Rain

Road Warriors Six, D3: The Girls Out fish the Guys, by like, a LOT

July 28, 2015

Wednesday July 22

Jennie and Baby Chowlie before fishing. Jennie and Morgan rode in the yellow boat.

Fishing today!

Dave told us all (about 5 times) that we needed to leave at 7:30. Therefore, it was to be a quick breakfast of banana bread (thanks Jan!!) and cereal. Morgan, Charlie and Jennie were sitting in the car at 7:28.

Where’s Dave?

We shall not mention where Dave actually was, but he eventually turned up and we headed out.

All hands were on deck as we passed through Nye with its very own cell tower: FIVE BARS 4G! Dave was on the phone wheeling and dealing and I got a couple emails out.

Isn’t that sad?

This is progress people. Go with the flow or drown. You can quote me on that.

We met up with Andy and Mike in Columbus and headed for the Yellowstone River. Morgan and I were in a boat with Andy and his dog Berkely (SUCH. A. COOL. DOG) and Dave and Char were with Mike.

Morgan rode in the front with Berkely, the fishing Griffon dog. Seriously: the best dog ever. Sorry Lola

We had an awesome time. It was super hot, then it stormed – really stormed! – then it was hot again. Morgan and I caught a bunch. Not big ones. Mostly Rainbow Trout. I caught one Brown Trout and several Whitefish. And it should be noted: we missed more than we caught. I had trouble setting the hook and Morgan had trouble landing them. It was fun to catch fish. But to be honest? The dog was almost the best part. We. Are. In. love.

The guys didn’t have as good of luck. Bummer for them. I think it just goes to show:

(you think I’m going to boast, don’t you?)

I think it just goes to show that the guide is super important. Our guide Andy was awesome. Mike was good too, but I think Andy was better. I mean, I’d like to say we are better at catching fish, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. Still. Morgan and I caught a combined total of 17 or 18 and lost at least that many. Dave and Charlie caught 5 and only missed one. That’s our guide putting us in the right spot with the right bait, right?

This is one of Dave's fish. At least he got a picture. I, for some reason, didn't take any. — This is one of Dave’s rainbows. At least he got a picture. I, for some reason, didn’t take any.

We said our goodbyes and headed back. Straight into the rain again! Good grief. This is getting old.

Green Curry with Chicken – an old camping stand-by – with Morgan’s beloved Boil-In-The-Bag Rice was up for dinner #3. I got right after it, in full rain gear. Luckily the rain wasn’t too hard. I made our favorite guacamole/salsa for an appie while I cooked dinner. It rained, we ran and put everything away. It stopped and we took it back out.

I’m actually sitting out in the rain right now. Just a drop here and there. But still. Stop already!

In, out, in, out. This is Dave bringing the chairs back out after another shower.

Before we left for fishing, we filled up our solar shower and left it on the asphalt. It got pretty warm, in spite of the late-day clouds and rain. Dave took the first shower. Then I caved. You know me, I like to really push the envelope on the whole shower thing. But I couldn’t resist. I got in line for shower #2. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was warm, but it wasn’t cold. So I wasn’t complaining. I might be complaining tomorrow after going to bed with wet hair. We shall see.

Charlie got in line for shower #3, but refused to strip totally down like us “heathens.” Another great Charlie word. I gotta start writing them down because I forget them so fast. Earlier today, when I said that I felt bad because I thought Morgan and I had the better guide – more ‘personable’, Charlie defended their guide, saying he was really nice, basically owned ‘everything in Montana’ and was very ‘informationable.’ I know it’s not a word, but maybe it should be.

Well, the fire is smoking me out

As much as I love this site, our fire seems to have serious issues, no matter the wood we use.

and the horror bugs just came out. I’m trying to bribe someone to go try to get an action shot of a bug in flight, but I have no takers. In fact, this is where I found charlie, hiding from the very bugs I was trying to document:

Pine Sawyer bug protector. Eee gads, these bugs are just awful.

It’s time to head to bed.

Tomorrow we are… no idea.

It Smells Like Worms

September 23, 2010

It’s raining (again). It’s been raining for day upon endless day in Minnesota. Well, except for last weekend. We had a nice weekend.

Before today I was at 6+ inches for the month. I emptied about 1″ out of my rain gauge this morning and there is no end in sight

So, is it my imagination, or can I really smell the worms? Even when I walk outside, there is this humid wormlike smell to the air. I swear to Heaven above that I am accurate in my olfactory. It is the worms I smell.

