joBeeArt

Lambs Ear to Mullein

2011-08-29T14:23:00.017-08:00

What we thought was Lamb's Ear early this spring ..... became giant Great Mullein as the summer progressed.

March 28, 2011. The leaves are velvety and the plant is growing close to the ground. That light greenish grayish color is what made us think it was Lamb's Ear.

May 5, the plant is slightly taller but is still very close to the ground and appears to be fanning out

And here we are on June 2. The center is starting its upward growth..

June 6

By June 30 the plants are starting to show some height.

On July 7 the Yucca is in full bloom and makes a great partner to the Mullein.

July 17. The plants are getting tall, and starting to branch out at the top.

August 31.

The plants are filling out and growing more stalks of flowers.

Sept 6.

We didn't take the measuring tape out, but it looks like they are twice George's height - totaling 12 ft.

Below is the head of the one George is holding to the right....

This is the head with flowers. The birds and bees love them.

Well, our neighbors say we're nuts for not chopping these down because a new plant will grow everywhere a flower drops.

These plants grown in field and along the roadside all around us. This is the most Mullein we have seen growing since we've lived here.... perhaps the wet spring... perhaps a winter ahead with chest congestion for many. You see the leaves of this plant are known as Gramma's Velvet (among many other names - see website reference below) and when brewed as tea they relieve congested lungs and when the leaves are burned, Asthma sufferers get relief inhaling the smoke.

Here's the most amazing thing of all... there is no water in that gulch... These plants have reached this growth with only those showers we had this spring. That's kept them going all this time.

This is a very impressive website that talks about the many many medicinal properties of this glorious "weed", we have growing in our midst.

http://www.altnature.com/gallery/mullien.htm

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
/joB

June at the Ranch

2011-08-25T12:48:00.021-08:00

June 2011

We worked on the trenches for the propane installation, and tried to keep rain from filling them up.. Pumped out the water that accumulated with a boat pump borrowed from a neighbor. Enough of this rain already!!!

June 2, Frank from Amerigas came and hooked up the propane .... under sunny skies, I might add.

June 5, Jay and Jeff from Skyline Homes showed up to work on the inside of the house. They were thrilled that the weather was warm and NOT RAINING!!

June 8
I headed down below to my dear neice's graduation. Got to spend time with Shanna, Betty and Stan, and Jennie and Branch. It was a really great time. The weather was warm and dry.

I had a chance to visit with my old work friends, and helped celebrate Heather's 50th birthday..... yay Heather.

Meanwhile.............. back at the ranch....
June 8, the guys finished inside. The joining work at the marriage line (plastering, etc.) hung vertical blinds in the dining room, and set the door on the guest bath/shower.

June 11, the outside guys, Steve and Brandon, showed up again, and finished up their work around the foundation and painted the outside marriage line... which really looked crappy cause they didn't wash it first.

On that day finally, we got steps.... temporary steps. But steps none the less, at the front door.

Since May when the house was delivered, we have had to shimmy ourselves in thru the back door and/or use our little step stool on a board to get in.

(Note our little step stool in the lower left.)

This is Jay and Jeff taking out the faulty water heater.

June 13, three carpeting guys called from Quigley's. They couldn't find the house. Probably got directions from the same person as all the contractors. All of them got lost. And since we have no cell service on our highway, they always have to stop and ask someone in the neighborhood.

June 15, Jay came with the new water heater and gave us our orientation.

June 20, Bill came from Clayton to detail the house. "... to clean it up and make it sparkle ...." . He worked outside side to clean up the messy paint job with his pressure washer. He washed the floors and some of the windows.

June 27, Then came "moving out of our storage unit." We rented a U-Haul so we could do it in one day.

Pete helped empty the unit and Rita was at our house when we got back and she helped unload the truck.. Thank You Thank You to you both. So great to have such thoughtful friends.

Finally empty.

Got the mirror affixed and hung the Last Supper....
And the Dinning Room is done!

and that was June.

more to come
/joB

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The House - May 2011

2011-07-11T13:18:00.012-08:00

In May the house was delivered and many interested and supportive neighbors came to welcome and watch.

Then Side Two was delivered.

And then there were two:

Brandon is jacking up the house to get it ready to pull the two halves together. Brandon, BTW, is a Harry Potter look alike.

Setting out the foundation pads.

Getting ready to removed plastic sheets protecting the interior.

Rolling the two sides to join.

And then they were one.

And then it rained. ... and rained some more..... off and on all during May.

The axles pulled out.

Note the wind damage to roof. Interesting that Skyline doesn't put a strip on the front edge to protect from wind damage during transport.

The tow bars pulled out and ready for us to stow.

Then there was the Septic, the water, the electricity, and digging one more trench for the propane.

And that was May...............

June to come.
/joB

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Spring at Klamath River

2011-04-27T14:56:00.014-08:00

March 28. George setting squirrel trap.

He ties it with a long cord to tree to keep raccoons from carrying it away....baited with peanut butter and dog food. We suspect bears like that combo too. The trap has really gotten bent up and broken into - more than a few times.

April 7. Snowing

April 15. B-i-n-g-0
at the Community Hall.

April 17. Turkey Shoot.

Neighbors at breakfast.

Setting up the running deer for the shoot.

There are no turkeys at the Turkey Shoot - other than the participants......

Shooter.

Future Shooter

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
luv/joB

Snowing on the Klamath River

2011-02-25T13:01:00.010-09:00

Snowing on Highway 96, February 24, 2011.

Winter finally came to the Klamath River on February 24. We have had cold weather, and DID get snow in early December.... but not till now have we had snow that has stuck.

On our way home from Yreka February 24 - Thursday. The snow was coming down fast and furious.

When we got home, my windflower wasn't spinning and my herb garden was under snow.

Friday morning when we awoke, my windflower COULDN'T spin, and the herbs were really under snow.

Even the roadrunner wasn't flying.

We headed into town around 9:30 to the "No Monument" Rally at the Forest Service, and stopped by the Ranch on the way.

Our "No Monument" signs (back to back - for traffic coming and going).

The Ollmann's "No Monument" sign.

The mountains and riverside were breathtaking with the snow clinging to every leaf and evergreen needle on every tree.

The "No Monument" Rally went well. We had a great turnout! Wally Herger, our congressman was there and talked about HR817, a bill before the congress to amend the Antiquities Act... stating that monument designations will no longer be at the discretion of the president, but that these proclamations will be "subject to the approval by an Act of Congress."

Many states are endorsing this bill. Let us pray that it passes.

If the Siskiyou Daily News prints the photos and the Rally, I will share the story.

more later................
luv/jo

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Siskiyou Daily News - Story about George's book

2011-01-14T14:56:00.003-09:00

This article was published in the Siskiyou Daily News January 13, 2011.

George Bensons's book details life in the fast lane

Courtesy George Benson

George Benson sits at the wheel of the Oliver Johnson/GMB (Benson) Offy Midget Race Car at San Jose Speedway, eventual winner of the annual February 100 lap USAC National Championship Midget Race, 1969. Benson, who has just released “The Racing Years,” a memoir about his days on the oval, was inducted into the Motor Sports Press Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

Klamath River —

A downriver resident with a “racy” past has written a book about his life in the fast lane.
George Benson’s book, “The Racing Years,” is a 472-page memoir of the life and times of the 1966 Pacific Coast Midget Racecar champion and the remarkable men he associated with, a press release stated.
“(The book) covers Motorcycle, Hardtop, Midget, Sprint Car, Championship Dirt Car and Indy Car racing from 1952 to 1987. It features 157 photos.”
Benson recounts his adventures during the period and shares his thoughts about motor racing and racecar design. He details race results and the complete owner history of the GMB Midget racecars he built, and he presents narrative of the exceptional men he raced with.
Autographed soft cover versions are available for $39 plus $4.50 for shipping and handling (for soft cover books mailed within the USA).
Autographed serial-numbered hard cover versions are $69 plus $4.50 shipping and handling, again for books mailed within the USA. Payment should be made by U.S. Postal money order; include mailing address and send to:
George Benson
16700 State Hwy. 96
Klamath River, CA 96050
Benson can be contacted by phone at (530) 465-2029 or by e-mail at george@georgebenson.us.

We are very please as they requested the info after seeing the story - here - on this very blog. We have already received requests from folks who read the story. Big deal for George. Big deal for Klamath River. We don't often get such notoriety down here on the River.

Thank you Siskiyou Daily News.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

/joB

The Book is Out - George Benson, The Racing Years

2010-09-26T09:16:00.007-08:00

George's racing book is here. Hours of research, phone calls, writing and rewriting, input and edits from many, endless proofreading, and it is born at last.

We have been shipping soft covered books, and the hard copies will be here toward the end of next week. Those seem to be taking longer to print.

Here's the scoop....................

Just Released!

George Benson

The Racing Years

The book is a 472-page memoir of the life and times of the 1966 Pacific Coast Midget Racecar Champion and the remarkable men he associated with. It covers Motorcycle, Hardtop, Midget, Sprint Car, Championship Dirt Car, and Indy Car racing from 1952 to 1987. It features 157 Photos. George Benson recounts his adventures during the period and shares his thoughts about motor racing and racecar design. He details race results and the complete owner history of the GMB Midget racecars he built, and he presents narrative of the exceptional men he raced with.

Autographed Soft Cover Version $39.00. Please add $4.50 for Shipping and Handling for Soft Cover books mailed within the USA.

Autographed Serial Numbered Hard Cover Version $69.00. Please add $4.50 for Shipping and Handling for Hard Cover books mailed within the USA.

Please remit US Postal Money Order and your Mailing Address to:

George Benson
16700 State Hwy 96
Klamath River, CA 96050
530-465-2029

Garden at the RV Park - Veggies or No Veggies? That is the Question

2010-08-05T12:41:00.007-08:00

Garden was planted in early June.
(double click photos to enlarge)
Photos on left taken 7/7..... Same area today 8/5

We got lots of foliage. 5 Squash so far.

The pumpkin plant - Look how much it's grown - NO fruit yet. Will we be carving in October?

........... and only green tomatoes on the vines.

We got some seeds started in May, planted garden in early June - AFTER the frost - it was a late one this year.

We are getting hungry for tomatoes, maybe in the next week or so....

More later.
/joB
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Cedar Tree Planting on the Ranch - June

2010-08-05T10:53:00.011-08:00

In June, we planted cedar trees.

These cedar plugs were given to us by a neighbor. We borrowed the pots from another neighbor. There were 40 of these little babies.

George planted 15 along the driveway - in front of the pole barn.

...and 12 along the curve around the big rock.

Post Hole digger loaned by yet another neighbor. A lot of community input in this project. But the sweat and grunts were all George's.

Our local nursery man, Terry, recommended White Clover as a ground cover. He claims the deer will come for that and leave the vegetable garden alone... we'll have to see how that goes....

Here is a young cedar, the clover just taking hold, and our original irrigation system, which has gone thru a few iterations since Day One.

The trees have been named and measured and they just keep growing. They seem to like the heat.

George planted another 7 cedars on the drive up to our house.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
/joB

April and May 2010

2010-06-12T14:26:00.021-08:00

It's been a long time since I blogged! I thought maybe a month. ....think it's been longer than that.

Since the last post, we had an Easter (decorate your bonnet) Red Hat party,

I helped judge a 4-H art show at the Fairgrounds, Jenni and Michael's trip to London was stymied by the Volcano, Branch got back into Costco - full time, Yea!, found a new company from who to buy our house,

attended National Red Hat Day, got a bad cold, went to Shasta City for a "non profit" gathering for the Klamath River Community Hall of which I am a member of the board.

