Greening Up

Check out this pile of cute!!!  The New Dude is in that pile somewhere with his four brothers and five sisters.  Eenie  Meenie Miney….Moose!  Moose Juice.  Moosie Goosie. Moose Man.  Moosie Pie…..

Edited:

Turns out Moose is a pretty darn common dog name, especially for labs for some reason.  So it’s back to the name game for us.  We might end up sticking with Moose just because it has meaning for us – prevalence be damned.  But we’re definitely tossing around other ideas.

It began early Friday morning with a boat ride across Redfish Lake, at 6100 feet.  T-Dog hiked over 20 miles and reached an elevation of 9500 feet at Cramer Divide.  What a kid!  That’s a lot of high-country steps for an 8 year old! 

Along the way were huckleberries, currants, jokes, songs, snacks, snow, pica, frogs, river crossings, deer prints, Heart Lake, Poop Rock and goat sign.  We waded in the lakes and dodged mosquitos and biting flies and campfire smoke.  And we fished and dined on fresh brook trout.

4 days.  3 nights.  What a great way to spend the weekend.  Thanks to JW for looking in on the kitty for us while we were gone, and for JM for making the trip with us!

Here’s a link to more pictures.

The three of us hiked up to Jenny Lake last weekend with another family.  The wildflowers and butterflies were out like I’ve never seen before.  There was bear scat on the dirt road near the trailhead.  And what we thought was fox on the trail.  And up above the lake, in the rocky terrain, we saw prints and scat of mountain goats.  Kevin tried to get a few grouse with his slingshot, and fish with his pole, but had no luck in either case.  What we did get was a great time with kind and adventuresome people up in the high country of Idaho.

T. Pea read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird last weekend.  She started it in the morning and finished up in time for us to watch the film together later that evening.  I don’t have words for how it feels that my daughter now knows this book, a longtime favorite of mine.

The three of us trekked over to Jackson Hole last weekend to join in a fiddle contest at the Teton County Fair.  We had a stopover in Pocatello that really helped us break up the drive over.  (Thank you Mike and Judy!)  When we got to Jackson Hole it was a gorgeous day – about 80 degrees out – and we were so impressed we decided to take a ride up the town ski lift to get a better view of the Tetons.  Up up up up the hill we climbed.  We got to the top and gazed out over the ridge to see a rain storm barreling down on us from the other side.  A couple more people were let off the lift and then the operators shut it down.  There we were, stuck up at the top to ride the rain storm out.  Problem was that the storm seemed to be simultaneously hunkering down and spreading in all directions.  The dozen of us up there took refuge in a shelter at the top of the mountain.  After about an hour the lift operator came through the door.  From under his soaked rain gear he shouted, “We’ve decided to start the lift back up and try to get you back down the mountain.  We’ll double the speed and get you down fast.”  Dressed in our summer clothes, out we ran into the freezing rain to ride the speeding lift back down  the mountain.  Did I happen to mention it was my very first time to ride a ski lift?  I can assure you, no love affair was born on that lift that afternoon.

The fiddle contest we were ostensibly there for was the next day.  So we had plenty of time to dry off, pull our fiddles out and play.  Local news covered the fiddle contest.  T and her teacher were among those interviewed.

With as much emphasis as there is of late on the importance of sitting down to eat dinner together you’d think we’d feel most connected at the dinner table.  Not us.  No, for us our best family time seems to happen when we’re all in the bathroom together.  I know, it sounds strange.  Strange but true.  Perhaps it’s because we’re winding down the day, getting ready for bed.  Or maybe because it’s just too late for stress to make any sense at all.

Anyhow yesterday evening there we were – the three of us – in the bathroom.  K was in the shower, T was washing her feet in a bucket on the bathroom floor and I was at the sink brushing my teeth.  T asked K for some soap and must have found him of no help, apparently, because she turned to me and said, “Mom, would you please pass me some soap? …..I’m feeling pretty exasperated with your man.”

Been there, Honey.

Have some soap.

T and I both played at the Wild West Fiddle Contest today.  She took home some cash.  I did not.  But we both had a super tremendous amazing spectacularly fun time with all the fine musical friends at Kuna park.  Huge thanks to the Ruwes, judges, sponsors and listeners for a great fiddle day!

Toren attended the Log Cabin Writing Center’s summer writing camp for kids a few weeks ago.  The kids read some of their work on the last day.  Toren’s piece was called, “The Colors of Time.”  I had no idea what she had written or was about to read.

FRIENDS!!!