July 24, 2011

Well I'm healed up and out enjoying life again

So things got pretty slow around here with the broken clavicle. I have finally healed up and the doctors have given me the go ahead to begin enjoying life once more! yay! So we started of slow and did some longer hikes and such just to see how things feel. We recently went up to Windfall lake and enjoyed a great day. The weather was good, overcast, but warm and nice. The trail group up here went through this trail last year and did some really nice improvements. New board walks and large areas of graveled path. Its a popular trail for the mountain bikers so it was built with them in mind and limiting the damage done. Really nice! The view once you get up into the muskeg are spectacular and lend themselves to some great pics.
One of many skegs we crossed on their wonderful bridges


















One of those bridges, not wonderful for railing etc. but impressive 4" slabs cut from local trees
The sky was grey so I thought to use the water to show it off













Along the way we saw many fungi, these are about the size of a dime













Found many really nice Bear Bread also, about a foot in size for these
On a spur trail, that is a log with boards nailed to it to cross, bit sketchy













Fields of Arctic Cotton, wondering if you could really make something....
On the spur trail that took us to the lake end we did some wandering around and I thought I may have found some gold. I have taken up prospecting a bit and I think I will have to come back and look around some more in the future. Panning has only turned up a small amount of flake and flour, of which I am not convinced that it is real, don't want to be a "fool", ha ha ha. So much more study and practice, maybe make it rich someday, or at least make my wife a wedding ring from gold I have prospected. That would be neat.

Once we got to the lake, took some lunch and enjoyed the view and of course the immense mosquitoes! They was a family in the new cabin up there, so we respected their space and stayed clear, so maybe some pics of that next time. Seems really nice though and just looking at it Sarah and I are sure that is all the house we would ever need. Too bad you can't live here, lol.
View of Windfall lake from our lunch spot. The cabin is to the right, but was trying to give them some privacy. Will have to go back and try on a day not so overcast. The cabin comes will all needed comforts of home, even a solar powered light in the outhouse and a small skiff and canoe for lazing on the lake. This is the same lake we tried to get to last winter from Montana creek, ref blog from Jan 9, 2011.
For reference of that blog post follow this link.....
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7616464475458021379

July 4th and 20th Reunion

(Well this is funny, I wrote part of this blog and then saved it meaning to come back and do some more work on it, then totally spaced it, so its late, ha ha ha.)

Well this was an interesting weekend. My 20th reunion spanned over 3 days of festivities, blending into the fireworks on the third and the parade on the 4th! Wow! The reunion was a hoot. Fun to see people you haven't seen in forever. Got to spend time with old friends and reminence. The weather here was down right crappy as it tends to this time of year, and weren't quite sure if the fireworks were going off or not, but they did. I actually was totally burned out and personally didn't see them, but my neighborhood had a pretty spectacular show for two days straight, so when the bomb is bursting over your house all night no need to go anywhere. Got to sit home, watch the show and drink some beer!

The parade was good as usual and got a few pics to share, all in all a great weekend!