Coin Pouches

I have seen a few coin pouches that the Japanese have had over the years, and it got me thinking "What if I made one by crocheting?" So a few weeks back, I made two different pouches about the size of a wallet that I like to call Generation I. Each is slightly different, the brown one is made with acrylic yarn with a spiral threading, while the other is made with wool yarn and had a different style of threading that was easier to thread. With Generation I, I learned three things, a spiral threading is harder to do, I needed a button to keep the pouch closed, and I needed a stronger material to loop over the button. As for the material of the pouch itself, it didn't seem to matter.

Generation I with drawstring loops

Next came Generation II, where I used leather lacing for the thread, loop, and to hold the button in place. As for the button, I wanted a natural material, so I chose the cheapest wood button I could find. This time I found out that yarn works best to thread together the sides of the pouch, and that the loop should have its ends closer tot he middle, otherwise the coins might fall out. So for Generation III, I plan on doing just that. Once my parents have their cows butchered next month, I plan on buying the cow hides back for $25 each to turn into leather for an all-leather pouch with a wooden button.

Generation II with button and loop

An Owl? Here?

Before I tell you about the encounter I had tonight, let me first say that I have been hearing it off and on for the last year or two without knowing quite what it was. While I thought what i was hearing was an Owl, I was told that it was "squirrels or something." My answer to that was "Squirrels don't go hooo-hoo-hoo-hooo." So as I was walking back up to the house from putting the chickens in their hen house, I heard it again: hooo-hoo-hoo-hooo. Using the large flashlight that was more like a small spotlight, I aimed at the trees that I heard the noise.

That's when I first saw it. A real live Owl that happened to allow me to see it tonight. I only saw a portion of it before it disappeared into the branches of a 70-foot tall Giant Sequoia. Hoping that it would let me see it again, I kept the light on the branch until, less than 30 seconds later, it flew out in a swooping motion to a branch that was higher with no other branches in its way while it looked for food. At the same time that happened, something smaller either flew out from the same spot or flew by on the other side of the tree. As it went so fast, I wasn't sure if it was a juvenile, a bat, or another type of bird. A few minutes later, the Owl either got tired of  me shining the light at it or there was dinner to catch and it flew off into the neighbors' yard.

Since I could not get a very good look at it, due to it being dark outside and since the bird was 60 feet up in a tree that was 70 or more feet away, I decided to consult my bird books. Due to the size of it , I estimated it was between 1 and 2 feet in length, I quickly narrowed the list down to five possibilities. Finding it  difficult to narrow it down even more, I went online to hear the sounds of those particular Owls. That website is The Owl Pages for anyone that wants to know. When I found an soundbite that sounded similar, I exclaimed "Eureka, that's it!" and went on to hear a second soundbite of the same type of Owl to verify.

What I saw tonight was the Great Horned Owl. The soundbite that sounds closest to it on the website was the one that says: Pair calling--Mid-march night at Pecks' Lake Doug--Von Gausig. The soundbite is also here. If I had my camera with me, I would have tried to take it's picture.

The First Sunset Pictures of the Year

While today may or may not have been the first good sunset in the Mid-Willamette Valley of the new year is up for debate. All I know is that it is the first one that I have seen. At first, I just saw what looked like a normal sunset, but as I went outside to take a picture, I was amazed by the colors the clouds were to the south. I went out into the back pasture to get a better picture of the clouds when I saw that even more clouds were lit up to the east. It was like the sky opened up after several weeks of fog and two days of rain.

The view toward the west.

The clouds toward the south.

 One of the clouds toward the east.

 Finally, I give you my first attempt at showing video footage on blogger; it, of course, is of the clouds. Enjoy.

My First 'Real Winter' Visit to Silver Falls State Park

Even though I was at Silver Falls State Park on January 1st, it seemed that the waterfalls haven't been gripped by winter yet. While I originally planned to go to the park again tomorrow, when I was in Stayton this morning, I change my mind when I saw the sunny skies toward the mountains. After going back home to pick up my camera, I headed out there. It was 27 degrees with blue sky when I got there, and only went up 3 degrees by the time I left. I first went to check out the South Falls, and once in the canyon, I decided it was the only one I would see today as I wasn't in enough layers to keep me warm.

