Labor Day at Delintment Lake

*This blog is for Aunts Wilma and Elna, along with Julie....so you can see what we were busy doing over the week-end.



We packed up our trailer and pick-up and headed east to meet the insurance man's parents at Delintment Lake for a fun Labor Day Week-end. They left Burns on Friday morning, and were waiting for us when we got there about dinner time that evening. This is their 5th wheel camper. They thought we could both fit in one camp spot (and save money) but when we got there we realized that we could not both fit on the gravel area. The camp host very graciously let us have a spot across the road for no additional charge.

Dad and Mom came over to supervise the backing in and setting up of our trailer.

Here we are, all set up and ready for some relaxation. Why is it we celebrate 'Labor Day' with no work? This was the view of the lake from our trailer...pretty isn't it?

I had made up menus before we left, shopped and done most of the cooking ahead. I love this time of year with all the fresh produce available. I made up an apple, blackberry cobbler which lasted us all week-end, and was really good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I also made up a zucchini chocolate cake for our daughter JoAnn to enjoy while we were gone, since she had to work. I had some zucchini from a friends garden since we are in a garden transition year, and this is our favorite way to use extra zucchini. I also made up some Cobb Salads for lunch one day...and Nancy if you are reading this, your lemon cucumbers were just delicious.

The insurance man does the breakfast cooking, if the breakfast is a heavy one...and here he is making up some sour dough pancakes from his Uncle Art's starter. Boy, they tasted good.

We enjoyed a variety of quiet pastimes, and took a walk around the lake with Dad and their dog 'Ami'. Some of the lake is surrounded by typical Eastern Oregon sage and bitter brush,

and some of it is marshy with reeds and grasses. This time of year was pretty brown and dry.

Along with the sagebrush are the juniper trees, and I thought the root system of this fallen juniper very intriguing. People make some very beautiful things from this gnarled wood.

There were also some beautiful ponderosa pines, a few of good size. I love the smell of the sun on the pines, and the sound of the breeze blowing through the needles.

There were a few wildflowers left, amidst the brown grass and twigs...

This was the common view on the north side of the lake...among the pines. There is a lot of dead wood down in the forest.

You can just see us walking along here can't you? A view from every side of the lake.

I found a few wild rose bushes next to the water...and the red spots are the rose hips. Pretty color against the water.

It was a pretty cold week-end so we didn't get to eat outside as much as we would have liked. But we did enjoy a couple of meals next to the firepit.

The insurance man brought along his 4-wheeler, and enjoyed several good rides into the surrounding Ochocco hills.

There is a small dock on the east side of the lake, and it almost always has a few people fishing. We didn't fish this trip, but we did walk around the lake every day, and Ami always enjoyed the outing.

Mom and I read, played scrabble and enjoyed a few indoors activities. I put some recent photos in an album, and she got to see all our summer pictures.

Hooray for campfires! They smell good, they cook the food, and they kept us warm! A very fun week-end, and we came home refreshed and blessed.