Love the Deschutes River!

I know that I am one of the lucky few (if you can call 80,000+ people, "few") that live in Bend, Oregon and this summer I am out to enjoy every minute I possibly can.

One of the gems of the region is the Deschutes River that runs from southern Deschutes County north to the Columbia and for those seeking a cool respite on a hot summer day (hovering at 97°F as I write this), a day on the Deschutes is a fun way to beat the summer heat.  Be warned though, Bend is at 3,500 feet elevation and so bring plenty of water and sunscreen if you're not used to the high desert at altitude!

Bend itself hosts a playground for stand up paddle boarders, inner tube floaters and more serious white water aficionados within city limits.  Flat water folks are well served at Riverbend Park, one in a long string of beautiful parks maintained by Bend Park and Recreation District.  Floaters traveling down stream can take advantage of an easy put-in a short distance upstream of the Old Mill and can take out at a number of publicly accessible locations, the final spot being Drake Park where a convenient shuttle service can ferry floaters from take out to put in by purchasing a day pass for $3.

Between Riverbend and Drake Park is the Bend Whitewater Park where surfers on boards or in boats alike can play in the standing waves.  Floaters can bypass the whitewater park via a portage path, or, if properly equipped, maneuver the rapids on river left.  (BTW - Pool toys and flip flops are not considered proper equipment, duh!)  There is also a fun play spot for kayakers at First Street Rapids.

My recommendation, though, is to spend the extra time and effort to get out to see more of the glories of the big Deschutes.  Taking a raft or drift boat down the lower Deschutes in the area of Maupin and north will bring you exciting whitewater and gorgeous flats.  You can choose from day to multi-day trips from a range of local services and outfitters (with fun names like Deschutes U-Boat and River Drifters, yes, there are other more normal names, too).

Want to give your kids an adventure while you and your spouse get some alone time?  Check out Bend Park and Rec youth programs.  Day trips and overnights are available with skilled staff leading the way to fun and adventure.

Train trestle bridge on lower Deschutes River north of Maupin, Oregon.

Summer haze

The dog days of summer, open windows at night, lead to indoor/outdoor experiences of many kinds.  Often these things happen at night, when you feel least prepared or least capable of dealing with the unexpected. 

A neighbor mentioned a sighting of a baby skunk the other day, one that apparently was too young to figure out how to spray the dog that was merrily playing with it.  This particular neighbor has successfully live-trapped several young skunks over the years and relocated them to the "wild" on some public land just out of town.

The middle of the night is often when we get a whiff of our resident odoriferous neighbors, the windows open next to the wildlife highway to the delectable goodies in the backyard garden allow sounds and odors to waft in to tickle our brains as we dream.  Dreams can become nightmarish, or at least unpleasant, as in the case of an encounter of the skunk kind several years ago when Resident Kid was but a toddler.

The Resident Cat at the time was a fluffy orange cat with a kingly white tuxedo shirt front.  This cat was a He Cat of the macho kind and liked to prowl the 'hood at night.  One evening we were hit with a powerful strong smell of skunk and went to the back door to see if we could catch sight of what we had caught wind of.  In came He Cat streaking through the house, and, in his wake, that powerful strong smell of skunk.  It didn't take long to find him hunkered down under Resident Kid's bed, squinty-eyed and drooling, obviously having taken the full blast straight in the face.  

Now He Cat was normally a cantankerous type that didn't appreciate even the most desultory grooming attempts on our part and as a a result his long fur was often matted because we would get scratched or bitten if we tried to brush him.  This night was a different matter.  Nary a growl as I picked him up and dunked him in the sink full of the special skunk remover formula that another neighbor had found after their dog was sprayed.  I scrubbed and washed and otherwise took action that would humiliate any self-respecting cat, but this cat was taken beyond humiliation by the utter misery of full strength skunk.  This cat didn't even care that his apparent heft was belied by wet fur that revealed the scrawniest kittenish figure beneath the fluff.  All he cared about was that the homemade skunk remover formula worked.


Homemade Skunk Remover Formula:
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon liquid dish soap

Mix together (it will foam up hugely) and rub all over skunk sprayed area.  Rinse well.