June Photo Review

We blew it. Looking back over our posts We realized that we had forgotten to do a photo review of June and now here it is almost August. So this month we ask you to chose for our 2009 calendar, your favorite photo for June and then a bit later I will posts some photos from July. Thanks for playing along with us. For all who participate in this little contest we will send them a calendar at years end (if you would like one that is!).

June Photos:

(as you can see June is a month of transition from green to gold)

Grazing on Green

Wild Rose

Buckeye in Bloom
California Gold and Humboldt Sky

Harry Frog

Thanks for all of your great suggestions for our new little froggy friend (scroll down a little to see original post). We couldn't decide on a name, soooo I wrote all of your suggestions down on slips of paper and went out to the gold fish pond and laid them all around the edges and sat and waited hour upon hour until my green friend jumped out and landed on the winning name. Incredible really. But of course I am kidding. I am strange, but not that strange. LOL. We did draw the name out of a hat though. Thanks WonderWoman for your winning suggestion. She wins an espresso with steamed milk and a homemade muffin. Next time she is on our continent that is.

Church Visit

We like sharing this little piece of land we are blessed to live on and recently we invited our church for visit. We had an old-fashioned potluck and then a swim. It was wonderful for us to see the enjoyment on everyone's faces. What was especially wonderful to us was all the different ages having fun together. Our youngest visitor was 16 months and the oldest 84. The multi-generational aspect of church is one of the things I like about it. When God truly remains at the center of things, it seems like all our included regardless of age, gender or race. I say, "Amen" to that!

Some pics of the swim portion of the day:

We often call our shuttle ride down to the top of the waterfalls hiking trail, 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride', because the road is very steep and even disappears over a rise now and then.
The safari vehicle adds to the ambiance!

First view of the swimming hole. And what a lovely view it is!

Even more lovely is the sound of children laughing. Or, laughter from the child at heart.
There are many ways to enjoy a swimming hole.
"What do they mean by, 'Jump in the water's fine?'"'
More fun on the floating 'island'.
Safety while swimming! Isn't she a cutie?
Cold water and warm rocks are a good combination.
When we leave the swimming hole, it is ALL uphill from there.

Time To Get Hoppin!

Well the dust has settled and everything looks fine from where we are standing and we are ready to hop ( I couldn't resist) back into ranch life and posting the totally irrelevant blogs that come out of it; for whoever out there is likely to read it and as a remembrance for us of our days spent here.

And don't you just love our little froggy friend who has taken up residence in our gold fish pond? It is quite cute and becoming very tame; apparently another little animal friend to add to our/MY growing menagerie. Now all it needs is a name... ?

The Whirlwind

I (Tj) am doing this post from a guest's computer, because ours is messed up! We have been very busy with a guest, then guests, then a motorcycle journey, then a party with more guests! And all the while we have been taking photos and coming up with clever ideas for posts, but not being able to post them because of an intermittent computer problem. We thought it was fixed yesterday and we were online for about 30 minutes, then bam, it quit working again. So, it might be a while before The Ranch on Salmon Creek is posting regularly. We live far from a city center to get such things fixed and last night my grandma died, so we will be traveling soon for the funeral.

My grandma is my hero. She and my grandpa were like second parents to me and who I now am, is mostly modeled after who they were. Physically my grandma was strong and wiry and able to do all manner of things. Persistence and perserverence she taught me are more important than speed or ability. She exemplified this when she dug her own cellar with a bucket and shovel, while in her 70's no less. My grandpa and she built their own house in the woods out of lumber they milled. And they loved to garden and can their summer produce. Everyone who came to their house was welcomed. She lived a long, (almost a hundred years!) life of love. Love for nature, people and love of God. Did I mention she loved to talk, and yes she passed that on to me as well. But the last few years she has had severe dementia, so in some aspects I am glad she has moved on to heaven. Quietly, peacefully, she fell asleep and did not wake. It is a near perfect end to a near perfect life. But, I am not sure what to feel, really. Life has been so rushed of late that I am still kind of whirling around in the center of it all. I don't really mind whirling, but I do sometimes wonder how I will feel when the dust settles.

