Bear dog

While we were in WA at the wedding,

 Bear took care of things back in Montana.

He does like his pillows. 

Taken on the dam for Eureka Lake, Choteau, MT

They all look soooo happy.

Apryll and Casey Becker

Wedding was awesome!

Was relieved to see the weather was a perfect 80F and sunny for the ceremony.

some pics are @

Wedding pics

Liberty Lake Campground, WA pre wedding

We loved that there was a campground in the same park as the wedding.  

We arrived early giving us the opportunity to crash the rehearsal.  ; )

The Altar.

 The benches and grass is where we all sat for the wedding.

The board walk behind the altar.

The overlook of Liberty Lake behind the Altar.

Just over a small hill there was a nice reception area.

Zoe the dog charmer walked Gator and Bailey all the way from the campground

 to the area where the wedding was to take place.  

Wish I could get the dogs to walk this easily with me.

The view if Liberty Lake from the cabin 

Apryll and Casey rented for the night before the wedding. 

Some of the kids had fun playing in the tree.  

Only 1 fell out, and I think while he hurt for a bit he was fine.

Zoe helped her grandpa fetch the watermelon.

Dominic is getting sooo very big!

Clinton enjoyed the onions Ken fed him.

What happens to a dog after hanging out for the afternoon with Zoe.

Liberty Lake Campground and Park

We arrived at the campground and the skies cleared out.  

Trailer stayed together.

The wedding is also at this park.

Took the puppies for a walk.  

This place is a hidden gem! 

Lots to do.  

On our walk we saw a slug.

I never thought I would see the day that I got so excited to see one of these.

Our property in Monroe, WA was loaded with all kinds colors and shapes of these.

Never thought about photographing them before.

complete with slime trail, yuk

Ever seen a slug from this angle.  

I thought it was cool!

Arrived in Idaho

We got to Idaho 2 days before the wedding.  

It was concerning to see the weather.  

The wedding was outdoors.

Trailer road worthy

Had to hurry up the trailer, we had a wedding to go to that I wanted my trike for.

It turned out pretty good.  The last trailer I did had doors that open to the sides, this time we went with a ramp.  The 4' was really too short, but it worked out good, since the trailer has 2 wheels in front, we can roll it up the ramps, and the single rear wheel rolls up the back door, and we can follow it up into the trailer.  We were glad we went with the ramp door as opposed to the side open doors.

I took Bear dog up to the folks to stay with them while we went to the wedding.

Saw this deer in the river about a mile from their house.

Kick ball with the dogs

Suzi was kicking a tennis ball for the dogs tonight.

actually she does this 1 - 2 times a day.

Below is a video

Those tails were waggin at warp speed. 

Trailer walls

Got the walls up today.

I did not have a flat place to rest the plywood, and the got a bit warped on me.  

This is a temp box.  We have plans for a different layout, so for now I will deal with it. 

 We want to use the trailer this weekend.

There are holes on the floor where I cut out for the bolt heads so the plywood floor would lay flat.

They look like perfect mouse holes.

I am putting some 2x2 pieces down to help straighten the plywood and cover the holes.

Trailer update

Bailey stayed at her post while I worked in the garage.

She growled at all who ventured in the alley.  

Got the post brackets drilled and bolted to the frame.

The bolt heads are so close to the 90 degree bend in the metal that I had to use the open end of the wrench to hold it, which slowed up the installation a bit.

Also these brackets are a bit larger than I expected.

Last time I did this I had to sand the 2x4's a bit to make them slide into the pocket.

Once I tighten the center bolt the metal does flex and I am not going to worry to much about it.

Got slowed down when I realized on the tongue of the trailer

my piece of  the plywood we use as a step to get into the camper no longer fits.

I re-engineered the area where the posts for the 2x4's is 

and cut notches in the plywood to go around the posts.

Trailer frame painted

After I primed the trailer frame,

I painted it with 2 coats of gloss black rustoleum paint.

Most Harborfreight trailers come with brackets that bolt to the outside of the frame.

They fit a 2x4 near perfect, this trailer did not come with them, 

In the shadow you can see the pockets in the frame that it does have

Those pockets are only 1 1/2 x 3 1/2.

I decided to get the brackets for a 2x4.

course this trailer is not pre drilled for them,

 so I am going to drill 12 - 3/8" hols for the brackets. 

Then touch up my new paint job.

Louis Cat

He was having his way with the scratching toy with attached birdie.

trailer is back from welder.

Since they put an extra piece of steel in and welded it, it looks right.

They straightened the side that was bent also.

Good thing I took this pic, I noticed they did not tighten the bolt on the side.

Got to thinking the trailer is 10 years old now.  

Tires are getting old.  

Looking at them there are cracks between the treads.

Since we are getting new tires,

 I am going to rattle can paint the rims.

They were a bit pitted from rust so we decided to use hammered paint.

Here is the before shot of a wheel.

It is wet because I was washing them with dawn soap before painting.

Here is the after shot of the painted wheel with the new tires.

Since the trailer had some rust 

I sanded it down and primed it.

Trailer problems

We have a little Harborfreight trailer.

I am getting ready to put a plywood box on my trailer for hauling my trike when we camp.

I noticed it is missing 2 bolts, one on each side.

The frame is made out of C channel steel.

Turns out the frame is cracked.  

Good thing this did not break all the way while on the road. 

The other side has 2 cracks, 

you are not supposed to be able to see daylight above and to the right of the bolt in pic below.

The metal has just bent that far.

I took the trailer to a weld shop in town, they have it now.  

Dump run

Going to the dump is different in MT than the Puget Sound area.

Here you get to actually go to the land fill area and delight in all the smells etc that are associated with it.

In WA you get to pull into a parking stall and throw your stuff into a hole 

where an awaiting trailer is accepting your deposit.  

They have a back hoe handy to make more room into the trailer bed below.

Also, Bellevue even has a covered area for you to unload your trash out of the rain...  

course they charge $22 min where in MT they charge $9 minimum.

I was disappointed, they had signs saying no picking : (  

Takes 1/2 the fun out of going to the dump.  : )

Daily routine

Each day Gator and Bailey word diligently on cleaning Bear dog up.

Morning routine

Natasha cat has her morning routine down to a science.

Bear dog Rainbow Falls trail

Bear is getting used to the trail we take the dogs on.  

Suzi takes Gator and Bailey further down the trail,

and Bear and I wait at the bench.  

He seems to really like doing it this way.

He gets up to greet anyone who passes by on the trail. 

(except bikes)

Natasha

Caught Natasha working on a potential escape route on the fence.

You can see here how she got a gap between the 2 pieces of pvc pipe.

She likes that I still have not put any pipe glue on any of the pipes.

I like to think of it as cat entertainment.

Louis cat

Choteau, MT

Took the pups up to the folks.

Had to stop at Eureka Lake for some swimming, or wading in Bears case.

Then we did what we call the dry cycle, and walked the dogs on the dam.

Caron did the sausage ritual with the dogs.

Once again we were concerned that Bear would not be able to keep his eyes in his head.

After all the excitement Bear made himself at home and took a nap on the couch.

This is the moment we realized he ALWAYS wants a pillow under his head.

Skip the raven came by and starred in the window at us while we got lunch together.