved us a lot of misery (and
tomato juice).
 Too
bad no one was running a video camera. Dianne approached
the broad side of the cage with the plastic bag like a
shield in front of her. Nancy hid behind Dianne. (Dianne
said, "Stay close -- I want you to stink too!) Dianne threw
the plastic bag over the cage -- but it was only as wide as
the cage was long, so the ends were open. She saw a fine
spray, like someone sneezed, shoot out the west end of the
cage. This guy was armed and dangerous! With the hooked
poles, trying not to breathe, we simultaneously lifted the
cage from both ends, being careful not to position ourselves
in line of fire. V-e-r-y carefully, we carried cage and
occupant to the trailer and placed it on a pile of old
plastic that was destined for the dump anyway. Monsieur
LePew kept firing. The box trailer may never be the same!
But we sure are glad we had it. Dianne says that otherwise,
we'd have had to drive the Expedition over a cliff.
We drove slowly about 5
miles upriver, to the first bridge to the south side. Drove
across, pulled over, repeated the pole maneuver in reverse.
Now came the tricky part -- opening the cage. Part A has to
be pushed in while Part B is pulled up, and both parts are
spring loaded. We used the poles again and D bravely
reached down to push in a dowel to keep the door open. Then
we ran. Monsieur LePew took about 5 seconds to discover the
open door, came out, turned our direction for a panicky (for
us) split second, then turned tail and ran the opposite
direction as fast as his little waddly legs would carry
him. We came home, ran a load of laundry and took showers!
Adieu, Monsieur LePew. We
sure hope you didn't leave Madame LePew behind. And heaven
forbid any petit LePews.
Guess what we saw crossing
the driveway when we drove in tonight? The possum!!!!!
We'll be setting the (recently cleaned) trap again.
|
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Spring Wildflowers at Long
Shadows
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Trouble
in Paradise
Rainfall in the Umpqua Basin
is at 49% of normal, according to the paper. That sounds
optimistic to us. At Long Shadows, we got 4.4" this January
and February. Last year, the total for those two months was
27.8". Heck, on January 10, 2000, we got 4.3" in one day!
The river is normally lowest
in August and high during the winter. But it is now the
lowest we have ever seen it since we arrived in fall, 1996.
On March 7, we took our
camera for an excursion along the river. We stopped at
places we had photographed before, trying to get the same
perspective. Here are some side-by-side comparisons between
the winter of '97-'98 (on the left) and this winter (on the
right). The pictures taken in 97-98 were NOT right after a
rainstorm. Dianne has marked landmarks that appear in both
photographs, so you can match them up. |
The Narrows -
winter 97-98
|
March 7, 2001 |
Just above Rock Creek -
winter 97-98 |
March 7, 2001 |
Deadline Falls - winter
97-98 |
March 7, 2001 |
The Rock
Near Swiftwater Bridge, at the
fishing hole just above Rock Creek and below Deadline Falls,
a massive boulder juts into the water on the north side of
the river. We've used it as our gauge of water height for a
couple years now. During the summer when the water is low,
it's a peninsula. We know we're into the rainy season when
it becomes an island. After a big rainstorm, we look to see
how much of its top is visible -- or if it has vanished.
Here's "The Rock" this winter: |
| Everyone around here is
worried about what will happen this summer -- both water
supply and fire danger. On the optimistic side, we've
gotten 2" in March so far, and we still have 2 months that
are usually pretty rainy. Everybody think wet thoughts, and
if you know any effective rain dances, let us know. We'll
try anything! |
| 3/23 The river is way up.
The Rock is an island again -- just barely. We had some
good rain last weekend, but we think that most of the extra
river flow is not from the rain, but from melting snow,
since the weather has turned so warm. Keep thinking rain! |
| 4/6 It's been raining.
The rock is an island. Now, if it can just do this all
spring. |
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Susan Creek
Trail
Every Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, and Sunday we jog first thing in the morning
(weather permitting). We drive down the hill (1-1/2 miles)
to the highway, turn left, go a few hundred yards, and turn
in to the parking lot for Susan Creek trail. A couple years
ago this trail was made handicapped accessible, so it's wide
and smooth -- great for running! (Although you can't tell
from the picture, you're looking uphill. The trail has a
pretty substantial grade through most of it.)
Susan Creek Falls is at the
trail's end. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it 's
the best we have right now. Below is a picture of the creek
just below the falls.
So that's the local jogging
track. You city dwellers, eat your hearts out! |
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The North Umpqua highway is known as the "Highway of
Waterfalls." There are about two dozen major falls and
countless smaller ones.
This is
breathtaking Toketee Falls, about a half hour drive east of
us. You're looking across the river canyon at a 90-foot
cascade. Photos can't do justice to the color of the water.
The name
Toketee, from the Northwest Indians' Chinook jargon, means
"pretty" or "graceful." |
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EXTRA!! EXTRA!!
PUBLIC ENEMY #1
CAPTURED
Read about
daring capture and speedy trial
|
IDLEYLD PARK (LSP) -- In
the hours before dawn on Tuesday, Mr. O. Possum was lured
into the waiting maw of a steel cage. It has been a long
and tiresome pursuit, but right, justice and American
technology prevailed.
