Hot Time to Climb

For the first time this season the freezing level is rising above 14,500 feet. This means earlier starts for summit attempts. Get up and out of high camp so you're back before the mid-afternoon heat. The high pressure should be around all weekend and into the early part of next week. Groups of excited climbers were out enjoying their first tan of the season Saturday morning. Here is a photo of the sun rising over the Cowlitz. Notice the sun cups starting to form in the bottom of the photo. If you look closely you can see Camp Muir to the left of the climber's head lamp (Photo by Brian Scheele). Come take advantage of this great early summer weather.

At Mom's

Somehow we started talking about the dogs we'd had growing up.

The confusion started with my mother calling a Boston Terrier a Boston Bulldog.

Mom: Didn't we have a Boston Bulldog here?

Me: You mean Boston Terrier.

Mom (not sounding convinced): OK.

Me: We had PeeWee, but that was at the old house. He ran away. Supposedly.

Mom: But we had another one here besides Joe Lee.

Sis: Howie.

Me: Yeah, Howie. He supposedly ran away while we were on vacation, but I always suspected that Dad just had him removed while we were gone. (I'd brought Howie home without asking.)

(Mom looks confused. Not sure if Dad really didn't do that, or he just didn't tell her.)

Sis: And there was Pockets of course.

Mom: The shepherd.

Me: No, he was a poodle!

Mom: We had a poodle?

Sis: Yeah, he was mine, we got him from the B-----s, remember?

Me: And he got poisoned.

Sis: What?

Me: He got poisoned twice, that's why we had to give him away.

Sis: No, he bit the mailman, that's why he had to go.

Me: No! Poisoned. I remember clearly. The first time the vet thought he might not live. The second time wasn't so bad.

Sis: But they told me he'd bitten the mailman!

(Nobody else remembers the mailman story. Joe Lee did start nipping at repairmen's heels in her old age though.)

Me: He went to live with Dad's friend who had a place in the country.

Mom: No, we gave him to a lady at church. I remember her telling me when he died.

Me: I might be thinking about the chicks instead. I know we gave them to W---- out in the country.

Niece: You had chicks?!

Hubby: Maybe it was Little Buns.

Me: I think we gave him Little Buns too. (That was a rabbit.)

Niece: Can we get some chicks?!

Me: Later on we realized that it probably wasn't a person poisoning the neighborhood animals deliberately -- it was pesticide runoff from peoples' yards.

Mom: Yes, Mr Y----'s dog died. The shepherd.

Sis: No, it was one of those miniature collies. A Shetland Sheepdog.

(Mom looks confused.)

Brother-in-law: Are you sure you all grew up in the same house?

-----


Current crazy dog, a Great Pyrenees named Jasmine.

Friday Ark

Thoughts of Summer

Thoughts of Summer, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

I know California is not cold, especially compared to the rest of the country (and much of the world). But I think it's safe to say that many of us are longing for warm spring and summer days.

Thankfully, those days will soon be here: spring is only 2 weeks away!

New York and Pennsylvania From My Window

Rainier After the Storm!

After receiving nearly 8 ft. of snow over the past week at Paradise, the mountain is looking particularly PHAT!(View from the Tatoosh)

Hike to Grotto Falls

Our travel buddies arrived yesterday, but we didn't meet up until later that night. Today they joined us as we made our way back to the National Park. We picked what we thought would be a very short hike, because we were concerned about how Josh would do. Somehow we messed up. We picked a trail that was twice as long as yesterday's hike. Let's just say that we didn't need to worry about Josh one bit. He hiked faster than all of us and didn't seem tired at all. I can't say the same for me. My calves are still on fire!

My Cat Loves Bicycles

We thought it was cute when our cat showed an interest in the Pashley Roadster. But that was nothing compared to her reaction to the vintage Raleigh!

According to the Co-Habitant, she was "all over it" immediately, sniffing the bicycle and trying to lick it. She went into some sort of ecstatic frenzy and could not be pried away!

So apparently my cat loves bicycles! -- or at least quality English bicycles? -- We will need to conduct some research to determine the extent of her attraction.