The only work on the property in April was George transplanting Cedar seedlings.

During this chore he discovered a water line - close to the surface. A little repair work followed that discovery.

Most of April we had rain, drying, and rain again. Ed was never able to get any work done - the whole month.

And that was April....had a lot of 32 degree mornings.

May 3: Rick the trucker, who will bring our house came to check things out. He told us where to straighten the driveway, and which trees/limbs/branches to cut.

He marked them with his spray paint..

Ed worked 11 days in May.

George bought a chain saw, which has passed field trials. Many more limbs and branches cut since that purchase.

This is the driveway before....,.

and after a little grading. It's like a super highway now.

These are some BIG rocks that were uncovered in this process.

The best part of May: I went to see our kids... mother's day treat. It was a short over-the-weekend trip, and it was great. Spent my first 2 nights at Jenni & Michae'ls... on the new futon.
Went to a special "guest chef" dinner in the Mission and Impressionist Show at the deYoung.

I spent the next 2 night at Stan & Betty's. Shanna is almost out of school - her junior year.

Got to see Branch at work. He took me to lunch and we shopped and spent some good time together.

Finished the month with a Memorial Day motor cylce extravaganza at the Klamath River Golf Course... which was a bust. They planned for 350 bikers and only 70 to 100 showed up. WE, the brilliant Klamath River Community Hall, thought selling ice cream and cookies would be a great money maker. HOWEVER, our idea may have been a bigger fizzle than the low turnout. Selling ice cream to beer drinkers ??? So it's back to the drawing board for next year's biker event. It was fun tho, just watching the people, their get ups, and their tattoos.

All that rain has made for some beeeutiful wild flowers.

/joB

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Snow today!!! March 30, 2010

2010-03-30T13:13:00.005-08:00

TODAY- March 30.... it is snowing at the Klamath River.

I think this might be the third time it's snowed all winter.... BIZARRE!

The temps haven't gotten over 40 degrees, even tho the sun has come out a few times.
This morning's snow probably delivered an inch of snow, but then soon was washed out by the rain that followed.

This is our new butterfly/dragonfly chime from my sister and family.... Easter gift. It was getting snowed on... as well as the humming birds coming into the feeders along side.

It is 2pm, and snowing - yet AGAIN!

March Excavating at the Ranch

2010-03-29T16:22:00.009-08:00

A lot of dirt moving has gone on since I posted excavation last. Ed is making great progress. And then it rains.

Casey, his son, has come up a couple times to help. He is really good with the equipment. This is the area in front of the pole barn that we are gathering dirt from and flattening out for drainage, etc. I'm not sure what the master plan is, but Ed and George seem to know what they're doing.

This is the "luge" Ed put in for George.... kidding of course. It's to divert water from flowing toward the house.

The area where the house will sit has some loamy soil (great for the garden) and a lot of rocks, and shisht, and clay. So we have it all.

The sloping hill behind George is the wall/hill behind the house.

Looking down at the drive-way extended from end of the pad, rounding down to the pole barn.

There are only a few more days of work remaining, but we are waiting for rain to stop...yet AGAIN!

Later.

luv/jo

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George inducted into MSPA Hall of Fame

2010-03-05T14:04:00.012-09:00

Wednesday, March 3, we headed to Oakland's Francesco's Restaurant to attend the MSPA (Motor Sports Press Association) 47th Annual Awards Green Flag Dinner.

George was presented with a handsome plaque and inducted into the 2009 MSPA Hall of Fame.

The letter he received from MSPA stated:
"Many drivers can be accomplished in one or two types of racing. Few can be as successful as you have been, let alone in formats as diverse as motorcycles, midgets, super modifieds, stock cars and Indy cars."

Needless to say, George was very honored. He really has a lot of respect for the Motor Sports Press. In the early days of racing it was difficult to get ink for what was considered by many sports writers a frivolous "non-sporting" recreation. He was running races before NASCAR became the "end all - be all" of oval track racing.

The presentation was made by Dennis Mattish, Motor Sports Photographer and Author.

He has recently published his "History of San Jose Auto Racing 1903-2007". It is a coffee table book with beautiful color pictures, including any one you ever heard of who raced at San Jose, in it's hayday. Dennis has done an excellent job of capturing the history and allure of San Jose area racing.

Here the authors are comparing notes discussing the business of book writing.

It was a very nice evening, catching up with old racing friends we haven't seen for a very long time. We were the last ones to leave and arrived back at our hotel room at the bewitching hour.

This is how we started our Wednesday morning:

The sky remained interestingly cloud-studded all afternoon. Quite a drive.

We made our standard commuting down below stops: Brunch at Rolling Hills Buffet in Corning - coming and going - and Trader Joe's, Redding for the grocery stocking-up on the way back.

Thanks MSPA.

joB

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Rita's ranch

2010-02-27T14:04:00.011-09:00

Our neighbor, Rita, lives atop a hill near the KR Comm Hall. She emailed me this AM to tell me,

Gem, her pregnant angora goat

gave
birth to two babies yesterday. She named them Sapphire and Ruby.

Aren't they just adorable? Curly, cuddly and pink. So, I learned today, that these are angora goats, which provide mohair.

Angora fur comes from rabbits. So we got that cleared up.

Rounding out her managerie:

cattle

more goats

chickens,

some of which are Polish. That's the breed. Pretty funny, huh? One of my friends says her mom calls these Phyllis Dillers. Perfect nickname, I'd say.

And the dogs.

And last, a familiar member of every family.......

Thank you Rita for the wonderful morning meeting the troops

/joB

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Excavating the Ranch - Day 2

2010-02-26T16:21:00.008-09:00

This was the scene when I left Monday night.

They started Day 2 bright and early. By the time I got to the ranch, he had already uprooted the stumps and had made a pass or two on the lower level in front o the pole barn.

George and Ed discussing the next phase of building up the driveway.

Pete Haynes came up to look things over.

4:20 pm. It started to rain, and we called it a day.

/joB
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Excavating the Ranch

2010-02-25T09:05:00.016-09:00

It was a beautiful sunny February day when we started excavating our "ranch" Monday (Feb 22).

He started on the pad where our house will sit. These are the stumps from trees that were actually growing together. We cut them down cause we didn't want to take a chance of them falling on our house.

He had to take a lot of passes (They were tenacious) to get them loose and then the oak tree stump split.

Eventually he uprooted them and out they rolled, still hugging each other with rocks innertwined in the root ball.

George hooked it to the Tangerine,

and with some extra throttle, he urged it down the hill...

It was following along ....
until.... it rolled over and hung up on this tree.

Cutting in driveway at the far end of the pad - around the boulder and heading for the lower level of the property toward the pole barn.

This was pretty much the end of Day 1.

Across the driveway toward the pole barn....
at the beginning of Day 2.

Stay tuned.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

/joB

>>>>>>>>>>>

First Snow Fall of 2009-2010 Winter

2009-12-12T18:54:00.014-09:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last blog. I KNOW some of you have reminded me, but well, time flies. I'll show you the snow fall and then fill you in on October and November later.

It started snowing Friday, December 11 around 10am. It snowed steady with large flakes for quite a while and this is what we got.

That's Oak Mistletoe in the treetops.

My Hillbilly garden art, designed and rendered by my buddy Karen. The one on the left is a fishbowl, and the one on the right is Rosey. Doesn't she remind you of Rosey the maid on The Jetsons?

And this is Romeo and Juliette, loving the snow. That's a miniature pumpkin plant under Juliette. I love that little guy.
Jack Frost hung in here many, many days before the temps warmed enough to allow for snow.

We were seeing 15, 10, 8 degrees in the mornings when we awoke, and temps holding in the 20s all day. We are used to 30 to 40 degree temperature changes from morning til mid afternoon, so this was a real bummer. I never got warm until yesterday afternoon (Saturday).

October

Our daughter Jennie and her Michael came to visit. Here they are in the cedar paneled pump house on our "ranch".

We hiked to the top of the hill and there is the Klamath River flowing along. We love this " view from the top of our world."
I think this is our favorite spot on the property

J & M descending the summit.

Here they are checking out the Horse Creek Bridge before heading for Happy Camp and their coastal journey back to SF.

It was really fun having them for the weekend.

November

My sister and family were here for Thanksgiving. We ate at the Seiad School, a great community endeavor feeds the locals for a donation, and you even get to take leftovers when you leave.

Shanna, Elizabeth (Betty) and Stan.

We left Seiad after dinner and headed for Happy Camp where Big Foot was waiting for us.

This was a fun weekend, but way too short. We will see them again at Christmas time when we go down below.

Happy Winter to all and to all a good night.

luv/joB
(entered 12/12/09)

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Two mysteries solved

2009-09-27T14:08:00.010-08:00

Remember the mystery plant from Connie. It's the heart shaped leaves in the middle of the pansies...

The pansies didn't survive my June vacation, but my Connie plant just kept on growin'.

This is what it grew up to be. The flowers are small, and it's not very exotic, but proved to be very hardy with those poppy pods full of seed.

Still don't know the name.

Do you?

Second mystery... the volunteer vining plant. Tasted like a cucumber at the beginning, but had this roundy shape, and the new fruit looked like kiwi; small, dark, and fuzzy.

I decided at some point to not pick any more "cucumbers" and lo and behold, they grew up to be honey dew melons...

well some of them look like honey dew, but - on the same plant, mind you - is this other dark rough skinned melon. Soon we will pick them and see what they really are.

The sunflower heads are drying on the picnic table. The corn husks have been hauled to the burn pile..... and we're still picking patty pans.

The cantaloupes were beautiful. Some perfect specimens... some not so great! But they are ours and we love them.

That's it til we harvest the acorn and butternut squash.

Just as a side note. The temperatures here this week have been 40 degrees when we rise in the AM, and 96 to 100 mid afternoon. We also have a substantial amount of smoke filling the air. We're not seeing flames. The fires are north of us in southern Oregon. Dry and windy, we are told.

Take care.

luv/jo

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Garden Harvests - September

2009-09-10T20:01:00.012-08:00

We have been enjoying many goodies from the farm. It has been fun sharing and trading produce with our neighbors and friends.

Patty Pan Squash.

Banana Peppers

Volunteer tomatoes. A variety of Roma, we think.

Butternut... haven't eaten any yet, but soon.

Acorn - soon to be harvested.

A new watermelon just starting. We had only one so far with vines that stretched 6 feet in each direction. It was tasty, and we were disappointed that we had only that one. This little guy has to grow really fast now to beat the frost, right?

We have eaten a couple cantaloupes. Just brought one in yesterday. It's sitting on the counter - mellowing.

The corn crop hasn't been prolific, but the few small ears we've eaten have been tasty.

And in closing.... couldn't resist sharing this little garden critter with you.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

We are....

luv/jo
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The Veggies Grow in the Hot Sun

2009-07-10T13:17:00.006-08:00

The Farm on July 9. George did a good job of fighting the scorching sun while I was down below. All is growing and thriving.

Jim did such a nice job of terracing. Douncha think?

Here's some progress:

Bottom tier on June 25

Same tier on July 9

And look at this corn

Our morning temps have been in the low 40s and we're getting up to 90+ mid day.

Love this Klamath River weather!

luv/jo

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"The Farm"

2009-06-20T14:11:00.011-08:00

This is actually my vegetable/fruit garden, but since I have some potted tomatoes planted by the trailer, I call the big garden "the farm".

We have squash of all varieties, a watermelon, a cantaloupe, many cantaloupe seedlings, which aren't doing too well. We also have 2 pepper plants - a banana and a red, an orient cucumber (which has a curled good size cuc on it now), Four string beans. We have three tomatoes, and many cosmos (flowers), and lettuce volunteered from last year.

