A Peaceful Passing
December 26-28, 2014
No one ever accused Uncle George of doing things the easy way. By all accounts I heard, though, he slipped away quietly the weekend before Christmas. So, it was with a somewhat heavy heart that I made another drive up to Oregon, my fifth trip up to Salem in roughly fourteen months, my third to attend a funeral.
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| Northern Harrier -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
By the end, Uncle George was a shell of the man he'd been earlier in life. Alzheimer's disease beat him down, but as a younger man he was larger than life. He had a big voice with a completely unique tone and phrasing. I have never heard anyone that talked like Uncle George. He also seemed to live without fear. He charged after what he wanted and he encouraged others to do the same. Often, what he wanted to do was help others. He was as generous a man as I have even known. Yeah, I looked up to him quite a bit, and I certainly wasn't the only one in my family who did so.
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| Greater White-fronted Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA |
I stopped at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge on the way up. I took the auto tour, as usual. There wasn't a whole lot happening there. I saw more northern harriers in one place than I've ever seen before. At times there were four harriers in close proximity hunting in the tall grass or buzzing the ducks. I also saw some ring-billed ducks, which I've never seen there before. I didn't see a single hawk or eagle there, though.
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| Mount Shasta, CA |
There's not a whole lot else to share. It was a pretty quiet trip. I didn't take a many pictures. Well, not many good pictures, anyway. It was dark and overcast the entire time I was in Oregon except for patches of sun on my drive home, but I was in no mood to stop for pictures at that point in the trip.
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| Mount Shasta, CA |
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| Willamette River, Salem, OR |
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| Oregon State Capitol, Salem, OR |
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| Union Street Railroad Bridge, Salem, OR |
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