Heat wave

Greetings from HOT Eugene! It's early yet, but later forecasts range from 104-107. Tomorrow, 113. Yikes. We didn't sign up for that in this part of the world.

As usual, I did some walking while doing [ie waiting for] my laundry this morning, early. Already hot then, but I got a few decent pics from it.

Over at the ponds, flowers and beauty are everywhere this time of year.

Back in the garden, plenty of flowers and beauty, too. Sun just beginning to filter into the garden area.

Laundry, breakfast and shower done. I got in an hour and 15 minutes of walking, about 8500 footsteps so far. Doubt there will be anymore serious outdoor time for me today, though I probably won't be able to resist brief walks around the building here and there. Thankfully, I don't have to go anywhere!

Stay safe, be happy.

Mt. Pisgah -- to the top!

We've both found the idea of attempting to reach the top of Mt. Pisgah a little daunting. Nevertheless, we determined that we would attempt it today. It's a long, hard, slog, but we made it. Hallelujah! Two and a half hours, total up and down. 13,322 footsteps. We weren't trying for speed, merely to survive.

Views are great on the way up. The day was overcast, and cool, which was perfect for a hike like this and two little old gray-haired ladies.

 

Spencer's Butte, the other 'big mountain' in town, refused to lose its cloud cover until we were back near the parking lot when the sun broke through everywhere. Of the two, I think Spencer's is the toughest, or maybe I'm just in better shape than I was when we did it last year. That was a one-and-only trip for me, no desire to do it again, though we'll certainly do Mt. Pisgah again, trying a different trail that another hiker told us about today.

The good news is, I guess, that I feel great. Not tired or worn out, although happy to get some food in my belly.

Wild Iris Ridge Trail

Hi, Y'all.  Another beautiful day here in Eugene. Sunny, but not too hot. Yet.

My hiking buddy and I got an early start while it was still cool, and had a good hike at one of our favorite places, Wild Iris Ridge.  Neither of us was exactly full of pep, but we did it, and enjoyed it. I haven't slept well this week, after a Monday walk that ended up being 15,000 footsteps and really wore me out. I've rested a lot since then, but I'm still tired. Alas. 

From the parking lot looking  up the hill. The trail goes through the woods, not up the power lines, and while it isn't a huge hill, the trail is steady and steep in places.

 

From the top looking back down at the road. Somehow, it looks further away from up here!

Also from the top. The power lines are only a small portion of the surroundings up here. Mostly, there are rolling hills like this.

These woods are full of red-barked Madrone trees, especially beautiful when the sun hits them. They also have large white flower clusters earlier in the spring.

So, that was our hike. Got most of my 10,000 steps in up there, finished it off with a walk down the hall a few minutes ago. Now I may be headed for my second nap of the afternoon.

Keep smiling!

Mt. Pisgah to the River Trail. Busy week.

 Hi, y'all. Been a busy but wonderful week.

Thursday, my hiking buddy and I drove down to Mt. Pisgah, to try our luck going up the mountain. We've both done it in the past, but it's been years. Before I left Eugene in 2009 I went out there often. I was much younger then. We didn't go to the top -- didn't intend to! But there's a nice side trail that connects to the main trail way up the mountain. After that, we explored the trails of the Arboretum, which was new to both of us.

Took this of the view, not too far up the grade. The trail went through forests and meadows, though the downhill portion on the main trail was just dirt, rocks and gravel.

This cool old barn and silo was our first discovery on the Arboretum trail. As you can see, the day was overcast, but not cold. The following photos were along the various Arboretum trails, too.

As you can see, the Arboretum trails go through a variety of scenery.

Fast forward to today, and I got in another 20,000 step day. Yay for me! I've been determined to walk down the riverfront trails on what I thought would be about a 6.5 mile loop [and I think that's about what it was]. Started out this morning with about 4000 steps between 5:30-6am. Then, about 9am headed out on the long trek.   In the map below, I've marked my route in red. A, at the top, is the starting point. B is where I crossed the river. C is the Owen Rose Garden , where I stopped to literally smell the roses. D is Alton Baker Park, where I rested for a moment before returning on that side of the river. Saw an eagle flying across the river just after I headed back home from the Park. Plenty of them around here, but it's always cool to see one.

 The Willamette River, looking south from the first bike bridge. The bridge in the distance is an automobile bridge, and the Owen Rose Garden is just this side of that bridge.

The smell here was indescribably wonderful. Thousands of roses. I've been here before, but I think not when it was in full bloom like this. Passed in on my bike countless times, but don't stop.

The Willamette, again, still looking south but this time from the next bike bridge, the DeFazio Bridge, where I crossed again so I could return on the other side of the river.

