Wood Carving

For as long as I can remember, Rick has done some form of wood carving. I remember back in the 80's he would get together with other people each week in the wood carvers club and they'd work on their projects. I've never been interested to learn, although my grandfather carved chains and other items, and I love seeing the process of the items emerging from the raw wood and the final results. I know that working with the sharp knives and chisels would not be enjoyable for me.

Here are photos of some of Rick's wood carvings. Some are still in progress or need a permanent mounting. I especially like the painted ducks because they have so much detail. And of course, I love the fish!

There are special tools and safety equipment they use when carving. The chisels and gouges are extremely sharp. There are patterns for almost every imaginable character, animal, flower, or whatever you can think of. There are different methods to finish a carving from painting, burning, or leaving it natural. Our community has regular shows where the local clubs display their carvings and vie for prizes. I'm sure now that we are retired Rick will be doing more carving.

Change of the Seasons?

I wrote this today after coming in from a beautiful day on the river, but a tough day of fishing. After writing I made dinner and we talked about our time here so far and what it might be like in the coming weeks. We both hope for days filled with fish, but we both agree that there is more to having fun than catching lots of fish. We have many activities to keep us busy, trips we could take, as well as hobbies and fun projects to work on.

It's only mid-August, but this last week we've noticed a change in the seasons. The temps are just a little cooler overnight, there's been 3 or 4 days of intermittent thunderstorms, the river flow is dropping like a rock (appropriate cliche I think), there are fewer fisherpeople on the river, the flowers and trees are looking different, we're seeing fewer guide trips float by, the insects are vastly different (we're seeing grasshoppers and fewer big mayflies), and we're not seeing the fish hang out in the river currents like we had.

In June and July we could walk the banks of the river and see fish against the bank and out in the middle. We could wade across the river and see fish darting out of our way. When we stood in the river a dozen fish would stack up in the wake behind us, feeding on the insects we churned up. Yesterday we noticed very few fish in the usual places. HOWEVER! We did find fish and we did land a number of fish, just not the usual number. I really had to look for feeding fish for my dry flies.

Just like last week, I looked long and hard for rising fish so I could throw dry flies. To me, that is the most fun and the most challenging. Although I will change to nymph fishing if I don't see rising fish. A few days ago there was a group of 4 guys fishing so Rick and I moved upstream of them. Rick fished nymphs in the middle while I waded across to the far bank. From the home bank I'd seen a rising fish so I was off on a mission to get it. I've been using a big elk hair caddis, about a size 14 or 12, what I call a stimi, to imitate spruce moths that have been hitting the water. With the 4 guys fishing nymphs downstream from me I noticed a swirl against some grasses that had piled up against the bank. I put my fly in the perfect place and hooked a big fish and brought it away from the bank and out of the weeds. It then got off the hook. Disappointed but happy, I thought that was the only fish and I'd had my chance. I looked at Rick who'd been watching and gave him the palms up signal for "oh well." I dried my fly, put more floatant on and watched the bank again. And soon I saw another swirl! I couldn't believe it! I put the fly against the bank so it floated down to the built up grasses and hooked another fish! I motioned to Rick that it looked big and he went for the camera (he's on the far bank eating his PB&J). I don't carry a net so I hoped it would cooperate. It fought for awhile and since there was a storm blowing in I wanted to bring this one to me. It was a 22" brown trout and in great condition. That's another thing - most of the fish we're now catching are in great shape. (more on the condition of the fish later)


Yesterday and today I spotted rising fish and tried to catch them even though they were on the far bank and difficult for me to reach. The river flow has dropped, but not enough so I can reach the other side with an easy cast. Rick and Steve also like to face the challenge of fish on the far bank, and they have both hooked and landed fish from the far side. I get almost as much enjoyment from them catching fish - almost.

Things have slowed down though I'm not sure how much or how long this slow down will last. Is it only slow here at "Mickey's Corner"? Are there more fish in another stretch of the river? Is it temporary? Is it because the water is dropping and the temps are changing? When the next phase of insects arrives will the fishing improve? The fish we're catching are more difficult, more work, but perhaps more appreciated. The weather and water are still very nice, and the colder mornings make us look forward to the afternoon sun all the more. We're still wet wading (shorts and sandals) and haven't put on our waders yet. There will be a day when the temps are cold enough to glove up, but not yet.

We're already planning our arrival date for next year to be a month earlier so we don't miss any of the good weather and good fishing. The good times go by so fast.

