Curlew Lake

We've been going to Curlew Lake for the past

three years with Walt's brothers and some of 

their friends.  This year CoVid19 hit and we were

isolating ourselves at home for three months.  

When we entered Phase II we got out of town. 

We went over to Marci's house and Walt

helped Bruce put some gadget on his watering

system before we met up with the others

at Curlew.

  A fire broke out on the hills across

the street from Marci's house.  

 Luckily the winds were blowing away from 

from the house but over the hill is another 

neighborhood

 They brought in helicopters to dump water on the fire

 Police, fire trucks, and aide cars, oh my

 Getting to the top and over the hill

 The green trucks in the back are from the 

Entiat Hot Shot Team

 They geared up and started up the hill.  From bottom 

to top with full gear and chainsaws took them 18 minutes

Very impressive!

 You can see them working on the lower ridge

They stayed up there all night watching the fire

after it had been contained.

So then we went over to Kerri's to see how much her

little horse has grown

 and her kids, Jake

 and Sam

 Then on to Curlew Lake.  Walt's catch of the day 

from the dock

 Of course I didn't take any pics of the good 

days but when it started with the 

thundershowers I had to get my camera out

 My night to cook, of course

 Then inside for the night

 The sun broke out so I knew there had to be a rainbow 

 Back row: Dave, Tom, Don, Walt

Front row: Stan, John, and Dave

 Back row: Barb, Dori, Mickie, Cathy

Front row: Sherry, Me, and Julie

 Had campfires most of the nights.  Maybe missed

two nights because of rain or wind

 Trailers are close but we had this amazing grassy area

right behind them and on the lake

 A golden eagle on the power pole

 in flight, can you find him?

Another dark evening.  But on the whole we had

beautiful weather and had a great time.  Sure beat

listening to CoVid news and Protests

When we left our new grass looked like this

We watered on timers

When we got home the grass was so tall we

couldn't see the sprinkler

Must have been 6" tall

New Grass

Our new grass is coming in!!

Front yard fill in

Back yard looks better at ground level

See what I mean??

Haircuts All Around

After 3 months without haircuts we ventured over

to Brooke's so Walt could get one.  If Pa is getting

a haircut Pete wants one too.  

 Much needed

 You get the goofy face because that is the best 

one out of the bunch.

 Pa needed one too!!

Much better.  Thanx Brooke!!

 and so did the Rhodies

Hard to tell the difference since this picture is 

closer than the first shot.  But you can see the ferns 

are uncovered and the height on the rhodie on the 

right is lower.  That's what I was going for...lower

Aaah I tried to get a new pic in the same spot but maybe
I got too far away this time.  You'll have to use your
imagination!!

Maybe Second Layer

After getting in the first layer we have come 

to the conclusion it's going to take a LOT of

plants to fill in the layers.  So we have decided

to plant shade grass and do only a little layering

 First you get to see another rhodie in bloom

That top blossom is about 8" in diameter

 Compost soil added 3" deep

 These pink rhodies are the same as the first one

but not as big a blossom.  Not enough rain I guess

 We stopped the compost soil at the tree 

since grass doesn't grow much 

under the fir trees anyway

 Next step is to rent a rototiller and mix all the 

compost soil in with the sand we have

 Daisies in bloom 

 Lilac

 White lilac

 Lily of the Valley

Snowball plant

 The front yard has a few holes here and there

So we filled some of the compost soil into those and 

we will reseed that while we're ate it

First Layer

 The grass has never done well in the

backyard so we decided to just plant some

shade tolerant plants along the edges and a 

beauty bark path down the middle. 

This is the start of our project

This spot doesn't get any sun except maybe

an hour or so very early in the morning in the summer

We are thinking of building up the soil to match the 

railroad tie holding in the gravel at the base of the steps

 If we start watering more this area under the deck could

use some more shade plants too.  We planted that small

plant in the middle in the front

 and some others at this end near the patio

 I like columbine so I got one of those too, but it

takes more sun so it's along the fence.  This part of the 

backyard gets the hot sun in the summer for a little 

 bit but no sun in winter

 Maybe we will develop this corner if we are going 

water more

 We cut back the rhodies so we need some plants

down in front

 and on this side of the red rhodie too 

 Another view of under the deck

Out from the patio toward the end of the stairs 

These may be too low for another layer to go in front of

I'm not very good at being a master gardener