Going fishing

Summer is beginning to look like we are getting to the short end of the stick. Last week I had driver's training in Pendleton with MidCo. Yesterday I had First Aid and CPR training with the Milton-Freewater School Dist., and next week I have special needs children training session with MidCo; busy, busy, busy. The following week 8/25 school re-starts in Milton-Freewater for another year.

So today it was time to go fishing. Before going fishing today, I prepped 4 lbs. of blueberries for freezing, got them in the freezer, made a large bowl of potato salad for dinner, and then made a large pot of olive/green pea macaroni salad for quick munchies to take care of us the rest of the week.

My plan for the day was to have my chores done, horses watered and jumping into the river at 4:00 PDT. That is 3 o'clock by-the-sun feeding time for the river's fish.


On my way to the river I filled Rusty's, the mare and gelding herds' water troughs and walked around petting the mares while their two tanks filled.

Now to save allot of chatter on my part, I will let my photos and video of the afternoon's activities tell the story.

As usual when I get into the mare herd there is always Rosey and Summer to greet me, shortly thereafter there is always Raji and Sunny by my side.

There is Moon and Misty

Shaiela

Jasmine

Goldie

Peaches

Goldie and Summer

There are a few girls here to be petted on a daily basis, part of my chores.

Leaving the mare herd, I went through our wildlife habitat recovery area next to the river and enjoy some of the blossoms along the river while looking for any spring Chinook spawning that might be taking place in the river now. Tis the season for salmon spawning.

Climbing down into the middle of the river, making my first cast of the day... Fish On! Appears it might be a good day for catching.

Fishing upriver, using a Copper John fly pattern and continued to catch maybe 30-40 pretty little redband trout, most in the 7"-8" size range. All were beautifully marked; red side bands, camouflaged back colors, with white tipped fins. It appeared to me that maybe no one has been fishing our ranch waters and killing fish this summer, but I didn't catch any of the larger 10" fish that were here a few weeks ago.


I do have the river well posted on our north and south side of the river. It appears that people might now be reading and respecting our private property boundaries.

I only made it up to the second fish weir today. While fishing the pool below the rocks I caught maybe a dozen fish and one hookup was caught on video.

Fish ON!!
(a video link)
~you can view at 480p and full screen~

This was my first time trying to one hand fly fish and one hand operate the video camera. Surprised what I got. You can click this link above and relive the last hookup of today with me.

I fished today for about two hours, then the two-way radio came calling. Kittee was home, and looking for me. I brought in my fly from the last cast and headed for the house. As I walked through our wildlife rehab area I spotted one of our evening fawn visitors.

Usually we have two fawns, sometimes three fawns visiting us as the sun sinks slowly into the western skies. Today I only "spotted" this one.

A day in the life --- Dale

A Sing Along trail ride, please join us...

Yesterday and today Kittee and I had a chance to get away from it all once again with our trail riding partners, Derby and Nugget.
Right after breakfast we put our boys in their trailer, (our tack was packed from a few days before) and headed for the hills. Again we hit the ole Cache Hollow trail to Kennear Rd to Lincton Mtn Rd and parked at the rock quarry. From there we headed for the old logging roads that switchback across Tollgate Mtn. Once again to head into the high country to beat the heat was a pleasure. These pictures will kind of tell our story...

Once back at home we offloaded our boys, sit out in the frontyard and had a beer while they enjoyed the fresh green grass under the shade of the silver maples.


This day's ride was so enjoyable that Kittee suggested that we take a ride up the So. Fork on Monday afternoon. That sounds like a good idea to me. Most of the people, the mtn. bikes, motorcycles should be long gone by Monday afternoon, so we went to bed thinking of Sunday's ride and dreaming of Monday's ride.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today Kittee had a half day of work to do in Pendleton, and then she came home for lunch and a ride up the river. Once again with our tack stored in the trailer, all we had to do was brush off our riding partners, pick their hooves, load up and we're gone.

