Some Sad News From The Homestead

About 3 weeks ago a couple of robins started building a nest outside of our bedroom window. We had no complaints seeing as we are dying to see some wildlife out here. About 2 days later the robins came back from wherever birds go to "get down". The lady bird-- which we call "Bright Eyes" came home to brood her eggs. Robins have 2 sets of kin each year. We assume this is the second batch being that they are so late into summer. We never thought a bird would enjoy 'people watching', but that's what they did until the babies hatched. They had 3 funny looking little babies. We watched them closely waiting to hear them chirp. I don't think we heard a single chirp till the 3rd day. The mom and dad took turns feeding them literally non-stop all day every day. On the 4th day I couldn't see the nest for whatever reason. I thought maybe I was just not seeing from the right angle. It was a little windy. I ran outside assuming if something happened I would hear them. I heard nothing. The next day was our Birthday trip to Crater Lake. Upon returning home-- We found out the nest was gone! Something had snatched up one of the babies, and knocked the other 2 out of the nest. Only 1 survived. She(we think it is a she) is now 7 days old, and is showing a LOT of progress. One of her eyes was damaged in the fall. Wayne has taken up the mother roll. They talk to each other. She always wants to be close to him when he is around. She jumped and flapped her wings onto his finger today. Yesterday she did no perching. Today that is all she has done. She has learned balance in 1 day. She is perching as I write this. Tomorrow I will wake up to her flying! According to the inter-web baby robins fly from their nest at only 13 days old. It takes them another 10-15 days to become strong fliers. Wayne built her a covered nest attached to the house. It keeps her away from predators, less wind, accessible for us to feed her, and she can hear the other robins in the yard. This is where she will learn to fly from, and will come back to be fed. Eventually from what I read they will stop coming "home" to be fed as they learn to find food on their own.

Wayne honored the fallen family by building a covered box and placed their nest back up in the tree that they fell from. Maybe someone will make use of it, or parts of the nest? Either way we liked them living here for the last few weeks, and it was one BEAUTIFUL nest.

I will update as things go on. We have done a lot of research on the topic, and have every intention to keep this little lady as wild as possible.

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Crater Lake Birthday Adventures

There is no place we can't go! This was considered my Birthday trip. The previous birthday trip was not supposed to be so elaborate. Everywhere was sold out, and I really wanted to go see something new, and stay somewhere overnight. Crater lake is quite close, and I havn't been there since I was little. My mom doesn't remember it being the way it was either. So it was a well needed trip for all of us. It WAS BEAUTIFUL! My mom and brother came along on this trip with Wayne and I. Everything around Crater lake was sold out, and has been probably for a year now. The lake was so calm, and reflective. It looked like a mirror. It is the most photogenic place I have ever been to by far(I took over 1,000 pictures on this trip).. It is also the deepest lake in the United States(7th deepest in the world), and the park takes up an impressive 183,224 acres. It is apparently rare when all of the snow melts off in the summer. The roads were all completely open this year- Giving us the WHOLE experience. We saw a side of crater lake that many people don't get a chance to see. I highly recommend making the trip if you havn't recently. Especially this year!

We stopped at 2 waterfalls. 1 on the way there, and 1 on the way home. Salt Creek Falls was a huge highlight of the trip as well. It is the second largest waterfall in Oregon at 286 feet tall. The height of the waterfall is just a little less impressive as the process that created it. According to the Northwest waterfall Survery, "Glaciers scoured the valley out during the last Ice Age, then following their retreat, lava flows filled in a portion of the valley, creating the narrow canyon walls composed of columnar basalt that can be seen at the falls." There is a high salt content in a lot of the springs in the area. This waterfall would be beautiful to go see any time of year.

We also did some adventuring around Waldo Lake. It is one of the largest natural lakes in Oregon, and one of the purest lakes in the world(along with Crater Lake). Both lakes do not have any inlets, and there is a prohibition on gas motor use to preserve the water clarity. You can see depths of 120 feet in Waldo Lake on a calm day. It was impressive to see a lake so large, and so little activity on it. This is a good place to "get away from it all". A Very very quiet and beautiful lake. Every lake after seeing Crater Lake was.. Not even on the same level of beauty though. I recommend seeing everything on the way to go see Crater Lake. End the trip with a bang.

