Antelope Reservoir

Today we decided to check out a place called Antelope Reservoir.  When we take our drive to one of the BLM areas we always pass the turn off.  So today was as good as any to take a drive there.

On the way we saw a few deer.

Once we turned off the Paulina Highway (380) it was a dirt road.  First through approximately three miles of private property, then another 11 miles or so of Forest Service land.  It was very pretty.  When we finally got to the reservoir I was surprised at all the other people that were there, considering the roughness of the road.

But we claimed one of the two picnic tables there and enjoyed our lunch and the views and the wildlife.

A chipmunk.

Ground squirrel.

Our picnic table.

Antelope Reservoir.

The dam end (and near the picnic tables).

After lunch we took a little walk at the bottom of the dam.  The dogs took a dip in the creek.

 The back side of the dam.

Looking down the creek away from the dam.

Heading back for the truck.

So pretty!

On the way back home I just had to stop to take pictures of this keeled over tree.

I like the gnarly trees.

And of course there's the lovely wildflowers.  These are all yellow.

Tomorrow I go back to work.  I'll be working four hours Friday, Saturday, and Sunday doing video training.  I hope I remember how to log back into the computer to find the training sessions. 

Update

There hasn't been a whole lot of stuff going on in this last week.  At least not anything really interesting.  That is why there haven't been a lot of posts.  So I've thrown a bunch of little things together.

Hubby went fishing in the Crooked River and got some white fish.  A lot of people think they are trash fish.  But I remember eating smoked white fish when I was younger and they were delicious.  We went ahead and froze these in hopes that we will get more and we will be able to figure out how to smoke them later.  (Our old smoker died.)

This is from today.  That's Kneadermeier waiting patiently at a prairie rat hole.  She was upset that I went out to get her because we had to go somewhere.  

Our strawberry plant has strawberries!  And there is even a runner coming off the main plant.  I think I'll let it root.  Hubby and I split the ripe strawberry (yes, we each had 1/2) and it was delicious!

This is my little Christmas tree from last year.  I had moved it from its original container to a 2 liter soda bottle with the top cut off.  Now I moved it to a bigger pot and it's outside.  I think I'll let it grow a bit in this container and then figure out where I want to have my "Christmas Tree Orchard".  After all I like to get at least one of these (sometimes more) every Christmas.

These are the potatoes I planted in the container.  They are actually doing better than the ones in the ground.  

The other veggies are doing very well.  Especially since we've had some warmer weather.  I'm a little concerned that the tomatoes are getting to the point where they will need to be staked soon.  

I finally planted the sugar maple tree.  I gave it a healthy spritzing of "liquid deer fence" in hopes that the deer will leave it alone.

This was going to be a picture showing that I finally got the bird feeder pole up but somebody (aka Ollie) got in front of the camera!

Here's what you were supposed to see.

One of our daily visitors, the cute little valley quail. 

And we can't leave out our little hummer friends.

And finally a mourning dove.

The best news of all is that after fretting for almost two weeks I finally got the call I'd been waiting for.  This morning I decided to go ahead and call Home Depot to make sure everything was still on and the acting manager told me I'd be getting a call later this week for when the orientation would be.  Well, thirty minutes later I got the call!  I went in to sign some paperwork and the orientation is tomorrow at 7 am.  

It's about a 40-45 minute drive from my house so I'll need to get up at 5:45 to have 30 minutes to get ready and then go.  I may have to allow myself a little extra time to stop and get a first day Starbucks drive in treat!  Are they open that early?

I found out today that I must have misunderstood about the health insurance.  Temporary employees do not get health insurance.  I sent a check real quick to the company that accepted me so I'll have coverage starting the 15th.  Then hopefully by the end of my temporary employment I'll be hired on as a permanent and I can drop that insurance.  I'll figure it out.

It feels good to know I'll be earning some money again, and we'll be able to get our credit cards paid off much sooner!   AND we won't be taking money out of savings every other month to cover costs.  Whew!

Fireplace Wall Done

I guess you can't really tell but the color paint is on over the three coats of primer I did yesterday.  I decided to go ahead and do the little section under the stairs while I was at it.  That part was the same gray as the other walls in the living room (look at the picture below and you can see the gray on the right side of the picture.)  I really like the new wall color.  The problem is now the dark hall up the stairs is really glaringly awful.  

I was never really crazy about the river rock firebox backing but somehow I think it looks better with the lighter color paint.

When I was done I kicked them all off and took their spot.  :-)

Now finally, this switch plate cover was on the wall.  Obviously I took it off to paint.  It's not really my style and I'm going to put a plain one on.  I hate to see it go to waste so if anybody wants it let me know and I will gladly ship it to you for free. 

Let There Be Light!

Today I started on the middle portion of the red/purple wall.

Two coats of edging.

First coat of primer.

Second coat of primer.

Third coat of primer!

It's amazing how much lighter the living room looks.  I am taking my time and not using any tape, yet.  This little section took me about four hours!  Of course that includes about 20 minutes between each primer coat (not the edging).  

The color paint should go much quicker.  That will take two coats.  I'll do that tomorrow, probably.  Since the living room paint is a different color than the hall paint I will put tape up there to have a sharp edge.  This is a little different for me as we've never had a house with rounded wall corners before!