It's Coming Together

Smith came through (getting fixed - $157.00 incl microchip, distemper & de-worming) without complications. She's behaving herself -- not licking the wound -- so has been able to forego the Elizabethan collar. 

The plan was to return to the wilds after her surgery, but I caught a cold (What you get when yuh patronize Walmart) and decided to Motel it for another day. Then, late in the afternoon, the guy called and said he could install the front-to-back rails for a roof rack at 10:00 tomorrow (now today); that clinched it.

Closed on Mondays. The other side of the roof is totally moss.

Sign funding obviously isn't a priority. But you'd think they could do a bit better for this moderne-era building.

Built in 1936 as a post office.

Smith's Hysterectomy

The fog's been heavy the last couple of mornings making it slow going. We're usually up by 7:00, but it's about a half-hour drive into town. So, what with needing to be at the vet's at 7:30 a.m. we decided to take a room.

Smith, upset at being indoors, promptly pooped on the sheets. She's used her litter box several times so I know she knows how. I had similar feelings, but my vestigial decorum won out.



Tubularity

You DO realize it's almost suppertime, don't you?

Coos Bay, Port Orford and More

The intermittent miss was diagnosed as a faulty Throttle Position Sensor. They didn't have the right one and claimed they couldn't find one anywhere in the WHOLE U.S of A. I went down the street to Autozone and was able to get it overnight...only $425.00. Restoring a vintage auto has similarities with being a cat-lackey -- patience and deep pockets are requisite.

Carol Malley in Port Orford is closing her gallery at the end of the month. She has an extraordinary art collection from which I purchased several pieces. There's also a collection of Persian rugs from several Middle-eastern countries. Prices are very low. It's called The Annex and is next door to the Wild Rivers Land Trust. Her frame shop is on the south side of the Trust.

The Blackberry Festival is happening in Coos Bay tomorrow...and Sunday too.

Monday is spay-day for Smith. I ordered a Security Walking Jacket from Hyendry that''s due to arrive Tuesday so we'll be hanging out until then. 

Cat Enthusiasts

We made it a few miles north of Florence, Oregon before giving up. Traffic on 101 was bumper-to-bumper and it was getting hard to find a place to camp. The trees were closing in and we hadn't seen sunshine in at least 12 hours. We made a U-turn and immediately felt better. 

We stopped at Saunders Lake County Park for a stroll where Mike & Bridget, cat enthusiasts nonpareil, gave the schmoozwad a thorough working over. 

She's scheduled for surgery (spaying) next Monday at S/Nipped, a low-cost clinic in Coos Bay. In the meantime, we're having a roof-rack installed to handle the additional luggage. As you're undoubtedly aware, cats think traveling lite means only one set of silver and linens and having to make do without a fax or copier. 



Sticking her tongue out at the photographer.

This seat's taken.

Smith...the Cat

4WD got me onto a rocky beach of the Smith River where my phone conversation with Michelle kept being interrupted by a cat mewing. I figured it was some kind of bird and tried to ignore it. But it kept on. Finally I decided to investigate.

She was a couple of hundred feet away. In the fading light I coaxed her closer with an offering of canned tuna. Her ribs stood out and she ate ravenously, so fast in fact, that she threw up the first round. She was able to keep the next one down and chased it with some water. 

Thinking her too skittish to come inside, I let her stay out. But she was there in the morning, under the car. She made the move into the car easily enough and we went to see about shots, etc.   

At the veterinarian's in Crescent City the receptionist said she and her co-workers were sharing the raising of three kittens they'd found abandoned. She said people in that part of the world are irresponsible. Land is cheap too, I heard.

She's put me through the ringer: 

I bought a harness and let it lie around for a day to give her time to sniff at it. We seemed pretty settled in this morning after having breakfast (I had coffee) so I put it on while I washed up and sewed suspender buttons on my new pants. During a break we took a "walk" of about 150 feet on the leash; 300 roundtrip. Then I took the lead off and she crawled under the car with the harness on.

"Friggin' harness. I'll show you."

An hour later the buttons were done and the car packed. I started saying "Where's that cat?" which worked the day before. I started the car and called a few more times. No cat. 

I looked under the car: no cat. I thought how maybe she'd gotten hung up on a shrub or something and turned off the car to listen. Whistling and calling -- now thinking "Oh well, that's how it feels when things don't work out. I'll get over it." -- I kept calling. Time became interminable. A long ten minutes later she emerged from the forest -- it's dense with ferns and brush -- sans harness. I'll get another but will "accustom" her to it when she's inside. Live and learn. 

It's great to be in love! IF she sticks around.

Humboldt Coastal Nature Center

Piddling around Arcata, California, I wandered into the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center. It's about a ten minute walk to the beach through native plants that have been laboriously put in place after removing, individually, the invasives.

Charles & Rachel Stamps, children of the '60s, used an Earth Shelter kit for the house and 3,100 tires laid over the top to hold the sand, their chosen form of earth, from slipping off or being blown away. Part of the renovations, begun in 2007, involved disposing of the tires. (The info doesn't say what they used instead.)

The beach-facing side.

Northward Ho!

I'm enroute to the Washington State International Kite Festival. The week-long event runs from the 15th through the 21st. Moving at about 75 miles per day, I'm not sure I'll get there in time.


I stopped to visit artist-extraordiniare Marilyn Hoffman in Quincy, California. Here she shows off her hand-dyed, silk dress with Chica, the dog.

Springville Museum of Art - Quilts & Russian Art

One of the most interesting contemporary art museums I've found. The quilt show takes up nearly the entire ground floor. Information about the jurors (the ones to blame for not selecting yours) is at the bottom of this page. 





Each of these was a little larger than a foot square.

About 16 x 16 (inches)

Two lovelies for scale (the biggest one)

About 10 inches wide by 20 long

16 x 24 inches

Detail

There are also two shows of Russian art; a large collection from the fifties and sixties and a  collection of more recent work from the country of Georgia.



Sculpture by Avard Tennyson Fairbanks (1897 - 1987) Payson/Salt Lake City 
Mother and Child  1928

Detail

About 22 x 30 inches

About four feet wide by 2 1/2 tall. Title: Reading the Pravda

No doubt a nod to nomads. "Where to next?"

Part of their permanent collection...by Andrew Smith.