We are grateful to Jim and Josey for all the work they did on this garden last year to make it such a wonderful place to grow stuff. The soil in heavenly and Jim hauled every rock from the river to build these beautiful terraced gardens. I'll show you a better picture of that next time.

We have corn planted in this circular area as it gets the most sun. Put seeds in June 18. Am watering and fertilizing, hoping for "knee high by the 4th of July". D'ya think they'll make it?

I am not there to protect my plants at all time, so Lilly Lu is on point to fend off the birds. But having an ancestral attachment to Alfred Hitchcock, they are impervious to her flailing arms.

.... also, I don't think she looks menacing enough... too smiley....

Finches love sunflower leaves. I sprayed soap suds and then sprinkled them with cayenne pepper (the leaves that is) and this is how effective that turned out to be. Next time the birds will get the treatment.

These are acorn squash plants given to me by my neighbor Shirley Haynes. They are the healthiest and fastest growing plants on the farm.
Patio tomatoes, Quick Pick. This is an early variety... they are just starting to look a little translucent. It might be awhile before we'll be adding these babies to our salads.

Flowers:

Geraniums and petunias.

Pansies and a mystery plant in the middle. I sprinkled seeds which my friend Connie gave me years ago. Not sure what they will become.

Petunias and Lavender.

Variety. A rooster comb and a pumpkin plant, which is something new my Gardner Barbara passed on to me. We'll see what it does. Another mystery flower coming later in the summer.

The alysum and lobelia are loved by something cause they are dying and disappearing... maybe good nesting material.

As much as the captain is itching for salt air, I am really enjoying being land locked this year. ...love having a chance to have a garden. We have been buying produce in Canada and Alaska the past few summers, so this is really going to be a treat! And we have already been blessed by the neighbors with green onions which measure 36" from root tip to green top tip. That really gives me hopeful anticipation for a Klamath River harvest.

luv/jo

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Painting off Walker Bridge photo - Stage 4

2009-05-17T14:20:00.007-08:00

Stage 3

Stage 4

This is it..... the final.

The shadows on the right were not as cool as those on the left. So I added Ultramarine Blue to the under side of the bushes, which not only unifies the two sides of the canvas, also accentuates light hitting the tops of the bushes.

I found trees in the background that were reflecting the diminishing light of dusk. So I put highlights on them.

I put bare branches into the bushes on the left, and broke up the arch of dark blue that was front and center in the water. This emphasizes the last sparkles of evening sunlight reflecting off the water. There are now some small white riffles around the little islands that come in from the right front.

This is a dangerous time for me. I have so much fun with the highlights and details that I can get carried away with the "piddle, play, and putter" and end up with a "blend" rather than distinctive highlights. So I decided to stop here. I will look at this painting over the next few weeks and decide if I still need to do something, or if I can consider it done and ready to sign.

luv/joB

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Painting off Walker Bridge photo - Stage 3

2009-05-11T08:16:00.005-08:00

This is Stage 3, and I must specify here that it is actually painted from the photo, rather than the "en plein air" location itself. This DOES affect the final rendition, as the atmosphere is not present in a photo... Susan Sarback says you get only "10% of the real thing" from a photo.

Sooooo what I am doing here is using the photo as a reference and asking it to spark my memory of what was actually happening with the sun and shadows at the time the photo was taken when I was there on the bridge painting.

As I study this stage, I am asking questions to fine tune the next stage.... comparing background, middle ground, foreground, and the actual focal point of this scene (which is the point of the lightest light and the darkest dark). Do you see it? It's where the sun is hitting on that water way in the back. These questions are: lighter/darker?, brighter/duller?, warmer/cooler?

Soooo..... 4th stage ahead.

luv/joB

"All for the love of art."

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Painting off Walker Bridge - Stage 2

2009-05-07T20:35:00.002-08:00

This is stage 2.

Here I just define the shapes in a little more detail.

I finished this late in the day. I'll show you tomorrow.

luv/joB
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"Seeing Color" from the Walker Bridge

2009-05-07T08:56:00.006-08:00

The art class we are currently taking from Nancy Kilmer is called "Seeing Color". It's the Hawthorne/Hensche style which is a modification of Monet's impressionism.

The first part of this class was the "drawing from the right side of the brain" exercises, and then the blocks still life.... painting the blocks and the shadows they cast. I showed those in previous blogs.

Now we are "en plein air" painting off the Walker Bridge, which is about a mile and a half down river from the community hall where we meet for class.

View down riber from the bridge:

My first attempt:

I am not happy with the way this is working out, as I don't feel I did a good "first stage".

The object of this whole process is to capture the light, color, and atmospheric conditions present at the time scene is being painted. I think I got the greens too bright, and since the oil paint has dried now (2 weeks later) I decided to start over last night.

Stage 1:

I started this last night in class - from the photo, which is not the same as "being there", but I think it's good practice for this first stage, which is the base, and needs to be correct. This is also the part where I have the most difficulty.

So this is where I am this morning.

I'll show you my progress as the day continues.

luv/joB
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Easter with the Red Hats

2009-04-19T13:52:00.006-08:00

The week before Easter, my red hat group, The Red Hat Mamas, celebrated friendship, food, and frivolity at Chris Barney's home.

................. showing off our Easter Bonnet creations before the judging.

Lois was the Grand Prize Winner.
Karen (or should I say Carmen Miranda) in the background won second place. She actually had potted plants intertwined with bunnies, umbrellas, and little chicks adorning her hat. She shared the plants with us for our spring planting.

I think Judy (in the foreground would have gotten 3rd place if we had awarded one.) She had the Easter bucket theme going. Miriam and I were the subdued ones in the group. I have an edge over the other gals, as my Easter bonnet is serving a dual purpose as a beautiful spring wreath decoration.

Chris had beautiful decorations all thru her home, and I couldn't resist sharing this one of the bunny, the jelly beans the the little bee buzzing around... reminded me of my alter ego "joBee", and also reminded me that I haven't been painting lately - beyond my "see color" class.

Next blog.... I'll share what we're doing in class.

luv/joBee

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Wow! It's been a long time

2009-04-03T06:23:00.006-08:00

I can't believe it was February when I last blogged. I guess not a lot of activity you'd be excited about.

Spring is TRYING to pop in, with some success. The swallows have arrived and are nesting. We have seen the juncos and the morning larks and other migratory birds.

The robins and the quail winter here, so they pop their heads in all year round. These were taken a few days before Christmas.

Feb 4 our Art Class with COS (College of the Syskiyous) spring semester started.

Our instructor Nancy Kilmer

lead us off with "drawing from the right side of the brain" exercises in preparation for "seeing light and color" palette knife technique.

This process of "seeing" starts with painting blocks. We are being taught to distinguish: the color the block actually is in bright light, in shadow, and cast shadow. It's the Henry Hensche method of seeing light and color.

This is a challenging process, mainly because the first color you paint is NOT the color you actually see. It's a base (under color) upon which you build layers. I have been working on mastering this process for a long time. It seems to get clearer as time goes on. We'll see. We will be painting en plein air (outdoors) as the season progresses.

I'll keep you posted.

luv/joB

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My last project - work in progress

2009-02-10T13:14:00.004-09:00

I know, I know.... the question? What were you working on in class? so here it is....

I stopped short of finishing this little 5x7 painting....

I started with a pinkish sienna and umber background, and then layered the snow over the top. The bench started taking on the appearance of a couch and that's about when the class ended for the session in mid December. Actually the last class never happened, cause we had a power outage that night, and the roads were too treacherous to travel . I plan to correct this and finish the painting, but for now, I have already put my acrylic paints away and plan to use the oils and alkyds going forward for this next session.

I've had a hard time getting a good photo of this little painting... It's blurry and I'm not sure how to fix that short of taking it outside.... which by the way...

this is what is happening outside at this moment. 2:36 pm, PST, Feb 10, 2008.

Maybe I should go out and paint en plein air.... Right!

It's 32 degrees right now. A bit too cool for this fair weather artist.

And it is a gray winter day.... which we haven't had many of lately, it's been springtime here.... our humming birds are just flitting and fluttering along here at the feeder. They don't care about the snow.

Enjoy your day.

luv/joB

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Happy February

2009-02-09T19:48:00.006-09:00

It's been a slow start to the new year.... not much happening. Winter doldrums I guess.

The weather has been mild. It's 20 degrees when we rise in the morning, and it usually gets to between 45 and 55 degrees by midday. And soon we are shaded in and the temp starts to drop. The ducks love these days as you can see from the duck action at the pond.

George went out to throw a couple casts and he spotted this fox in Shirley's trap. He is cute, but these foxes cause a lot of problems here in the park, not to mention bothering those ducks in the pond.

The spring session of our Art class starts this week. Looking forward to that. We almost didn't get enough locals signed up to have it.... always a problem in an area that has so few of us. So here's what we look like painting at the community hall.

Wendy in the orange sweater. She's a skilled water cololrist.

Ron working on those daisies.

This is Rebecca painting upside down, which is a process to paint WHAT YOU SEE and not how you THINK a thing is SUPPOSED to look.

Daisy working on her creation.

Robin working on those mushrooms. Can't see what Rita has going there.

Kathryn sketching a still life and David working on petals and leaves.

Sam, analyzing his fish. Sam paints bee hive boxes. We see them along Hwy 96.... very colorful as you can see here.

My good buddy Karen adding some pizazz to a landscape scene.

Nancy our instructor is the blond facing this way.

So this is the gang, using oil, acrylic, and water color.... which must drive Nancy crazy, trying to teach all those mediums, as well as different skill levels. We are all at different places in our painting experience.

We'll be using palette knife and oils this session. This is always fun.

I'll take pictures and bring them to you.

luv/joB

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Merry Christmas

2009-01-06T11:01:00.012-09:00

On December 22, we headed to the Bay Area in this beautiful snow storm....

....with Lilly Lu and our neighbors Enid and Cliff overseeing the park in our absence.

It snowed a good part of the trip down Highway 5.

And then we stopped at Rolling Hills for our standard brunch at their buffet. During the holidays they set up this artsy ginger bread house.

This was the first time we had to wait in line to get seated for the buffet. A lot of "left over" new year's eve celebrator, we guessed.

We thought we might see our neighbor Karen there, but it wasn't to be.

We headed to Napa to visit with Nigel and meet Julie.
It's been a long time since we've seen Nigel, and have only heard about Julie. It was a great visit. They fed us a really nice dinner and then we headed to San Jose.

Dec 23, we visited with George's cousin Karen and her daughter Traci and family. It is always so great spending time with family.

Traci, Mitchell, & Russ Evans.

At lunch, George, Mitchell, and Karen.

And then were were ready for Christmas Eve.

Jenni and Michael with Shanna taking photos in the foreground

The Train running around the track under the tree with the villages.

Stan and Shanna on Christmas Eve.

Shanna on Christmas morning. I guess you can see she was moving rather quickly with her unwrapping.

I think this is really due to a setting on my camera, but it made for an interesting picture.

This year, the neighborhood did not put out the paper bags with candles in them as in years past. Christmas Eve was a very windy night and we assume that is the reason. The bags, ceremoniously, showed up on New Years Eve; so the disappointment was short lived.

It was a quiet holiday. We were happy to be able to spend time with friends and family. Branch wasn't able to join us, so that was a big bummer! We really missed him.

We visited with friends after Christmas and headed back to the river January 1. It was a smooth, uneventful trip... great day to travel.

This blog entry went from the snows of Klamath River to the oranges of Santa Cruz, California.

Back to the river and working off those Christmas cookies and fudge.

