Evening River Float

Tonight Brian and I floated the river with our friend, Brent.  He used our other friend Scot's, kayak.  We watched a beautiful sunset over the river, saw herons, cranes, cormorants, ducklings and other birds.  We saw a cow and calf moose, several muskrats, and a river otter.

There was an enormous hatch going on and the fish were rising in a furious boil.  As soon as the sun went down it cooled off tremendously and we lost the heat of the day.

Help Us Name The Tree

The forest service showed up when we first bought the cabin.  They told us they would like us to move two things in order to help prevent forest fires.  The first thing they wanted moved was the fire pit.  It was too close to the building.  No problem.  We moved it and Brian put in a wonderful new fire pit.  Check it out in the 'How To' section of this blog.

The second thing they wanted moved was a large tree.  Yea, right.  It was too close to the chimney of the cabin.  The tree was double crowned.  In other words, there was a fork in the tree pretty low to the ground and it was in danger of falling on someone or the cabin.  So.  Brian took the chain saw to it last fall.  And it really didn't look all that great.  The top of the tree was still too close to the chimney.  This spring Brian put a nice chimney cap on the chimney and that probably will solve the problem for the forest service.  In the not so great cut of the tree, he installed 'the face'.

Now we need your help.  The man with the face needs a name.  Please submit your ideas for his name on the comments portion of this page.  We will post the winning name in a later post.

Rexburg Temple Trip

A few weeks ago in church an announcement was made that the Island Park ward was asked to clean the Rexburg Temple and there would be a sign up sheet going around.  We were the first names on the list.  We have heard of friends who got to clean the Nauvoo Temple but as far as we know, volunteers have never been asked to clean the Logan Temple.

So last night we cleaned.  Our shift began at 10 pm and ended at midnight.  We left a little early to have time to hit Broulim's, our favorite grocery store in all of Idaho, and got to the temple by 9:20.

Once inside, I vacuumed my brains out and Brian scrubbed tile floors. It was nice to rub elbows with other ward members and get to know them a little better.  We didn't get home until 1:30 am but it was a wonderful experience.

How do you like my pictures?  I took them with my own camera, an Olympus SP-800UZ that Brian bought me for Christmas a few years ago so I would not have to get so close to the moose when I took their pictures. (Too bad that idea bombed. :)

ATV Class at Buffalo Run Campground

This morning the three of us took and passed the ATV class offered for free from the Idaho State Parks and Recreation Department.  We read a 35 page booklet ahead of time that has lots of pictures and diagrams, so it was not really 35 pages of text.  Totally easy read!

Blair met us there with her cool truck, cones, and boards set up in a course on one of the group campground sites at Buffalo Run Campground on highway 20.  We started with a multiple guess, true/false, written exam. "You can't miss more than 15", she informed us.  There were 40 - 45 questions.  Whew!  We all passed!  Then onto the riding part.

She explained what we were doing, demonstrated for us, and then watched as we each rode around the course doing the aforementioned skill.  The skills were things like braking with both hand and foot brakes, braking while standing, leaning into turns, weaving in and out of pylons, and finally going over 4" by 4" boards laid out to simulate things you would encounter on a trail that you need to go over.

She discussed obstacles and hazards of different terrains we might encounter (little did she know - we HAVE encountered).  (Anyone going on a ride led by Uncle Brian might agree... )  After she shared a couple of near death experiences she has had from making mistakes on the trail, we (Brian) told her of one near death experience we (I) had one time.  Some of you might remember riding up Beaver Creek area up Logan Canyon.  Then we each received our temporary 'I'm in the club' card.  Permanent ones are in the mail!

We found this to be a very beneficial class.  Brian and I agreed it would be a great class for the young teenagers as a preparatory exercise to beginning driving a car as well as for the intention, to make us all safer ATV riders.  Two things were 'AHAs' for me.  In the manual there is a wonderful list of all the things you need to have on the ATV for short rides and a different list for longer rides.  These were things most of which we don't have yet on our ATVs.  There was a list of things for a survival kit, which I think we will be putting together for each of our ATVs.  The second thing was that ATVs in Idaho cannot be louder than 96 decibels.  That was surprising to me because from my audiology class I seem to remember that anything over 90 decibels can cause pain and temporary hearing loss after as little as 15 minutes, and permanent hearing loss over time if exposed to that much noise on a regular basis, say 30 minutes/day for 5 days/week.  Maybe I should write the Idaho State Parks and Rec Department a letter....  Or maybe not.

Pretty girl!  Buff chick...

Overall, this is was a class and we would recommend it to everyone who rides.  

Thank you, Blair.  We had a great time.

Ryan and Katie's summer visit

Ryan and Katie and kiddos came yesterday.  Today they went into YNP and saw animals and Old Faithful.  Tonight we had a campfire, s'mores, and a nice walk along the river.  Here are a few pictures of our time together.  Hunter's fingers got a little sticky from the marshmallows!  Yum!

