Faith - Gratitude - Believe - Breathe - Strength - Harmony - Determination - Kindness - Appreciate - Refresh - Flexible

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

2012 271:366 Old Wheel

I am headed to Spearfish for the weekend, and since I am by myself, I decided to stop in Lemmon and Hettinger to visit a few of my old customers. This spot is along Highway 31 just a few miles north of McIntosh.

2012 270:366 Fall Colors

The leaves are falling fast now, so the colors won't last much longer. 

2012 269:366 More Apples

I have made a few quarts of applesauce, but there are still lots of apples. I've ordered a food mill to help with the process. Hopefully that will make it go much faster, then I don't have to peel all of the apples as they are quite small.

2012 268:366 Fall Leaves

I made a quick stop at the Capitol as the sun was going down this evening to capture a couple of photos of the fall leaves.

2012 267:366 Walking Sticks

Jeff has been making walking sticks in his spare time. Jeffrey decided that he would like to give all of his classmates walking sticks, so he asked Papa to get them ready for him. Jeff does all the sanding, then I will burn the name into the stick, then Jeff stains them. Jeff is getting them all ready to take up there this weekend.

2012 266:366 One More Tree



2012 265:366 Neighbor's Tree

This is our neighbor's tree across the street. I need to enjoy it while the weather lasts.

2012 264:366 Apples

We have bags and bags of apples this year. It's time to get busy making applesauce.

2012 263:366 Tree

Here is the tree in our yard. 

2012 262:366 Fall in the Badlands

I made a quick run through the north unit of the Badlands on my way home from Brandy's house today. The colors are not quite at their peak yet, but they are getting there.

2012 261:366 Fall

Fall is definitely on it's way.

2012 260:366 Hanging out


I caught these three just hanging out on the front step and snapped a quick photo. I just love them.

2012 259:366 Playing in the Alfalfa Field

I took the kids down to the bottoms to check on the guys and see what they were up to. I guess when you are little you can find a lot of different ways to entertain yourself. They made up a game of find the golf ball in the alfalfa field. We would throw the ball then run to find it. It's not always easy to find though.

2012 258:366 Combining the Beans

Tyler and Brandy came home for a couple of days, so that he could get some of the farm work done. He did get the beans finished up on top, but they were not quite ready on the bottoms. Jeff and Tyler also rebuilt the header on the combine. I guess that made quite a difference in how it worked.

2012 257:366 Ruts in the Road

These are the ruts in the road caused by all of the heavy truck traffic in Watford City. This is at the intersection turning from highway 85 onto 200.  I have to say though, that it's a good thing I took this photo when I did, as when I came back through here a few days later, they were fixing the road. Good thing too, this would be pretty tough to drive on when it's icy.

2012 256:366 Tomatoes

None of our tomato plants made it this year, so when a friend posted on Facebook that she had extra tomatoes, I was right there to pick them up. There is nothing like a home grown tomato. I roasted them, then canned them to make a tomato sauce. Yummy!


2012 255:366 Pickled Beets

I pulled out one row of beets this afternoon and got them pickled and canned. I didn't start eating beets until a few years ago, and it wouldn't bother me if that was the only thing that got planted in the garden. Jeff keeps trying to give them away and I get upset with him for that.

2012 254:366 Sunset

It was a beautiful sky this evening. I'm sure that the smoke is still a part of this.

2012 253:366 Leaves of Change

The leaves are changing. Fall is in the air.


2012 252:366 Garden

It's getting to be time to start harvesting what is in the garden! That means there will be some canning going on also!

2012 251:366 Flag Silhouette

Brandy and Tyler put up a flag pole this summer and I snuck out just before sunrise to snag a photo. I will be taking the kids to Minot today to drop them off with Brandy and Tyler.

2012 250:366 Macy

Let's face it, the kids have cameras shoved in their faces all the time, so I have been trying to keep my photos to a bare minimum when I am around them. I did have them talked in to a photo shoot with me for this evening though until Jeffrey came home and said that there was a football game in town and asked if we could go. How could I say no to that? We'll have to do a photo shoot next time that I am up there. I think if I take some Legos, I can bribe them. =D


2012 249:366 Old Truck


I headed up to Cartwright today to pick the kids up from school and stay with them for a couple of days. This old truck is near Jeffrey's school.