Covered Bridges in Ohio

We are enjoying being back in Thousand Trails and having friends around. Rene and Mira are here, so that means we are also enjoying pickleball. Beyond that, there are some neat things in the area. One of those things are the covered bridges. They are all unique and they are all really interesting to us.

We liked driving through them, but we enjoyed walking through them even more.

There is just a beauty involved in the curves and lines of the bridges.

There is something about seeing and feeling the texture of the wood.

There is something so impressive about the handiwork involved in these.

And they are just so cute!

I'll try to catch up in the next few days and share more of these beautiful structures and the surrounding landscape.

Critters

The Ninilchik Russian Orthodox Church

The Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church sits atop a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet south of Soldotna in the tiny community of Ninilchik. We stopped there on the way to Homer because “The Milepost” (the travel guide we're using) stated that this church was a popular tourist site on the Kenai Peninsula with beautiful views of Cook Inlet.

The church was picturesque as was the cemetery. The church has an active congregation and there were several recent burials in the cemetery.

According to an entry in Wikipedia, the top bar of the double cross may represent the death of Jesus and the second one may symbolize his resurrection, but it could also be the cross beam on which Christ's wrists or palms were nailed. The bottom, slanted bar may represent a footrest where Jesus' feet were nailed to the cross. Another interesting interpretation has a much deeper meaning: The bottom bar may represent a balance of justice. Some sources suggest that, as one of the thieves being crucified with Jesus repented of his sin and accepted Jesus as the Messiah and was thus lifted into Heaven, the other thief rejected and mocked Jesus and therefore descended into Hell.

And even though Mother Nature wasn't cooperating (clouds and rain all day long), the view from the bluff was still quite beautiful. A portion of the town of Ninilchik and Cook Inlet (at low tide) seen from the bluff.

Broughton - Gt Cransley - Thorpe Malsor - Loddington - Gt Cransley - Broughton

This walk was led by me, with Barry, Gordon, Eddie. Garmin has trace from last Friday in Oakham, so distance probably about 9 miles - to 9.5. Started around 9.30 am. Almost same as walk on 9 August . Lovely weather, dry fine, sunny.

With thanks to the Broughton Bystander.




We took almost the same route as on this walk on August 9 . We began from the Red Lion pub, walked down Church Street to Broughton church, with its red clock face, and flower meadow. Then we took the footpath opposite alongside some houses, and passed a children's playground. At Cox's Lane we turned left, making for the road to Great Cransley which we followed underneath the A43, downhill then up into Great Cransley.


We walked through the village, ignoring the church this time, and taking the second footpath which leaves on the right hand side, between houses. It goes over a stile, then across a field full of sheep to Northfield Road, at the opposite corner. There's a certain amount of road walking, past White Hill Lodge and round a right hand bend. At this point Cransley Reservoir came into view, below us on the left.

Cransley reservoir jewel blue beyond the ploughed field.

At the end of a field on our left we had a choice of paths, and chose the clear second one to the left, diagonally across a field downhill to a patch of woodland. Once in the woodland we turned left once more to reach the sailing cub and the walk along the reservoir dam.












After the water we turned left then right making our way up the hill until we reached a right turn as the path met a farm track which went past a wood and into Thorpe Malsor. We were lucky to see the person who keeps the church keys, and were able to see the restored organ and splendid interior.

All Saints, Thorpe Malsor

We turned left along the street out of the village, then left at the Loddington Road. We walked about a mile along the narrow footpath beside this road - not a very busy one, until we reached Loddington. The village sign was erected in 2001, and is made of ironstone and steel representing local industries.

The sun rising over the third millenium, with St Leonards Church

Three of us

We saw the church on our left, but didn't visit. Instead we headed for the cricket field and took advantage of its benches to have a break in the warm sunshine.





From here we took Mawsley Lane, and followed this as the tarmac turns to grass, and the path hugs the field edges on our left. Eventually, just before the ground rises we reached a double farm gate directly in front of us, and a wooden gate to the left. Here we turned to the left towards Mawsley Lodge.