Pictures from home - staying connected

Thank goodness for technology that allows us to keep in touch with family and friends who are not with us while we're on the road in our motorhome. As we were leaving Arizona and the southern California area I wanted to spend just one more day with family, knowing that it would probably be months before we would hug them again. We were lucky to have some family visit us at the Thousand Trails Rancho Oso (Santa Barbara) RV park. This photo was taken of my sister, Erin, her husband Tim, and sons Josh and Ryan. Last week Josh had his 5th birthday and the next day Ryan turned 2. As Quincy of Little Einsteins says, "Un-be-lievable!" They are growing up so fast. Josh starts kindergarten this year. He's been able to read for a while now and he's so smart he won't have a problem with the schoolwork. Ryan will be with my mom, aka Grammy, while Josh goes to school. In addition, Grammy will be a Grammy again any day now. (I think that makes 10, if I don't get too complicated.) My sister-in-law Anna, married to Mark, is having a baby boy any day.

What would you do without email? We use free aol email primarily for communication with friends and we also have a free Google email account that we keep for business. Free email is a money saver and they are both quite reliable. This last week we received email from friends we used to work with. Many keep in touch on a fairly regular basis, while others surprise us every so often with a 'hello' from the past. It was nice to get email and pictures of our friends kids last week. Others have also sent pictures and it's a good way to stay connected with what's going on "back home". My sister sent new photos of their recent vacation trip and they all look so happy. I just have to share.

And thank goodness for cell phones! When we first started travelling back in the 1980's we did not have a cell phone. We had to find a pay phone (remember those?) and use dimes and quarters. For years I carried a cell phone for emergencies only, but now I use it to call friends from the river - when I'm not fishing. It's reassuring to be able to call and check on friends and family. We use Verizon and have had very good coverage and great customer service. When you call another Verizon customer it doesn't count against your alloted minutes. Nights and weekends are also free. More and more of our family has Verizon which sure helps.

We access the Internet with a Verizon 720 USB air card. And we use a CradlePoint 350 wireless router (from 3Gstore.com) so that both of us can use our laptops at the same time. Our Internet access does not use our cell phone like some people we've met. And our Internet access is almost as fast as DSL. There have only been 2 locations where we've had to hook up our Wilson antennae to get a stronger signal (Thousand Trails Whalers Rest and Thousand Trails Rancho Oso). We have unlimited useage and unlimited downloads. Rick still kids me about resisting the Internet when it first became popular many years ago. I said I didn't want to use it or learn about it, and now it is so much a part of everyday life.

Then there's the US Postal Service for keeping in contact. Every once in awhile we get a special handwritten letter or package from friends and family and they are a treat! I've tried to send some snail-mail to our family, especially our young nephews who are growing up with email communication instead of letters and postcards.

Send us a comment if you have questions about the technology we use to keep in touch with the world while we're on the road.

Mickey's Corner & the pesty pelicans

I was looking forward to Sunday, before it ever got light outside. I had new stuff to try! I was looking forward to fishing since we'd had thunderstorms with wind and rain for the past couple days and Sunday was supposed to be clear.

After getting our usual 8 hours of sleep, we had our coffee and a good breakfast of Mic's huevos rancheros. My version is a crispy tortilla (like a tostada shell), shredded cheese, salsa verde, fresh roasted pasilla chiles (by Rick), and a fried egg. Yum yum, one of our favorites. Rick was up before me, and as usual, had tied up a few flies. Like soup de jour, Rick ties flies de jour or flies of the day. After catching up on the Olympics and email, we trek down to the river.

Saturday we'd gone into town with the main purpose of getting a new fly line for my fly rod, a 2 piece 9' Steffen Brothers, 5-6 weight graphite. Rick had recently put on a new line that we had, but it just didn't seem to cast right with that new line. Casting was taking a lot of effort on my part and the end result was not a gently presented, nicely laid down fly, but rather a pile of line on the water (if you could pile anything on water). So we went into Tim Tollett's Frontier Anglers and purchased a Scientific Angler GPX 6 weight, weight forward line. When we walked into the fly shop Tim greeted us by name and said he missed us on the river one day last week. He said as they drifted past that section of the river, what he called "Mickey's Corner", he wondered where we were. He said he was going to call that stretch "Mickey's Corner" because we're always there. It was nice to chat with Tim for a few minutes.

