Schoonover Farm Blog

So we were able to go to the Blues Festival after all.  Tom got Dahlman Pump and Well Drilling to come out on Tuesday.  They determined that it was the impeller in the pump which was bad, and the well was fine.  So they installed a new pump, and we had water!

Because I had spent Monday trying to get alternative water for our home, animals and garden, I hadn’t packed for our trip.  So Wednesday we frantically packed and headed out.  We got to Concrete at 6:00 and stopped to get Annie’s Pizza.

Then we headed over North Cascades Pass.  We arrived around 8:00, met our friends Jeff and Anne, and were able to enjoy a sunset.

That night though there was a cougar on our pasture camera at home.  So that made me nervous.  I asked our farm-sitter to put the sheep in the barn the next morning.  We were thinking that the calf should be all right with two horned cows looking after him, but I was more concerned about the sheep.

Anne and Jeff took off early to get in line at the Blues Ranch.  Here’s our van Bluesie at the campground before we left.

We found a great spot to camp in the trees and shade.  Pam and Tommy met us there, and we all set up our campsite.  We had a shared kitchen canopy, and Tom grilled shish kabobs for dinner.

Friday we went into Winthrop to Three Fingered Jack’s which is our tradition.  Pam has been in a pool league.  So she and Tom played some pool.

But what we never realized is that Tommy and Jeff are amazing pool players.  So that was fun watching them play.

We returned to the Blues Ranch and headed to the venue to watch some music Friday evening.

This is the schedule for the weekend.

Friday evening we saw Garret T. Willie.  We could hear the Rumble from our camp while eating dinner.  Then Tom and I watched the Dusty 45’s from the lawn.

Saturday morning started with Harrell ‘Young Rell’ Davenport.  He was very good.

We could hear Jo Miller and Ariel Posen from our camp.  Then we returned to watch Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble.  They were just amazing.  It was so much fun dancing to their music.

 

Next came Sue Foley who is a favorite of Tom’s.  She put on an amazing show.

 

 

She announced she was selling her book Guitar Women.  I was able to get a copy and after the show she signed it for us.

Then came Southern Avenue.  They put on quite a show and were fun to watch.

 

 

After the show I checked out the river and RV camping area.  It was pretty.

They were getting the stage ready Sunday morning and playing “Dark Side of the Moon” which is the custom.

Sunday morning was Gospel Summit.  This was mostly Southern Avenue.  But Sean McDonald, their brother, joined in and was incredible.

 

We headed back to our camp for lunch.  I convinced my campmates to sample my homemade root beers to determine which was best.  They all agree #3 was the best.

Then it was time for Too Slim and the Taildraggers.  He has long been a favorite of ours.  Plus it brought back a memory when William saw him for the first time with grampa.

Too Slim has a new bassist, and he played some songs we hadn’t heard in a while.  I apologize, but there was dirt on my phone’s lens.  Also sometimes you can hear my bad signing voice.

“Stories to Tell”

“Trouble”

“Wishing Well”

“Letter”

“Blood Moon”

“Mississippi Moon”

“Fortune Teller”

“Cowboy Boot”

The log that had once been a central focus of the stage had been removed for upgrades.  But now a piece of it has become a guitar.  It will be raffled off at next year’s festival.  I think this is a great idea.

Sunday evening Tom escorted Anne back to the music.  We hadn’t really been able to hear the 2 acts after Too Slim from the camp due to neighbor’s generator noise.

The crowd had changed in our absence.

Next was Shinyribs.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they were incredible.  They got everyone up dancing and signing.  So fun!

 

Then we headed to the Beer Garden to listen to Crunk Monks who were great and then Too Slim jamming with Peter Dammann and Dave Miller.  They were amazing.

So that was my Winthrop experience.  The weather was decent, and I was able to an access shade easily so that helped.  There was reconnecting with friends and lots of great music.

We went to our Boles Aero trailer in the mountains to make repairs.  Far too many mice have been getting in, and it was time.  We decided to mesh the whole bottom of the trailer to try to prevent any future ingress.  Here is Tom under the trailer starting the process,

After putting mesh under the front of the trailer, Tom tilted it, and we were able to access the back.  We had dug the dirt out from under the back too to give extra space.  I was on the shovel quite a bit.

Monday evening we took time off the root for the USA football team against Belgium.  I had made Old Fashioned for us and used some pretty cool stir sticks.  Despite these efforts, USA didn’t do well and lost the game.

I took Ryeleigh for long walks each morning as well as on some of the afternoons and evenings.  We  happened by Steve’s gravestone on Tuesday morning.  You could still see Piper’s flowers (now dried) and stones.

Tom concreted in new supports for the back of the trailer.  And we made sure it was level.

He did the same in the front.

Ryeleigh and I did another walk in the afternoon, and I was scoping out the foliage.  This was a gorgeous flower on our walk.

I also found some berry filled scat.  It didn’t seem big enough for a bear.  Tom thinks it might have been from a coyote.

The bushes have really grown in after the fire destroyed the trees now > 10 years ago.  It almost looks like a planted native garden.  It is all so pretty.

I did make time to knit while watching the World Cup.  This was for the Switzerland and Columbia game.  So far I have knitted sheep in my scarf for James, Spike, Jocko, Diddley, Jemima, Hershey, Abbey, Jewel, Mutiny. Jethro, Lonny, Rhett, Donna and Logan.  As I took this photo though, I realized that I was knitting the sheep in the wrong orientation.  I briefly thought about keeping it, but I decided I was a good knitter and I ripped it out and started over.

On the Wednesday morning dog walk, we happened upon the site of the now burnt down castle Greg built. It is really growing over.  The view is still nice though.

We were flushing quite a few quail out of the bushes.  But we disturbed an owl into a tree branch by the creek too.

Back at the trailer, we were more level and working on more supports for the front of the trailer.

Here’s the side view with the extra support and more level.

On the Wednesday afternoon dog walk, it almost felt like we were walking on an old wagon trail.  It wasn’t though, just a quad trail.  But it felt primitive.

More of the pretty bushes filling in the hillside.

I was using my PictureThis app to identify some plants I didn’t know.  Here’s what I found:

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By Wednesday afternoon the Boles Aero was pretty much fixed.  Just some construction clean up needed.

After dinner we watched antennae TV.  On Wednesday we saw 8 Days to the Moon and Back.  It was a cool program about the Apollo 11 mission with a lot of original footage and photographs.  It was pretty cool.

Thursday morning, Ryeleigh and I headed to the old Settlers’ cabin that had also burnt.  Pine trees are starting to grow where it had been.

On the way back, I noticed a pine tree that had recently toppled.  It had been quite windy the night before so that may have been the cause.  It was sad to see though.

Here’s the build sheet for our trailer, built in 1969.  Now hopefully it will last a lot longer.

I had been raking up the dead grass and pine cones around the trailers and surviving trees.  Here it is after my efforts.  The hope is that if there’s a spark in the area, it will not start a fire and burn our remaining trees.  Hopefully the effort pays off.

I knit and watched the France and Morocco game.

Tom and Ryeleigh also watched.

Then in the evening Ryeleigh and I walked the west portion of the property.  We visited an area we hadn’t been to before.  It was dramatic.

The evening sun looked nice on the Boles, now with the construction debris moved out.

Yesterday evening the twilight was beautiful and peaceful.

This morning we were packing to leave.  Here is the view from Dad’s cabin’s loft of the Boles.  Everything seems fixed now.  No signs of mice after two days so that is a good news.