On the Road Again with Merle

[abbydaddy]

A year ago my dad and I teamed up to buy a small vineyard. Today I got to take Merle on a tour of the property with my son.

An old fence post.

Down in the rows of vines.

We found a raccoon skull with a puncture that looks to be from a coyote.

I never get tired of this view.

We are clearing the doug fir to restore the oak savanna on the rest of the property. We are fortunate to still have the old oaks throughout the property, the firs have only been infiltrating over the last 50 years or so. 95% of the Willamette Valley's oak savanna habitat has been lost since the 1840s, we are glad to bring it back on our little corner of the valley.

Merle wanted to say hi to one of those grand old oaks.

But the stumps can make good pictures too.

 

[btb01]

A year ago my dad and I teamed up to buy a small vineyard. Today I got to take Merle on a tour of the property with my son.

An old fence post.

Down in the rows of vines.

We found a raccoon skull with a puncture that looks to be from a coyote.

I never get tired of this view.

We are clearing the doug fir to restore the oak savanna on the rest of the property. We are fortunate to still have the old oaks throughout the property, the firs have only been infiltrating over the last 50 years or so. 95% of the Willamette Valley's oak savanna habitat has been lost since the 1840s, we are glad to bring it back on our little corner of the valley.

Merle wanted to say hi to one of those grand old oaks.

But the stumps can make good pictures too.

That’s awesome! Sounds like a lot of work, but hopefully very rewarding. Have you been able to enjoy any of the fruits of your labor yet?

 

[abbydaddy]

That’s awesome! Sounds like a lot of work, but hopefully very rewarding. Have you been able to enjoy any of the fruits of your labor yet?

The 2021 harvest was very small (long neglected vines, harsh weather, and inexperience) but the wine is fine for home use

 

[beezwax]

A year ago my dad and I teamed up to buy a small vineyard. Today I got to take Merle on a tour of the property with my son.

An old fence post.

Down in the rows of vines.

We found a raccoon skull with a puncture that looks to be from a coyote.

I never get tired of this view.

We are clearing the doug fir to restore the oak savanna on the rest of the property. We are fortunate to still have the old oaks throughout the property, the firs have only been infiltrating over the last 50 years or so. 95% of the Willamette Valley's oak savanna habitat has been lost since the 1840s, we are glad to bring it back on our little corner of the valley.

Merle wanted to say hi to one of those grand old oaks.

But the stumps can make good pictures too.

Fantastic photos! It's so cool to ride along with Merle on these adventures

 

[abbydaddy]

I've been neglecting my Merleposting duties, here's a couple pictures to tide you over:

 

[btb01]

I've been neglecting my Merleposting duties, here's a couple pictures to tide you over:

Cool photos!

Hey, wait a second… archeology… the whip, the hat… are you…?

 

[5K Qs]

Cool photos!

Hey, wait a second… archeology… the whip, the hat… are you…?

I just got caught up in this thread this afternoon, and after seeing abbydaddy 's latest pics, I thought the same thing as Barrett!

- GT

 

[abbydaddy]

I figure someone has to embrace the stereotypes of my profession

The hat I've had for decades, but the whip is actually a new addition. I got tired of having no answer when folks would ask where my whip was, so I bought one for my office. I can't say i've ever used a whip on an excavation, but if a job ever called for it... On the other hand, the hat comes in handy a lot during the wetter months.

Here is another photo from another trip with Merle to Bandon. I didn't have a good chance to get a good Merle photo that day, and most of the work was very mundane road construction monitoring with zero archaeology. But I have another project in Gold Beach on Monday, and there probably won't be any archaeological finds, but I should have some more opportunities for photos before I send Merle on to beezwax .

 

[abbydaddy]

Here is Merle meeting his work averse sibling, and then a bunch of his cousins.

 

[abbydaddy]

Alright, Merle is off to his next adventure, and not to spoil his next frontier, but I expect some snow ( beezwax ). Before Merle went away we took one last trip, this time to Gold Beach Oregon. I'd never been to Gold Beach before, it is a pretty little town on the Southern Oregon coast with a big WPA bridge (the Isaac Lee Patterson Memorial Bridge, built in 1932). The Isaac Lee Patterson is a gorgeous Art Deco bridge, and an enduring monument to a time when the US invested in its future via infrastructure.

