Skip navigation

Splash!

Ok, I admit it. I like my dogs. And I like to photograph my dogs. Especially when they are having fun. These dogs love to play in the water. Sam, the brown one, just loves to swim. It takes all the weight off of her old sore joints and she is once again mobile and she remembers her glory days of youth and good health. For her sake, I wish we lived on a lake. Luna loves to swim after something we’ve thrown. Tennis balls are her favorite. In hot weather she can do this longer than we can throw the ball.

 

 

 

 

What Luna lacks in grace and style she makes up for with enthusiasm.

 

Look at those ears! No wonder she gets water in them.

 

I love how the water comes off of her in sheets.

 

Sam displays calm determination.

 

 

 

I got it, ok? I got the job done. I’m a working dog.

 

Just swimming for fun on a hot afternoon.

 

 

Look – I can get the job done too.

 

 

Common Loons of Lost Lake

Common Loons are a favorite bird of mine and around here they are not so ‘common’. One of the charms of Lost Lake is the fact that the loons not only spend the summer there but there is a nesting pair. This year they hatched two, or maybe three, depending on who you ask, chicks. One was killed by a Bald Eagle who has also made meals out of the Canada Goose goslings. The remaining loon chick is maybe half grown now and too big for an eagle to catch. The parents and the young bird spend their days moving around the surface of the lake, fishing, preening and resting. Occasionally they make the unique loon sounds that echo off nearby mountain sides. It’s truly a haunting and beautiful sound. I have read that loons make four distinct calls and they all are used to communicate among themselves and declare territory. My favorite is the long drawn-out wail, similar to a wolf howl.

 

The young bird. It lacks the distinctive plumage of the adults.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parent searching for fish

 

The young bird is learning from the parents.

 

 

 

Everyone needs a good stretch once in a while.

 

 

Summertime Camping

Ken and I packed the dogs and the trailer and headed up to Lost Lake this week. It was a great escape from the heat and computers and cell phones and a chance to listen to the loons and play in the water and sit around the campfire. Ken fished. I paddled my boat. The dogs swam. We slept in. It was nice.

 

Nice brook trout

 

Common Loons nest on Lost Lake (watch for more loon photos in an upcoming post)

 

Lots of dragonflies

 

Still a few wildflowers blooming

 

an aster

 

Morning light

 

camp coffee

 

This old dock has seen better days

 

Many, many squirrels to drive Luna crazy

 

We always eat well while camping

 

Brook trout cooked en papillote

 

Typical scene in the Okanogan Highlands near Molsen

 

Ken found this leech in Sidley Lake. I’ve never seen one before. He thinks they are native.

 

The leech with a friendly dragonfly

 

Sam in Sidley Lake. This old dog does better in the water than on land.

 

Luna’s ‘wet’ look

 

We visited the old ghost town at Molsen. This is an old printing press.

 

Water lillies and cattails at Lost Lake

 

Lost Lake is one of my favorite places.

Blue Lake in August

Last year I went to Blue Lake twice in the fall so this year I wanted to make sure and get there during its short summer season. The snow has only recently receded and still covered the trail in one place – maybe an avalanche chute. There were still a couple of small icebergs floating too. And given that the weather up there on Thursday was cool and cloudy, it was very early in the short summer for Blue Lake. Winter is the major force in the North Cascades, lasting from October through July; well that’s when there is snow on the ground.

 

Looking towards the lake outlet

 

And back at the talus slope still mostly covered with ice and snow

 

Small iceberg. My hiking partner said it would be fun to swim out to it and climb up on it. She didn’t do it.

 

Luna swam

 

Chilly on the trail. Down in the valley it was near 90.

 

These elephant’s head lousewort, Pedicularis groenlandica, were blooming in a bog at the trailhead, along with white bog orchids, Platanthera dilatata

 

 

Summer Scenes

Biggest news last week was the big lightning storm that shut off the power one evening and then when everyone was wondering what to do, the light was Wonderful! And the Rainbows were Remarkable! Other than that, just a few summer scenes from the past week.

Some of our friends are in the local marimba band. They performed at the Twisp Farmers Market.

This group is very together.

Nancy raps out the lead

Linda is very focussed.

Chokecherries are getting ripe!

Just had to slip in a black and white image, despite the vibrant colors of summer.

At agility practice, Frida and Trip are very focussed on whatever it is that Marti is holding.

And Marti, how could you resist Frida?

Jane seems indifferent

Pie cherries! They are in the dehydrator right now!

And a parting shot of the rainbows following the storm.