Colville tripping....:-)

Just running around town and the house, doing winter type things.

One of our favorite stops is this German bakery for big pretzels. My Aunt Marie would turn in her grave if she knew I go to a German bakery, (we are Dutch and the Germans weren't that nice in the 1940's) but hey, they have a windmill on the front window...thats got to count for something.

This is what Main street in downtown Colville looks like after a small winter storm. Within a day or two they have large front-end loaders that remove the center piles.

Believe or not, under the snow is our street (Corbett Creek Rd.) before the snowplow came through. We are lucky that there are a few young children that take the bus to school...that is the only reason our dirt road is maintained by the county.

A few hours later after the plow came through our street looks great.

Donna is out helping me clear the driveway before we get another storm.

My father was very fond of saying "always do things in moderation"... this is me moderating!

Two days later we had a heavier wet snowfall and I gave up. We had a guy who was clearing a neighbors drive do ours too, for a nominal fee that is.

Even after four months I am still amazed at the view from our back patio in the morning...specially when the sun's shining, no small miracle. :-)

I can't imagine what caused this well packed trail in our backyard.

Okay, now I know who made the trail. Here they see me walking back from the mailbox and are hoping I'll toss a few apples. I'm down to one half box of deer apples and there are no more available...hence the alfalfa. 

We used to keep the backyard flood lights on in the evening but I couldn't get up from the couch without seeing a few sad faces hanging over the fence...begging. I shut the backyard lights off so I don't see them but every time I let the dogs out on the driveway there is one or two trying this new tactic...funny thing is, it works! They are so quiet that there have been many times I'm standing with the dogs only to turn around an have a doe surprise me by walking within 5 feet of me, staring pitifully with those huge sad "doe eyes".

I decided to apply myself to a new hobby... like gardening and the weather station wasn't enough. I picked a hobby that I knew would frustrate me to no end, but on with it anyhow. How hard could building birdhouses be, huh?

This is my very first birdhouse that really didn't come out as horrible as I thought it would...that would come later. This house is for "screech owls" and it needs a very specific place, about 150 feet from the house, to be successfully filled.

Not too noticeable from a distance, right angle to our storms and 12 feet up the pine.

I was up on a ladder talking to Donna on a cell phone to get just the right view from our living room. Donna used binoculars, adjusting me up a few, down some and which branches to break just so we might see some progress this spring. My second, third and fourth attempt at different designs brutally showcased my failings in woodworking...I suck! I would love to just keep making screech owl houses but they are loners, which I can relate.

In the small pan is a veggie soup, which is a leftover from a few nights ago. Donna thinks I'm goofy for using the stove but it is such a consistent heat, usually about 400 degrees (that's a small temperature gage in front of the pan) and this causes the soup to slowly warm without getting too hot. The large cast iron pot is filled with water...sort of a humidifier. I'll fill the pot three times a day which equals about 4 gallons of water.

Until next time....

Day tripping in Canada

Saturday is going to be a calm and sunny day, so we settled the dogs into the garage (they like it there...it's heated and they get big beef bones besides), fill up the gas tank, get some treats and take off.

We take our time heading for the town of Nelson, BC by following the great Columbia River to one of its sources.

Just a few miles into Canada, near the town of Trail, we finally find an opening to photograph the fog that was lying on the water for the last 20 miles.

This is where the Columbia River flows south towards the US and after the Kootenay River, (third largest tributary of the Columbia) joins it.

On our way we spotted this barn on the outskirts of Salmo, BC. I had to turn around to shoot this and as Donna can tell you, I usually have power lines, too cloudy or the sun at the wrong angle most of the time and it is red...got lucky here.

One of the many past times in winter for many Canadians is of course, ice fishing on a lake.

Cute little town 20 miles (excuse me, 33 km) south of Nelson, is Salmo, BC.

 Salmo is very small and as you can see quiet, even on a Saturday afternoon. We did stop at Granny T's Bakery for a few cookies to hold us over till a late breakfast or an early lunch in Nelson.

Made it to Nelson and we shopped a bit before we had lunch. Nelson has a college and ski resort (Whitewater Ski Resort) and I had asked the waitress if Nelson was a college town or just a town that had a college. Donna and I both went to Chico State in Chico, California and in the 70's it was considered a college town...now Chico might be thought of as a town with a college. Well, the waitress thought about it for a moment before stating "Nelson is a town with a college rather than the other way around".

College or no college, Nelson was a bustling town at this time of year with a heavy snow pack on the mountain and a crisp -6C temperature. Shopping was interesting but expensive for us retirees, the early lunch was very good though and affordable.

At least the Canadians drive on the correct side of the road...:-)

Just a little north of Nelson, on Kootenay Lake, was a sight that caught us by surprise. The S.S. Nasookin started life in 1913 and considered the largest lake boat operating west of the Mississippi at that time. Retired in 1947, part of the vessel was skidded onto shore and reborn as a rock shop until the 1980's when it was then converted to a private residence and what an awesome home it is. Check out the living room...cool!

