Banks Lake - part two

Sunday, we made our way into Hidden Bay through the small opening you can see in the vegetation in the center of the picture. The channel is very shallow and we almost had to get out of the boat and push it into this lovely secluded quiet bay, did not catch any fish in here, but did enjoy the tranquility.





Yes, I did out fish MrC this time. He said this is the largest yellow perch he has ever seen. I caught it using a piece of night crawler, which I now cut in half and thread on the hook, without thinking "how gross"











When fishing for bass I like to use one of these lizards. It is made of a rubbery substance, thank goodness, I could not bait a hook with a live one.











Here are all the yellow perch we caught.













MrC cleaning, and preparing the fish.

I can tell you, after dipping them in a batter made with some pancake mix we had in the RV, and deep frying them in oil, they were so tasty, better than any fish I have had in a restaurant.









Saturday afternoon we all gathered for our potluck dinner.
My goodness, we had some awesome food on the tables.







There was BBQ chicken, fresh fried fish, salads, beans, various casserole dishes, snacks, dips, wine, beer, desserts and much more.







Our last day at the lake I woke up at 5am and decided to watch the sunrise over the lake. I am so glad I did not crawl back into bed as I would have missed a most beautiful morning.
It was incredibly calm and quiet. I heard quail calling from across the water, their voices clear in the silence and as the sun rose, other birds joined in, making a whole chorus of bird song.




We left Banks Lake around 10am for our long drive home, a pity we could not have stayed another few days, but work was calling our names.

We pulled into a rest area with a view of Ross dam.
The lake was a beautiful shade of green, but, brrrr! there was a very cold wind blowing down off those snow covered mountains, I did not spend too much time taking pictures.



One last picture before going back to the nice warm RV.

See the rocky outcrop on the left, outside the fence, there had been a teenage boy standing out on the very edge of that outcrop many hundred feet above the lake below, while his parents encouraged him closer to the edge while taking his picture. How stupid and unthinking some folks are. What if that rock had given away under his feet, or he tripped. it does not bear thinking about.

That is all for this year, now we look forward to next years trip

Bank's Lake Trip 2007 - part one

Thursday evening our Fishin' Club held it's monthly meeting and as MrC is "The Prez" we had to attend. After the meeting we decided to leave for eastern Washington that night, so we loaded the few remaining things in the RV and headed out at 10pm.
The drive was fairly uneventful, MrC doing the driving and my task was keeping a sharp eye out for those stupid deer which like to jump out in front of moving vehicles.

We were somewhere between Twisp and Pateros when I yelled "WOW! look at that" I was so startled I could not say the words MOUNTAIN LION. Yes, a HUGE mountain lion jumped up over the guard rail, and in three bounds was across the road just feet in front of the RV's grill, up the bank, and out of sight on the other side of the road. You can imagine our absolute surprise and delight to witness such an event. How many times in your lives have you seen a mountain lion in the wild? and, so close

Remember click on the pictures to enlarge.


We had no sooner launched our boat, set up the RV in our camping site, than MrC was tying lures on the fishing lines, loading all the gear in the boat and we motored out on the calm water for our first fishing expedition.







The fishin' Club reserves all the campsites along the lake every year. It is the best location, and convenient to be able to tie the boats up right in front of our campsites, and of course we have the best view of the lake.






The launch facilities are superb as is the camp store. You can find any kind of fishing gear for this lake, and all the information you could possibly need right here. Dave, who works in the store is a wealth of fishing information and if you follow his advise you are sure to bring home many fish.






Two couples rented a "party barge" and were seen to have a fun time fishing the lake. Don't know how much partying was going on, we were too busy fishing in other parts of the lake to pay attention. *grin*





The utter peace and quiet in the inlets is so calming after the hectic everyday life back home. This particular day was very calm, the water mirrored the surrounding trees, vegetation, and the sky above. Birds of all kinds called and sang interrupted only by the
plop of our lures hitting the water.
Ahhh! life is good.







The gentle breeze which comes and goes, wafts the perfume from one of the trees, which has white fluffy blossoms, all around. A very pleasant light fragrance.
At first I thought it was the wild roses I was smelling, but in several of the other bays there were no roses, only the white blossoms which I have not been able to discover the name of as yet.








Caleb has visitors in the tree he had climbed. Sadie, the smaller dog, and Haley scrambled up the trunk to sit with Caleb.
I managed to grab my camera in time to catch the pooches before they got down. Such a cute picture of boy with dogs.











Of course what is a camping trip without a hot dog roast and toasted marshmallows for dessert.
MrC is an expert when it come to toasting marshmallows to just the right shade of brown and gooyeness, and inhaling them right off the end of the toasting stick (a well seasoned branch off one of our plum trees)











We enjoyed watching two families of geese swim by as we munched on our hot dogs.
The parent geese were very busy keeping the 15 or so goslings close by and out of harms way.








MrC with a huge bass on. Look at the bend in the rod, just how large is that fish anyway?












The bass was a good size so was the piece of branch the fish had managed to get the line tangled up with.
No wonder MrC had quite a time reeling him in.









At one point in time, MrC was having trouble with his fishing reel, so we pulled up to the rocky shoreline where I held onto a overhanging tree branch to stop us drifting, while MrC worked on the reel.
I am fascinated by nature and my eyes are forever searching out interesting things to see.
As I gripped the tree branch I took notice of the tree growing on this rocky outcrop. Look how the roots have grown down into the cracks, It makes you wonder how the tree survives with seemingly no nourishment, but obviously there is enough food for it to grow.

MrC has more on the outing HERE




That is all for today, come back tomorrow for part two.

