Landed in Oregon VII

August 21, 2007

Recovering from a vacation! How can that be? We went to Montana, a state with maybe the most spectacular scenery in the lower 48 ... and saw very little. We went to visit Ray and Gay, special friends who concoct great meals ... and ate very little. (Sharon says, Speak for yourself). To a lake filled with Kokanee ... and caught very few. With all kinds of places to go and people to see ... and went very little. It was great. Already planning to go back. Have to.

Started off with a bad sun burn before even departing. Took a short cut and saved a few hours getting there. Had a great welcoming meal and my digestive system shut down. Stopped, as it were: blocked. Bloating and pain and stopped eating. Wasn’t hungry. For a day or so. Toast. Spent too much time in bed. Then hungry at 3 a.m. Visions of bacon and eggs. Tried to sleep but could not. Three-thirty I decided to fix a small breakfast. Very exciting! On the way to the kitchen I dropped off to pee. Dark, I sat on the pot and peed. And my back went out. I could not stand. I could crawl. I crawled to the kitchen and pulled myself up. Pain. Go back to bed? Eat? I couldn’t bend over far enough to see or find any bacon in the refrigerator. To bed? Eat. I saw the egg carton. I knew where the butter and bread were. Pain. I cooked. I ate. I felt much better. Then I went back to bed.

We were on Little Bitterroot Lake and Ray took me out -- like from 10 to noon. We caught ten or so. I could have tried a catching record. I am sure we would have done as well any day. With a little effort I am sure we could have caught 100 or more. But I have done those things. At some point in time a lot of fish becomes just a lot of fish. The lake was great. The fish were great. Instead, Fate had me more deeply explore the definition of intestinal blockage. One day we all toured the lake by boat. Great guide: Ray has known the lake since the 1970’s. We did have an inversion and for a couple of days the lake was smoky.

It’s all about smoke. The summer we picked to see Montana’s spectacular scenery was the summer fate chose to liberally spread lots of large forest fires across the state. Records. We were bracketed by two. Not at Little Bitterroot, but close enough. The fires were active. For most, the plan was to let winter snow fall put them out. I disagree. It is my understanding that the reason God put men on earth was to kill snakes and put out forest fires.

So we wrapped up the vacation by having my slipped disk set a couple of times by a chiropractor in Kalispell. Go see Whitefish.

The next day we drove through 275 miles of smoke before seeing blue sky. There was one spot where the fire was burning to the road and several others where it had previously burned to the road. Then Sharon drove 100 miles over a couple of passes called “the Rattlesnake” -- Sharon’s story because I really cannot do it justice. Very deep canyons. Very narrow, winding roads. After an hour or so of this and a hen pheasant appeared on the road. In our lane. Sharon swerved. I closed my eyes. When there was no thump on the car, I opened them, saying: Guess you missed it. She said, I don’t know; I had my eyes closed. I said, I didn’t want to hear that! On to Enterprise, Oregon where we again started to see smoke. Another big fire, this time on the Im Na Ha.

We went down the Clearwater. Sharon saw an otter. We saw heron and osprey. It has a reputation for great steelhead fishing.

The next day it rained. This is a positive omen. My grand nephew took me on a tour of a cabin he was building on Wallowa Lake, a 4200 square foot jobby for a young lady. The living room ceilings were 24 feet high. The two children, ages two and three, are on one floor (first side door to the right off the front door) and mom and dad are on another floor (rear of the cabin overlooking the lake). (edit) (edit) They say that that spot on the lake has good fishing.

The next day it rained nearly all the way home. Another positive omen.

August 22, 2007

Manny came in and finally Cappy arrived yowling and growling. Pretty dry. Some flowers burned up, but not too bad overall. Lots of tomatoes. Lots of beans. Life is good. Looking forward to an August visit from Ray and Gay.

It is like this: bad calls in sporting events tend, they say, to even out over the length of the game. I figure, after this vacation, that I can anticipate at least six months of rich, trouble free life. Here’s a thought: I might try the lottery!