Teri J Pieper

Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Chopaka Lake

Ken and I and the dogs were camping last week. It was good to get away from computers and electronic communication and enjoy time spent in nature. We kayaked, Ken fished, the dogs swam and jumped in lakes and we hiked and looked at wildflowers and birds. We enjoyed food cooked in the campfire, drank good wine and had a fine time!

Chopaka Lake is nearly to Canada in Okanogan County and sits at about 3000′ elevation. The landscape around it varies from riparian to shrub-steppe to forest and 7000′ Chopaka Mountain rises steeply behind it. The road to Chopaka is relatively steep and it seems daunting to some folks but we had no trouble pulling our little camping trailer up the grade. There are two small adjacent campgrounds – one run by the state DNR and the other by the federal BLM; both free. We were surprised and dismayed on Sunday afternoon to find every site full and we lucked out when two fellows left a site right on the lake! We laid claim to it immediately.

Chopaka is fly fishing only with a limit of one fish per day and it could easily have been a setting for a Cabela’s catalog photo shoot! Anglers had all the cool gear and clothes for the occasion. We probably stood out in the crowd (such as it was) with our own renditions of outdoor stuff. There was a great selection of boats also – some handmade. The dogs were delighted to have a lake in our front yard. Despite the campgrounds being full, it was a very quiet place. Folks were resptful of others and friendly too.

Looking back at Loomis as we drove to Chopaka Lake

And the view of Palmer Lake as we drove to Chopaka

Lakefront campsite

Light rain falling

The tiny marina in front of our campsite

Intrepid anglers stay out in the rain

Old man’s bear or Geum sp

Death camas

Lush green this month

A handmade boat on Chopaka Lake

A camper next to us brought us this wine saying that his group had drank quite a bit of during their stay and now it was time to go and did we want it. Heck yes. It was very good. Turns out, it is his winery. Good wine. Thanks Dave.

male Redhead

Four males pursue one female Redhead

Spotted Sandpipers were everywhere

Barrow’s Goldeneye male

Ruddy Duck males

Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Ducks are cute!

The view back to camp

Potentilla?

Barrow’s Goldeneye family

Bitterroot

Tent caterpillars

Hiking above the lake

Buckwheat sp

Another potentilla?

Chopaka Lake is pretty large – over 5000 acres.

Thompson’s paintbrush

Ken and Sky talk about sticks

Luna in the lush green grass

How many times did she do this?

Luna has her own style

Shake

Morning on the lake

These two Barrow’s Goldeneyes seem to be taking their time.

A pair of Barn Swallows attempted to build a nest under our canopy despite our attempts to discourage them.

This looks like a Bald Eagle nest and there were eagles in that vicinity but I never saw them on the nest

Great goldeneye habitat! They nest in tree cavities.

Where else would you be at that time of day?

Taking a break from the nest.

Penstemon hanging in great bunches from rocks over the lake.

babies

Got her ducks in a row.

And in a bunch.

And that’s just the first two days of our camping trip!

Wildflower Walk

June 1, 2014 – 11:05 am
Posted in wildflowers
Tagged Patterson Lake, wildflowers, Winthrop
Leave a Comment

Here are a few, maybe a few too many, wildflower images from a dog walk last week.

Clematis?

White shooting stars!

paintbrush

strawberry

Fairy slippers

I don’t know

late serviceberry

douglas sunflower

More paintbrush

Geum?

previous day’s raindrop on lupine leaves

larkspu

wild geranium

Forgot this one too.

Impressive ponderosa pine snag

phacelia

pentemon

I don’t know. White forget me nots?

Patterson Lake

False solomon’s seal?

Rock cress gone to seed?

Balsamroot along the trail

chokecherry

A cocoon? Maybe tent caterpillars? It’s very big.

Trying to get 3 dogs lined up on the trail

Bees, Bees and More Bees

I am seriously getting behind on photo editing. I will probably never catch up. So tonight I am combining two days of honeybee images into one blog post. Ken is the beekeeper, not me. I just really enjoy watching the process as it unfolds and I have to tell you, beekeeping is FULL of drama. There is always some new question and the answer is invariably ‘Well we don’t really know. What do you think?’

Last Monday, Memorial Day, Ken had enough time to open up all five of his hives to see how they were doing. A friend said the honey flow is early this year so a person needs to be ready to add supers to the hives and to watch out for swarms. Of the five hives only one is kind of behind and that is the one that was a swarm late last summer so its stocks were low and it was lucky just to get through the winter. If it survives this winter, it should do well next year. Of the other four, three are going along alright, not yet needing a new super but one of them was nearly full so he moved around some of the frames and put the new super (another box for the bees to store honey) on it and was pleased but still concerned that the bees could swarm. He had one extra hive so he set that up just in case.

Two days later while I was in town, he was playing ball with the dogs. At one point Luna refused to retrieve the ball so he went to see why and sure enough, there was a swarm of bees right above the ball. Smart Luna. She’s been stung and has a healthy respect for bees. So he suited up again, cut the pine branch full of bees, put it into the empty hive and closed it up. The next day he had to go on a road trip so before he left he wanted to get the branch out of there and replace it with frames for the bees to use for building comb. Suited up again, he picked up the branch and brushed the bees into the box with frames. If all went as planned and if the new queen was in there, the bees would stick around start making brood and gathering honey. I checked yesterday and the bees are still in there! Now he has six hives.

Perfect day for this kind of work

Sky keeps busy with her stick

A small gob of wax attracts bees to the honey

Firing up the smoker again

Smoking the bees makes them retreat into the hive and eat honey and leave the beekeeper alone. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

The swarm of bees are all gathered around the queen on this pine branch

Ken brushes the bees into the hive

Going in and out is a good sign.

Fairy Slippers

May 24, 2014 – 6:05 am
Posted in wildflowers
Tagged fairy slipper orchids, native orchids
Leave a Comment

I came across these two beautiful fairy slipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa) yesterday on a mosquito driven dog walk in the woods, not far from here. The skeeters were enough to keep us moving along and I did not spend very much time with these beautiful little orchids and my photos suffered.

According to the website, Native Orchids of Washington, there is only one species in the genus Calypso and within that species, there are four subspecies. I think this one is Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis – Pacific or western fairy slipper. I wonder what is the tiny green caterpillar on the flower on the right?

Can you imagine the little forest spirits wearing these slippers as they move about in the woods, slipping unnoticed among the trees and casually leaving the tiny footwear behind when people appear?

Up, Up and Away

May 23, 2014 – 1:38 pm
Posted in hot air balloons
Tagged hot air balloons, Methow Valley, Winthrop
Comments (2)

From black and white to so much color it could make your head spin!

Ken and I received a gift of a hot air balloon ride for a wedding present. Three years ago. We tried to schedule it but the weather would not cooperate or Ken’s job didn’t cooperate or something or other. This year, it all fell into place. On the day following our third anniversary, Kurt and Melinda of Morning Glory Balloon Tours took us on a beautiful airborne tour of the Methow Valley; this place we call home. It was peaceful and stunning. The weather was perfect. Blue skies, green hills, snow-capped mountains. Exactly what we had hoped for.