Sisters

 The town of Sisters is located on highway 20, the same highway that travels through Albany, Lebanon and Sweet Home, then on out and up through the Cascades to Sisters a central Oregon iconic town.   Highway 20 is joined by highway 126, that snakes up the McKenzie valley, out of the Eugene area, past Cougar and Blue River Reservoirs (places I used to go often), the trail to the infamous Blue Pool (Tamolitch) where immortal young people get hurt and die at extraordinary rates, jumping into the 36 degree water from a height and on to Clear Lake, where the McKenzie begins, before joining highway 20.  Highway 22 heads out of Salem, north of highway 20, east past the N. Santiam towns like Stayton and Mill City that burned partly in 2020 and Detroit, to veer south and join highway 20.

Three Highways to Sisters. 
 Highway 20 is in the middle out of Albany, barely visible as its not as travelled as highway 22 to its north nor 126 to its south out of Eugene. However it is the one that continues on, after the junctures, to the east.

Sisters is named after the three mountains south of the town, in the Cascades.  Collectively they are called the Three Sisters.  Faith, Hope and Chairty.  On a clear day, they are visible from where I live,   From Waldo Lake, two of the sisters are visible to the North and a bit east.

The town of Sisters is now a hipster haven, with trendy expensive artsy shops.  A lot of wealthy people and even celebrities have second homes in the surrounding area, which includes the gorgeous revered Metolius River and Camp Sherman.  It is a mecca to outdoors people seeking adventures.

The last time I went to visit the Metolius was in the winter, in the search for Bella, the cat who went down over the mountain in the car at Tombstone Pass with her young driver who missed the corner, never to be seen again.   I had not been given an accurate location for the accident and finally decided to go visit Camp Sherman's iconic store and the river itself, although the store was closed for the winter.   

The Metolius

Sisters is very close to being consumed by the Akawa Butte wildfire.

Only the north end of Sisters is under any evacuation notices at this time, however.  So its not like the town is doomed.  Winds shift.  Weather changes.  We all hope Sisters will once again beat the odds and be safe.

Story yesterday on public broadcasting about the Akawa Butte Fire.

Yesterday I went up to the Reservoir.  My knee only hurt on the drive back and then most of the night, punishing me for my indulgent trip to the lake.  I can't swim with my bad knee right leg.  I can frog kick with my left leg and swim with my right arm so I don't turn in circles, lol.  May not be an ordinary sight but works for me.   It was very pleasant there.   I had to get out and do something, was going nuts with the sheer isolation of it all.

Hot!

 

Warm today.

Smoke is creeping in too, from wildfires, but not too bad here really.

My knee kept me up off and on last night, as usual, but I decided to sleep the afternoon heat away and did.  I got an ortho appointment at a different office for next week, so I'm super stoked over that.

Could be hotter tomorrow, with thunderstorms in afternoon, especially in mountains.  We have enough wildfires going on, in north central and central Oregon plus down in central southern Oregon.  We don't need more.

Knee

 Got the MRI report.  Knee pain a mystery no longer.  Have large ganglion cyst below one part of the patellor tendon or ligament.  I think its under the medial ligament that runs laterally down the side of my knee from the patella, to stabilize it.  Its a large cyst so anytime I move my knee cap or flex the patellar tendon, like when driving, its easy to see how that would squish and cause pain.   

They can be easily in office drained, then cortisone injected (the usual) although they can come back at some point, usually though its a long time later.  I could have instant relief if only I could see an ortho.  I'm super happy though to know what it is though and its right in the exact spot it hurts so bad when I drive.

No, I haven't heard from my doctor about the results, since its the weekend, nor have I gotten an appointment with ortho yet.   Sometimes they rupture on their own.  My friend said to get another pair of over size pajamas and have another fall, since that's probably what began the issue, when I fell, tangled up in a pajama leg that was too huge and too long.  Like Zara Death pants.  Read about them!

Zara Death Pants!

Maybe it would rupture in another fall.  They're filled with really thick fluid.   I guess they're way more common on hands and feet and an old DIY fix was to whack them with a Bible til they ruptured.

