More landscaping updates - these are from Friday.  They started cutting the grass out.

I pulled out my garden on Sunday - they cut the water lines, so there was no more water going in, so...it was time.  I need to fertilize and get them ready to rest over the winter.  I may put in some winter stuff, but...maybe not.

Ralph and I took the kayaks out again yesterday.  We had a great time, but....poor AJ left his sister alone for a couple of minutes (nature called), and she found the muffins while he was gone (I think she crumbled 4 of them....)  He had no idea that muffins could be such a mess - he cleaned up most of it (with help from the dogs) but there were still crumbs in places the dogs couldn't reach.  She had stepped on the crumbs all over her room, so a quick mop was needed.  Poor AJ!

The lake is down several feet from a couple of weeks ago - the ridge at the top of this photo was close to the shoreline.  That made getting in the water a bit slippery.

And, a selfie - made with a non-selfie camera.  Not too bad!

Seriously?  It's bad enough that they ARE under construction, and move everything so often that the people that work there don't know where anything is, but this too????  The sign over FoodMaxx:

Margene and I got back from kayaking on Saturday, and AJ asked if I was ready to start on the garage.  I told him yes, but I had to do a quick trip down to Anderson to pick up some pants I had ordered at Dress Barn first, then we could start.  We had a quick chat about what I wanted to do, and I took off for Anderson......when I got back (Okay, yes, I did more shopping while I was there, so it wasn't THAT quick a trip....cute dress and 2 sweaters later) here's what I found in my garage:

Now, here was the stack outside that needs to be sorted, so there is still work to do, but what a change!  That stack went back into the garage, but Ralph promised to start work on going through things to see what should be tossed, what should be sold, and what should be kept.  (I'm hoping most goes in the sold or tossed pile, but we'll see.)

We finally got Margene out on the kayaks yesterday.  We had a muddy start - the lake level has dropped several feet since last weekend, and instead of getting started in the sand, we started off in the muddy silt.  Margene almost lost a shoe before we got started.

I did manage to catch a photo of a cormorant on the buoy this time - I've tried before, but they flew off before I could get my camera out of the waterproof bag.  This guy was a little braver (or slower....)

And of the heron....cropping makes such a difference.  Here's two crops of the same picture.

One seems to emphasize the bird, and the other the background

We had a couple of ducks out with us too.

Margene is now talking about getting a kayak too.....

The yard is coming along!  They have the pool/fountain dug out, sand in, and filtration system in.  Looking good!

These are some of the rocks going is as well.

They started the landscaping!!!! We now have a very large hole in the back that will be a pond, and they moved the sprinklers in to where the lawn will be.

Bookmarks are done for book club!  We read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.  Not bad, but not my favorite either.  The bookmarks this month are kitchen mitts.....according to the author, "real" chefs don't need them - their hands are so calloused it isn't necessary. 

Ralph wanted to go back up kayaking Sunday, so we loaded the kayaks, and took a drive.  The weather at the lake wasn't very promising, so all it was was a drive - no kayaking,

I rounded out my vacation with a quick trip up to Susanville to see Dave.  Mt. Shasta was so cool from Hat Creek!!!

The foliage is turning on Mom's trees.

And I rescued Lisa from a big, bad bug!  She couldn't lock the garage back up because this little guy was hanging out on the door.

Ralph, Margene and I spent a couple of days up at Hat Creek this week too!  We planned on camping at Hat Creek Campground, but....they were already closed for the winter!  So was the Bridges Campground.  We ended up at Cave (which had over half the sites shut down) too close to the road for my preference, but it was either that or leave the Hat Creek area.  Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad by the road.

Margene, Ralph, and Chewy at camp:

Ralph fishing - he caught one Wednesday and one Thursday.

Margene fishing - wearing camo and blending right in.....

One of our camp visitors

The coolest rock ever!!!

Margene - not quite so camouflaged this time:

And my buddy Chewy

In the end, Ralph caught 2 fish, Margene caught 6 (but lost one while cleaning it). Our camping neighbors had been in camp the whole week and gave Margene tips on where to fish.  They also sent us home with a couple of their fish, bringing our total up to 10 fish for the 2 days.