8-31 July, 2013 - Busy!

We've been keeping kind of busy with both work and fun around here and I just haven't had time to put the blog together.

We floated down the Tobacco River from Eureka to Lake Koocanusa.  Susan is in front on a large float that's normally pulled behind a speed boat.

We took another afternoon to paddle around on Murphy Lake.  It's a nice mountain lake along Highway 93 about ten miles south of Eureka, Montana.  This is one of several beaver lodges in the lake.

Susan and Scott in their kayak.

Scott rides in the cockpit in front of Susan.  We bring along a blanket in case he gets sleepy.  He absolutely loves being in the kayak.

We spent one Saturday at the hot springs at Hot Springs, MT.  Scott in in the "cool" pool with his mom and dad.  They have three pools.  The upper two are smaller and very hot and hot.  Most people can only spend a bout 15 or 20 minutes max. in the upper pool.  The lowest (cool) pool is a full size swimming pool.  It's about the temperature of warn bath water. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch on Flathead Lake on the way home.

We hauled another load of junk to the dump.  Susan took a photo of the refrigerators behind the pickup.  She needs it for a book she's writing.

 

We spent another afternoon on Upper Stillwater Lake.  The train tracks run alongside the lake so we were treated to the sound of the trains every fifteen or twenty minutes.  Scott loves seeing trains so we always stopped and watched them go by.  Several engineers "tooted" the horns for Scott.

A neighbor has some ground squirrel problems...

They ate these clear to the ground.

I spent the first morning eliminating those I could with my 223 rifle.  That's me the arrow is pointing at.  I shot 19 times, killing 17 squirrels.

This is one of the little rodents.  There were many more I didn't get so we set some traps in key areas to get as many as we can.  Next spring I'll start shooting them earlier in the year before the grass gets too tall and before they have their litters. 

Ahhh ... the endless task of keeping weed-eaters, mowers and chainsaws going.  This one needed the carburetor cleaned.  We bought it at an auction for a dollar.  It's one that you can change the head on to make it do different functions.  We  ordered a brush cutting head for it so I needed to get it running.

Scott, being 2 3/4 now is getting a little more creative.  We made him a "playhouse" out of a large box.  He turned it on it's side so that he could stand and put his head through the window to watch television.  The Chipmunk (Alvin, Simon, and Theodore), movie is his favorite at the time so we've seen/heard it about a hundred times now.

He under the motorhome trying to corner the cat.

Susan picked a bunch of mint and hung it in bundles on the front porch.

I got my motorcycle out to get it running.  I knew Scott would want to sit on it so I tied it up to the Pickup to make sure it didn't fall on him.  I have the seat off to get at the battery (it needed charged).

I ran some jumper wires from the battery bank to the MC battery to charge it.

We ran the pump to water the garden.  The pressure as very poor so I took the suction-line apart to clean it.  It has a habit of collecting debris in the one-way valve near the pump.

Watering the garden requires hauling water. I've got seven, 50 gallon barrels in the back of the truck.  I've been filling them at a neighbor's then bring them home and siphon the water out of the barrels and into the main tank.  It takes 35 to 45 minutes for each barrel.

We finished up the porch.  It's great to have a place to relax where the mosquitoes can't get to us.

Harvest time for the raspberries ... finally!

This is the inside view of the screened porch.

We had a out-of-state friend stay with us for a week.  One of the things she wanted to do was take a canoe out on the lake so we spent a few hours on Marl Lake (a mile form home).  It's a nice quiet lake where you don't have to worry about getting run over by ski boats.  The deepest part of the lake is left of the island at the left side of the picture.  It's about 125 feet deep there.

She also wanted to go berry picking and we always take visitors up to the Mount Marston fire lookout.  These are some of the wildflowers on the way there.

It was a good place to let the dog run a bit.

Mount Marston Lookout.

In the distance you can see the peaks in Glacier National Park.

This is looking west from the parking lot.  There are about three lakes on the other side of the first ridge.  On a clear day you can see the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area.

After the lookout we picked huckleberries for awhile.  Odie's taking a rest break next to Scott.

Scott needed a lift up the mountain.  He kicked off his boots near the road so I ended up carrying him when we moved to new areas.  We wore bright colored clothing to keep track of each other better.  The woods are thick here and it's easy to get separated.  We also carry FRS radios in case we get separated.

This is our friend coming back down the mountain.

