Exploring old gold mining towns? Yes please!
My inner history buff was in full satisfaction mode when our friend Kent asked us if we’d like to take a drive up past Sumpter to Granite, Oregon.
First established by miners after the discovery of gold along Granite Creek on July 4, 1862, the area was originally called Granite Creek Mines. During the following year, a settlement called Granite City was established about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream of where Granite City is now.
It was moved to its current location in 1867 and renamed Independence after the date—July 4, or Independence Day—of the earlier gold discovery. However, when the community's post office was established in 1878, it could not use the name Independence because that name was already used by another Oregon city. [source]
In 2010 the census showed that Granite had a total of 38 residents. And I thought Mouth of Wilson, Virginia was remote!
Life couldn’t have been easy here!
I don’t think much has changed scenery wise in 150 years either.
Little church? Or schoolhouse? or both?
I love wandering old cemeteries!
Is that weird?
I could just feel Kent and Dave roll their eyes when I exclaimed “Stop! I want to go look!”
But come on, this is INTERESTING STUFF!
It’s better than late night TV!
The little town has done a great job of restoration where possible.
While some plots had restored wooden markers, some were surrounded by fencing – was this the more “well to do” in this tiny corner of Eastern Oregon?
There is a whole lot of family history in this one stone.
And evidently FORD was a well known name in these parts.
Bye bye, Granite!
Thanks for the history lesson!
And to the folks who were born, lived and died here – my hats off to you for working so hard to eek out a life that may not have ended as you had hoped it would. I just can’t imagine.
A different kind of “WHAT IS IT?!”
We were going to head to another little mining town, but got helplessly and hopelessly lost. Seriously. Like 9 miles down a dirt road past where we wanted to be in the middle of even more nowhere. And we come upon this.
Mind you, there are ZERO homes or signs of life for miles and miles and miles – and this was a total crack up.
Yes, there is a creepy alien inside. LOL!
And the dealie bopper on the top goes round and round!
Click to Play:
I had to make a video to send to my brother Scott for kicks. We spent part of our time there watching episodes of “Ancient Aliens” on the history channel and this fit right in.
We also spent evenings watching all 3 episodes of Back to the Future – so GREAT SCOTT!! There is evidence of Alien Activity in Nowheresville, Oregon! Hahahha!
We also spent evenings watching all 3 episodes of Back to the Future – so GREAT SCOTT!! There is evidence of Alien Activity in Nowheresville, Oregon! Hahahha!
Back to reality:
Changing bedding past 1:00 a.m. is no fun, especially after nearly coast to coast travel - a 4 airport day - And I didn't get the quilt washed until yesterday morning.
My worry was the color from the dry cat food staining the quilt, and also the dark pink backing fabric, though pre washed, bleeding.
I rubbed dawn dish soap into the affected cat puke area, threw in a couple of color catchers and prayed.
The color catchers came out a deep pinky-purple, but there is no bleeding on the quilt! Hooray!
I washed the quilt on cold, and hung it over the porch rail to dry as it has a wool batting. It was back on the bed freshly washed and air dried by last night!
This is my Irish Courthouse, available in the Quiltville Store as a digital PDF pattern.
Someone please tell me WHY they put coloring in dry cat food at all? Do the cats REALLY care??
Yesterday was a day of catching up the body clock back to Eastern Time. Last night was a fail – I couldn’t get to bed at a decent hour, my body said 11pm was still 8pm. So this morning’s awakening happened a bit too soon.
Some sewing of Pink Lemonade Sawtooth Stars happened.
When you want to stitch by machine, but all of your projects are in Virginia.
And I really regret moving ALL of the Scrap User’s System up to Virginia because I found myself having to cut all of these pieces from Fat Quarters instead of pre-cut strips. It seriously took 3 times as long to cut out block kits that way.
I think I will be moving SOME back here to Wallburg so I can work more efficiently. I missed my strip sizes and the variety they hold for mixing and matching. Working strictly from Fat Quarters and yardage is just a pain. But these are cute, and they fit the bill when it came to my need to just mindlessly sew something.
Today – Chiropractor at 11am, and then up to Virginia to get the mail order out that has come in over the past week+ that I’ve been gone. Thursday – Off to Pennsylvania to teach for the Quilt Odyssey Fall Retreat! (I think I need a nap somewhere today.)