Since Gold Beach is a ways south from my part of Oregon, there are some fun flora varieties that we don't see back home, like these agave with some seriously impressive inflorescences:

But what about Merle? Well he enjoyed getting to see the Mary D. Hume. A historic boat that was built in Gold Beach, and named after the wife of the town's founder. She was active for 97 years before retiring to moulder in the Gold Beach harbor:

Merle also noticed the seals (Phoca vitulina) on a little islet in the harbor behind the Mary D. Hume, and made sure to get a closeup.

Then on the way home, we made another stop at the elk viewing area:

And then, after a good night's sleep, Merle packed his things and headed on to new adventures. It was a nice visit, and he was a pleasant guest.

 

[btb01]

Alright, Merle is off to his next adventure, and not to spoil his next frontier, but I expect some snow ( beezwax ). Before Merle went away we took one last trip, this time to Gold Beach Oregon. I'd never been to Gold Beach before, it is a pretty little town on the Southern Oregon coast with a big WPA bridge (the Isaac Lee Patterson Memorial Bridge, built in 1932). The Isaac Lee Patterson is a gorgeous Art Deco bridge, and an enduring monument to a time when the US invested in its future via infrastructure.

Since Gold Beach is a ways south from my part of Oregon, there are some fun flora varieties that we don't see back home, like these agave with some seriously impressive inflorescences:

But what about Merle? Well he enjoyed getting to see the Mary D. Hume. A historic boat that was built in Gold Beach, and named after the wife of the town's founder. She was active for 97 years before retiring to moulder in the Gold Beach harbor:

Merle also noticed the seals (Phoca vitulina) on a little islet in the harbor behind the Mary D. Hume, and made sure to get a closeup.

Then on the way home, we made another stop at the elk viewing area:

And then, after a good night's sleep, Merle packed his things and headed on to new adventures. It was a nice visit, and he was a pleasant guest.

I like how nature is slowly reclaiming that boat. Thanks for another great post, and for showing Merle a good time. I’m looking forward to his next adventure!

 

[rcs86]

abbydaddy beautiful pictures! One of my favorite waterfowl hunting writers, Worth Mathewson, has written about your area quite a bit!

 

[beezwax]

Merle has landed….in Alaska! This first pic and post is a shout-out to the home of Merle’s owner, Barrett in Minnetonka, MN. If you’ve been following this thread from the beginning you may recall that I had a minor freakout when Barrett started sharing Merle’s first adventures, which included pics of a Nike-Herc missile in a park that is literally a couple blocks from my first home. I remember playing in that park as a kid, that same missile was already on display there in the 1970s. So we got to chatting a bit about his home in nearby Minnetonka, and that naturally included mention of the original Tonka toy factory that was located there. I just pulled this airplane out of my kids’ toy bin. It was mine as a child and now my kids play with it. The plane is over 40yrs old and going strong, built like the proverbial tank. I wonder how many of the toys being made today will still be played with 40yrs from now? I do also have a couple of the more iconic yellow metal Tonka dumptrucks of the same vintage, but they’re in an outbuilding behind a wall of snow and I am not going digging for them

I was born and raised in MN, but I moved up to Fairbanks, AK 29 years ago, so Alaska is definitely home now. Fairbanks is about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Alaska itself is about 1400 miles north to south, and about 2500 miles east to west. It’s hard for people to comprehend just how big the state is, so I’ll leave you with one more quick graphic, a map overlay that puts things in better perspective. Alaska is about 20% the size of the entire “lower 48” states. We like to point out that if you cut Alaska in half then Texas would be the third largest state I think the best part about following Merle’s adventures around the world is seeing and learning about each new place, so I’ll try to include some local color as he goes on walkabout here.

 

[beezwax]

End of day one with Merle. I’ve been involved with the Civil Air Patrol here for many years. This afternoon I needed to attend a training so I invited him to come along. No TSA on this side of the airport, sharps are welcome!




Afterward we got the dog out for a walk. She gave Merle one single sniff and then focused on pee-mails for the rest of the trail.





There was some ice in the air so we had a hint of a halo.




I have to say, Merle is a trooper. It was about -10F which is mild for this time of year here, but I know that Merle isn’t used to cold temps yet. But there were no complaints, even when I dropped him in the snow (twice) while trying to take some glamour shots. He’s got grit!



He earned a careful drying and a fresh wipe of mineral oil when we got home

 

[JohnDF]

Cool pictures.
Better send Merle out to Hawaii after this to thaw hi out a bit.

