weekend in the woods

This weekend,DH and I went over the pass to the Metolius River watershed to party with my niece at the family cabin.

There have been some pretty big wildfires through the area in the last few years.  It changed the looks of the scenery completely.  Instead of impenetrable green stands of firs and tamaracks,there are bare white tree skeletons for miles and miles.  

I have never, in the 62 years of my life, seen three-fingered Jack from this side before.  It's eerie.  And all that dead wood stands there, ready to burn again the next time lightning strikes in August.

We stopped for a bit at Suttle Lake. The day had high overcast, and the light was oddly yellow.  If you enlarge the photo, you can see a burned over ridge on the far side of the lake.  Down to the right you can see a young man trying to teach his dog to surf.  I guess, with dogs, you have to start in calm water and get them used to the board.






My brother has a fish pond at his cabin, and a pair of geese have moved in and managed to raise 5 goslings to the awkward adolescent stage.  Mom to the left, Dad to the right, and all the little ones between.  Mom and Dad spent some time hissing at us when we showed up, but they soon settled down.  Notice those shadows in the water to the right of the geese?

Rainbow trout.  Hand raised, fat and happy pet trout.

 18 to 24 inches long. Would you like to go swimming with fish that are longer than your forearm - elbow to fingertips?  The geese don't care for it either.  We got a video of what happens when you throw fish food in amidst the geese, but we're having trouble getting it onto the blog. Still trying.  No geese were harmed in the making of this video.

It was a gorgeous day for a barbecue, and the swimming pool was full of kids all day long.  We feasted on tri-tip steaks and about 7 different kinds of salads, garlic bread, and for desert, I brought chocolate chip cookies, cranberry, oatmeal cookies, and gingersnaps.  The gingersnaps disappeared first.