Beautiful Day

Today the temp rose to almost 80 degrees.  That is not unheard of for Oregon in May.  However, we used to say, where I lived near the southern Oregon coast, that summer doesn't start in Oregon til the day after the 4th of July.  How that has changed in the last decade.  It's like the seasons are moving.

But there has not been anything ordinary about this year in Oregon.  February was so sunny people planted gardens.  Why not?

It is with unease that we enjoy this warmer weather here.  We are behind in rainfall too this month, but we always think "this is Oregon, it could pour for the next weeks, relentlessly, out of the blue" and it's true.  Usually.  We're so used to the gray days and rain that stretch for an eternity, usually 8 or 9 months of the year, I don't hear anyone complaining that this year, we have sun early.

If the summer turns unbearably hot with water scarcity, well then we'll deal with it then.  But not now.  Now I at least am basking in the warm days.

But I've seen water for what it is--precious.  On the west coast, the drought rolls on.  I think it could never happen here, in rainy Oregon.  Now I know different and I look at water differently.  I scoop the dirty dish water out and use it to flush the toilet or put on the lawn or to keep the compost pile moist.   I intend to use my washer gray water in the same way.  I think about every drop now.  Maybe I am getting obsessed.

Oregon is known to be green.  What if Oregon turns brown?  An ugly shade of brown.  That cannot happen!

Foster Reservoir, where I take my little raft, is 85% full, which makes me happy.  Green Peter, above it, is 56% full and Detroit, just north of us, out of Salem is only 40% full.  A paper article about our water problems said that people who moor their boats in the summer at Detroit may end up trying to moor them at Foster, although there is little moorage space.  We were also warned, in the same article, that because Foster has higher levels than many other reservoirs it could get extremely crowded this summer there.

You can see current levels at the site below.  But you have to know the abbreviations for local reservoirs.  FOS is Foster, the closest one to me.  Above it, is GPR, or Green Peter.  DET is Detroit, the other reservoir in the area.

See water levels for Oregon Reservoirs at this link!

Last I checked the water levels at Foster, it was at 620 feet and that is the minimum for use of the Calkins Boat ramp, it is good to go.  Many of these reservoirs are so low, unless we get tons of rain, their levels will be too low for use of the boat ramps.

The Coopers' hawk wants to come and kill a nice fat Mourning Dove in my yard. Or take a baby off, from a nest, to tear apart.  He's tried twice to come down.  The first time, a mob of 8 crows escorted him out of the area noisily.  The second time, he slipped in without the crow's sentinel announcing him.  He's out there perched in my birch and the happy chirping birds have gone dead silent.  He can hide easier now, with the trees in leaf.

Mops is having some trouble getting over the extractions.  He holds his mouth partly open, like it hurts, and tries to drink awkwardly, with his tongue twisting out strangely.    Tugs, on the other hand, was back to normal quickly, almost like it never happened.   We're all different.  The cats too.

I've been negligent with the camera, so I have no photos to add right now.  I ran inside with the hawk circling above, to grab my camera, came outside and cannot spot him, more than a second or two, part of him (or her), way up high in the heavily leafed Birch.  No good for a photo, not yet.

He'll have no luck I think.  The nonathletic heavy bodied Mourning Doves are his easiest prey but they are gone for the night, to their roost, wherever that is.  The other night I went out and was nearly nailed by an owl, a young one, another farther on in the night, shrieking encouragement to her young.  And last week, two hummers fighting near my feeder nearly collided with my cheek.  How would that be, a hummer impaled in my nose!  Selfie worthy for sure!

Well, that's it.  I have nothing spectacular to say.  Rosy's death hit me hard and laid me low yesterday, so that I could barely move or breath.  So I didn't move and barely breathed and lay on my bed and dreamed kinder things.