Pic-of-the-Week for July 24, 2013

Yes, I am a little late getting this one out!

This week has been spent visiting with our daughter  and family in the Eugene area.  We all are staying at Harriet’s cousin’s house.  Our trailer is parked in his driveway, and our daughter and family are staying in their house.  The cousin is a major part of Malpass Farms, LLC and what a farm it is! 

They are currently farming over 8,000 acres.  They grow many types of grass seed, about 4 kinds of wheat, corn, and spear mint.  This is one of their busy times of the year, and they have about 50 employees working in the fields and in the warehouse.  Below is a photo of two of the many barns used to store straw after the seed has been harvested.  Also, in the picture is one of the many large, very old native oak trees that are around the houses where we are staying.  Both barns are full to the brim of the straw now.  This straw is eventually shipped to Japan and used for cattle feed!  

One of the trucks and trailers used to haul the seed from the field to the warehouse.

Here is a combine harvesting wheat, and at the same time, the combine is unloading the grain into a large hopper which then unloads into a truck trailer.  This equipment may look like something you have seen in the past, but it is not!  Modern farm equipment and tractor can pretty much operate by themselves.  The combine is being controlled by a GPS system that controls its path within about 1”.  It could also be controlling the tractor direction and speed.

The tractor when used for an operation like plowing can plow a field by itself once the perimeter has been defined, and the first pass has been made by the operator.

One of our first mornings staying at the farm we were awakened by an airplane spraying mint that was growing on all 4 sides of the house.  

For a video of the airplane spraying, check out our July 2013 Picasa album  .
Specifically, the videos are ONE and TWO.


Harriet thinks that she has the cutest and smartest grand kids in the world!  They seem to think that our travel trailer is just the right size and made just for them!

OK.  Ben wrote the farm stuff.  I get to write the kid stuff.  I bought David a set of wooden, magnetic ABC's, and he's been thrilled to death with them.  So far, he hasn't even lost any letters, I think.  I also got him a magnetic message board for him to write on, and he loves the combination.  The other day, I asked him what he had written on his board.  He told me it was Arabic ABC's, and Rebecca said it was pretty correct, other than backwards (Arabic goes right to left).  Not bad for a three 1/2 year old!!  He even recited them for me! 

Aaron is winning hearts wherever he goes.  How can you resist a smile like this ?

Our two dachshunds, Sam and Zoey, and also enjoying life on the farm.  I bought a ball for the boys to play with the other day, but Sam decided it was HIS!  I've never seen him play with a ball like this before.  He'll chase and bite and roll over it!  Here's the link to the video of Sam and his ball.  

We hope you enjoyed our "farm report".  Until next week,

Your Baja amigos hanging out at the farm with the kids,
Ben, Harriet, Sam & Zoey
 

Pic-of-the-Week for July 16, 2013

Hello Friends!

It's me, Harriet, writing this week, since Ben begged off for the week.  It's been another hot week in Oregon, but we've been having a great time with our daughter and her family, especially those two sweet little boys! Rebecca and Tim were invited to stay at my cousin's home on a farm near Harrisburg, Oregon, and they are very much enjoying their time there.  We kind of like it there, too.  Free power, water and sewer hookup for our trailer, parked under the shade of a big old tree, with about an acre of beautiful green grass for our dogs to enjoy! 

Sam and Zoey are enjoying the attention of the two little boys ... most of the time.  The boys have also been getting their faces washed fairly regularly!  I'm amazed at the agility of these guys.  Up and down stairs, in and out of our trailer, over the sofa onto our bed! We even caught Aaron up in the driver's seat of our truck one time, happy as a clam!  David got a chance to use my aunt and uncle's swimming pool, and they both had a chance to feed the cows!  What fun!

 

Yesterday, Rebecca and I took the boys to the Portland Zoo.  I haven't been there for years, and didn't remember all the hills and ups and downs involved at this zoo!  But it sure was fun (including the ride in the shuttle back up to the top of the hill due to Rebecca's very sore knee!)  We got to see the new baby elephant, Lily.  Her mom gave her a shower bath, then led her over to the dirt where she showered her with a dust bath!  Perfect elephant grooming!!

David was a bit hesitant to stand in front of the gift store bear, but got brave and did it for a photo op!  We also saw a hippo up close and personal!  

