Neither of us had any appointments today so last night GW and I decided to take a Mental Health Day. We both slept in a bit this morning then read the paper & drank coffee until about 11:00 or so. Then it was time to hit the water.

On the way there we picked up some chicken for lunch, took some pics of a perfect truck for Doggg, then hit the water. It was beautiful. Very few other boats out, about mid 90's, zero winds.

We went to a spot we haven't gone to in a long time and dropped the hook.



Here's an interesting boat that passed by. It's a cruise ship out of Portland that comes up the Columbia then up the Snake River to Lewiston. Spendy bugger...a couple thousand for the week cruise, but I understand they treat you pretty well.

That cruise ship looks nice but I bet your digs is a better setup

Very nice, the admiral and I are taking next Monday off to do a similar relaxing day on the water.

At first glance, I read, GW and I played hockey today.

I thought maybe GW was looking for a creative way to put a hurtin' on you!

Hookey good, hockey bad.

GW and I went for a walk this evening and it turned out to be much better than we expected.

This is what the sunset looked like when we started...


We walked down along the river to a place where there was a beaver den and also where a neighbor told us he'd seen the red fox family. GW and I had seen the male last year but hadn't seen him lately. Here's what we found....

Here's the den with two pups playing outside. Not sure where mom and dad were, but we were able to get pretty close to the pups. The pics are a little shaky because I was on 18x zoom on the camera, and the light was a bit low.



Animal lover that she is, GW couldn't resist 'talking' to the pups. One of them crawled up the bank to see what she was up to. The pup is about 15' from her when I took this.


We walked on down to where the beaver hut is and this is what it looked like.


We saw three different beavers swimming around and I got shots of two of them. Only this shot came out enough to see what they are.


As we were getting ready to head home I got this sunset shot. This is pretty typical of the sunsets we have in this area.


These shots aren't up to the standard that Troop has set, but they're not too bad for a rookie with a cheapie camera. Hope you like them.

Those beavers did a good job on the graffiti.

Great pics! You sure live in a beautiful area. Gotta love the simple things in life. I remember those, before teenagers...

greats pics. can;t believe how close to baby fox gw was able to get. i need a mental health day or twelve myself. unfortuantely, the boat's out fo the water getting new wheels at the moment.

What a beautiful area and some great pics. A mental health day, sounds much better than hooky. I am taking all next week off to spend on the boat so maybe that will help.

Any pictures of the truck?

I need a mental health day as well.

Beautiful spot to set the hook! Nice shots GFC!
Thanks!

Here it is:

http://www.boatingabc.com/forums/ubbthre...html#Post422148

Great pics GFC. I could use a mental health day....

Great shots of the foxes! Always good to have a camera ready when the moment arrives.

Love the pics GFC
Great post

First time I see your boat. Wow. Love the shape. That is something I can see myself into in 15 years.

Nice fox pics.

GFC and Admiral,
You've done it once again, great pics !! I loved the pics of the foxes and the beavers. We saw a beaver swimming around in the Ogden river last summer when we were eating at "The Oaks" restraunt. It's located right on the river. Admiral and I saw a red fox on base two weeks ago crossing the street headed down towards the pond area. I'd heard there were foxes there, but had never seen any.
You guys live in a beautiful area. I keep saying that I need to get up your way....
Thanks again for the great pics.

LBS

We went back out there a little earlier tonight to see if the light would be better. It was, and I got a few more pics. Still no sign of the parents, just these two pups sitting outside their den. The den is to the right of where the two are sitting. They knew we were there and weren't spooked at all by our presence.

It's just amazing to me that these wild animals live right along the river. When we bought this house a little over a year ago we never in our wildest dreams ever imagined we'd be seeing things like this right in our own neighborhood. Pretty amazing.

Thanks everyone for the comments on the pics and the boat. I'm still a basic rookie with a cheapo camera compared to Troop and the shots he takes, but I'm learning.

Great shots GFC!!

Are you sure those aren't adults and not kits? I assume you zoomed in for the photos, so its a little hard to get a good size perspective on those guys.

Just as an FYI, the coat color changes to red after about 65 days, so if they are kits, they are at least 2 months old. Average whelping dates for red foxes is March 30, so that may help to age them. Our wildlife vets here actually age kits by measuring the length of the feet (in mm). So, if GW can catch one, get out your metric ruler and get a quick measurement. Send it to me and I'll cross reference it with one of our aging tables.

Great shots GFC, the sunset shots are gorgeous, beautiful area. Nice wildlife shots as well, thanks for sharing.

Great nature shots. Loved the sunset but the foxes are my favorite (that and the one of your SeaRay ).

Semper Fi 75

Nice.

Nice shots, looks like a nice way to play hookey.

Fox pups are great. There's a den about 300 feet behind my house and we see an adult that steals the tastiest bits out of our compost pile now and then. Have not seen any pups though.

My favorite shot was of your boat. WOW!

Also nice wildlife shots. Looks and sounds like you enjoyed yourselves.