Yes, those are icicles you see. 

 The one above is South Falls; the one below is Frenchie Falls.

After viewing the waterfall, I went to the nature store to buy a patch to sew to one of my coats. I also bought a bookmark and a 2-year state park pass for $50.00 (the one-year pass is $30.00).

The Nature Store at Silver Falls State Park

It might be hard to read the bookmark due to the glare of the flash, but it says: 

"Advice from a Beaver

Keep Busy

Be Constructive

Chew Your Food Well

Work Together

Be Eager

Build on your Dreams

Don't be a Stick in the Mud!

 -Ilan Shamin-"

Frost On (Almost) Everything

For the last two mornings straight, there have been frost on everything except the gravel and the animals, and a few other things. So today, I decided to get some pictures, starting with a frosted spider web.

 

 I wanted a picture of a bird, but alas, my camera isn't the greatest. Oh well.

 I really like how the holly looks with frost on the edges.

Two days ago, while driving back home from Salem on a sunny day, I slowed down and took this picture of the western edge of the Cascade Mountains.

A new year, a new blog

As I plan on traveling more this year, even if I don't get very far, I decided to crate another blog so I can go more in depth about the places, people, and experiences within the state of Oregon. Feel free to check it out at Beaver Country Travels

Sunrise on the way to work

The sunrise this morning was good, but by far not the best I ever saw. The best part of it? I had my camera with me. Which means you, the reader, can see. So here we are:

If you look closely, you can see the precipitation from the cloud.

A New Years Resolution for 2013

I recently remembered an article I saw in the Statesman Journal back in 2010. (You can read the story here: Forest Grove couples goal 10 years 208 state parks) It got me thinking, what cool travel goal within Oregon can I make for a new years resolution. So, in trying to keep things realistic, here's what I came up with:

1. Visit 52 different [named] waterfalls.
(5/2/2013 Update: so far I have only seen 4)

2. Visit 12 different state parks.
(5/2/2013 Update: so far I have only seen 7)

3. Visit 4 of the major regions of Oregon outside the one I live in (The Coast, Southern Oregon, Central Oregon, Columbia River Gorge, and/or Eastern Oregon).
(5/2/2013 Update: I haven't even been to one yet)

4. Kayak down two streams.
(5/2/2013 Update: I haven't even kayaked one stream yet)

5. Stand above the treeline of a major Cascade Range mountain (such as Mount Hood).
(5/2/2013 Update: I haven't been to a mountain yet to do that)


~71 total things to see/do~

Due to going to Silver Falls State Park yesterday, I have seen 4 named waterfalls (South, Frenchie, Upper North, and North Falls) and visited one state park. Five down, 66 to go; and only 51 weeks, 5 days to finish. You can bet I will be using the Travel Oregon website to help me find some of those waterfalls.

Silver Falls State Park on the first day of 2013

Yesterday was a great day to go hiking (as is today). So I decided to go to Silver Falls State Park. Walking from the store to the South Falls, I saw some rays of sunlight coming through the trees...

 If only a deer was in this meadow, then it would be perfect.

Near the South Falls Viewpoint, I saw something that I would think is quite rare--sunlight coming through both trees and waterfall mist creating rays of rainbows.

Below are two pictures of South Falls with rays of sunlight. Unfortunately, those same rays created spots on the picture.

The picture above is how this waterfall actually looked, it was taken with my digital camera on the 'candle light' setting; while the one below is how it was taken with the 'landscape' setting. Which picture do you like best?

Winter has started to take a hold of some areas of the park. On this rock cliff, water dripping off moss and branches has created small icicles and blades of ice.

 

 Once more, I was testing the difference between the 'candle light' setting (above) and the 'landscape' setting (below). While the landscape setting makes a waterfall look like a solid stream of water, the other setting shows more details.

 

 I am not sure what kind of mushrooms these are.

 

The 'candle light' setting works great for close up pictures.

Good to know.

 

The North Falls looked nice with the mist rising through the trees.