Davis Family Vacation (Part Two)

We had an excellent time visiting family in Montana last week!  The weather was pleasant, including the thunder and lightening storms that accompanied us on the final stretch of our drive.  There's nothing like driving on an almost deserted highway, in the middle of the night, during a thunder and lightening storm.  It was quite the experience. 

Our week away was great, and we had the best time catching up with family from Utah and Montana, who we don't get to see nearly enough.  We filled our time playing games, on the water canoeing, knee boarding, surfing!, wake boarding, riding wave runners, and during quieter times--relaxing on the beach with a book, or taking walks around the island.  Of course, all that playing required a few adjustments from the doctor!

Jeannie on the knee board!

My sisters, Amber, Tammy and Cassie

My oldest, Caleb and I

My youngest, Hunter knee boarding!

My son, Ammon

Davis cousins

It was such a good time!  I hope you are enjoying your summer and are getting the chance to rest, relax and enjoy the family that you don't get to see regularly!

Want to see part one of our vacation? 

Best in health, naturally,

Dr. Marc

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Davis Family Vacation (Part One)

Last week, I was away from the office, catching up on some much needed rest and relaxation with the family and extended family.  We headed East to Montana where my sister's family has a lake house.  On our way there, we stopped at Silverwood, an amusement park outside of Coeur d'alene, Idaho, for a full day of rides and water slides.  The family was spent by the time we headed out to drive the rest of the way to the lake house.  We spent the better part of the week, on the water, by way of wave runner or boat, or near the water, by way of a comfy lounge chair and a good book. 
Nothing rejuvenates and refreshes like a vacation away from cell and Internet service for a week!

A couple days into our arrival, we headed about ten minutes down the highway to the Ross Cedars (part of Kootenai National Forest), to take a scenic walk through the ancient forest.

Many of the cedars reach 8 ft. in diameter, and some say the beauty of these

ancient trees (as old as 400 years!) rival the great sequoias of

Northern California.

Our dancer, Olivia.

Most of the Davis family grand kids--minus four.

 I had suspicions we were traveling with a quirky group...

Davis Family :: Summer 2012

Montana is one of the most beautiful places to visit.

Best in health, naturally,

Dr. Marc

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2011: Looking Back

In many ways 2011 has been our best year ever at Davis Family Chiropractic, PLLC:

1) We have wonderful staff that take their jobs seriously (always striving to improve) and they serve professionally.

2) We have gone automated and mostly paperless.

3) We have been busier than ever this year and had more patient referrals than any previous year.

4) I believe we are getting better results than ever for our patients--thank you for your trust!

Looking back on personal highlights of 2011:

 1)  In one word: Busy.  So busy (which, of course is a good thing) that I daydreamed of vacationing on a handful of occasions.

2)  My wife was incredibly busy homeschooling our 4 kids, and drove A LOT as she shuttled our kids to their River Home Link classes 45 min one way SEVERAL times a week to its campus in Battle Ground, Washington.

3) Many hours of entertainment were extended to me as I watched all four kids AND my wife learning French via Rosetta Stone. It is quite a different process than how I studied French in HS. Merci beaucoup Madame Loubey!

4)  August was an exciting time as I took the family to Pleasant Grove, Utah for my Grandpa's 85th birthday party. He is a great example to me (and many others). I heard that when he found out a big party was being thrown for him and 300 guests he replied "Why are you making such a big deal about my 85th? I plan on living a lot longer!"

My grandparents

What were your 2011 highlights? 

Best in health,
Dr. Marc

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Feeling Adventurous This Weekend?

By Dr. Marc Davis

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to have a new experience (as an elementary student I loved fieldtrips…nothing has changed there) but 3:30am?

Some friends and I and some of our kids decided to spend Labor Day on the Oregon Coast crabbing. In 23 years of living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest I had never taken the opportunity to go crabbing.

We woke up at 3:30am, met our friends at 4:30am and were on the coast a couple hours later. We wanted to get there early to be there for high tide. Also, because it was a Labor Day, we wanted to beat the rush (both with traffic and renting our crab baskets and bait).

