Under the Snow Exhibition

Under the Snow exhibition

When I entered the Under the Snow exhibition at the High Desert Museum on a busy weekend, I thought of one word: engaging. I watched young children dash from one part of the gallery to another, voicing their excitement the whole way. Adults paused and pointed out interesting facts and features. The interactivity of the displays drew everyone in. This exhibition, created by High Desert Museum staff members, displays information in English and Spanish.

Boy at High Desert Museum

Under the Snow presents information on twenty species of wildlife, plants, and fungi on large and small screens. They live in the area beneath the snow called the subnivium. The snow provides insulation, maintaining a steady temperature even when it’s below freezing outside.

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High Desert Oases in Oregon: LAPC

High Desert oases offer peaceful retreats for wildlife and human visitors.

Lake County Oases

Summer Lake lies at the base of Winter Ridge in Lake County, Oregon. When water levels are high, this alkaline lake measures 15 miles long and 5 miles wide. Explorer, Captain John C. Fremont, named the lake and ridge. Here is how he described them:

At our feet…more than a thousand feet below…we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beautiful lake, some twenty miles in length, was spread along the foot of the mountain…Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at once that the names of summer lake and winter ridge should be applied to these proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast.

John C. Fremont, 16 December 1843, Report, Second Expedition
High Desert Oases

Lake Abert, in Lake County, is Oregon’s only saline lake. The lake can host over 50,000 birds a day. Wilson’s Phalaropes and Snowy Plover feed on the brine shrimp and alkali flies that only live in saline lakes. Like the Great Salt Lake, water levels have dropped dramatically in recent years.

Lake Abert
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Euphorbia up close: Macro Monday

Here’s a photograph of Euphorbia, up close, growing in the fall. In spring, this type has bright yellow flowers. These plants, also known as ‘spurge’, are drought tolerant and easy to grow. There are more than 2,000 types of Euphorbia.

Euphorbia

Macro Monday

Solitary Moments in Nature: LAPC

Solitary moments

Collecting pollen for little larvae

Solitary moments

Browsing branches in High Desert landscapes

Mule deer buck

Eyeing potential prey, gliding overhead

Cooper's Hawk
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Weeping hemlock sculpture: TTL & SS

This whimsical weeping hemlock sculpture is in the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon. The weeping growth pattern of this hemlock works perfectly for this garden feature.

Weeping hemlock sculpture

Thursday Tree Love

Sculpture Saturday

A dusting of snow: LAPC & SC

A dusting of snow accentuates
sculptures created by the wind

Dusting of snow

And softens rough edges
of twisting structures

Snowy juniper

A dusting of snow
muffles the calls of nature

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Lungwort up close: Macro Monday

Here’s a picture of lungwort up close, taken near the North Santiam River in Oregon.

Lungwort
Lungwort, Lobania pulmonaria

Also known as Lung lichen, this lichen has been used in dyes, teas, and for treatment of lung ailments. Deer and moose browse on lungwort and other animals use it for nest material.

Lungwort is sensitive to air pollution and doesn’t grow well in polluted locations. In fact, the National Forest Service keeps a database on this and other lichens “to detect, map, evaluate trends, and assess the ecological impacts of air pollutants.”

Macro Monday

The power of red blossoms: SS & Sijo poem

The power of red blossoms radiating in the garden.
Crimson petals briefly unfold, reaching towards a cloudless sky
And the memory of their fire burns deep within your soul.

Sunday Stills (SS) Monthly Color Challenge – Red

Early morning light: LAPC & MM

In the early morning light, shadows shift with the rising sun

Early morning light

Playgrounds wait patiently, quiet and still

Harmon Park
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Icy Cline Falls: Sunday Stills

I took a short hike yesterday to get a memorable view of an icy Cline Falls. Visitors can park at Cline Falls State Scenic Viewpoint and hike a 1/2 mile trail along the river. There’s also a place to view them from above near NW Eagle Drive and NW 74th.

Cline Falls panorama

Cline Falls is on the Deschutes River, 4 miles west of Redmond, Oregon. The river splits into several channels and the waterfalls are 20-feet high and 50-feet wide.

This area is part of the Deschutes River Paddle Trail. Cline Falls is classified as Class-3 and paddlers are required to portage their watercraft around the falls.

