Kayaking on our anniversary, Tristan on 9/11

September 10th was our 9th anniversary. We decided to go kayaking.

We launched on the north end of Upper Stillwater Lake.

We started off paddling upstream but the current was way too fast, plus it was very rocky. We hiked upstream pulling the kayaks. It's one of the reasons we wear water shoes! After about a half mile we came to a waterfall that would have been too hard to get up around, not to mention impossible to kayak down. We'd have made it over the falls but wouldn't have survived the huge rocks at the bottom! It was only about an 8' fall.

So we made the wild ride back down to the lake. I wasn't able to take pictures because it took some fast steering going through the rocks. This is at the bottom of a tamer section, watching Steven come on down. The lake was about 50' behind me here.

We paddled around the lake, which is odd-shaped and has many sections. In a lagoon between a couple of sections of lake there is a huge beaver house. In the water, below and to the left of the beaver house, is a shadowy hole where the beavers come and go. It's probably a tunnel through sticks and it's silted over.

I followed Steven's wake across the lakes. When you get a good paddling rhythm going you can fly across the water.

We stopped to drift a while and the ripples died down. The lake was calm as glass.

One of these Heron or Crane thingys came flying in.

After it landed I got closer, then took a picture on telephoto.

The next day, on Sept. 11, Tristan and some of the fire department guys stood in front of the fire hall along the highway near Fortine to commemorate the tragedy at the World Trade Center 10 years ago.

Isaiah, Greg, Tristan, and Bill.

Salmon snaggin (9/15/11)

The kitten dreams of fish... Salmon, perhaps!

Lucky for the cat the Salmon were running, and 'snagging' opened today! This is the Tobacco River a the edge of Eureka. Steven and Victor are on the right bank, downstream.

Steven works on his technique. Snagging is different than regular fishing. You toss the snag hook out there and watch for a Salmon to swim between you and the snag hook. Then you jerk the line just right and (hopefully) grab one.

Steven caught the first one! He also caught the most... way more than Victor and I did! We all has several get away. Tristan came by after a while and I let him use my line. He snagged a Salmon right away and as he jerked it onto the shore the line broke. The fish was impaled with the snag hook and was drifting downstream while still trying to struggle upstream. I ran out into the water and chased him about 50' downstream and finally got a hold of him and carried him back up to the shore. It was tricky not snagging myself on the hooks, but I knew he would just die anyway, so I might as well try to get him.

Barbara took this picture of me fishing from the bridge. I soon moved down to the river bank because it was easier to land the fish. Barbara was helping with that. When Victor or I would snag a fish and yank it toward shore, she would pin it with her foot and grab it and throw it in our buckets. She didn't fish because she didn't have a license. Good thing the rest of us did... the game warden came around looking at everyone's licenses!

There are 3 fish in this picture. They're orange. There were groups of 50 or more clustered together but I never got in a good position to get a good picture without glare from the sky.

Some of our fish. We brought home 35 fish. Probably half that many more got away.

Steven showed Victor how to filet Salmon. After a while Victor did some of them too.

Barbara and I got out of that. We went inside to make dinner. She made towers out of my groceries while I made Hamburger Helper!

Kayaking, Stillwater River

We went kayaking again on the Stillwater river south of Stryker. We drove in on a State forest road and parked near the river just south of the Point Of Rocks restaurant along Hwy. 93.

The current is pretty lazy through here, so it was pretty easy to paddle upstream. The river winds through willow flats, twisting and turning. It's a haven for beaver, muskrat, and mink. We also seen tracks of deer, moose, and we saw bear scat on the bank in one place.

The scenery was pretty cool as we row, row rowed our boats gently up the stream!

There were a few beaver dams that had been breached by spring run-off. Most weren't hard to paddle up through but this one gave us a run for the money. It took each of us two tried to get through. The current was fast coming toward us and there was no room on either side to paddle. The branches of the dam were slick and hard to reach and get a hold of, to pull ourselves through.

On our second tries we hit it hard and fast and got far enough up into it that we could reach ahead with our paddles and force the kayaks up and over.

We paddled upstream for 3 hours. Here, the stream narrows with willows growing in on each side. The water was quite deep here, probably 8' or so. Up past here we landed our kayaks against a gravelly bank and had a snack/picnic lunch before turning around and floating back down the river.

Now we're on the way back down. Most of the time we just floated, using the paddle to steer as needed.

We stopped to fish in some of the deep pools on bends in the river.

Sometimes the sun was out and we felt warm. Sometimes the sun went behind clouds for several minutes and we got kind of chilly.

It was a fun float back down. It took 3 hours to get back to where we launched, what with stopping to fish and sometimes just enjoying drifting lazily on the current.

There was a low foot bridge behind Point Of Rocks restaurant.

Steven shows his skills at doing the limbo!

It's harder than it looks. Your concept of balance is changed when you're laying back like that in a tippy kayak.

Steven made it through and now it's my turn. It was easier going under it downstream than it was going under it while fighing our way upstream! The car was only about another half mile. We had been on the water for 6 hours and we were pretty chilled by the time we got out. We loaded up the kayaks, went home and had hot chocolate and dinner!

