Squidlings

Last year while walking on Ona Beach, J.C. and I found a large glob of Squid eggs that had come loose from their hold fast and washed up on the beach. We collected a few clusters and brought them home. We put some in a small tank at J.C.’s house and I took the rest to work the next morning. Since I was working for the E.P.A at the Marine Science Center, and had access to all of the labs, I borrowed a large aquarium, hooked it up with a steady supply of unfiltered marine water, dropped the eggs in and hoped for the best.

A few days later when I arrived at work, (I was usually the first one in the building in the mornings,) I checked the tank and it was full of tiny, miniature squidlings swimming about, in their squirty, squidy way. Later that day I showed them to the head research oceanographer, and got permission to use one of the cool binocular microscopes located in another lab.

I came to work earlier than usual the next morning, captured some of the babies in a small jar and took them to the microscopy lab. Earlier, one of the scientists had shown me how to use the equipment, and where to find the concave slides I would need to hold the squid in liquid while I viewed them. It only took a few seconds to transfer them to the slide with an eyedropper, and when I peered into the eyepieces, and turned the focus knob a few clicks, I was rewarded with an amazing sight. Instead of little swimming dots I was now looking at squid! I could easily see their huge black eyes and through a transparent body speckled with brown spots I could see the heart beating. Then, amazingly, the spots changed color to yellow, then to orange, then to black and finally back to brown again. Sometimes the spots would get larger and then they would almost disappear. I watched in awe as they squirted around in the little pool of seawater on that slide and for a while completely lost track of time.

I had rigged a brine shrimp hatchery in the lab to feed them, hoping to grow them up to full size, (six to eight inches) but by the next morning they were dying at an alarming rate. I brought my video camera to work and took some fair video through the microscope lens, but they never did the color change again; I think they were lacking some natural food that I couldn’t provide. Later that day I took them out to the bay and poured them down into the water between the rocks. Hopefully a few survived, I guess none of them would have made it if we had left them on the beach.

Firewood

We finally found some firewood at a "reasonable" price,($160.00 a cord!) Some of the guys wanted $185.00! When we moved here in 1980 we got a cord of dry fir delivered for fifty bucks.
It's a good feeling to have the winter supply stacked and drying out by the end of July. This winter we'll be burning Alder, Fir, Spruce and Shore Pine. Last year we had quite a bit of Cherry but it's all gone now.
It'll probably take a couple of days to stack it, but there's no rush.

Camping at Five Rivers

Well, we tried out our camping rig Thursday night at an unimproved campground on Five Rivers. It was a beautiful, shady spot next to the river with a large fire pit and a makeshift grill someone had left behind.

We set up our tent, which has an opening for a vehicle, like a station wagon or a pickup, to be backed up to it and provide sleeping space.

Unfortunately the Toyota just is too small for two people, an air mattress and a double sleeping bag. We had suspected that it might not work, so we had a larger air mattress ready to set up on the floor of the tent. Oh well, back to the drawing board!

J.C. set up his new tent and he, Mike, Kelly, Carol and I had an enjoyable evening sitting around the fire.

Taz protected us from an invading crawdad

Not much

Lets see… What’s been going on around here lately...

Carol’s been really busy on the ambulance, one day she had 4 calls, I think she’s averaging over one a day for the month even though she takes a couple of days a week off.

I tried barbecuing a “Beer Can Chicken” and it came out excellent. You stick a half-full can of beer in the chicken’s rear end and stand it up in the Barbie to cook. With a few Hickory chips on the coals and the steam from the beer it really has a great flavor.

Yesterday was Waldport’s “Beachcomber Days” celebration; J.C. and I went to the car show to look at all of the old restored cars.

They sure bring back a lot of memories. You always overhear the old-timers like us saying, “ I had one just like that when I was a kid!” or, “My dad drove one of those!”

Carol cooked two huge pots of beans and bacon to feed all of the firemen, medics, Coast Guard and Sheriffs who hang out at the firehouse during and after the parade.

Last night Taz woke us up barking at something outside. We turned on the outside lights and everything looked OK, but this morning I saw that the Raccoons had raided the fish pond again and made off with another Koi. They’ve got two of them so far this month, so I guess I’ll have to get a live trap and try to catch them. It seems like if it’s not moles, ants, fleas, weeds, dry rot, moss, deer and raccoons, it’s trees getting ready to fall on something they’re not supposed to.

This morning I drug the kayak to the lake and lost two big Trout. One broke my line when he jumped, and just as I was getting ready to land the other one, the hook pulled out. I did get a couple of smaller ones for tomorrow's breakfast though.

Fish story

I caught this three pound Rainbow at Eckman Lake this morning. It's so nice to be able to put the removable wheels on my boat and drag it down the highway to the lake. (About five minutes.)
It's almost always calm in the mornings and one of my favorite things is sliding out into the mist on the water and quietly paddling up on Deer, Otters, Beavers and all of the other wildlife that's long gone later in the day.

Dead Whale

A dead Gray whale washed up on the beach just north of Seal Rock Saturday.
J.C. and Mike went to see it yesterday, and it was already smelling pretty bad. Marine biologists from the Hatfield Marine Science Center had taken blubber and baleen samples to find the cause of death and are going to bury it soon.
Having already seen and smelled a couple these I decided to stay home.

Vroom Vroom

Yaaaay!
Carol's doctor OKed her to go back to driving the ambulance again. She's been going crazy for the last three months, pacing the floor every time a siren goes by. I guess housework and working in the yard just aren't exciting enough.

Roshelle

Our grand daughter Roshelle spent the night, we picked her up after school, played video games, played with Taz and watched TV. She sure is growing up! (See the Easter entry below.)
She has no trouble getting me out of the places I've been stuck for weeks in the video games I try to play.
Carol has to keep the cast on her hand for another 3 weeks, and if it hasn't healed by then she'll probably have to have surgery on it. In the meantime she's going crazy wanting to go back to work.

Sunday Barby

J.C. and his grandson Mike came over for our weekly Sunday barbecue and Carol made beans, ham and cornbread. Later in the evening Carol, Chewy, Taz and I sat outside and enjoyed a fire in the Chiminea we found at a yard sale. It's cast iron and we thought it was a bargain for $35.00.
Carol's still wearing a cast on her broken hand... Maybe it'll come off on the 27th.

Happy Easter

I couldn't decide what kind of picture to include with this post. A religious picture of Jesus rising into the clouds? A decorated egg? A cute bunny? I decided on a picture of our grand daughter Roshelle from quite a few years ago. She was a cute bunny.
It was JC's turn to barbecue today and he served up some great steaks. The weather held off so we could eat out on his deck and we were all finished when the wind came up and moved us inside.
JC bought a pontoon boat so he can go with us in our kayaks. It has to be put together, and right now it's a tangle of metal pipes and plastic so we'll see how the assembly goes. It'll be fun to finally get him out on the water.