Now Carl marches to a different drummer than most. He guides white water rafts on the Wenatchee and Skykomish rivers. He is building a house for his family. Once before I said sure and I spent the day running a Bobcat Digger. You can check out these stories at [Life is a Journey] and [Horse Feathers and River Rats]

Carl and Melissa’s home is coming along nicely and needs some nice cedar siding boards and a couple long beams for lintels over the garage.

Carl is Cutting the Log to Size

We started by cutting a 21 foot chunk out of a huge cedar log and skidding it to the garage and the portable sawmill. Carl has an ingenious setup of winches and cables for bringing the logs to the sawmill and rolling them up onto the sawmill deck. It only took us an hour or so to nudge, pry, winch and roll the log into place and dog it down.

The internet indicates that the density of dry cedar is only 23 pounds per cubic foot. Our 28 inch diameter log figures about 100 pounds per foot of length or about a ton, if it were air dry.

The Bandsaw Starts the First Cut

We made our first cut just at the end of the taper and started cutting one inch planks off the log. When we got a 15 inch wide board off the whole length of the log we started cutting two and a half inch beams. After each pass of the band saw the big planks were a full load for the two of us just to move them off the log.

Saw at the Start of the Cut

At the half way point we flipped the log flat side down. I suspect the half log still weighed three quarters of a ton, and we worked very carefully. We continued cutting one inch boards and two and a half inch planks until the log was finally sliced and diced to perfection. I was awestruck at the ability of this portable sawmill. The mill is rated for a 36 inch log, possibly up to 22 feet long. I think we would have needed a couple more small boys to handle something that big.

Log is Sliced and Diced, Gary and Carl

Just for kicks I am including a track from a Dry Branch Fire Squad CD. This group is one of my favorite bluegrass bands and Ron Thomason has an interesting take on the portable sawmill.12 Guaranteed Forever

By the way, I can see no way to get a portable sawmill into my shop trailer, so there is no worry from that source.

So long from the lake

Gary and Judy

We will once again be looking for a cyber café or library to do the e-mail and web update again tomorrow. If you get this you will know I was successful. It just a mater of logic that if you don’t get this, we were not successful. This is the same logic that my dad, Chester, used to use. The family would agree to meet along some creek for a picnic. He would always tell the other family to just watch along the road. “If we got to the spot where you turn off to go down to the creek first, we will hang a piece of toilet paper on the bush. If you get there first, take down the toilet paper.” It always seemed to make perfect sense when my dad said it.

We have found Ontario to be densely wooded, rolling hills and pocked with lakes. I guess you can take the “Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes” theme and multiply it by a few dozen. Everything around Lake Superior is very sparsely settled. The small towns pop up perhaps every 30 to 50 miles. Many of the roads are narrow and rough so you have to be very vigilant as you drive these big RV’s down the road. We have noticed that there is a local obsession with balancing rocks. There are many rock outcropping in this country. Perhaps there are four of five of these alongside the road for each mile of road that we travel. Perched precariously on top of the cut-bank will be an artistic pile of balanced rocks. They are obviously placed there intentionally by someone, and in a prominent place so they can be seen and admired as you pass by. Some have the shape of a gnome with two legs and a hat. Occasionally they will include sticks or twigs to develop the shape. Many are balanced quite precariously and each is unique unto itself. We have discovered that these are called Inukshuks and it is an Inuit traditional way of showing the way.

We have been doing a combination of some private parks along with the Provincial and National parks. All of the provincial parks jumped their prices this year, so they are actually more expensive than the private parks and offer fewer services. What you do get is elbow room. The sites are carved out of the forest and are parks with hiking trails and natural places. The private campgrounds are usually parking lots with a few strategically placed trees, horseshoe pits, boats for rent and a list of rules as long as your arm.

Judy and I send along our love to all our friends and relations. Bye for now.

Five Intrepid Hikers Resting in Pukaskawa National Park.

Likens and Succlents in Pukaskawa National Park, Ontario Canada.