We'd already been to The Bookstore in Dillon to trade for some more books and we made a stop at the grocery store to fill up our frig, freezer, and pantry. It'd been raining most of the morning and continued for the rest of the afternoon. We made a delicious pork roast in the slow cooker and had a great dinner. We were sure to have better weather on Sunday. After all I had new fly line to try out.

When we arrived at the river Sunday morning, at "Mickey's Corner", there were 2 fishermen leaving. They hadn't had any luck. We were going to have the river to ourselves. The wind was calm, but as I walked along the bank I did not see any fish rising. Not a good thing I told myself, but I knew that could change in an instant. The guys leaving pointed out a couple of giant white pelicans that had been cruising the far bank and eating fish! Our fish! The pelicans were not afraid of us and were real pesty. They're common on the lake, but we hadn't seen them on the river before. We tried to chase the pelicans away, but it was only temporary. They were soon back, stopping their paddling when they spotted a fish, going underwater to try to grab our fish! We kept trying to scare them, but they ignored us. They'd fly upstream and then float back downstream over and over again.

With only Clover the Wonder Dog as company, Rick and I spread out and I tried my new fly line. It was 100% different, better, and it was so nice. It had a pronounced "weight forward" feel, sort of shot right out, and the line loaded very easily. I was able to put the fly where I wanted and the end of the line turned over as it should, gently placing the fly ahead of the line. It's a nice line! But now, where are the fish?? I'm ready!

Although I saw a few fish come out of the water, they did not want any fly I threw. One consistently rising fish did try to take it once, but I tried to set the hook too quickly. Rick also was having the same luck (none) and went to the fly shop to borrow their seive, some screen cloth stretched across 2 dowels. You place it in the water and the bugs and stuff floating down the river get stuck on the netting. It was amazing what we discovered! No nymphs! No bugs! But time and time we did get a screen full of daphnia! You know, daphnia! (Don't feel bad, I didn't either.) Rick says he used to raise daphnia to feed to his tropical fish. It looked like a bunch of snot to me, tiny, slimy beads of snot. They're about the size of the head of a pin, tiny. I thought they looked like snail eggs. But they're actually small planktonic freshwater crustaceans, also known as water fleas because of the way they move, not because they bite. We could see the trout underwater, moving to eat something. And it was obviously daphnia or what I call trout krill.

While Rick tried my rod and the new line, I marched, literally, across the river and back trying to get rid of the pelicans. I had to laugh to myself as I thought about an email Steve sent me. In his email he said, "it does not appear to me that you are challenged in any particular way when you wade this mighty river." You would have laughed if you had seen me. In the past, in higher water, I've been so cautious, but now I was only thinking of getting rid of those pelicans.

It was a beautiful day on the river, hardly any wind, no one but us and the pesty pelicans, and not a fish willing to try our flies. We're looking forward to tomorrow. The fishing has got to be better than it was today.

Perseid Meteor Shower August 12-13, 2008

The Perseid Meteor Show is once again on the horizon and there are no tickets to buy for this show - IT'S FREE! And it's best viewed unaided, by the naked eye, without a telescope or binoculars. And it's perfectly safe to watch, unlike a solar eclipse.

If you are in a dark, clear sky you may see up to 80 meteors each hour. The meteors you'll see during the Perseid shower are small particles entering Earth's atmosphere at high speed and these particles come from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, last seen in 1992. The meteors appear to come from the Perseus constellation.

Peak time for this show will be on the night of August 12 and the early morning of the 13th, but you will possibly be able to see the beginning of the show starting on the evening of the 11th and you might catch the meteor remnants on the night of the 13th. Look towards the north-eastern sky for the highest concentration of 'shooting stars' or quick streaks of light. If the conditions are good you may be able to see one meteor or more every few minutes. The Moon is waxing and sets at 1:30 AM so it should not interfere with the show after it sets.

For many years, probably 20 years, Rick and I have looked forward to the Perseid Meteor Shower. Living in Arizona, in what used to be the far outskirts of Phoenix (but not anymore), we had dark skies to view the stars. Many times my younger brothers, Mike & Mark, would visit us in August and we would take the golf cart and lounge chairs to the outer edges of our community and lay out under the stars watching the numerous meteors travelling through the atmosphere. Nowadays we have a good amount of light pollution in the outskirts of Phoenix so the starry sky is not as brilliant as it used to be. We're hoping for a crystal clear sky, a slight breeze to keep the mosquitoes away, and overnight temps around 45 (Phoenix will be around 85). We'll be out there in the wide open spaces of the campground, optimistic for a good showing this year from Montana.

