4-STOP~2-STATE HOP DAY; Clatskanie & Rainer-OR + Longview & Long Beach-WA

Holland had to go into Longview this morning to pick up his blood pressure pills & COPD inhalers; I have been laid low with environmental asthma, for the 2 weeks we've been back in WA - it is Spring, trees, flowers, & grasses, are shooting pollen into the air, everywhere. 

WA State is called the evergreen State because it is always wet - even the air is very humid: mold is prevalent everywhere; if a person stood still long enough in the rainforest regions, they could even get moldy 😉 Seriously; I know a girl who did have this happen to her. Plus, it's been raining pretty near every day … today was a pleasant sunny day, but the days previous and for several days starting tomorrow, rain is in the forecast 😟

I hadn't planned on going. I planned on staying home to conserve energy and recoup health by safeguarding my faulty immune system. But Holland has not been feeling well either, and he was up most of the night coughing and hacking: he might need relief at some point with driving. So, I got up before he did and got ready to go with him.

I have been telling him for 2 years, "We are a team".

This morning was time to put up, or shut up: I put up - he needs to know ❤️ that I am in his corner and ready to spell him if need be; muscle may be called on to back up team talk 💪😉

'Lt. Brown' Brow Gel; 'Rose Quartz' Lipgloss; 'Glam Brown' Mascara & a light spritz of perfume.

When I came out of the back room ready to go, Holland was surprised: I had not clued him in that I had changed my mind. He asked, "Are you coming with me?" I said, "Yes. I didn't know until a few minutes ago that I would be going … but, I will go with you. You are not feeling any better than I am; you may need me to spell you. We are a Team

And off we went 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

Looking across the Columbia River, from Chinook-WA; I saw a huge fog bank completely hiding the upper end of the Astoria-Megler Bridge, and Astoria-OR, from view. Holland pulled over so I could get a picture of that.

Passing through Astoria, I caught sight of the Flavel Mansion, and got a picture of that impressive sight, too …

Clatskanie-OR from Ocean Park-WA = 1 hr 21 min (63.9 mi) via US-30 E

A fog bank completely hides Astoria from view …

There are new buildings going up all over Astoria-OR; this one, is alongside KFC

The Flavel House Museum; Astoria-ORThe Flavel House Museum~Astoria-OR: (https://astoriamuseums.org/explore/flavel-house-museum/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_George_Flavel_House_Museum)

The Wauna Paper Mill stench was concerning: it was powerfully strong. But we had used our inhaler's before we left home … and Yeshua was our Pilot ☝️; He would keep us safe 💞

When we arrived in Clatskanie-Or, I stayed in Betsy while Holland visited with an old friend - her son, who Holland had known for quite some time, had died around Thanksgiving time, a few months ago.

I stayed in Betsy, because (1) I do not know these people (2) Holland is weird about his friends & me, mingling (3) Grief is a personal thing (4) Being a 3rd wheel is no fun.

I had brought my Clive Cussler novel along, specifically for this time period. I had a good hour+ reading time 👌 - Clive's books are never boring …

I read a few chapters while Holland visited with Cathy; Clatskanie-OR

Enjoying adventurous excursions, chapter by chapter, and "keeping place" with MOD Textured Book Cover ;-)

The day was beautiful for a drive 😁

On our way to the P.O. to pick up our mail, we stopped at the Rainier Park for a brief pit-stop. This Park was news to me … but, it was old news to Holland.

Then, we crossed the Lewis & Clark Bridge from OR to WA, and drove to Wal*Mart to pick up Holland's prescriptions. While there, I grabbed some mascara, lipstick - and a couple skeins of yarn, for projects to keep my hands busy.

Busy hands & vintage black/white evening movies, means less chatter from moi.

Holland is agreeable to that 😂🤣

Passing through Long Beach-WA on our way home in Ocean Park-WA, we stopped and got a head of lettuce for supper sandwiches, and a snack or two for later in the evening - and I got a Visa Card to purchase vintage movie with - we are a Team 😘

Now, it's time to busy my hands with new yarn, engage my senses with a new movie, and relax after our 4-stop, 2-State hop 😉

Rainier-OR from Clatskanie-OR = 15 min (13.4 mi) via US-30 E

A pretty little riverfront Park; Rainier-OR

Rainier Riverfront Park~Rainier-OR: 

(https://cityofrainier.com/city-park/)

This really tickled my funny bone. LOL!

Longview-WA from Rainier-OR = 11 min (5.4 mi) via US-30 W and WA-433 N

Ocean Park-WA from Longview-WA = 1 hr 50 min (88.8 miles) via WA-4 W

Deep Violet & Deep Green Mascara = 'Paris NY' & 'Blushing Berry Lipsticks; Longview-WA

While Holland napped ;-)

Finding a movie to watch while I wind yarn … 'Aha': 1941 'Sullivan's Travels', starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.

