It’s time for my kids to begin creating lifelong memories of the lazy days of summer. I am looking forward to sharing some of those times with them.

Gary

This spring has been pretty harsh on the local streams due to the heavy snowfall this winter.

Can you say “Runoff”?

The Salmon Flies are active on the Deschutes, as are the crowds, so some friends and I decided to head to an area that is not a typical destination at this time of year (or any other time) instead. We were trying to find a stream that was not drastically affected by the spring runoff.

It didn’t work… The river was blown out. Even the feeder streams were high and unfishable.

We blindfolded the “city boy” who ended up driving 6 hours to join us and then set up camp along an accessible stream. On Saturday, we drove and hiked into areas that most would deem inaccessible. We fished every riffle, pool, and tail out.

We were unable to find any of the eager fish that we were hoping to dance with.

The scenery was fantastic; the company was fabulous, the fishing sucked.

Apparently there is runoff in the desert too.

Here are some images I made during the trip:

Ugh… It’s been a long weekend. More may follow…

Gary

When you turn off the TV and go outside!

Now, my kids and I don’t spend too much time watching television, but sometimes we get stuck in a rut. The sun was finally out this afternoon so, while my daughter was off running with a friend, my son and I decided to turn everything off and head out the back door with our cameras in hand.

We chased the ants, honey bees, huge bumble bees, and birds that were dancing amongst the apple blossoms mere feet from the house. We called to each other with excitement when one of these elusive subjects decided to give us the opportunity to make an image. We came inside and shared our images on the computer, and then went back outside to make more. Braden picked out two that he really liked, so we hurried off to the store to print them. He took them back to his moms tonight with a smile on his face.

What a great time!

Here are Braden’s favorites:

And a couple of mine:

Turning off all of the electronic stuff in our homes is sometimes the best method of making us look at the world. The world is full of cool stuff. Get out there and check it out!

Gary