3rd week Sept. 20111, roofing and a woodstove

The weekend of Sept. 17 and 18 we shingled the roof of Barbara and Victor's cabin. Tristan came out a few days before and helped Steven get started, then Steven and I did the rest. Barbara made a billion trips up the ladder with shingles so we could stay up there and work.

That's me on the left, Steven on the right. The boards we're standing on have metal straps nailed to them, and those are tucked under shingles and nailed down. When we finished we pulled the nails and removed the boards.

Climbing around on the roof has been hard on Steven's injured ankle. After a long day on the roof, he sits with his foot up and relaxes.

A few days later I was climbing around on our own roof, patching it yet again. This time I smeared roofing tar thickly around the skylights and on some of the screws and seams of the metal roofing. It's hard to get one's footing on the metal roofing. I hate it.

The roof is done and the woodstove pipe is in.

On the floor you can see the pad Barbara made for the woodstove to sit on, using rocks and mortar. In order to NOT have to pull the woodstove out farther into the room, Steven and Victor got creative with the stove pipe. It works fine, draws well, but is going to be interesting when it's time to clean the pipe!

Time to start cutting firewood. Steven got the wood-cutting truck ready and made a gate-type deal above the tailgate so we can stack the wood all the way to the back and not lose any. After I took this picture I painted it, then painted the rest of the boards on the sides.

Victor took the capper off his truck and he and Steven built a frame for above the bed so they can haul firewood.

Steven put the receiver and hitch ball on the truck because we were going to take the wood-hauling trailer, but we decided not to take it on the first load. We wanted to go look first and see where the wood is and how far we have to drive, and make sure we can turn the trailer around. Good thing, since we ended up having drive and drive to find stuff to cut. The woods are pretty well cleaned out anywhere reasonably close to us.

3rd week of Sept. 2011, cutting firewood, etc.

Steven starts a cut on a tree. We're usually about done cutting firewood for the year by now, but we just got started. We're behind, because of helping Barbara and Victor build their house and things related to getting them moved here and settled in.

The tree is down and he's trimming off the branches so he can cut the tree into stove length. We're having to drive farther to find firewood now. We had to go 13 miles into the forest today. So many people here burn firewood, plus with the poor economy I suppose there are people cutting it to sell, too. It's costing us a fortune in gas this year to go out and get firewood. Still cheaper than buying the wood already cut, or heating with propane.

As Steven cut I carried the pieces to our truck and stacked them. Barbara did the same as Victor cut, as you see in the picture above. Sometimes Steven finished a tree and carried pieces to the truck while I stacked them. We took a picnic lunch along, as well as snacks and a jug of tea I made. We left home around 9:30 and got home around 5:30.

Victor has caught on pretty quick to using a chainsaw. He dropped this tree and is now cutting the limbs off of it.

Most of the view was blocked by trees, but on one curve, on the way home, we had a great view out over the valley. That's the lake near our house, and out in the distance across the valley is the little town of Fortine.

The next day Steven started unloading the truck, splitting it and stacking it a wheelbarrow load at a time. It was unseasonably hot all week, in the upper 80s. Makes it hard to do hard work like firewood splitting. The next day was even worse. It hit 92!

The kitten stood (layed?) guard on the hood of the truck while Steven split wood. Hard-working cat!

The cat suggested they both go take a nap. They're cooling off on the living room floor under the ceiling fan.

We cleaned up the uhaul and took down the shelf and towel bar and pan hooks in the back corner and started preparing to put the woodstove in. Here, the cement board is on the floor and Steven is getting ready to put one on the wall. Both walls in that corner will have cement board, to keep it more fire-safe. The little woodstove we're putting in is about the safest one you could have.

With this warm, dry weather I not only did my laundry, but I washed all the towels, blankets and sheets, and throw rugs. This is the last rug. It's the half-circle one that goes in front of the woodstove. It was REALLY dirty and dusty.

Wedding, Tristan and Krystina

I cried when Tristan came out in his suit. He's so handsome, and I just had flashes of his childhood roll through my mind. I can't begin to describe what special and wonderful person he has been all his life. I'm very proud of the man he has become. He's a good, kind, generous, helpful, thoughtful person, and well-known and well-liked throughout the valley. He deserves happiness.

He deserves Krystina. She's a beautiful, sweet, fun, wonderful young woman. I'm so happy she and Tristan found each other. She's so perfect for him. I hope they're always madly in love, and I hope it's always about the adventure for them, and never bogs down about the little things. I truly gained another daughter, and I love Krystina so much!

The wedding party comes forward. Emily was the Maid of honor, Stephen was the best man. Behind them is Tim, who was one of the groomsmen. I don't remember the name of the girl with him. She was one of the bridesmaids and is a friend of Krystina's.

The bride and groom with their parents. Steven was the photographer for the wedding, so I don't have many pictures on my camera. The rest of the pictures, including Steven's, are on our "Family Events" blog.

Tristan and Krystina cut the cake. Somewhere along the line the little figurines of the bride and groom fell to the ground, and the groom's head broke off. Isn't that supposed to mean good luck? I hope so!

A close-up of them and their cake.

Krystina's car got decorated by mysterious elves during the reception! They were leaving in her car instead of Tristan's pick-up truck!

Tristan and others worked to remove some of the 'decorations' so the car would be drivable!