2012 248:366 Bike


2012 247:366 Apple Butter

Here is the beginning of some apple butter. It turned out yummy!


2012 246:366 Sunflowers

I missed most of the sunflower fields when they were in full bloom this year, but did manage to snag a few photos from this late blooming field. 

2012 245:366 Golfing

Jeff and I joined the golf course this year, thinking that we would have plenty of time this summer for golf. As it turned out, we did not have that much time, but we did manage to get up there a few times. There's always next year, right?

2012 244:366 Apples

Our tree is loaded with apples this year. I can't wait to make applesauce and some apple butter.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

2012 243:366 Beet Leaves

We got home yesterday from a three week vacation. Now it's time to play catch up with the house work, paper work and the gardening. It's time to start harvesting what's in the garden. Yummy. It has actually produced fairly well, considering Jeff kept telling me that we weren't going to have a garden this year. He started out planting some radishes and it just blossomed to a full garden from there. Now he tells me that he's only going to have strawberries next year, but we'll see how it goes then.

2012 242:366 Montana

We left Salmon, ID this morning and we are heading home. We had wanted to go white water rafting today, but that didn't work out so we're going home. We drove all day and this was a shot taken from the car. Nothing good, but it is what it is for the day.

2012 241:366 Forest Fires

We have been seeing smoky skies pretty much since we left and got in to the western half of Montana. Here is one of the reasons why. This fire is burning right around Salmon, ID. It was burning when we left, and as you can see, it is still burning two and a half weeks later. WoWza!

2012 240:366 Crater Lake

We are headed home now. I knew that Jeff would enjoy seeing Crater Lake and since we were so close, we decided to make a stop. It was so smoky that the visibility was less than a mile, but as we headed up the mountain we got above the smoke line and the skies cleared. This is a beautiful lake in the crater of a volcano.

2012 239:366 Tenaya Lake

We are leaving Yosemite today. Bummer. It's been a nice trip here. This is the view at Tenaya Lake along the Tuolumne Valley. What a reflection it is! We drove around Lake Tahoe and spent the night at Redding, CA, just south of Lake Shasta. The fires are blazing out here and everything is smoky. It makes for a nice sunset, but it's hard to breathe.

2012 238:366 Vernal Falls

Today's hike took us up to Vernal Falls. It's quite a hike just to get to the bottom of the falls about 1.5 miles up if I remember right. Then to get to the top of the falls, it's about 660 steps that feel like they're straight up from there. 660 steps doesn't sound like a lot to me, but it was.  I went ahead of Jeff and hiked up to the top of the Falls. About half way up the steps, I was questioning my decision, but kept going anyway. I went at a slow and steady pace and made it to the top. Boy, was it worth the trip. What is it about waterfalls that is just so fascinating?

2012 237:366 Half Dome (another view)


Today we headed over to Glacier Point, and this is our view of Half Dome from there. I love the puffy clouds in the sky. 

2012 236:366 Half Dome

We made it to Yosemite today and set up camp right away. Then we hiked down one of the sequoia groves and back up. That was quite the hike, but it was fun. Jeff got to see all of the big sequoias. After hiking, we drove over to Yosemite Valley to spend the afternoon there. This was the view of Half Dome from the highway.

2012 235:366 Drive Thru Tree

This was one of the things on Jeffs' bucket list for this trip, so we made sure to hit the drive thru tree as we were leaving the Redwoods. It's a good thing that we had the compact car, as I'm pretty sure that the Suburban would not have fit. We had planned on heading down the coast to San Francisco, but it was foggy and we would have hit the city right at rush hour, so we changed our plans and headed inland to go to Yosemite. As it turns out, we hit Sacramento right at rush hour anyway. So much for our planning. LOL

2012 234:366 Top of the Trees

There is a new tram ride at the Trees of Mystery exhibit. It takes you up over the top of the trees. It's a nice trail and exhibit there.

2012 233:366 Redwoods

Jeff has never been to the Redwoods before, so we decided to take a trip out there this summer. He was thouroughly impressed, as he should have been.  We had a great trip and were able to see everything that we had set out to see.

