Wednesday Walkabout

The boss (lucky bugger) headed to Hawaii last Thursday and won't be back until next week so I've been able to set my own hours for work.  It is nice to have a few extra days off while Troubadour isn't working.

Today we weren't sure what the weather was going to do and decided to go for a long walk through Bald Hill Natural Area - 284 acres of hiking, biking and horse trails.  It is one of our favorite areas and it is within walking distance of our house (1.5 miles / 2.4 km). It is shorter if we take 53rd but who wants to take the direct route?  Well, as long as we walk down our road, cut through the Christmas tree farm, down a path, through the hole in the chain link fence and over the railroad tracks.... technically it is near the house.

Here is a link to the trail map ----> LINK  We enter off of Reservoir Road and walked to the barn then to Oak Creek Drive and back to Reservoir tracing our steps.

We had a mixed bag of trick as far as the weather.  It started off sunny, changed to overcast, a little rain when we hit our turn around point, more sun, more rain and more clouds.  Not bad for a 5+ mile walk.  If we had more time we would have hiked further up the trails.

I brought the little Canon HS300 with me and took some photos.  The changing light made for some bright and some dark photos.  Here are the better ones.  They were all taken in Bald Hill Park.

(Little ways into the park - slight incline)

(Little further up the multi-use path)

(Farmers' fields to the north and east of the path)

(Apparently we have newts)

(Left turn to the barn and Oak Creek - right to 53rd St.)

(Trails leading off of the main paved one)

(On the way to the barn and Oak Creek)

(Another view of all those oak leaves)

(Soon the restored barn is spotted to our left)

(Walk up a gravel path to the barn)

(Restored barn - can be reserved for special occasions)

(I wish there was a sign to tell us the history of the barn)

(Surrounded by oak trees)

(Looking west - path beyond the barn goes to the top of bald hill - gives you a valley view)

(From the barn looking east towards Corvallis)

(Back down on the multi-use path I spotted mushrooms)

(And Hawthorne berries)

(And blackberries that hadn't quite ripened)

(Looking southeast across the freshly sprouted grass fields)

(Looking south towards our starting point - black clouds moving in)

(Looking North - straight stretch towards the turn around point)

(Our half way point - and also where it started to rain)

(We turned back around and headed south)

(Towards the ominous clouds)

(And found a woolly bear - larval form of the pyrrharctia isabella, aka Isabella Tiger Moth)
(Looks to be an average winter coming)

(The Teasel have gone dormant and lost their purple tufts)

(Not a lot of color in the hills)

(And still more clouds)

(Oak marble galls - fallen with the leaves)

(Inside of the gall - the galls are very brittle)

(Oak marble galls are caused by the gall wasp laying eggs)

(Two different leaves with two galls each)

Stopping to photograph the galls was our last photo break.  It was after 1:00 pm and we were getting hungry for lunch.  We picked up the pace and booked it for home.

I do apologize for the lengthy post.  I managed to take 95 photos, so I think I actually narrowed it down quite a bit.

Back to the office for a little while tomorrow then I shall take Friday and Monday off.  I wonder what kind of mischief Troubadour and I can get into.

-Au Revoir

" I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it." - William Shakespeare

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Riding to Coffee on a Warm Autumn Day

It was a pretty mellow morning weather wise when we woke.  The temperature was 55˚F (12.78 ˚C). The roads were wet, but it was no longer raining.  We figured we'd ride to Saturday coffee.

I hadn't been on the bike since our bridge tour and that day was quite warm so this morning I needed to put the rain liner in my jacket and pants as well as the quilted liner in the pants.  I then decided to put my heated jacket liner in as I wasn't sure if we were going for a longer ride after coffee.

Six of us showed up for coffee and four of arrived on bikes.

(Lucy, Max & Polar Bear's Tiger)

(Steve's nice new V-Strom 650 Adventure)

We arrived at Coffee Culture at 9 am and had a snack with our coffee.  A lemon poppy seed scone for me and a blueberry muffin for Troubadour.  We managed to hang out and chat until after noon.  By this time I was hungry for lunch and when I get hungry I get shaky so we decided we'd ride home for a bite to eat.

(Lucy and Max)

It was misting on us on the way.  Just enough to get the visors all wet.  The weather had warmed up to 65˚F (18.33˚C) so I thought  to do some yard work after lunch.

I took a wander through the back yard and noticed that our weather has been so mild and warm the Geraniums are still blooming.

