Goats and Baker City Oh My!

Well it certainly has been a long wait around here for a post! My daughter was wondering where I went, since she’s read nothing new about me while doing her internship down under.  First things first, still no snow and we are still alive and unrepentant about voting for Obama.  As a matter of fact, the weather has been unseasonably warm here in the beautiful Long Creek Valley for the past four or five days…at least during the daytime. At night, we flirt with freezing.  The deer population, which, now that the hunters have been in the woods for three months, is twice as large as the human population, has discovered my bird feeders. Did you know that a deer can suck all of the seed out of one of those gigantic feeder tubes? I’m not too slow. It only took me about ten pounds of seed to catch on to their little trick and only another week to rig up a pulley on the eave so that the feeder is out of their reach. he he he. For those of you who are following the great goat training experiment: Success! Yes, the goats are now excited to get to the barn every night and in fact, yell at me if I don’t hustle out and tuck them in! Hooray for food training. Yep, that is snow falling, but it lasted all of six seconds, or thereabouts.Right before the picture, it was pouring rain.

Mom came over to help me “before the snow flies” last week. She was on a mission to take care of some safety issues and finish planting. As usual, she worked harder than a mule on a plow, so I had to make her stop by taking her to Baker City to see if civilization was there…meaning, of course, The Oregonian and decent coffee. And, we met with success on both counts and more. As a matter of fact, Baker City is quite the little town. I really like it. First of all, they have a thriving art community, second, they have a downtown that is so old, it’s registered as a historic district. And, it appears to be staying afloat without the help of a college! Take note Corvallis! Actually, it’s quite a bit smaller than Corvallis, which makes it much more charming.

A charming block from the historic district in Baker City

Mom and I went directly to the Chamber of Commerce, which is actually Baker County Chamber, and so, got the inside scoop on what to see and where there was coffee. Coffee Corrall gave us a handy $2 off coupon in the Chamber dining guide, so I purchased a lb. of French Roast along with a truly excellent Americano. Yay! saved from coffee funkiness once again. Armed with fresh yummy coffee, we then went to the next important agenda item: the cemetery. Mom and I have always been fascinated by old cemeteries here on the east side of the mountains. We’ve come across them literally out in the middle of high desert and the stories that they tell are always worth the stop. The Chinese Cemetery in Baker City was no exception.

The Chinese Cemetery in Baker City...all of it.

The cemetery was saved by a group of Baker City Residents and interpretive signs were added to tell people about it. As a person who’s put a lot of work into the Corvallis Odd Fellows’ Cemetery, I must say at first sight, this was appalling. However, it is preserved pretty much precisely how it was with the addition of the three cornered pagoda. As in John Day, during the last half of the 1800s, the Chinese population was prominent, working on railroads and gold mines. They had their own community, including a Joss House and extensive community gardens. They were, however, severely discriminated against and were not allowed to do any but the most menial of jobs such as laundry and field work. The Chinese were brought to the country as “guest workers” and lived very frugally so that they could send money back to their families. They also had to save money to make the arduous journey by ship back to China. A great many of them never made that trip alive. Burials at this cemetery took place from 1880 until 1940.  But the bodies were only interred temporarily until they could be sent back to be buried with their families. So, once the bodies decomposed, the bones were exhumed and purified, then sent back to China, mainly, the Kwangtung Province. So, there are all these depressions that are empty graves. Not a good place to stray off the path.

That hollow is an empty grave!

A memorial to some of the Chinese temporarily buried there.

The really eiree thing about this cemetery is that some fool built a replica of a Dutch windmill across from the cemetery. The blades on the windmill are made out of louvered metal which the wind blows through, creating the effect of ten million banshees screaming and moaning all around us. It was literally a hair raiser. I’m glad we didn’t stop at night! Added to that, was the slapping of the loose tin roof on the Chinese Prayer House, which was built in 1890. It was creepy in the daylight.

1890 Chinese Prayer House with Mom in foreground and recent tacky windmill in background

Once we paid our respects at the cemetery, mom and I went on our next mission, which was to see if the “Health Food Coop” was a name only (like John Day’s Health Food store) or if it was actually a working store. It was beyond my hopes and it reminded me of my very first Coop: Springfield Health Food and Pool…but I digress. Anyway, for those of you traveling through this side of Oregon, the Coop in Baker City has quite a selection of dry goods and supplements and a fair selection of packaged foods. No bulk coffee though. The folks were really nice, it was very clean and I am truly excited that I have this resource only a hundred miles away. Let’s hear it for coops!

Baker City Health Food Coop

And, the antithesis of health: the following picture is just for my brother and sister, In and Out Burger Fans. Bet ya’ll didn’t know we had one in Oregon eh?

In and Out Burger stand

Both the Coop and the Burger joint are located on 10th, away from downtown. I got really turned around and still can’t figure out exactly where we were, but I am certain I’ll get the hang of it as I make trips over there. Because I plan on going to Baker City fairly often. They also have a movie theater and an active Odd Fellows

Baker City Odd Fellows

And, just a few more shots of downtown Baker City:

Baker Tower

Newly restored Baker Tower is said to be the tallest building east of the Cascades. It is also historic, so we can safely say that it is the oldest tallest building on the east side. It is a neck-cricker.

Baker City Historic District

This picture really made me homesick for Ed Eply and the whole gang at the Beanery. A big group hug to all of you down there drinking coffee! I think it was the combination of electric car and coffee shop. Oh, did I mention that the downtown is wireless?  And, Oregonian News Stands on almost every block! Oh my!

But really, here is my favorite picture from the day. Also from downtown Baker City.

That’s all for now folks. I’ll try to be more diligent in writing.