jstv – Page 16

August 6, 2023October 11, 2023

Crooked River Day Trip

This week we headed up to the Crooked. Looked like a good place to avoid the Bedrock fire smoke plume, which has haunted us for weeks.

Typically, BLM sites are in use by summer campers. So, we’ll pull into a day use spot.

This day we got lucky and found a favorite spot empty. In fact, the whole campground was empty.

Summer is peak season for camping so we’ll pay the parking fee when we find a spot. Two reasons; old guys like me get half price deals and BLM uses these dollars to maintain these spots.

We set up camp chairs in the shade of some ancient juniper trees. Pull out the lunch boxes and while I rigged a couple of rods JQ points her camera at flowers, butterflies, birds and bees.

Might be because the smoke has been bad for days or it’s just a fluke . . . but there are very few people on the river. Amid this calm, we take photos, enjoy lunch with a cold beverage and catch a few fish.

In all . . . it was a great day and nice break from the smog.

July 30, 2023July 29, 2023

Wildfire Season has Arrived

Leaving the smoke behind, if just for a day.

On Monday the AQI (Air Quality Index) for Bend reached 300. That sits in the hazardous range.

Most of the week the AQI for La Pine hovered around 150, which is on the unhealthy scale.

Smoke from the Bedrock Fire has burned over eight thousand acres, fifteen hundred of those in just the last two days, which is the source of all the smoke.

This has become a regular summer condition to the point where we have links to fire and AQI maps on our phones.

Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed a delayed fire season this year and took advantage of it. But that is over for the foreseeable future. So now plans need to be altered to fit the conditions on the ground.

Cascade forests zip by on our drive to the Willamette Valley

This week we drove west, to the valley and some berry farms. This hot dry summer shortened the season and we wanted to get some Logan and Triple Crown berries.

For lunch we stopped at Princess Creek Day Use and enjoyed the shade of old growth on the banks of Odell lake . . . one of us even did some swimming.

With an eye on the smoke plume forecasts, we are looking for potential spots to escape . . . hopefully there will be some clear skies over a river close by.

July 23, 2023July 22, 2023

Just A Hot Week in July

We spent this week trying to stay out of the heat. A wildland fire burning in the southwestern corner of Oregon finally managed to drift some smoke over our way. The drop in air quality on top of hundred degree daytime temps wasn’t very conducive to outdoor activities.

However, we did manage to fit in a trip to the Upper Deschutes. There are some well shaded nooks along the stream to set up a chair, cast a fly and throw a stick.

The weather man promises a moderation to record setting heat ahead , , , we’ll see. But there are plans being made to locate other shaded spots.

July 16, 2023July 15, 2023

Summer Fruit Sorbets

Pretty much all of you are enduring record heat this week. It makes getting outside a bit more difficult. However, there are some upsides to the current high temperatures.

Ice cream. In our case . . . berry sorbet (recipe is linked below).

We are at the height of berry season, so of course this is a great time to enjoy the harvest. Typically we’d be canning jam and jelly, but that’s counterproductive in this heat wave. We are freezing fruit this summer to be used for projects in the fall, when heating the house isn’t a problem.

But there is no reason not to enjoy fresh berries now. We have found a great way to ‘store’ some of that fresh berry goodness. Sorbet!

It is simple to make . . . just fruit, a bit of sugar and a dash of lemon juice. We take our ice cream very serious in this house and have a high tech ‘churn,’ but any ice cream maker will work.

This batch was made with loganberries. We still have a bit of strawberry sorbet in the freezer. Paired with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, it brings back memories of old fashioned creamsicles.

All in all, it is even better than lemonade or iced coffee at chillin’.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Loganberry Sorbet

Fresh fruit in a ice cold package

Ingredients

4 cups fresh (or frozen) berries 450 g
1 cup water 250 g
⅔ cup sugar 130 g
2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Puree the berries in a blender with water until smooth. Press the mixture through a strainer to remove the seeds. Stir in the lemon juice.
Chill mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

July 9, 2023July 8, 2023

The Ochoco and Wildflowers

The Ochoco National Forest runs from the Crooked River Grasslands and west of Prineville to the John Day Fossil Beds, bisected by Highway 26.

In the middle of this beautiful forest is Big Summit Prairie with it’s abundance of wildflower species.

Heavy winter snows and a wetter than normal spring have provided an especially lush understory.

The added moisture likely enhanced this year’s crop of wildflowers scattered throughout numerous open meadows .

We drove a loop; out of Prineville on 26 to USFS 42 and then up into the Ochoco National Forest.

The headwaters of the Crooked River’s North Fork are in these hills.

We don’t get quite that far south, instead we turned east at Walton Lake, around Lookout Mountain and along one side of Big Summit Prairie.

We stopped to picnic at the edge of the prairie and shot more flower pictures.

The forest on this side of 26 (south) is a mix of meadows and second growth pines.

Later in the summer the understory will dry out and the grasses will brown, but today it’s all a lush green.

The Ochoco north of 26 is rock hounding country, still pine trees, but more juniper and the understory is lava outcrops, and cinder cones. That trip involves a very different type of hunt, maybe next week.

We meet back up with 26 near Ochoco Pass and head back down into Prineville. This network of forest roads will require more exploring, but for today we’ve enjoyed the drive and gotten lots of good images.