Rain, Rain - Wet Robin

We got a good thunder and rain storm tonight. Thankfully the tornado from the warning west of Mandan didn't cause any trouble for us in Bismarck tonight. We did manage to get quite a bit of rain in a short period. I thought I'd snap a few photos to put on my blog. Little did I know at the time the raindrops falling would be caught in the light of the flash and appear as blotchy round circles in the picture. This is not rain on the lens, but rather rain as it was falling from the sky and suspended in motion with the flash of the camera. I took several more photos trying to get some good shots of how the heavy rain and blustery blowing wind made it look outside. Most are so splotched with round circles like this you can hardly make out anything else in the photo. They look so dark - much darker than I remember them in person.

The robin I blogged about a few days ago got another good dowsing with water tonight. And its nest is tipped to the side again. Perhaps we can try putting it upright tomorrow in the daylight. Seems it wasn't such a bright idea for it to nest right under the eaves after all. The leaves of the grape vines have grown quite a bit more this past week, but they offer no protection at all. Poor thing, it's bound to be cold out there when it gets drenched this much. It seemed to stick to the nest throughout the whole thing. I wonder if those eggs have hatched yet. I haven't noticed any activity that way in it yet. We'll check it better tomorrow.

Okay, here's the details of the photo highlighted in case you couldn't make it out too well in the previous photo.

We listened to weather on TV while the sirens were going off. Thankfully there was no damage from tornadoes or water damage from rain or flooding with us. In the middle of it I went to check all the basement windows. Everything was sealed up tight. I'm glad about that since I just so recently re-arranged and organized so much of my stuff down there. I would hate to have to pull it out from water damage. I'm definitely thankful for that.

We took the boat out on the river a few days ago. We didn't go far because some dark clouds and lots of wind blew in. It only made good sense to head back to the dock. Along with the clouds and wind, it turned chilly, too! No bites this day. It was kind of fun to get the boat out on the water, though. In the photo the waves are fairly calm. By the time we headed back they were substantially more choppy. Oh well, there will be more days to try for more fish.

Cool Outdoor Fun

We took the boat out today for a little fall fishing expedition. It seemed cool and inviting outdoors while we were driving out to the lake. Once we got out on the water it felt pretty cold. We were each bundled in layers, but the overcast, cloudy day, cool temps and wind combined to make it pretty chilly. Later as we were hauling the boat out of the water the sun broke through the clouds and it warmed up considerably. This rainbow trout is what I caught while standing on the dock while the boat was being tied down and readied to head out. You can see by the tape measure it is approx. 18"-19" in length. That's a nice catch!

The other two fish pictured here next to my rainbow trout were caught while we were out on the lake. We had a few other fish that were too small and were thrown back. We might not have kept these two smaller ones, but they didn't look like they would survive if thrown back. These are all good eating fish, but we were really hoping to catch more of the large mouth bass we caught last time we fished this lake. The only bass we caught were tiny ones. They were thrown back to grow bigger for next year.

This may have been our last trip to the lake for this year. We're waiting to see what the weather looks like next weekend. We may make one more fishing trip if it's nice. Hunting season's upon us so the call of the wide open fields means the end of fishing and the start of something different. All that walking when pheasant season opens is good exercise. I may just tag along this year for the benefit of all that walking.

I love this fall weather we are experiencing here on the northern plains. We pulled the window air conditioners out of the windows for winter storage some time ago. There were a few warmer days that required running a fan, but now it feels like cool air conditioning again. Plus, an extra bonus, it's natural air that helps to save on energy costs and better to air out the house. The leaves are turning color more, but most are hanging onto their branches yet. We pulled the last of the vegetables from the garden and need to pull up, till under or cut back the plant growth around the yard. Some of that yardwork has already been done, but still plenty to do before the snow comes. It looks like it's time to winterize now.

Fish Creek: Bountiful fish, bountiful weeds

We recently went fishing at Fish Creek, west of Mandan. It had been quite a long time since I was at this lake. I was absolutely stunned to see the over abundance of weeds and plant growth in and around this lake. The water level seemed to be down a bit, but I don't think that's the reason for seeing more weeds. I think the weeds have just grown up so much more than in the past. As we fished I also noticed there seemed to be an awful lot of this variety of blue dragonfly. They hovered and swarmed around us all day as we fished. It was kind of fun watching them. Often we would find three, four or five of them lined up on our fishing poles like you see birds on a wire.

