Malheur Joke #2

Why did the snake cross the road?

Because the pheasant said it was OK.

The snakes have been out a lot in the last week.  We did not see any during the hot days, but now that the weather has cooled down that seem to be more active.

Cranes

The Sand Hill Cranes are gathering up to start their migration to central California.  Wednesday we saw about 500.  Yesterday more then 300.  It is exciting to see and hear them as they glide overhead.

Malheur Joke

Why does the Pheasant cross the road?

Because it sees a car approaching..



Every we see pheasants alongside the road as we drive to and from the ranch.   Several times we have had to brake to keep from having a feathered hood ornament. 

Summer ?

Friday 88 Yesterday 92.  Today 93.  Summer is still here.  Cool nights make it ok but it is still warm sitting on the porch at the ranch waiting for visitors.
   Today we are driving into town to go to the Harney County Fair.  First, there is the parade through the main street.  Then out to the fairgrounds.  It will be no big deal but fun, in an old-fashioned rural kind of way.
   As I sit here typing this I have heard at least a half dozen bursts of gunfire to the south.  Hunting season must be in full swing.  Run, deer, run.

Just barely surviving

9000 ft on the Steens is a hostile environment.

Sky

One of the things I like about eastern Oregon are the great sky photos.  This was taken on that same Friday.

Friday at the ranch

Fall has fell in eastern Oregon.  The last two nights were in the 30s.  Friday was cold and cloudy.  The middle of the afternoon I noticed that the sky was getting darker, especially to the south.  An hour later, you could not see the horizon to the south.  It was time to lockup the buildings the head back home.  The rain arrived before we arrived back at the trailer.  Wind and rain for the next couple of hours.   Then a nice easy rain for most of the night.  The rain was needed to soak the earth and to help the fire fighters.  It was a good thing. 
   The next morning the Steens had a new white coat.

Cattle herding

The cattle drive; a figment of cowboy movies.  Today they move cattle from field to field by the best route.  The routes are the roads.  Today the locals ranch moved more then a hundred on Sodhouse Lane in front of the ranch.  It was fun to watch.

John Day Sept 1st

Tuesday we drove north on Hwy 395 to John Day.  Sixty miles of mountains and valleys along a scenic two-lane blacktop.   The first 40 miles are still that way, past Idlewild, through the little settlement of Seneca,  up into the next set of mountains.  Until we came to the fire area.  The Canyon Creek Complex fire started with two lightning strikes on Aug 14 and it still burns.  The fire whirled and swirled on either side of Hwy 395 for about 8 miles blowing sparks, jumping, and roaring around the mountainsides and valleys burning homes, and homesites along Hwy 395 which spits the valley from the base of the pass into Canyon City. I heard that the fire roared sown that valley lke a freight train, twisting and spinning and throwing out fire balls in all directions.
     As we drove the route we were sickened by what we observed.  We saw piles of ashes where homes had been.  Rubble with just a chimney standing.  We saw homes with blackened areas all around them and yet, untouched.  We saw a few green areas and then large black areas.  Whole hillsides had trees throughly burned.   It was like a war zone and a residential area mixed together.  I did not take photos of the homesites.  I thought it would have been in poor taste.
  On the way back south we noticed that the CC fire had flaired up again.  It's almost totally burning in the Strawberry Wilderness area now.  Lets hope the upcoming cool weather will fire fighters.