Saturday, April 8, 2017

Ten Things of Thankful

Now that the weather is back to normal, I think, I am going to write my Ten Things of Thankful post and link up to the blog hop at Josie's tenthingsofthankful.blogspot.com.  Take a few minutes to check her site to see what other bloggers are sharing this week. 



The coast and the Willamette Valley experienced quite the windstorm yesterday. It was reported that the area where we live had 60 mph winds. Some areas on the coast experienced 90 mph winds. Needless to say there were many trees and branches that fell on houses and on the roads, and lots of people were without power most of the day. We were fortunate not to lose power, although we did have the lights flicker off and on several different times during the day. The storm lasted all day, although there were times when it subsided and the sun came out, but just as quickly returned to high winds, dark clouds and rain. I'm thankful for all those who have spent the day sawing through trees to clear the roads, to remove trees that had destroyed homes and cars, and came to rescue those who were injured. There are many people who are working hard even today to restore power to people who have been without power now for 36 hours. Although we lost a good-sized limb on one of our maples, it just slid down the tree and stayed leaning against the tree instead of falling outward and landing on our vehicles parked nearby. 

Fallen maple tree branch


This is the spot high up where the branch broke off.

One day this week my husband and I went over to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. Now that the trails are open again after being closed for the winter, we ventured down toward one of the blinds to see if we could spot some birds on the pond without them seeing us. I felt like I had on sea legs walking on the uneven ground. Next time, I'm going to take a walking stick. I still don't feel very sure of myself walking on anything except level ground, but I was taking it easy and noting things like mushrooms growing in among clumps of grass and an old bird nest in a tree. The nest was now sprouting  grass growing out of it. 


Trail at Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge


Blind at Ankeny NWR
Pussy willow catkins near a pond at Ankeny NWR

Pussy willow catkins beginning to bloom

I am thankful the deer haven't eaten all the English Daisies. The flowers have such beautiful shades of pink.

Oregon's state plant is the Oregon Grape and it is in its golden splendor now. The leaves remind me of holly leaves. It grows wild, but some people use the plants to form a hedge. Some of the Oregon Grape we have on our property are five to six feet tall. The deer do not eat it, probably because the leaves are leathery and prickly.

Oregon Grape in bloom

The flowers in bloom inside my house now are some of my African violets and a Christmas cactus, although my Christmas cactus mostly blooms at Thanksgiving and at Easter.  I get a lot of enjoyment from watching plants grow and bloom. 


African violet


Christmas cactus blossom

One day this week I was able to go with friends up to the temple.  The traffic was exceptionally busy on the freeway and it took us longer than expected to get there, but we enjoyed being there and having lunch together afterwards. There were no traffic delays coming back home and unlike some other days, it was not pouring down rain.

When my friend came to pick me up she saw two wild turkeys in our lane. We had not seen any wild turkeys on our property over the 36 years we have lived here. While I was at the temple, our neighbor called my husband and told him about the wild turkeys, so  hubby was Johnny-on-the-spot with his camera and took a photo of one of them. The tom had ventured off already.





I'm thankful that my sleep clinic follow-up this week showed a good report and that my neuromuscular therapy appointment to help relieve the pain in my shoulder went well. I seem to be making some progress.

My husband accompanied me to Costco today. I normally don't do grocery shopping on Saturday because there are so many shoppers in the store. Yesterday many of the stores were closed due to loss of power from the storm, and it was such a crazy windy day, going shopping was on the bottom of my to-do-list. I appreciate his willingness to help, in spite of the fact there was an OSU baseball game playing that he was watching. He listened to part of the game on the radio as we traveled and then caught the rest of the game when we returned home.

I hope that each of you continue to look for those good things that are happening in the communities around you and are among those who are trying to be good and do good.  One by one and little by little we can make a difference.



