Category: General

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Flora and Fauna

As a final post to our Look Back at 2025, it seems appropriate to end with a favorite subject  .  .  .  wildlife.

Every destination, regardless of the season, has interesting sights. Our attention usually focuses on the local inhabitants and their environment.

Young coyote hunting

Whether we came for that purpose or not.

Summer Lake from Winter Ridge

The drive to Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge is a destination specifically to bird watch.

A squadron of American White Pelicans

But other places we stop, say to collect a few rocks or catch a fish, present as much or more variety to observe and photograph.

Canada Geese goslings 
Merganser and ducklings

Hours have been spent sitting at river’s edge, camera trained on a clump of reeds offering protection to a family of Mergansers.

Young osprey and company
Redband trout

We watched a fledgling Osprey hold off a gang of Magpies and attempted to track the flights of butterflies.

With binocs and telephoto lens trained on a raptor we watched it devour a recent catch.

We noticed that the people parked two sites down hadn’t even looked up into the tree branches.

It’s important to take time and look around, to see what you’ve missed. An advantage to this slower pace is nature often comes to you.

Juvenile Great Horned Owl

A lunch on the rivers’ edge is filled with all manner of flora and fauna.   Thankfully we have the time to watch it unfold.

Camera gear makes sharing experiences, as well as getting a better look, possible.

Border Collie (domesticated canine)

BlackDogHair blog serves as a journal on how we spent the week. A month of looking back at those posts reminded us how lucky we’ve been for the opportunity.

 

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Fall in the Mountains

West side of Bachelor

Winter has started it’s slow walk down the mountains. The Cascade range to our east wears a fresh cap of snow and more is in the forecast. From our vantage point on the valley floor it’s still a spectacular fall.

Before the gates close off the Cascade Lakes highway we thought it would be nice to make the loop.

The recent snow has Mt. Bachelor dressed in its winter cover. It also left a skiff on the road, at its base, and dusted the trees near Sparks Lake.

Cascade Lakes Hwy, east of Mt. Bachelor resort

Meadow grasses on the lakes edge are an array of reds, browns and gold colors.

There are a few aspen and maple at this elevation flashing fall colors. it was a perfect day for landscape images.

We’ve been taking advantage of these clear fall days, bracing for the rains coming next week  .  .  .  snow is predicted  .  .  .  a foot on the passes.

Mt. Bachelor as backdrop to meadow and Sparks Lake

This only dampens the roads, not our plans. We’re used to late fall weather on the high desert. The Cascade Mountains become a backdrop, rather than destination as fall shifts into winter.

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The Orchard Loop

Floating maple leaves sail by on the breeze

This week mornings got markedly colder. First frost signals a trip to the orchards.

A series of fruit orchards line the foothills under the northern slopes of Mt. Hood.  In all, there are some 14,500 acres of fruit trees on the hills  above the city of Hood River.

Just a couple of pears left on this tree

The first trees were planted in 1855 and now you’ll find 30 plus farm stands on a 35 mile loop road  .  .  .  the Fruit Loop.

The Farm we visit regularly is Kiyokawa Orchards. By mid-October they have around a 100 varieties of apples and pears set out in boxes, many featuring free samples. There’s also jugs of freshly pressed cider.

We make the drive to this orchard at least twice a year. We were here early in the season to get peaches, plums, and early apples.

Deschutes River at Warm Springs, a frequent stopover to stretch our legs

We return in mid-October to pick over the abundant variety of apples and pears. Most of these you’ll not find in you local mega mart, nor even in that nearby organic co-op.

The cloud cover lifts as we approach Mt Hood

It’s a bit of a drive, but we pack a lunch and make a day of it.

The morning starts with a trip out of the high desert on Hwy 26, and then down the east side of Mt Hood on Hwy 35  .  .  .  turning west before we get to Hood River.

Looking south from Hwy 197 you see the Cascade Range and it’s foothills

After filling a few bags with a selection of fresh fruit, it’s back up Hwy 35, turning left on USFS 44 to Dufur, the Tygh Valley and Maupin.

Freight trains regularly run North/South along the Deschutes River

There is a mandatory stop on the Lower Deschutes where a couple of hours are spent attempting to catch a fish.

Enjoying a relaxing drive along the river

Then we take state route 197 to The Dalles-California Hwy (97) and back home. The whole loop passes through a myriad of different environments, which makes the drive not seem so long.

Plus, we have a box full of apples and a couple of gallons of fresh pressed cider. A good time was had by all.

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In Like a Lion . . .

It was a really busy week.

We got a lot done  .  .  .  except content for a blog post.  

This morning we woke to snow. It looks like March is starting out white  .  .  .  oh well.

We’re back next week, thanks for checking in.

 

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Winter’s End . . . maybe

Run-off color in the stream

This week the weather warmed and our colds waned.

It looks a bit like spring outside. Most likely a late winter melt is underway. Could be a ‘false spring,’ but we’ll take what’s offered.

While winter was losing its grip, we continued homebased projects.

One of those was trying a simple oven baked pizza.

This Cast Iron Pan Pizza features a wall of cheese rimming the edge of the pie

Using a cast iron skillet to magnify the oven’s heat, this was a resounding success. America’s Test Kitchen recipes rarely fail.

There are still signs of winter in the canyon

By weeks end the day temperatures had moved into the low forties and we headed off to the river for a long awaited escape.

River levels were up  .  .  .  putting grass and willow banks under a few inches of water  .  .  .  plus the heavy flows brought turbidity.

Fishing wasn’t great, but the weather is supposed to stay clear and warmer so there is hope for next week’s trip.

Print Recipe

Cast Iron Pan Pizza

Ingredients

DOUGH

  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm water 105 to 110 degrees

Sauce

  • 1 cup tomato sauce

PIZZA

  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 4 oz Monterey Jack Cheese shredded (1 cup)
  • 7 oz Mozzarella cheese shredded 1 ¾ cup

Instructions

DOUGH

  • Mix flour, salt and yeast. Add warm water and mix until most of flour is moistened. Using hands knead dough in bowl for 1 minute until dough forms a sticky ball, about 1 minute.
  • Spray a 9 inch pie plate with oil spray. Transfer dough to prepared plate and press dough into a 7-8 inch disk.
  • Spray top of dough with vegetable oil spray. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
  • 2 hours before baking, remove dough from fridge and let sit at room temp for 30 minutes.

PIZZA

  • Coat bottom of cast iron skillet and use your fingertips to flatten dough until it is 1/8 inch from edge of skillet. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rest until slightly puffy, about 1 1/2 hours.
  • 30 minutes before baking adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Spread 1/2 cup sauce evenly over top of dough, leaving 1/2 inch border. Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese evenly over border. Press cheese into side of skillet forming 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch wall. Evenly sprinkle cheese over sauce.
  • Bake until cheese at edge of skillet is well browned, 25 to 30 minutes.
  • Transfer skillet to stovetop. Let cool for 3 minutes. Check bottom of pizza crust. Place over medium high heat and cook until crust browned.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.