Starts Today

Nuff said.....

Just the Highlights

Lots of storms

And fish 

Catch and Release

Sunfish

The fishing was spotty last week at camp. One of these. One of those. Two of something else. Fun and all, but no incentive to keep anything for a fish fry.

Thus no fish were harmed any more than necessary during last week's fishy adventures.

Fall fish

A just-under-keeper-sized small mouthed bass
which put up a heck of a fight....and yes, they were all caught from the comfort of the front porch,
which reaches right out over the water.

We did take mug shots though.

Au Revoir

Peggy loved the fireworks last night

So long, farewell.

Off to camp for a week. Supposed to be kind of chilly, but I'll bet that will mean good sleeping weather.

Have a great time while we're gone and give the folks in the sidebar a look in if you get a chance.

I'll be bach.

Building

As the air slowly fills with moisture and the temperature falls with pending rain, I am pulled willy-nilly back to camp, to summer at the lake, the loveliest time of the year. 

The air feels there just like this when weather is brewing.....full of the scent of water and woodland. One thing about this cool, strange, summer, is that the air has been remarkably good here even in the valley, up until these past few humid days. 

That is not always the case, what with the thousands of tractor trailers, trains, and cars, that ply their way up and down the many thoroughfares that wind between the Noses. At the lake it is always that way.

Just a few weeks left now until we are gone...... 

I won't rush them away. Summer on a farm is a pretty good place to be. 

However, after months of not even letting myself think of mountain love and the clear, clean, lakes, and the fish, and the eagles, and the frogs, and songs of the secret woods....I am letting just a glimmer shine through to light the future.

There are several of you who visit some years....you are always invited if I have forgotten to ask. PM, call, text, or send a pigeon...we would like to see you and sit on the porch that hangs out over the water and talk between the rhythm of the waves, washing against the rocks.

Meanwhile...it is going to rain...again....

Colorado, California, we have your rain! To claim it, you need only identify it and provide transportation to your chosen location......


Soon would be nice.....

I Miss My Lake

Great blue heron,
which would have been perched in the cove,
 just waiting for a photo...if I hadn't dumped the camera bag on the floor.

Loons with chicks, which is incredibly special.
The babies dive and then pop back up like fishing bobbers after you get a bite.

A rocky little island Alan and I fished near

Crows were busy every morning as soon as the sun peeked up

Sleepy kitchen, early in the day

Back to the Grindstone

Yep, we are. Very hot week. I felt sorry for the folks who stayed here and kept the cows going and made hay all week. It was hot enough at camp and a lot hotter here.

So we went swimming a lot and slept a lot and avoided the news as much as possible. The boss had some serious trouble with trespassing hunters that I really fear isn't over yet.

And that's all folks. Back to unpacking.

Sunday Stills...In the Air

For more Sunday Stills...

Camp Week

 Flying bait

 Water ON a duck's back

Beck and Gil, foggy day

The Week that Was

Where the Water is Clear

Clouds reflected in the lake

Rocks, a couple-few feet down

More rocks along the shore with the overhanging trees reflecting.

Funny thing. In the morning our pale, not-so-very-suntanned-as-it-has-been-a-not-so-very-sunny-summer legs were as white underwater as they were above. By mid afternoon they looked just a tinge green....hmmmm.....

Poles in the Water

Or perhaps not. Went fishing with the family on their pontoon boat one day at camp. It was sweet no matter how you measured it. Wind in your hair, eagle flying by, air textured with water scents and forest tang.

We anchored a few times and couldn't buy a bite. Not that it is exactly punishment, rocking quietly on a boat anchored on the prettiest lake in the world, but an occasional fish does add a welcome bit of punctuation to the party.Then the little brother put us on a spot up at the far end of the lake by the dam.

Dropped a worm.

Wham.

Reeled in a large rock bass. Another worm. Another rocky. Sis-in-law and brother were fishing crayfish and hellgrammite larvae (or dobbies) respectively. I stuck with worms, which don't bite and do appeal to even the biggest, meanest fish in the lake (a rainbow trout BROKE my favorite pole a few years back when I was fishing a lowly earthworm.)

NY law permits two poles in the water per person.

However, keeping two poles in the water was physically impossible. You couldn't get one fish off before there was one on the other pole.

It was crazy; the fastest and most furious fishing I have ever experienced. Although we only caught rock bass, they were huge for rockies and ferocious biters. And you could easily see that there were big predator fish down there, because the surface danced with jumping fry. Even good-sized rock bass were leaping to escape the savage teeth. There are plenty of big pike and pickerel in that lake. Alan says he has seen logs, which suddenly swam away when the boat flowed over them. I suspect that there were at least a couple of those "logs" right under the boat.

We had the live well full of fish before we drifted off the hot spot.

By then the wind was kicking up and the surface of the water was turning that hammered-metal color that it gets before a storm. Matt anchored a few more times, but we never hit the spot again.

Soon the wind got serious and the rain started splashing down, so we ran for the cabins down the lake, churning up an eager wake and getting a free shower.....just before the lightning started slamming all around.

It was the craziest fishing trip I have ever experienced. Such fun!

And the fish fry that Lisa and Matt put on the last day, wherein we got to eat our catch, cooked over their campfire along with Dutch oven veggies and apple crisp ditto wasn't too shabby either.

On a related note my little red el cheapo pole got broken in the car on the way home. I need to find another one before next summer. Any ideas on what to buy? I mostly lake fish, prefer a light-weight, responsive pole, and use a close-faced reel. The pole the trout broke a couple years ago was my favorite ever, just a little Zebco that gave me a real feel for the fish and cast like a charm......every time I go to Wally World, the selection of poles offered changes so much it just boggles my mind. What has worked well for you in this department?

Back

Not so much to the future as to the same old, same old. The John Deere 4430 has once again earned its reputation as one of the worst tractors we have ever owned. Will not be buying green again I do not think. Major issues this time requiring splitting the tractor to repair it and having a rental to keep working at the hay. We need to trade that junk in!

Two of Alan's friends were in a regional medical center when we left for camp, one with a life-threatening illness and the other with terrible injuries from a motorcycle/deer accident. Both are moving in the right direction, which is wonderful news, although they still need prayers. Over the past few weeks the power of prayer has been demonstrated a number of times, which are not mine to mention, although I am sure grateful for the outcomes. Hope things turn out all right for these two nice boys.

A pretty day today, a lot less humid and much cooler, for which I am grateful. I am sure the cows will be too. They hate the heat and don't do well in it. Liz and the boss had five cows in season in one day while we were gone and didn't even breed them...so hot there wasn't much likelihood of them conceiving anyhow. We had a heifer to breed yesterday, one that was running out with the cows. She obligingly came in the barn without being asked, but wouldn't leave when we were done. Amazingly, although she is not trained to lead, she let Liz throw a halter on her and ambled out of the barn behind her, as tame as a kitten. Too bad she isn't a pretty one to show, as she is evidently came from the factory already halter-broken.

****Unless I get a chance to pause in the cleaning up a week's worth of Godawful mess in the house and barn to get out the camera I am going to go with more pics from camp for a bit. Above is Becky with the bubble stuff she so cleverly grabbed at the Dollar Store for camp....and Alan, blowing bubbles with scissors and a cut off soda bottle. The bubbles were brilliant...there isn't much that can add to the serenity of a clear, blue mountain lake, but bubbles, floating way down the lake on the breeze do the job nicely.

Hark! I hear a wren! I wondered where the heck they had gone......first one this summer.