Winter Wonderland

Since I last had a chance to sit down and write Winter has shown up in a big way. Our area got hit with a big storm right as the kids were ready to go back to school after the Christmas break. The long-time residents say the worst in 20 to 30 years.  So, save for two days, there was an extra week of snow days and I was about ready to lock myself in the bathroom just to have 10 minutes of silence. Even Kevin was home for a good chunk of it as his office flooded so he worked from home while they dried it out. Thankfully everything is slowly getting back into a routine. I took a lot of photos of this, that, and whatever from our winter wonderland so I put it all in a slideshow to share…enjoy!

Babes in the Woods

We went wood cutting this past weekend. The weather was great and we had use of a friend’s pickup and it seemed the opportune time. Kevin decided to go up outside Ketchum where there was a fire two years back and there is tons of firewood within easy reach of the road, so Saturday morning we loaded up the kids, stopped off at the Flying-J for what the kids have dubbed “trucker breakfast” (aka Hostess chocolate donuts and Gatorade) and drove north.

We had everything we needed for a successful day of woodcutting, but there is always that one detail you forget. For us it was a change of clothes for the kids. I knew we’d all be dirty and dusty by the time the day was over but I figured we’d all be filthy so who cares? Unfortunately, I forgot to factor in water. See we parked up this canyon that had a creek…you know where this is going?

It was a teeny tiny creek with just a little  trickle of water this late in the season, but that was all it took. By the time Kevin got the first tree down the kids were making ‘Caveman Glue’ (aka mud) to build an epic mudding arena for their monster trucks. Realizing my mistake when they asked for something to scoop water with I had issued futile warnings to stay dry and not get mud all over their clothes….like that worked. Both of them ended up with wet shoes trying to scoop water out of the creek, so they took those off, which in turn got their socks dirty and wet so those went next. Then Jack splashed mud on his shirt, and being the loving sister she is and not wanting him to get in trouble, Emilie had him take it off and  ‘washed’ it in the creek for him getting her sweatshirt sleeves soaked in the process.’’ We’re not even there 30 minutes and we’re half naked in the woods…yep, these are my kids.

 

It was hard not to get too mad since that’s what you want them to do in the woods right? Have fun and get dirty. I just kick myself for not thinking to throw in spare clothes. That way you don’t find yourself putting your daughter’s half wet too small sweatshirt on your son because he didn’t bring a jacket and his shirt is wet and this option is better than trying to fold Dad’s button up to fit just so they are clothed when you go back into town. Screw dry, that’s not going to happen, but if you wring the pants hard enough they’re just damp and not dripping wet. Shoes are a lost cause any stops to be made will be limited to locations where bare feet are acceptable. Hopefully nobody requires a public restroom. *Sigh* Oh well, at least they had fun. Next time, there is always next time.

The Fair, Grandma & Grandpa, and a Date

As promised here is a post about the fair. We went twice this year. Once to see the Monster Truck show and again a few days later when Grandma and Grandpa came to town. The second trip we got to spend more time walking around and looking at the animals, 4H projects, crafts, canned goods, sewing etc.

It never ceases to amaze me. Every year we seem to know more and more kids with things entered in the fair. I look forward to the day our two are big enough to do 4H and enter projects of their own.

As a special treat we timed our second visit so we could go and see the tractor pull. Neither child, nor Grandma it turns out, has ever been to a tractor pull. This pull had 3 categories Large tractors, small tractors, and lawn tractors (not sure where the break between large and small tractors was). Each tractor took a turn seeing how far down a marked track it could pull a weighted sled. The sleds had weights on a pulley and as the tractors drove the weight was pulled forward over the sled’s axel therefore increasing the amount of force needed to move the sled. (click on the picture below for a better explanation)

Jack thought is was great fun! He kept asking everyone what their favorite tractor was. His was the black tractor. Grandpa liked the ones with tracks. Emilie fell asleep and entered no opinion (guess that says what she thinks of tractors pulls) I liked a big 1950’s era John Deere. I also got a kick out of the little kid pulling with a lawn tractor. Note the 2x4’s attached so he can reach the pedals and the adult walking alongside with the kill switch

Emilie was much more interested in the animals, she petted rabbits, sheep, and pigs. She enjoyed the train room (so did Jack) and the Ag building as well. In all it was another great year out at the fair.

