Two Locations, One Day

 A Lebanon friend wanted to do something.

When someone says that, I'm like a puppy at the door wanting a walk.  Excited!!  You think I'd turn anything down like that?  Nope.

We went first to McKercher park, outside Brownsville, on the Calapooia.  There's a small fun swimming hole there.   

After that we drove up to the lake and found a pull in spot on the north side and walked down a trail to the water.  It was beautiful little spot in the woods.  People had left trash behind.   Pretty darn common.  It was quite windy at times on the lake.  She doesn't kayak or even float on a tube or air mattress because it makes her seasick, but she walks in the water along the shoreline and sometimes swims a bit.   I swam and also blew up my board and dorked around on it and sat in the sun on a log.  The yellow jackets were out in force.  I wish I'd remembered a book.

This was some of the trash left.

Nice fun day.  Had a blast.

Still the Cats

 Over the last months, I haven't posted much about cats.  

My little nonprofit still got lots fixed.  We gave a grant to a local clinic to reduce the price by half for feral and owned cats.   I haven't gotten final results but it was enough to help 60 to 65 cats with half price fixing.  This month, so far, we took in three cats from Halsey to be fixed at the Salem clinic.  Yeah I drove and picked up, was a welcome get out of the house event.

And yet two more were paid for by HCC--whom I never saw, with a financial assistance request from Rad for a cat caregiver.  Rusty and Beefy were the lucky boys.

I do have photos of the Halsey kitties, two boys and a girl.  Both boys, Easy and Spook, are manx's, while the girl, Piper, was not.  They were living in a culvert and Piper had three kittens the Halsey woman also caught and is taming.

Easy from Halsey, a boy

Piper, the girl, whose kittens were also caught and are about 8 weeks of age

Spook and Easy are replicas, only Spook is bigger and a bit older than Easy and Spook had an infected bite wound on his butt.

Here are some of my kitties.   I got my old Canon working again.  For how long, I don't know.   Takes much better photos than the phone camera.

Misha, from Waterloo

Prissy from Quartzville road

Muffy, with Dougie and Smudge behind

Superior Smudge

Then there is little Tabitha, a small cat from the 7-11 colony.  She had a wonky looking eye before she came here a couple years back when the former manager had to retrap her, after she was fixed, so she could stay safe from the cat hating new store owners.   I finally got a close up of her eye, since she's decided in the last couple weeks to be partly tame (let's me briefly pet her mornings on her terms).

The eye photo made me nervous she could have feline melanoma, but she has had the condition at least two years.  I have no idea how old Tabitha may be.   I'll keep watching that eye, getting photos as long as the Canon keeps on working.

Tabitha's eye

I got my oil changed yesterday finally but again couldn't get the oil filter loose.  It's in a tough spot to reach and it was hot so I admit to giving up easily.   Next time my Lebanon friend is home I'll  ask him if he can do it.  He works out of town, over in ne Oregon during the week.

Well that's it for today.   

Testing Out My Knee

 No I didn't want to drive up to Waldo Lake today.  What a misery, eh?  But I was forced to do it anyway, to test out my knee.  

Just kidding around.

I couldn't wait to go!

I meant to leave at 9:00 but didn't leave until 11:00.

No smoke up there today.  I'd checked before I went so I knew it was clear.

I had a wondrous day there.   Lots and lots of other people were there too, enjoying the beautiful weather and lake.

A young adult man helped me blow up my kayak board.   I'd gone over and asked if they had a pump I could borrow, when I realized a crucial washer was missing on mine.  He came over and pumped it up for me!  

I went down to the south end and beached the board and went swimming.   Then I got back on the kayak board and headed across the lake to the west side where I was enamored with the beautiful purple flowers growing amidst the burned out trees.   

Skies were so clear!   That's Charity, the south Sister and off to the right--Broken Top, down to the north and east of me.  

Water crystal clear and enticing as ever

No knee pain whatsoever on the drive up or back.   But I think I need to test it again, you know, to be sure.  

Hot Smoke

 Yes, its hot and smokey here.

