A Bit of This and That

June 16, 2018

This is a week of a lot of things happening and so a bit of this and that is what goes in the blog!

RIDE THE WILLAPA:

Next weekend (June 23rd and 24th) is the third annual Ride the Willapa.  This annual family oriented event is sponsored by the Lewis County Trails Association, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in our area through trails and accessible routes through our cities and towns.  This family-oriented ride raises money for trail improvements.  25 consecutive miles of the Willapa Hills trail (once a Northern Pacific Railway bed) is rideable and is used for the ride.

The ride starts at the Lewis County Veterans Museum and after meandering through Adna, Ceres Hill, Rainbow Falls and Pe Ell, it ends in Rock Creek at mile 25.35.  Most riders are ending at Rainbow Falls and spending the night at a group campout before returning to Chehalis on Sunday.  Rainbow Falls is about 15 miles from the start so this makes for a leisurely ride for families taking the two day adventure.

Along the way on Saturday there are a number of farms participating in “Tour de Farms” and riders can make stops at the farms for rest, food, drink and just to enjoy the scenery.  Organic Valley sponsors the Farms tours and provides dairy products for the ride participants.

If you are not a rider, but possibly want to participate, volunteers are still being accepted.  Contact the organization by going to their website (click HERE for their website) and go to Contact.  They are eager for more volunteers (Bicycle riders or not) so give it a try.

ON THE SCHEDULE:

Check out the Stillwaters calendar this week – New Resident Orientation on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and the new Quilting group, Thursday at 10 a.m.

The New Resident Orientation is intended for new residents but all are welcome.  The Quilting group is excited to have their first meeting and are hopeful that attendees will be just as excited about this new group.

Check out the calendar on the last page of the monthly newsletter or on the Stillwaters website for other fun activities and events.  Click HERE for the calendar.

OBSERVATIONS FROM THE BACK PORCH:

How’s that for a new topic!  I have been so entertained this week by birds, rabbits and growing grapes in my back yard that I had to include this in my narrative to you.

Each year Mr. Blogger and I are entertained at length by our annual renters of the bird boxes (we have two boxes) – the swallows.  We had our first Mr. and Mrs. Swallow starting in April or May and they are already gone for the year.  They always seem to follow the same ritual of first finding each other through song and chirping at length and then finding the right box for the impending nesting.

This first set of swallows did this quickly and rather quietly compared to our current pair.  The second set of Mr. and Mrs. have selected a lesser used box and are joyously singing and working to make it a home.  All week what appears to be Mrs. Swallow has been sitting on top of the box caroling Mr. Swallow as he works tirelessly building the nest inside.  Fun to watch and see how we are so easily entertained.

Baby rabbits are also scampering around and though we dislike their damaging appetites as adults they sure are cute at this stage.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.    –   Eleanor Roosevelt