Sunriver Boat Landing #2: Haper Bridge

One of the small boat landings that I visited recently in Sunriver was Harper Bridge.  Located on the Big Deschutes River nearly 2 miles from Sunriver on your way to Mt. Bachelor, there is a primitive launch on one side of the bridge and a slightly larger one on the other side for small trailers.  There is a sign that says this boat landing is provided for those with a 97707 (Sunriver) zipcode only.  Parking is limited, but no forest pass is required.

I learned that this is a great place to begin a float trip that you can take in your canoe/kayak/inner-tube/water-board (or whatever you have).  You can take out at the Sunriver Marina, over by the airport.  That trip takes around 1.5 hours.  There is a YouTube video at the bottom of this post showing the route via airplane.  

Or, you can keep going and take out at the boat landing at Benham Falls.  There is alternative site in Sunriver not far from Benham Falls which I wrote about the the other day.  "Just Click Here" to see more about that. That trip is 10 miles long and takes around 3 hours to complete from Harper Bridge.

I took these pictures a few weeks ago, when was a controlled burn going on across the river from the boat launch.

Mt. Bachelor still has a bit of snow on it.

To learn more about floating the Big Deschutes, here is a comprehensive 56-page report, "Deschutes River Guide".

Here is the video, it is short and sweet, and shows you how very windy the river is in this area:

To find out more about fishing in this area, exactly how to get there and some alternative boat landings in the surrounding area, just "CLICK HERE".

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Sunday Update: May 5th - 12th

Yay!  Things have finally settled down at work and I am able to look on the bright side and enjoy myself.  How lucky am I anyway, to live and work just a few short miles away from Mt. Bachelor in beautiful Central Oregon?  To spend my Friday mornings taking nature walks with great company, and to get paid for hanging out with little kids?  (I know, I know, last week I was wondering how in the world I traded my life of semi-retirement for being worn ragged by it all.  Somehow, my perspective has changed this week and my attitude is much better.  I think a lot of it is that we now have a permanent director, and she is doing a great job.  The stress of not having a leader was really getting to me.)

The kids don't seem so little in person.  Cary said, "It seems so weird that they are so small and yet have such powerful personalities."  But, believe me, they do indeed.

Earlier in the week, we had a few evenings involving thunderstorms.  I think that I took these pictures last Sunday, inbetween storms.  At one point the sky was nearly yellow, but I didn't venture outside in time to capture those shots.  Both Cary and my friend Bunny mentioned looking at a bright rainbow when lightening appeared to hit the rainbow.  The rainbow stayed in place and didn't explode, as we might guess from watching video games or movies.

Cary has been working hard on the yard, and it is looking very pretty.  I'll take some pictures of it soon.  Our trees are blooming.  I want to get some chaise lounges for our front patio, so that I can read more comfortably out there.

Well, that is about it for this week.  I am so happy to be back into a regular routine and have a bit more energy for cleaning house and blogging.  I haven't began cooking yet though; one step at a time.  

I am very behind on visiting your blogs, and am going to get as much done on that as I can today.  We are going to take my MIL to church this morning, and we won't be late this time!  Then, we'll go out to breakfast.

My Mom is coming over to finish up the cabin on Thursday, and we'll treat her to dinner soon.

Happy Mother's Day!

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Tucker the Turtle Helps Children with Self-Regulation of Emotions:

Hi!  I posted this on my Comfort and Joy Childcare blog this morning and decided to also put it on here just in case you guys might enjoy it. 

"Tucker the Turtle Helps Children 

with Self-Regulation of Emotions"

Now back in the classroom after eight years out of it,  I have been busy learning about what is new since I left.  I spent the first weekend in May attending at NAEYC convention in Bend, Oregon and received a kick-start on teaching tools and ideas.
Tucker the Turtle is a big deal right now, teaching children how to stop before reacting by taking three deep breaths, going into their shell, and thinking of options other than lashing out at their friends.  Once thinking of another option, the kids learn to ask themselves, "Is it kind?  Is it safe?  How will it make other people feel?"
 



I went online to find out more, made myself a notebook by printing off what I found.  I also went to the local toy store and bought some turtles, and then assembled a basket that is all ready to use during circle time.





These guys are adorable, and are easy to find right now.  I named the big one Tucker, the little one Teri and the one in his shell Timmy.  You can also find a turtle hand-puppet to use instead, as the woman in the video below did.

Here is one example of a lesson plan that you can use if you want to: 

Source: University of Wisconsin, 4K Leaps

I tried this for the first time with three kids yesterday.  They were very receptive.  My group consisted of a 2 1/2 year-old, a 3 1/2 year-old and a 5 year-old.  First, we practiced our deep breathing technique.  I used an artificial flower and an unlit candle.  All you do is smell the flower and then blow out the candle.  Easy-peasy, for the older two.  The little one tried her best to smell the flower, but she kept blowing on it instead.  Sometimes I still forget how the easiest things to me might be the hardest ones for somebody else.