We stopped at Winco in Redding and loaded up on fruit and veggies. We're off to a healthy 2009.

Happy New Year to all!

luv/jo
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Snowing, Snowing

2008-12-20T16:00:00.005-09:00

It's been snowing and very cold. Today the thermometer didn't get to 30 and we had lazy falling snow flakes for a short time this afternoon.

This is snow on the hood of the 4-runner.... jelly roll anyone?

I

I headed up river to the levy to take a picture of one of my favorite spots.

Winter

Remember this photo from "Autumn on the Klamath River?

Both taken from pretty much the same spot.

I'll do this again in the spring.....

A couple die hard fishermen. They'd been out for a few hours, and had caught one small fish. They came in at the park. Guess that was enough fun for one day.

See you soon.
luv/jo
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First Klamath River Snowfall in the Morning Light of December 15

2008-12-15T13:14:00.004-09:00

Lilly Lu

One of my favorite spots in the Park

Cute little birdhouse hanging from snowy limb.

Look at all that mistletoe in big oak.

Beautiful morning in the Park.

/joB

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We made the front page.....

2008-12-15T13:05:00.004-09:00

I am pleased that Yreka's Liberty Arts featured my art along with two sculptures to promote the December show.

This was the front page of the December 11 paper advertising the December 5 thru January 3 show.

You'll recognize "Autumn on the Klamath River".

Thank you Liberty Arts!

luv/joB

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First Snowfall at Klamath River - Dec 14, 2008

2008-12-15T11:31:00.003-09:00

It started snowing Sunday morning....

We were invited for dinner up Walker Road and entertained thoughts throughout the day that we might not make it up Doris and Ed's driveway...

But we locked 'er up (we lower the awning on the trailer when we're anticipating snow - because of the weight)

and headed up the road...

....and we made it.

This is Doris on the back porch greeting guests as they arrive in the snow.

This was our Turkey Shoot turkey dinner. We shot dice and took chances on splatter boards and I finally shot a high enough combination to win that turkey away from other neighbors. Last year it was Karen, next year Doris....
We gotta keep up the tradition.

It bacame night and we headed for home following Rita in her 4-wheel drive Toyota down the drive way and onto the county road in about 2 inches of snow. It was an uneventful drive.... very white, cold, and pretty.

Thank you Karen and Doris for all your work serving us a wonderful traditional Thanksgiving dinner... and it was delicious!!

luv/joB

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Stages 4 & 5 - Klamath River Mural - Installation & Varnish

2008-12-07T08:52:00.012-09:00

On November 19, we loaded the painting into the 4-Runner, met Frank at his house, and headed down river to the community hall for the installation.

As I was cleaning the back of the sign for the hanging, the urethane that Frank had put on the wood, flaked off like dust. The afternoon sun really did its job. This side of the sign is exposed to sun from mid morning til sunset. It was at this point, I decided to seal and varnish the painting even tho many muralists claim they just leave the acrylic open to the elements. However, they often pick spots where their murals aren't brutalized by this much sun.

The installation.

You can see, if you click to enlarge, sun damage even on the front of the sign.

This is George Benson and Frank Cardoza, AKA, the "Mayor of Klamath River"drilling holes to secure the painting.

Voile'

After all the planning and anticipation, "Klamath River at Klamath River California" is installed and hanging for our community to enjoy.

It was a daunting project for me, not only because it was the largest painting I have done, 82" x 30", but mostly because my intention with this endeavor was to express the joy I feel living on the Klamath River. Describing the majesty of the Siskiyou Mountains with their rivers, creeks, and streams is beyond words. Hopefully the painting conveys this feeling to her viewers. Ahh...

Back to reality:

Now for the varnish regimen.

I used Golden Acrylic products for this project. Their Soft Gel (Gloss) has various uses, but in this case it's as an isolation coat to protect the paint itself from being grabbed by the varnish - should the varnish need to be removed and replaced. Two soft gel coats have been applied as of December 1.

The weather has been very cold in the mornings (high 20's to low 30's). But the afternoons have been getting into the 50's and 60's; so the isolation coats dried well.

I was inclined to just leave the isolation coat as a barrier against the weather until spring when things warm up. (as a side note, the weather was one reason the painting took so long to do, waiting for the 40 to 70 degree window where the curing and drying time is best.) So now, we are at a crucial stage and the weather continues to be a challenge.

December 3, I called Golden Paints to gain some confidence regarding the varnish. I was told by Ulysses that the isolation coat remains somewhat soft and pliable and it would not be a good idea to leave it un-varnished, as it will collect dust and dirt. Since the area is surrounded by a gravel driveway, it WILL be dirty and dusty all around the picture.

So off we went down river to the sign sight - me and my "expert varnisher" George, who has done maticulous varnish work on Teal (our sail boat).

The painting has a richer - more in depth look, now that it is shiny and sealed.

Before -

After

(That's a heavy shadow on the left)

I also applied Nacerous White to the mountains so that at certain angles, they look snow-covered.

It is December 7 and upon last check the first coat of varnish was a little "soft" feeling, not tacky; but soft. So we'll give it all the time it needs to cure. This morning it was 26F when we awoke, yesterday 22F. So the drying time is really slowed and putting on another coat will only delay drying even further. So we wait.

That, my friends is the saga of the mural at the Klamath River Commiunity Hall. It was installed before the Turkey Shoot held the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Many of the people who saw it that day and since have commented thru smiles that they like it and its "colorfulness". Thank you for the accolades!

luv/joB

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Stage 3 - Klamath River Mural

2008-12-01T09:49:00.008-09:00

This is stage 3.

Highway 96 swings onto the painting at the left. In keeping with the concept of warm colors in sunlight, the road is in pink tones. It keeps bother me. I'm just not too crazy about it, and the water line of the river on the right is too harsh even tho I was trying for cool color in the shadow.

When I open the door to the studio and approach the painting, my eye stops at that tree on the left in the green grass and shrubs along the road side, and it looks like a triangular pointed blob.

I worked on toning down the road, and it seemed I kept making it worse. So I asked my neighbor and good friend Shirley Fisher, an accomplished artist, to give me her input.

"The road is not right, and the water line needs fixing". So grateful to get good considerate critique. .... Also interesting that these were the parts she spotted also.

So back to the drawing board.

Here I'm in the process of getting rid of the road.

As you can see, we have planted grass on the road bed.

I used the palette knife to put riffles in the water along the shoreline and this also served to soften the edges where the shrubs border the river.

(This was a cloudy day and since I had to use the flash, the picture is a little washed out, but I think you can see the general idea.)

It is at this point I was reminded of Helen Van Wyk the renown oil painter, artist and teacher, who shared mantras referred to by her students as "Helenisms". The appropriate one here is: "A painting is a record of a series of corrections".

Here also is a quote that echoes in my mind when I'm stuggling as I was here. "Painting isn't fun!" she would say, "It's a battle between you and that canvas as you try to turn its flat 2-dimsenionalness into a 3-dimensional being!"

www.helenvanwyk.com/HelenVanWyk

Edgar Degas has a similar quote" “Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.”

After many of those "corrections", I brought "Klamath River at Klamath River California" out into the sunlight (well semi sunlight), and this is how she looked in my front yard sitting on the picnic bench.

In the next blog, you will be treated to the installation.

luv/joB

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Stage 2 of the Klamath River Mural

2008-11-30T17:07:00.004-09:00

After the big blocks of color and general layout, I started fine tuning the painting.

This is Stage 2

At this point, I am still trying to adjust to acrylic paint and its nuances. I'm planning my next step.

luv/jo
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Art for Klamath Community Center

2008-11-30T13:20:00.012-09:00

Our neighbor Frank Cardoza had installed a sign identifying the Klamath River Community Center, and asked me to paint a mural for the side facing the hall.

My research involved getting advice from John Pugh and Gerald Boyd. I worked with both these renown artists on art shows at the Los Gatos Museum of Art when we lived in the Bay Area.

John Pugh renown for his Trompe l'oeil. www.artofjohnpugh.com. His stuff is awesome!

He recommended Golden Paints and gave me the name of his contact there. It was a great experience; good prices, speedy delivery, and freely given suggestions and information for doing my first outdoor mural. John also recommended MDO board for the surface.

Gerald Boyd, a former billboard painter also gave me counsel. www.geraldboyd.com ".....Gerald is among the last of several generations of artists who made their living painting giant outdoor advertisements until technology rendered that craft virtually extinct....."

For these artists my project was "mini". It was "maxi" to me, as my largest painting til now had been 24"x36", and this peicee measures 30"x 82". A bit daunting.... With all the paint materials secured, the board cut, and the first gesso coat on; it was early spring and time to leave for Alaska. The painting still not started. I thought about it a lot during the summer, and when we returned this fall, the mural was first on my agenda.

I used the park office as a painting studio. It was roomy and dry and warm, but I could not stand back far enough to really see it as I would have liked.

I gessoed the board this shade of red to illuminate the background.

I then blocked in the basic design, which I had composed from a series of photos I took last fall.

The left of the painting with a road and the mountains in the background.

The center..."the river runs through it."
(I couldn't resist that movie title here)

This is the right side...mountain, foreground, sky.

Then comes the nitty gritty.....

....next blog.....

luv/jo
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Art is happening.....

2008-11-28T16:06:00.006-09:00

Art classes have been going really well. This is one of our first class projects.

It's interesting that with 21 students, there are 21 renditions of this photo. I am hoping that our instructor would have everyone bring their painting in on the last night so we could see each others and get critiques, but not sure that's going to happen. We have many levels of skill and 3 mediums oil, acrylic, and water color. It really keeps Nancy on her toes.

This was fun. It's actually my first attempt with acrylic paint. I have been using oils and alkyds for all these years. But knowing I have the community center project outdoor mural running along side my class projects, I decided to stay with the same paint for both and take advantage of my teacher's and classmates' expertise to help acquaint me with this quite differently-handled paint. Acrylic dries faster and different mediums are used for effects; ie, slowing the drying time and clean up. It's been an education. But after a few paintings under my belt, I kinda like it. And it's not as painful as those first few brush strokes would have led me to believe.

The next project was "paint anything you like".

Since we have had such a lovely colorful autumn, I chose to paint my "backyard".

This photo was taken in October from the levy behind our home.

The first stage, I painted the canvas this pinkish, orange-ish color.

Then I painted large blocks of color and and started to refine the big shapes.

I used natural sponges to dob in trees and bushes. I then went in with brushes and refined leaves and highlighted areas to show the shimmer of the light dancing in the morning sun. I also improvised the rocks in the foreground for more interest to the scene.

This painting is called "Autumn on the Klamath River".

I plan to enter it in the Liberty Arts December Member Show in Yreka.

This is a photo of my set up for my next class project which is a still life that I wanted to paint in the "seeing light and color" style.

This is my first rendition. Not sure that I'll do more work on this painting. I gave my sister the pine cones while she was here this weekend and started eating the pomegranate this afternoon. I might be able to finish it just from the photo. Not sure. I may abandon it altogether and go for persimmons.

We have only a couple more classes left and then voile' it's over til the spring class.

Attending class has summoned my muse and she has also helped me finish the project for the community center. We installed it last week and I will show you that process in my next blog.

Happy Life to You.
luv/jo

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Autumn 2008 - Fall colors on the River

2008-11-02T08:26:00.003-09:00

l

This is one of the most beautiful autumns the locals can remember. Most likely because of the heavy frosts, no rain, and no wind. All the leaves are staying on the trees as they turn.

In the Park

We walk outside or drive down the road and this is what we behold.... the photos just do not do it justice, the panorama is so breathtaking.