Like most of Oregon these days.

Wildfire smoke from our own fires, add in the WA state fires, has settled in the valley, along with 90 plus degree temps.   

The Spokane fire that stole so many homes from families, upended lives, and probably killed pets, was sure tragic.  Even more so, for residents who lost everything, to find out it was arson.   A guy convicted of killing his father in Arizona has been arrested.

Today will likely be the hottest day of the week and maybe the smokiest.  We're supposed to get near 100, but with smoke filled  skies, it may not reach 100.  Like a cloud cover, the smoke.

A couple of fires started around here but were quickly put out.   One was sparked during winds when a branch fell on a power line.   

There was an odd shoot out near Cascadia (where else) when a man wrecked his truck, and pulled over at the entrance to River Bend campground up above Sweet Home and started randomly firing a pistol.  The campground and the summer camp for disabled kids were quickly locked down.  The guy got shot 3 times by police before he gave it up and went off to the hospital, in handcuffs.   What was his issue?  I don't know.  He sure has some issues though.

 Another incident here in town involved a man threatening his girlfriend or wife with a gun.  He shot their dog, too.   Besides all the other charges he incurred, one was animal abuse.  I love that he was charged for that. Poor dog.  Hope the woman gets away from him for good.

I watch the complaints mount over the $10 day use parking fee at the county park and can't help but think you idiots.  Not only am I referring to the county for charging that high for time at the park, but for the comments.  The commenters mess up and blame our Democratic Governor for the charges, when its the county, stupid.   This county is red.  Just for fun, I posted the day use charged for the three counties closest to ours, two of them all blue, one kind of mixed.   The blue one to the west of ours has NO day use park fees.  The blue county to the south has a $5 day use parking fee and the one to our north also has a $5 parking fee.     

So far so good with my knee, although I haven't tested it on much of a drive.   I got in the habit of going nowhere, for two months really, when it hurt so bad to drive.  Guess I better get out and go somewhere now, if it only weren't so smokey.   My brother's wife, down in southern Oregon coast area, said its smokey there too.

Last night when it cooled off, I went out into the cat yard, to do some weeding and was promptly stung three times by a small bee.  It didn't look like a yellow jacket, so small, but it sure stung like one.

That ended my motivation for weeding.  

Cougie, from Waterloo. This is how she spends hot days.   I like that.  Sleep away the hot hazy days.

Cougie with her cousin, Tball, both from Waterloo.  My middle agers.

Here's to heat and smoke.  Not long may they last.

Happy Knee

 Thursday my knee cyst was drained!

I went to the ortho on Thursday morning.   My friend took me over.

Happy to say it went well.  The ortho doctor looked at the mri and said well, its easy to see what's causing your pain--he pointed to the cyst in the mri.  Then he looked at my knee and compared it to the other one and said that needs drained.

So I was moved to another room where the ultra sound was and he guided in a needle and drained it.  I got to watch on the ultra sound.  Was awesome.  Then he injected some cortisone and that was that.

I was happy!  I wanted to give him a big thank you hug but I refrained.  The pressure in my knee had vanished instantly.  Hopefully the driving pain will be gone too.  No pain problem sleeping last night either.  At last!!!  Relief!  Ability to sleep through the night is a big huge deal.   It was so nice to have that back last night.

He told me to keep it wrapped tight day and night for a month to try to keep it from refilling.

I'll do that.  I used self attaching tape the first night along with support hose I got when trying to help my knee myself.  They're pretty tight but suprisingly comfy.  Today I got a compression sleeve.  

Thank you ortho doctor!   Hoping for the best and very grateful.

Waldo Trip

 I didn't want to mention I was going to Waldo today with friends, so as not to jinx it.   I'd messaged almost everyone I could think of to message, when my knee went south, to see if anyone wanted to go to Waldo Lake, but in their car, them driving, since driving has been the source of tremendous pain with my knee.  It's been better in the last week.   I've not tested it though, to see if I can drive more than 20 minutes.   

