Richie's Soccer Fall Season

Richie is still playing soccer and loving it. He is getting better and staying very aggressive and physical out there. We are very proud of how well is doing and how dedicated he is.

A visit to the Snoqualmie Falls

We arrived in Seattle on a Tues. and were very excited to spend some time with Angela. That night we went for a little stroll in a nearby forest and planned our hike to the falls.

The girls were enjoying the park and were very excited to reunite together.
Rachel took a picture of us at the park. You very rarely see images of Lynne and I on the blog.
The next morning we went to see Snoquaimine Falls. The falls are not only a draw but the beautiful forests were fun to explore. The weather was awesome! I don't think it got above 75 degrees while we stayed in Seattle.
Check out this beautiful water fall.
Here is another image of the water fall. There is a trail that leads to the bottom of the fall if visitors are willing to walk about 1.5 miles. The walk is steep and traverses through a Ewolk ( sp) like forest.
We started the walk to the base of the falls and observed many different kinds of plants and animals along the way. The girls are skipping and talking as they go. I kind of wandered around in search of rare and interesting encounters.
As the girls continued down the trail I was focusing on this interesting fungi. This is called a bird nest fungi. The little egg-like structures are small packets of spores. Insects chew on them and release the spores into the environment. This is the best birds nest fungi I have ever seen.
I caught up with the girls and they were playing on this tree. Look closely at the tree in the image....... it is growing on top of a dead stump.
On the way to the base of the falls we had to pass through this chain linked tunnel. What movie does this image remind you of ? Come on........ it was very popular. Think big reptiles.....

Once you come to the end of the trail there is a sign that says " WARNING Proceeding any farther could cause bodily damage" (something like that). There were a few people down at the base of the falls so we decided to carefully climb down from the deck onto the rocks. We asked Heather to join us but she did not desire to negotiate the deadly rocks below.
I heard Rachel talking to Angie about Jimmy. They both had a moment of reflection while mesmerized by the sound and visual effects of the falls. The beauty of the falls made Rachel think of Jimmy.
There were some huge stumps scattered throughout the forest. This one was below the falls and created a great place for the girls to sit for a photo.

A Trip to Seattle- The Long Way

This last week Lynne, Rachel, Heather and I went to visit Angela in Seattle. Richie had a soccer tournament so he stayed home. We decided since Rachel and Heather have not seen Yellowstone we would go North to the big park and then head west to Angela's house. This took us a little off course but was worth it to see the girls enjoy the wonders of Yellowstone. Lynne and I visited once before in search of bear and wolves. Much to our disappointment we did not see these majestic animals. So we stopped off in West Yellowstone and visited the animal preserve and spent some time with a few grizzly bears and four magnificent wolves. Despite my fear of a grizzly encounter gone bad I have an intense grizzly curiosity.

Heather and Rachel are waiting for Lynne and I. They are excited to see the animals. Especially Heather, I had to pull her away from exhibits.

My animal images were hard to get because they all wanted to sleep. I don't blame them we stopped by in the heat of the day and a short nap in the shade would have been nice.

We got lucky when one of the males woke up for a minute and decided to check out the visitors. He quickly laid back down and resumed his nap. When I was a young boy I became interested in wolves after I read the book Call of the Wild. I love that book.

The girls watched the bear while I ran around and took images. For the most part the bears ignored our presence and was busy eating grass and other plants. It was interesting to see him turn over rocks with his nose and eat insects and roots.

These bears were caught in the wild and brought to the sanctuary because they became a little to friendly with humans. This bear finally glanced over and our eyes met for a short time. Then he went back to the business of looking for food.

On one of the few occasions he looked over at me and gave me the face of DEATH. You know the one I see in my nightmares. Wow these animals can destroy us in an instance if they desire. Luckily we are not regularly on the menu.

With my zoom lens I was able to get uncomfortably close to the bear. It is almost like you can smell the rotten flesh from his last meal. The nice thing... bears eat a lot of plant matter. If you look close it is not flesh but plant material in his mouth. Most likely he still has bad breath.

After watching the animals in West Yellowstone we drove into the park and enjoyed some of the stinky geologic sites. I don't remember the name of this hot spring but it had many visitors and a strong sulfur aroma. Just west was the mud pots. I love the color contrast between the deep pool and the rust colored bacterial mats.

I was looking carefully at the bacterial mats and found a tiger beetle feeding. I could not verify what it was feeding on but saw a few some small flies landing on top of the water. I have images with the beetle placing its mandibles in the bacterial mat as though it was trying to catch something just under the mat. I thought this was a very interesting behavior and will share the information and images with my entomology professor at BYU.

Close by were some geysers that were a very consistent and beautiful displays of Earth's geologic activity. I was excited to show the girls these wonders. I don't think they were excited as me.

