A slight detour.........

......from the trip - since I haven't been too good at getting it all on here :( We decided to take one last camping trip, since the weather is going to be turning.
One of our very favorite places to camp and kayak is Hosmer Lake - up in the Cascade range south of the Three Sisters and just west of Mt Bachelor. The lake itself is kind of hour-glass shaped with a boat launch on the south end. The two large portions of the lake are connected by a narrow channel which winds through the reeds. There are 2 campgrounds - very primitive - no water, vault toilets, but they have large wonderful sites and nice people camp there because Hosmer is #1-electric motors only (and there are very few), #2-fly fishing only, #3-catch and release for the Atlantic Salmon (the only place in Oregon), #4-prime kayaking territory.
We got there Monday morning and found our favorite site open - next to the trail that leads to a small dock on the canal portion of the lake. We unloaded and set up the tent - yes, tent! We are really roughing it for this trip.
Then we headed out for an afternoon paddle. That is South Sister in the background.
And Mt Bachelor without snow. This is the primo skiing area in the state. Dry snow and lots of it. I used to ski here - before too many knee injuries made me give it up :(The next morning, we went out early to check out the birds and fish - and dragon flies - making whoopee?The weather was beginning to change - more clouds, but still warm. I took a (walking) trail which goes north along the channel. Beautiful view of South Sister. The trail was about 1 1/2 miles, cut up through the forest among a large amount of blow down. Abby enjoyed the walk.
And, speaking of Abby - she sure did get dirty! She loved chasing the chipmonks through the trees. We never have to worry about her catching one - they are MUCH faster than she is!As I mentioned above, the campground is rather primitive. The picnic tables and fire pits are the only amenities. This site has 2 site # signs, though. Curious. The only one that had 2. And # 13, too. Hmmmm.........During the summer prime time, there is a campground host on duty. His name is Max Peel and he has been there for as long as I can remember. Seems like I once read an article about him stating that he has been there every summer for something like 20 some years. (I looked, but couldn't find any info on him) He brings up a bunch of canoes when the lake is accessible in the late spring/early summer and rents them out, donating the $ to his church. He has quite a neat campsite - across from ours. This is his built up campfire pit. This is a structure he has built - covers it with tarps.
And, another paddle as the sun was going down............
Up early on Wednesday - very cold! Dean built a fire and we sat around to warm up for a while. Abby stayed where it was warm - on Dean's bed! We took our down comforter in case it got REALLY cold.
I paddled down the outlet channel to see if I could spot some otters - no luck. Mt Bachelor, again, in the background. This part of the lake is pretty sterile - no fish and only the grasses and reeds along the shore. The north end of the lake is similar - very shallow and warmer water. There is very limited access to the lake because of the grasses and reeds, so a canoe or kayak is the way to see it. Paddling through the channel, the water is so clear that you can see hundreds of fish. Also common are bald eagles, osprey, lots and lots of birds, deer, and elk.
This is the gate controlling the flow out of the lake. The lava rock dams the lake and the water flows through the rocks to the area shown below, then disappears into the lava rocks until it reappears at Lava Lake, several miles to the south. This is the beginning of the Deschutes River, I believe.
This is Broken Top, which is to the SE of South Sister
Abby is waiting on the dock for Dean to come back from fishing.
Here he comes paddling up the narrow channel to the dock.
While there, we located a Geocache. For those who don't know about geocaching, it is a fun "sport" Using a handheld GPS, you find specific locations by longitude and latitude. The sites are listed on the website. After you locate your target, you log in and report it on the website. People leave various things in the container at the site, depending on it's size. This one was large - an ammo box. Some are very small, like a film cannister (remember those? before digital.....), and some even smaller - micro. Dean found this one hidden in the lava rocks. In the photo on the right is what the location looked like.












So, we had a good time, I read a long book, even got sunburned through the clouds. We came home so we would have time to unpack and clean up so we could watch the debate on Thursday night. I was surprised (disappointed.....) at how well Palin did. I still won't vote for her and it still scares me to think that she could be a heartbeat away (literally) from the presidency. She is probably more qualified than I am, but that's not saying much! Can you really imagine her negotiating with another world leader? I sure can't. Scary thought!

OK - I'm embarrased!

It has been waaayyyy to long since I have posted and y'all are probably giving up on me, right?
Well, here goes - the "catch up" - I'll spread it over a couple of days so you have something to read, OK?
This is what we have been working on the past few weeks - a fence. Mostly for the garden area in back, but we decided to bring it up front, too, so we can have some real flowers in front. Pretty much the only ones the deer won't touch are daffodils, poppies, and iris. God made many more flowers than that and we would like to see some of them - hence, the fence.
Here is Dean preparing to install the gate in back. Abby doesn't get it yet that she won't be able to come and go as she pleases any longer.....
And this is why the fence is going in. These cute little (?) hoof prints are all over around the garden area. As a matter of fact - they're all over the yard. I don't mind the little dears (deers....) munching on the weeds, or the lawn. But they can't have my veggies!
Of course, the bad part about the fence is that we won't be able to see this any longer - right outside the window in the front yard. Note the wire cages around the plants - they can go away now.Here is the first veggie plot to be planted - with cold loving crops like spinach, lettuce, and peas. We're using the "lasagna" style gardening method which we used with much success in Vancouver. Compost rototilled into the local soil (er, sand) then a layer of good soil (NOT from our property....) topped with several layers of newspaper, then followed with bark chips to hold it all down. I then planted the seeds in a trench through the newspapers and watered. Note the fancy temporary setup for watering with the soaker hose. The newspaper eventually decomposes and will be tilled into the soil for next years garden. Works quite well for holding the weeds down and keeping the moisture in. Little sprouts are already coming up, so glad we got the yard deer-proofed.

