Mike and I headed over to Eastern WA Saturday morning for a week of camping. Or so we thought. Saturday was 95 and sunny, Sunday was the same. We spent Sat night at Lake Easton state park and went to a friend’s house warming party in Cle Elum that afternoon. Sunday morning we drove to Alta Lake state park and lounged in the heat and warm water.

Sunday afternoon I tried (unsuccessfully) to do a wet entry from deep water into my new sea kayak and failed spectacularly - I’m covered in small bruises and my arms are sore. Mike showed me up on Monday by making it on his first try. Hmmm - have to keep practicing I guess. We went trout fishing after dinner and Mike caught a “baby” - little guy about 8″ long. There are koi in that lake! Wonder where the heck they came from?

 Sunday night while we were making smores there was thunder and lightning and we realized that it was going to rain (or at least try) so we put everything away (except my towel) just in case. Good thing we did as it started to pour around 2 am (or so the ranger says - I don’t wear a watch on vacation). Monday was drizzly in the morning, but warm and over cast in the afternoon. We did some fishing and paddling and swam the dogs. And realized that camping with a puppy is a lot harder than camping with elderly Sam - and swore we wouldn’t do more than a weekend with both of them again until next summer!

 It rained again Monday night and was still raining steadily this morning. I decided to fire up the cell phone and get a weather report. They were predicting rain all the way through tomorrow afternoon and there was a flash flood warning for Chelan county! Now, normally I don’t mind camping in the rain. But with two big wet muddy dogs? No thanks. We packed up, getting terribly wet in the process, and came home. Looks like we’ll spend the rest of our vacation week taking day trips and relaxing from home.

 Tomorrow we’re going up to 3 Sisters Beef on Whidbey island to pick up the 1/2 cow we’re splitting with friends. Then in the afternoon we’re planning to go fishing out near Maltby unless it’s raining - in that case I want to go see a movie!

 Agnes is still broody and it looks like I’ve found fertile eggs through Craigslist. Two people responded to my wanted post in  just a couple of hours. Ironically both of them share my same first name - I bet we’re all around the same age as it was the #1 girl’s name the year I was born. I emailed them both back about breeds (any eggs I get from either of them will be “mutts”) and plan to get eggs for her on Thurs or Fri.

And finally for tonight, Penny, Lucy and Pru got themselves locked out of the coop. I often let them out to free range in the evenings after dinner when the dogs are inside. Tonight the coop door must have swung shut on them. I went out after dark to shut the door on them (they go in to roost on their own) and the door was already shut! Penny and Lucy were hunkered down by the door - I found them in the dark because I basically stepped on one of them. I put them both in the roost box, but then couldn’t find Pru. I had to go get a headlamp and in the end found her in the middle of the yard all alone. Would have been a long cold night for her! She’s going to end up missing her friend Agnes if she really sits on her eggs - my girls are definitely paired off as friends.

Well, it’s 1:00 am and I’m sure Mike will have me up early - talk to you later.