2012 232:366 Good Day Fishing

Well, Jeff finally had a good day fishing. I believe that he even caught his limit! Jeff is known amongst his friends as "The Jinx". He never catches fish when he goes fishing with them, and they never catch fish either. He always looks forward to ocean fishing when we go on vacation, so I'm happy that this trip was a success. It's only too bad that we had no way to keep the fish and cook them. After he was done fishing, we headed down the coast and spent the afternoon dune-buggy riding. That, my friends, was a ton of fun. If you ever have an opportunity to try that, don't pass it by!

2012 231:366 Sunset on Sunset Beach

What a gorgeous sunset out on Sunset Beach.  We are staying near Coos Bay, Oregon and went for a quick drive down to the beach.  Jeff will be going fishing in the morning and we need to stay close, as he will need to be there really EARLY.  The Oregon coast is just beautiful!


2012 230:366 Oregon Coast

We left Larry and Sharon's this morning and headed down the Oregon Coast. We spent the day driving down the coast and stopping to sight-see along the way. It was foggy all day, which really added a lot of drama. 

2012 229:366 We.Are.Family

Donna, Al, Larry, Jack, Jeff and I spent the day at Mount St. Helen's touring around the mountain. That was very interesting to see the before and after. Sharon was not able to join us, as she had a prior committment, but she did spend the afternoon cooking up a fabulous meal. Patti and Jim joined us for the evening. It was great to see them. It's been years which is way too long. Here is a group shot of everyone. Back row: Robyn, Jeff, Donna, Sharon and Patti. Front row: Jack, Al, Larry and Jim.

2012 228:366 Jeff, Uncle Larry and Uncle Jack

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Sharon live right along the Cowlitz River near Castle Rock, WA.  Jeff and I spent a few days there visiting with them and Uncle Jack. Aunt Donna and Uncle Al also live nearby and invited us over for dinner, so we ended up at their house for the evening. We stopped at Multnomah Falls in the morning on the way to Castle Rock and hiked around there for a while. Then the guys spent a little bit of time on the river in the afternoon. I also got to go for a boat ride later in the day before we left for Donna and Al's.

2012 227:366 Working Vacation

Some of Jeff's friends gave him a cartoon that basically showed this picture with the caption that read "It's a working vacation. I'm a wind farmer." We couldn't resist. This photo was taken in Couer d'Alene, ID. What a beautiful lake! When we left Couer d'Alene, we headed up north to Sandpoint and Schweitzer Mountain to see those areas of Idaho. We ended up at The Dalles for the night, along the Columbia river.

2012 226:366 White Water Rafting

This is not Jeff and I in the raft, because obviously I could not take this photo if I was in the raft, but, this is the river where went white water rafting earlier in the day. This is along the salmon river, leaving from Riggins, ID. Jeff and I both agreed that this was the best white water rafting trip that we had been on, as there were class III and a couple of class IV rapids. Jeff almost fell out of the raft on one of the rapids when he went to put his paddle in the water and lost his balance because all he found was air. It was quite hilarious.

2012 225:366 Fishing along the Lochsa River

We left Hamilton and headed over the Lolo pass. We just took our time and stopped when we wanted to explore the area. The DeVoto Memorial Trail was one of our stops where Jeff picked up some walking sticks from the red cedar trees. We also stopped at the Lochsa Lodge and had some lunch. Jeff fished along the river as we headed towards Granger, ID, which is where we spent the night. It's a beautiful river, but all of the fish must have been scared away from the helicopters that were loading up water from the river to fight the fires. That was very interesting to see.

2012 224:366 Sunset in Hamilton, MT

We started out on our three week vacation today and spend most of the day driving, since we have been through Montana many times already. We ended up in Hamilton, MT, which is on the western edge of the state. There are many fires in Idaho right now, and it has been very smoky and hazy all day. There is a big fire south of here by Salmon, ID, so we have decided to head north tomorrow and try to avoid that area for now. 

2012 223:366 Peanut Butter & Banana

Peanut butter and bananas are my favorite topping for toast! Oh yeah!