Once again instead of me rattling on, I will let a few pictures tell the story of today's ride and near the end we offer you a trail riding serenade, hope you will sing along...

~Nugget's Spook~
(a video link)
~you can view at 480p and/or full screen~

Today Nugget seemed a bit hyped about our ride, and on the return to the trailer he took the lead most of the way. After making one of the last river crossings of the day he rushed to catchup with Derby and on the way had a little spook. The above video link of ~Nugget's Spook~ I hope will you a bit of the feel of riding a horsey spook. It was a fun spook ride, as the video camera went flying up in the air.

We fully recovered, Nugget, the camera and myself ;>)
Yee Ha, gittyup!!

As I type this I remember that at three river crossing we found spring Chinook salmon moving upriver. Tis the season for them to begin spawning in our Walla Walla River.

"Happy Trails to You"
(a sing along video link ~ join us)

Today the weather was a bit cooler, and riding upriver felt grrrrrrreat. Kittee even wore a jacket to keep her bones from chilling. When we got back to the trailer the boys hadn't even worked up a sweat from the ride they had made.

After putting the boys back out to pasture, we sit back and had a wine cooler and as the sun slowly went down in the west, Kittee built a fire in the backyard fireplace.

Living in the Oregon Territory - August 2010

We then sit by the fire, had our dinner in the dark next to the warmth of the fireplace, waiting for all the stars to shine on us this evening.

It was a good day around McKuster Ranch.

And that the way it is -- Dale

They're baack -or- We're just watching the sunsets.

Starlog 090708

This week it seemed that everything was settling into place and feeling like early autumn. Days are getting a bit shorter, definitely a bit cooler. Horses are putting on a bit of weight for winter store, the hay is stacked high in the barn, and salmon are spawning in the backyard. Three evenings this past week Kittee and I watched the sunset and relaxed by the backyard fireplace as we watched the starry twilight/nights develop over our heads.

Kittee has gotten past her hard felony trials of the past couple of weeks, I have had a smooth week of running my new school bus route. Our house "works" are just about complete as there is just a few odd & ends for the contractor to take care of this next week with parts and supplies coming in to complete the job.






This past week the returning "King" Chinook Salmon were spawning in our backyard. Kittee and I spent one evening this week sitting at Solitary Sanctuary watching three salmon working their redd.












We found this most interesting... Chinook Salmon (fish as long as your leg) that had been at sea for the past 4-5 years have come back to their own spawn waters to restart the cycle of life in their world again.
You can follow this link to watch the YouTube video of salmon spawning in our backyard.

Rosey is doing fine, as she and Raji the boarding Arabian yearling are quite buddied up now. Rusty has spent everyday in open pasture this past week or so and happy to run and flaunt/toss his outstanding mane and call out to the mares a couple of pastures away.

This past week I spent two evenings fishing in the back yard. Again I hooked quite a few redbands in the 8"-9" range and a few fingerlings just large enough to hook themselves on my fly. Water temperature on Labor Day -- late afternoon was 52º while the air temperature was 70º. A most pleasant evening of wet wading/trout catching upriver. I now use the cow herd feeding next door to signal me the best times to head for the river to catch fish.

Yesterday Kittee and I spent the day in Walla Walla looking at cars and trucks on Main Street. You can follow this link to find the blog recap of Saturday's Wheelin' Walla Walla Weekend.

Today we were hoping to go horseback riding somewhere within a couple of miles of the ranch, but I still have a pulled back muscle from putting up 25 tons of hay a couple of weeks ago, so Kittee ended up going on a trailride with one of our boarders, Leila and their women's riding club - Blue Mtn. Riders. I am staying home; resting, running irrigation works, reading, writing this blog.

This coming week is our wedding anniversary and Pendleton Round Up/Rodeo.

"Let'er Buck" Yep we have our tickets for Wednesday's show.

This year '08 will make 55 years that I have been attending the Pendleton Round Up

"Let'er Buck" Rodeo.

Yeehaa... Let'er Buck!!!

life around the ranch --- Dale