With the tall weeds growing out from the surface of the water in so many places they had plenty of places to land for a rest from flying around. We used the trolling motor most of the time at this lake. The little bit of use of the larger motor just managed to wrap weeds around the prop. The water seemed to reflect a greenish cast to it with lots of floating material rising up from the lake bottom. There was also lots of small plantlife floating around as well.

This was a fun afternoon. I caught a small mouth bass almost immediately upon casting out my line. And Mr. B also had one on his line as I was attempting to land mine. We caught our limit of both bass and trout within a few hours. Considering the number of small mouth bass we threw back (being too small to keep) we were kept busy with the fish biting for several hours. I don't remember how many we caught and threw back, or got away, but we certainly caught lots of fish this day.

We used night crawlers on our hooks and were catching both bass and trout steadily. I didn't know trout were a type of fish that swallow everything: bait, hook and sinkers. Thankfully all of the trout we caught were big enough to keep since it was nearly impossible to retrieve the hooks without doing so much damage to the trout they wouldn't survive anyway if thrown back. The bass were different as they often would spit out both the hooks and worms in order to get away. If we did not have a net some of the ones we caught would have got away. There were quite a number that did get away with us being too slow to get them in the net in time.

I found out I need a new reel for my fishing pole. I had trouble with the drag when it came to reeling them in. It didn't seem to matter how the drag was set, it just didn't work right. Looks like we'll be going shopping for fishing supplies before we head out to the lake again. That's okay, I've had that reel for so many years. I'm surprised it has held up this long.

You can see one of the more open areas of the water here in this last photo. There were areas of the lake where a current went through, or the lake was deeper, so the weeds did not reach the surface. Most of this lake was showing 12'-14' deep on the fish finder, but there were some areas that were deeper, like 25'-30'. The fish finder revealed fish in nearly all areas of the lake. Some areas showed multiple large schools of fish. Our strategy was to position ourselves just behind a clump of weeds and allow the wind to cause us to drift away from the weeds. We were getting so many bites, Mr. B had to resort to pinching our night crawlers in half to bait our hooks so we wouldn't run out before we were done fishing for the day. (Okay, I admit it. I'm a big namby-pamby when it comes to baiting the hook. I'm happy to let Mr. B do it for me, and he seems okay with this arrangement, too.)

We left the lake with five small mouth bass and five trout that were pretty good size. After cleaning fish that evening we put the trout in the freezer for another day, and ate half of the bass that night. They are very tasty fish. I cooked the last of the bass last night for supper. Yum!

Fishing at Audubon

We spent Friday late afternoon and evening fishing at Lake Audubon. It was a lot of fun. I caught the first bass just moments after dropping the first line in the water. Mr. B caught a walleye. We also caught two more small walleye and a tiny bass but threw them back because they needed to grow more. It was a fun, relaxing afternoon. The breeze and slight cloud cover felt like it was air conditioned outdoors. No overpowering sun to get sunburnt and a cool breeze meant no bugs or mosquitoes. Plus we were catching fish! One couldn't ask for more. We fished as the wind blew and some dark clouds built up even darker.
Then I saw a bolt of lightninng strike further west out over Lake Sakakawea. We fished for just a bit more, then decided we better head for shore when we felt a few drops of rain. The sprinkles of rain were light and occasional. The rain held off long enough for us to head for shore. By this time it was cooling off quite a bit, especially with the random drops of rain. The waves are a bit more aggressive on Lake Audubon than other smaller lakes we usually fish. So rather than drive the boat up onto the trailer myself like I have been doing lately I let Mr. B do it. We were bouncing around on the waves too much to suit me.
Here Mr. B reels the boat up the final few inches up into position on the trailer. Even with all our bouncing around he managed to drive the boat up onto the trailer on the first shot.
When we go fishing I have the 'pleasure' of hanging onto the minnow bucket between my feet on the floor mat inside the truck. This is to ensure that it doesn't topple over during the ride out to the lake. This view shows we had lots of minnows left over from this fishing trip.
North Dakota I-83 crosses the water with Lake Audubon on the east side and Lake Sakakawea on the west side. The water in Lake Sakakawea is the lowest I have ever seen it. When I first moved to North Dakota both sides of the road were very near to full with water coming very close up to the road.
Now with the water so low we can see there are trees and bushes growing on all the sand bars that years ago had been underwater.
Since I haven't taken a drive through this area for quite some time I was shocked to see the water this low. I know it has been low for a long time. Those trees must have been growing for many years by now to be as large as they are.