Kootenay Lake is huge, running very deep into Canada and the  river is a prime source of water for the Columbia. I was told most of the water is glacier fed which means in a few years it might be bone dry! (just kidding, I hope)

Even though the ski resort is 10 miles away these look very much like ski condo's while overlooking the Kootenay Lake.

Just outside Nelson, near the ski resort, is the Nelson Nordic Ski Club with over 30 kilometers (yea, we're in Canada) of groomed trails. Winter fun that is reasonable compared to Alpine skiing.

All the rest stops we passed on the roads were closed for the season but we did find these great looking outhouses in the historic town of Ymir, BC. Ymir was originally a gold mining town but now seems to be a snowmobile hot spot.

Main street Ymir on a busy Saturday afternoon, even slower than Salmo. 

 There were many empty trucks and trailers lining the mountain side of Ymir and all looked to have held snowmobiles. We could not see or hear them but figured they must be on groomed trails, miles up the mountain.

 My brothers and sisters keep reminding me that I am married to a saint, but for Donna to put up with all my u-turns, backing up or just plain constantly stopping every 100 yards to take my next award winning photo, well I guess I am....blessed.

I'm super charged by wolves and coyotes while Donna is a moose person. I love moose too and was thrilled to catch sight of two moose just a mile or so from the U.S. Border...so these must be Canadian moose, right?

The two moose...I swear there were two...I didn't just take a couple of shots of the one, because it is my understanding that males loose their antlers at the end of January and unless these guys were premature...well, they are girls. They were on a logging road that is closed and seemly headed for State 31 but spooked them back into the woods eventually. It really made the "whole" day seeing bullwinklete and bullwinkelchick so close and upfront. 

Nelway is the Canadian side of the crossing.

Metaline is the U.S. equivalent at the same crossing. It was nice that the lady border guard did not frisk us or impede the journey any more than necessary. We had told her we saw some moose back up the road and she replied that one nearly caught her truck grill last week.

One last, off route wildlife exploration, that reminded me of something someone told us months ago when they found out we like traveling on dirt road...carry a chainsaw, you never know when you might need it!

Night all...have a great year.

Year end at Colville and Eagle trip to Lake Pend Oreille.

Colville is about to welcome in 2014, along with our 36th anniversary at midnight. I am one lucky guy!

Colville doesn't lack in Christmas spirit...with lights across Main Street and this beautiful display at one of the churches in town. As I have mentioned before, Colville has a very large lit cross on a hill overlooking the town and its 21 churches, so you know it's a special place.

These guys love hanging around my driveway begging for apples, to which is usually successful as long as the fruit last.

When we moved here I had no idea that one of our neighbors was related to Ansel Adams. That might be a slight exaggeration on my part but Angie across the road from us emailed me this photo of our house. It may of been when we were in Spokane or out running around shopping...but I missed it!

Good for Angie or Paul to take such a beautiful shot and send it to us, we love it.

It was a grey and overcast day but we wanted to take our granddaughter to see some of the bald eagles that feast on a Kokanee salmon run that ends about January 1st. Lake Coeur d' Alene has in the past been the most popular spot for wintering eagles but the run on Lake Pend Oreille has increased so much  it is now the favorite of the eagles.

Donna spotted the first 5 in about ten minutes time. Ashley and I are having a hard time catching up.

First, I have to apologize for focus problems. I could never seem to focus just on the birds. I miss my SX 40 and wish I had it back even though it does not allow for lens changes, it still did a better job. Well then, there it could be a case of operator error too.

We had lost count at 50 eagles, some may of been counted twice but based on all the birds and our limited viewing area, there must of been hundreds. We watched them through our spotting scope diving, flying, playing and skimming the surface for fish.

 I get a little nervous when I see Ashley staring at me with those beautiful hazel eyes because I know her wheels turning, Opa will be doing whatever this angel wants...:-)

Near the middle of this bay was some kind of military barge or float for the Navy.

In Bayview, Idaho the eagles were not the only attraction. Seems the U.S. Navy uses the lake to test scale model submarines. The depth of the lake is more than 1000 feet with a flat bottom and constant temperatures below 300 feet, ideal for testing. The Navy has three or four large hangers on the water in the middle of the picture.

Here is the "which-ama-call-it" in the middle of the bay...it has Navy written all over it.

We drove around on the east side of the lake to find more eagles and saw through the trees above the Navy base, this  small submarine floating next to one of the large floating sheds.

Ok...back to eagle watching and as usual Donna is spotting them for Ashley and I.

Across from the Navy base is the Bayview Marina. Bayview is an older town that was explained as a place filled with retires. 

We drove down to the marina area because Ashley was getting hungry and a hamburger overlooking the lake sounds good to me too. $10 for a child's hamburger on the water? FAHGETTABOUDIT!

We did get to see some Canadian geese near the shore but if they are in Idaho...wouldn't they now be American geese?

This could be our fixer upper on the lake, right? Well, we had a great day on the lake and looking forward to this summer to see it under a different light. 

Happy New Years to all...........