Down river

luv/joB

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Autumn 2008 - on the River & Legends of Ascot trip

2008-11-02T06:31:00.005-09:00

November 2. Wow! Time has really flown since September when we returned to the river and those 100 degree temps with trips to Yreka and storage... First grabbing the fans to try and stay cool, and then eventually in mid October taking them back and bringing the heaters. In October we started getting freezing temps upon arising and 80 to 90 mid day. 50 to 60 degree temperature rises are not unusual for spring and autumn in this part of the country.

October 18 we traveled to Lake Perris, California, to attend the 5th Annual Legends of Ascot, a tribute to and celebration of the men who raced/owned/and promoted cars at that legendary race track in Gardena, California. George won the Turkey Day Race there in 1969, the year we were married. In the former years of the Legends event, we weren't back from our summer curising yet, so we were very excited to be able to attend this year.

Don Weaver, George, and Kevin Triplett.

It was a nice event and George was even presented with the "Long Haul" award for coming the furthest distance to attend.... all the way from Alaska (from where our ticket reservation was mailed.) That was a chuckle

After the awards ceremony, we attended the modified races at The PAS (the Perris Auto Speedway), a dirt track. I had forgotten how much dimension the dirt adds to a race. The slogan here is "Get off your asphalt, dirt's for racing".

We were lucky to have low gas prices during the trip. The highest we paid was $3.19 and the lowest was at the Safeway in Redding $2.96. (The prices have come down considerably since then. We are paying $2.23 at the Costco in Medford as of Friday October 31.... Yea for election time.!!!)

We squeezed in a short visits with our family on the way home, and are so happy to be back in the quiet, no traffic, no shopping centers, no noise zone again.

luv/joB

Bellingham - arrived September 2

2008-10-03T08:58:00.005-08:00

We docked at Squalicum Harobr, Bellingham, Washington, September 2. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and shortly after our arrival, in came Afternoon Delight. Art and Dan had barged through and survived rough seas while we were holed up at Powell River. It was quite a story to hear how much of their precious gear was swept overboard. They were ready for the season to be over.

We taxi'd to Pantec, picked up our Toy-ota, and enjoyed greeting other boaters as they arrived at Squalicum Harbor visitor docks.

This was a sight we experienced as we walked the docks the evening of September 3.

What is this chem-trail thing? It is always chilling to see these trails.... especially when they are so obvious. We even saw them in Alaska's pristine skies.

The docks at Squalicum Harbor are beautiful....popping with color. Great sight as we saw few flowers in Southeast Alaska, due to the late cool summer.

It's been a great curising season inspite of the weather. We met a lot of fun and interesting people, visited some really neat marinas, sank our hook in beautiful tranquil anchorages, met and caught some great eating fish, prawns, and crab.

Thank you God for allowing us to enjoy this part of your beautiful world.

And especially Thank you all - our family and friends - for the support and interest in our blogging and cruise adventures. It's been fun sharing with you all.

Go to George's blog, www.teallog.blogspot.com, to see the statistics of our travels.

Farewell from the Pacific Northwest .... and until next time.....

"Fair winds, smooth seas, and happy journeys.

luv/jo
(...and the Captain says hi)
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Art Class At Klamath River Community Center

2008-09-24T09:44:00.004-08:00

We have about 25 locals at Klamath River California, who feel very fortunate to have a College of the Siskiyous class being offered right here... and it just happens to be an Art Class, wooo hooo!

I joined them last week at Class 3. Nancy Kilmer, instructor is covering the basic drawing techniques: Prospective, vanishing points, drawing what you see, etc.

One of the first classes (which I missed) they did "drawing the hand". This was an exercise I did many years ago. I found this in my drawing journal.

The following graph paper is our exercise in prospective and vanishing point.. ie, view above, at, and below eye level.

Tonight is the last drawing lesson for the class.

Next week we start painting. I'm still debating wether I should go with oils or acrylics. I love oil, but I plan to paint the mural sign witrh acrylic, so it makes sense to get some practice with that medium. I got til next week to think that through.

This is fun! I did a couple sketches this summer, but my muse couldn't seem to find her way thru all the rain and clouds of southeast Alaska. I figured she must be here waiting for me.

More art to come.

And we're almost at the end of the trip blog..... one more entry coming there too.

Soon....
luv/jo

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Powell River Canada Aug 27 - Point Roberts, USA Sept 1

2008-09-22T12:59:00.015-08:00

We arrived in Powell River at Westview Harbor in the rain. We expected to stay one day, but the weather had other ideas. We spent 3 days there, along with many many other boats. They kept coming in but no one left. The dock was chuck-a-block as George's mom used to say.

These are 3 separate docks. Boat rafted in so thick, you could walk across them from dock to dock.

We were there during some of the lowest tides of the year.

This was climbing up in the morning.

This dog's master hurried down the ramp to his boat, and his apprehensive dog studied the situation for a while ....

and then went for it .....

....and succeeded in conquering his fears.

We took a few bus rides over the three day layover. Great way to site sea especially if you have a bus driver who's a "wanna be tour guide". It was fun seeing and learning the behind the scenes of this mill town.

This is the captain waiting at the bus stop.

Finally on Augst 30, it was mass exodus from Westview Harbor under sunny skies.

Power boats

and Sail boats....

.....all heading south.

We arrived at Pender Harbor mid afternoon. It was like a day at the beach. Probably one of the prettiest days we had had in weeks.

The captain enjoying the sunshine on the foredeck in shirtsleeves. No polar fleece today.

And who should pull in, but Journey. This is a boat George encountered many years ago on his first time through British Columbia. He and Dave kept crossing tracks. Now nary a year goes by that we don't see Journey in our journeys. Dave and his wife were holed up in Powell River with us also for those 3 days.

Pretty fun how this works.

This is the "paper bag trick" for louring bees. An old First Nation man at Butedale told us about this one. Lo and behold, we encountered bees buzzing our boat, and this bag filled with air seemed to keep them at bay.

We left Pender Harbor in full sun and no wind,
the second prettiest day of the summer.

When we arrived in Port Graves midday, many boats were already anchored. By this time the waters had gotten rough and it was hard finding a spot that was out of the wind. We did and had a good night.

Early Monday morning (September 1) we departed for Point Roberts and our re-entry into the United States. It was Labor Day in Canada also.

We were back in the US of A. Another pretty day.... Now that we are at the end of our trip.

Home again, Home again, Jiggedy Jigg.

Next - Bellingham, Washington and the lower 48.

luv/joB

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Port Neville, Blind Channel, Heriot Bay - Aug 24-26

2008-09-21T17:42:00.011-08:00

We headed up Johnstone Strait to Port Neville.

That's Teal in the background tied to the dock while we beach combed.

The whale watchers came in for lunch while we were visiting Lorna, who oversees Port Neville and the old family homestead. The tourists shed their foulies when they headed up for their midday break.

This old building was standing when we visited last. It is now returning to the earth. This is the term the canadians use, which is similar to our "deteriorating, dilapidated old shack".

We left Port Neville in a light fog and had a smooth passage along Johnstone Strait

We shopped, showered, and did laundry at Blind Channel. Later in the afternoon we took a hike out the landing.

Many boats were coming in for shelter against a coming storm (which never manifested).

We visited with Art and Dan from "Afternoon Delight", who we had met at Pierre's.

Our passage started out rather calm and peaceful. We were sitting in our cockpit smiling and commenting how nice it was to be out there in the cool weather and having the new canvas enclosure to keep us warm and dry.

About that time we heard a boat communicating with the Coast Guard. As we came upon their rescue, we were entering HoskynChannel. The wind came up and the waves got wild. At first it was 8 and 10 ft waves. Soon they became 15 footers. George was standing out navigating shouting directions back to me "5 starboard, 10 port, "etc. We were trying to quarter the waves to help smooth the ride. Teal took it all in great stride and within 45 minutes we were entering Taku Harbor at Heriot Bay.... a very long 45 minutes, I might add. George got blasted by more than a few waves coming over the dodger.

It was a relief to tie to the dock. Even tho the wind was blowing hard and the rain was coming down in droves, we were at last stopped. George stripped down and off we went to the laundry AGAIN. I had been feeling smug that all our clothes were clean from having just done this exercise at Blind Channel the day before. We had two washers, clothes, towels, etc. So we finally had clean dry clothes again. That night we slept well inspite of the sound of the pounding rain and the action of the boat again the wind.

The next morning we provisioned at the little grocery at Heriot Bay and headed out in a dry but cool morning for our passage to Powell River.

luv/joB

Stayed tuned. That storm that had manifested itself, well it came................

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Lagoon Cove: "prawns and no prawns" Aug 22 & 23

2008-09-21T09:01:00.015-08:00

We left Echo Bay August 22 and picked up our prawn trap. Little did we know this was to be our last catch in this prawn trap.

It was a dark and threatening day. So we enjoyed our refuge at the docks of Lagoon Cove.

Lagoon Cove has a potluck every night. The boaters bring their favorite dishes and Bill and Jean, the owners of Lagoon Cove, furnish prawns, and there are always plenty for second and third helpings.

We set our prawn trap on the way into the cove and when we tried to retrieve it the following morning, the inner bay was so rough we couldn't bring in the trap, so we left it and headed back to the Cove for another night. We had to subject ourselves to yet another night eating Bill's prawns. Believe me, it was not too difficult. The prawns are smaller than in years past, but they are sweet and tasty none the less.
Oh, this reminds me.... the cake with the missing cup of water...... Well, it turned out pretty much like brownies, and actually it was great! I used canned frosting and put marshmallow sauce with it. That was our contribution the first night, and the only dessert on the table. Well, the second night there was more dessert, so maybe I started something. Cooks never know if their mistakes will be a flops or successes. I was lucky this time!

After the potluck we we realized that the wind coming into the cove was not going to let up enough to keep our boat from jerking around all night, so we asked to be moved. The only place Bill had to put us where we wouldn't be subjected to the winds was at the "honeymoon suite". It a dock off to the side and is separated from Lagoon Cove. You need a boat shuttle to get to the Cove itself, ergo the name honeymoon suite. It was very quiet there.

Our view from the Honey Moon Suite

We left early in the morning to retrieve our prawn trap. The water was flat and we had no problem hooking the float, however retrieving the trap was another story. We got just so much distance between the float and the boat, and then nothing! It was stuck. We tried all the techniques for pulling it up, but it was so well hooked that the boat stalled. We determined we must be hooked to a cable on the bottom, and had to abandon our efforts. By this point in time, the float was submerged along with about 300 feet of line. That's where we had to cut the rope. That was a painful act, as that meant we had lost TWO prawn traps this summer. The only consolation was that George's three-day fishing license had already expired and we couldn't fish in Canada any more this year anyway. Sela vie

The day's gloomy weather matched our mood.

luv/joB

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We're in back in the lower 48 - Sun is Shining

2008-09-07T14:12:00.006-08:00

We picked up the car and I drove down and George brought the boat. It took him 7 hours and he said it was the best run of the whole summer and I wasn't even there to enjoy it. I did enjoy a great Thai lunch at Fairhaven, the small town near Bellingham, from where the Ferry boats depart. I shopped around for a few hours, so I had a good run also.

The weather has been spectacular since we we left British Columbia.

We have been working to get the boat ready for winter. So the gentle breezes and warm sunshine are wasted on us from the sailing standpoint at least, but we are enjoying working in dryness and it's great being warm! That's the biggee.... summer AND sun.... well I guess it's actually fall, isn't it?

I'll fill you in on the missing pieces once we're back at the river. We hear it's hot there too, and they are needing bingo players.

