Look what floated past our houseboat today!

I looked out and saw the Portland fire boat and it looked like someone was in the water, so I grabbed my camera.  They were about half a mile off, so the photo isn't great, but it looks like they are practicing with their rescue system.

--Brian

Here goes that log salvage barge again:

   I guess they are chasing after all of those thousands and thousands of logs that have been floating down the river for the past couple of weeks.  All that flotsam is a pain for most boaters, but 'tis an ill wind that blows no good.  I imagine these guys have been and will be pretty busy cleaning it all up.

--Brian

We have had a lot of rain in May and early June.  Now the dams are full and there's nowhere for all that water to go but past - and beneath - our house.  The high water washes a lot of debris off of the banks.  Sometimes whole, large trees will float by.  Today it is bank to bank with smaller flotsam. 

The rains have stopped and so maybe the river will start to recede now.

--Brian

Here is Passat.  According to the USCG registry she was built of steel in 1961.  And she still looks fine.

--Brian

Here's a snug little cruising sailboat.  I think the sign board on the side says Whiskey Jack.

--Brian

Got a break in the rain...

--Brian

I was working on some updates when I heard Bald eagles outside and it sounded like a bunch of them.  We went outside and saw three of them and heard a fourth.  Here are two of them that landed in the trees across the channel from us.  Sorry if they aren't too sharp, it was cloudy, getting dark and they are far away - the recipe for blurry photos.

--Brian

Janet has been feeding catfood to those injured geese.  It's mostly corn and seems to be better for fowl than for cats.  And the fish have learned to like it, too.  If you think fish can't learn, think again.  I think they see the geese "up there" on the surface and come up to wait with them.  It took weeks for them to learn, but they most certainly have done so.

I was curious what these fish were, so I dropped in a line with a salmon egg about two feet below a bobber and got this guy almost immediately.  It's really a Northern pikeminnow, but since they like catfood so much maybe we should be calling them catfish.

--Brian

They are working on a big boat house in the next marina up from ours.  Here they are moving the scaffolding around.

--Brian

It's been a busy summer for us and at the same time pretty slow on the water.  I haven't seen as many interesting boats as in the last couple of years, and the few I have seen I haven't had time to photograph and prepare for posting here.  Sorry.

Meanwhile, as far as I know the wildlife is not experiencing a recession.  Here are some geese that visited us for a few days.  There were actually more than a dozen and I have other photos.  Maybe some are even better than this one, but it will do for now:

This character is actually still hanging on the side of the house as I type.  Patient as a fisherman, but waiting for insects.  If he is patient enough he may get one of the termites that come out in the evening.  He's about 2" long right now, so I don't think he's fully grown.

--Brian