A slippers project coming up 🤝

MYSTERIES; Seaview-WA

I've been laid low (pretty much since we arrived here, in WA) with an allergy-induced hibernation.

All I do is 🛌💤 most of the day away.

Holland was out and about Sunday … and shot me a text about a beached whale: 

My Sunday Post~RAINY MORNING & DIRTY RICE EVENING; Ocean Park-WA: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2025/04/rainy-morning-dirty-rice-evening-ocean.html

Monday he cajoled me out of Independence - and we drove the same Seaview beach … and saw the same beached whale; this time with scientific scavengers on site. They had fenced the whale's immediate area off - but the putrid scent of decay permeated a wide area of the beachfront 🤮

The scientific scavengers have arrived …

The fishing net & buoy has been removed from the whale's mouth.

The Team has sectioned off their work area & is documenting everything; there's really no [mystery] as to how and why this whale died … but there is $$$$$ in {research}.

That did not help the situation with my queasy stomach 😟

I was glad when we left the beach for home.

But before we left, my eye caught sight of something in the rocks poking up out of the sand - a face etched in one of the large basalt protrusions. I said, "Holland! Stop - I want to get a picture of that face in the rock, there." He stopped - and at first couldn't see what I was seeing. But, after snapping the picture and defining the features as I pointed each portion out - he did see it, too; teeth on the lower end of the rock, a concave where a nose would normally be, and two little eye sockets at the upper end of the rock: I finished my description with, "Bigfoot's face."

Leaving the lower end of Seaview's beach, I saw 'a face' in the rocks … this really could be a 'mystery'; it seems strange to me that waves could carve a face out of solid rock.

Bigfoot's moniker; perhaps I do watch waaay too many sci-fi movies 😂🤣

Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) is a PNW myth, but we are both Sci-fi junkies that like to rib each other about this prehistoric ape that supposedly lives in WA State's rainforest regions 😉

Today, we are both feeling punk - with Holland's stomach as sour as mine is, as well as a runny nose 😔

Text to David.

It's no mystery.

This is typical WA State fallout.

We both just want this yucky funk over with; so we get back to enjoying life.

MISSED MESSAGES: Democrats And Hispanics Demand Deportations

ANTI-American Puppeteers.

Under fire since Election Day for lacking a message that can stall President Donald Trump’s agenda, Democratic leaders have apparently blundered anew by seizing on the case of deported alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Everyone of them are wickedly inspired.

While Washington Democrats have agreed that the best way to bruise the president is to assail his immigration policies as too harsh and sloppily implemented, the party’s base is standing with Trump and his mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants.

The defiance of liberal leaders is remarkably high among Democrats, including black people, Hispanics, liberals, and younger citizens.

Overall, 79% of likely voters told Rasmussen Reports that they agree with deporting “illegal immigrants who commit crimes in America.” Just 5% said deporting isn’t “at all important.”

The view of Democratic base voters on border policies shared with Secrets is the real story for why the party is in the dumps as it tries to whip up opposition to Trump’s deportations.

A bartender with bartender notations; worthless & forgotten in an eyeblink.

She's mouthy - but her head in empty, her heart is deceitful, & her actions are for show only.

Among Democratic voters, 69% believe it is important to deport criminal illegal immigrants. With Hispanics, it is 77%, and for black voters, 71%. Add in liberals, at 62%, and younger voters, at 70%, and it’s pretty clear that the pro-immigration message embraced by Democratic leaders parading to Abrego Garcia’s jail in El Salvador isn’t working.

A drama-loving-racist, picking up where Jessie Jackson & Al Sharpton are leaving off.

Notably, the attacks on Trump by Democrats and liberal protesters haven't hurt the president's approval ratings much.

📊 Trump approval daily tracking

🟢 Approve: 52% (+6)

🔴 Disapprove: 46%

==============

Trump's approval trends

April 9: 47-52 (-5)

April 15: 50-49 (+1)

April 20: 52-46 (+6)

——@Rasmussen_Poll | 1,500 LV | 4/16-20 pic.twitter.com/Bmima13IJt

— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022)

In fact, the Democratic base is in more agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who told Trump in the Oval Office last week that a key to solving crime is locking up criminals.

During that meeting, Bukele said he was willing to accept even more illegal immigrants from the U.S., and told the president, “You cannot just, you know, free the criminals and think crime is going to go down magically, you have to imprison them so you can liberate 350 million Americans that are asking for the end of crime and the end of terrorism, and it can be done.”

Rasmussen asked likely voters if they agreed or disagreed with Bukele’s analysis, and 76% said they agreed. Even Hispanic voters agreed at 67%, black voters at 76%, and Democratic voters at 51%.