Thanks for following our adventures.
luv/jo
(and the Captian says hi)

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Port McNeill to Echo Bay

2008-08-21T20:02:00.007-08:00

We left Port McNeill Monday the 18th, but the winds were 25-30 knots so we turned around and came back and spent another night.

But on the way out we swung by Dream Seeker to get their card and some information about some software Linda uses for her cruising journal.

Dream Seeker S/V 36 Erikson, Linda and Don Burnett
from Calistoga California. We had cocktails on their boat Monday night as they came in to the harbor also. It really got rough out their and they didn't want to rock and roll all night. It was fun comparing our Alaska/Canada summers.

On the way out to their boat, we passed our Teal's sister ship.

The sky when we left Port McNeill Tuesday. That sun.... real sunshine surrounded by blue sky and white clouds.

Tied to the dock at Joe Cove. Looks like nobody in the Canada harbour authority is doing anything to keep this float afloat. It is a favorite spot for many cruisers.... so it's really a shame to have it getting so delapitated. There were four of us tied to her Wednesday night.

This was out crab catch this morning. 5 crabs: 4 female, 1 male. This is the first time the girls have out numbered the boys in our crab trap. We have seldom even caught females this year. The boy was a biggy and we cooked him when we got to Echo Bay.

It was a beautiful day today. Can you believe chem trails in this pristine country!

We fished most of the day, but had no great success. We caught this guy for bait. Not sure what he is tho.

We pulled into Pierre's at Echo Bay in the warm afternoon sunshine. Got showers, cooked crab, and baked joBee Brownies - new creation- derived from mis-reading the tiny print on the cake mix box.... put in a 1/3 cup water instead of 1 1/3 cups. These are for the potluck at Lagoon Cove tomorrow, (I'll let you know how they went over). We then headed to the big tent for a steak dinner. Which turned out to be really great. Met some fun folks, one of which was the cousin of Dale (and Darla) Stolty, former residents of Klamath River. Small world we all said..... and it is!

Lagoon Cove and prawns for dinner.

Happy journey, happy life.
luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)
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Codville Lagoon Aug 10 to Port McNeill at present

2008-08-17T09:28:00.021-08:00

Codville Lagoon, August 10; another chance for prawns and crab with our 3-day Canadian fishing license. We still have a freezer full of Coho salmon.

Two legal-sized crabs... one very large crab and a slightly slimmer sibling.

Our prawn trap produced this mix of spotted prawns and a striped variety, which I call zebra... but don't really know what they are. Then there was this feathered eel in there with them. We will show these pics to our expert northwestern fishing authority Pete when we get home and see if he has an idea what we caught here.

That's a standard sized clothes basket we keep our trap line in. So that gives you an idea of how long he is.... about 3 feet plus,. I'd say.

We headed to Green Island for our next night out. We passed this "aircraft carrier" on our way.

We set our crab trap near an abandoned lumber operation in McCluskey Bay....

and headed to the anchorage. Green Island is a pretty anchorage. This bush-laden rock looked as groomed as some of Victoria's Butchart Garden areas.

We shared this anchorage with 2 other boats.

S/V Windriver, and a motor-powered large yacht named Yatchette. We have been crossing tracks with her since we left Ketchikan. We were fueling up at the same dock August 2, and they shared that they are heading to Vancouver. They were in Foggy Bay when we arrived that first night out. (and they were in Port McNeill when arrived Aug 15).

We headed out in the rain and cold Aug 12 into Fitzhugh Sound, after collecting our booty.

One large sea star and two crabs.

The smaller crab turned out to be still in the "growing a new shell" stage. We had many crabs of this type while in Alaska. The shells are thin and they are light on meat... nearly none in some of the legs.

Shaking the trap to free the Sea Star. They have many, many legs to hold on with.... I guess that would technically be "tentacle".

The prawn trap we had been lucky enough to plant in a 405 ft hole, produced a bull head (fish) and 4 small prawns, which we threw back. The fish head bait had a sand flea attack during the night, so there was no meat left, which might explain the shortage of prawns in there. A large disappointment.

We saw a lot of whale blows, and George even saw a whale flipping and splashing off our starboard bow in Fitzhugh Sound. It was a cold gray passage to Frypan Bay.

S/V Escape was already anchored there when we arrived and a small power boat came in later and spent the night also.

August 13. In the early morning dawn this heron came gliding in to fish.

'More beautiful totems along the waterline.

We were getting low on eggs and decided to hit the little store at Dawsons Landing... light bulb!.. they have showers there also. So that's where we headed.

The sky started to clear as we pulled up to the dock at Dawsons Landing at 11am.

General store.

Underpinnings of the general store. The weather is so hard on the wood here. Looks like they will be doing some work on these docks this winter, ay? (that's Canadian for dah! - well in this case at least)

The captain returning from the shower.

We passed Duncnaby Marina/Resort on our way to Millbrook Sound. Looks like they've added some buildings. We have to look back at our old pics to verify that tho. It's been two years since we've been there. Didn't see this part of the country last year as we were on the outside of the Vancouver Island.

We went to Milbrook. We have anchored in this tranquil spot (also a former cannery) at least once a year. I remember it as a rainy spot. Yatzee there last year during a storm.

It was pretty calm and VERY warm and sunny when we arrived.

A bit windy, but a nice afternoon.

This was the next morning.

And things didn't get much better as we entered Queen Charlotte Strait. We had our little timer in the cockpit and we blew the horn - one long - every 2 minutes.

Soon we were hailed by a tug, telling us he could see us on the radar, and heard our horn, and he needed us to divert our course to yada yada, whatever the lat/long was.

George got on the radio and told him, he couldn't see how we could be anywhere near a tug pulling a tow, cause we were considerably out of the shipping lane and over near Miles Inlet. Another boat came on and said HE was the one the tug boat was calling. I can't believe people stick their boats out into the shipping channel in these "blind" condition.

(We actually heard a cruise ship Prince something or other, on the radio saying he was traveling near Pine Island in "zero visibility". Wonder how many passengers were aware of that.)

Eventually we pulled into the Southgate Group to wait out the fog. By 2pm, it was lifting and burning off at the same time. This causes the phenomenon of closing in again, even as the sun is shining hotly thru the fog, the surface of the water is still cold enough to hold it down.... well, that's how I think it works anyway.

We got thru Queen Charlotte Strait in clear skies, but when we entered Gordan Channel, the fog closed in again. We saw a cruise ship pass by the entrance, and encountered a tug, while the fog was still pretty thin. As the fog thickened, we resorted to that every-two-minute horn sounding again.

We arrived at Beaver Bay and our anchorage Patricia Cove under a clear sky. We had wind, and it took two attempts to stick the anchor. But we set hard in a muddy bottom.

The view of the shore when we arrived August 14.

Same view when we left August 15 at noon. The fog was considerably thinner than when we awoke in the morning.

Seagulls along the shore.

More birds hanging out at the buoy marker.

And before long....................... we were at Port McNeill.

Blogging our little hearts out. We are blogging while they are rubba, dub, dubbing.... doing laundry.

We will leave here Tuesday morning... after which time, we have OUR laundry done, and final provisioning for the rest of the trip to Bellingham, where we'll pick up our car and head for the Klamath River.

For the next week we will fish and re-visit some of our favorite haunts in the Broughtons. We definitely want to swing by Echo Bay and say hi to Pierre and cast a line near Joe Cove.

So until we're back on the River, happy journeys, happy life.

luv/jo
(& the captain is blogging...........) go check him out on
www.teallog.blogspot.com

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Grenville Channel to Bella Bella - We're blogging from Port McNeill, BC

2008-08-16T15:03:00.017-08:00

We're in Port McNeill. Got in Friday August 15 after picking our way thru the fog from Beaver Bay.

This is an old Steam Donkey from the logging days. It's the center piece of Port McNeill Harbour.

George, blogging at the laundramat.... complimentary wireless. As many folks internet here as do laundry. At current count: 3 launderers, 5 interneters.... and there may be some computers fired up in the parking lot to boot.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Going back to where the last blog left off - August 5.

We anchored in East Inlet off Grenville Channel on Aug 5 and set our trap in neighboring Harriott Bay. We had no luck attracting crabs. George stowed the trap for the next try.

We had a beautiful sunny passage thru Grenville Channel.

First mate enjoying the sunshine.... still learning the art of self portraiture with camera. Daughter Jennie is a pro...

Waterfall in sunny Grenville Channel August 7.

We spent the night of August 6 at Hartley Bay. Quiet visit there. Not as much activity as we saw last year while visiting this First Nation village. Weather went from marine layer to fog to sun.

Leaving Hartley Bay morning Aug 7. Most mornings have been marine layer or just plain fog.

Our summer has been
June-uary
Jul-ember
Fog-gust

Most afternoons clear and give us sun.

August 7 afternoon we pulled up to Butedale, a former fish cannery. It operated from 1911 - 1966.

We got a great tour of the grounds from Gordon, a 12 year old spending the summer with his "uncle" Lou. He was a very precocious young man. Most adult in his narration and very well studied of the cannery and all the details. We really enjoyed the day with him, as well as the bonfire at night.

Teal tied "carefully" to some pilings under the planks on the dock. The surges coming in from the channel are quite healthy at times.

Note the budding forest on the roof..

Lou the caretaker has cabins for rent that are often used by kayakers. This one is not currently available, but we're sure it once was a lovely cottage by the sea.

Gordon was anxious to show us the lake. As it turns out taking "tourists" up is the only time he gets to fish there, cause there's too much for Lou to do around the place to go with him and he is not allowed to go alone. The fact he took the bear spray with us indicates why he doesn't go alone. No bears this trip, but we saw fresh wolf tracks and we stirred up a pair of wild grouse.

It was quite a trek. Took us 1/2 hour to get there thru the mud holes along the trail and the mosquitos.

A little side on the little varmits. These were the breed that doesn't take no for an answer. The dryer sheets, the water bag, the citrinella candles - nothing worked. (I found out the next morning from a former native who came to spend the day picking high bush currants, that these are NOT no-seeums, they are "long nose".) However I think I also got targeted by black flies and/or white socks.

back to the lake.....
The logs have caused quite a jam at the head of the lake.

It was fun to check out the lake as it is typical of so many high water lakes that produce the beautiful waterfalls we see as we sail through these northwestern waters.

Farewell Butedale.... and thanx for the souvenir skeeter bites!

We left Butedale and headed to Klemtu, the First Nation village where we

toured the big house (aka "long house" by some natives) last year with Doug Neeslas. He was out of town this time thru.

The same dog who laid in the road last year, I'm sure.

First mate enjoying another beautiful day... in Klemtu.

This boat was obviously parked in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Eagle perched high atop his outlook, search for the "dead and dying" below.

We arrived in Shearwater Saturday night August 9. Did laundry, got showers, bought a fishing license, did some blogging and we were otta there. Not the captain's favorite stop.

We left Shearwater Marina at 11:23 Sunday August 10 to get water and fuel at Bella Bella. The folks at the fuel dock go to lunch at 12 o’clock noon, no matter what. It’s a band-managed business…. (meaning First Nation people, ie, Native American in the US).

We arrived and rafted to a small work boat at the fuel dock at 11:55 am on the nose. They let us pump gas. We filled up, 79 liters totaling $127.74. We figured that’s $5.00 plus per gallon.

We loaded up with good water, the only non-tannin water in the area; headed up to the grocery band store (which is open at lunch time); and headed out to our next anchorage by 1 pm. We were movin’.

The sky as we were leaving Bella Bella.

We anchored in Codville Lagoon, setting our crab and prawn traps on the way in. George got a 3-day Canadian Fishing License before leaving Shearwater.

