Well one thing about living on the Central Oregon is that you get to see lots of animals. Deer, Elk, Bears, Coyotes and a plethora of others and of course birds. The largest population of birds appears to be Seagulls but there are also Eagles, Osprey's Hawks, and Herons and of course the Crow population who cause much anxiety amongst those who garden and try to grow crops. My connection with animals is that I enjoy all the species I run across and witness as they cavort in the sky but I don't like to develop up-close and personal relationships with them. However, that said, I will confess to having a one way relationship with a deer who tried to leap over my moving car and failed. That not only ended poorly for the deer but it didn’t exactly make me a favored customer with my insurance company. Then yesterday as I was leisurely going down Hwy 101 around noon a bit north of Yachats I glanced to my right and there beginning to lumber out of an outcropping of brush was a large Black Bear bent on crossing the highway. He wasn't going nearly as fast as the late dear so I swerved and blew my horn which sent him bounding backwards and off towards the ocean. Needless to say my heart was pounding with the thought of hitting something else of the animal species and having to deal with that then calling my insurance company and telling them I'd hit a bear, yes a bear, not a deer. I suspect I would have received some sort of notice that my insurance suddenly cost more or that I didn't have it anymore. Fortunately it was just a scary close call and both the bear and I lived to talk about it!

Then when I got home I was ion the kitchen when I heard a banging in the front of the house. When I went to investigate it turned out to be a Seagull perched on some deck furniture on the deck and pounding on the window with its beak. Well that may sound odd but last week we had visitors from Virginia and they enjoyed feeding the birds like most visitors do. So in the absence of a fairly steady supply of bread crumbs Mr. Seagull too it upon himself to remind me that he was there and just because my visitors had left it was no excuse to quit feeding him. I had to laugh because he was extremely persistent and had remembered where the treats had come from. Well I took him a chunk of bread, we had a brief discussion and he flew off no doubt cursing me and the rest of mankind until the next treat came along. So here on the coast, you might not expect it but there are animals and birds that can suddenly become part of your life.

Enjoy and watch out for the critters!!

To reach Rick Schultze email: yarick@pioneer.net