From Alton Baker Park, looking back at the DeFazio bridge.

So that was the end of the photo tour. This side of the river is far less photogenic, and it was getting crowded with walkers, cyclists, people on all manner of human-powered devices. As I got back to the first bridge, I was feeling rather weary so rather than fight the crowds the rest of the way on the riverpath, I cut over to the road that takes me straight back home. Took about 2.5 hours, and I was a pooped puppy by the time I got home. A little food and water though, and I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.

It feels so odd to crow about walking only 8.2 miles, when in the old days I wouldn't have bothered to drive out of Atlanta up to the North Georgia mountains for anything less than 10 miles, and 20-25 were more the norm. But, I was much younger then. I'll work up to more miles around here. Maybe.

The Ponds and the Critters

Went for an early morning, before-breakfast walk to the ponds, and another one a short while ago. Still playing with the camera, getting used to it, and most of all, learning to hold it steady when I'm using the strong telephoto.

 Early morning, this family of geese made pretty patterns in the still water.

It was barely daylight out there -- sun hadn't made its appearance yet.

Contrast a few hours later in bright sunshine!

Got into a rather lengthy standoff with this pair of geese protecting their babies. I couldn't get back to the sidewalk without passing them, finally made it. They can be a bit aggressive where their babies are concerned, so I didn't want to push it too much.

Coming home, this osprey and its chick were posing very nicely! Doesn't happen often. The platform is high up on a pole, next to a telephone pole, right alongside the busy road. I was happy with the sharp image this time, considering it was pretty high telephoto. It's actually better than it looks here, since Blogger seems to make photos smaller with fewer pixels. But, it's progress, with me and the camera and the zoom lens.

So, I've walked over 9,000 steps today already. 10,000 is the goal, and I'll make that easily today. Hiking tomorrow, so don't want to push the footsteps too much today.

New camera!

Some of you may remember that I got a new camera awhile ago. It was supposed to be the end-all be-all, but as it turns out I didn't like it, so I returned it. Since then, I've been thinking about getting one they showed me when I returned the first one, but I always came up with excuses of one kind or another. But a couple of days ago, I decided to Just Do It! And so far, I love it.

As you can see, it practically fits in the palm of my hand, has a great Zeiss lens and a 30x zoom that works great. I still haven't figured out how to hold that little thing steady when it's zoomed out that much, but it does a good job. When I first got it I went out into the garden area to test in on a variety of different subjects. It has great color, works really well in extreme close-up. These were my two favorites from that test. Does well in bright sunlight, shade, and mixed.

 

I love this peony, especially the dark shadows and streak of sunlight.

 

Simple photo -- but it shows how well it captures bright, rich colors.

I was under the weather yesterday, but this morning I went on a long walk for some other tests. The sky was heavily overcast the entire time. Some of my favorites from this morning. The sleeping duck was right on the trail -- no zoom necessary. He never moved, though I walked past him twice.

 

This is close up, no zoom. Would have been better with sunshine, but you gotta work with what  you have to work with.

 

These are Mergansers, according to a couple of birdwatchers who brought my attention to them. This was heavy zoom, though not full zoom. Biggest problem was following them with the lens in zoom mode, since they were swimming rather fast. They were also in a small, shaded section of the ponds and hard to see, let alone photograph. It could be clearer, but under the circumstances, I'm happy with it.

 

Later: Went for another walk this afternoon, to the Delta Ponds, found these, with a little more sunlight.

 

Western Pond Turtles, basking in the sun. Hundreds (thousands?) of them here.

 

I could be wrong, but I think this guy is a Wood Duck. Heavy zoom on this one.

Far end of the ponds, almost directly across the street from where I live, but only accessible via a nice, long trail through trees and daisies.

 

 

So that's my story for today. I look forward to more wildlife, more flowers, more everything. Hopefully on a less overcast day than today.

Today is the first time in awhile that I haven't felt any need to do something specific, something generally unpleasant, other than a hike with a friend. That was nice.

Thursday I felt awful, but needed to return the camera to the store as that was the last date it was eligible for refund. I didn't want to go, didn't look forward to it at all, aside from not feeling well. I don't like returning things and always feel guilty. I returned it because I just wasn't thrilled with the quality of the photos I was getting from it, and there was no more time to experiment with it. Plus the lens didn't have enough zoom and I couldn't afford to buy a new one. I felt better immediately after leaving the store, which was a good sign.

