Thunderbolts and Lightning, very very frightening

Weather Update for 12 July – 18 July 2015

High Temp: 90.0

Low Temp: 54.1

Humidity: 31% - 94%

Rainfall: Zip

Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone

Thorsday, July 9, 2015

Kaboom! And lightning crashed down into the Natural Bridge Campground.

Fortunately for us, it was raining at the time (over and inch in less than an hour), so it wasn't the fire hazard it would otherwise have been. Still scary though!

Lightning-struck tree

That day, we had heavy rainfall. There was even a brief period of hail the size of blueberries (during which when I opened the door, our cat, Mimi, bolted for her safe place in the woods). End of the day, big puddles, 2” deep in our campsite. And site 6 was a lake with about 6” of water throughout. Six inches of water and a black lab sitting and playing in it. That was how our day ended.

All sites were impacted by the storm, but all the campers stayed. Real campers, all.

The next day Rich and went on an explore to locate where the lightening struck. As it turned out, one bolt had hit four trees. That made us curious, so we asked around. The park ranger said the lightening probably hit the lead tree, then ricocheted to two other trees, and finally ricocheted off one of those trees to hit the fourth tree, the smallest tree of the four hit.

We also asked around about why the bark was stripped off the tree. There was a physicist staying at the campground at the time, and he said that when lightening strikes a tree, the moisture under the bark instantly vaporizes, which creates a force that blows the bark off of the tree. 

Now, isn't that something.

Cheryl 

OOPS!

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Our Backyard

When you're camping, cooking is a lot more work than usual, so you tend to end up doing a lot of simple, go-to meal types. Which is fine when you're camping for a couple of days or even weeks. But it gets more than just a little old when you're camping for a few months. 

Well, this summer Rich and I decided to expand our dinner menu options. Which is a great and tasty idea. But (there's  always a 'but', isn't there?) it also requires more work on my part. 

Still, it feels like a good trade off. A happy tummy and taste buds, all  in exchange for at least 30 minutes of extra cooking prep. 

That's the plan, anyways. And so our saga begins.

It starts with our first grocery shopping and errand trip to Medford. Which is a 90 minute drive from camp. We leave at 10 am, do our shopping, and then arrive back at camp about 5 pm - way too long a day. 

Then it's time to put all the food away and.....well, it was a great idea to expand our dinner menu, sure. However I, we, did not take into consideration storage. In particular, very limited freezer space. Very limited freezer space and a whole bunch of meat we purchased.

Oops! 

Long story short, with a lot of freezer organizing, a little juggling, and judicious eating choices, I think we'll be okay. Whew.

Color me lesson learned. Rich and I are changing how we grocery shop in the future. We will still be driving to Medford one time a month, but no more going there regularly. No more regular all-day shopping trips. Instead, our regular grocery journey will be driving the much simpler 30+ miles to Shady Cove to shop for meat and veggies there. 

Not only will this save our sanity, we'll be saving money on gas and lowering our carbon footprint. Really, we should have realized and been doing this all along. But we are slow learners. 

The Theme: Minor Disasters

(Editor's Note: no date included on this one, but I'm guessing it's from the 22nd-24th. Enjoy!)

Rich's News From Camp Webegone 2015

At last, we set off on our return to camp hosting at Natural Bridge. However, a series of minor problems has been the theme of our journey. 

First, the Hitch wheel was on the pavement and I could not move the trailer until I jacked up the pickup hitch. That one wasn't too big a deal, but it continues...

Second, the black water tank did not empty. And it still has not. Theory is, it is blocked by paper... The solution? Wait 'til it clears, or get a honey bucket to suck it out....

Third, the electric lift for the hitch stopped and would not come back on.... Then it did... No idea why.... 

Fourth, same dance with the refrigerator (although this one might be due to user error, as the fridge does not work according to its directions, so we may have simply forgotten our old steps to get it running).

Fifth, the generator won't start. This one is not minor, to say the least. Without it, we would have batteries for a few days, but after that: no electricity, no water pump, etc. 