The path goes west then northwest around Mawsley Lodge, then joins the route of a dismantled railway, through some woodland, and over a bridge, until it turns right towards Cransley Wood. The path goes through the wood and meets a road on the far side, which leads into Great Cransley. We walked along to the end of Church Lane, and turned right at Broughton Hill, following the route back to Broughton.


And somewhere along the way we met a couple of llamas. Here's one of them:







Another garmin glitch here - the first part of this route is the mile I walked round Oakham last week, and a straight line from there to Broughton.

Baby barn swallows

Juvenile Barn swallow, Hirundo rustica

It's that time of year, when baby barn swallows are out of the nest and zooming around with the adults, catching bugs and generally having fun. Looks that way, anyhow.

It was a good year for them here. I counted 60 on the wires near the pond. I haven't figured out where they nest -- maybe in the neighbor's actual barn. But they definitely like to spend their days here after the babies have fledged.



At first I thought they were begging, but then realized it must have been the gular fluttering that Swamp Things told me about a while back.



Sadly, most of the Google searches concerning Barn swallows that the blog receives are along the lines of "how to get rid of barn swallows". I can't help but wonder why you'd want to! I guess they can be messy if they're nesting over your front door, but...

1) They're not going to be there that long. Eggs hatch in about 14 days and the young fledge about 3 weeks after that. When they're gone from the nest, you can tear it down and put a rubber snake in its place if you don't want them to return the next year.

2) They eat bugs! Lots and lots of bugs!

3) Watching them fly around, swooping and diving in search of insects, is a sure-fire natural blood pressure medicine.

Summerton from my Window

Normally, the first day we are at a new place, we drive around a bit to see what is there. Since we were here so late and it was dark, we had to wait until yesterday to do our meet and greet with Summerton. This time I grabbed my camera so I could shoot some pictures from the truck window while we drove around.



I've noticed some common themes about small towns. And I'm pretty sure since living on the road, my children will never be able to have the same idyllic view of our country that they would have been allowed otherwise. Actually, none of us will. Because as much as I say these things I'll share are common, there is also an element of "can't be captured and labeled" in each place we'll visit. Like the Disco Club we saw in the middle of nowhere yesterday. Disco??? Really???? Those parts would take a lifetime and far too much bandwidth for me to capture by myself, so I'll stick to what is easier to put pictures and words around for today.



Here are the common themes that I have noticed. There are always some parts that are lovely:



Some not so lovely:

Some parts where time stood still:

Some parts where time marches forward. (I did not snap any of these places today). There is always some evidence of religion:

Patriotism:

and Education:

All of these are interesting. I enjoy them as we see them. Nothing compares to my favorite category of all though. It is the What the ?????? category. It's the things that have me wanting to stop the truck, climb out and ask the story behind it. For example:

There has to be a story behind this sign, which was placed in someone's yard. Where there were no apparent businesses around. I'm still trying to figure out the secret message. Which is most definitely proof that the message was not to me.



This really has me thinking though. If I still lived in a house, I'd want one of these in my front yard too. I could leave messages for Nathan and the kids. Like "Did you remember the milk?" Because if they didn't remember the milk, they could turn around right then and there and go back to the store and get it. Rather than go through our typical process that happens if they make it inside without milk, which is far less pleasant for both of us.



Or I could put my current mood on there, like one would the temperature. That could be really useful to my family. I could even send messages to my neighbors that way. Like "Listening to you practice drums is not nearly as fun as you think" or "If I wanted a fertilized lawn, I'd get my own dog" or "Yes, those were my PJ's" or "It was probably my child". We could keep score of the current Scrabble leader on there (usually me). Or Monopoly (usually Nathan). Or Guitar Hero (usually the boys-ok ALWAYS the boys).



This could provide hours of endless fun for me. So I'm confused why the owners of this fine equipment are using it in such a boring way. If you decide to put it in your yard, shouldn't you then use it to its fullest advantage? I might have to drive back down there today to find out what is going on there.



Oh and if you are scared after reading all of this.....if Diana were with me, we'd probably already be down there asking. And no, I'm not joking. At all.



Living the life in South Carolina.