Quiltville Quote of the Day
Vintage quilt found in North Carolina.
It's not something you keep for yourself, the only way to have it is to give it!
I love how all of the blocks in this photo are different, the four-patches do their own thing!
Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone!
24 comments:
Bonnie, I think the coloring in cat food is for OUR benefit, not the cat's! And yes, it is a booger to get out. Feeling your pain, sister! My cats seem to do nothing but puke...
Gina in Missouri
Why is when you get home late the cat has always christened the bed it happened to us when we got back from the mainland too. This morning my son woke up to worse, the cat had managed to shut itself in his room last night and unfortunately had to spend a penny he was not impressed.
Hope you can get your nap, I love the Irish courthouse quilting looks so pretty I’ve downloaded the pattern so it’s on my todo lol. I’m also in the middle of wild and goose got 228 of 288 blocks made then it’s the sashing sand I’ve even found a cheddar for them .
Thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures and history of Granite and the alien had me chuckling.
Love and quilty hugs
Anne xxx
I don't have pets, Dear Hubby is allergic. We did try outside cats for awhile. One snuck in to have her kittens under my son's bed, that was an interesting night. Cat puke on your Quilt doesn't sound fun. Glad you got it out and the backing didn't bleed. Love my Color catchers. A nap always sounds good. Hope you get one.
Enjoying your Idaho and Oregon photos! So glad the cat puke incident turned out okay. It would be awful for any of your quilts to be damaged that way, but that one is so pretty!
dear dear dear, maybe they are allergic to the dye in their food??? <3 Cats in Carlsbad, CA LOL, my kitty was getting ready for horkage, so i slid a piece of newspaper under her chin, she managed to back up and do the deed on the carpet! Better than on the quilts... LOL
Welcome home, i missed our morning routine...not sure you've achieved what this trip was supposed to bring, recharging batteries and renewed self. Hope your massage will restore yourownsweetself. Take care of Bonnie, the quilt world enjoys and appreciates her...Cats in Carlsbad CA
Welcome home! I feel your pain on the cat puke episode. My "smoosh" face dog ate several quilt pieces this morning. My vet said not to make him vomit because of the flat face (aspiration issues) and give lots of fiber (actually he had eaten fibers!) and hope all comes out. If it doesn't he has to go to the vet specialist since he has a heart problem and regular vet won't operate on him. Sheesh--I needed to see the alien pic to lighten my spirits! thank you!
Switching to mostly wet, grain-free food might help with the vomiting. Cats are obligate carnivores who need meat and don't do well on food made mostly from grain. Their digestive systems just aren't made for it. I learned the hard way by constantly cleaning up cat vomit until I read a couple articles that set me straight.
Hi Bonnie- Welcome Home!
Sumpter and Granite- I know them well! I graduated from Baker High School, when the town was still Baker. We used to take the Willys Jeep for drives up to Sumpter and Granite all the time. We used to visit the old mining area, ghost towns in the area in the late 60's.My little brother still hunts the area each fall. He was just here the first two weeks of August. We talked about both Sumpter and Granite while he was here. He lives in Bend now. I am glad you enjoyed your trip up the mountain. It sounds like your little side trip was just like we used to do; wander down roads just to see what we could find. The alien stop may have been a little bus shack for kids to wait for the bus at one time??
Donna
Kasilof, AK,
where it is dry today after three + days of much needed rain!
I love cemeteries too... mostly for the peacefulness and the history, and recently while traveling in Montreal Quebec enjoyed their local cemetery for artistry in many tile headstones.
I love old cemeteries. You are not weird. It upsets me when some of them are just in ruins. Crumbling headstones and such. But I know it costs money to maintain these places especially if there is no family to do it. Sad.
Here a link to a village in Switzerland that is known for unique cemeteries. A resident started in 1948 to carve wooden crosses with a small roof and a back area where he put what the person loved to do in life and on the right side sometimes how the person died. The article is in German, but the film, in French shows some nice examples.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/friedhofskultur-und-tradition_die-faszinierenden-holzschnitzereien-auf-dem-friedhof-jaun/43627456
We as quilters try to be unique. I love seeing other artisans and their work.