 

[btb01]

View attachment 1741155

Merle has landed….in Alaska! This first pic and post is a shout-out to the home of Merle’s owner, Barrett in Minnetonka, MN. If you’ve been following this thread from the beginning you may recall that I had a minor freakout when Barrett started sharing Merle’s first adventures, which included pics of a Nike-Herc missile in a park that is literally a couple blocks from my first home. I remember playing in that park as a kid, that same missile was already on display there in the 1970s. So we got to chatting a bit about his home in nearby Minnetonka, and that naturally included mention of the original Tonka toy factory that was located there. I just pulled this airplane out of my kids’ toy bin. It was mine as a child and now my kids play with it. The plane is over 40yrs old and going strong, built like the proverbial tank. I wonder how many of the toys being made today will still be played with 40yrs from now? I do also have a couple of the more iconic yellow metal Tonka dumptrucks of the same vintage, but they’re in an outbuilding behind a wall of snow and I am not going digging for them

I was born and raised in MN, but I moved up to Fairbanks, AK 29 years ago, so Alaska is definitely home now. Fairbanks is about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Alaska itself is about 1400 miles north to south, and about 2500 miles east to west. It’s hard for people to comprehend just how big the state is, so I’ll leave you with one more quick graphic, a map overlay that puts things in better perspective. Alaska is about 20% the size of the entire “lower 48” states. We like to point out that if you cut Alaska in half then Texas would be the third largest state I think the best part about following Merle’s adventures around the world is seeing and learning about each new place, so I’ll try to include some local color as he goes on walkabout here.

View attachment 1741163

I’m glad to see Merle made it up to the Last Frontier! You’re absolutely right, getting to see a bit of the local culture (even just in different states within the US) is probably the best thing of this kind of thread. Can’t wait to see what Merle gets up to in Alaska!

That’s a cool old Tonka plane.

End of day one with Merle. I’ve been involved with the Civil Air Patrol here for many years. This afternoon I needed to attend a training so I invited him to come along. No TSA on this side of the airport, sharps are welcome!

View attachment 1741509
View attachment 1741510

Afterward we got the dog out for a walk. She gave Merle one single sniff and then focused on pee-mails for the rest of the trail.

View attachment 1741511
View attachment 1741512
View attachment 1741513

There was some ice in the air so we had a hint of a halo.

View attachment 1741514
View attachment 1741515

I have to say, Merle is a trooper. It was about -10F which is mild for this time of year here, but I know that Merle isn’t used to cold temps yet. But there were no complaints, even when I dropped him in the snow (twice) while trying to take some glamour shots. He’s got grit!

View attachment 1741516

He earned a careful drying and a fresh wipe of mineral oil when we got home

Nice photos, looks like a you’ve got a great place to walk the dog. I hope your camera hand didn’t get too cold!

Cool pictures.
Better send Merle out to Hawaii after this to thaw hi out a bit.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we had anyone from Hawaii sign up (although late entries are still welcome). Instead, it looks like Merle will be heading for tropical North Dakota next.

 

[beezwax]

Thank you Barrett btb01 and John JohnDF I completely agree! My first post in this thread back in October (post #36) I suggested doing an Alaska-Hawaii combo. I tagged the only Porch member I know in Hawaii. He declined to participate unfortunately but it would definitely be fun to send Merle off to the tropics after his tour in the ice box. He will have earned a bit of rest and recovery... but North Dakota will be a fine next destination too. Cold climate, warm hearts or something to that effect. (Being from MN I'm naturally inclined toward ribbing when discussing the Dakotas, also Wisconsin, so I'm patting myself on the back for suppressing the instinctive rivalries )



Dreary skies and light snow falling today. Dog walk and a bit of shoveling, but little else outside. I take our tiny Jack Russel Terrier for a good walk every day, down to about -30F. When temps get colder than -30 it's really just quick trips outside to go to the bathroom. She just doesn't have enough fur to be comfortable at those temps (even with a jacket and booties) unlike the huskies and malemutes and other sled dogs that truly *belong* here.