Today we experienced one of life’s ironies. As we exited Trans Canada highway number 1 in Lake Louise we anticipated driving to the lake itself. We came to a four way intersection and found a billboard sized sign the warned that big rigs wouldn’t like the extreme alpine road conditions ahead. So we turned off and went toward the campground. We barely were able to turn around in there. (It took a lot of backing and filling.) We then went the other way and found a good turn around but the parking lots were too small for us. We then tried the village and after circuiting the mall parking we found the overflow and RV parking. We hung over on both ends there, but felt comfortable leaving the rig. We went to the visitor center and got directions and found our way to the trail to the lake that followed the old tramway grade. We packed snacks, water, coats and camera and headed out on the five kilometer walk and 700 ft of climbing. The lake was beautiful so we took lots of pictures. Check our web page to see a panorama of the lake. The irony is that there was better parking for our rig at the lake than there was in the village. There were many big rigs and fleets of 40 foot buses in the parking lot.

For the next two days we will be in Banff, Alberta. We are just over the continental divide and the elevation is 5000 feet. We are in Canada and everything is metric here. So we are at 1524 meters. That also means that that 700 foot climb really was only 213 meters. That sounds a lot easier. It also means we have to watch out for bridges that are less than 3.9 meters tall and we only get 3.7 kilometers to the liter of fuel. Wow look at that, I only weigh 81 now! …So confusing.

We are really here on the shoulder season. Some campgrounds are closed, others only opened a few days ago. At the popular places, Banff and Lake Louise, there are many “Cruise Canada,” rental class C motor homes. These are the Ford or Chevy chassis with 24 to 30 ft coaches on them. Some of the people speak languages that we don’t understand. At the same time the primitive campgrounds are virtually deserted. We camped last night a few kilometers out of Radium Hot Springs in the Kootenai National Forest. There were 100 sites and three of us camped. We have seen eagles, deer, elk, mountain goat, bear and moose. The country is simply spectacular. Oh yes we found a couple of plies of “stuff” on our mountain trail that we believe was bear scat. The brochures recommend that you make lots of noise when you walk through bear country. Have you ever tried climbing a mountain trail singing “I am a happy wanderer along the mountain track, and as I go I love to sing, my knapsack on my back. Valdaree etc?” It must have worked, we didn’t run into any bear.

Bye now from Gary and Judy, high in the “Blue Canadian Rockies”

In the Blue Canadian Rockies, On the Banks of Lake Louise,

Gary, the Happy Wanderer, Waves His Hat to All He Sees,

The country in this part of British Columbia is spectacular. These are some rugged mountains around here. We pulled an eight percent grade all the way to 1700 meters. For those of us who are metric challenged think of it this way. 1.6 kilometers is one mile. That means 1700 meters is 1.7 kilometers and is a tad over a mile high, (5600 ft). Arcturus just purred and pulled his way up and over, and the PAC brake eased us down the other side. We have run into a couple of serious road construction sites around Metaline Falls and again around Creston BC. (Holly, that beautiful wash and wax job we did in your yard is just as grimy as it was before we started.) The waiting time has been 10 to 20 minutes, but we just step back into the salon and pick out a book to read, or grab a snack.

We have been spotting lots of game. There were some very large mule deer in the campground at Lake Leo on the Tiger Pass. We spotted a gangly young moose alongside the road on the flats on toward Tiger. Then we slowed while a young bull elk in the velvet made up his mind about crossing the road or retreating to the brush. So far the only bear we have seen have been the carved wooden ones. One of the flaggers told us she had seen several black bear and that one young grizzly had came past her station a few days before.

This last night we camped in a beautiful Provincial Park on Lake Moyie. The camp is carved out of a stand of lodge-pole pine and tamarack. The sites are well spaced and the tables a solid wood and concrete and the wood is varnished. We will break camp shortly, and if we can find a library or internet friendly coffee shop you will all hear of our adventures on time. We are having to adjust to not having the access of our “Air Card” here in Canada. The cell phone still works, except in the rugged places.

Judy and I send our love to all.

Rain Clouds over Lake Leo on Tiger Pass

Last week at the Potholes Reservoir, my sister, Holly, and her friend Doug came to join us for some fun. We chased all over the reservoir and watched the bass tournament that was going on. They caught some nice small-mouth bass and we all ate bass, played guitar and in general had a bang up time.

This week Judy and I showed up at my Sister’s place on Newman Lake, near Spokane Washington. We have a fine view of the lake from our front window and the weather is superb. On Saturday we bought some two-day out-of-state fishing licenses and Doug and Holly are proceeding to teach us to fish for large-mouth bass. Hey, this is loads of fun, especially when you have the help of local fishing guides that know the lake like the back of their hands. We did catch several nice bass, but Judy and I seem to be especially good at catching trophy sized lily pads. The lily pads, according to local custom, are strictly catch-and-release, however.

After the Memorial Day week-end we are heading for Canada.

By the end of the day I expect to have a fishy photo on the web site. www.dinsmore-enterprises.com

We send our love to all our friends and relatives. Gary and Judy

Bass Fishing in Newman lake Washington

I am sitting here in my easy chair, looking out toward the west-north-west. Let me draw a picture with words. Pearrygin lake is about 200 yards away. Most of it is like a mirror. In the middle of the lake there are patches of ruffled water from the evening breeze. Beyond the lake is a forested hill sliding out from behind a tree from the left. Another green hill just beyond slopes down from the right to pinch off the valley and contain the lake. It has just the barest fringe of trees around its summit. Beyond this valley is rank upon rank of towering mountains. Each one leaping higher than the one in front until the lofty glacier covered crags of the North Cascades wilderness shoulder the cumulus clouds that are following the front that just passed through. My best guess is that I am looking at Jack Mountain and Challenger Mountain on the Cascade crest.

I will put a picture below, but I want you to promise you will come here and look for yourself. Photographs just cannot do this grandeur any justice at all.

Spring is definitely the time to visit here. Most years you have to cross the Cascades and drive up from the Okanogin Valley when you visit in early spring. This was the earliest year ever for opening the North Cascades route. They were able to clear the snow drifts by March 10th this year. There was practically no snow left at the top of Washington Pass today at 5, 475 feet. The Methow valley will be toasty brown by mid July. This valley has been a popular retreat for our family for many years. Judy’s parents were raised in Winthrop, and her Grandfather was the country doctor here for many years. We came to visit relatives when it was a sleepy little town. A decade ago the town reshaped its image as a Wild West frontier town and tourist trap. But you can’t see Winthrop from our lake.

We close with love for all of our friends and family. Gary and Judy

P.S. I didn’t misspell the name of the lake. It is not named for a bird.

From Perrygin Lake, Looking into the Heart of the North Cascades Wilderness

Snow Level on May 16th, 2005 in the North Cascades Pass

My favorite ride was the California Soaring. I want to hook that baby up to my Flight Simulator Program.

We did find a new and unusual activity to do in Disneyland. I went online to a site called Geocasching.com. I searched on the zip code of Anaheim and found a “Geo-cache” for Disney California Adventure Park. This site had the Latitude and Longitude of five benchmarks inside the Disney Theme Parks. We punched these coordinates into the GPS and located and photographed the five bronze markers. And there were no lines for these attractions!

We all stopped to visit again with Bill and Diane Patterson in Santa Maria. Thank you again, Bill and Diane, for your wonderful hospitality.

After living the buzz of the big city. The hard driving back to Gilroy with Son, Glen, his wife, Barb, and the three grandchildren, Cody -14, Patrick – 11, and Bryce who turned five while we were in Anaheim. And then another long day of driving today we have found a secluded campground that is just exactly to our liking. We are at Black Butte Reservoir just off I-5 between Orland and Corning California. It is 14 miles away from the Interstate, so it is nice and quiet. We are camped on a peninsula in a grove of stately trees. We have some neighbors but they are a hundred feet away. The lake surrounds us on three sides and it is clear blue with gently lapping waves on it. Outside of the park the grasslands are green and lush from the rains this year. We have seen soaring hawks, dashing killdeers, hopping rabbits and listened to songbirds across the meadow that we have not identified yet. It is indeed therapy for a hungry soul. I want to stay here for a week and drink in the lush quietness of this spot.

But, we are feeling the pull of our roots. We will pull out again tomorrow and continue our Northward migration with the other Snow-Birds. Traveling back to our family and friends in Oregon. For you who have been suffering the drought in Western Oregon, and have been begging us to drag the rain back with us….time will tell! Our luck has been holding true, we got drenched last night in Gilroy.

We send our love to all our family and friends.

Gary and Judy

Bryce, patrick and Cody with Pluto

Survey marker in Disney Resorts from Geo-Cache

The next day some folks noticed the canoe pulled up behind our coach and stopped to chat. They belonged to a group that calls itself the R(o)Ving Rods. They invited us to come to their end of the lake and join them at their camp. It had the advantage of no dust. We joined them the next day and eventually were included in a group of a dozen or so RV’s. We did pot lucks, happy hours and campfires with singing and swapping lies. They turned out to be a really fun group. Their end of the lake was no better on the moskittos. One night around the campfire, I was wearing long sleeves, long pants, hat and the super REI moskito repellant to thwart them pesky varmints. Between two songs I looked down at my feet. I had long socks and sandals on. Each foot had at least a dozen mousquitos on it lined up and pumping away. I made a swipe with my hand and smashed the whole mass in one swipe, and my white socks were instantly speckled blood red.

You may have noticed by now some creative spelling for the word “Miskuitto.” This is the year of the Lewis and Clark Bi-centenial. Lewis, in his journal was able to spell “Muskuitto” nineteen different ways. I will leave it to you to see if I was able to meet the challenge.

Judy and I send our love to all.

Gary and Judy.

Blooming Beavertail Cactus at Mittry Lake AZ

The rain did stop and the moon and stars came out just before the eight o-clock start time for the main show. The opening salvo for the “Star Spangled Banner” was quite spectacular all by itself. It just kept getting better and better. They even shot off some 16 inch shells. These guys are putting their best stuff on the line to impress the buyers.

I got word back that some of our friends back in Scappoose and St Helens have been without e-mail service for a couple weeks. Some have changed to another carrier, and others think they may have missed some of our blogs. Never fear, you can catch up if you miss something. Or maybe you get one of those, “I can’t believe he really said that” moments, and need to look up a previous volume. All of these blogs are in our website. Just go to www.dinsmore-enterprises.com. You can look back through the episodes or search all blogs using any of the tags the categories, the monthly archives or the search engine. I also moved the 1998 write-up from our bicycle tour of Southern France onto this web-site. I usually include a photo on the web version also.

Well it is time to go, but I sure hope you folks back home are enjoying your nice sunny February while we have the rain chasing us around Arizona. Just to warn you, we plan to start heading back your way in early April, so make your plans accordingly.

Love to all, Gary and Judy.

Canoeing Near London Bridge on Lake Havasu.

We were invited to join a “Wild Flower Walk” by the park ranger here at Windsor Beach on Saturday. Ranger Tim was able to point out many desert wild flowers including Lupine, Desert Lilies, Desert Milkweed, Scorpion flowers and Creosote bush. The desert is so green and it appears that virtually every species will be blooming shortly. This is really the silver lining for all of the rain clouds we have been enduring.

Judy and her sister, Sonja, are creating a bed quilt masterpiece. It has stripes and flowers with squares and diamonds. They have run out of fabric a couple times already. Over the previous few weeks we have shopped regularly trying to match the original fabrics. We were even exchanging photos with daughter-in-law, Barb, so she could shop in Morgan Hill for matching fabric. That means this is a two state search by now. At this moment they are trying to pin this whole thing together on our dining table. Remember that this is a 34 foot motor home. The dining table is about 24 by 48 inches in its glorious fully extended mode. They have pieces propped on the chairs and hanging onto the floor. They are trying to match up the pieces of fabric so that the stripes line up with each other. They hold up one piece over their heads and pin parts together then pull out the next section to see how that lines up. Me, I am just hiding out over here in the corner hoping the thing doesn’t rare back and say “Feed me!”

Well that is what it is like to hang out in Lake Havasu City. Judy and I send our love to all of our friends and relatives that are following our adventures through this e-mail each week.

Desert Lilly in Front of Prickly Pear Cactus

Scott and Judy Priebe's Half Orange Tree