Here are the boys watching as it swims by.  Or maybe walking by!  Hard to tell! 

We have been in Salem for a few days for a few more doctor appointments, and will then be going back to Eugene for a couple of weeks.  We hope to see some of you in the Eugene area that we missed when we were there last week.  

By the way, Ben celebrated yet another birthday last week.  My sister and brother, Ben's brother and a sister-in-law celebrated with us at our favorite Italian restaurant, Mazzi's.   A good time was had by all!

More photos are in our July 2013 Picasa album, including some of our church fellowship gathering which our family used to be a part of when we lived in Salem.  

Until next week, or whenever....

Your Baja friends in Oregon,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for July 9, 2013

Hola to all our friends and relatives,

We hope you had a good 4th of July.

I have added a couple pictures of our travels north since I don't think we have ever included them before.

Rocks!  This is what the area looks like near Tecate, Mexico.  These hills extend across the border into the USA as well.  Not exactly prime farm land!

Wild sunflowers in Northern California.  These are growing in some of the most barren land imaginable.

Oregon!!  Ever wonder why we visit my brother near Bend?  View from my brother’s house of The Three Sisters Mountains, Cascade Mountain Range.

Car quiz ……  Any guesses what it is???  Seen on Hwy 99 North of Salem.

We attended a wedding celebration last Saturday for my brother and his new wife.  

Each family was supposed to bring an apron for the new bride!

My sister has a beautiful rose garden.  It reminds me of when we lived in Salem, OR.  We had 50 different rose plants that were beautiful all summer long!

Car quiz …….. BIG Hint!

 Until next time...........

Ben, Harriet, Sam, and Zoey

Oh, one last picture for our friend Marilyn, it was her birthday after all the other day....

Note from Harriet:  Ben always forgets to give you our photo album link if you want to see more photos (although he stuck in a bunch this time!) Here is June 2013, with some more Mexico travel photos at the end.

And this is July 2013 so far.  

Pic-of-the-Week for July 3, 2013

Hola all our friends,

Leaving our home in Baja, we traveled north using our normal stopping places, and taking pictures of some of the sights along the way.  If you have been getting our emails for a few years, you know what some of the sights are.  I will not bore you with repeats.

The one thing that we did differently this trip through Baja, was to take a side trip to Sierra San Pedro Martir.  Sierra San Pedro Martir is the highest mountains in all of Baja.  They are about 100 miles south of the border.  We were first introduced to those mountains on one of our flying trips through Baja when John took us to a place in those mountains called Meling Ranch.  It has a dirt air strip, which is why John could land there.

The road off the main highway to the summit is about 50 miles long and takes you to an observatory.  The road was paved in the last few years, so it is a very nice drive.  We stopped at Meling Ranch on the way up the mountain to make sure we could get a room that evening.  The ranch is down at the bottom of this long entrance road.

They said that there would be no problem.  Then we proceeded on up, and up, and up!  We started out very near sea level, and climbed to over 9000 feet in elevation.  

 There is a National Park near the summit.  It is a beautiful area with large Jeffrey Pine trees and meadows.  It reminded me of Central Oregon!  Jeffery Pines are very similar to Ponderosa Pines.  It would be hard to tell the difference between a Jeffrey Pine and a Ponderosa Pine if you didn’t know what to look for.

We made it to the summit and the observatory was closed.  (What would you expect?  Observatories operates at night!)   

Near the top, we ate a small picnic lunch and headed back down.  It seemed like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.  I only saw one tent in the entire camping area.  There was hardly anyone  around.  What a beautiful place!  The park is also home to California Condors.   

Two babies were born in 2012, and one in 2013.  We did not see any on our driving trip, since I was told a few years ago that they were not there anymore.  Wrong!  Here is a link about the California Condors.  http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/tag/sierra-san-pedro-martir/

We returned to Meling Ranch, where we checked in and relaxed in our room.  Meling Ranch is a large working ranch of about 10,000 acres and is also a hotel.  It has been in operation since 1910.  There is a lot to do if you so desired. They have a web site at http://ranchomeling.com/reservations/homepage/  We decided to just take the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying a nice dinner in their dining room that evening.   

The next day we headed back to the main highway, Mex 1.

Until next time, Ben, Harriet, Sam, and Zoey