Tales from Barnards Road

2011-07-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Steve and his "girls". We are still waiting for our first egg.

The coop under construction. We built it on skis so we could drag it around.

Finished coop and run.

Our chicks in the brooder.

Their first time in the coop !

Hazel

Hermione ...

Penny and Adelle

Hazel and Hermione checking out Martin

The coop in a new spot (we move it every week) It is next to Tish's Dahlia beds

Raised bed garden of Dahlias, blueberries, raspberries, and peppers and eggplant.

Horses....

2010-10-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Isabella and Cassie....

The boys and Steve....

The boys and Tish....

Tish and Georgie on the beach.

Steve and max on the beach.

On the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park Campground after a day riding.

Elk Hunting 2010

2010-09-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, welcome to the 2010 elk archery season in NE Oregon. Our story begins like last year with Tish, Isabella and Steve making their way to the Elkhorn Mountains in NE Oregon on the 27th of August (Happy birthday Dad). It was a nice drive over from Canby, but a change of over 7,000 feet in elevation can have some consequences........We left a sunny and mild Wilamette Valley and wound up in a cold and snowy/rainy campground.

What a difference a little time and elevation can have! It had been 27 degrees the night before we got there and the first day of archery season started with a high of 37 degrees and snow and sleet all day. We did get out and look at some country and even bumped some elk around in the Antone Creek basin. No luck in seeing them let alone getting a shot.

When we got back to camp the business of the day was to try and dry out and stay warm. We were glad we had decided to bring along the small wood stove we have for the wall tent, it was a life saver. We did go through a bit of wood to keep things cozy.

Here is our setup for this year's trip. Isabella brought her new tent and actually slept out in it most of the nights (what a trooper). The green canopy wound up getting blown into the Matrix during a rain storm and left it with a new dent and scratches. Oh well, as Josh says "you have to be willing to suffer" and it's worth it for the thrill of hunting those amazing elk, right?

This is one of the meadows near the campground where the elk came out almost every night after dark to feed. It can get to a person to hear them only 30 yards away but not be able to see them because they magically know when to leave before it is light enough to see them. Oh well, it is very fun to be so close to them while we camp there.

Here are Isabella and me in a new area we explored in the North Fork of the John Day River. The basin burned about 10 years ago and now the trees are mostly about 4 feet high. The elk seem to really like the area as we saw numerous other hunters in the area.

Tish and Isabella taking a break on the trail.

The great white hunter? This was the nicest day of the trip for about 5 hours.

Well the next few days offered us oppurtunities at elk each day. We just were not able to have things turn in our favor and on Wednesday morning Tish and Isabella had to return home to get Isabella ready for school and to get to her dad's house for the weekend.

I had decided that I wanted to check out some new country and I began looking over the maps and found a spot up on the Elkhorn divide only about a mile from camp. I headed up there that afternoon after cutting up some more fire wood for the wood stove. After I parked the truck I worked my way up to a saddle between two small basins that looked interesting. There was not a lot of sign up there but I did find a well used game trail and began to follow it down towards a large meadow you could see from the road. The trail wound around the hillside and lead to a series of small secluded meadows. The first meadow seemed like a good place to try and catch some elk moving down from their bedding areas on their way to the meadows below. I looked around and found a nice hiding spot to hang out that would offer some shot opportunities if anything came along.

After an hour or so, I heard some branches break and saw some movement through the trees. Sure enough, 4 cow elk and one calf came out into the meadow. The only problem was that they had come out and were moving up the trail not down it like I had planned on. My situation was that I now had 10 eyes looking in my general direction and able to see any of my movements. I was quickly realizing that I would probably not be able to get a shot off at these elk who were only 30 yards away. They began feeding and suddenly they all had their heads down in the tall grass at once. I was able to draw my bow and take aim while they became alert at the movement they had heard. I aimed quickly at the closest cow and shot my arrow. It hit home (although a little farther back then I would have liked, I think due to the fact that she was quartering to me more than I thought) and she turned and ran away down hill with a "crack". I sat for 15 minutes as it got darker and then decided to check for my arrow. I did not find it or any blood where she had been standing so I decided to back out of the area and head for the truck for the evening.

