Than and Now - The Lake

A month ago Lisa and I bushwhacked into a lake to camp.Last week, Nonna and I went into the same lake but it had greatly changed. These two pictures were taken from nearly the same spot.Our old underwater footprints now had flowers growing in them.
The osprey and her chick were gone. The lake is now mostly a quiet meadow...
with water only where it had been over Lisa and my head
McKenzie went for a swimNonna and I hiked aboutEven without a deep lake, it is still a beautiful spot.

Nonna's Pictures

Nonna just sent me pictures she took during our trip.

McKenzie and me at the McKenzie Pass observatory The view (North and Middle Sister) from where I was sitting in the previous picture. McMenzie's namesake river from our campsite

Then and Now

In September 2001 I took 5 month old McKenzie to the CCC Observatory on the Old McKenzie Pass. This is an annual excursion of ours but I have not had someone along with a camera until our trip two days ago. Darn - I did not have the older picture with me to pose the shot. The butte over my head was on fire last week. There still was smoke coming from the butte to the left - which is the butte to the far right of the older photo. This fire threatened Nonna and my annual backpacking trip making the decision to stay at the resort a no-brainer.

Never Too Old For S'mores

Nonna, McKenzie and I took our annual fall camping trip over the past three days. This year instead of backpacking in 15 miles or so, we "camped" at a hot springs resort and day hiked. We both agreed spending time reading good books; lounge chairs around the camp fire; eating S'mores without guilt; soaking in the hot springs pool; and just relaxing was on order this year.

Taking potty walks with McKenzie was a delight. Even though it is the end of September, the gardens were spectacular.I took this picture to show our campsite from across the river but the echinacea stole the scene.Home on the river's edge. Not too bad.The hot spring fed swim pool right on the river's edge.The resort has many great examples of chainsaw art. Morning coffee and garden stroll.

Willow and Cora Visit

This evening Cora and Willow came for a visit. Five excited Chinooks running everywhere proved too much to photograph together. However, I was able to capture Cora mastering the dog walk - with a little canine supervision.

Poor Inquisitive Koyuk

After 8 days in the 90's the weather has finally become more seasonable. I am taking advantage of the cooler temps to do heavy-work landscaping. This morning while moving the rocks from my bone pile, I uncovered a yellow jacket hive. I wasn't stung but curious Koyuk, checking for newly exposed amphibians, had her face in the wrong place at the wrong time. After giving her Benadryl, I wanted to take a picture of the poor girl. All of the dogs rushed the door and started a rousting game of Chinook tag. The Benadryl has not slowed Koyuk at all. Wanting to be able to observe her more closely for worsening allergic reactions, I decided to take break from the tractor and sit to blog the pictures. I love watching the dogs play and trying different camera settings.

All dogs are now asleep on the floor around me.

Cedar and Koyuk

With Koyuk here, I realized that I have not posted the official pictures from the Chinook National Championship. The judge is holding the impressive trophy Cedar won as National Champion of Champions. At the judge's feet is the keeper trophy made from my design for the Chinook National Specialty Show. Cedar, me and daughter Koyuk with our their show ribbons

Naked Plums

We had blissfully forgotten how little sleep occurs the first night of a dog visit. The dogs are so excited and full of themselves. The visiting dog has different potty habits and I am always unsure if they will go out to the kennel; wait by a door; or just give up waiting and pee wherever. Are they pawing me awake and giving me endless kisses because they need to go out; miss their owner or are glad to be with me? Add to that the fact that Koyuk is in season and horny Willy has totally lost his brain. All night Koyuk would jump on the bed, paw, give kisses and then snuggle down only to be followed by Willy with other snuggling on his mind. Both would summarily get shoved off only to be repeated a few minutes later.

Koyuk Cedar and KoyukDave and I got up exhausted but as this was a slated honey-do day we mindlessly charged through it while the dogs napped in the shade. Our first chore was plum tree pruning.

overgrown plum tree Naked plum tree. Amazing what you can do with a pole saw.Once again the temperature was 90 degrees. We stopped at one plum tree; took a break to cool off; did some less physical chores and later in the day started on the landscaping around the satellite dish. Dave broke into my stash of waterfall-of-my-dreams boulders and moved some to form what will be a camouflage and keep the satellite dish from being backed into parking area garden. In the meadow below is my even much larger burn pile.At the end of the day, the dogs awoke and let us know it was time to head in to dinner. Update on the naked tomatoes: no sunburns yet but some are starting to turn red.

One Lucky Fox and Other Wildlife

This morning I got up early (for me - I am retired after all) in anticipation of of Koyuk arriving for her visit around 0700. After feeding the dogs, I rushed outside to check the live trap. There was another unhappy fox hissing at me. What to do? I could not take the fox in the critter taxi all the way over the ridge to the back pond. Dave had already left for the Duck game festivities. Koyuk would be arriving soon and her owner had to get back home for her bridal shower. I was also concerned about the fire danger of a hot muffler on the overgrown trail. Setting the trap was majorly dumb. I did it last night out of habit and frustration with all the blueberry and plum seed poop left each morning in the gardens. Guess the smart thing would be to ignore the garden raids until we get rain. Lucky lady fox not only got a feast of marshmallows but set free to eat my plums and blueberries again.This morning was a mini wilderness adventure. On the way to get the newspaper I saw a ferret, ducks on the front pond and a turkey hen with a late, possibly second, covey of 2 chicks. I have never seen foxes or ferrets around here. I wonder if they were drawn in with the profusion of wild turkeys and voles (along with my productive blueberry patch). The turkey numbers have greatly decreased during the past two years. We went from routinely seeing 30-40 turkeys at any one time in the yard to 3 or 4. We had no chicks earlier this year. The vole holes also seem less numerous. Our neighborhood association has received reports of several daylight sightings of a cougar with her cub, bears and bobcats. I wonder what these predators are going to do when the small game is gone?

Hot, Muggy and Smoky

Another 90 degree day. There was so much forest fire smoke in the air that the light was a dusty orange haze. Not wanting to disturb the birds on the pond, I took these pictures from my bedroom window.Even the Jasmine bush can't overpower the smoke smell. The outside atmosphere is getting pretty unhealthy. The dogs and I laid laid low - well as low as cleaning bathrooms with three dogs cramming in beside me. Actually, can't say that the inside atmosphere was that much better.
No sunburned tomatoes to report yet.

Summertime and Naked Tomatoes

It's finally summer! Today was the 6th in a row day over 90 degrees. Maybe not spectacular for the rest of the nation but our summer has hovered in the 60's. The dogs and I went for our first pond swim together yesterday. No pictures - I have gone through too many cameras (4) while around water.
Today I decided that I would help Ma Nature ripen the tomatoes by cutting away all flowers and unnecessary foliage. My thought (no science behind this) is that the plants will put all the reserves that were going into the jungle of leaves into the green tomatoes. A little fresh air and direct sun couldn't hurt either. Do tomatoes sunburn? Just maybe that is really why they turn red and mine are still green. They have had so little warm sol this summer.

there are tomatoes in there just waiting to ripennope - still too much foliageWell maybe I got a little carried away, but when they do ripen, they will easy to find and pick. The greens from just 9 plants. I have 10 more to go.today's harvestPictures I did not get: the huge bag of zucchini I snuck into Dave's car for him to take to work; the four pints of green beans (under the tomatoes) I put up; the 5 racks of tomatoes currently drying in the food dryer; and the nice glass of wine I am finally relaxing with.