There are many other problems with my knee, like meniscus tears, arthritis, but those date back years, since I had an MRI same knee about six years ago and it showed my torn up meniscus and arthritis.

But the new thing is likely the new problem.  And I'm happy its a quick fix, in office, suck it empty, inject with cortisone, according to ai.  If you get the root, or better yet the sac out, it likely won't return.

Anyway, I'm very happy to find out its a big cyst that can be fast drained, if I just get it done somewhere.

Fires Everywhere

Fires everywhere. 

The link takes you to a Portland news station's reporting on the multiple fires burning in central and eastern Oregon.

There's a large one burning down in Jackson County also.

So far, we, west of the Cascades, have lucked out.   We had some spot fires up beyond Green Peter reservoir and near Detroit but they were quickly put out.

We haven't had severely hot weather but we're about to get a little hotter, not bad though.  Lightning Friday started many of the fires.

Last night, the power suddenly went out here.   Seems so common.  When I first moved here power outages were even more common but usually the power is out very briefly.  Last night's outage lasted only a couple of hours, I think.

I have lightbulbs now like in my floor lamp that charge when the lamp is on and plugged in and continue to provide light, from the charge, when power goes out.

I had a scan of my bad knee yesterday morning very very early.  Haven't seen any results yet.   Since I've not got scheduled with ortho yet, I have doubts the scan will be helpful, unless I do get scheduled.  I've been referred to ortho.  Still hoping to maybe get a cortisone injection, but my hopes have faded somewhat.

While the power was out, I went outside in the dark and laid out in my reclining lawn chair and watched the stars.   It was a clear beauitful night.

Anyone have suggestions for funny good movies on Netflix or Tubi or Pluto?

Bright and Beautiful

 I love my yard so much this year. 

Probably many people would say its overgrown but I'm not cutting anything down that's flowered out.  I need the bright cheery flowers and the bees and butterflies and birds who love them too, like me.

I went to the Lebanon Farmers Market today.  The only thing I purchased was some fresh blueberry lemonade which was so delicious.

Then I went to the Grocery Depot.  It's run by the mennonites, and that store has great food bargains.  Today I got a black watermelon for $.99.  They're small and I've never had one before.  I got a bag of cherries for $.99 a lb.  I got some black grapes, organic, large container, for $2.99.   It was like finding buried treasure.  I scored.  And I got some bokchoy.  I like bokchoy almost as much as I like leeks.  I got two large green peppers for $1. 

I have everything I need now for salads and my stir fry and also some soup.

Since its Taylor Farms lettuce causing the "explosive diarrhea" cyclospora outbreak, I sadly had to throw out the chopped Taylor Farms salad mix, that was mostly iceberg lettuce.  Taylor Farms, a CA outfit, imports their lettuce from Mexico.

At least I heard about it in time to not even open the bag yet.   

Today we had 70's and clouds.  But I guess by Saturday we will be in the 90's for a few days.  I don't mind heat.  My poor brother in Idaho is mowing lawns in over 100 degree heat.   He's gotten in good shape mowing lawns.  For a 72 year old.  

I might be able to go visit him soon.  A friend goes to visit her relative in a care facility in eastern Oregon via Idaho and she said she has enough miles to take me along, drop me at my brothers, go on back to Baker, Oregon, since she flies into Idaho, and pick me up on the way back.  I told my brother about it and I think he's excited but not sure.   First I have to get a real ID or I can't go through airline security.  I don't know how long it takes to get that but I'll start tomorrow because I'm excited.    

Hot Day at the Lake

 Ha!  It wasn't that hot.  I drove up to the lake and got there before 11:00.  I don't remember exactly when I got there.

This is the reservoir, not Waldo.

Not too many people there.  I immediately discovered I forgot the skeg, the rudder so to speak, that clips in on the bottom of the blow up board, to make it track easier.

I nearly went home, thinking I couldn't control the blow up board without it.

