Update to 2022

I haven’t posted since October, but I’m still kicking. Some of the things I’ve done is fly to Costa Rica and spend a month there. It’s very difficult to edit or create a blog post outside the country or on a long trip with my carry on tablet so I just wait until I get back from any.

So, with apologies to my readers, I’m back now, it’s late December and really cold here. I’ve spent a lot of time winterizing the house, and then one night, something happened and my water pump just stopped working. It had been fine up until that night. So I’ve been working on that, and working at keeping the cold outside. So far so good as it’s 71*F in the house right now and 9*F outside.

But, here’s some stuff for you…

I was bored near the 1st of November so I took a drive and ended up going to Umapine, Oregon. A tiny historical town just 8 miles from where I’m staying in Milton Freewater but I kinda drove far afield on that day, all the way to Touche’, WA and on the way back I spent some time driving around the area of Umapine and finally went into the bar as it was late afternoon…time for a cold one. And I wanted to see what they offered as food. Anyway, first some pictures of the road to and then the area in and around Umapine…

Around 4 miles from where I live, this old gas station.

Here we go, in the town of Umapine. That’s the old school in the distance.

Umapine’s one and only Mercantile store.

Rustic and rural is what I’d call it. Here’s a log home near downtown Umapine. And that old buckwagon is pretty neat too. The old school has been closed for decades and it was finally sold last year or year before, a new business had bought it. I forget what it is, not sure it’s still open. Must cost a fortune to heat the place.

Thought these sheep were kinda interesting…looked like they’d recently been shorn. And the little stream through their grazing ground was pretty cool too. A nice subject for a painter I’d say.

And then a little further along the road was this collection of really old rolling stock just sitting there, but who knows, it might still all work during farming season.

Here’s the barn nearby the vehicles. Pretty old now but speaks of a enriching heyday for the owners back when it was constructed. Looks well built. Wonder what’s inside? I don’t know what the windows are for, maybe it’s an unusual design cow barn and those are so they can see outside in the winter?

Nearby are the cows. Not many in the herd. Maybe they were cattle ranchers at one time. Tough business to be in right now with so many people shying away from red meat these days.

Pot?

And the Blue Mts off in the distance.

Didn’t get a good shot of this goat prancing around enjoying himself. Kinda amusing, when I got up to where he was he had stopped being nutty.

I went up (and back down) that road past the log home and it soon turned into a private drive and I couldn’t go any further east, so back to Umapine and the Water Hole Tavern. It was just past 4 PM.

I know it looks empty but I swear there were a bunch of farming types in there sitting at freestanding tables. I had a good sniff and look at their food as it passed plus the bartender gave me a slice of their pizza (which I suspect was past it’s ‘serve by’ date which was why she was giving it away). And it was pretty good! I’ll have to go back soon and have dinner there. I enjoy supporting small local businesses rather then chains. The burger that I got a whiff of as it past looked pretty good too.

So that’s the end of that travel log and I was debating with myself over continuing on with the trip to Costa Rica but I think I’ll hold off on that for a couple days and that way when I post it, likely in two three or four parts, it won’t be so long.

Anyway, thanks for reading!