The next morning I headed up the hill as close as I could drive to the area according to my GPS and after about 20 minutes I found a nice spot of bright red blood. I also found the last 5 inches of my arrow a little later and decided to head back to the blood spot and began tracking with more fortitude. The blood trail was pretty slim, a small drop of blood every 6 feet or so. After about 90 minutes of tracking and back-tracking I finally came upon her!

Then began the job of processing her into packable parts. I found during the processing that she had a broken rear leg. She must have broken it when she turned to run off and that was the "crack" I had heard. I was very happy to have found her. I was also able to find the remainder of the arrow nearby. It took me about an hour to get her ready to pack out, it was only about 55 degrees, so it was perfect weather for taking care of the meat. She had wound up going downhill after the shot about half-way to the road I was parked on, so my pack out was only 20 minutes each trip. I was able to get her out in 3 trips! I was very happy to have such an easy pack, just dumb luck I guess, but I will take it.

The trip back home the next day was pretty uneventful, but it was a beautiful day for a drive and it always fees better when the back is full of meat for the winter! I got to see some of the new wind farms on the Washington state side of the Gorge, and this reminded me of Tish who had just finished up working on an EIS for a new transmission line corridor to help get that new power onto the grid.

It was also nice to see Mt. Hood from the east side of the Cascades, it is such an impressive mountain.

Well that is it for now, I will try archery hunting for blacktails in the second archery season which begins in late November which should be interesting. It's farewell to the Elkhorns for another year but we will be back!

Spring break in Washington DC

2010-06-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Isabella at the Vietnam Memorial

Tish and Isabella at the Lincoln Monument

West end of the Capitol

Capitol Dome

Dave and Nancy at their front door

Steve, Tish and Isabella in front of the White House

Reflection of the Washington Monument in the Vietnam Memorial

Great sculpture outside the Dept. of Labor (I think)

Mt. Vernon

Dave, Nancy, Tish, Isabella and Steve outside Mt. Vernon

Reagan National Airport at midnight

Front of the White House

Lincoln Memorial

Kitchen Remodel - 2010

2010-06-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Fall in Canby!

The kitchen is done!

The new tile on the kitchen wall.

The stove with tile behind.

Steve preparing to put the tile up.

The new light fixture above the kitchen window...

Our beautiful new door with the same bamboo flooring as the kitchen.

This is the new bamboo floor we installed last weekend. It only took about 4 hours and turned out great.

Here is the new kitchen with the shaker-style cabinets, silestone countertop, enamel sink, new faucet, appliances and bamboo floor. We still need to get a light, but it is such an improvement !

This is what it looked like as we tore out the old cabinets, countertops and sink. The orange color was the decided upon color after much discussion and samples. The new stove is also shown.

This was the kitchen when we moved in. Notice the nice trim work. Tish had that out the first day !

Here is the stainles steel sink that was never sealed around so it leaked a bit. Also the faucet did not work very good. The counter tops reminded me of the 1970's.

We changed out the door to get some more light and painted a brighter color but the dye was cast for a more prudent update down the road.

Here is another view that shows the stove that had a shorted out control for one burner.

Riding at Vernonia, OR

2010-01-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

We took the horses to Vernonia, OR in October for

our last ride of the season. Above are their

accomodations. Above is Steve with Max

Georgie and our accomodations.

Elk Hunting 2009

2009-09-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

You brave souls are about to hear the story of Steve's 2009 Oregon Elk adventure, but first let me introduce the cast of our story.....

Tish

Isabella

Steve

Our story begins on August 28th when our trio drives from Canby, Oregon to Anthony Lake in Eastern Oregon, approximately 5 1/2 hours east. When we arrive camp is set up quickly and we are off to do a little pre-season scouting around Black Lake. We see nothing but mosquitoes and bats around the lake but the fish are jumping.

We spent 4 days hiking approximately 25 miles as we explored new country and bumped into elk every day but never saw them before they saw us so we never had a shooting opportunity. On Wednesday, Tish and Isabella had to head home so I stayed on for a few extra days to see if I could connect before I had to head home. On Wednesday afternoon, I headed up into some new country and found a way into the Crawfish Meadow area. It is a huge meadow complex and looked very promising, but I had seen on the map that a smaller more secluded meadow was hidden up behind it to the west.