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Meet the Newest Member of the Family

Meet the newest member of the family. She is a 9 month old playful pup named Kola(It means 'friend' in Sioux). Her breed is German shepherd/border collie mix. She just happens to be one of the fastest learning, and smartest dogs I have ever been around. I am really excited to watch her grow, and learn. We have kept a close eye on her to see what our limitations with her are- as far as trust goes. She has been so good! She impresses me every day. I think she is really liking her new home, and we are happy she is a part of it.

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Birthday Adventures

Yesterday was the celebration of my birth. I am one year older now, and I am feeling damn good(Can I say that?). :) I really wanted to go to the lake, and have dinner. There is also a year round gondola ride to the top of a mountain on the way, and of course we stopped. I am SO happy that we did. I could have went home after JUST doing that, and I would have been a happy lady. The gondola ride is at Willamette Pass Ski Resort. It takes you up to the top of Eagle Peak where there is a 360 degree view of all of Oregon's beauty. The elevation was 6,666 feet at the top. We started at 5,120 feet. We went up 1,546 feet on the gondola! The weather also couldn't have been better! My mom, brother, sister and 2 of her kids came along with Wayne and I for the trip, and our next destination was Odell Lake Lodge & Resort!

Odell Lake is one of Oregon's largest natural lakes, and is only 2 miles from Willamette Pass. Apparently it gets very windy there mid day. We had only stopped there once in the morning on our way to our Fort Rock Adventures. After a look around the sold out lake. We continued on this wonderful birthday adventure to Crescent Lake.

Crescent lake is a much smaller lake than Odell lake, but it has a beach with sand! Both restaurants had live music at 5pm. We thoroughly enjoyed staying there to eat(less wind). The food was great, the music was great, the weather was great, the view was great, and the company.. I can't forget them. I loved everything about this trip. My nephew went for a swim in the crystal clear blue water before we headed back.

We stopped at several campgrounds on the way back to my house(for smores). My sister and her new husband like to go boating, so we peeped a few areas they may be interested in. We found a GOLD MINE! Shelter Cove on Odell lake is the spot! They have 13 lakefront cabins with their own personal moorage per cabin. It is free on private cabin docks. The marina holds 130 boats, has boat rentals, and even gas available on the dock! 72 campsites, a store(with an espresso bar), showers, laundry, and a community fire pit in front of the marina. Their resort vehicles were hummers.... It was top of the line, or should I say "top shelf". We will be back there. Maybe for an extended family gathering, or someone else's birthday(HINT)!

♥

Love is Sweet

This is just one more thing for that digital resume. Wayne and I were the amature photographers for my favorite aunties wedding, and I think we pulled it off! I have actually never seen a couple kiss more than they did on their wedding day. Everyone could tell how in love they are. If I had a penny for how many times I saw them kiss... I would be $3.00 richer. It was a fabulous occasion, and I am so excited to show off all of our hard work. Both in photography, and with the decorations. My aunt was the bees knees putting this whole thing together. She could do this for a living, and we can document it! There we go! A business plan in the works. :) The theme was "Love is Sweet". There was a sweets bar full of sweet treats. The decorations included tons of burlap, lace, wood rounds and mason jars. A huge portion of the reception was focused around all of the heart shaped rocks that they have been collecting over the past 3 years. They had written love messages on them and placed them on the tables. Yellow and blue were the theme colors, and my aunt wanted to get married in the 'golden sun'- Just before sunset. There was candlelight, and twinkly lights glowing throughout the evening creating a romantic ambiance. All of the really little kids collected all of the bubbles from all of the tables, and said that they were going to blow the bubbles for everyone to dance in the moonlight. It sounded so romantic, nobody bothered to interfere with their ideas and take them away. I thought it was sweet. The whole occasion was sweet. "Love is Sweet".

♥I wish the happy newlyweds all of the best (Love you!)♥

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