(Geraniums November 3, 2012)

And it has been so wet the last few weeks the grass has returned to green, which is nice, but we have a fungus issue in one of the shrub beds.  Mushrooms have invaded.  We are not sure if the spores are in the bark mulch or floating down the with sequoia needles but this is the only bed in the back yard to do this.

(Fungus among us)

The Forest Pansy Redbud has turned from purple to a mixture of orange and yellow and the maple leaves have turned red and most have dropped.

(Forest Pansy Redbud in front and a Pacific Sunset Maple in the background)

(Pacific Sunset Maple)

(Maple leaves and a little slug if you can spot him - upper left quadrant) 

(The joys of placing a birdbath under the maple tree)

Tomorrow we are supposed to see partly sunny skies and the same temperatures so we are debating about joining a planned group ride through the back roads in wine country.  It would mean being up and out of the house and in Eugene (one hour south) by 9:30 am on a Sunday.  We'll see how early we wake up.  If we wake up too late we may just have to figure out a destination and ride our own ride.

- Au Revoir

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all." - Stanley Horowitz
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Halloween & Bikes

Today is Halloween, and being someone who isn't much for any holiday commercial or otherwise we don't do much except go for a walk through the neighborhood in the evening to see what people are up to and shake our heads at the antics.

I do want to share two photos with you though.  I can't take credit for either, but seeing as how they are both motorcycle and Halloween related I wanted to post them today.

Little Bunny FuFu from Cornelius, Oregon was selected as the winner of PetSmart's annual Monster Cute Photo Contest Powered by GREENIES®.  He bested more than 12,500 entries for the $10,000 grand prize.  Photo courtesy of Business Wire

Photo Courtesy of Honda

Have a great day everyone and beware of ghosties, goblins, bunnies on bad motor scooters, and Hondas wearing tutus.

- Au Revoir

" I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween." - Author Unknown

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Fall Food Challenge

Pam over at Helmet or Heels threw down the gauntlet this morning with a Fall Food Challenge.  It is that time of year when the weather is turning chilly in our hemisphere and we are turning to comfort foods.  Soup season has begun and so has the making of baked casseroles, hot breakfasts and warm desserts.

To read Pam's post click this ----> LINK.  The challenge in Pam's words:  

"I thought I’d throw out a challenge to see what Fall food you like too. 

If you blog, blog about it and let me know I’ll link to your post. 

If you want to submit a recipe via the comments, 

please do! I love trying new recipes."

I just happened to make some super easy Apple Dumplings for dessert last night and took pictures of the process.  Some of you may already know that I have started a second blog for recipes and foodie type stuff.  I originally took the pictures to post this recipe on that blog next week, but figured I'd post it up here first.  If you are interested you can check out my other blog by clicking this link ----> TROBAIRITZ' TABLE.

 APPLE DUMPLINGS

INGREDIENTS:


1- 8 oz tube Crescent Rolls
1 large Apple, cored and cut into 8 wedges
1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Ginger Ale soda (NOT DIET)




DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Spray an 8x8 inch square glass pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Open tube of crescent rolls (FYI - Pillsbury original are vegan) and separate the 8 dough triangles.  Place one wedge of apple on each triangle of dough, roll into crescent shape and place in dish point down.

(I left the peel on the Gala apple)

(Roll into a crescent)

3.  Repeat until all 8 rolls are done and in the pan.  Your pan should look something like this.

(waiting for the sauce)

4.  In small saucepan melt the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until well combined and the sugar is fairly dissolved.  Add Ginger Ale and stir well.  It will foam a little bit.  Pour mixture over the dumplings.

(ready to cover with foil)

5.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes until golden brown.

(Mmmm cinnamon - wish I had smell-o-vision)

6.  Let rest for a few minutes and serve warm drizzling the sauce left in the dish over the dumplings.  We use two crescents per serving for a total of 4 servings.  So good you'll want to toss etiquette aside and lick the bowl.

(Troubadour prefers his with Trader Joe's Vanilla Soy Ice Cream)

If you decide to participate in Pam's challenge please hop on over to her blog and leave her a comment and let her know.

ADDENDUM:  To make a double batch (good for family gatherings) use a 9x13 glass pan and the following ingredient ratios:  2 tubes Crescent Rolls, 2 apples, 1/2 Cup Butter, 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, 3/4 Cup Ginger Ale, 1.5 tsp Cinnamon

- Au Revoir

" In Hollywood, the women are all peaches.  It makes one long for an apple occasionally." - William Sommerset Maugham
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