Fourth of July Parade in Port Orford

The B&B Feed Store once again organized a Langlois float for the Port Orford Fourth of July parade!  And once again our float earned the judges choice award for best of show!

Here are a few photos from the float that included Ben Franklin, Betsy Ross, Uncle Sam, Paul Revere, an active duty Marine Sargent in full dress, a backyard cookout, the Boston Tea Party plus other cool stuff like cannons and brigantines!

Here is Bob as Thomas Jefferson with the Declaration of Independence which he recited along with other Jeffersonianisims while rolling down the parade route.

 The Langlois Librarian Scott was Paul Revere.

A collection of garden supplies were used by Bob to create the brigantine loaded with Tea in Boston Harbor.  Lots of boxes of Tea were piled on the deck.
Note the excellent use of naked Barbie near the bow :-)

We had a blast getting ready and participating in this fun event!

LMG Drops In

Leave it to a surfer dude to drop-in at just the right moment!
As the evening was arriving so to did our dear friend Greg from Alameda.  (a.k.a. LMG or affectionately Loud Mouth Greg)  It is rare to have visitors at all make it to our section of coast where locals like to say "it is at the end of the road... from both directions."  Yet Greg found himself in our neck of the woods with an opportunity to visit! Very Cool!

It was great to see him and catch-up on the news of the kiting scene in Alameda as well as some of our other friends there.  The real treat was the opportunity to meet Greg's new dog "Sweetie" and she was indeed a sweet dog - very smart, very well behaved and a very good friend for Greg.   When Greg was here a few summers ago to build our garden shed he was smitten by the good graces of General Lee. And he returned home and rescued Sweetie.
As you can see from the sticker on Greg's car you can see just how much they have helped each other!

Hanne's Tree

It is wonderful to see Hanne's tree doing so well.  It is situated on the upper terrace and has a nice view of the ocean and the valley.

 The first apples of spring being prepared by Hanne!

The Kohlmann - Reimers tree is also a strong tree. Unfortunately it has yet to produce any fruit.  It seems that stone fruit do not do well in our micro-climate.  We are giving it one more season but this is the last one.  If it does not produce we will be moving it to a new location outside the  fenced area where it will still be nearby so we can tend to it but will no longer be taking up productive terrain inside the fenced orchard.  

Here you can see the Kolmann-Reimers tree in the foreground and next to and behind  is Hanne's tree.

Fred Visits

There are few friendships in life that are forged by a deep connection and remain strong and last over many decades.  UCM had the gift of a visit from one such friend last week.  Bob has known Fred Nicholson since March of 1994 when they were first on a Sterling Men's Team together in Seattle.  The strong bond established in the Sterling setting has remained and is as solid as ever. 
During his visit Fred utilized that artistic skill to help weed the blueberry patch!  He was also the right person to have on site for the placement of "Kitechicks Rule"  (see last post). Thanks for the help Fred.

Beyond being a warm worldly soul and a spiritual person, Fred is a gifted artist who works in many mediums with a focus on collage art.  You should check out some of his work on his website.  Fred NIcholson the Artist.  And here the written work site for Fred Nicholson the Poet.
Thank You Fred for including us on your Spring tour of the West Coast!

Kitechick Comes Home

The "Kitechicks Rule" sculpture has been on the dock of the Port of Bandon since 2008 and has been enjoyed by many tourists over the years with children crawling onto her back for a ride and a photo op.  Time and the wet weather begun to eat away at a bit of fin which led the Port to worry about splinters and law suits - so they removed her from the dock. 
She now graces the lower pond here at UCM and  frolics with the Valley Flora in the background.

 This is where "The Kitechick" started life - On the docks of the Port of Bandon

 "Kitechicks Rule" was presented as a pronouncement of Bob & General Lee's love for Sylvia - The Original Kitechick.

Sylvia was a bit stunned after being taken completely by surprise by her gift.  She even received a CD that Bob put together to inspire the artist and set the mood for the project.

Here is the video that was shot on the sly as we innocently did the tourist thing and walked the docks of the Port of Bandon.  Of course it was a setup - you can see the artist Chris Foltz has his trailer in the background which had just delivered the sculpture. Chris is a world champion ice and wood carver, having just taken second place in the World Championships held in Germany.

It is nice to have "Kitechicks Rule" here at UCM.

Chicken Adventure Part IV - The Flock Arrives!

Bob and Sylvia are now the proud caretakers of a new flock of exotic Jersey Giants - Eight ladies plus Mr. Man.  Since they have several generations of offspring in the Langlois Community we now refer to them as "The Grandparents" or "The Jersey Girls" or just "The Girls."  The breed is larger than typical so we are hoping that the birds of prey think them to heavy to fly away with.