R and S replied, that they'd take me up.  They love adventure.  Two cat women from Salem, a mother and daughter.  What a blessing in disguise this knee problem has been.   We had a wonderful time.  At least I did sharing my beloved Waldo Lake with this kind hearted sweet pair.

I left with R this morning in her vehicle, that has all the amenities and such leg room!  Her daughter S went in another car, because she was continuing on, afterwards, to K. Falls.

It was a great day weather wise, although cloudy in the valley up until we got to Oakridge.  Then it was sunny, warm but not too warm, and perfect.

Lots of people there.  Well, not lots but enough.

We paddled down to the south end.  R couldn't manage the stand up paddle board she'd borrowed, too much work, so we ditched it along the shore and she rode behind her daughter.   

Down at Campsite beach and lagoon a bunch of paddle boarders and a sailboat and lots of dogs, they'd brought on their boards, were playing.  One lady said they call the island Dog Island now, because they turn the five or six dogs loose on it while they play in the water.  One little dog wanted to go find its person, who was snorkeling and jumped onto my board from another lady's.  I took Tiny Dog to Dog Island and he belly flopped into the shallow water from the front and headed off following his person, who was just off shore.

S and I paddled on down to the other two beaches at the south end, close to the burn.

Then we went back to pick up R where she was napping at Campsite Beach Lagoon.  I went on ahead, just dorking around.  Saw a convoy headed  down to the south end from the boat ramp.  They were pulling at least three paddle boards loaded down in supples and coolers.    I caught up with them and asked how long they were going to stay and they said five days and that they had a pizza oven.  They said come on over tonight, if you're camped down here.  I told them I wasn't but I wished I was.

Then S and R caught up with me and we all headed back to the boat ramp.  We retrieved, on the way, the stashed paddle board and I towed it behind mine, the rest of the way back.  Once at day use area, we packed up and R and I came home.  She drove.  It was really fun!

Lovely!

 I watch the weather when I want to go to the lake.   I knew yesterday might be a perfect day.

I'd had good luck with short driving trips and my knee.  Why not a 35 minute trip?   Because the last time I tried it, I suffered for it afterwards and that wasn't more than a few days ago.

Oh well, what's a little suffering for a good time on the lake?   

Off I went after doing all the cat chores here.

My cats have been very happy lately.   The very wild ones who never came in from the cat yard are doing so now.  Maybe its because I have a lot fewer cats now, due to aging out.  They could all easily live in a couple bedrooms.  Instead they have a large fun cat yard, a garage cat room, runs into the house and out, two ways.  Well they have it good.

Not to say I still don't have some very old old cats who won't make it to Christmas.   

Anyhow, I did the cat chores and headed out without ceremony, since my short little board thingy, is alway s in the car because I'm too lazy to take it out of the car.

The weather was absolutely perfect.   Not much wind, high, once it was achieved late day--low 80's.

I can't complain about the weather in the valley this summer at all.  Been perfect!

I got off the board after paddling across the arm from the boat ramp and picked blackberries.   I thought about bringing some home but knew they'd turn to juice in just a plastic bag.  

I crossed the lake then.  There were lots of motor boats but everyone was very polite and having a fun day.  I paddled lazily along the north shore, going west towards the dam and got almost to Gedney Creek boat ramp before turning around, unwilling to disturb a long line of Canada Geese.  I'd wanted to check out all the little picnic swimming spots along the north shore accesssible by parking along the road and walking down.

I used to go to those spots with various friends.  There is so much drift in the water and fallen trees.   An hour's work with a friend and you could clear out the drift next to a spot, make it great for your day and a community service for others later.

One of the larger nice day spots.   However, you'd need to navigate three feet of drift to get to the water from it.  Or just clear it out first with a friend.

Just a beautiful perfect day.   I took my knee brace and put it on for the drive home and wore it once home and took another aleve before bed and I had worn myself out and slept like a baby.  Maybe my knee is improving.  What if  I try a longer drive now?

Or a long walk.

Jenny poses and isn't she beautiful!  That's not a question.