Will Hika for Pika!

I've been having one of those summers that are incredibly unsummery. It's not for lack of beautiful weather and I have definitely been dreaming of the ocean and of foods cooked over charcoal briquettes. Somehow though, we have been finding ourselves tired and overworked, and when the day off arrives, there are so many things to attend to around the house that it's almost guilt-inspiring to consider roaming for roamings sake.

That's why yesterday was such a treat. We decided to go someplace we had never been. Shane came and scooped us up (thanks for driving Shane!) and we headed southeast to Molalla and from there southeast to a place called Table Rock. The 6.6 mile hike with elevaton gain of 1510 was painless and freakishly beautiful.

The cool June weather we had really hit the delay button on the flora up there, so it felt more like early July than August. The wildflowers were bursting and I saw a few I've never seen before. Nearing the top we even saw a few patches of snow! By the variety of foliage we saw you would think we were in Hawaii or something. Palms, lush grasses, ferns, pines, already mentioned the flowers, crazy trees dripping in blue-tinged moss and rhododendrons! This place is positively lousy with Rhodie's!

There was some special wildlife too. You see, at one point you need to sort of scramble across a canyon of rocks. These rocks happen to house a colony of Pikas that greet you with a firm "Meep". "Meep, meep meep". That's how these little rabbit relatives warn one another of predators. They are super cute and you should check out this if you don't already know all about them.

As we neared the top we were literally in the clouds so the wisps of moist grey created this dreamlike fairytale feeling. It was like that in the bend where the little mountain finches clung to the fir trees. We did agree there was a real Snow White quality to the place. Quite possibly the best hike ever!

Stumped!

The front yard has a gentle downward slope (as many Portland homes do), and I hate it. The plan is to build a retaining wall that we can then fill in with dirt and plants. We went out to take measurements last week and suddenly remembered the large stump that we inherited. Hmmm... Not knowing what kind of tree it had been, we didn't know how deep or aggressive the roots might be. We went at it with some shovels until a neighbor came by shaking his head knowingly. "You won't get that out", he said. "It was a huge holly and I cut it down." Why anyone would do that is beyond me. He suggested that we call his friend who has a stump chipper who might take care of it for $100 or so. We've been sleeping on it. It is in a corner of the yard where the wall would need to go. So, I bought Doug a Sawzall for his birthday and I think we might just go crazy on that old stump ourselves!

I have found it very frustrating that everything we want to do with our property seems to require that we do something ELSE first. Wagh! Wagh! That is the cry of the new home owner.