Yesterday I had to return a few large 3-ring binders to Office Depot, which I also didn't look forward to because one of the clerks is rude and bossy. Naturally, she's the one who 'helped' me. But, I got the job done and then I may never enter that store again! I've been in the middle of a big genealogy project the last few weeks, as I might have mentioned. Got my three big binders shipped from Cedartown and then set about printing out new info sheets, and putting everything into plastic protector sheets, as I had before. And throwing out a lot of no-longer-needed stuff from the binders, and reorganizing, and expanding, etc. I bought a package of 200 of the protector sheets, and used many of the old ones as well, and there are only maybe 5 left. I'd planned to put these into large binders, and I did that, but then realized that they were heavy and unwieldy and hard to use, so I had to regroup. I've tested various sizes, have had to return others to OD, before settling on what worked. Ordered what I expected to be [and was] a better quality binder from a major company via Amazon and that arrived Thursday, definitely a better product. Hence returning all the remaining binders to OD and ordering 4 more from Amazon. Those will arrive tomorrow, but in the meantime I have 4 of them finished, and all I'll have to do tomorrow is transfer the stuff into the new ones and make labels.

Just having this [and the camera] behind me feels wonderful. But then after getting my laundry done early this morning, my day is totally free of any obligations to anyone. I think it's the first time this week, and I'm loving it.

Gonna head back to the comfy chair and continue reading now. Smiles all over.

 Still playing with the new camera, getting a feel for it. This morning, went for a hike in the fog, and this photo reminded me of many I took on foggy trails down on the southern Oregon Coast near Brookings. This hill, Skinner's Butte, is actually in downtown Eugene and has lots of hiking trails with plenty of steep uphills. I'm not actually in love with the focus [or lack thereof] in this shot, but I think that's more operator error than camera error. I just noticed I didn't have it set on fully automatic, and that might have made a difference.

On the other hand, took this one this morning, same trail, and focus is good, so go figure. At least, on my computer before uploading to Blogger the focus was good. Same with all of these, to some degree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was in our garden area a few days back when it was sunny. Even manipulated and resized so I could crop it a bit, it has really sharp focus. I don't remember whether I used auto-focus or manual on this one, probably auto. I've learned that using manual focus, with my old eyes, doesn't work very well.

This one [above] from the ponds last Saturday.  Maybe I'm crazy, but I expected tighter/better focus on all of these photos. My old Nikons, simple cameras, did a much better job. But maybe there's more I need to learn yet.

What's the furry critter?

 

I treated myself to a new camera last week, as my old one was on its last breath and no longer taking decent photos. Saturday morning I went for a walk to the ponds to take a bunch of test shots, just to see what I can expect from the new toy.

Imagine my surprise when I walked up to the parking lot railing and saw the circular ripples, watched until the maker surfaced again. Zoom isn't very strong on this new lens, which is a problem for another day, and since he wasn't waiting around to pose for pictures, I had to snap a quick shot, then enlarge it to get a better look. That face is adorable, with a long body. I don't know if river otters get that large, or particularly if minks get that large. There's a beaver dam 40' away, but it doesn't really have that rodent look to it, with that face.

I've spent hours over there during the past 4.5 years, and this is the first time I've had a good look at any furry critter. Whatever it was, it was frolicking and having a good early-morning swim until it saw me, then it spooked a bit and swam off, surfacing again further away.

Camera is nice, except for the aforementioned lens. I suspected I'd need/want more of a zoom, and this walk certainly confirmed that. I could either spend $300 for a second lens that takes over where this one leaves off, or $600 for a lens that combines both of them. Not loving either idea, at the moment. I'll play with it some more for awhile, see how I feel later.

All is well here. I am now fully vaccinated against Covid [one of the rare benefits of old age is that we get in line sooner] and have escaped the winter in good health.

Leftover Carnitas turn into magic

 Hi, Y'all.  Thought I'd share my lunch today with you. Continuing the recent obsession, last week I made more carnitas, and am pretty sure this was my best yet. Seared, then slow-braised in oven for 5 hours with garlic, onion, bay leaves and a few dried peppers of various kinds. So good, I could have devoured it all in one setting, I think, straight from the dish in which I shredded it. Afterwards, I put everything left in the braising pan into the blender and whirred it up good, saved it. Also delicious, though I had to reduce it for a very long time before it gained any thickness, and who wants a watery sauce? Froze leftover meat and sauce.

Yesterday on some forgettable show on Food Network I saw something that gave me a good idea. No carnitas involved, but I instantly saw how they could be. So today I heated some of the leftover meat in this little pan, put a perfectly fried egg over the top, added some of the sauce and some of my favorite Oaxaca cheese and stuck it under the broiler for a moment to melt.

I practically inhaled this! Could have eaten twice this much, however this much alone had 540 calories, not counting the sauce because I really can't even approximate such info about it. So no, I didn't need any more.  But again, YUM.

After a sucky week, a little success, a victory, feels pretty good.