Pictures of the Geysers

 Harold got some wonderful shots of the geysers and so with his permission, I am sharing a few with you.  Thanks Harold!

   And last, but not least, here is a big old bull, with his full winter coat hanging on in places, sitting in the heat    of the hot the sun, on the heat of the hot ground, next to a hot pool.  Go figure.

Dog Lovers: Beware of Postmistress!

I went to the Post Office up the road the other day to buy some post card stamps.  They only cost 32 cents whereas first class stamps cost 45 cents.  I know, not much difference but somehow I can't bear to waste the extra 13 cents per 2 line post card to my old aunties back east.  So as I drove up I saw this lovely little barrel of flowers with a sign.  We had a prisoner on a chain once, Brian calls dogs 'poop machines', and up here 'bear bait', so I had to smile when I saw this sign.  Enjoy - or not.

Oh, how we LOVE having grandchildren! (and children)

Kelsey brought Jackson up so we could spoil the both of them.  We had a blast!  They came to the Park, Virginia City, canoeing, and shopping with us.  Here is a sampling of pictures we took while they were here.

52 degree water year round

No smiling now...

Did you know canoes made decent teething rings?  Whodu thunk it?

A good day was had by all

Welcome Back Summertime!

We are back at the cabin this summer and having fun.  Our first visitors were Harold, Kelly, Amanda, and Kara.  Geysers, canoeing, and fishing (a-hem) filled our time with them.

Our next visitors were Jackson and Kelsey.  Their visit overlapped Harold and family and also Wendy and John's visit.  Virginia City, Nevada City, and YNP were among the activities we all shared.  In the park we saw 4 bears, a few more antelope, a few more elk, and about a billion bison.  No, I think there are only 8000 in the park and we must have seen 7500, I think.  The wolves disappointed us, however.

Spring Break Trip

In April we made our only wintertime trip of the year to the cabin.  Our neighbors and friends, Katie and Ryan and children, braved the treacherous conditions with us.  Good thing, too.  Our ATV was no match for the soft snow and warming temperatures.  We got stuck on the second trip in from the trucks.  Lucky for us they brought 2 snowmobiles.  Sarah brought a friend, MaKayla, and we listened to General Conference together, skied, snowmobiled around, and just enjoyed the children in the snow.  Ryan and family left on Monday and we were left to fend for ourselves for the week.  On the next Saturday we began our trip back to the truck, in 12 inches of fresh snow.  Once again, luckily for us, our wonderful neighbors, Pam and  company, stopped by with their 2 snowmobiles and saved the day!  We are rethinking things for future wintertime trips...

Snow melting on bridge into river.

Warm temperatures even for April.

Stuck again.

Fox Sighting

Today I was washing dishes and turned around to clear the table when out of the corner of my eye I saw something orange go by the front door window.  I walked to the river view windows and saw a red fox checking out the corners of the chimney, looking for the squirrels and chipmunks.  He saw me but did not flinch.  I called to Brian and we sat eye to eye for about a minute with this beautiful creature.  Once he started off I found my camera and got this shot of him trotting off to the river.  What a thrill!

Thoughts on Life Preserving Jackets... and other things

Today I cleaned out the Johnny Sack 'guest cabin'.  This two-room log cabin was a gift from the US forest service that came with our signature on the lease of the property.  It is built of logs with a wood floor, metal roof, and concrete foundation.  The bedroom has a small closet and two windows with glass panes, screens, and shutters to keep out the snow.  The other room is a screened porch with screened, shuttered windows on 3 sides and a door.  I’m not sure any of our guests would like to sleep in this cabin.  It is drafty and dusty.  Chewbacca, our red tailed squirrel, lives in and underneath it with his family during the long, cold winters. 

Johnny Sack was somewhat of an enigma around these parts.  He stood 4 feet 11 inches tall and what a bit of a recluse.  He built several log cabins when all this area belonged to him and used them as 'guest cabins'.  Ours is one of them.  His original log home is open to visitors in the summer months and is not a mile from here at Big Springs.

My desire to clean out the guest cabin began when I pulled out bicycles left behind by previous owners in need of repair.  Once they were out of the way I could see better the mess that had been made by Chewbacca.  Sweeping and organizing was needed.  As I made my way through the bedroom, I pulled out life jackets from their bins.  I counted 31 in all.  How had we ended up with so many?  Some had been left behind by previous owners.  Some we brought with us from our years of camping and boating.  A few were donated by family members.  I recognized a few as having been worn by nieces and nephews and wondered if they had been left behind by Uncle Jeff.  As I took each one out and inspected it, I could picture my children, when they were children, in the some of the small ones.  Many were faded.  Some had torn areas.  I could see Kelsey in the little pink one with the head rest and handle, bobbing in the pool.  I could picture Keith and Jacob in the blue ones in the canoe.  Here was Brady’s yellow one.  And Sarah, being the youngest, wore all of them.  They were so small then.  There in the Johnny Sack cabin, I could almost hear their childish voices again and wanted to go back to another time when my children were young again. And liked me, needed me.  I remembered times in Nevada and California at the lakes we floated there in our canoe.  Times when we went boating with friends in their ski boats.  Times we swam in unsure waters.  Now my granddaughters have worn the little pink one and the yellow one.  As I carefully put each one back into the bins, I found myself thankful for the years of service these innate objects had given keeping my precious children safe in the water. 

