River Day 10/15/2018

Just Jay, Ted and I for River Day this week.  It rained on and off for most of the day so we stayed close by (5 doors up for me!).  Sure makes it easier to get back home at the end of the celebration.

We did have some visitors this week, but none of them were Freddy.  Both of Jay's daughters and his grandson popped in to see what all the River Day fuss is about.  I'm thinking they weren't all that impressed.  Probably reminded them of the typical Friday evening growing up.  Seemed like it was always Jay, Ted and I then too, but with a lot more cigar smoke.

I took exactly one picture this week, so I'm sharing it.  No, it has nothing to do with the river, or even River Day.  But it's something you don't see every day.

Happy River Day everyone!

River Day 10/01/2018

This week we decided to do something different for River Day: actually go to the river!

None of the Rivertarians have been to the river since the first part of June.  We've still celebrated the holiday, just not at the river.  Three of us made it down this week: Jay, Ted and I.  The weather was great - just under 80 degrees and mostly sunny.  The river was high for this time of year (due to nearly constant rains all summer), but it was not out of it's banks.  As you might imagine, our months away from the camp showed obvious signs of neglect.  The grass was higher than I've ever seen it, but due to a recent flood, it was all laid over flat on the ground.  And of course the usual debris was scattered everywhere: you know, rocking chairs, basket balls, pumpkin buckets.  That sort of stuff.

Surprisingly, it appeared that no one had been messing around the camp in our long absence.  Except for a couple of chairs on the front porch, and a bench that looked like it came from Blue Ridge Gardens, there wasn't any sign that anyone had even been around.  There were some leftover cans from our last fire still in the pit, and what lumber/wood we had left was still there, including one of our Christmas trees.

Speaking of Christmas trees, here are some pics showing the progression of what a little fire can do:

Freddy visited not once, but three times during our holiday.  I think he missed us.  We got caught up on some of the local stories and goings-on.

I think I can speak for everyone that it was nice getting back to the river this week.  Hopefully, we can make it happen a little more often.  Work and weather have taken a toll on our trips to the river this year, but we'll keep up the weekly celebration, wherever we end up.

Happy River Day!

Best (rocking chair) fire on the river!

River Day 07/02/2018

(Tim was tardy and didn't make the group pic)

Work and other stuff kept us close to home again for River Day this week.  Jay was much closer to home than Ted, Tim and I, but only because we got together at his house.  We had great weather right up until "quitting time", then the skies opened and dumped on us.  Lucky for me it's a short walk.

No projects this week, but that's not unusual.  We normally hold those for Friday afternoon prayer meetings (yes, we meet a lot).

The evening was spent (pleasantly) discussing nothing of any great importance (excluding a certain Rivertarian's slant on the oldest profession), and mostly just laughing and having a great, stress free time.

Pat was absent this week.

Just as an added note, Pat and I actually went to the river Saturday a week ago to hang out for a few hours.  I got a little mowing and fishing in while we were there - just enough to make a dent in it.

Always great celebrating River Day, wherever we end up.

The local flora

It was a great Monday afternoon at the river! Tim, Ted, And I ( Jay ) made it down for the Celebration with a short visit from Freddy and Toby. The weather was outstanding!

                                           

 

We enjoyed a pleasant temperature and of course we had the best fire on the river! We didn't do any fishing because Toby had his boat docked in Marks favorite fishing spot and the water was moving pretty fast. The camp needs a good grass cutting along with some minor clean up around the yard but it seems like the place is being used by others whom don't understand how to dispose of there trash.

Despite the appearance of the camp Tim was able to come a cross a nice looking plant located close to where Ron/Judy had there camper parked. Are you wondering what kind of plant it is?

"Red Hot Poker"

OK... This is a very late addition to Jays post from last week, logging our River Day celebration on May 14th... I wanted to simply add these pictures to his post in the "Post A Comment'' section, but couldn't figure out how to do it, Mark maybe you can help me with that? So... I'm just going to add another entry... And let it be noted for the record that this post is proof that once again Jay caught the first fish of the season, as seen in the picture below.

May 14 2018   It was only 85 degrees out so we had to have two fires! Ted, Tim, Pat, and me Jay made it to the river to enjoy some hot weather and a little bit of fishing. Tim and I both caught a few fish and really enjoyed it!

Tim's first fish! Nice red nose...... Along with some good fishing Ted did a lot of clean up due to the high waters the past week. Good times and  sure did miss Mark! Wishing all safe travels if your not able to make it this up coming Monday.

River Day 04/30/2018

Catch of the day!

After a long hiatus, we actually made it to the river for River Day!  And we couldn't have asked for a nicer day for the return.  Nothing but blue skies and warm temps (70ish) after a long, cold winter.  The whole crew made it down: Pat, Ted, Jay, Tim and myself.

We weren't really too sure what to expect about the condition of the place, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  You can tell from the photos that the water had been up, and as the saying goes "the River giveth, and the River taketh away".  Okay, I might have made that one up.  The wood pile we had back in December was gone, but there was a lot more left behind by the last flood.  Some of the pieces washed up could had destroyed a house with a direct hit.  Fortunately, that didn't happen.  The other thing we noticed missing was the old refrigerator from the front porch of the cabin.  We're pretty sure the river didn't get that one, so either Ron snagged it, or some local frito-bandito made off with it.  Oh well, it didn't work anyway (which is why it was on the porch to begin with).

Obviously we had a great fire, kicked off by a couple of boxes (understatement), and topped off later on with a 3 year old Christmas tree (kids, do NOT try this at home).  We did a good bit of clean up and pick up as the afternoon went on, and actually either piled up, or burned up a lot of what was laying around.

The water looked great for fishing, and we're usually catching this time of year.  Sadly, the only thing we actually caught was bait - lots of it.  At least the hellgrammites were active.  We thought for sure that this was to be the "first catch of the year" day.  Not to be.

We enjoyed a nice visit with Freddy, and caught up on a couple of stories.  It was nice to know we've been missed around the area.

Although it was kind of an early day, it was about as perfect a River Day as you could expect.  I'm grateful we got to get together at the camp for the celebration, and I'm thankful for my fellow Rivertarians to enjoy it with.

Since it's been such a long time, I'm posting a higher than normal amount of photos to record the event.

Happy River Day to all!

A little fire starter

Maybe not our best idea

Even Leo's privy took a hit

We found a couple of our pallets

Always water the tree!