It's all about the dogs!

Here are the long awaited photos of the dogs playing on our walk - more likely, it is Bentley - the beagle - playing with Abby, who tolerates it pretty well. Abby is 8 and Bentley is 4 months - guess who has the most energy!
Bentley likes to hang from Abby's lower lip............
We're on our way back home, so things have calmed down somewhat. When we take the dogs with us, we travel on the trails so they don't have to be leashed - they stick pretty close to us. The rest of today's blog is going to look a lot like a cooking show. But we're cooking dog food. Abby is allergic to so many things in commercial dog food that we decided to start making it. Went to the butcher shop yesterday (Redmond Smokehouse - great place) and got turkey legs, cooked them up (leftover is for soup stock), cooked 3 cups of brown rice (equals 6 cups cooked), along with 1 pound of beef liver.Added some cooked veggies - dogs like their veggies, even the green stuff . Also ground up some vitamins, nutritional yeast and sunflower seeds in the blender and added some cooked pastaGood enough to eat! Kinda like table scraps, but don't tell Abby!
Packaged it up for the freezer and voila! we have dog food - the healthy kind And, now that the cooking show is over - here is the BUSHISM for today:
"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."
Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 29, 2003

It's a NEW YEAR!!

First of all, I want to thank Mindy, Carolyn, and Catherine for comments. Now I know that someone is actually reading this! At least 3 people! If anyone has any suggestions for the blog, please let me know. Since this is my very first attempt at blogging, I'm learning as I go. Thanks for your patience. If I were more organized (me? unorganized?) I might have put the photos in a different order, or by area of the house or something. As it is, I'm just going through them and putting them in order of when they were taken. If I ever do this again, I'll try something different......
So, that said, on to the house building.
The floor part of the deck is finished, so Ben and Ray came back to do the overhang on the back side of the house - it was a bit far off the ground for them before. It took a little engineering, but they were up for the task. Notice that the triangle window is now installed.
Not only is neighbor Bill a fine cabinet maker, he has expertise in wiring also and was a big help to Dean doing all the electrical work. With Bill's help, we only had 2 inspections before we passed. And speaking of inspections, we got to know the guys from Jefferson County pretty well. They were great to work with and we we're glad we aren't in Deschutes County! We were building during the big surge in Bend and Redmond and would have been on the long list for inspections. As it was, we were usually able to call and the guys came out the next day. I took photos of ALL the wiring and plumbing so we would have reference should we need it later on.Now that the wiring is finished and signed off by the inspector, the sheetrock guys can go to work. They brought in these HUGE sheets of sheetrock, NOT 1 at a time, and piled them all over the house. The sheets were up to 16' long. You can see that we now have the woodstove installed and are we ever using it! We moved a bed in upstairs (don't tell the inspectors....) and slept warmly for the first time in several months! The black lines in the photo below are the tape which seal the panels from the inside. We applied roll after roll to every seam in the house. The stuff was VERY sticky.
Dean is enjoying the warmth, surrounded by piles of sheetrock.
The view of the mess from the loft. Thank goodness they hauled it all off when they were finished.
Then some guys came in and cleaned up everything and put paper down on the floors to protect them when they taped, sealed and textured the walls. It was interesting that there was a different bunch of guys for each step in the sheetrock process. One crew delivered it, another crew installed it, another crew cleaned up, another taped and mudded, another sanded (what a mess that was) another cleaned up that mess, another applied all the paper to the floors, another crew did the texture, and still another came in and cleaned up again. They were all Mexicans, only a couple spoke any English, but they were all very nice and very good workers.We needed a little R & R, so went for a ride one nice day out by Prineville to the Ochoco Reservoir. Did I mention previously that the winter we were building it was very cold?
While we were walking along the frozen shore of the lake, Abby got into some burrs which of course got into her feet. I think this was a dog version of a grimace.
This is our bedroom - a bed for Dean and I and a bed for Abby - the mattress out of the tent trailer. Our mattress is on a tarp so that we can drag it out onto the deck every morning before the sheetrock guys arrive.
Good next door neighbors Bill and Joyce were separated from us by the water/cable/phone/electrical ditch, so we installed this primitive "bridge" between us. Fancy, huh! So, I'll end this installment on a positive note - our house electrical is hooked up. We had been using the temporary power box up until this time - with heavy duty extension cords running every which way. Dean is making sure that they do it correctly........