Thursday, January 28, 2010

Time for another catch up on our time here in Port Orford. Tuesday was a so-so day weather wise, it didn’t rain but it was pretty overcast most of the day. I spent most of my time reading Warlock, I just got lost in the story for the day so we didn’t do a lot of anything.

Yesterday was not a bad day, kind of overcast in the morning but it cleared off in early afternoon and was gorgeous. We went to Bandon as I wanted to go back one last time and wander around Old Town. On the way we stopped at Misty Meadows to get John some more Anitpasto and jam as well as pick up a few gifts. When we got to Bandon we had lunch, a yummy bowl of clam chowder, then wandered around some of the stores. We didn’t buy much but I did get a couple of pretty pottery bowls that were really cheap as well as some fudge. We were wandering through one store and they had a lot of Kitras glass so I was telling the owner that we were from where it is made and he went on at length about what a great company they are to deal with – nice to hear.

We stopped at another store after leaving Old Town, then on to the grocery store before starting to make our way back home. We went down to the north jetty and took a few pictures of the Coquille River Lighthouse, then to the beach for more pictures and then took the scenic route back out of Bandon with picture stops at a few more places.

Coquille River Lighthouse


We stopped at a pullout to take a picture and found this house down by the beach, I sure wouldn't like to have to do those steps all the time to get up and down!!!


Bandon Beach




Face Rock


When we got back to Port Orford we decided to go down to the dock and see if anything was happening there as our neighbours, Claudia & Gene, had gone out fishing so we thought we might see them coming back in. When we got there their truck and boat were gone so they had already come in but we saw a couple of boats heading in so got out and walked over to the lift area to watch them come in. Boy, was our timing good – we saw them unloading boxes of sea urchins off one of the boats and boxes of crabs off another. The people dive for the sea urchins and Gene told John that they get paid really well for them. There was another boat unloading crabs, one of the boxes they took off weighed 374 lbs – so I would say they had a good day as they took off at least 3 boxes and we know they get $1.99/lb for them. It’s interesting as they have a winch to lift the catch off the boats and unload the catch into large tubs, then the boats themselves move a bit further along the dock to get winched up.

While we were watching a boat come up we got talking to three fellows who were cleaning a steelhead they had caught in the Sixes River and were just at the dock to clean it. They had come from south of San Francisco for a few days fishing and said they had caught four steelheads but only kept the one and one of the reasons for keeping it was for the roe which they use for bait. It sure looked like a nice fish and I bet it was good eating!! There was also a seal swimming around in the harbour and it looked like a fair sized one.


Sea Urchins


Fishing Boat Being Hoisted Up




And Going on Its Trailer


California Fishermen with Steelhead


Boats Waiting to Come Into the Dock


Seal in Harbour


Crab Catch



After we got home we were talking to Gene & Claudia and they said they didn’t have a great day but didn’t do too bad either. They gave us some fresh ling cod for dinner and was it yummy, John put some lemon pepper and butter on it, wrapped it in foil and grilled it.

Today is another nice day so John decided to clean out the truck and I took advantage of his being outside to do a major cleaning inside, I even got the floors washed – something I just can’t get done when he is inside.

Gene & Claudia came back from another day of fishing and she said they again didn’t catch as much as they wanted but the wind had started to come up and the water was getting a bit rough so they decided to head in early before it got too bad. She was saying she used to dive but due to puncturing her eardrum a number of times has had to quit but she has an album of underwater pictures that she will bring over and show to me – should be interesting.

It is supposed to rain again tomorrow but we will see if they are right. We don’t have a lot planned for the rest of the day so I will probably start another book – tough life.

Tim is trying to get some grass cutting done while the weather is dry so as soon as he is finished he will fill propane tanks, we need ours filled so have it sitting out waiting.

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.

Monday, January 25, 2010

I guess it is time to do a quick catch up again, although there hasn’t been anything exciting happening.

Saturday was a nice sunny day for a change, it was beautiful all day but of course about 9 p.m. the rain started again – it seems like it is impossible to have a day without rain here on the Oregon coast!

Saturday night was the parks’ monthly potluck and this month it was soup and salads. The soups were delicious, I had decided to take a tossed salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts and a couple of loaves of warm bread, one a French bread and the other sourdough. I’m glad that is what I decided on as it was the only salad and bread although there were also some rolls. Of course there were some yummy deserts to finish off, all in all a nice dinner with good company.

Yesterday it poured off and on all day, not a nice day to do anything and even to go to the dock, Battle Rock beach or Paradise Beach would have been a waste of time as with the rain it would be hard to see the waves, so we stayed home and vegged all day. For dinner John went and picked up a pizza from the Hard Rain CafĂ©, it was really good and we had a couple of slices left over for today’s lunch.

I downloaded Warlock by Wilbur Smith onto my Kindle yesterday so spent most of the day reading, although we also spent a fair bit of time on the phone catching up with the girls, my sister and some friends.

Warlock is the third book in Wilbur Smith’s Egyptian series and as always with his books, once I start I have a hard time putting the book down. It is probably about 1,000 pages so a fairly long read but I am really enjoying it. I also downloaded the fourth one in the series so will have that ready to read when I am done Warlock.

Today is very overcast, but not raining, it feels really humid because it is quite foggy. Last night they had heavy wind warnings on the TV for this area but thankfully they didn’t happen here. They had said there would be swells of 22-24’ today so we grabbed a coffee this morning and went down to Battle Rock Beach, the dock and Paradise Beach to see what the waves were like. There were some good waves, not as large as we have seen, nonetheless the ocean is always awesome to watch and I did get some pictures at Battle Rock and the dock. I will post them for you to judge how they were.

Looking Towards Humbug Mountain from Battle Rock Beach


Looking Back to Battle Rock Beach from the Dock


Port Orford Jetty and Waves Breaking Over the Jetty







Port Orford Dock



Once I am done posting my blog I will probably bury my nose back in my Kindle and enjoy more of Warlock’s thrilling story – Alison & Bob you would love this book!

And so ends more great gifts of days here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another interesting day tomorrow, no matter what the weather is like.