The Gloom is Gone fo the Moment

The rain has finally ended for now. I know I've said often that I moved here for the gloom, but lately there has been more than enough gloom to go around. I was able to work outside a bit today. I let the horses out onto the frozen pasture where they were able to behave like horses, running, kicking up their heels and rolling instead of standing around watching it rain.

I have lots of plans for the next few days of cold dry weather. I have a massive pile of brush to burn, do some fencing for a new pasture, plant some trees and I need to clean out the greenhouse. Hopefully a gardener friend is going to come for a couple loads of manure. I'm running out of manure storage space. It just doesn't cook down like it does in the summer.

I'm even planning to do some laundry and hang it on the line to dry. The East wind should do the trick even though the days are short at this latitude. They may even be freeze dried.

Heat Stroke

I am not a fair weather person.  People think I am joking when they compliment a beautiful sunny day and my reply is, it's too hot...I moved here for the gloom.  It is true, I had lived through 33 years of heat and humidity in New Jersey and the Oregon climate appealed to me.  The fact is I don't do well in the heat.  Fortunately when it is hot here I can usually find the climate is perfect under a shaded porch.

I thought I could handle the heat yesterday, but I was wrong.  It wasn't that hot, probably 80 degrees or below.  There was a nice breeze.  I was building an arbour which took some digging and wood to be screwed together.  I was pacing myself.  I had a large mug of ice water that I tapped pretty often.  I took frequent breaks in the shade.  I was doing everything right, but after I finished building what I could in a day I took one more break in the shade before putting my tools away at around 4PM.  I started to sense some indigestion and suddenly all the water I consumed through out the day came rumbling up and was expelled across the lawn.  At that point I moved up to the porch where there is always a breeze and I was cooling off pretty well, but my wife came home and saw how pale I looked and told me I needed to lay down with ice packs to which I complied.  I stayed in bed motionless for two hours and when I was able to get up again I felt like I had a serious ass-whipping.  I rested the rest of the evening and I still feel drained today.  I'm drinking Gatorade hoping to restore the electrolytes.

I think back to the days I would ride my bicycle 30 miles on hot/humid days.  I recall working on a farm in 1969, the summer of Woodstock, which was hot and humid every day.  I just can't do what I used to. I accept that and I'll take on outdoor projects in the early morning and stop when starts getting warm while keeping in mind that the gloom will return one day.

Where To Go?

This winter has been hard on a lot of us here on the Oregon Coast this year. It’s been nothing but rain and wind since October. I always tell people I moved here for the gloom, but this winter was more that I ever bargained for. This was the first time we’ve actually considered moving somewhere a bit less gloomy.

Aside from me I’ve been hearing from others who are contemplating a move as well. We are mostly people with horses. One couple plans to move to Eastern Oregon in four years. Another person just wants out. I’ve been emailing another friend that has been sending me horse property listings from Kentucky and West Virginia, but if you’ve ever lived through a summer there this isn’t something that should ever be considered.

My wife would like to move somewhere in the Willamette Valley but not Eugene because of the way I pronounce the name of that town ( Ewe-Gene). I’d enjoy something more desolate like the Blue Mountains or Montana.

No matter where one wants to go there is always a draw-back and that is usually the climate. It’s either too wet, or cold, or hot, or humid. The only place I’ve ever been where the climate was perfect all year was the area of the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii. One could move there, but then you’d have to contend with Rock Fever. When I first considered moving there 24 years ago, every one I talked with warned me of Rock Fever and how it has driven many people mad over the years. This is a condition where you realize you are living on a big volcanic rock in the middle of the Pacific and you’ll do anything to get away.

Anyway, a move is seriously being considered. Aside from the over-abundance of gloom, I will not miss the growth and sprawl of this area. I will not miss the local media, which I don’t miss now since I no longer read local publications or listen to local radio. Most of all I won’t miss local politics, past and present. They are all big frogs in a small pond, a very small pond. I wonder how they sleep at night.

A Break in the Weather

The recent warm and sunny days here on the North Coast has been a relief after the snow, ice, rain and wind of then last month or so. People here were truly getting cabin fever. I tell people I moved here for the gloom, but the past month transcended any gloom that I would like to endure.

