Busy Weekend

We kicked off the weekend by visiting the Canyon County Fair. We learned that Elena LOVES fair food. I offered her a drink of my 20 oz Mount Dew. She drank the whole thing. She then pounded a gyro and topped it off with about a pint of ice cream. After all that, she managed to drink a glass of hand-squeezed lemonade.

Meanwhile, Marcus chilled in his stroller. Sprout wanted to push him around the crowded expo building in his stroller. I tried to explain to her that we valued her brother's life, but she insisted. The resulting argument ended with her shamefully spending timeout in the corner of the expo building.

She later rallied and was rewarded with a carnival ride.

I believe this picture took place while I was explaining to Elena that kids don't get to ride pigs. She took it pretty hard.

Part II: Huckleberry Warriors

Most would think that picking huckleberries would be a casual event. You may picture someone casually strolling through the woods while gallons of huckleberries fall into buckets. These war wounds prove otherwise.

We joined Karen's cousins Bruce and Nancy at their cabin to check out their secret huckleberry patch. Luis, Alex and Katie also joined us. Unfortunately, we were too busy doing battle to score pictures of any of our other family members. In case you are wondering, Marcus took a digger out of the camp trailer. Elena was nice enough to distract the mosquitoes while the rest of us picked huckleberries (despite that fact that I pretty much bathed her in Deet).

We enjoyed some of the best huckleberry picking I have ever experienced. The berries were large and plentiful, much like the mosquitoes. Marcus and Elena both joined in on the action. We would place Marcus in a fairly flat spot which had berries within reach. Once he depleted his supply, he would scream and we would move him to the next spot.

After the berries were picked and cleaned, I mentioned to Elena that we should share them with our friends and family. She screamed "NO!" I said, "What about Nana? "NOO!" "Oma?" "NOO!" "Grandma Jeanie?" "NO, NO, NO!" This is the girl who collects eggs and sets aside boxes for Grandma Jeanie, picks raspberries for the neighbor girl, and so on. I guess the rest of you are on your own.

The drive to and from Donnelly was fairly uneventful. As we entered the town of Horseshoe Bend, there was an extremely long line of cars in front of us, as usual. When we hit the big hill, I was like Mario Andretti with a 26 foot camp trailer. Karen glanced over, gave me the sign for "potty" and we both had a good laugh thinking about what happened last year on the same hill.

 

Once we made it home we did some yard work while Marcus planted himself in the dog water dish. I guess that means things are back to normal.

I'm Back From Alaska

Yesterday I returned from my twelve-day Alaskan fishing trip. Re-entry to Idaho was brutal, as I stepped out onto the asphalt tarmac in the midday Boise heat. It's about 35 degrees warmer here than I had become accustomed to.

I went with my friends Marty, Ben and Steve (pictured below). We had the same group of guys in 2011.

The town of Soldotna really comes to life during salmon season. Traffic is a mess, and lines at the beer store are long. I lost count of the number of people I saw cruising around Fred Meyer in their waders. 

                                       

                                       

Marty has been fishing the Kenai for years, and really has things dialed-in. He stores a boat, tackle, and the Mormon Assault Vehicle (suburban) in Soldotna.

I was very fortunate on this trip, as I was able to catch the first fish of each species, the largest fish, and even the largest rock. I'm especially proud of the rock.

 

 

While Karen doesn't believe me, fishing is backbreaking work. We spent long hours on the river, slept about 4 hours each night, and prepared fish for the flight home. In all we brought home about 600 lbs of frozen fish.

 

 

One day, while fishing for sockeye, a gentleman noticed that I was discarding the eggs. He went on to tell us that this was the best part of the fish, and once we tried "sockeye caviar" we would throw the rest of the fish away. Steve wrote down the recipe and we gave it a try. By "we" I mean Steve and I tried it. I ate three crackers. I'm pretty sure my dad would have eaten 30. It was ok, but I'm not ready to throw out the rest of the fish just yet.

