A weekend of adventure

So as usual we had an eventful weekend. We took our first successful Cherry Lake trip of the summer and spent 3 days and 2 nites. Here are the higlights:

* We saw a bald eagle on the top of a tree about 40 feet from where we were on the boat. We saw it take off and fly to another tree. AMAZING. Jim said....."Your probably will never see that again in your life...." The next day we say the eagle again, chasing a smaller bird over the water! We think the smaller bird had a fish.

* We got distracted from watching the eagle when Gracie spotted a snake eating a dead fish head! The fish head was about 3 times the size of the snake's head. Gracie and I had just been on a field trip where we learned about snakes and we knew that snakes could disclocate their jaws and eat big things.....but this thing was HUGE compared to this snake! We watched it sit there with this fish head in its mouth for hours. Finally when we weren't looking it slithered away. But not before it gave Drew enough ideas for 3 nightmares that nite!

* It was snake trip....we saw 4 other snakes and met up with someone who saw a rattlesnake close to our camp! Rattlesnakes are not common in the area. The guy who saw it had been going to Cherry for 30 years and that was only the third one he saw.

* The trout fishing was not as good as normal but we still tried at least twice a day in the magic fishing hole. My favorite part of fishing is the casting.....I love doing a great cast. I was so good at it, I kept telling Jim that I was going to get my own casting tv show, sort of like the Rachel Ray of casting.....he just shook his head. But I was serious!

* The blue gill fishing was outstanding! Drew and I fished each nite for at least an hour and pulled one in after another.

* The kids did some knee boarding and wakeboarding.....our new engine worked great! But true to the story about boats, we had trouble with the trailer....if it is not one thing with a boat it is another. Coming home one of the hubs got burning hot - and I mean BURNING HOT! We made it home and Jim took it apart the next day to find the break pad and rotor were rubbing together. I swear that man can do anything!

*We did have one major screw up for the weekend. When packing up to leave Cherry, we accidently left the kayak on the shore. I know that sounds crazy but the boat ramp was chaotic and we were so worried about running over the redneck children whose redneck parents let them play on a boat ramp, that we got distracted! We made it all the way home before we remembered it. So we had a little dinner and Jim drove back to get it.....and sure enough it was still there! Now that never would have happened in SJ! Luckily his dad was in town and rode along with him. They had fun seeing a fox, rabbits, snakes and a skunk trying to cross a cattle grade.

* We saw lots of kayakers coming down Cherry Creek. It is an early kayaking year because of the lack of snow. In one group, there were 18 kayakers!

* The kids made a Tom Sawyer type raft out of logs in the lake! It was great! They even made seats. The only design trouble they had was with an anchor. They tried tying a big rock to a rope but everytime they tried it the rock came off! I think a raft will be a new tradition.

* Of course we did kayaking and log rolling like usual. We had to hunt a bit for the perfect log, so Jim and Drew went out in the kayak and dragged back two enourmous logs (30 feet long and 3 feet in diameter!). One was like a flat sidewalk. The dog would go out and walk back and forth on it while waiting for a stick to float by!

* Lastly, we read that book about deaths in Yosemite out loud. We finished the chapter on waterfalls and read some about snow. What we are learning is......people can be really stupid! The kids have clearly learned that you must not swim up stream from a waterfall!

* We had a couple injuries which is normal: Drew fell getting into the boat and smashed up his knee, I fell getting into the boat and smashed up my arm! Glad it was nothing more serious.

Those are the highlights of the weekend.....and I wonder why I am so tired!

Hot Sizzlin' Beagle Sausage!

We have a house guest. He has been staying with us for a week. And for those who know him, we have had as much fun as ever with him. Our house guest is a 7 year old beagle. His idea of a good time is to lay on the couch all day. But when he comes to our house we drag him all over the place living our chaotic life. So far he has been to a soccer game, to the cabin, to Cherry Lake, pontoon boating, swimming, hiking and fishing. He just looks us at with a disgusted beagle look when we move on to the next adventure. In the past when we have taken him camping, he slept in a tent with us, but we have started camping without a tent. So now he sleeps in the wide open wilderness. The first nite he refused to lay down for the longest time. Then he woke me up growling accross the lake - I couldn't see anything. Then in the middle of the nite he was so cold he was shivering. From then on he had to have his own set of blankets for the nite. I have been telling his owner that he needed his own sleeping bag, but he did not believe me!