This weekend I was able to work on some trails. I cut the grass. I was able to let the horses eat in a pasture that is usually too wet at this time of year. I worked outdoors without a flannel shirt. I let the chickens out and they took dirt baths now that the soil has dried.

Best of all I was able to hang the wash out on the line for the first time since November. The last time I hung the clothes out, the day was dry but overcast and I still had to throw them in the drier after hanging outside all day. The dry warm east wind this weekend dried everything in an hour. Yes, my towels are scratchy but they smell great. There is a lot to be said for a nice day while in mid-winter in Oregon.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend...

I know there are a lot of day-light worshipers out there that get really bummed by the shorter days as winter approaches, but I’m not one of them. I wake up before first light and start my outdoor chores by spot light and flash light every morning. I never start any equipment until after 9:00AM as a courtesy to my neighbors. Fortunately there is always plenty of quiet work to do before 9:00AM.

During the summer I often find myself beginning my day at 5AM and often I continue working outside until 8PM. However, I really appreciate the shorter days of winter where the sun goes down and within a half hour it’s too dark to do anything. During the winter I get to go in earlier and have dinner at a reasonable hour. I like eating around 6pm, not after 9PM.

There are days when the rains prevent a lot of things from getting done that need to be done. These are good days for naps. I love the gloom of winter. I love relaxing in the evening.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

I'm sorry to disappoint all of you that come here early to read a post. Frankly this rain is getting to me. I know I moved here for the gloom, but lately it's been too god damn gloomy. I just don't feel like writing when it's this bad around here.

The horses haven't been out for over a week. I let the chickens out and they take cover under the porch. I'm pretty sure all my bees are dead and it's been too wet and windy to check on them. The roofs in my hay room and my shop and garage are leaking. There is a leak in the house as well. I'm seriously considering a move to Eastern Oregon or Washington. Seriously.

I have a neighbor who has been keeping weather records for the last three years and he tells me that rain and winds have been increasing every year. I'm not sure I'd like to continue living here if this trend continues.

The only good thing to come out of all this weather, I heard the frogs chirping in the swamp when I went out to feed the horses this morning.

The Irish Summer

This is probably the strangest summer I’ve ever seen. I think we’ve had three warm days in late June, but since then I can’t recall when I’ve seen a blue sky. Every morning everything is wet with mist. Then by mid day most every thing is dry, but the sky remains clouded until the mist returns in the evening. Most days are around 60 to 70 degrees. I feel bad for the rest of the country that has had a miserable hot summer, but the climate that we have here is perfect for me. Remember I moved here for the gloom.

This odd summer is preventing the garden from growing, but the weeds are doing well. Normally I never have to cut the lawn from mid July through September because it is dry and brown, but we’ve been cutting and need to cut it again. Everything is green, even the pastures. There is even moss growing on my truck.

For the Love of Rain

I woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rain. I knew it was going to me by kind of a day. Remember, I moved here for the gloom so a rainy day totally lifts my guilt about the outdoor work that needs to be done.

Today shows promise for a perfect day because I've already taken one nap from 7:30-8:30. I plan to label some honey jars and take another nap around Noon. Then I might clean the house for a bit then watch something on the DVR.

Rain Again

I’ve mentioned before that I moved here for the gloom. The dry weather of the summer does allow me to get some projects done that aren’t easy to accomplish when it is gloomy. This summer I am building Super Max, reroofing my shop and one horse stall. I’m building a new manure storage/composting shed.

The rain of the last couple of days has me working inside, but that’s OK. I feel less guilty when I take a nap when it is raining. Best of all I love having the window open when I go to sleep at night. The sound of the rain is perfect.

For you folks in the arid regions, this is what it sounds like.Rain Chior

Weekend at Burn-ies

As I’ve often said, I moved here for the gloom, but with this said one must make hay while the sun shines. I have a lot or hay to make, so to speak. I have drainage to dig, I have gardens to tend, I have lawn to cut, and a rainy May can really set one back.

