KAYAKING AT COMO

Connie and I went up to Como Lake to do a little kayaking today.  We need to make sure our arms are in shape as we are going to be doing a lot of kayaking in the next three weeks at Flaming Gorge and Lake Powell.  Como is getting pretty low and they will turn off the irrigation water the first part of September.  The lake was pretty calm today and we had a nice paddle to the upper end.

This little snake was only about a foot long, but it was really aggressive.  It would strike at you when you were a couple of feet away.

The water at the upper end is really low.

A very large old stump.

Connie throwing sticks for the dog.

Nice calm water makes for nice reflections though.

UPDATE 26 AUGUST 2013

The summer is just flying by.  Below are a few pictures from the last week.

The flowers are just about done blooming.

Ike, Doug, Rita, Brenda, and Connie breaking in our new patio.

The tired iron folks picking up the sheaves of oats.

Caleb blowing out his candles on his birthday cake.

Annie is telling a story to Doug.

Connie, Doug, and Ike during a little ride to the east of our place.

AN OLD FRIEND STOPS BY

Sunday evening or really late afternoon the phone rang and when I answered I was very surprised to find the person on the other end was Marsha Williams who we knew when we lived in Eagle River, Alaska.  She was headed to Glacier National Park on her way home to Entiat, Washington from Moab, UT where she was visiting her daughter Jenifer.  She was driving near Dillon and thought she would give us a call to see if we were around.  We had not seen this lady since we had our boat over on the coast.  Anyway, she drove over to our place and spent the night.  What a great surprise and we got caught up on what all was happening in her family.  Connie and I were Jenifer's Godparents so many years ago.  It was short but very pleasant visit and made plans for it to not be so many years before we see each other again.

  Connie and Marsha - two short people!

TIRED IRON CLUB BINDING OATS

We have a organization here in the Bitterroot called the Tired Iron Club that is pretty active.  They all have old tractors, LOTS of old tractors and equipment.  Each year they bind a field of oats and then during our county fair, they use an old thrasher which separates the oat grain from the chaff.  I was headed down to the gas station for diesel fuel yesterday and stopped by to take a few pictures while they were binding the oats.

The gentleman riding the binder is an old high school classmate of mine, Darrell Sperry.

Nephew Doug is a member of the tired iron club and is shown stacking the binded oat into sheaves.

There is a lot of walking involved in this project for some of the guys.

Zeph grinning at me on my return.

THE ROARING LION BIT ME

Went hiking up Roaring Lion Creek today.  Connie was driving back from Salt Lake and Zeph and I needed to go for a little hike.  I have never hiked the canyon "Roaring Lion" so thought that would be a good trip.  Hadn't gone very far when I had to cross the creek.  I did not want to get my hiking boots wet and did not bring any wading shoes, so thought I would just do some boulder hopping.  Got to the third boulder and it was wet and very slick.  Next thing I know, I am slipping around on top of a boulder trying very hard to keep up right.  Well, I am not as agile as I used to be so ended up sitting on my butt in the middle of the creek.  Of course I landed in hole that was up to my knees in deepness.  That meant I got my pack and just about everything else wet.  Zeph looked at me like I was crazy sitting in the middle of the water.  Anyway, I got to the other side and had to dry a few things off.  I was lucky that my big camera did not get wet and the little one got a little wet, but I got it dried off quick.  Had to shake the water out of my pistol though.  The rest of the hike went pretty well.  Did not see any mountain goats which I was hoping to see.  Connie beat me home on her return trip from SLC, but I picked up a pizza on my way home.  We had a few beers while chowing down on the pizza.  Also caught up on all the news from here at home and down in Salt Lake.

Drying out my pack contents.

The rocks in the center are the ones I crossed.

Lots of views of the rocky sides of the canyon.

This is the creek further up.  The trail is in the lower right part of the picture.  You can see it is hardly used.

Old rock slides.

Quite a few berries.

Zeph always ready to have his picture taken.

Some nice side pools.

CONNIE'S HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND VISITS

Sharon came to visit us this summer and we hope she had a good time.  She has been up here a couple of other times and loves the little cabin she calls "her cabin" in Montana.  We put her to work helping out with the patio addition.  Also took her on a hike to the Bear Creek Overlook.  A great hike that does not take all day to complete.  We saw a lot of huckleberry pickers, and I have never seen so many huckleberries on the vine that I can remember.  And it was a dry year.  Goes to show you that what people say about what it takes to make a good berry crop might not be right after all!  Connie and Sharon left  Monday to head to Salt Lake City for their 40th High School Class Reunion.  They took a couple of days driving down there as they went through Yellowstone Nation Park.  A quick trip but Sharon had never seen the place so it was worth the time.

Sharon really likes to drive the tractor.  Here she has a load of rocks for the patio we are working on.

Getting the fire ready for roasting a marshmallow?

This is also Zeph's first trip to Bear Creek Overlook.  I am sure it will not be the last.

A really nice rock overlook.

If you click to enlarge, you can see the back of a squirrel that Zeph is watching run on the rock below.

An old dead snag that has been standing on the edge for years.

Having a little snack before heading back down.

That is the Bitterroot/Selway Wildrness area.

Lots of huckleberries this year.

Coming back down the trail.

This is a project that I have been working on for a few weeks now.  It is a patio off our sliding door off the kitchen.  Glad it is done.

ZEPHYRUS TURNS ONE

Zeph turned one year old the other day and we had a little party for him.  Connie's friend Sharon was up here visiting at the time so we had some cake and ice cream to celebrate the puppy's first birthday.  He liked the cake, but he loves ice cream!!!

Zeph smelling his cake without the fire on top and with it below!  We split it up and put some ice cream on the pieces.  All loved it.

Putting the ice cream on the cake.

THE BAERS RAPUP

We had a great time with Bill and Leslie and family.  Always enjoy their visit.  Here are some pictures of the last few days of their visit.

Roasting marshmallows is always on the menu when they visit.

Not quite done I guess.

Smoke gets in your eyes.

And speaking of smoke.  The fires have made for some pretty good sunsets.

The arena was pretty dusty for their last ride.

Leslie and her daughter.

Of course their visit would not be complete without a game of frisbee golf.

Bill and Aiden won the contest hands down.