Winter schminter

Lesser Scaup (www.10000birds.com)

As I hunker down at home staying warm while temperatures drop to 3 degrees (!) overnight, I am very grateful for my down comforter...that thing is amazing! That and my Uggs and I'm a happy girl. But what about the birds? I mean, I heard a sad story about a dog getting frozen to the sidewalk last week...

Well, on Tuesday and today I went into work for part of the day (yesterday work was closed - SNOW DAY!) and driving across the Youngs Bay bridge the western-most portions of the bay were frozen and covered in snow. This is the part usually exposed at low tide, very close to where all my friends the scaups, buffleheads and mallards (among many other ducks) hang out. Today I noticed they're all STILL there - just a little less active. Most of them had their bills tucked way down under their wing, snuggling in to stay warm, just floating along in the intermittent snow/sun/wind/snow coming at us from the North, East and West. Of course this is nothing for them - I mean they sit and dive into cold cold water every day of their lives! And their metabolism is revved up high to keep them warm and cozy...And their feathers are made for just this sort of thing! Bringing me back to the down...They're the lucky ones! "Winter? Psha! That's nothing, sister!" they told me as I drove past in my very warm subaru...

Subscribe!

Hi Friends!

FINALLY, I figured out how you can subscribe to my blog and get updated every time I add a new post.

1) Click on the "Subscribe!" link on the right, and then you can choose a variety of different ways to subscribe...

I prefer either Google (set up your own homepage at www.igoogle.com) - particularly nice if you already have a gmail account or use Google regularly. The other option for Yahoo people is My Yahoo! link on right. I also like Bloglines, where you can register and have an email sent to you when I add a new post...

Enjoy!

The REAL West coast...

Gusting to 60 mph winds, horizontal rain, snow at the beach (?!)...This is what I love! And this isn't even that big a deal for the locals. But I'm excited - my first storm in Astoria! Yahoo! Hope the power doesn't go out, good thing I have some friends up the hill with a wood-fire stove! It's supposed to drop down to the 20's on Sunday. Good thing I got some clamming in on Thursday (well clam-spotting, I couldn't collect any without a permit...next year!)...

Clam Diggin'! http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2008/01/clam_digging.html



Fort Stevens State Park... This was a peaceful, high and dry beach on Thursday when I was clamming...



Columbia River...high tide and big swell = flooding!


Haystack Rock (receding tide)





You can't really tell, but HUGE waves! And pelicans are still here!



Rainbow (look close)!

A Virtual Tour of my home...

Okay, I'm still working on getting everything put away, and haven't put any of the awesome pictures up from my friends in Santa Cruz, but at least you can get a feel for the inside...Hopefully it will feel familiar when you come to visit!!



The Living Room
Bathroom upstairs...

Bedroom (sorry it's sideways!)


The office (2nd bedroom)

The kitchen and mudroom off the back...(sorry you can't see the river it's dark out!)




See the door behind the fridge? That goes to the basement...

Stairs to basement...

Basement with shop area, laundry, storage and...

Extra room! (3rd bedroom)

Plus a garage!!
See the door over on the wall? That's the shower/bathroom...

Shower (separate door)
Bathroom downstairs...




Now back upstairs...see ya soon!

Water, water everywhere...

So my surroundings here on the North Coast consist primarily of bodies of water. Rivers (one BIG one!), streams, bays, lakes, and of course the mighty ocean. On my daily drive to work - don't worry it will become a daily bike to work this spring/summer when it's warmer and lighter in the morning! - anyhow, on my 12-minute commute to work, I cross 3 bridges and see not 1, not 2, but 5 bodies of water! It's pretty cool. The Columbia River, obviously (I can see that one from my kitchen window sipping coffee), Youngs River, Youngs Bay, Skipanon River, and Alder Lake. Out in the distance I can see the Lewis and Clark River, too. And of course if I drove another 1 mile or so I'd end up in the Pacific Ocean (near Fort Stevens State Park). I love it - I see tons of waterbirds, seabirds, birds birds birds...

Check it out: "Beth's Drive to Work"

YUMMMM...

Okay this post is all about food. Why? Because the food in Astoria is SO GOOD! Seriously! First of all, world famous Stumptown Coffee (http://stumptowncoffee.com/), loved by hipsters throughout the Northwest, got it's start in Astoria! I know that's not exactly food, but I could live on this alone - so rich, heartwarming, yumminess... Although I may die from caffeine overdose...it's worth it... John got me into it in Seattle, and now I have my very own hip coffee shop to get it at here - Astoria Coffee House (http://www.astoriacoffeehouse.com/). AND they have cool art, live music, good breakfast... Oh yeah, getting back to food. So, when I came here to scope things out my family stumbled upon the Urban Cafe downtown, and it soon became the go-to place to go for yummy food, drinks, and cool gourmet quesadillas (curried chicken, walnut and apple quesadilla anyone?). However, I discovered (too late) that they don't have breakfast. So, I did a little research and have found a couple cool breakfast places, including my new favorite - the Columbian Cafe (http://www.columbianvoodoo.com/). It's a cool tiny cafe tucked away between to the Cleanline Surf Shop and the Voodoo Lounge - both also very cool, hip places to go. Check out the website - they have this cool thing in Oregon where you can go see a cheap movie ($4), drink beer, eat pizza and sit on comfy couches in an old movie theatre (in this case, The Columbian). So fun! Anyhoo, I'm still digesting my fresh crab and havarti cheese omelet that I had this morning - served on a healthy serving of spinach and tomatoes. Crab season opened about 1 1/2 weeks ago to pretty dismal results, but I'm still enjoying the local catch...mmmmmm....

Astoria, Oregon

View of the Astoria Bridge...gateway to Washington (across the mighty Columbia River)

My humble abode - 258 Grand Ave... Visitors welcome!

Okay, okay! I hear you loud and clear! Here's one picture of my house (just the outside, the inside is "In Progress") and some shots from when my family invaded Astoria a couple weeks ago (I couldn't resist one cute pic of my niece Frankie). The view is from the Astoria Column, up on the top of the hill. Pretty cool, eh? Don't you want to come visit????

View of the Columbia River and Washington State

Cutest niece EVER! Frankie (Francesca Rae) posing.

The Great Pacific Northwest

Hello friends!

I arrived to Astoria, OR after a long 1 1/2 day drive following my dad driving exactly 61 mph up I-5 from Santa Cruz, CA (now you know why it took so long!). I do appreciate his caution, as nothing in the moving truck broke or even shifted. Thanks Tim for tying everything down! I unloaded all of my stuff at my new house, which is approximately 5x larger than my studio (maybe even 6x!). It's still amazing how much crap I had stuffed into that tiny 400 sq ft studio. When it's all spread out at my new house it still looks empty! I promptly left for another 3 hour drive to Seattle, as my landlord and his wife were still there working on projects and I didn't want to interrupt anything.

Upon my return on Sunday Nov 16 I first freaked out and then started unpacking. The freakout was expected, I just didn't know when it would arrive. You know, the whole "Oh my gawd I moved to a town I don't know anyone and I miss my friends and family and what am I doing???" freak out. But once I started work on Monday morning, and ever since, I've been pretty much convinced that my choice was a good one, and that everything will work out. I'm actually really excited about my new job - lots of new challenges, lots of field work on boats in the ocean and rivers, with fish and birds...And the people I work with are really talented and smart, so it makes it all the better that I am here for the new chapter of my life. And the people around town, the places to see, things to do, are all great! Very exciting...