Heading South - In Canada now

2008-08-10T07:56:00.006-08:00

We left Ketchikan August 2 under a blue, white fluffy white cloud-filled sky.

Red tide. Organisms dying off. The color was a beautiful persimmon but the smell was really bad. This was with us all day until we got to Foggy Bay.

Aug 2 - anchored in Foggy Bay

George was able to land these two beautiful Coho. August 3 on the way to Lincoln Channel.

Aug 3 - anchored in Lincoln Channel - no luck with crabs - only Sea Stars - Large.

Aug 4 - docked at Rush Brook at Prince Rupert. This fog was encountered morning of August 4 on our way to Grenville Channel.

Aug 5 - Anchored at East Inlet, off Grenville Channel
Aug 6 - docked at Hartley Bay
Aug 7 - docked at Butedale - visited the old cannery site - now dilapidated
Aug 8 - docked at Klemtu - Indian Village
Aug 9 - docked at Shearwater

(more photos - next stop)

We are heading to Bella Bella this morning for gas and GOOD water (which is scarce in these parts because of the tannin from the cedar logging).

Thanks to all the sunshine we have had until this morning (Aug 10), we have not had to plug in to power since we left the KYC.

We have had sunshine everyday, but not always warm weather.... and then moments ago on this overcast Sunday morning, it started raining.... and it's chilly.

Since we got into Canada, we have no cell service. I considered buying some minutes from Rogers, AT&T counterpart in Canada, while in Prince Rupert, but since it was Civic Day for Canada, Rogers was closed. So I'll try calling from payphones like I did last year. What a pain this high tech-ness can be at times.

Gotta go get my shower and make ready for the days journey.

We'll be in Port McNeill in a few days. More bloggin then.

luv/joB
(& the captain says hi)
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Walker Cove and the Bears

2008-08-01T15:03:00.008-08:00

July 24 we left Manzanita Bay in a warm sunshine and headed across Behm Canal to Walker Cove at Misty Fiords.

We found the buoy at the head and tied to it.

In moments we spotted bears, mama and her cub. She, eating beach asparagus and the baby digging clams..... both very absorbed in their meals.

They entertained us all afternoon, and as the day wore on, they headed back into the berry bushes for the night.

A short time later, we spotted 4 more bears lumbering along that same part of the beach where we first saw the mama and baby. There was a large, very large one and three that may have been a couple years old, very large also for that matter.

I took many pics of them, but they mysteriously didn't transfer off the camera. It is not the first time we have had missing pics. Not sure what that's all about, may be time for a new camera.

These bears hung out and ate salad and clams for a few hours and then disappeared back into the woods also, not to be seen for the rest of the evening.

The following morning, float planes came in, landed, and shut off their engines. The pilots and passengers were sitting on the pontoons paddling silently along the shore, searching for bears, which weren't showing themselves..... until 60 seconds after the planes took off. We spotted the mama and cub again.

George managed to get Teal in close to the shore - in 6 feet of water at one point - and they smiled for the camera. What a treat.

When we got to the head of the bay where it actually opened up into two bays.....

more bears. There are 3 there, that we could see.

So we were rewarded for our patience. We got the BEST weather we have had all summer and the bear show to boot.

We enjoyed the rest of our trip around the Island. We tied to a buoy in Short Bay, Bell Arm on the 25th. Woke to rain that day. We enjoyed the crabs from Walker Cove that night for dinner.

July 26 we woke to fog and headed to Klu Bay where we anchored and some beautiful falls coming out of Orchard Lake.

July 27, we anchored in Yes Bay.

July 28, we trolled and George caught us a really nice Coho between Brow and Chin Points on our way to Neets Bay. That fish gave us 8 steaks, two tails, and bait for the prawn trap. We arrived in the fog and mist. Then the winds came up. We anchored and were doing the spin-around all evening into the night.

We spent the afternoon playing dominoes and yatzee. George came out winners on both. I'll redeem myself here in the next bout.

The winds quieted down some around 6:30 and we snuck out and dropped our prawn trap. This would be our last Alaska prawn catch of the season.

The barometer dropped to 9.97.

When we pulled anchor the following morning (July 29) , the sky was pouring buckets. Cold nasty morning.

We retrieved our trap. Our catch: 50+ of these little crab creatures.... same color and size as prawns... but not prawns! What a disappointment.

We blew back into Ketchikan, literally. The winds were 45 to 50 mph according to some reports. When we got in mid afternoon, we were cold and tired, and it was raining lightly.

July 31 was a really cold and rainy day. This is supposed to be the height of summer, right?

It's August 1st. BBQ at the club tonight. And then we're outta here. Heading south tomorrow. We will be at Port McNeill on Vancouver Island in 13 days.... and then back to the lower 48.

Not sure when we'll be blogging again. But we should have cell service along the way, if you want to call.

luv/jo
(The captain has been blogging. Go check it out)

P.S. The "totems" I referred to in earlier posts are the ones along the shore, not the poles we see on land.

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Around the Island - continued - July 22, 23

2008-07-31T21:16:00.008-08:00

July 22 we enjoyed some really beautiful clouds as we headed for Misty Fiords.

That night we anchored at Win Stanley Island.

Really interesting "totems" along the water line. One can certainly see the influence these formations had on the art of the American Indian and even the Aztecs.

One of our first breathtaking views of Misty Fiords Monument Park (2.2 million acres) was at Punch Bowl; quite aptly named, wouldn't you say.

One of the many spectacular waterfalls racing down the rock faces amidst the trees, which are hanging on for dear life. One wonders how these mighty firs can keep growing when there seems to be no dirt for their roots to dig into.

The captain enjoying one of our few summer sunny days of 2008.

Charter planes fly passengers though the majesty of the fiords. Their flight remind me of one of my favorite the butterflies-in-the-tummy sensations at Imac theater.

Crossing Behm Canal the evening of July 23 was rough as we headed into Manzaneta Cove. It was nice to get in and anchor for the night. We saw the diamond-shaped sign that indicates a buoy, but we couldn't find it. We think it had to have been removed for some reason.

Leaving the following morning.... Behm was much calmer.

We headed back to the Fiords and spent the day tied to a buoy at Walker Cove. And THAT's where we saw the bears!

Well, it's 10pm. It's been a long day..... "the teddy bears picnic" will come tomorrow....

luv/jo

(& the captain says hi)

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Journey around the Island

2008-07-31T07:25:00.005-08:00

We have just returned from our 268-mile "going-around Revillagegedo Island" exploration. We left Ketchikan July 21 mid day in beautiful blue sky and white fluffy clouds.

It was a great start to some nice weather which we had been hoping to get for viewing the Misty Fiords when it wouldn't be too misty for us to see what is there.

We spent our first night tied to the buoy at Carroll Point, a few miles out of Ketchikan.

More to come. It's breakfast time right now and then errands to do. I'll be back to the blog after lunch... with the bears..... so "....if you go out in the woods today....."

...the surprise is coming.

luv/jo

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The Paddle Wheeler Ride & Show

2008-07-21T08:30:00.005-08:00

We were picked up early Saturday and headed to the River Boat Dock. The weather was so wicked they wouldn't take her out. Too much wind for the Queen.

The trip was halted until "maybe tomorrow."

Sure enough, the rain slowed down and the wind let up, and the steam engines were puffing when we arrived Sunday morning.

We paddled along the

waterfront of Ketchikan down to

Saxman Totem Park.

The show was entertaining and the narrative by Clare Bennett was most informative, right down to the name sake of the island on which Ketchikan is situated. It is a long Spanish name which includes all of his ancestral maiden names. His last name was Revillagigedo. The locals just say Revilla. Do you wonder why.

We were treated to a fun performance by Jack Shay and company. It was a small audience; us and a handful of passengers off a cruise ship visiting for the day.

We came back to our little Teal and spent a quiet day. Amidst raindrops we did computer work, laundry, and provisioning for our next trek.

We'll be heading out today (Monday July 21) for our circumnavigation of the Island of "Revilla". Should be back in a week or so.

See you then.
luv/jo

(The captain has been busy blogging - go check his blog)

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Paddle Wheeler Today

2008-07-19T09:02:00.003-08:00

We just got back into Ketchikan after a wonderful week of fishing, shrimping, and crabbing in Moira Sound. It would have been a good week to go to the Fjords after all... who knew? We didn't get a lot of sun, but we didn't have rain all week either. We awoke Friday morning to overcast. We got some errands done before the rain came.

Last night, at the KYC BBQ, we met Clare who manages the shows on the Alaska Queen, the paddle wheeler we see around the harbor. She invited us to come aboard today.

Turns out she wrote and directed some shows that our Klamath River neighbor Pete Haynes used to star in while he was living here. And Jack Shay, the former mayor of Ketchikan, is the MC. Haven't met him yet. It's gonna be a fun day in spite of the rain. I'll let you know how it goes.

luv/jo
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George Inlet and Carroll Inlet - early July

2008-07-11T20:23:00.014-08:00

Check George's blog www.teallog.blogspot.com. He has all the details - with charts - of the trip from Wrangell to Ketchikan at the end of June.

Here we are July 11, tied up at the Ketchikan Yacht Club just in time for the Friday night BBQ. Always fun catching with the local folks. We have been out fishing and trapping in George and Carroll Inlets. We left Ketchikan last Sunday July 6 in the overcast and cold weather. We decided to visit Misty Fiords at a later time when it's not quite so "misty".

We chose to cruise these close-by inlets, where we had successful crab and shrimp catches earlier this spring.

The power station and old cannery.

We understand tours are conducted here routinely, proven by the Grey Hound bus we saw parked at the end of the road upon our return.

We also puzzled over this resort which was very low key...

We thought it was abandoned... no sign of life, no flags flying, no sign, I say NO SIGN telling the water traffic what it was. We found out tonight at the BBQ that they have great dinners here and the yacht club has had big Christmas parties here in the past. Funny. Guess they don't need drive by business.

And the day progressed into evening and remained dreary and cold even as we arrived at TSA Cove.

At the last BBQ Jack Hovden told us about the water bag trick for fending off no-seeums and flies. He said just hang a water bag over the entry way and the bugs won't fly in. So having been plagued by these little buggers thru oh so many bites, I decided to try this wacky idea. Well, whatever the reason, who knows. IT WORKS!

I got ONE bite over those three nights. Only one! You could see those persistent little gnats flitting around out there - in the rain even - but nary a one got in.

He also mentioned the dryer sheets. He sticks one in his pocket and swipes it on his face, neck, and ears when the no-seeums are swarming. He has also put the sheets under his hat and that keeps them away his face. They are really relentless while hanging over the bow anchoring. George tried that and it seemed to work. We are sleeping with dryer sheets now also. It's interesting, we have all those products which are supposed really work and they don't seem to have the success as these simple tactics.

We tied to the dock at Shelter Cove in Carroll Inlet for the night of July 7. Our daughter tells us this was a Big Foot siting area. We did not see him there ourselves on this night. But it looks like a good spot for him to hang out.

Logging and road building are going on here. The dock is around behind these trucks, and Big Foot must be back there somewhere also..... too foggy to see him.

While we were tied to the dock, we strung the dipole antenna George had put together while we were in Sitka.

We tried to listen into the Alaska net the following morning, lots of static, and we could hear them talking, but could not make out what they were saying.

Not sure what this means. Maybe we just need a tuner....

We had success with Dungeness on the morning of July 8 when we pulled our trap.

Also our neighbor at home Pete told us we hadn't gone far enough into Carroll Inlet the first time. He encouraged us to check out the power station docks at the end . So we did.

We were greeted warmly by a man who used to live in Chico, and came to Alaska to make his fortune as a young man and is here still. We enjoyed listening to the local lore.