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12 comments:

  1. interesting that we're having similar weather here, on 'the opposite coast'. While wind in March is not un-common, this year we've had days (and nights) windier than in recent memory. (l laughed as I typed that last, growing up on an island, the habit remains that when a wind storm starts, the first thing I do is fill the bathtub*)
    We had a couple of trees of good size go down. We're in a pine forest and they seem to be vulnerable to wind, at least they are once one (of a section goes down). My favorite 'joke' when I hear a tree crack and fall, shaking the ground, is to yell "I heard that!"**

    *we're on well water, no power - no plumbing.
    * Its even funnier when there's no one but me and Una home at the time

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    1. Yes, I put a container of water in the refrigerator, and filled a bucket of water to use to flush the toilet, just in case. We do have some water stored as well. We just have a shower now, so there is no filling the bathtub anymore. I haven't walked down among our pines yet to see if there was any damage done to them. A beautiful large blue spruce by the parking lot at the nursing center broke off about 2/3 of the way up. Fortunately it fell away from the parked cars.
      When a large tree hits the ground, it is kind of hard not to hear it and to be thankful it didn't hit a person, building or car.

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  2. Oh, I so enjoyed your photos this week, Pat. Any bit of spring that I can assimilate into my brain brings peace and hope. That is some huge maple tree and wasn't it nice of the fallen branch to just prop itself up against it? High winds like that are crazy. We experienced Hurricane Sandy winds which pulled trees with trunks over three feet up and out of the ground and uprooted them. I'm glad you were relatively unscathed. Like Clark, we have a well and there was no electricity or running water for over a week, so when a storm is approaching we take measures by filling 50 gallon drums with water. Wild turkeys are often seen in droves around here. They sort of hang out at my neighbors house because she has good things for them to eat over there, but I've often seen up to 15 of them on my front grass eating worms or clover or something. Have a good week.

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    1. We haven't had anything close to Hurricane Sandy here. I can only imagine how terrifying that was for you. I think I would rather wild turkeys were hanging out some place other than right in front of my house. Occasionally might be fine, but very frequently I'd prefer not.

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  3. When we were talking about the wind, I somehow missed the fact that your maple lost a limb! Wow! Glad it didn't hit the car.

    That's really something about the turkeys. I remember the peacock that sometimes used to perch on the roof, but wild turkeys are certainly new.

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    1. I wish we'd gotten a picture of the peacock on the roof back then.
      I found myself not feeling very safe when I was driving to my appointment the morning of the storm, for fear of branches falling as I drove by trees.

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  4. My sister and her husband had a giant tree fall over onto the fence a few weeks back, during a particularly windy night. Quite the sight to be seen.

    Love all the flower and bloom talk Pat. That is uplifting.

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    1. So sorry that your sister and her husband had that happen to them, but glad the tree didn't hit there house or vehicle. Glad you enjoyed the flowers.

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  5. Lovely pictures of those flowers! We've had some storm damage here too - high winds from a few months back. Positive that your medical appointments went well. Have a good week :)

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    1. It is certainly a time of showers and wind and flowers. It is good to leave a medical appointment smiling.

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  6. I apologize for being such a late visitor to your TToT post! We are back from vacation now, and I am slowly getting back in gear and caught up!

    It seems that Spring is definitely accompanied with wind storms this year! We've had them here too, and thankfully no damage, but a trailer home was flipped less than 50 miles from where we were on vacation and the occupants killed, so very sad. I am grateful your branch fell where it did instead of causing more damage.

    I love all your Spring blooming photos, there is something so uplifting about the renewal of life each year! I feel like you do on walks, very unstable and always holding tight to Papa Bear's arm. I think I need a walking stick too!

    I do not enjoy busy traffic, going thru Dallas was a mess and I was thankful for our GPS! I'm glad you made it to the temple safely and enjoyed the company of your friends.

    A helping hand with grocery shopping is a real blessing, husbands who help out without fussing are such a joy, that is what caring for each other is all about!

    Love the photo of the turkey visiting your neighborhood! Here we see coyotes, rabbits, and roadrunners. The roadrunners are adorable and not all that afraid of people!

    Your closing quote illustration says it all so very well, and I say Amen to that! I am thankful for the little details that bless our lives!



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    1. Whenever I think of a roadrunner, I think of the cartoon. I've never actually seen a real one.
      Trying to get caught up after a vacation is the only downside of taking a vacation, but the memory of the vacation makes it so worth it.

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