On the way to see Old Faithful Rachel took this image of an Elk. This animal was feeding next to the road brining the traffic to a stand still.
We are waiting for OLD FAITHFUL but no luck. We couldn't wait any longer so we split and went to the lower Yellowstone falls. We would have waited but it was a very long drive to Angela's house and we needed to get going. Next time we will plan to stay a little longer.
Lots of smoke from a fire in Calif. made the image hazy/ smoky. This is one of my favorite waterfalls. I think there are at least two other trails that allow you to see the falls from a different angle.
Look at these beauties !! There were a lot of people from distant lands here to see the falls. The girls really enjoyed the falls. If you have not seen the falls or the other wonders in Yellowstone National Park it would be worth your time to plan a trip.

Cabin 08

We went to the cabin last week and enjoyed spending time with family. We participated in many different activities but I wish we had a little fishing pond on Grandpa H's mountain estate. I have images of all who attended except Stephanie. Kim and Stephanie went up a day early with Rachel and left the following day. The plant life was very green but the road and pathways were dry and dusty. We have not seen rain in our area for many weeks.
One of the first things we did after unpacking was play rummy with all shown above. Grandma and Grandpa were ruthless but fair. I usually don't play cards but I enjoyed the friendly competition. Guess who was ahead when we finished?......... Yes Mrs. Gamer (Lynne).

This week is Dan and Jessica's vacation. I hope they had a relaxing time.
Grandpa and I are watching over dinner to make sure the bear or cougar does not come steal our grub.
The first night we had steak and chicken but the second evening we roasted good old fashion polish dogs. Of course Heather was thinking safety first and wore a helmet just in case a meteor shower occurred.
Grandma and Grandpa "G" stayed for one night and took Richie down to attend a ward adventure activity. Aren't they quite the couple?
We played a competitive game of horse shoes. Dan and Rachel were victorious and should feel good about beating some out of shape, fat, middle aged grandparents....Ha! Good job guys.
Here my lovely partner releases the shoe with smooth but concise accuracy.
I had fun throwing with you Lynne.
I was partners with Heather for a game and it was...... a very interesting experience. Never a dull moment with my little Heather. A little over enthusiastic when it comes to throwing shoes. Among all the participants she had the most creative releases. Of course Jessica did not participate.... oops sorry Jess.
Jessica's excuse was she had Jacob to take care of. Next year you have to play. No excuses... unless your pregnant. Ha!
Wow take a look at the form. She is one of my horse shoe padawons. Rachel was my partner when we plummeted Dan and Richie.
Look closely and you can see Grandpa taunting Rachel. We quickly learned this was not a good idea. Good job by the way gramps I remember many a backyard basketball games were you would taunt us relentlessly.
Oops I guess Rachel is fighting back Grandpa...... run for your life, a Badger ( Snow College) is on your trail. Quick gramps do the shuffle....
After Rachel calmed down Grandpa stepped up and let it fly. He imparted a stylish spin on the shoe.
It was grandmas turn and everyone thought it was unfair because she was using her bionic eye. Her one-eyed aim had sizzling results. I think we should call her lazier-eyed Grandma.
The eye at work !!
Yea !! Nice RINGER ! Mr. G
The young couple having fun waiting their turn to throw the shoes.
Jacob looks on wishing he was old enough to join in. Heather is doing a little trash talking even though Jacob is not old enough to play. Come on Heather pick on someone your own size.
Hey I think mine is closer than yours. No way bone head. Hey don't get personal. This is just a friendly family game.
Richie and Dan created some devices to trap the chipmunks and ground squirrels. There was a competition to see who could trap the most little vermin. It turns out that Richie pulverized Dan at this activity.
It turns out that every time we trapped one, the little buggers slipped out from underneath the container. It was fun to watch them create all these cool "man vs. wild" systems.
For breakfast we cooked up the usual bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and pancakes. Everything that is necessary to clog your arteries. Yes I know it is not healthy food but it's cabin food. Grandma is not trying to plug her ears she is just a little cold.
Later that day we went over to the point and shot some clay pigeons. Dan of course was the sharp shooter of the day.
Richie took his turn and did as good as I did. Of course that is not saying much but he did quite well.
We also shot Dan's hand gun. I am in position to give him advise (to high, to low, nice try etc.)
In between all the activities Dan and Jessica had time to take a little ride on the 4 wheelers. As they were riding up to the gate they saw a nice heard of elk on the west hill (bear hill).
Later that night Dan, Richie, Rachel and I went looking for wildlife. Last year we saw a bear down by the spring but this year we were not as lucky. The second night we spotted what we think was a cougar. We were about 35-40 meters from the cabin. As we finished up our night time field trip we heard a big growl / roar down below the big fir trees.
It was one of those WOW ! moments. This little buck came to the salt lick next to the fire pit (west side of cabin).
The next morning we finished breakfast packed up and took off for home.
Thanks Harold for the use of the cabin we had a wonderful time.