Another rainy week for the books! Seriously, will it ever stop?
Somebody complained about it on 'Nextdoor' and immediately got the reply 'First time here?'
It was meant to be funny but at the same time it is quite sad because it is so true .. welcome to Oregon, where it rains .. in winter .. all the time!

'Our' property looks like this ..

Mud, mud, mud and than some! My go-to shoes these days (on my walks) are my rain-boots and my jeans constantly show mud splatters everywhere ..
We're happy with the gravel around the RV though, it works great for not having to walk through the mud to the car or draining the tanks or feeding the birds.

Fortunately I own a good rain jacket, bought in Tillamook of all places about 20 years ago when we went for a 2 week RV-trip along the coast on Highway #1!
Must be really good quality since it's still holding up fine.



When I went to town the other day I looked at the (Yamhill) river which runs alongside the road and although it's far from overflowing it's water-level is way up at the moment:

Our pond next to the RV is actually back to overflowing again, but that's a good thing, because it overflows through the culvert and into the lower pond like it's supposed to do.
And although it's a small pond, it being so full at the moment attracted a flock of geese the other day ..

Despite flying in together they looked to be two different groups/families because there was a little hissing and chasing going on before they settled down.
They kept a little distance between them the whole time they were here ..

In one of the smaller ponds down the hill from us I found a couple of  Hooded Mergansers again. They visit quite frequently:



My feeders are always busy although I cannot seem to attract much of a variety of birds over here. No Nuthatches or Chickadees, no Titmice or Woodpeckers .. none of my regulars from the previous places we lived at.
I'm guessing they all flock to the towns in winter where there's more people having feeders up ..

Every now and than a few Red-winged Black birds that live among the reeds of the small pond are coming over.
Those I'd rather not have around though because they make a big mess of the mixed seeds, throwing everything out they don't like!

             

And on a rare occasion I've seen this Varied Thrush:

                                        

It's a 'new-to-me' bird and, just like the Black birds, I've only been able to take a few shots through the window.
Since our windows are covered with a slightly darkening, UV-blocking (although clear) window-film, pictures always come out rather fuzzy.
One of these days I'll get a better shot!

It looks like this blog is a little heavy in nature content this time. Mostly because there's not much else to see or do at the moment.
Here's a few pics of some fungi that caught my eye on my last walk. This rain of lately is of course just their ticket to thrive!

And how about this Orange Jelly fungus .. feels just as squeegee as jello!

          


Well, that's as much as I could get together for this week. I've made a sauerkraut casserole for dinner tonight.
Of course I forgot to take a picture but it looked something like this (sauerkraut with raisins and pine-apple, mashed potatoes, and ground beef):

Comfort-food!