Community Love During Beach Disaster

On New Year's Day a section of privately owned dock decided it was sick and tired of never being allowed to leave home so it hatched a plan to leave on a little trip to see the world. With its two best boat friends attached securely to its sides, the dock set off for the open sea. It wasn't long before the Coast Guard came and rescued the two boats from this crazy journey but the dock was left to its own devices and days later it washed ashore on a small beach surrounded by cliffs. The ocean had been cruel and by the time it could turn back, it had been ripped into five large pieces.

It sounds like there is some disagreement as to how this was allowed to transpire and I don't know the whole story but somewhere along the way there was a failure. That dock never should have been left to drift. There was and is outrage that this happened but that was pushed aside as Lighthouse Beach was facing an even larger problem. As the ocean waves rolled in and repeatedly hammered the dock, the styrofoam began to come apart. What was once a large piece of polystyrene foam on the underside of the dock became millions of tiny white balls, blowing in the wind, polluting the beach, and threatening the well being of local wildlife.

Even though the circumstances are awful and the task seems insurmountable, I am again reminded of what a wonderful community I live in. Volunteers have been out there rain or shine bagging foam for weeks now. The local brewery posted about it on their facebook page and last Sunday there were 40+ volunteers on the beach with colanders from their kitchens sifting sand. People were making new friends, sharing stories, brainstorming ideas on how to do this more efficiently, and just loving on their community. Although I was only able to participate for a little while before my pain level became more than I could bear, seeing our community in action, coming together, and fighting for our beautiful public lands is something that will never get old. Thanks for adding yet another reason to be proud of you, Coos Bay.


Click here for photos of the devastation this has caused to Lighthouse Beach.

If anyone is available Sunday 2/16 from 10-12 volunteers will be at it again and 7 Devils Brewing Co. has donated a keg to help along the effort. Bring your colander and a cup for the beer. 

An Idiot's Adventure in Stubbornness.

My body is pretty great about telling me when it has reached its limit. In my healthy days I could continue to push past the warning and still function. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. When my body says it's done, it means I have approximately two minutes to sit or end up in a heap on the floor. It might happen after I've unloaded just half of the dishwasher or I might find myself having to sit and do breathing exercises in the grocery store parking lot to keep the pain at bay. I've learned the hard way that ignoring one of these warnings results in extreme pain for the rest of the day, if not multiple days. Even though I know all this, my stubborn brain will sometimes ignore it in favor of continuing whatever it is I'm doing. In short, I am an idiot.

The other day I had an adventure in ridiculousness. I was heading out to help with a beach cleanup effort but when I arrived there was nowhere to park. After driving around a few times I finally decided to park alongside the road. Everything looked fine but since my brain doesn't work anymore, I forgot to take into account that it had rained the day before and it had rained a lot. As soon as I pulled over I knew I had made a terrible mistake. The right side of my car immediately began to sink. The grass turned into a soppy muddy mess. I couldn't help but laugh as it was just so typical of me and my car to end up in some silly predicament.

I told myself I was brilliant for having worn rubber boots, exited the car, and got to work collecting small limbs from fallen trees. I stuffed them under my tires and gave it another go but I couldn't get any traction as the branches just sank into the mud too. As luck would have it, I was parked across from a State Parks maintenance shop and someone happened to be there working. I asked if I could borrow a few pieces of wood to try to get my car unstuck but in true Park Ranger fashion he insisted on helping me. He took the front tire and I worked on the back but forward or backward, it made no difference; I was stuck.

Just as we were about to give up, a lady who had passed in her jeep turned around and asked if I needed a pull. Ranger Ted ran back to his shop to loan us a chain and after a couple tries, some wood under the tires, me giving it gas in reverse, Tracy pulling with her Jeep, and Ted pushing from the front, we were finally able to get my car out. If I could've made a cake appear out of thin air I would've thrown them both a party, not just for helping dig me out but also for lying through their teeth about how it happens all the time.

At that point a little voice told me to put my ass back in the car and head home. I, of course, told the voice to shut up. After all, I had driven all the way out there and spent 45 minutes digging my car out of a mud hole, there was no way in hell I wasn't following through. That was on Sunday. As I'm writing this it's Wednesday evening and I've barely left the couch in that time except to hobble around in pain. I'm wondering just how thick I am and exactly how many times my body is going to have to beat me into submission before a little of this stubbornness wears off.