Pics from April and May

A smattering of things that happened before June.


NOM NOM NOM!
What's up my Peeps?

Cooper's Birthday.

Cooper's first day of pre-school.

Baking cookies is better than TV.

Barclay Lake Hike

We decided a late spring hike is just what we needed for Father's Day weekend. The trail is 2 miles up a narrow canyon, shadowing a river. We drove up several miles of forestry roads to get to the trailhead, so we felt pretty far away from civilization! We saw lots of small, blooming woodland flowers. We smelled a skunk. We jumped across several narrow, shallow creeks that ran cross the trail.

The kids carried their own water, food, first aid . . . They did so good!
We crossed a narrow food bridge to get across Barclay Creek.


It took us about 2 hours to get to Barclay lake. Looking up we saw the face of Mt. Barring. I'm sitting on the ground on the shore to get the whole mountain in frame

Sammy is a Pre-School graduate!

On to conquer Kindergarten!

Christmas!

Independence Day and Our Anniversary

BBQ and Fireworks. Sweet and simple.

We celebrated our 7th Anniversary at Dahlia Lounge in Seattle. Wow. The food is worth every penny. We tried their Tastes from the Sea sampler for our appetizer. There was smoked salmon with hot mustard and sesame seed. King clam sashimi with baby beets, fennel and dill. Dungeness crab with guajillo mayo, salsa picada and lime. Ahi tuna with yuzu kosho, togarashi puffed rice and wakame. AND GEODUCK!! Google that.




I made a simple necklace from Quartz crystal beads for the occasion. And that concludes our annual indulgence. Something I look forward too all year.

Broody Hen

It's always the Barred Rocks. I always have one that wants to try and hatch a clutch of chicks in the peak of the summer heat. There is no rooster anymore and she doesn't realize it's futile. You can really philosphical about that . . . I just kick her off the nest a couple times a day to make sure she gets a drink of water every once and a while.

Speaking of which, David and I built a new water dispenser for them. It works really well and doesn't waste as much water as the old style did. Their water is always clean. I LOVE it. They just peck at the metal nipples in the bottom of the bucket and it dispenses water a little at a time right into their beak. We can fill the bucket from the outside of the cage too, right from the hose without having to lug it across the yard.

A Short Visit

This is Timber. She is a very sweet and intelligent Labrador, Great Dane mix. She came to stay with us for a few days while we considered adopting her. She was abandoned with a broken leg and she's still young at only 9 months. W really enjoyed having her, but we found that her anxiety was a little too much for us to handle so we returned her to her foster family. She's going to be a wonderful pet for someone who has more experience with dogs!

After the experience, I still think I want to adopt a dog. But I think we should wait untill Cooper is a little older. And potty trained.