We've been having a winter for the record books in Fairbanks this year. Not because of temps but because of snowfall. By January we already had more snow on the ground than we would normally have in an entire season... with four more months of winter yet to go. Most of that came during one horrendous week at the end of December. We had multiple huge dumps of snow, and in-between a couple inches of RAIN (temps swung from -40 to +40 in the span of hours) then back to dumping snow and 40-50mph winds. Roads impassable, power lines down everywhere, it was a mess. (I hope you'll indulge this chitchat, as a means of sharing some of the "local color")

One ongoing effect of this heavy winter is that it's severely stressing the moose population. There are moose all over here, so seeing them is unremarkable, it's a common occurrence. But people are having moose encounters way more than usual right now. The snow is so deep in the woods that it's forcing them onto roads and trails. (Plus that freak rainfall we had has resulted in a 2inch layer of ice in the middle of the snowpack, which is shredding their legs when they try to move through it, it's horrible.) But the wolves are really fat and happy, it's hard for the moose to get away from them now. Between the wolf kills and a jump in starvation (if the moose are struggling to move through the woods it becomes very hard for them to forage, plus they are expending much more energy than normal doing so) our moose population is going to take a huge hit this year.

Anyway the moose are being forced onto roads and trails, so people are having more run-ins with them. But the moose are really stressed, so these run-ins have also been more aggressive than usual. Just a week ago a musher was on a 50mile run through the valley here with her dog team, encountered a bull moose who immediately charged and proceeded to stomp all over her and the dogs. Amazingly I believe all the people and animals survived, but there were some severe injuries. A full-grown bull moose is huge, bigger and heavier than a horse.

I don't have any pics of charging moose to share, but here's a photo I took a few years ago. <Insert obligatory dogsled picture here > This is on the river a couple miles from my house, they started the Iditarod in Fairbanks that year.



Here are some recent snaps from my phone. This was a cow and calf that I very carefully walked past last month, carrying my little dog so she didn't do anything stupid, keeping an eye on which trees I could put between us if mama suddenly charged lol.





And this was two weeks ago in my driveway, another mama and baby stripping branches.





Elsewhere in the world I know there was a big game today, so I'll end this post with this:

 

[bigfish64]

Just getting my day started with a cup of coffee and this fantastic post! What a great read. Thanks beezwax. Looks like you’re enjoying your time with Merle. Hope the moose make it until spring and nobody gets hurt. In the last picture, is that the playhouse/fort you built for your kids and posted earlier this year?

 

[Sacto]

Thank you Barrett btb01 and John JohnDF I completely agree! My first post in this thread back in October (post #36) I suggested doing an Alaska-Hawaii combo. I tagged the only Porch member I know in Hawaii. He declined to participate unfortunately but it would definitely be fun to send Merle off to the tropics after his tour in the ice box. He will have earned a bit of rest and recovery... but North Dakota will be a fine next destination too. Cold climate, warm hearts or something to that effect. (Being from MN I'm naturally inclined toward ribbing when discussing the Dakotas, also Wisconsin, so I'm patting myself on the back for suppressing the instinctive rivalries )

View attachment 1742324

Dreary skies and light snow falling today. Dog walk and a bit of shoveling, but little else outside. I take our tiny Jack Russel Terrier for a good walk every day, down to about -30F. When temps get colder than -30 it's really just quick trips outside to go to the bathroom. She just doesn't have enough fur to be comfortable at those temps (even with a jacket and booties) unlike the huskies and malemutes and other sled dogs that truly *belong* here.

We've been having a winter for the record books in Fairbanks this year. Not because of temps but because of snowfall. By January we already had more snow on the ground than we would normally have in an entire season... with four more months of winter yet to go. Most of that came during one horrendous week at the end of December. We had multiple huge dumps of snow, and in-between a couple inches of RAIN (temps swung from -40 to +40 in the span of hours) then back to dumping snow and 40-50mph winds. Roads impassable, power lines down everywhere, it was a mess. (I hope you'll indulge this chitchat, as a means of sharing some of the "local color")

One ongoing effect of this heavy winter is that it's severely stressing the moose population. There are moose all over here, so seeing them is unremarkable, it's a common occurrence. But people are having moose encounters way more than usual right now. The snow is so deep in the woods that it's forcing them onto roads and trails. (Plus that freak rainfall we had has resulted in a 2inch layer of ice in the middle of the snowpack, which is shredding their legs when they try to move through it, it's horrible.) But the wolves are really fat and happy, it's hard for the moose to get away from them now. Between the wolf kills and a jump in starvation (if the moose are struggling to move through the woods it becomes very hard for them to forage, plus they are expending much more energy than normal doing so) our moose population is going to take a huge hit this year.

Anyway the moose are being forced onto roads and trails, so people are having more run-ins with them. But the moose are really stressed, so these run-ins have also been more aggressive than usual. Just a week ago a musher was on a 50mile run through the valley here with her dog team, encountered a bull moose who immediately charged and proceeded to stomp all over her and the dogs. Amazingly I believe all the people and animals survived, but there were some severe injuries. A full-grown bull moose is huge, bigger and heavier than a horse.