Waterfalls near Redmond
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Wild sunflowers: First Friday Art

Today I’m sharing a pen-and-ink drawing I did of wild sunflowers. These were growing at Wawawai Canyon, in southeast Washington State.

wild sunflowers

Here’s the picture from my archives I was working from.

Wild Sunflowers

The wild sunflowers in the photo below were growing on the east side of Steens Mountain in southern Oregon. There are 52 species of sunflower in North America.

Sunflowers & stagecoaches at Steens Mountain, Oregon August 2019
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A gardener’s wish: Wordless Wednesday

A gardener's wish

A gardener’s wish at the Hollinshead Community Garden in Bend, Oregon.

Wordless Wednesday

Surrounded by pines: Thursday Tree Love

Surrounded by pines in the forests near Bend, Oregon. Though it was a hot summer day, the forest canopy provided shade and cooler temperatures. 😀

Surrounded by pines

Thursday Tree Love

Forest fire ahead: Monochrome Monday

The smoke from a forest fire ahead of us near Crane Prairie Reservoir was an eerie sight to see. The nearby Cedar Creek Fire reached a size of 127,311 acres and burned for three months. Once wet fall weather moved into the area, the fire was finally contained.

Forest fire ahead

Monochrome Monday

Through my pocket lens: LAPC & WPWC

Peering through my pocket lens
Vivid reflections shine
where the river bends

through my pocket lens in Bend

The colors soar high into the blue
pausing in rainclouds
falling as dew

High desert sunrise

Droplets of pigment splatter parched plants
cling to pale petals
interweave and dance

Alstromeria vignette

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) # 233 – A one lens walk

Weekly Prompts Writing Challenge (WPWC) – Bend

Skimmia up close: Macro Monday

Skimmia shrub with berries up close. This plant was seen at the Portland Japanese Garden in the fall.

Skimmia

Macro Monday

Alpenglow Park bench: Pull Up a Seat

This Alpenglow Park bench in Bend, Oregon is unique. Park designers used large pieces of columnar basalt to create this trailside retreat. In the distance, you can catch a glimpse of Pilot Butte, an extinct volcano.

Alpenglow Park bench

After walking the trails at Alpenglow, consider walking to the top of Pilot Butte to get amazing views of the landscape of Central Oregon.

Pull Up a Seat

Great Horned Owl painting: First Friday Art

This month, I’m sharing a Great Horned Owl painting I did over the past couple of days. I used acrylic paint on a piece of unfinished oak wood. Sometimes I paint the main subject shape with off white paint before adding the color. I used this technique in my High Desert Mural. This time I did not do the lighter base painting.

Great Horned owl painting
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Bison in steamy landscape: Monochrome Monday

Bison in steamy landscape near Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park.

bison in steamy landscape

Monochrome Monday

Frosty around the edges: Macro Monday

These Oregon grape leaves were frosty around the edges. This picture, taken in November, shows the leaves getting their fall color.

Frosty around the edges

Macro Monday

A winter wonderland: Thursday Tree Love

There’s a winter wonderland in my yard near Bend, Oregon. My favorite western juniper is dressed up for the season with a few inches of snow.

Snowfall softens edges while sharpening the contrast. It can also mute colors, as it did in this photo. The structure shines through, even on a cloudy day.

Winter wonderland

Thursday Tree Love #138

Pickled herring fossil?: Macro Monday

Could this be a pickled herring fossil? I got this fossil from my mom and don’t know anything about it’s history. It looks like the herring fish pictured on this Green River Fossil site. Though I was hoping it was something rare, fossils of this small fish are common.

pickled herring fossil

The Green River Formation, located in parts of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, is one of the best places to find fish fossils in the world.

Macro Monday

The details of leaves: LAPC

The details of leaves,

Rounded, serrated leaflets bearing tidbits of sweetness.

Details of leaves strawberry
Wild strawberries Fragaria sp.

Arching narrow leaves falling in cascades of ombre colors.

Hakone grass
Hakone grass Hakonechola macra ‘Aureola’

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Golden sentinels on a trail: Wordless Wednesday

golden sentinels

Golden sentinels on a trail at Pine Nursery Park, Bend, Oregon.