I eventually found the meadow and settled in for an evening hunt to get an idea if any animals would come out before it turned too dark to shoot. Sure enough about a half hour before sunset, two nice 4x4 mule deer bucks came out and started feeding about 50 yards away. Try as I might, I was not able to get a shooting opportunity at them and had to watch them walk away. I thought they had returned a few minutes later but in my attempt to spot what was there I scared away a mule deer doe. I left the meadow in the dark and headed back to the truck rethinking my plan that possibly I should try for a mule deer buck instead of an elk.

The next morning I headed into the Antone Basin and bumped a cow and calf elk off the trail in the dark. So I headed down into the meadow areas and eventually ran into a bull elk who had the jump on me and as I heard him crash off, my mind was really thinking about those mule deer bucks. At least I had gotten to see them before they could see me. I eventually got back to the trail after exploring the bull's "honey hole". I marked the location on the trail on where to head back into the bull's domain for a future hunt. I then decided to head up the trail to see where it went and get a view of Dutch Flat Saddle. I had a good morning hike and headed back to camp around 11 am. On the way down while exploring another new spot I accidentally knocked the string off the rear cam and sprung the bow so that I could not shoot it anymore until I fixed it. Things were not looking up for me at this point in time.

Back at camp , I fixed the bow problems and shot it to make sure the arrows were still flying where they were supposed to fly. Even though I had hiked 7 miles in the morning I decided to head back into the secluded meadow to see if the mule deer bucks would show up again. I got in there and set up and began to hear pine squirrels dropping cones to the ground. Some of the sounds seemed to big for a cone and sure enough out sticks a cow elk head from the tree line. As she grazed a little bit I started to remove an arrow from the quiver and accidentally tapped the arrow on the other arrows and the noise made the cow lift her head and look in my direction. After a few minutes she decided that she did not like the sound she had heard and turned and left. Now you can imagine the angst I was feeling at this point. Unbelievable. A minute later I see a mule deer doe feeding in the meadow and after a few minutes she eventually wanders back into the far side of the forest. About 10 minutes before shooting light would be gone, a cow elk appears from another portion of the forest and then another and another, until eventually there are 6 cows, 3 calfs and 2 yearlings (at least that is the number I remember seeing, but I had begun to focus only on the lead cow). I also heard some larger branches breaking but I could not remove my focus from the lead cow. As she began to feed into a shooting lane, another cow began to feed very close to my hidden position. In fact she was only 10 feet away when I pulled back the bow. She promptly raised her head along with all the other elk, and I had enough time to settle my sight pin where it needed to be on the lead cow who was now 15 yards away. I released the arrow and heard the string swack against my forearm. The arrow hit home and the cow ran off towards the far end of the meadow while the rest of the elk thundered into the forest directly in front of me. I watched the cow stop and wabble a little bit but then disappear into the forest. After a few minutes I heard two crashes as if she was breaking branches. A few minutes after that I went to see if I could see any blood or my arrow. The light was fading fast and I tried a quick survey of where she had gone but could not find any sign of her. I hiked back to the truck wondering what I would find in the morning.

At 7 am the next day, I hiked back into the meadow and began to search for the cow. After not finding any blood or my arrow (the grass was knee high) I began gridding the area where I last saw her. Forty-five minutes later and still no sign of her I decided to go back to the shoot location and start over. I realized that if she was standing broadside to me, I had been off about 15 degrees in my search area and when I re-did the search I found my arrow, which was covered in bright red blood. At that point I said "There is a dead elk out there I need to find". I went back to the far end of the meadow and after another 15 minutes of searching, I summoned the tracking skills of two of the best hunters I know, Josh Boyd and Paul Hooper. I began to remember that hurt elk usually like to go down hill but this elk had gone uphill, but on the other side of the short uphill there was a steep downhill into a burnt-over blowdown hell hole. As I was standing on the edge looking down into the mess, I looked up the ridge line and saw a patch of tan that looked out of place. It was the cow ! Finally I had found her. She had run approximately 100 yards even after a pass through, double lung shot. I began to process her and pack the loads down to a cooler location for storage, as I began the three trips to pack out all the meat. I made my final trip to the truck at 5 pm and went back to camp for a well earned supper.