The girls settled right into their new home taking advantage of both roosts and the nesting boxes.  Typically there is some transition time involved in a move - But Mr. Man was so comfortable that within minutes he was hard at doing what he does best with the girls.

Only eighteen hours into their new home and the "Jersey Girls" had already blessed us with a half dozen eggs! All that and fertilizer too :-)

The grandparents condo in their gated community.  Note the six wheel ATV used to move the chicken tractor around the property.

And finally here is a video of the girls making their debut entrance out of the coop - Long legged beauties strutting down the runway.  To be sure they have become much more graceful negotiating the ramp. 

Chicken Adventure Part III - Coop Tour

It took some time but the chicken tractor is finally far enough along to move into place and bring in the flock.  There remains work to winterize by putting in plexiglass windows that can be easily opened and closed with the weather.  But for now the girls will have to be happy with lots of ventilation.  You can see the locking system to the chicken entrance to keep predators out at night..

This is the prototype auto feeder for the chickens. 

 Stairway to Heaven. 

Yup - Vinyl floors have been installed in the condo. While the pink curtains provide privacy  and protection from scratching chickens (along with a bit of mood)  for those using the nesting box.

Here is a full video tour of the chicken tractor before the grandparents move in.

Starts and more Starts!

Part of the beauty of living on the Oregon Coast is the year long bounty that can come from our garden.  But of course it does not happen on its own.  A great amount of planning goes into crop rotation and timing.  Sylvia enjoys this challenge.
Part of the timing process is to get the starts growing at the right time so that they are ready when the weather outside or under the hoop house hood is appropriate for outdoor growing.
Here is a view of the latest set of starts some of which are ready to be transplanted soon.

Some of these starts began inside Sylvia's office  sitting on their warming mat getting ready to move to the larger start station for a few weeks then to the great outdoors.

Crimson Clover

The follow-up to last years construction of the "goat moat" was the need to seed out all the bare earth that remained so it would not wash away in the winter. So we spread out lots of pasture seed and crimson clover in the areas that would be rougher and lawn seed with white clover in the pathways and lawn areas.
The crimson clover is spectacular while in full bloom - and of course the photos do not do it justice.

Queen Coda atop the "Goat Moat" obviously after a refreshing and cleansing bath :-)
The daffodil bulbs were also added as part of the beautification process for the goat moat. 

Chicken Adventure Part II - Tractor in Work

A Chicken Tractor is not quite what is sounds like - but it is a wheeled method of moving the girls around the property.  For this project we are starting with the basic frame of the trailer which had the tires and bearings repaired, then it was leaned against the telephone pole for a good cleaning and finally painting. 
FYI - Under that brown tarp in the background is next winters wood. The tarp will be coming off now that the winter rains have passed.  The wood will have seasoned for two years before it reaches the hearth.

From bare trailer frame next it was a matter of laying out some lumber and framing the coop.

Then getting it bolted on!

The details are coming next and always seem to take the longest.  But it is amazing what paint and the little things will do for the longevity of buildings here along the Oregon Coast!

US Citizen Participation

A core principal of the American way of life as set out by the founding fathers was community participation in the governance of our communities.  Sylvia has taken this standard to heart and has placed herself on the May ballot here in Langlois, Oregon!

Here is a view of the ballot as filled in by Bob - and yes he did vote for her!
   

Beginning of the Chicken Adventure

Our friend named Friday innocently said "I'm looking for a good home for my chickens."

Innocent enough that Bob said "we'll take them..."

So the chicken adventure begins!

We went and met "the girls" a few weeks ago.

Pictured is one of eight Jersey Giants we will be gifted. This breed is nice since they can not be carried away easily by birds of prey.  We will also become the proud owners  of  "Mr. Man - The Biggest Black Cock in Curry County."  (There is even a sign we will be acquiring acclaiming this to be so.)  Here is a video of Mr Man sizing up with another rooster on the other side of the fence...  boys will be boys...

Mr. Man Measuring

Of course the "free chickens" means we need to build a chicken coop.  So we have opted to construct a "chicken tractor" which is essentially a chicken coop on wheels that can be moved around the property so the chickens can do their thing and turn and fertilize the soil at any location we feel would be beneficial.  The farmer where we get out goat milk every week had this trailer buried in the weeds at his place and he sold it to me for the price of the steel.

After a bit of welding to create tie in points for a sheet of plywood it was loaded on the trailer for the ride home where the tire would get replaced and the bearings revived, plus some spiffy black  paint to the frame to spruce it up before installing the 4x4 frame foundation.

We will keep you posted of progress.

Sisters Reunion - Katja Visits

Our home is out of the way for most, more especially if you live in Switzerland!  But Sylvia's sister Katja came by for a few days and enjoyed all that we have to offer.

