MORE PICTURES

Some more pictures of our adventure yesterday.  We did take a wrong turn and came across some campers so we stopped to chat.  They were in a wonderful spot along the Little White River.  All the comforts of home - solar panels and a satellite dish.  We were soon on our way back to the correct cutoff.  As soon as we came around the corner and that mountain was staring us down, I started scanning for rocks.  Before I was even off my quad I spotted one but I was in the middle of trying to take a picture when Joanne swooped in and grabbed by rock!!!  You snooze, you loose.  I tried to steal it back but she had her eye on it at all times.  It really didn't matter because there were tons more treasures everywhere you looked.  It was fun.  Just when you think you couldn't carry any more rocks, you spot another one.  My floor boards were filled.  We even came across a small memorial for a man among the stones.  The leaves are changing already and they are beautiful.  They still have a long way to go but what has changed is very vibrant.  There is a picture of me on the way back where I successfully crossed the beaver pond.  My bike was very dirty after and I had some of the Beaver's dam stuck to the bottom my quad.  Sorry Mr. Beaver.
We all gathered at Don and Marlene's for beer and cookies after our afternoon of fun.  What a great time we had with them and their friends and family.  I am sure it is not the last of our great adventures  together.

A NEW ADVENTURE

Today 10 of us went on a new adventure to an abandon quartz mine that we just heard about a couple of weeks ago.  I mentioned it to Don and Marlene about 2 weeks ago and they were on it in an instant.  They asked around and got directions and led our convoy right to it today.  What a trail!  The picture is of Mitch flying thru the beaver pond that gave me a bit of trouble on the way in.
I will post more pictures tomorrow of the actual mountain of rocks.  Needless to say, I have a lot of new white sparkly rocks in my garden tonite.

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY MONTY AND CHARLIE

Five Years Old!!!  How did those years go by so fast???

Happiest of Birthday wishes go out to these two beautiful boys who make my world go round in a much more "funner" way!!

IT'S MY PARTY

It was the inaugural smoker event yesterday.  We finally got our new smoker going and smoked two pork butts for a pulled pork dinner.  One butt was fine but the other was almost all fat so I had to cook up a couple of pork tenderloins in order to have enough food for the approximately 30 invited guests. It was the right call because I had very little left over.  The party was a success!!  The weather was perfect.  Not too cold and not too hot.  We had the fire going and everyone gathered around as it did get a bit chilly in the evening.
Sorry I didn't get a picture of the food table before the masses swooped in.  Joanne made her famous beans and people brought snacks or salads or desert.  We had Linda's world famous rice krispie squares and Lisa made her popular butter tarts and blue berry tarts.  Linda and Sandy brought some watermelon.  It was a great dinner.
We sat by the fire (using my indoor firewood I might add) and survived a bug hatch on the lake.  These tiny little winged bugs swarmed us for a little while - more of a nuisance than anything else.  But this morning I noticed that our clothes had all these little bug bodies on them.  They were everywhere.  One of the hazards of living on a lake.
People cleared out by 10:30 and everyone made it home safe and sound.
It is always fun to have friends over for a party!  A great time was had by all!

ALL SET UP

Made the trip up the highway to get the trailer set up at Hinkler.  Continuing his habit of scooting past the exit point, Rejean missed the Hinkler road.  We had to travel up the highway to find a road to turn around.  I must admit I missed the gravel pit which is a signal that the road is not too far beyond that point and I did see the Hinkler sign but it was about 2 1/2 feet before the road and with a big 5th wheel trailer behind the truck, you couldn't just slam on the brakes.  All was good and we got the trailer placed and ready for our first adventure in a few weeks.  Over the winter our little roof over the fire wood became unhinged on one side.  A project for the guys on our next trip.
It is a beautiful spot to escape to every once in a while and bird season opens September 15th which isn't that far away...

KAYAKING ON THE RIVER

It was a beautiful day yesterday, for kayaking on the river.  Twelve of us met at LaFoe and headed downstream.  Everyone except Shane was fishing and a number of fish were caught - one walleye and the rest were bass.  I caught two - one smaller and one BIG.  Always fun to fight them and then net them in a kayak.  Mitch had his new fishing kayak out and it seemed to handle great.  He is tall and this kayak had a good seat on it that kept him comfortable.  The river was down and we did hit some spots that you had to step out of the kayak and move to deeper water.  One fellow had a great big sombrero and had tunes going all the way down the river.  It was fun to be beside him when a good song was playing.
Everyone just went at their own pace and it took us about 5 hours to cover the distance.  We had an incident at the end where you are supposed to stop because any further and you are on your way to Tunnel Lake - about 22 miles down river.  Well, just say that someone who should have known to stop, didn't.  2 other people followed him down the river.  I saw them going but it was too far away to yell at them to stop.  Long story short, we "rescued" them up at Snowshoe about an hour later.  We had to strap the kayaks to a four wheeler to get them up to the road.  This will be a story that will live on and on.  AND to add insult to injury, Rejean injured his finger and we found out today that it is a torn tendon and that he needs surgery to fix it.

I have been negligent in keeping up with my blogging but it has been a busy few months.  Joanne and I were in Abu Dhabi for 3 weeks then we had Charlie and Monty here for 3 weeks and then trying to catch up with our regular chores.  I have lots of pictures to share of my adventures in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned...

FUN ON JOBAM

Joanne and I went halfers on these two little sit-on kayaks for the grand kids.  Joanne's grandsons come after ours go so it works out perfectly.  We surprised Charlie and Monty yesterday at Parker's and they were off and paddling.  It is amazing how fast they caught on - especially Monty.  He could do turns and paddled backwards.  They were hard to keep up with.  The wind unfortunately picked up during their paddle so it was a bit difficult for them.  But we will take them on Cheney today where it is a bit calmer.  Jodie and I will be in our kayaks and Rejean will follow us with the big boat.
They sure had fun in them.  A great deal at $69 US at Meijer's in the states.