Outdoors
Hiking in the Umpqua National Forest
Since Jeff had yesterday off due to Labor Day, and also because it wasn’t raining, we decided to go hiking in the Umpqua National Forest. When we moved here, five years ago?, we hiked to many waterfalls in that area. But no hiking there since. I guess you could say the hiking bug bit us when we were in Montana, at Glacier National Park.
We’re Home!
Our vacation in Montana was wonderful! The kids are still there, spending an additional week at my parent’s house. Haniya and I kept very busy taking pictures – she’s got some beautiful shots over at her blog, which she was very good about updating even while gone. When Jeff and I got back home early Friday morning, we looked through our pictures. In fact, we keep looking through them. The trip was fantastic and we enjoyed every minute of it! We’ve never had a chance to do so much hiking before, and we took advantage of it.
Oregon April
Ironically, I am about to post pictures of apparently-truly-spring-like weather in Oregon in April. The irony: today it is snowing. My toes are freezing. But on with the show, folks… it was warm a few days ago when these were taken.
Mikah was laughing at his dad. Those two really enjoy each other. We had been [...]
What The Kids Brought Home
Well, guess what the kids found to do Tuesday afternoon? And look how prettily Mikah presented it to me! Thankfully, he wasn’t making a gift of it to me; he brought it inside so I could take a picture.
And boy, were the kids dirty after digging for these little buggers!
Burning Brush Pile
Saturday, we had friends over. The guys and kids worked on a burning brush pile. Even though Jeff had in mind three piles for burning, they only got to one of them. The monster pile (pictured) proved very difficult to start ablaze. It was totally covered with blackberry vines that had grown over it in [...]
Mikah Made Fire
Mikah started a little fire last weekend, but as usual, we were unable to keep the fire going. Just about everything is too wet — typical Oregon. You’ll hear Mikah say, “It catched the old man’s beard up!” This is because he was utterly shocked that it caught fire, instead of the cotton ball. I [...]
Cattails. Tree Climb. Down Time.
Each week when the girls are having their piano lesson, Mikah and I must find something to do. We usually run a couple of errands but still have some time left. At the church where the girls take their lessons, we usually spend this downtime just waiting in the parking lot. There is a tree [...]
Boredom or Contentment?
This year, winter in Oregon has been atypical. I’m probably not a good authority on that, though, as we’ve only been here four winters. But this year, it has been uncommonly dry and uncommonly cold.
Yesterday was both dry and cold (but not too cold, just cold for Oregon) and nice weather like that calls the [...]
Learning Survival Skills: Starting Fires
Learning survival skills has been a family goal for some time, but recently we began to seriously acquire instructions and tools, and then practice what we learn in order to be proficient. We’re not proficient yet, just beginning.
For Christmas, the kids each asked for and received a Leatherman Surge Multi-Tool (*aff*). The other day, we [...]
Out to Pasture
Since the front pastures were weed-wacked by a friend, we’ve been enjoying the view more. Now we look out the windows to the joyful sight of happy animals munching and wandering looking for choice weeds. Prior to this, we couldn’t get the panoramic aspect because of the tall grasses obscuring the view.
The goats and the [...]
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