Upgraded the Jeep Winch

The first item was forced by the remote winch cable receiver socket that was supposed to have five (5) pins. It had one broken off so the remote cable was useless without replacing the receiver socket. Since I was going to do that why not go wireless. I bought a new receiver socket and proceeded to install it. With that finished I ordered a wireless receiver and transmitter that works great, it came with two transmitters and about one hundred foot range, so after some serious getting things in place it works and I have not used the hardwire remote again. Below is a picture of the damaged hardwire socket with only four (4) of the five pins. And the second image is the wireless transmitter.

 

Should be 5 pins

Next I wanted to replace the wire cable on the winch with a synthetic line, which is stronger safer and lighter. Went out to a friends farm in Tenino and used his truck as an anchor to stretch the new line as we loaded in on the drum. What a difference in handling the new line versus the steel cable especially no little pieces of wire to poke your hands, I had a small tree I wanted to remove from the yard and the new line did its job!

Wall Drug Store South Dakota

On our trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore we stayed in Rapid City, We also went to the Badlands via back roads which worked out well as the way back to our hotel took us right by the Wall Drug store which has been there since 1931. You would not think the store could survive so far out off the beaten path but it has!! This image was taken from right in from of the store and I still wonder what is in those large silos (Silos are commonly used for bulk storage of grain, coal, cement, carbon black, woodchips, food products and sawdust)?? Google search says GRAIN! We brought home some reminders of that stop. I still drink coffee from the mug Sharon picked  out for me!!!!!

 

Rabbits this year

So for the last two years we have had a bumper crop of rabbits. I was told no coyotes equals more rabbit population. This little one thinks I can not see it but even if it does see us it does not run away. It gets along with the ducks, Blue Jays and Scrub Jays but tolerates the squirrels. With a pasture next door there is plenty of grass and food to support them.

Baby rabbit

Snow near the Yakima River

This image was taken a few years back when I was headed for the Tri Cities area while working. As I drove down the canyon along the Yakima River this was the view of the distant hills. The hills you see are the same ones from an earlier post of the dry hills of Eastern WA with the video Oak creek series 9. The terrain is diverse and changes with the seasons, wet and muddy in the rain season, icy and slick in the snow season and washboard the rest of the time. Still the area has its beauty. Also the Yakima is a well known catch and release fly fishing only river with many guided float trips and some shore fishing also.

Winters blanket

It was cold

Added this image taken years ago of a float trip starting in the Yakima river canyon near Ellensburg on its way to a day of Fly Fishing and fun!

Rubber raft on the Yakima

Drift fishing

 

Using Paint Shop Pro converting old B&W image to a color Image

Playing around with the Paint Shop Pro program and colorizing a B&W image to color was a challenge at first. A lot of experimenting with color selection and using layers to accomplish the end product. Since this image was taken around the early to mid 1950’s I could not remember the color of my shirt or pants, the hat was easy as I almost always wore a straw cowboy style hat. The color of my horse was easy as I will always remember her color.

 

B&W to color

The dry hills of eastern WA Going from Green River to Ellensburg

This was an all day drive of over 100 miles. it was a lot rougher and steeper than the video shows as near the end of the video I had to stop and let the transmission cool down. The road was a washboard, the smaller rocks were the size of 8 balls (pool). Had we had turned west and headed to higher elevations we would have been back in the trees and near the old elk camp where I used to hunt. But it was a fun trip all things considered. I hope to make one more trip to the old A frame camp where my friends and I spent a lot of time.

Adding test for new posts

Brooklyn School to Raymond WA

So our last Jeep run was from the town of Oakville via the Town of Brooklyn and then using the Smith creek road to get to Raymond WA a small logging and fishing community. There we ate lunch at a diner now called the C&C Diner. The food was great and plentiful with great service. This video is about fifteen minutes long cut from over an hour of video

 

 

Recent trip to Gifford Pinchot forest with friends

This was a day long trip and getting home late in the evening. We were guided to the spots where these images were shot by my former boss who had been going to this area for many years. The roads are really washboard in nature but any reasonable vehicle can make this trip. It is worth the trip and we did not see any other people for most of the day, but do enter the area with a full tank of gas.

 

One of the first lakes we visited.

 

This is the entrance to Muddy Meadows with a short walk giving you a fantastic view of Mt Adams

Mt Adams mirrored in the lake!

This is the drainage for the lake

This is the other side of the drainage and I am told loaded with Crawdads.

A nice late setting on another lake!

My favorite of the day Mt Adams with lenticular clouds covering her peak!