I packed up camp the next morning and drove back home a tired but happy hunter !

Photos from the Hunt

Our camp setup, 10x12 wall tent and canopy, luxury accomadations !

This was the meadow and lake at our camping spot at Grande Ronde Lake. It was a nice little campground and had 4 resident ospery who liked to fish in the lake. I of course did not even think to bring a fishing pole.....next time. There were elk in the meadow every night. It was a full moon so they would come out around 11 pm and leave around 3 am. We never were able to track the herd down, so we just enjoyed their romping around at night waking us up !

This is Hoffer Lake, a popular spot for hikers but not to much elk sign.

The secluded meadow is to the left and uphill from the big meadow (Crawfish meadow) in the center of the picture. It is just under the burnt looking peak in the middle of the photo.

The secluded meadow is just over the burnt knob in the center foreground about 2 miles from the trailhead.

The hunting crew, Tish, Isabella, and Steve.

Antone basin on the other side of the divide trail where we chased some elk around too.

This is a view of the basin I was hunting where I got my elk, very pretty country !

This is the hidden meadow where I got my cow elk. It is about 3 acres in size and can really only be seen from the ridge system in the distance. It was very secluded and had a lot of animal use. I was set up in a clump of trees at the far end of the meadow and the herd of elk came out from behind me. My shot was 15 yards and this is the end of the meadow where the cow ran to after I shot her.

And her she is, two more steps and she would have dropped off a ledge that was 12 feet down. The way she ended up after I got all the meat off the exposed side when I turned her over (thankfully she was stiff !) she dropped down between the downed trees and I was not able to move her again. The only meat I could not get was the tenderloins which are on the inside next to the spine. Oh well, the scavengers had a feast, and we will too.

Another view

This was my staging area for packing the meat. I got all the meat moved down to this location from the kill site so that it would be in a cooler location as it took the entire day to pack out to the truck.

Well this is a pretty sight, all the meat packed to the truck. This part of the "hunt" took from 7 in the morning until 5 at night. A very long day but totally worth it. We will be back next year looking for the bull of the woods !

Orcas Island, WA

2009-01-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Tish and Steve at our cabin at Beach Haven, Orcas Island

Tish at Pike Street Market...

Steve at Pike Street Market hogging the pig!

Mt. Baker from the Anacortes-Orcas Island Ferry

The view from our cabin at Beach Haven

The beach at Beach Haven

Tish and the wild ocean...

Steve and the wild ocean...

A cold and windy day on south Orcas

Christmas 2008

2008-12-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

Isabella, Steve, Tish, Dad and Mom

Isabella and her dollhouse

Georgie and Max trying to eat the big clump of grass in the "blizzard"

December 21, 2008 snow/ice storm

Steve, Tish and Isabella in front of our Noble Fir

Steve and Isabella

What were we thinking?

Steve and Tish's Wedding

2008-12-13T20:24:00.000-08:00

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Steve, Tish and Isabella

Steve, Tish, Amanda, and Isabella

Steve and Tish

The Wegner Family

The Eaton Family

Isabella

McClain Lake 2008

2008-12-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

Steve and Tish and Isabella at the south shore of Lake Superior

Tish and Iasbella at the docks in Duluth

Time for reflection at the bay

McClain Lake in the morning

Uncle Don helping out with the best spots for fishing!

Steve and Don talking strategy

Steve and Tish at Lake Superior

Isabella at fountains in Duluth

Going fishing!

The cabin at Kingfisher Point

Sunrise at the lake

Tish and Isabella on the dock

Isabella's first northern!

Isabella's first bass!

Rainbow over the lake

Isabella driving Uncle Don's boat

Steve and Isabella at the cabin

Tish and Isabella at the DQ in Duluth

Steve and Isabella heading out in search of the McClain Lake Monster!