Hot Tubbing

This is Ritter our grand baby. At least we call him that. You see, his daddy, Dylan, lived with us for a long time and so we consider him our son so that makes his boy our grand baby, right? They are visiting the ranch for a time and little Ritter loves the hot tub. He keeps pulling up his shirt and pointed at the cedar tub and saying 'Bath, Bath". Isn't he adorable. It looks like he will be a natural swimmer. See the fin coming out of his back.

He likes being in the water. What a giggle he has. It is contagious and cute, cute, cute. Just like he is.

Sunday drive/ride

This post is a wee late. LAST Sunday Tj, Eric and I decided to ride the world-famous Lost Coast Loop on motorcycles. We invited our friends Dennis and Cathy who are the inspiration (or instigation) for us to tour on two wheels. Cathy couldn't go, but she had a great excuse... she was taking a class to get her own motorcycle license! We met after lunch on main street in our little town, handy since main street is also called The Avenue of the Giants. This 30-mile stretch of the original highway has been maintained as a slower paced frontage road to showcase the tall trees and spectacular river views of the area. And, for us, it connects to the Lost Coast Loop. The LCL is 100 miles of back roads famous for access to pristine views and areas still being inhabited by descendants of the original settlers. Tj found that because the pace was slow, she felt comfortable taking pictures while we rode. And surprise! Most of the photos came out so clear that they look like we must have paused to snap them! I hope you enjoy the ride!

This was my view as we set off up the Avenue.

Looking back to make sure Tj is still following.

Tj's view of the road ahead.

And when she looked back...

Tj even managed to take pictures shooting straight up! I had my hands full just looking forward.


We share the road with tourists, lovers of redwoods, and goal-oriented cyclists headed for the border. Either border, and every day of the year!

A River (the Eel) Runs Through It.

The bridges of Humboldt County.

Tj LOVES old barns!




The big redwoods were cleared by hand, with great labor, and a few relics still survive to tell the story.We not only have big trees, I think we grow the largest marshmallows also!

Ferndale rural.

Ferndale downtown.

Ferndale celebrates Christmas with special events all month. Tj and I book a room in this hotel and enjoy the season, and the town, one night each year since our friends treated us a few years back. The room in the middle is our favorite.

Leaving Ferndale and heading up Wildcat Ridge.

What a thrill this shot must have been for Tj... a barn, clouds, and flowers!
Did I mention that she likes barns?

A beautiful view, and springtime to boot!

It looks sunny and warm, but the wind was so wild on the ridge that the cloud shadows easily passed us on the road. Even Eric needed a coat.

Tj also likes horses.

The next series of photos show our first glimpse of the ocean, and the descent to the beach.

Soon after reaching the headland of the cape, Eric pulled us over to show us his favorite Abalone spot. Turns out that Dennis knew a lot of the history of the area... we were parked at the site of the westernmost light house in the continental U.S. Tj even found the plaque. We also learned about the start of one of the most famous families in the area. To encourage settlement of the swamp land of the Louisiana Purchase, our gov. gave land rights to any unclaimed land which you could circumnavigate in a boat... so Mr. Russ sailed up the coast and off-loaded a team of mules and a rowboat. The mules dragged the boat hundreds of miles through rugged terrain to complete the loop. Much of the land in this area is still owned by his descendants.

I'm beginning to think that any old building will do for Tj.

The road has a few gravel stretches in the "Lost Coast" area.

This is the view looking east toward our ranch from the King Range.

Kurt, our favorite CalFire Forester, was on his way to supervise some restoration work on the paradise fire. His wife Suzy is the original owner of the bike Eric was riding. Kurt watched out for us during the fire which burned our ranch in 2003, and really helped rehabilitate fire-damaged areas before the winter rains set in. He is also tall enough to make a klr 650 look like a little dirt bike.

Dennis leading us back to "our" redwoods.

Back to "our" river.

And back to dinner and a game of pool at "our" local Mexican restaurant.

Happy Trails!