Archive | Ranch Life

Slip-sliding away…

Our county road runs past our house here on the ranch, and up the hill further into the wilderness. There are two houses past ours. Yesterday those neighbors had some trouble getting to town because the road slid down the hill a few feet. The road crew came out and fixed it within 24 hours, […]

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Beehive – honeycomb

Late in October 2010, before the rains started in earnest for the year, we did some burning on “Hell’s Half Acre”, our Oak Savanna restoration project here on the ranch. The burning was done to get rid of endemic poison oak and invasive blackberries, salmonberries and Douglas Fir trees, among others, that had pretty much […]

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Rain on the Ranch

We have a flood alert in effect through Monday here – the Coquille River is filling up due to the incessant rain for the last few days. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MEDFORD HAS ISSUED A * FLOOD WARNING FOR THE SOUTH FORK COQUILLE AT MYRTLE POINT. * FROM THIS EVENING TO TUESDAY MORNING. * […]

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Spider Webs

Today in the space of five minutes walking around the ranch I saw three different spiderwebs — all made by the same species of large brown spider. These spiders are about an inch long, quite fat and horrible up close. The stuff of nightmares. But they make pretty webs and catch flies, flying termites, whatever. […]

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Praying Mantis

A few days ago a wild praying mantis appeared on my front porch here on the ranch, perched on the edge of a plastic water tray under a potted plant. I’d been told that praying mantises existed here in rural southern Oregon, but had never seen one during nearly ten years of living here. I […]

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