Saturday December 7, 2013 Monte Rio CA.
Not a day to mechanic, for sure
Ok, today I was going to install the new exhaust manifold in my van. I got up and started prepping for the job. I put an electric heater in the van and lite the propane one in there too.
Then I came in the house and finished making some delicious ice cream I started last night. It was French vanilla. I made the custard for it last night and added real seeds from a vanilla bean I had. Yum.
I know, what the heck am I doing making ice cream with this weather? Never mind. :O)
The ice cream turned out great, I only made half of it so far, means I have another half bowl in the fridge to freeze up soon. I’m thinking of adding some strawberry preserves to that half.
Anyway, I only ate a little of it.
When I went back outside to check the van and get some more stuff together, it was real cold, just under 40 degrees F. and the wind was blowing, gusting, burr.
Or maybe I should say, disgusting. I went back in the house to warm back up and decided this was not a good day to work on the van. Back out in the yard to turn the heaters off in the van and came back in the house to warm up again.
Ok, seems like I should go kayaking instead. Jenner was reported to be real windy, so Monte Rio it would be.
Of course, I put on some real warm clothes for the occasion and was down at Monte ‘Rio about 1PM.
The sun was out and it was cool with a light breeze. I put my boat in the water and headed down stream.
Some Steelhead fishing going on too
There was a boat in the slot as I started down river
It was a guy named Darwin, which I knew so we shot the bull for a bit. He said he hadn’t had any luck.
I continued on down the river.
A great blue heron flew off as I approached it.
I paddled down to Villa Grande and found a place out of the wind and in a sunny spot.
This is the spot where I spent most of the day, or at least a couple hours. This is looking back up the river from the Villa Grande Hole.
Since I was sitting there, not moving a lot, some mud hens came up pretty close to me, feeding away.
Here is one of the mud hens.
Different kinds of critters to watch today
Actually today, most of the critters I saw were people. These two ladies seemed to be real occupied doing something on the Villa Grande beach. I watched them for about an hour. They seemed to be cutting some breaches and planting them right there in the bushes. In this picture, they just stopped for a bit and the one lady is telling the other some story, talking with her hands a lot.
Rene blows past me
A bit latter I heard a motor boat coming up the river, which I knew was Rene, as I saw his truck and trailer in the parking lot. I thought he would stop when he saw me, but he didn’t see me and zipped right on by. I thought that was a little weird that he didn’t stop so we could shot the bull a bit about fishing. I think the reason he didn’t stop was he was too busy running his boat as you have to watch carefully for shallow gravel when going that fast, something I don’t have to do in my kayak.
I was wondering what the water temperature was and remembered I have a thermometer on a little emergency whistle I have, so I found it in my pack and measured the water temp. Fifty degrees and the air temp was also fifty degrees. Warmer here than my house at less then forty, so see, I’m not so stupid going kayaking today. The water in the river helps to keep it warmer.
After a couple hours down there, I started back up the river at a leisurely pace, of course.
The wind had died by now, but it was getting colder.
This the view as I started back up the river toward Monte Rio.
I passed this great blue heron. Notice it’s feathers are fluffed out because of the cold.
Just below Monte Rio, I noticed there was another boat in the slot. I knew Darwin went on home around two Pm so it wasn’t him.
Two talkative fishermen
Two guys, Steve and Chis. I talked with them a bit. They had just seen a couple big fish swim by them. They had also talked with Rene as he came by. Rene told them he hooked two fish. One released and the other a keeper. We talked for a bit and then I went on up to the launch ramp at Monte Rio and pulled my boat out for the day.
The Monte Rio boat ramp.
Just before pulling out, I checked the water temp again. Forty degrees F. for the water and the air, it was getting colder and I could feel it.
Home for a hot fire, you bet.
Nice day, even with the bit of cold.