ATV trip to Lucky Dog Springs

Tonight Brian took me on an ATV ride to Lucky Dog Springs.  Wow!  I had no idea such a place existed up here.  The springs are a tad smaller than Big Springs but look similar.  The big difference is that Lucky Dog is more remote and unknown, at least today.

 

There were 5 abandoned log cabins from a very long time ago.  The History of Island Park, by Dean Green, doesn't even have a mention of it that I can find, so I can't discover the history quickly.  A sixth cabin looks more like 50+ years in age.  It was boarded up with shutters that were screwed in and a working electric meter on the outside.

Brian was speculating that perhaps it was a lodge at one time with the old time cabins for rent.  Now it is more of a 'ghost town'-lodge.  When I google Lucky Dog Springs, all I can find is a reference to fishing on Lucky Dog Creek, but nothing of the springs.  That information is found on this link.  Hook and Bullet.com

Anyway, it was very lovely and an easy ride for me to take the girls on sometime.

There was evidence of moose...
 

and bear. (Probably a small bear from the size of the... pile.)










We both took phone calls while out there so there was plenty of noise to announce our presence to the bear, if he was still in the area. (Had to be a male bear.  A female would have hidden it better, right ladies?)

Okay, so joke of the day.  What is worse than a tree falling on your house???

A tree falling on your outhouse, of course.  Time to move out, I guess.

Swimming in Scot's Bay

 Scot bought this boat 2 summers ago.  Brian said the happiest day of any guy's life is the day his best friend buys a boat!  So true, so true.

 Today Brian and I took lunch to Scot and then swam off the dock.  Scot telecommutes, similar to Brian, so when he was off work, he took us out boating to Scot's Bay, on the reservoir.  We dropped anchor, swam and laid about for an hour or so before heading home for dinner.

 I needed to get a picture of Scot looking this way, but didn't realize that until tonight.  Sorry, Scot!

 Sunburned and happy tonight!  Someone remind me to bring a bungee cord for my hair next time!

Chris and Briana and family's visit

Last week we welcomed Chris, Briana, and the kiddos for a few days of fun.  ATV rides, a canoe float trip, drive to the top of Sawtelle, John Sack cabin tour, feeding the fish at Big Springs, and a trip into the Park were among the things we enjoyed with them.

Five Moose Float Trips

Today we floated the river with Chris, Brianna and their kids.  This was the second float trip this summer and both times we saw five moose.  That is the most moose on one float trip ever.  Here are a few pictures.

A Crash in the Woods!

Last week during a great wind storm we heard a tree crash to the forest floor.  At first I wasn't sure what it was but Brian knew.  Then I thought it had fallen into the water.  When we came back from our quick sojourn home we took a walk along the trail and low and behold, we found two trees that had fallen across our trail.  The only thing better is when you can push a dead tree over yourself, which both Brian and I can say we have done!

Meet Chewbacca

Meet Chewy.  Or maybe one of his relatives.  He is already storing pinecones under the Johnny Sack cabin. Must be an early winter coming!

Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day this year was sweet and casual.  Aimee, her mom Cherie, and her two darling daughters spent the day with us.  We started out with a walk up the nature trail to feed the greedy seagulls - ah - I mean the fish.  Norah had to carry her quarter for the fish food in her shoe, as she had no pockets.  The water was so lovely that both girls just had to put their feet in for a few minutes.

Then we went to West Yellowstone for lunch at KIWIs and some shopping.  KIWIs is not your regular burger joint.  They specialize in Kiwi food, or food that New Zealanders eat.  We had burgers with pickled beets and fried eggs, grilled cheese and pineapple sandwiches, and chips (large French fries) sprinkled with malt vinegar.  YUM...  They were fresh out of meat pies or Brian would have tried one for sure.  

Then it was off to the candy store to fill our baggies with treats.  Can you see all my black licorice???

After checking out the nativity sets at the IMAX theater, we headed back to the Subway to see Sarah and buy some cookies.  Then to the cabin for cookies and a rest before they headed home.  So glad they came!  A good time was had by all.

Thunder, Sunshowers, and Rainbows

Last night the weather changed.  It began with a sudden clouds and a big blow.  Then the thunder, lightening, and rain began.  Before long the power went out.  I was thrilled I had showered and was all done blow drying my hair!  Then almost as soon as it started it was over.  The sun was shining through the rain drops and there was a beautiful full double rainbow.  Sarah was disparaging over no power.  "NOW what!?!?" she exclaimed over not being able to get on the computer!  Oh my, the pain of withdrawal from Facebook!  Poor kid, she had to play a game at the kitchen table with her boring mother...

Osprey on The Water

Today we were working on the new deck and Brian noticed this osprey in the tree.  I went down to the water with my camera to get this shot.  I noticed fish splashing underneath the bird and so I waited for a few minutes.  Before long the osprey dove down into the water and grabbed a fish and flew off downstream.  Wish I could have gotten pictures of it fishing or flying off with the fish in its talons...  It was pretty cool.