We practiced three deep breaths, curling into a ball, thinking of an option that wouldn't hurt anybody, and then re-read the story.  We also have a poster on our circle time board that shows a variety of options:

1.  Play together

2. Share

3. Say, "Please stop."

4. Ignore

5. Get a timer.

6. Trade

7. Wait and take turns.

8. Ask nicely.

9. Say, "Please."

10. Get a teacher.   

Here is a YouTube video that gives more ideas on how to teach the turtle technique: 

I hope that this helps! ~ Kathy Matthews

Links:

Print Out Tucker the Turtle Books Easily

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Sunriver Boat Landings, Post #1:

As promised,  here are some more pretty pictures of Sunviver boat landings. This one is on the Big Deschutes, on a takeout gravel road between circle 9 and circle 7 (very near circle 7).  There is a small parking lot, port-a-potty, and a hiking trail that leads you to Benham Falls.  It is peaceful and small.  

During the summer, this is where the guided raft trips from the Sunriver Lodge take out their rafts.  I would not recommended this spot for swimming or wading though.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Update for the Week of April 29th through May 5th:

What a week.  Did I start out last Sunday's post that way too?  Well, lucky me, two weeks in a row!  Everything seems to be going at such a fast pace right now.

The Highlights

• I got sick again with a bad cold and sometimes had stomach related symptoms.  I went to work on Monday, and came home after only two hours.  I went back to work on Tuesday and am still dragging.  I have pretty much lost my voice too.  

• Last week, we got a new director (this one permanent) and a new teacher.  Lots of changes, but nothing new there.  Over the past 6 weeks that I have worked there, change has been constant.  Hopefully things will settle down now.  It has all worn me out.  I am appreciating the new friends that I have made at my work, but I miss my old life.  Very much.  

• I only have one day off from work related things this week, and that is today.  I did spend two days at the college attending excellent classes in a conference held by the local chapter of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).

• I met some amazing people at the conference, and reconnected with many of my Head Start co-workers and others that I hadn't seen since 2005.  I will be writing up what I learned and putting that information on my Comfort and Joy Childcare blog as soon as I can.  In my "spare" time, I will be working on filling in the blanks over there. 

Source:  Photo by Angi Grayham, taken at Gordy's Truck Stop

• Our town, La Pine, had a huge fire yesterday, along with 17 smaller ones.  The wind was blowing hard all day, and it was coming from the northwest, instead of from the south.  It caused trees to have to bend in a different way than they were used to, and many of them snapped in half, taking power lines down with them and causing fires.  Even before the fires began, there was widespread power outage.  Being 7 miles from town, we were not right in the middle of anything and did not even lose power.

• The largest fire, dubbed The Burgess Road Fire, burned around 100 acres, almost made it to the downtown area.  First on the scene were our nephew, Jimmy Matthews, his in-laws, Mike and Max Shields and our friend George Green ... they were the volunteers with a road-grader who carved out a fire-line boundary.  It worked for the fire on the ground, but the wind was blowing fire from the top of one tree to another and kept spreading quickly.  Firefighters from all over the Central Oregon region pitched in and it is nearly out now; there are just a few hotspots left to mop up.  Many thanks go out to the firefighters and volunteers for saving our town.

• That fire began near our new school, Rostand Elementary, and then burned between Highway 97 and the newer Crescent Creek Subdivision.  The subdivision and the senior living complex were both evacuated for several hours.  Here is a link if you want to know more details about the fires:  Z21 News Story About The Burgess Road Fire in La Pine.

• You can't reason with wind or water, but many times you can get out of the way of fire, even if your stuff can't.  I have a list on the wall by our front door reminding me what I want to load into the trailer if we ever do have to evacuate and still have time to pack. Cary added his own wishes to it yesterday.   I am thinking of buying about 5 good laundry baskets to use for transporting stuff from the house to the 5th wheel to make things easier.

•  I made it through A to Z for the third year in a row!  Well, I had no doubts that I would finish, since I had done it all ahead of time.  But still.  I appreciate all of the new blog friends that I made, and all of my new followers.  And, I appreciate my old friends that made sure to stop by and check on me often. 

• I now have an hour for lunch on weekdays, and have been driving around Sunriver taking pictures during that time.  I have two new blog posts coming up soon about some boat landings that I have found.  Here are a few of the pictures for now:

This boat landing/parking area is down the dirt road right before Circle 7 when you are coming from Circle 9.  You can park your car there and hike into Benham Falls from here.  I haven't done that yet, but this is a very nice and quiet spot.

Harper's Bridge Boat Landing.  You can only use it if you have a Sunriver zipcode, apparently.

There was a controlled burn going on that day.  You can see Mt. Bachelor and the Three Sisters in the background.

I guess that is enough for now.  I hope that you are all doing well and that you have a wonderful week!

Hugs to you,

Kathy M.

Update:  I took these on Sunday, the day after the fire.  It doesn't look like so much here, but it must have been during the event.  It is a good thing that they had recently gone through and thinned out the trees and underbrush.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.