Ophir tsunami

The tsunami alarm went off at 4AM. It seemed kind of silly to evacuate our house which sits 70 feet above an open beach ocean when constricted inlets in Hawaii got a 7 foot wave. After not finding the cat-carrier for Terri and Steve to evacuate with Lu, we decided to water-watch from the deck while drinking coffee and eating apple pie with sharp cheddar cheese.
Eventually Terri and I walked across the road to a viewpoint across 101. A  set of dungie buoys became an indicator of the current and water depth. When the full force of the  one foot curb of water flooded the beach the buoys sunk in the north flowing current. When the water receded the buoys were slack in the shallows. The rise in water was less apparent than the receding water because of the distance between the waves from the wet sand.

the water recedes, green buoys in the shallows

high water-one green buoy sunk in the current (right side, center of pic)

When we returned home the siren went off again, reminding people to stay off the beach after some beach-walkers were washed of the sand and rescued, south of here at Pistol river.
The harbors of Brookings (35 miles south) and Crescent City(50 miles south) were damaged which will hinder the dungeness fishermen here who have access to limited secure harbors.

We had planned to hike up-river but I can not tear myself away from the Pacific Ocean. I think about those suffering in Japan with losses of friends, family, community, and homes. This great ocean on the edges of which I have spent most of my life, made my living, watched storms build, and birds, mammals, and fish co-exist, sometimes, with great ferocity, takes lives.
 Here, in Oregon the waves are relentless and bone-yards of  bleached  skeletons of forests form windrows between dunes. In the coming years splintered Japanese homes will deposit themselves into the ligneous graveyards.
I feel  my community, those who live on the Pacific shorelines,  suffering. I look out across the ocean and hope most of the Japanese schoolchildren made it to high ground.
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We had cut up a Silk Tassel tree the other day. They grow primarily in Curry County. The wood is heavy, white with an almost black center. Ed cut some rounds to see how it would dry. They split.

Ed and I hiked up a logging road above Euchre creek the other day.

Its interesting to see the regeneration of the forest. One area had been replanted in the past few years. Another seems to have been replanted about 15 years ago. The myrtle and oak trees regenerate from the stumps.

Myrtlewood regenerating

Tan oak regeneration

March 8 Foraging with Ed

nettle &

Caterpillar

Lots of rain but it stopped for a day and a half and we rode the bikes up Euchre Creek and picked nettles.

We cut some snags on the property, walked on the beach and  visited a neighbor who gave us a couple of truffles.

We stopped at Euchre creek's marshy floodplain and cow pasture to listen to the deafening chorus of frogs, incredulous that we could not find the hidden singers.

Breakfast today was the last piece of 2010 Chinook, freshly gathered eggs with sliced truffles and "Killer Dave's" bread. Reading Moe's Greenhorn zine and laughing while the salmon-seine fence undulates in the wind and rain, and the soggy chickens take refuge in their coop.

Astoria for Fisher poets--a slushy trip resulting in a nasty cold

painted dumpster--classy!

Poor Balika had laryngitis in Astoria. Ely Lansing and I helped her read her comical list of the differences of girl and boy boats and her ode to extratuffs while she mimed and modeled her boots.
Here are some pictures of Astoria and the ride up the coast. Andrew helped forge through the snow squalls.

the wall of the wet dog saloon

Balika and Ely as Lewis and Clark

Astoria column