All of this area used to be underwater when I first came to North Dakota and for many years when the kids were little. What a difference time makes on the landscape.
We ended up taking only one walleye and one small mouth bass home from the lake on Friday night. Usually fish are cleaned outside, but by this time it was raining. You will notice I covered the canisters and other things on the counter with a towel so any tail flipping or sloppiness wasn't quite so much to clean up afterward. Our supper of fish and rice turned out to be very tasty.

We were going to go fishing again today, but the weather forecast calls for rain. So far it hasn't rained here.

Gone Fishing

We spent some time out on the lake on Sunday afternoon. It was a productive day of fishing. We snagged four small mouth bass using night crawlers while trolling slowly near the weeds. The water was clear enough today with a very light breeze to allow us visibility far enough to watch the fish take the bait. That was pretty cool being able to see them come up to the worm.

Mr. B thought the largest one he caught might have qualified for the Whopper Club. Before filleting it he took it to be officially weighed to see how it measured up. This one came in at 2.97 pounds just missing the mark of 3 pounds to make it into the Whopper Club for the small mouth bass category. Oh well, slightly underweight for that, but excellent eating. We had fish, rice and vegetables for supper tonight. Very tasty!

We went to see one of our sons this weekend for the 4th of July holiday. We grilled steaks on his deck. This bone was left over from that very tasty meal. Knowing the dogs would love to have the leftovers, we brought them a doggie bag. Sparky managed to get the bone in the end while the others scrambled after the smaller chunks of meat. He seems to be enjoying it immensely.

Here's a close up of the previous photo. It shows Sugar licking her lips as she looks on longingly for Sparky to give up that bone. He never did; not until we finally got him to come inside. I think Ginger beat him to it when they were let back out the next time.

I am usually not an advocate for weeds, but this milkweed plant came up last year and the year before. I allow it to take up space in the garden for the monarch butterflies to feed on when they come through our area. That's the only reason it's still there. I did not remember it flowering last year, but here it is with it's unusual flower head and the buds popping open.

Here is a close up of the flower to see it better. These seem quite different to me from anything else I have seen before.

I don't know what kind of bug this is. At first glance I thought it might be some type of bee, but looking at the photo makes me think it could be something else. Bugs kind of creep me out, but they're still kind of interesting to see up close. I set the camera on the close-up setting and it takes wonderful clear photos very close. It sat on this lilac leaf while I watered the garden. Later by the time I was finished it was gone. As long as it doesn't try to land on me I can handle it. The wings and the shape of it make me think it might be some kind of deer fly - those bite - hard!


These are some of the flowers I like the best in the garden right now. I planted two new rose bushes this year. This small pink rose is alongside the fence. It is a climbing rose that should spread out along the fenceline eventually. I purposely planted it there hoping the scent of roses will help to mask the odor coming from the neighbor's yard as they do not bother to clean up after their dogs. Unfortunately on very warm summer evenings we cannot make use of our patio because of the overwhelming odor from their dogs. We're currently working to train the grapevines, honeysuckle and roses to cover the fence. In time it should block the view and hopefully mask the odor some.

This large blossom rose bush seemed so pretty at the time I got the other rose bush I decided to get it also. I love these colors of pink and coral tints mixed together with a touch of yellow. I'm not that great a gardener so I hope this one survives. I really love to see pretty flowers, but don't know much about gardening. My method is basically just select a hardy variety, plant it, water it, pull weeds once in a while and hope it grows.

The zinnias were some of the last ones to be set into their pots. I was such a slowpoke getting them into the dirt I thought I might have killed them. They looked so dry and peaked for a bit. But they seem to have survived so far and more buds are popping open so I think they'll do okay. I think they are a pretty flower, it's almost like seeing mini little yellow flowers within the larger pink flowers the way the yellow comes out of the center of these. They make me smile - flowers within flowers!

These lilies have been in this part of the garden since we moved to this house. They seem to be exceptionally tall this year. I didn't remember the wavy edges of the petals, but maybe I haven't been paying attention well enough. At first I thought they might be deformed from lack of water or lack of care, but perhaps they're supposed to be that way. In any case, they are just starting to bud out and look very tall and regal to me.