Thingamabobber

Although not a highly technical new advancement in fly fishing, this is one of the best "thingies" I've seen in awhile. The Thingamabobber! We love our Thingamabobbers!

I've mentioned nymph fishing a few times. It's where you fish with nymphs under the water with a natural drift to imitate bugs floating downstream. You usually use a small amount of weight (1 to 4 BB's) to keep the flies towards the river-bottom. You usually use a strike indicator that floats on top of the water so you can see when the flies are taken by the fish. We've used indicators made of yarn, foam, and cork, balloons, and other materials that float. But nothing works as well as the Thingamabobber.

Thingamabobbers float well, come in at least 3 sizes, are not carried by the wind, come in easy to see colors, respond well to 'fish takes', are easy to attach and adjust. They are soft, cast well, stay in place on the line and don't require any floatant to make them buoyant. And they are reasonably priced at about $1.25 each.

We have no involvement in the company that makes or markets this product. We just like it.

Our Fishy Friends

I mean fishy in the nicest way. If you're one of our 'fishy friends' you know I'm using this as a term of endearment. Just as with RVing, where we've met the nicest folks, we've been lucky to meet and fish with some good people.

Although we love to be the only ones on the river, to look up and downstream and see no one other than the resident hawks and muscrats, to have the entire stretch to walk up and down as we desire, it is equally nice to meet new fishing friends and share the experience with them. We've been lucky to meet some very nice people who share the love of fly fishing.

Some are local, like Steve & Sean, while others are visiting for a few days from far away places.

We've met Brad Terrell from Colorado/Alaska who was in the area for a few days and caught some very nice trout. Rick netted a couple fish for Brad and he was nice to point out some rising trout to me. Serious fisherman, but a lot of fun to fish with. (For all of Brad's friends, these are 2 different fish caught about 20 minutes apart.)


Our long-time fishing pal Eric and his son, Brady, were here for a week or so. We had a blast fishing with them and had some good road trips.




We had a surprise visit from friends Kenny & Linda who we hadn't seen in 5 years. Rick looked out at the campground and said "That guys looks like Kenny and that might be Linda." Rick went to investigate and it was them! Kenny guides for World Cast Anglers and Linda B. operates a shuttle service out of TroutHunter on the Henry's Fork river. We used to fish with them on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Last Chance, Idaho. We fished Box Canyon, Railroad Ranch, and Chester Backwater. They stayed a couple nights here at the campground, we shared some good meals, and they may come back for another visit.

This year we missed our friends from Virginia - Paul, his brother Vincent and their dad - by one day! They're a nice family and we've enjoyed fishing with them in the past. We'll keep in touch and try to meet next year on the river.


Nancy and Reggie visited relatives in Dillon a month ago and they are planning a return trip in October. Yipeee! I hope we are still here so we can spend more time with them!





There's Sean and his mom, Kristen, who show up on the river to fish when they can. And I'm sure if Sean was old enough to drive he'd be on the river all the time.


And I mentioned Steve, who we get to fish with a few times a week. He loves to razz me when I miss a fish or one gets off my hook. He's a good fisherman, who often invites me to fish near him 'cause we both like to dry fly. I had to laugh the other day when he crossed the river and said "come on over and fish here". At 6'2" it's nothing for him to wade out to the far bank, but I'm barely 5'2" and sometimes feel like my feet are being swept out from under me.



You know you're with fishy good friends when you can fish side by side with each other, joke about missing a fish, share flies, kid each other about losing a hooked fish, net each other's fish, and razz the one catching the most fish or not having any luck at all. We're making good memories.

Heard on the river

When it's quiet on the river the voices carry a long distance. If I'm not standing in the riffles (very noisy), I can hear other fisherpeople talking about the flies they're using or the fish they hooked. Some commonly heard cliches -with lots of enthusiasm-

That was a freight train!
Fish on! (fish-shon!) (for Sean)
Hook up!
That was a pig! (That was a hog!)
That was a horse!
That fish was HOT!
Rip them lips!
Did you see THAT?!?!
Set! Set! Set!
It spooled me!
It was sooo big, it broke me off!
I tattooed that one!
It jumped three times! (Do fish jump?)
It took me into my backing!
On this river, just hooking one is good.
LDR - Long Distance Release

(and my favs)
She has another one!
We'll just watch her catch fish.
What are you using?
I remember you. You're that woman who catches lots of fish.
You're back. You tore 'em up last year!

