Jaci Dawn

Today is our wedding anniversary. Yesterday, we celebrated by going out to dinner with some friends at The Highland Stillhouse pub. There was to be live music provided by Darby O’Gill rollickin’ Irish road show. We enjoy the band, the food is good & we were meeting a fun couple – and the rain stopped for a shot period of time.

The Stillhouse sits across the street from the Willamette Falls viewpoint. I had’t given much thought to the Falls until we parked the car and looked out across Hwy 99E. It was pretty impressive.

I’ve seen the Falls during flood stage, but they still amaze me. After we ate dinner, we crossed the highway at the light and watched the sun set over the Willamette – and watched large logs float down the river to navigate the falls.

I decided the photos I took would be best served with a comparison of the photos I took back in November on a clear day when the river was running full, but not high.

November.

Yes, there’s water pouring over the spillways and a log stuck on the falls (the upright near the lower left of the photo). The sunset isn’t nearly as placid as last autumn.

November.

All the spillways are overflowing.

November.

And on downstream.

What a difference a record amount of rainfall makes on the river (and the snow melt, too). (Update as of this evening: the Willamette River is at 18 feet and rising)

And a perfect photo opp for our wedding anniversary that did not include the requisite photos of the happily married couple. We know what we look like. Trust me, the river is much more interesting.

Sláinte!

This is my 500th post on this blog.

I wanted to post something special about having written 500 posts. It seems like I should mark the date somehow.

But everything I want to post pales in comparison to June 6, 1944: D-Day.

Over 5,500 Allied soldiers died on the beaches of Normandy. Germany lost between 4,000 and 9,000. It was a terrible beginning of an end to a terrible war, the second “war to end all wars”.

There was no end to wars, only an eventual official end to that war.

So for my 500th post, I offer up a red peony (sorry it is not a red poppy) and a long silent moment to all the men and women who served during World War II. (Note: the red poppy dates back to WWI and the poem by John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”. But it remains a symbol used by veterans of Canada, the US, Great Britain and France and especially is used by disabled veterans. John McCrae was a Canadian.)

Remember.

I took 94 photos of bumblebees and these were the only ones that turned out.

I am flat out wasted tired. The sun came out and I tried to cram three weeks’ worth of gardening into a few short hours. But I did get some flower beds cleared out and those darn seeds sown. I should have sown seeds weeks ago, but it hasn’t stopped raining long enough and I couldn’t find the ground.

I got almost everything in the ground except the veggie garden plants and the hostas. The hostas got left out because I haven’t gotten to the front yard flower beds yet. The veggie plants can’t go into the ground because the garden hasn’t been rototilled & the beds built up.

Don had to act like a tour guide & take some guy hiking today or maybe the garden would have been tilled… But he did get the lawn mowed.

I’m tired. Dinner is almost ready. Enjoy my bumblebees.

I probably photograph mushrooms too often, but I really liked this photo with the reflection in the water pooled in the ‘shroom. So, once again, the photo of the day is a mushroom.

There were strange markings on the sidewalks at work today.

Circular lines, overlapping.

The patterns are obviously not natural. They take up the entire sidewalk in places.

Any theories?

There was a UFO in the sky today! I even got a photo!

Wow, bright!

It wasn’t there for very long (you know how fast UFOs can move), so I think I was pretty lucky to get a photograph of it. I think I should see if I can get some news channel to buy my photo, don’t you think?

I could become as famous as the folks over in McMinnville, OR who took photos back in 1950 (a little before I was even thought of).

No, seriously. I think I have something here.

Oh, wow. I just discovered another favorite site to add to my Bigfoot links: UFO Blogger. Now I know what I will be doing with the rest of my evening: reading about UFOs.

Here’s another one: UFO Digest (includes links to cryptozoology sites. I love cryptozoology sites).

But I digress. This about ME and MY photo of the UFO. I suppose someone will try to debunk it (my husband, mainly) by saying, “It’s just a photo of the sun.”

Well, let me tell you (are you reading this, Don? HAHA – he doesn’t read my blog): the so-called “sun” does NOT exist.

Think that will teach him to be a skeptic?

I didn’t think so, either. But it’s true. the “sun” is a figment of imagination and wishful thinking.

My UFO on the other hand… it really was there. I have photographic evidence. (And I did not use photoshop.)

This little squirt is starting to show a lot of personality.

He’s had a rough go of it the past month with unplanned doctor visits and trips to the ER, so it is nice to see him smiling and getting his knees dirty in little kid fashion. (If I had known he was coming for a visit, I guess I would have mopped the floors…)

The last trip to the doctor got him put on a 60-day round of inhaled steroids like his grandma uses on a daily basis. The doctor didn’t want to diagnose asthma, but he wanted to help strengthen little Javan’s compromised lungs.

Having breathing problems hasn’t slowed him down any: he can move pretty quickly on all fours. Look at the little imp!

He’s still got that Cabbage Patch™ face! I see a dimple there, too.

But I think I like the dirty knees and socks best. His grandma needs to mop the floors.

I have no graves to visit on this day of remembrance. It isn’t because we never had fallen soldiers in the family, but none of their graves are nearby.

There aren’t any family graves near where we live, war veterans or not. So we stay home and honor the fallen. On days like today, it isn’t so much whether we believe in war (I don’t), but it is about those who served and those who died serving. Some of those who died serving were drafted unwillingly into battle. Some enlisted. Some never had a chance to be heroes. Others gave their all without thinking about being heroes.

I’d like to direct you to the history of the Pledge of Allegiance. I did not know that words were added to the pledge after it was first written in 1892.

Here it is in its original form:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

and in the form we all know today:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Now that’s interesting.

Some more sites you may find compelling (I did):

Home of the Heroes

Buzzle’s Pledge of Allegiance Words

Now that I’ve learned something today, can I go back to bed? I guess first I need to bring the flag in out of the rain…

I think I may hurt all over tomorrow… Spent five hours  just getting back to Square One in the garden. It’s really disheartening to be so far behind on the weeding. The constant cool rains have set everyone back, not just me. Yesterday I picked up eight pepper plants at the farmer’s market and everyone I spoke to has their plants in some sort of greenhouse still. Farmers haven’t even set their crops out into the ground. We all know we’ll eventually get warm and sun, but…

It was warm today and the sun came out for about thirty minutes, but it also rained and was muggy. I managed to get the island flower bed completely weeded, then went back and re-weeded the prayer garden and worked on the south border garden. The yard’s a mess!

The state of my peonies.

My poor delphinium after torrential rains and slugs. The slugs love this weather.

The south border garden before I started on the weeds. The weeds are what all the really tall plants are.

I feel pretty overwhelmed by how much needs to be done. None of the plants I’ve been buying have been planted, I need to move some plants to better locations, I still haven’t been able to kill the borage (actually, I think it is mertensia paniculata or a bluebell, but it is in the Boraginacae family)  (beware of growing any in your garden! It takes over!) or the fireweed and… it’s just a lot of work!

I think I want a smaller yard…