Skip navigation

Orange

We live in a big house that needs lots of maintenance. This year we are checking off various projects, catching up on stuff we should have been doing all along. This past week we almost finished the painting project we started last year. Ken and I did the ‘easy’ stuff in 2012 – painting walls and supports that we could reach from a ‘not too tall’ ladder. For the higher stuff we hired the pros and then we had them do the doors too. I am always impressed to see someone who knows what she’s doing do a job in an efficient manner when we struggle with the same seemingly simple task. The job would have been finished but the rented Genie lift stopped working repeatedly. Like our house, it seems to be in need of some maintenance.

The place looks terrific and we are pleased to have made so much progress.

 

Before

2013-06-10_16-11-45_245

 

Kerri is very good at driving the lift

2013-06-11_09-49-52_896

 

That’s the window into my loft/office

2013-06-11_09-50-56_679

 

Ah, yes, they know how to fix this thing…..

2013-06-11_13-39-06_257

 

Next day, sure enough, it does work when the temperature is cooler. This view is from my loft/office looking out the other side of the house.

2013-06-12_08-42-56_31

 

garage door

See that blue trim? It’s supposed to be neutral gray. Paint colors are SO fickle.

2013-06-13_18-12-32_726

 

one side garage door

2013-06-13_18-13-13_911

 

the other side garage door

2013-06-13_18-14-10_109

 

front door

2013-06-13_18-14-34_683

All these photos are from my phone.

Two Women, Three Dogs and a Horse

This is my busy season. I’ve had two weddings to photograph within one week so that means LOTS of computer time. It is important that I continue to get out and enjoy the beautiful place where I live for my overall fitness – both physically and mentally.

Last week Jennifer and her horse and two dogs joined Luna and me for a walk on the four mile long Black Lake trail. It follows Lake Creek on a gentle grade making for easy walking without huffing and puffing. This was a test for Luna to see if she could tolerate being around a horse. She has a long-standing fear of large ungulates stemming from an incident when she was less than a year old and managed to anger a large draft horse so much that the normally gentle animal turned and appeared to try to run Luna into the ground. Never mind that the horse was behind a fence and Luna was barking her fool head off. You can imagine how immense this draft horse was from her point of view. And those hooves! Luna turned and ran all the way back to the house where she waited under the porch til Betty and I went back for her. So now, along comes Jennifer and her horses and she suggests that we all go riding together. Luna is friends with Jennifer and her dogs so when they were all fine with the big animal Luna sort of fell into step with the rest of the group although she did not like it when the Whiskey, the horse fluttered her lips and made that funny horse noise and she was mostly sure to keep a good distance between herself and the horse.

 

For the life of me, I cannot find this flower in my field guides. I know I’ve looked it up before and figured out its ID but not this time

P1070066

 

It is a vine with clematis-like flowers

P1070060

 

Riding through the burned forest

P1070068

 

My, what big eyes you have!

P1070073

 

Lovely wildflowers in this burned forest

P1070075

 

Since it is a burned forest, every year, more snags fall across the trail. Here, we were near the lake but were turned back by the deadfall.

P1070084

 

Jennifer manages to keep the dogs’ attention with a good story or maybe the promise of treats

2013-06-05_11-16-07_535

 

It burned in 2003

P1070093

 

Paintbrush and lupine and Luna wondering why I have to stop to look at all the flowers!

P1070086

 

The dogs found comfort in this old beaver pond. Unfortunately, Luna chose to get out in a mud hole, and emerged coated in mud up to her belly.

P1070098

 

Jennifer got a good laugh out of that, especially knowing I’d have to take Luna down to the raging creek to wash her off before we could get in the truck.

P1070103

 

Lake Creek

P1070102

Walking in the Rain

This month started out unseasonably hot and we worried that the green hills would soon be brown. The weather gods have taken care of that worry. There has been rain most everyday for the last couple of weeks, it seems. Maybe I only remember the wet days and have forgotten that some were sunny? I have gotten used to wearing my rain gear. Yesterday by the time we returned to the car, my shoes sloshed. But still, it was gorgeous – green lush grasses and lots of wildflowers still in bloom. Our dogs enjoyed the temperature and ran and ran and ran.