A quick look through all these photos shows alot of pink, yellow and green. Those must be my new current favorites. I am seeing them everywhere lately. They make such a good combination of colors. I should probably incorporate them together into a quilt or a wallhanging. I love the pink/yellow/green combo and also the blue/green/teal and red combo as well as the blue/green/teal/dark brown combo.

Celebrating

While I was finishing up with my on-line classes, the Mr. finished the back deck and steps. He did an excellent job. They are much nicer than that cement slab and old rusted cast iron hand rail.

My last assignments were due on Friday; we hit the lake on Saturday. What a great day it turned out to be! Sun, cool breeze, quiet day on the lake. We got a few bites, but no fish. That was okay, we had a wonderful time.

It was a wonderful, warm relaxing day on the lake. This short stop at the dock gave us an opportunity to get jackets out of the truck. It was about this time of day, as the sun started to set, that it started to get a bit cooler.

I love this shot taken from the rear of the boat in the warm glow of the setting sun. The water absolutely glowed with light from the sun. It seemed like sparkles on every ripple.

We stopped to take a bit of a break at the dock, grabbed some jackets out of the truck and what do I see? The breeze quieted and left the lake nearly smooth like a mirror. Beautiful!

The landscape is typical of North Dakota with very few trees to dot the view. The prairies stretch for miles in every direction. Typical wide-open spaces.

Cool summer breezes blew across the lake, you see me here with an old long sleeve shirt. This was just enough to take the nip out of the breeze so we stayed and fished a little longer than planned.


Fishing in the channel was quiet and peaceful. This time of day the sky picks up those dusky pink hues. It was absolutely beautiful reflected back against the water. Since the breeze calmed to barely any movement on the water the reflection of sky was like looking at a mirror.



Another way to celebrate -- and save gas! The Mr. got a new toy. Woo-hoo!

He said he has been wanting one of these for some time. He used to have a motorcycle in our younger days and kept his old helmet with the hopes of getting another one 'sometime after the kids left home'. Now was the time.

Here's a look at the Mr. just before he sets off. He chose a nice bike, now to get out for a spin.

And boys, no, I don't think he's going to want to share for awhile! :) You might have to wait till the newness wears off before he'll let you on it! Sorry ;)

Ginger peers out between the cast iron rails on the front steps. She accompanies me on my outings, but looks ready to go indoors with this shot. It's as if she thinks getting photos of the new bike is no big deal. Like she's thinking, "Come on guys. Put the camera away and let me inside, already!"

My peonies have bloomed this week. I have white ones, these pink ones and one bush is white with just a bit of deep pink streaks. They're absolutely beautiful with a light fresh scent.

This variety is somewhat different from the others because it opens up more wide and flat. The others are the usual big balls of fluffy petals. They smell luscious.

My clay chicken pots are waiting to be planted yet. I think they'll be happy housing these pink and white flowers. I have just a few other plants to set into the garden, then lots more weeding to take care of. This year is mostly flowers, some tomatoes, cucumbers, peas and carrots, watermelon and cantaloupe.

The Fam

They're mine, and I love 'em!

Today I decided to post a few pictures of "The Fam". My family consists of all guys! I'm the lone female voice in the group. I tell you sometimes as the kids were growing up they out voted me on a number of things. But I could always pull "the mom" card out of my hat if I really wanted to. You know, like "I'm the Mom," and "because I said so" type of thing. The was an especially good thing to be able to do on occassion.

Actually it wasn't so bad. I like all my guys, and they are pretty good guys afterall. So here they are as photographed by yours truly on a fishing adventure one cool windy day last year. My oldest son, Ben, is at the upper right; then, shown on the middle left, a couple years younger, is Josh; and the lower right picture is of my husband, Patrick. Aren't they a handsome bunch?


This day was fun. I don't recall that we caught very many fish. It was pretty cool and breezy. We had fun taking a spin around the lake.

Ben was able to come home this particular weekend to spend time with us. Josh was home for the summer. He and his Dad did their share of fishing last year.

Now that the boys are both living away from home I get to be the designated fishing buddy for my husband. We took the boat out two times so far this year.


One boating/fishing day was just a real short time of it out on the river. Staying close to home was a good idea that day. It was nice and warm (one of the first really warm days of the year), but there was still snow on the ground. It was pretty humorous to launch the boat out on the water, see people in tank tops and shorts fishing along the shore, and still drifts of snow along the bank. Only in North Dakota!

Hopefully it will be a great summer for fishing and boating.