Meili-TheWanderingCat

Salutations one and all. So glad to be with you and to share another fun adventure. Today I'll tell you about a fun city park that also serves an important function for the environment. My human and I visited Talking Waters Gardens in Albany, Oregon. Every city collects water after use (washing our clothes, dishes, and even showering), treats it to make it safe, then puts it back into the environment. The city of Albany does this and discharges the cleaned water into the Willamette River. The problem is, the water is too hot after treatment to go back into the river without effecting that environment. What to do? What to do?  They could hold the water in large holding tanks till it cools. Boring! Or they could build a series of rectangular ponds to push the water through to cool it. Functional but still boring. They did something far more clever and a lot more fun. They built an artificial wetland and turned that into a park!   They built three sets of treatment wetlands, e...

Greetings one and all! Hope you are having a great day. I am. Why? Because SPRING IS HERE! Or at least on its way. That doesn't mean the rain is through in Oregon however. But it is slowing down. There are still some days that we must get creative when planning our adventures. That is why my human and I took a trip to Shonnard's Nursery and Florist in Corvallis, Oregon.  Shonnard's is first and foremost a garden store and nursery. They have everything for your garden, from tools, like rakes and shovels, to bulbs, seeds,   lots of plants, and even trees. So many options. And don't get me started on all the flowers.   Yum, these smell nice. Plus you can get fountains and waterfalls for your garden.                     Lots and lots of yard art.         ...

Salutations my friends. Hope all is well. My human and I have gone on another adventure and I would like to share it with you. We went on a hike in the woods of Lithia Park. Usually, if you want to take a hike in the woods, you have to get out of the city and drive to the wilderness. At least a little bit of a drive. A city park is usually well manicured with paved walkways. Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon goes against both these notions. It is a walk through the woods on a dirt path right in downtown Ashland!  Ashland, Oregon is a town of just over 21,000 people 16 miles north of the California boarder. It is the home of Southern Oregon University, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, multiple wineries, and Lithia Park. The park is 100 acres of wooded trails. It also has a band shell, a playground, tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, a Japanese garden, and a couple of duck ponds. But it's most used feature is the trail that weaves through the woods as it fol...