Yes, cats are obligate carnivores as mentioned above. Any grains or vegetable matter added to their kibble is basically junk food. In addition to that, they have to eat more food to get the amount of protein they need which can lead to weight problems among other things. Switching them to a strictly meat-based diet helps with a lot of things, not just the vomiting but it also greatly decreases the amount of fecal matter they produce. And no, they don't need any dye in their food. A good many of the food products for cats now are just natural color. I agree the red dye makes a mess when they vomit. That said, kibble is an easy way to feed cats and as long as you don't overdo it and they aren't throwing most of it up, I think they do okay on it.
Color catchers work wonders. I discovered them when I washed a baby quilt and the red bled on to the white in the nine patches. (I prewash and it still happened.) I was heart broken. Decided to rewash and held my breath. Couldn't belive it worked.
How appropriate pink lemonade. So right for the block. Don't worry about what you feed the cats. The like us sometimes have to vomit. This we kniw. But never fun when it is in yiur bed late at night. I hope we are more of the stars. Maybe some carry limeade next? Just a thought.
We have one that scratches herself silly if there is any grain in her food. She also refuses to touch anything pate. We had a mail order brand of cat food that was working perfectly -- until they reformulated it!*!*!. It is now pate and she won't eat it and we are on the lookout for a new brand. Apparently ours is not the only cat that doesn't like the new stuff, as my husband had no problems getting his money back from the mail order place. They seemed to be expecting the call. My DH doesn't seem to be able to see "pate" on labels, so we have had some plates of dried out mush as we bumble our way down the cat food aisle trying to find a new favorite for her.
Eeeewwww to your surprise welcome home present! Phew the stains and colour run came out - it still looks great hanging over the rail. Then oh boy - did I laugh at the alien! Hilarious! Thank you for the history trip - the grave markers are making me wonder what happened regarding the murder - was it a claim or were they gambling? The scenery was beautiful - can only begin to imagine how hard it was living at that height! Funny that the number of mines now outnumbers the residents. Thank you again!
We also enjoyed all 3 Back to the Future movies this weekend. Hubby and I try to introduce our 12 yr old to those movies that "everyone" has seen. We've been through Indiana Jones, Ghostbuster, Lost Boys, Star Wars. Need to decide on another for this weekend's family movie night.
JMOT, I have the same problem, with the 'pate' style food. I found Sheba has petite cuts, and my finicky one loves it. I've tried other brands, cuts with gravy, and nose gets turned up... but put the Sheba down, and it's gone.
ALL of my 4-legged animals are on grain-free dry food, as well (Rottweiler has been on it since he was a puppy, because I wanted to ensure that he wouldn't have any health problems later on in life, trying to get him past the 10-year average lifespan of the breed, as I've never had a Rottie survive into the double-digits, all died of diseases, or run over by a train when she got out, thanks to her father's escape antics). This one was JUST diagnosed with a couple of tumors, though, but we don't know if their benign, or malignant, but he'll be 9-1/2 next month, so too old to put him through surgery to find out and possibly never recover fully. Quality of life is my big concern. So, he's being treated for pain management, and we'll see if we make him comfortable enough to survive until he's 10 years old and beyond, next April Fools Day. He's on 500mg of CBD oil, as the vet wanted to be greedy, and wouldn't let me transfer his prescription for Rimadyn to an online pet pharmacy so I could have it shipped to me, rather than drive the 2 hours, one way, to pick up the prescription refills. Oh well, he loses! Dog wins, as he's no longer on the Big Pharma drugs, but a natural one that may actually prolong his life even longer. We'll see.
You really ought to take a sight-seeing trip to Deadwood, SD, where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried in the cemetery. LOTS of history there. It was fascinating to wander through, and look at the headstones, even the Potter's Field section had some interesting markers, even though they're usually unknowns because no one claimed the bodies, and the authorities had to bury them.
I, too, am fascinated by old graveyards and grave stones. Such history! The Pink Lemonade Sawtooth Star....where can I find it? I have all of your books!!
In reply to QuiltinLibraryLady, Yes indeed! Get rid of the grain based food.
I feed my kitties Blue Healthy Gourmet. I get it delivered by the truck load from Chewy for my puddin's
I have enjoyed your photos from all over. I have never been out west.
Welcome back to Eastern Daylight time
Visiting old cemeteries is a favorite thing we do when traveling. It is always so peaceful and quiet, and reading those old headstones sets the imagination alive as we think about what life must have been in that area during those days. Virginia City, Nevada was one of my favorites.
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