To further prove my point, I have driven my car two times today. I try to avoid the thousands of outstretched bodies on the road. I swerve like a maniac trying to avoid their helplessness, all the while thinking of that movie where Brad Pitt is in some Buddhist village trying to build a shrine (or something) and the workers can’t do the work because they can’t kill any worms.

What in Buddha’s name would a Buddhist do on a day like today? Driving in a car? Driving over thousands of worms?

It would truly be a moral dilemma.

After all, it’s a dilemma even for me. And I’m just a gardener.

And then I park my car in my garage and go inside.

Then I go back in my garage to get in my car and I almost keel over. It’s that same smell as outside, only ten times stronger:

Worms!

And I imagine I am smelling all the worm guts in the tire treads and thrown up on the undercarriage and spewn all over the exterior of the car. (I know that’s gross, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?)

It’s worms I smell.

It’s Still 40 and it’s Still Raining

May 13, 2010

I need a garden fix. I want to weed. I want to escape this stupid computer and stupid soccer and get the Hell out of my office. My dog is ready to implode. I have chicks in my laundry room. The cats are sitting in the trees with the bird feeders. It’s raining. It’s cold. And I never went looking for more Morel mushrooms. My asparagus has stopped growing. I want to take a bath. I want to take a bath and go back to bed. I want to eat banana bread in the bath and then go to bed.

Waa waa wahh.

How’s that for a pity party? I’m good at those. Oh. I forgot one thing. I have a headache. I had two meager glasses of wine last night after a long day and today I have a headache. So stupid.

With plenty of work-work to do today (work-work is my made up word meaning ‘real work’ for ‘real clients’), I put on my ugly hood (shown on model with the face I use to scare my kids with):

And went out to feed the chickens, the birds, empty the compost bucket and take some garden pictures. Come along for the ride…

First stop: Let the chickens out. You think that’s a scary face in the photo above? How about this one? Especially when he flies at your face. I have a big stick I use to keep him in his place.

Sadly, I lost one of my two hens — on MOTHER’S DAY of all days. She must have flown out of the 7′ high fence. We are blaming Lola.

Next stop: Empty the compost and check out the garden.

That’s looking back toward the house. You can see that not much has happened in the last three weeks.

Lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula and cilantro are all just eeking along.

One big surprise are the strawberry plants. They were new last year. I struggled with bugs and this year I have removed the straw mulch, having read it makes the bug problem worse. My *plan* is to keep the refuse under the plants very clean. We’ll see how that goes…

Look at all the blooms!

Here is the garlic, planted last Fall. It is huge compared to other years. The heavy snowfall protected the bulbs and I didn’t lose even one. I predict a June harvest instead of last year’s August harvest. That is both good and bad. Good because I’ll have garlic sooner, bad because it is much harder to store through the hot months.

Here are those scary red potatoes I planted in early March. They are doing well, except for the frost damage from last weekend.

It got down to 28 here in Watertown. See the damage?

And they were even covered with a heavy blanket:

In fact, I tried to cover EVERYTHING with blankets, which was actually quite funny:

So glad I did. Not sure what the apples will do, but you can tell which blossoms were covered and which weren’t.

Here are those shallot plants I was so worried wouldn’t fill in. I should have planted the bulbs last Fall with the garlic, but I forgot. They went into the ground in late March. Most came up and and I am excited. I haven’t had shallots in several years.

I have a bunch more pictures to share, but my ‘work-work’ awaits. After the garden/compost stop, I filled the bird feeders. Thanks to Red-Winged Blackbirds, my gallon-sized feeders have to be filled daily if I want to sustain my little Chickadees, Nuthatches, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers and so on. On the way, I pass my very favorite shrub, the Snowball Viburnum:

I hack about six feet off this thing every year. (I have no idea how large it would eventually get.) I’m trying to prune it so that the left side sort of arches over the path. Yeah. Good luck on that one. I’m a spaz with a pruning saw…

That’s the flower close-up. It is the most gorgeous chartreuse green at this time of year. No scent to the flower, unfortunately, but man are they pretty in a vase.

Then it’s back into my God-Forsaken house with my God-Forsaken animals and the new God-Forsaken chicks.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Jennie. Please send Sunshine. And a personal assistant. I promise to try to be a nicer person.