 

Mary Ann has told me about these delicate flowers that are found along the lower part of the trail

2013-05-29_08-44-30_363

 

Geum triflorum also known as prairie smoke or old man’s whiskers

May292013_0003

 

A large patch of balsamroot

2013-05-29_09-54-04_458

 

Old aspen trees

May292013_0015

 

Frida

May292013_0017

 

This majestic pine tree is slowly dying

May292013_0016

 

Aphids on a Lomatium seed head

2013-05-29_10-20-22_656

 

Another seed head without aphids on the same plant

2013-05-29_10-20-35_414

 

Looking back, to the south. You can see tiny Deadhorse Lake in the distance

May292013_0011

 

Tiny yellow composites with bitterroot buds surrounding

2013-05-29_10-12-21_766

Blue penstemon and the yellow composite

2013-05-29_10-13-02_830

 

And with a buckwheat

2013-05-29_10-13-57_739

 

Same type of buckwheat with tightly closed buds

2013-05-29_10-13-46_531

 

Blue gray sky. Green hills. In the foreground, the pale pink spots are all bitterroot about to bloom.

2013-05-29_10-07-32_277

 

 

Frost Lake, known by other names is just one of several lakes that dot these hills

May292013_0013

 

Grouse droppings

2013-05-29_10-12-49_88

 

Thompson’s paintbrush

May292013_0021

 

Two

Tuesday was our second anniversary! Two years already! Can you believe it? This one was kind of bittersweet because our old dog, Sam died on Monday. It’s hard to celebrate when you are missing one of your best friends. The weather didn’t help. We were scheduled to have a hot air balloon ride however it wasn’t to be. Curt, from Morning Glory Balloons said ‘it’s better to be on the ground wishing to be in the air rather than in the air wishing to be on the ground’.

Mid-morning we set out to walk to our wedding spot. The forecast promised rain; there was no doubt of it. The overcast skies said that too. It’s a short hike and the wildflowers are still beautiful up there. We started out enjoying the colorful displays and the greens that were enhanced by the light and rainfall. The birds sang their songs of spring and showed off their colorful plumages too.

After we crossed the first gate on the wildlife area, that all changed. Cows were already pastured up there. Their looming dark square bodies were everywhere with small calves following them around. The spring scents were replaced with the acrid stenches of fresh manure and urine all along the trail. Green grasses and wildflowers were trampled. Their loud mooing covered the bird song. We kept Luna on a leash in order to prevent any cow/dog incidents that might arise. She probably felt safer close to us. The cows had not reached the knoll where we were married so we enjoyed a few minutes and relished the happiness we have shared for two (well more like eight) years now and tried not to think about the cows and Sam too. Then we retraced our steps and went to town for lunchtime pizza at the bakery.

 

May212013_0034

 

What causes this red on maple leaves?

May212013_0039

 

They only reluctantly got off the trail to let us pass.

May212013_0036

 

The view from the wedding spot. Moccasin Lake with Patterson Mountain in the background.

May212013_0022

 

Early buckwheat flowers

May212013_0026

 

Pensive

May212013_0031

 

Happy

May212013_0003

 

Lupine

May212013_0027

 

I could not pick a favorite

May212013_0029

 

Ken reads an anniversary poem to me

May212013_0017

 

Two!

May212013_0016

 

We walked to the same place a year ago. You can images from that day here.

 

Walk by the River

One evening last week we enjoyed a quiet stroll along the river. It is running quite high, normal for this time of year, and the side channels are all full too. Cottonwoods and aspens are as green as they can be. Grasses are lush. Spring.

 

It’s nice to have the footbridge to access this piece of state land

May172013_0092

 

It was built by the previous owner

May172013_0094

 

That thing in the side channel counts salmon smolts as they pass by

May172013_0096

 

Pretty clear water for this time of year

May172013_0099

 

Lush

May172013_0110

 

Where the side channel meets the river

May172013_0130

 

Evening sky reflections

May172013_0143

 

Ken threw rocks in water

May172013_0145