The Ides of April

Taxes due AND last day of steelhead season both on the 15th? Might as well add National Root Canal Day on there too if that’s how they want to schedule things. Do this thing right.

Ah, well. The steelhead are getting in the baby-making mood so it’s just as well we leave them to their business. I stopped in for a look at the Big Canyon hatchery on the Wallowa River last week and watched fish still going for it at the end of the line.  ‘Amazing’ gets thrown around a lot, but I think it truly applies to the traveling these fish do.

Baird Birthdays

River guide, teacher, sourdough pancake performance artist, award-winning dutch oven chef and all-around outdoor renaissancer Mike Baird and his lovely wife Kathie were born on the same day. How bout that? Kathie pulled off the hard-to-do feat of a surprise party that escaped the notice of Snowden and wikileaks.  The 3 Baird young ‘uns Rial, Caitlin and Patrick, plus a mob of friends gathered at the Winding Waters boathouse and a great time was had by all.

Here’s Mike with a little fish he caught recently. I can’t tell if that’s a guppy or a bluegill. Hm. It’s cute, whatever it is.

How Not To Decorate A Cake

I thought Kathie should have a cake with her name on it too. My mental image of what it should look like was drastically different from the results. Turns out cake decorating is something of an art after all. My attempt at writing with icing looks like it was done on a moving train in the dark. The part that looks like a seismograph printout of the Mount St. Helens eruption is supposed to say ‘Kathie.’ File this under Thought That Counts. Those red things are candy fish. Hard to filet, but mighty tasty.

Let There Be Music

Tammy Knorr-Kruger, Gearboat Master Todd’s darling wife, has spearheaded the Joseph Mountain Music Festival two years running and this year switched the name up to Joseph Mountain Jubilee. It’s a great day of great music in the summer and we’ll be giving a heads up when the date approaches this summer. Here’s the website.

Tammy threw a funraiser Saturday in Joseph, with Todd on drums with the group Jazzberry Blonde. Super fun time.

Speaking of music, check out the Music For Wild Places trip coming up this summer if you haven’t seen it already. Raft trip AND outstanding musicians? Uh, yeah.

Also step lively on the Buzz Holmstrom trip with author Vince Welch, launching June 27-29. The Buzz Holmstrom story is one of the most interesting I know of, can’t recommend the book The Doing of the Thing enough and this will be quite a trip for anyone interested in interesting things who also likes running rivers. More info here.

Parting Shot

Saw this fixer upper combo of house and truck on a backroads Wallowa County drive last weekend. Lots of potential here.

Bonus Parting Shot

Most interesting book title I’ve seen recently. From the shelf up at Mike and Kristy’s house. Happy Birthday, Kristy. Lots of birthdays going on around here.

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