Summer 2008

2008-12-12T19:15:00.000-08:00

Tish with Max and Georgie

Side yard with new porch roof and decking

New path to pergola and back yard

Adding some plants to the pond

New play structure made of recycled lumber from front porch rebuild

New garden spot

Iris in May

Getting ready for the wedding

Recycled front path

Front Yard beginning of June

Front yard mid -May

Cherry tree in bloom mid-April

Memories of Louie

2008-12-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Hello All, the photos and writings in this portion of the blog are in no special sequence they are just memories and thoughts I keep of my loving dad, "Sweet Louie" - Steve

8.27.08

The hummingbird buzzed my bright yellow hardhat trying to see, if in fact, I was the best thing to have happened in his time here on the Six Rivers National Forest this summer. His life, much like mine had been turned upside down by events this year. His was a raging forest fire that reset his territory for the rest of his lifetime. Mine has been the loss of the two most important mentors in my life and the blossoming of life through marriage to the most wonderful woman I have ever known.

My friend of 25 years Edward, a retired art teacher always helped me to see the bright side of life and rediscover my passion for art and looking at life through a different filter than what most people use to judge their time here on the ground. I do so miss his laugh and him claiming me as “my child”. Ed’s cancer was long and drawn out, taking a full 18 years to claim its prize. My dad, Sweet Louie, on the other hand had a quick and unsuccessful bout with his cancer. It was such an anguishing process to see the strongest man I have ever known slimed down to a mere shadow of his former self. Through the process though he never lost his sense of humor or his love of life and my mom and brother and sisters. I just wish I could have given him one last hug and told him how much I admired and loved him.

The sharp pain of bumping my knee into a stub of a fallen tree brings my mind back to the task at hand. Review of fire suppression repair work has kept me busy for the past 10 days straight. With an average of 13 hours per day my mind has had a lot of time to think about things usually kept to the rear of my consciousness. As a person who makes his living based on my knowledge of science, I know that death is just a part of the natural cycle. Still it gives me little comfort to see a river reform itself after a flood or a forest sprout back to life after a fire like today on this review. What is the natural cycle for humans? Is there some sort of rebirth or continuation that is in store for us after death? I guess that is why there is religion, to give people some sort of hope through the ages that life does not stop at death.

The sweat on my head from the hardhat makes me adjust it, like that will bring some relief. The temperature is rising just like breeze, it has shifted to upslope, must be about 10 am, I check my watch, yep. I have another hour of hiking to reach the truck.

I have never been a very religious person as I usually resort to swearing in those times of stressful danger or trouble. “Christ”, that was the worst I ever heard my dad swear. Still, I am curious about all this rebirth of ones self after death. I see so many people not living this life to its fullest just so they can have a better life after death. I just have to watch Isabella, my new step-daughter at play with her Barbie’s and I see how life should be lived, at top speed and full of possibilities only limited by the imagination. What a jolt of life has been injected into my existence with her in my life. It is quite a privilege on those rare occasions when at play she forgets that I am “Steven” and she calls me dad. It is amazing to me now the little things that make me cry, a song, a movie, a smile, even a thought. My emotions are so close to the surface sometimes I am not sure which skin I am living in.

I’m nearing the top of the ridge now and my sweat and breathing make me take a rest. The hummingbird makes a second appearance to see if by chance the situation has changed. Seeing that I will not be a fulfilling lunch, he departs as quickly as he appeared, and I, with tears in my eyes, whisper after him “Happy Birthday Dad”.

Dream of a time when the tides ebbying now rise again

Then you will know that to die is not really to end

Living and dying are both your most intimate friends

So empty the ash tray, sweep up the floor, put a lock on your door

When somebody calls in the morning just say we don't live here no more

J. Denver

Steve and Dad, December 2007 in Tucson

Mom and Dad in SLC at Mary lou's and Daves house

Grandma Rosie, Mary Lou and Dad

The newlyweds !

Lunch at Nora's

Early hikes in Glacier N.P.

1971 "chuck'er deep!"

1975 cabin construction crew

1974 cabin construction crew

Cleaning fish at the lake (pre cabin)

1974 Dad, Uncle Don, Uncle Rog, Dave

Dads deer 1965

1964 Montana hunting trip

1968 Dad, Dave and Elmer (with more fish !)

Dad loved to grill, just like me !

Mayo building, 1958

1959 Dad, Dave and fish