Here is a short video of a walk to the beach.  It was a beautiful Spring Day.  You can see -  the geese travelling North, Queen Coda in working dog mode, and General Lee showing spunk and energy while leading our stroll, even after several rounds of chemo! We live in a beautiful place.

Sisters Stroll the Beach

Burn Baby Burn

This is from a few months ago but it made for a nice weekend.  It took a while to torch our burn pile this year and it did not burn well since it had been compacted by heavy equipment we had on site for the goat moat project.

It took a bit of hand work to keep it going but in the end we got er done.

Hard Working Woman!

Lambing Season

This is lambing season in Langlois.  Ranchers around the area are welcoming spindly lambs to their ranches.  No organic ranch in the nation is as big as the Whal 's spread on the banks of the Elk River.  Last year they lambed over 7,000 healthy births over the course of forty days.  

Sylvia and Bob had the pleasure of a tour of this amazing production line of pregnant sheep birthing mostly twins, triplets and quads.  Below you can see a portion of the facility.  The sheep that are due to give birth are let into the main pen area this photo is of only half of the space.  When the see a sheep that is about to give birth they place them in one of the pens.  There is an extensive colored ribbon system that tells the hands where the sheep are in the process of giving birth, having their newborn cleaned and inoculated and finally released into a holding area.

                            

Here is what a sheep who is pregnant and about to give birth looks like...

You can see the sack of water extending through her birth canal.  Moments after this photo was taken she was placed in a pen with a red cross ribbon to indicate that she was in labor. 

If there are more lambs than a mother has milk for they are separated.  These are two of the dozen or so pens for lambs from mothers that had triplets or quads where one was taken away.   With a new birthing that is only a single and the mother is deemed healthy enough to feed two or even three than right at birth time one or two of this flock would be placed wit the mother.  To assure the mother did not reject the baby they are  totally smeared in the birthing fluids from the mom and only than will the mother accept the baby lambs as her own.

Once the mother has accepted the lambs as her own the bond is for life.  So after the lambs have been cleared to leave the birthing pens then they can be moved into the holding barn.  You can see here a portion of the flock and even though it looks like a hodge podge of babies each mother can find her lamb immediately and the same is true for the baby lamb.

Outrunning of the Pugs

When nip comes to enough a resourceful Border Collie always has a way!
For Queen Coda when it came time to demonstrate her versatility it was a clear case of no contest.  Even without hitting the afterburners the immediate outdistancing of the pursuing Pugs is comical.  At the end of the day Border Collies love to run and well Pugs do too but they are just not as proficient at it.
If you listen closely you will hear Sylvia  telling the tale of when deer in the meadow that Coda attempted to herd turned upon her.
If you have not seen the "Running of the Pugs" blog entry you may want to watch that first for the context of the earlier Border Collie Herding by the Pugs.

Running of the Pugs

Pamplona may have the Running of the Bulls at UCM we have 
The Running of the Pugs! 

Our dear friends Craig and Ann who recently spent a decade in Atlanta have relocated to Corvallis Oregon and at three and half hours away they are practically next door neighbors! They came down to UCM for the weekend and brought their two pugs along.  With a young male and an older female it was interesting managing the settling process as country dogs met city dogs.

While "The General" was quite demonstrative in showing the little male "Chester" who was the Alpha.  "Queen Coda" had a bit more trouble demonstrating who was the queen bitch. At the end of the day the title went to little and old "Ada Mae" who was relentless in herding Coda.  Since before their arrival we all thought Coda would have a field day herding the pugs -  in the end nothing could have been further from the truth as this short video will demonstrate some of the angst of Coda's weekend! The original working title was Border Collie Herding Techniques...

When enough was enough Coda however stretched her legs and ran into the tall grass where the chase would fizzle as ground clearance is an ongoing issue for Pugs navigating in the country. In the end the Pugs slept soundly on the drive home and through the night.
You can watch some of stretch run in the blog entry "Outrunning of the Pugs."

Re-Purposing Kites!

With the kiting era beginning to fade (although Bob still has hopes)...  The old kites have been languishing in their bags.  But a great new use has been found that is really helping in the garden.  

The hoop houses over the raised garden beds have proven to be a great aid at allowing a year round garden.  The urge to plant sooner is ever present and this spring is no exception as our Siberian Tomatoes have already gone in.  Although they do well in colder weather we have had a few evenings this week of frost so the way to combat this is with old kites!

Here are a few photos of the pvc framework held together with wire ties  with the kites held down along the edges with rebar and over the frame with some simple clothespins.

Works like a warm and fuzzy charm!

If you look closely below you can see the three white storm straps of one inch webbing over the beds. They worked great this winter during our hurricane force wind days.