After countless
burglaries of every neighborhood bird feeder, the bottomless
pit of Mr. O. Possum proved to be his undoing. Slinking
under the cover of darkness, he entered Long Shadows' sacred
boundaries for one more feast. Lured by the fragrance of
week-old cat food and squishy cooked tangerines, he fell
into the clutches of the local law enforcement authorities.
He was jailed under
suspicion of 84 counts of unlawful entry and 276 counts of
first-degree burglary. |
|
Though all attempts
at escape were useless, he continued to hiss and snarl at
his captors. During the ensuing struggle, he lost one
tooth.
After a quick trial
and the shortest deliberation on record, the guilty verdict
was pronounced. The sentence was banishment from Long
Shadows!
He was transported
up the river in the local paddywagon, under heavy guard, and
is now incarcerated in the 984,000 acre Umpqua Correctional
Facility.
Right up to the
moment of execution of the sentence, Mr. O. Possum was
baring and gnashing his teeth. But to no avail. He has
been banished forever. Law and order has been restored to
Long Shadows and its strawberry patch. |
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Ollie the Ox
(really named Halidar)
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BURNING THE STUMP PILE
We got
the film developed!
Here's that
stump pile bonfire we told you about last time.
 |
March 27
Dianne lights the
stump pile on our first day of burning. |
|
Dianne "rearranges"
the fire. We've learned that laying old plywood
over the pile really builds up the heat.
|
 |
 |
This is the fire
from the cool side. You can just barely see the
fire's glow through the roots of the top stump. |
March 30
Nancy shovels
out dirt embedded in the roots. Dirt turns into
adobe in fire, and also serves as an amazing
insulator, keeping the stumps from burning.
|
 |
 |
Dianne lights the
second fire. This time we can almost see over the
top of the pile. |
| April 2
Smokey the Bear says
to make sure your fire is out cold. This one is! |
 |
We have
since used ropes, chains, and the tractor to pull all these
remaining stumps into one compact pile. It will take
another two days of burning. (If we can find enough fuel
close at hand to keep the fire going!)
|
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THE GREENHOUSE
When we mention our
greenhouse, many of you don't know what we're talking
about.
The best way to understand is
to watch it go up. Here's how we built it this May.
First, Dianne is getting the
pieces and parts from their woodshed storage.
We drive rebar every 2 feet
along each side.
Plastic pipe fits over that.
Then we connect the pipe to
a spine down the middle.
For stability, we add
cross-braces of conduit
along the sides and rebar poles
down the middle.
A sheet of clear plastic about
25' x 30'
plus plastic doors at both ends
complete it.
The greenhouse covers the
veggies that need lots of heat to ripen -- more than our
higher-elevation garden gets. Tomatoes, peppers, okra,
eggplant, melons.
(Onions are in there because
they hadn't matured yet -- that was their row last winter.)
Every morning we open up the
ends; every night we close them up again. |
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BRINGING IN THE
FIREWOOD
June
6, 8, 10, 16, 18-22, 25, 26
We
have no pictures of us chainsawing. We're too busy
working, and it takes both of us!
But
here's Dianne, cleaning the saw after a hard day's work.
June 29, 30, July 1-3, 25
We
have stacks of rounds all over the property. Next job:
move it up near the woodshed.
Here Nancy loads madrone
into the trailer.
Here's where we dump it. This isn't all -- just the
green wood.
Another pile, not quite so big, contains seasoned wood.
|
May
27: Charlie comes to take down trees for us, starting with
the pine leaning at a 45 degree angle. Charlie is an expert
tree-faller (takes down hazardous trees for BLM), a really
nice guy who works too cheap, and quite a character. Next
year we'll take a picture of him for you.
We
lose count of the trees: leaners, overcrowded ones, dead and
dying ones. He bucks the bigger trees for us. The rest we
do ourselves. We did these.
June
9 and 13
A
tremendous leaning madrone came down in an area we call
Sugar Pine Glen. We split the rounds with mauls and wedges
to get them down to sizes we can carry.
Here's the stack of that madrone (and of the firs it leaned
against).
Dianne drives the loaded tractor away from Sugar Pine Glen.
We
move 46 trailer-loads. Thank goodness for tractors!
 |
 |
July 5-7, 20, 21, 27
No
pictures exist of us splitting wood -- same reason as no
pictures of us with the chainsaw.
But
we're great Tom Sawyers! Nancy's nephew and brother-
in-law,
Victor and Jaime, find out how much fun splitting wood is! |
|
Finally done!
This is
just one of three stacks. We figure we have enough wood for
TWO winters, at least. |
|
 |
August 27
Nancy's
dad rests besides another pile. He split the last log! |
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AND WHEN WE
WEREN'T DOING FIREWOOD . . .
We were jamming!
| Picking
raspberries
 |
Kruse Farms works
on an honor system, believe it or not. Dianne and
Nancy's niece Erica weigh berries.
|
Dianne concocted a system for
pitting cherries. (They splatter everywhere.)
Mary stirs jam,
Erica strains out
marionberry seeds,
and Dianne measures
sugar.
|
Erica pours jam
into jar while Nancy steadies the funnel.
|
We've made
cherry, blueberry, raspberry,
marionberry, apricot, and
thimbleberry jam.
If you visit, we sure hope you
like jam on your biscuits!
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