One of Scott's favorite videos is about motorcycle riding.  He especially likes the freestyle events. It's hard to imagine what he's thinking but he was making some pretty serious motorcycle sounds!

Roofing ... ughhh!  We stripped off  the metal roofing and skylights.  We've been fighting leaks since we put on the metal roofing.  We figured it was more a problem with the skylights than the roof but the roofing had to come off to fix the skylights so we took it all off.  The skylights did end up being the main problem but we went back with asphalt roofing anyway.  We'll use the salvaged metal roofing on other projects.

 

I keep a file of photos of unique hinges and gate latches.  This one is an old horseshoe that latches the gate to a chicken pen.  A good example of using what you have on hand instead of buying something new that probably doesn't work as well.

23 Feb - 3 Mar, 2013 - Exploring, Food Drying, Hot Springs, and Wind!

Time to make a new post!  My rib has finally healed enough that we've been out doing more things.  We spent a couple of days driving some of the 4wd trails in the area.  This one was closest so we used it first.  

The Echo Canyon Trail (4wd trail) winds through some canyons on the way to Lake Mead.  There wasn't much need of four-wheel-drive unless you got careless in the sand but it was a nice drive seeing some different scenery.

We turned around near the lake (and the end of the trail) when we came upon a herd of wild burros.  We didn't want to push them farther down the canyon so we turned around here.

After the Echo Canyon Trail we headed up the Boatman's Cove Trail.  We didn't get too far before it began getting dark so we turned around and headed for the highway.  We refilled the Cherokee with gasoline and drove to the end of it the next day.  This was a naturally formed "castle" with a really cool cave that we saw along the trail.

 

Okay, maybe it wasn't as big as I let on!  We drove to the end at the lake then spent some time hiking and climbing around on the rocks.  We did need 4wd in a few places on this trail.

 



Susan saw a good sale on mixed vegetables so she used some for supper then dried the rest.  Scott is helping spread them out!

We didn't have any drying screens so Susan used cookie sheets. (Day one.)

Day Two!

We picked up some decent firewood on our explorations but it was still too large for the stove in the camper so Scott and I whittled the first piece down to size.  He insisted on helping so we cut it up using three-inch strokes on the saw.  It took awhile but he felt about six feet tall when we were done.

Wal Mart had these wash tubs on sale so we bought one for Scott to play in and for laundry.

We bought him this blow-up plane that's meant to be used in the water.  He got the hang of it on dry land then ...

Tried a water landing.  I think he needs a bigger tub.

We've been working on potty training again so we got him some "pull-ups."  I wasn't aware that they also make good hats.

We washed clothes in the laundry at Overton and strung them up to dry at camp.

 

In typical fashion the wind came up before they were all dry.

We bought a deep cast iron skillet at an "estate" sale.  When we got there it had become a (very small!) "antique" sale and this was the only thing we found that we wanted.  It was annoying to us because we drove quite a ways to the sale and it wasn't even close to how it was presented in the paper.

 

 

Susan made cinnamon biscuits one morning for breakfast.  Scott, of course, wanted to help so Susan let him spread some of the cinnamon sauce.

She finished the job and got ready to roll them up.

All ready for the oven!  I was going to take some pictures after they were ready and frosted but we ate them too quick.

When we travel we use a small charger plugged into the cigarette lighter to charge up phones, Nooks, Kindles, computers, etc.

We bought a set of cheap jumper cables to lengthen the wires for the trolling motor.  That way we can put the battery farther forward to keep more of the weight up front and away from the back.  It was cheaper to buy new jumper cables than to buy the same length of 10 gauge wire.

We also bought a pair of aluminum oars and plastic oarlocks.  I got plastic oarlocks hoping that they'll be quieter than steel.  The aluminum oars will hopefully last longer than wood oars.  These can be taken apart for transport.  Susan said if I got the hang of rowing it she'd let me take it out on the water next.  Unfortunately, about the time I got the last bolt tightened the wind came up and we went from calm water to whitecaps in about 15 minutes.  Have I ever mentioned that the wind can be kind of impressive around here?

 

We drove over to look at Hoover Dam while we were in Las Vegas last time.  It was okay but didn't look as impressive as the dams at Hungry Horse and Libby Montana.  (I might be just a little prejudiced though!)

Yesterday we drove over to some hot springs at Ash Springs.  It was crowded but there was plenty of room for everyone.  We spent several hours basking in the warm water while Scott played.  We'll be going again but will try to make it during the week instead of the weekend.