Kayaking

Lake Champlain can have rollers and whitecaps or be calm and clear. Kayaking is fun in either weather, but Rosa is a fair weather passenger. She did venture out to the front of the kayak and then jumped in a la Spiff.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

A few days of dog-sitting resulted in a project - of course. Max painted the barn and milkhouse at Wayward Goose Farm. We were rewarded (Max for painting, me for ???) with a lovely farm dinner with home-grown chicken, fresh from the garden green beans and tomatoes and basil, locally grown potatoes for potato salad, fresh cheese from Consider Bardwell, and Laurie's mixed berry pie.

Now that adds a touch of class!

Willy Wins!

Another Cute Dog Photo

Lost Pond

Not quite sure how you lose a pond, but we found it just fine. Nice hike near Ticonderoga. About 3 miles total, nice and flat, with gigantic boulders around the pond and in the woods. Saw some interesting new vegetation and learned what "a seepy place" is - see photo below. Rosa had a lot of fun.

The Perfect Hiking Companion

Rosa loves hiking. As a desert dog,Rosa Maria Serafina Guadalupe has seldom had any freedom. So, when we let her off the leash on a trail she first runs about 30 yards ahead as fast as she can (she's like a white bullet), then turns around and races back to us. Her joy at freedom brings us so much delight. After her first burst of energy, she runs ahead, though never quite out of sight. When one of us lags for some reason, she runs back to check on the lagger. When there are switchbacks or turns, she will go back to the turn to make sure we are with her. Once in a while, she will leap off into the woods, jumping over brush and logs, sniffing at things, but always come when we call her. She will never go over a bridge, but takes the long route through the stream, scrabbling from rock to rock. She is the perfect hiking companion. And when the hike is over, she curls up tight and dreams
of all her adventures.

Hike

We are in the gorgeous Adirondacks where hiking trails are everywhere and the forests are lush and green. After outfitting ourselves with some new hiking boots at the mountaineer - our Tucson hiking had left our boots in tatters - we set out on a 2.2 mile trek to test out the new footwear. The helpful guy at The Mountaineer in Keene Valley recommended Baxter Mountain. You can only take dogs - and there is no leaving Rosa behind - at elevations under 4000 feet (or at least that's my excuse). Nice hike with views of Mt. Marcy (the highest of the 46 High Peaks) and Giant Mountain.

Visitors

Power Outage

Cribbage by lantern-light.

She Said

She said, "I hope she doesn't have fleas!"

One Course Dinner at Camp

Nice Fire

Beautiful clear day - and the evening is cool enough for a fire on the beach.

The 66 Steps

Who the $&@! invented stairs? Whatever was he/she thinking?

Certainly not about the poor person who had to take a scrub brush and hand scrub the algae off each and every one of the 66 stairs (plus landings)! Certainly not about the poor person who sent her husband to the paint store with specific instructions about the color of porch paint, only to have him return with something totally different. Certainly not about the poor person who then had to go to the paint store herself and ask the nice man to make the color a different color, and then inwardly groan as the paint became somewhat better, but also somewhat odd. And certainly not about the poor person who then said, after 2 days of bending over and painting, "So why do I care about the color? I'll just have to do it all over again in a couple years anyway."

So, a curse on you, Stair Inventor!

The Old Boat

Our neighbor's power boat recently died - while he was on the lake. His poor wife - on shore - could not even maintain a connection with 911 long enough to get help. He could have jumped out and swum to shore, but didn't want the boat to break up on the rocks which would result in the gas spilling into the lake. After waving his arms for hours, he was finally able to get someone to call for help and was towed in.

He was telling Max about this adventure and how he now fishes from his kayak. When Max asked about what he was going to do with his boat, he said he'd asked someone who said the only thing you could do was chop them up and put them in the landfill.

A light must have gone on in Max's brain because the next thing you know he is down on the beach with a chain saw. As luck would have it, he has a sharp saw and a boat that has no bottom. Ouila!

(Don't panic, Alex. He's going to borrow Uncle Tim's Sawzall to finish the job.)

Laundry

Cannot get over the delight of having a washing machine at camp.

How We Met the Neighbors

We were awakened at 1:30 in the morning the other night by this horrible clattering sound on our beach. It was our first night in the cabin, and a thunderstorm had passed leaving a gorgeous moonrise over the lake. In addition to the racket, we could hear a man talking and a woman occasionally saying something, and see this red light bobbing around. Our first thought was that it was someone talking on a cell phone trying to get some reception. (They would have come to the wrong place.)

Max crept down the stairs to investigate while I watched safely from the porch. There he saw a young woman dressed in a skimpy white dress and rubber boots dragging a shovel. The man had a video camera and was giving her instructions. "Turn around a go toward the water. Remember your mark?"

The woman then said, "I'm stepping over some kind of pipe." So, Max piped up (groan) from out of the dark, "That's our water pipe." He'd just installed it and was pretty proud. The poor woman screamed - a real horror movie kind of scream. Maybe she was really an actress.

After apologies all around, Max met Don and his girlfriend Alice, who said they were our neighbors and were shooting a music video.

Can't imagine what the song is about.

Farm Scenes

The big tractor and the farm tour.

Fire Department Fun

Not sure what was happening, but it was spectacular. The geese were not too sure about it though.

It's Chilly Here

Woodpile, RV style.  Not sure what fraction of a cord that is.

Warming Up

A rainy day resulted in a little nip in the air, so Max raided the woodshop for some wood scraps and in no time we were toasty again.

The Neighbors are Pigs - Literally

Two sows and 16 piglets live next door

Ahhhh, Vermont

Drove 700 miles yesterday to arrive at 9:30 last night. Enjoying a morning cup of coffee and a nice change from Tucson weather.

A rainy day next to the woodpile

Buck Creek Photos

Scared the living daylights out of me when I lifted the lid and saw only the ears!

A real dinner tonight

Chalk on road wisdom

Love Those State Parks

Love those state parks. Spending the night in Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, OH. It was supposed to be only 4 miles from the Interstate, but we went about 5 miles on the most manicured curvy road after that to reach the campground - wide swaths of lawn mowed on either side. In the campground itself, there were grass lawns, lots of trees, and stayed in the tent section for the quiet since it is Saturday night and there is a reservoir here. (Are you sensing a theme in these state parks?) They had a cute outdoor movie theater made of a couple pieces of plywood painted white and are going to show Ice Age tonight.

Less than 700 miles from our destination (A&M, this means you! Fair Warning!) We have toyed with the idea to go for it, but our advanced age has its compensations - we are not in a hurry! So, will stay somewhere tomorrow night and be there Monday afternoon.

The Interstates were boring with lots of construction. We miss the small roads. We were within 60 miles of the Airstream factory and saw several Airstreams. Someday we'll have to take Twink back to visit her birthplace.

Here is the giant cross made out of aluminum siding - I think right across the Indiana border.

The Big MO (and MS)

After going by Lake of the Ozarks (one of those dam created lakes that looks on the map like someone dropped a ball of blue string), we followed Highway 54 through Jefferson City, the capitol of Missouri, then followed along the Missouri River a ways through incredible fields of corn before stopping for the night at a city park in the town of Hermann.

The park had a small RV area with 18 spaces. Since we were in the 18th we were a little worried about sufficient electricity to run the A/C, but it was fine. We then engaged in the time-honored RV entertainment of watching other RVers try to park.

Max took Rosa and found a Little League game to watch. He was slightly horrified to discover that any child who wanted to play was allowed to, all at the same time. The outfield was well covered. He had to leave when Juan decided he could try to pet Rosa, despite his mother saying no, because he had 7 mean dogs. A hasty retreat was called for when Juan recruited his little sister to join in the fun.

The town was founded by the German Society (?) and has great red brick buildings. It is in the middle of Missouri wine country - beautiful green hills - and is on the Lewis and Clark Trail. It would be a good place to spend a couple days.

But in the morning we headed through St. Louis and across the Mississippi (see barges below). About 50 miles into Illinois we abandoned the 2 lane roads we've been on and took to The Big Road - the Interstate. Rosa will sit up and watch on the smaller roads if we have the windows open, but starts to fall asleep when she can't smell the countryside.

Crossing the Mississippi in St. Louis

Rosa wins the largest nose contest

Missouri State Capitol