lots of rain in Chilliwack

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The month of November is always a heavy duty rainfall time ......although it does make for more fishing opportunities ......because of the crowded conditions on the local rivers these days some fishers welcome the downpour because they can fish right close to home and not have to endure the bad manners and poor sportsmanship that seems to be happening too often on the local flows.

airport cafe

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Pie maker and waitress at the famous Chilliwack Airport Cafe enjoy their break on a beautiful late September day.

lunch at the river

Yesterday we took our lunch to the Vedder River.......what a gorgeous late September day....I reckon it went to 30 degrees today....the river is low , very clear and full of Pink Salmon....we could see hundreds of not thousands of "humpies" passing through the run we were at and heading on up through the shallows....every second year or "odd" year we are treated to this usually large run of salmon.....as you can see many fishers attepting to catch a few for the barbeque. Since the DFO opened them to sportsfishing a few years ago many new anglers have come on to the scene as they are rather easy to catch.

moretoons

toontime

another flat earther

Charlie had a great day

Charlie is on the left

Growing up in Chilliwack..........1951

It was spring...for the last few years I had spent a lot of my spare time fishing the creeks I could ride my bike to....some times I met a few other kids that liked to do the same thing...and had some enthusiastic fishing partners...One April day I was fishing for trout in the Little Chilliwack Creek near Prairie Central Road and .....I met Charlie Fowler, same grade, same school....for ever......He was alone and the creek wasn't giving up many trout that day...he said...Let's go to Elk Creek...well okay, where is that...just out to the end of Prairie Central Road.....hmm, yeah....I had a crapper of a bike that I used for my paper route ..it had a huge carrier and was front heavy....at was also fitted with an old rusty (pinching) seat....we got to the Semiault creek crossing on Prairie central road (about a mile)..where I had excellent luck...caught a few 12 inch trout ..then we headed on to Elk Creek....after about 7 or 8 miles of riding my old bike standing on the pedals..I was really ready for a stop......(I remember the ride ...owwtch...Charlie had a nice bike) well, we finally get to the Creek...wow, this is nice... a clear stream tumbles out of the mountains.. under the road bridge.....then through the farmland to Big Ditch Road....Charlie says we can fish all below this bridge...so we start in a big pool that has a man made wooden falls below it..I never did find out why that obstruction was built...We did not think any fish could make those falls but we gave it the pool a few casts...hey..I feel my line jerk ..I am tossing a spinner and a worm...the pool is deep...I see this flash then realize I am onto something that is not a small trout....I can see the fish twisting after he stopped my spinner...I hardly got time to faint and the fish came off....I was in shock....oh no....then the the big fish jumped 7 times...we counted....what a site....hopping around in this little pool....then silence...we go into a nutty conference about this event.....that was a Steelhead ....about 7 lbs......I had not caught one yet but I sure knew what they were......what was a Steelhead doing in this little creek...how did it jump up those falls...We try for a while longer and decide to fish below the falls....Right away I get a bite...It is a big trout about 15 inches...it looks suspiciously like a rainbow as well...then I caught a keeper Cutthroat trout....Well it's all in the bag for Chuck..he is havin a bad day....we head back and my trip is miserable.....what a crate....I had no Idea it was that far to Elk Creek...anyway ...........we stop again at that Semiault bridge....jees I catch a couple more.....this is crazy...( no catch and release in those days ...I kept em all.....)...Well..... that's it I guess...let's go home ...I can feel that Chuck is bummed out....we head home.....At airport rd....the Semiault Creek crosses the road again.....it has never been any good for fishing ...nobody fishes there.....but we decide to try it.....I am fishing below the bridge.....it sucks....but I hear Charlie HOOP..and a splashing hollow sound coming from under the bridge...I put my rod down and rush to the top side of the bridge....Charlie comes up the bank holding probably the cleanest, brightest, large cutthroat trout I have ever seen in those creeks....what a beaut....(I wonder if he got a picture)....I don't know how big it was but it was a wonderful trout....and all of a sudden we got very smiley and babbly ...and Charlie had a great day...we have talked about that many times over the years.....one of those precious days that we will never forget..............I will send him this.....Chuck and I seemed to be in the same room all through school.