We were fishing the Honeymoon Hole one evening when a cow moose brought her calf out to the nearby backwater area. The cow played around in the water, splashing and playing like crazy, apparently trying to entice her calf to enter the water. The calf showed as much interest in the water as Ben and Marty did with the caviar.

On the last evening we took a trip down to the mouth of the river. Residents are allowed to net 25 fish per family member. We watched as hundreds of folks held their dip nets out at high tide waiting for the fish to arrive. I guess when hundreds of thousands of fish swim by every day, your odds are pretty good.  This show made the Riggins salmon season "combat fishing" look like a picnic in the park.

 

I would like to thank Karen for holding down the fort and allowing me to slip away for this awesome vacation. There were many times during the trip when I had to check my phone just to know what day of the week it was, let alone the time. With about three hours of darkness each day, I felt like I was in a time warp. The picture below was taken at about 4 am as the sun was rising.



Nothing runs like a Deere

It's been a busy week on the farm. For some reason my dad thought it would be an excellent idea to time baling hay with simultaneous grain harvest.

 This is the first year in many that he's had grain and that meant he was in need of a combine. He purchased this John Deere earlier in the spring and it has required many hours, a hefty parts bill, and a lot of encouraging words to get it working.

 Sprout decided that she wanted to go for a ride in the combine. I remember when I was little how much fun it was to sit and ride. I don't really know what the novelty is, but trust me, for some reason it's a good time.

 I thought that she would be done and ready to go after a couple of passes through the field. Not the case. She spent an hour riding and would have kept going, but we needed to get home.

 

Fire Department

 Today we went on an outing to the Caldwell fire station. This is fireman Nick showing us the station and the fire trucks. We learned the difference between the ladder and fire trucks, a little about fire safety, and got to watch the fireman respond to a call.

 Elena's latest phase is to cling to my arm and cry when we are in a group. She decided she didn't want to go inside the truck or check out the nozzle and hose. This is why she is missing from the group shot.

 This is the best she could do.

The fisherman is having a blast in Alaska. I sent him this picture of both kids melting down when I got home from work last night. He decided he's totally envious of me.

Goldilocks Ride

This weekend I participated in my first organized bike ride. I recently got a new road bike and was excited when some friends asked if I wanted to take part in the Goldilocks Ride. Here is Sharyn, Nanette, Heather and I at the start. Heather and I signed up for the 60 mile ride, while Sharyn and Nanette signed up for 100 miles. 

 I was feeling good with the ride and the weather was cooperative so I decided to complete the 100 mile, which in reality was closer to 112 miles according to Nanette and Sharyn who have odometers on their bikes. This was a great ride with tons of food , encouraging volunteers, and support staff if needed. It was great to see so many different women of various skill levels with bikes of all styles completing this event.

What's new

There hasn't been much new or noteworthy in the last few weeks. Just a couple of pictures to share. Marcus made his first picture/painting. Elena made a firework picture and Marcus did some finger painting. It's always a challenge to keep them from eating the paint. 

 Here is Elena practicing writing her name using sidewalk chalk. Notice the backwards L and the missing N, but it's a start and her best to date.

Monday to Remember

This morning I awoke to find this:


I decided to get the skim the newspaper while I contemplated my next move. No paper. I then texted Frank, my carpool buddy, to let him know that he would need to ride with someone else. Lisa volunteered to take him to work. She then pulled a "Sanchez." Sanchez is Spanish for "Gets stuck in ditch."

After pulling her car out of the ditch, I started my chainsaw. Actually, I attempted to start it, but broke the pull cord. Once I fixed that, the saw didn't want to run.

Being the problem solver that I am, I made a quick trip to D & B. Problem solved.

Now Blogger is acting up, so all of the pictures are at the bottom. I give up. It's time to go play some golf in the 10,000 degree weather and sip a cold one.