Do you have any favorite fishing phrases that you would like to add? Send me a comment.

More Zoom with our Nikon P80

While in Washington a couple months ago, we purchased a new camera from Costco. I wanted one with a better zoom, more pixels, and more bells and whistles. We had a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200 and it's a good point and shoot digital camera with 7.2 megapixels. We still have the Sony and take it with us most everywhere. It has a quick shutter recovery time, meaning it will take the next shot fairly quickly. However, there is a known issue with the Sony P200 with the photos eventually showing what looks like a smudge. There is internal dust that accumulates on the lense inside the camera. We could have a camera shop or Sony service it, but the cost for the service is more than we could buy a new Sony.

I love the Nikon P80 and I'm glad we didn't get one that is more difficult. I thought I wanted one with changeable lenses, but the one we were looking at did not have a 'live view' LCD. Having to always look through the small viewfinder with my eye to the camera was not what I wanted. We both like to use the larger LCD screen to center the subject. The P80 is easy to pick up and use on the Auto setting and it also has many manual settings you can play with.

I love the zoom and I sometimes forget how nice it is. I had posted some fish photos a few days ago that Rick took of me across the river. I wanted to show the comparison of the shot both ways, without the zoom and with the zoom. Can you see me in the first photo?

And this one is cropped to 4x6 with no modifications.

While on the Oregon coast I played with the zoom and did some comparisons. I've had fun taking photos of the birds as we travel and hope to share more of them on our blog.

Pedicure Spa Treatment by Fish

Last week on one of the morning TV shows they did a bit on fish that clean the dead skin off people's feet. People go to a salon and put their feet into aquariums with little fish that nibble at your toes and supposedly make your skin soft by nibbling off the dead skin.

WELL! We've been 2 months of having fish nibble and rub against our legs and feet. It happens everytime we stand in the river. The trout stack up behind us, usually 15 or more. But they aren't little - they are BIG! We didn't know that we were getting a spa treatment while having so much fun fishing. An added bonus I guess.

(The trout don't nibble at us, but they do bump against our legs!)

Flying Gemstones

We love hummingbirds! When the sun catches their vibrant colors they are like sparkling gemstones. Just like in Arizona, we have a hummingbird feeder here in Montana. We've attracted a few hummers and they're entertaining to watch when we sit out on the patio. And we can also see them from inside the motorhome. They can be a little difficult to photograph because they fly so fast! We have a dominate male Rufous who thinks he owns the feeder. He's a bright gold and when the sun catches his golden topaz throat he is so dazzling!

You can click on any of the slideshow photos and you'll see a larger view.

Our little feeder holds about one cup of hummer juice and we have to fill it every few days. To make our syrup we use 1/4 cup of sugar to one cup of water. We stir it well until the sugar dissolves. And we do not use red food color! The feeder is red and that attracts the hummers. Only one feeder here in Montana and we hang it from the passenger side mirror on the outside of the motorhome. I'll try to get some better photos and share them on another post. In the meantime I hope you enjoy these photos and slideshow.


(Hey! I didn't mention fishing one time! We're getting ready to go fishing now. And we had a great day yesterday!)

Blogger hiccup

Our blog is created with Blogger and hosted by Google. While it is usually very stable, every once in a while they suffer a technical hiccup. Sometimes they have scheduled system interruptions to make upgrades or do server maintenance, but Friday and continuing on Saturday, Blogger is has been down to correct an unexpected problem. (Whoa! Just had a flash back of work!) It seems a large number of blogs have accidentally been flagged as spam blogs. However, the users have posted in the support/help area that there is a conflict with some of the html code in certain blogs and if I remove it my blog is now OK! Blogger is still having the conflict with the html code, I just have put a band aid on the problem by removing the code.

As a general note, I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes a few seconds for all our photos and slideshows to fully load. Until the slideshows load, they will be blank or only show one or two photos. Be patient and everything will load.

Please let us know if you notice that a link is not working or you get an error of any type.

It is simple to send a comment and I won’t publish it if you ask me not to. You can also remain anonymous and you don’t have to have a Google account (although I’d like to know who is sending us a comment). If you click on ‘Comment’ at the bottom of any post you will get a new window to make your comment.

I have implemented 'Word Verification' when sending a comment because we had started to receive spam comments. You will need to retype some letters that are displayed. It’s easy to send us a comment and we would love to hear from you. Give it a try and let us know what you are thinking.