Oddly we haven’t had much rain this month. Normally it rains here until the 4th of July, but this year our sky has been clear and drying winds kick up in the early afternoon now that there are no longer any trees to cut the wind. The winds keep up until the sun sets.

My neighbor and I have been continuing with the clean-up from the December 2007 storm and we have been piling brush and logs for months. Monday morning was calm so I set the pile aflame. The pile was dry enough that it caught fire quickly and it burned hot. It was so hot that it burned stumps. It burned very well so that most of the fuel was gone before the afternoon winds kicked in.

I’m always amazed by slash fires. They burn so big and wild and hot that it seems they would easily go out of control, but they rarely do. Everything is so dry now that it seems like a recipe for disaster. I’m really glad I didn’t wait much longer to burn this pile. Fire season will start in a couple weeks and that will end all burning until October. I didn’t want to look at that pile all summer. It’s much nicer looking at the ash pile.

Taken Back Again

Though nearly cell that my body possessed when I was ten years old has been replaced several times over there are still memories, reactions and comforts that carried on through the decades to where I am now. I was recently in a grocery store, in the cookie isle, which is pale and abysmal compared to the cookie isles of my youth. It seems that there are maybe four cookie conglomerates that hog all the shelves. There is little diversification yet plenty of boring unappetizing products.

Surrounded by cookie gloom I did find a touch stone that transported me back 45 years. It was a package of Barnum’s Animals crackers. The box looks pretty much the same, like a circus wagon with spoked wheels. It still has the flat string carrying handle. Blazed on the bottom of the front and rear panel is a reminder that the cookies on the inside are a good source of calcium, which to me is a stupid thing to list because they are never eaten for nutrition values, just comfort values. Just like when I wrote a while ago about a mayonnaise label boasting about it high content of Omega 3 fatty acids. Yeah, I’m going to double up on the mayo just to help my LDLs.

Upon opening the box there is a plastic liner that nearly looks and feels like the waxed paper liner that was used when I was a child. I guess wax paper is more expensive to use these days, though it does have more charm to me.

The vanilla cookies inside tasted exactly as I remembered them and reading the ingredients, the cookies don’t have a lot of chemical junk in them other than vitamins.

While I consumed the cookies I reflected on the illustration on the box. Each frame shows a parent and a baby animal. There is a tiger, a lion, a hippo, a giraffe, a zebra, a polar bear, a gorilla and an elephant. The illustrations are impeccable and delightful with each animal being affectionate towards one another.

This was the best cookie experience I’ve had in quite some time and I plan to relive it again, often.

Farewell to Rain

Here it is July 1st (the day I'm writing this) and it has been drizzling all day. I often tell people I moved here for the gloom, but at the same time I know the last time it will rain for a couple of months will be on the 4th of July and then we will have to endure the monotony of nice days until October. If we are lucky we will get a splash in mid-August. An old friend told me that it always rains a bit in mid-August to drive the cut throat trout up the rivers.


I don't do well in the sun and heat of the summer. A couple weeks ago my sister called me in mid afternoon. She was surprised I was in the house. I told her that it was too hot to work outside. She asked how warm it was and I told her it was 70 degrees. She laughed because where she was it was in the 90s and it was humid.

I know there are some local sun worshipers here, but I'm not one of them. I suppose I should become a night person.

Autumn

It seems that autumn is the favorite season for most people. Who doesn’t get a warm feeling from the changing of the leaves, the final harvest from the garden, the kids returning to school, the first fire in the fireplace, or the smell of a hearty meal cooking in the oven.

There is also a sadness that autumn ushers in. I often tell people that I moved here for the gloom, but somehow the change of season makes me happy and sad at the same time. I’ve been noticing the changes already. I need to turn the lights on when I go out to feed the horses in the morning. It gets dark out long before I finish my outside projects. On the plus side I get to eat my dinner earlier. When the rains return I get to take days off. Another thing is I usually put on ten pounds every winter that I lost during the summer.

The sure signs summer is over is that the grocery store is now out of artichokes (I ate my last artichoke Wednesday night), Costco has the socks I like back in stock and Costco is already selling artificial Christmas trees. Bring it on Autumn.