With the Grandparents in town for their visit we also took a tour of the “West End” over the weekend. Specifically the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery, so Grandpa could pet the sturgeon, and the Cloverleaf Creamery in Buhl.

LeAnn and I got some food preservation in. 6 pints of raspberry-peach jam, several pie fillings, and some pickled jalapenos. I learned one should cook jalapenos when home alone as the steam seems to bother people – yep I tried to pepper spray my husband and father-in-law. I was standing right over the pot in the kitchen and had no issues but they were coughing and wheezing away out in the living room….Ooops.

In crazy news, Kevin and I even got to go on a ‘date’. Wait! Did you see that? A pig might have just flown past the window! Seriously though, we left the kids with the Grandparents for the afternoon and went to go check out the thrift stores downtown in hopes of working on Halloween costumes. Of course it was Labor day so they were all closed. In 8 years of marriage we’ve just learned to ‘roll with it’ so we headed down to Auger Falls on the Snake River.

We’d had the foresight to bring the fishing poles so we hiked and even dipped our lines in the water once or twice. Kevin scared the bejeezes out of himself when he went to meander down the bank and hopped up on a rock just in time to see a bull snake launch himself into the water and grab a Sculpin (small fish).  I learned two things 1) My husband can move really fast and has great reflexes when properly motivated. 2) Snakes will jump in a cold river to eat fish.

After hiking down to the falls and wandering the canyon bottom for a couple of hours we were starting to feel warm so we headed back to the car. Then we decided to do something really crazy and see a movie…in the actual theater. No fooling, the last ‘in-theater’ (not counting the Drive-in) experience I can remember is seeing Sherlock Holmes (the first one) with Robert Downey Jr. It’s been awhile. Of course the movie didn’t start for an hour after we got there so we improvised with a quick trip to Chilie’s for a cold pint and some nachos. Better yet we happened to conveniently stumble in during Happy Hour so it was CHEAP cold pints and nachos (yes, it’s the small things that make our day ) It was back to the cinema after that and I’ve got to say ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ was pretty great. No comic book nerd by any means but all the great 80’s references and humor were what really made it worthwhile, well that and the cute guy sitting next to me willing sharing his popcorn. We really should do dates more often….

Well, here’s to fun visits with the family and to date nights!

Stroking Sturgeon

Anyone whom I’ve talked to recently can tell you I probably mentioned how the hamster wheel has been going full tilt around here lately. Last week was the kids’ final week of swim lessons, I had a VBS planning meeting at church, Grandma was in town, and I had an LWML convention all weekend. Combine that with all the regular day to day stuff and we had a lot of fun but were incredibly busy. That’s why you aren’t getting this until almost a week later.

 

Most of the week we just had fun playing around the house. The weather wasn’t cooperative for doing much outside, but Grandma know lots of cool stuff to do indoors and is great entertainment. Pictures, play-doh, baking cookies (and birthday cupcakes) there is never a dull moment. In the photo above right is Grandma teaching them Crazy Eights. She also got to go see their final swimming lesson.

Friday we decided enough is enough and escaped down to Hagerman. We tried going to Ritter Island, but despite the posted hours of “Fri – Mon, 10am-3pm”  no one ever showed to open the gate onto the island proper. Guess it’s a loosely used schedule…. Not to worry, we wandered out to Lemmon Falls instead. The kids giggled about standing in the mist of the waterfall. They also found a teeny little rock slide and as the children of a road engineer they just knew they needed to clear said slide and had a great time pitching rocks into the water.

If you ever question or wonder why I’m so paranoid about my kids and the edges of things like cliffs, bridges, canals, rivers…..below is why. Seriously, they don’t compute the danger in their minds and they are not always the most graceful of things. He’s having a blast and mom is having a minor heart attack behind the lens.  

After Ritter Island we wandered over to the Hagerman National Fish Hatchery. We hit pay dirt there as the volunteers were on staff and we got a private tour. The don’t bring the fish eggs down from Stanley until June, but we still had a great time learning about the facility. While she was showing us some de-nitrification pumps used to adjust the levels of nitrogen gas in the water to a level desired by baby fish the kids found a little toad. Kevin said I should kiss it. I told him I already had my prince and passed.

Note: In the picture the toad is right in a patch of my nemesis burr Buttercup (aka curveseed butterwort  aka Ceratocephala testiculata ) which grows eagerly on every patch of bare ground in our yard. Thankfully it responds well to Glyphosate and a rake, but it keeps coming back year after year.

