Raindrops Keep Fallin on Texas

After 5 years of drought,  the rain came! and it came, and it came - then waited a week and it came again with high winds creating powerful high waves that lifted over twenty 2 X 10 pier planks that floated to shore downwind!  Roly and family walked and rescued most of the wayward slats!  As you can see,  the pier and boathouse was completely under water.  Blake and friends are standing in the front yard and carefully so or they'd suddenly be chest deep if stepping past the sea wall!  Since these photos,  they have continually lowered the lake again revealing the pier and making it possible to begin the repair process.  Maybe by summer,  the lake will again be where it should be and the downpour of 2015 will be forgotten!
(Click on photos to enlarge)

Oregon Daze

It was a quick trip to Portland when Fred and Gail called.  Not everyday we hear from Michigan family! And in Oregon to be only 300 miles away is like being next door!  We called Jana,  drove to her place, and let her drive us to Portland for an evening dinner with niece and nephew, including Dan's, Jaime & Adam!  We make reunions happen when ever we have a chance!  Maybe we have a larger role in making blessings happen, than we realize!

Then on to Portland again, five days later to be with Dan for a hip replacement!  And again the same format!  Drive to Jana's and let her drive us to Portland again!  We were all there to welcome Dan back to reality.  Naturally, he was somewhat groggy for most of the day but ready to enjoy some delicious hospital food!  Sheila and Jaime along with us managed to keep him awake and  you can see they even got him up for a walk just hours after the surgery!  Amazing!  He survived and I'm happy to say, he's doing well and to date is treating his new hip with tender loving care!  (Click on photo to enlarge)

Up The River Without A Boat

There is always a new adventure where ever you go, if you keep your eyes open!  And when your driving you forget to look around. . . naturally, keep your eyes on the road!  This geese scene didn't register until we were a mile past.  When I realized these geese were stranded and looking for a ride,  I pulled over, turned around and drove back hoping there would be a place along the highway to pull over to offer them a ride!  The Umpqua River can leave you high and dry or very wet!  When we offered them a ride,  they gave us a bewildered look probably wondering "Who do we think they are?" . . ."after all, it's much safer out here than it is up there."  25 years of traveling this route, we have never seen Canadian Geese watching the traffic go by.   (click on photo to enlarge)

Texas 2015 Continued

The final weekend in Texas with Roly & Candy,  Ashley, Zack, Alice & Annie joined us.  Note the two youngest great grandchildren,  Annie, who just arrived and Evan, Holly & Joe's youngest,  kept us entertained every awake moment!  It was fun being worn out but our only relief came at night and naptime! Blake with the Carp and Joel took care of the remaining time.

Meals were always a grand together time and after, games included everyone!  Zack, Joe, Dan, Ashley, Roly and Sheila illustrate the gang. We had lessons in water safety and the important use of life vests along with techniques of fishing.  We caught Carp, Gar, Large mouth Bass, Catfish, Strippers most of which were returned to the warm water.  But the ones we really wanted,  the illusive Hybrids,  avoided us the entire week!  Roly did his best with depth finders,  his unusual knowledge of the lake and even checking with guides he knew and found the guides were not having any luck either!  More than catching fish and playing and eating great food, was just being together!  We all know that family togetherness is the greatest thing in the world but we have to get together to realize it!  (Click on photo to enlarge)

The Heart of Texas

Roly & Candy's place in Texas gave us all a BIG welcome from super kitchen goodies every day to boating and swimming in bathtub warm lake water!  We were surrounded by fish but this time of year, the fish go deep and avoid all humans!  We couldn't find the bass, crappie or hybrid bass! Several Gar and Catfish make it in the boat along with a beautiful large mouth bass that got caught in a minnow net in shallow water! Even though the fish out smarted us,  we all thoroughly enjoyed lake tours, the sunsets and the excitement of fish nibbling our minnow bait.  Pictured in this segment are. Candy, Roly, Dan, Lori, Roly, Blake, Esther, Holly, Lori, Blake, Jaime, & Dan.  When you enjoy being together,  time seems to move faster. It's now been nearly one week since we're all back in Oregon but the great memories remain forever!
(Click on photos to enlarge)

Dear Cottage!

Our last trip to the coast, we parked in our usual place and to our surprise, the deer had taken over in our front yard and were not happy to see us!  It was a sun shiny day and the best place in the yard was in the shade of  our Hawthorne tree!  I carefully retrieved my camera and approached the fence to get some photos.  Even within 20 feet, they were not anxious to move.  I took the photos and opened the gate.  We really didn't want them there!  Now getting pretty close,  they decided to get up,  taking their sweet time!  Staring right at me,  I wasn't sure whether I should advance or retreat!  I gave a guttural  growl and both decided to move on out thru the back fence.  They did not come back while we were there but our neighbors have told us they come back regularly when we're gone.  But now instead of dog pooh,  you guessed it,  I have to take a can and trowel and clean up the territory!

Texas Midnight Swim

After a busy 4th of July celebration at Roly's in Texas and all settled in for the night,  frantic calls went unheeded until Tyler was able to maneuver his cell phone and called from the dock to the house getting Candy and Roly's attention.  It sounded like Tyler was in trouble and needed immediate help!  Roly in his PJ's ran for the dock and found Tyler desperately hanging on to something extremely heavy on the other end of his fish line!  What ever it was got caught in the fish feeder at the end of the dock.  Realizing the problem,  Roly located near the feeder while Tyler held the line!  Carefully Roly worked the line until he was able to untangle whatever was attached.  It immediately took off for deep water!  Tyler was back in control again and wrestled with something huge for the next 15 minutes!  Finally,  they got this monster back to the dock where Roly was able to maneuver a large net over the head of this large shark!  They both could hardly lift this monster up onto the dock where Roly instructed Tyler to remove the hook before it got all tangled in the net!  To Roly's surprise,  there was no hook in it's mouth! The hook apparently was so lightly attached, it had come out as they wrestled the fish into the net.
What a catch and he then informed me that it was a Blue Catfish which as you can see was nearly 50 pounds!