My Deer Friend

This deer swam over a mile from across the lake and landed on our rocks last night. We've seen this before and it could have been chased by coyotes. These deer are incredibly fast swimmers.  So the deer must have honed in on our happy hour sign knowing that it was a happy place, and showed up at 6 pm just in time to say hi to all the neighbors. 

The Barker Brothers

Starting out as teenagers in the mid 50's playing high school gigs, Southern California boys Freddy and Monty formed the Barker Brothers duet. With an immediate hit that Fred wrote, "Hey Little Mamma", they spent the next 6 years recording and singing their own songs.  From 1958 through 1964 the rock n roll duet recorded with Kent, Decca, Valiant, and RCA record companies.  Julie and I have known Fred and wife Sherry for some 30 years as the girls worked together as bankers.  Last night it was sure fun for me to have Fred and Monte spend the night at our cabin with their guitars  jamming and joking for the night.  Monte in the middle bottom pic is playing the Gibson acustic guitar that Fred bought in 1956, the sound just gets better.  You might notice some of the names on the LA rock music chart from 1958.

Wall Rebuild

You know the old saying 'You never have time to do the job right the first time, but always have time to do it right the second time.  Well here's a good example with this wall I scrambled to build last spring before summer guests arrived. It would have taken me 1 hour to pour a proper footing under it but I was in a big hurry.  Upon arriving this spring, I found that the wall had settled about 4 inches in one area.  I don't like crappy work, especially my own so I tore the wall down and started over yesterday.  I got really lucky that the topsoil behind the wall held in place while I dug a footing, tied in rebar and mixed and poured the footing.  I was worried that the dirt would slide into my yard so I worked in high gear getting the job complete in less than 2 hours.  That is the best 2 hours you'll ever get out of me pulling down 8,000 pounds of blocks and then of course had to restack them this morning which only took 1 hour.  The blocks are only 60 pounds each, so not too heavy but 125 of them kinda wears on a senior citizen like me.  That great top soil that I used came from a farm nearby.  It was a mixture of dirt and horse pucky with no sand in the mix.  You can see in the photo how well that horse poop held that dirt together.  Good Stuff!  I might have to find a day job if this retirement life doesn't start getting a little easier.

The Spa

What was always another crazy idea finally turned from a solid granite rock into a pad for a hot tub.  I took 3 attempts to get this worthless rock hammered down so I could build over it.  Now after beams, pier blocks, joists, a trex deck and railings, I am finished with the work.  I'll bet I've driven over 5,000 deck screws on all of the decks here and I'm still not finished.  There are people here that think I am the best screwer ever to work in this county, and you know what, I think they are right. Now you have to understand that the deck was the most I could get out of the space that I had. So, the 6  person hot tub I want here might be a little smaller in size.  There is a very good chance that there won't be any extra room for swimming suits at all in this tub.  BUMMER DUDE!

Roddy Ranch

Meet brother Dan and Marybeth, owners of the Roddy Ranch just north of Albany Oregon.  They have owned horses for over 25 years on 2 different Oregon farms.  This 8 acre ranch is located south of Salem at exit 239, just off  I-5 and has easy access for the horse shows that they have hosted for 16 years.  The shows are a monthly event each year from May through October.  Horses are a hobby for most owners but this is a working ranch.  Marybeth takes care of ranch duties while Dan works his day job.  They have done breeding in the past but now take care of their 8 horses and board horses for others.  Marybeth regularly gives riding lessons as well.  On rare occasions when they get a weekend off, the Roddy's load up their camper/horse trailer and go camping.  The property has an 18 stall barn and a massive 80 X 200 ft. covered arena where the shows and riding lessons take place in any weather.  The only thing I know about horses is that one end resembles a few people I've known. That's all!   It's been fun for me to visit here and experience another life style.  Putting out the horses and cleaning stalls at 5:30 am daily is never required of guests here but you won't get fed if you don't work.  This is a long way from my city slicker life of afternoon tea and evening pub crawls in London.  Full ranch album posted on FB.

The Spruce Goose

This massive plane was built by Howard Hughes during WW2 as a heavy transport for troops.  With the wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum, the plane was built about 95 percent out of wood.  It was therefore nicknamed the Spruce Goose and is the largest flying boat ever built with a wingspan 100 feet wider than a 747.  The Goose was to be used for a transport to carry 750 troops and gear but the war ended before it was finished.  The Government put 18 million in this project and Hughes finished it with 7 million of his own.  Many critics said that it would never fly and in 1947 Hughes proved them all wrong by flying it himself.  I climbed into this historic plane 15 years ago in Long Beach California when it was on display next to the Queen Mary.  Now I'm sitting in the same pilots seat that Hughes sat in.  The Goose is now on display in McMinnville Oregon at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.  Next to me is my brother Dan who lives close by in Albany Oregon.  Album posted on Facebook.

New Water Pump

Most home water systems on Lake Chelan use submersible water pumps.  Ours worked fine but was installed 20 years ago.  So I chose to replace it this year and avoid any problems.  Neighbor George helped me do the job and I sure couldn't do it alone.  I had to dive to lift and pull the pump out and dive again to set it back in the lake at about 20 feet.  The water is still under 50 degrees so I needed the warmest suit I had.  You could not hold your hand in this water,  that's cold.  I did a one week job in 38 degree water in my early diving years so this was no problem with the right gear.  Second pic, I'm pulling the old pump apart. 3 rd photo is George wiring the new $700.00 1 horse pump with watertight connections.  Last pic.  I'm holding a ski rope that we used for lifting the old pump.  I always wondered if I could ski on my rubber fins.  Thanks George, A tough job successfully complete.  Full album on Facebook.

Happy Hours

This Mural is an idea I've had for 3 years.  The dreadful looking concrete retaining wall could have been left untouched for 20 years and nobody would have said a word.  But did I ever stir the pot when I mentioned I was thinking of a mural.  I had no idea that everyone I talked to was an artist.  Everybody had an idea of what should be the theme.  I would need a wall 100 feet long to add all of the helpful suggestions.  So I shut-up and did my thing. The end result came from  mega hours of cutting, pasting, enlarging, reducing, and recopying photos and bits I pulled from other pictures.  I took my scaled down picture to Terry's Signs in Wenatchee and this is it.  My 1/2 inch per foot scale image was projected onto four 4x8 ft. aluminum sheets.  The final addition to the mural was in honor of our faithful pooch Bogey.  I handed Terry a small wallet sized photo of Bogey and he did his magic.  What an incredible artist to bring all these ideas to life.  Since 1994, anyone who has been to our lake home knows that all the hours here are happy hours.  Our years in Arizona  will always bring a smile for Julie and I, with unending blue sky's and beautiful sunsets.  I might make a few changes to the mural but for now this is just another one of my crazy ideas.  Full album posted on Facebook.