boom

Growing up in Chilliwack..............1952

14 years old...We live in a old house at the corner of Broadway and Yale Rd....The house has a large old basement with a big coal and wood furnace .....the wide pipes stuck out of it and reached out for various rooms in the house....it really was an ugly old brute....and it took up lots of room...the basement was a base ment for storage of stuff....preserves, coal ,wood and all the things the old place needed for its maintenance....it was a dark musty place.....there was a part of it that was dirt...there were a couple of pull cord lights and they were sorely needed to get light in there ,even on bright days....and there was stuff in there from past tenants...jars , old dishes, assorted tea cups , nick nacks, boards .....junk that might come in handy some day...That's the way old basements were for the most part. There was a sort of room at the back that I cleaned up and I used as stinky rumpus room...I think I even slept there a few times.....Well, one rainy Fall day Mum asked me to go down and put some coal on the fire....okay,okay...I go down the stairs from the back porch and approach the beast, then I open the heavy door....Oh...It's out...the fire is out...hmmm...what would a good player do...whats this ?..in this jar...smells like coal oil...hey...I will get this puppy going......I stand on my tippy toes so I can peer in the opening better...yay....there is some red......I won't have to light it...ok...ok...we'll just toss a bit in there...toss, toss.....no........ ok a little more then....hmmm ....why won't it catch.....pause...wats goin on in there, as I stick my dum face closer to the hole................BANG...or BOOM would be more like it...jees it blew me backwards....Mum came running down the steps.... Gary.....what...... Yow its hot....I run by her and head up to the bathroom sink....ohh ,nice cool water......... ohh, that's goooooooooood...Mum is bumping into herself...but manages to get it together...she phones Dr. Patten and he says to come right to his office....meanwhile I pour on the water....I look in the mirror...gawd who is that dirty red faced baboon with no eyebrows .......we had great neighbors there and mum quickly got a car ride for us....Doc has his usual dry humor and made me sure that I knew exactly how stupid I was....Good ol Doc....he patched me up many times over 18 years...he put this wonderful white cream on my face...ooooooooooooo it felt so good...cool ,cool...the sting went away immediately....then out come the bandages ...he does me up like a mummy....complete with nose and eye holes...I don't care...it feels so good....Well you gotta wear that for two or 3 days kid... you will have fun explaining this to your pals....was he right...oh ya..Hey Scaley what happened to you?.Did you see Gus..he looks like a mummy.....I really should have a Darwin Award for that caper.........but luckily the burns were of a minor nature and my eyebrows grew back in a week or so...I don't know if that was a good lesson.......but it was a lesson

these guys get around

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Flat earthers show thier versitality as they are pictured here having a lunch break.Today they are donating thier time to building an addition on the Chilliwack Library...... well maybe that is not all true but it makes about as much sense as the idea that workmen would be sitting there chowing down while working on the Empire State Building........beware of the pictures sent in email letters as being some wonderous happening....most of them are fiddled with photo shop.

the way grama does

This little guy is the grandson of good friends of ours.....grampa sent me a few pictures taken on one of their weekly outings to our surrounding countryside ......

I thought this one was very special and I would like to share it with whoever happens to tune into this blog of mine...it is not staged or photo shopped like most of my pictures....

He is taking in the surroundings the way grama does it because that obviously is the way to really learn stuff.....

flat earth character

this ol house

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We lived in this house .... in 1943-44-45 .......I don't think there has been anything done to since then....anyway, I reconstructed it to what I think it may have looked like when my family lived in it so long ago......it is all cedar shingles and as you can see kinda yellow.......I can remember standing behind that picket fence and discussing the exciting end of the war with my neghbourhood friend, Gary Hogg........We were 7 tears old. There really was a pretty Lillac tree in front. When Mr. Weeden( a local realtor) came to collect the monthly rent, mom would have 13 dollars cash ready for him....I thought that was pretty reasonable....I suggested that to mum and she said that it was plenty. Dad mechaniced in a Plymouth dealership up the block....Johnson Palmer Motors.....the post office is there now.....I think about him coming home for lunch at noon and always a lie down for 15 minutes before heading back to work....there was a whistle blown at 12 noon ...the source was Valley Laundy at Mary st. and Wellington ave. ... Dad often kept a few chickens in a pen right behind the garage...not many regulations then....the house is right behind the post office on Fletcher st.....The garage was used to store sawdust...the fuel of preference in those days......I thought I would find a picture of a sawdust burner, to give an idea to the youngsters what that is about....hey, I could not find one anywhere....I reckon they were only popular in our area...sooo I have illustrated the thing.......a hopper is fastened to the side of the stove ....then sawdust gravity feeds into the burn box...yup it was a chore to fill the sawdust pails and keep a couple handy.....dad would lift em and pour it into the hopper ..it's a cool way to use all that sawdust that was produced by local mills.....people used them until 1957 when the natural gas pipeline came through to the south....

lazytoday

busy model A picture

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rusty bucket I found in the woods

Here is a rusty bucket I found in the woods while driving around on the Internet...so I took a box of digital tools and paint and spruced the old can up a little....it took a lot of cyber bondo and a pail of surfing blue but it looks not too bad now....amazing what can be done with these dang computers.....yup


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I have no idea what the make of the car is...umm I think its English...but I put the steering wheel on the left anyway...just in case someone wants to drive it in Canada.....

whats that noise?

This big ol dandy is a 47 caddilac....I had it for about a year in 1957-8.....It was fun but just cost to much to drive it......some kids just don't learn....I had it for a few months before I discovered where the heater was....I did not think it had one but in the Fall I discovered a button I had not pressed yet.....low and behold two of em under the seats with great big fans ...what was that humming all about?....oh ...that's where the heater is.....duh......in 1958 I traded it on a 50 plymouth....

for a while

I found a red 47 chev and photo shop painted it to resemble a green one that I owned
in late 1956......I replaced the 47 plymouth that was stolen ( a few blogs back) and drove it for a few months before selling it to have some funds to travel to New Zealand with....I bought it and sold it for 500 dollars