Voices In The Night

Here on the mid coast in Oregon, you expect to hear things go bump in the night.  Far from the road in a very secluded area surrounded by dense trees, I expected to hear the huff-huff of a bear.  One actually made an appearance on the sand near Seaview Washington.  I know they frequent the area because the garbage cans require a mechanical degree in order to get them open to deposit your trash.

The last couple of nights, it's been voices of a different kind.  The canine variety.  It seems that just the other side of the little mountain covered in trees is a residence with one of those dogs you can hear for miles around when he barks.  Maybe it WAS a bear and he was trying to warn everyone, but I picked up on the bark-howl in the first two minutes.  He could have stopped then.

I KNOW their house is right there ... how could you possibly sleep through two hours of constant barking the first night.  Last night he did it again, FINALLY waking the humans.  That's when the real screaming began!!  The dog finally quieted and I tried to return to sleep.

5:30 am the barking began again, which is okay, since I'm now up.  I can't say as much for the rest of the RV park.  By 5:45 I'm sure everyone was awake as the hollering began again, now from TWO camps over the hill.  Maybe it was a bear ... maybe it was deer.  I spotted some tracks near my rig yesterday afternoon.  Maybe it was just a barky dog scared of the dark.  At any rate, my earplugs didn't work.

On a brighter note, when I hit the Farmers Market in Florence on Saturday, my all time favorite Kitchen Store was open!!  If you travel to any of the Golden Spike Rallies, you may see these soon.  I just love street tacos .... and this little cookbook is full of them!!

Just BEING in the kitchen store made me hungry ... perusing all those cookbooks ... so I stopped in at Homegrown Deli.  They just happened to have their local-caught tuna melt as the sandwich of the day.  It was HUGE!!  And DELICIOUS!!  I'm not a fan of dill pickles or dill of any kind, yet this sandwich had just the right amount of everything in it.  Gluten free tasted pretty good!!

That's when I saw the sign ... 20% off everything ... going out of business!  An interior decorating business - antique store.  She buys mostly from San Francisco and uses the furnishings in homes she decorates.  Her retirement was a boon for me!!

Unfortunately, a lot of things were already sold.  If I had only known sooner!!  This elephant drapery tie was very unique and will find a home in my Victorian bedroom.  While in Astoria, I discovered two hand crocheted bedspread covers ... like you see in Victorian museum homes ... for a mere pittance.  One was in perfect condition, the other had a two inch hole.  Being a crocheter, I can fix it.  

Victorian means you need a tall plant stand in the corner for your fern.  I know, I'm not so good at growy things, but they make really nice looking silk ones now.  From a distance you won't be able to tell!!  Lucky for me, the huge copper bowl comes off for ease of packing in the back of an already full Jeep.  Really, this is just your run-of-the-mill plant stand, but the copper bowl makes it!!

Just North of Honeyman Park, you will find a great antique shop.  Stop in and say hello to the owners who travel in their RV back east all winter gathering collectibles, which they bring back to sell here.  It's worth it just to see the 1800's candy store they bought intact with all the leftover candy still in the trays.  It was there I spotted this railroad luggage rack.  I've never EVER seen one for sale, so I snatched it up.  I thought prices here were very reasonable.

Just to be sure about the water pitcher with wash basin I was eyeing, I did an internet search on my phone.  The stamp on the bottom looked legit, but the condition was just too perfect.  Sure enough, China is now spitting out Victorian replicas by the dozens, right down to the exact label imprinted on the bottom.  I opted for my second choice, a more substantial white one that I could verify wasn't fake.  They boxed it up for me, so you'll have to wait to see that one.

I'm sure you recognize this ... it's Darlingtonia (meat eating pitcher plants) ... located just down the street.  There's a geocache here I've been looking for and NOT found for two years.  Since my phone doesn't work in this hole, it's been hard to figure out exactly where it is.  If anyone knows, please give me a shout!  

Dinner came from Chen's Family Dish.  They've always served great food.  These potstickers looked delicious, but had a funky taste ... like very old oil.  As beautiful as they looked I couldn't get them down.  Good thing I ordered shrimp fried rice too.  It was delicious!!

As the dogs continue to bark in the background, I'll be gathering up and packing things today.  Before I leave however, there's a Happy Hour at the Volunteer's rigs in Honeyman Park, so I'll be joining in and meeting new people.  The invite came from Shirley Smedley and her husband Ken, step-brother of a very old family friend who recently passed away.  My introduction to scary science fiction movies ... the original Wolfman to be exact ... came from his home in Santa Barbara when we were kids.  It will be fun to talk about old times ... 

Kite flying?  No.  The wind was so bad it had my rig rocking and rolling and my puppies scared most of the afternoon.  I figured it was just a tad too much for kites!!