West Medical Lake Fishing

A great morning of fishing, including this two-pounder that Sarah pulled out. She out-fished me 4 to 3.  Kayak fishing is the best. You have a lot of things to do at the same time and when you aren't busy it's amazing sitting right at the point where the sky shakes hands with the water. Having Sarah with me out there makes it even more outstanding! I think it's time to fire up the smoker.

Hydroponic garden up and running

I moved the hydroponic setup to a sunnier spot this year. I have a few things to fix on it. Would still like to switch over to solar for the pump, get a bigger tank and incorporate some fish.

Last year, the roots really wound up clogging the lines by the end of the season. I have some plans to remedy this.

My garden will never look as good as the Robinson's, I suspect. Looks like they ate a lot of space cacti. Never noticed that before.

Coffee time

I have some green coffee beans still on hand, that I kind of forgot about. Running out of roasted coffee beans jogged my memory and the roasting commenced. Really tasty coffee but the caffeine was almost too much (almost).

Looks like the party is over.

More Fish Lake fishing at the lake.

I don't know why, but I have been having really good luck fishing lately, while those who have been fishing with me have not. This is usually not the case. I am enjoying the ride.

The audio has been removed from this video for obvious reasons.

Fish on!

Bloomsday family photo

Garden

All the vegetables started in February in my basement are now moved outside. And in their place downstairs, I'm now sprouting squash and cucumbers. Going to expand the garden a little bit this year too.

The little two-person garden patio has already seen some prime afternoon sipping and contemplating action this spring. Once these starts are in the ground, I should be well-camouflaged and less likely to bring neighborhood property values down.

Cashing in.

Perhaps you have heard that the ponderosa pine is now Spokane's official tree. Shortly after this announcement, several of my neighbors began cutting theirs down. Perhaps to make commemorative plaques.



Our old house on the north side of town was 840 square feet. It was on a very busy street. But, in the front yard were two towering trees. One was a cedar. The other was a fir. These trees made the house look like a little cabin. A couple of years ago they were taken out. Now, it's a bleak little house. I really like trees. I also understand that sometimes they have to go.

We've taken a lot of trees out of our current yard, mostly maple. The arborists who have done the work have also trimmed up our remaining trees so there is less chance of them crashing into our home during a windstorm.

When I see a bunch of trees on several properties getting cut down at the same time, I wonder if the homeowners were scared into doing this by the tree trimmers. I've never had this happen, but have you ever been approached by a company who told you your trees were likely to fall into your home and should be removed? I often wonder if this was what happened to the trees at our old house.

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First kayak fishing of 2014

Yesterday was a very calm day out at Eloika Lake.

For a couple hours, I had the lake to myself. Lots of memories of fishing here as a kid. I like Eloika because you never know what you are going to catch. It's mostly perch, but you can catch bass, trout, crappie too. In its depths of six to twelve feet, lurks a small relative of the northern pike, the grass pickerel. It's been a really long time since I caught one. They are relatively small and look like this.

I think this is my third year of fishing out of a kayak instead of a canoe. I am sold. You can make much better time in a kayak. Sitting on the water is beautiful. The wind doesn't blow you around as much as in a canoe. And when you are on a sit-atop kayak, you are always dressed appropriately for an unplanned swim. The water temperature was 46 degrees yesterday.

When the sky opens up and the blue hits the water, you are sitting in it. It is a little dizzying when the clouds are flying and you are hovering on top of them.

Incidentally, I caught some fish - three perch, not enough to take home. They swam away at the end of the trip to fight another day. Six perch and we eat fish tacos for dinner. Fishing is just an excuse.

3D Spokane Goodness

Click on the picture. Cross your eyes. Enjoy Spokane on a really nice day - in 3D!

First tulip at our place!

Garbage Day

There's always a great orderliness and peace that comes with garbage day. Garbage trucks on their rounds fulfilling their end of the pact while we citizens have done our part. It's a perfect picture of why we have cities, why we pay taxes and why we have government. Socialism? If so, give me more!

And when your child is out there waving at the cops, the firefighters and the garbagemen as they drive by, I'll be doing the same... Comrade.