Wordless Wednesday

Angles of the Earth: LAPC

Angles of the Earth sculpted by pounding waves.

Angles of the earth
Seaside sandstone formations at Pacific City, OR

Rising on the edge of a caldera in olivine and crimson shades.

Volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks
Volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks at Prineville Reservoir, OR

Fracturing leaden lava flows, brushed with a glow of lichens.

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Killdeer sketches and photos: First Friday Art

Here are a few killdeer pencil sketches I did while watching them in the field.

Killdeer sketches

These shorebirds always let you know they are there with their distinctive kill-deer call. Here’s one calling near Sizzling Basin at Yellowstone National Park.

furry & feathered, killdeer at Yellowstone National Park

In the photo below, you can see a killdeer defending its nest from ornithologist Pepper Trail at Summer Lake, Oregon. I circled it to make it easier to see.

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Fable of the fox haiku: Haiku Prompt Challenge

fable of the fox
who crept too close to a fire
enlightened and singed

fable of the fox

Haiku Prompt Challenge – Fable & fire

Visiting the Wild West : LAPC

I feel most at home when visiting the Wild West.

In the West, tall tales are told in layers of intense and pale colors.

Visiting the Wild West
Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon

Odd-looking plants stand tall, like characters in a children’s picture book.

Joshua Trees
Joshua Tree National Park, California

You may find ancient hidden stories exposed by wind and water.

Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

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Pause in a xeriscaped garden: Pull up a seat

Last July, on the High Desert Garden Tour in Bend, I was happy to see a place to pause in a xeriscaped garden. What is xeriscaping, you may ask. Here’s the dictionary definition:

a landscaping method developed especially for arid and semiarid climates that utilizes water-conserving techniques (such as the use of drought-tolerant plants, mulch, and efficient irrigation)

Merriam-Webster dictionary
pause in a xeriscaped garden

Are xeriscaped gardens boring? No! This garden was designed by Rick Martinson, formerly of Wintercreek Restoration and Nursery. He’s now the executive director of the Worthy Garden Club. Rick has been encouraging people to use plants that require little water for years.

Xeriscaping

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Happy Turkey Day from John Day!

Happy Turkey Day from John Day, Oregon! We saw about one hundred wild turkeys alongside the road near John Day a few weeks ago. Dinner anyone?

Happy Turkey Day

They have become so common in some areas, that they are considered pests. They sometimes destroy crops and gardens and can become aggressive towards people in the breeding season.

Wild turkeys crossing the highway

Oregon created a Hunt by Reservation Program where private landowners can allow hunters onto their land to help thin out the population. A benefit to them and us!

Let us (or lettuce) be grateful: Macro Monday

Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust
Let us (lettuce)

A little play on the words “let us” with this up close picture of lettuce growing in Hollinshead Park’s community garden in Bend, Oregon.

Macro Monday

The touch of nature: LAPC

The touch of nature can be sharp and cold or

The touch of nature
Prickly pear cactus in the snow, Bend, Oregon

Ridged and dry

Dry reservoir
Low water in Wickiup Reservoir, Oregon

The touch of nature can be smooth and wet or

The touch of nature
Cobble Beach near Newport, Oregon

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Morning on a fall day cinquain poem: SoCS

Morning
On a fall day
Brilliant colors appear
Merging into luminous wings
Soaring

Morning on a fall day

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Morning

Remnants of a Solitary Life: Monochrome Monday

I found these remnants of a solitary life in my yard yesterday. This is what was left of a Townsend’s Solitaire thrush. I suspect one of our resident Cooper’s Hawks preyed upon it. The cycle of nature continues.

Remnants of a solitary life

Monochrome Monday

Backyard Beauties in Bend: LAPC

I see some of our backyard beauties often, like the chipmunks. This one came right up to our sliding glass door, driving our indoor cat crazy. It was showing me its best side.

Chipmunk on porch

Other animals give us unique views. This immature Cooper’s Hawk posed nicely for me on the back porch.

Backyard beauties Cooper's Hawk

Our regular visitors can be very entertaining. Playful Mule Deer fawns like to run full speed around the yard (when they aren’t busy munching on my plants).

Mule deer fawn

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