Methow Valley | My Everyday Photos

Tag Archives: Methow Valley

November Walks

November 13, 2013 – 2:29 pm
Posted in walk
Tagged dogs, fall, Methow Valley, November, reflections, walk
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The mostly gray weather has not kept us inside at all. We try to get at least one walk everyday. The dogs (and I) would go stir crazy if we didn’t get out regularly.

Ken’s friend Bill came up from Yakima with his dog Rani

Black and Blue

Ahhhhhh

Sky wanted Rani to be her mentor but Rani would have none of it. She has become a curmudgeon.

Hairy Woodpecker listening

And looking

Listening

And pecking

Oregon grape in front of an unnamed pond.

Nice fall colors and reflections

Buffleheads and mergansers

Reeds and reflections

Sky makes her way through tall grass

Another view of the same pond

Nice color

Sky keeps up with Mary Ann

The Northern Lights from my Porch

October 2, 2013 – 6:50 am
Posted in northern lights
Tagged Aurora borealis, Methow Valley, northern lights, photos
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Last night I saw on FB that my friend Julie was seeing the Aurora Borealis from her place. She’s at least 50 or 60 miles east of here and 30 miles north but still in Okanogan County. We do get to see them here from time to time so I went out to see what I could see. There was a long glow on the northern horizon but nothing too exciting and I was underdressed for being outside on a cold night (still adjusting to fall temperatures). Inside, I found some warmer clothes and put my camera on its tripod and returned to the porch. Luna kept following me around and looking at me like I was nuts but that’s how it is when you’re a dog.

After a while the sky got brighter and soon there were curtains and streaks and colors and it was all very exciting for an hour or so. My view to the NW is blocked and I wonder what my friends across the valley were seeing – something even more spectacular is my guess.

I love that I can see the Big Dipper in some of the images!

Fall begins

September 25, 2013 – 1:43 pm
Posted in Big Valley
Tagged Big Valley, Methow Valley, MVSTA, trail
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Luna and I went to Big Valley this morning. It is one of the MVSTA winter ski trails where a person can take her dog and it is a great place for a contemplative walk the rest of the year. My computer has been under the weather recently so this post is from my phone. That is why it might seem klunky and abbreviated.

Luna

We will be skiing across this field in a few months

Bear marks?

Pine drops

Not too cold for swimming yet

Methow River

Puffball

Love this trail

Wasp nest

Old aspen

Honey Harvest

September 3, 2013 – 3:17 pm
Posted in beekeeping
Tagged beekeeping, Honey harvest, Methow Valley, photos
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Continuing on with the ‘abundance’ theme, Ken harvested his honey this past Labor Day weekend. After two seasons of beekeeping we were anxious to see what we would get. We knew it was not a lot but after last year when some other bees robbed all of our honey we felt like any that we could harvest would be a bonus.

Ken had ‘supers’ on top of the bee hives. These supers hold frames where the bees store honey after they have filled the main box and that is the honey that we get. The honey in the main box is for the bees – to get them through the long winter months. Ken took the super and all the frames that had honey in them over to Dave S’s house. Dave is a long-time Methow Valley beekeeper who has mentored many a new beekeeper and he said we could use his honey house and equipment to harvest our honey. The honey house is actually a greenhouse or hot house and it was HOT. This makes the honey flow easier and faster.

The first step is to cut wax caps off of the honey so it can get out. To do that you use a hot, electric knife. The caps fall into a screen and any honey there drips into a sink and then into a five gallon bucket. Buckets are important. The frames hang over that sink til they go into the extractor.

The extractor is an 80 year old machine that works very efficiently. Dave said he can still get parts for it and of course, there are no expensive electronic components to fail without notice. What a refreshing idea. I miss machinery like that. It spins the frames and using centrifugal force, pulls the honey out into the big barrel where it drips in to another bucket! It took all night for the honey to drain so Ken picked it up yesterday and we put it into jars. All told we got about 1 3/4 gallons. Not enough for a whole year for us but enough to get us started and have us looking forward to future years when, hopefully the hives will be stronger and make more honey.