Chad has a new nickname - we have started calling him beagle sausage because he is a little thick around the middle. Every joke we can think of revolves around beagle sausage.....if he lays in the sun, he is a hot sizzlin beagle sausage and we tell someone to go flip him over to cook the other size. If he is wet and drying in the sun, we say that he is a basting beagle sausage...

He is still itchy as ever and takes 6 pills a day plus ear drops. It is a fulltime job to administer his meds. I think I may need to get a nursing degree to care for him.

He comes to visit again in July and we will take pics then.

New Book

I just got a new book - Off the Wall: Death in Yosemite. Sounds creepy but it is really interesting - it chronicles the 900 deaths that have occurred in the park since 1849, the year the park was "discovered". It includes info on geography, flora, fauna and history. Last nite I read it out loud to the whole family. We started on the chapter telling of people falling over water falls. Then we discussed what was common in all the stories: people getting to close to the river above the falls. A lesson learned for the whole family.

A Mom and Her Boy

My sis in law gave me this pic in a frame for mothers day and I LOVE it! It is from xmas and I had never seen it. Drew has grown about 2 inches since then, so we would now be looking eyeball to eyeball with me.

Jaraldo

This is Drew's buddy Jared, who goes by the hockey name of "Jaraldo". A couple nights ago he was over playing hockey with the boys on the street when one of the boys came running down to report an injury. Although it looks like he took a stick or puck to the eye, he actually fell and hit his head on a tool box in the neighbors garage! Stitches were probably called for but being he is a tough hockey player, he refused and they are using butterfly bandages to hold it together. As we say in our family.... "no worries it will just make you look more rugged!"

Creative

Here is my handiwork from the weekend. I made these to hang my necklaces and bracelets. I started with standard wood peg shelves and added some drawers pulls, to give it an artsy look. Then I painted them the accent colors of the bathroom/bedroom. I just love being able to see all my jewelry.

Stretch

Thanks to Lani, our new " pet" lizard has a name....stretch! More pics to come but I can assure you that he is in the bathtub growing as we speak.

New Pet

You all know how I am....I can't go more than 6 months without a new pet. So this is the latest addition and the best one yet. It is a plastic lizard that grows from 4 inches to 3 feet long when it is placed in water. It takes a few days for the growth to occur, so we have it growing in our extra bath tub! I thought this would be a great adventure that you would all enjoy, so I will document the growth with pics. We have not named him yet, so if you have any ideas, let me know!

Stretch

Last nite I insisted that we measure Drew because I swore I could see him growing. Sure enough, he has grown 3/4 of an inch in one month! So he is now 11 years old and 5 foot 3 1/2. I estimated that he would be as tall as me by the end of the year. But it looks like he will be as tall as me by the end of June!

Hot Mamas from the Hood

Had a girls weekend with all my girlfriends from the neighborhood. All of our kids are friends and/or go to school together. It was a great group of strong, smart, beautiful hot mamas!

This is a pic in front of a giant sequoia tree - it is estimated to be 4000 years old. We had a fabulous day in Yosemite with the highlight being drinks at the Ahwanhee Hotel on the patio!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

This is my favorite Mother's Day gift......

Pics from the Cherry Lake Trip

Cherry - 1 trip of the season

This weekend we took our first trip of the season to Cherry. We had planned on staying overnite close to the magic fishing hole and start scoping everything out for the season. But the trip was BIG bust. The morning started with Jim slipping when getting out of the boat in the driveway and taking a major tumble. He was all bruised up on his side, elbow and leg.

