July 1

July 1, 2011

Well it’s been a busy couple of days with all of the campers coming in for the long weekend. We’ve had some people who came at the beginning of the week and put up a tent on a site, paid for the week then went home and never used the site till last night…guess they wanted to be sure to have one. I feel bad turning people away since we are full, especially if it’s a family with kids, but there’s not much I can do. We met a couple of young guys yesterday who wanted a site and we let them camp in our “backyard” for the night and they were lucky enough to get a site tonight. They were really appreciative and asked us to their campsite for steak dinner tonight to thank us. It feels good to do something for people who appreciate it. Tonight our “backyard” will host a couple of rock-climbers from Quebec. They are out for the day and we’ll likely only see them as they head to their tent tonight after a day in the mountains.

We’ve had two rowdy groups of kids in here since we started this summer, but last night was quiet as can be even with us being full. I was really surprised. Apparently at 1:30, three vehicles came and tried to park in our site and set up tents, but the two guys sleeping out back told them they couldn’t stay there and made them leave. They were drunk and it took them a bit of time to take their tents down and put them away and I’m glad they weren’t too belligerent and I’m thankful the boys took care of it for us. Tom and I didn’t hear a thing and were surprised when they told us the story about it all this morning. This cool mountain air really does make you sleep soundly!

I’m posting a couple of pictures of animals we’ve seen. There’s a pair of deer in the campground who seem quite comfortable helping themselves to whatever is on the picnic tables in the sites even if there are people around. I managed to get a picture. They look skinny but I’m sure will fatten up over the summer. The moose was feeding in a little pond to the south

of where we camp. We’ve seen a mama and

twin calves as well as this one. We see mountain sheep every time we go to Canmore…there always seems to be some on the big hill down into town…they lick at the rocks on the road so probably taste salt or something. There was a mama and baby on the road yesterday and the baby ran across the road and straight up a rock wall with very little effort. It’s hard to believe just how sure-footed they are. We’ve seen all of the big animals like moose and elk and bear, but no mountain goats. Tom wants to see one this summer, but I think we might have to head into Banff or somewhere to see them as they certainly aren’t as plentiful as the sheep.

The lake is getting fuller every day. The guys from the electric company were out surveying the dam the other day and said we’ll have more water in the lake than usual…that means beachfro

nt for us!!! Fishing is good. I spoke with some fellows who were camped down at the end of the campsite and they caught their limit each day they’ve been here. That’s three lake trout and five total fish caught per person per day. They did catch one extra thought and gave it to Tom and I. It was a beautiful big lake trout about 20 inches and nice and fat…sure tasted good bbq’ed over the fire last night!

This last picture has a story with it. One day we noticed something floating in the lake. We went down to take a look and here on a sheet of 4x8 plywood was the remains of what was an outhouse on skis. I guess in the winter time they have outhouse races with dogs pulling the sleds. We pulled it up out of the lake and salvaged all of the nuts and bolts and screws and wood that we could. From it, I was able to make a “donkey”. A donkey is a kind of easel that you sit at and paint or draw. It has a board that flips up to lean your canvas on and another board that flips up to make a seat. It works great and is really comfortable so hopefully when the weather warms, I can get some painting done. I’ve set up a 10x10 tent that will be my studio for the summer so am quite excited to get started on something.

The weather continues to be cool…windy…rainy now and again…sure wish summer would hurry up and get here even though the cool air is so fresh and clean it’s kind of nice too.