So, while the Rayman ventures out to the grocery store, I will take to the keyboard.
Another interesting day in the great Northwest, boys and girls. The sun made an appearance and Beau had an appointment at the beauty parlor. He was getting a bit, well, ripe. It was time for a trim, a bath, and various other procedures that groomers do to the canines among us. And his appointment was high noon which actually is a great time to venture out because the mornings can be quite nippy here. The afternoons are warm as the ground heats up.
We dropped off our Beaumeister and headed to Silverton, OR which is south of where we are staying. Most of the trip was on two lane road and we followed it to the beautiful Oregon Gardens of Silverton. So much fun to see different plant species presented so beautifully on this multi-acre preserve. Admission for us old codgers was $10 a head.
We wandered through a conifer exhibit. Conifers that we had never seen before. Weeping varieties, miniature models, tall skinny trees that looked somewhat anorexic. Some were green and yellow. On purpose. It was sort of a Grand Central Station of conifers and it held our interest.
The grounds also had water features with water in them!!! And beautiful bushes with flowering flowers (oops, repeating myself). Lots of lavender, and rosemary. I plucked some rosemary for my lamb dinner tonight. Rosemary also might finds way into the potatoes.
But I digress.
We saw a snake!! A blackish one slithered across our path and into the shrubs. That was very exciting. It was only about 14 inches long.
They also had a grove of white oak trees, a strand of oaks that was very impressive. The granddaddy of them all was a 400 year old specimen. 99 feet and looking healthy as a horse. Bad comparison but you know what I mean.
The place had a shuttle but we hoofed it (in keeping with the horse reference). The weather was mild and it was perfect for wandering around the grounds. While we walked, we discovered an area for ideas on how to garden if you own a cat or dog. Actually, the whole property is dog friendly. And where was Beau? at the beauty parlor. Probably sitting in a cage waiting for various intrusive acts to be performed on him. Oh, well, we had 4 hours to kill so this seemed perfect.
There was also a house on the property. A Frank Lloyd Wright house. We went to see it but it was closed. Didn’t know you had to arrange ahead for private tours. But that was the case. What a bummer. It would have been interesting to see.
After walking all around, we grew hungry so we went into the visitor center and discovered that they were serving fresh baked pumpkin pie made from the pumpkins they grew on the property. That’s we had for lunch. It was outstanding.
On the way back from our foray to Silverton, Rayman got anxious about getting the dog on time. He said, “Well, it’s 45 minutes to four.” Really. He said that. In all my days, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone tell time like that. He is amazing. I think it’s his dyslexia. Such a refreshing new way to tell time, don’t you think. Instead of 3:15, it was 45 minutes to 4. Very inventive and thinking outside the box.
He left for the store and I may not see him for hours. The rush hour traffic here is horrible. Main highways have stoplights every mile or so. It’s bumper to bumper. I wanted to stop on the way to pick up Beau but he said no. Bad decision. Oh, well. Rack of lamb at 8 has a ring to it. Good thing we had that pumpkin pie or I might waste away to nothing before my next meal.
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