The hours I spent in cleaning out the Johnny Sack cabin were dusty but enjoyable.  It is tidy and organized now.  My husband reminded me that he had already gone through it at least twice before I did today.  The other things in that little cabin are important, too.  The hammock brought back from Costa Rica by our son Keith, the Camp Chef stove, tools we need to keep things in order around the property, a bag of mulch for the new trees, hoses, shovels, a lantern.  Did I mention 11 canoe paddles and four kayak paddles?  But nothing touched my heart as much as handling those old, little life preservers that kept my children safe in the water.  In the end one of the small blue ones had been sacrificed to Chewbacca’s need to provide a nest for his family.  Thanks be to God for that person who first designed them and marketed them so that I could have them in bins in Johnny Sack’s guest cabin.

Family Reunion Update #2

Good food, good times, good rides, good games, good friends.  Thanks to everyone for making Family Reunion a success.  Here is a sampling of pictures I took.  I didn't get everyone on my camera.  In fact, I hardly got any pictures!!!  Sorry about that.  I guess I was a little too busy.  We are looking forward to another such get together in a few years hosted by.....  Drum roll please.....  Not it!  Volunteers, anyone???

Carole and I at Jenny Lake

Norah's first canoe trip

Three darlings

Helen picking wildflowers on Sawtelle Peak Road

Someone has to ride behind the last ATV!

It moost be a moose!

Check out these pictures of our resident cow and calf.  This is the closest we have ever seen moose to our cabin.  I got up on Tuesday at about 6:30 a.m. after everyone had left our cabin on Monday, and started to walk toward the computer to post a blog, when I saw her back just outside the window. She was grazing on the flowers under the window.  As you can see, she was looking in the window by the time I grabbed my camera.  Too bad my hand was shaking soo badly from excitement!  We think this is the pair we saw earlier in the week from the canoes during family reunion.  Sorry for the quality.  That's my white bathrobe reflecting in the window....  Oh, and they really do drool. 

Family Reunion Weekend Update #1

Here's the first post covering the events of the family reunion this weekend.  We have had a great time thus far.  Jake, our girls, and myself (Aimee) got in yesterday evening.  We had a dinner that was interrupted by a rainstorm.  Then we spent the evening talking and went to bed late.

We woke up to a yummy breakfast cooked by Brian (sorry no pic) and his sidekick Gordon.  Or is the other way around?

I caught Uncle Jeff, Uncle Keifer, and Uncle Keith looking like this.  They were watching Jake fly his helicopter.

Most every went off on an ATV ride.  (They have not returned as of yet).  Then Linda, Brady, Chelle, Jake, the girls, and myself hopped in the canoes and paddled down to Macks Inn bridge.

On the way Linda became a woman on a mission, so was Jake who was paddling our canoe. To see this:

And she was there with this:

It was great to see and so close.

Then we went to have ice cream before heading back to the cabin for a rest.

Fun day and we are not through with this day yet!!

Door Prizes for Family Reunion

So here is my new mantle with some door prizes on display.  We have several guessing jars, a teddy bear, some OFF mosquito spray, a book or two, a tie-dyed cloth grocery bag, and a few other local goodies and oddities.  We will be awarding them on Saturday night after dinner.  Good luck to all!

Bring Bug Spray!!!

Tonight Brian and I walked along the river at dusk.  We saw a cow moose and her calf across the river sitting in the tall grass.  The calf's ears were sticking out of the grass, occasionally disappearing as s/he ate some grass.  A short way further there was another cow moose on our side of the river munching quite loudly on grass and flowers.  None of them were too worried about us. 

We also spotted a family of ducklings swimming and running on the top of the water, and we disturbed a pair of herons who were feeding on the river.  The mosquitos were obnoxious!  The bats were skimming the water, but that didn't help us any.  We left without bug spray.  Big mistake, so don't forget your bug spray!

Home Town Tie Dye

Today Sarah and I went to Buffalo Run campground for the annual craft fair.  We found our favorite booth, Home Town Tie Dye.  Here is what we bought.  A jumper for Sarah and dresses for Norah and Helen.  They were currently out of my size, so I left my order for a brown and blue jumper to be delivered to my home in 10 days to 2 weeks.  We have purchased clothing from them for 3 years in a row now, and not once has anything run or discolored other clothing in the wash.  The proprietors are Bobby and Jolene Wellard.  Contact them on this website, or by calling them at 208-406-6848 or 208-406-6840.

Firehole is open at last!

For all you water babies, Firehole swimming hole is finally open.  We saw it with our own eyes on Tuesday afternoon.  The air temps were cool that day, but there were swimmers splashing around.  Bring sunscreen and a towel.  There are outhouses to change in if you prefer not to wear your suit all day in the park.  Surf's up, dude!

That is Sarah with Alex and Jayme from home in the very middle of the picture

Guinea Pigs' weekend

This last weekend Jeff and Lisa and 2 kids, and John and Wendy and 2 kids were our guinea pigs for meals for our upcoming family reunion.  Brian and I fixed breakfast each day, then we all put out lunch fixings on the table and each made a sack lunch to their own liking, and we took turns providing dinner for the crowd.  It went pretty well, I think.  The table isn't big enough to accomodate all the fixings each family had for lunch, so that idea may not work after all, when we have 6+ families involved.  We are rethinking that one for the reunion.  However, breakfasts and dinners worked out very well. 

Activities we enjoyed were canoeing, moose hunting (with our cameras!), trips into Yellowstone, and of course, the 4th of July BSA fund raiser garage sale, where we came away with nothing, not even the steal of a queen sized bed because the bid closed as we got there!  Darn!

On Saturday night, Scott and Chris invited us to their place for dinner around the campfire.  Fireworks on the lake in canoes was a rare and fun event.  The reflections on the water were fabulous.  We went to bed quite late but happy that night.