“Among voters who consider it ‘very important’ to deport illegal immigrants who commit crimes, 66% ‘strongly agree’ with Bukele’s quote about the need to ‘liberate’ Americans from crime,” Rasmussen said in its analysis.

The polling outfit added, “Majorities of every political category — 90% of Republicans, 69% of Democrats, and 76% of voters not affiliated with either major party — believe it is at least somewhat important that illegal immigrants who commit crimes in America should be deported.”

The Party of Deaf-Dumb-& Stupid; Obamanites doing the Puppeteer's will.

pope francis HAS DIED, vatican SAYS

The Devil in the flesh has died - THANK THE LORD 🙏

This wolf in sheep's clothing was another barak hussein obama in robes 🤬

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-full-breakdown-of-how-the-next-pope-is-picked/ar-AA1DjrL6?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=bea0c080dc554629da7e35b09874b6d2&ei=10

RAINY MORNING & DIRTY RICE EVENING; Ocean Park-WA

We went to bed last night listening to rain on the roof; and we woke to rain on the roof, this morning.

Hot ☕️ was most welcome.

Holland got a phone call this morning that took him into Seaview-WA after his morning cup of joy juice. While he was gone, I tidied our cozy nest - I know it will all be undone, again, before the day is out 🤦🏻‍♀️, but for a couple hours, I will know that that Independence's interior was tidy 😉

While I was sweeping the upper floor, my phone alerted me to incoming messages - I read & answered them when the sweeping of all rooms, on both floor levels, was finished:

Text from Sara.

My husband's text quickly followed Sara's …

Poor thing appears to be a Grey Whale; Seaview-WA

The Grey Whale: 

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_whale)

When my husband came back home around 2 PM, he said this grey whale's mouth was entangled with fishing net, when it washed up on the beach. The poor thing had probably starved to death 😢

It looked to be about a year old - and for the first time away from it's mother's guidance; so, I  thought that perhaps it had swam too close to the shoreline, and unwittingly got stranded. I did not like hearing that it had swam into a trawler's net, and it's mouth had been tangled with fishing net buoys - trapping it, in a death swim.

A Fishing Trawler Boat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishing_trawler#:~:text=A%20fishing%20trawler%20is%20a,midwater%20at%20a%20specified%20depth.

NO, I do not place animals above humans - but there should be a way to stop these trawler [casualties], while still allowing fishermen to make a profitable living.

The grey whale species make the farthest migration of any mammal, racking up an impressive 12,000 miles round trip! They feed in shallow waters along the pacific coastline, when they’re in their breeding grounds; this whale does not look breeding age … but, I am not a sea creature expert. However, it saddens me, just the same.

Around 3:15 PM, I started getting Supper underway.

For tonight's Supper, I wanted chicken livers - but I wanted to try something different than the way we've been eating them: the way they've been prepared is good, but I like variety … so, I made this dirty rice recipe with sautéed chicken livers 😁

This is a new recipe for both of us.

I've never eaten dirty rice before: but over the years, I have wanted to try it out. Tonight was going to be {the night} 👍

Holland has had it before with hamburger - and he of course tweaked the recipe quite a bit until it resembled a mish-mash casserole instead of a basic southern recipe 🤔

While it is true that "dirty rice" is normally made with hamburger … in my kitchen tonight, chicken livers was used; and I did a bit of my own recipe tweaking 😊👌

Pretty good - and Holland says, 'a repeat' ;-)

VAL'S DIRTY RICE Recipe ~serves 4

1 pound Chicken Livers, coarsely chopped * 1/2 tablespoon Vegetable Oil * 1/2 Onion, finely chopped (I used Red, because I like color in my world) * 2 Cloves garlic, minced * 1 c. raw White Rice * 2 cups Chicken Stock (I used homemade) * Salt (I used salt substitute) & grnd. Black Pepper to taste * dash of grnd. Cayenne Pepper

Ingredients.

1) Heat oil in a medium-sized cooking pot. Add onion, garlic, and livers - sauté, stirring constantly, until meat begins to brown, and vegetables soften: about 6 minutes.

Onion, Garlic, & chopped  chicken livers.

2) Add rice and gently stir mixture to thoroughly blend ingredients; then add the chicken stock, & spices. Bring mixture to a boil; then, reduce heat to a simmer & cover with a lid wrapped in a bandana (attach to lid handle with a hair band): cook for about 20 minutes - or until the rice has absorbed the liquid.

White Rice, & spices.

Add chicken stock …

Lid & lower heat to simmer.

Remove from heat, and serve.

It was good, but a little bland - and the chicken livers were kinda pungent; next time I make this recipe, I will take a page out of my husband's culinary experimental notes 🤠, & add more spices … and some veggie and fruit side dishes 😘