Good thing I didn't.   I had a blast going up the S. Santiam from the reservoir.  I quickly adjusted to paddling without the skeg.  It rendered the board light on the water, easily whipped by wind or even current.  But I adjusted and liked the freedom of less friction in and on the water.

I meandered all the way up to where I could go no further--the beach on the corner by the rapids.  Only the water level was high enough, there were no rapids or beach at that corner.  So I went on to the beach beyond, that I call Smooth Rocks.

Smooth Rocks

A lady was there, flopped facedown across a half deflated small raft.  She had on fins and was looking down into the water--rock hunting.  This area is extremely popular with rock hounds of all sorts.  She hadn't come down from the campground, Riverbend, farther upriver.  I surmised she came down from the road.  She wasn't talkative.  

I dropped my sunglasses at some point into the waist deep water.   I beached the board and walked back out into the water, clutching onto the old boogie board for balance.  The rocks were very slick and uneven.  My sandals do not fit well enough to maintain stability on slippery uneven rocks.  I was able to reach down in and retrieve the sunglasses.

I didn't want to intrude on the woman and left soon after.  Heading back downriver towards the reservoir.

Lots of tiny fish fry here, racing around as one in large schools.  Farther back down river I encountered large schools of about four inch long fry.

With sun reflection, its tough to get photos or videos.  I can't even tell, with the phone camera and sun reflection, if I am getting anything.

There were a few areas with algae blooms but not many, not yet.

Most areas, the water color was an inviting emerald.

On the paddle back, the wind died down and I paddled hard to try to get in better shape since I've been slouching it with my knee issue.  My knee issue remains.   I have to just buck up though, and drive to lakes, so I have no regrets when the summer is over.

Paddling seems so easy to me and I was back at the boat ramp in no time at all.  However, only when I got home did I realize how tired out I was and took a two hour nap.

The blow up board is super easy to carry and use but it does not offer the comfort of the hard shell kayak.  It's light weight and ease of use make it currently my favorite of the two.  Skeg or no skeg.

I got home before 4:00.  At 3:00, when I left the lake, or therabouts, it was only about 80 degrees.  We may or may not get hotter the rest of the week.  Not much hotter, however, mid 80's is all that is forecast.  Perfect weather.

I was not happy to see an alert from Watch Duty about a new fire at Miner's Meadow, which is up Quartzville road, not that far from Foster Reservoir---on past Green Peter reservoir, beyond, by a few miles, where I caught all those cats over two years ago now, left behind to die along Quartzville road.  The entire corridor along that road is highly popular for all kinds of summer recreation that sometimes results in fires.  Homeless camping too.

I hope they can put out the fire quickly.

The smaller blue splotch to right of Sweet Home is Foster Reservoir, with Green Peter reservoir to right and above Foster.  And beyond Green Peter, the fire alert.

Flower Day

 Most of my bushes that flower have been here since I moved in, 18 years ago.   Or was it 19 years ago.

Including the Rose of Sharon.

I'm not sure what these red flowers are.   

I thought day lilies but nope.  They may be red columbine.

The sunflowers are all volunteer from dropped bird seed.

When the flower wilts and the heads are seeded out, I cut them off and hang them in the butterfly bush for the birds to eat the seeds.

And the Butterfly bushes.   There was one large one when I moved in and now two more, I grew simply by sprouting twigs off the original then planting.  I love them.  I call them the Tree of Life because everything on earth loves them--birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and the neighbors cats love to lounge in their shade.

I cut them back yearly quite a lot.  There's a lilac out behind the cat yard too.   It's not doing so well.   Too old I think.

My raspberries, grown from cuttings a friend gave me, have done so well this year too, giving me every morning a handful or two.  They are of two varieties.  When they stop producing, I cut them way down but every spring they come roaring back.

The only vegetable I grow right now are leeks, but I grow them the cheat way.   They're really expensive at the store but I like them..  When I get some at the store, I plant the bottom in a pot and regrow it.   They're usually smaller regrown but still works for me!  Then I replant the bottom again.   Never ending leeks.