Adventures Of a Phoebasaurus: June 2013

Two days after the nasty little bee incident I took some time to sit in the warmth (though not the sun) outside at a table and work on my latest crafty project. After drowsing off, waking to find sun creeping up on me, and moving a few times I decided if I wanted a nap, I should just get inside where the sun couldn't chase me. This is relevant because... see when I stood up I was delivered a sharp searing pain to the kneecap. Hissing (one cannot curse while visiting Significant Other's parents, its bad form) in pain I happened to catch a glimpse of the culprit. Flitting under the table in a maddened frenzy was some sort of yellow coated wasp. No doubt I had disturbed it which my sudden decision to stand, and it was defending it's territory.
Lucky for me, I wasn't helping care-take a 3 year old as I had been when I got stung, and was able to employ some more effective responsive tactics: baking soda paste on the wound, ice pack, knock off Benadryl. And you know what. Its freaking fine! The bee sting is still itchy as a cluster of mosquito bites, but the wasp bite is just fine.
Brandon's stepdad was kind enough to suggest that these things happen in threes. No. I'm done.

Anyway....
Going back in time again.
While Living in Salem I received a care package from my family, which included (among other things) $19 from my mother in 5's and 1's. There was a little sticky note stuck to it that read something like 'get thee to the market'. Yep that's my mother. The next day of my little trip, I stopped in Corvallis to peruse the Farmer's Market, and I found some delectable treats.

Scrumptious tomatoes, mushrooms, berries, glorious flowers... Just what you want in a Farmer's Market.

Rather proud of my willpower, I'm not very good at saying no when it comes to delicious fruits.

My real goal was to go hike around on Mary's Peak, the highest peak in the Coastal Range in Oregon. Too bad for me, I was limping from scrabbling around on the dunes the previous day, so I didn't hike much. But that didn't stop me from seeing the flowers...

Here's a nice little cricket on some Starry False Lily of the Valley (What a mouthful! I like Maianthemum stellatum better!).

Load of gorgeous Penstemons all over the place.

Nature bouquets, all over. The closer to the peak I got, the more flowers I saw.

Some Ceratsium and Delphinium, larkspurs always make me squeal with glee. They're such elegantly silly shaped flowers.

Phlox, Lomatium, paint brushes, larkspur, Penstemons... Heavenly.

More of the same, and whats this? A new lily? Why yes! Erythronium oregonum, Oregon Fawn Lily, doesn't have a solitary flower like other fawn lilies I've seen so far.

Who can say no to some hairy Indian paintbrush? Probably Castilleja hispida

Mama Nature knows all about complimentary primary colors...

Phlox is just nice. A cute little cluster of flowers.

Xerophyllum tenax better known as bear grass, was just beginning to bloom, much to the delight of some pretty insects (and myself).
On the drive up the mountain there were hundreds, possibly thousands of the marvelous irises (Iris tenax). Damn grand if I do say so myself.

From the top of Mary's Peak on a clear day you can see straight to the ocean, not to mention several of the more notable peaks in the Cascades. I'm not great with mountains, but while eavesdropping I was led to believe you could see Mts Bachelor, Hood, St Helens, Adams, the Three Sisters and a few others.

Best I could do....

The time not spent muttering to myself about flowers and mountains was chiefly consumed by trying to get a decent picture of the just ONE of the dozens of Fritillaries flitting about. I momentarily saw a little hummingbird.

Got sidetracked by these Blues that look an aweful lot like Fender's.... but are a different subspecies I suspect.

But I got it! While meandering down from the peak I spotted on landing on a strawberry blossom, and it was still long enough to capture it's minute soul (multiple times) with my top notch camera! Ha!

My goal for the next day was to go to a new beach and investigate what the tide pools might offer. So I drove down the mountain, out to the coast and camped. If you were previously unaware, my truck's name is Bucky, and he's a mighty fine little beast. If you look at him straight on he looks a little animal-like: Headlights are eyes, bumper is a mouth, sideview mirrors are little ears.... you get the picture, its highly irrelevant.
There was a beach quite close to hand where I camped, so I resolved to sit and read until the sun set. It required resolve you see, because it was QUITE windy.
So bundled in most of the clothes I had brought with me, I sat on the beach, tried to read, and drank wine. Sounds like a romantic movie right? Well... it was a little too windy for that nonsense.

In case you think I'm overselling the whole wind thing...

It was pretty, there's no denying that.

But lo, the sun finally set, and I scurried back to my cozy truck bed to sleep.

Have a Stupendous Sunday!

Bees. Bees man. Right when you think you're living in happy harmony with the little flying she-devils, one flies up your skirt and in a flurry of jostled confusion jabs her stinger into your butt. I would show you a picture but that would be inappropriate. Now I grew up on a farm. Bee stings are meh.... nothing to worry about. Although I haven't been stung in years, I expected that it would be a bit sore, then itch, then go away in short order. It would appear that my sensitivity to being injected with honey bee poison has drastically increased. Here I was laughing at the Otter about his jumpiness regarding bees... and was delivered a swift kick in the rear by a karma bound honey bee.

http://romancingthebee.com/2012/03/15/avoiding-the-dreaded-sting/

Being of a curious nature, I decided I need to know why the venom has the effect it does. A chemical called melittin appears to be the primary pain inducer, stimulating pain receptors in the skin. Your body, in response to this nastiness, frees fluid from the blood in the area to flush out the venom. If you have been stung before by this species your immune system will recognize the venom and boost disposal of the venom. So that makes sense... But my body, not having been stung in many years, doesn't have that immune system boost anymore. And thus I have a 4 inch diameter swollen itchy circle on my posterior where excess fluid has pooled and is trying to do its good work.
Anyway...
A few weekends ago I went on a little road trip. The first day I went back to Cape Kiwanda in the early morning to wander around some more.

As usual there were lots of crabs scurrying around and pretending that if they froze no on would see them. Or snapping their little claws at the giant looming over them like they are super duper intimidating.

Plenty of barnacles for all! The one on the left is good and dead, with its feeding legs stuck out.

That's right, more anemones! You've got your giant green anemone...

Our mystery anemone....

And the aggregating anemone. See there? There's lots.

An isopod! Never had seen a marine isopod before, what a nice surprise!

Often times there are little jellies that get washed up.

Little something or other eggs. Unfortunately I didn't see any red trumpet tube worms (right) suspended in water, but saw many sitting out of water. They have feathery feeding structures that emerge from the tubes to snatch up edibles as they float past.

And here we have another tidepool sculpin, waiting in little nook for the tide to rise again. I mentioned before (Cape Kiwanda post) that they are amphibious, which is rather splendid.

A few other animals...

More pigeon guillemots displaying their bright red throats. Several turkey vultures were scouring the beach for tasty morsels.

First, I know nothing about boats, fishing, anything of that nature. Its not surprising then that I was rather in awe of these men who back their trucks into the sea, then gun it pulling their trailers out from under their dories. Then to land the boat, they fly up out of the water onto the beach at high speed, skidding across the sand. Did see one truck get stuck, tires spinning deep ruts in the sand...