Fog across the field

This morning there was a small layer of fog at the back of the field behind my house, so I figured I would get a picture of it while I went about doing the morning chores.

New pigs and the retiring of three steers.

First off, the steers that we had are no more. The company I work for butchered them in February. So since they are no longer around, I am moving their picture from the main page to this one.
 

 Amos the Angus

 Charley the Charlet

 Harry the Hereford

Secondly, here are the new pigs my parents got the other day. They will be raised and sold to family and friends. No names have been given to them yet.

Oregon AgFest 2013

This morning I went to the Oregon AgFest at the Oregon State Fairgrounds since I have never gone before. They had all sorts of things on display and to learn about. What interested me most were the animals and old tractors. Starting with the John Deere Tractor...

 I liked this tractor for the plow at the back.

 It's not often that I get to see a horse-drawn anything out here in Oregon; so when I saw these two hooked up, I had to get a picture.

 All of the goats you see below are Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats from Blythmoor Farms. Since I never heard of Dwarf Goats, I mistook them for Pygmy Goats at first.

 

If you look closely, the goats' eyes have turned blue from the camera.

While there were sheep, a few chickens and rabbits, I tended to skip them is they weren't anything special. As for the llama in the picture below, I took its picture over the other four because I have never seen a llama with so much white fur (I even mistook it for an alpaca)

The two calfs above wanted to meet everyone, especially the black and white one.

The calf above was camera shy -- it kept turning it's head away.

This is 'Nosey' and supposedly she is a Brown Swiss 

 I'm not quite sure why, but this nice looking truck was on display in one of the buildings.

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.

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.

After a damp and dismal day, we get a nice sunset

After a full day of grey clouds and constant raining here in the Mid-Willamette Valley (something that Colorado needs right now), we finally get to see the sun just before it sets. So as I went out to put the chickens away for the night, I grabbed the camera to get proof that the rainclouds let the sun visit today.

 

 

 

 

Finally, some pictures of the fruit that is ripe

We have two small patches of strawberries that are of mixed variety where I live. I know that some of them are the sweet and juicy Hood variety (my favorite). [By 'We' I mean my parents as I am living with them while paying off my student loans and trying to get back on my feet so-to-speak]

 

 

We also have several rows of blueberries (of which only three bushes are producing ripe berries so far)

The cherry trees are starting to produce quite a bit, but it is always a battle between us and the birds to get them first. One year the birds ate all of the cherries off of our old tree while we were on vacation. Sadly, we had to cut that big tree down as it was rotting from the inside out.

I also made another hotpad this morning (the harvest colored one) since I need something to keep me busy until I go back to the cannery. The other one I made on Memorial Day.

 

Just As I Predicted....

Just as I predicted, we will have another delayed canning season here in the Willamette Valley. When did I predict it? Back in March when we were getting snow during the first couple days of Spring (highly unusual for the Willamette Valley). I even said so on my post about March Madness: http://beavercountryramblings.blogspot.com/2012/03/it-looks-like-it-will-be-another-cold.html

Due to the cool, cloudy, and sometimes wet weather that the Willamette Valley is experiencing, crops are being delayed, which is delaying the local canneries. It seems that over the last three years, the season has been delayed a little bit longer. Last year some of the 2nd year workers at the Norpac in Stayton, Oregon (including myself) started on the strawberries around the 20th of June and were still working by December 1st. (I heard that a normal season is done by Thanksgiving) So what's in store for us this year? Will the cannery season go into the second week in December?

A nice June Sunset in the Mid-Willamette Valley

Last night, I went outside after 9 pm at night to check out the sunset. It was a good thing I brought my camera as it was a nice one. From where I live, the sun now seems to set in the Northwest or West Northwest (between West and Northwest) direction.

 

As I was scanning the sky, I noticed some nice coloring  on the clouds to the South. So I went out into the empty cow  pasture to get a better look. As I was taking pictures, the three cows came over to see what I was doing.

 

Before heading back up to the house, I zoomed in to get one last photo of a cloud in the West that was close to the horizon. I'd like to see the folks in nearby Salem get pictures like this without buildings in the way.

The Strawberries are ripe and the Blueberries are comming into season

The strawberries growing in two little patches where I live are producing many berries, and I was able to pick a popcan-sized amount of blueberries from three bushes, but many other blueberry bushes are not even close to being ripe. Both types of berries are perfect for desserts made for the holiday just two weeks from today. I will have to have some blueberry pancakes with strawberries on top for breakfast sometime soon. I am actually kind of surprised that I haven't been called back to the cannery yet to sort out the good and bad strawberries. I will have to get some pictures up later of the blueberries and strawberries.

A Dead Baby Chicken & A New Hobby

I went out to check on the new baby chickens this morning and found that the runt had died within an hour before I went out there. So now I am down to five Welsummer chickens. I also decided to start a new hobby today. I went to the local Joann Fabrics and bought myself a loom, weaving needle, and some yarn made from a blend of lamb's wool and easy-care acrylic. Since I wanted to make a bi-color hotpad, I chose black and pumpkin color since I knew the first one I made would be mine (I went to Oregon State). It turned out quite nice and now I have a hotpad for a Halloween party or a football party if the Beavers ever make it to the Rose Bowl again. It is about 6" by 6", and I plan on making a slightly larger one.