Western Pond Turtle

Yesterday I spotted this turtle on a log in Elk Creek. Jeanette, Buster and I were on one of our favorite local walks we take out Schad Road, which runs for a ways next to Elk Creek. We always have some kind of wild life spotting. We have seen songbirds, woodpeckers, a variety of waterfowl and even Elk. And we also always see some roadside wild flowers. This turtle turned out to be a Western Pond Turtle. Rather easy to identify, as there are only two species of turtles to be seen in the Northwest, the other being the more colorful Painted Turtle.

Crawfish Lake Trail

Buster appears a little tentative at crossing over yet another patch of snow on the trail around Crawfish Lake yesterday. I was there to hike the Crawfish Lake Trail for the Umpqua National Forest Cottage Grove District in my continuing assignment of trail surveying. The trail was in great shape, but vandals had destroyed the trailhead sign and trashed the shelter.

Bottling

Yesterday Jeanette and I put in a 12-hour day bottling wine at River's Edge Winery here in Elkton. Jeanette is shown here with Natalie another worker packing the bottled wine into cases. It all takes place in a mobile assembly line that is brought to the winery in a big trailer. I helped feed the empty bottles into the bottling machines where the wine is put into bottles, corked, capped, and labeled, then sent down the line to be cased and packed off on pallets. Besides bottling wine from the vineyards of Rivers Edge we also bottled wine for Anindor Vineyards and Bradley Vineyards. It’s quite an interesting procedure that we participate in each spring and fall. Yesterday was a long one and a lot of work, but a nice diversion from our rainy weather.

Sweet Creek Falls

Meet my neighbors, Lyle and Stephanie Schnabel and their dog Buddy. Saturday they went on a hike to some falls that I haven’t been to yet, although many people have recommended them to me, Sweet Creek Falls out of Mapleton. Stephanie says: "Every step is gorgeous. ..there are many falls along the walk to view. Its 1 mile of real beauty. The creek (river) is pretty full now, which makes all the falls that much better!”

Surveying with a Smile

This is a happy face. Happy because I made some good progress on surveying the Crawfish Trail yesterday. Only have seven tenths of a mile to go, which is going to have to wait until the snow melts some more. Check out the TRIP JOURNAL for more details of the day.

Turkeys in Elkton

Turkeys are a common site roaming the streets here in Elkton. I spotted this one today on the deck railing of the local Baptist Ministers house. I’m not sure if this turkey has his eye on the hummingbird feeder, or if he is simply waiting for a handout from Pastor Rod. I am sure however, that if the turkey is gone by the time Rod gets home, that the turkey will at least have left his calling card.

Wedding Anniversary

Jeanette and I are marking our wedding anniversary today. Our wedding took place at Silver Falls State Park on Mother’s Day, May 9th, 1993. Seventeen adventure filled years!

Mr. & Mrs. Grosbeak

Yesterday Mr. & Mrs. Grosbeak stopped by for lunch. We always enjoy their visits each spring although they are usually here only briefly. This year for some reason we are seeing an exorbitant number, and for many days now, at our feeders of both Black-headed Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks, both males and females.

Family Weekend

This was a family weekend in Dallas. Got to see my grandson William, shown here, play baseball. He got a good hit and also stole a couple of bases. This is his first year to play baseball, and he is showing a lot of hustle and learning a lot. It’s great to see him having such a good experience. Also visited with my mom, and attended grandson Luke’s first communion.