camping grammar & spelling

This thing is posted in all the bathrooms & by the entry gate of the campground. Next year I'm bringing a sharpie.

there was fishing

The new p&s camera (sony dsc-w510) has this fun panorama feature. It is neat. Click to enlarge & check it out.

all catch & release. No fish were harmed. Really. They said they ENJOYED the experience of being caught, dragged around for a bit on a fun ride, massaged by human hands, and getting a free dental check up.

cat goes camping!

Hello blog readers? Rescue me! I'm in prison! Is this some sort of G8 holding cell?
It is true that I'm an anarchist.
But I'm a cat! I can't help it.
Let me out!

Ha. Rachel LOVED camping & she was actually rarely imprisoned. Mostly she had a long line attached to her harness, and she took herself for little walks.


I was gazing at the lake. I could go fishing. If I wanted to. Yawn. But it's time for my nap.

This was one of her favourite napping places - inside the tent, midday. It's about 35C outside and inside the tent, oh, about 1000 degrees, and if you ever actually had to go in there, you told people so that they could start a countdown & send a rescue party if you didn't reappear in sixty seconds. This photo is not so great because the lens is sweating, that's how hot it was inside.


Finally someone turned the thermostat to the right setting! I'll just lie down on this nice warm fleece blanky!  

She was so nice and warm and relaxed that she did these amazing cat stretches with Amelia.



Look! I'm a young and nimble cat!

Rachel had a wonderful camping trip & she was a good trooper on the drive as well. On the drive up, the only problem was that she forgot to use her potty before leaving home (though I TOLD her to) and so she fussed around on Amelias lap & finally retreated into her carrier & aromatherapied the car. Quick clean up at the first rest stop (Hope slide viewing area) and we were fine for the rest of the trip.

On the return trip, she decided to barf on Amelia's lap. Why? Nobody knows. There was nothing wrong with the cat, she was not ill and she's never been car sick before. Maybe she was just indicating her displeasure at leaving the campground. Anyway, Amelia's lap got the brunt of it & after a clean up at the first rest stop back (Keremeos fruit stands), we had an uneventful drive back.

wildlife

Guess who kept us company in the ladies washroom at the campsite?

Meet Myrtle. (I named her after Moaning Myrtle who is one of my favourite HP characters.)

Yes, Myrtle is a bat. She spent the entire day in the washroom one day, down on the floor behind the toilet.

I did worry that she was actually dead but as you can see, she has moved.

We did keep our distance since bats are the only rabies reservoir in BC.

She was gone by dusk.

Camping 2010

We recently went for our annual camping trip - to BC's interior.

Yay! I love camping!

I like camping but I wish Mommy would stop torturing me with the camera.

Fortunately, Darwin was so distracted most of the time that he stopped noticing the camera - to the extent that I could do the "cookies on your head" trick.

Hmmmm? What? Cookies? What cookies?

I don't see any cookies. Dunno what you're talking about.

Nobody is looking at the cookies which look like stubs of devil horns on my head. NO - everyone is looking at your messy campground!

Yeah, ok, never mind the messy campground. This is what was distracting Darwin.

Hai!

I'm a demented little Douglas Squirrel! I live to torment dogs in campgrounds!

I run just out of reach of their tie-outs!

Fun!

And when the squirrels finally left the campground, another invader moved in.

Setter on point!

Yup. Here is our friendly mallard, walking right up to the bird dog.

OMG! I don't know what to do! I'm frozen!

Notice Amelia is keeping a tight grip on that leash! We finally had to go & shoo the duck out of the campsite so Darwin could put his brain back in his head. He had a great time this year. Last year he was a bit frantic and much too wired. This year he was excited & still very birdy, but also more settled and calm. He did have some fun flushing quail - turns out quail will fly a bit when a bird dog flushes them from the bush. Darwin had a blast showing me just what a setter is meant to do.

Meanwhile, Daisy.......

Snore!

The Osoyoos '07 report

So here's the thing you need to know about Osoyoos. Your choices are dust with annoying little flies all over everything, or dust with incredible wind which gets rid of the flies but makes the dust fly and makes you cold.

Other than that, it's great.

Osoyoos Lake is Canada's warmest lake (but still cold enough that you don't get gross things like leeches. And there's not much slimy vegetation growing in it either.) It's surrounded by Canada's only desert. Thanks to the marvels of irrigation, it's also near numerous fruit orchards and wineries.

The weather wasn't as warm as last year, but we had a great camping spot (campsite #4 is a beaut!) and saw our campground buds from last year, Corky & Helen. Last year Corky told Roo about his daily habit of going to the US and grabbing a 6pack, and invited Roo to go with him one time. They got through the border both ways with no problems. On the way home (Roo was driving) Corky told him to pull over into an orchard and said they could pick all the apples off the ground they wanted.

Roo was a bit hesitant and asked Corky if he was sure about this. Corky said "Yeah, I know the guy and he told me I could. But if you hear gunfire, hit the ground." After that reassurance, Roo picked apples very very fast and stayed low. Just in case.

They returned home unscathed with beer & apples and then Corky had to leave & we got their spot. Roo tried going to the US again the following day (but not to the orchard) & got a huge hassle on the way back for not having the proper ID. So this year I recounted this story to Corky and told him that obviously only Corky had the right stuff for this border hopping business.

Roo brought his passport this year & did manage to go down to grab some beer. The highlight of his trip was that he got asked for ID at the liquor store. Since he's exactly 20 years over the legal drinking age, that gave him a thrill.

I figure he got ID'd because he acts like a goof of his youthful joie de vivre. Like here, demonstrating safe behaviour at a viewpoint. (a suggestion has been made that I was jealous when I wrote this. I deny it. Just because I haven't been ID'd in years. I'm not bitter. Not bitter at all that women start sagging and wrinkling while men become more disinguished. No. Not at all. And anyway, the word here was used as a term of endearment. Youthful endearment.)

The lake is very popular with boaters and water skiers. Hugo got quite enthused at the concept & we regaled the kids with tales of our waterskiing experiences (Roo is good. My tales involve inadvertent enemas. Waterskiing is not my thing though I'll gladly drive or spot.) Here's Hugo trying some dryland moves.


We had a terrible northerly which almost drove me home. (well not exactly, because I'd need to go West to go home but you know what I mean. ) Two nights and two days of relentless wind exposed my newly acquired superpower. I don't know why or how we got on to the subject of superpowers but at some point we discovered that I already have one - the power to be incredibly grumpy. I'm not sure about how useful this superpower is. I'd much rather be like Jeannie and be able to clean a room by crossing my arms and thrusting my chest out. But there you go. Apparently you don't get to choose superpowers and mine is extreme grumpiness which can make everyone tiptoe around me or escape to the US.

The only person who enjoyed the wind was this guy, and even he only ventured out for short bits.

Finally the wind eased up, and we enjoyed a calm sunrise.

The dogs loved it.


Marshmallows were roasted.

Fruit, American beer and Okanagan wine were bought. A nice holiday.

If you go, you absolutely MUST make reservations. Haynes Point is a small campground and immensely popular. Plan way ahead and make the reservations 3 months in advance at Discover Camping.And don't speed between Hope and Princeton. Well, don't speed anywhere but be esp. careful through Manning Park as it's just frothing with eager RCMP beavers.