California State Fair

Ice House Reservoir, Wrights Lake and Dark Lake

So, with the T.H.G. (Tattered House Gang) on the road to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market, the kids and I decided to get out of the Valley heat and head up into the mountains for some trout fishing. We took off up Hwy 50 to Ice House Reservoir. Upon arriving we found that we weren't the only ones that had the same idea. The campground had a "Full" sign and the lake was busy with water skiers and jet skiers. Not a good thing if you want to go fishing! But having made the hour drive up, and seeing as it was such a nice day, we decided to stay and give it a try.

The thing about fishing with the kids is making sure there is something to do when the fishing gets slow. Luckily there were plenty of rocks on the shore for rock skipping and excavating.

After spending some time with nothing to show but a few drowned worms and a few less rocks on the beach, we left Ice House Res and headed up the road to Wrights Lake. Wrights was also full up. We couldn't even find a place to fish, so we cruised over to Dark Lake.

Dark Lake was fairly quiet, so we went to work trying to catch us some trout. I give Jake credit, he definitely gave it a good try, but alas, no fish today. The day wasn't a total loss. It was a beautiful day and we had fun. On the way back down, we were up around 8,000ft, we stopped and took some pics.

Who doesn't love climbing on top of a big chunk of granite?

Looking back toward Sacramento with Hwy 50 looking tiny in the lower left hand corner.
We drove past this rock and the kids and I thought the graffiti was hilarious. :0)
Ok, that wraps up our day trip to the mountains. I'll try and post some pics of the goodies that the Tattered House Gang brings back from their trip to L.A.

See you next time

TVH

Independence Day Weekend - Happy 4th of July!

Well it's the 4th of July, and that means summer is halfway over. Thanks to Facebook, the family has re-connected to some old friends for a great time this weekend. On Saturday there was a birthday party with one set of friends and later on that night a barbecue and fireworks with another set of friends. The kids had a ball lighting all the fireworks and watching them go off. I'm pretty sure the adults all enjoyed the food and beer, while watching the fireworks! Unfortunately no pics from Saturday. I forgot my camera which is so unlike me. That's ok though, as I was elected to man the bbq and make sure the ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs all got burned to a crisp! (just kidding - nothing got burned)


Sunday has been pretty layed back. We all took a cue from the cat and just layed in the shade. With beautiful weather in the upper 80's, we hung out around the house and just chilled in the backyard.



One thing about our yard, there is still plenty to see. With the flowers blooming and the garden producing, I found a few things to take pictures of.

As I took pictures of the dahlia's, one of our hummingbird friends came down to check out what I was doing. She was hovering about a foot away from me, but it was too hard to get a picture of her at that distance.


This dove has adopted our backyard and has become a permanent fixture around the feeders.

The back bed with some new plants from last weekend. All ready the weeds are coming back!



The bees are loving the lavender. I'm sure that the lavender honey they are making is delicious, wish I knew where the hive was. :0)

The trumpet vine is trying to take over the back corner. I hate to cut it back because I know the hummingbirds love it and so do the bees.

It amazes me, the scrub jay's always know when there are peanuts for them and the squirrels.

This year seems to have been really good for all the birds. The pheobe who hangs out has either had 2 babies or I saw both parents and the baby, either way we have 3 pheobes for the time being.

There are no shortage of house finches for us this year either. 6-8 of them are always under the eve's or on the front porch looking for bugs. I haven't had a single tomato worn this year and I'm sure the birds are responsible for the insect control.

So another weekend is in the books for the 2009 summer. We had a good time here, hope yours was good as well. Until next time.

TVH

The Ragged Edge The Keys Islamorada, Florida

I'm sure by now everyone is tired of hearing about my vacation to Florida. So this is my last post about it, I promise. While in Florida, we managed to get down to The Keys. We only went as far as Islamorada, but we had a wonderful time. Erika found this great place called the Ragged Edge on the Atlantic side of Islamorada. If you ever get to The Keys, I highly recommend this place. It's so Keys-ee (i.e. in the spirt of The Keys)

The view of the Atlantic Ocean from the dock of The Ragged Edge.
Looking back from the dock to the Ragged Edge.
2 of the units @ the Ragged Edge. Very clean and lots of room.

Sunset in The Keys.

If you look close , there is an eel in the center of this picture. This was taken from the dock.
The Ragged Edge has plenty of room to dock your boat.

3 foot Nurse shark cruising the flats in front of the dock @ The Ragged Edge. We saw 4 of these guys as well as tarpon, black-tip reef sharks, barracudas all cruising the flats out in front The Ragged Edge.
School of Mangrove Snappers and Pin Fish also taken from the dock of the Ragged Edge

Mangrove Snapper - see the tooth hanging out of it's mouth.

I caught quite a few of these baby barracuda's from the dock. I hooked a couple 3-4 footers, but with no wire leader they broke me off as soon as I set the hook.

There was a really nice pool. The kids loved it!

If you make it to The Keys you gotta go hand feed the tarpon! The coolest $5.00 you'll ever spend. These guys get up to 6-7 feet long!!! Lay down on the dock and hold the fish near the water. Up comes the biggest mouth you ever saw and take the fish. These guys are wild. They come back everyday to get fed. Unbelievable!! :D

My pictures really don't do it justice. If you've never been to The Keys, please, put it on your must do list. One of my all time favorite vacation spots! You have to see it in person.

Next week look for some pics of The Tattered House. I stopped by this weekend and the shop looks Fantastic, but I didn't have the camera. So, I will make a point of swinging by this weekend and getting those pics to share with all of you.

Until next week, be safe.

TVH