Monthly Archive: September 2010

What a great last weekend of summer!   Michelle and John invited us to spend the weekend at their Tahoe cabin. Even better was that we could bring along the dogs. Even better than that was that we were all going in John’s truck!  It reminded me a little of the Tahoe road trips of my youth.  Two guys, three girls, a few dogs, booze bag, and 200 miles between home and Tahoe fun.  We hit the road around 7pm on Friday night. John drove, Jimmy road shotgun while Barb Michelle and Olivia sat in the back with the dogs. Tazo (Downing dog) is a seasoned traveller.  he pretty much sat on either Olivia or Michelle’s lap the whole time.  Our dogs on the other hand were squirmy. Between the girls and back and me in the front, we dealt with our dogs who could never really settle down. Either way it was a good drive up. Not much traffic so we were able to cruise into south shore around 11pm. After a nightcap and a rest we hit the sack.

Woke up to sunny skies saturday morning.   John and I had packed our bikes so we could do a ride. From the Downing cabin  to Fallen Leaf lake was just over 6 miles.  It was early enough in the day and late enough in the summer that there were virtually no other people on the trails. LOVE IT ! Plus, having John leading the way was great. he knows all the secret and hidden trails through forests and meadows.   We did some paved trail  and single track and eventually made our way to the north shore of Fallen Leaf. What a beautiful  spot.  Since Fallen Leaf Lake is at 6377 elevation, I was sucking wind so I was very grateful that we took a little break. While taking a break John is telling me about this cool little water fall on the other side of the lake.  We single tracked it back to the road and took it up the west side of the lake to the south shore, passed the marina then up a little ways to where the waterfall was cascading down some rocks and eventuallly into the lake. Nice spot!  Great ride!!  Thanks John !!  We couldn’t spend all day out in God’s greatness without the girls, so we headed back to the cabin.  After a quick shower it was deli sandwiches and off to the dog beach!

Perfect weather at Talac Historic site. We grabbed a piece of beach and proceeded to chill. Ahhhhh. Our little dogs, who are still learning the whole “social animal” thing, did pretty good with the other dogs at the beach.   We let them off leash when there were no dogs too close. They liked running in the sand and got close to the water but wouldn’t go in like other water dogs. Eventually, with some coaxing, we were able to get both of them in deep enough to where they were dog paddling. YAY !! We spent more than a few hours at the beach, then took the dogs for a walk around the Talac site.  I think we were the last group to leave the beach as the sun was setting behind us.

We capped off a great day by dropping the dogs back at the cabin and going to have a nice dinner at the Lakeside Inn and late nite bowl of ice cream back at the Downings. We all slept great that night!

Sunday was lazy day and get away day. Slept in, woke up, went on a coffee run, then tried to decide what to do. Just a kick back morning on the back deck.  We finally made up our minds to take the long way home via highway 89/88 . A beautiful drive that takes us by several alpine lakes.  Our plan was to check out PiPi Valley campgrounds about 6 miles off the highway. Young John Downing spent a summer of his youth out in the backwoods clearing land. We all thought it would be fun to see the rustic (no electric, no plumbing, no nothing) cabin where he lived for a summer. The drive into the PiPi Valley was something in itself. John’s “cabin of his youth” was off an old dirt road beyond the last campsite at the campground. We never did get to see the cabin. The road was closed, gated and locked. When we hopped the fence and started walking up the road, a truck was driving down. They didn’t seem too interested in the “cabin of his youth” story. I guess no trespassing means no trespassing. Probably had a meth lab up there they didnt want us messing with. Anyway, we spent a little time at the PiPi daycamp ground, then back in the car for the rest of the drive home.

Pulled into our driveway right around 7pm.   Lulu was sitting on the front step waiting for us! 

The next door neighbors have a little pond in their back yard.  During the early summer we started to hear frogs croaking in the evening.  Sort of nice to hear the little “ribbit ribbit” as the sun is going down. 

Then Lulu (our cat) started to bring them home.   All the frogs Lulu brought home were not only alive but in good condition.  Seems Lulu doesn’t want to hurt them,  just play (torment) with them.  Of course,  Lulu does her hunting in the middle of the night, so its not until morning that we wake up to find some poor little frog hiding in a corner, or behind the desk, or under the couch.  Lulu always tips us off because she is in full “hunt mode”.   At first I would catch the little guy and toss him back over the fence and into the pond.  Then it began to get out of hand.  We were doing the catch and release several times per week.  Sometimes there were two frogs in the house in the morning!  Get the dogs involved and it can get pretty crazy doing a frog round up.   Lulu was quite proud.

So rather than throwing them back only to have Lulu get them again, we started to bring the frogs over to our friends John and Michelle’s house. They have a lovely backyard with a little pond,  and when they heard about the frogs they were eager to ablige. They had been over one night and heard the frogs croaking and thought it would be cool addition to their pond.  So its a match made in heaven – Frog heaven – And I really think that’s where the frogs think they are. After spending terrifying time in a Lulu’s clutches, then overnight in a jar in my office, when they jump into the pond at the Downings, it IS heaven!

To date we have release four frogs to the Downing pond. I snapped a picture of  number four perched on a reed in Downing heaven.  Nice work Lulu!