Global Circumnavigator Visits UCM

It was for only 21 hours but the Upper Creek Monastery was graced by a visitor from Singapore in the midst of a global circumnavigation. Christoph Grimm brother-in-law of Sylvia followed his wife Katja's trail to Langlois. A whirlwind tour of the area took place on the way to and from the airport with a relaxing evening of good food and a frog serenade while watching the crab boats bob on the ocean in the distance. His visit was not only to say hello but to get the sense of the area and with an eye toward making a purchase of land. Sylvia was certainly excited by the prospects of having family within walking distance.

Why is this woman smiling?

Nothing like a mud bath and moisturizer to make a beautiful woman smile.

Don't believe it?

Check it out.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Here is Debra Reynolds also enjoying her mud bath and moisturizer!

So what would drive two beautiful woman out to the Langlois Beauty Spa?

Three Hundred and Fifty evergreen trees needed to be planted along the road to grow into a sight and sound barrier for The Upper Creek Monastary. So armed with shovels and a mixture of Red Cedars, Grand Firs, and Redwoods the team of four (see photo below) marched out onto the steep hillside and burrowed through the salmon berry and blackberry bushes and in and amongst the alders to find suitable spots to plant the seedlings.

The day was chosen well in advance and it turned into a perfect planting day with torrential rains and winds gusting to seventy mph. This gave the seedlings a nice muddy base to settle around the roots and help establish the trees. And of course ideal beauty spa conditions as well...

New Twist in Coda's Health

Our Dogga (Dog Yoga Expert) Queen Coda... demonstrating - Dead Dog Twist

... She has had an eventful week... one with an advanced twist.

We know that some of you who follow the blog were left wondering the status of Coda's last visit to the vet. Long story short and good news - she did not have a broken leg and was bounding around the next morning. When she was wrestling with Lee he sniffed her butt and began to show more than an appropriate amount of interest for a platonic brother. So we acknowledged the sign and signed Coda up for a hysterectomy, which she had on Tuesday. It was anticipated but the twist was a month sooner than anticipated. She is mending well and has more recovery energy than one would expect a few days after a major surgery. Our home can barely contain her bounce. We are still escorting her outside for all her walks not trusting that she will not dash into the pricker bushes and catch her stitches on a thorn or belly flop into one of the ponds.

A side note on her development is the weekly puppy training class that Sylvia has been taking her to on Sundays. It seems that she will learn anything,, and quickly too if liver treats are part of the final equation. Word is that she is the star of the class with neck snapping efficiency at sit, stay and down.

Rain Brings Rainbows

The season of winter storms has arrived with some serious high wind and torrential downpours.

The good news is with rain and clearing we have rainbows. Here are a few photos taken of the Floras Creek valley after a heavy rain.

Above is the valley taken from above our place which you can see on the right along with one of the ponds.

This is taken from our lawn outside the sun room. It is actually a stitch of two photos. If you look closely to the left of the big trees you can see the raised beds covered in green house plastic.

The takeaway from this day.

After rain comes the sun and without the storm of the rain there can be no rainbows.

Welcoming the New Year Excitement

The Polar Bear Swim for a New Decade!

Woo Hoo - Welcome to 2010

We rang in the New Year with a huge storm that lasted through the night, the high wind was steady 62 with gusts to 74. We had to go down to the orchard to secure some of our weed cloth that was starting to billow and rip out stakes. While we were working on that a huge gust (probably a lot more than the 74 at Cape Blanco) lifted one of our green house covers off of the raised bed. Fortunately we were right there to hold it down and then improve the securing system. We managed that between cloud dumps on a day that dropped over two inches of water out of the sky! We did not make it to midnight, but a nice dinner was followed by a nice champagne and cigar (for Bob) in the "sun room" as we watched the squalls come roaring through the valley under the intense glow from the "Blue Moon." You could not actually see the moon but its brilliance illuminated the entire valley.

For New Years Day the Polar Bear Swim tradition that Bob has continued for decades happened in Floras Lake. The ocean was the first choice because it was warmer than Floras Lake at 53 degrees but the waves were so severe that there was no way to risk entering the sea. Instead the dogs chased me to the lakes waters edge where they stopped (yes even they no better...).

We had a wonderful head of Endive which we harvested on New Years Day that was tender and tasty along with some leaves from our mustard crop. It made for a very yummy dinner that we named the Oregon Greek Salad (recipe to follow) and a was a great way to kick off our diet... (yeah don't look to close at the waistline in the photo of the guy in the water).

Part of our ongoing entertainment here is the interplay between Lee and Coda. The multiple marrow bones we have provided if you will excuse the pun have become quite a bone of contention. Every time we purchase some from the butcher we always get two. To make a long story short Lee likes to have ALL the bones and ALLOW Coda to steal one once and a while that is why the photo of General Lee with his inventory is so humorous.

So here is the recipe for Oregon Greek Salad Everything is approximate and please season to taste!

1 head Endive

1/2 head Mustard

200 grams Feta Cheese (Original Greek Sheep Cheese)

4 to ++ Tbs Olive Oil

Juice of Lime or Lemon

Handful of Onion chopped large

Handful of Garlic large chunks

10 - 20 Kalmata Olives

1 Cucumber cut to tatste

1 diced Tomato

1 tsp of Salt

1 shot of White Wine

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade!