August 30, 2009

Sunday 30~~~~We decided to stay home and not go fishing today. We had a late breakfast, I decided today would be a good day to fix Kent his "duck eggs" that he bought from Alex the produce man on Friday. Alex told us that the shell would be very hard to crack and there is less white in duck eggs. I was glad he told us that, as I was prepared for cracking the egg real hard and I still had to whack it twice to get it cracked. I wish I had taken a picture of how big those eggs looked on the plate when I served them to Kent. The yolk was so big they looked like two small mountains on the plate. I wouldn't even taste them, for some reason, eating duck eggs just sounds yucky. Kent wants to take egg sandwiches in our fishing lunch tomorrow, I told him that I don't want to eat any eggs for awhile after cooking those duck eggs for him. Kent said they were OK, but he wouldn't eat them again. One of my friends in Salem who takes care of wild ducks in their back yard picks the duck eggs (where they lay them in the weeds behind their house) , daily so they won't nest and hatch more ducks for him to buy feed. He gives all the eggs he finds to some Asian people who really like eating duck eggs. Alex the produce man likes them too, and he eats them everyday. This afternoon we drove to the town of Comox to get some steel line for one of the down riggers for the boat. Boy that fishing gear is sure expensive, another $49 for the steel line and of course two Frappacino's for the Captain and his First Mate. As the Captain was in the sporting good store buying the cable the First Mate was helping drink his as she had finished her Frappacino(nothing safe when it comes to a Mocha Frappacino. On our way out of town, we saw a lot of cars parked around a park like setting and we could hear music. We parked and walked to where the music was coming from and we were delighted to see what we found. Once the home of Bob Filberg, President of the "Comox Logging & Railway Company," the largest logging operation on coastal British Columbia. This nine acres of landscaped waterfront 4000 sq.ft. Lodge (called "Grancuna" grand estate by the sea) and gardens was willed to the city of Comox upon his death. The front door weighs 300 lbs. and is
2 1/2 " thick and was hand carved out of old growth Douglas Fir. The knocker is a modified logging choker hook. The hinge hardware was handcrafted in the smithy shop of the logging operation. Four types of wood are used through out the whole house, Red & Yellow Cedar and Yew. There is free live music in a large open area in the yard every Sunday and people come from all over to enjoy the music, dancing and food that you can purchase or bring your own. Many are the adjoining neighbors, they bring their own lawn chairs, some just lay on the lush green grass. There are benches all over the grounds and you can hear the music all over, I saw a very old white haired lady sitting in the house yard on a bench with her sack lunch reading a book while she enjoyed the music and the beautiful surroundings. The music was "South American" folk music and you couldn't just listen, some part of your body was moving to the music and a lot of people were dancing with their children or a partner or alone. Kent and I danced to a couple of our favorite songs. The Lodge (house), dairy barn, chicken house, tool sheds and more are all on the property. You can walk anywhere you want on the acreage, there was a wild (tame) deer and her fawn Kent took pictures of. There is a long grape arbour (picture) that is made from large logs standing on end to make the side supports and cross beams for the top with grape vines so beautiful draping over it all. There are several interesting sculptures of people made from tree stumps and branches. (picture of me by one) The inside of the home is so unique, I can't write about all of it. One more interesting thing I do want to mention is the art deco style bathroom & powder room that was styled after the Filbergs' stateroom on the "Queen Mary". What a neat thing for us to tumble onto by just driving around the town, we sure enjoyed our day there and we are going to go back again next Sunday with a picnic lunch to hear more of the music.

August 28 & 29, 2009

Friday 28~~~~~Today was supposed to be a rainy day, so we did laundry and cleaned house. In the afternoon we drove to Courtenay to check on some drug stores to see if we can get Kent's medicine here. We were told we could have it sent to Canada from the states before we left to come here. When Kent called in an order for the medicine, he was told they couldn't ship it to Canada. So now we don't know what we are going to do, as we had to prepay for 2 months at our RV Park and they have a no refund policy. We hope when we explain it to the Manager, she will understand. Our only other option is to drive to Victoria and take the Ferry across to the States and have it shipped there and then come back here for the rest of our stay. On the way home we saw a sign for fresh eggs for sale, we stopped and what an experience that was. The farmer was from Scotland with a very heavy accent, he took us all over his farm, (he kept calling me darlin as he held the gate for me) he showed us how he grows all his produce he tells the neatest stories about his poultry he raises and sells the eggs from. (chickens & ducks). All his plants grow in Saw dust and the tomato vines are about 6 to 7 feet tall climbing on lines, he has a very hi tech organic fertilizing- irrigating system that he has installed himself. He is very proud of all he has accomplished on his farm in the two years he had owned it. The strawberry beds are 2 years old and are huge. (picture) He sells duck eggs to some markets and he eats them so Kent traded him two of the brown chicken eggs (picture) we bought for $4.00 per dozen for 2 duck eggs. We finally got away from him when we told him we had to get home and cook dinner. We cooked a great fish dinner when we got home, Kent grilled some salmon on the grill and I fried some bottom fish to go with our coleslaw and hash brown potatoes. I beat Kent at another game of cards this evening, later we watched TV and called it a day. Saturday 29~~~~ Kent couldn't sleep thinking about the medicine thing, so he got up at 1:30 AM and got on the computer checking out different options. Kent had just got back to bed when Pepsi (our cat) decided it was time for us to get up at 4:45 AM. He claws on the screen door because he likes it open to smell the air and watch people and animals outside. Kent always opens it for him as soon as he gets done in the shower and he thinks if he claws on the screen enough times, we will get up and open the door. Kent keeps a spray water bottle by the bed, I think Kent got up 5 times spraying Pepsi in the face (which he hates us to do) and as soon as Kent got back in bed and settled down, Pepsi would start clawing the screen again. Kent got up again and he locked the cat in our bedroom with us away from the screen door. Kent again is all settled down to sleep and Pepsi starts clawing on the carpet and scratching on the bedroom door. By now it was getting almost funny for me watching all this going on in the middle of the night. I kept watching wondering who would win, Kent or the cat!! After 15 minutes of this, I decided to get up as I was wide awake by now and I would take over the job of spraying water at the cat and let Kent sleep as he was getting very upset with Pepsi. At 6:30 Pepsi and I were both tired, we very quietly went to bed being careful to not wake up Kent. We got up for the day about 8:30, the day is beautiful and the water is like a mirror, it is so calm. Kent launched the boat while I packed us a lunch and off we went fishing again. Today was a great day, so many small fish were jumping you could hardly count that fast, then we started catching fish. It was really fun pulling all those fish, we released a lot of them, but we did keep 5 nice ones to freeze and take home. Tonight is pizza night, we were too tired to go out, so Kent ordered one to go and he picked it up. What a fun day. Today is Bodie's 8th birthday, they all went camping, he called me and said, " you and Kent are invited to go with us too Nonnie." The distance thing is too hard to understand sometimes. I miss being home for all our grand kids birthdays.

August 26 and 27, 2009

Wednesday 26~~~~We drove to Brown Bay, North of Campbell River about 9 miles, there were a lot of fisherman on the water, so you had to watch close where you were trolling. Not many fish were caught that we could see, we did catch one nice pink salmon which we are anxious to grill and see how they taste. The road in is so bumpy and long (5 miles) with all that dust and loose gravel, but the area is so beautiful when you reach the water. (Pictures) There are semi trucks hauling in loads of ice for the huge fishing boats that go out daily. They use a crane to lift tubs of ice from the semi trucks and they dump the ice in the hold of the ships. Thursday 27~~~~It was chilly this morning when we headed out to fish. I took a big thermos of coffee with me and before the day was over, I was sure glad I had it along. We caught a lot of dog fish which are real fighters to pull in, but they are not keepers. After awhile you can almost tell how they pull on your line that they are just another "dogfish". (picture) I did catch a nice size ling cod which we froze to eat later for a couple of meals. Kent is kept pretty busy with resetting the down riggers and getting our poles in the water. I drive the boat and hold poles to help him. (picture) That part of fishing I don't like. I told Kent we need to have Nathan or Bodie here to drive the boat as they like to do that.

August 20, 2009

Thursday 20~~~~ We were going to go fishing today, but the tide was too low to get out of the boat harbor, so we had to make a change of plans. We decided to do the tourist thing today and go sightseeing. We drove to Mt. Washington which was named after Rear Admiral John Washington who at the age of 12 joined the Royal Naval Academy and graduated at the age of 16 with high honors in mathematics and was made Lieutenant at the age of 16 that was back in he 1890's. We had a great time there, we rode the one mile high ski lift to the top and got off and climbed to the lookout area where we could see for miles. We met a couple from Portland with their Canadian friends (who used to live in Seattle) and we had quite a visit and they told us of so many exciting places to go see while we are here. They are the first people from the USA we have seen here. We look for USA license plates all the time and have found only one from Idaho. After our lift ride, we had a nice lunch in the ski lodge and then we watched a lot of children doing the bunji jump. Kent dared me to do it and if I did he would. (big chicken, he knew he was safe asking me to do that ) LOL Next we rode the lift again and did two rides before getting off, as we had so much fun watching the people on their mountain bikes riding the rough trail paths. They get to the top of the Mt. riding on the same lift as we ride, they have special bike carriers on the lift.(picture) They really gear up for these rides with chest and back pads and all their arms and legs are cover with pads. The trails are very steep with a lot of bridges, jumps , numerous steep curves where they are riding on the wall of the curve. The whole ride is a lot of loose gravel and dirt and it was a lot of fun looking down on the riders on the trails. There were also a lot of bra's hanging in the trees. The first ride we saw two and the second 9 and the third ride we counted 15. They were very pretty bra's in all colors, red, black, pink, black and white stripe, bright yellow and many more. It gave you something to do while riding the ride if you got tired of the view. LOL I think they might do this on all ski lift rides?? I am asking, do they???? We started home about 2:30 stopping at Safeway for a couple of grocery items and another Starbucks Frappaccino for each of us. What a fun day. We have no pictures of this and much more, as Kent was trying to put the date on the camera and it deleted a whole weeks pictures. Darn !!

August 18, 2009

Tuesday18~~~~~ We got up early this morning ( 6:00 AM) with the thought that the early bird gets the worm only we want it to be fish. The water was so smooth as we headed to our fishing spot that our friend Mike told us about. Mike was already out there with his two little boys fishing. We started jigging with no luck again, a lot of boats trolled by and they also haven't had any luck. All of a sudden Kent started catching Rock fish, one was pretty big, so he kept it. He also was catching several dog fish, a junk fish no one keeps. They are fun to catch, as they really put up a fight, but we are after salmon and they are waisting our time. I should say Kent's time, as I still haven't caught a fish today. Kent starting reading the fishing synopsis and it says you can only have one rock fish in possession, so we are back to catching nothing we can keep. Kent kept asking me if I was doing 25 pulls on my line as I wasn't getting any bites. He put my pole in for me and I instantly got a bite, My arms aren't as long as his and my 25 pulls wasn't getting my line in as deep and his. After I started doing 30 pulls with my pole, I started really catching the same dog fish and rock fish he was catching. Now the big fish story~~~~ Kent got a big hit on his pole and started bringing in a nice salmon. I started bringing in my pole to get it out of the way of his fish so I could help him net his fish when I got a hard hit. Kent lost his fish and it swam by my pole and I caught it on its back by its tail as it swam by. That was a lot of fun bringing it in as it really was fighting hard, I think it was upset to get caught twice. By now it was 1:30 and we no longer saw Mike fishing, so we headed home with one salmon and two rock fish. It was a lot of fun and the lunch was great as usual, next time we hope to get our limit or at least one apiece. LOL

August 16 and 17, 2009

Sunday 16~~~~ After Mass this morning we drove around town and did some sightseeing, the day was so beautiful. We go exploring through the neat stores a few at a time, as we are going to be here a long time. There are neat art gallery's with nautical paintings and art that we like to look at. We had a Starbucks and came home to cook our salmon dinner which was delicious. Kent grilled the salmon and I made fresh green beans, home made Jo Jo's and a spinach salad. We don't normally like salmon, but this was very good. Captain Chef Kent did a very good job on the grill. When we are fishing Kent is the Captain and I am "Gillian" his First Mate. We lost the license off of our boat in the parking lot somewhere and one of the workers here found it and turned it into the office. We forgot to pick it up and later tonight someone knocked on our door and it was one of the park staff who had found it. He came over with some screws and put it on our trailer. We thought he was so nice to do that, we gave him half of the salmon Kent caught yesterday. Monday 17~~~~ We took the boat into town today to get a part on our trolling motor fixed, They have to order a part from the States, so we will have to wait for the part to fix it. We bought another lure to replace the one I lost and traded back some we don't like and got a couple more of the ones that Mike said to use. The pictures are the wake in the back of our boat and the Canadian flags flying over the channel where we go out in the ocean.

August 12 through the 15, 2009

Wednesday 12~~~~~We arrived at "Salmon Point Resort Campground " today, we have a nice spot away from the large area of campers and no traffic on our street. There is a boat dock and marina here which is nice for launching our boat when Kent gets it here. There is a nice heated pool, shuffleboard pad and a recreation room. The weather is beautiful and the flower beds here are so pretty and well maintained, A lot of people here ride bikes and we plan to get our bikes off the back of the trailer and do some biking ourselves. Kent is leaving early in the morning to meet Eric across the border in Bellingham, Washington to pick up our boat that Eric brought that far for us. Thursday 13~~~
Kent got up at 5:30 AM to go pick up the boat, I opted to stay here and color my hair and write on the blog. Such a long trip to repeat so soon, it will be nice to have the boat for fishing. The end of October Dee Dee and Tony are going to stay with us for a few days and fish, when they go home they are taking the boat with them. That solves getting the boat home for Kent. I think by then we will have fished ourselves out. Kent didn't have any luck with the Ferry connections and he didn't get home until 9:30 PM a very tired hungry man. Pepsi and I were starting to get concerned and we were very happy to hear the sound of the truck when it pulled up. Friday 14~~~~ We slept in today and walked around checking out the campground and the fish that this young man caught, he limits out everyday on salmon. He told us what lures to buy and how to fish for them. He doesn't troll, he jigs and he seems to be the best fisherman we have seen here. We went to town and immediately bought the lures, they cost $7.99 each, I told Kent I was afraid to use them as I might lose one. He just laughed!!! We went out for fish and chips at a very good fish house. (picture) they serve the fish and chips if large paper cones that fit in holes they have drilled in the tables. Cool idea!!!! Saturday 15~~~~ We fished hard many hours today and we had no luck. Kent got a hit and missed it, I had a big one on and I lost it and the $7.99 lure. Kent said it was his fault, as he tied the lure on without a swivel and the big fish was just too strong and snapped it off. DARN DARN DARN!

August 10, 11, 12, 2009

Monday 10~~~~ We started our trip t0 Canada this morning about 10:30, getting a late start as usual. I packed us our lunch and our only stop on the way was at "Starbucks" for one of Kent's favorite drinks, a mocha frapachino with a extra squirt of chocolate. He actually likes them better than milk shakes. I have even started drinking them they are so good, I guess we will have to buy some stock in their Starbucks. When we went through Seattle, it started to mist and continued until we stopped at Marysville for the night. We stopped at a casino to spend the night in their parking lot free. We spend the money we would spend for camping on the slots machines. Those new generaters we bought in Salem are really handy for boon docking in parking lots. Now we can play our television and keep up with our favorite shows without electricity. Our friends Lou and Diane from Everett, Washington picked us up and took us to "Angel of the Winds" their favorite casino for dinner. The casino has a 99 cent menu with the best food on it, Diane had Salmon with fries and Lou, Kent and I all had two eggs with biscuits & gravy. The food was very good, Kent was the only one who had the 99 cent strawberry short cake, it was huge and so good, he shared it with me. They also have bigger meals to eat, but we enjoyed what we ordered. They dropped us off at our trailer and they headed home after a nice evening of visiting and playing the slots. Kent and I got $5.00 free gambling money from the casino, we played on their money most of the evening. Tuesday 11 ~~~We drove to Nanaimo BC today, the ferry was a large one and it cost $163 for us to drive the truck pulling the fifth wheel. The deck we were on had such big semi trucks, boats and campers, (Picture) I told Kent I felt like we were on the "Titanic". (pictures) We stayed the night in a Walmart parking lot when we got off the ferry, there were 16 campers camping there with us. Tomorrow we will be in Campbell River at "Salmon Point Resort" campground.

August 8 and 9, 2009

Saturday 8~~~~~ We will be leaving for Canada on Monday so tomorrow we are spending the day in Portland celebrating Kent's daughter Cindy's birthday, we are doing all the last minute things like setting the timers, putting away patio furniture, setting my house plants in the sink so it will be easy for the kids to water when they check on the house. I did most of my goodbyes last night, but I am always ready for another visit if anyone stops by!!!! Sunday 9~~~~ We drove to Ridgefield, Washington to the birthday party, it was a beautiful day to be outside in the sun. Pat (Cindy's Mom) and Larry have a beautiful new home with a very large patio all set up for entertaining large groups of people. I love my deck, but I would trade for theirs in a heart beat. LOL We always have fun when we are together and the food was so good. Pat made Cindy's favorite dish which is " Steak and Bacon Tornado and her favorite desserts, peach pie and banana cream pie. (picture of Dee Dee, Cindy and Pat) Needless to say I ate 2 pieces of pie it was so good. Kent's family talk and visit, where my family talks while we play cards. They both are a lot of fun and we will miss all of them when we are on the road again tomorrow heading for Canada!!!! The 3 boys in the picture are Kent's 3 grandsons, Josh, Nathan and Brandon.

August 3 through 6, 2009

Monday 3~~~~This morning I drove to Stayton to visit my friend Helen that I used to work with years ago when we worked at Kmart. We always have fun catching up and talking about where each of us has been since our last visit and what we are planning to do next. Tress and I took the kids to the Waterfront Park in the afternoon and they had fun playing in the water pool and we relaxed on blankets on the grass. They stayed at our house for dinner that evening. Tuesday4~~~
I visited the girls at the shop and then I went to visit one of my customers whose mother just passed away, I did both of their hair for years and we are still friends. Kent is still busy getting things done on the boat, it sure is looking good. I also had a dentist appointment this morning, I think all my medical appointments are finished before we leave. Thursday 6~~~~ This evening we went over to see my Grandson Justin's apartment and we stayed for a game of cards. We all like the "hand and foot" card game, we are going to play cards again tomorrow night at our house, we will have 3 tables of cards. We are having a pot luck snack party before the card game.

August 4, 2009

Tuesday 28~~~~~We are spending a lot of time getting the 5th wheel reloaded and Kent is spending hours cleaning and waxing the boat. Today is Kent's grandson Brandon's birthday, we drove to Portland for his birthday party which was held at the Spaghetti Factory. It is right on the Willamette River, we had a great table overlooking the water, the food was great and we had a good time. Brandon is 16 now, he has his drivers license and is learning how to drive. Another grandchild growing up so fast, we wonder everyday how can the time go so fast. (Cindy should be sending pictures soon)

July 31 to August 2, 2009

Friday 31~~~~Kent went to Portland this morning and I drove to Eugene to see my daughter Kim and her family there before we head to Canada. Today is Shelby's birthday, but she is having her party up at the North Fork with her girlfriends, so I called her on the way down to Eugene. The baby lambs have sure grown since I was here last. The baby lamb they bottle fed until she could eat grain is just like a pet. She runs to the fence and cries and cries for Kimmy to come and feed her and she loves it when they let her in their yard to play with their black lab who slept by her in the house when she was a newborn lamb. She just comes running when Kim calls "here Baby," here Baby". (picture) I gave Kim a haircut before dinner and we spent the evening visiting. Saturday 1st~~~~ Kim, Pamela and I drove into town this morning and we looked at paint samples for their house, they are going to paint it this week. Mike met us for lunch and then we went shopping for some back to school clothes for Pamela. Sunday 2~~~ ~ I got up early to have plenty of time to drink coffee together before heading home. I also gave Mike a haircut before leaving, they are so used to my cuts, it is a treat to get one whenever I am home and I enjoy the chance to do someones hair. I really do miss doing hair, but I don't miss having to go to work. LOL

July 30, 2009

Thursday 30~~~~~ This morning Kent's daughter Dee Dee dropped off her girls (Anna and Maya) at our house while she attended a business meeting in Salem. They are on their way to Sun River when they leave here, so their Mom told us to burn up some of their energy before the trip there. We had a great time with them, we took them for a walk over the old train bridge that is the new walking path across the Williamette River for Salem and West Salem. Next we went to the Riverfront Park and the girls rode the carousel a couple of times and they played in the park. After a ice cream treat in the park, we headed back to our house. They walked slower going home than they did on the way to the park, so I think we accomplished our mission in tiring them out a little. LOL I fixed them lunch while they watched a movie and before we knew it, their mom was their to take them to Sun River. What fun we had with them and I hope we can do it again sometime soon.