Amazingly Simple Home Remedies

1. If you are choking on an ice cube, simply pour a cup of
boiling water down your throat. Presto! The blockage will
instantly remove itself.

2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting
someone else to hold while you chop.

4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself
and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in
your veins. Remember to use a timer.

5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will
prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after
you hit the snooze button.

6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives
-- then you will be afraid to cough.

7. You only need two tools in life: WD-40 and duct tape. If
it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't
move and does, use the duct tape.

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know
them.


Thanks to Robyn

We Are Back

I woke up at 5am this morning and decided to spend our last morning outside watching the sunrise. Many of the other campers left for home yesterday so there were just three of us left at the end of the campground where most of us stay.

5:30 this morning, found the camp ground gilded by the rising sun. As you can see, the water was mirror smooth and not another soul was stirring yet. (oops, I lied. If you click on the picture you can see Caleb, out neighbor, wandering around in front of the trailor. They were getting ready to leave)
It was a wonderful feeling to soak up the perfect peace of a fresh new morning.
Well, I am exhausted, time to get some shuteye and get rested for my day at work tomorrow.
I plan on posting more pictures tomorrow evening, so come back to see more of our weekend at Bank's Lake.

Coulee Playland, here we come.

Our RV is nearly packed and ready for our four days away from the daily grind.
Friday bright and early, that is, as early as I can get MrC out of bed, we will hit the road for Bank's lake. This is the Fishin' club's annual trek to Coulee Playland campground, and this year it looks as though it may be the largest turnout ever.

I have prepared food for our stay including Kowloon chicken and rice for the potluck on Saturday. The cooked rice has been sealed in those "boil in the bags" and can be readily reheated. The chicken, which actually, is going to be cooked in my slow cooker will be done tomorrow. I discovered crock pot cooker bags which makes the cleanup a breeze ( they are similar to Reynold's oven bags) Hopefully I will be able to lift the bag of cooked chicken out of the crock pot in one piece, put the whole thing into a container which will fit into the small fridge in the RV. I will take the crock pot with us, as I can put the bag of chicken back into it, turn it on low and it will heat through while we are out fishing, and be ready for the potluck in the afternoon upon our return. Anyhow, that is the plan.
Tomorrow I finish up preparing the rest of the camp out food, probably should have cookies, and some other treats. Of course, I have MrC's Favorites, some really great Johnsonville "Beddar with cheddar" smoked sausage, chicken with gouda and apple sausage, for me, and for dessert some big fat marshmallows to toast over the coals. Hmmm, I should go downstairs and bring up a bottle of wine to take along, to wash it all down with.

I will take many pictures to show you what a grand time we have on these outings. Perhaps, I will have a few pictures for you on Tuesday night, depends on how tired I am after travelling back on Monday and working all Tuesday.

BIRD FEEDER

This hits the nail on the head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An interesting parallel...

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with
seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quite, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let's see . our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen.

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties. Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder????

Thanks to Bob & Lorna

This is why

There has not been too much time for blogging the last couple of days as my time has been spent outdoors in the garden.

Our weather has warmed up at last and it makes for a pleasant time pulling weeds, making a run to the garden center, and planting all the new plants. To see pictures (three posts) click on this BUTTON

I think, tomorrow I may enjoy a day of rest.

It's raining gold

This morning I had to drop my car off at the mechanics, so while I waited for my ride home, I walked across the road to the garden center.

This is one time I was happy to have a camera in my purse. Oh! what I wouldn't do to have two arches covered in ?? I stopped to call the garden center to ask the name of the plant. They are actually Golden Rain trees trained to grow over the arches.
Hmmmmm! I wonder if MrC would build me two arches, or I would settle for just one.

TICK WARNING!

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e-mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Thanks Roxie for the chuckle

Flown the coop, umm! I mean, the nest

The earth seemed like it was holding it's breath as I quietly walked our yard very early this morning. The only sounds came from the birds. Robins were singing their love songs, Chickadees were chatting around the feeders, and it sounded like a Jay, across the pasture, calling a warning of a predator in the vicinity .

For weeks, I have been keeping an eye on the Robin family who lived in this nest, hoping to catch a glimpse of the youngsters as they learned to fly . But sometime, the last few days when I was busy, the chicks left the nest. I guess you have to be up very early to see such an event.

How gorgeous Sighhhh!

A few weeks ago I took myself for a drive to wander around Meerkerk Rhododendon Gardens. I was there before peak bloom season, but all the same I did manage to see some spectacular early blooms.
I will just post many pictures and no chatter to distract you from the beauty.

Squeaky clean

Last evening as I left work, a few large raindrops splattered onto my jacket as I walked to my car, and by the time I had driven about halfway home I had to turn the wipers on so I could see. As I drove up the road to our home it really started pelting down. Pulling up into the driveway as near to the front door of the house as I could, without actually driving inside, wish I could have, I decided to sit tight until the deluge passed. I sat, waiting, waiting, waiting, finally said to myself, "Oh nuts, what's a little rain? make a run for it" Pulling the hood of my jacket over my head, I made my run for the front door. Amazing how wet a person can get running just about ten feet.

This morning it has dawned bright and clear, not a rain cloud in sight.
I love to get outside early in the morning after a rainstorm as the whole world is shining like a bright new silver dollar. It seems as though all the birds are singing out their happiness and joy for this bright new day and the mist is rising in the warmth from the rising sun. Robins, especially appear to enjoy the days after a good shower, as they all congregate, with much splashing and chirping in the mud puddle, you can see on the right, for their daily bath.

The garden has been thoroughly watered and washed squeaky clean, and many plants left with diamond drops glistening in the sun. What a beautiful day to enjoy.