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Big Horn Show Lesson

A great Big Horn Show last weekend. Grandson Jack learned about the differences between black bears and grizzlies.





Both are very smoochable.

Saint Patrick's Day

My mom lives in a duplex which is just the right size for her. Every year, we talk her into hosting the Saint Patrick's Day feast. The best corned beef and cabbage dinner in town! And we jam in there - six kids, spouses, significant others, insignificant others, tons of grandkids and a swelling population of great-grandkids. Couches become dining booths and it's elbow to elbow Jamison and Guinness. I debuted my new batch of beer - Shamrock Shakes - Red Ale and, frankly, it wasn't that good. I think it has another couple weeks to go before it is where I want it to be.

Mom's carving up the corned beef when this picture was taken. Look at those faces!





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Brew Run Run One Review!

The actual route.

 

The plan:

On Saturday, Sarah and I tried out the running and drinking route which we have only experienced, thus far, by walking and bus. Worked out really well. The Iron Bridge is the key to making this journey. My GPS watch died at the last brewery (River City). I am thinking it was probably about 12 miles round trip.

Here is a pictorial round up:

 No-Li - Spin Cycle, Skyrail.

Ramblin' Road Dubbel, Saison, Grisette.

 Iron Goat -  Trashy Blonde.  Garbage Pale. Bleating Red Ale.

Budge Brothers - Hop train, Orangutan, 509, 13th Reindeer.

 SteamPlant - Jalepeno Ale.

Tracy and Max Martin caught us in the act!

River City - Imperial Pilsner and VB Stout. Oops forgot to take the picture until, burp...

The beer was all great. If you care for me to name favorites, email me and I will let you know. The only big critique was the lack of bike racks (we were also scouting to make this a bike tour too).

Most breweries have bike racks ordered and one who didn’t have racks said that patrons could bring
their bikes inside. So, I think that should not be a problem this summer when it may be too hot to run.

We had a good time running the route, but biking would open it up to more people and would be a  more social event for Spokane beer pilgrims. Perry Street Brewery will be an easy add to the beginning of the route. An extended route could include Orlison, 12 Strings and Selkirk Abbey. Probably best for biking.

So, if you want to run or bike 10 to 12 miles, and at the same time drink away a Saturday, please consider this route!

Brew Run Run Route

Click to make it readable. Will probably be at NoLi around 1230.

Brew Run Run on Saturday!

The route I would like to take is River City, NoLi, Iron Goat, Budge Brothers, Ramblin Road and end at Steam Plant. This is possible if River City opens at noon instead of their usual 3 pm. This route assures food at the end of the longest leg and at the very end (NoLi and Steam Plant), although, probably Iron Goat and RR will have food wagons.  Both Downtown breweries - River City and Steam Plant open later than any of the others. I have emails out to confirm their hours aren’t extended for the St. Patrickal doings.

Another option would be to hit NoLi (opens at 11), Ramblin Road (1), Iron Goat (2), Budge Bros (2), River City (3), Steam Plant (3). Really, there are a lot of ways to do this.

I look forward to adding Perry Street Brewing to the walking/biking/running/bus brewery tour roster. It is opening today, and I want to let the dust settle. Besides, this run will be anywhere from six to eight miles already and I want to give the plantar fasciitis a little break this weekend.

This is a test run (literally) for Sarah and me of the usual brewery line up. I will tweet our progress as long as I can and keep you posted. Aiming to hit the first brewery one-ish. Too bad The Ram or Birkebeiner isn’t still in business it would have plugged some brewery holes in the map. Maybe we’ll see you on the trail or in the breweries. And if we get thirsty in between, there are lots of watering holes!

Click the image above to make it readable. I will probably figure out the actual route tomorrow and will post that too. Probably. 

The garden is started.

So far, I've got tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and, for the first attempt ever, okra going strong in the basement. It has pushed out the brewing operation a little, but I think it will all be good.

It will be a couple of months before this stuff moves outside. Hopefully, the turkeys will have moved on to more rural and sunnier climes. I really don't want them messing with the garden!

Sunday, I finally brewed some St. Patrick's Day beer. It's bubbling away, right now. Going to keg this batch.
















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Location:Winter brewing!