After we decided he didn't need 911 we headed out only to arrive at a very full Cherry Lake - with 40 mile per hour winds and white caps! But you know us - we are always up for an adveture, so we gear up in our foul weather gear and head out. About 1/3 of the way down the lake, while taking waves over the front, the brand new engine sets off an alarm saying "no oil"! WHATTTT THE !!!!!?????

We pulled over at a spot we had never stopped at and while coming up with a game plan, made the best of the situation hiking around and building a dam in the creek we found (see pic). Jim sat back and read the boat manual and determined that we should not run the engine all the way to the end of the lake so we decided to head back home! What a disappointment!
On the way in we did stop to fish but did not get anything.

So we had to bring the boat all the way back to SJ and it is in the shop again.....

A Dad and His Son

I love this pic of Jim and his Dad up at the lake this weekend. They stood out on the dock for about 45 minutes chatting while watching the rest of us fish. They talked about work, family, fishing, hunting, etc.....

Cabin in the Woods

This pic shows why that cabin is my favorite place in the world! I wish the flowers in the foreground showed up better - the field is full of purple wild flowers. And that is the cabin in the distance. Peaceful!

An unusual spot for a horse

At the cabin this weekend, we went down to the lake on Sunday morning to do some fishing. We drove up and there was a horse in the volleyball court! The horse stables is way on the other side of the lake and no one on our side of the lake has horse on their property so this was totally unusual. In talking to the folks there, the horse had been seen for the last 3 days in the area and at one point was seen on the highway (which is really just a two lane road). During the nite, the horse found its way down to the marina and was hanging out.

They brought in the local cowboys and they spent three hours trying to rope it but it was really skiddish. So they resorted to bringing down the portable corral and just placed it around the horse while it was standing in the sand - which is where it seemed to feel most comfortable. Then they brought in the horse trailer and talked it into climbing in. The cowboys were going to take it back to their ranch. NOTE that the cowboys were just a couple in the area who has a ranch - not real live cowboys!

The horse was skinny and its hooves needed some work. But other than that - it seemed ok.

Versatile Dog

Daisy is a very versatile dog. One pic is of her being a rugged outdoorsy dog laying in the dirt and the other is her in her apron helping make banana muffins. She has many other hidden talents such as:

* alarm clock - she wakes up early every morning to go for a run and if it is at the cabin the alarm goes off beginning at 4 am!
* hoover vacuum cleaner - she can suction up food, grass and deer poop at rapid speed!
* fumigator - need to rid an area of people? Daisy can empty a room with her "butt explosions"!

Marty and Jim Get Married

This is what would happen if Jim and Marty went off to get a fishing license together! Of course, it would probably include a 30 pack of coors light and a bag of beef jerky.....

That darn dog.....

Here I am making her home made dog food and she goes and acts naughty. I ran Drew to school this morning and while I was gone, the dog ate a one pound block of cheese off the counter!!!! I bet she didn't even chew it! And I bet even more that she is going to have a big fat belly ache. Oh well - she is in the back yard with the chickens and she can get sympathy from them.

My new engine

Well...the pontoon mama has a new engine! We put a 75 horsepower motor on it. We have to test it out in a local lake and then will take it back to the cabin this weekend. Now it will pull any chubby person in our family(well....I guess I am the only chubby person in this family....).

Grandma Girl Power!!!!

Grandma Anna has major girl power! She and her friend Zena hiked up to Vernal Falls in Yosemite last week. The trail is 1 1/2 miles one way, which does not sound like a lot but it is 1000 feet in elevation gain. And there is a mile or so hike to get to where the trail begins. So Grandma Anna, who is 70 years young, hiked about 5 miles with 1000 feet in elevation!! You go Grandma!!!

Along the way she encountered a group of Japanese hikers, one of who was very impressed that she went all the way to the top of the falls and gave her a "two thumbs up sign"! I little farther down the trail she encountered the man again who then asked her how old she was. When she responded that she was 70, he told her that knowing that she was 70 and made it to the top of the falls "made his day"!