Soooo we were sitting at the dock, plugged in for free, enjoying our dinner.... as I looked up - there was a plane coming at us.

We both realized-at the same time- it was the mail plane.

He kept coming slowly and glided in along side the airplane dock, opened his door, slid out the door as it opened, reached for the line lying on the dock and hooked it to his plane.

It was effortless, like a dance. Folks came out from the power house with a bag, we assume was mail. The pilot started tossing bags and boxes out the door onto the dock.

Two of the people who had come down turned out to be passengers; they boarded, the pilot boarded, and was detached from his tether.............

and off he went. It was soooo smooth.

It was a cold, wet, four days out there in "Southeast". Day time temps 51 and 52 degrees most of the time. Will summer never come?

We fished without success at Herring Bay Cove and Mountain Point on the way back to Ketchikan. We are still looking forward to eating our first halibut and salmon. You will have to see George's blog - upcoming - to see the shrimp we got in Carroll Inlet.

We headed back to Ketchikan to reconnoiter before our next outing to Moira... lots of quaint anchorages and good fishing holes.

It's getting late. I'm listening to Coast to Coast AM and the Captain snoring. Guess it's time for the First Mate to hit the sack.

More to come in a week or so after our next outing.... As we ask the gods for sun and warm days.

Take care.

luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)

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4th of July in Ketchikan

2008-07-05T10:43:00.008-08:00

July 4 in Ketchikan followed true to form for this rainy part of southeast Alaska.
It rained off and on all day. However, when the parade passed by Thomas Basin, it was NOT raining....
Here are parts of the parade, not necessarily in the order it came down the street.

Note the tarped building in the background. That's the Federal Building being prepared for paint.

I showed it to you before as "the ugliest building in town".... pink... some call the color salmon.

Well it was in dire need of a facelift. The town was surveyed to see what color they thought would look good. Well either because of, or in spite of that survey, the color will be pink again.

Rubber Duck Race Float. We discovered later that evening, at the KYC BBQ, one of our members won the $2500 1st prize. It was raining pretty good at the time of the race and we chose not to attend. Wish we had known that this event was the highlight of the day... with free root beer floats, even.

Note the guy with the eagle. When I first looked up, the eagle had his wings stretched. He is one big bird.

Couldn't get another shot of that.

....even tho I tried. That eagle was on good behavior til he was out of sight.... at least.

the class of 2009....

The parade ended in a puff of smoke. A tribute the local fire department, I THINK. Hard to figure it out with all that smoke.

All the town's people - as well as us visitors - seemed to really enjoy this festive day in Ketchikan.

We did Friday Night BBQ at the Yacht Club. We weren't sure how many would show up since there was so much going on here in town on this big weekend. We must have had close to 30 people. Good turnout after all.

We visited with Evie and David from Zambeze, a 32' Grand Banks. They live in Richmond, California, and have spent summers in the Sacramento Delta on their Nordic Folkboat. Ahh the Delta - simmering, sweltering heat.... our old stomping grounds in days of yore. The Delta's only similarity to our current cruising is the "stingers/biters" (here they have skeeters AND no-seeums, AND little black flies they call "white socks" due to the little white patches on their back legs).... but I digress. These folks know Sven of Svenson's, George's favorite marine store in Alameda... so it was old home week. We compared stories and routes of the surrounding area here in Southeast as the locals call this part of Alaska. They're heading north, we heading to Fjords. We will more than likely meet up here again later in the summer.

The fireworks started at 11pm. We stayed awake for them. 15 minutes worth. Just about right for a small town. Not pretentious.... a pleasing concept in these times.

luv/jo
(check out the captain's blog.... he's ripping right along)

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Baranof Warm Spring Visit - June 20

2008-07-04T08:59:00.016-08:00

See teallog.blogspot.com June 18 forward - filling in the gaps with "the real stuff"

.... leaving Sitka headed for Petersburg - recapping June 20 - 22.....

We left Ell Cove and that beautiful Kasnyku waterfall and headed for Baranof Warm Spring. When we arrived at the bay, we were greeted by Bob, the resident whale.

No room at the dock for us and nobody was eager to raft us to them.... so we headed off to the cove and spent the night amidst the snow covered hill side.

It's June and the snow is not only on the peaks, but down to the water level. It was really pretty in here and the weather nice enough that I actually pulled out some spring clothes, my tank top and T-shirt.... I think I spent a couple hours mid-day with no, I say NO, polar fleece. Very nice afternoon.

The following morning we pulled our crab trap... and we got Sea Stars (aka Star Fish). THEY actually have crab for dinner, so when we see Stars, we know we have no Crabs. They are beautiful and large, but a REAL pain to get out of the trap, not to mention how hard it is to pull up all that weight. You can see these are many-pointed, and more than likely Sunflower Stars.

We ran out of our water in the big tanks. So we ventured over to the Baranof dock and the hose. The S/V Dream Merchant offered to raft us up to them. We filled up and they offered to have us stay... we did until another boat left and we slid off them and tied to the dock for the day and the night.

We got our hot tub soak in that same wooden tub we used in May when we were here on the way to Sitka. This time we were able to walk to the falls. It was nice and still no mosquitoes or no-see-ums. We saw spruce trees along the path.

Folks pick the little brown buds at the end of the branches to make Spruce Tip Jelly. They are so tiny - these tips - that it takes painstaking dedication to pick enough to make even small jars. But it is mighty tasty.

The trail to the Spring was a little sketchy at times, but aglow with spring flowers starting to bloom.

May 20, we met Ted who had just started working on steps to the top of the hill and the cabin he is building. He got those stairs done by June 1 according to Mary who lives at the top of the hill where the steps seems to lead directly to her house, not Ted's.

He has yet to install a tram, but has the set up for it. I didn't count the steps, but there are at least 200. This project was funded by the city of Sitka, which is a day away by boat - fast boat that is, but only an hour by plane, directly over the top of Baranof Mountain Range..... something fishy about this, but I can't put my finger on it.

The S/V Dream Merchant is also a fishing boat, manned by Val and Ken who just got their license last year. They are from New Zealand and are really enjoying this new venture. They are saving for a trip back home to see their kids.

They were headed for Petersburg to get some work done on their boat, before they head out for the Wild Salmon Opening. Up until now the commercial fishermen have only been allowed to take hatchery fish.

We look forward to seeing them when we get there. June 22, we set out in warm sunshine to cross Chatham Strait into Fredrick Sound.

Our KYC burgee (the rainbird) flopping lazily in the breeze.

luv/jo (and the captain says "hi and check out my blog www.teallog.blogspot.com") >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We're back in Ketchikan - as of July 1

2008-07-03T14:01:00.012-08:00

We'll be here thru July 4.

We had a minus 4.1 foot tide this at 7:30 this morning. I pulled myself up the ramp to get this photo.

Great beach combing condition..... Neil and Nancy. Come on up!

Background - one of the 4 cruise ships visiting today bringing 8,450 passengers to town. Doesn't it look like she's bulldozing over all the boats in the harbor?

This one's for you Jennie. Santa Anna Inlet, Zimovia Strait (after we left Wrangell)
June 28.

This one's for you Stanley. A float plane (one of many) zooming over us as we were heading into Ketchikan July 1.

This one's for my family... and all those who insist on buying american. I bought the last box of Chamomile tea on the shelf at IGA. I was very excited when I got back to the boat to discover the box labeled "Eden Foods, Tecumseh Michigan".... my old stomping grounds. Well, reading further on, how do they fit in anyway.... Egypt??, Canada??? Pretty funny.... What is to become of us and our food supply?...

Happy Fourth of July to all.

Parade tomorrow, BBQ at the club, fireworks, and then we go Beach Asparagus collecting with Lonnie and Marvin to Carroll Inlet, Gnat Cove. We'll let you know how that goes.

Still many boat errands before our next outing.

I will blog again after the Misty Fjords. Just popped on this website. We'll be in our own boat, but it looks really beautiful, wouldn't you say?

http://www.familyairtours.com/page3_Misty.html

luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)
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We're in Wrangell

2008-06-28T13:13:00.002-08:00

We made it thru the Narrows in fine fashion. The last 5 miles of the day we had lumpy sea conditions. The passage was a piece of cake. We left Petersburg at 7:45am, and arrived here at 3:45pm - in pouring rain. It was strange. It would come down in buckets and then just stop! We checked in with the Harbor Master and spent a quiet night at the visitor dock WITH POWER. Quite unlike our stay in Sitka... where we had to beg for power.

The waters near Wrangell are milky green as they are fed by the LaConte Glacier up the Stikine (stick EEN) River. The locals are friendly in this rustic village. Totem poles are scattered around the town. There is a fish processing plant at the dock, and many fishing boats coming in and out.

The sun is shining this Saturday afternoon. We came to the library - in hopes of blogging, etc. turns out they have no wireless. This is the first library we have visited in the last 3 years that does not have wireless. Ergo, we are using THEIR computers to do internet. The photos are on my laptop. You will see them next time.

Have a great 4th of July weekend. (Fireworks were going off last night already - folks getting a jump on the holiday, I guess.)

Next stop - fishing in Myers Chuck and then to Ketchikan to get ready for our voyage around Prince of Whales Island.

luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)

Sitka to Kasnyku Falls

2008-06-26T15:03:00.009-08:00

The night before we left Sitka was spent with Teka celebrating her "39 forever" birthday. After dinner (which SHE cooked by the way, she DOES have a bigger boat - and we brought the cake) she took us and a visitor up Harbor Mountain Road. It was still blocked with snow at the top, but this is a photo we got when the trees cleared enough for a view after we descended. This was 10 at night!

We left -boat attired - with our new canvas June 17 heading for Magoun Island.

Isn't this incredible? The clouds are forming an arch over the separation in the mountain range. This was on our way from Rodman Bay where we spent the night of June 18.... amidst the crab traps.

Kasnyku Falls near Ell Cove on our way to Baranoff Warm Spring.

I had the camer set for high resolution and these photos are taking a looooonnnnng time to load.

too long.... So I will complete this story after we get to Wrangell..... our next stop.

Leaving Petersburg Friday June 27, and traveling Wrangell Narrows. It's a very narrow shipping lane. Should be quite exciting.

If we get no wireless in Wrangell, look for next blog in Ketchikan, in a week or so.....

see you then
luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)

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We're in Petersburg

2008-06-25T14:53:00.003-08:00

Details tomorrow.

Farewell Sitka, Alaska

2008-06-16T16:16:00.004-08:00

We leave Sitka tomorrow (June 17) midday and head out to some fishing spots George has marked on the charts. We are getting antsy and ready to "blow this pop stand". We will anchor out "drop the hook" and fish "drop the baited hooks" with hopes of a beautiful Ling Cod, and definitely some shrimp and crabs in those traps.

We are up to 17 hours and 56 minutes of daylight.

Sunset at Thomsen Eliason Harbor, Sitka, Alaska.

We have had a great visit here and now that the canvas and upholstery work is done, we are ready to start the actual cruising. Teal is all cleaned up and the dodgers look great.

Once we get to Petersburg, we will more than likely have internet and I will post a photo of the finished project.... that should be about a week from now. See you then.
luv/jo
(& the Captain says hi)

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Eagles in Thomsen Harbor, Sitka

2008-06-12T14:12:00.006-08:00

Here are my early morning shots of "The Birds".

I asked Mr. Eagle to sit there for a minute while I changed batteries.

And he did. Can you believe it?

Work it Baby!

Looks like an owl perched with the two eagles.

Off to find Spruce Tip Jam.

luv/jo
(& the captain says hi)