Camping again!

So here I am realizing that I have once again gotten behind on my blog updates. I am going to pretend that it was intentional and I would appreciate if you would play along. Just think of it this way, instead of posting right after a fun event when I am already on a vacation high, in my lack of timeliness I will say that I am pleasantly reflecting on recent events. In a way this spreads out the excitement, making it seem to last longer. As opposed to posting immediately and crashing back to reality upon noting that we will have to go back to regular life with work and laundry. Or if you see through all that smoke and mirrors, you will know I am still a procrastinator with things that don’t have a hard and fast deadline, such as this blog! Whatever side you feel may be the truth, here us an update on our camping trip from a few weeks ago.

The bulk of hay harvest was wrapping up, finally! Dusty and I were hoping to sneak in a few days in our favorite local camping spot before he got wrapped up into wheat harvest. However, since finishing up hay is sort of an intangible thing and there were a lot of factors playing into when the guys would call it quits for a few days, knowing when exactly we could go was a bit of a mystery. With farming there is always a long list of things that “should” be done but could wait if they are less of a priority to other things on the list. We knew we would take the 5th wheel and go camping north of Sandpoint for about three days. We didn’t know exactly when those three days were going to start.

At the time we were working through all of this information (or lack there-of) we had some friends from our church mention they were planning to go camping too. They had a location in mind but didn’t have it set in stone. Dusty and I thought it would be fun if they came camping at our spot and since our friends are very patient people they waited around to hear word if our camping timeline would line up with theirs! By some sort of farming miracle, and Dusty working more hours in two days than I thought humanly possible, everything timed out perfectly.

We all caravanned north and set up our site. There were eleven big kids, nine little kids and two dogs all running around in the woods. It was a busy place and we all had a great time. The majority of our group (especially the littlest bunch) could be found in the creek or at the pond for a large majority of the trip. The men also worked on a dam and managed to make a pretty significant pool of water. Of course there were campfires, s’mores, and time to just relax. The kids even made it through the vigorous hike to the waterfall! I was really impressed with their endurance considering the oldest of the kids was all of six years old.

After a wonderful weekend, our friends packed up and headed home. Dusty went up the cabin to visit his Great Uncle Everett and see if he needed help with any projects. While they were working I got our 5th wheel ready to travel. Then I took a nap. Before I hit the couch I put the dogs in their kennels, which were tucked in the shade under the hitch of our trailer, so I wouldn’t have to worry about them wandering off. This is where things got really interesting. I’d been lounging for a while and had just left consciousness when I woke up to one of the dogs barking. It seemed strange because it wasn’t a bark I heard very often. Coby barks at just about everything; however the sound I was hearing was Moosey. I sat up and I saw moose… not our Moosey but a big honking mama moose! She was huge and standing just a few feet off the end of our trailers awning. I sat there frozen for a moment, very glad I had put the dogs in their boxes and even more relieved that I decided to nap inside as opposed to on the hammock outside! Then the moose darted off towards the thick brush. Her movement unfroze me and I darted too, for my camera. I watched and waited, trying to catch a glimpse of the moose peeking from the bushes. I had just given up and went back to cleaning when the pups both started barking again. I looked out the window and saw the moose slowly skirting the edge of our campground with her baby. She was much further away this time but clearly visible. It was so cool to watch her move through the trees and out of sight. A little later, Dusty came back from the cabin and we too started our trip back home, but unlike everyone else I had moose pictures!

Our yard cow...?

Yes it is true, if you drive by our house you can see a cow in our yard. No, we haven't totally lost our minds and mixed up our "vastly spacious" yard with the cow's pasture. We did have a mama cow that wouldn't "take" her calf after it was born. Why would that happen? Well, to make a long story short, their was a boy calf (a bull) a while ago that was slightly resistant to the banding that should have turned him into a steer. So while this bull calf no longer has "a pair" he did manage to sneak by with one dangler. Which is where the problem started with the calf in our yard. That lucky little not-so-fixed steer was let out with all the cows and hefers (young female cows) and managed to do the job of a big bull. Not only that but since our lucky fellow was still small in stature thought he would be best suited for the young lady cows in the bunch. That's right he is a craddle robber! This lead to Mr. Lucky fathering a calf with a VERY young hefer. In our culture this is commonly refered to as a teenage pregnancy! When that poor hefer become a mother she entered cow-hood not near mature enough to have the instincts to take care of her baby when it was born, meaning we had to do the mothering for her. So that is why we now have that baby cow in our yard. Well, I guess that wasn't such a short story afterall, but just incase it wasnt enough wordage here are a few more in picture form.

 This is our "yard cow," Gertrude. We call her Gerty for short.

Gerty follows Dusty EVERYWHERE

Ahhhh, Vacation

What do you do your husband is working too many hours go on vacation? Just write about when he wasn’t so busy!


Just before the end of the school year our friends Craig and Michelle invited us to come on a fun trip with them and some other college buddies to the Washington coast. Craig’s family has a great cabin right on the beach with a large section of waterfront. Even better, it is on a sweet island, Harstine Island to be exact!

Even though there was a sizeable cabin, Dusty and I opted to take our fifth wheel camper for our sleeping quarters since there were quite a few people already bunking in the cabin. As if we needed another excuse to use our new toy!

It was a wonderful long weekend full of exploring the sea life at low tide, biking, good food, kayaking, bonfires, racquet sports on a real court, reading, ladder ball, and lots playing with the dogs. There were plenty of dogs on the trip too; thankfully they even managed to get along most of the time. Our Moosey loved playing fetch on the beach, even though the shells made her paws sore at times. Dusty and I loved having other people who didn’t mind taking a turn at throwing the ball for her so our arms could have a break. Here are some pictures showing all our fun!

Memorial Day Weekend Camping

Here are a sampling of pictures from our camping trip earlier this year. It was a great trip and we loved hanging out in our camper in the evenings when the spring air made it a bit chilly out and the damp surroundings from recent storms made conditions for starting a fire less than than ideal. Despite the rains before we arrived, a sprinkle on the way there and a warning of precip from every weather website, we had glorious weather! It was sunny and warmer than any days in our recent memory.Unfortunately most of our friends we scared off by the weather mans doom and gloom forecast. As it turned out there was just three of us on this trip, yes that does include Dusty and me too! Otto, our one guest, was very disappointed he didn't even get to test out his new hiking tent and rain fly seeing as we did not get a drop of rain after setting up camp. Every one had their own reasons for missing, all sicere and understandable. The sad part is when friends tell us they will go "next time." Why is that sad, doesn't it sound like a good thing? In a perfect world I would be thrilled to hear that and look forward to then. However, in reality, since I know my farmer husband will now be working his tail off till next fall, that "next time trip" isn't likely anytime soon. Yes, we may sneak in a overnight in the camper here or there but since we typically don't have more than a days notice when the stars align for such an event, which means most friends schedule is not flexible enough to come along. Oh well, we had tons of fun and we can cross our fingers and pray for another shot later in the summer! Hope you enjoy the pictures!