The last part of the tour was the best. We’ve been down to the hatchery before, but I wasn’t aware that is was okay to pet the large sturgeon they have in the runway by the picnic area. According to the tour guide the fish actually seem to enjoy it. You lay on your stomach and dangle your hand in the water and the fish swim right up and rub their backs along your hand!

That was the best! When asked what it felt like Jack said, “Silky.” A fairly apt description aside from the boney parts their skin (well cartilage really) is very smooth to the touch, albeit a little slimy. These aren’t little fish either. Most were at or over 6 feet from bow to stern. There were also some trout in the run that Jack wanted to pet too, but those trout wouldn’t cooperate. Despite his best efforts, trout just don’t like backrubs, so we stuck to stroking the sturgeons.

 

Poor Emilie was a bit short-limbed to reach the water. Kevin helped, but I also got the impression that Emilie thought he was trying to dunk her in the drink. Eventually one sturgeon was kind enough to swim right up at the surface so she could touch it.

 

 

I don’t know that there is much else to do in a day that will top petting behemoth fish but we meandered down to the NPS visitor center for the fossil beds anyway. They are really well set up to handle kids and we had a grand time exploring and learning about fossils. Plus, no trip out the Thousand Springs scenic byway is complete without a stop at Cloverleaf Creamery on the way home.

We timed our return home well too. It started to rain as we came into Buhl and continued to just pour buckets for the rest of the day.

That night was the first night of my LWML convention which was so incredibly fun and enlightening….but I’ll do a separate post about that later.

A Walk in the Woods

While ‘fall’ is just hinting around down here in the valley it has come full force to the woods. Southern Idaho is definitely no known for its fall colors but the beauty can easily be found in the blaze of color made by Aspens in the South Hills.

Last Saturday was one of the first full weekends that we’ve had where nothing was planned out. I think the last weekend we had like this was back in June. Since nothing was pressing we packed up the kids and drove down to see fall in the woods and take a little hike.

It was Emilie’s first time in the backpack and she seemed to enjoy the view from her lofty perch. Due to Emilie needing the backpack Jack was booted from that seat and has been demoted to hoofing it around like the rest of us. What really happens is he walks as long as there is something interesting (like water), but otherwise plants himself in front of you so you can either pick him up or trip over him all the way up the trail.

Needless to say we picked a SHORT trail. It lead up to a little waterfall, which is little more than a trickle at this time of the year. I can’t remember the name of it. In fact the trail gets its name from the falls and I can’t remember that either. Maybe because I was too distracted making sure nobody took a header down the hill to notice.

Jack enjoyed scrabbling around on the rocks and tossing sticks into the water. The trail has a good slope there at the falls and he would scramble to the top and slide down on his bottom. It was a full time job watching him. I think Emilie’s expression on the picture at left says it all (double-click on it to see it full-size). Thank goodness that backpack has a five-point harness!

It was lots of fun though and the fall colors were out full force. One more photo of some of the colors, and a few of the little friends that were hanging out on my Mums and I’ll let you go.

The Great Hunt of '09

If you were guaranteed a critter every time out they would call it Shooting Season, because more often than not people return home empty-handed they call it Hunting Season. Despite the fact the we still have an empty freezer, Kevin has taken some neat picture of where he's been this hunting season. They are almost worth the long weekends by themselves.

Phyllis Lake in the Whitecloud Range

Brrrrrrrrrr; In search of the elusive Speed Goat

Drake takes A Snowy Nap While Antelope Hunting

Castle Peak: One of the most distinct peaks in the US not visible from a road.
If you want to see it you've got to work for it.

Sheep Mountain (sorry its so small). You can just make out the Lost River Range
in the upper lefthand corner.

Aside from the great pictures Hunting Season 2009 afforded Kevin some very good leasons. A brief list of lessons follows:

1. It is ALWAYS steeper than it looks

2. It is ALWAYS farther than it looks

3. Antelope are the Teases of the hunting world. They let you get close then run away

4. Your prey is not always just over the next ridge

5. Frozen boots are a *&^$#%!!!

6. When hunting in any country designated as prosposed wildernes...take a horse, unless you want to hike your butt off literally. 10lbs in 4 days in not healthy.