So, I get to work on the generator. And I do get it to start, but it will only run for a few minutes. Theory: clogged filter or carburetor. Unfortunately, no place to work with it in the rain... Solution: a trip to Medford to fix it. We head over, but no one wants to work on it as it is hard to find parts.... Final solution: buy a Honda generator (which I should have done in the first place....) Will fix the other generator on some lazy sunny afternoon. 

Sixth, the heater in trailer does not start.... Then it does.... And had the same dance with the water pump. etc. etc. 

As tough as it sounds, though, through it all, we experience the simple joy of being here in our summer hang-out. To us, all these problems seem just minor bumps in the road. We will get through.

In other news, our first days are very very wet. But it is now dry, and we are back in the the swing of it all. In many ways, it feels like we never left. 

We are meeting some familiar campers, and some newcomers. There was a camper who is an accomplished musician, and a German couple joined us as we listened to the musician and sang along. We all had lots of fun singing old country songs. - Just one of those spontaneous moments strangers can create.

And we went a-visiting: to our favorite tree, and to Natural Bridge, and to the trail, and to the library (where we order an apple pie from the librarian....) It is indeed good to be home. 

Yes, this is home now, for us. Which has created some interesting conversations. "Where are you from?" they ask. 

Hmmm. 

"Well, we sold my house, and we're living in our trailer. I guess wherever my trailer is is where I am from." 

Funny how things change.

Rich.

PS: Since we went a-visiting, here is a video of one our favorite spots on the Rouge River.

 

Geriatric Gypsies in 2015

NEWS FROM CITY LIFE

2014 has come to a close. And now Rich and I are eagerly a new camp hosting adventure in May - hopefully at Natural Bridge Campground, but where is still up in the air.

Neskowin River

In order to refresh our brain cells in using the trailer, Rich and I took a short trip to an RV park at Neskowin. It may sounds silly, but there is a lot to remember. (Mostly for Rich to remember.) 

One of our tasks on this trip was to figure out how to light the gas oven. We may have used it back in March, during our first experiments with the trailer. But then again, we may never have used the oven. We don't remember. Geriatric gypsies, after all.

Anyway, after many attempts, we achieve success in getting the oven lit. Whew! What an ordeal. You see, in order to get it lit, you have to reach under a 2 ½ inch space - not an easy thing if you don't have dainty hands - and the pilot light is located toward the very back of the oven. It took us both and a flashlight to light it. One of us holds the lighter and the other manipulates the knob. I had a vision of both our heads of hair igniting. 

There was no igniting hair. Instead, we had a great fish dinner.

Rich and sunset at Welcoma Beach

Left in the trailer after the summer's adventure was a beautiful great horned owl feather, which triggered memories of our four months at Natural Bridge. My spirit, my energy, my thoughts are beginning to drift and linger toward camp hosting at Natural Bridge. Already, I can sense that it is going to be a challenge for me to stay present in Portland and focused on work during the months ahead until we leave to camp host again in May.

Cheryl and Neskowin River

What may help me stay present is the fact the Rich is going to sell his home - the home he has lived in for over half his life. 

What that means for me is - I lose a lot of storage space! Which means that there is a lot of stuff I need to sort through and decide whether to recycle, pass on, sell or put in storage. ...What do you do with family stuff, furniture passed down from the grandparents, a coffee table my maternal grandfather made from trees in his backyard? Keep, pass on or sell? Some decisions are clear, others not so. I figure that 80% of my stuff will need to be recycled, passed on or sold. 

80%.

It is a bit daunting. But as the Haitian proverb goes (or at least how Rich remembers it): bit by bit the little bird builds its nest, bit by bit I am building my new nest.

Bit by bit, I will figure out what to do with 80% of my stuff.

Cheryl

Our Camp

NEWS FROM CAMP WEBEGONE

In case you were wondering what Camp Webegone looked like.

A panorama view.

Master bedroom. 

Safe House. Safe from mosquitoes, yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets.

Healing Arts Tent, Meditation Space and Exercise Room.