November 15, 2002 - Warm Beach, WA
Note on 4/6/03: I lost the pictures for this page because of a mistake I made. Sorry. The same is true for all the pages from 9/2/02 through 10/5/02, and again from 11/15/02 through all of 12/28/02. If I'm able to retrieve them, I'll replace them eventually. Again, I'm very sorry.
Off with the old, and on with the new. The crowd we worked with at Lake Retreat that last week (everybody in that picture except the couple on the left are here with us at Warm Beach!) and then our new home at Warm Beach. Pretty nice digs, here. True 50Amp power, plenty of water, and of course a good sewer hookup. And what's even more special is that we have a phone line into the trailer! Of course, it's single line for all of us. That means that we're sharing a phone line with 9 others, but by golly, with a modicum of courtesy, it's working just fine. Fun part is that the SOWERS themselves made these accommodation improvements not too long ago, and what a blessing for all of us to enjoy.
The shops, which are just below us. That's Jim & Elaine's trailer in the left of that picture. And then the horse ranch. They have over 70 horses during the summer season, and if I understood Eugene correctly, they're all here being fed during the off season as well. Those poles are flag poles. Beyond the ranch is Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains beyond that.
We're driving down the levee road, come to a scum covered pond and there's a family of ducks paddling along. They sure made an interesting pattern, don't you think?
Looking back at the camp from the levee road with the trucks and equipment in the foreground that are expanding the sewer treatment plant, and then a shot of the main lodge roof amongst the trees.
We were actually on a bird watching trip of sorts, and on the left are huge mounds of cut blackberry bushes full of grackles. The sunroof was open, and Barb got a shot of some of the pests in a tree as we drove under it. No, we didn't have to clean the lens afterward.
It's goose/duck hunting season in these parts, and the hunters and their dogs are out in force. Still plenty of birds around though. These hunters and their boats are on the river, but I can't remember its name at the moment. On the right are some more of those mounds of cut blackberry bushes. Must have been quite a summer project. And what a fun Jeep road this is. Actually pretty tame. Hardly any chance of getting stuck, and never did have to get out to verify the surface.
Yee Haw! Bald Eagles! A pair of them--they mate for life (but you knew that, right?). We can see their nest from the lodge, and have seen them cruising the area, but this was the first we'd seen them roosting. It's a little hard to see them, but they're on the left of that tree in the center of the picture. And then the wagon the draft horses pull during the LOC (Lights of Christmas). I'm going to include lots of "before" shots, and then hopefully during the LOC itself, what it looks like all lit up.
Now here you've got to take my word for it. Can't afford a better camera with a real telescoping lens yet. On the left in that field are sign posts telling the hunters that this is 60 feet from the road, and they can go no further. So they line up. Those little tiny white things down there a ways are decoys. More of them later. On the right, just across the road, are the snow geese the hunters want to have for dinner (yes, that white section on the ground is really thousands! of snow geese). As dinner, not as guests. A whole flock of them, making all kinds of noise. And while you can't see them, lots of them are flying around. But they don't come near the road. They stay in their field and the hunters stay in theirs, separated by the road. There are lots of signs along the road telling the hunters which side is theirs, and how far into it they can go. I couldn't find anybody who could tell me who trained all those geese which side of the road was theirs. Apparently everybody was happy with the arrangement as we stayed there and watched for some time. No hunters got mad and left, and the geese didn't leave either. Several male/female couples were hunting, and one older man had some younger people with him, so maybe it was a social occasion and the dogs and guns were just for show. I chuckled about the stupidity (to me, of course, not to them) of the whole deal. Buy a license, buy a permit from the farmer to sit in his field, own the dog, buy the gun, ammunition, proper clothing, build decoys, buy honkers or whatever the noise-makers are called, and then sit there in broad daylight hoping the geese forget which side of the road is theirs. No thank you. Did make for an interesting interlude in the day for us though. I much prefer to sneak up on my quarry, shoot it, clean it out, haul it home, cut & wrap, and put it in the freezer for the winter. Or better yet, go eliminate some pests like rats or prairie dogs, and there's no cleaning to be done! Bird hunting in all its variations has always been a mystery to me. Except for the special relationship between a good bird dog and its owner, I've never understood all that work for no more meat than that. Tried it all over the years, and settled on moose, deer, or elk. Good tasting, nutritious, and plentiful. Lots of work, lots of meat.
As we were leaving, after figuring out the scene, we took some better shots of what was going on. Looked like the guy on the left, like many of them, was trying to hide behind the sign. That guy couldn't hide behind a big tree! On the right, some fellow came out to the edge to talk to the guys in the pickup in front of us, and his dog was interested in us. You can see some of his decoys behind him. At least he had a stool to sit on!
There was an older man and some young people amongst these decoys, and a lot of work had gone into the whole setup. All the humans were under a decoy that had been built to appear as if it was in flight, the dog was dutifully laying next to the older man, and all three of the humans were honking the noise makers. Everybody has to be somewhere doing something I suppose. Like in the next picture, there's Wendell, me, David, and Dale. Doing something. David and Dale are building a new counter for one of the food & beverage stands, and Wendell and I are making some arches over an entrance to the nativity scene.
There's part of the arch we built (one that will later be painted by Barb and several others--needs a couple of coats--in the paint shop). The one behind it is one from last year we repaired. And then of course, it's pot-luck time. We're at Nancy's house overlooking a beautiful small lake. Both Nancy and her husband Stan work at the camp, and have for many years. I'd name all the people in all the pictures, but if you don't know them it won't make any difference and if you know them I don't need to, so I won't.
Wanted to make sure you all saw the delicious looking deserts....that I didn't have any of (and Barb had one of each!). You see that earlier picture of me standing by the arch we built? My belt has a decidedly downward tilt, and I'm going to do something about it pronto! Skipping desert (well, maybe except for a little cookie here and there) is one way of fixing that belt problem.