Blog number 292...on the way to a perfect score in bowling.

Here are but a few of our decorations that stay in the house, or outside, all year. We used to collect moons, that being my soul mates  birth name. I think when we left Vegas there were at last count, over 200 "moon" decorations in the house. Before that it was fish...now it's moose. At one time our retirement plan involved collecting Anchor Hocking antiques with a big payday just twenty years away. Well after 25 years collecting the glassware it may of paid for two months of retirement...I think we actually lost money but it was fun collecting on every trip or drive we took.

Crossed eye'd "Bullwinkle" tries to watch my every move on the PC desk. Cute little guy was a bargain here in one of the Colville shops.

This moose is a blow up of our first moose spotted in Montana near the mountains overlooking the Bitterroot Valley.

He first stuck his head out of the trees on a dirt road then slowly walked to the other side...it must of been greener.:-)

I saw this moose glass table lamp at an auction on a Saturday but it would not be up for auction until the next day, Sunday. For some reason I couldn't make the auction the next day but Donna could and went with specific instruction..."burn the retirement account if you have, to but get that lamp"...she did, at a very good price too!

Okay, short break from the moose. I walked into Arden Second Hand in...where else, Arden and took about 2 seconds to make up my mind. Beautiful water colors of leaves and the frames match our floors.

This metal cutting is spectaular. Donna found it on the internet somewhere and I am so glad she did...it's about 3 foot X 2 foot.

This goofy looking guy sits on top of our towel rack in the bathroom. 

Nearly every home in Northeastern Washington have carved bears as their welcoming animal...not us.

Another break from those damn moose! Looking out the back patio was the moon rising, sun setting and the deer in the lower center coming in for a free meal. I think it was prettier than the photograph shows.

Alright...back to the moose. Donna found this dinner bell moose in town at Barmans Country Store. I tried linking their web page but it kept coming up as "rescued animals" so no free advertising for them.

Okay..last moose and our favorite. We have a great spot for an animal head or two leading out to the backyard but Donna says "no animal heads"! (besides, those things are expensive)

This guy is great and I found him at Big R Store.

Our flag was hanging on the front patio, but every time the wind blew the motion detector light over the driveway kept going off. I decided to move the flag to the back patio where there won't be any lighting problems in the future. As you can see, the white tails we feed are solid "Americans"...they stood still while I hung the flag. :-)

I am setting up the seeding table in our garage with a 20" x 40" warming pad and I decided instead of a number of smaller warming pads I can just use the larger pad, an adjustable ceiling fixture with two 3000 lumens grow lights that can be adjusted by chains to about within a one foot of the new germinating plants. I put the table here because the window faces directly south and will give extra light for the young plants.

Our accent lighting around a decorative mount in the front yard are still functioning but mostly buried in snow. They are 12 inches above the grass and I would take them out for the year but the base is in frozen soil.

Only 8 more blogs till I hit my magic number 300...yeah!

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.