I don't have any pics of charging moose to share, but here's a photo I took a few years ago. <Insert obligatory dogsled picture here > This is on the river a couple miles from my house, they started the Iditarod in Fairbanks that year.

View attachment 1742325

Here are some recent snaps from my phone. This was a cow and calf that I very carefully walked past last month, carrying my little dog so she didn't do anything stupid, keeping an eye on which trees I could put between us if mama suddenly charged lol.

View attachment 1742326
View attachment 1742327
View attachment 1742328

And this was two weeks ago in my driveway, another mama and baby stripping branches.

View attachment 1742329
View attachment 1742330
View attachment 1742331

Elsewhere in the world I know there was a big game today, so I'll end this post with this:

View attachment 1742332

Awesome pictures and stories. Great way to start the day. I’m a sissy from California; I couldn’t imagine dealing with all that snow and cold weather.

 

[mbkr]

Thank you Barrett btb01 and John JohnDF I completely agree! My first post in this thread back in October (post #36) I suggested doing an Alaska-Hawaii combo. I tagged the only Porch member I know in Hawaii. He declined to participate unfortunately but it would definitely be fun to send Merle off to the tropics after his tour in the ice box. He will have earned a bit of rest and recovery... but North Dakota will be a fine next destination too. Cold climate, warm hearts or something to that effect. (Being from MN I'm naturally inclined toward ribbing when discussing the Dakotas, also Wisconsin, so I'm patting myself on the back for suppressing the instinctive rivalries )

View attachment 1742324

Dreary skies and light snow falling today. Dog walk and a bit of shoveling, but little else outside. I take our tiny Jack Russel Terrier for a good walk every day, down to about -30F. When temps get colder than -30 it's really just quick trips outside to go to the bathroom. She just doesn't have enough fur to be comfortable at those temps (even with a jacket and booties) unlike the huskies and malemutes and other sled dogs that truly *belong* here.

We've been having a winter for the record books in Fairbanks this year. Not because of temps but because of snowfall. By January we already had more snow on the ground than we would normally have in an entire season... with four more months of winter yet to go. Most of that came during one horrendous week at the end of December. We had multiple huge dumps of snow, and in-between a couple inches of RAIN (temps swung from -40 to +40 in the span of hours) then back to dumping snow and 40-50mph winds. Roads impassable, power lines down everywhere, it was a mess. (I hope you'll indulge this chitchat, as a means of sharing some of the "local color")

One ongoing effect of this heavy winter is that it's severely stressing the moose population. There are moose all over here, so seeing them is unremarkable, it's a common occurrence. But people are having moose encounters way more than usual right now. The snow is so deep in the woods that it's forcing them onto roads and trails. (Plus that freak rainfall we had has resulted in a 2inch layer of ice in the middle of the snowpack, which is shredding their legs when they try to move through it, it's horrible.) But the wolves are really fat and happy, it's hard for the moose to get away from them now. Between the wolf kills and a jump in starvation (if the moose are struggling to move through the woods it becomes very hard for them to forage, plus they are expending much more energy than normal doing so) our moose population is going to take a huge hit this year.

Anyway the moose are being forced onto roads and trails, so people are having more run-ins with them. But the moose are really stressed, so these run-ins have also been more aggressive than usual. Just a week ago a musher was on a 50mile run through the valley here with her dog team, encountered a bull moose who immediately charged and proceeded to stomp all over her and the dogs. Amazingly I believe all the people and animals survived, but there were some severe injuries. A full-grown bull moose is huge, bigger and heavier than a horse.

I don't have any pics of charging moose to share, but here's a photo I took a few years ago. <Insert obligatory dogsled picture here > This is on the river a couple miles from my house, they started the Iditarod in Fairbanks that year.

View attachment 1742325

Here are some recent snaps from my phone. This was a cow and calf that I very carefully walked past last month, carrying my little dog so she didn't do anything stupid, keeping an eye on which trees I could put between us if mama suddenly charged lol.

View attachment 1742326
View attachment 1742327
View attachment 1742328

And this was two weeks ago in my driveway, another mama and baby stripping branches.

View attachment 1742329
View attachment 1742330
View attachment 1742331

Elsewhere in the world I know there was a big game today, so I'll end this post with this:

View attachment 1742332

One emoji won't cut it

Great post with my first cup of coffee

I read about the Moose/dog team encounter. Scary stuff. Moose are big.