In fact it has been an interesting week. OPRD, (Oregon Parks and Recreation Department,) let Judy and I go through their Interpretive program where they taught us to create those interesting talks that Rangers and Volunteers give to visitors at the Oregon parks. It will make our volunteer job more interesting because we will be doing something we have always enjoyed, talking with other visitors to the parks we stay at. The training was held at Canby Grove right on the Molalla River in Canby Oregon. We did several new and interesting hikes. For example we were invited on a “Night Hike.” Now who would think to go hiking at night The leaders brought red lens flash-lights, but we didn’t really use them. We were shown that our other senses are attenuated, (get better,) in the dark. We could hear frogs chirping more distinctly, for example. Another activity was to show the heightened sense of smell. The leaders brought out pill bottles with different smelling contents. There was chocolate, mint, cinnamon, banana, lemon, soap and coffee. There was a lot of hesitancy among the participants, perhaps it wasn’t dark enough but everyone guessed some of the smells. I failed, utterly failed the tests. I could smell some basic things like “warm” or “spicy.” But I couldn’t nail it to anything I recognized. It was then I realized that I have been supplementing my smelling sense with visual observations. The Parkinson’s has forced me to adapt. Some things are good. I no longer can detect “skunk,” for example, but I can taste it if it is strong enough. Interesting!
Another morning we went birding. This time the emphasis was on how to lead a birding walk. We learned to “Phish” the birds. No! it is not what you think. The entire group quietly approached a thicket of shrubbery and on the quiet count of three we all made the phishing sound by loudly hissing air between our teeth and saying pshwweee in a rising note about once per second for five or six seconds. We were supposed to be imitating a flock of small song birds excitedly trying to drive off a larger bird like a crow. No sooner did we finish our phishing when a grosbeak popped out of the shrubbery right in front of Judy and I. He landed on the end of a branch about five feet from us, glared at us for a couple seconds and just as quickly returned to the heart of his bush. I don’t know who was more surprised, him or us.
Now to the fun we had today. After an intense week in Canby it was nice to get back to our duties here at Fort Yamhill. We raised and lowered the flag and weeded the trail for two days. After our shift on Sunday, we carefully backed Arcturus out of his camp site and started out for Hillsboro to visit the family there. Barely out on the road and Judy called by walkie-talkie to announce that we had left the flag flying. No place to get off the road, so we drove into Grand Ronde and parked “Arcturus” at the Spirit Mountain Casino. We drove back with “Little Blue” and dutifully lowered the flag and laid it out to dry in the Ranger’s office. When we got to Hillsboro our favorite campground at the Elks Lodge was nearly full. Now I remember why we always like to be off the road by 2:30. You have a much better chance of getting a good campsite. Judy, Renee and the granddaughters spent Saturday in Scappoose getting their hair cut and picking strawberries. While she was there Judy renewed acquaintances at the Scappoose library. Our library card was still on file waiting for us. The best news of all, our small, hometown library is now affiliated with the Oregon Digital Library Consortium. We have access to Kindle e-books, on line. Is this the age of instant gratification or what?
Tuesday morning we are about to head back to Fort Yamhill, but the laundry needs to be done. It takes all morning and now the coach is festooned with drying cloths. We have one more duty to attend to on the way out of town. The waste water tanks need to be dumped. We stop by the Camping World store at the old Olinger location and as I was hooking up the hose one of the tabs broke off the coupling. Bad thing to happen, but the best place for it to happen. A short walk to the store and I have new components. However…the new, better coupling is longer than the old one. I cannot connect it to the outlet. Fortunately I have the trailer and all the tools along. I pop the coupling into the vice and a couple minutes with the hack saw and it now looks exactly like to old broken coupling. I fully expected five rigs to be backed up behind me waiting to dump, but no one came.
Backing out of our campsite on Sunday had been a bit chaotic. Too many corners to back around and too many trees to dodge. We had decided to back in on our return. I spent a lot of time puzzling over the problem of backing around all of the corners when I should have been sleeping, but I came up with the perfect solution. I have no problem if I have a nice line on the pavement to follow. How do I get a line on the lawn. How about a rope? We laid out a line across the lawn, around the office and past the stumps and the big Oak tree. Well actually in this case it was my 50 foot extension cord, but the same principle. Judy gave me directions relative to the line and we backed the rig right into the perfect landing, first trip.
It is funny how things come full circle. We retired and sold the house to be quit of the mundane daily chores like weeding and mowing lawns. Here we are again with a real five day a week job and we are once again weeding and mowing lawns. Funny thing is, we are having a blast.
Once again the welcome mat is out, Y’all Come, Y’ Hear?
From Fort Yamhill, goodbye for now, Gary and Judy