Some things to keep in mind from my perspective as an amateur crabber:

• You will need a license for anyone 14 and older (kids under 14 can crab for free).  You must get the license in Oregon such as at Bi-Mart or Sports Authority. It is $11.50 for a three day pass or $20.50 for an annual pass. You will need to know the Social Security number for anyone for which you want to get an annual pass, but not for the three day pass. I got an annual pass for myself; however I did not have my 15 year old son’s SS # on me and calling him did not provide the needed information so I settled for the three day for him.  One day passes are not available.  These are rates for Washington residents.  Oregon residents are presumably less.
• Garibaldi Marina in Garibaldi, Oregon is a popular spot to crab, and the people at the marina are professional and personable. You can rent a boat for about $60 (seats 6) for a few hours I am told. All the boats were reserved because of the holiday weekend and our spontaneity. Instead we went to a local pier and crabbed along with about 30 others.  Pier access was free.
• We rented our crabpots for $5 each and the bait (frozen fish) for $3.
• You will need a bucket filled halfway with the bay’s water for collecting your crabs. You may only keep male crabs over a certain size.  According to nwfish.com you can keep male crab larger than 5 3/4 inches across the back.  In Washington, the legal size limit must be at least 6 inches across the back.  Smaller than that, you must throw them back.  Check with the bait shop or the marina to be sure.  It seemed that we would catch 5 for every one that were “keepers.”  It is nice to buy the crab measuring tool available where you rent the crab nets for a under $3.
• Some of our group used frozen chicken legs which were well received by the crabs. Also you can buy smelly jelly that can make the lure even more attractive to crabs (the more pungent the better, apparently).
• Even tough it was early September, instead of sunglasses and sunscreen, we needed warm clothing. I was glad I’d brought a sweatshirt.
• Gloves such as the kind that are yellow used to clean the kitchen are helpful to not feel the pinch so hard (although I never got pinched, some in our group did without gloves and it hurt but usually did not seem to draw blood). Also the gloves are vital to prevent rope burn from quickly pulling in the crabpots.
• Bring a chair (and your patience and/or a good book or a friend to talk to)…it takes time. We were there on the pier from about 7am to 1pm (with a hot chocolate break somewhere in between). 
• The anticipation was fun.  One in our group caught 11 crab (the limit is 12 per license per day). My son and I caught five between the two crabpots that we had.
• Once we were home I realized that, being amateurs, we did not own the correct utensils to enjoy eating the crab. I had to make a last minute trip to Wal-Mart and for $2 bought nut/shellfish cracking tools and picks which I found in the sporting goods section.

FUN FACT:  To tell between Male & Female crabs look on their belly.

The female shape "looks like the US Capitol Building,"

while the male shape "looks like the Washington Monument."

Need to know how to prepare your crab?

Here's a YouTube video that is informative and will have you enjoying your crab quickly!

There's nothing like a crab feast!

Unless of course, you are allergic to shell fish.

Any adventures in store for you this weekend?

Best in health, naturally,

Dr. Marc Davis

First crab photo
Crab shell photos and information source.

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Crayfish...Not just in the Boondocks.

Care to insert some tunes for your read? 

Little Big Town mentions Crayfish in their song, Boondocks! 

During a recent sunny afternoon, the kids and I decided to go crawdad/crayfish catching. I believe their fun Uncle Nathan and his brother taught them how to find them a year or two back. Since then we have gone out on the Washougal River three or four times. It is a fun time in the sun and sure beats the kids playing X-Box!

One year, the older kids and their friends brought several home and cooked ‘em up in boiling water and ate ‘em up like mini lobsters. This year, however, we just caught them for the sport of it and then released them again.

Our kids and some friends (ages 4 to 15) had fun, even those terrified of being in the water with anything that could “get them” had a blast searching and pointing to where they saw one, like hunters cornering their prey.

Caleb releasing the crayfish back into the water.

Thank you Dan for taking pictures with your phone.

FUN FACTS: 

• Crayfish are farmed and are quite a lucrative business for many farmers across the nation.
• There are over 300 species of freshwater crayfish in the USA with different colors, sizes and temperaments
• Crayfish, when farmed are fed natural sources of food such as hay, grass and other vegetation.  They are also fed processed feed such as crayfish feed, sinking fish food, pellets and even dog food.
• Some crayfish, in the right living conditions, can grow to be as long as a dollar bill or larger!

picture and information source

Items needed for your Crayfish fun: sunblock, sunglasses and/or hat, swimsuit (you will get wet—the rocks can be slippery), a container such as a small cooler (emptied and filled with a few inches of the river water) to hold your catch, watersocks or sandals with a strap in the back (flip flops don’t work well) and a camera to record the fun.

Our favorite location: park at the Washougal skate park (old bowling alley) and follow the trail to the boat launch.

Have you come across any favorite free places to visit in the great NW, lately?

-Dr. Marc

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